BENNY HINN: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

[Dave Hunt states, 'THE BEREAN CALL'; Bend, Or; Jan. 2001, Q&A section]:

'''Question: I read that in his recent meetings in the Philippines, Benny Hinn had crowds of one million per night, and similar crowds in Africa. He seems to be the most popular preacher in recent memory, even more so than Billy Graham. Some evangelical leaders accept and praise him. Jerry Falwell commends Hinn warmly. Yet you offer a book, The Confusing World of Benny Hinn, which... confuses the body of Christ by portraying Hinn as a false prophet. Why?

Answer: Isn't accurate information vital concerning someone as popular as Benny Hinn? The Confusing World of Benny Hinn documents many of Hinn's false prophecies, deceits, heresies, occult practices, etc. He supposedly repents, then goes back to the same thing and frequently changes his story.

He even changes his testimony: "I got saved in Israel in 1968" (PTL Family Devotional, Dec. 1981); "It was in Canada that I was born again right after '68" (1983 message in St. Louis); "I got saved in high school in February 1972... during my senior year" (Good Morning, Holy Spirit, 1990); "I never said I was a senior..." (Christianity Today, 10/5/92). Which, if any, is true?

In March 1995, in Springfield, MO, Hinn said, "...in South Africa I saw a man blow on somebody and the man fell, and I thought, 'Boy, that's a good idea! [That's why] I began to blow... in ignorance..." Yet in The Anointing (p. 89), Hinn had said, "Some have asked me what I'm trying to do when I throw or blow at them... God told me to do it..."

Hinn has had more revelations and seen more visions than anyone, including John in Revelation. He claims that angels appeared in his bedroom every night for a year. In the Bible, angels appeared infrequently and always for a reason. Angels just enjoy observing Benny? He has also seen God and Jesus, even smelled God. Following is a summary of some of the many false prophecies Hinn declared "directly from God" in Orlando on December 31, 1989:

"A great revival movement will be birthed in Orlando in mid-'90s to bring God back into American classrooms. The mid-'90s will see a new move of God to shake the world with the last great revival. Many will be raised from the dead. Angels will come knocking at your door. About '94-'95 God will destroy the homosexual community of America with fire. A new disease will arise from South America birthed from a new drug from South America and many will die. God will bring America to its knees by economic collapse. An earthquake will hit the east coast of America and destroy much in the '90s. Not one place will be safe in America from earthquakes in the '90s."

Not one of the December '89 "God given" prophecies came to pass! Shouldn't Hinn be disciplined as a false prophet by the church? Yet the more false prophecies he declares, the more heresies he proclaims, and the more bizarre the experiences he relates, the larger his following becomes. Even absurdities such as the following over TBN pass unnoticed: "...the Lord just told me, and I don't know if this is true or not."

Many leave Hinn's meetings not only spiritually seduced and with empty pockets, but worse off physically. A man Hinn had "slain in the Spirit" fell on a prostrate elderly woman and broke her hip, resulting in her death. The lawsuit was settled out of court. At a South Africa crusade a man collapsed; Hinn said the Lord told him the man would be okay, but he died in the ambulance.

An elderly Hinn follower was turned away from one entrance to ARCO Stadium in Sacramento, CA because she had not given enough money to enter there. Later, on the stage she was "slain in the Spirit" and while she was lying on the floor a huge man, likewise "slain," landed on top of her, breaking her leg. In 1993 in Basel, Switzerland, Hinn prophesied over a man with cancer that he had many years to live. He died two days later. In Nairobi, Keny early in May 2000, four patients released from a hospital to attend Hinn's "Miracle Crusade" died while waiting for prayer.

Hinn has rebuked "the spirit of cancer" and the "devil of death and of debt" so many times without any result that it would be laughable if so many weren't deceived.

Earlier this year 3,000 church leaders such as Jack Hayford, Rex Humbard, and Jerry Falwell honored Hinn for 25 years of ministry. Humbard lauded Hinn as "the most illuminating man... of detecting and feeling the moving of the Holy Spirit that I've seen in my 68 years of God's work [and] one of the greatest Bible teachers that God ever let live." On TBN this "greatest of Bible teachers" scorned doctrine as "sick stuff" and said, "I don't discuss doctrine." Crouch himself has referred to sound doctrine as "doctrinal doodoo."

Hinn prowls about on stage, growling as if demon-possessed, breathing out heavily, "If I don't release this power I'll explode!" In a guttural voice he curses those who dare to question him, curses those who dare to question him, curses their children and threatens that if he had a 'Holy Ghost machine gun" he'd "mow down" critics. He searches for a verse in the Bible that would allow him to kill them! "Fire!" he roars to knock people down. When one falls he demands, "Pick him up!" - then knocks him down again and again. This is the Holy Spirit?

Jerry Falwell appeared with the many false prophets at the 25th anniversary celebration of Hinn's ministry. He said,

"Pastor Benny and I are friends... He came [to Lynchburg] and we had a wonderful day together... in conversation about what God is doing... I wish you and Susan and our four children a blessed, blessed next 25 years... When I look at your crowds in those coliseums, all I see are those 18-year-old high school seniors and I want all of them at Liberty University...!"

How many more false prophecies and victims and how much more heresy will it take for Falwell, Hayford, et al. to stop encouraging and endorsing Hinn? And when will respected leaders be concerned enough to correct him and to warn the church?'''