Are the Copelands FREEMASONS?
Separating Fact from Fallacy
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On the cover of the December, 2010 edition of the BVOV Magazine, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland pose together while holding hands in what appears to be a “Fellowcraft” (originally, “Fellow Craft,” i.e., 2nd degree) Masonic grip. This recent issue of the BVOV magazine contains numerous examples of Masonic imagery, and features discussions of “fellowship” throughout (which matches the “Fellowcraft” theme) as KCM tries to recruit more “partners” to support their family’s tax-free religious business with their “donations.” We will examine the details within another article. (Click the image to enlarge.)
We have been asked MANY TIMES over the last few years whether the Copeland family (and in particular, Kenneth Copeland himself) are Freemasons — and, of course, this question includes whether any of them are members of one or more of the affiliated Masonic groups (e.g., “The Order of the Eastern Star,” “DeMolay,” “Job’s Daughters,” “Rainbow Girls,” etc.).
Obviously, this “Masonic question” is one that people want answered clearly and without any equivocation. So for our 44th published article of this KennethCopelandBlog.com redemptive project, we have decided to begin answering those inquiries publicly for the first time.
Of course, other people have tried to address this issue online before, too. Unfortunately, those that we have seen do this have typically provided very few facts to support their conclusions. Unless evidence is provided to a reasonable degree, an uninformed “conclusion” is really only an assumption of fact. To assume that something is true, and then argue that it is true because of that assumption, is known in logic as the informal fallacy “begging the question” (also known as, “circular reasoning”). You simply cannot “prove” that an unsubstantiated assumption is true by that very same assumption. That is patently absurd — and certainly prone to rejection by others.
Worse yet, too often these same people also insist that Kenneth Copeland is specifically a “33rd degree” Mason. Again, this is mere speculation that is based upon the very same “begging the question” fallacy we just discussed. So since these people have no more evidence to support such a specific assertion of a particular degree, than they did regarding their more general accusation of the Copeland family’s Masonic affiliation, the accusers tend to lack ANY serious credibility with people who actively follow the teachings of the Copeland family (among whom Donna and I were once ourselves, by the way…so I know of that of which I speak). These speculating accusers simply come across as outlandish and kooky ranters, rather than sincere people presenting the truth about the matter.
Such fallacious assumptions, as those that I just discussed above, are of no help to anybody. They only serve to convince most Copeland followers that there is actually no concrete evidence available to support such a Masonic accusation.
However, this resulting false assumption by Copeland followers is also based upon at least two informal logical fallacies. The first is a form of an “appeal to ignorance,” wherein they falsely assume that because a point HAS NOT been proven before, that it CANNOT be proven at all. The second fallacy, however, is the same “begging the question” error that the accusers have often based their charges upon. Herein, the Copeland followers have themselves first assumed that the Copelands are NOT Freemasons, and then they cite the lack of evidence as the “proof” of that assumption — thus, the mix of the two fallacies — as they proceed to then argue that the Copelands are “innocent” of such charges.
Nevertheless, despite the ambiguity of the debate to date, there is actually quite a lot of evidence that the Copelands are, in fact, Freemasons.
We have been examining the issue at length for some time now, and have gathered information from KCM’s own website and other places — and even OTHER countries — which seems to demand a “verdict” of “guilty” regarding their Masonic connections. Thus, we seem to be far better equipped to address this issue than those who have attempted to do so before us.
Therefore, within this series of articles, we will provide both copious evidence and sound analysis of the available facts. And, as always, we will provide our readers with many downloads, which can be examined more closely offline — as thoroughly as you desire.
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Start by Downloading Your Copy
To begin, however, we highly recommend that you download a copy of this very article as a backup.For those of you who can read English, we have provided it here for you in an Adobe “Portable Document Format” (PDF) version. This will not only allow you to archive it for offline viewing, but it will also provide you a handy PDF version of this entire article, which you can then email to others (such as KCM and EMIC staff) and/or post it upon your own website:
To Download: Simply “right-click” with your mouse (or if you are using a laptop, try either “control-click” or “option-click”) to see the menu, and then select “save target as” (PC) or “save link as” (Mac) to download this PDF file to your computer.
All of the Adobe PDF downloads on this page may be freely redistributed for non-commercial purposes by email, on a website, or by any other means. Adobe PDF Reader v. 9.0 or higher is required for viewing ALL the PDF files on this page. However, this application is FREE, and can be obtained by clicking on the following graphic::
For those of you who are reading this page in another language, however, you will need to use the green “Print/PDF” button at the top of this page in order to create your own PDF file within your own language. (And if you are not yet seeing this page in your own language, you will find the translator feature at the top of the right column of this page. Simply select your language by clicking upon the flag of any country that speaks it.)
So now that you have hopefully downloaded your own copy of this article using the link above, we can move on with our discussion.
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What’s the Big Deal?
Of course, before we can begin examining the evidence itself, we must first answer a few questions. And, of course, the preeminent question among these is, “So what? What if the Copelands ARE Freemasons…what is so bad about that?”
Simply put, this first post of this series has been designed with the intention of providing our readers a great quantity of information regarding Freemasonry before we get into a serious examination of the evidence regarding the Copeland family specifically. To begin let me, in brief, offer the following list of the key problems to be considered with regard to Masonic membership (by anyone, including the Copelands):
Although it claims to be “ancient,” Speculative Freemasonry (i.e., the only kind that exists today, versus the original trade guild that it supplanted) began circa 1717 A.D., in England. Therefore, the only things that are truly “ancient” within Freemasonry are the occult practices and doctrines (e.g., cabala, Eastern mysticism, etc.), which they have adopted as their own. Thus, by misrepresenting itself as “ancient” when it is not, the entire organization is a lying fraud, or an “imposture.”
Although its members claim that it is benevolent, and even “founded upon Christian principles,” this is an outright lie which they are trained to explain to others, due to their Masonic oaths to conceal the true facts. Their alleged “benevolence” (e.g., building “children’s hospitals,” like the Shriners tend to advertise) has been their practice only since the 1830s, due to their public exposure during the First Anti-Masonic Movement (i.e., such “charity” is solely for “public relations” purposes); it consumes only a small fraction of their revenues (most of which goes toward their parties and other uses); and such limited “charity” CANNOT DO ANYTHING to erase the evil nature of the institution itself. In short, such claims are mere “whitewash on dirty tombs” (note Matthew 23:27). Thus, every member of this organization, by conveying such hypocritical “red herrings” and factual distortions to non-Masons, is a lying fraud, or an “impostor.”
The actual oaths sworn by its members — beginning at the very first “degree” called the “Entered Apprentice” — include the penalty of a violent execution of the betraying Mason (i.e., their murder), should the candidate reveal ANY of that degree’s secrets to others (even to other Freemasons of lower rank). And these oaths are required BEFORE the person is even told what the “secrets” are to which they are swearing to protect. Thus, every member of this organization MUST be considered a false witness regarding the institution whose “secrets” they swore to defend — which oaths are under no less than the penalty of death.
The actual ceremonies include lying myths (fabrications) about the Bible, and people of the Scriptures (e.g., Solomon, Enoch, Tubal-Cain, and even Jesus Christ, etc.), which become more and more blasphemous as the Masons advance in “degrees” higher and higher. Thus, every Freemason is a blasphemer and heretic by the mere fact that they took such oaths and participated within those ceremonies — but also because they often actually SECRETIVELY BELIEVE those myths, as if they were true, although they rarely disclose that publicly to others.
History tells us that there really have been actual murders committed in order to cover up the secrets of this “institution” (e.g., Captain William Morgan in 1826), and beginning at the 7th degree of “Royal Arch Mason,” Freemasons begin to swear to conceal such murders and to protect the murderers. Worse yet, beginning at the 12th degree in the Scottish Rite, blasphemously named the “Holy and Thrice Illustrious Order of the Cross,” they actually swear to actually performsevere persecutions of anybody betraying the “order” — which persecutions can (and historically, did at times) include murder. And thus, even at the lowest degrees, every Mason is an accomplice to murder — by default — simply because they actively support this murderously evil institution.
And etc…and etc…and etc. The list above sums up only a FEW of the major issues. However, the materials that I will provide for you further below expose so much more than the brief outline I have revealed above.
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A President’s Take on Things
President John Quincy Adams(the sixth U.S. President, and the son of John Adams, the second U.S. President) wrote extensively AGAINST the institution of Freemasonry. He summed it all up nicely in one of his letters to a high-level Freemason, Colonel William L. Stone — a “Knight Templar,” who had to drink wine from a real human skull in order to obtain that “degree” through the rite of the “Fifth Libation” (which occult rite is also practiced by satanists, by the way). This man had ceased his active involvement in the lodge, but was not fully repentant and willing to FULLY secede from membership.
Nevertheless, Colonel Stone was quite upset about the William Morgan murder. And although he tried to minimize the evil nature of the institution through somewhat of an apologetic approach with his answers to Mr. Adams’ inquiries, he was still often quite honest about certain facts within his written replies on many points. Thus, he was persecuted by his fellow Masons for further exposing their evil history and practices (and confirming what was already exposed), despite the fact that he was only reluctantly providing the information that he did.
The following is the text from that letter. However, please note that the footnotes (found at the bottom of this webpage), and the bracketed notes within the text, are mine; and I provided them simply for additional clarity:
Dear Sir:—Long, and, I fear, tedious, as you have found my last letter, I was compelled by a reluctance at making it longer, to compress the observations in it upon the intrinsic nature of the Masonic oaths, obligations, and penalties within a compass insufficient to disclose my opinion, and the reasons upon which it is founded.
I had said to you that the institution of Freemasonry was vicious, in its first step, the initiation oath, obligation, and penalty of the Entered Apprentice [i.e., the first degree]. To sustain this opinion, I assigned to you five reasons. Because they were,
1. Contrary to the laws of the land, extra-judicially [i.e., outside of a court of law] taken and administered.
2. In violation of the positive precept of Jesus Christ [i.e., to not swear any extra-judicial oath at all; see Matthew 5:33-37].
3. A pledge to keep undefined secrets, the swearer being ignorant of their nature.
4. A pledge to the penalty of death for violation of the oath.
5. A pledge to a mode of death—cruel, unusual, unfit for utterance from human lips.
If, in the statement of these five objections, upon principles of law, religion, and morals, there be anything unsound, I invite you to point it out. But if you contest either of my positions, I must entreat you not to travel out of the record.
I might ask you not to consider it a refutation of either of these reasons, to say that you and all other honest and honorable Masons have never so understood or practiced upon this oath, obligation, and penalty. The inquiry is not what you practice, or that of others has been, but what is the obligation, its oath, and its penalty.
I must request of you to give me no explanation of this oath, obligation, and penalty, directly contrary to their unequivocal import—that you will not explain black by saying that it means white, or even by alleging that you so understand it. I particularly beg not to be told that honorable, intelligent, and virtuous men—George Washington and Joseph Warren for example—understood that the penalty of death for treachery meant the death of martyrdom for fidelity.
I would willingly be spared the necessity of replying to the averment [i.e., positive statement] that the patterns of honor and virtue whom I have just named, with a long catalogue [catalog] of such men, have taken this oath, and bound themselves to this obligation, under this penalty; for I might deem it proper to inquire whether the very act of binding such men, by such oath, to such obligation, under such penalty, is not among the sins of the institution.
I must ask you to suppose that such institution had never existed—that it were now to be formed, and that you were one of ten or twenty virtuous and intelligent men about to found a charitable and convivial secret association. Suppose a committee of such a meeting appointed to draw up a constitution for the society should report the Entered Apprentice’s oath, obligation, and penalty, as a form of initiation for the admission of members. I do not ask you whether you would vote for the acceptance of the report; but what would you think of the reporters?
I consider this as the true and only test of the inherent and essential character of Masonry, and it was under this conviction that I told you that the Entered Apprentice’s oath was sufficient to settle, in my mind, the immoral character of the institution.
It is, perhaps, too much to ask of you an explicit assent to these positions, because you may consider it an acknowledgment of error. But this is the first and fundamental consideration, from which I draw the conclusion that Masonry ought forever to be abolished. It is wrong—essentially wrong—a seed of evil, which can never produce any good. It may perish in the ground—it may never rise to bear fruit; but whatever fruit it does bear must be rank poison; it can never prove a blessing but by its barrenness.
My objections to this seminal principle of Masonry apply, in all their force, to the single obligation, the form of which is given in the appendix to your volume (page 3), where it is stated to have been the only obligation, taken for all three degrees, so late as 1730, when only three degrees of Masonry were known. The oath is in fewer words, but more comprehensive; for the obligation is to keep “the secrets or secrecy of Masons or Masonry.” There is indeed a qualification in the promise not to write, print, mark, &c., which seems to keep the obligations within the verge of the law. For the promise is to reveal nothing whereby the secret might be unlawfully obtained. The penalty is also death, not for constancy, but for treachery, ” so that there shall be no remembrance of me among Masons.”
The oath, obligation, and penalty, the only one taken in all the degrees of Masonry known but one century ago, is the prolific parent of all the degrees, and all the oaths, obligations, and penalties since invented, and of the whole progeny of crimes descended from them. The natural and unavoidable tendency of such an obligation is the multiplication of its kind. This tendency is among the most obvious causes, which have led to the interdiction of all such oaths and obligations, by the civil, the ecclesiastical, and the moral law. The obligation is to keep undefined secrets. As they are undefined in the obligation itself, there is nothing in the constitutions of Masonry to define them, or to secure uniformity either of the secrets or of the obligations. Every lodge may vary the secrets, obligations, and penalties; and, accordingly, they have been so varied that scarcely any two adhering Masons give the same account of them. Almost the only defense of Masonry, after the publication, of the books of David Bernard and Avery Allyn, consisted in efforts to discredit them, by denying that the oaths, obligations, and penalties were truly stated by them. A secret institution in three degrees, the secret of each degree being withheld from the members of the degrees inferior to it, is a perpetual temptation to the initiated to multiply the secrets and the degrees. Thus it is that the lodges have grown into chapters, the chapters into encampments, the encampments into consistories; and, so long ago as December, 1802, the grand inspectors of the United States of America issued, at Charleston, South Carolina, a circular announcing the existence and names of the thirty-three degrees of Masonry.
The secrets, to the keeping of which the Entered Apprentice is sworn, are indefinite. In genuine Masonry, when revealed to him, he finds them frivolous. You acknowledged that your first feeling upon receiving them was disappointment. So must it be with every reflecting, intelligent man; nor is it conceivable that any such Entered Apprentice, on leaving the lodge after his admission, should fail to have observed, with pain and mortification, the contrast between the awful solemnity of the oath which he has taken, and the extreme insignificance of the secrets revealed to him. It is to meet this unavoidable impression that the institution is graduated. The lure of curiosity is still held out, and its attractive power is sinewed,[2] by the very disappointment which the apprentice has experienced. He takes the degrees of Fellowcraft and Master Mason, and still finds disappointment—still finds himself bound by tremendous oaths to keep trifling and frivolous secrets. The practice of the institution is deceptive and fraudulent. It holds out to him a promise which it never performs. Its promise is light; its performance is darkness.
But it introduces him to intimate, confidential, and exclusive relations, with a select and limited circle of other men—and to the same confidential and exclusive relations, with great multitudes of men belonging to every civilized nation throughout the globe. The Entered Apprentice’s oath is merely an oath of secrecy; but the candidate who takes it has pledged himself, by his application for admission, to conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the fraternity. And the charge of the master, given him upon the Bible, compasses, and square, presents him with three precious jewels—a listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful heart—all, of course, exclusively applicable to the secrets revealed to him; and he is told that the listening ear teaches him to listen to the instructions of the worshipful master, but more especially to the cries of a worthy distressed brother; and the faithful heart teaches him to be faithful to the instructions of the worshipful master at all times, but more especially to keep and conceal the secrets of Masonry, and those of a brother, when given to him in charge as such, that they may remain as secure and inviolable in his (the Entered Apprentice’s) breast as in his (the brother’s) own. Two check-words are also presented to him—truth and union—the explanation of which concludes that the heart and tongue of Freemasons join in promoting each other’s welfare, and rejoicing in each other’s prosperity.
Thus the essential nature of the Entered Apprentice’s oath, preceded by his pledge to conform to all the established usages and customs of the fraternity, and followed by the charge of the master, is secret and exclusive favor, assistance, and fidelity to the brotherhood and brothers of the craft.
Now combine together the disappointment which every intelligent accepted Mason must feel, at the puerility of the secrets revealed to him, compared with the appalling solemnity of the oath exacted from him for the purchase of his lambskin apron, and the secret ties with which he has linked himself with multitudes of other men, exclusively to favor, assist, and be faithful to each other, and acknowledge that the temptation to make the secrets more important, and to turn them to better account to the craft, must be irresistible. Judge this system a priori,[3] without reference to any of the consequences, which it has produced, and say if human ingenuity could invent an engine better suited to conspiracy of any kind. The Entered Apprentice returns from the lodge with his curiosity stimulated, his imagination bewildered, and his reason disappointed. The mixture of religion and morality, blended with falsehood and imposture, which pervade all the ceremonies of initiation, is like arsenic mingled up with balm.
“Most dangerous
Is that temptation which doth lead us on
To sin in loving virtue.”
If the candidate has been educated to a sincere and heart-felt reverence for religion and the Bible, and if he exercises his reason he knows that all the tales of Jachin and Boaz, of Solomon’s temple, of Hiram Abiff and Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubehim, are impostures—poisons poured into the perennial fountain of truth—traditions exactly resembling those reprobated [i.e., denounced as reprobate and ungodly] by Jesus Christ, as making the word of God of none effect. If, as in this age but too often happens, he enters the lodge a skeptic, the use of the Bible there, if it have any effect upon him, will turn him out a confirmed infidel. The sincere and rational believer in the gospel can find no confirmation of his faith in the unwarrantable uses made of the Holy Scriptures to shed an unction of their sanctity around the fabulous fabric of Freemasonry; while the reprobate miscreant will be taught the uses to which fraud and secrecy may turn the lessons of piety and virtue, inculcated in the sublimest effusions of divine inspiration. In those Scriptures we are told that when “the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God,” they became idolaters, and were carried into captivity. Their cities then were soon filled with a mongrel race of Babylonians and Assyrians, who perverted the word of God with the impostures of paganism; burned their children in fire, to the gods of Sepharvaim; and “feared the Lord and served their graven images,”—an emblem of Freemasonry far more illustrative of its character than the tragedy of Hiram Abiff.[4]
The Entered Apprentice’s oath is, therefore, in its own nature, a seminal principle of conspiracy; and this objection applies to the only oath originally taken in all the degrees of Freemasonry at its first institution. The ostensible primitive purposes of Freemasonry were all comprised in good fellowship. But to good fellowship, whether of labor or refreshment, neither secrecy, nor oath, nor penalties are necessary or congenial. In the original institution of Freemasonry there was then an ostensible and a secret object, and by the graduation of the order the means were supplied of converting it to any evil purpose of associated power, screened from the danger of detection. Hence, all the bitter fruits which the institution has borne in Germany, in France, in Mexico, and lastly, in this our beloved country. Nor could they have failed to be produced in Great Britain, but that, by sharp and biting statutes, they have been confined within the limits of the ostensible object of the brotherhood—good fellowship.
[I] am, with much respect, dear sir,
Your friend and servant,
—John Quincy Adams
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The foregoing discourse by Mr. Adams is well stated, indeed. And I will provide you a copy of the book from which that letter was taken, further below, along with several others.
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Possible Responses
Now, before we proceed further, we need to investigate the possible responses which could emanate from Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” (KCM) and/or the family members themselves, as people take the PDF copies of these pages and forward them to KCM for a response.
(By the way, KCM has blocked this website from their internal network, so that their employees cannot see its content. So it is useless to send them a link when inquiring about their response, because the employees simply cannot see the articles. Instead, download the PDF version of each article, which we will provide you near the top of every page, like we did further above within this article too. Then email those PDF files to KCM — or whomever else you wish to send them to — and ask them in the body of your email to respond to these allegations and the associated evidence we will be presenting within each article of this series.)
Now, what are the possible responses from KCM and/or the family members about the facts we will be presenting within this series of articles? Well…
They could admit it, and repent:
Obviously, this would be our hope. Since we believe that the evidence is quite conclusive, it would certainly be in the best interest of Kenneth Copeland and his family (and any staff who are also Freemasons) to research the materials that I will present on this page further below, and to understand how deceived they have been for all these many years. Then, upon such a discovery, it would be best for them to repent of their involvement in Freemasonry and all their other sins, and to throw themselves upon the mercy of God at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and get saved.
(Yes, I mean get saved for the first time…please note my article, Is Kenneth Copeland SAVED? for OTHER evidence that none of them are currently saved; and this is in addition to the Masonic evidence that I will provide in this series that seems to prove that none of them EVER were truly born again, because they have been heretic Freemasons with a “different Jesus” and believing a “different gospel” all this time…see Galatians chapter one and 2 Corinthians chapter 11.)
However, if they DO actually repent and get saved, they will also need to PUBLICLY admit their sins and errors, and apologize to all those they have affected by their subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) perverted doctrines. They would ALSO have to PUBLICLY denounce Freemasonry, and send letters to the lodges/groups of which they are members renouncing their membership forever.
They could deny it:
Of course, the next logical possibility is that KCM could deny the allegations, and try to explain why there is so much evidence that they have Masonic affiliation. If they DO attempt to deny it, however, then such denials should:
Come from the mouths of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and their family members, THEMSELVES…and not merely some press release written by a lower-level employee (i.e., peon) somewhere down below them, who may personally have no idea what the Copelands are involved in.
They should also PUBLICLY denounce the institution of Freemasonry, and expose its heinous nature within their public teaching (i.e., on the BVOV television broadcast, within the BVOV magazine, and during KCM meetings, etc.), and advise people to stay away from that ungodly institution.
