A Look at the Similarities in Their Writings on the Past Tense of God’s Word
By Roscoe Barnes III
Author, F.F. Bosworth: The Man Behind Christ the Healer
Copyright (c) 2018
#FFBosworth
#BosworthMatters
Kenneth Hagin Jr.’s booklet,
The Past Tense of God’s Word (Kenneth
Hagin Ministries, 1980), is very similar to F.F. Bosworth’s booklet, The Past Tenses of God’s Word (1940?),
which was sold and promoted by Bosworth in the 1940s. The content of Bosworth's booklet is also published as
Chapter 8 – “How to Have Your Prayers Answered,” in his classic, Christ the
Healer.
An examination of Hagin's booklet reveals he borrowed heavily from
Bosworth’s writings. He mentions Bosworth in the third paragraph of Chapter 1
(page 1) and includes this quote:
In
the words of F.F. Bosworth, “The Gospel is a world-wide emancipation
proclamation of liberty from service and bondage to the old tyrant master of
sin and sickness – the devil.”
That quote, however, is the only
place in the book where Bosworth’s name is mentioned. Although several lines, words and ideas appear to be lifted from Bosworth’s booklet, Bosworth is not given
credit for the material and he is not identified as the source for the message
presented by Hagin. In some places, Hagin uses the same verses of Scripture
that Bosworth uses.
Below are examples of the
material used by Hagin followed by the content in Bosworth’s book.
KENNETH HAGIN JR.:
When Jesus said, “It is
finished” on the cross, he meant the work He was sent to accomplish was
finished. It is finished! It’s in the
past tense. It has been taken care
of. And everything included in that statement “it is finished” is for you and
me today. (p. 1)
F.F. BOSWORTH:
When Jesus said “It is
finished,” He meant that the work was done – completed as God sees it; and God
expects us to reckon as done what Jesus says was done. The past tenses of God’s
word mean a settled, sealed and final decision of His Will. (p. 2)
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HAGIN:
Hope expects it “sometimes.”
Faith takes it now. (p. 2)
BOSWORTH:
Hope is expecting a blessing sometime in the future;
but faith is taking now what God
offers. (p. 2)
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HAGIN:
It is important as we seek
after the mercies and benefits of God to appropriate them by faith. This means
actually taking them. (p. 2)
BOSWORTH:
It is important for
seekers after the mercies of God to see that appropriating faith is taking and
using what God offers to us. (p. 2)
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HAGIN:
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ HATH redeemed us from the curse of
the law ….” Is “hath” past tense or future tense? It’s past tense, isn’t
it?
The Word of God puts our
redemption from the curse in the past
tense. We receive our deliverance because it’s in the past tense. It already
has been taken care of. It’s not up to God now; it’s up to you. You have the
responsibility. (p. 5)
BOSWORTH:
In Galatians 3:13, we read
“Christ hath (past tense) redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a cruse for us.” God has put our
redemption from the curse of the law in the past tense, and we receive our
deliverance when we do the same. (p. 2-3)
----------
HAGIN:
Look at Isaiah 53:4: “Surely he HATH BORNE our griefs and CARRIED
our sorrows….” Are those verbs in the past tense? Yes.
Look at Matthew 8:17, “Himself TOOK our infirmities, and BARE our
sicknesses ….” Past, present, or future tense? “Took” and “bare” are past
tense. Because he took our infirmities in the past, we can claim the promise now and take it into the present – because it is ours.
For example, look at the
Scripture “by whose stripes ye WERE
healed (1 Peter 2:24). “Were is past tense. Therefore, if we “were” healed –
bring it into the present tense – we ARE healed. (p. 6)
BOSWORTH:
In God’s Word we read “Surely
He hath (past tense) borne our
sicknesses and carried our pain” – “Himself took
(past tense) our infirmities and bare our sicknesses” – “By Whose stripes ye were healed.”
