Discussion Benny Hinn - True or False?

Oscarr said:

I had a thought on my way back from the gym this afternoon. I will share it here for the benefit of the Spirit filled folks who support Benny's ministry as being of God, even though they may not agree with everything he says and does.

Benny was mentored by Kathryn Khulman and because she was a healing evangelist with impeccable credentials, his mentoring was excellent and his calling, in my opinion, was as healing evangelist with a remarkable gift of prophecy, While he stuck to that calling, there were little problems with him.

Do folks remember the story about William Branham, the powerful healing evangelist in the 1950s and 60s? He preached in the power of the Holy Spirit with remarkable words of knowledge and healing - as long as he kept to his calling as a healing evangelist. But he decided to become a Bible teacher, much against the advice of all his brethen in the ministry. It was then that he started to teach some wacky doctrines, and after he died, his followers broke away from the mainstream Pentecostal churches and formed the "oneness" or "Jesus only" churches that believed that a person could be saved only if they were baptised in the Name of Jesus, and not the Father, Son and Holy Ghost". This caused one of the greatest divisions in the Pentecostal movement in the 20th Century. This shows that when a person moves out of their original prophetic calling, they lose the cutting edge of the Holy Spirit and are in danger of going into error. This is what happened to Branham. He started thinking that he was Elijah come back to herald the Second Coming.

Now, and this is my opinion, and you can kick it into touch if you want, but I think that Benny Hinn is going the same way. While he concentrated on being a healing evangelist, he was as sound as a rock. Sure, he copied Kathryn Khulman's falling over stuff, and although I am positive it was the Holy Spirit in her case, I have some small doubts about it in his case, but then, who am I to judge, because I have never been to any of his meetings to experience the atmosphere for myself. But he is coming up with some wacky doctrines, because I think that he is trying to be a Bible teacher when God has not called him to be one, in the same way that Branham started to come up with his wacky doctrines because he tried to be a Bible teacher outside of God's calling for his ministry.

I really do hope that Benny is humble enough to realise that and to listen to other mature men of God in the ministry who might recognise the error of his direction and give him loving and wise correction. If he doesn't listen, he could very well become another William Branham whom God had to remove through a motor accident to save irreparable damage to the body of Christ.

I suspect that some members with ID outside of the Spirit-filled and Pentecostal forums might jump on the bandwagon of what I am saying, but I hope that they have enough respect for Spirit-filled folks not to troll this post. But, you Pentecostal and Spirit-filled folks, don't be backward in coming forward with your views!

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You've touched on some rather interesting points here.

Forgive me ... I don't think anything I will say will be inappropriate for this forum. I am Orthodox now. But I had quite a long history with some of the folks you refer to. I knew Mike Brown, went to his church when it was a school of ministry, and know most of his teachers and leaders very well. I met Derek Prince through them. I've got obscure materials put out by Benny Hinn from earlier in his ministry. I've been to his crusades and seen the whole thing from long before he arrived to after. I know members of his slightly extended family who were involved with the ministry and talked to them. I studied a number of the historic Pentecostal figures and their ministries, and where so many went wrong, and tried to figure out why. And quite a bit more. I'm not saying any of this to brag, but that I was deeply invested in finding out the Truth as it relates to us, from God.

I won't judge Benny Hinn. That's not my place. I will say that among some of his early and obscure works there were a lot of good nuggets. A bit of speculative theology that I'm not sure he should have engaged in, but he had good beginnings at least in part. As to the crusades, someone here mentioned an important fact. Imagine this - gather a very large crowd of people together, nearly all who are seeking God, many desperately, and with faith, and the worship starts early and went on for a few hours - Hinn arrived later. There were spontaneous small healing miracles happening in response to prayer and faith. I witnessed and know one that was visible and impossible to fake.

However ... with all of this, I tended to defend Hinn for a while, and wasn't aware of some of the things he began to say and do when he became more publicly known. When I watched some of these, I was a bit shocked, and I no longer could defend him because I wasn't sure what I was seeing anymore.

