Benny Hinn the Thief

likelystory said:
This video shows people falling down effortlessly, as though they are touched by something paranormal and mysterious when Benny Hinn puts his hand(s) near or upon them, or more blatantly, SHOVES THEM....

I'm wondering why James Randi and Co aren't trying to expose these types of whale size magicians, commonly called Televangelists. The amount of money these types of people rip off is far greater than a thousand Sylvia's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lvU-DislkI

Benny Hinn does claim to have paranormal power from God, though no one is ever healed.
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As has already been mentioned, Randi wrote a book called The Faith Healers back around 1980. I don't recall offhand whether Hinn was discussed in it, but televangelist Peter Popoff definitely was.

Randi also showed Popoff for the fraud he was on The Tonight Show, after which Popoff's ministry filed bankruptcy.

That Popoff has come back in recent years via infomercials says a lot about the viewing public, and Randi cannot be held accountable for that.

If I am one of the "co." you refer to when you say "Randi & co.", it may interest you to know that I long ago announced my plans to create

www.StopBennyHinn.com and www.StopPeterPopoff.com
 
AaronAlexander said:
When it comes to healing, Benny Hinn eclipses Pol Pot for sheer damage to the human race when he repeatedly goes to gatherings of up to seven million people (the largest in history) and 'cures' their AIDS.
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I have never heard of that. Do you have some citations?
 
False healers/false prophets...

potayto/potahto...
 
I am of the opinion that the old adage "a fool and his money are soon parted" will always ring true, and rightfully so. Money is a resource, and can have some collectively bad consequences when too much of it is in the hands of gullible, non-rational people. They need to be spending their money, even if on BS, and put it back into circulation in the economy.

Also, I am not sure that Hinn actually claims to heal terminal illnesses like AIDS, I think that is more a product of the hysteria that he creates. When he does a "mass healing" then people of blind faith begin assuming that their ills are gone. I wouldn't charge him with deliberately detering people from medical treatment, but I would go as far as to say that he just doesn't care about the aftermath of his nuttery. Ultimately he is not responsible for what other people do and believe, he is just an entrepreneur putting on a big show. We might think he's a douche for it, but having a code of ethics is not obligatory.
 
likelystory said:
I'm wondering why James Randi and Co aren't trying to expose these types of whale size magicians, commonly called Televangelists. The amount of money these types of people rip off is far greater than a thousand Sylvia's.
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Aside from his 1980s investigations on televangelists, he has investigated Hinn several times. Search through Swift, he was hired by at least one news network to examine Hinn and has lectured (I think in the Cal Tech lectures, specifically) about what happens up-close at Hinn crusades.

ETA, a few links:

From Swift May 12, 2006, Randi writes: "Here is Hinn at his devious best. I’m reminded of the Toronto encounter I had with him. The parents of a little boy about eight years old tried desperately to get by the security lineup..."

From Swift Jan 30, 1995, Randi writes: "I'm increasingly enraged at the TV circus known as the Benny Hinn Show.
He's the current..."

Others, like James Underdown of the Center for Inquiry, have investigated Hinn.
 
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RSLancastr said:
As has already been mentioned, Randi wrote a book called The Faith Healers back around 1980. I don't recall offhand whether Hinn was discussed in it, but televangelist Peter Popoff definitely was.
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Hinn wasn't discussed in the book (it was published before Hinn had any popular media on him), but Hinn's main influences Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts and so on each have a chapter. For those who have followed Hinn, he directly uses Kuhlman and Roberts' tactics.

For example, Roberts/Hinn will say "God is now healing someone's cancer to my right" as he stands in front of an audience of ten thousand plus people. No verification of the claim nor specifics, just the vague statement made to a room of Hinn followers.
 
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As Randi noted in that book, the "authorities" are generally masively disinterested in bringing any sort of legal action against these people. (with the possible exception of the IRS...)
It's almost impossible to get local prosecutors to go after these people on the grounds of fraud.
 
Ladewig said:
I have never heard of that. Do you have some citations?
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The 7 million or the AIDS?
Skeptical Inquirer cites him as saying this, so does the Toronto Star. I don't know where their sources are from. I have never seen him claim this, but to me it doesn't matter. He claims that his anointings cure people of everything from cancer to death, then he 'anoints' a whole crowd in African countries where 40% of the adult population has HIV. People come to him to be cured, then experience something that seems like it must be a cure. Then they leave with HIV, Cancer, or whatever else brought them there. Any person who believed half of what he says would make that connection. Only if he specifically said that he could not cure HIV would he be off the hook on this count.

RSLancastr said:
If I am one of the "co." you refer to when you say "Randi & co.", it may interest you to know that I long ago announced my plans to create

www.StopBennyHinn.com and www.StopPeterPopoff.com
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I'm happy to pitch some material for you, if you are still doing this. It says coming 2008, are you not working on it anymore?

