Benny Hinn

Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (born 3 December 1952) is an Israeli-born American-Canadian televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades"—revival meeting or faith healing summits that are usually held in stadiums in major cities, which are later broadcast worldwide on his television program, This Is Your Day.[3]

Benny Hinn
Hinn in 2019
Personal
Born
Toufik Benedictus Hinn

(1952-12-03) 3 December 1952
Jaffa, Israel[1][2]
SpouseSuzanne Harthern (m. 4 August 1979, divorced 2010; remarried 3 March 2013)
Children4
OccupationTelevangelist, author, speaker
Websitewww.bennyhinn.org

Biography

Hinn was born in Jaffa, in 1952, in the then newly established state of Israel[1] to parents born in Palestine who had Greek, Palestinian and Armenian heritage.[4] He was raised within the Eastern Orthodox tradition and baptized by the patriarch of Jerusalem.[5]

Soon after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War ("The Six-Day War"), Hinn's family emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1968 where he attended Georges Vanier Secondary School.[6] He did not graduate. In his books, Hinn states that his father was the mayor of Jaffa at the time of his birth and that he was socially isolated as a child and had a stutter, but he was nonetheless a first-class student.[7]

In 1972, he became a born-again Christian.[8] Hinn has written that on 21 December 1973, he traveled by charter bus from Toronto to Pittsburgh to attend a "miracle service" conducted by evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman.[9] Although he never met her personally, he often attended her "healing services" and has often cited her as an influence in his life.[7] In 1974 he was invited to speak about his spiritual experience at Trinity Pentecostal Church in Oshawa and claimed to have been cured of his stuttering.[10]

Ministry

On moving to the United States, Hinn traveled to Orlando, Florida, where he founded the Orlando Christian Center in 1983.[11] Eventually, he began claiming that God was using him as a conduit for healings, and began holding healing services in his church. These new "Miracle Crusades" were soon held at large stadiums and auditoriums across the United States and the world, the first nationally televised service being held in Flint, Michigan, in 1989. In 1990, he also launched a new daily talk show called This Is Your Day, which to this day airs clips of supposed miracles from Hinn's Miracle Crusades.[12] The program premiered on the Trinity Broadcasting Network of Paul Crouch, who would become one of Hinn's most outspoken defenders and allies. Hinn's ministry began to rapidly grow from there, winning praise as well as criticism from fellow Christian leaders. In 1999, he stepped down as pastor of the Orlando Christian Center, moving his ministry's administrative headquarters to Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, while hosting This Is Your Day from a television studio in Orange County, California, where he now lives with his family. His former church was renamed Faith World Church under the leadership of Clint Brown, who merged his Orlando church with Hinn's.

Benny Hinn is the author of a number of Christian books. His thirty-minute TV program This Is Your Day is among the world's most-watched Christian programs, seen on various Christian television networks, including Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar Television Network, Revelation TV, Grace TV, Vision TV, INSP Networks, and The God Channel.[13]

Hinn conducts regular "Miracle Crusades"—revival meeting / faith healing events held in sports stadiums in major cities throughout the world. Tens of millions attend his Holy Spirit Miracle Crusades each year.[13] Hinn claims to have spoken to one billion people through his crusades, including memorable crusades with attendance of 7.3 million people (in three services) in India, the largest healing service in recorded history.[14][15][16] Evander Holyfield, who was diagnosed with a non-compliant left ventricle, has credited his healing to Benny Hinn, stating that through God working through Hinn, he was healed as he had "a warm feeling" go through his chest as Hinn touched him.[17][18]

Beliefs

Hinn's teachings are charismatic, accepting the validity of spiritual gifts, and Word of Faith in origin, with a focus on financial prosperity. Some doctrine and practices that Hinn teaches are rejected in mainstream Christianity.[19]

Missions

Benny Hinn Ministries claims to support 60 mission organizations across the world and several orphanages around the world, and claims to house and feed over 100,000 children a year and support 45,000 children daily because of his donors.[20][21]

