Pastor. Preacher. Author. Charlatan.
Evangelist Benny Hinn has been called a lot of things and held many titles over the years, and whether people love him or hate him, they still cannot stop talking about him and his recognizable crusades.
As the information era continues moving forward, Hinn’s reach has only grown, and critics are able to make a career out of reacting to decades-old videos of Hinn from as far back as the 1980s and ’90s.
Some videos end up going viral, such as Mike Winger’s four-hour long deep dive into past videos of Hinn which he dedicated to all of those he perceives as victims of Hinn’s ministry. And Winger points several severe errors within the ministry of Hinn over the years, such as prophecy, healing and prosperity gospel.
While Winger’s work is thorough, does it give the full picture of who Hinn is?
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With so many saying things about who Benny is and what his ministry represents, he felt that he should throw his hat into the ring and try to balance the scales when it comes to the legacy he will leave behind.
Reaching out to Stephen Strang, Founder and CEO of Charisma Media, Hinn requested an interview in which he could tell his story, in his own words.
“The real Benny Hinn wants to know the Bible better than I’ve ever known it,” Hinn shared in an exclusive interview with The Strang Report. “When I talk to the Lord, my real cry is, ‘Lord, I want to be accepted on that day.’ That is all that really matters to me.”
Hinn is well aware of the criticisms levelled at him, one would have to be living in an unprecedented world of denial not to, and he just doesn’t feel like people know the real him, who he is and what he truly believes.
“They see the clips from the crusades. They see the clips from TV programs, and they see the old clips from ‘This is Your Day,’ and on and on, and they make up their own conclusion,” Hinn says.
However, when it comes to the past mistakes Hinn acknowledges during the interview with Strang, he admitted to carrying regrets from various times throughout his ministry.
“I’m a human being. I’ve made mistakes. I remember Oral [Roberts] telling me he made mistakes by the truckloads. We all make mistakes. The two things I regret most in ministry, I was not too wise a number of times with prophecy…and then the other one is prosperity. And that’s been a very difficult one for me,” Hinn reveals.
“For that…I ask people to forgive me, I’m just human, and [I] made mistakes,” Hinn says.
While Hinn’s admission to errors over the course of a 50-year ministry (they are celebrating their Jubilee year in 2024) will likely bring with it more criticism than forgiveness, there are still many who hold tight to a prosperity gospel that elevates money above God—somewhere Hinn says he does not want to be.
“We’re flawed human beings. But we strive to be better. We strive to do better. And the most important thing is, how will we finish the race?” Hinn reflects. “That’s what matters in life. And that’s what I’m focused on. I’m not focused on how I ran, or how I stumbled and had to get up and go. I want to finish well.”
As man who is entering the twilight years of his ministry, for all the good and bad that came with it, Hinn is simply not willing to live in the past with his mistakes, but is instead focused on what is to come.
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media
