People around the globe know Pastor Benny Hinn as a notable evangelist, teacher, and the author of several books. Yet there is much more to the story of the man who has shared the Gospel with multitudes across the globe for more than five decades.
Benny Hinn was born on December 3, 1952, in Israel, where his family had set up residence as immigrants to Palestine from Greece. In 1968, not long after the Six-Day War, he moved with his family to Canada.
In February 1972, Benny Hinn’s life took on an entirely new meaning when he surrendered his heart and life to Jesus Christ as high school friends prayed with him.
Soon afterward, he was called to minister the Gospel. He was hesitant. The year dragged on.
In April 1974, young Benny received a vision of people falling into a roaring inferno and heard the words: “if you do not preach, every soul that falls will be your responsibility!”
“Finally, I couldn’t avoid the subject any longer. I said to the Lord, I will preach the gospel on one condition: that You be with me in every service.” God agreed.
On December 7, 1974, four days after his 22nd birthday, Benny Hinn first stood behind a pulpit to preach the Gospel—his life-long stuttering problem suddenly healed! From that moment, he would fearlessly seek to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission.
In 1975, with assistance, Hinn drafted an application for tax-exempt status for the Benny Hinn Evangelical Association, a ministry that would endeavour to “evangelize men and women bringing them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord.”
His life was changed forever by the impartation of anointing and wisdom by pioneers like Kathryn Kuhlman, Maxwell Whyte, Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard, Lester Sumrall, and his father-in-law, Roy Harthern.
In as much as Benny Hinn’s ministry has expanded across the globe, he says it is important for Church ministers not to give up their private time of fellowship with the Holy Spirit due to the heavy demands of ministry.
In 2019, he issued a statement wherein he said he was “correcting his own theology” around the prosperity gospel. “Sometimes you go a little farther than you really need to go and then God brings you back to normality and reality,” he started.
“The flesh must be out of the way for men to make it to Heaven on the last day. Teaching on prosperity is a feel good message. I am sorry to say this that prosperity has gone a little beat crazier this time around and today, I want to correct my own theology about prosperity gospels, sowing of seeds and monetization of the gospel. When I read the Bible now, I don’t see it with the same eye I saw it 20 years ago,” Benny stated.
Adding: “I think it’s an offense to the Lord, it’s an offense to say give $1,000. I think it’s an offense to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the Gospel. I’m done with it. I will never again ask you to give $1,000 or whatever amount, because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it.”
Pastor Benny is increasingly mindful that God has clearly shown him that what he has experienced in almost 50 years of ministry, must be passed on to younger believers and Christian leaders.