They could try to “redefine” it:
This is actually a very popular method among publicly-professing “Christians” who are really hypocritical Freemasons. (Note: All Freemasons are — by logical necessity, as demonstrated by their very behavior — liars and hypocrites. They are all liars, because they have sworn oaths to mislead and deceive people about what Freemasonry is, and what they really do and believe therein. They are all hypocrites because they publicly, and among non-Mason family and friends, display one set of beliefs and behaviors, while privately, and among other Masons, they believe and do something else. All liars are hypocrites, because they say one thing, but believe another thing to actually be true. All hypocrites are liars, because they act one way in one setting, but another way within another setting. So by logical necessity, ALL Freemasons are both liars and hypocrites.)
Masons especially attempt this tactic whenever they admit (because they are “cornered” by the facts) that they are Masons, because they then try to paint the organization as “benign” or as a “mere fraternity,” or in some other way as “less evil” than it really is. However, even non-admitting Masons will use this tactic, because their oaths require them to protect the “secrets” of the Masonry in every way possible, whether people KNOW they are Masons or not.
Probably the most popular way this tactic is implemented (especially by secret Masons claiming publicly to be “Christians”) is by claiming that Freemasonry was largely “benign” (i.e., tame, innocent, etc.) before Albert Pike (1809-1891) came along and messed it up. However, the facts clearly refute this idea. Albert Pike did not become a Freemason until he joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1840 (the “Odd Fellows” being one of many Masonic groups); and he did not obtain widespread influence over Freemasonry in general until he became the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite’s Southern Jurisdiction in 1859.
And if you did not notice it before, you will see that the letter above by President John Quincy Adams was written in 1832 — well BEFORE Albert Pike even became a Mason, much less became an issue. (And I will provide you evidence below from the late 1700s which details the history of the blasphemous expansion of Freemasonry in Europe, which most certainly came to America through Freemasons like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others, who were known to frequent those very same lodges.) Furthermore, Mr. Adams proved that from the VERY first “degree” of “Entered Apprentice” the oaths, obligations, and practices of Freemasonry are blasphemous, heinous and harmful to any civilized society (and again, that degree was present from the beginning, when the Freemasons was merely a trade guild, although it expanded quickly to three degrees in England once “Speculative Freemasonry” was born in 1717 A.D.).
Another similar tactic along this line is merely to change the subject, and to not address the question directly. This is called in logic a “red herring,” because it is intended to get people to drop the subject by distracting them with something else. However, the Copelands need to DIRECTLY address these questions if any reasonable person is going to believe that they are anything ELSE but active Freemasons.
They could remain silent on the issue:
This has been the FAVORITE tactic used so far by the Copelands to date. Questions about their involvement in Freemasonry have swirled around since at least the early 1980s. Yet, they have NEVER publicly addressed the question AT ALL personally in any way. Interestingly, this is actually FURTHER PROOF that they are most likely Freemasons.
Why is this the case? Because this particular tactic has been the “standard practice” of Freemasonry ever since Edward Livingston, Secretary of State under President Andrew Jackson (also a Freemason), became the “general grand high-priest” of the American lodges in 1830. President John Quincy Adam’s son, Charles Adams, explains this tactic’s history (bracketed notes and emphasis mine):
…Some [Freemasons, who had high-profile positions in society] had the assurance publicly to deny the truth of all the allegations made against Masonry, and further to affirm that they had never taken obligations as Masons not compatible with their duties as citizens [which is a lie, of course]. Others—and the most important of these was Edward Livingston, then uniting with the possession of one of the chief posts of responsibility in the general government, that of the highest dignity in the Masonic hierarchy, made vacant by the death of Clinton,—deemed it the part of wisdom to remain sullenly dumb, abstaining from all controversy, and suffering the [Antimasonic] excitement against Masons to blow over and spend itself in vain. In this spirit Mr. Livingston proceeded to deliver what he called an Address to the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States, upon the occasion of his installation as general grand high-priest. He recommended that all attacks made upon the order to which they belonged should be met with dignified silence — as if dignified silence were not equally a resource for the most atrocious criminal and for the most unspotted citizen….
In other words, by merely offering “dignified silence” in answer to questions about Freemasonry, and its blasphemous oaths, rites, and beliefs, the tactic was to essentially leave some doubt in the minds others by the Masons’ refusal to discuss the matter at all. They hoped to wait until opposition had subsided enough to let the whole controversy die down, and then act like it never happened. And as Charles Adams pointed out above, “dignified silence” might be used by a criminal to hide their crimes, as much as by an “unspotted” (i.e., innocent) citizen to bypass an untrue or absurd accusation. Nevertheless, by leaving “doubt” in the mind of the other person whether the Masons is in the either criminal or moral-citizen category, this rather BRILLIANT tactic proved to be the best for helping to calm the public Anti-Masonry fervor (which had started when the Masonic execution-murder of Captain William Morgan had been reported widely). This worked better than any other method the Masons had attempted to employ to their favor beforehand.
Consequently, this has become the PRIME tactic employed ever since, and seems to be the VERY one that the Copeland family have relied upon since the first major discussions of this issue began back no later than 1984.
Thus, this point needs to be very well implanted in the minds of our readers: If the Copelands REFUSE to address — in a substantive way — the many documented facts that this series will make public, then that will itself be further PROOF that they are actually Freemasons.
So to summarize our discussion within this subsection, these are the three most likely reactions by the Copeland family regarding this series of articles, and the documentation therein — documentation that will prove to the satisfaction of most reasonable people, that most (if not all) of the Copeland family are Freemasons:
They might admit, in the light of the significant evidence, that this is the reality (which will take several articles in this series to reveal in a reasonably full manner), and also repent, get saved, and denounce the various Masonic organizations in which they were formerly involved.
They might try to change the subject through distraction, and/or try to “redefine” Freemasonry as something that it is not — regardless of whether they admit their involvement or not.
They might continue with the same “dignified silence” tactic that they have already used for 30 years or more, which is the primary standard tactic of most Masons — and thus, a tacit admission that they are really Freemasons.
REGARDLESS of which method of response they choose: It should be quite evident to my readers by this point how utterly important it is for EACH of the Copelands to PERSONALLY — i.e., not through intermediaries — answer these charges, and to explain all of the evidence against them, if they want ANY reasonable person to conclude ANYTHING OTHER than that they are all active FREEMASONS.
In fact, Jesus said as much Himself when He explained clearly:
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be EXPOSED. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
(John 3:19-21, NKJV, Words of Christ in read, emphasis mine)
So nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ explained what I have stated further above. Namely, that if the Copelands are innocent of all Masonic allegations, and “doing truth” in their actions, personal beliefs, and doctrines, then they will willingly “come to the light” and publicly address this matter. They will clearly,unequivocally — and PERSONALLY — state what they believe to be the truth. Either they were Freemasons, and have since repented, and will now denounce that heinous “institution” and all its subgroup derivatives; or they will clearly state that they were never Masons, and will instead offer (hopefully) a very reasonable explanation for all the Masonic evidence that we will examine, which indicates that really are Masons.
However, if they continue their “dignified silence” tactic — or in any way try to distract everyone from this subject, or to paint Freemasonry in a “better light” than what both modern facts and history convey — then it will be clear to every thinking person that they have truly been Freemasons for all these years — and thus, liars and hypocrites, that still need to repent and get saved. If they choose to “love darkness” by hiding from this subject, and/or trying to obscure it, then Jesus said the reason they will be doing that is because they are “doing evil” behind the scenes.So any attempt to avoid the “light” will be PROOF POSITIVE that the Copelands “hate” even the slightest amount of “exposure” on the Freemason subject.
It is really that simple.
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FREE Resources About Freemasonry
Now that I have introduced the subject matter, and covered somewhat the reasons why it is important to know whether the Copeland family (and their other staff) are Freemasons or not; and discussed their need to ADDRESS this issue personally and publicly; I think we have ALMOST built a solid foundation, upon which the evidence in the following articles of this series can be understood.
Nevertheless, before we head into the first article of this series, I think it is VERY important to also first provide you with some additional resource downloads about the subject for your offline review. So the following documents and MP3 audio files, are all 100% FREE materials that will help you tremendously to learn more about the TRUE history of this evil group (and the many Masonic subgroups).
Let me note that many of these digital copies of books are historical, dating back as far as 1798, while others are more recent. However, the age of the historical ones is not a problem because nearly EVERY Masonic lodge puts “ancient rite,” or refers to the “ancient landmarks” of the institution, upon their websites. As I mentioned before, this is a lie, because there is nothing “ancient” about them — except the occult practices that they have adopted since 1717 A.D. However, the fact that they even PUT such statements on their websites confirms that what they practice today is essentially the same heinous oaths, obligations, rites, blasphemies, and practices, that are revealed in these historical books.
The only difference TODAY is that there are MORE Masonic groups (e.g., women’s groups, youth groups, and even “Black Masons” lodges, etc.) than there were back when those were originally written. Nevertheless, since even the “new” groups have the same evil root as original Freemasonry, I highly suggest that you take a moment to download all of these resources (both modern and historical) before proceeding to the next article.
DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS: I suggest that you create a folder on your computer for these files. Once you do, then “right-click” with your mouse on the following graphic images, and then select either “save target as” (if you are using a Windows PC) or “save link as” (if you are using a Mac) from the menu which appears. That will open the download window. Then navigate within that new download window to the folder that you created on your computer, and save each file into that special place. (Note: If you are using a laptop without a mouse, then often a “control-click” or an “option-click” does the same thing as a “right-click” on a mouse.)
Any exceptions to the download instructions above will be noted underneath the graphic image in a special caption.
Note: All of the documents below are now in the public domain (i.e., are not in copyright) because of either their age, or because they have been placed into the public domain by their authors. The audio MP3 series, however, is protected by a registered U.S. Copyright, but is offered under a FREE “Creative Commons License,” which allows the free use and redistribution of the files (which license is explained on the special download page for that series).
So according to the available information, you can freely download ALL of these resources, and share them with others as well.
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Modern Resources:
“Codex Magica” by Texe Marrs: This first book has been put into the public domain by its author. This resource focuses more on the occult aspects of the various Masonic groups than their history or ceremonies. However, its main advantage is that it is loaded with over 1,000 photographs/images of actual Masonic handshakes and occultic signs. You will likely be quite surprised by many of the images and their captions.
It is important that you least download this resource and scroll through the pages looking at the photographs and artwork, because this it will prepare you for the KCM materials that we will provide in subsequent articles of this series. (File size: About 32 MB)
(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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“The Order of the Eastern Star”: This anonymous paper on the nefarious women’s Masonic group is extremely well-researched, and features a very respectable number of footnotes and a surprisingly large bibliography for such a short essay. However, its value as a resource regarding this female Freemason organization cannot be understated, because we will be examining the signs and symbols within KCM material that indicate that even the women of the Copeland family (e.g., Gloria and Kellie in particular) are members of this blasphemous group. (File size: Only about 100 KB)
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(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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Click the graphic image above to open the Archive.org download page in a new browser window, where you will find separate download instructions.
“The Fundamentals of the REAL Gospel”: This is a FREE audio MP3 series which I recorded, and which you can download FREE of charge from the Archive.org page for this series. Therein, the main subject is, of course, what the title itself conveys. There is no other topic more important in the Bible, because it is only by the REAL Gospel that we can be saved — and all true doctrines of Christ flow from a correct understanding of this “cornerstone” subject. So understanding this subject more clearly provides a critical component whereby you can more easily identify truth from error.
Furthermore, herein I also covered many relates side-topics, to include discussions of various heretical groups, including Freemasons. I also discuss the Copelands themselves within this series at several points, and make a few points regarding Masonic influence upon their doctrines. Thus, this is a great audio teaching resource…but don’t take my word for it. Here are a couple of excerpts from the reviews on the download page itself:
“…We had better know WHAT the REAL gospel is! With so many voices speaking today, it is a blessing to hear a CLEAR, BIBLICALLY sound voice in Rich Vermillion who is able to skilfully explain and define what the REAL gospel is. He lays a solid foundaion from both history and Scripture and teaches from an open heart, often baring his own heart before us. I laughed with Rich, I cried with him, and I shouted Hallelujah many times as I listened to this awesome series. It is equally valuable to new believers as it is to seasoned, mature ones. And unlike so many “teachers” out there, Rich is not making merchandise of the Body of Christ because he gives it away at no charge….” (by Aletha64)
“…Whether you are a babe in Christ or a grizzled vet, you will absolutely enjoy this series on the fundamentals of the Gospel! Rich does an outstanding job of laying a great foundation for the series early on, as will be evidenced as you go further along. This series is very informative!…Rich tells you numerous times not to take his word for it, but to search the scriptures for yourself. He makes it clear that this series is about the basic fundamentals of the Gospel, and not an indepth study, HOWEVER, you feel like it is really indepth….” (by MrJaybee)
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Historical Resources:
“Letters and Addresses on Freemasonry” by President John Quincy Adams: This amazing collection of President Adams’ writings on the subject is where I derived the quotes further above within this very article. Trained as both a lawyer and logician, Mr. Adam’s logic and arguments against Freemasonry are irrefutable — and he based them also upon an extensive research of the facts.
I highly suggest that you begin reading this book with the Introduction by Charles Francis Adams (his son), in which the murder of Captain William Morgan is described in some detail throughout the discourse. But then, I suggest that you proceed to read Mr. Adams’ marvelous “Address to the People of Massachusetts,” which begins on page 269 of the book. Therein, Mr. Adams goes into great detail how he became involved in the Anti-Masonry Movement, how he confronted the issue, and the many outrageous and vile persecutions that came against him because of his efforts to oppose this evil “institution” on behalf of civilized society, the Church — and even for the sake of sane rationality itself. This is an amazing book, indeed. (File size: About 13 MB)
(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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“Proofs of A Conspiracy” by John Robison: Another amazing historical book on the subject, this 3rd edition, printed in 1798 A.D., is actually a scanned copy from the personal library of President John Adams, the 2nd U.S. President (and father of President John Quincy Adams). Proofs of A Conspiracy was widely distributed around Europe and, to a slightly lesser degree, the Americas. It exposed a documented conspiracy to overthrow the governments of Europe through the Masonic lodges by the “Bavarian Illuminati,” and its publication resulted in the raid of that evil group’s Bavarian offices and the arrest of many of its members. It was highly respected and esteemed in that day by government leaders, officials, academics, and clergy alike.
Interestingly, Mr. Robison was himself a 3rd degree “Master Mason,” and is actually quite benevolent toward the institution as it was practiced up to that degree. However, he strongly denounced the subsequent degrees and their perversions, blasphemies, and evil nature — and he explains how those more perverted degrees actually came into being, and how the Masons were largely responsible for the French Revolution…even explaining HOW they pulled it off! To show you how credible this book — and its author — was in that day, the Grand Lodge of England today still only officially recognizes the first three degrees of Masonry (though it is widely known that they have many “unofficial” Masons of higher degrees therein too).
Mr. John Quincy Adams mentions this book within his writings above in such a way as to make it plain that he was quite familiar with its contents too.
I will note, however, that the fonts used in printing during that time are quite strange looking to our own eyes today. The letter “s” was printed back then with a typeface very similar to a cursive “f,” as we would think of it. So it will take a little getting used to that fact as you read the text. There are also French and German terms/places mentioned therein with which you might be unfamiliar (unless you speak those languages, of course). But once you get used to the typeface used in printing the book, you should not have very much problem following the captivating narrative as he takes you “behind the scenes” of many of Europe’s most famous historical events — and shows you things that the “history books” you read back in school have strangely left out. (File size: About 45 MB)
(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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“Light on Masonry” by (Elder) David Bernard: This book is the second expose’ book ever published on Freemasonry, having been published just three short years after the Masonic execution (murder) of Captain William Morgan.
Without question, the personal testimony of this Baptist minister is compelling and shocking. He was an active Freemason — and an “Intimate Secretary” in the “Lodge of Perfection,” making him quite privy to the secrets of the order — when the news spread through the lodges that Morgan had been executed by Masons. He objected to the crime, and was then persecuted himself for not agreeing with this horrible act. So he left the lodge, and became one of the leaders of “seceding Masons” (i.e., ex-Masons, or those who left the order) and served as the Secretary of the Convention of Seceding Masons — which convention authorized, and even assisted in, the drafting of his book.
Begin by reading at the very front and through the Introduction — but do not stop there. This book not only contains the “secrets” of forty-eight (48) degrees of Freemasonry, but it also contains the sworn testimony of some of those involved in the court inquiries after of the murder of William Morgan (including the testimony of his bereaved widow).
Starting on page 514, there is also the wonderful “Candid Appeal to Professors of Religion…” [i.e., those professing to be Christians] “…Upon the Subject of Speculative Freemasonry,” written by Beriah B. Hotchkin, who was the “Ruling Elder in the First Presbyterian Church in LeRoy, New York.” This is a MUST-READ for anyone who professes to be a Christian, and especially those who have had ANY contact with Freemasonry. (And I also highly recommend my own article, The Supreme Value of Righteousness, as well.)
Many other wonderful and/or shocking things are recorded in this book too. So let me please allow President John Quincy Adams to further encourage you to read this work. This is what he stated within his “Address to the People of Massachusetts” about this particular book of Brother David Bernard (bracketed notes mine):
…It was not until the fourth of July, 1828, that the convention of seceding Masons, held at Le Roy, made public the secrets, oaths, obligations, and penalties of the higher degrees. Nor were the proceedings of that convention made known to me till I found them in David Bernard’s [book], Light on Masonry.
To that book and its author permit me, my fellow-citizens, while recommending it to your perusal and meditation, to offer the tribute of unfeigned respect—a tribute the more richly deserved for the slanders which Masonic benevolence and charity have showered upon them. Elder David Bernard was a minister of the Genesee Baptist Association in the State of New York. He was a man of good repute, and of blameless life and conversation. Like many others, he was ensnared into the taking of fifteen degrees of Masonry, and was the intimate secretary of the Lodge of Perfection. He was one of the first seceders from the order [i.e., those seceding from, or leaving, Freemasonry], and from that time underwent every possible persecution from Masons, and the frequent danger of his life. Among the most interesting documents demonstrating the true spirit of Masonry, which have appeared in the course of this controversy, is the plain and unaffected narrative of the treatment which he received, and of the scenes which he witnessed at the meetings of lodges and chapters, before the murder of Morgan as well as after, from the time when it was projected in them. That it was so projected is established by his testimony, confirmatory of numerous other demonstrated facts.
To David Bernard, perhaps more than to any other man, the world is indebted for the revelation of the most execrable mysteries of Masonry, nor could he, as a minister of the word of God, have performed a service to his country and his fellow-Christians more suitable to his sacred functions. It was principally by his exertions that the Le Roy convention of seceding Masons assembled and published the oaths, obligations, and penalties of the higher degrees of the order…
This quote was taken from pages 278-280 of Adams’ book, “Letters and Addresses on Freemasonry,” listed above for your download. (File size: About 77 MB)
(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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“Letters on Freemasonry” by (Elder) John G. Stearns: This is another of remarkable text from history, which I will allow Rev. Charles G. Finney to introduce to you this time:
They kidnapped Morgan and for a time concealed him in the magazine of the United States Fort—Fort Niagara, at the mouth of Niagara River, where it empties into Lake Ontario. They kept him there until they could arrange to dispatch him. In the meantime, the greatest efforts were made to discover his whereabouts, and what the Masons had done with him. Strong suspicions came finally to be entertained that he was confined in that fort; and the Masons, finding that those suspicions were abroad, hastened his death. Two or three have since, upon their deathbed, confessed their part in the transaction. They drowned him in the Niagara River. The account of the manner in which this was done will be found in a book published by Elder Stearns, a Baptist elder. The book is entitled “Stearns on Masonry.” It contains the deathbed confession of one of the murderers of William Morgan. On page 311, of that work, you will find that confession.
Note: Finney was referring to Stearn’s first book, Stearns on Masonry, which was later re-written by Mr. Stearns and then re-published as “Letters on Masonry.” The same confession mentioned by Mr. Finney above, however, is found on page 17 of this 1860 edition of Brother Stearns’ second book. (File size: About 4 MB)
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“The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings, of Freemasonry” by Rev. Charles G. Finney: This is probably one of the most famous historical books on the subject of Masonry within Christendom today, as citations from it appear all over the Internet.
Originally published in 1869, this book presents one of the most logical and biblical attacks on Freemasonry ever produced. And no wonder! Rev. Finney was himself a Master Mason before his conversion to Christ, but immediately recognized that the oaths and practices of that “institution” — even at only the 1st degree — was completely incompatible with his new found faith in Jesus Christ. So he left the lodge, and began his studies for the ministry, while continuing his practice as a lawyer for a season. Many years later, as a veteran minister, and with the keen eye of a lawyer to point out facts and to present his case, Finney produced a book which was to become one of the chief catalysts for the more subdued Second Anti-Masonic Movement within the United States and England, which began about 1850, accelerated after this book was published in 1869, and then continued in different intensities until about 1910.
Again, this book is found mentioned all over the Internet, and has even been re-printed by some. However, I found myself questioning the authenticity of those versions, because they had all been newly typeset. Knowing how the Masons have distorted the original William Morgan book (published posthumously by the printer, i.e., after Morgan’s murder) in order to deceive people about the true nature of Freemasonry, I was skeptical whether ANY of the modern versions were actually true to Finney’s original text. (By the way, that also means that we should never trust any alleged “copy” of Morgan’s Anti-Masonic book, because many counterfeits were produced.)
Therefore, I embarked upon a research project to find an ORIGINAL 1869 edition of the book — and FOUND one in the archives of an Ohio historical society. After paying the fees to have them copy this fragile old book on their special copier (which copies from above, hence the need for them to hold down the pages with pencils in order to make a good copy), they produced a set and shipped me a photocopy of the entire original book.
