I remember being very disappointed, because I the church I attended was ‘into’ Benny Hinn……..my dad was ‘against’ Benny Hinn……….and well, I didn’t want him being right…..

Does anyone know what interview that was? Was it 1993 w/Ole Anthony? I see Benny Hinn told him that he was going to stop the fake healings.

Anyway, I will check back at a later date. Thanks.

While this is clearly an old post, I’ll try to respond to a few things you’ve said.

1) Your disagreement on the seldom-ness of miracles seems to be a difference of context. I certainly agree with you that in the context of the Gospels, the life of Christ, the Acts of the Apostles, the first century, it is evident that miracles were occurring often. (Though I think also that there are significant differences between how often miracles occurred during Christ’s time on earth, the disciples/apostle’s time on earth, and the time of the church without any of the original disciples/apostles. This is probably a specific area of dispensational research.)

Yet, in today’s context, they are rare. And thus, we do join with the heavenly hosts in rejoicing when saints are healed from their physical illness — when there is no other explanation than the Divine intervention of our Lord LORD!

2) I agree with you wholeheartedly that the heart of the matter is for us to know Him better. However, what is it about God that He wants us to know? In those occasions that God has performed a miracle, what did God want us to know about Him? In those times where a miracle did not occur, what did God want us to know about His character and His behavior?

May it be of the Sovereignty of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives that He desires us to know intimately of–instead of the sovereignty of man and our own lordship of our lives.

(A good discussion of prayer & libertarian free will can be found at Justin Taylor’s blog.)

Or, may it be that the redemption of lost souls should be our priority? I am sure that how a Christian endures physical suffering would be of great testimony to unbelievers! And as you have noted, the Kingdom of Heaven that is here and also not yet is more important than the earthly one we live in temporarily. May this also be rightly evident in our proclamation of Lordship salvation, desiring people to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead.

3) Discernment without experiencing it:

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning:

“But test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

I think we can appropriately discern biblically through first-hand witnesses. But of course, we would want to evaluate firsthand ourselves! I can probably tell you how bad smoking, drinking, narcotics are pornography is for your body and soul — and you would agree, without having experienced it yourself. We should continually seek to discern first hand, but for many, it is not in their personal well-being to do so. I doubt you would tell a new Christian to go to a Benny Hinn crusade, or read a Joel Osteen book. (Or I could be mistaken). I know I wouldn’t. Where something has been found to be more likely than not to be evil by other reliable, seasoned Christians, I think it would be most honoring to God and edifying to our souls to abstain — unless you consider yourself spiritually strong enough not to be affected.

1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

(EDIT: May we be reminded of Matthew 7:15-20 also.)

As we test and use spiritual discernment in trying to first understand people, I think it would be very beneficial to seek the help of well-seasoned Christians, theologians and scholars. Even then, we need to be testing and evaluating these people who help us discern according to the rule of Scripture (as you have so well demonstrated already).

And in this journey of spiritual discernment, I’m looking forward to Tim Challies’ book coming Jan’08.

Humbly in Christ,
Alex S. Leung

But I’ll throw in my few cents.

miracles are called “miracles” because they are rare, seldom happen, - Alex Leung

I disagree, simply because if you look throughout The Gospels and Acts, the people came en masse to Jesus and the apostles, and miracles were happening left/right and center. They are not called miracles because they happen rarely, they are called miracles (’dunami’ Power), because it is supernatural - they break the ‘natural state/order’ of things. It is the kingdom of God invading the world.

Just as Jesus taught us to pray –

Matthew 6:9-11
This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

It is an invasion, a radical shift in the economy, morals, habits, lifestyles, states — from the world’s values (e.g. if you’re sick with cancer, you are helpless and only have x amount of years to live) to that of God — where God is a holy, powerful and loving God — whom loves us as His children. And though we deserve pain, sickness, death — by His blood, we are washed and made clean, and free from demonic influences, free from sickness caused by our sin.

I’m not saying Christians must always always be healed, God has his purposes in letting things happen, e.g. in Job, or my mom getting SARS and getting an opportunity to witness and evangelize to my family in HK.

But as Christians, saved by His sacrifice on the cross — we are a part of his Kingdom, and the Kingdom way trumps/overrides that of the world.

Furthermore, Alex concerning your example with praying for someone at church about cancer. It is interesting to see the difference between how our brothers and sisters at Jaffray would pray for healing, and how our ‘charismatic’ brothers and sisters (i hate labels) pray..

1. We pray “Lord if it is your will”
2. And They command it — “Be healed!” or “Claim that promise..”

I’m not saying this is for every case, but in general the underlying governing principle for the first is #1 is fear and a lack of faith.

