It is a known fact that cults deny the deity of Jesus Christ, God came to earth from heaven. This is one of the main ways they are classified as a cult and not part of the Church, the body of Christ. So there is no justification to accept men who are within the church who call Jesus Lord but speak the very same things the cults do on this subject.

Some of the most popular teachers speak of Jesus as not being God in the flesh, which John says is a denial of the faith; that another spirit is at work. That it cannot be the Holy Spirit who will speak only the truth.

Too many make excuses for word faith teachers and their distorted teachings. Yet on this issue alone they depart from the faith and promote a VERY different Jesus. And if one has a different Jesus it will lead to a different gospel being taught. Furthermore it will have another spirit that bears witness to it, and will work among those who accept it (2 Cor.11:4). This spirit can only deceive and not bring them into the truth.

For one can only speak and confess Jesus is God in the flesh by the witness of the Holy Spirit. You cannot say he is not God and God at different times. The Bible addresses being double minded. You can’t hold to God coming in the flesh as the Bible teaches and at the same time say He left his deity in heaven or was only man, a prophet on earth. But there are certain men that some consider “anointed” leaders that have been teaching this for years, throughout their whole ministry. This is the accepted teaching in the majority of word faith churches and ministries.

Finis Dake's Bible teaches against the Eternal Sonship of Jesus:

This is the heretical doctrine of “Adoptionism,” it was rejected in the early church and should be rejected by everyone who wants to be faithful to the word today. See Micah 5:2.

Finis Dake's Bible teaches Jesus is not God. That Jesus gave up all His divine attributes; But God's attributes cannot be divorced from His being and still be God.

 Philippians 2:5-11 and the Kenosis of Christ. If the Incarnation is the taking on of an additional nature of man by the divine Second Person of the Trinity, what can be made of Philippians 2:5-11, which teaches that Jesus "emptied" Himself in some way when He came to earth as man? Dake holds that the meaning of the passage is that Jesus emptied Himself of all of His divine attributes.

Mal.3:6 tells us “I am the Lord I do not change.” If Jesus gave up any eternal attribute of God, then He ceased being God. God in the Incarnation, born as the man Jesus, fully kept every attribute that is by nature deity. What did Jesus "give up" when He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7) was using his power, ability independently. Instead he submitted to the Father as a man, being both man and God at the same time. He came as servant, the second time he comes as the king, the first time he came as a lamb, the second time He comers as a Lion.

Dake taught “that not one passage teaches that Christ had or used these attributes of Himself while on earth. . . The true Biblical teaching of the kenosis of Christ is that in taking human form He divested Himself of His divine attributes”. . . .

“He did not claim the attributes of God, but only the anointing of the Spirit to do His works” (Dake's Annotated Reference Bible, Finis Jennings Dake, New Testament, p. 218.)

Jesus “did not claim the attributes of God, but only the anointing of the Holy Spirit to do His works.” Dake says, “He could do nothing of Himself in all His earthly life. He attributed all His works, doctrines, powers, etc., to the Father through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

It was the anointing of the Holy Spirit who performed ALL the miracles through Him and this used to say the same anointing gives us the ability to do the same things.

So Dake diminished the true deity of the Son of God. Jesus came only as a prophet much like Islam teaches. We see Dake taking a position that is repeated today by almost all the word faith teachers.

I don’t think it is necessary to give every quote from every person to prove this is a pervasive heresy that has found permanence in the church, here are just a few.

Kenneth Copeland "Why didn't Jesus openly proclaim Himself as God during His 33 years on earth? For one single reason. He hadn't come to earth as God, He'd come as man." (K. Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory magazine, Aug. 8, 1988. p.8)

Paul Crouch speaking to Copeland "Were still questioning what was said about that prophecy, Copeland" that prophecy never mentions the son of God, it never said anything about the son of God "

Crouch: what did it say?"

Copeland: “ it said I did not claim to be God!" that’s all it said."

Crouch: "In other words in so many words your right nowhere in the NT did he literally get up and, (Copeland interjects) "preach and say I am God did he. Now I stand corrected."

So Crouch is corrected by Copeland’s blatant lie that Jesus never said he was God. The gospel of John is specifically written to declare his statements of this. What Jesus do these men have if he is not God? A Jesus that is made just like them.

It is written in the Bible 'God was manifest in the flesh,' he is called “Emmanuel - God with us” both are in reference to His incarnation. The Bible does not teach He left his deity in heaven and was only a man, for the simple reason of “who” became man. This is a denial of the core teaching of who came from heaven to earth to die for our sin. For if He is not God, than his sacrifice through the human body could not be effectual for all throughout history. He was 100% man and 100% God the whole time, even when he was suffering on the cross. This is no different than the cults that deny his deity. It is the same conclusion, just a different way to travel.

But Copeland and numerous others teach he became a sinner, and then went to hell to complete the atonement. What Jesus do these men have? Not the Jesus of the Bible, not the one that is the unblemished lamb who saves us by the gospel, who atoned for our sins on the cross and was victorious, not defeated.

