Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. - Isaiah 5: 20 (NIV)
As the end times draw closer to the second coming of Christ we see the devil press his case to destroy the church; to make it impotent at the very time it is needed most desperately. We see the explosion of false prophets and dangerous heretics standing in pulpits across this country every Sunday. What is worse however is that Satan uses the elect to defend the indefensible. It is hard enough exposing what is false without having people who have credibility propping up those who do not. This movement I call Kumbya Christianity, where we are all supposedly brothers and sisters in the Lord, no matter how egregious our doctrine might be. Enter Benny Hinn; the poster child for everything false in Christianity.
As a matter of full disclosure, I never thought I would have to do a devotional on the falseness of Benny Hinn. I always thought it was so obvious that a blind person could see it. This is the man who on national television said he wished he had a "holy ghost machine gun" so he could kill John MacArthur. He was always what I considered "low lying fruit." The heretical teachings of Joseph Prince for example are much harder to spot and thus more insidious. Recently however Hinn has come up as a matter of discussion amongst some serious enough theologians that reviewing his case has become necessary. Please realize that I have never advocated for pouring over decades worth of preachings to find an "aha!" moment. We all say things sometimes we wished we had not. A false statement does not make a false teacher. An error does not make a false teacher. The fact that Joel Osteen might go out this Sunday and say that you can speak prosperity into existence in your life does not make him a false teacher. The fact that he unrepentingly says it week in and week out is what makes him a false teacher. The fact that Joseph Prince refuses correction on his hyper-grace message is what makes him a false teacher. As for Benny...let's go to the video tape.
False Prophecies - Benny Hinn prophesied once that Fidel Castro would die in the 1990's. Despite giving himself an absurd ten year window for the prophecy to come true, Castro remains alive today; 14 years after the decade Hinn prophesied he would pass away in. Likewise, Hinn also prophesied that God showed him that the homosexual community in America would be destroyed by God no later than 1995. We see how accurate that has turned out. Now many will look at these (and these are only two examples) and ask what the big deal is. Claiming to have heard from God is a very big deal. It is the calling card of many false prophets today. The Kansas City Prophets of IHOP and the New Apostolic Reformation all use divine revelation to trump Scripture. The beauty of claiming divine revelation is that you never have to prove it. The only true proof we can turn to is the accuracy of the prophecies claimed! That is why God set the bar so high:
Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the Lord . - Jeremiah 29: 8-9 (NIV)
The standard set is 100% accuracy as far back as Deuteronomy. Some of the KC Prophets are on record as saying that 65% accuracy is about as best that can be expected. Why? Is God wrong 35% of the time? Do you have any record of a true prophet of God in the Bible being inaccurate? No, there is none. If you claim to be speaking from God you better be right because He is always right. Thus Benny Hinn is proven to be a false prophet.
False Teachings - As bad as his prophecies have been, Hinn's teachings have been far worse. His doctrine is all over the place and wrong at nearly every turn. Realize this does not mean he is always wrong. This is a false argument used by many to prop up false teachers. Benny may completely understand salvation and still be wrong in many, many areas.
Area 1 - The Inane - I know of no other word to describe some of the absolutely silly things Benny Hinn has tried to teach. For example, Hinn is on record as saying that Adam had the ability to fly and could also fly into space! He has taught that Christians are "little messiahs." He has taught that each member of the trinity is a separate trinity unto themselves, thus there are actually nine members of the trinity!
Area 2 - The Demonic - Hinn is on record as saying that he visits the tomb of renowned false teacher Kathryn Kuhlman so that he could absorb some of the anointing God apparently has left on her corpse. What does the Bible say about necromancy again?
"Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. - Leviticus 19:31 (ESV)
To deflect criticism he was receiving he once warned his listeners to not "touch" anyone who was ever used by God because if you did, God would make you and your children pay for it.
Area 3 - The Money - Hinn always has been about the money. He has admitted so, preaching that he needs money here on earth, not in eternity. He has said such ridiculous things as "The sheep cannot get blessed until the shepherd is blessed" and "No evil will befall you if you sow into my ministry." He has taught that a financial miracle demands a financial act as a means to extort money from his listeners. I saw a clip once where he said God told him to pray for those willing to sow $500-$1000 and then made them march up and place the envelope in his hand. He said this was necessary because the "anointing" was on him and you didn't want to lose out on some of it rubbing off on you by placing your offering in the bucket. Beloved, you just cannot make this stuff up. Hinn actually proclaimed a curse against anyone who would speak against his ministry!
Beloved, this is just scraping the tip of the iceberg. This background took all of five minutes to verify. Nothing is taken out of context. Nothing is being misconstrued. I did not touch the issue of potential affairs. I did not get into details of his blatant heresy regarding seed sowing as a display of faith. I did not get into his associations with the most prominent false teachers of the past four decades. Lastly, I did not get into the years of false healing allegations, which are well documented. Despite all of this I recently have heard some defend Benny Hinn. Over forty years of horrifically bad doctrine, documented deception, and all that is wrong in Christianity today. Do not be fooled. The key verses are a warning for us today. Woe to him who calls evil good. Who pretends the darkness of Benny Hinn is light. Who pretends the bitterness of these facts are actually sweet. Woe to him.
Rev. Anthony.
