Benny Hinn?

[royaltybyadoption]

When I see someone criticising and opposing a ministry, I want to find out more of the background of the person doing the criticising. What is there in the background and the type of church that is behind the person opposing the ministry? This gives clues to why the opposition is there.

For example, a person who belongs to an anti-Charismatic church and who has been trained to believe that Charismatics are of the devil, will give a totally different review of a ministry than a person who has had most of his Christian life in a Pentecostal/Charismatic environment and been trained in the gifts and ministries of the Spirit.

You're absolutely right.
Personally, I have a very Charismatic background. I believe God moves in powerful and sometimes in a very 'supernatural' way. But yet I can't ignore God, who through the New Testament writers, reminds us to be 'wise as serpents' 'testing everything.' It seems He wants us to be balanced and centered in Him and His Word.

I also feel it's my God-given duty to warn others of what evidence has shown to be charlatan behaviour.
If people still want to follow and give him their money, then that is their choice. Just like Benny Hinn has the freedom to continue his tent ministry, so I have the freedom to call it what I believe God calls it.

Usually, people who have soul-winning and healing ministries are too busy serving the Lord to worry about who is criticising them or what they are saying. There are too many people who have needs and who are getting them met through the ministry; even if that ministry has faults when open it up to criticism from Christians who believe their particular church is the "perfect" one without faults.

There are true soul-winning and healing ministries around the globe which are not the self-serving show that Hinn has turned his act into. I fully support truly humble and Godly ministries. "You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" - Matthew 7:16

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

You're absolutely right.
Personally, I have a very Charismatic background. I believe God moves in powerful and sometimes in a very 'supernatural' way. But yet I can't ignore God, who through the New Testament writers, reminds us to be 'wise as serpents' 'testing everything.' It seems He wants us to be balanced and centered in Him and His Word.

I also feel it's my God-given duty to warn others of what evidence has shown to be charlatan behaviour.
If people still want to follow and give him their money, then that is their choice. Just like Benny Hinn has the freedom to continue his tent ministry, so I have the freedom to call it what I believe God calls it.



There are true soul-winning and healing ministries around the globe which are not the self-serving show that Hinn has turned his act into. I fully support truly humble and Godly ministries. "You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" - Matthew 7:16

That's fair enough. BH is not to everyone's taste. I won't be running after him either. I have a different view of the way God works and I wouldn't be comfortable about some of the things that happen in his crusades. But that doesn't mean that I am going to be a judge of him. I take the attitude that we don't know everything about how God operates sometimes, even when some of those things are outside our knowledge and comfort zones. Gamaliel's advice to the Jews was to leave the new Christian church alone because if it is just of man it will fade away, but if it is of God, they might find themselves fighting against God Himself. I take the same attitude toward all TV evangelists. I leave them alone and get on with my own thing.

Oh, by the way, I am a Presbyterian elder, with a Pentecostal background, and with a strong Calvinist Puritan theology, so, for me to judge BH's ministry I have three quite divergent areas to judge him by. I don't know which to choose, so I choose none. So I am of the mind to leave him alone and work on the issues in my ministry.

But if you feel led by the Spirit to warn people of the excesses of BH's ministry, then you have to follow your heart and what you know is God's will for you.

 

[royaltybyadoption]

Cheers for the good words, brother. You are a blessing to me.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Cheers for the good words, brother. You are a blessing to me.

Thanks for that.

My view of healing is what I see in the Gospels. Jesus healed all those who came to Him. There is no record that He held great healing meetings to hype people up beforehand. He healed just as many people on the street and in their homes as He did when there were great crowds of people coming to Him for healing. In the book of Matthew, the strong motivating force in Jesus was His compassion. It comes up all the time in Matthew when Jesus was faced with sick people. It says that He was moved with compassion for them. Also, when He healed them, it was instantaneous. There was no "falling down in the Spirit" or anything like that. From what I see in the Gospels, He was cool, calm and collected, sometimes just speaking the word, putting clay in people's eyes, getting them to go and wash in a particular pool, putting His fingers in their ears, telling someone that their sins were forgiven, commanding them to take up their beds and walk. I see no record of Him lining people up and laying hands on them. Although the Scripture does say that Spirit filled people will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16 , I think). There was even one woman healed without Jesus even knowing that it had happened at first. It was only when He sensed power going out of Him that He realised that someone had touched His clothes and was healed. And what about Peter walking around and just his shadow healing people? One of the most notable healings in the NT was the lame man in Acts 3. He wasn't even looking for healing. He was asking Peter and John for money, but they had something better to give him, and they actually hauled him up on his feet and he was healed.

