Benny Hinn: ‘The Anointing’ examined in the light of the gospel
Dont ask me why, but tonight I dug out a Benny Hinn book called The Anointingf rom my bookcase (ok so there is still a bit of weeding to be done) . I scanned through some of the chapters and began to think ‘actually some of this stuff is not too bad’. However as I continued reading I soon became aware of some very subtle but serious errors within his teaching. Errors that mark the departure from the true gospel to a false gospel (Gal 1).
Here is one of the more serious errors in his book
“If you decide knowingly and willingly to sin, your justification flies out of the window. Wilful sinning, knowingly and intentionally is not of God. There is no more place for repentance. Simply said, your continued justification is dependent upon obedience.” p 157
This statement is actually on par with the false gospel that Paul was dealing with in his letter to the Galatians. This is the false gospel of legalism. It is ‘faith in Jesus plus something else equals justifiation’. The bible on the otherhand teaches justification by faith alone on the merits of Christ alone.
According to Benny Hinn a person is justified through continued obedience rather than being justified through the work of Christ. Within this statement there are two serious errors which are cloaked in one truth. Some people will say ‘take the meat and spit out the bones’. In other words take the truth and leave the error. I say this is a poisenous steak, eat it at your own peril. So what is the one truth and what are the two errors?
Truth: Wilfilly and knowingly sinning is not of God.
Why is this true? Simply because sinning is not of God.
Error number one:Willful sin removes a believer from a place of being justified.
This is simply not the case. Why is this not the case? Simply because all sin is carried out willingly. The new nature within the believer does not want to sin but the flesh does.
Gal 5:17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Sinning grieves the Holy Spirit and dishonours God but it does not remove a believer from the place of justification.
This leads me to error number two.
Justification is conditional upon obedience.
Let me state this plainly. This is not justification by faith but justification by works. This gospel is condemned by Paul.
Gal 1:8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
Gal 2:15“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Gal 5:4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
A believer does not lose his justification every time he sins. He needs to be forgiven afresh but he is still justified by grace through faith. Justification is primarily through the work of Christ. Christ’s work is perfect and nothing can bee added to it and nothing can be taken from it. It is not faith that saves us, it is Christ, faith is the instrument by which we receive the benefits and even this faith is a gift.
The problem with Hinn’s book is that it lures people into chasing ‘the anointing’. He is informing them how to ‘get it’. Sadly his gospel is ultimately legalistic and it will end in hopelessness and self delusion for those who embrace it. Believers in Christ who follow Hinn’s teaching, soak yourself in the book of Galatians and the book of Romans and ask God for wisdom and insight to the true gospel.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
ammmmmen
Benny Hinn’s justification kinda sounds more like the RC justification.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Thanks for posting this John- as with all other gospels this will only lead to one of two things. Pride for those who think they’ve ‘got it’ and despair for those who keep falling short. The true gospel leads to peace and worship.
I do have an interesting question on the nature of sin though- which I’ll post when I get back from yf!…
July 9th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hey John here’s the question- is all sin willful? Or is there such a thing as unwillful sin? I’m reading some puritan stuff at the moment, and they seem to pray (often) that the Lord would forgive them for sins they dont know they have committed. It’s struck me as something that we dont really do now. Maybe because we’re less aware of the depth of our depravity than the puritans?
I’m not sure, I suppose the most important thing is that we continually ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, and lead us to true repentace..
July 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Hi Ross, thanks for the comment.
Your post touches on the problem I began to struggle with when I began to respond to Hinn’s quote.
In responding, I almost said all sin is both carried out knowingly and willingly. I felt this was wrong and decided to say all sin is willfull sin. I agree with the puritans there are known levels of sin and unkown levels of sin. I assume howevr, that even unkown sin is still carried out willingly? In that we are doing what our nature pleases to do? Can we be held responsible for sin if it is carried out unwillingly?
I suppose my question in return is ‘even if we sin unkowingly does this mean we have sinned unwillingly?’
Perhaps we can sin unwillingly!? I suppose Romans 7 describes something of this issue but then there are differences of interpretation over whether or not this is dealing with a born again believer. Galatians 5 deals with something similar.
I suppose another question is what is the difference between willful sin and unwilful sin?
July 11th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I think we can sin unwillingly and even unknowingly if a sin has bcome a habit. David speaks of it in Psalm 19. kdr