Benny Hinn - True or False

[Hank77]

The clip didn't go long enough to hear the whole sermon in context. That's what deceivers do. They show just a little bit of a message instead of the complete one in context, just like making a doctrine out of half a verse while when the whole verse is read it gives a whole different story. This is a very deceptive and very dishonest way of trying to prove a point. I want to hear how he justifies his view, not take word of a deceiver who shows a one and a half minute clip of a half hour message.

First you will hear what Pastor David Wilkerson said about Benny Hinn, then you will see what Wilkerson is referring to.

 

[Vicomte13]

Hi

I think there's more to this than simply manifestations, he's preached false doctrine in the past - including that the Trinity has 9 persons in it! That for me is all I needed to know.

 

[fhansen]

First you will hear what Pastor David Wilkerson said about Benny Hinn, then you will see what Wilkerson is referring to.

Yeah, that was pretty sick.

 

[Meowzltov]

I have copied this thread from another forum to give a more general group of people from different denominations the opportunity to respond without getting themselves into trouble. I would appreciate if people didn't aim comments at me personally, but to comment on the issues instead. Then we can have a good, even if very spirited discussion for and against what I might be implying. Here is the post I entered in the other forum:

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.

He is baptized and professes the gospel, and that makes him technically a Christian. Whether or not he is saved is a different story.

Benny Hinn prays on the innocence of people for his personal gain. He is a charletron, a swindler, a con artist, who lacks conscience. He claims healings that he cannot substantiate, and many come to him for healing that are not healed, going home disappointed in Christ. He is in this not for Christ, but his own glory. That he may preach the gospel in the process is merely incidental.

Heresies of Benny Hinn:

• Hinn preached that there were NINE people in the godhead, and only recanted when exposed and called a heretic.
• Hinn encouraged his followers to say, "I AM, I AM." This extends from his teaching that we are all little gods.
• Hinn believes he is a little messiah.
• Hinn wants riches in the here and now, rather than in heaven. jjHe serves mammon.
• Hinn states that if anyone speaks out against his ministry, they bring a curse against themselves. (This is cultlike).
• Hinn has made false prophecies, such as that Fidel Castro would die in the 1990's.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

He is baptized and professes the gospel, and that makes him technically a Christian. Whether or not he is saved is a different story.

You are making some serious accusations here. I hope you have confirmation from the Holy Spirit for them. Actually the Holy Spirit wouldn't support your accusations because He is not an accuser. He is a restorer.

Benny Hinn prays on the innocence of people for his personal gain. He is a charletron, a swindler, a con artist, who lacks conscience. He claims healings that he cannot substantiate, and many come to him for healing that are not healed, going home disappointed in Christ. He is in this not for Christ, but his own glory. That he may preach the gospel in the process is merely incidental.

Where did you get that information from? There are thousands who have actually attended his meetings right around the world and they say something totally different. If you can't back those statements up, you could be seen as a slanderer, and that is a work of the flesh that maybe the Holy Spirit may have to have some words with you about that.

Heresies of Benny Hinn:

• Hinn preached that there were NINE people in the godhead, and only recanted when exposed and called a heretic.

• Not quite. He says that there are three, but each have a body, soul and spirit similar to us. The Trinity is an obscure mystery open to speculative theories. The theory may be an error, but it doesn't make him an heretic. When you use "recant" and "heretic" you sound like a member of the Spanish Inquisition.

  [*]Hinn encouraged his followers to say, "I AM, I AM." This extends from his teaching that we are all little gods.

  I think that the New Testament mentions that in relation to believers in that they have the nature of God in them in the person of the Holy Spirit. One has to listen to his whole teaching to get what he means by it.

  [*]Hinn believes he is a little messiah.

  Same as above. However, read my post in the Spirit-filled forum for an explanation of why he is teaching some of these unusual doctrines. But do any replies back here, because you may get into a spot of bother if you try to debate the issue there, if you don't have the correct ID for that forum.

  [*]Hinn wants riches in the here and now, rather than in heaven. jjHe serves mammon.

  Don't we all. When did you feel like asking the boss for a pay rise. Have you ever left a job and gone to another for higher pay? Have you ever taken a lottery ticket. If you have done any of these things, then when you point the finger, there are three pointing back at you.

  [*]Hinn states that if anyone speaks out against his ministry, they bring a curse against themselves. (This is cultlike).