Why do we add “if it is your will” ? For me I’ve done it because I’m scared “oh what if God doesn’t heal him/her immediately” or “oh what if God wants them to be sick to do this or that”

But if you think about it — each of those responses are completely Biblically uninformed, and saying that is safe; it doesn’t require any faith or risk at all.

Whereas when Jesus / the Apostles, them ‘charismatic’ brothers and sisters do it — they do it boldly, acknowledging the Word, its promises, and the authority they have in Jesus Christ.

Mark 17:18
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

And if you look throughout Scripture, look for God’s heart — His heart is always for people to know Him, to put faith in Him, to step out of the boat and onto the water, not hold on and be safe. This is true for both the intercessor and the person receiving healing.

If we don’t step out of the boat, and ‘command’ healing how will we ever walk on water? how will we ever see healing?

I’m not saying go to any person and command them to get healed, but it all comes out of your relationship with God, as you know Him more, and as you are sensitive to His Spirit with an informed understanding in the word — He directs you.

Healing isn’t what way say or do — as believers we don’t do healings, we simply listen and God prods us that he wants to do something great — and we simply bear witness to that person His work. Its obedience.

In Charismatic Chaos - Macarthur says the problem with Charismatic theology is that they think God HAS TO — MUST grant them the request. While I agree that such a mentality is false — because God is God, not us. I think its a misunderstanding that has divided the church — we see our ‘charismatc’ brothers and sisters commanding this — stepping out in faith, doing crazy stuff, and we think they are false teachers and heretics

but to them they may be simply believing in scripture, and listening to the spirit.

I’m not saying there aren’t false teachers and heretics in the church, and I’m not saying if Benny Hinn is one or not. Rather — instead of making a big deal of what our brothers and sisters do or don’t do — lets focus on our simularities.

Furthermore, before anyone says anything about what Benny Hinn does right or wrong — how many of us has actually gone to his crusades? I know I haven’t, but I know friends who have — and they are greatly edified, If we do not know, then how can we appropriately discern? Its ludicrous and legalism.

I’m reminded of what Jesus says– when the disciples ask him about the random guy who is using His name to drive out demons - Luke 9:50
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Also — Mark 3:23-26
So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

But really — what with all that being said, rather than speculating or arguing amongst ourselves, lets just go and reach the lost. we’ve heard it, they haven’t.

The documentary conducted exposed that what Benny Hinn does in the name of God is, for the large part, a show, a scam and a fake. He conducts faith-healing in the name of Jesus, often for non-Christians, without ever presenting the Gospel — Christ and Him crucified in our place and for our sins. Add to that, he clearly is bringing shame to other faithful preachers of the Word who seek not fame or fortune, but the glory of God in Christ.

The following paragraph from 1 Timothy 6:3-10 is very appropriate in light of this matter:

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Arguments can be made about whether or not Benny “desires” to be rich, but from what can be clearly seen of him publicly, he indulges in grand, material pleasures that tell us that he does.

I pray that we can also discipline ourselves for the pursuit of godliness, and not fall face forward into such temptation.

-Alex

The money card is the stupidest objection to any preacher. Someone who does Gods work deserves more than any athlete or rockstar, and you should look at the many other things he puts his money into. Most of his money is not spent on himself, and yes, he makes allot of money, so the smaller percentage he spends on himself is allot. Why do you care how much a preacher is paid? Why don’t you rail on the porn industry, or how about hollywood? People donate money to what they feel is worth it, and you should look at the fruit of his ministry. If the healings are fake, then why has nobody “exposed” them? You waste time on money, you get mad that a preacher gets paid that much, for doing what he believes God has called him to.

Fool.

-James’

I remember praying for the physical healing of a small group friend’s mom who had cancer. “If it is your will, Lord, heal her.” Too often, we desire healing and not to know his will or even do his will; for often we are afraid that it is God’s will for them to return home to be with the Lord.

Truly, knowing that God is Sovereign over all things, if He wanted to do a miracle–He would have prevented you from getting the disease/illness in the first place.

But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

I won’t say whether these healings are true but to add to Alex, I find his gospel message to be very lacking. It’s true that miraculous healing is definitely a reality but anytime we focus on what God can do for me (in this case healing) it calls for serious concern. God’s power cannot be a marketable commodity.

Oh well, at least we can take faith that there are still people out there whose ministries speak truth and integrity.

I am personally very offending by the Benny Hinn gospel: you can receive the (physical) healing of Christ without the repentance of sins, or a confession of Christ as both Lord and Savior. To me, it’s theological reductionism at its best: using Christ for His healing power and nothing else. Add to that most of it is a show of fake healing.

If this were up to me, I wouldn’t say this–but it’s up to God:
Lord, have mercy.