So this is what I am discussing with God about in relation to healing. I am asking for a healing ministry, but I don't want it like these TV preachers. What I want is for the presence of God's power to heal so that I can be led by the Holy Spirit to impart healing to people and see them healed instantly whether they have faith or not, and whether I lay hands on them or not. Jesus gave us a model for how to minister to people, and most of the time He spoke a command for healing, and the healing happened. There was no hype or emotional preparation. It was fairly clinical in most cases.

Smith Wigglesworth, the great healing evangelist in the early part of the 20th Century brought healing to as many people in their homes and on the street as he did in his meetings. He ministered to sick people in their beds, in train carriages, and even to strangers, like the young man stricken with stomach cramps and lying helpless on the road as Wigglesworth passed by in a tram. He stopped the tram, got out, prayed for the boy. The boy was instantly healed and ran way without another word! So, there is no set formula for healing, except that when the power of God is present to heal, anything can happen!

I was going to finish, when another Scripture came to mind: Shall we go up to bring Christ down, or go down to bring Christ up? No, the Word (of power) is right near us, even in our mouths! What a great promise is that! The challenge is how do we harness it and get it to work in our attempts to get people healed?

 

[razeontherock]

Royalty by adoption, I'd be curious to know what ministries you find deserve support. (Perhaps in another thread, or PM if you prefer)

Oscarr, that last sentence seems chock full of enlightenment potential. Freudian slip?

(Operative imperative being God's will, and Jesus giving the gifts)

I think instantaneous healing would be the gift of miracles.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Royalty by adoption, I'd be curious to know what ministries you find deserve support. (Perhaps in another thread, or PM if you prefer)

Oscarr, that last sentence seems chock full of enlightenment potential. Freudian slip?

(Operative imperative being God's will, and Jesus giving the gifts)

I think instantaneous healing would be the gift of miracles.

You could very well be right.

How I see it, if it is a medical condition, say terminal cancer, I would call it healing. If it is a disability like cerebral palsy, brain damage, broken limbs, I would call it a miracle.

The feeding of the five thousand and the stilling of the storm were miracles.

When Jesus told the paralytic to take up his bed and walk, that was a miracle. The same with the blind man who was blind from birth.

With the woman with the issue of blood, I would call that a healing.

But, any instantaneous event which cannot be achieved through natural means is a miracle, so you are absolutely correct, and we need more of them to really show the glory of Christ, bring revival to our churches, and get more sinners converted to Christ.

 

[Bladers]

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits." --Mathew 7:15 - 20

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." -- Galatians 5:22-23

The man we are talking about lacks these fruits.

Have u checked out Benny's ministries fruits?
Thousands of people around the world hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repenting and trusting in Jesus!
In each service of his crusade, he spend an hour on salvation and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is the most important thing to God and Benny has that as his Priority.

Here is a clip from a miracle crusade a month ago!

There is two parts to this, Watch Part 1 First:
youtube.com/watch?v=d-Y5rN-dYoE

Here is Part 2:
youtube.com/watch?v=rhL0hJLmlis

That is just from last month.... there are hundreds of other videos of him preaching the gospel...

 

[joyusdays]

Have u checked out Benny's ministries fruits?
Thousands of people around the world hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repenting and trusting in Jesus!
In each service of his crusade, he spend an hour on salvation and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is the most important thing to God and Benny has that as his Priority.

Here is a clip from a miracle crusade a month ago!

There is two parts to this, Watch Part 1 First:
youtube.com/watch?v=d-Y5rN-dYoE

Here is Part 2:
youtube.com/watch?v=rhL0hJLmlis

That is just from last month.... there are hundreds of other videos of him preaching the gospel...

We are to be servants...if buckets are passed to collect money, and then we know the money is being spent on hotels 12,000 per night, SAD! Jesus never passed money offering buckets around!

 

[joyusdays]

Thanks for that.