  Not necessarily. Look at the posts on this forum and see the hostile attacks that people are making against him with no justification and no actual proof backing their vitriolic accusations. Critics and slanders do bring a curse upon themselves because they are reverting to the deeds of the flesh which bring a curse.

  [*]Hinn has made false prophecies, such as that Fidel Castro would die in the 1990's.

  So what? So he was out in his timing by 30 odd years. It took 800 years for Joel's prophecy to come true about the coming of the Holy Spirit. There are hundreds of testimonies of totally accurate prophecies that he has given as well.

None of what you are saying here is enough to label him as a false teacher and the other accusations you have levelled against him. I wouldn't criticise him because I don't have a powerful, international healing and evangelistic ministry, causing thousands of souls to come to Christ in the way he has. I guess when the day comes when I am saving souls in their thousands and folks are getting healed through my ministry, I might be qualified to give him a bit of correction.

Then when I am successful and have a few bob to my name, the gainsayers, critics and accusers will say the same about me!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

First you will hear what Pastor David Wilkerson said about Benny Hinn, then you will see what Wilkerson is referring to.

Although David Wilkerson was great in his heyday, in more modern times he has given some wacky prophecies and so I don't trust him as much as I do for other sound teaching ministries that keep to solid gospel doctrine. In every revival, it has been the established church that has opposed it. It happened through history, and when Methodism started, the Church of England opposed it, and some of the greatest Puritan divines spoke against Methodism. When the Anabaptists appeared, the Methodists opposed them even though the Anabaptist doctrines were as sound as a bell (until later on when the followers of the founder went wacky and brought the movement into disrepute, much like the lunatic fringe in Pentecostalism today). Then, when the Holiness movements started up, the Methodists and Presbyterians opposed them. When the Pentecostal revival happened, it was the established church, good solid men mind you, opposed it. Then, when the Charismatic movement happened in 1960, the established Pentecostals spoke out against it. When I was a member of the Wellington NZ Assemblies of God, the pastor there spoke right out against these "neo-Pentecostals" and was quite sarcastic about them, and yet he was a solid man of God with a wonderful ministry! Then when the Third Wave came along, the established Charismatics spoke out against that. And the established Pentecostals and Charismatics opposed the Word of Faith revival and the Brownsville revival. We have seen the vitriolic posts on CF against those movements quite regularly, although in recent years, people have calmed down about the WOF movement. All these were genuine revivals, bringing important and neglected truths back into the mainstream of the Church.

This is why I don't support David Wilkerson in his attack on Benny Hinn. Wonderful man of God he may be, but I think he is just causing history to repeat itself by publicly attacking another man's ministry in the way he is doing.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

My older sister is a decades-long follower of Benny Hinn. And she is the most spiritually and doctrinally messed-up person that I know. Her children are likewise seriously messed-up and deeply antagonistic to the faith because of this man's wretched "ministry." The man is a nasty boil on the bottom of the Body of Christ. He needs to be lanced.

That's sad to hear. I have no real answer to that one. I did post on the Spirit-filled forum why I think that Benny Hinn is preaching some wacky doctrines. You might like to read it and respond back here.

 

[Hank77]

People often tend to favor fooling themselves, if in so doing they can earn status and wealth. At best there's an uncomfortable mix of deception and faith at work with Mr Hinn in my opinion. In any case, born again or not, we're called to love him.

I agree, but I think that it is very dangerous to follow him and much of his teachings. He used to talk about how he received anointing at dead evangelist graves. I heard him tell this story many years ago but I finally found it online.

Note: Aimee is Aimee Semple McPherson...

“Friday I am gonna go and visit Kathryn Kuhlman’s tomb. It’s close by Aimee’s in Forest Lawn Cemetery. I’ve been there once already and every so often I like to go and pay my respects ’cause this great woman of God has touched my life. And that grave, uh, where she’s buried is closed, they built walls around it. You can’t get in without a key and I’m one of the very few people who can get in. But I’ll never forget when I saw Aimee’s tomb....I actually, I—I, hear this, I trembled when I visited Aimee’s tomb. I was shaking all over. God’s power came all over me.... I believe the anointing has lingered over Aimee’s body....It’s amazing. I’ve heard of people healed when they visited that tomb” (Benny Hinn sermon, “Double Portion Anointing,” Part #3, Orlando Christian Center, Orlando, Fla., April 7, 1991. From the series, Holy Ghost Invasion. TV#309).
Question: A dear friend of mine, on fire for Jesus, is following John Crowder. I’m concerned about the wording of his ministry. His teachings are called “mystical school.” I just wonder if you know about him and what you think.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Uh huh. Knock yourself out.