Benny Hinn Ministries donated $100,000 for relief supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005, and $250,000 to the tsunami relief effort in 2007.[22]

Criticism and controversy

Some media have questioned the fact that Hinn has a stutter.[23]

In March 1993 Inside Edition reported on Hinn's $685,000 Orlando home and Mercedes-Benz, despite Hinn having previously claimed a "modest lifestyle". An employee of Inside Edition also faked a healing from cerebral palsy which was shown on Hinn's regular broadcast.[24]

A controversial aspect of Hinn's ministry is his teaching on, and demonstration of, a phenomenon he dubs "The Anointing"—the power purportedly given by God and transmitted through Hinn to carry out supernatural acts. At his Miracle Crusades, he has allegedly healed attendees of blindness, deafness, cancer, AIDS,[25] and severe physical injuries. However, investigative reports by the Los Angeles Times, NBC's Dateline, the CBC's The Fifth Estate, and the Nine Network's 60 Minutes have called these claims into question.[26]

Hinn has also caused controversy for theological remarks and claims he has made during TV appearances. In 1999, Hinn appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, claiming that God had given him a vision predicting the resurrection of thousands of dead people after watching the network—laying out a scenario of people placing their dead loved ones' hands on TV screens tuned into the station—and suggesting that TBN would be "an extension of Heaven to Earth."[27][28][29]

A Question of Miracles

In April 2001, HBO aired a documentary entitled A Question of Miracles that focused on Hinn and a well-documented fellow Word-of-Faith German minister based in Africa, Reinhard Bonnke.[30] Both Hinn and Bonnke offered full access to their events to the documentary crew, and the documentary team followed seven cases of "miracle healings" from Hinn's crusade over the next year. The film's director, Antony Thomas, told CNN's Kyra Phillips that they did not find any cases where people were actually healed by Hinn.[31] Thomas said in a New York Times interview that "If I had seen miracles [from Hinn's ministry], I would have been happy to trumpet it... but in retrospect, I think they do more damage to Christianity than the most committed atheist."[32]

"Do You Believe in Miracles"

In November 2004, the CBC Television show The Fifth Estate did a special titled "Do You Believe in Miracles" on the apparent transgressions committed by Benny Hinn's ministry.[1]

With the aid of hidden cameras and crusade witnesses, the producers of the show demonstrated Hinn's apparent misappropriation of funds, his fabrication of the truth, and the way in which his staff chose crusade audience members to come on stage to proclaim their miracle healings.[1] In particular, the investigation highlighted the fact that the most desperate miracle seekers who attend a Hinn crusade—the quadriplegics, the brain-damaged, virtually anyone with a visibly obvious physical condition—are never allowed up on stage; those who attempt to get in the line of possible healings are intercepted and directed to return to their seats.

At one Canadian service, hidden cameras showed a mother who was carrying her muscular dystrophy-afflicted daughter, Grace, being stopped by two screeners when they attempted to get into the line for a possible blessing from Hinn. The screeners asked the mother if Grace had been healed, and when the mother replied in the negative, they were told to return to their seats; the pair got out of line, but Grace, wanting "Pastor Benny to pray for [her]," asked her mother to support her as she tried to walk as a show of "her faith in action," according to the mother. After several unsuccessful attempts at walking, the pair left the arena in tears, both mother and daughter visibly upset at being turned aside and crying as they explained to the undercover reporters that all Grace had wanted was for Hinn to pray for her, but the staffers rushed them out of the line when they found out Grace had not been healed.[1] A week later at a service in Toronto, Baptist evangelist Justin Peters, who wrote his Masters in Divinity thesis on Benny Hinn[33] and has attended numerous Hinn crusades since 2000 as part of his research for his thesis and for a seminar he developed about the Word of Faith movement entitled A Call for Discernment,[34] also demonstrated to the hidden cameras that "people who look like me"—Peters has cerebral palsy, walks with arm-crutches, and is obviously and visibly disabled—"are never allowed on stage [...] it's always somebody who has some disability or disease that cannot be readily seen." Like Grace and her mother, Peters was quickly intercepted as he came out of the wheelchair section (there is one at every crusade, situated at the back of the audience, far away from the stage, and never filmed for Hinn's TV show) in an attempt to join the line of those waiting to go onstage, and was told to take a seat.[1]

