In an interview with Daystar, Pastor Benny Hinn shared a deeply personal encounter with the late Oral Roberts that reshaped his understanding of the anointing—and why highly anointed leaders sometimes fall into scandal or moral failure.
Hinn recalled asking Roberts a difficult question that had troubled him for years: “How can God use somebody… so powerful? And then that man [goes] and sleeps with a woman right after?”
Roberts’ answer stunned him: “The anointing, Benny.”
Confused, Hinn pressed him again: “Say it again.” Roberts simply repeated: “The anointing.”
From there, Roberts began unpacking a distinction many in the Church have never truly been taught—the difference between the anointing on a person and the anointing within a person.
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According to Hinn’s retelling, Roberts explained that the anointing that comes on a minister for service affects the body, emotions and gifting, but “doesn’t affect their spirit at all.” He noted that when someone ministers under this empowering anointing, they often become “intense,” “emotional,” and deeply discerning.
Hinn described the revelation like a puzzle suddenly coming together.
“There’s a difference between the one inside of you… and the one on you. The one on you has nothing to do with the one inside of you, and the one on you is carried by the one inside of you.”
Roberts went further, explaining that the anointing within—the indwelling presence of the Spirit—is tied to a believer’s personal walk and hunger for God. The anointing on a person, however, is tied to the hunger and needs of the people they minister to.
This helps explain why, as Roberts noted, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” In other words, gifting doesn’t automatically equal maturity.
But he didn’t stop there. Roberts addressed the role of human weakness, telling Hinn that every believer has “at least one weakness,” and most have more. This weakness, he said, remains shriveled in the presence of God. “When we spend time with the Lord, the weakness we’ve all been born with has nowhere to go.”
However, if a minister neglects the presence of God, the empowering anointing doesn’t suppress that weakness. It actually stirs it. Roberts warned:
“If the presence of God is absent… that weakness is loose, and the anointing stirs it.”
That, he explained, is why historically “the greatest men have fallen after the greatest moments” of ministry.
For Hinn, the revelation was both transformative and sobering. It paints a picture many in the church have long sensed but struggled to articulate: anointing doesn’t replace holiness, gifting doesn’t automatically heal character, and power doesn’t guarantee purity.
This should be a wake-up call for all of us. God has uniquely gifted each and everyone of us to do His good works. However, gifting alone does not equal fruit. It takes time for the fruit of the Spirit to grow. It takes prayer, time spent in Scripture and communion with the Lord for the anointing within a person to match the anointing on a person. May we never treat the Christian walk as something only based on performance instead of a relationship to be had with Jesus, where we grow in godliness and holy submission to the Holy Spirit.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the upcoming book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment.
