TV Evangelists

[bevin]

These come is a wide spectrum, from Benny Hinn and beyond to Doug Batchelor and equivalent.

I think we all agree that some of them are truely awful charicatures of christianity, simply raising money from the the gullible public with their snake oil. Others are doing the Lord's work.

What bothers me is this - Christian's should defend the good name of Christianity against its abuse by the quacks.

Should the SDA church and others take a public stance against the worst of the abusers?

/Bevin

[Gail]

Great question, Bevin!

[Guest]

What do you mean by "a public stance?"

[John317]

These come is a wide spectrum, from Benny Hinn and beyond to Doug Batchelor and equivalent.

I think we all agree that some of them are truely awful charicatures of christianity, simply raising money from the the gullible public with their snake oil. Others are doing the Lord's work.

What bothers me is this - Christian's should defend the good name of Christianity against its abuse by the quacks.

Should the SDA church and others take a public stance against the worst of the abusers?

/Bevin

I've personally met Doug Batchelor and my brother-in-law used to go jogging with him every morning for a couple of years. I personally have a lot of respect for him and know that he's an honest, good man. I don't think there are too many around who know the Bible as he does.

The problem with attacking other Christians publically is that you can come off appearing bad yourself. You can look "holier than thou," if you know what I mean. Sometimes it is best to let God take care of it and be the judge. Remember Paul's experience and his decision when he said that even though there were people whose preaching hurt him, at least they were preaching Christ. Also, I remember that SDAs were criticized a lot in past years because Adventist evangelists did not immediately announce their identity as SDA. Anyway, there are various ways of looking at these issues.

Bevin, I'd like to hear more of what you have to say on this subject. Maybe you could give some examples of what you think SDAs could say about them, and who do you believe are the worst examples. Also, what do you think of Doug Batchelor, and why?

[Dr. Shane]

"And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." (Luke 9:49, 50)

I try to be very careful not to judge people of other denominations that I disagree with on doctrinal grounds. The disciples thought they did good by rebuking a fellow believer that was not one of their followers but the Master saw things quite differently.

[Jeannieb43]

These come is a wide spectrum, from Benny Hinn and beyond to Doug Batchelor and equivalent.

I think we all agree that some of them are truely awful charicatures of christianity, simply raising money from the the gullible public with their snake oil. Others are doing the Lord's work.

What bothers me is this - Christian's should defend the good name of Christianity against its abuse by the quacks.

Should the SDA church and others take a public stance against the worst of the abusers?

/Bevin

Are you asking whether the SDA church should take a stance against the TV evangelists of other denominations? Or are you implying that our own denomination has some "quacks" who should be censured?

BTW, I believe Doug Batchelor is a serious Bible student; he seems to appeal to the educated Biblical scholars as well as to someone who's hearing this message for the very first time.

[bevin]

I put Doug Batchelor at the other end of the spectrum to Benny Hinn. That was on purpose - while I don't agree with everything Doug says, I think he is ethically doing the Lord's work, and doing it well.

It was the other end of the spectrum I was wondering about.

Maybe simply a statement that does not name names but says

"The SDA church believes some of the TV evangelists are basically stage magicians and con-men, and that people should be careful who they believe is and who they send money too"

I suspect that Christianity suffers by letting its good name be exploited by con-men, and that - at some point - we would do well to research and publically disassociate ourselves from the worst of the excesses.

Maybe main-line Christian groups should get together and expose them, the same way that the atheists/sceptics exposed Uri Geller

/Bevin

[D. Allan]

The Adventist's already have a bias against other denominations, since they oppose unity as 'ecuminism.' They make ecuminism a dirty word just as republicans try to make 'liberal' a dirty word. To rachet that attitude higher would be bad for Adventist's spiritual lives.

The new media, esp. CBS, has tried several times over the years to expose Benny Hinn. I would like to see what happens to people who have been 'healed' months and years down the road.

~d.allan

[gina i]

D. Allan, I think in the case of Christian unity, ecuminism is a bad thing. When people want to have unity with other demoninations that do not agree on the same doctrines, there is trouble.

Speaking of outing evangelists.. Has anyone watched Strange Fire?

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=6462477924368844530&q=walter+veith

Walter Veith did this. I had nightmares the night that I watched this. I think all of us should see it though, just to see how evil these 'TV' evangelists really are & how they're healing is really fake.

[gina i]

Bevin, I think the SDA church should take a public stance.. But there are also some in the SDA church that are 'abusers' themselves.

If the SDA church did this, there would be backlash, of course.

[Dr. Shane]

I think the Adventist church is rightly focused in other areas. We have a "wall to build" and don't need to come down from it to deal with such petty issues. Other denominations and religions will do what they do and we need to keep moving forward with what God has called us to do.

[Woody]

I think it is important to critique the message of all the TV evangelists but to not judge or speak ill of them themselves.

I will start by saying I like the message of Doug Batchlor except that the message is sometimes but not usually elitist and works oriented. Especially when it comes to the Sabbath. And I am a Sabbath keeping SDA.

[pacunurse30]

I don't think it will be necessary to expose these people. They will expose themselves. Many of the false teachers of 20-30 years ago have defunt ministries. Some of them (like Peter Popoff) keep hanging on.

[Kountzer]

Tele evangelists like Benny Hinn have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of adoring followers. Who are sda to publicly condemn what someone else likes and believes? That's a very sensitive issue. Wars have been fought, and much blood shed over issues similar to this.

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

Who are SDAs to publicly condemn what someone else likes and believes?

Indeed. We should be free to criticize others beliefs, as they are ours, but not condemn - at lease within Protestantism. Once we look outside of Protestantism than we start to see an actual false gospel being taught and condemning that is more appropriate.

[Woody]

Tele evangelists like Benny Hinn have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of adoring followers. Who are sda to publicly condemn what someone else likes and believes? That's a very sensitive issue. Wars have been fought, and much blood shed over issues similar to this.

People like Benny Hinn have been exposed by 60 minutes to have fabricated miracles of healing. We are told that many will try to deceive others with spectacular works of miracles but that this is not the way of God. This is because of the ability of satan to imitate such works.

People like Hinn have been exposed to use these fake miracles to fatten their personal pockets. Therefore they are dangerous people as portrayed by 60 minutes.

[Stan]

There remain two kinds of sinners, those who have been caught, and those who have not been caught.

[Kountzer]

There are people who condemn sda evangelists, tv and all, just as much or more than someone like benny hinn.

[Woody]

I've never seen any evidence from 60 minutes that any of our evangelists have done anything close to what Hinn has done.

[Kountzer]

The only tv evangelists I pay any attention to are sda evangelists. I am no fan of benny hinn, creflo dollar or any of the rest. Occassionally I watch and listen to td jakes, but not that often.

Still, those tv evangelists have loyal supporters. We all have the power of choice, and lots of poeple choose to follow these guys.