Benny Hinn Speaks Out - EXCLUSIVE

0:00 Hello everyone, this is Steven Strang and welcome to the Strang Report podcast. My guest today is none other than Benny Hinn. He reached out to me recently about doing a podcast and today you're going to want to stay tuned to my exclusive interview with Pastor Benny Hinn. The real Benny Hinn The real Benny Hinn The real Benny Hinn The real Benny Hinn The real Benny Hinn Pastor Benny, when people hear about you for the first time or come across a sermon of yours, what do you want them to know about you? Tell me, who is the real Benny Hinn? The real Benny Hinn The real Benny Hinn wants to finish better than when I began.

0:47 This is the real Benny Hinn today. The real Benny Hinn wants to know the Bible better than I've ever known it. And the real Benny Hinn wants Jesus to intensify his love in me for him with his fire. That's the real Benny Hinn. When I talk to the Lord, my real cry, my real cry, is Lord, I want to be accepted on that day. That's all that really matters to me. That's the real me.

1:28 People don't know that about me, but that's the real Benny Hinn now. Why do you think that a lot of people don't know that? Well, because I don't talk about it much. They see the clips from Crusades. They see the clips from TV programs. And they see the old clips from This Is Your Day and On and On. And they make up their own conclusion. And I think that's why they come up with their own beliefs on who I really am.

2:09 But when I started in ministry, it was a very simple beginning. And I want to finish with a simple finish. I'll talk more about that, but let's keep going. Talk to me about the gospel in your own words. What is the gospel? Why is the gospel so important in this hour? The gospel is simple. God, so loved the world, he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have life eternal. Jesus came to this world, God in the flesh, died on a cruel cross, shed his blood for our salvation, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended on high, and today is seated at God's right hand.

3:08 And one day he'll return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we who believe in him, in him, not about him, in him will have life eternal. And today the message that you hear is that, not in. Like, I believe that Jesus came. I believe that Jesus died. I believe that he shed his blood. I believe that he rose from the dead. Well, so does the devil. But to believe in, in, in means trusting him with your life, trusting him with your soul, trusting him to save you.

3:59 Abraham believed in God. That's the difference. So the devil does not believe in God, because then he'd have to trust him and he doesn't. He believes that, but not in. And a lot of people today are preaching that message of that Jesus came, that Jesus died, that Jesus shed his blood, that Jesus rose from the dead. And it's, it's, it's giving a lot of people, not the real hope of salvation. Jesus is our salvation.

4:39 And we have to trust him, surrender totally, spirit so that body to him. And that's what I believe. No, you hold miracle crusades. And a lot of people come to see miracles, usually healings. But I've heard you say that the greatest miracle is salvation. It changed life. That's correct. It is the greatest miracle because what else is greater than that? You know, when people are healed, that does a last, feel they're gone.

5:20 And sometimes it does a last long at all. But salvation is eternal. But like I said, salvation is Jesus himself. We have to receive him, receive him. It's not about heaven. It's about the Lord. Lord, I remember a young man coming to one of the meetings years ago. He was crying at the, at the altar call. And I said, I don't remember every question. I asked him that basically, you know, why are you crying?

6:01 He said, I want to be with my grandmother. I miss my grandmother. She's in heaven. But I miss her. I said, that's not why Jesus died. That you'd be with your grandmother. I said, the Bible says, whom do I have in heaven but the Lord? So people have this idea about heaven that isn't real. He is the reason for heaven. The Lord is whom do I have in heaven but you Lord? And I desire none upon the earth but you is what's, what the Psalmist said. You are my exceeding a great reward.

6:41 No one, no one else. I was, I was asked a year ago by one of the pastors that used to work with me. He said, what do you want from the Lord when you are, when you, when you're gone? I said, just to see a smile. That's all I want. Because he was thinking, I'd say, you know, this, I said, no, I just want, I just want to see him smile. Because he is my reward. That's it. I want to ask you about the word of God. How important is the word of God in the life of a believer? And how is, how has the word of God impacted your own life? Well, without the word of God, we will all perish in that we will not be able to live the Christian life.

7:29 It's our life, for it is life. God's word is life. God's word is him. He is the living word. Now, how important it is to me. I've always loved the Bible since I was a little boy because I lived in Israel. It was mandatory in school to read the Bible. And I remember when I was in school, I took the, I actually copied the New Testament by hand when I was a kid.

8:09 And this is before my salvation, by the way. And I was an altar boy in church. And after I had saved naturally the life of God came into my soul and being and spirit. And it just mild. It was, it was an amazing time in my life. I was in church literally every day. And I mean every day Sunday morning, I'd go here, Jim. I'd pass the gym in the morning and match for a while at night. Monday night was Bible study and Tuesday was youth. And Wednesday was midweek and Thursday was called the Catacombs, big meeting at St. Paul's Cathedral with the Watsons.

8:54 Friday was St. Matthew's and Saturday morning was what was called the Timothy class. So I was in church every day. But now at this stage in my life a few years ago, I decided to begin reading the Bible three times a year. I was challenged by Melo Niki over 10 years ago and I took her challenge. And then I decided to learn Hebrew. Now I did speak Hebrew and knew Hebrew when I was living in Israel. And then I said, okay, I want to learn Hebrew again. So I went to the Hebrew University online for, I think, two or three years.

