(OPINION) Televangelist Kenneth Copeland revealed he was recently hospitalized for several days for a surgical procedure, but he is now doing well and expects to live until he is 120 because of a deal he made with God.
Speaking with congregants earlier this month at Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas, which he founded in 1986, Copeland said he was hospitalized for 10 days due to a ruptured appendix.
“I had what some people would call a bad year. No, I’d never had an extended hospital stay. My appendix ruptured. I was in there five days the first time and five more days,” Copeland said.
The 88-year-old televangelist, famous for his lavish life and utilizing private jets for his ministry, said he made it through the medical episode with faith and humor.
“A merry heart does good like a medicine,” he said before explaining how he used humor to keep himself from getting depressed throughout his medical challenge.
“They were just about to roll me in [to surgery] they had me all prepped on the gurney. I said, ‘Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. That doctor said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘What do you call this [procedure]? He said, ‘an appendectomy.’
“I said, ‘What do you call it when you take someone’s tonsils out?’ … ‘a tonsillectomy.’ ‘What do you call it when you take a growth off of your head?’ ‘A haircut.’ And that surgeon said he got me on that one,” Copeland quipped.
“I had to keep doing that to keep from getting depressed and down and off my faith in that hospital, but I’ve come out to the end of it in good health,” he said.
Copeland said he was confident the surgery would be successful because he had prayed for ministering spirits to watch over the procedure.
“I know as well as I know my name, the Master carried me, watched over me, took care of me, and didn’t let somebody slip up,” he said. “I know a young man […] the neurosurgeon slipped and now he’s in a wheelchair.”
He further noted that another reason he was confident he would come out of the surgery successfully is that he made an agreement with God that he would live until 2056.
“I have made and entered [into a] covenant with God and on December 6, 2056, I’ll see you all later. I’m out of here, 120 years old,” Copeland claimed, predicting the date of his death.
“You take an old worn out car and you put it in the shop, and you restore it good as new or better. Well, this old 88-year-old worn out body has been made better. The different parts have been overhauled and now it’s finished,” he declared. “I am here to give thanks like never before.”
Copeland said he has been praying and planning for God’s purpose for the life he has before him and planned out themes for the year ahead all the way to 2029.
“I’ve been praying about the years. 2024 was [a] victory, sure. 2025 the nation comes alive. 2026 the big fix. 2028 we go through the gate. 2029 all things will be divine. I don’t have 2030 yet,” he said to laughs from the congregants.
Though he did not say what would happen in the year 2027, Copeland predicted that 2025 will have less dangerous storms than 2023 and 2024, but claimed Democrats will engage in historic opposition to protect the interests of the Democratic Party instead of the American people.
“I know what’s going to happen in 2025,” Copeland declared without mentioning the names of any political party. “More opposition politically than there has ever been because the opposing team is fighting for the life of its party, not the United States people.”
He urged congregants to approach 2025 with “great joy and great faith” but not “let our watch down,” as the “midterms” are important too.
“We don’t turn loose and say, ‘Well, we won it what now?’ Midterms, that’s what now,” Copeland said. The televangelist also encouraged congregants to be similarly intentional about their life.