Add to this the tendency that so very many ministers in that stream fall - and fall hard. Not just Branahan. I've known and been involved with a variety of well-known ministries within the charismatic stream, and I was disappointed more times than I care to consider by those who fell into gross sin or error. Not all did, of course. Particularly the more obscure ones sometimes finished out their career or life still faithfully serving God - thankfully. But it happened enough times to make me wonder what was going on.

I used to think maybe the enemy simply had a bigger target on the backs of the more influential ones. And that's probably true. But he will attack every single person who follows Christ, so it's not as though lesser ones are spared because he can't manage the effort.

I suffered certain errors myself which had a profound effect upon my life, and the lives of some others. I will hopefully live in repentance as regards these for the rest of my life. But I learned firsthand how things can work. It was largely through Bill Hammon's ministry, though a number of others were involved - how is it that I was entangled with so many high-profile folks? - things began to "happen" that were in no way chance, some things that would be called miracles, many things that were impossible to be known through natural means. I think God was in some of it. I certainly do. But ... there comes an EXTREMELY fine line when counterfeit gets mixed around the edges, and very subtle temptations.

I learned from reading Orthodox readings much more about such things. We don't deny the gifts of the Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, and such things, by the way, just because our services are liturgical. Such things have been practiced and been in existence since the beginning of the Church, and are very well known in Orthodoxy. There are different expectations of how they operate - mostly through those who diligently seek him and who cultivate humility above all - but they most certainly do operate.

What I learned is how often the enemy uses a kind of spiritual pride in an attempt to drag people into error, and how perfect a trap that is. Pride effectively cuts us off from the grace of God, Who is our only help. Pride causes us to slip into error, and to believe our own errors. And pride causes us to reject correction, and resist help from others to return to the correct path, because we think we are already on it, and "above" those of us who would offer correction. Some of it might sound strange to those outside of Orthodoxy (or maybe not entirely, to Pentecostals/Charismatics, who I think might be familiar with certain aspects - that is largely what we have in common with them) ... but readings on the term "prelest" can be very enlightening.

It's not for me to judge Hinn, or so many others who appear to have fallen into snares concerning doctrine, lifestyle, sin, or ear-tickling and man-pleasing. But there is a common enemy we all face, who uses particular tactics over and over because they are so very effective against us. And being aware of those might help some.

God be with you.

Oscarr said:

It is a great post, and I really enjoyed reading it. Different people have different perspectives of what the infilling of the Spirit means to them. Pentecostals often go for the spectacular, but it is not the usual way of the Spirit. The supernatural doesn't have to be spectacular. It can work very quietly in those who are sensitive to the Lord. A spirit of intercession can be expressed with heart felt groans that words cannot express. The prophetic can come through the preacher's sermon or the timely words of encouragement from a friend. A word of knowledge can come while you are praying for someone and that give force and direction to your prayers, a word of wisdom can come when you are face with a situation where you need supernatural wisdom. Any of the supernatural gifts can operate through seemingly natural means so much so that many don't even know that what is happening to and through them is the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit. When I was with the Anglican Church, I enjoyed the liturgical services and i felt the presence of God when the choir sang.
I have to apologise to you about the remarks I made about the modern church in relation to 1 Corinthians 12. I went a bit over the top and made comments which gave the wrong impression that modern Christians in traditional and liturgical churches weren't true Christians. I took correction on that, and quite rightly so.

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Thank you, I'm glad I didn't offend, and I enjoyed reading your post as well. In complete agreement about how the Holy Spirit can work in us constantly.

And I appreciate your words, but you don't owe me personally any apology. I must have missed the post you are referring to. But you are quite correct that there ARE certainly true Christians in the modern traditional and liturgical Churches.

God be with you, my brother.

~Anastasia~ said:

You've touched on some rather interesting points here.