9:38 And I read my Bible now in Hebrew every morning. I did this morning. And it's really changing me because the Hebrew language is so deep. It's hard to describe the depth of it. It's really, how shall I say, there's living water on it. I guess it's the only way to say it. It's just very alive, very alive when you read the Hebrew. It hits you really hard and beautifully too. But I would say that any man who does not read scripture, any woman who does not read scripture also, is in danger of being destroyed, especially in this time.

10:25 Because without the Bible we have no protection. We have no longevity. Jack Haverd made a statement to me one day. He said, you know, we've all known God's hand is on you. He said, you know why now? I believe God is really that he has called you. Please tell me. He said, your longevity. Longevity is that I've been in ministry now 50 years. It'll be 50 years this year. That's a long time to last. I think that should be a testimony by itself. It is. In fact, that's my next question. You have been following Christ for decades as you reflect back on those years.

11:09 Are there any regrets that you have? Absolutely. I'm a human being. I've made mistakes. I remember Paul will tell me he made mistakes by the truckloads. We all make mistakes. The two things I regret most in ministry. I was not too wise a number of times with prophecy. Number one, number one, I had guests come to other crusades that I think brought harm to not only people's lives, but also to my reputation because their prophecies were not really prophecy.

12:05 They went outside the borders of redemption. Because anything that's outside redemption is not prophecy. We know, of course, that prophecy is for edification, exhortation and comfort, but it must be within redemption. And when people come who go beyond that, we should not allow that. And I said that I allowed it and then I stopped. But that was years ago when I stopped. And then there were times when I thought God had shown me something that He wasn't showing me.

12:50 And I spoke it out. But in 1 Corinthians 13, we see very clearly that we all prophesied part. That means we don't see the full picture. And sadly, and I wish I can go back and fix it, but sadly, there were some prophecies I gave that were not accurate or from the Lord. But who's perfect? And for that, of course, I asked people to forgive me. I'm just human and made mistakes like that. And I'll probably make them again, I suppose, down the road because I'm not perfect.

13:33 We will be perfect one day when we're with the Lord. As long as we're in this body that's imperfect, we're not going to make perfect decisions and even say the things we need to say or should say. But it's sad when people focus on the times you missed it. But that's just the way it is. There were times when I did not miss it. And then the other one is prosperity. And that's been a very difficult one for me. When I started in ministry, it was simple.

14:16 And then the ministry grew. I was invited to go to what they called praise-a-thons. And I think that's when my troubles began. I don't blame anyone, but sadly, you get kind of in a place that becomes difficult. You don't know what to do and how to get out of it. So I came to the conclusion in 2019 that I did not want to be a part of the gimmickry of it. And I still stand by that. But sadly, I let pressure get to me.

15:00 And because of that pressure, I said things and did things I should not have done. And for that, really, I am sorry. And I ask the people watching us to really forgive me for that. And I'm striving with all my heart to be as biblical as possible with that. And frankly, you know, I'm kind of at the end of my road anyways. I'm myself needing to do a whole lot of that down the road. But right now, my focus is the Lord and only the Lord.

15:45 And if, of course, there will be the time when I may have to raise funds for our ministry, I will do it as biblically as I know how and balanced. Can you explain that a little more? I want that teaching to be about Jesus and only Jesus and the gospel. Because the heart of prosperity has to be the gospel, through biblical prosperity. And that is what I will do and strive to do for the rest of my life. That's it.

16:26 Now, getting back to what we were talking about a minute ago, I asked you about regrets. Let's suppose you could go back and give advice to an 18-year-old Benny Hinn about what you were going to expect later in life to avoid some of these regrets. And I believe that your advice would really apply to any 18-year-old just starting out in their adult life and whatever ministry God's called them to. Well, I would say three things. Number one, build a reservoir of the word of God in your heart. So when the troubles come, you know where to go.

17:07 Number two, cling to the Lord with all your might and only the word within your heart can help you cling to the Lord. And number three, stay with your call. And the reason that's important is because any day outside the call is sin. Remember, King Uzziah was called to be a king and one day wanted to be a priest and he became a leper. Leprosy is symbolic of sin in the Bible. Look what happened to Saul and so on.

17:48 So the most important thing that any young 18-year-old can really do is know the mind of God, know the counsel of God. And the Bible is really clear in Psalm 119 because it talks about how the word of God, the Scriptures, are so powerful to help us live holy. And this is when prayer becomes really in our life, it's because of the word of God in us. So without knowing Scripture and really being faithful to reading and reading and reading the Bible continually.

18:42 But it's not about reading the Bible, also it's about searching the Scriptures, like searching the word of God. The Bible to me is absolutely amazing. It's beyond amazing because there's such depth in it, especially when you go to the Hebrew. It really becomes fascinating, I think. And I pray that the Lord will give a lot of precious people watching the hunger and desire to learn Hebrew because there's such depth in it. That is life changing. But let's begin knowing the word of God in English first and then, you know, in time, let's hope people can, if they desire to, they can learn Hebrew and Greek and go from there.

19:35 This concludes the first half of my exclusive interview with Benny Hinn. If you want to see part two, you need to subscribe so you'll be notified when we play part two. You won't want to miss it. Thank you for watching and God bless you.