Wife of televangelist Benny Hinn files for divorce

[Nagishkaw 510]

ORANGE, Calif. – The wife of televangelist Benny Hinn has filed for divorce in Southern California.

Suzanne Hinn filed the papers in Orange County Superior Court on Feb. 1, citing irreconcilable differences, after more than 30 years of marriage. The papers note the two separated on Jan. 26 and that Hinn has been living in Dana Point, a wealthy coastal community in southern Orange County.

Hinn is one of the best known advocates of the prosperity gospel, which teaches that Christians who are right with God will be rewarded with wealth and health in this lifetime.

His TV broadcasts on the Trinity Broadcast Network, a Pentecostal broadcasting juggernaut, and other TV networks are seen by millions of people around the world nearly every day. He travels the globe in his ministry's plane, named Dove One, holding events he calls "Miracle Crusades" that include spiritual healings.

Hinn has never fully publicly disclosed how he spends the money he raises, but his vast ministry is believed to be a multimillion-dollar operation. There was no mention of finances in the court filing, which listed three recent Southern California addresses for the family.

Over the years, Hinn has been the target of intense criticism from fellow Christians and watchdog groups who call his teachings false and accuse him of raising money only to enrich himself.

He is one of six televangelists under investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, over whether he complied with IRS rules for nonprofits. Hinn has said on his Web site that external auditors ensure his compliance with IRS regulations and that in 2008, 88 percent of the money he collected was spent on ministry.

Benny Hinn Ministries is based in Grapevine, Texas, and operates a church and television studio in Aliso Viejo in California's Orange County, according to its Web site.

Sorrell Trope, the attorney listed on Suzanne Hinn's court filing, did not immediately return a call for comment.

J. Lee Grady, contributing editor of Charisma, a news magazine on the Pentecostal community, said Hinn's divorce is the latest in a string of high-profile ministry divorces and moral failures among the Pentecostal leaders, beginning with Ted Haggard's fall from grace in 2006.

He said Hinn's followers will want an explanation because of the high profile the couple had.

"It will be devastating to the people who have supported Benny Hinn's evangelistic work around the world," Grady said.

"Obviously because their ministry has been very public (and) they will need to issue a statement to their supporters to explain how this happened," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100218/ap_on_...ngelist_divorce

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Have you ever watched the Benny Hinn show? Its bizarre.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Yes, and I don't know what to make of him.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's creepy - people sit in circles holding hands, speaking in tongues and frothing at the mouth. Every so often someone will play a ditty on a Hammond Organ.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

It's creepy - people sit in circles holding hands, speaking in tongues and frothing at the mouth. Every so often someone will play a ditty on a Hammond Organ.

I'm clearly missing a very important programme. Whenever I coast by TBN when channel-surfing it's always some god-awful inspirational movie. I might even pay for my cable if I could see froth and Hammonds.

[Darnell 8,478]

Yay Benny !!!!

I hope she gets the plane and all of the houses..

She filed in California ?? WHOOP !!!

Lots of folk think Benny is a charlatan (myself included)

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm clearly missing a very important programme. Whenever I coast by TBN when channel-surfing it's always some god-awful inspirational movie. I might even pay for my cable if I could see froth and Hammonds.

No this show is very very strange. It will give you vivid dreams.

[trillium13 84]

I'm clearly missing a very important programme. Whenever I coast by TBN when channel-surfing it's always some god-awful inspirational movie. I might even pay for my cable if I could see froth and Hammonds.

Move to the Bible Belt. You could see it live on a regular basis.

Yay Benny !!!!

I hope she gets the plane and all of the houses..

She filed in California ?? WHOOP !!!

Lots of folk think Benny is a charlatan (myself included)

You mean you don't believe in the "prosperity gospel"?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

No this show is very very strange. It will give you vivid dreams.

I checked and it is on at 4am and 7.30am PST, neither of which are times I tend to be awake unless I am being paid to be be compos mentis. Next time I'm pretending to be paying attention on a conference call with London I'll switch over -- I tend to have a nap after such calls. I shall report back with any vivid dreams.

Move to the Bible Belt. You could see it live on a regular basis.

That's quite all right. I find Southern California weird enough as it is.