I can think of a better analogy: Imagine biting into a beautiful chocolate cake and tasting the flavour of vinegar. You're disappointed, of course, but think, "Just a bad slice. This lovely cake must taste as good as it looks." So, you try another mouthful of a different slice of the cake. It's just as bad. You try one more time with a third slice of cake but the flavour of vinegar is as strong in this slice as it was in the first one you tried. Do you try a fourth slice? You haven't tried the whole cake. Maybe there are some good bits you just haven't found yet. Surely the cake has at least a few tasty morsels. Is this sufficient reason to risk yet another mouthful of vinegar and disappointment? Only if you're an idiot. Go find a cake that tastes entirely delicious. There's absolutely no good reason to suffer the awfulness of the vinegary cake in the hopes of encountering something actually worth eating when perfectly good cakes are readily available. Surely, even an academic can see the common sense in this.



But why would I bother to get to know Benny Hinn as I did my wife? My wife was immediately attractive me, the first time I met her. This gave me strong incentive to find out more about her, to get to know her better. Not so Benny Hinn. From the first video I saw of his ridiculous antics and cockeyed preaching, I was repulsed and recognized a man to be avoided, not pursued.



Except from what has been published in the popular media, I know nothing of Jeffrey Dahmer. But following your logic, I shouldn't think of him as the sociopathic serial killer that he is until I've spent a significant amount of time getting to know him. Get my point?

Anyone has the right to say that Benny Hinn is not their cup of tea. I wouldn't stake my doctrinal foundation on his teaching. My doctrinal foundation is elsewhere. But my defence of him is in response to the vitriolic and slanderous accusations made against him with very little actual proof.

If I had put my whole trust in Benny Hinn and accepted his doctrines as the foundation for my faith, I'd be messed up too just like your older sister. I left the Charismatic movement in 1979 because I just got sick of the gossiping and legalism of the particular church I was going to. It was not until 1995 that I was able to go back to that city and reestablish contact with some of my friends in that church. It was a long healing process. Things that went on in that church were, in my opinion, one of the major causes of the breakup of my first marriage. My first wife had disagreements with the practices of that church, and I am sure that she got condemning phone calls from a particular elder of that church while I was away at work. In the 1970s there was that demonic and disastrous Shepherding Discipleship movement that came out of Fort Laudedale and it wrecked thousand of good lives through the authoritarianism that came through that movement. Because my first wife and I refused the "shepherding" she was accused of making the bullets and I was accused of firing them. She told me after we separated that she was afraid to return to that city alone. Such was the threatening spiritual nature of some of the leaders of that church. I believe that we both were subjected to spiritual abuse. It took me from 1979 to well into the 1980s before I felt de-programmed from all that, and another five or six years before I was completely healed. But the damage has been done, and although I have a Pentecostal theology, I would never go back to a Pentecostal or Charismatic church, and feel quite happy and settled in my "middle of the road" Presbyterian church. The one thing I learned from my years with the Anglican, Baptist and Presbyterian churches from 1979 to the present is that there are wonderful Jesus loving folks in all those churches. I was brainwashed by that Charismatic church that people in other denominations were not very close to God and were not filled with the Spirit. In the years after I left that church, I discovered to my joy and relief that it was all lies. So, as you can see, I was pretty messed up for quite a number of years and quite antagonistic to the Charismatic church, but through a series of wonderful events, Jesus healed me and enabled me to love them again.

But when I last went to a Pentecostal church in my city, some spooky stuff went on which made me very glad to be out of there at the end of the service, and I will never go back there. I breathed a sigh of relief to get back to my church where there are normal people!

 

[Hank77]

This is why I don't support David Wilkerson in his attack on Benny Hinn. Wonderful man of God he may be, but I think he is just causing history to repeat itself by publicly attacking another man's ministry in the way he is doing.

So ......what do you think about what Benny Hinn said and did? That is why I posted the video. What do you think about it? What does the Bible say about cursing anyone at all? Does he think he has more authority than the Apostles?

 

[Hank77]

lol, who was the English or UK preacher many, many years ago that used to actually hit people? He was very famous. Hmm....

