By: Apostle Steve Lyston
Let us look at the negative and the positive of Benny Hinn’s Statement.
Having wealth is a gift given by God for us to use to help other people.
Prosperity is more than money. It is about one being in God’s will, on
God’s schedule and fulfilling one’s purpose. Ultimately, prosperity deals
with Body, Soul and Spirit. So, most preachers are not presenting the
matter of prosperity in the right way. Many of them focus only on money
and there is no focus on souls, nor on empowering the poor.
Some charge people anywhere between US$500 upwards of US$1000 to
pray for someone. They also charge mileage if they have to physically go.
They also charge an honorarium to preach at a church anywhere from
US$10,000 up to US$100,000. Some refer to souls as clients nowadays.
So many of them have no mercy or compassion for souls, and they charge
based on what they feel they deserve, rather than what the Lord tells them.
Furthermore, they treat local churches with disdain and cause people to
believe that if they are not rich something is wrong with them. When writing
one of my books in 2012, the Lord said to me, “What if I strip some of them,
will they still serve Me.” That is coming soon. The next thing the Lord said
to me was that we should not brand ourselves as prosperity preachers or
wealth preachers, we are servants of God and we must preach what the
Holy Spirit says on any given night; not stick to a prosperity message
because was want money to come in. It hinders deliverance and true
prosperity. He also said that a purging was going to start in South Africa
and it has started.
Giving should be based on our love for God. God wants everybody to give.
My only problem with what Benny Hinn said is that he should have
explained more to the people that the statement many in the Body of Christ
use that “God does not need money” is an improper statement that is not
scriptural. God grants us wealth in order to have us use it to help others
and to build the kingdom. Some people simply just don’t want to give unto
the Lord and they use that as an excuse to facilitate their lack of love for
souls and for God. Yet, they want the best church building, best sound
system, top of the line A/C and 24-hour “Pastoral Concierge Service and
Attention.” We should never as a Body of Christ – if we love souls – be
struggling because of the mistakes of the past leaders that God blessed
with success. Some of them are wasting billions on church infrastructure
while the ignore their charge to empower the people. Most of them will no
longer be welcomed within the local church to preach – even those who
cover churches. They simply receive but the give nothing back. The
question is, do you believe some of those preachers would preach to some
churches for nothing at all – just for the kingdom’s sake. There are very
few. The problem right now is, Pastor Benny Hinn may have made this
statement when it is too late. Would some of those Pastors who preach
prosperity receive a word from someone they consider not to be in their
category of financial prosperity? They preach that a person should not sow
down, they must sow up – BUT – that is not scriptural. Jesus sowed down
when He came. If that was the case, then Jesus would be in error. He
became poor so that we may become rich. (Psalm 66). If Jesus was on
earth in this time, He would have received the same treatment now, as He
did then. The widow’s mite would not even qualify to be mentioned – but
she is mentioned.
So Prosperity must be taught in its entirety for the people to be truly
blessed. Some people are sowing, but they don’t even understand how to
budget and how to put their lives in order so that there can be a change for
them and others. Sowing is not a lottery, and should never be treated as
such. There are many who go to different meetings and want to give to the
Lord their last $50, but those on the platform cause them to be ashamed to
bring their gift before the Lord, because of how the whole idea of giving and
prospering financially have been presented.
The Body of Christ needs to go into repentance and get back to basics at
the foot of the Cross.
Finally, there are several scriptures where the Lord instructs us to give
specific amounts. The Holy Spirit has the right to give us instructions to
give us specific amounts for a specific harvest. That is something that
needs to be explained to the people in order to bring edification and
diminish confusion. It is critical for each person to read the scripture and
know there rights.