God wants us all to
appropriate the past tenses of His Word regarding His redemption of our souls
and bodies from sickness and disease and go forth in obedience acting as if we
believed him. When God puts a promise in the past tense, He thus authorizes and
expects us to do the same. Nothing short of this is appropriating faith. (p. 3)
----------
HAGIN:
Mark 11:24 is a familiar
passage of Scripture; especially from a fellow by the name of Kenneth E. Hagin.
(He didn’t write it, contrary to what some people think!) it says, “…when ye pray, believe that ye RECEIVE
them, and ye shall have them.” Notice it doesn’t say “you are going to
receive them” (future tense). No, you receive them (present tense). (p. 10)
BOSWORTH:
In Mark 11:24 Jesus
authorizes us and commands us to put the reception of the blessing we pray for
in the past tense. He says, when we ask
for what He offers, Believe that ye have
received them, and ye shall have
them.” (P. 3-4)
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HAGIN:
We must continue to
realize that God’s past-tense Word can only become present tense in our lives
as we act upon it. God can’t do anything about it until we do.
I realize some of you won’t
like me to say that, but if God already has done something about it, then His
responsibility has ended and ours has begun. (p. 10-11)
BOSWORTH:
We are to continue to
believe that God gave us what we asked for when we prayed, and continue to
praise and thank Him for what he has given us. (p. 3-4)
But all of God’s blessings
are OFFERED gifts as well as promised, and therefore need to be accepted; and the responsibility for
their transfer is ours. This clears
God of all responsibility for any failures. (p. 8)
---------
HAGIN:
Jesus Christ Himself
demonstrated this when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember the story?
Jesus’ best friend was lying dead I a cave. Jesus stood outside that tomb and, while Lazarus was still dead, said –
talking to His Father – “Father, I thank thee that thou HAST heard me” (John 11:41).
The sick who are praying
for healing need to say – before it ever materializes – “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” (p. 12)
BOSWORTH:
Jesus, at the grave of
Lazarus, said, while Lazarus was still
dead, “I thank Thee that Thou hast
heard me.
The sick who pray for
healing are to say before their healing materializes, “Father, I thank Thee
that Thou hast heard me.” (p. 4-5)
---------
HAGIN:
So we stand there with the
prayer of faith, believing we have been heard before we ever see any manifestation.
(p. 13)
BOSWORTH:
The Prayer of faith is believing our prayer is heard
before the answer materializes – before
the answer is manifested. (p. 5)
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HAGIN:
Faith refuses to see
anything contrary to what God’s Word says. (p. 16-17)
BOSWORTH:
Faith refuses to see (as
reason for doubting) anything contrary to the Word of God. (p. 5)
----------
HAGIN:
With our natural eyes we
see only temporal, materialistic things. But with the eyes of our spirit, we
can begin to behold supernatural, satisfying, lasting realities of God’s
spiritual, eternal kingdom. (P. 16-17)
BOSWORTH:
With our natural eyes we
see only the temporal and inferior things of earth, but with the enlightened
eyes of our understanding we behold the superior, satisfying and lasting
realities of God’s spiritual and eternal Kingdom. (p. 5-6)
---------
HAGIN:
God said to Abram, “…for a father of many nations HAVE I made
thee.” Do you know what Abram did? Immediately he changed his name to
Abraham to mean what God said he was going to be!
Notice that God said, “I HAVE [past tense] made thee the father of
many nations” (Gen. 17:5). He didn’t say he was “going to” (future tense).
(p. 19)
BOSWORTH:
God said to Abraham, “A
father of many nations have I made thee” (past tense), and since God put this
promise in the past tense, Abraham did the same and acted his faith by taking
his new name, “Abraham” which means “the father of a multitude”. (p. 6)
---------
HAGIN:
Suppose someone came to me
and said, “Brother Hagin, I appreciate you. Here is a title deed to such-and-such
a house. It’s worth $100,000. I’ll sign it over to you. It’s all yours, legally
signed.”
