I am getting old and my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I thought I was wrong in believing that this same Benny Hinn also appeared in Barbados sometime last year after a successful “Miracle Healing Service” in Trinidad and Tobago.
In an attempt to find out if, as somebody reportedly once said, I was “correct or cowrong”, I went on the Internet and googled “Benny Hill in Barbados 2013” but to my surprise not a single newspaper or other written report appeared. Then to my relief I found a YouTube video which was posted on April 22, 2013, with the note “Benny Hinn comes to Barbados after prophesying over Prophet J. Browne & wife in Trinidad at the Crawford Stadium, laying hands on them and commissioning them as prophets to go to the nations.”
It’s a very short video, not professionally done, and shot from the back of the congregation as they are told by Hinn, “We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit dwells within us.” At this, the crowd break out in song with “Holy Spirit”. The rest is mostly singing and more exhortations from Hinn.
I had hoped that it would have been long enough for me to hear if the Texas-based “millionister” had done what he reportedly did in Trinidad before coming to Barbados, namely asking the estimated 12 000 people in the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain to each give a US$100 donation to help defray the expenses for the two-day event hosted by a Pentecostal church.
The Trinidad and Tobago media at the time reported Hinn as telling the crowd that he did not accept any gifts or take “even half a cent” in payment for the services. “I am doing this freely, because I love Trinidad,” he reportedly said, adding that the donations would not be for him “but for the kingdom of God”.
Newsday newspaper reported that the “prosperity preacher” urged believers to contribute the US$100, or its local equivalent of TT$600, to help cover expenses for the Saturday-Sunday events, which many attended in hopes of experiencing a miracle healing. It said Hinn described the donating as “sowing a seed” and reportedly told worshippers that giving money would result in prosperity in their lives.
“You will produce a harvest for the rest of your life. There will be a miracle in your finances and that of your family,” the publication reported Hinn as saying and that many in attendance made contributions.
Trinidad Express newspapers also reported that Hinn preached “on the eternity of the soul” and rejected the notion that religion can save people from damnation. “Religion cannot save you; it can only destroy you,” Hinn reportedly said, pointing to a belief in Jesus Christ as being necessary to enter heaven.
The April 13-14, 2013 crusade was Hinn’s fourth visit there, with previous visits in 1999, 2006 and 2011. His services are marked by him praying for those seeking healing from various ailments. However, not reported by the Trinidad and Tobago media but widely circulated by word of mouth in the twin-island Republic was the story of one man who while attending the service was heard shouting at the top of his voice, “Oh Lord, they have me walking”.
The ushers, assuming that the man had experienced a great healing, quickly escorted him to the stage where, when asked by the preacher for a description of exactly what he had experienced, he cried, “Is that I drive to the stadium but ah just discover that somebody stole me Mazda so now is walk they have me walking.”
• Al Gilkes heads a public relations firm.