My view of healing is what I see in the Gospels. Jesus healed all those who came to Him. There is no record that He held great healing meetings to hype people up beforehand. He healed just as many people on the street and in their homes as He did when there were great crowds of people coming to Him for healing. In the book of Matthew, the strong motivating force in Jesus was His compassion. It comes up all the time in Matthew when Jesus was faced with sick people. It says that He was moved with compassion for them. Also, when He healed them, it was instantaneous. There was no "falling down in the Spirit" or anything like that. From what I see in the Gospels, He was cool, calm and collected, sometimes just speaking the word, putting clay in people's eyes, getting them to go and wash in a particular pool, putting His fingers in their ears, telling someone that their sins were forgiven, commanding them to take up their beds and walk. I see no record of Him lining people up and laying hands on them. Although the Scripture does say that Spirit filled people will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16 , I think). There was even one woman healed without Jesus even knowing that it had happened at first. It was only when He sensed power going out of Him that He realised that someone had touched His clothes and was healed. And what about Peter walking around and just his shadow healing people? One of the most notable healings in the NT was the lame man in Acts 3. He wasn't even looking for healing. He was asking Peter and John for money, but they had something better to give him, and they actually hauled him up on his feet and he was healed.

So this is what I am discussing with God about in relation to healing. I am asking for a healing ministry, but I don't want it like these TV preachers. What I want is for the presence of God's power to heal so that I can be led by the Holy Spirit to impart healing to people and see them healed instantly whether they have faith or not, and whether I lay hands on them or not. Jesus gave us a model for how to minister to people, and most of the time He spoke a command for healing, and the healing happened. There was no hype or emotional preparation. It was fairly clinical in most cases.

Smith Wigglesworth, the great healing evangelist in the early part of the 20th Century brought healing to as many people in their homes and on the street as he did in his meetings. He ministered to sick people in their beds, in train carriages, and even to strangers, like the young man stricken with stomach cramps and lying helpless on the road as Wigglesworth passed by in a tram. He stopped the tram, got out, prayed for the boy. The boy was instantly healed and ran way without another word! So, there is no set formula for healing, except that when the power of God is present to heal, anything can happen!

I was going to finish, when another Scripture came to mind: Shall we go up to bring Christ down, or go down to bring Christ up? No, the Word (of power) is right near us, even in our mouths! What a great promise is that! The challenge is how do we harness it and get it to work in our attempts to get people healed?

I believe God can and will do anything he so pleases, but I wonder if there is such thing today as a "healing ministry". I have yet to see a limb grow, a down's syndrome baby become normal, etc... and I see non christians who can claim miracles just by positive thinking, so although I so want to believe in this, I just have many questions.

 

[Jpark]

Never mind.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I believe God can and will do anything he so pleases, but I wonder if there is such thing today as a "healing ministry". I have yet to see a limb grow, a down's syndrome baby become normal, etc... and I see non christians who can claim miracles just by positive thinking, so although I so want to believe in this, I just have many questions.

The principle with healing is that Jesus is the healer and the worker of any miracle. That has always been the case and will always be. When a person is baptised in the Holy Spirit and uses the gift of healing, it is still Jesus who does the healing according to His will and purpose. Remember that at the pool where the angel disturbed the waters, many sick people were there, but Jesus healed only one person. Could it be that the others had their eyes on pool and not on Jesus?

Could it then be that most people who go to healing meetings don't get healed because they have their eyes on the preacher and not on Jesus?If the preacher dresses up in fancy clothes and has a lot of special effects, would that not distract people to all that instead of them being able to get their eyes and hearts on Jesus, who is the true healer of sicknesses and diseases?

Also, many people don't get healed because the preachers who are using the name of Jesus are using just the Name without having a full appreciation of the Person behind the Name and whether what is happening is His will or not. The seven sons of Sceva tried it when casting out a demon, and they struck out big time. It is because they tried to use the Name without having their hearts and lives fully committed to the Person whose Name they were using.

Many people who pray for the sick use the Name has some type of formula like a lucky charm, thinking that saying the Name of Jesus does magical things. But when a genuine believer who is totally committed to Christ, being filled with the Will of God with all spiritual understanding uses the Name of Jesus, it would have a much more effective result.

