You don't have a God in you, you are one.
When we stand up here brother, you're not looking at my umbrella, you're looking at God, you're looking at Jesus.
I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is.
The biggest failure in the Bible actually is.
The biggest failure in the whole Bible is God.
Satan gave me this message.
I'm a liar of the devil, I shouldn't have said that.
If you sent a donation in thinking you were buying a miracle, get real.
Take it in a couple of days, you are God.
You are God.
Music
Hello, my name is Mark Havell and I'm the director of National Prayer Network.
Our aim over the years has been to provide edifying Christian programs, both for teaching and for evangelism.
In recent years though the church has seen a decline in its witness, often because of the media coverage given to tele-evangelist scandals.
In the past many Christians have written off these programs as biased, slanderous or unfounded.
More and more though, the accusations of the world are proving accurate.
How should we as Christians respond to such criticisms?
After all, Jesus clearly told us not only to worship in truth but also in spirit.
But with increasing frequency, major Christian leaders are being involved in sexual immorality, money scandals and fraudulent healing claims.
Showing clearly not only their lack of truth but also their lack of the Holy Spirit.
This program, the first in a series, examines the claims of charismatic leader Benny Hinn.
And asks not whether God is still healing today but whether he is healing through Benny Hinn.
Jesus clearly taught in the last days that many false prophets would come, claiming, I am anointed from the word Christ.
Prophesying, performing miracles and even casting out demons in Jesus' name.
Have those days come already? You decide.
This is Prime Time Texas.
Faith and trust are two of the cornerstones of any society.
And television has changed the way we look at both of them.
Millions of Americans now experience religion through television.
Many of them through the nearly 2,500 televangelists seen throughout the country.
This form of worship has redefined the hopes and beliefs of many Americans.
And as Vince Patton tells us, there's a group in Dallas trying to evaluate just how.
For Wanda Lee's mother, it began as innocently as watching a preacher on television.
A victim of cancer, Joyce Vaughn, was searching for any kind of help to combat her illness.
Three years after her mother's death, it is still difficult for Lee to watch one minister in particular, Benny Hinn.
Lee says her mother did put her hands on the television screen and even went one step further.
She went to a Hinn revival meeting in Houston.
She felt a heat come on her chest and now she breathes freely, no pain whatsoever.
She came home and she had medicine to take and she couldn't decide whether to take her medicine or not.
And my sister was telling her, well, Benny Hinn said if you take your medicine, then you'll die.
So you can't talk about, you know, you have to refuse that you have the cancer.
Lee says her mother stopped taking her medicine for a while.
According to Lee, her mother felt she would be acting unfaithful to Hinn if she sought medical attention after he had declared her healed.
Joyce Vaughn died less than a year after she stood on stage with Hinn.
Lee believes that Benny Hinn contributed to her mother's death because the preacher had convinced her mother that she was cured.
Benny Hinn had suggested that she doesn't take her medicine and my sister had told her, said, well, if you take your medicine, then your cancer will come back.
Lee is not the only one who believes a televangelist contributed to a loved one's death.
Vicki Crenshaw of Dallas lost her mother, Mary Turk, a supporter of televangelist Robert Tilton.
There is still a lawsuit pending against Tilton over her mother's death.
In court in 1994, Tilton denied her charges and claimed faith was on trial.
They're not going to win because I'm going to continue to fight.
It's my bet, my ball, and I'm going to play until we win every court in the world.
She believed that he was going to heal her, that there was going to be a miracle, and that she was going to be healed of the pain that she was suffering.
But Mary died from colon cancer.
The doctor that was her oncology specialist when she was in the hospital taking her radiation and her chemotherapy said that if she had received medical care in time, she could have been cured, which is a strong word in cancer.
Crenshaw says her mother, Mary, refused to go to the doctor because she believed the money she had sent to Tilton was buying her a miracle.
She felt that she had paid for a miracle, and she felt that because of the constant bombardment of personal mailings that Robert Tilton was so personally involved with her and her case and was monitoring every bit of it
and was so concerned about her that he was powerful enough of a personality that he convinced her that she was going to receive a healing.
Crenshaw says that when her mother finally went to a doctor and discovered she was in the last stages of her life, Mary wanted to file suit against Tilton.
I want Robert Tilton to be taken off the air, not allowed to continue taking money from poor, innocent people.
This time, Tilton is at the Trinity Foundation in Dallas. Hi, how you doing?
In this room in Dallas, Tilton and other televangelists come under daily scrutiny. This is just another way to expose some of these people that are doing these things.
This is the control room of the Trinity Foundation. Its membership is small, perhaps 80 or so, but its target is massive, the nearly $3 billion a year business of televangelists.
One of the reasons I'm calling you is that...
For the past five years, the Foundation has appointed itself the watchdogs of televised religion, monitoring, investigating, and answering questions on an 800 hotline established to handle complaints.
The Trinity Foundation also carefully watches the actual broadcasts of televangelists.
Only Anthony is president of the Trinity Foundation. We monitor those programs to see if there are any egregious promises made that aren't fulfilled.
And we have files now on 113 televangelists. In response, Tilton has filed lawsuits against Anthony and his group.
And I minister here every Sunday. Ronnie Dunbar says he never contributed to any televangelists, but that his mother used to.
He spends much of his day transcribing their shows word for word. He says there are many similarities between the various televangelists.
The company is just all about money. Give me money. We need money. Money, money, money.
What about the suffering he's been lied about?
Harry Getsloff, the librarian for the Trinity Foundation, was a one-time Tilton supporter.
Getsloff says he contributed more than $6,000 to Tilton because the minister promised Getsloff would get a hundredfold in return.
He was giving God seal of approval on my greedy lifestyle. I wanted more, more, more.
But Getsloff ended up losing his business, his wife, and going broke.
He would like to see some regulations for televangelists, who he says are making false promises.
He offers this advice. Don't look to some guy on TV, some far-off televangelist who's promising you pie in the sky.
Go out your front door, walk down the street, and you will meet someone in need. Respond to that need.
The Trinity Foundation says it is doing just that, and in ways other than monitoring the televangelists.
Fifty of its members live together in a compound in Dallas.
Once a week, the group members meet for a family meal Bible study.
They break up into groups of 20, which only Anthony says Jesus had in mind when he only selected 12 disciples.
He advises his congregation to give to local churches and not to send money to TV preachers.
For 50 years, religious broadcasting has wrapped itself in the First Amendment.
And slowly but surely, more and more fraud is done in the name of God. And we think that's terrible.
Jerry Kane, who lived in a North Carolina religious compound for eight months, now spends her time counseling others who call the hotline.
Save your mailings, because there may be a time that, you know, we would want copies of those.
Your heart breaks. You can only let them cry. You can just love them.
Some of the stories I've heard are just so unbelievable.
Jerry says most of the complaints she receives are about direct mailings from televangelists requesting payments.
These people are devastated when you hear the fear in their voice that if they don't answer all these letters and sow these seeds,
and they get these little bank payment coupon books to roll their money up in, and we're praying about this,
and these are blessed, and sow your seed, and God will bless you, God will bring your family back together.
That's the sad thing in it.
According to the Trinity Foundation, most of the contributors to televangelists are elderly or have suffered a recent loss or illness in their family.
Come on, baby.
Rose Rowdy was one such example. The 88-year-old widow used to send part of her $500 a month Social Security check to televangelists she watched.
She started calling the TV preachers in response to their offer of prayer requests.
When you call and ask them for prayer, they don't pray for you right then. They get your name, telephone number, and all this, you know.
They don't care about your telephone number. They want your address, so they can send you all this literature.
Rowdy says that after 40 years of contributing to televangelists and their direct mail campaigns, she is through with it.
Not anymore. If I had $1,000 a week or $10,000 a week coming in, I wouldn't give it to them. I learned better. I had to learn the hard way.
Rowdy says she can't count how much money she sent to televangelists over the years, but she knows that many times she and her family had to do without in order to contribute.
She says after two of her adult sons became ill, she requested prayers from the televangelists.
But after both her sons died, she realized neither the preachers nor her payments to them could heal her children.
We're getting you a man for this hour.
Primetime Texas contacted Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn, but both declined our offers to appear on this segment or issue any statements.
Holy Anthony says the Trinity Foundation would like to see the Federal Communications Commission monitor the nearly $3 billion a year business of televangelists.
That business is currently untaxed and unregulated.
We'd like a change in the FCC code that simply says if any living person makes a claim on the airwaves controlled by the FCC and that claim is made for the purposes of getting something of value from you, then that claim must be verifiable.
Vicki Crenshaw continues her mother's lawsuit against Robert Tilton, saying although she is still faithful to God, she is disenchanted with televangelists.
When you pray to God for a miracle, make sure that you don't send your money to another address.
So Vance, what are Benny Hinn and Robert Tilton doing now?
