Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century

Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth. - The Apostle Paul.

Hank Hanegraaff's updated edition of Christianity in Crisis serves to turn the spotlight on the dark areas of the heretical Word of Faith movement. This movement goes beyond Pentecostalism or Charismatics and wholeheartedly jumps over the line into outright heresy. Unfortunately, it is this brand of Christianity most commonly known among non-Christians, having been popularized by places like TBN and GodTV.

Hanegraaff begins his expose by amalgamating the various beliefs and statements from within the movement into a coherent story. What follows is shocking. From the statement that God is like a man...supposedly six foot two and with a hand span of nine inches to the assertion that God was the greatest failure of all time, to the "fact" that any of us could've redeemed the world had we known what Jesus knew, Hanegraaff carefully documents the outright heresy perpetrated by the Word of faith movement.

And not content to merely expose the beliefs as heretical, Hanegraaff wastes no time in naming names, careful to include the 2nd generation Faithers that postdate the first edition of this book. Ken Hagin, Ken Copeland, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, John Avanzini, and Todd Bentley all fall victim to having their heretical words and action exposed. But beyond these are others who maybe one would not think of: Paul Crouch (TBN founder), TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer, and the ever-popular Joel Osteen have their Christian veneer ripped away to expose their heretical roots.

Chapter after chapter, page after page, Hanegraaff documents how the Faith movement completely and absolutely perverts Christianity, usually to their own financial gain. Case in point, Hanegraaff notes, is Oral Roberts, who claimed God would kill him unless his listeners sent in near $8 million dollars. Through it all, Hanegraaff notes how this is not true Christianity and contrasts it to the orthodox Christian beliefs.

This is a powerful reference tool for dissuading those who have begun to be caught in the Faith movement, mostly through the power of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, founded by Paul Crouch (who once said he hoped God killed those who disagreed with him). I have personally used such exposing quotes to dissuade friends and family members from being taken in by men like Ken Copeland and Joel Osteen.

Anyone who would like to know how to counter and defend Christianity against this rising tide of heresy would do well to read this book.

Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century