Benny Hinn, controversial preacher
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Controversial
Evangelist Visits Costa Rica
Benny Hinn,
one of the most colorful preachers in America and faith healing phenomenon
to millions, visited Costa Rica weekend for a Holy Spirit revival.
The Benny Hinn Crusades took place Friday and
Saturday at the National Stadium in the Sabana Park, west of San José with
ten of thousands werein attendance at each of the 3 shows - one on Friday
and two n Saturday.
At one point it was announced that 38.000 in the Saturday afternoon show
while double lines of surrounded the entire stadium of those waiting to get
in for the evening show.
Hinn, 50, was born in Israel and raised in
the Greek Orthodox faith. He said in his autobiography, He Touched Me , that
he was "born again" in 1972. He founded the Orlando (Fla.) Christian Center
in 1983 - which grew to a weekly attendance of more than 10,000 - and moved
his organization's headquarters to a Dallas suburb in 1999. He also conducts
worldwide crusades and has a TV program, This is Your Day , which airs daily
over the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Controversy surrounds Hinn and his finances;
theology; "manifestations of the spirit," such as faith healing; and
prophecies. Opponents call him a con artist and a charlatan.
"Benny Hinn has been proven to be a fraud
over and over again. He is more of a con man than a man of God. Reports
about his lavish lifestyle make it clear he is more focused on what he can
squeeze out of this world than the next," said Rick Ross, a professional
cult monitor and de-programmer. "I receive constant complaints about his
ministry from people that feel they were preyed upon through their faith. He
is a shameless huckster."
Attempts to get comments from the Hinn
organization were unsuccessful. None of the local Spanish press - television
stations and newspapers - were on hand. insidecostarica.com
attempt to enter report the event was politely refused by security
personnel. A unnamed security head told insidecostarica.com that the Benny
Hinn Ministries organizations had given specific instructions on denying
media access to the events. Fuerza Publica officers were on hand for crowd
control.
But his supporters, say the healings are
real, and they come from God.
Baylor University (Texas) professor Barry Hankins of the department of
church-state studies said he's tempted to satisfy his academic curiosity
about Hinn and go to the crusade.
"He claims direct revelation from God, which
is very controversial, of course," Hankins said. "Pentecostals and
charismatics are open to the concept, whereas conservative fundamentalists
oppose any extra-biblical 'revelations.' Anytime he's called to account for
it, he backs off it."
Hankins added that Hinn "lives a very lavish
lifestyle, and it's not just the secular media on his case about it."
Several organizations have tried to make Hinn
accountable for his spending habits. Christianity Today magazine, for
example, has documented his expensive tastes.
The Teaxs Better Business Bureau has also
attempted to get financial documentation from the Benny Hinn Ministries.
Despite written requests in the last year from the bureau's "Wise Giving
Alliance," which reports on national charities and determines if they meet
voluntary standards, Benny Hinn Ministries has not provided current
information about its finances, programs and governance, according to a BBB
online report.
The Trinity Foundation, a nonprofit Christian
watchdog group in Dallas, Texas, has sent undercover spies to infiltrate
Hinn's ministry and dig through his trash to gain access to financial
records at the pastor's headquarters and television studios.
Trinity Foundation has files on more than 350
ministries across the country it investigates, Anthony said.
James Randi, a professional magician/escape
artist who is perhaps best known these days as a "demystifier of paranormal
and pseudoscientific claims," recalled in a recent telephone interview how
he disguised himself to attend a Benny Hinn faith healing service on behalf
of the BBC in Toronto. With a hidden camera, he said, he captured on film
some of the assisting pastors coaching people when to fall down, as well as
scenes of paramedics coming to the aid of those supposedly "cured" who
collapsed when their adrenaline rush subsided after their on-stage "cure."
"We have followed up on 104 of his so-called
cures, and not a one of those people was healed. There is no medical
evidence to support his claims," Randi said.
It doesn't matter how many times the secular
media or skeptical investigators expose Hinn's actions, he added. "There are
people who need for it to be true. They are predicating everything on their
belief that faith healing works. For some people, it's the only thing
they've got going."
*With files from Terri Jo Ryan of Waco Tribune-Herald
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