Forgive me ... I don't think anything I will say will be inappropriate for this forum. I am Orthodox now. But I had quite a long history with some of the folks you refer to. I knew Mike Brown, went to his church when it was a school of ministry, and know most of his teachers and leaders very well. I met Derek Prince through them. I've got obscure materials put out by Benny Hinn from earlier in his ministry. I've been to his crusades and seen the whole thing from long before he arrived to after. I know members of his slightly extended family who were involved with the ministry and talked to them. I studied a number of the historic Pentecostal figures and their ministries, and where so many went wrong, and tried to figure out why. And quite a bit more. I'm not saying any of this to brag, but that I was deeply invested in finding out the Truth as it relates to us, from God.

I won't judge Benny Hinn. That's not my place. I will say that among some of his early and obscure works there were a lot of good nuggets. A bit of speculative theology that I'm not sure he should have engaged in, but he had good beginnings at least in part. As to the crusades, someone here mentioned an important fact. Imagine this - gather a very large crowd of people together, nearly all who are seeking God, many desperately, and with faith, and the worship starts early and went on for a few hours - Hinn arrived later. There were spontaneous small healing miracles happening in response to prayer and faith. I witnessed and know one that was visible and impossible to fake.

However ... with all of this, I tended to defend Hinn for a while, and wasn't aware of some of the things he began to say and do when he became more publicly known. When I watched some of these, I was a bit shocked, and I no longer could defend him because I wasn't sure what I was seeing anymore.

Add to this the tendency that so very many ministers in that stream fall - and fall hard. Not just Branahan. I've known and been involved with a variety of well-known ministries within the charismatic stream, and I was disappointed more times than I care to consider by those who fell into gross sin or error. Not all did, of course. Particularly the more obscure ones sometimes finished out their career or life still faithfully serving God - thankfully. But it happened enough times to make me wonder what was going on.

I used to think maybe the enemy simply had a bigger target on the backs of the more influential ones. And that's probably true. But he will attack every single person who follows Christ, so it's not as though lesser ones are spared because he can't manage the effort.

I suffered certain errors myself which had a profound effect upon my life, and the lives of some others. I will hopefully live in repentance as regards these for the rest of my life. But I learned firsthand how things can work. It was largely through Bill Hammon's ministry, though a number of others were involved - how is it that I was entangled with so many high-profile folks? - things began to "happen" that were in no way chance, some things that would be called miracles, many things that were impossible to be known through natural means. I think God was in some of it. I certainly do. But ... there comes an EXTREMELY fine line when counterfeit gets mixed around the edges, and very subtle temptations.

I learned from reading Orthodox readings much more about such things. We don't deny the gifts of the Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, and such things, by the way, just because our services are liturgical. Such things have been practiced and been in existence since the beginning of the Church, and are very well known in Orthodoxy. There are different expectations of how they operate - mostly through those who diligently seek him and who cultivate humility above all - but they most certainly do operate.

What I learned is how often the enemy uses a kind of spiritual pride in an attempt to drag people into error, and how perfect a trap that is. Pride effectively cuts us off from the grace of God, Who is our only help. Pride causes us to slip into error, and to believe our own errors. And pride causes us to reject correction, and resist help from others to return to the correct path, because we think we are already on it, and "above" those of us who would offer correction. Some of it might sound strange to those outside of Orthodoxy (or maybe not entirely, to Pentecostals/Charismatics, who I think might be familiar with certain aspects - that is largely what we have in common with them) ... but readings on the term "prelest" can be very enlightening.

It's not for me to judge Hinn, or so many others who appear to have fallen into snares concerning doctrine, lifestyle, sin, or ear-tickling and man-pleasing. But there is a common enemy we all face, who uses particular tactics over and over because they are so very effective against us. And being aware of those might help some.

God be with you.

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I remember seeing Benny Hinn on PTL with Paul and Jan Crouch, and him saying some pretty outrageous thoughts he had on the Trinity. He was really just premature and hadn't thought it through, and later on was humble enough to recant what he had said, but it was still there for anyone to see and remember; and maybe never saw the humble recant.

I know I believed some false teaching in the past back in the '80's which caused me to sin blatantly, but was taught it wasn't a sin. Now I know better. At least it wasn't willful sin against what I KNEW to be against God's will. That I won't do.

