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Part three of a series. Read part two.
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The heir apparent to the world's leading prosperity gospel financial empire, who has since broken from it and been truly born again, takes readers behind the scenes in a gripping book.
Costi W. Hinn is a name that will be unfamiliar to most readers - but his last name may not be. He is the nephew of the notorious prosperity "gospel" preacher Benny Hinn. Costi Hinn was the heir apparent to the Benny Hinn religio-financial empire. In his book, God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel published by Zondervan in 2019, Costi Hinn takes readers behind the scenes into a world of falsehood and corruption that deceptively wraps itself in the name of Jesus Christ and blasphemously claims to be a work of the Holy Spirit.
In his book, Costi Hinn recalls participating in crusade meetings where afterward the family sat in a back room and divided up the cash offering among themselves - tens of thousands of dollars that people had given that evening in the misplaced hope of being healed of diseases and of being made materially prosperous by God. He recounts going on "ministry" trips to the Middle East by private jet where Benny Hinn and his entourage stayed in $40,000-a-night luxury hotel suites. He speaks of going to India to stay in another luxury hotel, but passing through the streets and seeing poor, virtually penniless, ill-clothed wretches lined up by the thousands waiting to crowd into the stadium where Benny Hinn would appear that night. Costi Hinn can be seen in many Benny Hinn meeting videos as one of the "catchers" who would grab people who fell backward on the platform, allegedly "slain in the Spirit". He speaks of wearing ten thousand dollar watches, lavish gold jewelry, and driving the most expensive cars, all while he was still a teenager.
Beginning in his college years, Costi Hinn by God's grace began to see the evils of prosperity preaching and rejected the movement at considerable personal cost. He began to see that it was all a lie. Through the influence of true Christians - first a college baseball coach, and later a pastor in California, among others - he began to see that the prosperity gospel was a cruel deception. He saw that God, not man, is sovereign in salvation, in healing - indeed, in all things. Costi Hinn broke away from his family, gave up all the riches, and was serving as a youth pastor in a small church in California when he was asked to fill in for the senior pastor while he was away. In preparing his sermon, from the account of the paralytic man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5, Costi Hinn at last saw the truth of the Gospel clearly and was saved. He went on to pursue seminary training.
Now in his early forties, Costi Hinn is a pastor in Arizona and president of For the Gospel, a media ministry. (This series does not constitute an endorsement of FTG or those involved in it, although I find substantial agreement with FTG's doctrinal statement and outlook.) Pastor Hinn would describe himself as a theological work in progress. (Is anyone who is truly born from above not that?) He readily admits that it has not been easy for him to shed all the influences of his prosperity-gospel past, but by God's grace he seeks to follow the authority of Scripture alone, and to point others to the uniquely authoritative Word. We are grateful for his testimony, and humbly pray for his continued growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.[1]
In an article titled "Healthy, Wealthy, and Lies" in the January-March 2022 issue of Answers magazine, Costi Hinn wrote this:
You can hardly watch a Christian television network without seeing preachers in expensive suits proclaiming God's desire to bless the audience with financial and physical security. Their message goes by various names: the health and wealth gospel, the word of faith movement, seed faith, and "name it and claim it" Christianity. But perhaps it's best known as the prosperity gospel. I should know - at one time I was right in the middle of it.
The Hinn family is known for its association with healing services and the prosperity gospel. I was three years old when my father launched his church, following the model set up by my well-known uncle, Benny Hinn. My father even founded The Signs and Wonders School of Ministry to supposedly teach anyone - who was willing to pay - how to speak in tongues or perform miracles.
Propagating the prosperity gospel certainly caused my family to prosper. By the time I was 13, we had a 10,000-square-foot home with a sports court and private gate. We drove multiple Mercedes-Benz vehicles and vacationed in expensive hotels around the world. Not until college did God send people with the right questions to crack my false beliefs and plant seeds that would eventually lead me to the truth.
My early life gave me a front-row seat to experience what I now know to be an insidious theology. In fact, the prosperity gospel is one of the most dangerous theological ideas in the world today. It spans the globe, spiritually abusing people from all walks of life in devastating ways.
The prosperity gospel distorts the Biblical Gospel. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of Eden, they plunged mankind into spiritual death and the reality of living in a world plagued by disease, suffering, poverty, violence, and physical death. Our fallen world makes the perfect environment for prosperity gospel proponents to spread the false idea that God's highest goal is to remove all suffering and scarcity.
But is the Gospel about the gifts or the Giver? Is the Gospel about earthly riches or eternal life? Is the Gospel about monetary gain or the glory of God?
We can properly understand the Biblical Gospel by looking at what is perhaps the most comprehensive Gospel passage in the entire Bible. Ephesians 2:4-9 contains explosive statements regarding God's mercy on us as people helplessly dead in sin.
And here let us present that passage:
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
In his magazine article, Costi Hinn continues:
These verses assure us that we are saved only by grace through faith and remind us of what God accomplished in Christ on our behalf.
The prosperity gospel distorts the Biblical gospel by making the good news all about us and possessions. Prosperity gospel preachers manipulate the [true] Gospel, claiming salvation will make you happy, healthy, and wealthy. I've got news for you - actually, I've got good news for you: the Gospel is about your soul's eternal security, not a comfortable 75 years enjoying earthly riches. The Gospel is concerned with repentance and faith in Christ as your Savior - the ultimate treasure of your longing soul. [2]
God willing this series will continue using excerpts from Pastor Hinn's Answers magazine article, with additional material from his book and other sources.
References:
1. With rare exceptions, TeachingTheWord Ministries' policy has been to publish favorably only the writings of men who have already gone on to glory, after having remained "faithful until death" and thus having received the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). Many ministries have later regretted publishing materials by individuals who for many years "ran well" but subsequently departed from the truth (Galatians 5:7). We have had this experience on at least two occasions ourselves. So it is, frankly, with a degree of caution - but also great hope - that we introduce Pastor Hinn to readers who may not be aware of him and his testimony, in this article and those that will follow, God willing.
2. Costi W. Hinn, "Healthy, Wealthy, and Lies", Answers magazine, January-March 2022, page 73. Used by permission.
Next: The Prosperity Gospel Insults God's Nature
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