Ministry Watch issues "Donor Alert"

In March 2005, Ministry Watch issued a Donor Alert against the ministry citing a lack of financial transparency among other possible problems.[35] Benny Hinn Ministries is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.[36]

Senate investigation
Critics accuse Hinn of using the ministry's Gulfstream G4SP jet for personal vacations funded by tax-free donations.[37][38]
Main article: United States Senate inquiry into the tax-exempt status of religious organizations

In 2007, United States Senator Chuck Grassley announced an investigation of Hinn's ministry by the United States Senate Committee on Finance. In a letter to BHM,[39] Grassley asked for the ministry to divulge financial information[40] to the Senate Committee on Finance to determine if Hinn made any personal profit from financial donations, and requested that Hinn's ministry make the information available. The investigation also scrutinized five other televangelists: Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar.[41][42] In December 2007, Hinn said he would not respond to the inquiry until 2008.[43] The ministry subsequently responded to the inquiry, and Grassley said that "...Benny Hinn [has] engaged in open and honest dialogue with committee staff. They have not only provided responses to every question but, in the spirit of true cooperation, also have provided information over and above what was requested."[44]

The investigation concluded in 2011 with no penalties or findings of wrongdoing. The final report raised questions about personal use of church-owned luxury goods and a lack of financial oversight on the ministries' boards, which are often populated with family and friends of the televangelist. Hinn's group reported to the committee that it complied with tax regulations and had made changes in compensation and governance procedures.[45][46]

Prosperity theology

In 2017, pastor Costi Hinn, a nephew of Benny Hinn, came forward with a testimony of his time spent in Benny Hinn's ministry, and what made him leave.[47][48][49] In the testimony, Costi Hinn described the expensive cars and lavish houses that he and his family members owned, and the luxury that surrounded their travel. Costi Hinn criticized the prosperity gospel and teachings of his uncle, writing among other things that healings only seemed to work in the "crusades", where music created an atmosphere, and that many of their prophecies contradicted the Bible.[47] He has since written a book titled God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel on the topic.[50] In the book, Costi Hinn calls the prosperity gospel "damning and abusive", exploitative of the poor and vulnerable, and "arguably the most hateful and abusive kind of false teaching plaguing the church today".[51]

In September 2019, he said that Benny Hinn no longer believed in prosperity theology, and decided to stop teaching it.[52]

Personal life

Hinn married Suzanne Harthern on 4 August 1979.[53] The couple have four children.[54] Suzanne filed divorce papers in California's Orange County Superior Court on 1 February 2010, citing "irreconcilable differences."[55][56]

In July 2010, Hinn and fellow televangelist Paula White were photographed leaving a hotel in Rome holding hands.[57] Both Hinn and White denied allegations in the National Enquirer that the two were engaged in an affair.[58] Hinn was sued in February 2011 by the Christian publishing house Strang Communications, which claimed that a relationship with White did occur and that Hinn had violated the morality clause of his contract with the company.[59]

In May 2012, Hinn announced that he and Suzanne had begun reconciliation during the Christmas season of 2011,[60] stating that the split had been caused by her addiction to prescription drugs and antidepressants and citing his busy schedule and lack of time for his wife and children.[61] Benny and Suzanne remarried on 3 March 2013, at the Holy Land Experience theme park, in a traditional ceremony lasting over two hours and attended by approximately 1,000 well-wishers, including many visiting Christian leaders. Jack Hayford referred to the remarriage as "a miracle of God's grace".[62]

