Halloween
What It Is From A Christian Perspective
Many Christians will allow and even encourage their children to pay respect to the devil on October 31 without knowing they do so. Churches will fully sanction the event with parties that will be decorated with witches, cats, brooms, jack-o-lanterns and bobbing apples. What is the harm? How did this originate?
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Benny Hinn
Justin Peters
Founded: Church: Orlando Christian Center of Orlando, Florida, 1983; Benny Hinn Ministries.
Key Books: Good Morning Holy Spirit, Welcome Holy Spirit, The Anointing, Rise and Be Healed, The Miracle of Healing, This Is Your Day For A Miracle, The Blood
Mass Media: This Is Your Day daily television program aired on TBN, INSP, Daystar, The God Channel, Revelation TV, Vision TV
Religious Affiliation: ordained by the International Convention of Faith Churches and Ministers.
HISTORY
Benedictus "Benny" Hinn was born on December 3, 1952 in Israel. His family emigrated to Toronto, Canada shortly after 1967 where he attended Georges Vanier Secondary School. Hinn writes, "During my senior year at Georges Vanier, for the second time in my life I had an encounter with the Lord." School records indicate, that he was an undergraduate in 1972 and dropped out before graduation.
Hinn has given contradictory accounts of his conversion. In a devotional published by the Praise the Lord (PTL) network in 1981, he states, "I got saved in Israel in 1968." In a message delivered in St. Louis in 1983, however, he said, "...it was in Canada that I was born again." In Good Morning Holy Spirit, Hinn relates that he was saved not in 1968 but in February of 1972.
The call to ministry came while attending a Kathryn Khulman crusade. According to Hinn, miracles of healing began to take place all over the auditorium. "I went back to Canada and thought about it. I'm going to try this,' I said.'"
Though Hinn credits numerous people influencing him in his early ministry, none has had a greater impact on him than has Kathryn Khulman (1907-76). Khulman is arguably the world's most widely recognized female faith healer #6 and was known for her practice of "slaying in the Spirit" and her use of "word of knowledge," both of which Hinn uses extensively. Their similarities in both attire and technique are striking. Khulman was known for her white dress, Hinn for his white suit. He has copied and perfected many of her mannerisms and phraseology. Though never having met Mrs. Khulman in person, he has stated that she has appeared to him from beyond the grave to give him encouragement and ministerial direction. Hinn has also been an admirer of Dr. Oral Roberts and the two share a close friendship.
Hinn admits no formal biblical training, but claims the Holy Spirit was his biblical instructor. On one occasion of enjoying intense fellowship with and instruction from the Holy Spirit, he was called to supper. As he was about to leave, Hinn claims "[I] felt someone take my hand and say, Five more minutes. Just five more minutes.' The Holy Spirit longed for my fellowship." At the time, his anointing was supposedly so strong that others could not even stand up in his presence.
In his early twenties, Hinn moved to Florida and married the daughter of a local pastor. In 1983 he founded a church, the Orlando Christian Center in Orlando, Florida. He was becoming a sought after speaker at venues nationwide and began conducting his miracle crusades in the late 1980's. His first nationally televised "Miracle Crusade" was held in Flint, MI in 1989. His television program, This Is Your Day, began airing in 1990. On his program, Hinn showed video clips of people claiming to have been physically healed at his crusades. Hinn would display discarded crutches and empty wheelchairs on the platform. His fame spread and he was soon conducting regular miracle crusades in huge venues around the world.
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