Benny Hinn _My Testimony

Why Benny Hinn?

Someone asked me this question last week. Today let me endeavor to give you the background story to this, as a member of the organizing secretariat.
Sometime last year, a group of servants of God was praying, seeking the face of God as to why the foretold revival in Kenya seemed never to really come, and even the massive crusades we used to have at Uhuru Park seemed to have quietly fizzled out. It was obvious also that there were no megachurches in Kenya and any servant of God who tried rising was hit with scandal after scandal. Why? Our preachers never really get invited to top platforms internationally, our Gospel musicians are mostly only local while Nigeria, Tz, even Rwanda are shaking the continent.
The Lord answered them. Our grievous sin had closed the heavens over us. And this sin was how we, as a nation, had treated the servants of God who had been sent here with these graces. They all left in tears, shaking dust off their feet at Kenya.
Pst Benny Hinn came to Kenya in the year 2000. Someone booked Uhuru Park and refused to budge, so his meeting had to be pushed to Nairobi University grounds. A prominent preacher and musician at the time took it upon himself to publish pamphlets and got University students to spread those at the Crusade, saying how cultic and fraudulent Pst Benny was. Videos were taken to CNN & BBC showing how people were not healed at the Crusade, that it was all a sham. They also trashed the book he had written. And a lot of other things I can't write here.

If you are a regular on social media then you have probably come across these sentiments. The said Benny Hinn crusade happened at the University of Nairobi grounds in the year 2000. Inviting Benny Hinn to Kenya was actually a plan B. I was part of the Joint University's Christian Union Council that coordinated the event.

Initially, members of the committee wanted to invite the late Myles Munroe. His Kingdom Dominion theology was all the rage back then. However, we ran into headwinds when we realized that inviting Myles Munroe was no simple task. The man was so highly regarded in his country that inviting him meant getting our government to officially invite him through the Government of the Bahamas. It would have to be a government-to-government thing and those were the Moi days. And we had no chance of getting anything from the Moi government. Why?

The previous year, Wangari Maathai the late conservationist, had been badly injured by government sponsored militia when she tried to lead a protest against the grabbing of Karura Forest land. What followed were days, of highly charged riots in which University of Nairobi students fought tooth and nail on the side of Wangari Maathai. Of course the president was not amused and by the time we were planning to invite Myles Munroe, the memories of those violent days were still too fresh in the minds of many.

 Benny Hinn on the other hand, proved much easier to invite. A few of us in the committee had misgivings about his doctrine but we were outvoted by the more 'charismatic' ones amongst us.

Except for what they could describe from Benny Hinn’s television episodes, the opposers of the motion had very little else that they could point to.

Reuben Kigame, a Gospel musician and pioneering Kenyan apologist,  had published a scathing review of Benny Hinn’s ministry and doctrine via a booklet. The internet was not as ubiquitous as it is now, so it was difficult to counter-check all the controversies surrounding the preacher.

I do not quite recall what happened with Uhuru Park but I doubt whether another preacher had booked it. Those were the semi-dictatorial Moi days and there was a lot of politics around Uhuru Park. I think we were just denied a permit. Perhaps it also had something to do with the Karura riots?
The crusade in terms of numbers was a grand success. All I remember is how exhausted I was as the churches had left the logistics to us. I also remember the desperation of some of the people who came to the meetings. There were really sick people. Some relatives had pulled their critically ill kin from Kenyatta hospital and brought them to the grounds for healing. But because the place was so crowded, they could not get to the front (where the healings were supposedly happening). I had a special pass that would have guaranteed me access near the podium and at some point I thought of using it to get someone on a stretcher to the front but no matter how we tried, we could not push through the crowd.
In the end, there were sad stories of at least four people dying in the crusade, the saddest of which was a four-month old baby who died in its mother's arms waiting for healing that never came.
One of the new Christian stations, over several weeks after the crusade followed up and interviewed people who had been purportedly healed at the meetings. There were reported partial healings and healings that reversed within days. For me it was a sharp contrast to a Reinhard Bonnke crusade that I had attended months earlier in Mombasa. There, I had witnessed critically ill people at the back of the stadium miraculously healed. And I know of whole families that gave their lives to Christ! But that is a story for another day.

I think the church leaders organising this event are chasing the wrong things. Consider their motive given up there.

1. "...the foretold revival in Kenya seemed never to really come, and even the massive crusades we used to have at Uhuru Park seemed to have quietly fizzled out."

I have always wondered what they mean by revival. The Rhema feasts organised by Pastor Julian Kyula in 2022 and then again in 2023 were meant to be a precursor to revival in Kenya. Now if what happened is what many consider a revival, then we really need to go back and check what scripture teaches. The scriptures are always our safe bet and one of the best examples of what a revival should look like can be found in Acts 2:14-47. Please read it and keep this portion in mind;

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
Let me say this, if there is no majority that is cut to the heart, there is no true revival. Simple.

2. "It was obvious also that there were no megachurches in Kenya."

Are there really no megachurches in Kenya? The Heartford Institute For Religious Research defines a mega-church as generally describing any Protestant Christian congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services at all its worship locations.
So, with all due respect to the church leaders, they are wrong on this one. We have several enduring megachurches in Kenya.

3. "...and any servant of God who tried rising was hit with scandal after scandal. Why?"
I think this is a really strange issue to raise. First, the person that they have invited has been stalked by scandals (including marital infidelity) and even more in the past 20 years since he was last here.

Secondly, a number of our prominent preachers have readily walked themselves into scandals with some even remaining stubbornly unrepentant. One of the most obvious examples was Bishop David Muriithi of House of Grace Church who was involved in a sexual scandal. What surprised me though, was the casual manner with which he dismissed the whole issue. At no time do I remember him showing any kind of remorse or something approximating his name-sake's repentance.
O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. Psalm 51
Written after Nathan the prophet had come to inform David of God’s judgment against him because of his adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of Uriah, her husband.

4. “Our preachers never really get invited to top platforms internationally, our Gospel musicians are mostly only local while Nigeria, Tz, even Rwanda are shaking the continent.”

Is this really a problem? I do not think so. Aren't we called to be faithful where God has placed us? Would the great evangelist, Apostle Paul ever think like this?
I think we’ve got things upside down. This quest for fame and the growing celebrity culture is unbiblical and will surely be the death of us.
Brothers and sisters, we should never get discouraged about a revival that doesn't seem to come. Revival is a sovereign work of God. It could be that the time is just not yet. Consider what Paul said;
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.  1 Corinthians 3:6

We could be the planters-maybe someone else will water. And the Lord will come when He chooses to. For now, let’s keep to the basics of the assignment left to us in Matthew 28:18-20.

Indeed, this could be the reason why we do not see the works of God amongst us as we would like. Consider again what Paul wrote to his friend;

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Philemon 1:6

Next: why I do not agree with Benny Hinn's doctrine.

References;

1. https://youtu.be/RVXTFKVriQc?si=F9TvTtZKuPSoQP-7     Benny Hinn meeting in Kenya in yr 2000
   
2. https://thealabamabaptist.org/four-die-in-kenya-waiting-for-evangelist/  
3. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/four-die-awaiting-miracle-cure-1.267055
4. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/definition.html
5. https://youtu.be/5QGZhUtoWdc?si=IqTfwVFgxbIV99ub  Bishop Mureithi sex scandal