Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
(1 Peter 2:24)
While pastoring a Full Gospel church in north central Texas, I visited a dear woman and her husband in their home in the country. They had several children and many acres of farmland. They were wonderful people. Sister Foster had a Methodist background.
She said to me, “You know, Brother Hagin, my grandmother lived with us right in this very house. I remember the time someone came to town, rented a store building, and had a meeting there. Grandma was ninety-three years old then. My husband and I went to the meeting, and I came back and told Grandma about it. She said, ‘Sounds like old-fashioned Methodism to me.’ She encouraged us to go back.
“We went back, and the man announced that he was going to have a healing service. He was going to lay hands on the sick and anoint them with oil according to James 5:14. He said that the Lord still heals the sick today as He did in days gone by. I thought to myself, I’ll tell Grandma about that and she won’t want us to go back. I didn’t want to go back, anyway.
“The next day, I told Grandma about it. She said, ‘You must go hear him. Forty years ago in our Methodist church, a man came along preaching healing. He had everyone come down front and accept Christ as their Healer, just as we accepted Him as our Savior. I went down there and accepted Christ as my Healer. Do you remember me ever being sick in the last forty years?’
“I said, ‘No. I just always thought you had a strong constitution.’
“She said, ‘No. I accepted Christ as my Healer, and I haven’t been sick in forty years. In fact, I’ll have you know that I’m going to live and die without having sickness or disease in my body. You both go back and hear that.'”
They listened to Grandma. They went back and got filled with the Holy Ghost.
Confession:
Just as I accepted Jesus as my Savior for life, I accept Him as my Healer for life. I no longer have to live with sickness and disease. I can enjoy a long life of health..
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.