This PDF file that I offer to you above, is a scan of those photocopies; and I give it to you free of charge — although I had to pay reproduction charges for my own copy. (File size: About 20 MB)
(Right-click the image, and then select either “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download)
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“A Ritual of Freemasonry” by Avery Allyn: Last, but certainly not least, is another of the original Anti-Masonic books published during the First (and most intense) Anti-Masonic Movement. It has often been compared with Bernard’s, which came right before it. However, this later 1853 edition has the added benefit of wood carving illustrations, which demonstrate the different aspects of the initiation rites (there were no illustrations within the 1829 edition of Bernard’s Light on Masonry).
Furthermore, Mr. Allyn’s own testimony is unique to his own experience, and certainly worth reading. He makes special mention of hypocritical “ministers” throughout his introduction, who he witnessed within the lodges. Thus, Brother Allyn’s book brings forth a viewpoint that is VERY appropriate to our discussion of the Copelands. Lastly, Mr. Allyn made numerous footnote comments throughout his book, which provide very helpful insights. Perhaps that is one reason why Mr. Finney chose to quote from Mr. Allyn’s book more than any other, when he wrote his own masterpiece above — and it is quoted within Mr. Adams’ book above as well. (File size: About 37 MB)
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Website Resources:
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There are also a few outstanding websites that are available for your perusal. I will list what I deem to be the most important one first, and then list the subsequent ones in alphabetical order thereafter:
SaintsAlive.com (Saint’s Alive): This website is particularly important because it will detail to you facts about BOTH Freemasonry and Mormonism (which are quite intertwined with each other). Have you noticed how the Copelands and other alleged “Christian” ministers (e.g., David Barton, Joel Osteen, etc.) have embraced and/or endorsed Mormons as being “Christians”? People such as Glen Beck (for whom Gloria Copeland spoke in Washington, D.C.) and former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, are two people that have been commonly referred to as “Christians” numerous times, despite the fact that they themselves emphasize that they are “Mormons.”
From left to right: David Barton, Stephen Swisher, Glenn Beck, Kellie Copeland Swisher, and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX). (Click to enlarge)
When you study the resources at the above ex-Mormon website, you will discover the reason for this: Any Mormon who has received a Temple recommend, has become a Freemason. In fact, both Freemasons and Mormons are buried after they die, with a “lambskin apron” upon their bodies, which they believe will “cover their sins” before God in the Great White Throne judgement (see Revelation chapter twenty) — much like Adam and Eve falsely assumed that mere “fig leaves” were enough to cover their own nakedness before God. (See Genesis chapter 3 for the Bible’s account of Adam and Eve; and I also suggest that you read both this article and this article on the Saints Alive website for a discussion of the Mormon/Masonic beliefs about judgment and the identical nature of their initiation rites.)
Thus, we find a shockingly simple “minister test” that we can use, as we identify why certain alleged “ministers” have endorsed Mormons as “Christians”: The very fact that any alleged “minister” would call a Mormon by the term “Christian,” or even “Christian brother,” reveals that either: (A) the alleged “minister” in question is a theological idiot, for he/she does not understand that Mormon doctrine is a counterfeit of, and opposed to, the genuine doctrines of Christ; (B) the alleged “minister” is actually a Freemason, and thus, they genuinely consider the Mormon to be their “brother” or “sister” from that perspective; or even more likely, (C) both of these are true. (Ponder that for a while.)
Ephesians5-11.org (Ephesians 5:11): This website was created by ex-Masons, with the purpose of calling current Freemasons to repent of their membership, and to call them to a genuine faith in Christ. It also has the purpose of teaching Christians how to evangelize Masons. The website’s design is old, and thus, its navigation is a bit “clunky.” Nevertheless, the content of this website is excellent and I highly recommend it.
EMFJ.org (Ex-Masons For Jesus): This website is also very excellent, but due to the similarities in appearance, I suspect that it is hosted by the same group of ex-Masons (or perhaps it was designed by the same person for different groups). Nevertheless, again, the content is very good, despite the somewhat antiquated appearance and navigation. It also seems to be designed with a slightly different purpose in mind.
Who Do We Believe?
In the minds of some, however, the question might arise how reliable the above resources might be regarding the “institution” of Freemasonry. After all, Masons often deny such evil occurs within the lodges, and they often deny that they have themselves uttered such blasphemous oaths and heresies as are reported by others. And those who have reached the degrees of Knight Templar and Knights of Malta, and higher, certainly are prone to deny that they drank wine from real human skulls, as a part of their initiation rites.
And frankly, when a husband or parent, or sibling, or a dear friend, or their pastor or some other “trusted” individual, denies such allegations, one can be very easily persuaded to believe the “best” of that respected individual or loved one, rather than to question them further. Who wants to believe that they live with someone who drank wine from a real human skull? Who wants to believe that their parents were so vile as to swear to have their own throats cut if they reveal the silly “secrets” of their lodge? And who wants to believe that their pastor or favorite “preacher,” who is so publicly pious, could be so secretly hideous?
Mr. Adams notes very well the uncomfortable dilemma that one alleged “preacher of the gospel” found himself in during the inquiries following the death of Captain Morgan. When he was questioned about his oaths as a Knight Templar, he found himself both unwilling and unable to answer the question honestly:
In the Rhode Island investigations another witness, a minister of the gospel, upon being asked if he had drank wine from a human skull, answered, “I do not know that it can affect the interest of anyone whether I drank wine out of a skull, a tin-cup, or a basin.” A third witness declined answering the question.
(Excerpted from page 247 of the edition provided above.)
Facing the “death penalty” of his horrific and obscene oaths on one hand, and the judicial oath to provide only true testimony on the other, the fool was unable to answer the question directly — and this does not even take into account the probable disgust and shock of his parishioners, should they have ever known what demonic practices he was participating in covertly.
Frankly, when addressing the issue in regard to someone you had previously trusted, just the idea that something like that MIGHT have happened is a shock to one’s sense of reality; and thus, we can understand why a person can be prone to quickly accept the evasive “testimony” of the Mason — i.e., rather than enduring the psychological effects of admitting that the person in question has such an evil “dark side” that was hidden from their view.
(Indeed, one really has to consider Masons as essentiallyschizophrenic, because of the “split personality” that they all have due to the demonic influences that have warped their inner character.)
So who should be believed?Should the active Masons be believed? How about the ex-Masons? What about the never-Masons, such as President John Quincy Adams (and myself), who instead rely upon the testimony of ex-Masons?
Well, the good Reverend Charles G. Finney answered that question with amazing clarity and logic — from the perspective of a former lawyer (which, again, he was, prior to his own salvation). In chapter three of his book on Freemasonry above, he explains:
…(2.) We cannot learn what Masonry is from the oral testimony of adhering Masons.
Let it be pondered well that everyone of them is under oath to conceal and in no way whatever to reveal the secrets of the order. This Freemasons do not deny. Hence, if they are asked if the books in which Masonry has been published are true, they will either evade the question or else they will lie; and they are under oath to do so.
Observe, adhering Masons are the men who still acknowledge the binding obligation of their oaths. Now, if they are asked if those books truly reveal Masonry, they consider themselves under an obligation to deny it, if they say anything about it. And, as they are well aware that to refuse to say anything about it is a virtual acknowledgment that the books are true, and would therefore be an indirect revelation of Masonry; they will almost universally deny that the books are true. Some of them are ashamed to say anything more than that there is some truth and a great deal of falsehood in them.
(3.) As they are under oath to conceal the secrets of Masonry, and in no wise whatever to reveal any part of them, their testimony in regard to the truthfulness or untruthfulness of those books is of no value whatever. It is mere madness to receive the testimony of men who are under oath, and under the most horrid oaths that can be taken—oaths sustained by the most terrific penalties that can be named to conceal their secrets and to deny that they have been published, and that those books contain them—l say it is downright madness to receive the testimony of such men, it matters not who they are. Masons have no right to expect an intelligent person to believe their denials that these books have truly revealed Masonry. Nor have they a right to complain if we reject their testimony. What would they have us do? Shall we believe the testimony of men who admit that they are under oath to conceal and never in any way reveal the secrets of their order, when they deny that their secrets are revealed in certain books? And shall we ignore the testimony of thousands who have conscientiously renounced those horrid oaths, at the hazard of their lives, and declared with one accord, and many of them under the sanction of judicial oaths lawfully administered, that Morgan, Bernard and others have truly revealed the secrets of Freemasonry? There are at this day thousands of most conscientious men who are ready to testify on oath that those, books contain a substantially correct exposition of Freemasonry as it was and is. I say again that Freemasons have no right to expect us to believe their denials; for while they adhere to Masonry they are under oath to “conceal and never reveal” any part of its secrets and of course they must expressly or impliedly deny every revelation of its secrets that can be made….
…Renouncing Masons are the best possible witnesses by whom to prove what Masonry really is. ( a. ) They are competent witnesses. They testify from their own personal knowledge of what it is. (b.) They are in the highest degree credible witnesses. First, because they testify against themselves. They confess their own wrong in having taken those terrible oaths, and in having had any part in sustaining the institution. Secondly, their testimony is given with the certainty of incurring a most unrelenting persecution. Adhering Freemasons are under oath to persecute them, to destroy their characters, and to seek to bring them to condign punishment. This we shall see when we come to examine the books. Adhering Masons have persecuted, and still persecute, those that reveal their secrets, just as far as they dace. They are in the highest degree intolerant, and this every Mason knows. In a recent number of their great Masonic organ, published in New York, they advise the Masons in Oberlin in no way to patronize those who oppose them. Those who renounce Masonry are well aware of their danger. Hut, notwithstanding, they are constrained by their consciences, by the fear and love of God, and by regard to the interests of their country, to renounce and expose it. Now, surely, witnesses that testify under such circumstances are entitled to credit; especially as they could have had no conceivable motive for deceiving the public. Their testimony was wrung from them by conscience. And the authors of the books that I have named, together with several others—such as Richardson, Stearns, and Mr. Allyn, and I know not how many others—are sustained by the testimony of forty-five thousand who publicly renounced Masonry, out of a little more than fifty thousand that composed the whole number of Freemasons then in the United States….And, further, let it be distinctly observed that, as they adhered to Masonry, their testimony is null, be cause they still regarded themselves as under oath in no wise to reveal their secrets; consequently, they would, of course, deny that these books had truly revealed Masonry. I say again, it is mere madness to receive their testimony….
(Excerpted from chapter three, found on pages 23-29 of the original book.)
And since what I have provided you within this article has come from the most “competent” and “highly credible” witnesses of times past, including many ex-Masons, what we have discussed within this first article of this series can be replied upon — as can the amazing resources I have provided you above, for your own study and perusal.
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Closing Comments
Now that we have laid a firm foundation for the remainder of this series, it is time for us to begin looking at the body of evidence that indicates quite convincingly that the Copeland family members are — and indeed, probably have always been — active Freemasons. Before we do, however, just a few closing comments are in order.
First, let me note that this will take SEVERAL articles within the series for me to populate this website with a fairly representative sampling of the plentiful evidence that is available. Thus, with the first “evidence” article that follows this one, I am really only introducing the first few items to be examined.
For many people, that initial sampling of evidence will be all that is required for them to reach a “verdict” within their own minds. However, others, such as the most ardent Copeland followers, will still be reluctant to believe what their eyes can plainly see.
Nevertheless, give me time to bring forth the full number of articles within this series (which will be added only sporadically, as my time permits). Once I have finished laying out my “case” regarding their Masonic involvement fully, I suspect that very few will find themselves still able to continue “defending” the Copeland family on this subject.
Second, as I mentioned near the top of this article, it is very absurd for someone to try and claim that Kenneth Copeland is of a specific “degree” — especially the 33rd degree — apart from VERY specific evidence to support such a thesis. That said, however, when such evidence IS PRESENT, we can logically infer from such facts that Kenneth Copeland must be “at least” certain degrees.
For example, the “Order of the Eastern Star” is a Masonic subgroup that was designed for the female family members of Master Masons (3rd degree) and above. So when we can logically infer from the evidence (that we will eventually see within this series) that the women of the Copeland family are members of the Order of the Eastern Star, we can ALSO infer logically that Kenneth must at least be a Master Mason by that same evidence — because he would have to be one in order for them to be able to join that other group.
In a similar manner, we will note from specific signs and doctrines that Kenneth Copeland must “at least” have taken the oaths of certain other higher degrees too, because these degrees are logically implied by particular signs, and the Masonic doctrines that Kenneth has slipped into his teaching throughout the years. So by the end of this series, we will have arrived at a certain “minimum degree” for Kenneth — but, of course, that does not necessarily mean that he has NOT been initiated to sill higher degrees than that one.
Third, let me note that, as we state at the top of every page of this website, we are STILL first and foremost “Calling on the man, his family, his alleged ‘ministry’ — PLUS his many other self-serving ‘wolf’ friends — to simply repent… and get SAVED.” Thus, again, our object here is REDEMPTIVE. We do NOT want the Copelands (or their staff, followers, friends, etc.) to go to HELL!
So it is to this end that we are now, after all this time, devoting a series to this subject.
Fourth, let me note that should the Copelands actually publicly admit their Masonic involvement, repent thereof, and get saved, and begin to demonstrate actual “good fruits” of salvation (e.g., see Acts 26:20; Titus 2:11-15; 1 John chapter 3; etc.), then we will no longer need to continue this series. So if such a wonderful thing occurs, then we will probably just post an excited “testimony” article as the last post instead. Oh, what a joy it would be to give God praise and glory by such a post!
And now, with these three closing points, let us now move to the first “evidence” post of this series in order to begin our investigation. I hope that you have already downloaded the resources I have provided you above. If so, then please click the Facebook “Recommend” button below, and/or one of the other “share” buttons at the bottom of this page, in order to share this information with others.
Then simply click on the following link to proceed to the next article:
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COMING SOON!
Hey, give me a break! I had to take four days out of my VERY busy schedule in order to construct THIS article that you just read — along with gathering for you all the resources that are here for you to download. I plan to get back to work on the first “evidence” sub-article for this series very soon (which is already started) and get that published.
Besides all that, you will need time to review all of the download resources from above anyway! So while you wait for me to complete the next article, you can get busy downloading all of the materials, and then review them.
Check back here soon, however, to see if I have finished the first “evidence” post and have it up for you to read. I will replace this note with the actual link, once I do. Or better yet, you can sign up for Google’s Feedburner™ email notifications of newly published articles, by clicking here. This FREE service will enable you to automatically receive a notice when the next post has been published (as well as notifications of any other new articles that we might publish in the future on this website, unless you decide to unsubscribe later). To ensure you get these notifications, however, please be sure to look for the “confirmation email” that will come as soon as you submit your email address. You will need to click the link that is provided therein FIRST in order to FULLY activate your subscription.
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Always in Jesus,
-Rich Vermillion
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[1] Colonel William Leets Stone (1792-1844). A biography from The Encyclopedia Britannica Dictionary, Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, Ninth Edition, Volume 22, of 1894, describes him as “a journalist and miscellaneous writer, born in Esopus, New York, was removed to an Indian mission in the western part of the State during childhood, acquired his vocation at Cooperstown, edited newspapers at Herkimer, Hudson, Albany and Hartford, settling down in 1821 as editor and proprietor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, until his death at Saratoga Springs. His political influence was large, and he was noted for his sprightly wit. The more elaborate products of his pen relate to the exposure of mystery and to biography of an historical cast. Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry (1832) addressed to John Quincy Adams was his contribution to the Morgan excitement in western New York.”
Col. Stone was himself a Freemason. President John Quincy Adam’s son, Charles Francis Adams, described his father’s discourses with Mr. Stone as, “It is proper to state that the letters to Colonel William L. Stone, of New York, were in reply to letters addressed to him by Mr. Stone in apology [i.e., defense], though not in justification, of the Masonic institution. In these letters, he [President Adams] shows most clearly the absurdity of those apologies [i.e., defensive arguments] by one who, though he had abandoned the lodge, still had not formally seceded from the order. (Click here to return to the text)
[3] A priori is a Latin term used within logic. It literally means, “From what is before,” and refers to a process of forming conclusions in a “cause and effect” manner from the propositions given beforehand, that are known to be true. In this case, Mr. Adams is asking Mr. Stone to simply think out the facts that he already knows, and to draw the obvious conclusion that such an institution as Freemasonry, with its particular characteristics, naturally produces conspiracy and evil. (Click here to return to the text)
A New (and FREE) Audio MP3 Project Has Been Launched
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We are VERY excited to announce the release of a new audio MP3 teaching series that we — along with an international team of volunteers that assisted us — have assembled for your edification.
Best yet:We are GIVING IT AWAY for FREE to anybody and everybody who would like to have a copy.
Yes, the infamous televangelist, Kenneth Copeland, is mentioned from time to time throughout this series. Given our history rebuking the man and his family, they make very appropriate examples of false teachers during the course of the teaching. However, the main focus of the series is how to identify the REAL Gospel of Jesus Christ given “once and for all” to the Church, in contrast to the nearly infinite number of counterfeits being propagated in the world today:
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Jude vs.3-4, NKJV, emphasis mine)
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
(Galatians 1:6-10, NKJV, emphasis mine)
A very REAL Jesus went to a very REAL cross, to die a very REAL death, and to provide a very REAL salvation to all those who will believe. After His resurrection, He then explained to His apostles a very REAL Gospel by which men can be saved. Anything that varies from what Jesus DIED to provide to humanity — which was clearly articulated by the apostles — is, by definition, “heresy.”
And although the TRUTH of the REAL Gospel is easily found within the Bible, the world is today full of FALSE “gospels.” Concerning these, Paul by the Spirit said above that they are “not another” gospel, because they damn you instead of saving you (see also Galatians 5:2-4). The heretics who promote such twisted false “gospels” distort the original message through subtle tricks and logical fallacies, and then offer a “different savior” than what the Bible teaches:
Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!…
…But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(2 Corinthians 11:1-4 & 12-15, emphasis mine)
Unfortunately, Kenneth Copeland and his family are also false ministers, spreading damnable heresies (which are also called “doctrines of demons” in 1 Timothy 4:1). Consequently, I explain a few of their more obvious false teachings at various points during this series. In fact, I even reveal therein some of their subtle tactics by which the Copelands make their false doctrines seem plausible to their audiences.
Also, the Copelands are NOT the only people mentioned by name within this MP3 project. Several others, which likewise influence many people by their false doctrines, are also mentioned. And a few entire groups of heretics (e.g. false pseud-christian cults) are also identified and explained to some degree.
Nevertheless, again, the main point of the series is to clearly identify from the Scriptures what the ORIGINAL APOSTLES preached in order to reveal the REAL Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not to simply point out heretics and their false doctrines. But since this series also teaches how to spot false doctrines, and the false ministers who spread them, it is important that I give some examples like these along the way.
(By the way: I also named herein many of the historical preachers who proclaimed the REAL Gospel, so you can see that godly men and women from many denominational backgrounds understood these same truths.)
The following graphic link will take you the announcement page onRichVermillion.com where you will find more information about this important project — which was actually written by a dear sister in Christ in Canada, in collaboration with our entire international project team. You will also find the download instructions on that same page as well:
(Click the graphic to view the announcement page within a new browser window.)
Or you can copy/paste the following URL into your web browser in order to navigate to that page:
“Creflo” Post Updated to Reflect Daughter’s 911 Call
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We are again VERY saddened to update our previous post about Creflo Dollar’s alleged attack on his 15-year old daughter, but embedding the audio recording of her 911 call. We have also added significant further commentary, and have expanded the “Further Information” subsection slightly too. These changes have essentially doubled the size of the original article, and thus, are certainly important new developments to review.
From time to time as this story develops, we will likely update that original post further — but only as needed. This is a very disquieting subject, and thus, we do not want to overly dwell upon it within this website (or personally). However, since Creflo and Taffi Dollar are close friends of the Copelands, and are often featured on the television broadcasts and in their conventions, it is important that our readership be somewhat informed of these things as it reflects heavily upon the character of the Copelands themselves.
Always in Jesus,
-Rich
P.S. Again, to view the new content on our previous article about this subject, simply go to Creflo Dollar: Arrested for Attacking Daughter, and scroll down to see the new subsection marked, “UPDATE June 12, 2012.”
(Last updated Jan 26, 2013: Scroll down to see the new additions)
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This news report graphic contains the actual mug shot photo released today by the police department.
We are VERY saddened to inform our readers of the following news regarding Creflo Dollar, who is a close friend of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. It is being widely reported in the news now that Creflo was arrested early today, June 8th, 2012, at his home, for allegedly assaulting one of his daughters in the kitchen of their house. The 15-year old girl was allegedly “choked,” “punched,” and “slapped,” and even “slammed on the floor,” where further battery was reported to have taken place.
Details are still emerging, of course, as this event just happened today. Therefore, we should assume that we do NOT know the full story of those events. However, the police report lists the following specific charges:
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Observed: 3899 Family Offense Free Text
Additional Offense: 1313 Simple Assault/Battery
Additional Offense: 3802 Cruelty Toward Child
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Obviously, this is a very serious thing and should be cause for sadness for us all. Whatever the full truth of the matter, the emotional and psychological effects of such an incident are NOTHING to be snickered at, but should rather cause godly Christians everywhere to pray for every family member involved.
We are also concerned that this may NOT have been an isolated incident. It should be noted that Creflo has been known to use references to some of the most heinous violence even when “teaching” publicly. Within our article here on this website, Creflo Dollar Says: “Shoot Them All Dead”, there is an audio recording of Creflo (with text transcription) wherein Creflo discusses his desire to murder “non-tithers” with Uzis, and to have them buried within a mass grave behind the building in which his alleged “church” is housed. Here is an excerpt from that transcription:
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…I mean, I thought about when we first built “The Dome,” I wanted to put some of those little moving bars and give everybody a little card. They’d stick it in a little computer slot. If they were tithing, beautiful music would go off and, you know, [Creflo sings] “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the World Dome.” [Congregation laughs.]
But…if they were non-tithers, the bar would lock up, the red and blue lights would start going, the siren would go off, and a voice would go out throughout the entire dome, “Crook, crook, crook, crook!” [Congregation laughs.] Security would go and apprehend them, and once we got them all together, we’d line them up in the front and pass out Uzis by the ushers and point our Uzis right at all those non-tithing members ’cause we want God to come to church, and at the count of three “Jesus”-es we’d shoot them all dead. And then we’d take them out the side door there, have a big hole, bury them, and then go ahead and have church and have the anointing. [Mostly silence in the congregation, but one or two still actually laugh.]
