IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED (PART I)

“Did God Create Heavens & Earth By Faith?”

By Akin Ojumu

Everybody has their own pet peeve. There’s that one thing that sticks in your craw; an intolerable annoyance that pisses you off and makes you want to pull your hair out every time it happens. If you say you don’t have one, you are lying. We all do.

While seeing preachers mangle the Word of God, twisting it to make it mean whatever it is they want it to mean, is a pet peeve of mine, others may see it as nothing to fret about. There are even those who have gone as far as to suggest that Scripture isn’t even the Gospel. According to them, the “Gospel is whatever it is that God tells you in that season for your life.” For me, however, the mishandling of God’s Word is one thing that makes my blood boil.

Which brings me to Kenneth Copeland. This man is one of the most influential preachers in the world today. The man has been preaching for as long as many of us are alive. His following is massive and his influence on the theology and doctrine of a large swathe of modern-day Christianity is immense. Kenneth Copeland’s beliefs and thoughts permeate most of the Christian ministries globally. Through his books and tele-evangelism, he has indoctrinated a vast majority of Christian ministers worldwide.

There are few false teachers who are more deadly than Kenneth Copeland today. This is a man who has used his massive platform and vast resources to spread his false gospel of health and wealth to millions of impoverished people around the world. His effort at spreading his heretical beliefs has paid off massively. The man has amassed an inordinate amount of wealth that enables him to live an opulent lifestyle. Yet, the circumstances of the consumers of his false teachings, who send him their last farthings, get progressively worse.

That Kenneth Copeland is an irreverent blasphemer with zero regard for God or His Word has been proven over the years, ad infinitum and ad nauseam, by people far more eminently qualified than me theologically. On my own, I too have exposed some of his false teachings in a few of my commentaries.

If you think I’m being overly hyperbolic in my characterization of Kenneth Copeland’s error, this video clip is yet another instance of the man doing violence to the Word of Truth. In the message, preached on New Year’s Eve, 2023, he basically reduces the Almighty God to a mere man.

Teaching on the creation of the universe by God from Genesis 1:1-3, Kenneth Copeland tells his audience:

“Now, right in Genesis Chapter 1, we have, and it’s borne out in the 11th Chapter of Hebrews, that God did it by faith. By faith we understand he created the world. So, here we have him, the first introduction of faith in God, and the introduction to the spirit of power.”

Cross-referencing this Bible text with Hebrews 11:3, Kenneth Copeland goes on to assert that God created the universe by faith.

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3).

First off, it’s grossly erroneous to interpret Hebrews 11:3 to suggest that God created the universe by faith. What this passage is in fact talking about is the faith by which Christians believe in God’s work of creation. It’s through this faith that we come to understand that God created the universe by His Word.

Contrary to what Kenneth Copeland would like you to believe, Hebrews 11:3 is not in any way saying that God created the universe by faith. When we talk about faith, there’s always an object of that faith; it’s either a faith in someone or something. The logical question to ask Kenneth Copeland would be:

“Who is the source of God’s faith for the creation of the universe?” “In whom or what did God have faith for the creation of the heavens and the earth?”

Of course, the notion of God having faith in someone, or something, is ridiculous. Faith is of man and not of God. It’s a grace gift given to man by God Himself.

Next time, we’ll examine what the Bible actually teaches about how God created the heavens and the earth.