Crusades or Crusaders

If we look at the current fad of “miracle” crusades we can find a mixture of both the Gospel and heresy, because they do at times (although rarely) preach the gospel in a way it can be understood.  This is why it’s all so deceiving.  However, what is taught (more often than not) is that God promises miracles and prosperity to all that give into the self-acclaimed fertile ground of their ministry.  And fertile ground it is, at least for the tele-evangelist!

But Hinn also has another angle (and one must grudgingly admire his gall) as he stated on yet another of his appearances on TBN: “You know that God never blesses sheep before he blesses the shepherd.   Shepherds get it first then the sheep get it, because sheep follow shepherds.  If not, we shepherds are gonna have poo on our shoes (laughter from the Crouch’s), so the sheep must follow the shepherd and God ALWAYS blesses the shepherds first.  So a pastor can never see his church prosper if he’s poor.”  So there you have his and other Word/Faith leaders’ justification for being rich – so the people can be!

Hinn’s concept of blessings coming through the human shepherd instead of the Chief Shepherd shows he is not pointing the people to trust in the Lord, but human leaders instead.  What kind of shepherd teaches such things? Did Jesus or Paul?

Waffle I do!

“Money, Money, Money, Money, I am sick of it… people are suddenly being told, its like almost going gambling.  You give this and get this back.” sounds like hes railing against it, yet he will then say, “Years ago they used to preach, ‘O we are going to walk on streets of gold.’  I would say, ‘I don’t need the gold up there.  I’ve got to have it down here.” (Praise-a-Thon, TBN, 2nd April 1991).  He has said in the past, “The teaching on prosperity has gone too far.  It has become a business.  It is no longer ‘give so you will bless somebody.’  It has become ‘give to get.’  It has become selfish, worldly. . . I feel terrible that I once put too much emphasis on material prosperity and now I am saying, ‘Lord, please forgive me.’” (Charisma Magazine editor Stephen Strang). Well, now what?..

There was a time when Hinn could say such true statements as “what’s the message out there today? It’s a message of ego, pride, and selfishness.  If I hear prosperity one more time, I’m gonna throw-up.  True prosperity has nothing to do with money... There’s too much today being preached that’s not Gospel, and I was preaching it myself because I honestly believed that these men whom I respect must be hearing from God ... Many Christians will not endure to the end, ‘cause they are running after false teachers who are teaching what they want to hear, catering to man’s selfish desires...  Any preacher that doesn’t preach self-denial, the cross, the blood, is a false prophet.” (OCC, June 21, 1987) Hinn condemns himself by his own words as he changes his tune with the direction of the wind.

Yet Hinn has said, “In my case, I know I have lost complete desire for anything to do with the world.  My worldly desires are gone... I no longer have any rebellion in me” (The Anointing, p.177-8).  This is quite a statement for any honest believer.  Yet to say this is prideful is an understatement in the least, and in Hinn’s case cannot be found to be true.

Then on the other hand he will say, “The wicked are piling up the funds and I love the way John [Avanzini] teaches on this.  He’s the best there is on how to get the wealth of the wicked.  Man, I like it!” (Praise-a-Thon, TBN, Nov.  6, 1990).

He has also taught the people to “Say after me, all of you, everybody say it, ‘The wealth of the wicked is mine.’” [The audience repeats] “One more time!” [The audience repeats].  “One more time!” [The audience repeats it].  (TBN Praise-a Thon, April 1990)

At one service Hinn asked crusade attendees for $1,000 to help with costs.  The world famous boxer Evander Holyfield who was in the audience raised his hand.  Hinn reportedly asked him for $100,000 and the boxer agreed.  Hinn reportedly prayed that God would enable the boxer to earn $200 million because of his donation.  Holyfield liked Benny so much it is reported he traveled to several states with him and wrote him out a $265,000 check. (Holyfield attends Creflo Dollars church another health and wealth teacher who recently made the news when Holyfield donated over 6 million dollars under interesting circumstances of his wife and him being in the middle of a divorce).

