# Pitting Benny Hinn's followers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414 "2005-03-07T19:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/41 "2005-03-09T07:36:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Regarding my comments on Billy Graham: the guy has usually 12-14 appearances per year-he goes to major cities and books a big conference hall for usually 3-4 days. **people show up in the 100’s of thousands-and they pay a hefty admission** Emphasis mine; I’m going to need a cite on that. My understanding is that admission to the Billy Graham crusades is entirely free of charge. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/42 "2005-03-09T10:59:13Z")
For those who are interested, [here’s an article on T.D. Jakes](http://www.trinityfi.org/press/tdjakes01.html). I hadn’t heard of him either and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of him, even after reading the article. **Sampiro** , thanks for saying a lot of what I was going to say. One thing that particularly annoys me about the likes of Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, etc. is that they appear to care nothing for their flock and only about the money. One thing the Trinity Foundation noticed when they started their ministry to the homeless in Dallas is they had people who had given all their money to televangelists, turned to the televangelists for help and been told, in effect, “You’re on your own.” Were these people fools for doing so? Certainly. I still vividly remember hearing Robert Tilton saying some anonymous viewer “If you send me $1,000, God _will_ get you out of debt!” (He used to be on before the morning news in Hawaii. That claim led to me making a call which I think led to him being taken off the air a week later.) Back in the 1990s Mr. Tilton also had an unpleasant habit of only opening envelopes which contained cash and throwing those which only contained prayer requests into the trash, unopened. Healing’s an interesting question to me. As I’ve mentioned, a very dear friend of mine used to be a hardcore Fundamentalist. When he was one, he did faith healings. Many years later, he became a convert to Wicca. One of the things that stunned him is that the energy he felt and made use of when doing healing within a Wiccan context were _identical_ to what he felt when doing healing in a Christian context. Was it genuine? I don’t know. I have asked him for advice about a particularly nasty case of flu that’s been plaguing me for the past three weeks, but that’s because he used to be a medical corpsman in the Navy. I haven’t asked him to heal me because that’s not my style. I have gone to the doctor and gotten massive quantities of quite effective drugs. My friend has also never accepted a dime for his healings. Instead, he sees it as sharing a gift he’s been given. In [Matthew 7:15-23](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207:15-23;&version=31;), Jesus says: > [@](#): > > 15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. > > 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Now, earlier in this chapter, He says "“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. " However, Christians are also commanded to be “shrewd as snakes”. I wouldn’t trust the average televangelist further than I could throw him or her. CJ ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/43 "2005-03-10T06:37:35Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I can sorta kinda understand the truly desperate, the whole “drowning man clutching the blade of a sword” mentality, but surely they can’t all be that uneducated and with terminal illnesses or terminally ill relatives. (And even in desperation, why not go to a LOCAL prayer group? At least then the money will benefit people in your own city, none of whom are living in $10 million oceanside mansions most likely- it’s the same God they’re praying to, after all- hell, taking coffee enemas and drinking collard green tea administered by a Voodoo priestess would probably do at least as much good and be a helluva lot cheaper.) Speaking of enemas… and what a great segway that is, did you hear about this? > [@](#): > > [Televangelist Benny Hinn](http://ladybunny.net/blog/2005/03/check-out-holy-ghost-enema-from.html) is threatening to sue the religious satire magazine The Door for the video clip it is distributing that shows Hinn’s wife, Suzanne, preaching at their former church in Orlando, Florida. She says if you’re a lifeless, blackslidden Christian, you need a “Holy Ghost enema… right up your rear end.” [Here’s a link to the video.](http://www.beliefnet.com/video/humor/benny_hinn/benny_hinn2_100.ram) ---
**Author:** ![Mines\_Mystique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mines\_Mystique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mines_Mystique)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/44 "2005-03-10T07:08:42Z")
Before I express my views on Hinn, I am what many would consider a fundamentalist Christian. That being said, I abhor people like Benny Hinn. They give a bad name to people like me who honestly care for other people and want to see them have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. There is another guy out there, Jesse Duplantis, who is asking people to give him $1000 so he, oh excuse me, his ministry, can buy a Citation 10. I can’t stand these kinds of people who are what I like to call name it, claim it people. They believe that if they have enough faith that they can make God do whatever they want Him too. I don’t think they have read the same bible I have, because what I read in the bible says that God is bigger than any box we try to put Him in. Anyway, if you want a good book that kind of touches on this subject, but is fiction, check out Frank Peretti’s The Visitation. Excellent book, IMHO. my $.02 Andrew ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/45 "2005-03-10T12:50:53Z")
