Exalting Man

Exalting Man
The exaltation of man is where the Word-Faith movement sharply deviates from the
Bible and historic Christianity. The great lie of Satan has always been, ’You will be like
God’ (Genesis 3:5). In the beginning, Satan’s sin was pride. In Isaiah 14:14 the Bible
says that he declared the he would be like the Most High God and then he uses the same
false claim on any man who will head him. After his fall, this same echo of pride has
been used to tempt man throughout the ages. Pagan religions appeal to people on the
level of pride. Margo Adler, a well known witch, stated this well:
The reason people are so attracted to magical and pagan religions is because they
want to be god. The fundamental thing of pagan religions is that ultimately they
say that you are within yourself the god or goddess.

Isaiah 43:10 tells us:
"You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me
there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. "

Is there any other god other than the LORD? No. Will there ever be another god other
than the God who has revealed Himself in scripture? No. The Bible is a very exclusionary
book. God declared His word in such a way that it is impossible to accept pagan religions
without rejecting scripture. Either this verse in Isaiah is a lie, or the pagans are following
a lie. Both cannot be true. The claim that man is god is probably the most consistent error
that Word-Faith doctrine teaches. Across the board, almost all prominent Faith teachers
echo the same message. Some, like Benny Hinn, began by warning people not to believe
this doctrine. However, now Hinn teaches it with great fervor. Early on, Hinn once taught
the following:
One of the most dangerous things in the body of Christ today is this teaching
going around that teaches men that they are God. When you say that you are God,
you are putting your place right where Lucifer was standing. When someone tells
you that you are God, that’s just another serpent coming to say, ’taste it’. When
you hear the teaching that you are God, remember what I am telling you, it’s the
serpent coming into your garden saying, ’has God said...? If you eat this, you’ll be
just like Him.’ The devil hasn’t changed his game.

Obviously, Hinn was influenced in this area by orthodox Christianity. Historic and
Biblical Christianity soon gave way to sensationalism and pagan influenced doctrines.
Hinn went from warning against this doctrine to defending it. Hinn stated:
He laid aside his divine form so that I could one day be clothed on high with the
divine form. People have a problem with Ken Copeland and Kenneth Hagan’s
teaching, but it is absolute and divine truth. Hagan and Copeland say, ’You are
God’.

It cannot be overlooked that Hinn plainly stated that this teaching is absolute divine truth.
Scripture does not teach that we are or will be divine. However, this does not prevent
Hinn from now teaching the very thing He once declared to be of the devil:
God came from heaven and became a man. He made men into little gods. Went
back to heaven as a man. He faces the Father as a man. You say, ’Am I little
god?’. You’re a son of God aren’t you? You’re a child of God aren’t you? What
else are you? You say, ’I AM’. You are