Aren’t you glad we’re under the Blood of Jesus? ["Yeah, yeah," from the congregation.] Because if we were not under the Blood of Jesus, I would certainly try it.
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In the light of the above quote from Creflo Dollar’s own recorded statements, the details from the police report are especially troubling. The following text is from the police officer’s narration of what he observed on the scene, beginning with the account given to him by the 15-year old who was allegedly assaulted:
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…She said that while they were in the kitchen, Mr. Dollar walked in and found her crying. He asked why she was crying and she stated to him IIi do not want to talk right now”. Juvenile Victim LD said when she s<iid that to Mr. Dollar, he charged her, and put his hands around her throat and began to choke her. She said he then slammed her to the ground and began to punch her and took his shoe off and started whooping her with it. While Juvenile Victim LD was speaking, I noticed a scratch on the right side of her neck close to her throat that was caused during the altercation. After speaking with the juvenile victim, I asked if she would fill out a witness statement and she agreed….
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When questioned separately by the officer on the scene, Creflo Dollar told a notably different version of the story:
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…Mr. Dollar said he walked into the kitchen and asked why she was upset. Dollar said that his daughter became very disrespectful and he approached her and tried to restrain her. Dollar stated that while restraining her, she began to hit back and then he wrestled her to the floor. He stated that while on the floor, he began to spank her on her bottom and the back of her legs. Dollar said after the spanking, his daughter calmed down and he advised her to go to her room….
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However, Creflo’s account was NOT supported by his other 19-year old daughter, who witnessed the entire event. Rather, her details mirrored that of the 15-year old daughter’s account rather closely (names were redacted from the original police report released to the public, and are noted by “[name redacted]” within the text below):
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After speaking with Mr. Dollar, I then spoke to [name redacted] the sister to the juvenile victim and Mr. Dollar’s nineteen year old daughter. She stated that she had walked into the kitchen where her sister was located. She said that her dad and sister had gotten into an argument. While in the kitchen, [name redacted] said her dad walked into the kitchen and asked why Juvenile Victim LD was crying. [Name redacted] said that her sister told him that she didn’t want to talk to him, and then said all she remembers is her dad grabbing her sister’s shoulders and slapping her in the face. She said her sister tried to break free from him and did not fight back. [Name redacted] stated that her dad then threw her sister on the ground, and that’s when [name redacted] ran to get her mother, Dollar, Taffi L. [name redacted]. [Name redacted] said that after her mother entered the room, her dad stopped hitting on her sister. [Name redacted] said that during the confrontation her dad put both hands around her sister’s neck her for about five seconds. I asked [name redacted] if she would write a witness statement and she agreed.
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This is an extremely serious situation, and one that should instigate serious prayer for this seemingly dysfunctional family.
However, this should ALSO highlight our same points made within Creflo Dollar Says: “Shoot Them All Dead” very dramatically, wherein we stated toward the end of that article:
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After all of this I should not have to say this, but if you are following Creflo Dollar, or anyone associated with him, get away. …
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UPDATE June 12, 2012:
The 911 call from Creflo Dollar’s daughter has been released to the public, and to our dismay, it SEEMS to confirm our suspicions stated above that this incident was NOT an isolated event.As is being reported today in The Christian Post, Creflo’s daughter told the 911 dispatcher that this was NOT the only time that this has happened:
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CP’s Katherine T. Phan Reporting: An audio tape of the 911 call made by megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar’s 15-year-old daughter has been released by the Fayette County Police Department. During the call made early Friday, the girl told the 911 operator that she was allegedly punched and choked by her father, adding that this was not the first time such an incident has happened.
“I just got an altercation with my father. He punched me and …(inaudible) choked me. It’s not the first time it’s happened. I feel threatened by being in this house,” the 15-year-old girl is heard telling the 911 operator.
“I don’t know what can be done but I’m scared. I’m shaking. I don’t…I don’t know what to do.”
The actual 911 call audio can be heard within the following embed, wherein his daughter is taking with the dispatcher at the 911 call center. The length of the recording is about 3 minutes and 41 second. Click on the following graphic to play the audio:
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(Audio only, click to play)
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The Christian Post article above includes details about Creflo Dollar’s public denials that he ever “punched” or otherwise physically abused his daughter in any way outside of the scope of standard “child discipline.” However, given the fact that the daughter claims that this was NOT the first time such a violent episode had happened, and as we discussed further above, Mr. Dollar has made VERY heinous and violent public statements before, we here atKennethCopelandBlog.comare very reluctant to believe Mr. Dollar’s denials. Again, the article reports the following statements from Dollar’s daughter’s account to the 911 call center:
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Dollar’s daughter told the 911 operator that they were arguing about her going to a party on Saturday. She said after her father brought up her grades, she started crying and then walked out of the room to the kitchen. The girl said her father followed behind her and asked why she was crying. When she told Dollar, “I do not want to talk to you,” he allegedly started to get physical.
“And he went off. He came, put his arm around my neck, choked me, and bent me over the table,” said the teenager in the audio recording of the 911 call.
“I threw him off of me. He threw me on the ground and punched me in my face. And this is going on for a good two, three minutes. And my mom came in the room and he stopped. And then my mom asked him what happened and he said that I hit him first, which is a lie.”
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So Creflo Dollar is publicly calling his daughter a liar. But the problem with his denial is that his OTHER daughter had already confirmed the 911 call account above, as she discussed the situation with the officer on the scene the night all of this happened. Again, from the CP article:
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Dollar’s 19-year-old daughter, who witnessed the altercation, corroborated her sister’s story to the police. At first, she gave a different account “due to her parents being outside with her while she was writing it,” according to the deputy’s report. In her second statement, made after being separated from her parents, the 19-year-old daughter said her father slapped and choked her younger sister.
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And thus, that means that Creflo Dollar is calling BOTH of his daughters liars by asserting that the public accounts in the police report and news media are not true accounts of what occurred. Perhaps he is correct, and both his daughters are liars. But would that not reflect upon his (and Taffi’s) parenting skills? And if so, why are they raising their kids to be liars? As we already discussed within The “Family Test“, one key requisite for ongoing public ministry is that the ministers have a well-managed home, with their kids being properly trained in the doctrines of Christ.
Furthermore, we have already documented within the theological section of Creflo Dollar Says: “Shoot Them All Dead”, that Creflo Dollar has LIED himself about the contents of Scripture in regard to how non-tithers were treated under the Old Testament. He stated quite clearly that they were “stoned to death,” and thus, used that as a justification to say how he would love to kill them with “uzis” and bury their bodies behind the building in a mass grave. But the Bible makes NO MENTION of anyone EVER being stoned to death over their failure to pay tithes, nor does it ever even HINT at such a penalty within the precepts of the Old Testament Scriptures.
So Creflo Dollar is ON RECORD as being a liar (and many more examples can be found on many YouTube videos), but now he claims that his two daughters are liars (implying accidentally that they learned that behavior at home). Therefore, it would seem that one of two situations is the truth:
Either ALL the involved members of the Dollar family are liars, and thus, the truth about this situation with his daughter may never come out.
Or…
Creflo Dollar is the chief liar, and thus, his two daughters’ accounts are the closest to the truth of what really happened that night.
In short, Creflo Dollar, by denying his two daughters’ stories, has essentially admitted that he is himself a liar, and raising his children to be liars. So how much credit should we give his public denial of the 911 call details and police report facts?
Nevertheless, we hope that the truth will come out in full, and the court system will have its opportunity to weight the evidence.
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Further Information:
Additional information is available about this tragic situation at these locations:
And last, but certainly not least, we highly recommend that you read the following article about Creflo Dollar and his violent form of heresy, on our article Creflo Dollar Says: “Shoot Them All Dead” as well. This is particularly true if you have been a “follower” of Mr. Dollar recently or in times past.
We are truly saddened by this latest development. Please join us in prayer that the truth will come out, that this seemingly dysfunctional family will get counseling — and that Creflo Dollar and the rest of the family will get truly BORN AGAIN and saved. I make this last statement because, we was discussed within our recent article Is Kenneth Copeland Saved?, the “fruit” of covetousness (which is present with Creflo too, plus violent heresy and alleged sins of assault) is proof positive, according to the Bible, that these people are NOT saved at present.
Again…please pray for the Dollar family — and especially for the two daughters involved, as this was surely a very horrifying experience for both of them in particular.
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Update January 26, 2013
Creflo Dollar avoided having to enter a plea into the court record, by having successfully completed a pre-trial intervention program on “Anger Management.” The full story, as reported in the Christian post, can be read at the following link:
I would still admonish our readers, in the light of all of the above, to please keep the Dollar family in prayer. May such a terrible incident NEVER happen again, for the sake of all the family members.
In extending the ”Are the Copelands Biblically Qualified for Ministry?” section of the Table of Contents page, it is necessary to begin with the obvious: Is Kenneth Copeland really saved? Is his family saved? Obviously, this is a MAJOR biblical prerequisite for Christian ministry!
So herein we will explore this extremely important issue in some detail, by examining the behavior of the Copeland family, and the facts that surround their alleged “ministry,” in the light of God’s holy Word. We will look at what the government investigation has found so far in regard to the Copelands’ use of donor funds for their own personal gain, as well as some things to which we ourselves are privy to directly. We will also review several investigative news report videos for further details.
Obviously, this is the MOST important article that we have posted to date here on this website. We do not offer to you these facts—or our analysis thereof—lightly. Therefore, please review this information both prayerfully and with allseriousness—i.e. with proper regard to the eternal consequences of the solemn matters being discussed herein.
However, before we can get into the details regarding the Copelands themselves, we need to first discuss the overall purpose of the KennethCopelandBlog.com redemptive project, and then cover some theological foundations. At that point, we will be ready to focus upon the Copelands specifically and ponder this question, along with its eternal ramifications—that is, regarding the current state of their immortal souls.
UPDATE! (January 18, 2013): In addition to the points brought forward within this article, we have just launched a new “Freemasonry and the Copeland Family” section within our Table of Contents page. The first article of that series, Are the Copelands FREEMASONS?: Separating Fact from Fallacy, has already been published, and more articles will soon follow. So the question “Is Kenneth Copeland SAVED?” (as this present article asks), should probably be expanded to, “Were ANY of the Copelands EVER saved?” in the light of the evidence that the new series will bring forth.)
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A Redemptive Project
From the very beginning, this website and its related efforts, have been completely focused on the same agenda that God has demonstrated throughout His Word: Redemption. As we stated quite clearly within the About page on this website:
The premise behind KennethCopelandBlog.com is exactly what the byline says at the top of every page: Donna and I, along with our family, and those who work with us in ministry, are calling on Kenneth Copeland, his family, and ministry, to simply repent. As you proceed through this blog’s articles and videos—which begins on the Table of Contents page—you will readily see the redemption-focused nature of our efforts.
Of course, since we have actually known and worked with Kenneth Copeland personally, our insights into his ministry and practices makes this public rebuke far different that those of others on the Internet.
Please also keep in mind that this is a “minister to errant-minister” open rebuke (i.e. very similar to the one recorded within Galatians chapter 2)….
Of course, that is the goal of our most enthusiastic advocates to this project as well. We are all working together in order to see the Copeland family to repent of their many documentable sins (e.g. lying, fraud, heresy, etc.) while simultaneously warning others to stay away from what we believe to be a “wolf pack” that “hunts sheep” (i.e. defrauding God’s people in order to exploit them for their own self-serving purposes).
As for those who are guilty and persist in sin, rebuke and admonish them in the presence of all, so that the rest may be warned and stand in wholesome awe and fear.
(1 Timothy 5:20, Amplified Bible)
That said, Donna and I are too often quite appalled to see some “professing” Christians around on the Internet who actually seem to want the Copeland family to go to Hell! Oh, how disgusting a thought! Do these people not know what Hell is like? Have they never read the terrible descriptions of the Lake of Fire—the final destination of the damned? Where is their concern for the souls of our fellow human beings? Dear God! We cannot imagine EVER wishing that someone would be eternally damned! The Word of God says that Jesus went to the Cross specifically to prevent such a thing—if the person will accept His grace by faith and genuine repentance:
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
(Luke 24:46-47, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
(Acts 26:20, NKJV, emphasis mine)
ONLY an abominable and villainous person WANTS to see the blood-bought plan of redemption thwarted in the life of ANY person! That is such a hideous thought! And it certainly cannot be pleasing to the Lord Jesus Who suffered excruciating torture so that those people would NOT have to go to Hell when they die, in order to await their final judgment!
I think Charles Spurgeon perhaps had the best insight about such people who claim to be Christians, and yet have such an ungodly disregard for the souls of men:
Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!
Oh, my friend…consider the words of brother Spurgeon above! Please check your own heart, and if you find it cold toward the eternal state of others, consider the state of your own soul!Unless you repent yourself of such a wicked heart, YOU may have the SAME eternal destination awaiting YOU as those who you wish to see damned!
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“Supporters”? Really?
As hideous a thing it surely is that someone could actually WISH that another be damned, it is just as abominable that some people can be indifferent to such a plight. I am amazed when I come across those who make excuses for others who—according to the Scriptures—are presently sinning their way to Hell. As “Mr. Anzalone” so coldheartedly stated in a comment to me (which full comment we featured within my article When Wolves Remove Their Clothes):
I am so upset at your blog against Brother Copeland…. [Whether] you are right or wrong. This is not the issue….
Whether we are “right or wrong” is NOT the issue?
Let’s put this into perspective: Whether we are RIGHT or WRONG about the Copelands going to HELL is NOT an issue that should be examined thoroughly for THEIR sakes? If we are RIGHT about their many documentable sins…then there is a HUGE chance that they are going to spend eternity in a Lake of Fire—if they do not repent! That is NOT “the” issue??? HOW STUPID! How UTTERLY COLD and HEARTLESS!
Oh, but again we need to look to Mr. Spurgeon’s bold observation! He so truthfully observed, “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you’re not saved yourself, be sure of that!” Can any person so unconcerned about the souls of the Copelands be saved themselves? Truly, the Lord Jesus spoke also of such fake “religious” people when He said:
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”
(Matthew 15:7-8, NKJV)
Whenever an alleged “Copeland supporter” contacts us in an attempt to dissuade us from our redemptive project, we know that we have ACTUALLY heard from a selfish person who has NO genuine concern for the Copelands and their spiritual welfare. These people are motivate by their OWN self-serving agendas, and could not care less if the Copelands go to Hell or not! Why is that?Because these idolatrous people do not have enough sense to be concerned about their OWN souls either!
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you…And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
(2 Peter 2:1-2 excerpt, NKJV)
To such indifferent people, the Copelands are simply the “sacred calves” that they worship as they seek their own “blessing” from following these “ear tickling” false ministers (note 2 Timothy 4:1-5). So since we here at KennethCopelandBlog.com touch their “idol” with our redemptive efforts—and have even dared to suggest that the documentable sins of this family are sufficient grounds to be concerned for their souls—these “supporters” are enraged!
But should they not rather be CONCERNED???Of course they SHOULD be!!! But such godly redemption-oriented thoughts never occur to such morally depraved people. They could not care anything about the Copelands souls because—as brother Spurgeon pointed out above—these alleged “supporters” are themselves blind to the fact that their own souls are in danger of damnation. If they do not have enough sense to care about their own fate, how can they care about the eternal fate of others?
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Unconverted “Ministers”
But of course, we need to address the obvious question that many people will have by this point in reading this article, “How can the Copelands NOT be saved, when they are ministers?” Well first, this begs the question, “Are they REALLY ministers of Christ?” As we saw within the example of the 2 Peter citation further above, the Bible talks about “false” ministers of different kinds. Consequently, cannot conclude that simply calling oneself a “minister” proves that they have actually been born again.
More importantly, the Bible is very clear also that such false ministers are either people who were NEVER born again in the first place, or those who are “twice dead” because they have fallen away from the true faith of Jesus Christ. However, since we will cite such passages later within this article, I will refrain from discussing those in detail now. Instead, let us now take note that, throughout Church history, the understanding that there are actually “unsaved clergy” in the pulpits of Christian churches is not a new concept.
Please note what one of the celebrated evangelists of the First Great Awakening, George Whitefield, had to say on this subject:
“Unconverted Ministers” points made by George Whitefield
Divine Warnings:
…The Lord enabled me to open my mouth boldly against unconverted ministers; to caution tutors to take care of their pupils; and also to advise ministers particularly to examine the experience of candidates for ordination. For I am verily persuaded the generality of preachers talk of an unknown and un-felt Christ; and the reason why congregations have been so dead is, because they have had dead men preaching to them. O that the Lord may quicken and revive them, for His own name’s sake! For how can dead men beget living children? It is true, indeed, God may convert men by the devil, if He pleases, and so He may by unconverted ministers; but I believe He seldom makes use of either of them for this purpose. No, the Lord will choose vessels made meet by the operation of the blessed Spirit for His sacred use….
Strange Fire:
…Unspeakable freedom God gave me while treating on this head. In the afternoon, I preached on the Common to about fifteen thousand people. Just as I had finished my sermon, a note was put up to me, wherein I was desired to pray for a person just entered upon the ministry, but under apprehension that he was unconverted. God enabled me to pray for him with my whole heart; and I hope that note will teach many others not to run before they can give an account of their conversion. If they do, they offer God “strange fire.”…I insisted much in my discourse upon the change of the new birth, and also the necessity of a minister’s being converted before he could preach Christ aright….
Unconverted Ministers:
…The word came with great power, and a great impression was made upon the people in all parts of the assembly. Many ministers were present. I did not spare them. Most of them thanked me for my plain dealing. But one was offended; and so would more of his stamp if I were to continue long in New England. For unconverted ministers are the bane of the Christian Church….At dinner, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me again, and enabled me to speak with such vigour against sending unconverted persons into the ministry, that two ministers, with tears in their eyes, publicly confessed, that they had laid their hands on young men, without so much as asking them whether they were born again of God or not. After dinner, finding my heart much enlarged, I prayed, and with such power, that most in the room were put under concern….
George Whitefield (1714-1770, emphasis mine); Source
Now please note what one of the most effective evangelists of the Second Great Awakening, Charles G. Finney, had to say to a group of candidates for ordination at Oberlin College—men who were seeking to enter into the sacred work of ministry:
“Ordination Sermon” (of 1842) by Charles G. Finney
…Ministers should take heed to the motives by which they are actuated in entering upon the great work of the ministry. Be careful, brethren, that you make no mistake on this point. See that your eye is single to the glory of God—that disinterested benevolence [i.e. selfless benevolence toward others] be the actuating principle of your life. Unless your eye is single, and your intention supremely and disinterestedly benevolent, you are ungodly men, and have no business in the ministry.
Take heed then that you are truly converted men—not merely convicted sinners, but regenerate men, men whose hearts are right with God, and whose great motive in entering the ministry is to glorify God in the salvation of men. Remember if you are not converted men when you enter the ministry, you are almost certain to go to Hell yourselves, and, so far as you have influence, to take your hearers with you. And remember too that it is altogether too common, for it to be taken for granted on all hands that ministers are really converted men, I must say, and dare not say less, that every year’s experience and observation forces upon me more and more the conviction that it is becoming alarmingly common in these days of pressing so many young men into the ministry, for multitudes to enter upon that sacred office who are not truly regenerate men.
We have had, in this place, instances, not a few, of your men coming to this Institution to prepare for the ministry, who have turned out to have no religion at all—have been here convicted and for the first time converted—young men who had been supposed in Churches from which they came, and by which they were recommended, not only to be truly converted men, but your men of more than common piety, and promising candidates for the Christian ministry. And but for those powerful revivals in this Institution which broke up their delusions, numbers of them would no doubt have been this day, in all their sins, engaged in the sacred office of the ministry. Take heed then to yourselves, brethren, that you know what it is to be born of God, and that you know what it is to have an eye single to his glory in entering upon this sacred work….
Charles G. Finney (1792-1875, emphasis and bracketed note mine)
“Oh,” someone might protest, “but the Copelands are ‘Pentecostals’ and speak in other tongues. Those men you cited above were from denominations that did not practice that, so there is a difference!” Oh, is that true? Let us consider what Jesus said about some professing “Pentecostals” and “Charismatics” in regard to eternal damnation:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
(Matthew 7:21-23, NKJV, emphasis mine)
The first two “qualifications” that these damned souls above claimed for themselves were clearly “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” practices—but yet they had “never” known the Lord! (Please note also that the third criteria of “good works” can include those practices found within other denominational traditions. Thus, it is not only “Pentecostals” or “Charismatics” that should take warning from the passage above.)
There is a genuine “tongues” just a there is genuine “prophecy” taught in the New Testament. But, my friend, there is ALSO such a thing as “fake tongues” just as much as there is “false prophecy.” A child can “mimic” speaking in tongues, and yet not have understood the Gospel nor actually been born again. Similarly, some have “spoken” in “tongues” merely because they were mimicking what their religious “tradition” told them…but according to Jesus, “many” of them will be shocked to know that they had never actually known Him as their Savior.
In fact, even a demoniac can speak in “other tongues”—people involved in the occult do it all the time!
So if you are relying upon the “Pentecostal” or “Charismatic” label to determine if the Copelands are saved—or even whether or not YOU are saved—then you are in very serious error. Obviously, such things CANNOT be biblical “tests” for salvation! (However, we will explore some “tests” later in this article that truly are scriptural.)
So in summary: The premise that the Copelands could have been in “active ministry” for many years—and yet, they might STILL be people that were either never born again, or which have perhaps fallen into apostasy and endangered their salvation—is a purely biblical concept, that has very deep roots within historical Christian theology.
Now let’s turn to consider the Scriptures more fully, and then begin our examination of the evidence that suggests very strongly that their souls are in danger…
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False Profession of Faith
Building upon the foundation already laid above, we can now take this article to the next logical point to be made. So let us now discuss the too-often ignored theological fact from the Scriptures: Namely, that NOT everybody who CLAIMS to be a Christian, really is one.