Published works
  • Benny Hinn (1999). Kathryn Kuhlman: Her Spiritual Legacy and Its Impact on My Life. W Pub Group. ISBN 0-7852-7888-5.
  • Benny Hinn (1997). Good Morning, Holy Spirit. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7176-7.
  • Benny Hinn (April 2000). He Touched Me an Autobiography. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7887-7.
  • Benny Hinn (1997). The Anointing. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7168-6.
  • Benny Hinn (1997). Welcome, Holy Spirit How You Can Experience The Dynamic Work of the Holy Spirit in Your Life. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7169-4.
  • Benny Hinn (1996). This Is Your Day for a Miracle. Orlando, FL: Creation House. ISBN 0-88419-391-8.
  • Benny Hinn (October 1996). The Biblical Road to Blessing. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 0-7852-7517-7.
  • Benny Hinn (1998). Miracle of Healing. Nashville, Tenn: J. Countryman. ISBN 0-8499-5399-5.
  • Benny Hinn (2001). The Blood. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House. ISBN 0-88419-763-8.
  • Benny Hinn (2002). Going Deeper with the Holy Spirit. Benny Hinn Ministries. ISBN 1-59024-039-1.
  • Benny Hinn (1993). Lord, I Need a Miracle. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 0-8407-6251-8.
  • Benny Hinn (6 July 2005). Total Recovery, Supernatural Restoration and Release. Dallas, Texas: Clarion Call Marketing, Inc. ISBN 1-59574-038-4.

