On 31st August 2017 TBN UK aired a programme that featured Kenneth Copeland ‘preaching’ to a large gathering in Faith Cathedral. Canaan Land, Ota, Lagos, Nigeria. In the course of his ‘sermon’ he said this ‘Jesus burned in hell for 3 days’. This heresy has been oft-repeated by Kenneth Copeland over many years. Back in the very early days of ‘Take Heed’, in fact in 1992, I gave a talk in Belfast outlining the false teachings of both Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland (basically the then leaders of what is known as the ‘Word of Faith Movement’ – Kenneth Hagin has since died) and I devoted a short section near the end of my talk to exposing and refuting this heresy that ‘Jesus burned in hell for 3 days’ – you can hear what I said by going to this link
and listening to the section from 44.18 to 53.05.
Now, by this stage you are perhaps thinking to yourself, what has all this to do with KARI JOBE? Well, just recently I was sent the link to an article that gives details about this lady and the lyrics of some of the ‘Christian’ songs that she has written and performs. This is the link http://pulpitandpen.org/2016/05/04/kari-jobe-dangeroustheology/ and these are the article portions I want to draw particular attention to –
Kari Jobe, is also a popular musician being promoted in churches, especially to our youth… One of her most popular songs, Forever, published by Bethel Music…,contains some really aberrant theology… Below is a sample of her lyrics:
One final breath He gave
As heaven looked away
The Son of God was laid in darkness
A battle in the grave
The war on death was waged
The power of hell forever broken
In an interview about her song, Forever, she said, “My favorite part of the whole thing is… we talk about the death on the cross and we talk about the
resurrection, but that time in between was when Jesus was in hell rendering
hell. And ransacking hell. And defeating the enemy – taking those keys to death and hell and the grave to be victorious over that when he rose from the dead”
This idea that Jesus died and went to Hell stems from an old heresy that is prominent in Word of Faith circles that teach that Jesus died ‘spiritually’ and was “born again” after defeating Satan in Hell. Popular teachers of this false teaching are Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar. Joyce Meyer writes in her book, ‘The Most Important Decision You’ll Ever Make’, the following:-
Jesus paid on the cross and went to hell in my place. Then as God had promised, on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. The scene in the spirit realm went something like this: God rose up from his throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless son of God, “let him go.” Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. On earth his grave where they had buried him was filled with light as the power of God filled his body. He was resurrected from the dead–the first born again man.
And Kenneth Copeland similarly writes:-
For three days He suffered everything there is to suffer. Some people don’t want to believe that. They want to believe that after His death, Jesus just stayed in that upper region of Sheol that the Bible calls paradise, but they’re mistaken! If He had simply stayed there, there would have been no price paid for sin.
This flies right in the face of biblical truth that Christ’s death on the cross was victorious over sin. Jesus proclaimed victory in his final breath on the cross.
The article also gives details of other worrying lyrics and worldly attitudes portrayed in her song entitled ‘The More I Seek You’ concerning a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
From a local perspective, it is both disappointing and worrying to read that a concert at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, at which Kari Jobe will be performing on 30th May 2018, is already sold out. Presumably most if not all of those planning to attend will be professing Christians. That being the case, I have one simple question for them, ‘Do you never listen to the lyrics of the songs being sung to check if they agree with the Scriptures?’ Sadly, it would appear that they don’t. This ‘full house’ for this concert highlights what is a serious problem within professing Christendom – and that is the
lack or even absence of ‘discernment’.
Perhaps again you may be thinking to yourself – why is the verse from 1st Thessalonians 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” included in the title of the article? Are you applying that to Kari Jobe herself as a person? The answer to that is ‘no’ BUT rather it refers to the lyrics in some of her songs as highlighted earlier in this article.
In the week that I have written this article the radio broadcasts of John MacArthur have dealt with this very issue of ‘discernment’ and I can think of no better way of finishing this article than by giving the links to those broadcasts which focus attention upon this verse “Abstain from all appearance of evil”. These are the links –
DISCERNMENT (1)
http://cdn.gty.org/radio/uk20180305.mp3?x-source=website&x type=download
DISCERNMENT (2)
http://cdn.gty.org/radio/uk20180306.mp3?x-source=website&x-type=download
DISCERNMENT (3)
http://cdn.gty.org/radio/uk20180307.mp3?x-source=website&x-type=download
DISCERNMENT (4)
http://cdn.gty.org/radio/uk20180308.mp3?x-source=website&x-type=download
DISCERNMENT (5)
http://cdn.gty.org/radio/uk20180309.mp3?x-source=website&x-type=download
And just one final thought, if you, as a reader, happen to have purchased tickets to go to any Kari Jobe concert, perhaps you may wish to reconsider whether or not you should attend.
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – 9 March 2018