The following is a chapter from my thesis from The Master's Seminary (2002). Hopefully this will help you decide if T. D. Jakes is a Modalist.

*Please comment if you would like for me to email the PDF of this article to you. It will contain all of the footnotes that do not appear in the blog post.

T. D. Jakes

T. D. Jakes is the pastor of the “Potter’s House” in Dallas, Texas. The church has a membership of over 17,000 people. Jakes is undoubtedly one of the most well-known preachers today. He is a 6-foot-4-inch, high-powered, charismatic, in-your-face preacher who is best described as a tornado turned inside out. His intimate connection with his audiences is best described as “Oprah-in-a-pulpit.”
Jakes has sold millions of copies of the more than 16 books he has published. Several of these books have appeared on the national Christian and secular best-seller lists: Woman, Thou Art Loosed; Daddy Loves His Girls; Loose That Man And Let Him Go; Can You Stand To Be Blessed; Naked and Not Ashamed; The Harvest; Lay Aside the Weight, and The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord. This places him among the most accomplished African-American authors in history.

In his own words, Bishop Jakes describes himself as “a gift to the body of Christ.” This is evidenced by his immense popularity and demand for speaking engagements. He is currently the host of the adrenaline-pumping television program, "The Potter’s House," nationally broadcast four times weekly on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Black Entertainment Television (BET). He is a popular conference speaker to men and women’s groups across the country and around the world, including the popular Promise Keepers movement. “Woman, Thou Art Loosed,” “ManPower, “The Bible Conference,” and “The Pastor’s Conference” are conferences directed at distinctive needs within the church, and throughout the church at large. Jakes’ website boasts that the conferences draw from 5,000 to 52,000 people, 30 percent of whom are not churchgoers.

Jakes has drawn the attention of the secular media as well. The New York Times included Jakes in its list of the five preachers most likely to succeed Billy Graham. Jakes also appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in 2001 with the question, “Is This Man The Next Billy Graham?” In this article, it is noted, “Jakes and Billy Graham are the only two evangelists who could pack Atlanta’s 79,000-capacity Georgia Dome.” Apart from his comparisons to Billy Graham, he has also drawn the attention of the world media because of the appearances of George W. Bush and Al Gore at one of his messages prior to the 2000 presidential elections. He has also baptized athletes such as Deon Sanders and Emmitt Smith and enjoys the presence of luminaries such as Natalie Cole at his services.

Amidst the successful ministry and notoriety, there is a problem: T. D. Jakes does not believe in the Trinity. A brief look at his history reveals some interesting contacts. In addition, the statements he makes in sermons, interviews, and on his organization’s doctrinal statement convincingly indict him of the Modal heresy found in the Oneness Pentecostal movement.

History

Thomas Dexter Jakes was born June 9, 1957 in South Charleston, West Virginia. From an early age, Jakes had an affinity for the spotlight. He would frequently tote around his Bible and preach to imaginary congregations. This led to his nickname, “Bible Boy.”
Jakes felt the “call” to ministry at the age of 17 while he was studying psychology at West Virginia State. He quickly began his own church, which started with only 10 members. The church grew and eventually came to be known as the Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith.
An alarming fact in his early days as a pastor is the affiliation of his church with the Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies. Although his website only identifies this organization as “a Pentecostal church organization that governs approximately 200 churches,” the modifier for “Pentecostal” is omitted. The modifier that Jakes avoids is “Oneness.” The Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies is a black Oneness Pentecostal group that Jakes has been a part since the inception of his ministry.

In 1992 Jakes preached a sermon in Sunday School entitled “Woman Thou Art Loosed.” This later became his trademark message leading to the popular book Woman Thou Art Loosed. In 1993 Jakes reached a milestone when he began a weekly television broadcast “Get Ready with T. D. Jakes” on TBN and BET. This gave Jakes national as well as international exposure. His popularity grew exponentially because of television and the release of his most popular book, Woman, Thou Art Loosed in the same year. In 1994, Jakes founded “T. D. Jakes Ministries.” Shortly thereafter, in May of 1996, Jakes moved his family and staff members from their former congregation to Dallas to found “The Potter’s House.”