1stcenturylady said:

I remember seeing Benny Hinn on PTL with Paul and Jan Crouch, and him saying some pretty outrageous thoughts he had on the Trinity. He was really just premature and hadn't thought it through, and later on was humble enough to recant what he had said, but it was still there for anyone to see and remember; and maybe never saw the humble recant.

I know I believed some false teaching in the past back in the '80's which caused me to sin blatantly, but was taught it wasn't a sin. Now I know better. At least it wasn't willful sin against what I KNEW to be against God's will. That I won't do.

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Thank you.

I never heard whatever he said about the Holy Trinity. The things that were off that I knew about were eschatology and angels - both of which can easily get into speculation. It's good to hear that he recanted some early errors. Humility is a good thing.

Lord have mercy where wrong teaching is concerned. I've been through many kinds of churches in my life and heard some wrong teaching. Thankfully though I tend to remember mostly what is right and what has been helpful. Mostly all my former churches were beneficial to me in various ways. Even those making different kinds of mistakes are usually sincere in their love for God and desire to please Him, and I think that is deeply foundational.

God be with you, my sister.

~Anastasia~ said:

You've touched on some rather interesting points here.

Forgive me ... I don't think anything I will say will be inappropriate for this forum. I am Orthodox now. But I had quite a long history with some of the folks you refer to. I knew Mike Brown, went to his church when it was a school of ministry, and know most of his teachers and leaders very well. I met Derek Prince through them. I've got obscure materials put out by Benny Hinn from earlier in his ministry. I've been to his crusades and seen the whole thing from long before he arrived to after. I know members of his slightly extended family who were involved with the ministry and talked to them. I studied a number of the historic Pentecostal figures and their ministries, and where so many went wrong, and tried to figure out why. And quite a bit more. I'm not saying any of this to brag, but that I was deeply invested in finding out the Truth as it relates to us, from God.

I won't judge Benny Hinn. That's not my place. I will say that among some of his early and obscure works there were a lot of good nuggets. A bit of speculative theology that I'm not sure he should have engaged in, but he had good beginnings at least in part. As to the crusades, someone here mentioned an important fact. Imagine this - gather a very large crowd of people together, nearly all who are seeking God, many desperately, and with faith, and the worship starts early and went on for a few hours - Hinn arrived later. There were spontaneous small healing miracles happening in response to prayer and faith. I witnessed and know one that was visible and impossible to fake.

However ... with all of this, I tended to defend Hinn for a while, and wasn't aware of some of the things he began to say and do when he became more publicly known. When I watched some of these, I was a bit shocked, and I no longer could defend him because I wasn't sure what I was seeing anymore.

Add to this the tendency that so very many ministers in that stream fall - and fall hard. Not just Branahan. I've known and been involved with a variety of well-known ministries within the charismatic stream, and I was disappointed more times than I care to consider by those who fell into gross sin or error. Not all did, of course. Particularly the more obscure ones sometimes finished out their career or life still faithfully serving God - thankfully. But it happened enough times to make me wonder what was going on.

I used to think maybe the enemy simply had a bigger target on the backs of the more influential ones. And that's probably true. But he will attack every single person who follows Christ, so it's not as though lesser ones are spared because he can't manage the effort.

I suffered certain errors myself which had a profound effect upon my life, and the lives of some others. I will hopefully live in repentance as regards these for the rest of my life. But I learned firsthand how things can work. It was largely through Bill Hammon's ministry, though a number of others were involved - how is it that I was entangled with so many high-profile folks? - things began to "happen" that were in no way chance, some things that would be called miracles, many things that were impossible to be known through natural means. I think God was in some of it. I certainly do. But ... there comes an EXTREMELY fine line when counterfeit gets mixed around the edges, and very subtle temptations.

I learned from reading Orthodox readings much more about such things. We don't deny the gifts of the Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, and such things, by the way, just because our services are liturgical. Such things have been practiced and been in existence since the beginning of the Church, and are very well known in Orthodoxy. There are different expectations of how they operate - mostly through those who diligently seek him and who cultivate humility above all - but they most certainly do operate.

