“And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle,
2 Peter 2:3
and their destruction is not asleep.”
Famous preachers from the West often travel to Indonesia and hold large events that draw large crowds. These preachers are well-known and have a long history in their own countries but very few people in Indonesia know about them. Are they good or bad? Will they bring blessings or bad teachings? It is hard to know. This short report is about Benny Hinn, who will be coming to Papua this June, 2014. Who is Benny Hinn?
Papuans must beware of Benny Hinn. He is a false teacher.
History of Ministry
Benny Hinn says that the transforming moment in his life occurred in 1973 when, as a teenager, he was assigned to take care of a crippled arthritic woman on a trip to see one of Kathryn Kuhlman’s healing services. He says that he saw the woman apparently lose all pain in her legs and “untwist,” as he put it.
After that defining moment, Benny Hinn became a charismatic faith-healer and preacher. He has claimed many miracles but they are hard to verify. Sometimes, the stories seem to be invented by Benny Hinn himself. For example, Hinn says that he preached at an all-girls Catholic school in Jerusalem in 1976 and “every single girl in that school got saved, including all the nuns.” There is only one Catholic girls school in Jerusalem, Schmidt’s Girls College. Investigators questioned the nuns who were there in 1976, as well as Father Dusind, who has overseen all religious instruction since 1955. Father Dusind told the investigators, “This is nonsense, real nonsense. It never happened and could not happen because a charismatic healer or Protestant preacher would never ever be let in to talk to the girls.”
In 1979, Benny Hinn moved to Orlando, Florida, USA. In 1983, he founded the “Orlando Christian Center”. In the late 1980s, he began traveling in the United States and foreign countries, conducting miracle crusades. At his crusades, Benny Hinn says that the Holy Spirit is speaking directly to him, and that people with certain diseases are healed. He is an exciting and dynamic speaker and people flock to his crusades in hopes of getting healed. Two American news programs have investigated Hinn and have found that nobody actually got healed. Some died later from the diseases they were healed from at Hinn’s crusade. When Benny Hinn is questioned about failed healings, he avoids the question or promises to do a better job of verifying the healings in the future. But he does not change and he continues to do what he has done before.
Today, Benny Hinn travels widely in his private airplane, holding miracle crusades and living a luxurious lifestyle, funded by the money that people give at his crusades.
Personal Life
Born in Israel in 1952, Benny Hinn moved to the United States with his family in 1967. He’s a Palestinian. His father is Greek and his mother is an Armenian Turk, and he has eight brothers and sisters. In Hinn’s books, he claims that his father was the mayor of the city of Jaffa, Israel.
In 1979, Hinn married Suzanne Harthern. The couple have four children together. Harthern filed court papers in 2010, seeking a divorce. In the same year, an American magazine published a picture of Hinn and fellow preacher Paula White holding hands in Rome, Italy. The magazine claimed they were having an affair. Hinn and White denied it but never explained why they were holding hands in the photo. In May 2012, Hinn announced that he and his wife have begun reconciliation, and he claimed that the split came about because of his wife’s addiction to prescription drugs.
Aside from his crusade appearances, Hinn stays away from the public. He surrounds himself with bodyguards, and lives in a $12 million oceanfront home in southern California. He enjoys traveling by private jet for snorkeling vacations in the Cayman Islands.
Theology
Hinn is not responsible to any church or denomination, although he seems to be part of the Pentecostal/Charismatic branch of Christianity. His ministry emphasizes miraculous healing and the health and wealth Gospel.
In the past, Benny Hinn has taught many things that are contrary to the Bible. For example:
- There are nine persons in the Trinity. Each member of the Trinity–Father, Son, Holy Spirit–is also a Trinity.
- Hinn himself is “a new messiah walking the earth.”
- Jesus would have sinned without the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus became of the same nature as Satan, and had to be born again in hell, so that he could save us.
- Adam was a super-being who could fly so that he could have dominion over the birds as God said he would. Adam also flew into outer space.
- Christians can lose their salvation even after they get to heaven.
Prosperity Gospel
Hinn teaches that it is God’s will that all believers live in good health and financial wealth. He teaches that if people will give a “seed” of faith to his ministry, namely money, then God will bless them. He has taught that the only reason we’re not all in perfect health, living forever, is that there are demons in the world, attacking us. If we have enough faith, however, we can be healed.