To begin, please note again the terrifying words of Jesus Christ Himself:
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it….
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
(Matthew 7:13-14 and 21-23, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Oh, the horror! It is very obvious from this declaration of Jesus that these terrified people had THOUGHT that they were Christians! These people had done “good works” on His behalf—or so they thought. Yet, despite their proclamations of Jesus’ Lordship and rehearsing of their religious deeds, Jesus tells them the fact of the matter which had escaped their notice up until this time: “I never knew you.”
Oh, the shock! These people THOUGHT that they were Christians, but the truth of the matter is that they had NEVER been born again! They had NEVER “known” the Lord intimately, DESPITE their religious speech and deeds. They had utterly failed to find the “narrow way” that leads to life, and discovered ONLY too late that they had lived on the “broad way” that leads to destruction and damnation!
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False Brethren
Another related issue is the fact that the Bible discussed “false brethren,” or in other words, unsaved “imposters” who infiltrate the Church of Jesus Christ:
Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”
(Galatians 2:3-5, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Notice that these “false brethren” sneaked in among God’s people! They did so “under cover.” These people were NOT genuine believers on the Lord Jesus Christ—and they KNEW that fact themselves! So what was their ungodly agenda? Note:
“To spy out our liberty.”
“To bring us into bondage.”
We will ignore the first one for this article, and instead focus only upon their MAIN purpose: Namely, “to bring us into bondage.” In Paul’s case, the people he was referencing had entered into the Church with the intention of commanding the Christians to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses (study the entire epistle of Galatians to see Paul’s full discourse on this subject by the Holy Spirit). This would, by necessity, cause them to lose their salvation by trusting in “works” for their salvation rather than in the finished work of Jesus upon the Cross—so this was a very critical issue (please note Galatians 5:1-4).
NEVERTHELESS: That is not the only kind of “false brother.” There are MANY false ministers today (as there were back then) who are not wanting merely to bring their captives under the power of their religious order (although that certainly still happens). Rather, the MAJORITY of such “false brethren” today seem to be those who want to exploit others for their own financial gain:
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber….They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness…For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
(An excerpt from 2 Peter chapter 2, NKJV, emphasis mine)
It is interesting to note how the King James Version of the Bible states verse three above as, “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.”
Driven by greed, they exploit those who they can lead captive by “feigned words.” Or as Paul expressed it in Romans 16:18, “For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.”
Have you been “simple” and led astray by any self-serving imposters? Continue to read and lets find out…
Did you notice the words that I put in bold type above within the 2 Peter passage? These “ministers” are like the greedy man named “Balaam” in the Scripture, who “for a price” was willing to teach the Moabites how to ensnare Israel and bring a curse upon them (click here to see all the Bible passages about Balaam). These false ministers “secretly” bring in their heresies. Thus, these “false” prophets and teachers are of the very same character as the “false brethren” that Paul discussed in Galatians so “stealthily came in” to do their dirty work.
GREED drives such false ministers, and they see the people of God as merely a source of material gain—to be “plundered” in order to satisfy their own worldly cravings. Does this kind of behavior happen to sound familiar? Does it perhaps sound similar to a biblical metaphor?
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Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Sandwiched in between Jesus’ warning about the difference between the “narrow way” and His warning that NOT everybody who professes to be a Christian really is one, is this very important teaching about wolves:
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven….
(Matthew 7:13-21, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Please note: These “false prophets”—like the false teachers of 2 Peter—are VERY “ravenous.” The Greek word translated “ravenous” is “harpax” (Strong’s #727), which means literally “a robber, an extortioner”; and thus, by extension, “rapacious, ravenous” (Thayer’s Lexicon). And the English word “rapacious” actually means “given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed” (Dictionary.com).
Furthermore, Jesus said that these people are “wolves.” He used an analogy of a stupid animal to describe them! This calls to mind the very frank description of such ungodly people from Jude’s epistle:
But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
(Jude vs. 10-11, NKJV, emphasis mine… see also 2 Peter 2:14-16)
Greedy for gain, like unthinking animals, they “hunt” for those that they can exploit to their own “profit.” Money is their true “god” (Matthew 6:24), and mere instinct drives them to pursue ungodly gain by “devouring” the true “sheep” of God.
Ah, but Jesus did not stop there! He also said, “inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” The Lord has just explained that their TRUE inner nature is as a greedy wolf, and that any “sheep” behavior that they exhibit is merely an external pretense. They put on such outward “Christian behavior” in order to go hunting, because their true inner nature is that they are UNSAVED wolves. Thus, in the very next verse, twenty-one, He says:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven….
Of course, we also saw above that there is a “narrow way” message from God’s Word that leads to life—but do you think such “wolves” would ever teach THAT message? No, they teach the “broad way” that leads to destruction instead. Why? Because it PAYS better (temporarily):
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!…
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
(Excerpts from 2 Timothy chapters 3 and 4, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Are we in the last days? Yes, most of us realized that we are. And what is the carnal “message” of the last days that will be sought after by those who have “itching ears”? The “fables” that appeal to their own desires. The KJV of verse 4:3 above says, “but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers…”. In these last days there are some “lovers of money” who are willing to PAY false ministers to teach them “fables.” This is surely one of the many “broad way” messages of today!
Oh, but remember that the Lord first cautioned about the “broad way”…then He warned about “wolves”…and THEN He then explained woefully, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” So who are those who follow that “broad way” and discover to their horror that they will NOT enter into heaven when after die?
BOTH the wolves AND those who embrace their doctrine.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
(1 Timothy 6:9, NKJV)
For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
(2 Peter 2:18-19, NKJV)
And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
(Luke 6:39-40, NKJV, emphasis mine)
So unsaved “wolves” prowl around camouflaged as “sheep.” Their are motivated by pure greed, and thus, their rapacious disposition drives them to “plunder” anyone they can deceive. They are “robbers, extortioners” by their very nature, and by religious means they “make merchandise” of others by appealing to the lusts of those they seek to prey upon.
And these ungodly “creatures” can be either false brethren which were NEVER born again…or they can be ones who are “twice dead” and have fallen into apostasy, and thus, have lost their salvation in Christ:
Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit…they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
(Jude excerpt, NKJV)
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Unsaved…Again
Within the Bible there is a doctrine found that is often MISLEADINGLY called “once saved always saved,” but is more properly called the “Doctrine of Eternal Security.” That teaching is biblical—BUT NOT as it is often taught today.
This important doctrine of Scripture simply asserts that if you are truly a born again believer in Christ, then you cannot “accidentally” lose your salvation, e.g. by a single act of sin. It is intended to provide comfort to those who sincerely love Christ and have faith in Him, but who are also (understandably) VERY aware of their own shortcomings and limitations.
As we “practice righteousness” we are going to make mistakes, just as one “practicing” an instrument (particularly a novice) will sometimes hit a wrong note. Such an incident—most especially for immature believers—will not “damn” a person, for these are typically minor mistakes. (However, serious and/or habitual sin indicates that they were likely never born again in the first place, as Titus 2:11-14 reveals, and as 1 John, chapter three, further explains quite clearly). Thus, the Lord comforts believers within the New Testament that they have “eternal security” in Him, and that even the devil himself is unable to “snatch” them out of His hand (e.g. John 10:28-29)—so long as they “remain in Him” willfully.
Note for example:
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
(Colossians 1:21-23, NKJV, emphasis mine)
And now, little children, abide (live, remain permanently) in Him, so that when He is made visible, we may have and enjoy perfect confidence (boldness, assurance) and not be ashamed and shrink from Him at His coming….
No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him--deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him].
(1 John 2:28 and 3:6, Amplified Bible)
Consequently, the biblical form of the “Doctrine of Eternal Security” was NEVER intended by God to imply that one could not walk away from Christ through apostasy, and thus, abandon His salvation. Such an idea was certainly NOT the doctrine of the apostles, as I have revealed already in the passages I quoted above. However, to ensure that no question is left in the minds of any, consider this passage too:
For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish…lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced….Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
(Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 12:19-13:5, NKJV)
Paul obviously knew that men and women could walk away from Christ. Thus, in Hebrews is says quite frankly:
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
(Hebrews 10:26-20, NKJV)
Is all hope lost regarding those who have sinned and walked away from Christ? Yes, in some cases; but thankfully, NO in others:
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame….
But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
(Hebrews 6:4-12 excerpt, NKJV)
Obviously, we are hopeful that—at least with some members of the Copeland family and KCM/EMIC leadership, as well as among their followers—there is still hope that they may YET be saved. In fact, that is the PURPOSE of this website, i.e. to seek and save those we believe to be presently lost.
Nevertheless, this important theological discussion would require too much space to elaborate upon more than I have already. Since we need to move on with the subject at hand, let’s now look briefly at how to “spot” the wolves and unsaved people in the midst of the church, and then turn to consider if the Copeland family is truly saved or not, thereafter…
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Biblical Tests of Faith
The question of how to “test” ourselves and others in regards to the genuineness of their faith in Christ, and true motives, is also found in the “wolf” analogy when Jesus stated, “You will know them by their fruits.” Or has John the apostle explained it quite clearly:
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
(1 John 3:4-10, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Notice that in discussing those who are SHOCKED to discover that they were never saved that Jesus said, “Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” Here, John says that “sin is lawlessness” and that those who PRACTICE sin habitually are those who have never been born again. Logically, we can extend this description to those who are “twice dead” as well, as such people ONCE AGAIN take on the character of those who have never been born again in the first place (see 2 Peter 2:20-22).
Let me note here again that what the Bible is describing within the passage above the DIFFERENCE between habitually “practicing” sin or righteousness. Any genuine Christian can “fall” into sin, but according to the Scripture they will get back up (through repentance) and begin “practicing” righteousness once again. On the other hand, any sinner can commit a “good deed” and even act religious (do you remember those who will be frantically trying to convince the Lord Jesus that they are saved from the Matthew seven passage?). The Scriptures are not talking about isolated “acts” of good or bad here, but HABITUAL behavior (especially when others are not looking).
What one does habitually reveals their true nature: Those who “practice sin are of the devil.” On the other hand, those who are habitually “practicing righteousness” are “born of God” and are currently still living for Him. Or as Jesus stated it quite simply:
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
(Matthew 7:16-20, NKJV)
So what can we learn about the Copeland family in regards to their “deeds” or “fruit”? Can we determine whether they are “practicing righteousness” or if they have been “practicing sin” instead? After a brief introduction to that topic, that is exactly where we will now turn our attention…
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Covetous Idolatry
As the above discourse has revealed already, “wolves in sheep’s clothing” are covetous (greedy) people who prey upon others for their own selfish gain. From this fact, however, comes the very point of the concern that we—along with many of our KennethCopelandBlog.com advocates—have in regard to the Copeland family. Please note the following passages:
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.
(Ephesians 5:3-7, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
(1 Corinthians 6:9-10, NKJV, emphasis mine)
According to the BIBLE: Those who are covetous (i.e. greedy, materialistic, rapacious, avaricious, etc.) are actually “idolaters.” In other words…they might SAY that they worship the God of the Bible, but they really worship “Mammon,” the Babylonian idol “god” of material wealth:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
(Matthew 6:24, NKJV, emphasis added)
He also said to His disciples…”No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
(An excerpt from Luke 16:1-15, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Oh, look at what the Lord Jesus has said! In both the Matthew and Luke accounts, He is recorded teaching the very same principle. The KJV translation uses “covetous” instead of “lovers of money” for the Luke passage above, so Jesus is clearly talking about the SAME “greed equals idolatry” point that the Ephesians and 1 Corinthians passages were also discussing above!
However in these passages, Jesus has revealed that even the MOST OUTWARDLY religious people of that day were in fact INWARDLY “ravenous wolves” in their hearts! The eyes of God certainly see the genuine condition of the heart—and people are often quick to say “only God know a person’s heart.” However, that is NOT a biblical statement! The Bible teaches that the the condition of the heart is also often MANIFEST through a person’s behavior. By their manifest “deeds” we can “judge the tree by its fruit” and know what kind of person we are really dealing with:
He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him “unclean.” For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
(Mark 7:20-22, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
(Matthew 7:15-20, NKJV, emphasis mine)
So can we identify ANY evidence or “fruit” that the Copeland family are actually habitually practicing covetousness (greed) in their lives?
If we can identify such bad “fruit,” then (in the light of the points which we have already examined from the Scriptures above) we know biblically that the following two things MUST also be true about them:
That they are NOT going to “inherit the kingdom of God,” and thus, they are notpresently saved.
That they are actually “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” and thus, they are notpresently saved.
Thus, if we can determine that the Copeland family have a “lifestyle” of covetous practices, then we can easily “know them by their fruits,” and identify whether they are truly our siblings in Christ…or false ministers, leading others astray for their own self-serving purposes.
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Grassley’s Findings
Within our article, Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” Lies Again! (click here to view in another window), we explained that the ONGOING Senate Finance Committee’s probe of the televangelists (which includes KCM) found some VERY disturbing behavior patterns among these alleged “ministries.” In the case of the Copelands, here are only a few that were discovered:
In its response to the Committee, the Church acknowledged that it provides a parsonage to Kenneth and Gloria and a housing allowance to John but did not provide any further detail. However, insiders and the Trinity Foundation state that Kenneth and Gloria reside in a house in Tarrant County, Texas.
A review of the Tarrant County Appraisal District records indicates the following. An 18,280 square foot residence [which actually has a total of 25,000 sq. ft. under roof, according to my ministry sources] owned by EMIC was built in 1999. The house is situated on a lake on approximately 25 acres and receives tax-exempt status. As of tax year 2008, the property was valued at $6,249,000.
(Page 9, bracketed notes mine)
A draft letter dated in 2004 from to Kenneth and Gloria Copeland from their former attorney Dennis Brewer was included in the Trinity Foundation Religious Conversion report that was provided to the Committee. In the letter, Brewer expresses concern that KCM‟s compensation committee is made up of Board Members who make recommendations to themselves. He acknowledges that there is a “loophole” in the law that permits it but if “an IRS agent was doing an examination it would raise a large severe red flag.” The letter goes on to state that “KCM has taken great precautions to not have the necessity to file 990s and to keep compensation issues confidential so why take an unnecessary chance?” The inference can be made that the Church, at least prior to 2004, did not have a truly independent compensation committee independent of Kenneth Copeland‟s influence, his family and close friends.
(Page 11)
A former ministry employee stated Gloria Copeland used a jet to fly to Naples, Florida, to go shopping. She would purchase clothing, sculptures and home furnishings. John Copeland and ministry employees, Craig Atnip, Steve Poteet and some others used a jet to take hunting trips. Kenneth Copeland used to travel back and forth to Arkansas to see a chiropractor and to visit his cabin there. The Copeland family also flew to Colorado to their home in Steamboat Springs from time to time.
(Page 19)
And under “Possible Conversion of Other Assets”:
On the August 4, 2006, broadcast of Copeland‟s Believer‟s Voice of Victory, Copeland acknowledges that he has no utility bills and that he has his own electrical power plant that runs on the gas that comes from his own ground and that he owns water wells, a purification plant, and a sewage plant, all located on his [i.e. not the church's] property. Copeland goes on to say that if no money came into the ministry, he would not be in need because he has no debt. Since Copeland resides on land that belongs to EMIC/KCM, it is difficult to understand his claim that all of these debt-free assets belong to him and not the Church.
(pages 20-21, emphasis and notes in brackets mine)
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Gloria’s Contract
A citation from the Senate committee’s investigation which I did not previously include within the article above, is in regard to Gloria Copeland’s opulent employment contract. Can we see any evidence of “greed” (covetousness) within these details? Notice:
The Church did not provide the Committee with a copy of the employment agreements between the Copelands and EMIC. However, an employment agreement prepared for Gloria Copeland and EMIC was included in the Religious Conversion report provided to the Committee by Trinity Foundation. Under this agreement, “Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc., a Texas corporation doing business as Kenneth Copeland Ministries” would:
Employ Gloria Copeland for a period of twenty years beginning January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2021.
Give Gloria an option to extend the contract for an additional 10 years following the initial 20 years.
Permit Gloria to be a paid consultant once she retired.
Permit Gloria to retain the title and duties of Executive Vice President as long as she desires.
Permit Gloria to secure any personnel needed to fulfill her responsibilities at the expense of EMIC
Agree that Gloria‟s “works of authorship” such as sermons, books, pamphlets, lectures, articles and speeches created prior to and during the term of the employment agreement belong to Gloria.
Require EMIC to pay Gloria an annual salary that is comparable to the compensation of other ministers, secular executives, performers and personalities whose ministries and/or businesses and/or professional activities and production are of similar scope. The amount of the salary shall be determined annually by the Independent Compensation subcommittee of the Board of EMIC.
Did you catch that? Gloria’s contract requires the “church” of EMIC (aka, Eagle Mountain International “Church”) to pay her a salary COMPARABLE to “secular executives, performers, and personalities” who are of a “similar scope.” In other words—big money. For what? Being a preacher? Where is THAT in the New Testament? (And I have been told by more than one of our “whistle blowers” that both Gloria and Kenneth are paid via comfortable seven-figure compensation packages—or, rather, they were…at least until Kenneth Copeland’s financial “Titanic” began to sink faster.)
Permit Gloria to, at her sole discretion, to defer or otherwise direct all or any part of her compensation to take advantage of any tax benefits.
Entitle Gloria to eight weeks of paid vacation, which can be accrued and added to in subsequent years. Gloria can also receive cash payment in an amount equal to the amount of her annual salary attributable to that time.
Require EMIC to honor any reasonable sabbatical request made by Gloria.
Require EMIC provide to Copeland with the use of an automobile of Gloria‟s selection including make, model and options and be responsible for all operating expenses including fuel.
RequireEMIC to procure and maintain an automobile insurance policy including full coverage, with coverage including Gloria, with policy limits in the amount of at least one million dollars for bodily injury or death to any person and any one accident.
Now we learn that Gloria’s contract requires the “church” of EMIC to not only buy her the car “of her choice,” but ALSO to pay for ALL maintenance, for some VERY expensive high-liability insurance—and even ALL FUEL that she burns in it!
Now back when we were still allowed to “hang out” with Kenneth, he drove up one day in Gloria’s car “of choice.” It was a very large pearl-white Cadillac (I do not know which model, because I do not pay attention to such things…but you cannot miss the big Cadillac symbol on the front of the car!). So in case you were wondering, it would seem that “Hyundai” and “Chevy” manufacture types of cars are not typically found on the list of “her choice.”
Require EMIC to pay Gloria an annual ministerial housing allowance to be determined by the Independent Compensation Committee or provide Gloria with a parsonage.
Require EMIC to pay business expenses “reasonably incurred” by Gloria in promoting the business of EMIC, including expenditures for entertainment, gifts, and travel. EMIC is to provide Gloria with a credit card for these expenditures.
Require EMIC to continue to pay Gloria under the terms of the agreement unless she is unable to perform 51% of her duties for 12 consecutive months. If this happens EMIC, if it elects, may reduce her salary in an amount not more than 49% of the salary in effect.
(Pages 21-22, emphasis mine)
That last one is a “kicker,” is it not? Gloria’s contract requires EMIC “church” to pay her all these things and provide all these compensation benefits, EVEN if she is NOT doing anything up to 50% of the time! If she is not doing at least something for at least 50% of the year, then “if it elects,” EMIC “may reduce her salary by an amount not more than 49% of the salary in effect.” However, we learned further above that the church is run by the family members and that there is NO truly independent board making those decisions!
So what are the chances that she would take a pay cut even if she took the whole year off and did nothing at all?
Again, there is a LOT more details listed in Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” Lies Again!, and you can download the ACTUAL Senate documents to read for yourself from links on that page. While you are there, and as you ponder what is already included above, please ask yourself if these behaviors are the conduct of one who follows the biblical pattern for ministry:
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
(1 Timothy 6:3-7, NKJV, emphasis mine)
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The “Inside Edition”
Oh, but it is one thing to read about the opulence that Kenneth and Gloria have surrounded themselves with—paid for by “the ministry” through the donations of gullible people (like we used to be)— and another thing entirely to see it for yourself! So the following Inside Edition investigative report will give you a look into the lavish lifestyles of the Copelands, AND will provide you a glimpse into how Copeland tries to “defend” these things in the face of a very direct question asked by the reporter. Just click on the picture to begin the video:
Kenneth Copeland, investigated on Inside Edition (please click on the above image in order to play the video)
One of the most interesting things Copeland did within the above video was get caught lying to the reporter toward the end of the news report. The video shows Kenneth declaring to her that, “we are open…” (i.e. transparent, honest, have nothing to hide, etc.). But when the reporter asks two legitimate and sincere questions, “Why do you need a fleet of jets [when] you are a minister?” and “How many jets do you have?” Kenneth demonstrates how “open” he really is by barking back, “That is NONE of your business!” and then stormed off in a rage.
In the face of such behavior, please not what Jesus said:
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
(John 3:19-21, NKJV, emphasis mine)
To which we must add the words of Paul by the Spirit when he wrote, “Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17). So if Kenneth Copeland is truly “open” and not hiding anything, then why did he storm off without answering her questions? Moreover, why did he lie to her and tell her that they are “open” when the evidence clearly indicates otherwise?
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Jetting Around on Donor Dimes
As intriguing as the Inside Edition investigative report above may be, it is not the first such report done on the Copelands. The following local report from Dallas Texas’ “News 8″ investigative reporter, Brett Shipp, was the VERY one that resulted in the Copelands being included within the Senate Finance Committee’s ongoing investigation:
WFAA News 8′s first report on the Copelands’ lavish lifestyles (ostensibly, at donor’s expense). Please click the image above to begin playing the video.
Did you note that when Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” was asked simply to provide some basic documentation to demonstrate their financial integrity, they “declined” to provide such data? Again, does that seem to be compatible with Paul’s exhortation by the Spirit, “Provide things honest in the sight of all men”?
