Kenneth Erwin Hagin was born in McKinney, Texas, on August 20, 1917. Hagin was born with a congenital heart defect and weighed only two pounds at the time of his birth. At the age of six his father deserted his mother and the family which led to her suffering a nervous breakdown. The childhood of Kenneth Hagin was full of physical difficulties and a home environment centered on the whims of a mother who was often suicidal. Four months before Kenneth Hagin’s sixteenth birthday his heart conditioned worsened and was bedridden for 16 months. Hagin experienced physical paralysis and often experienced mental delirium. It was during this time in which Hagin experienced three trips to hell.
On April 22, 1933 at 7:40 PM Hagin reported that he died and descended to hell:
“Then the inner man rushed out of my body and left my body lying dead, with the eyes set and the flesh cold. . .I have proof that I was actually dead. My eyes were set, my heart stopped beating, and my pulse had ceased. . .Finally, far below me, I could see lights flickering on the walls of the caverns of the damned. The lights were caused by the fires of hell. . .Upon reaching the bottom of the pit, I became conscious of some kind of spirit being by my side. . .a voice spoke from far above the blackness, above the earth, and above the heavens. I don’t know if it was the voice of God, Jesus, or an angel, or who. . .I slipped back into my body as easily as a man slips into his trousers in the morning – through my mouth.”
For the second time, Hagin leaves his body and descends into the pit, and again a voice speaks.
“My heart stopped beating for the second time. . .I felt the blood cease to circulate. The tips of my toes went numb – then my feet, ankles, knees, hips, stomach, and heart. I leaped out of my body and began to descend: down, down down. . .The voice spoke from heaven and again my spirit came up out of that place – back to my room and back into my body. The only difference this time was that I came up at the foot of the bed.”
Again, a third time, Hagin descends into hell.
“…my heart stopped for the third time. I could feel the circulation as it cut off again – and I leaped out of my body and began to descend. . .Thank God that voice spoke. I don’t know who it was – I didn’t see anybody – I just hear the voice. . .I began to pray, “O God! I come to you in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ. I ask You to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me from all sin. . .That was the very hour I was born again due to the mercy of God through the prayers of my mother.”
Hagin reported that he died three times. On the last trip, Hagin describes his testimony of how he was saved from his sins and began his relationship with the God. Hagin gives credit to the prayers of his mother as the instrument by which God’s mercy was extended. Hagin clearly believes that he died. Hagin does not say that he thought he died, or that he simply left his body. No, he emphatically states that he died.
“My experience of being brought back from the dead is not new. Jesus raised three people from the dead.”
Hagin clearly equates his experiences as equal with those of whom Jesus raised from the dead in the Bible.
Critical Thinking Skills Question:
What are the relevant issues that we should address in relation to Hagin’s reported experience?
Well maybe I’m missing something but in this version you included:
Yesterday, I thought you said there was no mention of repentence or forgiveness – I’ll have to go back and listen.
I can see how the last part about his mother might sound like he’s giving his mother credit for his salvation but he could mean that her prayers were integral in the overall outcome.
With so many documented cases of people’s bodies physically dying and coming then “coming back to life”, I have no problem that this particular experience may have occurred. Was he dead for three days? No, so it’s hardly a “Lazerus experience” but still an experience with death none the less.
I guess I would want to know more about what the voice actually said when it spoke to see if it aligns with scripture.
I was once an extremely conservative, Bible- bound Christian. I still consider myself a Christian since Jesus is my savior, but it cracks me up that we have people who have actually experienced death and SEEN Him, and we question His reality based upon the church’s interpretation of writings about Him. It would be like me speaking to someone personally on a subject I know thoroughly, and then having that person tell me, well, I know someone who wrote a book about you and they said that’s not what you really mean. We tend to not listen to the God of love who speaks to our hearts. We follow what other people tell us we should believe. God is much bigger than our churches have made Him out to be.
Joy, thanks for jumping in. The situation is driven by answering the question, How do you determine if something can be determined to be true? For example, if I said that God is a blue man who is 10 ft. tall and lives with his family in Idaho… would you consider that to be true? What if I said that God told me this truth via speaking to my heart? How would you determine if I was reasonable right or suspiciously wrong?
