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BENNY HINN
 
Benny Hinn Ministries E-NewsLetter
August 17, 2007

THE HUNDREDFOLD PROMISE CAN BE YOURS!
Benny Hinn
Benny Hinn Ministries
www.bennyhinn.org
"Beginning in verse 1 of Genesis 26, the Word of God declares:
And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. (Genesis 26:1-3)
This is one of the most amazing portions of Old Testament Scripture concerning sowing and reaping. The Word of God declares that famine struck the land, and as a result, Isaac was about to go down to Egypt for help.

That was a normal thing that people tend to do when financial famine or troubles come. People often look elsewhere rather than to the Lord.

Isaac was planning to go to Egypt for help when God spoke to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt. Do not look to the world. Do not trust the arm of the flesh to assist you. Look to Me! I will be with you and I will bless you.'

GOD'S PROMISES OF HIS PRESENCE AND BLESSING

This is the greatest promise that God can give to any of us. When the Lord says, 'I am with you and I will bless you,' you can rest assured that you will never lack or live in fear of bondage.

The greatest promise God can give any one of us is the glorious promise that He is with us.

Isaac stayed in that land, a land struck with famine, even in spite of his circumstances, because the Lord said, 'I will bless you.' God turned the situation around for him.

No matter what kind of famine you are facing today—whether it is a financial famine or another type of famine—as long as the Lord is with you, you will not be defeated.

The Word of God declares, 'If God be for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31). No matter what situation you are facing, what trials you are fighting, or what conditions surround you, because the Lord is with you, all is well!

Remember the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4 who came to the prophet Elisha after her son died? She said, 'All is well.' She knew all was well because God's prophet was there and because God had spoken to her that her son would be raised from the dead.

So all is well. Look up! God is going to rescue you as you obey Him today.

THE HUNDREDFOLD BLESSING...DESPITE THE CONDITIONS

Look at verse 12 of Genesis 26. Something amazing happened: 'Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.'

Isaac took a step of faith because God was with him, and he sowed in a land struck with famine.

Think about it! Isaac did the unnatural. He sowed when the land was not ready for the seed, yet because the Lord had said to him earlier, 'I am with you and I will bless you,' he sowed in spite of the conditions that he faced.

Isaac sowed in faith—faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As a result, he received a hundredfold the same year!

This is truly an amazing miracle. Isaac sowed in a land struck with famine, yet he received a hundredfold return from the land that was not supposed to produce, and he received it all the same year, all because God said, 'I am with you and I will bless you.' That is the key!

The Scriptures say that God blessed Isaac in spite of the conditions, and He blessed him in spite of his enemies. Genesis 26:13-14 tells us, 'And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.'

Isaac had enemies like you and I have enemies, yet because the Lord was with him, God blessed Isaac in spite of his foes. Genesis 26:15 says, 'For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.'

Later we find that because of Isaac's obedience to the Lord, the Word of God says, 'And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father' (26:18). God blessed him again by causing the wells to spring with water once more.

Verse 19 tells us, 'And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.' God will restore what the enemies have destroyed! Even though Isaac's enemies had filled the wells with dirt, God restored the well that belonged to him because of his obedience.

You see this amazing picture—a land struck with famine, no rain, wells filled with dirt, no life—yet one man heard God say, 'I am with you and I will bless you.' Isaac believed the word of the Lord and sowed seed in conditions that were not normal for seed sowing.

In spite of all that, God blessed him and gave him a harvest greater than he could imagine!

YOUR GENESIS 26 HUNDREDFOLD BLESSING

Today, if you are you facing a famine, if the enemy has filled your wells with dirt, look up! All is well. All you have to do is obey the Lord like Isaac did.

Do not look to the world. Do not look to the arm of flesh. Look to the Lord Jesus, for He will not leave or fail you.

The Word of God declares that we will not see 'the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread' (Psalm 37:25). All you have to do today is sow your seed in faith and see what God will do for you.

As you sow your seed and claim the promises of Genesis 26:12-19, pray that God's Spirit will anoint your seed supernaturally. There is such a strong anointing on this word right now for you to sow for your future as you plant your seed toward the proclaiming of the Gospel.

As you pray over the amount of your seed that you are sending today, ask God to touch your life supernaturally, just as He touched Isaac's, even in the midst of famine and in spite of his enemies.