What I learned is how often the enemy uses a kind of spiritual pride in an attempt to drag people into error, and how perfect a trap that is. Pride effectively cuts us off from the grace of God, Who is our only help. Pride causes us to slip into error, and to believe our own errors. And pride causes us to reject correction, and resist help from others to return to the correct path, because we think we are already on it, and "above" those of us who would offer correction. Some of it might sound strange to those outside of Orthodoxy (or maybe not entirely, to Pentecostals/Charismatics, who I think might be familiar with certain aspects - that is largely what we have in common with them) ... but readings on the term "prelest" can be very enlightening.

It's not for me to judge Hinn, or so many others who appear to have fallen into snares concerning doctrine, lifestyle, sin, or ear-tickling and man-pleasing. But there is a common enemy we all face, who uses particular tactics over and over because they are so very effective against us. And being aware of those might help some.

God be with you.

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Good posting Anastasia ... so nice of you to share your heart and thoughts with us.

Benny Hinn is no longer on my TV, not on TBN that is ... like Paula White has also become less, although I still see her in a listing here and there.

So now it becomes more about "was Benny Hinn a true Christian" for you shall know them by their fruit ...Benny had large gatherings and the worship music was really good at the half dozen crusades I attended in Southern California. Benny did teach the bible in his daily show from Orange County with one of the best sets I have seen on Christian TV. In fact everything he did was of high quality. He divorced and then remarried his wife which I thought was a good thing. Why did the Lord take him from us (the public) if he was of such good character?

geetrue said:

Good posting Anastasia ... so nice of you to share your heart and thoughts with us.

Benny Hinn is no longer on my TV, not on TBN that is ... like Paula White has also become less, although I still see her in a listing here and there.

So now it becomes more about "was Benny Hinn a true Christian" for you shall know them by their fruit ...Benny had large gatherings and the worship music was really good at the half dozen crusades I attended in Southern California. Benny did teach the bible in his daily show from Orange County with one of the best sets I have seen on Christian TV. In fact everything he did was of high quality. He divorced and then remarried his wife which I thought was a good thing. Why did the Lord take him from us (the public) if he was of such good character?

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It appears that Benny is now preaching in Nigeria, one of the darkest places on earth. God just moved him where he is needed. Benny is a man of God and just went where God sent him.

geetrue said:

Good posting Anastasia ... so nice of you to share your heart and thoughts with us.

Benny Hinn is no longer on my TV, not on TBN that is ... like Paula White has also become less, although I still see her in a listing here and there.

So now it becomes more about "was Benny Hinn a true Christian" for you shall know them by their fruit ...Benny had large gatherings and the worship music was really good at the half dozen crusades I attended in Southern California. Benny did teach the bible in his daily show from Orange County with one of the best sets I have seen on Christian TV. In fact everything he did was of high quality. He divorced and then remarried his wife which I thought was a good thing. Why did the Lord take him from us (the public) if he was of such good character?

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God be with you.


I will only reply that we (in Orthodoxy) tend to think a bit in reverse of that. We are taught very much to look to our own sins, our own struggles with the flesh, our own running the race. Not that we don't help and minister to others, because that's a very big part of that process. But we are taught to try to put away pride of every kind, which also means it is something we concern ourselves with until we die, always looking to our own repentance.

When I consider another person in that light, and I know of God's great love and mercy and wisdom, it becomes a point I never would have thought before. Perhaps whatever God has done with Benny Hinn more recently is for the sake of his own spiritual condition.

Yes, it may be true that millions are touched by one man's ministry - for good or for bad. But God doesn't actually NEED that particular man, such that it would be lost if not for the one man. God is always able, always has a means of dealing with and reaching each of us.

So I think instead of viewing things from the top down, among men, as it were, we tend to consider each of ourselves and relation of all men to one another individually.

That's just what comes to mind as one possibility when I think of Benny Hinn, if it's true that he has dropped out of the spotlight. And with what 1stCenturyLady said about him ministering in Nigeria, that could be true.