Benny Hinn is preaching still at the Orlando Christian Center in Florida.
Robert Tilton has a new syndicated TV show produced in Dallas, which is airing now in four television markets.
Both preachers and their attorneys still decline any comment.
And what's the status of the lawsuits?
Vicki Crenshaw's suit is still pending against Tilton in court.
All of Tilton's suits against the Trinity Foundation have either been dropped or thrown out of court.
Okay, Vance. Thank you.
Televangelism is a $2 billion a year industry, and one of the hottest stars in religious broadcasting is Pastor Benny Hinn.
Millions of people watch him on TV. You can see him here in Chicago on Channel 38.
Tonight in a News Extra, Channel 2's Pam Zechman takes us on a leap of faith that includes millions of dollars and a man some call a holy hustler.
Every empty wheelchair, bring it up here. Every empty wheelchair. Come on, give God the glory. Look at this.
This is the power of God here, Brother John. Look at this. Jesus is still in the healing business.
They come by the thousands to sing, to pray, to weep, to be overcome by the Spirit of the Lord.
They come seeking miracles, and Pastor Benny Hinn gives them what they want.
Twelve empty wheelchairs in the first years of the service.
In crusades from coast to coast, Hinn preaches the power of God to heal cancer, make the deaf hear and the blind see.
How many fingers?
Five.
Millions more see the healings on television. Some call him the miracle man.
But critics, even those who believe in faith healing, are questioning Hinn's methods and his miracles.
I command you, spirit of deafness, in Jesus' name.
Come out.
These two brothers from Chicago, born profoundly deaf, were declared healed.
A third brother, also deaf, was supposedly healed even though he wasn't there.
In proxy, his mama is standing, and I break the curse of deafness on her son. Now!
God's glory, glory, glory!
That's pretty exciting, but there's one problem. The boys are still deaf.
At our request, a school audiologist tested them.
The boys continue to have the same hearing loss that we've been measuring for years.
No miraculous healing.
No miraculous healing.
I believe he's committing fraud in the name of God.
Oly Anthony runs a televangelist watchdog group. He says healings should not be televised unless they're medically verified.
All of the desperate people in America see these phony miracles, and the implication if they send money, then God's going to give them a miracle.
It infuriates me.
The Benny Hinn Ministries, headquartered here in Orlando, Florida, reportedly grossed $15 million last year.
Those are tax-free dollars because it's a religious organization.
I am not in this for money. We need donations to pay for airtime. Simple.
After two months of refusing an interview, Hinn says God told him to talk to me, but he wouldn't reveal his personal income, reportedly more than half a million dollars a year from salary and tape and book royalties.
What are your royalties?
I won't tell you. I'm not going to share this. It's private. It's personal.
But the miracles that inspire millions to send money are public. Hinn says he no longer declares people healed. He lets them do it.
We don't mislead anyone, Pam. If someone comes up and says they're healed, we don't call them liars.
If it's a healing, the healing should be verifiable by a medical doctor.
Hinn promised critics he'd get medical proof of healings before televising them, but he couldn't provide medical verification of any of the six Chicago cases we asked about.
Doctors will never tell you that they've been healed. The question is, does God heal or not? Yes, he does.
Tonight in 2 News Extra, a leap of faith. He's a fast-rising star in religious broadcasting, a faith-healer performing nightly miracles on TV.
Last night we showed you how Benny Hinn's miracles aren't always what they seem.
Tonight, in Part 2 of a News Extra investigation, Shatteltoose Pam Zekman goes undercover to Hinn's healing crusade.
The spirit of healing is in this place. I give you praise, Jesus. A brain tumor is being healed. Right now somebody has felt a warmth go through your body.
The desperate and the faithful line up for miracles from Pastor Benny Hinn, and he delivers.
And all of a sudden I have no pain. I have no pain. I give you praise for the anointing. I give you praise for the anointing.
But what about after the miracles? In these complaints filed with a televangelist watchdog group here in Dallas, many former believers say they were misled.
She felt a heat come on her chest. Now she breathes freely, no pain whatsoever. She's been healed by God's power this morning.
Joyce Vaughn believed she was healed of lung cancer. So did her daughter.
I begged her not to take the chemo because she was healed. I believed in Benny Hinn.
But her doctors convinced her to resume chemotherapy. Then she died two months later, leaving her daughters in anguish.
I wonder how many have died by not taking their medicine. I wonder about that.
They're stopping seeing the doctor because of this showmanship. And it doesn't have anything to do with the real power of God. It has to do with this show.
In response to critics like Oli Anthony, Hinn has made changes in his show.
He says he never tells people to stop taking their medicine, and he says his staff screens everyone before they come on stage.
We have really tightened up on making sure that these people are really healed, that they're not just inventing something.
We don't want anybody coming on the platform acting.
But it's not okay. We hired this actress to go with us undercover to a crusade in Minneapolis and wait in a wheelchair.
On stage, Hinn was calling out miracles.
The Lord is healing that person in the wheelchair section.
She got up as if she'd been healed. She was questioned by Hinn's staff, and she was interviewed in front of Hinn's camera for possible use on his show.
She joined Hinn on stage with dozens of others claiming a cure, but we can't show you because Hinn's guards found our hidden camera and took the tape.
Hinn admits that in the past he declared people healed without checking.
Not because I was inventing something. It's because I truly believed it in my heart, and I'm not perfect. I'm a human being like anybody else.
You can be wrong. You can make a mistake.
This is your day, Fod and Miracle.
Hinn replays the most dramatic scenes from his crusades on his daily TV show.
Along with a pitch for money, he offers viewers their own personal healing.
Stretch your hands now. Believe God with me today for your healing.
All they have to do is place their hands over his on their TV sets.
There's something with a growth on the stomach. The growth is going down right now.
How does that happen if your show is taped a week before? Is the power of God trapped somehow in the television set?
No, not at all.
How does it work?
No, no, no, no, no. There is no power in that tape, but God being God is watching everything when it's happening, you see?
So when the program is aired, he's seeing those people's hearts. He knows what they're going through, and he'll touch them.
Pam Zekman, Channel 2 News.
But some people have been hurt rather than healed by the touch of Benny Hinn.
That part of the story tomorrow on Chattel 2 News at 6.
A leap of faith that could be deadly. A sea of supporters pays to be healed by Pastor Benny Hinn.
But now critics say that some people have been hurt, not healed by the televangelist touch.
In tonight's News Extra Investigation, Pam Zekman exposes how a faith healer could be hurting his own flock.
This is your brace.
A touch from the hand of Pastor Benny Hinn, and believers are overcome by the presence of the Lord.
So strong is the feeling, they fall even if he just blows into the microphone.
It's known as slaying in the spirit. Hinn prefers to call it falling under the power of God.
His critics, even those who believe in faith healing, say it's not the power of God, but the power of suggestion that makes people swoon.
The people are worked up into a frenzy, they know what's expected of them, and they do it.
I think it is theatrical and I think it is a gimmick.
And they say it's dangerous.
I believe it's irresponsible. People are hurt all the time, and it's just never reported.
But one death has been reported.
An 85-year-old woman died of complications from a broken hip after a man fell on top of her at a crusade.
Hinn settled a $15 million lawsuit with her family for an undisclosed amount.
Take it in Jesus' name.
That hasn't stopped Hinn from mass slayings like this one we saw at a crusade in Minneapolis.
This little girl suffered a sprained ankle, sprained knee, and torn ligaments in a crush of falling bodies.
It felt like my leg was numb. I started to cry and I yelled.
If I know anyone was injured, I will go personally and pray for them.
Hinn claims very few people have been hurt over the years.
He defends the practice of slaying in the spirit as something God does through him, and he says it's no act.
People don't fall because it's the part of suggestion.
When we're dealing with a greater power than electricity, that's God's power.
But it's the power of television that's bringing Benny Hinn to millions of believers every day.
His growing influence troubles some Christian watchdog groups.
They say some of his teachings and public statements violate Christian principles.
You know, I've looked for one verse in the Bible. I just can't seem to find it.
One verse that said if you don't like him, kill him. I really wish I could find it.
That was Hinn's response to critics during a 1990 telethon. Now he takes it back.
It was a dumb thing to say. It was a joke, but it was a dumb thing to say.
And he's retracted teachings he once claimed were revelations from God
after his critics denounced them as having no basis in the Bible.
Every preacher I know will say or has said things that they regret.
And I've had my share of things I've said that were stupid.
People, everybody here can be healed tonight.
Phony faith healing, dangerous theatrical stunts, questionable theology.
All of these concern the Christian critics of Benny Hinn.
Worst of all, they say, is the damage done to the faith of his followers.
Well, spiritually the danger is that he's being led astray
and that he's leading thousands astray from truth.
The danger is that people are being deceived in the name of God.
Pam Zekman, Channel 2 News.