"He (God) has to have a man like that first one. It's got to be a man. He's got to be all man. He cannot be a God and come storming in here with attributes and dignities that are not common to man. He can't do that. Its not legal." (K. Copeland, "What Happened From the Cross to the Throne" (audiotape) Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1990 #02-0017 or 00-0303.)

"Jesus hadn't come to earth as God; He'd come as man. …. And, that Jesus lived on earth, "...not as God but as a man." He also teaches that Jesus prayed, "...not as the divine One who had authority as God but as a man..." And that Jesus never believed Himself to be "...the Most High God."

"Why didn't Jesus openly proclaim Himself as God during His 33 years on earth? For one single reason. He hadn't come to earth as God, He'd come as man." (K. Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory magazine, Aug. 8, 1988. p.8.)

That should be sufficient for anyone who knows the genuine Jesus to remove themselves from anything Copeland says, but he has a loyal people that will defend this type of heresy any which way they can. Not knowing they are filling up the cup of judgment on there own heads. What Copeland will receive they will also.

Rodney Browne was taught in Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema SCHOOL OF WORD FAITH and echoes the sentiments of his fellow denier, "Nothing Jesus did was because He was the Son of God. The Bible says He laid aside His royal robes of Deity and when He walked on earth He did so as a Prophet under the Abrahamic Covenant." (Rodney Browne, the Touch of God p.13,14)

Creflo Dollar shows how to wind his own way into heresy “Now Jesus was on the earth- why did he have to be anointed… because he was man he had to be anointed, he was man.” Creflo gives a detailed explanation why Jesus is not God: “Here's what I want you to get here. If Jesus came as God, then why did God have to anoint Him? If Jesus - see God's already been anointed. If Jesus came as God, then why did God have to anoint Him? Jesus came as a man, that's why it was legal to anoint him. God doesn't need anointing, He is anointing. Jesus came as a man, and at age 30 God is now getting ready to demonstrate to us, and give us an example of what a man, with the anointing, can do.

Y'all please listen to me, please listen to me. This ain't no heresy. I am not some false prophet, I am just reading this thing out to you the Bible.  I am just telling you all these fantasy preachers have been preaching all of this stuff for all of these years and we bought the package. And the question mark was there.” (Creflo Dollar Creflo Dollar's program "Made After His Kind", dated Sept. 15, 22)

So Jesus is not God in the flesh, its fantasy. And to give even more damage to his insults, he then turns it all upside down, as he states “I'm going to say something, you are gods on this earth. And it's about time we start operating like gods instead of a bunch of mere powerless humans." (Creflo Dollar, Audio-Clip, "Creflo Dollar: Christian Celebrity or Charismatic Gnostic?" #0418)

There are no gods, plural, only God, singular. To tell people they are gods brings mythology into the church, not sound doctrine. There’s your fantasy teaching. When people take this position then we know they have no Bible interpretation skills and should be avoided as teachers of the word. Creflo dollar is another word faith teacher that should be avoided if one wants to grow in the faith, in the truth.

Eddie Long states “My whole objective in life is to be His image, His duplicate, His witness and to show folk what He look like because, before nobody seen Him.  Somebody say, 'I want to see God.'  Here He is, look at me!” (Bishop Eddie Long, “God Is After Himself,” ministry Tape)

“When you understand the Greek of that and understand that word means duplicates.  That we be duplicates of Him” (Eddie Long, TBN, Praise-A-Thon, Mar. 29, 2004).

Just as Dake had taught, “Truly He is not only all that man, angels, and other beings are in this respect, but infinitely greater in everything; and man, in reality, is simply a miniature of God in attributes and powers.” (Dake's Annotated Reference Bible, Finis Jennings Dake, Lawrenceville, Georgia, Old Testament, p. 587.) 

Even William Branham said “Jesus became me, a sinner, that I, a sinner, might become as He, a Son of God. Jesus became me that I could become Him.” (55-1118, The Faith Of Abraham, Tent Meeting, San Fernando, CA)

We become like him, but we cannot become HIM. Just like Adam was made like God but was not God. Since God always existed and attributes are eternal not created, the distance of man to God is unfathomable.

When they (word faith teachers) say gods with a little g, they have to; they know they are not the true God. But they also know that any god besides the true God is a false God. The word faith teachers perpetuate this insidious invented doctrine by twisting the scripture to elevate themselves, while at the same time demoting Jesus. Of all things Christians are to be honest with themselves and know what the nature of God is, that it is not to be altered. But men can distort the Bible when they live in the sin nature and refuse the teaching of the Holy Spirit that is to lead men into truth. It is these men and this teaching that has had a large influence in the church, suppressing the truth disseminating false knowledge that leads people astray. As long as people in the church accept this they will remove themselves from knowing and living the truth and will be no different than those who blatantly deny Jesus in other religions.