What I will share here is not to judge or prove someone like Benny Hinn is right or wrong. As a brother in Christ and a committee member serving in the same Armenian Evangelical church I would like to warn my brothers about false healers who claim themselves to be healers but who lack the Scriptural support for their ministry.
I used to watch Benny Hinn and have read his book called 'Good Morning Holy Spirit'', what opened my eyes were few things which I will list here below.
1) CBC’s The Fifth Estate challenged his claims of miraculous healings and described his lavish lifestyle of fancy cars, a 7,000-square-foot ocean-front mansion and luxury travel to five-star hotels on a private jet. You can read/watch CBC’s The Fifth Estate movie here:
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19050/benny-hinn-10
2) He has also been criticized by a number of Christian watchdog groups for not joining the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability . The Council is the leading accreditation agency that helps Christian ministries earn the public’s trust through adherence to seven standards of accountability. It has over 1,100 members, including Billy Graham. Benny Hinn refuses to join. Although most major American churches and ministries release financial information voluntarily, there are no public records for how much the Hinn ministry makes or how that money is spent. Read the whole report here:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/main_miracles.html
I do believe in miracles because I believe in God. However, if one is drawing one's knowledge of God out of the Bible, one needs to be aware of exactly what the Bible teaches on miracles.
Those people who claim themselves to be healers, they prepare their healing meetings by creating the right atmosphere for healing by praise songs, heightening peoples’ feelings, emotions, just before healings start.
-Where do we find in the New Testament that the apostles were preparing the atmosphere for healing? In Acts chapter 3 we read that Peter and John were going up to the temple, on the steps up to the temple was a crippled man to whom Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
-Why all these so called healing meetings happen in closed stadiums, arenas and not in shopping malls for everyone to see and praise God as the apostles did?
The fact is: A thorough knowledge of the Scriptures will show that miracles are not as common in them as so many continue to believe; they 'cluster' around certain important events/ministries: Creation, the delivering of the Old Covenant at Sinai, the ministries of Elijah and Elishah and - especially - the ministry of Jesus, and then the first century apostolic ministry. If one left those vital events/ministries out of the picture, then the Bible contains almost no accounts of the miraculous! In a real sense, everything in the Old Covenant points to Jesus, but the ministries of Elijah and Elishah, and then our Lord's ministry, followed by the apostolic ministry especially point to Jesus and to salvation through Him.
It was granted to the apostles and to the '70' to perform mighty works, even to the degree that the people believed that the very shadow of Peter passing over people would cause them to be healed (Acts 5:15). The miracles of Jesus provided clear evidence for his identity: His miraculous ministry was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Matthew. 11:3-5). Jesus Himself cited his utterly unique miracle ministry as one of the evidences for his Messiahship (Matthew. 11:3-5; Mark 2:9-11; John. 5:36; 10:37, 38).
For their part, the apostles (and the 70 disciples) were specifically required to be witnesses to the ministry of Jesus and were empowered for this purpose. They lived during the same time as Jesus and could provide direct testimony of the incredible things which they witnessed - none of us can claim that today. Just note Matthew 10:1; Matthew 10:8; Mark 16:20; Luke 9:1-2; Acts 2:43; Acts 5 12-16; Acts 14:3; Acts 15:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12 and Hebrews 2:3-4. Indeed, the New Testament writers usually referred to the miraculous 'signs of an apostle' in the past tense - this alone tells us a whole lot.
I am not fully 'cessationist' and do not believe that miracles are now impossible, but in everything I have seen of modern-day 'healing evangelists' I remain unconvinced that any of them have been granted particular gifts of healing - this does not surprise me since I feel that the fullest manifestation of this Gift has now passed. After all, why look for what the New Testament refers to as 'the signs of an apostle' in an age in which the apostles have long since departed?
But (it could be asked), are not some sick people still healed in a sudden and possibly dynamic way? Undoubtedly, but I tend to put that down to the faith of the sick person, or to the faith of the person praying for the sick person, or to the faith of a group of people involved in such prayers - but that in itself still does not necessarily mean that the 'Gift of Healing' has - in our day - been granted to any one person or to any one ministry! If it had been, this would surely grab the attention of even this sceptical world; Just think of it: every child and adult with 'down's syndrome' dramatically healed, every blind person receiving sight, every cancer sufferer instantly healed! Every amputee finding a new arm or leg miraculously reappearing! Yes, I really mean 'every'- not just claims by a tiny minority who attend 'healing meetings.' I have heard of the desperate sadness and depression of hundreds (Did you, literally? :-) of mentally and physically handicapped persons leaving typical large charismatic healing meetings. These people had been told that they would be healed “as long as you have the faith” and since no healing occurred then people who had thought themselves to be rich in faith, leave in a doubly depressed state. Truth is: they had fallen victims to some pretty poor biblical teaching. This teaching blames the failure for God to heal on a lack of faith - but this is entirely wrong. If such people lacked faith they almost certainly would not have attended the healing meeting in the first place! No - The problem is that the theology is wrong in the first place.
There is no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority do not receive supernatural healing in our age simply because the extensive presence of that particular Gift only accompanied the apostolic age. The New Testament seems to frankly tell us that, so why not just believe it? Some like to only read their preferred Scriptures on the topic of healing when it has always been a cardinal rule of good biblical interpretation to take all scriptural teaching on any doctrine into account before deciding what the correct scriptural teaching really is.
So, to conclude, sincere or not this man seems quite representative of a long line of charismatic preachers who hold a view of divine physical healing which lacks Scriptural support.
In Christ,
Khoren
