Benny Hinn & Bush: Lack of accountability

[Moses]

MinistryWatch.com Issues Donor Alert for Benny Hinn
Posted by Editor on 2005/6/1 10:39:45

Donors advised to find other ministries to support while questions of finances, unfounded claims of healings, nontransparency and other issues addressed

MATTHEWS, N.C. – Wall Watchers, through its donor empowerment Website www.MinistryWatch.com, has issued a Donor Alert for Benny Hinn Ministries/World Outreach Church (BHM).

Wall Watchers’ CEO Rusty Leonard explained, “Recent facts and allegations aired on NBC DATELINE – coupled with MinistryWatch.com’s previous concerns about the self-serving ‘prosperity theology’ taught by Benny Hinn – has caused MinistryWatch.com to recommend that donors prayerfully consider redirecting their gifts to one of the many biblically-based ministries that are not only more transparent in their dealings with the public but also treat donor’s funds as a sacred trust dedicated exclusively for the Lord’s work.”

Included in the accusations launched by Benny Hinn critics for the DATELINE broadcast are claims that Hinn and his family enjoy a lavish lifestyle with funds intended for charitable purposes, that he preaches a fraudulent, self-serving version of the Bible, that he manipulates individuals at “healing crusades” for personal gain, that he makes unsubstantiated claims of healings, and that the ministry is nontransparent and lacks independent board oversight.

Leonard argued, “It is Hinn’s refusal to be accountable to anyone – rooted in a conveniently defiant view of accountability where he is to answer only to God since he receives extra-biblical words, hence the Word of Faith moniker – that is the primary precipitant for each of the critiques identified above. Donors deserve more and the Bible requires a higher standard. Hence, MinistryWatch.com recommends that donors prayerfully consider withholding contributions to Benny Hinn. Those that oppose such action should consider that the reported exorbitant spending of the Hinn family reveals that BHM has far more money than it needs to carry out its ministry. MinistryWatch.com also recommends that all Christians join with it in praying specifically that Benny Hinn and his family acknowledge their failures in the stewardship of the money entrusted to them by donors, and humbly submit themselves to a process of personal repentance and restoration.”

[Moses]

.... I tell you what I saw on TV a few days ago. There was the irreverant Benny Hinn on his knees w/4 others reciting a prayer from Daniel. Except get this he said for the viewers reading along to change the word Israel and insert America! He read from the Bible and changed the Word. During the runup to The ... Iraq War he would keep up a steady drumbeat for War. During his Sunday service he would rail against the "sleeper of Babylon", "pray for the troops" and other crap

www.redstate.org/story/2005/6/8/22451/62077

[Moses]

Benny Hinn in South Bend, Indiana, as reported by the South Bend Tribune (this is Bayh's state):


June 23, 2005

3,000 attend faith-healing prayer meeting
FAITH
By SARA TOTH
Tribune Staff Writer



Benny Hinn sings about God's healing power at Christian Center Church in South Bend on June 15.

Tribune Photo/ GENE KAISER



SOUTH BEND -- Miracles are part of life for Chris Rolfe, who is not shy about her Christian belief in salvation through Jesus.

Because of the power that God grants to those devoted to Christ, limbs can grow back, dead bodies can come to life and demons can flee souls, Rolfe said, wide-eyed, during a break last week from her job as a clerk at Walgreens.

"The Bible says that born-again Christians will lay hands on the sick and they will recover," she said she believes. She graduated in 1994 from Indiana Christian University, a Bible college run by Lesea Ministries.

So she wasn't surprised when her husband claimed his cataracts had cleared during a service led last week by world-traveling evangelist and professed healer Benny Hinn at The Connection, an annual weeklong series of prayer meetings at Christian Center Church, 530 E. Ireland Road, part of Lesea Ministries started by evangelist Lester Sumrall in the 1950s.

As Hinn led a prayer, Rolfe's husband, podiatrist Dr. Brian Rolfe, said "he just felt this warm heat come over him and he could see clearly," she recalls.

Then he could see well enough to read her small-print Bible; he no longer needed to rely on the enlarged type in his Bible, she said.

Rolfe was one of about 3,000 people who came to see Hinn, an Israeli-born Christian who eventually moved to Canada, where he had a born-again experience and then in 1990 began traveling the world and organizing faith-healing crusades.

