Former General Secretary Of AoG In Australia
Makes Public Statement About Benny Hinn
by former General Secretary of AoG in Australia, Philip L. Powell, 10/18/99


From: "Philip L Powell" <philpot@christian-witness.co.nz>
Subject: Fw: Benny Hinn Growls and Curses at his Denver Crusade
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 10:48:31 +1300

Benny Hinn Growls and Curses at his Denver Crusade
A STATEMENT BY PHILIP POWELL
re Benny Hinn and Andrew Evans and AoG in Australia

During my term in office as General Secretary of AoG in Australia - 1989 to 1992 - I warned my National Executive colleagues about the false teaching and false manifestations of Benny Hinn. Since my severance with them we have continued to warn especially through our papers CETF and VANGUARD in which one of our writers Neil Richardson did a BENNY HINN exposed article. We have canvassed Benny Hinn's errors and heresies for several years and in various ways including material that we have published on our web sites. Other ministries, notably Dave Hunt's Berean Call, Jacob Prasch's Moriel, Terry Arnold's Diakrisis and PFO in USA have done the same thing, some of them more effectively than Christian Witness Ministries.

For the record, though I reject the idea that the personal approach, required by Matthew 18, applies to the public teaching of false doctrine and I assert that the passage makes sense only in the context of personal offence and a local setting, I did personally write to Benny Hinn's office in Florida expressing my disquiet at what he was teaching and doing. There has been no reply, over a protracted period of time. Those who speak and write in the public arena are and should be open to scrutiny. This equally applies to me and CWM, CETF, VANGUARD etc. Contrary to Andrew Evans' scurrilous accusation that I am "the accuser of the brethren" I make no accusations. I simply report news items and extrapolate logical conclusions based on biblical mandate and principle.

There are a number of "signs" that the bizarre manifestations associated with the so called River and Revival Now movement have descended into the realm of the demonic. That Assemblies of God, especially in Australia have endorsed these things is extremely worrying. Regarding the "gold-dust" phenomena one AoG State NEWSLETTER reports: "After this powerful time, a friend of ours came up to us and said, 'Look at my arms; look at my arms.' I had never seen anything like it. Fine gold dust covered every pore of her skin. She even said it was on her stomach. It didn't appear on her clothes though, which confirms what I had heard that gold dust not only falls from heaven but sometimes it manifests itself through the pores of the skin." When such a statement is put in the context of a recent claim that there was a "stigmata" miracle in one of Kenneth Copeland's meetings one is driven to an inevitable conclusion. Demonic manifestations associated with Roman Catholic mysticism are now rife in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, including Assemblies of God. That's scary, being part and parcel of the satanic drive towards ecumenism and the one world church. It's high time we all woke up.

It is my view that the attached shows that Benny Hinn has gone beyond the pale and unless he repents publicly and is disciplined in the manner required by Scripture the deception that he has initiated will run amuck. I have little hope that he will ever be recovered though I trust he will and would rejoice if that were to happen. He must withdraw from public ministry for such to be effective in terms of Biblical requirement. He should be rebuked publicly that others may fear, as should all those who promoted him and his deceptions.

Benny Hinn is clearly a false prophet. He predicted that revival would come to New Zealand by the beginning of 1999. It didn't. There is no revival in New Zealand. Our latest CETF reports more about the irrational "cursings" of Benny Hinn. We have this particular issue as a <.pdf> file which we will gladly forward on line to all who are interested. We hope also to soon have a <.pdf> file of the actual article about Benny Hinn, which will also appear on our web site, God Willing, in the very near future. Those who provide us with their Snail Address will receive CETF and VANGUARD in hard print as they are published - total of 6 papers (3 CETFs and 3 VANGUARDS) per year.

My concern is regarding Assemblies of God who so heavily promoted Benny Hinn, who is clearly a Roman Catholic mystic. Andrew Evans, when he was General Superintendent of AoG in Australia, and the Paradise Assembly of God of which he was then Senior Pastor opened the door for the ministry of Benny Hinn in Australia and New Zealand. I have in my files a letter personally sent to me by Andrew in which he intimates that the Paradise Assembly had been instructed to withdraw the Benny Hinn material from being distributed. I wrote telling him that he was too late, that the horse had bolted and he would have to live with his mistake. Notwithstanding all of this a subsequent decision was made to re-institute the promotion of Benny Hinn and his teaching, by Assemblies of God in Australia. This influenced their sister fellowship in New Zealand and probably other AoG fellowships, church groups and numerous individual Christians elsewhere. In my view this is very serious and calls for public acknowledgement and repentance. The Bible clearly teaches that "a little leaven affects the whole lump." Here we have a LOT of leaven - i.e. "false doctrine." Thankfully, not all AoG fellowships have been deceived. In Italy the AoG leadership passed a resolution of "non-association" with Benny Hinn. In UK and USA, sadly the leadership is mixed in their judgement on the issue. A friend in India tells me that the nonsense has not infiltrated that country. ONLY in Australasia is their whole sale endorsement of Benny Hinn and of this demonic falsity.

