Benny Hinn in Kampala, Uganda Was the 'crippled' man really healed?

Benny Hinn in Kampala, Uganda

Was the 'crippled' man really healed?

Article from: Let Us Reason Ministries ON cults, Religions, their teachings and practices, check my blogglist!

By Bud Press, Director

Christian Research Service www.christianresearchservice.com June 12, 2007

To the Reader: The following information details an encounter between Benny Hinn and a crippled man named Moses, who, according to Hinn's Kampala, Uganda Crusade Report and a This Is Your Day! telecast, had been crippled since birth.

This information is not meant to satirize, ill-treat, or ridicule Moses. It does, however, expose more incredible, in-your-face deception that permeates the most prolific false prophet, false teacher, and false healer of our day.

On May 18-19, 2007, Benny Hinn conducted his first "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Uganda at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium in Kampala. The following information contains direct quotes from Benny Hinn's website, and a word-for-word transcript of portions of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is Your Day! Archive Show.

Beginning with the Uganda Crusade Report from Benny Hinn's website, the reader is informed that,

Nationally distributed newspapers proclaimed, "The lame walked, the blind had their eyes opened, the deaf heard, and the sick recovered at the first-ever Pastor Benny Hinn crusade in Uganda!" ("Crusade In Uganda Draws International Audience," http://www.bennyhinn.org/articles/articledesc.cfm?id=263 ).

The Crusade Report also shares "The Moving Story of Moses," which states in part that,

One of the most amazing stories that was shared with everyone was the story of Moses. At the close of the first service, the young man named came to the platform. Pastor Benny noticed that Moses was wearing no shoes. He quickly learned that Moses had been crippled since birth (emp. added).

"The Moving Story of Moses" goes on to state that Moses entered Hinn's crusade in a wheelchair, was accompanied by his sister, and that the 28 year old Moses took his first steps during the crusade.

The story contains two photos of Benny Hinn and Moses. The first photo is from the waist up. The second is full-length, where the reader will notice Moses' left leg, which is obviously bent at the knee and bowed inward.

Was the 'crippled' man really healed?

The following is a word-for-word transcript of a portion of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is Your Day! Archive Shows telecast of the "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Kampala, Uganda, http://www.bennyhinn.org/television/tiyd.cfm ).

At 11 minutes:28 seconds into the telecast, a conversation takes place between Benny Hinn, Henry Hinn (Benny Hinn's brother), Benny Hinn's crusade interpreter, and Moses the crippled man:

Benny Hinn: "He has been a cripple from birth!"

Henry Hinn: "His mother; he was born in 1979. This is Moses, born in 1979; paralyzed when he was born. He couldn't move! He couldn't move his body! He, this is his wheelchair. He was back there. I saw him back there; pulled his way out of the wheelchair, and just began walking."

Benny Hinn [looks at Moses and asks]: "You've been a cripple all your life?"

Interpreter: "He has never walked. This is the first time."

Benny Hinn: "Now, you've never walked?"

Moses: "No."

Benny Hinn: "Ladies and gentlemen, this young man has never walked. You understand? From his mother's womb he was born a cripple. For the first time tonight, he's using his legs."

At 12 minutes:36 seconds into the telecast, Moses struggles to balance himself on one leg, and says he wants to be saved. Benny Hinn raises his hands and thousands cheer.

Benny Hinn: "Listen. The man has just walked for the first time in his life."

At this point, Benny Hinn instructs the crowd to stand up, and begins quoting from Isaiah 53:5. Afterwards, Benny Hinn states,

And the man comes up. You know what it's like for me to stand here and listen to a young man who had never walked in his life, and tell me, 'I want to be saved'?

At 14 minutes:22 seconds into the telecast, referring to Moses, Benny Hinn states,

His legs. Life is coming back in his legs tonight.

At 16 minutes:55 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn states,

You know, I'm, I'm standing here next to this young man. We better never take this for granted; never forget the privilege.

At 18 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn pronounces Moses healed:

Here's a young man who says, 'I want to be saved.' He's healed. He's happy about that but he really wants to be saved. That's what he wants.

At 21 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, the Kampala, Uganda segment ends and returns to Benny Hinn in his This Is Your Day! studio, where Hinn states:

What a Lord we serve. There's none like Jesus is there? To heal this young man, like this, a cripple from birth. And then for the young man to look at me and say, 'I want to be saved.' This, I, I'm telling ya; there's nothing like it. Nothing.

Towards the end of the telecast at 22 minutes:04 seconds, Benny Hinn once again reminds his viewers that Moses was crippled from birth, and that he stood for the first time in his life:

And then this, this young man. I mean, this is one of the greatest miracles I've seen in really a long time. We've seen wonderful miracles. But, you know, to see a young man crippled from birth just standing for the first time in his life--in front of me--and he stood with no shoes on, with clothes that weren't that nice.