Doctrine/Affiliation

T. D. Jakes’ affiliation with the Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies should raise warning flags to anyone who is familiar with the organization. The distinctive of the group is strictly Oneness in its view of the Godhead. In spite of this heretical view, T. D. Jakes has never denounced the organization, and continues to work with it as “a leader and elected bishop.”

Triunity of God

The Christian community eventually became aware of Jakes’ Oneness leanings and began to press him on the verity of the rumors. In a radio interview in 1998, Jakes defined his view of God: “We have one God, but He is Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in regeneration.” As seen in Chapter II, this definition bears uncanny resemblance to the phraseology offered by Praxeas, Sabellius, Servetus, and Schleiermacher. It is interesting to compare Jakes’ definition with what leading Oneness theologian David Bernard says about the nature of God: “A popular explanation of Father, Son and Holy Ghost is that there is one God who has revealed [i.e., manifested] Himself as Father in Creation, Son in redemption and Holy Ghost in regeneration.” Unfortunately, for those who are unfamiliar with Oneness doctrine, Jakes’ definition of the Godhead sounds profound and insightful.

After further criticism by Christian apologists, Jakes stated, “I believe in one God. I believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe that these three are distinct and separate in their function. Their distinctives are so separate that each has individual attributes, yet they are one. I do not believe in three Gods” (italics mine). Responding to attacks vis-à-vis his non-evangelical views, Jakes said he wasn’t worried that the heretic label would stick. “Controversy goes with the turf . . . . [the accusations] didn’t hurt me at all. It gave me an opportunity to give clarity to what my convictions were to what I believe. And having done that, it seems not to be an issue to people, and it certainly wasn’t an issue to me.’”
In Jakes’ online doctrinal statement, he writes, “We believe in one God who is eternal in His existence, Triune in His manifestation, being both Father, Son and Holy Ghost AND that He is Sovereign and Absolute in His authority” (italics mine). Jakes further exposes what he means by his use of the word “Triune” in his interview with Living by the Word radio program. In this interview, Jakes describes the Trinity as a complex issue, saying, “I’m not sure we can totally hold God to a numerical system.” This statement is consistent with his book Anointing Fall on Me: “The concept of the Godhead is a mystery that has baffled Christians for years. With our limited minds we try to comprehend a limitless God. How can we explain one God but three distinct manifestations?” This idea also reflects Bernard’s Oneness Pentecostal views: “We cannot confine God to three or any other number of specific roles and titles.”

Again, for the untrained eye, Jakes appears to be orthodox. He clearly only believes in one God; he believes in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and they even have individual attributes. In his view, this statement gives “clarity” to what he believes. After all, he asserts, this is not a real issue to him, much less his people.

Manifestations and Dimensions of God

On the website of the Potter’s House, Jakes has presented a doctrinal statement. In an in-your-face style, the very first line, which is in all capitals in its original, reads, “THREE DIMENSIONS OF ONE GOD (1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 1 Tim 3:16). ” Later in his “Ministry Beliefs,” Jakes succinctly states, “There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three Manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

If Jakes does not believe in the orthodox view of the Trinity, what does he mean by God being Triune in His manifestation? The watershed issue is his use of the word “manifestation.” Jakes illustrates the many ways in which God has manifested Himself in a sermon where he discusses Exodus 3:14: God says, Yahweh, “I AM that I AM.” He said, “I am whatever I want to be. I can become whatever I want to become.” When God says, “I AM that I AM” He says, “I can become whatever.” And He showed all from that point on all through the wilderness; he just kept turning into stuff . . . . They said, “We’re hungry.” He started dropping as loaves of bread. They said, “We want meat.” He became quail and started flying through the air. They said, “What are we going to do for water?” He became water, He came gushing out the rock. They said, “It’s hot out here.” He became a pillar above by day. They said, “It’s cold out at night.” He said, “I’ll be a cloud of fire by night.” They said, “We can’t drink this bitter water!” He became a tree and turned the bitter water sweet. I mean, He just kept turning into stuff. One God manifesting in a multiplicity of ways, one God.
Now you don’t describe all those manifestations as different gods: the god of bread, the god of quail, the god of water, the god of tree, the god of cloud, the god of fire (laughter by audience). Just one God who manifests Himself in many different ways. OK, you with me? Your God is multi-faceted, manifold, many changes . . . .

