Posted on 05/10/2024 8:22:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Controversial televangelist Benny Hinn said his two “biggest regrets” in his decades-long ministry include promoting prophecies he now admits “were not accurate or from the Lord” and pushing “prosperity theology."
“The two things I regret most in ministry: I was not too wise a number of times with prophecy,” the 71-year-old charismatic preacher told Stephen Strang, host of The Strang Report, in a recent interview.
“I had guests come to the crusades that I think brought harm to not only people’s lives but also to my reputation because their prophecies were not really prophecy. They went outside the borders of redemption.”
“And then there were times when I thought God had showed me something that He wasn’t showing me. And I spoke it out,” Hinn said. “But in 1 Corinthians 13, we clearly see that we all prophesy in part. That means we don’t see the full picture. And sadly — and I wish I could go back and fix it — but sadly, there were some prophecies I gave that were not accurate or from the Lord.”
“But who’s perfect?” he added.
“And for that, of course, I ask people to forgive me,” Hinn said. “I’m just human and made mistakes like that. And I’ll probably make them again, I suppose, down the road, because I’m not perfect.”
“But you know, it’s sad when people focus on the times you missed it. But that’s just, you know, the way it is. Yet there were times when I did not miss it,” Hinn claimed.
Hinn said his other greatest regret in ministry is his teachings on prosperity theology. Since the 1980s, the Israeli-born American-Canadian has been one of the most notorious purveyors of the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God rewards active faith and faithful payments of tithes and offerings with health and wealth.
“And that’s been a very difficult one for me,” he said. “When I started in ministry, it was simple. And then the ministry grew. … I think that’s when my troubles began. I don’t blame anyone, but sadly you get kind of in a place [where] it becomes difficult. You don’t know what to do and how to get out of it.”
“So I came to the conclusion in 2019 that I don’t want to be part of the gimmickry of it, and I still stand by that. But sadly, I let pressure get to me, and because of that pressure, I said things and did things that I should not have done,” Hinn said. “And for that, really, I am sorry, and I ask the dear people watching us to really forgive me for that. And I’m striving with all my heart to be as biblical as possible with that.”
“Right now, my focus is the Lord and only the Lord,” Hinn said. “And if, of course, there will be the time when I may have to raise funds for our ministry, I will do it as biblically as I know how — and balanced.”
This is not the first time Hinn has claimed to publicly renounce his past teachings; in September 2019, he admitted his teachings on prosperity “got out of hand” and “damaged a lot of people” and said he wants the remaining years of his ministry to focus on evangelism and the Gospel — not the “health and wealth” theology that made him millions.
“How long do I have on this Earth? What am I going to do in the next 20 years? That is for me to decide,” he said at the time. “I want to make sure that for the next 15-20 years of my life, that my message is the Cross. The real call on my life.”
“I want to be known for that,” Hinn continued. “I don’t want to be known as the prosperity teacher. Prosperity is one thing in the Bible, there’s a whole lot more in the Word of God than prosperity, but it’s become a major issue now because of the gimmickry involved in it. That needs to stop.”
At the time, Hinn also hit back at reports of his tremendous wealth, including a net worth of $60 million and multiple private jets, stating, “If I had that kind of money, I would give it to God. It’s madness ... that’s ludicrous. I don’t know how, even, that started.”
Biblical prosperity, he said, is “God blessing His people, taking care of His people. Jesus made it very clear, if God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, will He not care for us? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the things you need will not only come, but they’ll also be added to you.
Hinn’s nephew, Costi Hinn, who has openly criticized his uncle and the prosperity gospel, told Christian News that he hopes for genuine repentance — not simply remorse — on his uncle’s part. However, he pointed out that Hinn has previously expressed regret for his past teachings only to resume his behavior.
“Genuine repentance in the Bible is always accompanied by actions that prove that it’s really repentance,” he stated, explaining that repentance would look similar to that of the account of Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector who returned money to those he had swindled out of his love for Jesus.
“Jesus saves him and goes to his house that day and is willing to eat a meal with him and show him love and grace in the midst of his past and his sin,” he recalled. “And Zacchaeus is jumping for joy, excited to pay people back, excited to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus and show his genuine repentance through his actions.”
“My desire is that Uncle Benny’s statement is not merely public remorse to save face or protect his ministry from decline,” he stated, “but rather that it is genuine repentance and that he would be willing to forsake everything if it means gaining Christ and the full Gospel."
Send him money. He needs a bigger airplane.
/s
When the Books are Opened...
Mysteries abound!
Wrong. He must pay, and suffer, for his sins in some divine way and he is/will.
Yes, of course, he is spiritually forgiven by the Lord, but the harm he caused on this temporal plane must be answered for on this temporal plane.
Grifting liar. He’s gonna have to do far more than this. He needs to repent of it all and give up his lavish lifestyle.
HISTORY OF FALSE PROPHETS AMONG OUR CHRISTIAN BROTHERS
In every generation after the apostles, there have been Christians who mistakenly believed that they were in the last days. They have thought that their generation was the one Jesus spoke of when He prophesied that “all these things” would happen in “this generation.” Failed prognosticators have been a persistent embarrassment to Christianity. Perhaps there is something fundamentally wrong with these predictions.
Francis Gumerlock, in his book THE DAY AND THE HOUR: CHRISTIANITY’S PERENNIAL FASCINATION WITH PREDICTING THE END OF THE WORLD, lists end times prophecy predictions made by Christians beginning in the early centuries. He catalogs more than a thousand failed predictions since the early days of Christianity, beginning with the apostolic fathers.