Several Christian watchdog groups have been keeping an eye on Benny Hinn
and his miracle crusades. He has promised to medically verify his healings,
but Pam reports that so far he hasn't changed his act a bit.
It is a big, big business, billions of dollars, collected each year by televangelists
who sometimes broadcast followers being healed or cured.
A 2 News Extra investigation previously focused on one Orlando televangelist,
Pastor Benny Hinn, calling some of his televised miracles a hoax or a leap of faith.
Now one watchdog group wants these practices stopped.
Pam Zekman reports Benny Hinn's claimed healing of celebrities
has inspired a whole new call for a crackdown.
It's another rockin', rollin', miracle crusade of Pastor Benny Hinn,
but it's Broadway star Ben Varine bringing the crowd to its feet.
Freed, he says, of stiff legs that had cramped his dancing style only hours before.
Heal this man, Jesus.
Soon he's on stage testifying to a miracle.
I couldn't kick my legs.
Well, kick them now.
Whoa!
Across the country, Hinn preaches the power of God to heal,
but our investigation of so-called miracles at a Chicago crusade found that this healing
I command you spirit of deathless.
And others were a hoax. The boys are still deaf.
This is your day followed on miracles.
Hinn broadcasts his healings on his TV show, followed by a pitch for money.
Now a televangelist watchdog group wants the government to clamp down on TV preachers
who broadcast their so-called miracles to collect money.
Under the proposal to the Federal Communications Commission,
two doctors would have to verify a healing was real and permanent.
So that it's not the kind that could result from simple remission,
and we think that should be at least six months from the time of the alleged healing.
And what was Hinn's response to Anthony's demands?
Benny said, well, if I follow those, there won't be any healings there.
That's just the point. It would have stopped Hinn from televising his claimed healing
to boxer Evander Holyfield from a heart ailment he apparently never had.
Using what he calls the power of the Lord,
the preacher knocked over the former heavyweight champ at a crusade last June.
But was it a miracle? Doctors now say it was apparently a misdiagnosis.
Holyfield's problem was caused by fluids used to treat dehydration
after his fight with Michael Moore a month before.
And could Ben Vereen's years of medical treatment following a near-fatal car accident
have allowed him to strut his stuff?
He'd already danced on Broadway before this crusade.
Benny Hinn knows how to milk a miracle.
Pam Zekman, Channel 2 News.
Benny Hinn did not respond to our calls for his comment.
In the past, he told us he tries to get doctors to verify healings before they are televised.
Evander Holyfield's first fight since his alleged healing is later this month.
Ben Vereen has recently opened a dance school here in Chicago.
This April, former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield
will hit the comeback trail in his quest to regain his heavyweight title.
In the past year, Holyfield has been in a different arena,
an arena where he's been proclaiming God's healing
through the hands of a popular television faith healer.
In tonight's cover story, we take a look at Holyfield's experience
and those of many others at the hands of Benny Hinn.
April 22, 1994, heavyweight boxing champion of the world Evander Holyfield
loses his title to Michael Moore.
Four days later, he shocks the sports world, announcing his retirement from boxing
after doctors diagnose him with the condition they describe as a stiff heart.
But in June, Holyfield announces he's been cured by God,
through faith healer Benny Hinn.
That's the two-time heavyweight boxing champ of the world falling before Pastor Benny.
Later that month, doctors at Crawford Long say Holyfield's condition has improved.
And by November, after an impartial exam from the Mayo Clinic,
the boxing commission clears Holyfield to fight again.
I got three checkups, and each one of them got better and better.
And I wasn't on any medication or anything like that.
Holyfield later gave Hinn $265,000.
He says the money was to help pay for the Hinn ministry overseas.
And he doesn't like reports that suggest he paid for his healing.
I believe that I got a confirmation from Benny Hinn that I was healed.
But his inner power came through his hand. It came through the Lord.
Everybody here can be healed tonight!
Thousands upon thousands of people fill auditoriums across the country,
hoping they too can be healed through Hinn's hand.
Sometimes it's his hand, sometimes he blows on them,
and sometimes he knocks them down with his coat.
Many say they have been healed.
But two years ago, Inside Edition investigated Benny Hinn
and showed his lavish lifestyle with a big house and expensive car.
It also revealed many of the prayer requests written by believers
at a Houston crusade had been left on the floor.
I don't know about that.
All I know is whoever is responsible for leaving these prayer requests
behind in Houston will be fired.
And he did. He also responded to charges he never actually confirms the healings.
Never follows up to see if, in fact, those he claims to heal are.
This woman had brain cancer.
Satan, you lost this woman and you're never going to make it again!
Three weeks later, when she went back for medical tests, she had not been healed.
Yet Hinn continued to use her in advertisements.
After the Inside Edition broadcast, Hinn put doctors on the stage.
Today, the watchdog of televangelist, Oli Anthony, and his Trinity Foundation
say there is no hint of fraud in the Benny Hinn ministry.
But Anthony would like to see him drop the stage show.
We're a Christian community here, and my secretary was healed of cancer, for instance.
But we don't market the miracles, and I think we're putting forth the wrong picture of God
with this kind of television.
And I'm a living witness that I got a good heart, and I will be heavy-chambered in the world.
Since the Inside Edition investigation and Benny Hinn's request for forgiveness for ministry abuses,
he takes in about double the donations. He brings in about $30 million a year.
Everybody here can be healed tonight!
Welcome to a Benny Hinn crusade. Do you need a miracle?
Benny says God will deliver if your faith is strong enough.
This is the power of God!
But Steve Wilson's investigation shows Pastor Benny's pockets are filled with the cash of his flock.
I'm not looking for rehearsed answers. I'm looking for the truth.
Is this faith or fraud?
He is America's latest hot TV preacher, claiming God cures deadly disease through him,
and his ministry is taking in millions.
But is Pastor Benny Hinn really a gift from God?
Inside Edition, straight ahead.
He inspires the sick, the faithful, even Hollywood.
Are you ready for a miracle?
Meet Benny Hinn, faith-healer miracle worker.
So why is he running away from Steve Wilson?
Inside Edition investigates America's newest religious superstar.
Eat Jesus' mighty name now!
Two, one...
...
Hello, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching Inside Edition today.
You simply will not believe what Latoya Jackson is doing now.
His business venture is controversial to say the least, and we'll have a report coming up.
But first, an Inside Edition investigation.
He is a high school dropout who heads a ministry that's taking in more than $15 million a year.
He is TV preacher Benny Hinn, and he says God heals the sick through him.
And thousands are believing. We sent Steve Wilson to investigate.
Jesus is still in the healing business.
There's one, two, three...
Nobody gets the faithful out of their wheelchairs these days any faster than Benny Hinn.
And when Pastor Benny comes to town, no civic center is big enough.
Not in Philadelphia the other day, not in Houston the month before,
not in Long Beach, California the month before that.
At every stop from coast to coast, thousands who want a free seat can't even get in the doors.
And what do they come for? Many come to be healed.
Because they believe Pastor Benny when he shouts...
People, everybody here can be healed tonight.
These two cured of AIDS?
My Jesus has destroyed AIDS! He's destroying AIDS!
And the man who came in unbearable pain after five back operations?
No pain! He's been healed miraculously by God's power tonight!
And those who don't need a healing?
Fresh.
Fresh.
Those who don't need a healing come for a fresh blessing,
hoping they'll be lucky enough to get herded onto the stage
so that TV preacher Benny Hinn can share his special anointing by slinging his suit coat at them.
It has got to be the greatest spectacle in religion today.
Thank you for the anointing. Ooh! I'm feeling something in my hands.
If he could heal, if what he's saying is true, why in God's name isn't he at the AIDS centers?
Why isn't he at the children's cancer ward going through and healing those innocent children?
But he's marketing miracles, and that's what's so evil.
And who can market anything these days without TV?
Benny's own TV crews cover each crusade like a major sporting event.
Then daily highlights are beamed to millions of television viewers around the world.
God has just healed her!
Healed her of what, Pastor?
Polio!
Now you say you've never been to a Benny Hinn miracle crusade?
Are you ready for a miracle?
Are you ready for a miracle?
Have you been to the movies lately?
Benny Hinn was a role model Steve Martin was watching before he starred in Leap of Faith.
He does a little thing where he goes, they're sort of standing there wheeling,
then he goes up and goes, and he blows them and they fall over.
I can hardly stand.
Again, and again, and again, and again.
It's not always easy, but for Pastor Benny, sooner or later,
nobody's too big to fall for the Lord.
Ah!
This woman who said she had polio and would never walk again,
she and her friends say she just climbed out of her wheelchair and walked?
It's a miracle!
It's unbelievable!
Pastor Benny knows it's great TV, but does he know, does he care if these healings are genuine?
He refuses to be challenged. He refuses to be tested.