This view understands God as one person who manifests Himself in different forms at different periods of history. This God, which manifests Himself as animate and inanimate objects, caters to a pantheistic view of God. Ultimately, Jakes cannot escape this interpretation when he says that God is triune in His manifestations and that a numerical figure cannot be placed on God.

The same principle applies to Jesus and the Father. The best example of Jakes’ true belief concerning Jesus and the Father centers around John 14:11. In this verse, Jesus said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me . . . .” In a blatant misrepresentation of Scripture, Jakes collaborates with a female reader quoting this verse:

Jakes: I am going to rack your head, I’m going to scramble your heads . . . .
Reader: “Believest thou not that I am the Father?”
Jakes: Don’t you understand that “I am . . . .” – Oh!
Reader: Oh!
Jakes: “I am . . . believest thou not that I am the Father.”

Attempting to express amazement at Jesus’ confession that He was the Father, Jakes and his reader cry out with surprise, as though this was new revelation previously undiscovered. However, considering there is no Modal translation of the Bible, Jakes must have prompted the female reader to omit the preposition “in” while reading Jesus’ words, “I am in the Father.” His willingness to take away from the Word of God in order to make his interpretation work is a tactic that draws the condemnation of Scripture itself (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Prov 30:6; Jer 26:2; and Rev 22:18-19).
This is conclusive evidence that T. D. Jakes rejects the historic doctrine of the Trinity in favor of Modalism. Even those closest to Jakes affirm this. Lawrence Robinson, the Director of Ministry Affairs at the Potter’s House has known Jakes since he was young. He says that Jakes “denies the Biblical position of the Trinity, at one point saying that the Roman Catholic Church introduced the concept of three gods . . . . Jakes has always held this position.” Although any orthodox church throughout history would condemn this view as heresy, or as a cult, the ministry of Jakes has enjoyed immense popularity.

Acceptance

It has become clear to this author that T. D. Jakes does not wish the Christian community to grasp his views concerning the nature of God. To disguise this, he stretches the meaning of words beyond their historical uses in order to dupe those who are unaware of the issues. Concerning his acceptance into the evangelical community, Jakes boasts that “I’ve only had one or two experiences where people had a problem accepting my diversity, either racially or doctrinally. For some reason, God’s just given me the grace to be able to sit on many different platforms.” To describe an errant view of the nature of God as “diversity” is alarming indeed.
Another example of Jakes’ duplicity is his practice of baptism. When he is with Trinitarians he baptizes in the Trinitarian formula, but when he is with Oneness believers, he baptizes in the name of Jesus alone. Although some Christians are ignorant of the real T. D. Jakes, some do know about his doctrinal variants and are unaffected. Commenting on the inconsistency of Jakes’ method of baptism, one author stated, “Jake’s core audience clearly has no qualms about the man’s doctrinal ambiguities. For his admirers, whether Jakes invokes the Trinity or the name of Christ alone when baptizing has little to do with the heart of his message of inner healing and empowerment.” It is this poison of pragmatism that is festering in the church worldwide in terminal proportions.

ADDENDUM:

“Another example of Jakes’ business-first approach involves his crafty response to criticism of his doctrinal stance on the Trinity. When Jakes became a member of Greater Emanuel Gospel Tabernacle as a teenager, he began a lifelong association with Apostolic movements . . . Apostolic Pentecostals reject Trinitarian doctrine . . . Jakes became a regional bishop for Greater Emanuel International Fellowship early in his preaching career, and later was affiliated with another anti-Trinitarian fellowship called Higher Ground Always Abounding Assemblies, which he currently serves as vice-bishop. It is inconceivable that two anti-Trinitarian associations would ordain Jakes as a bishop if he rejected the Oneness doctrine, their most distinctive tenant.

[After criticism] Jakes refused to make a definitive public statement on whether he accepts or rejects the Trinity . . . Jakes intentionally avoids being up-front about his rejection of the Trinity because that would alienate many of his followers.”

Shayne Lee, America’s New Preacher, 146-7. Mr Lee is Assistant Professor of Sociology and African Diaspora Studies at Tulane University.