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“Jesus at His death became one with Satan.”
Benny Hinn, (This is Your Day broadcast, 12/15/90).
Background: This statement flows from the teaching often called the “ransom theory” of the atonement. The idea, that Word-Faith teachers have hijacked and created their own version, is that God had to pay a ransom to the Devil in order to satisfy his rightful demand of equality in justice. Benny extends this idea in that Christ had to take on Satan’s nature in order to fully complete the transaction and “beat” the Devil.
“Jesus existed only as an image in the heart of God, until such time as the prophets of the Old Testament could positively confess Jesus into existence through their constant prophecies.”
Kenneth Copeland, The Power of the Tongue, pp. 8-10
I will begin this round with an initial thought. The whole idea of Benny’s version of the ransom theory creates a type of dualism between God and Satan. It’s as if God has to satisfy Satan’s rightful claims. D.R. McConnel, in his book: A Different Gospel, makes a strong case for this point:
Christ destroyed Satan’s dominion not by paying a ransom to him, but by fulfilling the law of God, which Satan used to condemn man before God. He broke the power of the devil, when he freed us from the law of sin and death (c.f. Rom. 8:2; Col. 2:14,15). The two primary agents of Satan’s rule, sin and death, are based on the law (I Cor. 15:56).
God is the one who sets the ground rules for the exchange at the cross through His own holiness and justice. The only aspect Satan is involved in was to serve as the betrayer of Christ expressed in and through Judas. At best, Satan is a pawn in God’s glorious plan for the redemption of man through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Benny Hinn actually gives Satan a platform to pervert the lives of those who listen to him by promoting Satan’s power! The enemy of God loves this and that is why it is heresy! It damages the gospel and damn’s the follower.
We must warn people of this error and pray for God to turn the hearts of people like Benny Hinn from a Satan-centered world view to a God-centered world view.
Ques. Is this assessment too strong?
Hey man,
Long time no talk. In response to your question, no the assessment is definitely not too strong. I don’t think that negative assessment of the faith-healer teachers CAN be too strong. I’m blown away that Hinn keeps his job sometimes, based on the long list of erroneous and often absurd statements that he has made about the nature of God. I remember late one night when I was spending the night at ten Pas’s in high school, we flipped on TBN for entertainment, and sure enough, good old Benny was on with Paul and Jan Crouch. He was explaining all that had happened during his last “revival” tour and made the comment that during the last five days of his trip, he had felt God’s presence so strongly that he decided that it was not necessary to pray. I thought it was just dandy that Hinn was telling the many people who tune into TBN that it’s an ok idea to not rely on God through prayer sometimes as long as you “felt” like He was close. Anyways, sorry that God to be so long. There’s my two cents.
Godspeed,
-Joe