Benny Hinn

Benny Hinn is a minor footnote in the American Charismatic Christian scene. Jim and Tammy Baker and Pat Robertson have done enough to discredit charismatics that the term has become synonimous with "corrupt." Hinn's 10,000 strong congregation in Orlando, Florida is large but tiny in comparison to megachurches found in other American cities. Hinn's real threat is in the hypnotic power he has over people in developing countries. To American believers Benny Hinn is just another televangelist, an unsavory character but tolerable. He has an innocent, Mickey Mouse quality to him and we can easily write him off as just another slick preacher out to make a buck. This is not the case for people in developing countries.

For people in Africa, India, Malaysia and the Philippines Benny Hinn is worshipped practically as a God. His cult following numbers in the tens of millions - at least. In addition, rogue missionaries are eager to capitalize on Benny Hinn as a pop-icon. They mention his name a few times during the service and the tithes keep flowing. These missionaries, like Hinn, use this money to enrich themselves -not to help the community. Any casual observer can see the curse God has placed over these congregations. Benny Hinn is a poison which that strikes at the very roots of the Church. I will give some accounts of my experience with the Hinnites.

Japan seems to be a magnet for occult forces. The Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesuits all have their representatives here. The Benny Hinn cult, as well, has been quick to capitalize on Japan's rich potential. Every few years he will make an appearance here. Tickets have to be booked in advance. Most of Hinn's hard-core followers here are temporary workers from Africa and the Philippines.

There is a church in Nagoya run by a pair of American missionaries. The congregation is mostly African and Philippino. At the services I attended many references were made to Benny Hinn and his miraculous healing powers. The donations kept flowing in. As it turns out, these missionaries are scalping the congregation, using the money to support their hedonistic lifestyles. The Africans and the Philippinos do not know any better. They see an American and they hear "Benny Hinn," and they think, "Good," and they hand over their hard-earned money. There are no westerners who attend this church. The congregation had already been pre-brain washed. All these missionaries had to do was to come in and collect the money.

There was another church I attended in Toyota City, also affiliated with the Hinn cult. Here, the post service meal fellowship resembles more a Roman feast than a church meal. Slovenly people gorge themselves on food and gossip. There is a spirit of sloth and gluttony hovering over them. During the international service a Filipina gave a talk. The men played the guitar and sat around. (According to the bible a woman should not even speak in church and here was this woman presuming to preach.) She mentioned Benny Hinn a few times and then said something about how great it was to have a Filippino church. Meanwhile a group of children were running around in the back of the church, talking and playing and making a lot of noise, running in and out of the sanctuary. I couldn't put up with this any longer. I told the children to leave. The people at the church were clearly distraught. Discussions led nowhere. Unfortunately they were all brainwashed by Benny Hinn.

By far the worst of all was a Malaysian Christian who calls himself brother Tan. He and his wife run an after-school outreach program in downtown Nagoya. It functions as a juku, the ubiquitous cram-schools seen across Japan. Basically some high school students go there to get free tutoring. After their studies they endure a half hour of this couple's bible studying and proseletyzing.

Brother Tan and his wife invited me over for dinner and fellowship on two occasions. Brother Tan is a talented singer and guitar player. They are both nice people. However, I noticed a poster of Benny Hinn. They said he was a great healer and anointed by God. There was something about the man that did not look right. I had a visceral reaction so I did some research.

I showed him the passage about the rich man who wanted to follow Jesus but would not give away his money. We read how Jesus said, "It would be easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Tan's response was, "poverty is not a blessing." Then Jesus did say, "Blessed are the poor," but I did not think to say this at the time. Maybe it would have been out of context.

The truth is people in Asia and Africa deal with a reality that is very different than my own. I have been to the Philippines. The poverty is beyond words. And it is not just monetary poverty. 　Anything goes. Although I have never been to Africa I imagine conditions are similar. There are muslims, corrupt leaders, wars and pestilences there as well. It is no wonder that those in such seemingly hopeless circumstances look to the man with the Disney smile and the quick fix.

In Nairobi Benny Hinn, "Drove the crowd of Christians into ecstasy and frenzy with a powerful sermon...Pastor Hinn's sermon was anchored on a message of hope, healing and salvation for Kenyans. He brought to the city his famous 'touch' prayer drama. When he prayed for the Christians to encounter the power of the Holy Spirit, he asked the spirit to touch them. Those that got 'touched' fell down, kicking wildly while gesticulating and speaking in tongues.” (http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/30042000/News/News35.html)

The "touch prayer drama" followed by "speaking in tongues" is the heart of the problem. Fred Price and Benny Hinn practice this. They also say it is allright for a Christian to become wealthy. The problem is they are the only ones with the money. They offer messages of hope and prosperity but their trees produce no fruit. They make money off of hopelessness. Their's are empty promises based on chicanery. They offer no concrete solutions and surround themselves in mystery. Benny Hinn, however, has staged a number of miraculous "healings." They have all been exposed as fraudulent. In India, an estimated 7 million people came to Benny Hinn's crusade. A minor king in America is a major player on the international scene.

A visiting preacher came to speak at my church. Originally from Argentina he had spent over thirty years in Spain ministering to the gypsies. During the service he mentioned Benny Hinn. He also held up some of his music cds and tried to hawk them from the pulpit. This was unseemly at best, blasphemous at worst. Everyone in the congregation was convinced that the pastor had long ago taken leave of his senses. Perhaps he had been touched. On another occasion the pastor kept on talking when it was clear noone in the congregation appreciated his sermon. One person, God bless him, even got up and walked out of the church. The pastor kept rambling on and on. He kept demanding water. He was on fire with something.

