Televangelist, faith healer and flamboyant entrepreneur Benny Hinn landed in Hong Kong this week to stage his traveling “miracle” show, reports the South China Morning Post (“Church leaders say the public should be sceptical of a visiting preacher’s powers,” February 10, 2003).
However, the high flying Hinn wasn’t all that well received.
The supposed healer’s lavish lifestyle, which includes luxury suites on the road and a multi-million dollar “parsonage” now under instruction, solicited harsh criticism.
One respected Chinese theologian called Hinn “The worst kind of charlatan, the kind of person who gives religion a bad name.” And added, “He preys on people…I consider him a person without any personal moral integrity.”
The American faith healer has not proven a single miracle through any meaningful scientific inquiry.
Instead, subjective claims are routinely made by his supporters and amount to little more than anecdotal stories offered without any objective evidence.
The Post observed that Hinn enthusiasts seem to be in a “hypnotic trance,” when they fall over in the supposed healer’s presence.
Some have said his crusades actually resemble a stage hypnotist’s act.
But despite his critics Benny Hinn continues to be one of the most successful religious entrepreneurs in the world. His ministry now pulls in an estimated $100 million annually.
And to his faithful fans he remains a “man of God” that has been “anointed.”
Well, whatever Hinn is he certainly seems to have “anointed” himself with the visible trappings of wealth.
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