For the week of March 6th, 1998

Benny Hinn is the Anti-Christ

A little while ago, after a series of all-night study binges, I decided to rest and turn on the TV. It was 7:30 in the morning, but I knew of something on at that ungodly hour that was funny, crass, embarrassing, and downright entertaining. No, not Jerry Springer, it was the Benny Hinn hour.

Yes, that's right people, I said Benny Hinn and his "crusades" to change people to believers in God and himself, and for those believers to shell out lots of dough to continue his quest for a new white suit and a singing voice.

You know, I don't know what to do when I watch him. Being a follower, if not a church-going member, of the Catholic religion, I am embarrassed that people believe that he's actually "saving" people (apparently, he gave a man a new liver by touching him on the forehead). I can't imagine why people will pay to get into stadiums to watch his "mass" and that he sells out every time. It's hard to swallow that people stand his singing voice. But I also laugh at people who fall at his touch, and that he has a touring choir. I can sing better than him, I wonder if I could get in? I wonder if there are choir groupies?

But I digress, even though I can't get over that damn voice. What is really bothering me is that Mr. Hinn and that voice are raking in on those people's ideology. He does God's work, heals with one hand and steals your wallet with the other. And people trust, and they pay. All with smiles on their faces, tears in their eyes and hope in their hearts.

This is one entertaining hour for anyone with a stomach for it. I watch, laughing at his words, angry at his manipulations, and fearing that really he's building an Army for the apocalypse. But also I am in awe of that man, because he has enough charisma to make a packed stadium think Jesus was on stage beside him and healing the people coming up. I don't mean that he said Jesus was working through him, I mean he said (and made everyone there believe) that Jesus was working on stage with him. That takes some doing to make people see that.

In actual fact, I envy those people. Those people are diving into their faith, willing to believe and follow it to the ends of the Earth. They're willing to give up thousands of dollars to the cause. If what Benny Hinn is doing is false, they don't know it, and to them what he says is a truth that is written in stone.

But what bothers me about a belief that strong is their conviction, which is just as strong, that every other religion is wrong, and that everyone who doesn't follow with them is going to hell: their feeling that AIDS is a God-made virus to kill homosexuals; that Muslim, Hindu, Buddist, and all the rest are actual Satanists, not what they really are. Now, not all assume these things, but enough to make me shudder. And I thought Benny Hinn's voice was bad enough.

In the end, faith is good. It gives people who feel they have nothing believe in themselves and in the world in general. But with a leader like Benny Hinn, I have to wonder if I should climb up Mount Sinai, pray about the stupidity of the world, and jump off. Hey, we all have to do what we can. You have your beliefs, I have mine.

Copyright © 1999 Besz Dispenser Publications, Inc.