Benny Hinn

[cfcoelho]

Lakhs expected at Benny Hinn meeting

   By: A Mid Day Correspondent
   February 3, 2004

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Lakhs of Christians are expected to attend the prayer meetings of controversial American preacher Benny Hinn’s ‘Festival of Blessings’ at the MMRDA grounds, Bandra-Kurla Complex next week. The motto of the meetings is “Pray for India”.

Preparations are on for what could be the biggest ever gathering of Christians in the city, with the organisers expecting a million people each evening between February 13 and 15.  

The event has 15,000 volunteers. The 1,200,000 square meter MMRDA grounds will be carpeted and 28 giant screens put up at the venue. 1,28,000 seats are reserved for VIPs and an enclosure provided for 17,000 sick and handicapped people. Bus services to the venue will be available from Bandra, Sion, Kurla and Santacruz railways stations.

Organisers say the meeting could easily be the biggest Hinn has addressed so far. “He has a large television audience. Abroad, he has held meeting in stadiums. But with space for a million people, this could be his largest meeting,” said Vijay Lazarus, one of the organisers.

However, the Catholic Church in Mumbai has warned its members against attending the meeting. The church says Hinn’s teachings and claims of miracles do not reflect Catholic beliefs. The church accuses him of taking away people from the churches to his own ‘Benny Hinn Ministries.’

Father Pravin Fernandes, spokesperson for the archbishop of Bombay, said, “Though the church has officially discouraged its members from attending, my guess is that many Catholics will go for the prayers anyway.”

Cyril Dara, an Agripada resident, said he had no plans to attend the gathering. “Hinn is a strong preacher. But he is diverting people from the church ministries,” he said.  

But Gul Kripalani, one of the main organisers of the meeting, said it was not their intention to bring disunity in the church. “Disunity has been brought by the walls of the churches and religions,” he said.

 
Why is Benny Hinn surrounded by controversy?

* Hinn claims God appeared to him in Israel when he was 11

* Claims to have supernatural powers, says he has spoken to God

* Once said that Jesus was about to make a physical appearance at one of his prayer meetings

* Claims to have visions of the angels

* Claims he made contact with the dead

* Says God healed him of a stuttering problem so   that he could become a preacher
 
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[Melody]

Dear Colin,

I am 100% Catholic in every way. I try as hard as possible to follow Catholic Doctrine in every way possible.

I do however have lots of issues with the way the priests in the Church of Mumbai deals with things. [Let me repeat, Catholic Doctrine - 100% perfect, dealings by certain priests - I'm not so sure].

For example [& Ayodhya, pls. don't quote me on this! ] there are so many priests who are not really feeding the Catholic flock. Then they complain when the flock strays into Protestant territory where they are being fed [whether with Milk or Meat is another question, but even Milk is better than nothing]. Whose fault is it, the priests for not doing their duty or the parishioners for not knowing enough of their faith to be well rooted? I think it's a vicious circle. Many protestant groups thrive on getting Catholics into their fold and play what is called the 'number game'. Why they don't concentrate in evangelizing non-Christians is quite simply put, sad.

Now, to your question. Here's how I see things. People in the Church of Mumbai must be quite threatened by Pastor Benny Hinn's impending outreach, esp. given the large number of people who've already left the church. So what do they do? Instead of explaining and teaching their parishioners why they should be cautious while attending the meetings if they go, they go and “officially discourage” (which is very understated) people from going. Of course people will go anyway. What are you giving them to stop them from going??

Let’s remember these are the same people who’ve announced in Churches all over Mumbai for people not to go to Potta or Tabor (despite Fr. Augustine Valooran being on the National Service Team & despite the fact that they are 100% Catholic).

Benny Hinn’s teachings are not accurate. Sometimes he has made highly ridiculous statements like there are 9 persons in the Trinity (3 to each of the 3). But the way I see it is that he is also highly anointed. So what if he’s not preaching completely according to Catholic Doctrine?

Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us ~ Mark 9:38-40
"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us..”

My mother is a ministry partner with Benny Hinn (She supports his ministry with part of her tithes). I myself own every book he has written and though, as I earlier mentioned, I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, you definitely cannot doubt the fact that he has got anointing.

He prays in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and miracles happen. By whose power would that happen if not the Holy Spirit? And are we not guilty of the same things the Pharisees were when they accused Jesus of removing demons by the power of Beelzebub if we question Pastors who do such things in the Name of Jesus? Let us not forget – it is an unpardonable sin to do that.

Let’s look at the things said to discredit Benny Hinn.

* Hinn claims God appeared to him in Israel when he was 11 – So what’s wrong with this? Isn’t is Biblical for God to appear to people in different forms etc.? And hasn’t God appeared to so many of our Catholic preachers / saints as well?