But we (as Orthodox) are careful not to judge the salvation of anyone, so I couldn't answer that question about him.

God be with you.

Oswald Chambers this morning said, "As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God".

Helps explain all of the controversial pastors, preachers and soothsayers ...

Oscarr said:

I know that there have been threads on this topic before and there has been quite a range of views, some very supportive, and others fairly harsh and unloving toward him.
The first question to be asked - Is he a born again Christian brother? If he is, then we have to love him as Christ loves us, because if we cannot love him like that, we know really know God at all, because God is pure love.
The next question I have is, does he preach the Lordship of Christ, the need to receive Christ as Saviour, the need to repent, and the necessity of living a holy life before God? If so, he cannot be a false preacher or teacher, because he is teaching the fundamentals of the Christian faith.
The next question is: are the manifestations of falling over in the Spirit and other manifestation associated with his ministry true or false? Well, if he is preaching truth as I have defined above, there is a good indication that the manifestations are true also.
Do we all agree with what he does and how he does it? No, and this is quite normal because we all have different perspectives and callings. We all do things differently, but because there is a diversity of gifts, callings and methods, that doesn't mean that just because we disagree, that it is actually false and not of God.

A false teacher or preacher is not a genuine born again believer in Christ. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He does not promote the Lordship of Christ, quite the opposite, he will promote New Age self dependence, and say that Number One is the most important person to be considered (by that I mean self, and self improvement). He will also promote liberalism in that it is not necessary to live a holy life, because Jesus forgave all sin, so it won't matter if we keep sinning. We won't be subject to any consequences if we sleep around, get involved in the occult, consult fortune tellers, because psychics can guide people just as well as the Holy Spirit. This is how the New Testament defines a false prophet, teacher, or preacher.

Just because a Charismatic preacher has unusual manifestations in his meetings and whole groups of people are slain in the Spirit, it doesn't mean that he is a false teacher. Actually, God is not very concerned about manifestations unless they are so out of control that they promote riotous living and lawlessness and a lack of self-control in people's daily living.

I just thought I would chuck that into the pot and see what boils up.

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I remember backbiting and accusing this Man of God over a year ago (in ignorance)...for which I repented. The man of God has thousands of confirmed miracles under the mantle. I would say that's good fruit...and there's the power of God present at the meetings. If I had one thing to say about it...it would be this:

'"Do not touch my anointed ones, or harm my prophets." Psalms 105:15

The plumb line should be this if you're not sure about a minister or person of authentic influence...just leave them alone. You don't want to be working against God, especially if the Word of God is being affirmed by the power of God. My 2 cents.

Oscarr said:

No one's perfect, and he was trained under Kathryn Khulman and that is something special. Also, he does glorify Christ and there has been much fruit out of his ministry. I don't agree with everything he does and teaches, but we can't deny that people are getting saved and healed, and that shines out more than anything else.

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Was he trained under Kathryn's ministry, or is that just fluff? I seem to have read somewhere that he basically went to 2 or 3 of her meetings; then, he started trying to act like 'her mantle' fell upon him. I have it in my head that he didn't even know her.

Quick update/edit: Per Wikipedia, Hinn never met her, but, had attended some/many of her services. Doesn't seem to have been 'trained under her ministry'.

goldenboy said:

Was he trained under Kathryn's ministry, or is that just fluff? I seem to have read somewhere that he basically went to 2 or 3 of her meetings; then, he started trying to act like 'her mantle' fell upon him. I have it in my head that he didn't even know her.

Quick update/edit: Per Wikipedia, Hinn never met her, but, had attended some/many of her services. Doesn't seem to have been 'trained under her ministry'.

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I think I've read all of his books (and at least one about Kathryn Kuhlman too) and that was the impression I remember having too.

It's been some years but ... maybe he talked about visiting her grave and "receiving her mantle" then and there? That's something I seem to remember reading. Or hearing - I had quite a collection of his audio tape teachings too.