Ask God to anoint your income and unstop the wells in your life that the enemy has plugged up.

Ask the Lord to do for you what He did for His servant Isaac.

Believe Him today that as you sow your seed, you, too, will receive a hundredfold harvest in the same year.

Do that and then send your offering by clicking on DONATE NOW. I, too, will pray and believe with you that the Lord will do for you just what He promised!

I will be looking for your seed so that I may agree with you that God will do for you what He did for Isaac, His servant."


ON DOCTRINE NOTE:
Well, here it is again—the attempt to claim that an incident in the Scripture is an example of the "Sowing and Reaping," "Giving and Receiving" doctrines, which are the same teaching originated by Oral Roberts as the "Seed Faith" doctrine. Paul Crouch tried very hard to do the same thing in the TBN Newsletter, February 2003 using several other incidents in the Scripture, but his attempt was a complete failure. So, let's see if Benny Hinn has done any better.

FIRST, the example does not even conform to the manner in which Benny Hinn teaches that the concept of "Sowing and Reaping" should be implemented.

He would claim that a person must express faith before God can respond, because in the "Sowing and Reaping" doctrine, God cannot do anything for a person without an expression of faith and a declaration from the mouth making their demands known to God. However, in the example of Isaac, God came to Isaac first, and he wasn't expressing any faith toward God or confessing his desires or needs to God because he was going down to Egypt in order to find food which Benny Hinn is forced to admit, "That was a normal thing that people tend to do when financial famine or troubles come. People often look elsewhere rather than to the Lord." That may be normal for people to do, but in the "Sowing and Reaping" doctrine that would be the very thing that would prevent God from intervening on behalf of Isaac. Yet, even though Isaac had not even considered the possibility that God would be his help or expressed any faith toward God or given any "Seed Faith" offering to God, still God intervened in the situation. That is an impossibility in relation to the "Sowing and Reaping" doctrine, because lack of faith is defined as fear, and fear prevents God from acting on behalf of the person, as Benny Hinn's friend in ministry, Kenneth Copeland, has said:
"God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith. Faith is God's source of power."
---Freedom from Fear, Kenneth Copeland, KCM, 1980, pg. 11-12
Isaac expressed absolutely no faith toward God until God personally intervened and spoke to him directly.

SECOND, Benny Hinn teaches that a person must give in order to express their faith, or more properly they must give in order to buy faith. A person must give their "Best Seed" or the largest offering that they can possibly give, and that somehow confirms to God the reality of their faith, but it also buys faith in relation to the amount of money given as a sacrificial offering. Prior to the intervention by God, Isaac had not given any offering to God and it is not recorded that he gave anything to God after God intervened.

THIRD, Benny Hinn misstates the sequence in relation to the time frame in which Isaac planted his seed in the ground. Isaac left Canaan, the land of promise, and went to Gerar because of the famine:
So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines." Genesis 26:1 (NAS).
The famine was in Canaan, but there is no statement in the Scripture that the famine was also in Gerar. The events that are recorded in Genesis 26 all took place in Gerar. It was in Gerar, a foreign territory under the rule of the Philistine king Abimelech, that Isaac stayed as a result of the command of God, "Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you . . ," Genesis 26:3 (NAS).

Isaac did not plant his seed in Gerar where there was a famine, like Benny Hinn says, "Isaac took a step of faith because God was with him, and he sowed in a land struck with famine. . .Think about it! Isaac did the unnatural. He sowed when the land was not ready for the seed, yet because the Lord had said to him earlier, 'I am with you and I will bless you,' he sowed in spite of the conditions that he faced." The reality is, the famine was long gone before Isaac sowed his seed, just as the Scripture says:
"It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech King of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah," Genesis 26:8 (NAS).
It was not until after the incident with Rebekah in which it was revealed to Abimelech that Isaac was a liar that the Scripture says:
Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. and the Lord blessed him . . ," Genesis 26:12 (NAS).
Isaac sowed seed for his crops in Gerar and received the hundredfold return, not in the same year as the famine, but in the same year that he planted the seed, after ". . . he had been there a long time . . ."