I could put that house on
the market and sell it without even having seen it. Why? Because I’ve got the
title deed. I could even turn around and give the house to somebody and never
see it. It’s mine. I can do with it what I will.
Faith is the evidence – or
title deed – of things not yet seen. (p. 19-20)
BOSWORTH:
If someone should deed you
a home that you had never seen, you actually have a home before you see it. “Faith
is the evidence (title deed) of things not (yet) seen”. A deed makes a home so
much yours that you can sell it without every seeing it. Faith is believing you
have what God says you have and
acting accordingly before you either feel or see that you have it. (p. 6-7)
---------
HAGIN:
But you see, these
promises are not just promises; the promise has already been taken care of
through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. He already has taken care of the
promises. They are offered to us because
they have been taken care of. That puts the responsibility on us to take these
offers and use them. (p. 23)
BOSWORTH:
“Were the gifts of God for
soul and body merely PROMISED gifts, we would have to wait for the Promiser to
fulfill His promises, and the responsibility would be on Him. But all of God’s
blessings are OFFERED gifts as well as promised, and therefore need to be accepted; and the responsibility for
their transfer is ours. This clears
God of all responsibility for any failures. (p. 8)
----------
HAGIN:
The only reason you weren’t
saved the year before you were saved wasn’t God’s fault, was it? God had
already purchased salvation. The responsibility was yours to accept it. (p. 25)
BOSWORTH:
The only reason you were
not saved a year earlier than you were is that you did not take what God had
provided and was offering to you. God was not making you wait; you were making
Him wait. (p. 8)
Giving credit to whom it is due
It is both surprising and
unfortunate that Hagin failed to acknowledge Bosworth's contribution. It is
stunningly sad to see the extent he went to present the ideas and words as his
own, with no credit being given to the actual source of his message.
Hagin should have followed
the example set by T. L. Osborn who fully acknowledged the people he cited, as
well as those from whom he borrowed ideas about healing. In other words, he
gave credit to whom it was due. For example, when Osborn published One Hundred Divine Healing Facts
(Harrison House, 1983), he included this note:
In
presenting 100 Divine Healing Facts, we are indebted to the resourceful
writings of F.F. Bosworth, from which several of the thoughts expressed have
been gleaned.
His
faith literature has brought healing within the grasp of many thousands who
could not have recovered without knowing the truths which it contains.
By
reading his book, Christ the Healer, you can get in just a few hours what took
Rev. Bosworth thirty years of hard work in a healing ministry all over the
United States and Canada to learn. I urge every Christian, pastor, teacher, and
evangelist to obtain a copy of this masterpiece in faith building and read it
repeatedly.
T.L.
Osborn
Hagin could have also
learned from Bosworth who fully acknowledged E.W. Kenyon as his source of inspiration
(and ideas) for the booklet, The
Christian Confession (copies available through Flower Pentecostal Heritage
Center: https://ifphc.org). On the final page
of his booklet, Bosworth wrote:
Some
of the thoughts expressed in the first part of this booklet were brought
together by permission from the writings of Rev. E.W. Kenyon, Author of “The
Father and His Family”, “The Wonderful Name of Jesus”, “In His Presence”, “Two
Kinds of Love”, and other writings. Address, Kenyon Gospel Publication Society,
1901 Fourth Avenue, North, Seattle 9, Washington.
F.F.
Bosworth
P.O.
Box 5
Biscayne
Annex
Miami,
Florida
One can hope that by bringing
attention to this topic, Hagin and others will come to see the importance of
truth, integrity, transparency, and the Christian call to fully acknowledge the
works of others by giving them the credit they deserve. As Christians, we
should also remember to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. The
church should be a light and set an example for others to follow.
--------------
Resource:
The image and content for
F.F. Bosworth’s booklets, The Past Tenses
of God’s Word, and The Christian
Confession, were obtained through the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (https://ifphc.org), Springfield, Mo.
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For more information:
Visit the F.F. Bosworth page here. Questions about the research and commentary on F.F.
Bosworth may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., via email at
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