And take a look at what happened when we tried to raise a few questions with a good reverend.
We're with Inside Edition, and as you know, we've got a...
Don't touch me, please.
Pastor Hinn, it...
This was the ugly scene at the Philadelphia airport the other day.
We were here to question the pastor when he stepped off a plane,
because that man who controls the ministry's financial matters
blocked all our efforts to do a sit-down interview.
The image is you've got a bunch of thugs around you who don't want anybody getting close to you,
because you don't want to face any questions.
Benny finally bolted through a security door, setting off an alarm and a police panic
while the preacher's people got in their last legs.
If you push me one more time, I'm going to have you arrested!
What happened at the airport deeply upsets me.
What the man did was wrong.
But this is what it took before he realized we were serious, and so were our questions.
Only then did he finally agree to sit still for a candid conversation.
He also promised to provide, and he eventually gave us, anything we wanted to produce this story.
Rock is the man for me.
When he calls Rise and Be Healed, in the rush, who knows if the healings are genuine,
but the benefits to Benny are certainly genuine.
His total take last year just from book royalties? About half a million dollars.
It pays the bills at his $700,000 house with a screened-in swimming pool on a golf course
in a walled community in Florida. He says he lives there for the security.
He also drives home a church salary big enough to just about cover the cost of his shiny new Mercedes.
He says his church paychecks totaled another $116,000 last year.
Paid to you by a hand-picked board, all but one of which worked for you or related to you.
So you want me to drive a Honda.
Benny wants you to know he donates lots of his money back to his own church.
But when others dig deep to donate money to his ministry, all they want in return is a prayer.
Many write the miracle they need on the envelope that contains their donation,
and Benny promises to pray for them.
The money is always removed and hauled off to the bank,
but where did we find a number of prayer requests left on the floor for the trash man to sweep away?
This woman's prayer request was one of them.
Oh, my Benny.
I found it on the floor with the envelope ripped open and the money taken out.
Oh, no.
We're not talking about one or two.
Give me favor with employment. Help me with a financial blessing. Help me get out of debt.
I give you my last $20 in this morning session.
The money is gone. The prayer request is on the floor waiting for the garbage guy.
I did not know about that. All I know is whoever is responsible for leaving these prayer requests behind in Houston will be fired.
Someone's eyes have just been healed. Will you raise Jesus?
But Benny doesn't need any proof to still believe in miracles, like the claim that these three are healed of AIDS.
You put them on television. Have you ever seen a blood test?
I do know that there are individuals. Have you ever seen a blood test?
No.
Who had the AIDS? Burn every bit of it. Burn every bit of it in Jesus' name.
We check it the best we know how, really.
You don't check it at all, Pastor. There's only one way to tell if somebody has AIDS.
Oh, they have to go back to the doctor and check it again.
And you haven't seen a single blood test. So how well can you check?
I can't answer that.
So next Saturday night, who are they in bed with, thinking they don't have AIDS, they can't reinfect anybody else?
Have you done those people they sleep with any good?
I have given my life to help people. I'm not perfect.
All the pain's gone. She's out in her wheelchair. She's been healed by God a thousand times.
She's a victim of brain cancer.
This is marvelous.
Her family has driven her hundreds of miles for the cancer to be healed tonight.
It would be better if it goes.
Satan, you lost this one and you're never gonna make it again.
Three weeks later, while Benny was running and rerunning the miracle on TV, she was still sure X-rays would show no cancer.
But we were there when she went for further tests.
She has not been healed. Her kind of terminal cancer has never been known to just disappear.
You say it's gone?
I am told by my staff, this lady had this, it's gone.
But there's no way you can know that's true.
Well, not with all of them, not with most of them.
Not with most of them. Not with most of them.
Well, that's your opinion.
That lady Benny is calling down from the choir didn't call her doctor either, before she went home and put away her heart medicine, because Benny told her God had healed her.
You don't plan to take it?
Uh, no. No, I've got a healing from the Lord. No.
Look, look, look. It's not my job to call their doctor.
All things are possible, Lord.
A lot of the healings sound incredible, and sometimes nobody in the place seems more stunned than Pastor Benny.
But no matter how incredible the cure, he will use them on his TV show, This Is Your Day, without even checking back with the individual for verification.
Anybody could make up anything.
Someday somebody's gonna do that. And what are you gonna say then?
I don't know. I can't tell you now. That hasn't happened yet.
Oh, yes it has. Remember that woman supposedly cured of polio?
Pastor Benny knows it made for a great episode of his TV show. He knows it probably helped squeeze even bigger donations from his flock.
But there's something he doesn't know.
Pastor, all I know is, Pastor, let me say something. Go ahead.
That woman works for us.
Woman doesn't have polio, never did.
Then why did you say she had it?
We put her up there to see if he could tell her story was not true, to see if it would matter, to see if he would ever check.
And you sat right here and told me a few moments ago, we never put him on television unless we checked. You never called that woman?
You never called her doctor? You did no checking whatsoever.
Well, she was one we missed.
And speaking of missed, who missed the truth about this woman who claimed to be born profoundly deaf, unable to hear a word?
And now you can hear me.
Yes!
There was plenty of time to thoroughly check her story before publishing his latest book, but apparently nobody bothered.
In your book, the last chapter, it says Candice Brousseau was born profoundly deaf in both ears.
Correct.
But Candice Dr. Howard House, he's treated her more than 35 years, and he knows Benny's claim in the book is simply not true.
She was born with a very severe hearing loss. She was not born deaf.
Lord, if people attack this book, let it sell more.
If there's a mistake, he promises to correct it in the next printing.
In Jesus' mighty name now.
So Benny, is it faith or is it fraud?
I'm still a human being like you.
Made many mistakes, big ones.
And will still make mistakes.
But I really want to do better.
I really want to.
Well, is the pastor repentant?
Only Anthony, the head of a Christian watchdog group, thinks Benny Hinn has been caught up in an evil system and may be sincere when he says he'll make changes as a result of our investigation.
Meantime, the Trinity Foundation is anxious to hear from anyone who thinks they've been victimized by a preacher.
Their toll-free number is 1-800-229-8428.
Yesterday we raised serious questions about a TV faith healer.
Now a religious broadcasting network is attacking us.
Inside Edition, straight ahead.
Let's go.
Stand by.
Yesterday we brought you the evangelist who claimed to have a pipeline to heaven.
So why is his flock madder than hell?
Answer and refute these ridiculous, pathetic charges that were made against our brother Benny Hinn.
I would say they gave me a fair story.
Now, reaction from Benny and his buddies.
Two, one.
Hello, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching Inside Edition today.
Well, when you investigate men of God, there is a chance all hell will break loose.
And that is exactly what is happening with our story yesterday on a TV preacher.
We reported some of his cures were by no means miracles.
And now, Inside Edition is being blasted.
Benny will be here, I might add, on Thursday of this week to himself answer and refute these ridiculous, pathetic charges that were made against our brother Benny Hinn.
From Central Florida's News Channel.
But if you were watching Channel 6 in Orlando last night, you heard Benny Hinn tell reporter Tony Pepitone.
I would say they gave me a fair story.
Of course, I don't think they're accurate with the miracles especially.
But basically fair.
But Jan and Paul Crouch are said to take in their biggest donations when they broadcast Benny Hinn.
And never mind how Benny feels, these two are fighting mad at us now.
Inside Edition wouldn't dare do an exposé like this on a Jewish rabbi.
At the Christian Watchdog Trinity Foundation, the phone's been ringing off the hook.
We've received several hundred calls since the Inside Edition piece aired last night.
About half of them are favorable in that they report some abuses by evangelists.
They believe that Christian broadcasting needs to come under the scrutiny of accuracy and reporting standards.
But these two are determined to make life miserable for our mailman.
Now let's do that. That's a wonderful idea, honey. Let's just blitz.
Inside Edition with thousands of before and after documented miracles.
And on Thursday night we'll tell you how and where to send them.
Can't wait for them to come rolling in. What is Hinn's position right now vis-à-vis us?
Well, Bill, you might say the reverence between a rock and a hard place, because what's happened is he said repeatedly now that our story was fair.
But he's got to go out there on Thursday. Is he going to turn his followers around into believing that we were fair?
Or is he going to turn around? I know I'll be watching.
Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll have another follow-up, Steve, and thanks for that report.
And Inside Edition will be right back.
I can't believe I'm staying.
We brought you the preachings of Benny Hinn, and Benny's buddies were furious.
Benny will be here, I might add, on Thursday of this week to himself answer and refute these ridiculous, pathetic charges.
But Benny said it was God sending him a message to clean up his act.
Ministers in America have a bad name.
Today, the confessions of Pastor Benny.
I'm just being truthfully honest with you tonight. I think many of us have not presented the Lord like we should.
He calls himself God's instrument to heal, and his ministry takes in millions.