However it’s not just on his teachings on prosperity that Hinn seems to be trapped in a revolving door.  In an interview with Pat Robertson on CBN (who warmly welcome him), Hinn stated he began to look into the faith message and said, “Frankly Pat, I began teaching things that really began to cause me problems such as the “we are little gods” doctrine.  He said the focus had been taken off of Jesus in his opinion.  “When truth is not kept in balance it can go way off and become error and that’s what happened here.” (From the video, The Many Faces of Binny Hinn by the Alnors).  Hinn says “it’s faith in faith rather then faith in God.  A lot of precious people have been misled by this.”  Hinn told Christianity Today that he drifted in the direction of the ‘faith camp’ from about 1980 to 1990 saying it was not really by choice, but more a matter of being influenced by his surroundings.   “I really no longer believe the faith message,” he said in the article.  “I don’t think it adds up.” (Christianity Today Oct.  28, 1991, p.  44).  Hinn also made a similar statement in an interview with James Robinson.

A feature article in the October ‘93 issue of Alpha Magazine (UK) on Benny Hinn quotes Hinn as saying, “I really no longer believe the [word of] faith message.  I don’t think it adds up.”  So he has made it clear that he no longer believes the Word of Faith message.  Right? Wrong!

Hinn has moments when he will say “Let me tell you something God has taken me by the neck…” (ed.  Comment: unfortunately God should have taken him by his mind because he did not think on it too long).  “Let me tell you honestly, I think I’m going to stop preaching healing and start preaching Jesus.”  A tall promise as he continues to preach healing instead of the gospel of salvation and admonishes his followers to sow (i.e.  donate) to his ministry if they want to reap untold blessings.  He seems to say all these former things to quiet his critics who always hope for the change that never seems to come.  I don’t think we will see any change on this in the future.  As of just this last year God “told him” to curse anyone who would dare speak against his anointing or ministry.

Hinn has said correctly, “Most of us don’t even know what ‘repentance’ means.  We think, ‘I’m sorry.  Forgive Me.  Amen - go mess up tomorrow.  That’s not repentance.  Repentance is a completely changed life.  It’s when you break because of sin and you say ‘never again.’  That’s repentance.” (OCC, June 21, 1987).  For true repentance we would expect to see a public recall and restitution for the books that were sold that taught these things he supposedly repented of and said are not true.  No such recall or reimbursement has taken place.   The Firestone tire disaster is nothing compared to the potential spiritual disaster of Hinn’s unbiblical counseling and teaching transmitted through his books. 

If one looks back on the last decade of Benny Hinn’s ministry one finds it saturated with reversals on key doctrinal stances.  Hinn at one point supposedly turns away from the Health and Wealth Gospel, but only a short while later he is again actively promoting  the Word/Faith prosperity message.  He has recently had many of the Word/Faith teachers on his program and donated money to their ministries. He is admired as “the Man” by those who desire or have a healing miracle crusade of their own.   Though he may be looked up to by all in the Charismatic camp as in a class of his own, Hinn seems to bend to peer pressure.  He still runs with the prosperity crowd. 

Recently, Hinn had those very same people whose theology supposedly caused problems for him being interviewed on his program, which gives his stamp of approval on their message that he supposedly no longer believes in.  Copeland still promotes this heresy, as does Rodney Brown of whom Hinn has said at one point that there is no such thing as “holy” laughter (though he practiced it himself and promoted Browne’s ministry).  Hinn seems to be suffering from a case of spiritual alzheimers and his fans are no better off since they don’t care to remember his doctrinal gymnastics either.

Hinn’s repeated denial of the Word/Faith movement’s Jesus and the prosperity message was mainly a reaction from a public outcry against his ministry that came from numerous counter-cult groups that publicly called it heretical and cultic.  Time will tell whether or not Benny means what he says.  As with politics, we need to watch what they do not just what they say.

Recently Hinn announced an unexpected move from his home base in Florida.  However, on closer observation, it seems the moving of his ministry from Orlando is more a result of running from controversy than a God-directed action as Hinn says.   Charisma magazine reported that “a ministry spokesman admits the popular healing evangelist is hoping to dodge some of the media scrutiny that has plagued him in central Florida.”

