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Showing posts with label miracles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miracles. Show all posts

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.