Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Could God Be Stirring This Pot? (July 26, 2010)


In February of this year, it was announced in the media that Suzanne Hinn, wife of the famous faith healer and televangelist Benny Hinn, filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage. This came as a great shock and surprise to many believers and supporters of the Benny Hinn Ministries. Short after the divorce announcement, pastor Benny Hinn responded with a written statement defending his position and declaring himself innocent in this ordeal. Below, you can read usurps of what Benny Hinn said about his wife filing for divorce.
Dear Partner,
I come to you with a broken heart.
You may have heard by now that my wife, Suzanne, whom I love very much and always will, filed for divorce on February 1. Even though Suzanne has been under great stress, the children and I never expected this to happen. Divorce was the last thing on my mind and theirs.
It was a total shock when her lawyer called me the morning of February 17 to inform me that she had filed 16 days before. Suzanne never gave the family even a hint that this was on her mind. Even to this moment, the children and I don’t know why she did it. Neither did her parents know, until I told them myself on the 17th.
As I said earlier, I love my wife, and I am praying that the Lord Himself will take care of this and bring healing to my precious family.
I also want you, my very dear partner, to know that there was absolutely no immorality involved in my life or in Suzanne’s, ever. We both kept our lives clean and were totally committed to each other for 30 years of marriage.
My wife has no biblical grounds for what she has done.
We both have kept our covenant with God and stayed pure before Him, and I am praying with all my heart that our precious Lord Jesus will heal my family and protect His work for His glory.
I want you, as my partner in this ministry, to know that I am going to continue preaching the Gospel and praying for the sick as I have for 36 years. I will not allow anything to slow me down or stop me.
Here is the link for the complete statement: http://www.bennyhinn.org/emailletters/pbhletter.cfm?referrer=na_eb022510
Yesterday, as Sophia and I were checking out at the Wal-Mart register, we spotted the front cover of the latest edition of the tabloid magazine National Enquirer which said: “TV Preacher Caught With Mistress.” Curious, we flipped through the pages and surprisingly found pictures taken of Pastor Benny Hinn and televangelist Paula White (who not too long ago divorced from her second husband) intimately holding hands as they were coming out of a hotel in Rome, Italy. The National Enquirer went on to say:
Married TV evangelist Benny Hinn is hiding a shocking secret love affair from his flock!
In a blockbuster exclusive sure to rock the worldwide Christian community, the Enquirer has learned the popular televangelist recently sneaked off with fellow minister Paula White for a romantic trip to Rome.
We caught the couple walking hand-in-hand out of the five-star Hotel Hassler, where Pastor Benny was booked into the presidential suite under a false name, on July 13.
Although the 57-year-old multimillionaire faith healer and host of TV’s “This Is Your Day” is separated from his wife Suzanne, the couple are not yet divorced.
Upon this, both Benny Hinn and Paula White openly responded on their websites giving almost identical statements defending themselves as they strongly deny all these allegations as being dishonest and misleading. Below you can read Benny Hinn’s version of what really took place according to him.
You can see Paula White’s statement here: http://www.paulawhite.org/pages/misleading_article_response/
To my precious partner,
As you may be aware, the National Enquirer recently released a dishonest and misleading article which falsely characterized my friendship with Paula White. The publication, which is known for its bias against religious figures, misleads readers regarding the ministerial friendship I have had with Paula White for over 20 years.
As you know, my wife, Suzanne, filed for divorce at the beginning of this year. If it were not for the comfort of the precious Holy Spirit and the Word of God to give me encouragement throughout this process, I cannot imagine how I could have survived the past five months. Throughout this season, your love and prayers have helped strengthen me to continue ministering around the world. Were it not for your faithfulness and the presence of my wonderful Lord Jesus, the loneliness of carrying this burden by myself would have been unbearable.
In late May of this year, Paula White came to tape a This Is Your Day broadcast with me. Although I had not seen her for years, she was an encouragement to me and shared helpful advice out of her own painful experience. As a result, I will not deny that the friendship has strengthened, and, while it has remained morally pure at all times, I have enjoyed the company of someone who has also gone through the trauma of a painful and public divorce.
But most of you know me personally and know that I have faithfully preached the Gospel for over 35 years. I have never failed my marriage vows and would never dishonor the precious name of Jesus, whom I adore with all my being...and I never will! As I have often said, I would rather die than bring dishonor to His name.
And so I am writing to tell you today that I forcefully, categorically, and absolutely renounce the lies that have been spread about me and want to set the record straight with you. There is nothing inappropriate or morally improper about my friendship with Paula White.
There has been no immorality whatsoever!
The article also indicated that on a recent trip to Italy we met secretly and stayed together. This could not be further from the truth and is absolutely false! The truth is that we traveled independently to the region for respective ministry duties. I was invited by Vatican officials to visit the Vatican to discuss future ministry opportunities there. Paula was likewise invited to have meetings in the region, and, although we spent time together, we were never alone and were in the constant company of staff and family members.
That notwithstanding, I have become increasingly aware that the optics of this friendship have caused others to draw conclusions that are incomplete and unfounded. And because of my preeminent priority to my ministry and calling, Paula and I have concluded that we should avoid the appearance that our friendship is biblically impure or violates Scripture in any way. Paula and I also recognize that being seen in such settings is unwise, and we have independently determined that we will have no further social relationship until such time as my divorce has concluded and only if we feel direction from the Lord to do so.
I am using this season to seek the Lord and His Word as my Counselor and Guide as my family and I recover from the pain and disappointment of the loss of my marriage of over 30 years. My commitment to preaching the Gospel, as I have done for over 35 years, has only intensified through this experience; and the precious Lord Jesus I adore is the true love of my life and my unfailing companion for all eternity.
Thank you for your prayers, your love, and all your support for me and my family. You are precious to me and I will not fail you; but most of all I will never fail the wonderful Lord Jesus who is life and breath to me.
Benny Hinn
As I was thinking about all of this, God spoke to my heart, telling me to pray that Benny Hinn and Paula White will surrender their ministries to God and seek spiritual counsel in exchange for Him to heal and restore them since they are His wounded soldiers, and ultimately use them for the greater Glory of His Name only!!!
That is why I believe God is the one who is stirring this pot, requiring Benny Hinn and Paula White, whom He loves, to give back the ministry and not selfishly hold on to it and just continue non-stop in the ministry, since they have not given God the time to deal with their marital issues while refraining from public ministry, as well as other Biblical teaching errors and lavish lifestyles. Because of this, they are not able to be integer and transparent examples as leaders of the people of God, as we all are supposed to be.
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.  If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. Matthew 16:24-28 NLT.

No comments:

Post a Comment