Robo Sapien said:
Also, I am not sure that Hinn actually claims to heal terminal illnesses like AIDS, I think that is more a product of the hysteria that he creates. When he does a "mass healing" then people of blind faith begin assuming that their ills are gone. I wouldn't charge him with deliberately detering people from medical treatment, but I would go as far as to say that he just doesn't care about the aftermath of his nuttery. Ultimately he is not responsible for what other people do and believe, he is just an entrepreneur putting on a big show. We might think he's a douche for it, but having a code of ethics is not obligatory.
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If I decide to get in a Suburban and head to the local playground and do donuts without caring about the aftermath of my nuttery, I would a tiny fraction of the people than Hinn does, even if I had a bomb in my trunk, even if it was a festival day and the park was packed shoulder to shoulder. He claims that his treatments are divine and superior to Western medicine. Even if he doesn't have that intent, he is negligent. We have laws against negligence that harms people. As I said before, I believe that he knows well that his techniques are not of "divine" origin, that puts him out of the innocent healer camp for me.

Questioninggeller said:
For example, Roberts/Hinn will say "God is now healing someone's cancer to my right" as he stands in front of an audience of ten thousand plus people. No verification of the claim nor specifics, just the vague statement made to a room of Hinn followers.
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He borrows the hymns and the 'shotgun' healings directly, as he also does what I call the "Kuhlmann Squeeze" in my thing on how to do knockouts. But he
 
Questioninggeller said:
Hinn wasn't discussed in the book (it was published before Hinn had any popular media on him), but Hinn's main influences Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts and so on each have a chapter. For those who have followed Hinn, he directly uses Kuhlman and Roberts' tactics.

For example, Roberts/Hinn will say "God is now healing someone's cancer to my right" as he stands in front of an audience of ten thousand plus people. No verification of the claim nor specifics, just the vague statement made to a room of Hinn followers.
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Thanks! I didn't think Hinn was in there...

Kathryn Kuhlman was a seriously creepy woman. I remember her show creeping me out as a kid.
 
AaronAlexander said:
I'm happy to pitch some material for you, if you are still doing this. It says coming 2008, are you not working on it anymore?
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I suffered a stroke in 2008 which has seriously hindered progress on my we sites (among other things). I will definitely be issuing a Call For Articles as I get closer to being ready. Thanks!
 
AaronAlexander said:
If I decide to get in a Suburban and head to the local playground and do donuts without caring about the aftermath of my nuttery, I would a tiny fraction of the people than Hinn does, even if I had a bomb in my trunk, even if it was a festival day and the park was packed shoulder to shoulder. He claims that his treatments are divine and superior to Western medicine. Even if he doesn't have that intent, he is negligent. We have laws against negligence that harms people. As I said before, I believe that he knows well that his techniques are not of "divine" origin, that puts him out of the innocent healer camp for me.
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Obviously he is not breaking any negligence laws, or he'd be on trial for it. He is in the public eye, its not like he can slip through the cracks on that kind of stuff. Your SUV example is a bad comparison, that is called reckless endangerment, not negligence.

The real issue with Benny Hinn is his use of funds, whether or not he is taking profit from tax-deductible donations. The Senate Committee on Finance investigated him in 2007, and he cooperated, but only after making them wait a year. They ruled that he was compliant with the laws and that was it, although I find it outrageous that he was allowed to have that much time to potentially doctor up his books while still operating unfettered. While technically not fraudulent, he is still exploiting a grey area where churches and taxation are concerned. All of the money collected belongs to the church, but the catch is that Benny IS the church, he reaps all the benefits of his church's fantastic wealth without accountability (or taxation).
 
Robo Sapien said:
Obviously he is not breaking any negligence laws, or he'd be on trial for it. He is in the public eye, its not like he can slip through the cracks on that kind of stuff.
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Robo, I disagree. The fact that he is not on trial does NOT mean that he isn't breaking these laws. For one thing, authorities seem to be gun-shy about prosecuting religious leaders.
 
AaronAlexander said:
The 7 million or the AIDS?
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I meant the seven million. When you said goes to gatherings of 7 million, I thought you meant 7 million all in one place rather than seven million spread out over two- to three-week event.
 
Robo Sapien said:
I wouldn't charge him with deliberately detering people from medical treatment, but I would go as far as to say that he just doesn't care about the aftermath of his nuttery. Ultimately he is not responsible for what other people do and believe, he is just an entrepreneur putting on a big show. We might think he's a douche for it, but having a code of ethics is not obligatory.
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He does lie during the show. Every time he says that he has cured thousands of people he is telling a deliberate, premeditated lie design to trick people into giving him money. I cannot bring myself to use the phrase "just an entrepreneur" when discussing a professional liar and confidence man.
 
Sounds like the best way to deal with this guy is to catch him having a midnight snack on another mans tubesteak
 
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