But this week, an Inside Edition investigation showed that some of Pastor Benny Hinn's miracles were bogus.
Well, that prompted angry reaction against us, and now Benny is taken to the airwaves again.
Steve Wilson with our follow-up.
No pain! He's been healed miraculously by God's power tonight!
We showed you how Benny Hinn has become America's fastest-growing TV preacher with incredible claims of miracle healings.
But we also showed you how doctors say some of the healings are not real.
Our report touched a tender nerve among some of Benny's biggest supporters, and last night on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, they jumped on the issue with both feet.
You know what we need? We need a truth in media law.
The owner of the Christian TV network was still a little steamed last night when Benny Hinn showed up to respond to our investigation.
But Pastor Benny didn't budge from what he's been saying since he first saw our broadcast about him and his ministry.
I learned from it. I'm able to become a better minister through it. And I'm thankful. I really am.
And I know some of you believe this, but I really am thankful that it shook me enough to say, Benny, you're being watched.
Do the best you can for your God and your Master.
And today, ministers in America have a bad name. Let's be honest about it.
And Paul, we Christians, and I'm going to say this to a lot of people watching, some may not like it, but I'm just being truthfully honest with you tonight.
I think many of us have not presented the Lord like we should.
And for two hours on a broadcast available to millions around the world, the preacher frankly faced up and admitted to the problems we pointed out earlier in the week.
People do get on the platform at times, and we've had it happen, that are not healed. I would tell the whole world that I've known this for a long time.
At future crusades, he'll be bringing more doctors who will check claims of cures more carefully.
Every person is going to have to go to a room in the back and be thoroughly checked by another doctor.
And we will not put them on television unless the doctor says, this is a safe one.
Thank you.
We exposed how little checking is done when we sent this woman on stage claiming to be cured of polio.
Even though Benny seemed stunned by her claim, he broadcast her story anyway without verification and used it to raise money.
God, ladies and gentlemen, God allowed it for a reason.
Yes.
I believe God allowed it so Benny Hinn can learn from it.
I found Steve Wilson to be a gentleman.
Paul, he kept his word. Things that I said on the air in the interview were aired.
He didn't take things and twist things around. He didn't have me say something I didn't say.
Naturally, we had a long interview that he had to edit into eight and something. I think it was eight and a half minutes.
But what I said to him, they kept on tape.
For that, I respect him and I'm really grateful that he was a man of his word.
And I'll tell you honestly, people of God, the news media, and I'm going to just say this, the news media is not our enemy.
I have made a decision to talk to the news media for one reason, because I believe that maybe, and maybe I'm wrong,
but I do now believe this, that maybe with God's help we can turn this thing around and let them see true Christianity from us.
We must be people of integrity.
Ann and Paul Crouch are still urging their Trinity Network viewers to blitz us with documentation of miracles.
And when they found out I was in the studio audience last night, they invited me up.
Perhaps a report on some documented, sure enough, real miracles.
I'd be happy to look into that. I think that's a great story.
So, although he may have begun this week braced for the worst, Pastor Benny says now it's all for the best.
I just want to show you, I just want to show you, I had no idea Steve was here.
I didn't either.
And then I saw him up there, I thought, oh Lord Jesus.
I didn't know him. I didn't know you.
This is the man from Inside Edition, and you just heard what he said, all because I believe we ministers and Christians need to be open.
For goodness sake, what a marvelous opportunity.
I mean, hey, Jesus is alive.
We doubt whether this story is over, and we'll keep you posted.
Orlando, Florida, home of America's hottest TV evangelists.
But our investigation showed the problems with his preaching.
So we've come to Florida to find out if the Reverend Benny Hinn has seen the light.
Inside Edition, straight ahead.
But I really want to do better.
I really want to.
God knows I do.
That was Benny Hinn after Inside Edition investigated his ministry.
Now Pastor Benny says he's healed his ways.
So we went back to check him out, and guess what we found.
I just know that the Holy Spirit says do it.
And you know what? It works.
So Brother Benny's back, but has he cleaned up his act?
He needs a triple note.
Two, one.
Hello, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching Inside Edition today.
We're at Lake Eola in Orlando, and throughout today's broadcast we'll be showing you some of the beautiful sights around town.
Also a little later on, some of Hollywood's top stars in a high-speed car race, and the winner will surprise you.
But first, a few weeks ago we took a hard look at the ministry of Benny Hinn.
He's the flamboyant pastor who brings in big bucks from his followers with promises that the sick can be healed.
Well, our investigation uncovered that many of these miracles were not as solid as they seemed.
As a result, Pastor Hinn promised to change his ways.
Well, we revisited him to find out if he really has seen the light.
Here's Steve Wilson.
It isn't just Brother Benny's best gospel singers that are so glad these days.
Thousands of his faithful flock were rocking the riverfront in Cincinnati the other night
at the first Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade since we revealed some serious problems in his ministry.
But I really want to do better. I really want to. God knows I do.
That's what he said earlier this year when we first investigated Pastor Benny Hinn and his faith-healing ministry
and uncovered some truly troublesome things.
Pastor Benny is a coat-slinging, Bible-thumping, hard-blowing TV preacher,
the leader of what may well be the fastest-growing ministry in America.
And at his traveling crusades, Benny's been blaring the same message.
Everybody here can be healed tonight.
I was a sinner, Jesus sent me free.
The Bible says it's the truth which makes you free.
And even though some of his biggest supporters hated to hear it,
Pastor Benny says the truths we told right here showed him the light,
and he promised to make some changes.
We don't even use the word healed anymore.
No? Well, that may have been the plan.
But listen how Benny began his recent crusade talking about Jesus.
And tonight here in Cincinnati, he's still saying, I will.
He's still telling you, I will heal you.
Those who claimed they were cured in Cincinnati couldn't run to the stage fast enough.
When Pastor Benny got heated and things started jumping,
good intentions quickly fell victim to old habits.
There's so many healings, I don't think we can all keep up with all the healings here.
Now Pastor Benny has never backed away from the strong religious belief many people hold
that God can perform miracles.
Only now, in wake of our investigation, Benny really is trying to be much more careful.
Did the doctor check her? Yes sir, Dr. Kober.
Come here, doctor. Come here.
We have doctors here, three medical doctors, two here and one in the back.
As soon as they're through here, they go back and get checked again.
The last report you did on Inside Edition when this girl came up who said she had polio,
what that has done for us, it has opened our eyes to the fact that now we're verifying it thoroughly.
So if they're not really healed or if they came up and said they were and they were not,
they'll never get on television.
The doctor has checked her. All the pain is gone. All the swelling is gone.
She has no more pain in Jesus' name.
Where is Dr. Tobin? Did he check her? Dr. Chin.
Oh Dr. Chin, come here. Well, we have four doctors now, not three, four of you.
It seems everybody brings a story, but of course nobody brings their medical records.
I'm going to take you up, okay? I'm going to take you up. I'm going to have a doctor check you.
Pastor Benny could bring in the whole American Medical Association,
but about the best they could do without a thorough examination on the spot is only what this doctor is doing here.
What do you believe you were healed from? Diagnosis, epilepsy.
She's been unable to taste things since October 29th.
The doctor was just down here putting a mint in her mouth. God is restoring her taste.
She can taste the mints that we gave her.
As far as a cursory exam, we can see if there's a difference in what they say they were before as to where they are right now,
but we can't say that a patient's been cured.
Do you believe God healed you? I believe he's doing it, yes.
I can smell that. I couldn't smell the spearmint when he gave you the tick-tack.
I can smell it. Oh, Father.
Pastor Benny says in this case and all the others now,
each individual's doctor must provide solid verification before anybody gets on Benny's TV program.
Do you see why I'm in the healing ministry? Do you understand why I keep going?
When I see people crying like this, telling me the pain is gone, it keeps me going for Jesus.
I tell you, it keeps me going for the Lord. And there's no pain now.
No pain.
To prove it isn't the $600,000 a year or more that keeps him going,
Pastor Benny says he sold that $100,000 Mercedes Benz he was driving when we first met him. Now?
Yeah, I want to say I will be driving an American car, American-made car.
And remember his promise to find and fire whomever was responsible for mishandling those prayer requests?
We found out that two volunteers were responsible for leaving behind these prayer requests.
They've been dismissed.
So the faithful still flock wherever Benny travels.
Forty-five thousand pack the Riverfront Coliseum for free services.
Some come to worship, some come for a healing, and some come for the show.
He's still slinging that suit coat.
And Brother Benny's still blowing him down.
Somebody says, why do you blow on people?
I don't know.
I just know that the Holy Spirit says do it.
And you know what? It works.
My aim is to win as many souls as I can and to influence as many as I can for God.
Your report has enabled me to become more careful and I pray that as a result many more people will be saved than one.
And joining us now is Pastor Benny Hinn who lives in the Orlando area.
