Controversial televangelist Benny Hinn said his two “biggest regrets” in his decades-long ministry include promoting prophesies he now admits “weren’t accurate or from the Lord” and pushing “prosperity theology”.
“The two things I regret most in ministry: I used to be not too smart a variety of times with prophecy,” the 71-year-old charismatic preacher told Stephen Strang, host of The Strang Report, in a recent interview.
“I had guests come to the crusades that I believe brought harm to not only people’s lives but in addition to my repute because their prophecies were probably not prophecy. They went outside the borders of redemption.”
“And then there have been times when I assumed God had showed me something that He wasn’t showing me. And I spoke it out,” Hinn said. “But in 1 Corinthians 13, we clearly see that all of us prophesy partially. That means we do not see the total picture. And sadly — and I wish I could return and fix it — but sadly, there have been some prophesies I gave that weren’t accurate or from the Lord.”
“But who’s perfect?” he added.
“And for that, after all, I ask people to forgive me,” Hinn said. “I’m just human and made mistakes like that. And I’ll probably make them again, I suppose, down the road, because I’m not perfect.
“But you understand, it’s sad when people concentrate on the times you missed it. But that is just, you understand, the way in which it’s. Yet there have been times once I didn’t miss it,” Hinn claimed.
Hinn said his other biggest regret in ministry is his teachings on prosperity theology. Since the Nineteen Eighties, the Israeli-born American-Canadian has been one of the vital notorious purveyors of the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God rewards energetic faith and faithful payments of tithes and offerings with health and wealth.
“And that is been a really difficult one for me,” he said. “When I began in ministry, it was easy. And then the ministry grew. … I believe that is when my troubles began. I do not blame anyone, but sadly you get sort of in a spot [where] it becomes difficult. You do not know what to do and the right way to get out of it.
“So I got here to the conclusion in 2019 that I don’t desire to be a part of the gimmickry of it, and I still stand by that. But sadly, I let pressure get to me, and since of that pressure, I said things and did things that I shouldn’t have done,” Hinn said. “And for that, really, I’m sorry, and I ask the dear people watching us to actually forgive me for that. And I’m striving with all my heart to be as biblical as possible with that.”
“Right now, my focus is the Lord and only the Lord,” Hinn said. “And if, after all, there might be the time once I could have to boost funds for our ministry, I’ll do it as biblically as I know the way — and balanced.”
This isn’t the primary time Hinn has claimed to publicly resign his past teachings. In September 2019, he admitted his teachings on prosperity “got out of hand” and “damaged a whole lot of people” and said he wants the remaining years of his ministry to concentrate on evangelism and the Gospel — not the “health and wealth” theology that made him thousands and thousands.
“How long do I actually have on this Earth? What am I going to do in the following 20 years? That is for me to determine,” he said on the time. “I need to make certain that for the following 15-20 years of my life, that my message is the Cross. The real call on my life.”
“I need to be known for that,” Hinn continued. “I don’t desire to be referred to as the prosperity teacher. Prosperity is one thing within the Bible, there’s an entire lot more within the Word of God than prosperity, however it’s turn into a serious issue now due to gimmickry involved in it. That must stop.”
At the time, Hinn also hit back at reports of his tremendous wealth, including a net value of $60 million and multiple private jets, stating, “If I had that sort of money, I might give it to God. It’s madness … that is ludicrous. I do not know the way, even, that began.”
Biblical prosperity, he said, is “God blessing His people, caring for His people. Jesus made it very clear, if God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the sector, will He not look after us? Seek ye first the dominion of God and His righteousness, and all of the stuff you need won’t only come, but they’ll even be added to you.”
Hinn’s nephew, Costi Hinn, who has openly criticised his uncle and the prosperity gospel, told Christian News that he hopes for real repentance — not simply remorse — on his uncle’s part. However, he said that Hinn has previously expressed regret for his past teachings only to resume his behavior.
“Genuine repentance within the Bible is all the time accompanied by actions that prove that it’s really repentance,” he stated, explaining that repentance would look just like that of the account of Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector who returned money to those he had swindled out of his love for Jesus.
“Jesus saves him and goes to his house that day and is willing to eat a meal with him and show him love and style within the midst of his past and his sin,” he recalled. “And Zacchaeus is jumping for joy, excited to pay people back, excited to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus and show his real repentance through his actions.
“My desire is that Uncle Benny’s statement isn’t merely public remorse to save lots of face or protect his ministry from decline,” he stated, “but slightly that it’s real repentance and that he could be willing to forsake every part if it means gaining Christ and the total Gospel.”