The scandals that have rocked his ministry include a large legal settlement, revelations of an employee with heroin abuse and a gag order imposed by the ministry on the former director of security who threatened to come out with sordid details of what goes inside.  Mario Licciardello found himself issued with a federal court gag order to keep from making known information about the financial practices of Hinn’s ministry.  The newspaper reported that,  “Licciardello is demanding money to keep him from revealing what he knows about allegations of theft and corruption at Hinn’s World Outreach Center.” According to the Orange County sheriff’s records, at the time of his death, Delgado was under suspicion for the heroin-related death of Sydney Williams.  Williams, who at one time took care of Hinn’s son, Joshua, and later drove a truck for the ministry, died on Nov. 15, 1997 at his Florida home after injecting himself with a massive dose of heroin.  Delgado was being investigated in the death because Williams appeared to have been drugged following a visit to Delgado’s home.  (Reported in the Personal Freedom Outreach Journal, www.pfo.org). 

Hinn has indeed left his Orlando church, turning it over to Clint Black, and moved to Dallas.  Charisma magazine (Aug.) reported that Browne is to assume the 5.7 million dollar debt of the WOC’s facilities. Browne was formerly associated with Parsley being his worship leader of World Harvest Church. another side note Charlie who had been the catcher for Hinn's ministry for years now catches for Parsley. It must be hard to get this kind of help. 

 Hinn planned to break ground in January 1 of 2000 for his new $30+ million Healing Center in Dallas, which would operate 24 hours a day with extravagant healing methods, of healing waters and statues.  Hinn had recently sent out a letter raising funds for The World Healing Center with the statement, “For I pray that every Partner would be able to visit one day.  I know you will be inspired by what you see.  In fact, in the Partner Center, you will be able to view every aspect of this ministry.”  You can be assured that the funds that are taken in and their financial statements will not be seen publicly.  Recently I heard the permit to build this healing center was denied. But never mind, God has spoken to Hinn once again and told him to move it somewhere else.  The convenience of God changing his mind is a trademark of Hinn’s prophesies and promises.  Both he and God seem to change their minds a lot.  

The start of construction was to begin in 2000.His ministry did not issue any public accounting of how much money was raised or how it was spent. Hinns  ministry did respond to questions submitted in writing by saying any money collected for the healing center had been handled properly.
We know now this never got built, instead a 3 million dollar mansion was built for Hinn to live in when he is home from his travelling. I guess this is what they meant, besides their building a world headquarters office in Grapevine.  

Hinn has said that people who go in for the prosperity gospel will not admit and fail to note that there are poor saints in the Scriptures. Some of those the bible speaks the most highly of in faith. But then he will say, “If you have big debt you sow big seed.   If I had to have a big financial miracle I would not give a dollar, I would give a big sacrificial seed believing God for the harvest.” $10,000, $15,000 or even a $100,000 is suggested.  It appears Hinn can always use more money since he continues to want to build such things as a theme park in the Dallas Fort Worth area that will cost $30 million.  I don’t think it was ever the will of the Lord to have certain individuals to build such huge religious “empires” or funnel such large amounts of money into their ministries.  It becomes too easy for much to be lost on the way and corrupt those involved.

A number of years ago Hinn says the Lord told him to get rid of his Rolex watch and sell his Mercedes.  All this happened after an exposé of his ministry’s finances on Prime Time.  Had he not been confronted with his extravagance by the media would he have “heard” from the Lord about this?  Hinn states after being exposed to some problems with handling his money and his extravagant lifestyle he decided to sell his Mercedes.  In response he “downsized” to a $56,000 BMW. 

In what seemed like a change of heart, Hinn had said afterwards “Preachers who live in big houses and drive big cars ought to examine their calling.”  But he still owns the same lavish home and continues to make anywhere from $500,000 to a million dollars a year. Again this is many times over the average pastors salary laboring with a congregation.

