Kenneth Copeland is getting old, noticeably old. And frail. There is no shame in getting old. There is no sin in an elderly man suffering pain, needing surgery, losing strength, or watching his body wear down. This is life in a fallen world. Our outer selves waste away. Our flesh groans, our bones weaken, our nerves pinch, and our organs fail.
Eventually, unless the Lord returns, every last one of us will die.
The problem for Copeland, however, is that he has spent his life preaching a theology that cannot comfortably accommodate any of that.
Copeland, who will turn 90 in December, is reportedly suffering from significant back pain connected to a pinched nerve that developed after his appendix ruptured. The pain has become serious enough that back surgery is now being considered. His health is visibly declining, and his body is exposing the glossy promises he has preached for decades. And recently, his granddaughter Courtney sat across from him during a podcast and asked the one question his entire theological system cannot answer.
“Why are you still in pain?”
That was it. Plain and almost childlike.
And absolutely devastating.
Courtney was not mocking her grandfather. She was not confronting him with some smirking gotcha question. She appeared genuinely heartbroken and her demeanor was sad. Her voice trembled as she admitted that she was struggling to reconcile what she had been taught with the suffering man sitting in front of her.
“It’s hard to watch you in pain,” she told him.
She explained that her grandfather had devoted his life to teaching people about the “manifestation of healing.” Of all people, she wondered, why should her grandfather be facing severe pain and possible back surgery at 90 years old?
Why would God allow the world’s most recognizable preacher of guaranteed physical healing to sit there hurting?
“Why won’t you heal him right now?” she asked.
Copeland snapped back with the standard Word-of-Faith answer.