In the spirit of Matthew 18 I have consistently sought an audience with Andrew Evans and with my former colleagues in Australia over this and other issues. All of my approaches have either been ignored or rejected. On a number of occasions Andrew himself and/or his office have returned my faxes and more recently my emails with various comments, notably - "Return to the Accuser of the Brethren". Most recently he added the charge that I am a "false prophet" and claimed that what I sent was being returned "unread". The fact that he made the comment at the end of my email to him indicates to me that he had in fact read my email, so I wonder at the honesty of his claim and the sincerity of his motive. For the record I personally mailed, as a gift, a book entitled The Signs and Wonders Movement Exposed to most of the National Executive members of the AoG in Australia from New Zealand. One was clearly opened. All, with the exception of the one sent to John Lewis were returned via the postal returned mail service marked "Unsolicited - return to Sender" or some such comment. This in my view was a clear abuse of the postal service provision. Most gifts are by that very fact - "unsolicited". That aside I was seeking to provide these men with the evidence. It's quite clear to me that they operate on the premise - "We've made up our minds. Please don't confuse us with the facts." They accuse others of the hypocrisy of which they themselves are guilty. For example Andrew Evans has called me "the accuser of the brethren" and with those very words condemns himself out of his own mouth. He has made a most scurrilous accusation against me refusing to examine the evidence or to acknowledge the Biblical mandate that we are told to examine ALL things and hold fast to that which is good. When Paul accused Peter and Alexander and the various others that he named was he acting as "the accuser of the brethren?" Clearly Andrew Evans is incapable of "rightly dividing the Word of God" in failing to make a distinction where Scripture makes a clear difference.

As you will note I have copied this message to a number of people and I would encourage each of you to distribute it as widely as possible and to write to the AoG leaders who are listed among others at the head of this email i.e. Andrew Evans, Brian Houston and Keith Ainge in particular. These are the men who have accepted responsibility of high office. They should be held accountable. I believe that in so doing we are all endeavouring to act in the way scripture requires us to act, in the spirit of our being our brothers' keeper and acting as Watchmen against the intrusion of false teachers, false teaching and wolves that come to ravage the flock. I have in some cases used the "undisclosed" copy facility so not all who receive this email are in fact listed in the copy section.

May God bless and lead you in what action you decide to take.

Sincerely in Christ's Service,
Philip L. POWELL.

CHRISTIAN WITNESS MINISTRIES
Philip & Kathleen POWELL
34 Snowden Crescent
BLENHEIM, New Zealand
Phone +64 3578 5404
Fax +64 357 5405
email <philip.powell@christian-witness.co.nz>

CONTENDING EARNESTLY FOR THE FAITH (CETF)

OFFICE ADDRESSES:

CWM - C/- 57 Ruby Street
LEVIN - New Zealand
Richard or Bill  VERRENT
phone 64 6 367 0105; 844 0363
email <fbetter@xtra.co.nz>

CWM - PO Box 341
HEALESVILLE, VIC 3777
Australia
Mrs Maureen O'BRIEN
phone +61 3 5962 5426;
fax +61 3 5962 2615
email <maureen@christian-witness.org>

CWM - PO Box LB1475
EGHAM W1A 9LB
U.K.
Ph/Fax +44 1379 388 456
Siam or Sue BHAYRO
email <siam@christian-witness.org>

WEB SITES:

CWM (official)
http://www.christian-witness.org
VANGUARD (auxiliary)
http://www.powerup.com.au/~shaneph/
CETF - archives
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~rseaborn/


Attached to this letter was a reprint of the following article, for which I will provide the link instead:

Report on the Denver Crusade
by Tricia Tillin
http://www.banner.org.uk/tb/Hinn.html

Banner Ministries: webmaster@banner.org.uk