Thanks for coming in.
Let's clear up a couple of things.
First of all about the cures.
Do you cure people? Does the Lord cure through you?
What really is it?
Well, first of all, I don't cure anybody, Bill.
I never said I did.
I'm simply a minister that likes to help individuals to build their faith so they can believe for healing.
Yes, the Lord is the healer.
And I've just made myself available.
Does it matter that some people feel that you're a fraud?
Well, I mean, I can't convince people of what they should think or feel.
All I know is the ones who know the Lord, the ones who are Spirit-filled, know if I am or if I'm not.
The body of Christ knows who's real and who's not.
The average person who's not a born-again Spirit-filled believer, only God can show them.
Pastor, thank you very much for speaking with us today.
Thank you.
For some time now, we've been keeping a close eye on Benny Hinn, America's fastest-growing TV minister.
He made headlines this summer when he claimed God used him to heal former heavyweight champion Vander Holyfield.
You may remember that Mr. Hinn had promised our Steve Wilson he wouldn't make any more claims about healing.
He couldn't back up.
So we sent Steve out to see if he's kept that promise.
Take it, take it, take it.
I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning here.
We've been investigating for nearly two years, and TV preacher Benny Hinn has never been hotter.
Thousands still flock to his roving revival meetings, and millions more are watching on television.
Many come to be touched by this charismatic evangelist they believe is specially anointed by God,
who uses him as an instrument to heal every affliction known to man.
No, no, Jesus, Jesus.
Wherever he preaches, people still climb out of their wheelchairs and walk.
And now this latest chapter includes his greatest ever conquest for Christ.
That's the two-time heavyweight boxing champ of the world falling before Pastor Benny.
Vander Holyfield says God used Benny last month in Philadelphia to heal the heart condition that KO'd the champ's career,
forcing him to retire after his April loss to Michael Moore.
And then, just last weekend, when the Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade rolled into Indianapolis...
I couldn't kick my legs.
Whoa!
Benny was jumping for joy when actor Ben Boreen said he too was healed of injuries suffered in an auto accident two years ago.
Now you may remember when we first investigated Benny Hinn, we caught him boasting bogus claims of miracle cures.
My Jesus has destroyed AIDS! He's destroyed AIDS!
Later, he admitted to me that he knows there is no proof of any miraculous AIDS cure.
He went on Christian television and told us too he'd seen the light and learned a powerful lesson.
Your report has enabled me to become more careful.
And remember what he told his own congregation after we questioned why he lived in a $700,000 home and drove a $100,000 Mercedes?
Preachers who live in big homes and drive big cars are to re-examine their calling.
And may I tell you something? God has taken me by the neck.
But I'll tell you honestly, I think I'm gonna quit preaching healing and start preaching Jesus.
The response was incredible, and in wake of those promises last year, his ministry now rakes in twice as much as before.
More than $2 million a month now.
A year ago, he denounced miracles for money.
Money, money, money, money. I am sick of it.
People suddenly are being told it's like almost going gambling.
You give this and get this back.
But just last month, what was Pastor Benny still telling the flock?
People, just lift your hands and thank him for what's gonna happen to your finances.
Because when you give in a time like this, something good is gonna happen.
So, what has really changed?
Well, he has stopped slinging his suit coat to spread God's anointing.
His staff is much more careful with prayer requests and cash donations.
And he seldom blows believers over like he used to do so often.
He sold his Mercedes, but now drives a big $56,000 BMW.
Just take it, just take it.
But more importantly, what became of his promise to stop preaching healing?
Take a look at this scene from his crusade just last month.
People, there's so many miracles here, I can hardly keep up with them.
The truth is, healings are still at the heart of the hymn ministry.
The hook that keeps them coming and keeps them giving.
And you never say to anybody, this person is healed.
No, never. No, no, no.
I leave Ferguson, you are healed by the power of God.
The disease, dear lady, has just died and you will live.
The Lord has healed you.
Jesus is healing your mama.
At the Trinity Foundation in Dallas, where they monitor Benny Hinn and other TV preachers,
only Anthony is sorely disappointed.
I think Benny is very sincere. I think he's a true believer.
I think he is getting some bad advice.
And I think he gets locked into the excitement of the crowd at his crusades.
And he, it's the same thing as being at a rock concert.
Here, guys, here. Oh. Oh.
He forgets the promises that he made to verify the healings.
And listen to what happened again just last month.
Dear Lord Jesus, there's a man here tonight in your twenties.
God has just delivered you from AIDS completely.
And you grilled him on it. And now he's, and he said he wasn't going to do it anymore.
And he's done it again.
And sometimes more than once a night.
AIDS in the woman and both of her children.
Oh, my God. But when you called it out, she felt the power of God.
Father, a perfect healing.
So they must be healed.
Exactly. So if she's not healed, if she's not healed, then we have a problem.
We have a problem. Do you know something about it that I don't know?
Well, we know nobody called this woman's doctor before Benny ran and we ran this miracle healing on TV.
We know one of those children is not even hers.
And we know the lady has not been healed of AIDS because just this week we had her tested to find out.
All I know is what she said.
I was praying she'd get it and I put it on showing me praying for someone with AIDS to give someone hope with AIDS.
Let's stop this hype in the name of God.
It's giving God the worst name ever in the history of religion.
So was Pastor Benny just boasting again when he said,
Ha ha ha, yes, thank you, Lord. The Lord is telling me right now he is repairing Hollyfield's heart completely.
Has Jesus healed of Vander Holyfield?
Yes, he has.
Yeah, there's been significant improvement between, you know, several days after the fight and about two weeks ago when we remeasured the heart.
Now, doctors have seen other hearts stiffen and fail to pump properly, then suddenly soften, but they don't understand exactly why.
We don't know what caused it. We don't know why it's better. We know it is better.
And in the future, we don't know if it'll continue to get better. We certainly hope it will.
And there's a possibility that it may get worse. We just don't know.
The champ apparently believes Benny is such a blessing. He's traveled to three states to be with the preacher in the last six weeks.
He's also written him a $265,000 check.
The Lord and I know that I'm healed, but the whole thing is to spread the word about healing.
So I have to get into spring, and I will win, and I will get God the glory.
I will rebuke this thing.
And not long after Benny prayed for Ben Verene...
I sing because my soul is free.
He says he was so strengthened, he sang and danced from one end of the stage to the other.
And brother Benny had a tag team that couldn't be beat.
Holyfield, come here, my friend.
These men are wonderful, sincere men. I have no doubt that they sincerely believe.
But the system is making them trophies for Jesus.
Really, I mean, I don't use anybody. I'm just plain, simple me.
And I just wish people would know me for who I am.
Holyfield says he may try to regain the heavyweight title as soon as next spring.
But first, he'll have to convince some very skeptical boxing officials he's healthy enough to get back in the ring.
As you have just seen from the first part of this program,
our feelings and our so-called discernment can be easily fooled.
What we think we see is not necessarily what it is.
Many Christians' belief in the supernatural power of God has unfortunately been eroded
because of their exposure to the deceptive practices of the signs and wonders movement.
Jesus called people to believe in Him, not just His miracles,
which were the proof of His message, a message based on repentance.
Repentance is something Benny Hearn appears to have done much of in recent years.
Not only for heretical teaching, but also for a lifestyle that Hinn himself once claimed
could offend a sinner and cause them to reject the gospel.
We all sin, so our purpose in making this program is not to highlight a person's weaknesses.
If that were the case, we could have made a better program on our own failures.
But we want you to be aware of some rather troublesome facts,
facts which can have you better prepared and better able to understand where some of your donations can end up.
Remember, when a preacher tells you to send your money to Jesus,
make sure it doesn't have his address on the envelope.
Ministers will pay a higher price.
You know what the Lord said to me in that experience?
You may think this is silly, but I tell you, He said, Benny, you represent me.
I used to wear a beautiful Rolex watch that I liked.
He said, will this win souls?
I said, Lord, what's the watch?
He said, will it win souls?
I said, no.
He said, get rid of it.
Someone gave me a beautiful Titec, very expensive diamond Titec.
He said, will this win souls?
I said, no, Lord.
He said, get rid of it.
I used to wear a beautiful ring, diamond ring, beautiful big ring.
He said, will this win souls?
I said, no, Lord.
He said, get rid of it.
It's not that He's against those things, but will they win people for God?
The answer is no, they can offend people and keep them out of heaven.
I used to drive a Benz Mercedes.
He says, will this win souls?
And I was sitting in that car, and the Lord said this to me.
He said, driving this car can send people to hell.
No, Lord, I said, no.
He said, Benny, what's more important, you riding in this car or souls being one?
The car was gone.
He says, it's a process.
It's a deal.
I just hope He won't ask anymore for the next few months.
But if I know the Lord, He'll come again.