Even when the Senate Finance Committee began to ask questions, the behavior from the Copelands was similarly uncooperative. As was noted by Deborah Norville within the Inside Edition report further above, Copeland claims to have “cooperated” with that investigation, but the SFC investigators said that was UNTRUE (i.e. a lie). This is itself a VERY troubling thing indeed, because the Bible says THIS about “all liars” and their eternal destiny:
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
(Revelation 21:8, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Regardless of whatever the Copelands are hiding, the fact that they are VERY WILLING to lie about it is itself proof-positive that their hearts are NOT right before God.
Moving on to examine additional evidence about their spiritual condition, however, let us now consider this following video. This is the WFAA report that aired the day that the SFC publicly announced their still-ongoing investigation:
WFAA News 8′s second report, regarding the SFC investigation announced that very day. Please click on the above image to begin playing the video.
Consider now this third investigative report, which was apparently the first time that a reporter caught Copeland backstage for a surprise interview on-camera. Please note how Copeland began “all smiles,” but soon became quite uncooperative when legitimate questions were asked of him—just like he did in the Inside Edition report further above. This investigative report also includes other “whistle blowers”—former employees who explain how shockingly different the REAL Copelands are behind the scenes, in contrast with the “public” image that they portray to the TV audience:
WFAA News 8′s third report the following day, with former employees revealing what really goes on at KCM. Please click on the above image to begin playing the video
It is also very interesting to note the voice of the announcer at the start of the third WFAA video above. Those of us who watched the BVOV television show back during the 1990s will quickly recognize that it as the same person who USED to donate FREE voice-over services to KCM back then. So why did he stop donating those services? And why is he now assisting in a news report investigation ABOUT the Copelands?
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Lacking Biblical Accountability
One of the things that stands out the most from the above news reports and the Copelands’ complete REFUSAL to cooperate with the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation (to include their lie to Inside Edition that they had cooperated) is how the Copelands go to great lengths to hide their accounting books and documentation. In the light of the Scriptures we have cited above (and many more that could be cited), this ultra-secrecy is certainly unbiblical. It is also VERY troubling, because Jesus said quite clearly in the John chapter three quote above that those who refuse to come to the light, do so because they are hiding “evil” out of concern that “their deeds will be exposed.”
Of course, in the light of this fact, several additional points should be made along these same lines:
(Note: Please do not consider the above comments about Dave and Joyce Meyer to be any kind of endorsement of their “ministry” by either Donna or me, or our many advocates. Rather, let me here express our concerns about her “all seeing eye” teaching—which is actually Masonic doctrine. In the light of Scripture, Freemasonry is NOT compatible with biblical Christianity at all—DESPITE their claims otherwise. Thus, the fact that Joyce has included such blasphemous doctrine within her public “ministry” has both Donna and me VERY concerned about Dave’s and Joyce’s spiritual lives too. In short, this one fact alone gives us plenty of biblical reason to also doubt the current state of their salvation.)
Again, according to Jesus within the Gospel of John passage quoted further above, these apparent efforts made by the Copelands to HIDE the financial practices of KCM would seem to indicate VERY clearly that “they hate the light” because they are actually “practicing evil” and do not want “their deeds exposed.”
Some Objections Addressed
Having formerly been “partners” with KCM for about seventeen years, Donna and I know the mentality that is so pervasive within those circles. Those who may have watched the above videos, and read the above report findings from the SFC investigation, may have some automatic “objections” pop into their minds due to the subtle programming that takes place via KCM/EMIC indoctrination.
Once a person comes out from under that witchcraft-like “spell,” of course, they quickly begin to wake up to the realities of the facts in the light of Scripture (and even just good common sense). However, for the benefit of those still “drinking” the Copelands’ poisonous false doctrine, I will quickly address a few of the common objections that are likely to arise:
Objection First: “Yes, the Copelands are wealthy, but that is because they are ‘givers’ and God has blessed them with ‘harvests’ on their giving!” Response: Actually, there is absolutely no evidence of any such thing, beyond the claims of the Copeland family themselves, and their followers. The bulk of the evidence CLEARLY reveals that the Copelands’ wealth has come primarily via donations to KCM and product sales (which products also typically TEACH people to donate money), which then fuel their exorbitant salaries and many tax-free “perks” and benefits.
Objection Second: “Oh, but the Copeland family is of the highest integrity! Their ‘word’ is good, and they can be trusted that what they say is true.” Response: We used to believe that lie too. But as the numerous well-documented posts within the section on the Table of Contents page of this website entitled “The Mysterious Disappearance of Angel Flight 44″ reveal, we found out the “hard way” that this was simply untrue. In our experience, they not only LIED repeatedly about several things, but also perpetuated what we believe to be a $2-4 million fraud using our book “Angel Flight 44″ and our good names. Within this article you are now reading, in fact, we have already cited several instances of the Copelands lying about their “openness” and other things. Then there are the two posts Kenneth Copeland’s “Bad Confession” and Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” Lies Again, which each reveal several other documentable lies told by this family and KCM executives. So this common objection is pure nonsense, because there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that the Copeland family lies habitually—especially when they think it will give them some advantage.
Objection Third: “Oh, but people who work for the Copelands say that they are honest, and even other ministers do too!” Response: People who work for the Copelands have a VERY vested interest to keep their employer happy (and ex-employees commonly have a different story to tell anyway). Further, “birds of a feather flock together” as the old English proverb says. Thus, the “other ministers” that claim integrity for the Copelands are merely other “wolves in sheep’s clothing” typically (or other people who have believed the lie that was told them, like we once did). They ALSO have a vested interest in keeping the Copelands happy and to cover their “wolf tracks,” for the Copelands do the same for them in return. This is simply a case of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” in most instances. The fact that many of these “other ministers” have been exposed as frauds themselves, and/or are being investigated for improprieties, is further evidence that THEIR “integrity” in claiming “integrity” for the Copelands cannot be trusted.
There are other “objections” too, of course, but the three addressed above should prove sufficient to make the point that one should look at the EVIDENCE in the light of SCRIPTURE, and not merely “swallow” the propaganda that is fed to them by the Copelands, et al. Since Jesus said that “wolves” like to wear “sheep’s clothing,” it should be no surprise that they use such untrue rhetoric to hide their actual nature, and to “front” the mere appearance that they are a genuine “ministry.”
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Of Our Findings
At this point, it is important to summarize what we have found to be FACTUAL to date in regard to the Copeland family and their alleged “ministry” known as KCM:
That they live very lavishly, with opulent lifestyles that are funded NOT by legitimate business ventures and/or investments (which would be both biblical AND openly explainable), but rather by donations—and product sales of materials that often encourage donations. These funding sources then work together to fuel exorbitant salaries and other forms of “compensation.”
That the Copelands go to great lengths to HIDE their financial records from ANY legitimate scrutiny, and thus, endeavor to maintain a very obvious level of SECRECY surrounding their actual activities.
That the Copelands have a documentable history of probable fraud and deceit.
In contrast with the above, we found within the Scriptures these eternal truths that shed much light on the above facts:
That “wolves in sheep’s clothing” are “inwardly” frauds and thieves, and will “plunder” others in order to satisfy their instinctive cravings for self-gratification—and thus, are NOT saved.
That such covetous people are idolaters—and will NOT inherit salvation.
That “false brethren” and “false teachers” work in secrecy, as do all those who “practice evil”; and thus, that such people were either never born again in the first place, or are “twice dead” apostates who have walked away from the genuine faith in Christ to pursue their own lusts and greed.
That “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
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Regarding Our Conclusions
In the face of the data that I have provided above…could it be that we can reasonably conclude that the Copeland family is at least covetous? And if we can, then what does that indicate?
We have found out from the Bible already that two things MUST be true, according to God’s Word, if the Copelands are at least covetous:
That they are NOT going to “inherit the kingdom of God,” and thus, they are notpresently saved (see Ephesians 5:5 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and the many other Scriptures provided above within this article).
That they are actually “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” and thus, they are notpresently saved (see Matthew 7:13-23; 2 Peter chapters 2-3; the entire epistle of Jude; plus the many other Scriptures provided above within this article).
If merely being COVETOUS is enough to damn them for all of eternity, then what can we say about all the evidence that suggests strongly that they are habitual liars and probable frauds?
So let me be clear what Donna and I, and many of our advocates, have concluded in the light of Scripture and the abundant evidence: It is our our informed conclusion that Kenneth and Gloria Copeland (and much of their family) are NOT saved! It is our sincere theological opinion that if they were to die right now, they would miss Heaven and spend their time in Hell (Hades) awaiting the terrifying final judgment found in Revelation chapter twenty:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Please note: THIS IS NO SMALL MATTER! These are SERIOUS issues that ANY genuine Christian SHOULD be concerned about!
It should now be VERY clear why we here at KennethCopelandBlog.com are NOT going to quit our efforts to call on Kenneth Copeland, his family, all the people at his alleged “ministry”…plus his “wolfish” buddies…to repent and get saved.
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Irrefutable Logic
The biblical exegesis above is sound, and the facts regarding the Copelands are clear. So we can summarize all of the above with a very simple syllogism, which summarizes this entire article nicely:
Major Premise: The Bible says that all habitually covetous people are unsaved idolaters, who will NOT inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Minor Premise: The overwhelming evidence indicates that the Copelands have practiced covetous for many years.
Conclusion: Therefore, the Copelands are unsaved idolaters, who will NOT inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
This chain of biblical reasoning is irrefutable. This word “irrefutable” is derived from the Latin term, “irrefutabilis,” which is itself formed from two Latin root words: The Latin prefix “in,” which means “without,” and “refutare” which means “to suppress or conquer,” and from which we get the English word “refute.” This is itself derived from the Latin prefix “re” (i.e. to “do again”) and “futare,” which means simply “to defeat.” So in essence, when “refuting” an argument, one is “defeating it again and again” at its points of weakness (e.g. factual shortcomings, logical fallacies, etc.). Thereby, the person “suppresses” or “conquers” that faulty argument through the logical application of both reason and facts (which includes in our case, correct biblical exegesis). Thus, an “irrefutable” argument is one that cannot be suppressed, conquered or repeatedly defeated at various points, because it is a solid argument without significant flaws.
(For a related note: Minor flaws within a well-argued complex treatise, such as I have presented here, cannot be the basis for a refutation, because such minor points are unable to form the basis for a “repeated defeat” that would suppress the overall point being made. Small valid points of disagreement merely demonstrate that fine tuning within the original polysyllogism is necessary. Invalid points offered in rebuttal, however, actually reinforce the original point being made.)
There is norational biblical exegesis that can honestly conclude any premise other than the “major premise” given above. (Heresies and logical fallacies? Yes. Rational biblical exegesis? No.) There is also norational examination of the facts surrounding the Copelands that can conclude anything other than they are very covetous people. These people (and many of their followers) think CONSTANTLY of earthly things—and they even talk about them insistently, to include their constant referrals to the alleged “blessing” that they believe will bring them even more earthly treasure.
Consequently, it is very clear that the Copelands (and their followers) have been habitually living without due regard for what the eternal consequences might be for their earthly cravings; and the Bible’s promises are NOT favorable toward such idolatrous people:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience…
(Colossians 3:1-6, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Again, there is absolutely no rational argument that can undermine the above syllogism. It is irrefutable logic, based upon God’s irrefutable and eternal Word.
Now, please notice that I did NOT say that the above argument is “indisputable” or “undeniable.” The reason for this is that I have long discovered through God’s Word and confirmatory experience, that there are “fools” who will dispute anything, and thus, there is really no such thing as an “indisputable” argument (e.g. see Proverbs 18:2). I have also learned that there is really no such thing as an “undeniable” argument, because anyone with an ulterior motive will deny any argument that conflicts with their chosen self-serving agenda:
Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for time to come, forever and ever:
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.”
For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not.
(Isaiah 30:8-15, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Although their sinful folly is certainly to their hurt and disadvantage, and although through repentance they can be saved and find quiet “rest” and blessing…they “would not.” They refused God’s written Word as well as the spoken word given by righteous men and women of God, who endeavored to warn them to turn away from their self-destructive and damnable behavior.
So again: This article as a whole, summarized within the above logic syllogism, is NOT indisputable or undeniable, for surely there are fools with debased agendas who will both dispute and deny every point contained herein. However, this article’s biblical exegesis and examination of the facts related to the Copelands, form an irrefutable argument (i.e. one that is unable to be defeated by reason or facts), whereby our concern regarding the eternal welfare of the souls of both the Copelands and their followers is PROVEN to be very justified by both facts and Scripture.
In short, the evidence is overwhelming that the Copelands (and their followers) need to simply repent. The Scriptures are clear regarding such matters. For example, consider these statements regarding the ministry of Paul:
To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
(Titus 1:15-16, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
(Acts 26:19-20, NKJV, emphasis mine)
…I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Acts 20:20-21, NKJV, emphasis mine)
To the Copelands and their followers: As the Lord said within the Isaiah passage above, “In returning and rest you shall be saved.” Do not “deny,” “dispute,” or delay!!! Simply repent NOW of your covetous idolatry and many OTHER sins (lying, heresy, Masonic oaths, etc.), and put your faith in the Jesus of the Bible today as the sole source of your salvation and righteousness. Neither “lamb skin aprons” nor “self-righteous justification” will do you ANY good on the Day of Judgment. Please repent NOW.
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Probable “Rebuttal” Fallacies
We have been doing this BIBLICAL public rebuke project since 2008, and consequently, have become quite familiar with the tactics of wolves trying to keep the attention OFF of them. So I thought it would be good to quickly refute (defeat) a few of their alleged “rebuttals” here before the “Copelandites” (that is, the most hard-core followers of Kenneth Copeland) bother wasting their time trying to contact us:
Begging the Question:
The first and most common “rebuttal” used by the Copelands regarding their detractors is that they are simply “jealous of their blessing.” The ASSUME that the reason why people comment so much on their wealth is because those people are just as covetous as THEY are, and therefore, that they are “jealous.” However, most people actually focus on that aspect because it is the clearest evidence of the Copelands’ GREED. The people of whom I am aware are not “desiring” what the Copelands have, but rather are DISGUSTED that they have obtained such things by exploiting people through false religion. They are outraged that the Copelands have caused blasphemy to the “Way of Truth” because of their behavior:
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
(2 Peter 2:2-3, NKJV, emphasis mine)
This type of erroneous reading exhibited by the Copelands (and their followers) is called the fallacy of “Begging the Question.” Therein, they first ASSUME something as factual without sufficient grounds (evidence) to do so, and then use that as the foundation upon which they then argue the very same point that they have just asserted. This is why this fallacy is also called “Circular Reasoning,” because their “proof” is actually the very assumption that has YET to be proven!
So let us now examine this question which is so often “begged” by the Copelands and their followers: Are Donna and I calling them to repentance merely because we are “jealous” of their material opulence, which they seemed to have acquired through fraud and deceit? We can answer that question by first looking at where the Bible says such people as the Copelands will spend eternity, if they fail to repent beforehand:
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
(Revelation 21:8, NKJV, emphasis mine)
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
(Ephesians 5:5, NKJV, emphasis mine)
So according to the Scriptures, such lying and idolatrous people are damning themselves through their greed, as they “covet” money and the things that it can buy. The Copelands’ earthly state may seem “comfortable” now, but their eternal state will be terrifying and horrific! So are either Donna or I “jealous” of them? Nope. Note one bit. We PITY them instead, which is OBVIOUSLY why we are calling on them to repent…before they end up paying for all eternity for a brief lifetime of greed.
Ad Hominem:
This term has a fancy Latin name which means simply “at the man.” It refers to ANY instance in which an argument is directed at the PERSON instead of simply in rebuttal to their own points. This is often a VERY justifiable thing to do, however, and does not necessarily constitute a fallacy when the following two conditions are met:
The “ad hominem” is factually true, or reasonably believed to be true because of sufficient evidence at hand.
The “ad hominem” is relevant to the discussion, and thus, DOES serve to refute the opponent’s argument to some degree.
An example of a warranted ad hominem might be when a person is pointing out that they do not believe the argument of the other party because they have a history of LYING to people (perhaps even to them). Obviously, that would be warranted by both the historical facts, as well as its relevant bearing upon that person’s ability to accept the points being made by the other party.
(Note: Generally, even the use of warranted ad hominem is not sufficient to refute an argument by itself. Using our previous example again, even a liar can tell the truth once in a while, and thus, this warranted ad hominem serves merely as one point of rational argumentation, but not as a full refutation of the other party’s stated position. So additional reasoning is necessary in order to show that the other party’s stated position is either factually untrue or logically flawed, in order to fully refute it.)
Likewise, this particular article (and this website in general) contains WARRANTED ad hominem content (i.e. points that are “at the man,” or refer to the Copelands personally). We are simply presenting evidence here on KennethCopelandBlog.com that demonstrates that the Copelands have sinned in various ways (e.g. lying, heresy, probable fraud, covetousness, etc.). This evidence is, of course, extremely relevant to our stated objective, as we call on them to repent and get saved. So while the fact that we use warranted ad hominem when we call them “wolves in sheep’s clothing” may seem offensive (especially to them and their followers), it is NOT fallacious to do so, because we have ample biblical and factual reasons why we apply that label to them. Since Jesus gave us that phrase, it is also quite biblical and proper to apply it when it is warranted, and thus, we do.
On the other hand, the Copelands’ use of terms like “jealous” and “heretic hunters” and other such terms, is clearly fallacious. They use such “ad hominem attacks” merely to get the “spotlight” off of themselves, and to attempt to discredit those people who simply want them to cease their sin and to turn towards righteousness. This is because their use of ad hominem is without factual substantiation to support their accusations, and in many instances the accusations also lack relevance to the points being made.
Thus, we are not moved by such false rhetoric whenever it is aimed at us. In fact, sometimes we are quite amused by it! Whenever people resort to fallacious ad hominem, it is equivalent to a little kid taunting another with abusive names at the playground. People resort to such childish tactics because they simply CANNOT form a rational rebuttal! So whenever one does display such desperate immaturity, we know instantly that we have won the entire debate because all they have left to “throw at us” are mere insults.
The Genetic Fallacy:
This third fallacy is an interesting form of irrational thinking, wherein a person simply rejects an argument made by another ONLY because of its source (hence, the word “genetic” which is derived from the word “Genesis” which means simply, “beginning,” i.e. “source”).
In other words, if a person says, “That can’t be true because a woman said it,” then they have just demonstrated the “genetic fallacy” by refusing the statement fallaciously because of it source. Obviously, this is an absurd way to think! Would the gender of a person necessarily indicate that their argument is untrue? How ridiculous! Yet, people do that all the time. Bigots refuse the arguments presented by people of another race. Religious people might refuse a given doctrine, simply because it is believed by another group that they are predisposed to oppose. In other words, the MERIT of the argument is not even examined, because it has been rejected outright by the person simply because of who it came from.
This happens all the time with the Copelands and their followers, as well. Simply because a given argument about the sins of the Copelands comes from a “critic” (a term that is often used by them derisively as a fallacious ad hominem also), they too often fail to examine the merits of what is being said. To their own hurt and eventual shame, they reject the truth simply because they don’t like its source. However, given all the well-documented points made herein in regards to both the Bible’s precepts and the factual evidence surrounding the behavior of the Copelands, such irrational rejection of our plea for repentance can ONLY be ignored at their own peril:
Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words:
“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
“Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”
(Proverbs 1:20-33, NKJV)
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
(verses 32-33 restated from the King James Version, emphasis mine)
As can probably be imagined from this sample list given above, there are also other fallacies common among the “Copelandites” (a term which I coined to refer inclusively to the Copeland family and their most ardent followers…which is a warranted ad hominem, of course). However, these three will suffice for now. We need to draw this article to a close, as I have already stated herein a solid and irrefutable case as to why we call on them all to repent and get saved (whether again or for the first time)—which salvation is proven by living a life that gives evidence that they are ready to meet their Maker on the Day of Judgement.
…I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
(From Acts 26:20, NIV 1984 edition)
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
(Titus 2:11-14, NKJV, emphasis mine)
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The Unanswered Question
By the time a person has reached this point within this article, they are likely to be wondering, “Was Kenneth Copeland and his family EVER saved?” That is a very valid question, but one which we will NOT attempt to answer within this particular article.
Our focus herein is simply the FACT that the biblical and factual evidence attests that they are unsaved NOW and need to get right with God. Their history is to us, as this point, irrelevant to this primary redemptive focus. Moreover, to “make a case” one way or the other in regard to that question would necessarily require another article entirely in order to provide enough evidence to substantiate our beliefs in the matter.
However, let me state clearly that we DO intend to address that question within future writings.
Consequently, let me recommend that if you would like to be kept aware of new content added to this website, it is advisable that you subscribe to our Google Feedburner email list by clicking here. (Be sure to watch for the confirmation email, however, as you will not be fully subscribed until you click Google’s confirmation link. It generally comes within a few minutes to your inbox once you subscribe, so look in your SPAM filter for that notification if you do not see it pretty quickly.) You can also sign up for our Twitter “tweet” feed by clicking here, which will give you the added benefit of being notified about things not included within the Feedburner emails. (Note: There are links for subscribing to both of these within the right column of this website as well.)
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Closing Remarks and Benediction
Donna and I would like to ask our many advocates of this redemptive project to continue to pray for the Copeland family and their followers, because we believe the time is short before an earthly judgment (e.g. Senator Grassley’s probe, or some God-sent disaster or sickness) is brought to bear against them by the Lord:
And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
“These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass…Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.”
(An excerpt from Revelation 2:18-29, NKJV, emphasis mine)
The Copelands have been playing games with God and His Word for many years, and the patience of the Lord has been astounding in the face of their blasphemy. Furthermore, they were rebuked by many preachers through the years, some of which confrontations came directly to them (and I may document the history of such confrontations in a future article). Yet, they repeatedly failed to repent of their ways.