See also

References
  1. McKeown, Bob (December 2004). "Do You Believe in Miracles?". The Fifth Estate. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  2. "About us". Benny Hinn Ministries. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  3. "Benny Hinn gives aid for tsunami victims". Hindustan Times. 3 January 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  4. He Touched Me: An Autobiography, Benny Hinn, "Immediately following World War I, my dad's great-grandfather and his family – the Costandis – emigrated from their native Greece to Alexandria, Egypt... Later one of the Hinn sons (my grandfather) moved from Egypt to Palestine and settled in the thriving Arab community of Jaffa... Although my mother was born in Palestine, her mother's family emigrated from the impoverished southern European nation of Armenia to Beirut, Lebanon, many years earlier. Her father, Salem Salameh, was a Palestinian."
  5. Nickell, Joe. "Benny Hinn: Healer or Hypnotist?" Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Volume 26.3, May / June 2002. Skeptical Inquirer
  6. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 336
  7. Benny Hinn, Good Morning, Holy Spirit, chapter 2
  8. J Gordon Melton, The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, USA, 2007, p. 148
  9. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 336
  10. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 336
  11. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 1091
  12. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 1091
  13. David G. Bromley; Leah M. Hott (3 June 2013). "Benny Hinn Ministries". World Religions & Spirituality Project VCU. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  14. "About Us". Benny Hinn Ministries. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  15. "Benny Hinn winds up India trip". Rediff. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  16. "Pastor Benny Hinn". Streaming Faith. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  17. Jet (Jul 4, 1994). Jet. 4 July 1994. Retrieved 8 February 2012. Holyfield, 31, has a non-compliant left ventricle, or "stiff heart," which prevents sufficient oxygen from being pumped to muscles and tissues. The problem was discovered after his 22 April title-fight loss to Michael Moorer. Holyfield claims he was cured by faith healer Benny Hinn during a Christian revival in Philadelphia. "My heart is better," he said. During the revival Holyfield dropped to the stage three times and said he had "a warm feeling" go through his chest as Hinn touched him during the healing session.
  18. Evander Holyfield, Lee Gruenfeld (19 February 2008). Becoming Holyfield: a fighter's journey. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781416564386. Retrieved 8 February 2012. So did Benny Hinn heal me? Was it a miracle? No, Hinn didn't heal me. God healed me, working through Hinn.
  19. John MacArthur Charismatic Chaos (GrandRapids: Zondervan, 1993) 334
  20. Benny Hinn – Orphanages and Missions (1) on YouTube.
  21. Benny Hinn – Orphanages and Missions (2) on YouTube.
  22. "Benny Hinn gives aid for tsunami victims". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
  23. Bloom, John (August 2003). "The Heretic". D Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 December 2003. Retrieved 3 September 2016.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  24. "Preacher Changes His Ways". The Tampa Tribune. Ancestry.com#Newspapers.com. 2 October 1993.
  25. Let Us Reason Ministries. "Benny Hinn – Truth or Consequences? (Part 3)". Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  26. Bloom, John (August 2003). "The Heretic". The D Magazine. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  27. "Benny Hinn's False Prophecies". equip.org. 12 June 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  28. "The Dead Resurrected By TVs Tuned To TBN!". biblelight.net. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  29. Gross, Joel (27 January 2013). "Benny Hinn – Scandal, Fake, Scam Artist & Fraud". joelx.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  30. A Question of Miracles at IMDb
  31. Do Miracles Actually Occur?, CNN.com transcripts. 2001-04-15
  32. Finn, Robin. COVER STORY; Want Pathos, Pain and Courage? Get Real, The New York Times, 2001-04-15
  33. Peters, Justin. "Benny Hinn and Healing" (PDF). CBC News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  34. Peters, Justin. "Seminar overview for A Call for Discernment". Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  35. MinistryWatch.com Recommends that Donors Withhold Giving to Benny Hinn Ministries Archived 22 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry Watch, May 2005
  36. "Benny Hinn : Apologetics research resources". January 2017.
  37. "Ministry solicits to pay for jet". 16 December 2006.
  38. Video on YouTube
  39. "Read Grassley's Letters" (PDF). npr.org. 4 December 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  40. "Senator Probes Megachurches' Finances by Kathy Lohr". npr.org. 4 December 2007.
  41. "Televangelists Living Like Kings?". CBS News. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  42. Lohr, Kathy (4 December 2007). "Senator Probes Megachurches' Finances". National Public Radio. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  43. "Hinn joins Dollar in refusing to answer questions in Senate investigation". Tulsa World. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  44. "Grassley Update on Ministry Responses, Background Questions and Answers" (Press release). Senator Chuck Grassley. 7 July 2008. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  45. Rachel Zoll (7 January 2011). "Televangelists escape penalty in Senate inquiry". NBC News. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  46. "Probe of Televangelists Finds 'No Wrongdoing'". Christian Broadcasting Network. 7 January 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  47. Hinn, Costi (20 September 2017). "Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn't for Me". Christianity Today. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  48. "The Ugly Truth About the Prosperity Gospel". YouTube.
  49. Costi Hinn (26 October 2017). Televangelist's nephew criticizes uncle. CNN. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  50. "God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel". Zondervan. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  51. "Costi Hinn Exposes the Most Abusive Kind of False Teaching Today". The Gospel Coalition. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  52. Daniel Silliman, Benny Hinn Renounces His Selling of God’s Blessings. Critics Want More., christianitytoday.com, USA, 7 September 2019
  53. "Finding His Life Partner, Suzanne Hinn", BennyHinnBiography.com Archived 6 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 18 February 2010
  54. Robert J. Lopez (18 February 2010). "Wife of televangelist Benny Hinn files for divorce". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  55. Benny Hinn Divorce: Wife Suzanne Hinn Files For Divorce From Televangelist
  56. "Hinn Breaks Silence on Divorce Announcement - US - CBN News - Christian News 24-7 - CBN.com".
  57. Gaines, Adrienne S. "Benny Hinn Admits 'Friendship' With Paula White But Tells TV Audience It's Over". Charisma Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 November 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  58. Evangelists Hinn, White Deny Affair Allegations, Christian Broadcasting Network, 26 July 2010
  59. Benny Hinn Sued by Strang Co. Archived 24 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Christianity Today, 21 February 2011
  60. "Benny Hinn Announces Reconciliation With Former Wife". The Christian Post. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  61. "Benny Hinn Says Wife's Drug Problems Led to Divorce, Praises God's Reconciling Power". The Christian Post. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  62. Kunerth, Jeff (4 April 2013). "Televangelist Benny Hinn remarries ex-wife at Holy Land Experience". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
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