Not only are supporters of Hinn falling for the act, they are falling for it when he **openly flaunts his wealth in his seminars**. I wen’t to one with a bunch fo friends when it came into town just on a lark. Near the start of of the sermon, he came out with an “inspiring story” regarding him and some phillipino airport workers that happened when he stopped there to **refuel his private jet**. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/46 "2005-03-10T15:38:12Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > He’s been operating since the early 1950’s-and has a TON of money! The man is probably a cut above the Bakkers and Benny Hinn, but he is still a big solicitor of money-where does it all go? Jesus himself said that obe should beware of “men in sheep’s clothing, who inwardly are ravening wolves”. If there is a hell, I’m sure some very warm spots are reserved for these con men. > And those phoney “healings”-why would anybody consnt to being pushed backwards on stage? Let’s faceit, a large group opfpeople ae terminally gullible…and these people will always wind up as the prey of con men. Does Graham do any faith healing? I thought he was legit, in the sense that he merely earns money for preaching. More power to him, sez I. This is a different category entirely than prentedning to heal. He gets paid to talk about his view fo Christianity - what’s wrong with that? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/47 "2005-03-10T16:57:23Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > _He lives a lavish lifestyle that includes a $10 million beachfront mansion, private jets, $10,000 per night hotel suites, major jewelry shopping sprees, tours with layovers in Acupulco, Switzerland and other resort areas, etc._\* > > Why is it ok for anyone else to do this, except a preacher? Nobody bats an eye when Hugh Hefner does it. Hugh Hefner makes his money honestly. Hinn takes it by fraud. Hefner also pays taxes. > [@](#): > > What I’m asking is what is the issue here. Do we have a problem with Benny’s financial state because he has a lot of material stuff (and pastors are “supposed” to be poor), or because it appears that he has it because of the ministry? Because he acquires wealth through fraud and does not pay taxes on it. > [@](#): > > Let’s take TD Jakes for an example. He owns 3 companies and is a multimillionaire in his own right. He doesn’t even take a salary from the church he pastors. If he had the things above (private jet, etc.), would that be okay? Or are all pastors supposed to be poor to be holy? The not taking a salary thing is a bit of a scam. Everything is legally the propery of the church but it’s still his. It’s a common dodge for these assholes to do that. It’s a way to avoid paying income tax. Having said that, thje issue is not Hinn’s wealth (which is not commendable but is par for the course) it’s the fact that he’s a _con artist_. > [@](#): > > I am NOT saying that high-profile pastors should live in luxury. Benny Hinn is probably causing more people to stumble than he is helping them: just look at the number of people in this thread who look at the way he lives and have decided that all televangelists must be cons. There are some good ones who have a good message and have lived straight-arrow lives and don’t deserve to be painted with the same brush. Billy Graham comes to mind. This is not about wealth so you can take that red herring back to the fish market. > [@](#): > > **Mangetout** , I appreciate your story but I think you were in a nutty group of people that were not representative of pentecostals as a whole. I believe in healing, but I would never tell someone to quit taking their medication — nor do I know any pastor-type that would. Any pastor who pretends to practice any sort of medical healing is a fraud. Hinn is ome of those frauds. > [@](#): > > I’d test any spirit that told someone to, say, quit taking their insulin because they were suddenly healed. Can God do that? Sure. Does He? I’m sure. There’s not a shred of evidence for this. > [@](#): > > God heals people in different ways with different methods (as we can see if we read about how Jesus did it), many times that involves medicine. If it involves medicine that what does God have to do with it? > [@](#): > > I know quite a few educated doctors who will tell you that their patients who pray get better faster than those who don’t. Placebo. And the effect is marginal at best. Scientific studies on prayer and healing have not shown prayer to have any noticable effect other than placebo. Patients who are prayed for without their knowledge do no better than people who are not prayed for at all. People who _think_ they’re being prayed for but are _not_ show the same marginal plecebo effects as those who actually are. The distinction seems to be that patients who believe that other people care about them and are praying for them do slightly better than those who don’t, Also, “lots of educated doctors” saying something about prayer is not valid, scientific evidence. It;s anecdotal and often biased by _a priori_ religious beliefs. > [@](#): > > You can say what you want about whether or not people get healed — your mind is made up anyway. But if someone wants to pray for healing, what on earth could it hurt? That’s another crimson fish there. No one has said anything about people praying for themselves, we’re talking about people claiming to have the supernatural ability to heal _others_ and charging money for it. ---
**Author:** ![joshg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@joshg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joshg)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/48 "2011-03-03T04:20:48Z")
I’m definitely not defending Benny Hinn. I went to two of his events in Tulsa, the first around the time a few months before George Bush was elected. He stated that he was “prophetically” told that George Bush would be president. I was shocked he would put people’s faith in the line by making such as outright prediction. Anyway, to my dissappointment, George Bush was actually elected, but it brought me back to some thoughts I had about Benny Hinn. Where did that electricity come from? It was a warm, tingling, buzzing sensation that I felt on my hands, almost like the feeling from bioelectrical machines. What was that? I don’t know what it was, but something’s going on. It appears that so many people report feeling electrocuted when they go up on stage. I have a lot to say about Pentecostalism, and I wouldn’t even label myself a Christian, since there are thousands of varieties, so I just don’t label myself. I don’t defend most forms of Christianity and even the evangelical kind. I don’t think the Bible is unflawed. Despite this, I’ve got to say, Benny Hinn is using some sort of power (spiritual or physical) to do what he does. Haven’t read many claims about any physical methods he is using, so as of now I’m guessing it’s something that’s unknown or unexplained. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/49 "2011-03-03T04:30:16Z")
