The young evangelist shared that although he disagrees with Copeland’s preaching, it was fun to “hear his perspective and challenge him” while honoring the Apostle Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 5: “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”
“Kenneth Copeland is in the latter parts of his age—he’s a little bit older—and I tried to do my best to hold to 1 Timothy 5,” Crawford said. “And so I tried to come at him with challenges as if I was challenging my father and not a harsh rebuke.”
Crawford said he prays that his conversation with Copeland will compel listeners to “thank God for the true gospel and not that God just wants material things for our life, but that God wants us and that he is the prize even if we lose everything—because that is the goal.”
‘I Have a Lot of Questions’—Bryce Crawford Challenges Kenneth Copeland on the Prosperity Gospel
During the interview, the 89-year-old Copeland told Crawford he surrendered his life to Christ in 1962 and began his ministry in 1964.
As the conversation progressed, Crawford raised concerns about the appeal of prosperity-focused teaching.
“I have a lot of questions about the prosperity, abundance, health, and wealth,” he asked. “Growing up, for me personally, if I’m being completely honest, it’s really hard for me to wrap my mind around the prosperity message.”
He continued, “So I just kind of wanted to have some dialogue here. Where do you get this from in Scripture? Where do you see this? From your perspective, according to Scripture, how do you define abundance and prosperity?”
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Copeland explained that money is not the root of all evil; it’s just the love of it that is.
“Well, Jesus came and said the thief comes but for to steal, to kill and destroy. I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly,” Copeland said. “When one mentions prosperity, most people think about money. Now, money is not the root of all evil. The Bible said the love of it is, and there are people that commit that who don’t have any money.”
“True prosperity starts with John 3:16. And then you go from there,” he continued. “You go to the second chapter of the Book of Acts because being able to pray in the Spirit is the gateway to the supernatural. And you’re just not ready to prosper all that big financially yet.”
“But I would say just from my experience over the last, oh, 57, 58 years that the biggest part of Christians do not know that they’ve been redeemed from the curse of the law,” Copeland added, proceeding to read Deuteronomy 8:18: “Thou shalt remember, the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives you the power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers as it is this day.”