In a conversation with Paul Crouch on TBN Hinn tells this story.  [P.  Crouch] – “I used to drive Hondas in the early days of Trinity.   Did you know I got criticized by spiritual leaders and told I was cheapening the look of the gospel by driving a Honda? (laughter from audience and hosts).  [B Hinn] -  “I don’t know what I’m going to get yet, but I’m sure you’ll find out.  So my car is for sale.” (A promo for anyone who would like to drive the car that Benny owned).

Whichever so- called spiritual leaders gave this counsel to Crouch should be ashamed of themselves.  To the contrary, the gospel is not cheapened by moderation, otherwise the apostles who wrote the New Testament “cheapened” it far more than Crouch could ever do by driving that brand of car.  What of John the Baptist who dressed in camel’s hair, and what a diet!  Jesus said there was none greater man than he.  But John was not moving in the prosperity blessing.  Maybe he did not have enough faith.  After all, he did move into a dungeon instead of a mansion and lost his life because of his uncompromising preaching against Herod.  If he had instead kept quiet and  blessed Herod he certainly would have kept his life.

The Conclusion of the Matter

If you’re a partner of Hinn’s ministry you get special seating on the floor.  This is done so that an enthusiastic audience will be shown in the videos of the crusade.  Hinn ends up literally preaching to the choir - a captivated audience that loves HIM.  The partners are also able to get to the stage and tell about how they were healed.  Whether the healings are true or not does not, in the end, validate his ministry.  Some people have made an issue that doctors’ reports are necessary to validate Hinn’s ministry.  This is of little consequence when he operates from start to finish in an unbiblical manner.  He works up the crowd reading how they react.  If positive, he will go for it.  He is a true master of ceremonies.

Showboating abounds.  Just about literally anything and every thing that happens is paraded before the people as a “testimony.”  But if none of it can be verified then it can only be attested to by one’s feelings.  This is not how Jesus conducted his ministry.  He didn’t parade those He healed around, interviewing them and asking what they felt.  Neither did He appeal for money to continue His ministry so He could go hold another healing crusade in the next city

But it is not just Hinn who parades the unbelievable.  Many other tele-evangelists follow his model and make equally fantastic claims without providing a shred of evidence that their claims are true. But who really cares! This is not so for the Bible’s miracles.  Paul would never refuse a genuine inquiry.  In fact, he welcomed inquiries, in one instance they were called Bereans (Hey is that in the bible?).  When he spoke of the resurrection he invited people to verify his claims as he reminded his skeptics that many of the 500 witnesses were still alive so they didn’t have to take his word for it (1 Cor.15).

In Word/Faith circles certain buzzwords are consistently thrown out, such as the musician is “anointed”, the music is “anointed”, the giving is “anointed” and “the anointing” is coming  etc.  By the end, everything involved is anointed.  One can only wonder why the word “anointed” is used so often.  Did the apostles ever use this term when they spoke? Why not? Did Paul ever say or have another say his ministry or words were anointed to prove its authenticity?  The reason this is done is to convince people of something that is  apparently not.  If one is truly anointed you don’t have to continually keep reminding the people!  If they are spiritually astute they can pick this up.  Paul’s proof was the growth in the people who he discipled, not in numbers, the extensiveness of his travels or in the miracles done.

Isaiah testifies of the failure of miracles to persuade Israel to walk in faith.  Isaiah 64:3, 5: “When You did awesome things for which we did not look. . . You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved.”  False spirituality appeals to supernatural experiences, revelations, visions, and visitations.  If you can remember back when you were first saved, you were satisfied with what is written.  You didn’t long after an “experience”.  People can only come out of this experience trap by correct teaching from the word.  Many of the people that attend Hinn’s crusades need to go back to their first love to have their eyes opened.

One of the most important lessons for Christians to learn is of our past history, both the good and the bad.  We can look at the lives of the apostles whose accounts are in the Scriptures as well as those who came afterwards during times of revival to see what was effective and TRUTHFUL.  Fleshly techniques can bring about the desired “results,” but just because something “works” does not mean it has an eternal affect on one’s soul or spiritual life.  Many who come forward in miracle meetings fall away because they were not truly converted to Christ but to something that tantalized their fancy or gave them immediate relief from their suffering and trials.  In other words, they came to Him not on His terms but on man’s.  They saw what they thought was power or were promised the solution to a particular problem that was other than THE problem of sin. That is what the true gospel deals with, our sin forgiven and man’s fallen nature being changed.