There is a constant theme in his preaching of the connection between “giving” and “healing,” making a “faith vow” and “having your needs met.” He does not say directly, “If you give me money, you will be healed.” However, this is the message that many people understand. At his crusades, the collection occurs between his promise of healing and the actual healing session. Hinn wants people to understand that if they want to get healed, they need to plant a seed of faith (give money). When people do not get healed, Hinn explains, “The reason people lose their healing is because they begin questioning if God really did it.” Or if the healing turns out to be fake, then Hinn claims that the person was self-deluded.
False Prophecies
Benny Hinn regularly prophesies things that he says that he has heard from God. In 1989, Benny Hinn delivered a series of prophecies for the 1990’s. He claimed they came from God, the Lord, and the Holy Spirit. While delivering these prophecies, he said that:
- God would destroy the homosexual community of America with fire no later than 1994 or 1995.
- A destructive earthquake will hit the east coast of the United States in the 1990’s. This did not happen.
- Cuban communist dictator, Fidel Castro, will die in the 1990’s.
- A man, who is a perfect incarnation of Satan, will rule the world.
- Jesus will be seen in the 1990’s.
- Jesus Christ would return before 1992 and 1999, and that Jesus would appear “physically” during his crusades.
None of these things happened.
Concerning a false prophet, the Bible says:
“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
Deuteronomy 18:20
“And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.”
Jeremiah 14:14
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:16
Finances
Benny Hinn Ministries has a yearly budget of well over $100 million dollars. How much it exactly is, nobody knows, because Benny Hinn does not release financial statements. However, an US Senate investigation found out that in 2006 it was already $97.93 million. This is for the ministry of one man. As a comparison: OMF-International, an international mission organization sending out over 1,000 missionaries, has a total yearly budget of $59 million. How does a one man ministry spend so much money? Again, nobody knows because Benny Hinn does not tell us. But over the years the following facts became known:
- Benny Hinn had a salary between $500,000 and $1,000,000 a year. This does not include the royalties of his books, which might be even more.
- He has a house worth $10 million, paid for by his organizations. This is just one of at least three houses he owns.
- He owns an airplane worth $36 million which costs $600,000 a year to operate.
- In hotels he regularly stays in presidential suites for up to $3,000 a night.
- Hinn claimed $25,000 in expenses for a crusade 30 minutes from his home.
- This is all in keeping with Benny Hinn’s philosophy. He once famously said: “I don’t need gold in heaven, I gotta have it now.”
How does Benny Hinn raise so much money? Mainly through teaching people that God will multiply their money if they give it to him.
- Benny Hinn, who gets over $100 million a year for his ministry, goes to poor countries all over the world and asks people to give their money to his ministry. Hinn goes away richer. People stay behind poort.
- Benny Hinn taught that the Lord on the Last Day would pass over people who did not send a financial contribution.
- Benny Hinn raised money for a small orphanage in Mexico. When a journalist checked, the orphanage had not been built. The multi-million dollar house of Benny Hinn and his jet were obviously higher priorities.
- In 2008 in South Africa, a Benny Hinn associate told people during a Benny Hinn crusade that God would make 500 of the people who would give $1,000 in the next two minutes a millionaire within 24 hours.
- The main channel Benny Hinn uses to spread his message is the TBN television station, another organization refusing to issue financial reports. The granddaughter of the founders, on becoming financial director, found out that over $50 million of ministry funds were used for personal use, upon which she notified police.
Claims of Healing
The great draw of Benny Hinn crusades are the healings that purportedly take place. Hinn hardly ever personally prays over someone. Normally he will claim that somewhere in the audience people are healed of diseases A, B, and C. Then people are asked to come up to give testimony.
One of the painful points of the Benny Hinn crusades is that people with a visible disability are never allowed up the platform. They are asked to return to their seats.
The people who want to testify are screened, and the most enthusiastic of them are allowed on the stage. There is no testing whether the testimonies are real. Healings (e.g. from cancer and heart diseases) are claimed that are impossible to verify on the spot. The Benny Hinn organization does not contact people afterwards, so does not and cannot know whether the claimed healings are real.
When others follow up on the claims, miracles cannot be found. Benny Hinn had claimed 76 healings after one night. A television program wanted to check. He provided the name of only five people. These people were followed for one year. None of them were healed, and one lady died of the illness that supposedly had disappeared at Benny Hinn’s crusade.
Conclusion
Benny Hinn deceives God’s church. He preaches a false Gospel. He is a false prophet. He does not love God, he loves money. He is a dangerous man because he raises huge amounts of money for his opulent lifestyle and his heretic ministry. He is a dangerous man because he gives false hope of healing to people. He is a dangerous man because he brings the name of God into disrepute among both believers and unbelievers who realize his deceptions.
We warn the church against this deceiver and ask spiritual leaders to speak out against him to protect the flock.