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What's News

(Volume 1: Number 8) -- July 18, 1997

Below you will find a post to Apologia's discussion list for finding and sharing information on apologetics resources, AR-talk. The subject is the news that charismatic Christian television personality Benny Hinn has come out in opposition to the Toronto Blessing movement.

Subject: AR-talk Benny Hinn Condemns Toronto Blessing/Pensacola Phenomena
To: AR-talk, ar-talk@apologia.org
Originally from: harrymac@arctic.net (Harry McFarland)
Originally dated: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:02:30 -0800

This was distributed on a Pentecostal/Charismatic list. Thought it would interest all.
Harry McFarland

>Subject: Benny Hinn Condemns Toronto Blessing/Pensacola Phenomena
>Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 00:22:33 -0500
>
>Transcript From: >Praise The Lord! Show
>Trinity Broadcasting Network
>July 4, 1997
>
>...Quit seeking revival and seek the Lord Who will revive you. You see, we
>are not seeking a move, not an experience. We are seeking Jesus, and when
>you seek Jesus, He'll breathe that mighty power of the Spirit. We're not
>seeking something that gives us a goosebump on the spine that only lasts on
>Sunday and is gone Monday. We want a genuine experience in the Spirit, and
>it only happens when Jesus is present. >...Look, I'm going to open my heart and talk to you tonight, because I >believe what is happening in the church today - God wants to bring a mighty >invasion of power, but there's a few things the Lord is having to correct.
>You see, when a river flows, it must have banks. Otherwise, there'll be a
>flood that can destroy a lot of land. We're all hungry for the river, but
>we must have control, gotta have some banks. We've got to be able to say
>"This is not of God. It's over here, not over there."
> You have so much today that is pure flesh, yet people have labeled
>it as the Spirit. It's not the Spirit, because it's not centered on Christ.
>It's pure emotionalism. Some of what is happening today, some of these
>manifestations where people are barking, making sounds of animals - I can
>tell you, that is not the Holy Spirit. It is purely demonic. The Holy Ghost
>does not bark. Only a devil barks. If somebody barks in my meeting, I'll
>cast the devil out of that man.
> You say, Benny Hinn, you are bold. No, my brother, I'm not only
>bold, it is time to tell it. Let's never forget, if you are outside the
>borders of this Bible, you are on dangerous grounds. We must get back to
>the Bible. We must get back to the Word of God. And let's stop allowing
>such nonsense and such foolishness as barking in church, going on
>hysterically as though - you know, some of the things so offend me, so
>repulsive ... There is no such thing my brother. There is no such thing my
>sister - and you hear me good! You say, "Benny Hinn, you're stepping on my
>toes." I surely am stepping on your toes! It's time we got back to the Word
>of the living God and quit allowing some new thing that goes by to take our
>attention away from Jesus.
> Now you've got this new thing they call "stage diving." The newest
>thing out. They dive into the air and somebody catches them and supposedly
>they get freed from devils when they dive off. That is the stupidest thing
>I've heard. I don't need to dive off to be free. I just need to call upon
>the Name of the Lord and I'll be free. It is totally ridiculous.
> You watching TBN here. If you're doing such nonsense, get back to
>the Bible. And don't you dare experiment with what is not Scriptural,
>checking out if God is in it. My brother, if it's not in the Bible, He's
>not in it!! If it's not in the Word of God, He is not in it.
> There is no such thing as a laughing revival. There is no such
>thing as a laughing - it is not in the Bible. I do not see it in the Bible.
>Much of what happens is pure emotionalism - contagious laughter. What does
>it do except make you look stupid? I am not interested in some emotional
>up. All I want is the power of almighty God that will transform your life.
>It is time we say it. It is time we tell the world.
> Maybe you can't say it. I can. I have nothing to lose. Let me tell
>you something. There's a hungry world out there, and here we are having our
>little spiritual picnics! Our spiritual picnics. And forgetting a world out
>there that is hungry for God.
> My brother, do you know why the psychics are on television? You
>know who the psychics have replaced, don't you? They've replaced some
>preachers. Here are the psychics on television blinking people by the
>thousands into their domain, where there is bondage, and here we are having
>little spiritual picnics in our little churches, going into such nonsense,
>such display that is not of the Spirit.
> No, no, no, I don't care what you think. I don't care if you like
>me or not like me, I am going to stick with this [waves Bible] as long as
>live.
> 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!"
> Such weird experiences. I remember back in the seventies, we had a
>few coo-coos in the church. We have more of them now in the nineties. A
>woman came to me back in the '70s. I had just started preaching. I was in a
>hotel room, Ron [Parsley] - sorry, a hotel lobby, with a friend of mine
>named Bill Prankard who is a preacher in Canada, and this woman comes from
>behind and she taps me on the shoulder. So I turn around to see what she
>wanted and she does this: "beep beep, beep, beep, beep beep, beep, beep."
>She's making the sounds with her mouth and tapping at the same time. "Beep
>beep, beep, beep, beep beep, beep, beep." > I said, "Can I help you?"
> She said, "Please interpret. God talks to me in Morse Code."
> That woman was nuts. Total craziness, total foolishness. But I've
>got to tell you. That was back in the 70s. Now they're making turkey
>sounds, chicken sounds, lion sounds, dog sounds, and it's supposed to be
>the Lord!
> I've never known Jesus to bark. Have you? Can you imagine Peter the
>apostle barking in the book of Acts?
> But you know why some have accepted such nonsense? Because they're >not grounded. They are not grounded.
> Don't you dare experiment with anything. If it's not in the Bible,
>don't do it! If it's not in the Word, don't accept it. Even if it looks
>good, smells good, feels good. If it's not in the Bible, don't touch it. It
>must be backed up with the Word of the living God, or otherwise you are on
>dangerous grounds.
> Such things do nothing but bring confusion and division. They bring
>confusion - it's not in the Bible. I'm telling you something. People,
>please hear me, I beg of you.
> ...But recently, while I was in Nicaragua, same stadium you were
>at, at the end of the service, masses of people as far as I could see in
>the soccer stadium. At the end I gave the altar call and they came rushing
>with force. And suddenly something happened that I'll never forget as long
>as I live. These parents began to hand me their children, almost forcing
>their children upon me. And our teams stood there and cried as we saw
>little bodies with heads laid down that couldn't pick their own heads up,
>and torn little children's bodies and mangled. I saw a little baby with a
>growth on his head the size of his head. I saw such things that you just
>stand there and you're numb. I saw the faces of the daddies and the mommies
>with such agony, such desperation, and they handed a child, hoping against
>hope that maybe the God you serve can get them a miracle. And then you come
>back to America and you have to put up with such stupidity of Christians
>getting together in homes and little churches, having little picnic
>sessions!!!!
> ...Saints, I beg of you, come out of your little picnic sessions
>and get out on the streets and let the world know that Jesus lives! How
>much more do you want? How many meetings can you go to? My God, some people
>are so fat they can't move. They've been fed, they've been blessed more
>than they could ever contain any more blessings. They've had more, more,
>more, more than the world that's starving for the crumbs. You've had the
>abundance, the abundance, the abundance, the abundance. 96% of the world's
>population lives outside America and 97% of the world's preachers live in
>America. Such few preachers for such a great multitude and so many
>preachers for such a little multitude.
> ...I asked Dr. Summerall before he died. I said, "Dr. Summerall,
>what do you think of all these things happening, people barking and doing
>all these things?" > "Devils, devils," he said. "Devils."
> You know, it's quite so simple, really! Let's get back to this
>[pointing to Bible]! Let's get back to this! --

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