Hinn's Ministry Seeking Booster Funds

Hinn has been on TV asking for funds as if he is going out of business. He stated that he had to cut back on the missionaries he supports because the funds are simply not coming in. Hinn did not sacrifice one piece of his lavish lifestyle, instead he appealed to his donors to dig deeper in their pockets for his crusade work. Hinn’s parsonage is now estimated to be worth $10 million dollar. Hinn as CEO of his ministry has a salary being upwards of $1.3 million each year according to wall watchers. He owns two Mercedes valued at $80,000 each. The bills for purchasing and tailoring Benny’s suits are between many thousands of dollars per month. He owns a private jet (Gulfstream III) that cost over twelve million dollars, with over a million dollars for maintenance per year. His layovers between Crusades at locations such as Hawaii are upwards to $3,000 for one night.

Yet Hinn can say to his TV audience worldwide “Not everybody is listening to what is being preached, in fact some of these dear people out there, honest sincere people see us Christians and see preachers as money hungry and after money, which is so sad because that’s not a true picture. Just because a few may have gone off in prosperity and have preached things that are not Biblical does not mean we are all like that…” (This is Your Day program Jan.10, 2005).

A friend recently passed on the personal letter Hinn wrote him about the serious situation of his ministry. In this letter Hinn states: nearly 20 million people have already heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ since January of this year!

With urgency in my spirit I must let you know that, unless we receive additional financial support right now, we may have to cancel some of our upcoming crusades.

While Hinn told his audience before he went to India Before Hinn went “help take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world” (Jan.10, 2005) Hinn mentions Bangalore and says “do your best to support the work of the Lord” “For the gospel, this is PURE GOSPEL, for the preaching of the gospel in this nation and around the world but especially for these crusades that are happening now.” (Jan.18 2005)

This is just one of the many questions Hinn answered to the Bangalore news while in India

 Q: But how do you dispel the allegations that you are out here to convert people?
Hinn: I have not come to India to convert people. I have to come to tell the people that God loves them.

To tell them God loves them saves no one, and is not preaching the gospel but a mere portion

According to the FACTS ABOUT India website, “India remains a very poor nation, with an average yearly income of $350.”  Hinn’s stay in the hotel for a day was equal to the average yearly income of the poor in India. We may wonder where Jesus would stay if he visited India. It just does not seem the same as Jesus saying the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

The representatives for the Nigerian government had a special invitation by the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria delivered to Hinn in this crusade that was televised on his program. They told Hinn that God told them to ask him to come there. Hinn affirmed that God spoke to him to go as well. That he must go there to pray a healing, anointing prayer over the entire country. (This is Your Day, October 25, 2004). See A Healer of the Nations

In the recent article “American evangelist, Benny Hinn leaves Nigeria in annoyance” Benny Hinn arrived Nigeria on April 28, he was looking forward to a quintessential crusade that would be attended by about six million people…. on the third day of the crusade when he said with regret that the money he pumped into the project could have been put to better use.

“Four million dollars down the drain!” he reportedly shouted during the crusade, with his voice cracking with emotion. onlinenigeria.com   http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/default.aspx?a=1189&z=12 ] 

Hinn obviously did not know that Nigerian laws do not allow people to take donations out of the country they must be kept and used inside the country.
This is all an interesting turn of events considering this happened when Hinn held a special program announcing the new direction from God for Benny Hinn's ministries. He was to go to other countries instead of staying in America with his crusades. Was God or Benny Hinn wrong? We need to keep in mind that Hinn claims to see Jesus every time he prays and that he receives visitations to make everything clear to him. 

Monday, Jun. 6, 2005 Wall Watchers, has issued a Donor Alert for Benny Hinn Ministries/World Outreach Church (BHM), after the national television program, NBC Dateline, informed the public that the ministry's use of donor funds included extravagant personal gains and other reasons.

Wall Watchers’ CEO Rusty Leonard explained that Dateline's report of facts and allegations coupled with previous concerns about Benny Hinn's “self-taught” and “self-serving” Prosperity Theology, which promotes a feel good philosophy – has caused Wall Watchers to recommend that donors redirect gifts to a “biblically-based” ministry.

On Sunday night, March 6, 2005, Dateline NBC, which covers investigative reports and personal stories, devoted one hour to a documentary on the millions sent to Benny Hinn Ministries.

The program revealed that besides Hinn's salary being upwards of one million each year, Hinn also owns a $10 million dollar mansion, a private jet with $1.5 million in maintenance costs each year, and two Mercedes valued at $80,000 each. Layovers between Crusades at locations such as Hawaii and Milan cost from $900 to almost $3,000 for one night. Receipts showed that Hinn received $25,000 in petty cash for a Crusade that was 30 minutes from his home.

According to the statement released by Wall Watchers, “BHM has far more money than it needs to carry out its ministry.”

In addition, Hinn manipulates people by promising healing to those with chronic illnesses and claiming that donations are “seeds” that will bear monetary riches at a later time.

“There was never one record that would suit the criteria for documented miracle healing,” former Hinn employee, Nathan Daniel told Dateline.

After the NBC investigative report, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability issued a statement on its website informing the several thousands of visitors wanting to learn more about financial transparency, that Benny Hinn Ministries is not amongst the 1,150 accredited organizations that meet its criteria for membership.

According to Wall Watcher's Leonard, critics oppose the fact that “Hinn and his family enjoy a lavish lifestyle with funds intended for charitable purposes, preaches a fraudulent, self-serving version of the Bible, manipulates individuals at 'healing crusades' for personal gain, and the ministry is nontransparent and lacks independent board oversight.”

MinistryWatch.com recommends that donors “prayerfully consider withholding contributions to Benny Hinn” and invites all Christians to join in praying for Benny Hinn and his family to “humbly submit themselves to a process of personal repentance and restoration.”