Does Michael Brown know more about Benny Hinn than he lets on?

Now, unless you’ve been living in a cave, you already know about Michael Brown and Benny Hinn.  Michael Brown has basically gone out of his way to associate himself with a false teacher, treating him as a brother.   Benny Hinn is one of the wolves that Jesus warned the church about, and Michael Brown’s bringing him to the bosom with the excuse of ignorance of him is hard to take seriously, especially considering the following:

1.  I don’t follow Benny Hinn’s ministry either (much like Michael Brown), but I also don’t need to.  I need no more than a small amount of time on the internet to find some incredibly damning stuff like this (1 Tim 3:5 anyone?) or this (you’d think that just the level of accusation would merit some further research.  Hinn isn’t accused of sins of the heart; he is accused of blatant false prophecy, sexual misconduct, etc.) or this:

What’s even more damning of Benny Hinn is Benny Hinn himself.  Watch the first 30 seconds (or more if you want) here:

And then watch from 9:01 – 9:31 (or more if you can stomach it) of this:

Yup.  You heard right.  Benny Hinn himself tells you, his listener, that he’s a counterfeit and you shouldn’t pay attention to him, okay?  If anyone is an authority on Benny Hinn, it’s Benny Hinn.  From now on, I’ll ignore Benny Hinn and consider him a fraud because he told me to.

(Wait a minute…what just happened?)

Now I found all that in less than 60 minutes, which included the the time of listening to those three videos as I searched.  If I’m ever invited on a program (good luck!) and the host is accused of being a globally notorious false teacher, I’ll check it out before appearing with him in public or even silently sitting beside him and giving him a passive endorsement.

2.  It really looks like a revelation of Michael Brown’s true colors.

Come on.  That’s a little harsh Lyndon!

Well, Michael Brown is a charismatic leader who has been around those circles for decades, and he’s always been associated with Benny Hinn level stuff for 19+ years. Start watching the following video around the 2:30 mark; notice that Steve Hill calls Michael Brown to help, and you can see him smacking heads in the video (also interesting how the ushers are able to shield the musicians from the “Holy Spirit”…).

This tends to look a fair bit like the stuff that Benny Hinn does, no?

Michael Brown may proclaim a true gospel, but when his practice absolutely undermines his profession (or betrays a lack of biblical discernment that I simply find impossible for a man with his age, education and experience), my confidence in affirming him as a brother in the Lord starts to get really shaky. I look at what any person says and take it at face value, but what you do tells me how to interpret what you say.

I’ve been quick to defend Michael Brown against accusations of being a false teacher, but I no longer know what to think.

3. I suspect that they have a history.

This is definitely the biggest reason I find the excuse of ignorance of  hard to take seriously

Benny Hinn was, for a time, an Assemblies of God pastor.  He joined them in 1994, but he resigned in late 1995 after there were some complaints about his various practices and heresies.  That’s right all, he lasted a little over one year; the amount of time your average youth pastor lasts (somewhere around 18-24 months).  Want to know something else that is interesting?

The Brownsville “revival” occurred in Brownsville Assemblies of God Church from around 1995-2000 and coincided with the Toronto Airport Vineyard (now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship) “revival”.  Shortly after Benny Hinn left the Assemblies of God, Hinn apparently spoke out rather heavily against Brownsville and Toronto (the two big revivals in that time, and his major competition for people and money).  Now Toronto was sometimes referred to as the barking revival, and I’ve heard Brownsville referred to as the moaning revival. You can definitely see the moaning here, and Michael Brown is obviously involved:

That’s a whole lot of moaning, no?  Well, moaning and several other equally strange “manifestations”.  Actually, it reminds me of Acts chapter 2 where the Holy Ghost fell, everyone fell into a moaning trance and someone blew a duck call (check out 6:37 on the third video).  I’ll reserve the 19 volumes of commentary that I could share and just share this video with some thoughts:

If you watch the video from the beginning, you see a ton more moaning, but at from 3:18-3:54, you see God’s providence in videography.  There are a whole bunch of people apparently getting the Holy Spirit as his power is poured out, except for the one guy who needs it most.  That clip set against Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 12:15; John 5:2-9; Acts 3:1-10, 5:16 and Acts 8:7 suggest that whatever Brownsville was, it wasn’t like what Jesus and his apostles were doing.

So what was it?

It was demonic, or at least that’s what Benny Hinn apparently said what he spoke out against both the Toronto and Pensacola “revivals” in 1997.  Regarding Brownsville, Benny Hinn said:

And may I tell you something? You see now some teaching of groaning and moaning, it is the [unintelligible]. My brother, my sister, the Holy Ghost groans within. I am not groaning. It’s the flesh – you understand now? When it’s the Holy Ghost, you’re not involved. He doesn’t need your help.  I saw a woman. She seemed to be in such pain.

I said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m praying.”

 And I said, “Well, why are you bent over like that?”

 “I feel the agony of God.”

 I said, “Devil, come out of her!”

(Also, in that transcript he condemns “holy laughter”, which he also has participated in.  There’s another thing he has embraced that he has also condemned…)

I’m guessing that Benny Hinn condemning Brownsville on TBN would have caught the attention of someone at Brownsville.  With thousands of people attending that church, and tens of thousands traveling there, someone would have brought that up.  I mean, when Benny Hinn joked about wanting to murder John MacArthur on TBN, people at Grace Community Church heard about it…and they watch TBN about as much as Michael Brown.

What’s more, back in the year 2,000 there were some serious “discussions” within the Assemblies of God about the rampant heresies in their ranks.  This lead to the writing of 16 resolutions and a response to the resolution (notice how it openly condemns prosperity theology?)  Michael Brown was still AoG at that time (though not credentialed or officially connected as far as I know), and was no small player; he ran a rather large school of ministry at one of their most significant churches.  I’m sure he would have heard about the stuff being addressed  and Benny Hinn certainly would have come up in the discussions, what with being one of the top 5 prosperity preachers on planet earth and a somewhat recent loss from the AoG.  Michael Brown had to have heard about Hinn enough to at least be aware of him and some of the charges against him.

What ironic is that now that Brownsville has died, Benny Hinn has been a guest at Brownsville as late as last year:

Now that’s all interesting, is it not?

Not definitive proof of anything, certainly.  Still, it begs some serious questions that I’m not sure I could find answers for (as in verifying the Hinn quote against Brownsville with an original recording of that PTL episode).

No will Michael Brown be upset at this?

Nope.  Probably not.  He’s apparently already stopped paying attention to me and has tossed me into the “ignore” file, so that’s fine.  I’m not interested in winning him or, or gaining any positive influence anymore.  We’re in different countries, theological circles, and spheres of influence.  We don’t speak the same language, are on polar opposite positions on this issue at a foundational level, and the Bible tells me that the only thing that will “win” him is prayer.

I’m still going to review his book, and I’ll do that for the sincerely inquisitive people in whom the Holy Spirit is working to sort through these issues.

Until Next Time,

Lyndon “I’d rather have a Holy Ghost sniper rifle” Unger

P.S. –  You simply have to watch this testimony of a “resurrection” on this video, 4:18-4:37.  Jan Crouch is the closest thing to a real life Muppet I’ve ever seen.  I ran across that and just had to share.

Also, you may want to watch the rest as Benny Hinn peddles a clear and unashamed prosperity gospel on that clip. Finally and just to be clear on where I stand regarding Benny Hinn, feel free to quote me:

In the Amazonian rainforest there are tribes, as yet untouched by civilization, more orthodox than Benny Hinn.