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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Benny Hinn: Used Religion Salesman

I recently watched a video expose of the superevangelist Benny Hinn, whose tax-free enterprise rakes in some $250 million a year. It is apparent that Hinn is a showman, but he is also quite evidently a conman who is dishonest in his presentation of the "miracles" that fuel his enormous organization.

If the fruits of the labors of telephone psychics are taxable, it makes NO sense to allow the circus run by Benny Hinn to exist tax-free. In fact, it makes little sense not to tax religious organizations, other than because of their charitable occupations. Does God really need the tax break? Why does the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God need money in the first place to spread His Word and Gospel? Hinn, it should be noted, is evidently very stingy with his hundreds of millions when it comes to charitable activity.

Oddly enough, I like Hinn's show, as much as I liked Steve Martin's "Leap of Faith" movie about a conman who fakes miracles in order to make a living. Obviously, in the name of honesty and ETHICS, Hinn's gig should be presented as a SHOW, not reality, because THE FACT IS THAT BENNY HINN IS HURTING PEOPLE with his bogus antics. The offenses that Hinn commits would be VERY scandalous if a medical doctor engaged in them. But, because Hinn invokes God and rants on about the Lord and Savior, etc., ad nauseam, he gets away with such atrocious behavior. Perhaps all conmen and criminals should invoke God - they could then get away with it too! Hinn has obviously gotten help from powerful people as well, so it seems clear that the powermongers gleefully encourage this type of fleecing of the sheeple.

While watching this Benny Hinn expose, I was struck by a few other things. At one point while "healing" someone, Hinn shouts out, "Cancer cannot stand in the presence of the Holy Ghost." So, why does cancer exist in the first place? Is the Holy Spirit not omnipresent? Where is the Holy Spirit not? Does the Devil cause cancer? Maybe the Devil is the cancer? So the Holy Spirit cannot go where the Devil is - until Benny Hinn steps in? Benny Hinn is necessary before the Holy Spirit can work? Or is willing to work? Is the Holy Spirit impotent without Benny Hinn? If not, why can't anyone anywhere access the Holy Spirit to heal themselves? Why are people diseased in the first place, if the Holy Spirit can heal everything? Why isn't the healing Holy Spirit already present to prevent disease?

After Hinn's quarter-of-a-billion-dollar yearly income was revealed, and his lavish lifestyle exposed, one of his naive supporters stated, "It costs money to travel, to bring the gospel of Christ around the world." Again, why would it cost money for human beings to spread the Word of God? Isn't God omnipotent? Can't God spread His Word without making poor people give up all their money? It is astounding that everyone is so eager to give up their money to the most powerful force in the universe, who, if real, surely would not need money.

Wow! What a racket!

At one point Hinn acted out a "miracle" of curing a blind boy, during which the boy was pronounced "healed" and promised a trust fund to take care of him through college. When confronted with the fact that none of this occurred and that the boy was not healed at all, in his reply Hinn referred to his non-medical advisors who tell him someone is "cured":

"When he comes up on the platform, I'm only able to know what happens because they tell me so."

So what happened to the Lord, who was supposedly speaking to Hinn the whole time? How come Hinn has to rely on his staff with no medical credentials?

It is so obvious that Benny Hinn is not speaking to or for "the Lord" and that he is not doing miraculous healings. It is a shame that Hinn is scamming not only himself but so many others. But, alas, it is not unexpected, as such scams and schemes have been going on for millennia with too many used-religion salesmen to count.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with you. I've always thought that tax-exempt status of churches is NOTHING MORE than a sand line between church and state. Giving churches tax exempt status loses the state billions of dollars a year that could be well spent on helping feed the poor, stopping world poverty, etc.

Anonymous said...

ACHARYA ....
YOU HAVE TO READ FOMENKO'S , HISTORY : FICTION OR SCIENCE.... ( free on line )
- forget everything you knew about history
- all ancient history was manufactured
- carbon dating method ... a hoax !
- history repeats itself ...literally ...because was written ( copied ) so, not because the events really took place
- chronology of ' antiquity ' totally off
- ancient history erased from global memory ...
- who's behind the hoax?

AND EDWARD BERNAYS ... PROPAGANDA...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
video documentary
http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=safari&rls=en&q=EDWARD%20BERNAYS&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv

Acharya S said...

Actually, no, I do not "have" to read Fomenko or anyone else. As I'm sure most people will agree, Fomenko sounds like a complete and raging lunatic. Perhaps he is right on some points, but it will be difficult to believe his overall thesis, and I'm frankly surprised that he has gotten any currency at all.

But, such is life. I've been called a loonie more than a few times myself.

Mike said...

There's one born every minute, isn't there? Send the helmet-haired prick to any hospital if he can really heal the sick! Stop wasting stupid peoples money!

Amos Keppler said...

It's amazing that the disciples of the christian tax excemption (and other bad stories) don't get it, but they don't. Insanity is the norm.

Anonymous said...