There is a great difference between "claiming" a miracle and having an actual miracle taking place. Also, miracles that happen in the Name of Jesus lifts Jesus up and glorifies Him. "Miracles" that happen through positive thinking do not give glory to Jesus. They put the emphasis on the human and advance humanism, which leaves God and Jesus out of the equation.

 

[peacechild4]

YouTube - Benny Hinn - Live Display of Miracle Healing

 

[Amisk]

1. "When the Lord has a genuine chanel of light, there are always plenty of counterfeits.

Criteria for identification lie outside the phenomenon itself, and these criteria must be of such a character that the mind can come to grips with them. Sensory perception provides very fertile soil for gullibility. The faculties of seeing and hearing cannot always be trusted in this delicate task." <> Dr. Jan Paulsen <> When the Spirit descends.

 

[stormdancer0]

This is what I have to say about Mr. Hinn

Whether he is annointed or not, I know people get healed at some of his events. And the level of the Spirit is huge. But I honestly believes that has as much to do with the hundred or so people he has back stage praying through the meeting as it does with Benny Hinn himself. Get that many people together praying, and people will get healed.

I know people who really like him and people who don't. I don't like the fact that he has to be center of attention at all times. A friend went to a meeting of his recently. He had the ushers escort out a man who was "disturbing" the meeting. This man was a mentally challenged individual who believed in Benny Hinn and wanted to be healed. But it got in Benny Hinn's spotlight. He does the same for crying babies and such.

I believe God can speak and heal when a baby is crying - or a disabled man is unable to be silent - just as well as any other time.

Anyway, we all have opinions.

 

[stormdancer0]

As for miracles, they are DEFINITELY for our time.

I have seen aggressive stomach cancer healed overnight. I have seen my husband's dead pancreas spontaneously regenerate, and his kidneys go from 16% efficiency to 25% in a week. I've seen a woman who was brain dead - kept alive on machines, with no sign of activity in the brain, according to CAT scans and EEG's - walk out of the hospital 10 days later. I've seen my pastor lay hands on a different woman who was in a coma, with "no hope of recovery" and had her within 5 minutes sitting up, asking for something to eat. I've had my van blow up, and six weeks later had a complete stranger hand me the title to a car that had 31,000 miles on it. I've seen miracles. They happen a lot.

I've also been praying for a young lady, and seen in my spirit her walking down the street and past an alley, and getting attacked and killed. I was at prayer group, and her mother was there with us. I told what I'd seen, and we prayed. Later that evening, I saw the same thing, only there were two large men standing in the alleyway between her and the attacker, blocking his vision. The girl called her mother the next morning, and told this story:

Mom, I had a good friend killed last night. He was attacked and stabbed in this alley, and the scary thing was, I had just walked by that alley not 30 minutes before.

 

[Gio1978]

God can and will protect His own. Jesus said that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, You can say to this mountain "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible to you.

God is a living God and as such he can deliver life aboundant to anyone and anything he deems for His pourposes. He presents the cross to us whether we accept it or not, It's our choice to follow Him or not. He doesn't force us to love or accept Him. God creates opportunities and does things out of the enormus love He has for us("The Crucifiction of Jesus" was a demonstration of this). I've seen Gods work personally in my life as well as God's work in many other people's lives. Faith in God's Word, The Holy Trinity, and Obedience in those things is what saves people's souls, hearts, minds, and bodies.

 

[bsd31]

Benny Hinn isn't the problem. The problem is that many people go to his events not to have an encounter with the Living God, but rather to have an encounter with Benny Hinn.

So should he stop holding these events just because 250,000 of the 250,010 people are there not for God but for him? Short answer, no. Many of them will have an encounter with God even if that's not what they really came for.

 

[eyeoftzion]

He's a fake.

 

[royaltybyadoption]

Benny Hinn isn't the problem. The problem is that many people go to his events not to have an encounter with the Living God, but rather to have an encounter with Benny Hinn.

So should he stop holding these events just because 250,000 of the 250,010 people are there not for God but for him? Short answer, no. Many of them will have an encounter with God even if that's not what they really came for.

Valid point, but his style just seems to contradict the style that Jesus set for us.

 

[PROPHECYKID]

Valid point, but his style just seems to contradict the style that Jesus set for us.

That video is so funny. Sad though that it is not the power of God he is using.