Benny Hinn: False profits
Watching the CBC show Witness the other night was an exercise in restraint, as several times throughout the broadcast I was tempted to smash through the television screen and lay my own hands on the televangelist Benny Hinn, who they happened to be profiling that night.
I watched in disgust as this man preyed upon the desperation of an immigrant family whose child was severely brain damaged and handicapped, confined to a wheelchair and not given much longer to live. Doctors had been unable to give the family any hope so in an act of desperation they had converted from Hinduism to Christianity and gotten drawn into the world of “charismatic evangelism”, specifically that of Dallas-based preacher Benny Hinn. Surely this “man of God” could help them.
Benny Hinn will stand on a stage, hair blow-dried into the typical evangelical bouffant, his white suit gleaming in the lights, and proclaim to have a direct connection to God Himself. He will whip the crowd into a religious fervor—an ecstasy—and then, when they are good and ready for it, will begin to bless and heal people through the power of God.
“It’s not me,” he says at one point. “It’s Jesus working through me.”
But before any of this can begin Benny Hinn urges his followers to give a tribute to God. Is this tribute to be in the form of worship or the acceptance of salvation? No, it is cold hard cash. The more money you give, the more powerful the miracle you will receive.
So it appears one has to bribe God into helping them, and the best way to do this is by helping Benny Hinn drive Rolls Royces, fly around in private jets, and pay the mortgage on his million dollar home(s). He lays hands on people as one by one they come up onto the stage to proclaim the miracle that has just happened to them. Crippled people walk. Deaf people hear. Blind people see. At least until the show is over and the fervor wears off, by which time Hinn and his crew are long gone, the donation checks safely on route to the bank and his gleaming white suit pressed and put away for the next show.
But unfortunately, as this particular family found out, terminally ill children will still die. Despite the “tributes” they had paid to God via Benny Hinn’s ministry their son passed away. So did they qualify for a refund? Hmmm, I wonder…
I think that there should be a law against the kind of religious chicanery that Hinn and others of his ilk work upon masses of hurting, desperate people. If your intention is to knowingly deceive people for financial gain then isn’t that the same as running a con? Isn’t this a crime? But it seems if it is done in the guise of a religion then you can get away with it.
And as family after family returns to their lives disheartened, emotionally devastated and financially strapped, Benny Hinn packs up his tent and goes laughing all the way to the bank and into the next town of people desperate for his brand of “miracles”.
As a postscript, here is a quote taken from the CBC website concerning a Witness follow-up:
“Several weeks after Benny Hinn’s Portland crusade, the filmmaker follows up to see what has become of the 76 miracles that were proclaimed onstage. He is given five names to contact. Amongst the five, there is no evidence any cures have taken place.”