Well Acharya, it looks like Dr. Gene Scott called it correctly about Hinn several years ago, but then he nailed the 2 Jimmies way before that whole fiasco broke, plus Jerry the Fat (Falwell), Pat Robinson, and TBN. He also exposed all of the other members of the NRB - National Religious Broadcasters, which he often stated stood for Not Real Bright. Doc himself was a bit eccentric, but he was the only honest and well educated theologian that I have known. He supported several charitable organizations and his University Network did not have a status as a charitable trust and paid taxes on every dime that was brought in. If nothing else, he was honestly commited to the words that he taught, unlike the majority of both religious, athiest, agnostic, and every other person espoused to some belief system. So I'm curious, what's your take on the late Dr. Gene Scott?

Acharya S said...

I watched Gene Scott for a while in the 80s - when I briefly became born again! - and now and again after that. While he may have been honest about these other characters, he himself owned race horses and became a millionaire from his preaching. His videos often showed half-naked girls riding bicycles near his homestead. It would seem to me that he was not much more ethical than Benny Hinn - just didn't make as much, probably.

I admit to being confounded by someone as intelligent as Scott adhering to the biblical nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Fomenko....
Of course you don't have to read his book...
It's my english....
I see Fomenko's theories hard to believe for some just as your theories are hard to be accepted by the cristalized minds and beliefs of the people that had opposed your beliefs.
For them it doesn't matter ...
But once in a while , when someone uncover some truth, people , being in a stage of deep " trance " will continue to stay so. It is easier to be a sleep , than to work hard to try to find some truth.
It is easier to record someone's belief bestowed upon you than trying to create your own personal belief .
One doesn't need to stand on the shoulders of Giants. to be a Giant.
When a radical ideea comes across , who will believe it?
Few...

The sufis have a saying:

Forget everything you thought you knew
Forget everything you have been thought

Imagine no history too

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Anonymous said...

Ah Acharya, it seems that you bit into the same phony judeo-christian morality that Doc was constantly giving the American Eagle to. Doc's show horses did not make him rich, the net take from each show was dedicated to the support of orphanages all over the world. He often stated that you see so many horses asses on the TV in the members of the NRB & talking heads of the media, that he thought people ought to see the whole horse. The same with all of the Playboy bunnies that he had on the screen, like his cigar were just a statement to try to shake people out of their bullshit ideas that they have been brow-beaten into them by ignorant & mindless TV evangelists and preachers, who were in the same class as carnival hucksters.

There was an instance when Benny Hinn had wanted Doc to pray for his father-in-law, who had a fatal cancer. Doc flew to visit the man, because he knew him from several years earlier and while there he explained the meaning of some of the original Hebrew text. A couple of weeks later it was reported that on Benny Hinn's broadcast, he reported that God told him the following and then relayed word for word the teaching that Doc gave him. Doc mentioned it during a Sunday service and laughed saying that he didn't know that he had been elevated to such a high position and inferred again to the phony nature of Hinn. However, behind the scenes his legal staff put a stop to that, because Hinn was stealing Doc's research and claiming at his own. It seems that Doc had several of those self righteous bastards plagiarizing his research.

Doc was getting into a lot of research that was really starting to shake some things up. Too bad of his untimely passing as I would have loved to see him complete that research. I would have loved to see where he was going and what he would have done with relatively recent discoveries. I would love to make it to the World University Cathedral one day just to check out the bible collection as I think that it would be interesting to see the ancient manuscripts that Doc had managed to acquire. Have you ever seen the manuscripts?

Acharya S said...

It's nice that you are such a big fan of Gene Scott. I can assure you that I do not "bite into" any "phony judeo-christian morality."

I remain surprised that someone with "Doc's" intelligence could be a convinced Christian.

Steven Bently said...

I think that Dr. Gene proved himself to be a raving lunatic. I did not know he was dead, but I am not disappointed to hear so, I'm glad he's finnaly muffled, too bad more religious fanatics haven't left here.

Amos Keppler said...

Their number is Legion. There is always another to take the place of a departed christian soul, I'm afraid.

Arosh said...

I'm a christian and love to watch Pastor benny's teaching. He is a True God servent. He goes to the world to tell that JESUS is the one and only son of GOD AND through him only you go in to the Father's Kindom. You guy's are wrong and will get to know who Benny is if you get saved. Till then you guy's know nothing about God's Economy. Be bless and have a great day

Jimmy777777 said...

As a theologian with a Ph.D. it first offends then saddens to read the uneducated, faithless positions posited by folks to are unenlightened. They reject Hinn and in doing so, reject the message of fides or faith that brings conversion and salvation. If you don't care for Benny, then read the Bible commencing with John in the New Testament and find the power you need to get your spirit back in God's pleasing favor through the exercising of faith in His son Jesus and his death which cleanses and his resurrection which guarantees eternal life in God's presence. Then you will be saved from Adam's rebellious error and find some clear understanding of what Hinn is trying to convey.