Benny Hinn

Tofik Benedictus Benny Hinn (born 1953, Jaffa, Israel) is a controversial Christian pastor, faith healing minister, and televangelist. His ethnicity is Armenian-Greek and he was raised within the Greek Orthodox Church, but currently he is involved in the Word Faith movement within the Charismatic/ Pentecostal arm of Christianity. He attended Georges Vanier High School in Laval, Quebec until he dropped out. Currently, he is married to Suzanne Harthern and his ministry is estimated to earn up to $120,000,000 a year.

History

Hinn has written that as a 20 year old in December 1973 he traveled by charter bus from Toronto to Pittsburgh to attend a "miracle service" being conducted by evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. While he never personally met Kuhlman, he often attended her "healing" services and cited Kuhlman as an influence in many interviews.

Ten years later (1983), Hinn founded the Orlando Christian Center. During its heyday the church averaged over 10,000 in attendance. In 1999, Hinn sold the church (by that time renamed World Outreach Center) to Clint Brown and moved to Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas; however, he maintained the legal entity "World Outreach Center Church dba Benny Hinn Ministries" which has been the subject of recent controversy, see below.Contrary to some reports,Hinn has never claimed to have any healing power.He attributes all power to God,and does not go to Kathryn Kuhlmans' grave to 'recieve her power',because,he believes the healing power is of God.

He is currently the host of This Is Your Day, a 30-minute TV show that runs on various religious networks, including Trinity Broadcasting Network and Daystar Television Network.

Controversies

There is not an area of Hinn's Christian doctrine, ministry practice, or even his personal background, which has not been the subject of controversy. At least one book, The Confusing World of Benny Hinn (ISBN 1885591942), published by Personal Freedom Outreach, is devoted solely to various issues surrounding Hinn and his ministry, and PFO's Quarterly Journal usually has at least one article devoted to the latest controversy surrounding Hinn. The Sword of the Lord also has a book for sale devoted to Hinn, and virtually every Christian counter-cult, watchdog, and apologetics teacher and ministry has extensive information and critique of Hinn.

As a proponent of Word of faith doctrine, Hinn is subject to the criticisms that accompany the viewpoint. These include; unsound Biblical doctrine, exploitation of the poor, a heavy reliance on personal "health and wealth," and so on. Also, his support of faith healing brings the accompanying criticisms of that viewpoint, despite the fact that he has been heard,repeatedly,to tell people to go to the doctor when they say they have been healed at his services [citation needed]. Hinn visits the grave of Kathryn Kuhlman to receive the 'anointing' from God, and has been accused of practicing divination.

Investigations and exposés

In 2000, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's show Witness ran a two-part series about purported faith healers Benny Hinn and Reinhard Bonnke.

On November 3, 2004, the CBC's the fifth estate ran an exposé on Benny Hinn, revealing reports of fraudulent activity on his part.

Dateline NBC also ran an exposé on Hinn in December 2003, and aired a follow-up investigation on March 6, 2005, which alleged that Hinn lives a lavish lifestyle, that his ministry uses only a small percentage of its revenues for charitable purposes and that claims of successful faith healing are unsubstantiated and, in some cases, false. Hinn responded to the allegations in detail in a letter on March 10, 2004. The allegations, however, are hard to validate, since Hinn's ministry claims a "church" tax exemption, as opposed to a religious non-profit exemption, which exempts Hinn and his ministry from having to reveal financial records (see below regarding an investigation into such exemption). Hinn lives in an oceanfront hacienda valued at $8.5-million.

The Dallas Morning News reported in July 2005 that Hinn was being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service as to his ministry's tax exempt status, specifically its designation as a church. Under IRS regulations, non-profit organizations must file for a "letter of determination" as to tax-exempt status and annually report information as to donations, expenses and salaries. However, churches are specifically exempt from reporting requirements, and do not need to file for a "letter of determination". However, they may simply claim tax-exempt status; the IRS must then prove otherwise.

The Trinity Foundation, a self-proclaimed "watchdog ministry" headed by Ole Anthony, states that its investigation "proves" that Hinn's ministry does not meet IRS guidelines for church designation, specifically that Hinn does not conduct "regular public worship services" at his headquarters (which Hinn lists as the church address; however, according to Anthony and Trinity Foundation access to the facility is highly restricted and not open to the public) or at any other location that Anthony or Trinity Foundation have been able to determine.

There is, in fact, a "World Healing Center Church" that operates in California under the leadership of Hinn's son-in-law Michael Koulianos and daughter Jessica.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in August 2005 that the Tarrant County Appraisal District (responsible for determining the assessed value of real estate for tax purposes and for granting property tax exemptions) was reviewing whether Hinn's facility in Grapevine met the requirements for a property tax exemption. Specifically, the review would focus on whether the "church" designation, the same one Anthony and Trinity Foundation claim is false, was used to claim an exemption to which Hinn's ministry may not have been entitled. The review was requested by Anthony and Trinity Foundation.

Hinn's ministry has confirmed the validity of the reports regarding the IRS and Tarrant County reviews, but accused Trinity Foundation and Anthony of attempting to destroy "all Christian ministries in general" and specifically Hinn's.

