Kenneth Copeland: ‘They’ll Never Be the Same’
“I had to just lock myself up in prayer and find out what God wanted me to do. And, I had to fight discouragement over the size of the crowds. But then I saw that God was bringing together a nucleus of 2,000 or so who were there every night. I saw that they were taking the Word and that it will last, and that they will take it all over the islands.
“Finally, I got with the program and flowed with what the Spirit of God was doing,” Copeland said.
The breakthrough Copeland was referring to seemed to come the night he sang, “He Is Lord,” in Tagalog. Then, another night he sang in English “God Bless the Philippines” (to the tune of ‘God Bless America,” with a few word changes). Simple gestures, both of them. But they had the same emotional impact that John Kennedy’s did when he stood at the wall separating East and West Germany and said “Eich Bin Ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) in the early 1960s.
Copeland was saying, in essence, “I am a Filipino.”
As the days passed Copeland discovered that in spite of language barriers and cultural barriers he could minister the Word as much as he does in the United States.
“We thought it would be different than ministering at home,” he said. “But the Lord had us do here what we do at home, and that is just teach the Word. It was exciting to see the way the people received it.”
Copeland told me he thought the most important thing he did in the Philippines was to plant an “indestructible seed.”
“The people were ready for the Word,” he said. “We gave them a heavier Word than I expected. I believe it was the seed to a great revival in the Philippines that will eventually break out like it did in Indonesia a few years ago.”
Copeland seemed to understand that something else had happened.
“The testimonies of the people were so wonderful,” he said. “Almost everyone referred to something they’d been taught.”
Copeland was referring to Saturday night when Gloria stood in front of the platform and interviewed people who said they were healed. It was an exciting time. The people were eager to hear of miracles. They cheered and praised God for each person, even for the ones whose healing was not made clear, but who seemed to only want to express their devotion to the Lord.
When the testimonies began, I paid particularly close attention. I’d been watching for the miracles that all of us wanted to see. I had interviewed people on stretchers; people with seriously impaired vision; people in wheelchairs. From what the people told me, no “miracles” had taken place (although many said they were somewhat improved, or that they believed in faith they were healed.)
As a Christian I believe healings must be accepted by faith. But as a journalist, I wanted healings I could document for this report.
Of the 25 people whom Gloria interviewed that night, three Americans said they had been healed of head colds or pressure in the head. Another American was healed of an inflamed knee. And three people—two Filipinos and one American— were healed, they said, of emotional or nervous disorders.
There were several testimonies of healings of the eyes. One 89-year-old blind woman testified in Tagolog how she could see light for the first time in years. The crowd applauded time after time, although we foreigners didn’t know what she said until it was translated into English. It made us know what it felt like to not understand the language being spoken.
Another testimony was from a young Filipino girl whom I had interviewed two nights before, after she enthusiastically claimed a miracle healing for congenital cataracts when Copeland touched her in the healing line. She told Gloria how much improved her vision was.
Three others said they broke or lost their glasses after claiming healing for nearsightedness or astigmatism. None said specifically they were healed, but each said they had no headaches, and they implied their eyes were healed.
Some of the healing testimonies were more specific—like the lady with only one kidney who had no kidney pain for the first time in years. Or the man who said he was healed of heart disease and ulcers.
Several people said Copeland had given a word of knowledge that they would be healed. One lady said she was healed of arthritis, and swung her arm over her head to prove it. Another was partially paralyzed when Copeland called out her healing. She said she stood to claim that healing.
As the people recited accounts of their healings I noticed comments about how the Lord had given them faith to claim their healings.
One lady said that the Lord “taught me healing comes from the moment you believe.”
But a young Filipino man who worked for the telephone company may have summed it up best: “I’ve been serving the Lord many years, but this is the only time I’ve really learned to have faith and to use it to reverse the power of Satan.”
Later in Narita Airport, Gloria said those testimonies were the most important. “We feel like if we go into a place and leave the Word of God, then the people can stand on the Word themselves after we’re gone.”
One other thing seemed to emerge from the meeting. The times in which the Spirit of God moved in the strongest way was when the people ministered to each other.
Several times Copeland had the people lay hands on the person next to them and pray for salvation, healing or victory over the devil. Once he had the entire crowd pray four times for each of the people in front, in back and on each side of them.
Copeland and Gloria were both impressed with the openness of the Filipinos and how uninhibited they were in worship. Part of this is the influence, Copeland believes, of the Roman Catholic church (80 percent of all Filipinos are Catholic).
“The Catholic background is excellent,” Copeland said. “They are taught to expect miracles and they are very obedient. If you show them something out of the Bible, they don’t question it; they move on it. That gives the Spirit of God all kinds of lateral ways to move.”
Copeland referred to the strong Catholic influence in Manila on Thursday night when he spontaneously prayed for God to bless the upcoming visit of Pope John Paul II about which all of Manila was talking.
His prayer was a beautiful intercession for the Lord to move through John Paul II—whom Copeland called a “man of God.”
Why had he prayed for the Pope, I asked Copeland at Narita Airport.
“Obviously because God wants the Pope prayed for,” Copeland answered. “There’s so much criticism of the Pope. I wanted to show that you won’t get anywhere criticizing. Besides, the Lord was teaching those people that they had the authority and had a right to pray for the Pope and that they were not subordinate to him.
“Many consider themselves so far inferior to the Pope or even a priest that they would never consider praying for him. It’s almost as if they were to pray for God. I wanted them to see that their prayers for the Pope had meaning.”
Then Gloria added, “Many of the people told us that now that they see who they are in Christ, they’ll never be the same.”
“That’s just what Oral Roberts prophesied,” Kenneth Copeland said.
It would be easy to end the article here. I have reported what happened, and I’ve left it up to the reader to draw his own conclusions.
But there is more that needs to be written. Therefore, here is my evaluation of what happened in Manila:
First, I believe Kenneth Copeland is a man of God. I believe he is doing what he believes God wants him to do. I respect that.
I also believe that despite the tremendous success of his ministry that God is forcing him to change.
Thus, the Manila meeting may have indeed been a watershed—not only for the Filipinos as was prophesied, (for they have been bombarded across the years by many American evangelists), but for Kenneth Copeland and his team.
Copeland prophesied there would be 50,000 souls saved during the campaign (later revising that to 50,000 the first two nights). But the coliseum superintendent told me the total count for the combined meetings was only 34,453.
Copeland explained after the trip that his “faith is still out for those people.” He believes that the 50,000 have been or will be saved when you combine the ministry that went on among the various groups involved—the tour members, the members of Bethel Temple, the teams that went into various parts of Manila witnessing and passing out tracts.
I can accept that because I understand operating in faith.
Yet that is not what was said ahead of time. It’s easy to come back and say that seeds were planted. But they said they were going to reap the harvest—not plant seeds.
Because I believe Kenneth Copeland is a man of deep integrity, I know he will not try to alter facts to fit his theology. Instead, I believe what Oral Roberts prophesied will come to pass—Copeland will change.
I believe the Manila experience will deepen him, will give him new and greater insight into God’s purpose for the universe.
I do not believe he will do as so many others have done—bend or discount the truth so he will come out smelling good. I believe the truth will do to him what it does eventually, to all men of God—make him free.
Those are my conclusions from Manila. Time will prove, as it does with all prophecy, whether I am right or not.
In the meantime, keep your eye on Kenneth Copeland. God’s not finished with him yet.