Tonight on The Next Impact, evangelist Benny Hinn, TV's latest spiritual superstar.
Is he a modern day miracle worker?
I'm healed. All the pain is gone. I don't have one speck of pain anymore.
Or a master showman selling hope to the hopeless?
Jesus, deliver free money!
Behind the scenes of a tax-free ministry earning tens of millions of dollars a year.
A story of miracles and money on the weekly news magazine Impact.
Tonight, 9 Eastern on CNN.
Now, on Impact.
TV's miracle man.
Punch! Punch!
I don't have one speck of pain anymore.
Miracles that have the faithful flocking.
And the Holy Ghost is coming in to you, my friend.
A look behind the miracles and the money of America's latest spiritual superstar.
May I ask what your annual salary is?
Impact, CNN and Time on Special Assignment with Bernard Shaw and Stephen Frazier.
Impact, a collaboration of two of the world's leading news organizations, CNN and Time.
From Washington, D.C., here's Bernard Shaw.
Welcome to Impact. We begin with a story of miracles and money.
A recent CNN Time magazine poll shows that three out of every four Americans believe in the healing power of God.
But only one in four believes in faith healers as instruments of that power.
So one man is out to change that, to make you a believer.
His name is Pastor Benny Hinn, and he's America's newest religious superstar.
In this Impact exclusive, senior correspondent John Camp goes behind the pulpit to investigate Benny Hinn, his miracles, and his millions.
With you right now as I'm stretching my hands towards you for a miracle.
You may want to come and put your hand on the screen.
A heart condition has just been healed.
Diabetes has been healed.
Thanks, thanks.
This is Pastor Benny Hinn.
Hallelujah!
You may never have heard of him, but for millions who watch religious television, Benny Hinn is a spiritual superstar.
We are the north and we are the east.
Every one of the people that comes to the crusade has seen the television show.
They suspend critical judgment. They expect this is going to happen, and it happens.
Touch!
And then when they get up on stage, my God, this is the biggest day of their life.
Touch!
Pick him up!
If you're confused,
So what do you offer, sir?
He's the prince of peace.
I'm not a prince!
Benny Hinn fills arenas and coliseums around the world.
From Hydra, Canada!
Are you her husband?
He is a showman.
Oh, Jesus, thanks.
Woo!
He is a pitchman.
By the way, for all those that will send $100 or more, I want to send you a signed copy.
Take it in Jesus!
But most important to his followers, Benny Hinn is a miracle worker.
One of the four men who you said was healed of cocaine.
She's had 17 major surgeries.
Pastor, this lady is suffering with cancer.
22 years fibromyalgia.
I don't heal anybody. I am not the healer. The Lord is the healer.
She said I couldn't walk, I couldn't sit.
I know that it's looked upon by many through skepticism.
I'm using my legs for the first time.
Come on, people!
But it is so needed because people are hurting.
Some of Benny Hinn's healings are in fact documented and defy medical explanation.
Others, though, are not miracles at all.
Benny Hinn's greatest success may be he gives hope to the hopeless.
A commodity even skeptics concede has great value.
In this Impact Investigation, we take you behind the scenes
into the prayer rooms and the money rooms of Benny Hinn's $50 million a year miracle business.
A rainy day in Georgia.
Hours before Benny Hinn arrives for his two-day crusade,
Atlanta's 15,000-seat Omni Arena is filling up fast.
And miracles are already being proclaimed.
I'm healed. I'm healed. All the pain is gone. I don't have one speck of pain anymore.
Everyone's in need of a miracle.
35-year-old Laura Twilley, her body ravaged by cancer and chemotherapy,
has been told by doctors she only has a few weeks to live.
In desperation, she's turned to Benny Hinn.
Like many others in the pre-show crowd, she experiences what she calls a miracle.
I have cancer all over my body and I haven't been able to walk at all.
I can pretty much stand and I'm doing pretty good now.
Later, we'll find out how long-lasting this miracle is.
Many miracle seekers make long, difficult journeys to see Benny Hinn,
like Linda Tyson and her 17-year-old paralyzed son, Shandez.
They drive six hours from their home in Elba, Alabama.
I'm hoping for a miracle, a big blessing.
But from the specialist familiar with Shandez's injury, the prognosis is bleak.
It would be very unusual for someone having this severe an injury to have a miraculous recovery.
Shandez was a star football player, recruited by several colleges,
an honor student until a routine tackle in his high school's homecoming game left him hopelessly paralyzed.
People always say things happen for a reason.
To this day, I don't know what reason.
I try not to ask why.
Arriving later in the day, she's told her son, Shandez,
that she's going to be in the hospital for a few days,
and then she'll be back in the hospital.
I try not to ask why.
Arriving later in Atlanta, mother and son cannot get into the crusade.
They find shelter from the rain in a concession area beneath the arena.
They will return the following night.
Inside, cancer victim Laura Twilley is being interviewed,
part of a screening process that determines who will be allowed on stage with Benny Hinn.
We'll have to bring them up.
Then another process begins later, before we put them on television.
Give the Lord a mighty hand.
Benny Hinn says all of the healings that appear on his television program are fully documented.
This is marvelous.
Yet his best-known healing, that of heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holofield, has been disputed.
The Lord is telling me right now he is repairing Holofield's heart completely.
Holofield's doctors claim his heart ailment was misdiagnosed in the first place.
I remember a man in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, that turned into a snake before my eyes,
and 2,000 people saw him.
And often, Benny Hinn makes wild claims, impossible to verify and hard to believe.
I was in Ghana just recently, we had half a million people show up,
and a man was raised from the dead on the platform.
That's a fact, people.
Do you literally believe that someone has been resurrected on the program?
Oh, John, I would not limit God.
God can't raise the dead, absolutely.
I have not seen it.
In that one case, we did hear about it.
Thanks.
Thank you.
This is not to say all faith healings are wild fabrications.
There are cases where faith healers bring about cures.
Harvard professor and medical doctor Herbert Benson has just written a book about spiritual healing.
Many people do get better, but it may not be the faith healer that's doing it.
It may be their belief in the faith healer and what the faith healer represents.
Blessed be the Lord.
It scares me, because I know I'm not the healer.
I've become aware of my responsibility to make sure that these dear people realize, first, I'm not their answer, but Jesus is the answer.
Take it, okay? Take it, I don't want to give Jesus' name.
Benny Hinn began his healing ministry without any training.
Smart man over there.
He is a high school dropout, a Palestinian by birth raised in Israel.
His Greek Orthodox parents immigrated to Canada when he was 14.
Touch!
As his ministry has grown, Benny Hinn's flamboyance and unorthodox theology have made him a lightning rod for criticism from more traditional Christian groups.
With such a ministry as I'm in, I'm going to always have two things, crowds and controversy.
And so controversy will be a part of my life till I'm done.
And everything that you and I have seen must come through Jesus.
Hinn says he is a disciple of the late Catherine Coleman, a famous spiritual healer in the early days of television.
The power of God has gone through this man. That's power.
If you look at his performance, his shtick, and you look at Catherine Coleman, they're the same person.
Praise the Lord, will you?
Except he's got a white suit and she's got a white dress. I mean, he's aped all of Catherine Coleman's mannerisms.
Pick him up high. Pick him up high.
Pick up your legs, up and down. Up, up, up.
Well, Jesus forgives you, now say hallelujah!
Steve Martin modeled the evangelist character in Leap of Faith after Benny Hinn.
You, sir, come up on stage and be cured of your gambling.
Well, in a way it's a compliment, I guess. I'm, really, it's just me. That's just me.
I don't put anything on. It's just the way I am.
That is the ugliest tie I've ever seen, my goodness.
He's just goofy.
You need deliverance from ugly ties, my friend.
If people are laughing when someone is sincerely trying to do God stuff, then it's kind of sad.
Now! Whoa!
The onstage swooning so prevalent at his crusades is called being slain in the spirit.
Come on!
I've tried to understand it, why people fall. I honestly don't know.
It's happened to me when I was by myself a number of times.
And it's like where you lose control almost.
Oh, Jesus, we're depending on you.
In Atlanta, there's almost a rock concert atmosphere when Benny Hinn comes to town.
Singing Jesus.
This capacity crowd is here for a spiritual experience they can see, hear and feel.
Many are looking for hope.
Singing Jesus.
Singing Jesus.
Remember cancer victim Laura Twilley, who earlier walked for the first time in weeks?
She failed the screening process to get on stage.
Laura was hurt. She was crushed by that.
She wanted more than anything for Benny to just come over there and put his hand on her.
Four weeks after the crusade, Mrs. Twilley died, leaving behind her husband and three little girls.
I was a little skeptical about going to the crusade at first, but it was important to Laura.
If it was important to her, it was important to me.
Linda Tyson and her son Shandez, who were turned away the first night of the crusade, also failed to get in the second night.