EDIT: Wait, I remember....Smith Wigglesworth, I think.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I agree, but I think that it is very dangerous to follow him and much of his teachings. He used to talk about how he received anointing at dead evangelist graves. I heard him tell this story many years ago but I finally found it online.

Note: Aimee is Aimee Semple McPherson...

“Friday I am gonna go and visit Kathryn Kuhlman’s tomb. It’s close by Aimee’s in Forest Lawn Cemetery. I’ve been there once already and every so often I like to go and pay my respects ’cause this great woman of God has touched my life. And that grave, uh, where she’s buried is closed, they built walls around it. You can’t get in without a key and I’m one of the very few people who can get in. But I’ll never forget when I saw Aimee’s tomb....I actually, I—I, hear this, I trembled when I visited Aimee’s tomb. I was shaking all over. God’s power came all over me.... I believe the anointing has lingered over Aimee’s body....It’s amazing. I’ve heard of people healed when they visited that tomb” (Benny Hinn sermon, “Double Portion Anointing,” Part #3, Orlando Christian Center, Orlando, Fla., April 7, 1991. From the series, Holy Ghost Invasion. TV#309).
Question: A dear friend of mine, on fire for Jesus, is following John Crowder. I’m concerned about the wording of his ministry. His teachings are called “mystical school.” I just wonder if you know about him and what you think.

I note that Jesus asked someone, "Why seek the living among the dead?" I think it comes from a wrong impression from the OT story about a dead person being put into Elisha's grave and coming back to life. The anointing of the Holy Spirit comes from within us who are filled with the Spirit, rather than the grave of a dead person. The anointing that Kathryn Khulman and Aimee Macpherson received was from the Holy Spirit within them, and went with them into glory. Elisha praying for a double anointing that Elijah had was a one-off special request which was granted under specific conditions. Anyhow, Elijah didn't have a grave where Elisha could go and lay on to receive the anointing. He received it directly from the Holy Spirit.

I don't have Kathryn Khulman's or Aimee Macpherson's anointing because I haven't ever gone through the fiery trials, the suffering, rejection, persecution that those ladies went through before their ministries really took flight. The same with Maria Woodworth Etter, who had six children and lost five through disease. Think of the years of grief she experienced, the suffering she went through and the deep seated fear that she would lose her sixth child? It caused her to cry and weep before God for an anointing to defeat sickness and disease. No wonder when she had tent crusades, people up to a mile away would fall in the Spirit, be transported to heaven and get back up totally converted to Christ and changed. The ones who fell were not even Christians but ordinary people going about their daily business.

So extraordinary anointing comes with extraordinary suffering and life challenges to overcome. I haven't had that enough to claim any sort of anointing for healing, so it doesn't happen when I pray for people, and I understand why.

Anyway, going and laying on people's grave in order to receive something spiritually sound a bit occult to me and there is a danger of getting the wrong spirit.

 

[Hank77]

Is there a text edition of this, I do not have speakers.

Here you go....There is more at the link.
"Man, I feel revelation knowledge already coming on me here. Lift your hands. Something new is going to happen here today. I felt it just as I walked down here. Holy Spirit, tale over in the name of Jesus ... God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person; and He is a triune being Himself separate from the Son and Holy Ghost. Say, what did you say? Hear it, hear it, hear it. See, God the Father is a person. God the Son is a person. God the Holy Spirit is a person. But each one of them is a triune being by Himself. If I can shock you -- and maybe I should -- there's nine of them. Huh, what did you say? Let me explain: God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person with his own personal spirit, and with His own personal soul, and His own personal spirit-body. You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well you think you're in church this church to hear things you've heard for the last fifty years? You can't argue with the word, can you? It's all in the Word." (1)
The Trinity

He went on to say that the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost are each are person and each one has a spirit-body, soul, and Holy Spirit.

 

[Hank77]

Great point!

I will add to that that we are to test the spirits by asking if Jesus Christ is Lord.

1 John 4 (ESV)
Test the Spirits
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Don't forget the scripture where there are those who cry Lord, Lord and have done many things in His name and the Lord says "I never knew you."

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

lol, who was the English or UK preacher many, many years ago that used to actually hit people? He was very famous. Hmm....

EDIT: Wait, I remember....Smith Wigglesworth, I think.