This year on the TBN telethon, after Hinn stated that Jesus was going to physically appear at one of his crusades (which did not happen, surprised!), Hinn revealed his true colors and methodology.  “You have held back from the Lord in the past, don’t you dare do it now.  The day will come you will stand before Him and give an answer.  How dare we not give to God.  How dare we hold back.  Who do we think He is, some neighbor of ours?  He’s God almighty.  We fear the Lord God of Hosts.  He’s not some man, He’s God.  If Jesus tonight appeared on this platform here and looked through this camera and said to you ‘I need your offerings so I can touch the world,’ would you give to him?  Of course!  Well, I’ve got news for you, He’s saying it, He’s saying it, He’s saying it through his servants.  He’s saying it through his word.  He’s saying it!  The Bible clearly states ‘how shall they go unless they be sent?’ And God is speaking to you, so obey him.  SOME OF YOU NEED TO GIVE LARGE SUMS TONIGHT.  Don’t you give those small sums if you have the large sums.  Many of you have those small sums.  The best you can give is all God wants from you.  The best you can give is all He expects of ya.  But some of you watching right now have money in the bank.  You’re gonna leave it behind.  YOU MAY EVEN LOSE IT UNLESS YOU OBEY God tonight.  Give to God tonight!  God is speaking to you now!  Do you know by holding back from God you’re keeping God’s blessings from your family?  By holding back from the Lord you’re saying ‘no Lord, I don’t want your presence in my home.’  (Mar.29, 2000 TBN).  Does anyone see the manipulation of guilt and fear being used here?  This insinuates one must pay God for His presence when the Bible says,  “He will never leave nor forsake us”, and that he dwells in the believer always despite any prerequisite from Hinn.  Who does this man think he is? As if Christianity revolves around his ministry

Did Christ or any of his disciples ever ask for money before or after performing a miracle?  No!  In fact, Jesus commanded them to  speak and carry out the miracles freely. (Mt.  10:6)  “Freely you have received, freely now give.”  What we see today is nothing short than the prostitution of the gospel.  When Peter encountered the lame man of Acts 3, and healed him he had no money nor did he ask for any.  (Acts 3:6)

Hinn went on to say that one was being disobedient to God by not contributing financially to the coming harvest through TBN!  One must give to TBN in order to demonstrate their true obedience to God.  Hinn claimed that God was even healing many as they called in their contributions.  But he says this is not selling healing for money.  Instead, he claims it is God blessing those who are truly obedient and worthy to receive his anointing!  Hinn even claimed that God was saving people the pledgers knew as they were calling in their pledge to TBN. 

In response to a reporter from Christianity Today who was trying to hold him accountable, Hinn stated, “The Bible warns us clearly that we must not attack men of God no matter how sinful they may have become or wicked in our eyes.”  Really!  Is this why Nathan called out King David, or Jeremiah rebuked another prophet, or Elijah chastised King Ahab, or Paul rebuked Peter for compromising the gospel!  No, on this matter Hinn is very wrong. This is especially crucial or those who wield such power as Hinn to so many people.  Scripture warns, “Blessed are the wounds of a friend, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”  Where are Hinn’s friends?  Don’t they care. Do you?

There are two areas we need to be careful of lest we become part of this apostasy.  One is doctrinally which affects our practice, the other area is letting our love grow cold, especially to those who are partakers of any doctrinal aberrations.  We need to guard against being so haughty as to judge one in regards to their eternal destiny.  As Timothy was told, if one cleanses them self from the latter he will be used by the master.  We can hope and pray that God will REALLY get a hold of some of these people and wake them from their delusion and that they would become doctrinally pure in their teaching and practice to be effective for the Lord in the way He has taught in the Scriptures. That is our hope and I hope it is yours.