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
(2 Peter 2:22, NKJV)
Then came the still-ongoing Senate Finance Committee investigation, and myriads of investigative news reports (as we have covered above within this very article). This was also from the Lord, we believe, because God has a long history of using even secular groups to bring judgment on people who refuse His repeated rebukes:
And the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight…
(2 Kings 24:2-3, NKJV)
So our humble efforts here at KennethCopelandBlog.com have been simply a part of God’s overall longstanding redemptive effort to call these people to account—and to repentance. We are only adding to the accountability that God is placing upon the “heads” of these people, should they fail to take heed and to turn from their wickedness:
And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
(Luke 12:47-48, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
(Ezekiel 3:17-19, NKJV, emphasis mine)
We believe that we have simply obeyed God in doing our small part to warn the Copelands and their followers to turn away from their sin. We have ALSO been very effective here…as the efforts by the Copelands to take this website away from us proves very clearly. But our concern is that time is running out for these people. Their sin has begun to come out into the public view in major proportions, but their ungodly behavior has only become increasingly desperate and absurd as a result. This concerns us TREMENDOUSLY, and thus, precipitated the writing of this very article.
We do NOT want to see judgment come upon ANY of the Copeland family or their followers here in this life—and we certainly do NOT want them to end up spending eternity damned!
The good news is that more and more people are leaving their cult. We hear from some of them, and they all have a similar testimony of “waking up” about the evil nature of the Copelands once they get out from under their influence. This affect upon their perspective is VERY much like a witchcraft “spell” that has been cast upon them to blind their minds. But by simply leaving the cult’s sphere of influence, it begins to quickly wear off. That is great news, indeed.
But we pray—and ask our advocates to pray—that the negative experience that these people endured will NOT be a stumbling-block to them that might hinder their faith in Christ. They need to understand that what evil they witnessed and/or endured, is NOT reflective on the truth doctrine of Christ in the LEAST BIT…but is merely MORE evidence that the Copelands have been unsaved false-ministers, aka, “wolves in sheep’s clothing”:
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
(2 Peter 2:1-3, NKJV)
So please pray for those still under that cult’s witchcraft-like influence, that they may awaken, repent, and leave there—and get saved (either for the first time or as a re-dedication). Please pray also for those who have left (and those who will leave), that they may quickly heal spiritually and emotionally from what they endured—and that they can thereafter grow in Christ and walk humbly with Him.
And now for a biblical benediction, which the Lord will bring upon all those who qualify for this blessing and who will also receive it from Him by faith:
Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
(Ephesians 6:23-24, NKJV)
Thank you for your time in reading this redemptive treatise.
In the interest of keeping all our advocates updated, we thought you all would be pleased to know that we have now topped well-over 310,000 page views for the biblical redemptive project contained here on KennethCopelandBlog.com.
Copeland Tries (and Fails) to Take KennethCopelandBlog.com
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Advocates of our redemptive project will be very excited to know that we have experienced a great victory with regard to our confrontational website here at KennethCopelandBlog.com.
In early October 2011, Copeland turned his team of lawyers loose on us in an effort to take the domain name away from us. The method used was ICANN’s mandatory arbitration process, in what is called an “NAF Dispute.” The objective was to use the ICANN regulations (ICANN controls the Internet and domain use) to force a transfer of this domain over to themselves.
However, by God’s grace and providence, they failed in that endeavor. On Monday November 21, 2011 we received the news that the panel had decided in our favor and denied their claim to this domain.
We will refrain from writing more about it here ourselves for now. Instead we will simply let you read this Internet-Industry news announcement about our victory and the reasons for our success in defeating their efforts, based upon our rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
So please praise the Lord with us for this demonstration of God’s amazing grace, and feel free so spread the word to others who may wish to know about this victory also.
Kenneth is NOT happy...but neither does he yet seem repentant. So we will continue until he—and MANY others—get saved. (Click to enlarge)
This is a quick note of update and encouragement to the growing army of advocates for our redemptive project. PLUS I want to provide you a link to a very important new article that I have written.
First, KennethCopelandBlog.comhas now exceeded over 220,000 page-views since its original launch back in October of 2008. In fact, just since last may May 24, 2011, we have had over 37,552 unique visitors from 160 countries and territories.
In short, our redemptive project has been a worldwide success in regards to getting out the information about these wolves in sheep’s clothing, and the testimonies keep proving that. Here is an excerpt from only one:
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…some strange reason I later googled Kenneth Copeland. I didn’t know why I did this, but it led me to what I now know as your site which initially, I thought was the personal blog of Ken Copeland. [chuckle] Consequently, I must admit, I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was to read.
I now see the loving Hand of God directing me, in answered prayer. I have gone through the process of being angry, hurt, betrayed, confused and slightly bewildered at what confronted me on this site. I am now thankful to God for leading me to the truth, because I believe this key will truly set me free. The key I refer to is repenting, renouncing and breaking all ties with Kenneth Copeland Ministries. For we are to renounce [speak off] the hidden works of darkness. 2Cor 4:2:
We have renounced disgraceful ways (secret thoughts, feelings, desires and underhandedness, the methods and arts that men hide through shame); we refuse to deal craftily (to practice trickery and cunning) or to adulterate or handle dishonestly the Word of God, but we state the truth openly (clearly and candidly). And so we commend ourselves in the sight and presence of God to every man’s conscience.
I am very heartbroken for the Body of Christ and for the damage caused to the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. I will pray along with you that Ken, Gloria and family will publicly repent for their errors and become saved. My family will also pray for [your] Senator Grassley that God will give him wisdom and favour and protection in bringing about exposure to these hidden works of darkness….
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This heartwarming testimony from Gayle “Down Under” in Australia can be read in-full underneath my article, When Wolves Remove Their Clothes (along with her subsequent comment and the comments of others).
So a great big “MANY THANKS!!” to all our advocates who have spread the word about this website and its message around the world.God bless you all! You have been a tremendous blessing to Donna and me, and you are all an important part of this ongoing redemptive effort to both call the Copelands to repentance, and to warn others of the wolfish nature of that apostate “ministry.”
You all keep on spreading the word, and we’ll keep on writing new content whenever the Lord leads us to do so.
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A Key New Article
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Finally, we want to bless all our advocates, and the visitors to this website, with a VERY important new article of mine:
(click the title above to go directly to the article)
We believe this is a CRITICAL message for today, and one that is certainly applicable for our audience to review. As Gayle mentioned within her testimony cited above, there has been much error and heresy coming out of Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” for MANY years…and waking up to those facts can sometimes be a painful experience for people. However, this fact is not unique to just ex-Copelandites: It applies to everyone coming out from among apostate and heretical groups.
So I have written this article to help people of ALL background to grasp the biblical methods for ensuring that YOUR doctrine is sound—and by extension, how to determine if ANOTHER person’s doctrine is godly and biblical. I trust it will be a blessing to many, and to the advocates of KennethCopelandBlog.com in particular. Please share it with others as well.
by Donna Vermillion with added theological commentary by Rich Vermillion
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This is a post like no other that I have ever done before.
There aren’t going to be any jokes cracked. In this post, Rich and I are going to discuss some VERY serious issues regarding Kenneth Copeland’s good friend and protégé, Creflo Dollar of “World Changers.” We are going to talk about what murderous ideas this man has in mind for the “world” if he ever had a chance to “change” it.
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*** TRAGIC UPDATE ***: Sadly, on June 8, 2012, Creflo Dollar was arrested for assaulting his 15-year old daughter in the kitchen of their family home. A link to our article about this terrible situation is provided at the bottom of this page.
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Kenneth Copeland chats with Creflo Dollar on the set of KCM's BVOV broadcast (click to enlarge)
Unlike other things that I have written on this blog, I am not, for example, going to poke fun at Creflo Dollar and his misuse of donor funds. As you continue reading, you will see that there was a reason why I gave this particular post such a serious title—with an exact quote from Dollar himself. This article involves a very somber and intense matter that should have every Christian concerned.
Recently, a friend of ours informed us of a video that she saw on YouTube, which has the audio of a message Creflo Dollar “preached” at his church concerning how to dispose of non-tithers. When I heard the hateful, murderous words of Dollar on this video, it reminded me so much of the murderous hatred of Adolf Hitler.
Why I Transcribed Creflo’s Words of Hate
The person who made the video added still shots of both Creflo and of various bloody-murder type of photographs for effect. It was wonderfully done, but very graphic. Adults should preview it before allowing any children to watch it. Due to the intense portions of the video, I decided to transcribe Creflo Dollar’s exact, unedited words for the benefit of those who would rather read about it. I also wanted to make sure those who, for some reason, could not view the video would still be able to know what Mr. Dollar spoke out of his own mouth. Nevertheless, I have found that the full impact of his statements is obtained by both reading the transcript and by watching the video (and Rich also added a second link below also, in case the YouTube video does not work for some reason).
The things in brackets are to simply describe Creflo’s tone or the congregation’s reactions to different things he said.
(Note: the same video includes a couple other heretical “teachings” by Creflo Dollar too. But the first part of it is what I am addressing in this particular post, as the creator of the video did a good job pointing out the heresy of the other already.)
I would encourage you to play the video for yourself after reading the text. I believe it is important that you hear Mr. Dollar making these statements with his own voice (the embedded video is further below). But again, it is horrific. When I was transcribing it, I scrolled down so that all I saw on my screen was the play bar. That way, I was able to hear it all without watching the graphic pictures all over again. Sadly, I don’t even think the audio of Creflo speaking is suitable for most children. It will shock you. You just don’t expect a supposed “pastor” to say such things that show an obvious disregard for the lives of people.
Let me also note that some of the pictures that Rich added to this post below are similarly not appropriate for most children to view. So please use caution when children are around while you read this article.
I have said enough here. With the following excerpt from one of his messages at his “World Dome,” I would like to introduce you to Creflo Dollar, the Hell-bound murderer…in his own words (emphasis mine, where added):
Now, you know, we’re under the Blood of Jesus, so we can’t shoot and stone people like we used to. All we have to do is repent and God will forgive us and take us where we need to be. But I can tell you, man, if it wasn’t for the Blood, there’d be a whole lot of us being stoned and being in Hell right now over the tithe. But for ["if not for"?] the Blood of Jesus, we’d be doomed.
I mean, I thought about when we first built “The Dome,” I wanted to put some of those little moving bars and give everybody a little card. They’d stick it in a little computer slot. If they were tithing, beautiful music would go off and, you know, [Creflo sings] “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the World Dome.” [Congregation laughs.]
But…if they were non-tithers, the bar would lock up, the red and blue lights would start going, the siren would go off, and a voice would go out throughout the entire dome, “Crook, crook, crook, crook!” [Congregation laughs.] Security would go and apprehend them, and once we got them all together, we’d line them up in the front and pass out Uzis by the ushers and point our Uzis right at all those non-tithing members ’cause we want God to come to church, and at the count of three “Jesus”-es we’d shoot them all dead. And then we’d take them out the side door there, have a big hole, bury them, and then go ahead and have church and have the anointing. [Mostly silence in the congregation, but one or two still actually laugh.]
Aren’t you glad we’re under the Blood of Jesus? ["Yeah, yeah," from the congregation.] Because if we were not under the Blood of Jesus, I would certainly try it.
Folks, this is a serious thing.
Oh, yeah! It certainly is a “serious thing!” It is also sad, sick, and satanic. Take special note of what he says at the end: “Folks, this [being a non-tither] is a serious thing.” For some reason, however, his evil heart would be fine about (and would like to take part in) killing innocent people in cold blood if his religion would only allow it.
Creflo Dollar says that he has an idea of what he would like to do with non-tithers...a concept which happens to be remarkably similar to how the Nazis treated Jewish, Polish, and many other types of victims. Note: The backdrop image above is NOT from a movie. Those are ACTUAL Nazi soldiers murdering Polish civilians during WW-II in the same cold-blooded manner in which Creflo said he would like to see done to non-tithers. (click to enlarge)
Rich’s Update (June 15, 2011): After this article posted and began to circulate, we received the following comment by email from a friend who grew up in Europe within that earlier generation:
Hi Rich and Donna
About Tithing Creflo $ style
I could not find in your blog a comment section, so I am sending you my comment by email.
The video about Creflo Dollar in this blog is not new to me, I had seen it months ago and felt so bad after seeing it.
I was born during the ruthless German occupation in Southern France and my parents were witnesses of atrocities committed by the Germans. Later as a kid leaving in Alsace after the war, we had to visit Concentration Camps to make sure “never again”. I have seen the mass graves. I have seen the bullet holes in the wall. I have seen the gas chambers.
Creflo Dollar having such horrific thoughts and describing such scenes in his church is beyond belief. IT IS DESPICABLE and HEINOUS with no respect for life.
I am disgusted, grieved beyond belief and speechless.
Love you
[Notes: I omitted the names from this text for their privacy's sake. The ALL-CAPS emphasis was made by the original author. ]
Please ponder this godly man’s sobering thoughts as you continue reading the rest of this article.
[End Update]
Looking at Creflo Biblically (by Rich Vermillion)
I am concerned that too many people reading the words of Creflo above may miss the full biblical impact of what Kenneth Copeland’s friend, Creflo Dollar, has stated publicly that he wants to do—so I will provide some further explanation. So let me now break this down for you point by point in light of the Scriptures:
Now, you know, we’re under the Blood of Jesus, so we can’t shoot and stone people like we used to. All we have to do is repent and God will forgive us and take us where we need to be. But I can tell you, man, if it wasn’t for the Blood, there’d be a whole lot of us being stoned and being in Hell right now over the tithe.
Bible Truth 1:
The period of time often referred to as being the “Old Testament” (OT) did in fact include capital punishment within the Levitical legal system. Under the Law of Moses (i.e. the Torah) there were various criminal acts that were punishable by death. However, failure to tithe was NOT one of them. God alone had the prerogative to either bless or curse the individual who failed to tithe according to His Law.
In short, there was no penalty given within the Law that could be imposed by others upon a person who failed to pay tithes. That was an issue between them and God. The closest thing that came to an ordinance to be enforced by authorities in such a matter is this precept given for “redeeming” tithes:
And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
(Leviticus 27:31, KJV)
The Hebrew word translated as “redeem” above is the term ga’al (גָּאַל,Strong’s #1350) and Gesenius’s Lexicon said it simply means, “to redeem, to buy back, as in a field or farm sold.” In other words, since the Israelites were required to pay tithes of everything in which they “increased”—including farm animals and agricultural products—God included within His holy Law a provision by which they could “buy back” or “redeem” certain items for their own personal use at 20% over the current market price.
However, there was NO provision for the high priest or ANY authority within Israel to “penalize” a person for failing to pay tithes. Thus, there is absolutely NO provision within the Law of Moses to execute a non-tither by capital punishment. This means either that Creflo lied in order to advance his greedy doctrine, or that he is just plain stupid.
Kenneth Copeland points at the possible victims (oops...the "TV viewing audience") as he discusses "the blessing" with Creflo Dollar. Since Kenneth Copeland claims to love Israel and the Jewish people, why does he still associate with someone like Creflo Dollar...who has Nazi-like ideas? (click to enlarge)
Creflo Dollar explains his concept of "the blessing" to his friend, Kenneth Copeland, on the same BVOV broadcast. However, he manages to leave out the mass murder part of his teaching regarding "tithing." Consider how close these two have been for so many years as you ponder Creflo's evil character. (click to enlarge)
Two Peas in a Pod?
My Next point:
But I can tell you, man, if it wasn’t for the Blood, there’d be a whole lot of us being stoned and being in Hell right now over the tithe. But for ["if not for"?] the Blood of Jesus, we’d be doomed.
Creflo’s mentioning of the Blood of Jesus here in regards to saving us from stoning and going to Hell over non-payment of tithes is ludicrous. Since nobody was put to death over failure to pay tithes, his mentioning the “Blood” as a saving grace was rather irrelevant to that topic. Thus, as we shall soon see, Creflo only mentioned such a New Testament (NT) concept of “grace” for mere appearance sake.
Another Point:
I mean, I thought about when we first built “The Dome,” I wanted to put some of those little moving bars and give everybody a little card. They’d stick it in a little computer slot. If they were tithing, beautiful music would go off and, you know, “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the World Dome.”
But…if they were non-tithers, the bar would lock up, the red and blue lights would start going, the siren would go off, and a voice would go out throughout the entire dome, “Crook, crook, crook, crook!”
(emphasis mine)
It is critical to note here that this was something that Creflo actually thought about doing, and which he states he really “wanted” to do. So please hold that thought, while we look at the next quote:
Security would go and apprehend them, and once we got them all together, we’d line them up in the front and pass out Uzis by the ushers and point our Uzis right at all those non-tithing members ’cause we want God to come to church, and at the count of three “Jesus”-es we’d shoot them all dead. And then we’d take them out the side door there, have a big hole, bury them, and then go ahead and have church and have the anointing.
An Uzi Machine Gun (click to enlarge)
A Uzi” is a fully automatic machine gun (see the picture to the right). As you consider the words above, remember that Creflo Dollar is explaining a concept that he has already stated that he has put some thought into doing. He actually wants to use a high-tech computerized tracking system to monitor tithing, and to have his security guards march ALL non-tithers out behind his alleged “church.” Invoking the holy name of Jesus in a blasphemous way, Creflo then said he would like to see them executed in cold blood by machine guns, and buried in a mass grave there on the property.
Images of Nazi executions of six million Jews and six million other “undesirables” (twelve million in total, including Christians who resisted the Third Reich) should come to mind. Creflo dollar has just described a scene that he said he had meditated upon, and which is purely antichrist in its character.
This horrible photograph was proudly named by the Nazis, "The Last Jew in Vinnitsa." Notice the many other bodies in mass grave, and consider well the meaning of Creflo Dollar's choice of words. (click to enlarge)
Now note what Creflo Dollar said next:
Aren’t you glad we’re under the Blood of Jesus? Because if we were not under the Blood of Jesus, I would certainly try it.
(emphasis mine)
Again, Creflo Dollar makes a hypocritical reference to the Blood of Jesus Christ for obvious appearance sake in front of the shocked congregation. The real reason that this murder-loving man has not “tried” it is because he knows that he would be arrested and put to death himself under current Georgia state and U.S. legal standards.
However, the fact that he “would certainly try it” if given the chance is proof positive that this hypothetical scene is really a heinous fantasy of his; that he has pondered this idea more than a few times before.
This man’s greed for money has pushed him to the point of complete debauchery, as is evident in his hatred toward the non-tithing Christians. Furthermore, keep in mind the following points:
Creflo Dollar began by saying that non-tithers will go to Hell (and later in the video, you can hear him teaching that tithing is required to “stay out of Hell” and that the tithe will “keep you in Heaven”…points that are works-based heresies that he believes and teaches).
Despite this fact, he would like to have them executed and sent to Hell before holding his Nazi “church” service.
Creflo then reveals that he actually believes that God would honor such cold-blooded murder by giving them the precious anointing of the Holy Spirit for their Nazi “church” service afterwards.
So what does the Bible say about such people as Creflo?
Bible Truth 2:
The New Testament is very clear that those who are murderers at heart—including those who hate their brethren without a biblical cause to do so—have NO eternal life within them. In other words, Creflo Dollar is not saved.If he were to die right now without first repenting and calling out to the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness…he would spend eternity in Hell itself.
Please note the following passages:
Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
(1 John 2:8-11, NKJV, emphasis added)
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
(1 John 3:10-15, NKJV, emphasis mine)
You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.” But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, “Raca!” shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, “You fool!” shall be in danger of Hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
(Matthew 5:21-24, NKJV, Words of Jesus in red, emphasis added)
The passages above make it clear that true Christians are to love people, and other Christians in particular—and that they certainly do NOT murder anyone in machine gun executions and bury them in mass graves.
Jesus also said above that for a “gift” to be accepted by Him, we need to first be reconciled with our brothers. So Creflo Dollar actually thinks he will “have the anointing” of God right after murdering people?
Bible Truth 3:
So in what passages of Scripture CAN we find Creflo’s type of behavior described? Here is one to ponder:
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
(Revelation 13:11-18, NKJV, emphasis added)
It would appear that the “number” of Creflo is the same number, because he is obviously of the same demonic spirit. This also speaks VOLUMES about Kenneth Copeland’s evil character, as he is more than happy to freely associate with and endorse such an antichrist heretic…a man who Kenneth has also mentored personally:
Kenneth talks to his protégé, Creflo Dollar. Consider this: If the "fruit" of the "student" is so obviously rotten, what does that say about the character of his mentor, Kenneth Copeland? (click to enlarge)
(End of Rich’s Section)
Creflo’s Heinous “Teaching”
Without further comment beforehand, here is the video itself, so that you can hear Creflo’s own voice stating these very things (plus a few more heretical teachings besides):
Note: If the above video fails to play for any reason (e.g. Internet problems or fake “copyright” claims by Creflo Dollar causing it to be removed from YouTube) then click here to watch the video. (We have uploaded our own copy to our servers as a backup…just in case)
After all of this I should not have to say this, but if you are following Creflo Dollar, or anyone associated with him, get away.
Anyone who would joke about doing any kind of mass murder is evil and wicked. The scary thing is that Creflo actually did not sound like he was joking at all, especially when he said, “…if it were not for the Blood of Jesus, I would certainly try it.” His words were no different than those of a terrorist or Nazi concentration camp executioner.Run away from such ministers of Satan as fast as you can. Unless your aspiration in life is to work for the anti-Christ, there is no reason to listen to such heresy.
A Word to Creflo
As for you, Creflo Dollar, your best life certainly is now. Unless you repent and truly become born again, your earthly prosperity will one day be exchanged for Hell’s flames the moment you die. I don’t want to shoot you. I don’t want to throw your body in a hole and go back to have “church,” like you said you would like to do to non-tithers. No. I am a Christian. I want you saved.
In contrast, I do not hear ANY eternal redemption within your murderous message. It is straight from Hell’s pit. Notice what Jesus said to James and John when they spoke such murderous things…before they were born again:
And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
(Luke 9:52-55, NKJV, emphasis added)
Do you know what demonic spirit you really are motivated by? Cry out to Jesus, Creflo! Cry out to the One true and living God—not for more money, but for your soul. Hell awaits unsaved religious frauds such as you, who lead God’s people astray:
They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.
