Exalting Man Series

Exalting Man

The exaltation of man is where the Word-Faith movement sharply deviates from the

Bible and historic Christianity. The great lie of Satan has always been, ’You will be like

God’ (Genesis 3:5). In the beginning, Satan’s sin was pride. In Isaiah 14:14 the Bible

says that he declared the he would be like the Most High God and then he uses the same

false claim on any man who will head him. After his fall, this same echo of pride has

been used to tempt man throughout the ages. Pagan religions appeal to people on the

level of pride. Margo Adler, a well known witch, stated this well:

The reason people are so attracted to magical and pagan religions is because they

want to be god. The fundamental thing of pagan religions is that ultimately they

say that you are within yourself the god or goddess.

Isaiah 43:10 tells us:

"You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen,

That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me

there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. "

Is there any other god other than the LORD? No. Will there ever be another god other

than the God who has revealed Himself in scripture? No. The Bible is a very exclusionary

book. God declared His word in such a way that it is impossible to accept pagan religions

without rejecting scripture. Either this verse in Isaiah is a lie, or the pagans are following

a lie. Both cannot be true. The claim that man is god is probably the most consistent error

that Word-Faith doctrine teaches. Across the board, almost all prominent Faith teachers

echo the same message. Some, like Benny Hinn, began by warning people not to believe

this doctrine. However, now Hinn teaches it with great fervor. Early on, Hinn once taught

the following:

One of the most dangerous things in the body of Christ today is this teaching

going around that teaches men that they are God. When you say that you are God,

you are putting your place right where Lucifer was standing. When someone tells

you that you are God, that’s just another serpent coming to say, ’taste it’. When

you hear the teaching that you are God, remember what I am telling you, it’s the

serpent coming into your garden saying, ’has God said...? If you eat this, you’ll be

just like Him.’ The devil hasn’t changed his game.

Obviously, Hinn was influenced in this area by orthodox Christianity. Historic and

Biblical Christianity soon gave way to sensationalism and pagan influenced doctrines.

Hinn went from warning against this doctrine to defending it. Hinn stated:

He laid aside his divine form so that I could one day be clothed on high with the

divine form. People have a problem with Ken Copeland and Kenneth Hagan’s

teaching, but it is absolute and divine truth. Hagan and Copeland say, ’You are

God’.

It cannot be overlooked that Hinn plainly stated that this teaching is absolute divine truth.

Scripture does not teach that we are or will be divine. However, this does not prevent

Hinn from now teaching the very thing He once declared to be of the devil:

God came from heaven and became a man. He made men into little gods. Went

back to heaven as a man. He faces the Father as a man. You say, ’Am I little

god?’. You’re a son of God aren’t you? You’re a child of God aren’t you? What

else are you? You say, ’I AM’. You are identifying yourself with Him. Are you a

part of Him? Are you His offspring? You can’t be human."

The Bible does not teach that Jesus was merely a man. Word-Faith doctrine teaches that

Jesus is only a man and man is a god. As we will examine a little later, this completely

contradicts scripture. Let’s break down the Word-Faith’s doctrine of man’s divinity so we

can examine it against the clear teaching of scripture.

God’s purpose for man

What is God’s purpose for man? As we will see, the Word-Faith movement answers this

question completely different that Biblical Christianity. In Word-Faith doctrine, mankind

was created divine and on equal terms with God. We only need to recognize our god-

potential and believe that we are gods. It’s amazing how closely the Word-Faith teaching

aligns to New-Age and pagan beliefs. Here are some examples:

Excerpts from the New Age book - We The People Are The Messiah

"DID I DIE FOR YOUR SINS? Of course I did not die for your sins . . . that

would place you below me."

"The word "Christ’ refers to your Divinity. This is the sacred substance of which

you are made."