But the next night when he came back, he had new shoes for the first time in his life. And he had new clothing. And now he is in a Bible school.

The video evidence

If a picture is worth a thousands words, then a video must be worth its weight in gold. Benny Hinn is no stranger to controversy and deception, and the video evidence of Hinn's encounter with Moses does not lie.

At 22 minutes:17 seconds into the telecast, Moses and Benny Hinn are shown together on-stage during the crusade. Moses is balancing himself on his right leg. His left leg is still bent inward at the knee.

At 22 minutes:29 seconds into the telecast, Moses is seen limping to the stage. As he approaches the stairs to the stage, Moses is assisted up the stairs by Henry Hinn. Two "catchers" are behind Moses at the bottom of the stairs.

As Moses slowly hobbled up the stairs, he uses the stair-rails to assist his climb. His left leg remained bent inward during his climb. When Moses finally reached the top of the stairs and onto the stage, he was not only assisted by his sister, he limped to Benny Hinn with outstretched arms.

Therefore, was the crippled man Moses really healed? No. Yet, he was pronounced "healed" by Benny Hinn.

It bears repeating again: Benny Hinn follows a counterfeit Jesus, counterfeit gospel, and counterfeit spirit (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Hinn's god is incapable of healing precious people like Moses.

However, Benny Hinn's god is capable of deceiving the masses into thinking a legitimate healing has taken place.

The crippled and lame: true accounts of healing

"One need not be a doctor or physical therapist to know when someone is walking abnormally and in pain. Most importantly, where in the Bible does it say that when Jesus healed someone, they remained partially blind, partially diseased, or walked away limping? It doesn't" (Bud Press, "MIRACLE IN TRINIDAD?" http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn16.htm ).

One need not look to Benny Hinn and like-minded false healers for true accounts of healing. God's word records numerous accounts of legitimate healings of all types, including those who were lame and crippled from birth:

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them (Matthew 4:24).

Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel (Matthew 15:29-31).

And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them (Matthew 21:14).

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is

called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God (Acts 3:1-9).

For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed (Acts 8:7).

At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk (Acts 14:8-10).

When Jesus healed the lame and crippled, they didn't get up, limp around, and struggle to maintain balance. When the apostles used their gift of healing through the power of God, there was no lag-time in between and no ifs, ands or buts. The feet, ankles, and legs of the lame and crippled were immediately straightened and made whole.

None could deny Jesus' miracles, nor could they deny the apostles' gift of healing through the miraculous power of God.

2,000 years later, although Benny Hinn is adored and idolized by his followers, he has once again clearly demonstrated his inability to heal the sick, dying, and crippled by the power of God. Indeed, the testimony of God's word proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Benny Hinn is a charlatan and a false healer.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).

The God of the Bible forgives, saves, sanctifies, and redeems the unsaved. The God of the Bible also heals broken bodies--according to His perfect will, that is:

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).

Sometimes, God's perfect will for the believer includes incredible suffering and persecution, of which the apostle Paul endured in 2 Corinthians 11:18-30.

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John wrote:

We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:6).

Those who listen to God and study His word will know the difference between truth and error, as well as the difference between a true and false healing.

God does not work miracles through hyper-heretical faith healers like Benny Hinn, because Benny Hinn and those like him are ...false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Final comments: To the skeptic and unbeliever

The situation with Moses is both sad and tragic. It not only serves as fuel for the skeptics and unbelievers to downplay Christianity, it serves to drive the unsaved deeper into sin and further away from accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Accordingly, a skeptic or unbeliever who witnessed the encounter between Benny Hinn and Moses may say, Benny Hinn proclaimed a "crippled" man healed, but the man continued to limp. If this is what Christianity is all about, then I want no part of it.

The fact of the matter is that individuals like Benny Hinn have been around for thousands of years. They do not represent true Christianity. They are, as the Bible warns: savage wolves (Acts 20:27-31); distorters of the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-9); false brothers (Galatians 2:4-5); enemies of the cross (Philippians 3:18-19); stumbling blocks to those searching for truth (Matthew 18:7); false prophets (Matthew 24:11); false teachers (2 Timothy 4:3-4); false healers (Matthew 7:21-23); and more.

This is why it is extremely important to trust in Jesus Christ and the truth of His word over-and-above the Benny Hinn's of this world. While Benny Hinn has a long history of controversy and deception, Jesus Christ will not lie or deceive you, for He alone is the Healer of souls:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30; KJV).