(Matthew 15:14, NKJV, Words of Jesus in red, emphasis added)
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to Hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into Hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into Hell fire—where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
(Mark 9:42-48, NKJV, Words of Jesus in red, emphasis added)
And it would be just as biblical to say, “It would be better for you to be broke and impoverished, than having earthly wealth and opulence, to die and go to Hell—into the fire that shall never be quenched, and where the worm does not die.” After all, didn’t Jesus say, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Again, Jesus said that it would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck and to be thrown into the sea, than to lead God’s sheep astray and have to face eternal judgement.
*** TRAGIC UPDATE ***: Sadly, on June 8, 2012, Creflo Dollar was arrested for assaulting his 15-year old daughter in the kitchen of their family home. That terrible incident, and associated links for more information, can be found now here: Creflo Dollar: Arrested for Attacking Daughter
(Updated and dramatically expanded July 3, 2011): This is an important update post for all our advocates because we have two sets of major developments to share with you:
First, as many of you may have heard by now, there is a new CBS “Inside Edition” investigative report about Kenneth Copeland which aired this past May 24th, 2011. The investigative team did a great job exposing the lavish lifestyle and hypocrisy of Kenneth Copeland (and to a lesser degree, Creflo Dollar). If you have not already watched this excellent report, then we highly recommend that you do so by clicking on the following still image from the program:
Kenneth Copeland, investigated on Inside Edition (please click on the above image in order to play the video)
One of the most interesting things Copeland did within the video above was when he was caught lying to the reporter toward the end of the news report. The video shows Kenneth claiming that, “we are open…” (i.e. transparent, honest, have nothing to hide, etc.). But when the reporter asks two legitimate and sincere questions, “Why do you need a fleet of jets [when] you are a minister?” and “How many jets do you have?” Kenneth demonstrates how “open” he really is by barking back, “That is NONE of your business!” and storming off in a rage.
So the above video is a very well-done investigative report of the Copelands’ lavish lifestyles and systemic deceit. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the Copelands obviously “live large” (as Deborah Norville stated within the video above) by devouring the wealth and income of their ignorant supporters, things are NOT really at all that well financially at KCM these days, as my next point explains…
Evidence That KCM’s “Titanic” is Sinking
As we explained within our highly publicized press release from August 6, 2010, Why is Kenneth Copeland Desperate for Donor Cash?, things are not going all that well at the Copeland-Corral near Fort Worth, Texas. Behind the high security fence surrounding the cult’s compound, it would seem that their supposed financial “battleship” is turning out to be another “Titanic” that will soon head toward the ocean’s floor.
Before we move on to view the latest information, will will first review older evidence that the financial “ship” of Kenneth Copeland “Ministries” (KCM), a.k.a. Eagle Mountain International “Church” (EMIC), as been “taking on water” since 2008.
Note: We and our many advocates consider the words “ministries” and “church” to be merely alleged by the Copelands, as it has become demonstrable that they are really “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and not biblical ministers. Therefore, we put those words in quotation marks whenever citing the various names of their family business (a.k.a. “ministry”).
“Torpedoed!”
Kenneth Copeland boasted on January 23rd, 2008 that he is personally a billionaire. He continued, “Now don’t tell them senators about this…the last accounting of it, this has been two, three years ago…there would probably be at least another $150 million added to this, because our income last year [2007] was over $100 million..there has been over $1.3 billion come into this ministry.” That totals $1.45 billion by 2007.
However, shortly after the Senate Finance Committee investigation and U.S. economic recession began in late 2007, evidence emerged that suggested strongly that their financial position had changed dramatically:
Kenneth Copeland started sending his children, grandchildren, and in-laws, out in 2008 to churches and conference around the country to rally support for KCM.
On March 11, 2008, KCM announced that they were relocating their “West Coast Believer’s Convention” (WCBC) to Long Beach, California for their 31st WCBC annual event after a previous 30-year run in Anaheim, CA. This was probably a cost-cutting measure, given the very high expense of holding meetings the Anaheim area.
KCM "News Room" Press Release, dated March 11, 2008. Accessed July 3, 2011. (click to enlarge)
However, their 32nd such convention in 2009 proved to be their last, as they quietlycancelled the WCBC entirely! This would seem to be a consolidation of their summer conventions into the single centrally-located “Southwest Believer’s Convention” (SWBC) in their hometown of Fort Worth—which would be significantly cheaper to maintain, given the fact that most of their staff and equipment is local. They also moved this event earlier in the vacation season from its previous slot in August to early July, in order to use the former WCBC time slot instead for Texas. (Note: This year’s SWBC runs from July 4 – 9, 2011; and the 2012 SWBC is tentatively scheduled for July 2-7, 2012.)
Additional information has been coming to light of late. Brave and honorable whistle blowers have contacted us here at KennethCopelandBlog.com to inform us of issues related to the fact that the financial “Titanic” of KCM appears to be “sinking” even more quickly.
We were also informed by a whistle blower that in March of 2010, John Copeland called a staff meeting within the KCM “chapel” building. At one point he reportedly said to the employees, “We are all family here, right? So please keep this confidential because we don’t want this getting out into the media.” John then informed them that the alleged “ministry” was about $4 million in debt.
These two reports from our whistle-blowers also seems to be substantiated by KCM’s own behavior:
For example, in August of 2010, KCM drastically reduced their media budget by almost completely eliminating their Sunday BVOV television broadcast. They simultaneously renegotiated many of the weekly broadcasts onto the cheapest station within that viewing area, as this whistle-blower informed us:
Yes, I am referring to the Lansing/East Lansing, MI area. I recorded BVOV every morning on WLAJ-TV here at 6:00 a.m. to watch when I got home from work at night. This week, it was replaced with infomercials. Also, this past Sunday on BVOV on another local channel, WSYM, Fox 47, there was a crawler that said that BVOV would no longer be seen on WSYM after August 29th. I’ve asked the other local stations, and I don’t find anyone picking it up, for the first time in my memory that BVOV won’t be on in our local area. It is still listed on the KCM site as being on WLAJ, but that is not accurate. I do read your blog and remembered what you had written about the sudden appearance of these “Behind the Mission” meetings, and drop in donations, and wonder if that is why BVOV isn’t being broadcast locally , at least for this Fall. Thank you for all the factual information you are providing about the Copelands in your blog. It is greatly appreciated.
And then a few days later this same whistle blower explained:
I noticed this morning that the station that is dropping the Sunday BVOV, effective 8/29, has apparently picked up the daily broadcast on it’s station at 8:00 a.m….This is not reflected on the KCM website, and no one still has picked up the Sunday broadcast that this same network dropped.
Of course, KCM had to explain this sudden BVOV broadcast shuffle to their viewing audience. Citing alleged and unpublished “extensive surveys” of KCM’s “partners and friends” (which nobody has ever received to date according to the now-former KCM partners that we have heard from), KCM actually tried to spin this obvious cost-cutting effort as a benefit to their partners. However, this brings the following question into focus:
If (and this is a big “if”) KCM is a real Christian “ministry,” and their BVOV broadcasts are filled with genuine teaching from God’s Word, then how could they justify such cancellations as some sort of a “benefit” to their viewing audience when they are reducing the amount of “beneficial” programming that people can watch?
Obviously, they cannot. It was surely a cost-cutting effort—a fact which the relocation of their weekly broadcast to another local station also seems to attest. Gloria Copeland’s brother owns the media company that negotiates their air time purchases, and it would seem they put him on an emergency budget reduction effort in order to help save their financially sinking “Titanic.”
(Rich Note: Among other things, I have a Certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University; so my analysis of KCM’s behavior is founded upon copious facts—some of which we must keep confidential in order to protect our sources—as well as upon educational expertise.)
You can read KCM’s press release “spin” on these issues by clicking on the following image:
KCM announces their Sunday broadcast schedule cutbacks as a "better service" to their partners, rather than admitting that it was intended to seriously reduce their media budget to offset declining revenues from donations and product sales. (click to enlarge)
Additionally, on September 23, 2010, KCM forced over two dozen veteran employees to resign. The employees are known to have ranged in tenure from as little as 8 years to as much as over 30 years of service. One of our whistle blowers wrote:
[One woman] has worked there 21 years and just bought her first home in April [of 2010]…she is a single mom with a heart of gold…another person…was [similarly] let go – 30+ years [working for KCM].
This group of about 20 employees were all brought into the executive offices of KCM on the same day, to meet with John Copeland. Several others were separately marched about that same time into the Human Resources department, to be told instead by an HR manager.
Regardless of which “messenger” brought the “love message” to them, however, each of them were told the “reasons” they were then considered “sub standard” or “unacceptable” for employment at KCM (i.e. the trumped-up reasons why they were being forced out of employment). They were then “offered” four-month severance pay packages under the condition that they would sign draconian confidentiality agreements that prohibited them from talking with the media or anybody else (such as the founders of this website, KennethCopelandBlog.com). A PDF made from scanned copies of one such agreement can be downloaded by right-clicking on the following image, and saving the target file to your computer:
The Kenneth Copeland "Ministries" draconian Severance Pay and Confidentiality Contract. Does this document seem to fit well within KCM's rhetoric of "walking in love" toward people? Right-click to save the file to your computer.
If you read the “terms” you will see that KCM expected them to sign away nearly every right afforded to them by the U.S. Constitution, Federal law, and Texas State laws. Understandably, the employees were experiencing a mix of shock and feelings of betrayal, coupled with fear for their own financial futures. Under such high-pressure circumstances, all the employees that we are aware of accepted the “terms” within a few days (many on the spot) and actually signed the above agreement in order to receive their four more months of pay and flee the madness.
The legality of such a draconian contract is certainly questionable, but what is known are the fear tactics used by KCM to pressure them into signing such an agreement: They would be “sued” by the “ministry” and forced to return the four-months severance pay, if they talked to us, the media, or anybody else, about this situation.
Adding further insult to injury, these employees were replaced and their positions were not eliminated. Almost as soon as the door hit these veteran employees on their backsides, new employees hired at roughly $8/hour stepped in to fill their shoes. In short, the higher-paid veteran employees were run out of KCM so that cheaper labor could replace them, thus cutting the KCM/EMIC payroll budget. (Of course, nobody seems to know if the Copelands and their family volunteered to take any pay cuts to help alleviate the payroll expenditures. However, most people knowledgeable about the situation have expressed doubt that the Copelands ever did.)
The very next day, John Copeland (who conducted the meeting in which the 20 employees who were fired in the executive offices) hopped into the family jet (commonly referred to as the “ministry” jet) to join his parents at an invitation-only golf tournament at the ritzy Waldorf Astoria resort. This was not a publicized event; and the Facebook posts made by a couple of people who attended seem to suggest that this was likely a fundraiser:
Cheryl Ingram uses her mobile phone to post on her Facebook page from the KCM golf tournament (click to enlarge)
Charles Asbridge uses his mobile phone to post on Facebook from the golf course too, while demonstrating his own lack of reverence and piety in prayer (click to enlarge)
The references to KCM, “partners,” and explanations KCM’s “outreach,” tend to all suggest a “soft sell” tactic being used to “wine and dine” the attendees in order to raise money at this private golf tournament, held at a ritzy resort in Florida.
Thus, in summary, the following financial details about KCM’s financial Titanic seem to be validated and verified:
KCM was likely about $2 million in debt by the close of 2009. (Note: KCM is known for teaching “how to live debt free” supernaturally, and they consider debt in all forms to be under “the curse of the law.”)
KCM’s debt had increased to about $4 million by March of 2010.
Drastic television/media budget reductions were made in August of 2010 in an obvious effort to offset budgetary shortfalls.
Payroll expenses were cut in September of 2010 (and probably at other times also) by replacing higher-paid veteran employees with lower-wage workers. (Note: We have been informed that the veteran employees ALSO lost their retirement benefits through this action, thus reducing KCM’s retirement expenditures as well.)
A private Waldorf Astoria golf tournament was held immediately after the axing over 20 employees, in what appears to be a fundraising effort.
And all of the above suggests that KCM revenues through donations and product sales have fallen drastically from their 2007 high of “over $100 million” (as stated by Kenneth Copeland at the 2008 Minister’s Conference).
In short: The “godfather of prosperity” is going broke…and that, very quickly.
But is this in agreement with Kenneth Copeland’s “prophecies” about prosperity?
Ironic Proph-e-Lies (i.e. False Prophesies)
Kenneth Copeland “sells” himself as a “prophet” of God. Considering the content of his “prophecies” however, many people consider him as just making those things up out of his own head. Even a supporter of Kenneth’s that emailed me said, “I think that Kenneth ‘thinks’ that he is a prophet.” (Whenever a “spirit” does seem to manifest through him, however, the often heretical content of these prophesies tends to suggest that it is NOT the God of the Bible that is speaking through Kenneth at such times. Thus, that would qualify him as a false prophet if he is a “prophet” at all.)
Regardless, around the turn of nearly ever year, Kenneth kicks things off with the latest “prophecies” about the New Year. Ironically, he seems to be right on some of these…but NOT in the “positive” ways that he seemed to originally intend:
Kenneth declared on November 11, 2006, that 2007 would be “The Year of the Open Door.” This turned out to be true, in a rather bizarre twist of irony:
Senator Grassley and the Senate Finance Committee “opened the door” in November 2007 on the SFC investigation of six televangelists; KCM was one of those subjected to this public scrutiny.
In the previous month of October, the stock markets began their precipitous fall, as the “flood doors” of Wall Street began to burst and put systemic pressure on the world’s financial systems…to include KCM’s own budget.
Then Kenneth declared on December 31, 2007, that 2008 would be “The Year that the Lord has Designed.” That sort of turned out to be true too:
KCM revenues began to fall significantly, as the economy weakened ever more—and more negative media exposure came to KCM. This seemed to demonstrate God’s “designed” judgment upon that errant organization.
We launched KennethCopelandBlog.com in October 2008 at the Lord’s direction and according to the design that He put in our hearts. (Though this website is certainly not perfect, it has proven to be quite effective, and has been blessed by the Lord.)
Of course, 2009 was supposed to be the year that “The Glory Will Shine.” That one had some ironic fulfillment too:
KCM’s revenues fell even more, until they were about two million dollars in debt by the year’s close.
Long-time KCM executive, Craig Atnip, “jumped ship” off of KCM’s sinking Titanic.
KCM shut down the West Coast Believer’s Convention in 2009 after 32 continuous years of annual meetings, and has never had one again.
Kenneth then seemed to be running out of steam trying to get the “year” prophesies right. So in 2010 he waited until August to tell everybody, “Everything is Going to Be Alright!” Of course, several things were going on at the time, and one has to wonder if he was just proph-e-lying again…or trying to encourage himself that things might get better:
KennethCopelandBlog.com began to issue press releases in January 2010 to draw attention to KCM’s frauds.
John Copeland told KCM employees in March 2010 that KCM/EMIC was about four million dollars in debt.
The BVOV broadcast budget was slashed in August 2010.
Veteran employees were “axed” in September 2010.
And an invitational golf tournament was organized that same month—seemingly to raise funds.
Now Kenneth has decided to cover all his bases. So on November 11, 2010 he proph-e-lied that in 2011 “It will be a time of changes. It’ll be the best of times and it’ll be the worst of times.” (Well, that about covers it all, does it not?)
(Click here to see the list of Copeland’s “best” proph-e-lies, i.e. those that the KCM staff lets you read, and not the weirder ones…some of which we may publish later for them.)
The Bow is Going Down
The Titanic, as it begins to sink bow-first.
Anyone who has seen images of the Titanic as it sank have likely seen pictures of its bow starting down into the water, its stern (back of the ship) rising up into the air with all the lights on, and life boats frantically rowing away to avoid being pulled under by the suction once the ships final dive began. Everyone with any sense could see what was about to happen. However, meanwhile, the band played its music and the songs continued on board until the inevitable began.
Similarly, KCM seems to be close to the inevitable.
In truth, the entire foundation of the Copeland financial empire is a religious fraud, coupled with an illusion:
The false doctrine of instant riches through “seed sowing” is the fraud they sell to greedy and/or desperate people, who are looking for a quick fix to their money problems. People buy KCM products, attend KCM/EMIC meetings, and “sow their seed” into KCM’s rotten “ground” and hope in vain for a “harvest” with which to pay their bills—or even to fund their own opulent lifestyles. Meanwhile, only the Copeland family’s lavish living continues to be funded through this scam, while the people who gave are generally only poorer for their “donations.”
The illusion is that the Copelands live large by their own “seed sowing,” and that their opulence is because of their “giving.” This is what sustains the money-machine for the family. Thus, the need to hide any and all financial “hiccups” KCM experiences is extreme, because once the public finds out that it DOES NOT WORK for the Copelands as advertised, then the money spigots will immediately turn off completely—and the “Titanic” will begin its dive for the ocean floor.
Since the Copelands and their “wolf” friends do not seem to be very enthusiastic about repenting of their multiplied lies, frauds, and heresies, then it would seem that such a collapse would certainly be best for the Body of Christ because it would eliminate at least one “wolf den” from the scene.
We also encourage everyone who reads this to spread the word throughout the Internet. Please consider using the “Tell Others About This Article” features within the column to the right, or the “Share/Save” button below, to notify others of these developments. You can also “re-tweet” and “like” this article using the special buttons at the top and bottom of this page. The more these issues are exposed publicly, the quicker the frauds. lies, and heresies, of KCM will come to an end.
Our sources have told us that KCM was operating just barely in the “black” prior to the Inside Edition investigative report posted above. That means that after all their cost-cutting and donor recruitment efforts, their inflows (revenues) were just barely enough to cover their outflows (expenses). Thus, it is probable that KCM still has much of those multiplied millions of dollars of outstanding debt.
And with the recent CBS report above and our own continuous efforts here on KennethCopelandBlog.com, we believe that their precarious financial position is already plummeting downward once again.
Again, the more these issues are exposed publicly, the quicker the frauds. lies, and heresies, of KCM will come to a very inglorious end.
Lastly, Donna and I would like to express once again our sincere gratitude to all our advocates. Your personal notes to us—and willingness to spread the word about this website so far and wide—has been a real source of encouragement. Thank you.
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Announcing Rich Vermillion’s New MP3 Audio Resource! (It’s FREE!)
Click the above banner to visit the announcement about this project here on this website. Therein you will find some details shared only here on KennethCopelandBlog.com, plus a link to the official announcement page on RichVermillion.com. (The page will open into a new browser window.)
The above article includes insightful information about deprogramming Prosperity-Cult members!
Judging Prophecy Correctly This article above explains key tests for differentiating between true and false prophets! (A teaching which certainly also applies toward evaluating Kenneth Copeland's alleged prophecies.)
Click on the images above to view the ministry articles. Note: These pages will open within a new browser window. Automated translations are also available on that website for these articles.
The responsibilities associated with Rich Vermillion's ministry office actually require him to bring forth this public rebuke of the false prophet, Kenneth Copeland, and his equally fraudulent family. Consequently, we recommend that you learn more about Rich's calling by first reviewing the following video, and then by visiting some of his other websites (which are listed further below):
Rich’s Other Websites:
Rich has various other online educational resources as well. Please click any of the following links to view his other websites. (Note: Each link will open into its own new window).
“Codex Magica” by Texe Marrs: This first book has been put into the public domain by its author. This resource focuses more on the occult aspects of the various Masonic groups than their history or ceremonies. However, its main advantage is that it is loaded with over 1,000 photographs/images of actual Masonic handshakes and occultic signs. You will likely be quite surprised by many of the images and their captions.
“The Order of the Eastern Star”: This anonymous paper on the nefarious women’s Masonic group is extremely well-researched, and features a very respectable number of footnotes and a surprisingly large bibliography for such a short essay. However, its value as a resource regarding this female Freemason organization cannot be understated, because we will be examining the signs and symbols within KCM material that indicate that even the women of the Copeland family (e.g., Gloria and Kellie in particular) are members of this blasphemous group. (File size: Only about 100 KB)
“Letters and Addresses on Freemasonry” by President John Quincy Adams: This amazing collection of President Adams’ writings on the subject is where I derived the quotes further above within this very article. Trained as both a lawyer and logician, Mr. Adam’s logic and arguments against Freemasonry are irrefutable — and he based them also upon an extensive research of the facts.
“Proofs of A Conspiracy” by John Robison: Another amazing historical book on the subject, this 3rd edition, printed in 1798 A.D., is actually a scanned copy from the personal library of President John Adams, the 2nd U.S. President (and father of President John Quincy Adams). Proofs of A Conspiracy was widely distributed around Europe and, to a slightly lesser degree, the Americas. It exposed a documented conspiracy to overthrow the governments of Europe through the Masonic lodges by the “Bavarian Illuminati,” and its publication resulted in the raid of that evil group’s Bavarian offices and the arrest of many of its members. It was highly respected and esteemed in that day by government leaders, officials, academics, and clergy alike.
“Light on Masonry” by (Elder) David Bernard: This book is the second expose’ book ever published on Freemasonry, having been published just three short years after the Masonic execution (murder) of Captain William Morgan.
“Letters on Freemasonry” by (Elder) John G. Stearns: This is another of remarkable text from history, which I will allow Rev. Charles G. Finney to introduce to you this time:
“The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings, of Freemasonry” by Rev. Charles G. Finney: This is probably one of the most famous historical books on the subject of Masonry within Christendom today, as citations from it appear all over the Internet.
“A Ritual of Freemasonry” by Avery Allyn: Last, but certainly not least, is another of the original Anti-Masonic books published during the First (and most intense) Anti-Masonic Movement. It has often been compared with Bernard’s, which came right before it. However, this later 1853 edition has the added benefit of wood carving illustrations, which demonstrate the different aspects of the initiation rites (there were no illustrations within the 1829 edition of Bernard’s Light on Masonry).
In extending the ”Are the Copelands Biblically Qualified for Ministry?” section of the 