> [@joshg](#): > > I > > Where did that electricity come from? It was a warm, tingling, buzzing sensation that I felt on my hands, almost like the feeling from bioelectrical machines. What was that? It was pure essence of Zombie Electricity. Amazing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/50 "2011-03-03T04:53:50Z")
When my old man was confined to a wheel chair from Lou Gehrig’s, he was pretty desperate to find something to make him walk again. At one point he wanted to goto Benny Hinn’s thing when he was in town, but we convinced him it was a load of horse shit. I was shocked he would even ask, since all his life he was a sharply cynical guy who went to church \*maybe \*once a year, and thought everyone was out to scam him. I can’t imagine what he went through. It’s impossible for me to put myself in his mindset, but I don’t know what I’d do. While he never went to any of the healers who worked under the guise of religion, there were plenty pulling equally vicious crap under the guise of science. I’m talking homeopathy, Reiki, magic energy webs, bee stings and shit like that. I don’t remember the details, I was 12 when he died, but there was a lot of this going around. Desperation, I think, can easily circumvent logic and reason. I have a lot of sympathy for desperate people, especially when they get played by some fucking prick like Benny Hinn. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/51 "2011-03-03T06:35:20Z")
The jury’s still out on faith healings but this thread proves resurrections happen. But since it is anyway- > [@joshg](#): > > Where did that electricity come from? It was a warm, tingling, buzzing sensation that I felt on my hands, almost like the feeling from bioelectrical machines. What was that? My sister is a Fundamentalist and growing progressively wackier in her beliefs. Only her stinginess and racial separatism keeps her from following a Jim Jones type into the jungle or turning over all of her (substantial) assets to some guy with a photo-op hospital in Burkina Faso that treats three people per year with Band-Aids and a multimillion dollar Aspen getaway with a bidet that sprays Evian. Currently she’s under the sway of a British revivalist who’s touring the nation but mostly based on the Gulf coast. She’s referred many times to feeling electricity in her hands. I actually have wondered what causes this- whether it’s a psychosomatic thing or if perhaps there’s _literally_ something in the air that causes it (by which I’m not talking spirit of God so much as some kind of electrical conduction that can happen in large groups). Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/52 "2011-03-03T06:59:06Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I actually have wondered what causes this- whether it’s a psychosomatic thing or if perhaps there’s _literally_ something in the air that causes it (by which I’m not talking spirit of God so much as some kind of electrical conduction that can happen in large groups). Any thoughts? Van de Graaff generator under the stage? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/53 "2011-03-03T07:19:06Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Van de Graaff generator under the stage? I wouldn’t put it past some of these people. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/54 "2011-03-03T08:36:59Z")
[Billy Graham interviewed by Woody Allen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_poGsbBgpE) from back when we could disagree with civility. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/55 "2011-03-03T17:36:44Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > By the way, **Abbie** , I agree with you that meditation/prayer can positively affect medical treatment. I have many relatives who are very well-educated doctors and they have seen this phenomenon. I know there are studies being done on it currently. However, this is no way mirrors what goes on at Benny Hinn conventions. Studies have been done and they refute that prayer helps heal. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/56 "2011-03-03T17:49:00Z")
You can’t fix stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/57 "2011-03-03T17:59:19Z")
> [@joshg](#): > > I’m definitely not defending Benny Hinn. Mmmmmmyup, you are. Welcome to the SDMB, Paid Shill or Ignorant Retard. Only time and your continued posting will reveal to which equally reviled category you belong! ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/58 "2011-03-03T18:44:10Z")
> [@World\_Eater](#): > > This would have been much better if it was Benny _Hill_. 😛 Agreed (six years after the fact). 😉 When I was a teenager, I remember seeing _Benny Hinn_ in the TV listings. I hoped that it was a typo, and that the upcoming show was actually _Benny Hill_. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/59 "2011-03-03T21:26:51Z")
> [@World\_Eater](#): > > This would have been much better if it was Benny _Hill_. 😛 You mean like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoqoxN_nGI)? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414/60 "2011-03-03T23:01:49Z")
> [@joshg](#): > > Where did that electricity come from? It was a warm, tingling, buzzing sensation that I felt on my hands, almost like the feeling from bioelectrical machines. What was that? As **EP** suggested, 'twas the power of Necroposting. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-benny-hinns-followers/293414.md?page=4)