[alienlovechild 75]

No this show is very very strange. It will give you vivid dreams.

He's a cross between Liberace and a used car salesman. I used to watch him and Robert Tilton when I smoked pot.

The healings, the speaking in tongues, outright pleas of money for prayers while crying at the same time. I love this bit:

Preacher: I sense there is a person out there with a stomach pain. Aha bu aka looga boo boo. I just healed you. Praise Jesus. See the faith is powerful for those who believe. Send us an offering as a sign of your faith. (Quotes same Bible passage about giving every day).

"Trinity Foundation members, acting on this information, started digging through dumpsters outside Tilton's many banks in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area as well as Dumpsters outside the office of Tilton's lawyer J.C. Joyce (who was also based in Tulsa). Over the next 30 days Trinity's "garbologists," as Anthony dubbed them[14], found tens of thousands of discarded prayer requests, bank statements, computer printouts containing the coding for how Tilton's "personalized" letters were generated, and more, all of which were shown in detail on the Primetime Live documentary, now titled "The Apple of God's Eye"[1]. In a follow-up broadcast on November 28, 1991, Primetime Live host Diane Sawyer said that the Trinity Foundation and Primetime Live assistants found prayer requests in bank dumpsters on 14 separate occasions in a 30-day period[15]."

"The stand-up comedy material of Ron White also includes mention of Robert Tilton. In the opening to White's act in the first Blue Collar Comedy Tour movie, Ron claims that "while sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetos," he finds Tilton on TV and believes Tilton is talking specifically to him: "Are you lonely?" "Yeah." "Have you spent half your life in bars pursuing sins of the flesh?" "Man, this guy's good..." "Are you sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetos?" Ron gapes in horror before squeaking, "...Yes sir!" "Do you feel the urge to get up and send me a thousand dollars?" (pause for effect) "Close! Thought he was talking about me for a second. Apparently, I ain't the only cat on the block (who) digs Cheetos!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tilton

Edited February 20, 2010 by alienlovechild

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Have you ever watched the Benny Hinn show? Its bizarre.

I never saw him but I saw the crowds that go see him. I worked for a parking lot operator way back when and remember that we'd jack up parking rates for his events. The simple rationale was that the folks that go there are such dumbfcuks that they will neither notice nor care that they're being ripped off when parking their cars. I mean, they're volunteering to be ripped off by that jackass. Seriously, the rates were set at least 50% above what Hockey games or Disney on Ice would command. And rightfully so.

Edited February 20, 2010 by Mr. Big Dog

[trillium13 84]

I never saw him but I saw the crowds that go see him. I worked for a parking lot operator way back when and remember that we'd jack up parking rates for his events. The simple rationale was that the folks that go there are such dumbfcuks that they will neither notice nor care that they're being ripped off when parking their cars. I mean, they're volunteering to be ripped off by that jackass. Seriously, the rates were set at least 50% above what Hockey games or Disney on Ice would command. And rightfully so.

I'm sure they weren't gonna let a silly parking fee get in the way of them "getting right with God".

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I'm sure they weren't gonna let a silly parking fee get in the way of them "getting right with God".

That was the idea and the company raked it in.

[Danno 1,228]

I never saw him but I saw the crowds that go see him. I worked for a parking lot operator way back when and remember that we'd jack up parking rates for his events. The simple rationale was that the folks that go there are such dumbfcuks that they will neither notice nor care that they're being ripped off when parking their cars. I mean, they're volunteering to be ripped off by that jackass. Seriously, the rates were set at least 50% above what Hockey games or Disney on Ice would command. And rightfully so.

As we can see Hinn isn't the only one taking advantage of the poor and stupid, though I guess he is one rung lower for using God as a tool to do so.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

As we can see Hinn isn't the only one taking advantage of the poor and stupid, though I guess he is one rung lower for using God as a tool to do so.

The poor and stupid are taken advantage of everywhere. And, more often than not, it's the big guy upstairs being used as the tool to accomplish the task. Nothing new, really. As for the business I worked for - we had a responsibility to our clients to maximize the revenues for their properties. Can't blame a business for making a profit, right?

Edited February 20, 2010 by Mr. Big Dog