But they were taken backstage where Benny Hinn briefly laid hands on Shandez and prayed for him.
Shandez's condition has not changed, but his mother says that's all right for now.
I feel like I got to hold on to that hope.
No matter what anyone says, you know, as if he's not going to get better, I just had to hope and believe that he will.
God does care about our pain and our sorrow.
Several weeks after the Atlanta crusade, Benny Hinn was reflective about his role as a spiritual healer.
If Benny Hinn can give people only one thing, I'm satisfied, and that's hope.
The business of giving hope and working miracles has allowed Benny Hinn to build something of a healing empire.
He has become a spiritual celebrity, which has its drawbacks and its benefits.
May I ask what your annual salary is?
Well, John.
When we return, an answer to that question.
As we've seen, televangelist Benny Hinn gives hope to hundreds of thousands of people.
In return, they give money to his Orlando-based ministry, money that's tax-free because of the ministry's nonprofit status.
But what happens to the millions of dollars his followers send in?
Is the money going where they think?
In the second part of our report, The Miracles and the Money, John Camp follows the cash flowing into Benny Hinn's empire.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Crowds line up by the thousands.
Hallelujah!
When miracle preacher Benny Hinn comes to town, his followers?
Lord, we praise you!
And his critics?
Jesus never preached money!
Critics claiming money has become the message of his ministry.
Wake up! Most of you will leave the same way you came, unchanged and much quicker!
I need that good Christ, the healer.
And at this crusade, dollars flow freely into Benny Hinn's coffers, at concession stands.
That'll be about 30.
Into collection plates.
If you are writing a check, maybe payable to Benny Hinn Ministries.
And eventually, the money comes in through the mail.
But unlike most nonprofit organizations in America, TV preachers like Benny Hinn don't have to publicly disclose the amount of money they bring in.
From crusades like the one here in Atlanta, from televised fundraising appeals, from the sale of mail-order merchandise.
All this money is exempt from taxes and from public scrutiny.
What you give never goes to Benny Hinn. Never.
The money is managed by Hinn's self-appointed board of directors.
I have never touched a cent.
But their secrecy raises suspicions among critics.
The money corrupts.
There is no accountability when you have that kind of money, because you pay your people around you a huge salary,
and pretty soon they have too much to protect.
Touch!
Oli Anthony heads a small Dallas, Texas religious order that closely monitors television evangelists.
The group acted as a paid consultant for this report.
Anthony says Benny Hinn warrants particular scrutiny.
In Jesus' name.
He's probably the fastest growing ministry in America.
He became the replacement for Jim and Tammy Baker, for Tilton, for Jimmy Swigert.
He is now the man of the hour.
Touch! Touch! Touch!
Benny Hinn says he wants to avoid the mistakes of other TV evangelists.
Yet, he has failed to join a voluntary watchdog group that sets standards for TV preachers,
and he continues to maintain a veil of secrecy over his personal income and his spending.
May I ask what your annual salary is?
Well, John, you knew that that would be private, but I knew you would ask it.
I can tell you this.
If it wasn't for my book royalties, I'd be in debt.
Impact obtained a copy of this five-year employment contract ending in December 1995.
It set Benny Hinn's salary at $250,000 a year, plus unspecified group benefits.
So you're asking me if it's accurate?
If it's reasonably accurate.
It's close.
Later, Hinn told Impact his yearly income, including royalties, was much more,
between $500,000 and $1 million a year.
He would not be more specific.
Why are some of these people so reluctant to disclose their salaries?
I think because they make too much money.
They feel that it's inconsistent. It's more than local pastors make.
I would love the day to come where I would live only on my royalties
and would not have to take a salary from the ministry at all.
The home I have, I've paid for. The car I drive, I've paid for.
The ministry pays nothing when it comes to home and car and all that.
Benny Hinn lives with his wife and four children in a $650,000 home
in an upscale gated community near his Orlando headquarters.
At home, his lifestyle is comfortable, but not lavish.
But when he travels, it's a different story.
Here at New York's Kennedy Airport, our home video camera recorded Hinn
and members of his entourage preparing to board the supersonic Concorde for a flight to Europe.
The round-trip fare, nearly $9,000 each.
That's almost double the cost of first-class tickets to save four hours flying time.
It was because of my schedule. If you would look at my schedule, you would see I am busy all the time.
I did not even like really flying it, to be honest with you, but I had to.
Hinn and his personal bodyguards stay in some of the most exclusive and expensive hotels in the world.
In presidential suites, costing as much as $2,200 a night.
They're chosen for two reasons. Number one, for security.
My staff chooses those hotels.
And two, I don't want to stay in a hotel during a crusade that does not supply the services I'm looking for.
It's very difficult to square the enjoyment of great luxuries with being a dedicated servant of God, I think.
You keep it running, Arnie.
In 1996, one of Hinn's former bodyguards, seen here breaking up a small demonstration,
threatened to go public with allegations of extravagant spending by Benny Hinn.
The bodyguard was paid over $100,000 to keep quiet, although Hinn says the purpose of the payment was simply to put the issue to rest.
Benny Hinn's jet-set lifestyle and his efforts to keep it secret seems to contradict the kind of financial sacrifice he asked of his followers.
So send that special love gift today.
For example, Labor Day 1996 was designated by Hinn as a day of prayer for God to help people pay their bills.
If you have big debt, you sow big seed. Just the way it is.
If I had to have a big financial miracle, I would not give a dollar.
Right.
I would give a big sacrificial seed, believing God for the harvest.
The Bible does clearly state that if people do give to God's work, God will reward them.
And I do not ever want to get to the place where I have to be begging for money to keep the bills paid. I don't want that.
But often, that's exactly what he does on his daily television show.
If God would speak to you, even giving $10,000 or $50,000 or maybe even $100,000, we can use it, believe me now.
Benny Hinn also recruits other well-known televangelists to his cause.
God has a man for every generation. This is the man for our generation.
These miracles shall continue.
A generation ago, Oral Roberts was television's best-known spiritual healer.
I'm certain the power of God was so strong it just lifted me out of bed.
Now, he's a pitch man for Benny Hinn.
Today, you should give your biggest cash bill or write your biggest check and send it in, and then expect God to give to you. You can't out-give God.
Hallelujah.
This ministry is making a difference for the Kingdom of God.
Benny Hinn says most of the money he brings in goes right back into his television show, which is broadcast worldwide.
Jesus, thank you.
Almost every episode of the show is built around excerpts from his healing crusades recorded in state-of-the-art production trucks.
Good one. Good for us.
Crusades are, in effect, glorified television productions, mostly paid for with money from offerings.
Are you expecting your miracle today?
With one of the most popular religious programs on TV, the cash flows into Hinn's Orlando-based headquarters.
Inside the highly-secured money room, 40 people work four different shifts sorting mail and money.
How many pieces of mail do you process a week?
In a week, we're averaging between 15,000 and 18,000.
Besides cash, checks, and credit card numbers, most of the letters also contain miracle requests.
Praise God, he's good. He answers prayers.
These letters go to prayer rooms, and we're told, ultimately, to Benny Hinn himself, who prays daily over huge stacks of mail.
Thank you, Lord. Your credit card number, please.
Benny Hinn also operates a sizable, tax-free mail-order business.
This package can be yours for $50 only through this special television offer.
With operators standing by 24 hours a day.
Benny Hinn Ministries, how may I help you?
Taking orders for everything from Benny Hinn coffee mugs, audio tapes, video tapes, and, of course, Benny Hinn books.
You can even buy autographed Bibles for $100 each.
All told, Benny Hinn estimates his ministry took in $50 million in 1996.
That's almost a 50% increase from 1995, when the ministry brought in $33 million.
A million thanks.
Despite those numbers, Benny Hinn is only taking a slice of a much larger pie.
Touch!
Televangelism is a $3.5 billion a year industry, untaxed, unregulated.
And still, in many cases, unaccountable to the public.
Benny Hinn says he wants to be more open, and to that end, he gave Impact unprecedented access to his ministry against the advice of his board members.
Even so, when it comes to answering specific questions about the huge sums of money collected and spent by his ministry,
he was less than cooperative, delaying for weeks providing financial statements, despite repeated promises to do so.
Touch!
But for his millions of followers, it's not the money. It's the miracles that really matter.
As long as people believe Benny Hinn is a miracle worker,
he will continue filling up arenas and collecting millions of dollars.
And the Holy Ghost is coming into you, my friend!
Hallelujah!
We are Elohim!
As John Kemp mentioned, there is a voluntary watchdog organization established by the Reverend Billy Graham.
It's called the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, and it monitors 850 religious-based groups.
Benny Hinn says he is considering joining.
To purchase a printed transcript or videotape of this program, please call 1-800-CNN-NEWS.
For online discussions and a preview of our next program, visit Impact Online at cnn.com slash impact.
Thank you.
Thank you.