For example, Ignatius writes around the year AD 100 that “the last times are come upon us.” Cyprian (200-258) writes that “the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of the Antichrist. . . draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546) made this statement: “I am satisfied that the last day must be before the door; for the signs predicted by Christ and the Apostles Peter and Paul have now all been fulfilled, the trees put forth, the Scriptures are green and flourishing. . . . We certainly have nothing now to wait for but the end of all things.”
Famous among predictors of the end of the world was Christopher Columbus (1452-1506). Columbus wrote a book entitled BOOK OF PROPHECIES in which he called on many of the same passages of Scripture that false prophets cite today to predict the imminent end of the world. He apparently thought that his discoveries marked the beginning of the end.
The famous American Puritan preacher Cotton Mather (1663-1728) believed Christ’s return to be imminent and saw apocalyptic meaning in the conflicts and challenges of the American frontier. Mather was also a date setter. He predicted the Second Coming for 1697, then 1716, and finally 1736. The New Jerusalem, he believed, would be located in New England.
Here are more examples of end-times dating from Christians as well as pseudo-Christian cultists:
―William Miller (founder of Adventism): 1843/1844
—Ellen G. White (co-founder—Seventh Day Adventist Church): 1843, 1844, 1850, 1856.
—Joseph Smith (founder—Mormon Church): 1891.
—Jehovah’s Witnesses: 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1984.
—Hal Lindsey: 1982, 1988, 2007, with contingency dates going as far as 2048.
—Jack Van Impe: 1975, 1992, 2000, 2012. Also, in May of 1991 he said the Anti-Christ would be revealed and the Great Tribulation would begin within 20 months.
—Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel): 1981, 1988
―Herbert W. Armstrong: 1965
—Pat Robertson: 1982.
—Edgar C. Whisenant: 1988, 1989.
—Bill Maupin: 1981.
—J.R. Church: 1988.
—Charles R. Taylor: 1992.
—Benny Hinn: 1993.
—F. M. Riley: 1994.
—John Hinkle: 1994.
—Grant R. Jeffrey: 2000.
—Lester Sumrall: 1985, 1986, 2000.
—Kenneth Hagin: 1997 to 2000.
—Jerry Falwell: 2010.
—Louis Farrakhan: 1991.
―John Walvoord: before he died (He died in 2002.)
—John Hagee (at age 71): before he dies.
—Harold Camping: 1994, 2011.
—Ronald Weinland: 2011, 2012.
—Perry Stone: 2009-2015
—Billy Graham: Even this venerable preacher began telling us in the 1940’s to expect the soon return of Christ.
A lot of dispensationalists right in there with cultists. Pastors all across America’s fruited plains have books of some of these authors proudly displayed in their office libraries. The same books, and videos too, fly off Christian bookstore shelves, and the money continues to flow to these authors and many others of the same ilk. While some of these authors may be good teachers on other subjects, their false predictions force us to doubt their views on eschatology. Many of the above people will be forgotten, but whenever you happen to be reading this book, you will probably be hearing from a new generation of false teachers.
All of these prognosticators had something in common: They all thought they knew better than Jesus, who over and over told his followers that his prophecies would come to pass while some of them were still alive (Matthew 10:23; 16:27-28; 26:64; Luke 21:22, 32; Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 1:1-3; 22:5-20; etc.) There are over 100 such time statements in the New Testament that limit fulfillment of prophecy to the first century.
Maybe Christians should stop “newspaper eschatology” and read their Bible―and believe it.
*********
See these additional lists of false prophets:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_and_claims_for_the_Second_Coming_of_Christ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
https://www.truthmagazine.com/date-setters
(This is an excerpt from my book CHRISTIAN HOPE THROUGH FULFILLED PROPHECY. For more information about fulfilled prophecy, see my website:
Serpent
If it were me, my role the next 20 years would be that of a doorkeeper in the church, maybe working my way up to teaching a Sunday School class -- and never be paid to do anything in the Kingdom of God again.
Scribes/Pharisees: “Search the scriptures — nowhere does it say anything about someone from Nazareth!”
Jesus: “Oh Jerusalem — killer of prophets, I would have embraced you; now your house is left desolate; you’ll be leveled to the ground because you knew not the hour of your visitation.”
Jesus was the sign those times. We have glaring signs in our time. I’m glad you’re not the one who can consign people to the flames. You should be glad of that, too.
This ^
Deuteronomy 32:35
My practice was to park the car and pray before work. One day I was strongly impressed I should pray for the pregnant neighbor in the apartment next to ours. When I told her that evening she been to weep, as she had just received news she might miscarry. The baby was subsequently born in good health.
However, as I prayed for her, I “perceived” the gender of the baby. I was shook up up later when that wasn’t correct.
What ever happened to Dr. Mike Murdock?
My thinking, perhaps wrong, is that if one repents sincerely and asks for divine mercy the temporal punishment may be lessened. If one does not repent, then they get the full measure of punishment
Yes. We can hate the sin but pray for the sinner as we’ve been told. But punishment in whatever measure is not ours to determine.
I googled him. Says he’s still alive, but with a brain tumor. He’s not healthy.
Both of their ministries have probably generated each 2.5 billion dollars over the years. I read somewhere that one year Hinn cleared over 80 million. Probably more in other years. Just think of the good that money could have done if given to those who truly needed/deserved it.
My sister worked for Jim and Tammy Faye at Heritage USA
The day after J and T were arrested by the IRS, my sister called me saying, these are such good people, I saw Tammy Faye give a 5,000 mink coat to a woman. My retort. she got the money for the coat from thousands of little ole ladies on social security giving her $25 month every month.
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