The church's auditorium fills to capacity every year during the prayer meetings, so the number in attendance wasn't a surprise, said Angela Sumrall, a spokeswoman for Lesea Ministries. But organizers said they were pleased the trend continued this year.

It was only a little more than five months ago that the majority of members left Christian Center along with its former pastor, Stephen Sumrall, one of Lester Sumrall's sons, who said he resigned over family disagreements to start his own church.

However, it didn't appear that this split in the Sumrall family affected last week's events.

About 3,000 people pray and worship to music at Christian Center Church in South Bend on June 15 as they wait to hear Benny Hinn, whom many believe is a healer.


"It was a very good meeting last night," said Dave Sumrall, Lester Sumrall's 27-year-old grandson, who became pastor of Christian Center after Stephen Sumrall, his uncle, left.

In fact, Rolfe was one of many who left Christian Center for Stephen Sumrall's new church, Christ Chapel, but attended The Connection at Christian Center. She said both churches have the same type of charismatic worship -- a band leading music mixed with spontaneous prayer, swaying and clapping, and lectures about the Bible.

"I really believe God is using people like myself to put the family back together," Rolfe said, adding that she intends to stay a member of Christ Chapel.

But leaders of Christ Chapel and Christian Center said they had no plans to merge their ministries.

"Well, we leave that in God's hands," said Bob Wiseman, a business manager who used to work at Christian Center but moved to work with Stephen Sumrall at Christ Chapel.

While Christian Center spent more on advertising this year than in the past, the prayer meetings were not an effort to bring former members back into the church, Dave Sumrall said.

"We can't control what people do," Dave Sumrall said. "We wish them the best. People are welcome to attend any church they desire."

Dave Sumrall also gave the prayer meeting, which used to be called Word of Fire Camp, the new name of The Connection.

This name relates better to his mission of helping people connect with Jesus, family and church, he said.

Wiseman said it was a little awkward to see the billboards around Michiana advertising an event he used to plan during his years at Christian Center.

"It was always one of the key points for the church," Wiseman said. "It was always an exciting time."

He said he was not surprised that thousands attended despite the shake up in the Sumrall family.

"They had a tremendous list of speakers," Wiseman said. "There's no doubt."

Christ Chapel is having its own series of prayer meetings on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at the Century Center, where the church has been meeting since its establishment in February. It is not trying to compete with Christian Center, Wiseman said.

"This is done to bless the local community," he said.

Dave Sumrall said the same thing motivated last week's meetings.

Staff writer Sara Toth:

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Copyright © 1994-2005 South Bend Tribune

[Moses]

Benny Hinn in 1978

[Moses]

BENNY HINN'S FINANCES

Under U.S. tax laws the Hinn Ministry is not legally obligated to makes its finances public because it is a religious organization.

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.

Benny Hinn insists that every penny is spent on God's work. But the fifth estate obtained confidential financial records from inside the Hinn ministry. These documents were provided by individuals who say they want the public to know how Benny Hinn spends the money entrusted to him.

The fifth estate asked Roddy Allan, a forensic accountant, to review the ministry's expense and travel records. He says, "I'm a mere bean counter, but it would be hard to persuade me that you had to incur that kind of expense in order to accomplish a business objective."



Here is a very small sampling of financial records from the summer of 2003. At that time Hinn had crusades in St. Petersburg, Russia and Stockholm, Sweden then departed for a four day whirlwind trip to Italy and London, billing it as a simple layover.

* A hotel bill for room service and chauffeur services at the Lanesborough Hotel in London (see bill .pdf)
* Tips given to staff at Lanesborough Hotel in London after a one day stay (see chit .pdf)
* Tips given to the staff at the Savoia Hotel in Milan, Italy (see chit .pdf)
* $5000US dollars cash given to Pastor Benny Hinn (PBH), no details for the reason (see chit .pdf)
* A gift from Benny Hinn to a 'homeless woman with a baby' of $20US (see chit .pdf)

STORY UPDATE
Jordie, the young man in Calgary is still on dialysis and still looking for his miracle.

Little Grace is fine, says her Mom, but there's been no change in her physical condition. They haven't attended any more of Pastor Benny's crusades.

Also, in his letter to his followers after our original broadcast, Pastor Benny suggests that our reporting on his hotel expenses was misleading. He claims that the hotels he uses often give him rooms for free, or "deeply discounted". Well, we checked on that and the two luxury hotels which appear in our story, the ones in London and Milan, both told us that they do not offer deep discounts or freebies on those rooms.