The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
(Prov. 20:27)
A young admiral who was dying of liver cancer said to the Lord, “I know the doctor said that ninety percent of my liver is already eaten up with cancer and that I’m operating on ten percent of it. I know the doctor said that I’ll be dead in ten days. I’m not afraid to die now.
“But I just can’t believe that it is Your will for me to die at my age and leave my wife and two children. I can’t believe that. I know that You can do anything. I know that if I had a headache, You could heal a headache.
“I’m sure You have that much power. But it would be just as easy for You to heal cancer of the liver as it would be to heal a headache. I’m going to ask You to heal me, and believe that You’ll do it.”
Scriptures began to come back to him that he learned as a child in Sunday school. He began to quote them.
The next day, his wife came in and broke down in tears. She thought she was about to lose a husband.
He said to her, “Honey, don’t cry. I’ve been away from the Lord, but I’ve come back to Him. And I want you to know that I’m not going to die.”
She said, “Yes, but the doctor said you’re going to die.”
“I don’t care what the doctor said,” he replied.
Think about this. He had no teaching about faith and healing. But just by following his spirit, he knew that God would heal him.
He was so much improved the third day that the doctors ran some special tests and said, “We don’t understand it. Instead of your liver operating at ten percent, it’s operating at fifty percent.” A few days later, his liver was operating at one hundred percent.
Confession
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. The Greater One is in me. He is greater than sickness and disease. He is greater than pain. He is greater than distress. He is greater than the enemy. He is greater than any test, trial, or anything I face!
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.