This pastor also came to preach and sell cds at our New Year's service. I was unable to remain awake during his message. I was awakened from my slumber by horrific screams from a woman. It sounded murderous and blood curdling. I noticed the pastor going around touching peoples foreheads. Apparently this woman was touched by a spirit. To me it didn't sound like a holy spirit at all. It sounded like something trapped, fearful and vindictive. She kept screaming and making a fuss. Everyone was concerned. As she continued shrieking the people in the congregation started to get agitated. She quieted down after a while but for a minute I wondered if she would have to be forcefully removed. I felt sorry for her. After the service the pastor stood in the back of the church selling cds.

Some have raised the possibility that Benny Hinn does not as much caste demons out of people as much as he puts them in to people. I wonder if something similar to this was going on on New Year's Eve. In any event, I vehemently oppose anyone who sells anything from inside a church sanctuary. I see a common thread which runs through the American missionaries in Nagoya, Brother Tan, Fred Price, Bennie Hinn and the visiting preacher from Argentina - a selfish desire to get rich. Their taste for money has corrupted them. Benny Hinn's hypnotic powers leads me to believe that a force more powerful than greed is catupulting him towards greater and greater worldly success.

Recall that the Nephilim (the fallen ones) are the children of "the sons of God and the daughters of men." Angels sometimes have children. These children all have something in common. For one there is a mysterious origin, a question as to who is the bioligical father. Next there is precoscious intelligence and a ruthlessness to rise to the top by any means necessary. Finally the Nephilim are all self educated. They do not need to spend a lot of time in school. It seems that Benny Hinn satisfies all three criteria.

There are many money-hungry preachers. Once they are exposed like Jim Bakker they disappear into obscurity. Others, however, have amazing resilience. No scandal is too much for them. They leave a lasting legacy for the world. One such person was a 16th century Hungarian celebrity preacher named David Ferenc.

David Ferenc was the Protestant Reformation era equivalent of a televangelist. He had an immense following and he stirred up controversy. He seemed to enjoy controversy for its own sake, revelling in his abilities to outwit his detractors. David Ferenc claimed, among other things, that Jesus was not divine. He taught that Jesus was just a great man but not the Son of God. The church Ferenc co-founded went on to become the Unitarian church. Today the Unitarian Universalist Church is the only church in the United States offering masters of divinity degrees to practicioners of Wicca, a form of witchcraft.

Benny Hinn, it seems, has the power to pollute entire congregations. It does not seem as if he will start his own denomination like John Smith or David Ferenc. Why should he? He can reek more havoc from the inside. (To be fair, the Assembly of God revoked Hinn's membership in the mid '90s. In today's terms that is just a slap on the wrist, not an excommunication.)

The Nephillim, it seems, are all born into obscurity. There is always a mystery as to their origins. It is difficult to get a straight story about Benny Hinn on the web. Some sites say his parents were Armenians, some say Greek, others say they were Palestinian Arabs. The impression I get is that his father, Costandi Hinn was a Greek and his mother was an Armenian. In any event, Hinn grew up under impoverished circumstances in Jaffa Israel.

The red flag on our background check comes up when Hinn claims that his father was once the mayor of Jaffa. This claim has been widely discredited. When he was born in 1952 Jaffa did not even exist as a seperate municipality. It had merged with Tel-Aviv in 1948. (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/bhinn.html)

One blogger has claimed that Hinn has "[An] Arabic bent toward rhetoric and overstatement." (http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=686) Ethnicity, however, does not excuse the providing of deliberately misleading information. The bible says the devil is "the father of all lies."

Benny Hinn has also created quite a stir with his claim that God has nine forms (http://www.pfo.org/oldhouse.htm). From Benny Hinn I take this to mean something else altogether. Perhaps it means there will be nine antichrists. Maybe it means there are to be nine Nephillim. By my count Hinn makes number four.

As long as Benny Hinn's reign of terror is restricted to the developing world we in the developed world are likely to take a blind eye to his misdeeds. The problem is he now has throngs of fanatical and devoted followers in countries like India, Kenya and Malaysia. Instead of being discommunicated Benny Hinn has been embraced by church leaders like Billy Graham. In the future, as Hinn's accolytes gain strength and momentum, there may be a revolution from within the church.

Benny Hinn is not alone in possessing apparently supernatural powers. Cult leader T.B. Joshua, a modern day Rasputin, has already bewitched thousands in Nigeria. Creflo Dollar and Fred Price continue their demonic activities along the 33rd parallel. Benny Hinn is at the top of this pyramid. He has a multi-dimensional international following and he threatens to dismantle the Christian Church as we know it.

Everyone can develop their own personal course of action. I will endeavor to rebuke anyone who mentions Hinn in a favorable light. I will also, like Jesus, overturn the tables of the money-changers. Modern day money changers are those who sell videos, cds and other religious Christian paraphenalia in the church, corrupting its sanctity. However, These are merely defensive reactions. In order to counteract the Hinn heresy one must also be pro-active. The best thing to do is to be involved in a Christian community that chooses to ignore Hinn and the countless others like him. The problem with this is these types of communities are increasingly scarce. In our McWorld it is difficult to find anything authentic. Perhaps a certain cynicism is in order...