Claim of prophetic ability

Benny Hinn claims to be a prophet of God, and regularly issues specific prophecies regarding events that he claims will occur within specific periods of time. However, he has a documented history of making prophecies that have not come true (see below for a partial list). Since, according to the Bible, true prophets inspired by God can never be incorrect in their prophecies, many Christian apologetics ministries, primarily those who oppose the Word Faith movement in general, consider Benny Hinn to be a false prophet.

Examples of false prophecies

• "The Spirit tells me Fidel Castro will die in the 90's. Oh my! Some will try to kill him and they will not succeed. But there will come a change in his physical health, and he will not stay in power, and Cuba will be visited of God."

  Christian Center, Dec. 31, 1989.

• "“The Lord also tells me to tell you in the mid 90’s, about ’94-’95, no later than that, God will destroy the homosexual community of America. [audience applauds] But He will not destroy it – with what many minds have thought Him to be, He will destroy it with fire. And many will turn and be saved, and many will rebel and be destroyed.”

  Orlando Christian Center, Dec. 31, 1989.

• "A world dictator is coming on the scene. My! He's a short man. He's a short man. I see a short man who's a perfect incarnation of Satan. [speaks in tongues] Never in my life have I had anything happen like what's happening to me now! 'This man will rule the world. In the next few years you will see him. But not long after that you will see Me.'"

  Orlando Christian Center, Dec. 31, 1989

• "The Spirit of God tells me an earthquake will hit the East Coast of America and destroy much in the '90s. Not one place will be safe from earthquakes in the '90s. These who have not known earthquakes will know it. People, I feel the Spirit all over me!"

  Orlando Christian Center, Dec. 31, 1989

• "We may have two years before the rapture. Can I be blunt with you? I don't know if we have two years left. I'm going to prove to you from the Word tonight, that we have less than two years.”

  November 9, 1990 Praise-a-Thon

• "But here's first what I see for TBN. You're going to have people raised from the dead watching this network. You're going to have people raised from the dead watching TBN. Programs -- just plain programs -- programs that haven't done much when it comes to supernatural manifestations -- teaching programs!"

  October 19, 1999 Praise The Lord, Trinity Broadcasting Network

• "Jesus is coming again within the next two years."

  July 1997, fund-raising telethon on TBN

• "The hour is urgent. Many of you have known me for many years. But I am telling you right now, things I haven't said years 'n years 'n years ago. I believe - here this, hear this! I believe, that Jesus, God's Son, is about to appear physically, in meetings and to believers around the world, to wake us up! I am prophesying this! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is about to appear physically in some churches, and some meetings, and to many of His people, for one reason - to tell you He is about to show up!"

  April 2nd, 2000, TBN Praise-a-thon

List of false statements

In addition to making false prophesies, Hinn has made a number of statements over the years that have been proven to be false.

• "In his sermons and books, Hinn has portrayed his childhood as that of a social outcast, handicapped by a severe stutter, who was nonetheless a stellar student. But when G. Richard Fisher and M. Kurt Goedelman, two journalists who write for Personal Freedom Outreach, looked into Hinn's youth, they found that both claims were untrue: nobody remembered Hinn stuttering, and he had dropped out of high school after the 11th grade."

  Illustration by 4G² Issue #191, January/February 2004

• "Hinn claims to have preached at an all-girls Catholic school in Jerusalem in 1976 and "every single girl in that school got saved, including all the nuns." Since there's only one Catholic girls school in Jerusalem, Schmidt's Girls College, it was a fairly easy matter to question all the nuns who were there in 1976, as well as Father Dusind, who has overseen all religious instruction since 1955. The result? "This is nonsense, real nonsense," Dusind told Fisher and Goedelman. "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."

  Illustration by 4G² Issue #191, January/February 2004

• "The heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, banned from boxing because of a heart condition, went to a Benny Hinn crusade in Philadelphia, had Hinn lay hands on him, and gave Hinn a check for $265,000 after he was told he was healed. In fact, he passed his next examination by the boxing commission, but later his doctors said he never had a heart condition in the first place – he had been misdiagnosed."

  Illustration by 4G² Issue #191, January/February 2000

Famous quotes

• "The reason people lose their healing is because they begin questioning if God really did it."
• "I don't need gold in heaven, I gotta have it now."
• "One afternoon, I saw a man in my bedroom… He was wrapped in fire… He was standing about this high off the floor (motions about one foot up with hand). His feet never touch the floor, he was wrapped in fire. I screamed, Paul, screamed loud, visibly screamed."
• "My! My! My!" rallying call, often used in speeches.

--taken from Wikipedia.org

Selected Books

• Good Morning, Holy Spirit
• The Bait of Satan : Your Response Determines Your Future
• Welcome, Holy Spirit: How You Can Experience The Dynamic Work Of The Holy Spirit In Your Life.
• The Anointing
• The Blood
• Free at Last: Breaking the Cycle of Family Curses
• Unleashing Your God-Given Dreams
• Bienvenido, Espíritu Santo
• La Sangre
• Levantate Y Se Sano (Rise & Be Healed)

Official Website: www.bennyhinn.org

Additional Resources

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