(Disclaimer - I am now Eastern Orthodox which DOES believe that the Holy Spirit has always acted and still does, and that miracles and gifts, etc. are ongoing - but we do not endorse some aspects of the newer kind of belief, particularly the aspect of performing it on stage and highlighting the persons themselves. This is too dangerous, as humility is necessary for us to approach God and remain in the experience of His grace.)

Benny Hinn was not trained by Kathryn, he met attended her meeting in Toronto, Ontario where he lived. His mannerisms and physical flourishes remind people of Kathryn, but Benny is uniquely Benny. A person who was one of his his mentors is Rev. Tommy Reid, (The Tab), in Orchard Park NY. He hosted Benny monthly in the early years and still sits on his board to this day.

Oscarr said:

I think that "receiving her mantle" is a false claim. The power and authority to heal people in the Name of Jesus comes from Jesus Himself through the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter how much one may desire to have a healing ministry, and one can lay on as many graves of famous healing evangelists as they please, but it will not happen until Jesus gives them the nod and that will be evidenced by people getting healed under their ministry. Laying on Kathryn Khulman's gave and receiving her mantle says to me that the man is wanting to heal folks in the name of Kathryn Khulman, and not actually the Name of Jesus. If I am desiring a healing ministry, I would go directly to Jesus and starting talking to Him about it. He is the one who confers the authority, and when He gives the assurance and directions, then I can confidently expect people to get healed when I minister to them. Healing faith can only come by the Name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, and no other way. Jesus would say to someone who went and lay on Kathryn Khulman's grave, "Why are you seeking the living among the dead?" I can imagine Kathryn in heaven nudging Jesus, giggling, and saying, "Look at what that silly man is doing, laying on my grave like that!" I'm sure that they both would be having a great laugh over that one!

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Well I am in agreement with you that seeking to take over someone else's ministry or gifts is rather misguided.

Actually, I'm suspicious of the wisdom of anyone wanting a high-profile ministry, period. God does grant gifts as He sees fit. But from what I have seen it takes a very humble person to not be tempted by all the praise and attention. One has to question why (or whether) God would give a gift that proved to be the person's downfall.

Oscarr said:

I know that there have been threads on this topic before and there has been quite a range of views, some very supportive, and others fairly harsh and unloving toward him.
The first question to be asked - Is he a born again Christian brother? If he is, then we have to love him as Christ loves us, because if we cannot love him like that, we know really know God at all, because God is pure love.
The next question I have is, does he preach the Lordship of Christ, the need to receive Christ as Saviour, the need to repent, and the necessity of living a holy life before God? If so, he cannot be a false preacher or teacher, because he is teaching the fundamentals of the Christian faith.
The next question is: are the manifestations of falling over in the Spirit and other manifestation associated with his ministry true or false? Well, if he is preaching truth as I have defined above, there is a good indication that the manifestations are true also.
Do we all agree with what he does and how he does it? No, and this is quite normal because we all have different perspectives and callings. We all do things differently, but because there is a diversity of gifts, callings and methods, that doesn't mean that just because we disagree, that it is actually false and not of God.

A false teacher or preacher is not a genuine born again believer in Christ. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He does not promote the Lordship of Christ, quite the opposite, he will promote New Age self dependence, and say that Number One is the most important person to be considered (by that I mean self, and self improvement). He will also promote liberalism in that it is not necessary to live a holy life, because Jesus forgave all sin, so it won't matter if we keep sinning. We won't be subject to any consequences if we sleep around, get involved in the occult, consult fortune tellers, because psychics can guide people just as well as the Holy Spirit. This is how the New Testament defines a false prophet, teacher, or preacher.

Just because a Charismatic preacher has unusual manifestations in his meetings and whole groups of people are slain in the Spirit, it doesn't mean that he is a false teacher. Actually, God is not very concerned about manifestations unless they are so out of control that they promote riotous living and lawlessness and a lack of self-control in people's daily living.

I just thought I would chuck that into the pot and see what boils up.

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The question should be, is a man who preaches in the flesh, true or false?