Self-professed faith healer, prophet and televangelist Benny Hinn has been in the spotlight for a good chunk of his professional life. He’s made extraordinary amounts of money, traveled the globe, bought mansions, and has lived the [really] good life. Along the way, Hinn has been enveloped by controversy; his prophesies have been way off the mark, including his 1989 prophesy that Fidel Castro wouldn’t outlast the 1990s; he was one of a group of televangelists whose financial shenanigans inspired an Senate investigation led by Charles Grassley (R-Iowa); and, he was later accused of being involved in a messy extramarital affair with Paula White -- another well-known televangelist, and Trump whisperer -- an accusation that threatened his worldwide ministry. Several years ago, Hinn renounced the dubiousness of the Prosperity Gospel, saying that the “Holy Ghost is just fed up with it.” Now, a desperate Hinn is re-boarding the Prosperity Gospel train.
What is the Prosperity Gospel? And who does is prosper?
In short, it is a pay to play scheme aimed at fleecing the flocks of its promoters. It is the predatory teaching that faith—expressed through positive thoughts, positive declarations, and especially through donations to the prosperity preacher—will bring health, wealth, and happiness into believers' lives.
It definitely generates wealth, but mostly to those preaching it!
In an interview with The Roys Report, Mike Winger a Calvary Chapel-trained pastor, discussed his 4-hour YouTube video about Hinn – that Hinn unsuccessfully petitioned YouTube to take down. Winger maintained that “Hinn is abusing biblical teaching in order to manipulate people to give money to his ministry, while making promises in the name of God that God doesn’t make” (https://julieroys.com/benny-hinn-requests-youtube-refuses-remove-documentary-exposing-alleged-deception/).
The Christian Post reported that Hinn’s supposed “rejection of the prosperity gospel in 2019 came just two months after his nephew, Costi Hinn, revealed in his book, God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel: How Truth Overwhelms a Life Built on Lies, how his family exploited millions around the world with the prosperity gospel and often traded so-called miracles for money” (https://www.christianpost.com/news/benny-hinn-says-worlds-darkest-days-ahead-donate-for-protection.html).
Hinn Re-boards Prosperity Gospel Train
In a live-stream YouTube video titled “Shameless Begging,” viewers were prompted to donate to his ministry. Going balls to the wall, Hinn pleaded: “Well, listen, I want you to give to the Lord’s work. I want you to sow seed in the Lord’s work. We’re facing days of such darkness and such danger unseen in the history of man.”
He continued, “Unseen since Adam, worse than anything that has happened in the past what’s coming on the way. And only those who’ve been faithful in giving to God’s work will be protected financially in those days.”
According to The Christian Post, Hinn urged his followers to “give today to this ministry” and told them, “God will bless you over and over and over.” He added, “So, you can give on the platform you’re watching me on, go to our website BennyHinn.org, or text” to donate.
UCA News pointed out that “The preachers associated with the movement — including Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and Creflo Dollar — have some of the largest congregations and best-selling books in the country, and they host television programs that seem to air at all hours of the night (and are some of the most-watched programming around the world),” (https://www.ucanews.com/news/how-prosperity-gospel-preachers-bend-the-bibles-words/70910#:~:text=John%2010%3A10%20%E2%80%94%20%E2%80%9CThe,to%20have%20every%20good%20thing).
Hinn, a major figure in the Prosperity Gospel ecosystem, apparently was taking a huge turn from a 2019 Facebook Live broadcast where he claimed: “I’m sorry to say that prosperity has gone a little crazy, and I’m correcting my own theology, and you need to all know it. Because when I read the Bible now, I don’t see the Bible in the same eyes I saw 20 years ago.”
Hinn said, “I think it’s an offense to the Lord; it’s an offense to say give $1,000. I think it’s an offense to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the gospel. I’m done with it. I will never again ask you to give $1,000 or whatever amount because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it.”
Well … apparently Hinn isn’t done with it, it being the pleading for financial support!
“I’m a human being. I’ve made mistakes. I remember Oral [Roberts] telling me he made mistakes by the truckloads. We all make mistakes. The two things I regret most in ministry, I was not too wise a number of times with prophecy…and then the other one is prosperity. And that’s been a very difficult one for me,” Hinn told Charisma News.
