Some of the instructors were rude and harsh and some of them were really awesome. I heard way more about the tithe than I ever did about the cross. I only took one class on prosperity the whole two years, but prosperity was preached night and day. If you were one second late, you got sent to admissions. We had all kinds of dress codes and rules to abide by. We had to have special stickers on our cars so that we could be spotted if we were at places that we shouldn't be in. I was constantly being rebuked and fussed at. They had ushers with walkie talkies every where, armed security, and they would not let you use the bath room during offering time. I had come from a background of having been through Marine boot camp at Parris Island, and I had also been through the Police Academy. There were faith emblems and faith flower beds and even a gigantic faith shield on the roof that you could see from miles away. It was all about faith, submitting to authority, and money. I always had to battle offense and the willie jillies. RHEMA was a very strange place to attend church and school. It was a terrible time as far as money goes, and it didn't feel to good to watch teachers and pastors driving around in Lexus and luxury vehicles all of the time. My whole two and a half years in Tulsa cost me around thirty grand in expenses and tuition. I left the Birmingham Police Department with my early retirement pension and rented my house out and moved to Tulsa.
I felt that RHEMA was the greatest place on the planet. I wanted control of my life and circumstances. I felt that if I went to RHEMA, that I would be around the Prophet of God and that I would become a giant of faith. It has also been well documented that Kenneth Hagin plagiarized massive amounts of writings by EW Kenyon, who taught and mix of Christianity, Christian Science and New Age. At other times he was visited by Angles, went to Hell three times and up to the Throne Room of Almighty God. Kenneth Hagin was a preacher and prophet that claimed to have been visited by Jesus Christ on at least eight occasions. I had several ministers warn me that the teaching at RHEMA were out of balanced and dangerous but I believed in Kenneth Hagin and his visions.
#RHEMA WORD MINISTRIES BIRMINGHAM AL FULL#
I was obsessed with faith and wanted to be so full of faith that I could move mountains. Most of my friends and folks thought that I was crazy for getting involved with the Word of Faith, but I wouldn't listen to any of them.
It was a total waste of my life and money. I was heavily involved in the Rhema culture and teachings for fourteen years. I wish I had never heard of Kenneth Hagin. I wish that I had never heard of the place.