Yes. He used to say that he set out to hit the devil and the person got in the way. When that happened, the person he hit was totally healed on the spot. Smith Wigglesworth was one of the few healing evangelists who did not make a whole of of money, nor were there any scandals attached to him. When he was not travelling the world, he lived in his small suburban home in Bradford England. He was a shy, retiring man, except when the Holy Spirit took hold of him when he started to preach. I was friends in the 1960s with Walter Cantrell, Wigglesworth's pianist during his New Zealand tour. Walter would say that Wigglesworth would get up, start haltingly in his broad northern English accent with terrible grammar, and then something would happen, and he would start preaching clearly and powerfully. Walter witnessed genuine healings and the falling of the Holy Spirit on the meetings. That was 1922 and 1927 when he was in Wellington NZ. The documented healings were reported in the local daily newspaper. Walter preached to our group on a number of occasions, and you could see the glorious effect that his experience with Wigglesworth had on him even 40 years later. Another old lady in her 90s in our church spoke of Wigglesworth and said his ministry changed her life and she had never experienced anything like it ever since. Wigglesworth always travelled as a fellow passenger on the boats that took him from place to place, and often led people to Christ while travelling. His story is a wonderful one because it is about a humble man endued with the power of God.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Don't forget the scripture where there are those who cry Lord, Lord and have done many things in His name and the Lord says "I never knew you."

Jesus was speaking of the false prophets and teachers who were savage wolves in sheep's clothing, seeking through demonic signs and wonders to turn people away from Jesus. No true born again believer will ever experience that from the Lord. The false prophets and miracle workers are unbelievers and religious hypocrites who are not there to win souls for Christ at all. Benny Hinn, although he has some wacky doctrines, does not fit that profile at all.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Uh huh. Knock yourself out.



I can think of a better analogy: Imagine biting into a beautiful chocolate cake and tasting the flavour of vinegar. You're disappointed, of course, but think, "Just a bad slice. This lovely cake must taste as good as it looks." So, you try another mouthful of a different slice of the cake. It's just as bad. You try one more time with a third slice of cake but the flavour of vinegar is as strong in this slice as it was in the first one you tried. Do you try a fourth slice? You haven't tried the whole cake. Maybe there are some good bits you just haven't found yet. Surely the cake has at least a few tasty morsels. Is this sufficient reason to risk yet another mouthful of vinegar and disappointment? Only if you're an idiot. Go find a cake that tastes entirely delicious. There's absolutely no good reason to suffer the awfulness of the vinegary cake in the hopes of encountering something actually worth eating when perfectly good cakes are readily available. Surely, even an academic can see the common sense in this.



But why would I bother to get to know Benny Hinn as I did my wife? My wife was immediately attractive me, the first time I met her. This gave me strong incentive to find out more about her, to get to know her better. Not so Benny Hinn. From the first video I saw of his ridiculous antics and cockeyed preaching, I was repulsed and recognized a man to be avoided, not pursued.



Except from what has been published in the popular media, I know nothing of Jeffrey Dahmer. But following your logic, I shouldn't think of him as the sociopathic serial killer that he is until I've spent a significant amount of time getting to know him. Get my point?

I saw a story in my local newspaper how a husband used his grinder to shape dog biscuits into heart shapes and then the wife iced them with icing and coconut. She then put them in a tin and left them on the staffroom table at work. When she went back later, she found that the trolls had been in there and half of the biscuits were gone. She said that it must have taken some people eating two of the biscuits before they sensed that something might be a bit strange about them!

 

[prodromos]

Interesting, This topic brings the number of threads in this subforum to 666.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Interesting, This topic brings the number of threads in this subforum to 666.

Nooooooo! I'll have to make it 667! The Antichrist's mini-me!

 

[Hank77]

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

Testimony of Benny Hinn's nephew, Costi Hinn

Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn’t for Me
.......
Other doubts would surface. What about unsuccessful healing attempts? I learned that it was the sick person’s fault for doubting God. Why would we speak in tongues without interpretation? “Don’t quench the Spirit,” I was told. “He can do what he wants.” Why did many of our prophecies contradict the Bible? “Don’t put God in a box.” Despite the questions, I trusted my family because we were so successful. Tens of thousands of people followed us, millions packed stadiums annually to hear my uncle. We healed the sick, performed miracles, rubbed elbows with celebrities, and got incredibly wealthy. God must be on our side! .....
Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn’t for Me