FOURTH, Benny Hinn misstates the definition of faith that he claims Isaac exhibited, "Isaac took a step of faith because God was with him, and he sowed in a land struck with famine. . . . Isaac sowed in faith—faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As a result, he received a hundredfold the same year!" Benny Hinn claims that Isaac's act of sowing seed in the ground in order to raise a crop was the step of faith that he exhibited because there was a famine and Isaac had no reason to assume that a crop would be produced. However, since the famine was in Canaan and not Gerar and Isaac's act of planting seed was long after he began living in Gerar, it is error to presume that farming a piece of land would be considered an act of faith.

Benny Hinn wishes to connect the planting of seed into the ground by Isaac with his application of the "Giving and Receiving" doctrine in which giving "Seed" (giving money to Benny Hinn's ministry), will return to the giver a hundredfold. So, he jumps over some very serious issues in order to make his claim that planting seed in the ground is the same as giving money to God through the ministry of Benny Hinn.

However, the faith that Isaac expressed, was in his obedience to the command of God to remain in the land of Gerar. God never commanded Isaac to plant seed in order to obtain a crop. The blessing that came to Isaac were not as a result of planting seed in the ground, but were accomplished by God because Isaac stayed in the land as God commanded and because of the oath that God had previously made to Abraham:
Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws," Genesis 26:3-5 (NAS).
FIFTH, Benny Hinn ignores some very serious issues in the incident which deny his claim that planting seed in the ground was n expression of faith by Isaac that cause God to bless him.
  1. Isaac did not consult with God when he decided to go to Gerar and then to Egypt.
  2. God appeared to Isaac and gave him promises prior to the time that he planted seed - Genesis 26:2.
  3. God said that He would be with Isaac and bless him if he was obedient - Genesis 26:3.
  4. God would give the land to Isaac and his descendants because of the oath that God swore to Abraham - Genesis 26:3.
  5. God said that the descendants of Isaac would be blessed because Abraham was obedient - Genesis 26:5.
  6. Isaac had faith in his own ingenuity and not in God's protection when he lied to the Philistines about Rebekah being his wife - Genesis 26:7-10.
SIXTH, The fact that Isaac sowed some seed in order to raise a crop does not conform to the teaching about "Giving and Receiving," because a "seed" in that doctrine is something that is given to God as an offering and not actual seed planted in the ground. The gift, in the doctrine of "Giving and Receiving" is referred to as a "seed" that is "planted," but those terms are used improperly in relation to the action that Isaac performed, because his act of planting seed was not a gift to God or to any ministry. There was no ministry in Gerar to which Isaac gave his "seed" in order to obtain his one-hundredfold return in future crops. In point of fact, Isaac was never told by God that he would receive a one-hundredfold return, so he could not have planted his seed expecting to receive a one-hundredfold return.

SEVENTH, Benny Hinn attempts to make improper connections with elements found in the incidents described in the life of Isaac with elements that he claims are part of the lives of Christians today:
  1. Isaac's sowing seed into the ground for a harvest is the same as giving money to God in order to obtain a need or desire - i.e., "Seed Faith" giving, "Sowing and Reaping," "Giving and Receiving," "giving your seed to God," giving your "best seed." The Scripture describes no such connection in relation to the story of Isaac.
  2. The famine which Isaac experienced is the same as trouble in a person's life today, "No matter what kind of famine you are facing today—whether it is a financial famine or another type of famine . . ." The Scripture describes no such connection in relation to the story of Isaac.
  3. That the presence of God is a guarantee of absolute protection from harm or want, because He made a promise to bless Isaac. God did make a promise to bless Isaac, however, Isaac was not exempt from the problems of life as evidenced by his relationship with Abimelech and the Philistine herdsmen. He was also deceived by his youngest son and his wife and he became old, feeble and died and he was not healed or raised from the dead.