* Claims to have supernatural powers, says he has spoken to God – Again so what? So many anointed Catholics have “Supernatural” powers. That’s what the anointing is all about. The Power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:

* Claims to have visions of the angels – And haven’t hundreds of our Catholics saints & preachers & even lay people had similar visions?

* Claims he made contact with the dead – This statement isn’t 100% true. What Benny Hinn actually said is that he had a dream/vision of Kathryn Kuhlman after she died.

* Says God healed him of a stuttering problem so that he could become a preacher – So what? I’ve personally seen 100s of miracles? If we don’t believe this, we might as well not believe in the Power of God to heal anything.

* Once said that Jesus was about to make a physical appearance at one of his prayer meetings – I don’t know if this is statement is true. And if it is, I really don’t know if it is justifiable. I’ll sit on the fence & admit, he does make outlandish statements at times & he is also not 100% accurate as I mentioned at the start. But I still don’t see this as reason enough to condemn the man.

I am not encouraging or discouraging anyone from going to Benny Hinn’s outreach. I know there is a genuine danger of losing Catholics to Protestant Groups and once they've left it's almost impossible to get them back - & they're the losers since they don't get the Sacraments & so much more that the Catholic Church has to offer. However let’s also admit that while our Doctrine is 100% accurate, our Church management (& I refer only to the Church in Mumbai as I have no other personal experience) is not. So much is to be gained from his ministry that our Church management does not always give us.

I incidentally also know a lot of very good Catholic priests who are highly anointed themselves who are going for the outreach (just last night one called me up from Andhra Pradesh for details).  I myself have a conference during the same days but if I can, I definitely will try to go at least for one of the days.

~ Melody

[cfcoelho]

Thank you Lord for sending this comforting message about your great annointed servant Benny Hinn through Melody.

Hi Melody,

I am personally an active follower of Benny Hinn crusades as well as a member of his intercessory ministry called Mighty Warriors.You may do well to visit his website www.bennyhinn.org and enroll as a Mighty Warrior. I appreciate and commend your bold views on the Church in Mumbai.Its no different here in the Gulf. Recently I walked into the Benny Hinn affiliated  Holy Trinity Church here and the experience there was very enriching.While attending Mass in the Catholic Church I am constantly tempted to watch the clock and you will be surprised I spent 4 lovely hours in praise and worship at the Holy Trinity Church. They call it The Church of Love.Yes indeed Love of Christ is evident all over.Another thing I noticed here is while the St Mary's Catholic Church  and the Holy Trinity Church  are adjacent to each other, the Pastor from the Holy Trinity Church arranges transport back home for every one in need of it.
Love personified.

Coming to Tabor Ashram, my wife, close relatives and friends have been frowning upon me for being a regular there.They dismiss it as another hoax where healings and miracles are manipulated with eyes on the coffers. However,  I have firmly stood my ground and continued my visits there.

Tabor Ashram has made me a Born Again Catholic.    


Colin

[Melody]

A quick word: I love the Holy Mass! It is really the highest form of worship there is. Do study the different parts of the Holy Mass & it's basis in Scripture & you will learn to love it too! (Will also help you to stop looking at your watch  )

Also I remember reading in Rome Sweet Home, I think this was Kimberly's point of view "yes, Praise & Worship in Evangelical Churches are fabulous & yes, we do have the Real Presence in the Catholic Church - but wouldn't it be wonderful if we had them both?" (in my own words).

Now you know why I love Tabor so much

[Seeker]

I don't know much about Benny Hinn except the little I saw of him on television.  I do know that God's grace is not limited to the Catholic Church and that he bestows his grace as He sees fit on non-Catholic Christians, and even pagans.  But I also know that the sacraments are a very real way to receive God's grace if we are open to it.

If attending Benny Hinn's services brings people closer to Jesus, praise the Lord!  I would just caution anyone attending not to lose sight of real faith.

I have friends who have left the Catholic Church because they were bored with Mass and thought that worship was something that should make them feel physically good.  It seemed to me that they went searching for a church that would give them a "God-fix." They could care less about the Eucharist, the Mass, Baptism, Reconciliation, or what the church taught about important things like human sexuality.

Once said that Jesus was about to make a physical appearance at one of his prayer meetings

Don't forget that Jesus is always present, body, soul, and divinity in the Mass.  If more of my friends really believed that, I don't think they would have went searching for a different church to suit their needs for entertaining worship.