This may be taking things further off-track, but J.P. Moreland and Gary Habermas explore near-death experience in Beyond Death. Kind of interesting.
Relevant issues? This story is anecdotal at best. It would be a grave mistake for Hagin or anyone else to base any view of God upon this experience. That sort of basis for faith trivializes Scripture by diluting its authority.
So what am I missing? At this point it’s an interesting story that can’t be proved or disproved.
If the writer of Hebrews is to be believed when he says:
It would seem clear that the writer is saying people only die once. In comparing Christ and his sacrifice, the writer makes the reality of death happen only once in a person’s life just as the sacrifice of Christ needed to only happen once. In other words, if Kenneth Hagin did die and was transported to hell while his sins remained then he would have stayed there since death would hold him to pay the penalty owed. Death is the end not a parenthesis waiting for the rest of the sentence. Even within the testimony of Kenneth Hagin there is a point of understanding that betray’s the Word of God. I would not be nearly as concerned if he said he had a vision, or thought he was dead, but Hagin sensationalizes it to an unbiblical level.
Also, Kenneth Hagin then uses this initial “born-again” experience to teach that Jesus was also “born again” in hell just like he was. Kenneth Hagin teaches, along with Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, that Jesus was the first “born again” man. He starts off wrong in his testimony and extends his wrong to include Christ.
Okay I can’t defend all the stuff about Christ getting “born-again” in hell … that’s just wacked. :^)
How do you resolve Hebrews with Jesus’ miracles of Lazerus and the Soldier’s child? How do you resolve it with Elijah and the widow’s son?
Great points, really… I would relate Kenneth Hagin coming back from the “dead” and the miracles of Christ as essentially missing one key ingredient – Jesus. I will heartily admit that Jesus suspended death and administered creative force to the extreme of showing himself to be God in raising individuals from the dead. However, Jesus did not raise Kenneth Hagin, nor is Jesus needing further identification as the God-Man. So, I do not see the essential connection although it is a good point we need to be able to grapple with.
Does that make sense or is it a week argument from your vantage point?
Hey, thx for entertaining my questions.
If one is going to use the Hebrews verse as 100% absolute spiritual law then you also have examples of Jesus and Elijah breaking it.
To me “well, Jesus can do whatever He wants” doesn’t really satisfy and you still have Elijah to deal with.
Could it be that we are missing something in the context in which the Hebrews verse was written? This might be opening a can of worms but could it be assuming death is a period unless God steps in? (Since it is such a rare event it wasn’t really worth mentioning.)
Yes, that was what I was trying to say, but apparently not very well. Jesus is the missing ingredient and we must be careful to dismiss events to the ultimate “Sunday School” (Kevin H. – that was for you -:) answer: “The Bible” or “Jesus” as the catch all. There are legitimate times in which that is all we have since that is the point. Matthew 9 is the key to understanding this idea. Jesus reverses the visible curse of sin in healing the paralytic and uses it to point out His ability to forgive spiritual sins as backing up His claim of Messiah.
Jesus suspends physical death (whatever that temporal state may look like) or rescues people from spiritual death to demostrate that He holds the power of death at bay. However, in Kenneth Hagin’s case, this is not the 1 to 1 comparison, although Kenneth Hagin would like that to be the case. I see a claring disjoint between Jesus suspending/rescuing people from death and Kenneth Hagin travelling to hell in a delirious state and claiming it is on-par with Jesus when Jesus is nowhere in sight.
Make sense?
Still haven’t dealt with Elijah. ;^)
I use those as scriptural examples but we also have many more modern testimonies of similar experiences after a person has officially died – documented by physicians. I find it interesting that most of the people that try and debunk these experiences are trying to explain away the idea of an afterlife – a group you certainly aren’t in.
This isn’t the perfect analogy but I kind of see it like Siamese twins. The idea of two people in one body sounds pretty “crazy” to me and it isn’t dealt with anywhere in Scripture. Surely someone just made that up. I don’t have the time now but I’m sure I could find a verse or two to show how the idea of Siamese twins violates scripture. ;^)
I think I agree with Jeff, at best it’s an interesting story that can’t be proved or disproved.
Fair enough…