The trouble with Benny Hinn's claim is that he is selective in relation to the blessings that he says are applied to the believer as found in the incident with Isaac. He claims that some of those blessings are, ". . . you can rest assured that you will never lack or live in fear of bondage . . ," and ". . . whether it is a financial famine or another type of famine&ace long as the Lord is with you, you will not be defeated," and No matter what situation you are facing, what trials you are fighting, or what conditions surround you, because the Lord is with you, all is well!" and "All you have to do is obey the Lord like Isaac did." These things can all be part of the life of the believer according to Benny Hinn, but those things are only in relation to health, wealth, happiness and security, which are all of those things that people desire the most and those things that he believes that people are willing to give huge amounts of money to Benny Hinn in order to buy the favor of God. But the reality is, he ignores the promises made to Abraham and Isaac in the incident that he knows cannot be claimed by the believer today, which are:
  1. ". . . to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands . . ."
  2. ". . . and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham."
  3. "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven. . .".
  4. ". . . and will give your descendants all these lands . . ."
  5. ". . . and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed . . ."
  6. "I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, for the sake of My servant Abraham.".
The fact that Benny Hinn leaves out some very significant promises, reveals that his theology is not only defective, he is attempting to manipulate the Scriptures in order to claim that they say what they do not.
  1. The fact that God is with a person does not guarantee that they will be healthy, as the example of the apostle Paul shows,
    "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me," 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NAS).
  2. The fact that God is with a person does not guarantee that they will be wealthy, as the example of Jesus Christ shows,
    Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head," Matthew 8:20 (NAS).
  3. The fact that God is with a person does not guarantee that they will never lack, as the example of the apostle Paul shows,
    "I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure," 2 Corinthians 11:26 (NAS)
  4. The fact that God is with a person does not guarantee that they will always be safe, as the examples of Stephen and the apostle Paul show,
    "When they had driven him our of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them!' having said this, he fell asleep," Acts 7:58-60 (NAS).
    "Are the servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren . . ," 2 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NAS).
The bottom line in Benny Hinn's article is the subject of money, and it is money that is to be given to Benny Hinn Ministries. What he is saying is that giving to Benny Hinn Ministries is the same as giving to God and if you give your money "in faith" believing for what you wish, God will honor that as faith and He will grant to the person whatever is requested since it is claimed that God is subject to faith and cannot deny a request presented in faith. Not only will God grant the request, he will also return to the giver one-hundred times the amount that was given. So if a person gives $1,000.00 then God will return to the giver $100,000.00.

Now, of course, Benny Hinn is not the agent who returns the money, since he uses the money, so if a person does not receive their one-hundredfold return on the money given, Benny Hinn can say, "Take the problem to God, because He is the One who gives the return." The lame excuses given for why a person has not received their one-hundredfold return invariably include the claim that the giver did not have enough faith, because they did not give their "best seed", meaning the largest donation of money that the person could possibly scrape together from every nook and cranny of their home and investments. If the "best seed" was not given, God can say, "Whoops. Sorry! You didn't give as much as you could, so you didn't really have enough faith in order to bind Me to My promise, so I will not give you the one-hundredfold return on your gift, and I will not honor your request either." God becomes the ogre in the equation while Benny Hinn uses the money without any concern for the financial condition of the giver. In fact he would claim that a person's miracle is just around the corner if they would only give again, and "As you pray over the amount of your seed that you are sending today," they should "prayerfully consider" giving their best seed.

He would be ever so grateful for that money in order to pay for the expenses of his personal corporate jet plane, Rolex watches, diamond rings and custom made Nehru jacket suits with the embroidered dove on the shoulder. After all, as Benny Hinn says, he is "Reaching the lost at any cost." Of course, that "cost" is paid out the pockets of givers who hope to receive a one-hundredfold return on the money they send to Benny Hinn Ministries.

A person should think very hard before blaming God for not doing what Benny Hinn says should be the case, and take a long hard look at the motives and claims of Benny Hinn instead. If Benny Hinn is so sure that the one-hundredfold return will be given, the potential donor should demand that he sign a guarantee that he will personally pay the one-hundredfold return out of his own money if God does not. Now that would be an act of faith on his part, but no one should hold their breath until it happens. To the discerning reader, it should become apparent that Benny Hinn's claims are not actually part of his own personal conduct or the means by which his ministry is supported. Benny Hinn does not receive his remuneration because he has given his "seed" and his ministry is not funded because he gives a huge portion of money as a "seed" in order to receive a one-hundredfold return. Benny Hinn's salary and the operating expenses for his ministry come from givers - not from God giving a one-hundredfold return to Benny Hinn.

Just like his friend and associate in ministry Paul Crouch, the attempt of Benny Hinn to provide a biblical example of the "Giving and Receiving" doctirne has utterly failed.

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