I'm not criticizing anyone who attends Benny Hinn's services.  Sounds like you all have wonderful testimonies about the man.  I am just offering a general word of caution based on my own experiences.  I think the bottom line is that you can tell anything from God by its fruits.  If it draws you to a closer relationship to Jesus and his Body, the Church, then it must be a good thing.  If it draws you away, then it is something to be avoided.

[Seeker]

Like I said before, I don't know much about Benny Hinn, aside from your personal testimonies and what I read about the man.  I did a quick Google search on "benny hinn catholics."  Seems there's a lot of viewpoints on both sides.  Just want to add again to be careful, because as Melody pointed out, he does preach a few false doctrines, of which only one of them is that there are nine persons in God.

[Melody]

Some news from me:

(01) We (my family) have managed to get 4 VIP passes for all the three days - that in itself is a small miracle

(02) I am going to attend the meetings full of expectation wrt to having a FAB time with our Lord Holy Spirit BUT (& this is a big BUT) I will def. keep my mind alert to make sure I don't take in any false doctrine.

I will def. post after the event.

Melody

[cfcoelho]

Thats Great !

Please share the goodies with us in the form of a post.

Be Blessed

Colin

[Stigmata]

Benny Hinn is a hateful bigot.

He seems to have no understanding of the message of Jesus Christ.

[jesusandyou]

Let me give a background on Benny Hinn. Pastor Benny is a Charismatic TV Evangelist. He was born again at a meeting of old time evangelist Kathryn Kulman. Among all the charismatic preachers I have been involved with, Pastor Benny is one of the person who made the gifts of Holy Spirit more practical. His meetings are more transparent for healings. He is a man of revelations. Sad to say, most of those revelations become controversial when he tells that to the public. One of the reason why media and people talk bad about him is because of his posh life style. But something you have to understand is that Charismatic preachers preach about prosperity. Benny believes in that and thats the reason his crusade attracted 4.5 million in 3 days. Prosperity is altogether a different subject. I don't want to get into that now.

Concerning the miracles happening at his crusades those are real. Take my wife's case. She had a kind of skin rashes on her hand. She went to many dermatologist but nobody could not figure whats the real problem was. One day as she was watching Benny's TV program (She is a Benny Hinn Ministry Partner), Benny told there is a lady who is suffering with skin rashes on her hand is getting healed. She believed. She got healed the same night. It not only raised her faith in miracles, she gave the rest of the money she had to waste to the poor.

Most of the Charismatic movements happening in Catholic Church like Divine Retreat Center came from Protestant and later Pentecostal charismatic movements. However, what I don't understand is that why people say I am 100% catholic and you are 100% non-catholic. Fr.Mathew Naikomparambil who is the director of Divine had his spiritual classes from DGS Dhinakaran of Jesus Calls Ministry. Fr.Mathew even appeared in Benny's crusades in Florida. Lets keep all these differences aside. Lets live like Christians who follow Christ. If you have disagrement about a preacher's talk then wait at the feet of the Lord. Let him reveal to you. Don't bash him with profanities. If he is on the right path he will succeed. Otherwise he will fall.

To me, churches are living cells in Christ's body to build his kingdom. The cells are healthy when we help each other.

Let me however warn you about something. Don't go out by thinking you have healing power and want to do like Benny does. You can make some money. But whole a lot. It's not Benny who does the miracles. It's Jesus. Whoever does not get that focused, they will do more harms to the body of Christ than good. Wait until the spirit fills you with wisdom and understanding to go out. Nothing you do on human wisdom will last.

Our Christian Community is cheated by angels of light than every before. So, please be careful. Don't go for miracles. Go for God's word. Then miracles will follow you.

[Rose Mary]

I am writing from Florida.... and my daughter-in-law's Auntie just got back from a Pilgrimage to The Holy Land with Benny Hin Ministries..   She is an ex-Catholic who has been participating in the Hindu Religion for some time.   Benny Hin Ministries has impacted her life.... and brought her to the point of proclaiming Jesus as Lord.   She said she was Baptized in The Jordan.... and asked me if I had also been Baptized in the Jordan, since I had visited The Holy Land a few years ago.   I told her that I was Baptized as an infant... and didn't need to be Baptized again... She loaned me her DVD of The Holy Land that she purchased while there..and  I noticed that they mentioned how very little is mentioned of the early years of Jesus in the Bible, nor of his brothers and sisters.

My feelings about Benny Hin Ministries is that God can use anyone He chooses in whatever way He chooses.   We who have the fullness of Revealed Truth must still acknowledge that there are elements of different degrees in other Religions and in the many different Denominations that are Christian...   We must first love others and be ready to give an explanation of the Faith that is ours.... at the right time..
Example is the best sermon....

Yours for "LIFE"  Rose Mary