Hinn Endorses Visits to Heaven
By Mike Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries
Recently on the “This Is Your Day” program, Benny Hinn’s guest was Dr. D. G. S. Dhinakaran of “Jesus Calls Ministry" in India. He claims to have been to heaven and back numerous times. While in heaven, he claims to have spoken with Jesus, the Father, and Apostles Peter, Paul and others. This allegedly happened after Dhinakaran prayed for one month and then the Lord came and took him to heaven.
The following facts are from the interview with Dr. Dhinakaran, as conducted by Benny Hinn (“This Is Your Day” program, May 4-5, 2000, Trinity Broadcasting Network):
Dhinakaran begins (referring to 2 Cor.12) telling of his visitations to Heaven and the interview progresses:
Dhinakaran: "…Paul going to the third heaven and then in that chapter he tells us about the thorn in his flesh and how he prayed three times and so on… whenever I’m heartbroken because of the ministry, problems of the ministry that’s the time the Lord Jesus says “Come.” and He takes me to heaven and then He talks to me in person. He calls one of the apostles and makes them speak to me concerning my problems.”
Hinn:"Who have you spoken to?"
Dhinakaran: “Paul and Peter.”
Hinn: "You have spoken to Paul and Peter? “
Dhinakaran: "Yes"
Hinn: "In heaven?”
Dhinakaran: "In heaven."
Hinn: "What do they look like?"
Dhinakaran: "Well, if you read Matt.17, vs. 5 when the Lord Jesus was on the Mt. of Transfiguration, one side Moses appeared .On the other, Elijah appeared. Elijah was in flesh and blood. Moses - only his spirit was there. The spirit of Moses retained the physical quality in which he lived in this world. That’s why Peter could look at both of them and recognize both of them."
Sadly, this interview has already taken a bizarre turn if we look closely at what Dhinakaran is actually telling us. Peter was able to recognize both of them because he had some type of spiritual insight, as they had no pictures or carvings of these men. The Bible has nothing said of souls retaining their physical form, so this is extra Biblical revelation and sounds uncannily like Kenneth Copeland’s descriptions.
Dhinakaran continues with a physical description of the Apostle Paul:
Dhinakaran: “So even after their, their souls retain the physical form, the very semblance which they had in the physical body. So Paul is a short man, short and very skinny skin and bones. And one thing very special about Paul is when he came to heaven the Lord Jesus remembered how many times he was beaten up, stoned… so He said when He brought Paul, let all the injury, the wound marks on his head on his physical body will be retained in his spirit also. So when you look in the spiritual, the soul of Paul in heaven in his body you see the wound marks that he had in his physical body in this world, God loved him so much."
Now we are told that the physical body leaves imprints on the spirit in the after life in HEAVEN! That doesn’t give people too much hope for a transformed body does it? How is Paul skin and bones if he is in heaven and this is before the resurrection? Not only is this extra biblical, its non Biblical.
Dhinakaran: "In heaven, there are 3 places as you enter heaven. There are billions and billions of souls up there and you see the Lord Jesus Christ there - the throne of Christ, and through His supernatural power He makes everyone feel that only that particular individual is next to His throne. Everyone feels that way: “I am the one next to the throne is Christ.” And they bask in His glory."
"Then the 2nd heaven they find the people who worked for Jesus; served Jesus in this world (ministers). Who did something for God… distributing tracts, are going to houses and visiting them and telling them about Christ."
"In the third heavens the people who walked with God in this world…people like Enoch (Gen.5: 25) And Genesis 9:6 says Noah walked with God. So, in the third heaven, you see the glory of God’s illumination. It’s so great that the man in the first heaven would like to be there. That it is so bright and so filled with glory and to see the apostles and on one side the prophets and people like Hudson Taylor … who gave their lives for God.”
Hinn: "You saw all three heavens?"
Dhinakaran: "Yes, and the third heaven is wonderful."
Hinn: "Paul saw things in the third heaven you cannot describe, you would say the same."
Dhinakaran: "Yes. It is beyond comprehension."
Here, Dhinakaran seems to insert a notion of India’s Hindu caste system into his trip to heaven saying not everyone is in the same place. However, the Bible states that God saves everyone the same, by grace, and we all share in the same heaven. We are not separated into different heavens (plural). This sounds like The Mormon concept of heaven, not the Bible’s. The Bible also tells us that everyone is around his throne, both men and angels in the book of Revelation.
Hinn is so impressed he called it awesome and "…something we don’t hear every day and most people have difficulty believing that any human being can go to heaven and talk about it."
Dhinakaran agrees: "Yes, that is true."
In this one statement, Hinn is correct: we shouldn’t be hearing of such false experiences! The apostle Paul was buffeted so he would not become prideful in his revelation. But many today (if not all) that claim these revelations, do not have any chastening. This is just another story to add to the numerous others that have non- biblical revelations.
Hinn states, "I must say I have a number of experiences myself that I cannot really explain or talk about, I have no difficulty believing it." (If this goes beyond his necromancy it may explain why he is keeping it quiet).
Hinn: “Can you tell us how we as Christians can experience this? Or is this just for ministers? Who is this for?"
Dhinakaran: "The Bible says that in Rom.2: 11 and Acts 10:34 God has no partiality. (Didn’t Dhinakaran just promote a sort of partiality in God’s nature by separating the people among three heavens?) And in Jer. 29:30 He says “You shall seek Me and you shall find Me when you seek after Me with all your whole heart.” So I think it is for everybody, but as I said # 1: When you’re discouraged and brokenhearted the Lord comes to take you to heaven to console you, to comfort you. Secondly, when you’re moved with compassion, when you’re really desperate to help somebody, to pray and pray and feel if only I can talk to God straight face to face, then He lifts you up."
It becomes increasingly difficult to try and make sense of Dhinakaran’s experiences that occur completely apart from the word of God. Faith is used as our conduit to God. We walk by faith not by sight. We are to have confidence that whatever we ask he hears us. We are able to come boldly before his throne (Heb.10). In spite of these biblical facts, we see Benny Hinn allowing a prophet to tell us we can be whisked away from earth to a personal meeting with Jesus in heaven.
Hinn then asked "What word did God give you for America?"
Dhinakaran: “The Lord Jesus told me the next president of the United States of America shall be a God fearing person. And there shall be a cleansing process, and he will clean up the whole country."(The audience applauds).
Look at what he is saying. That now we depend on a politician for solving our countries troubles. So we have only two choices (unless you want to count Pat Buchanan as a possibility) Gore or Bush. We now acknowledge that George Bush is our president and the better of the two choices, but is he a “miracle man” who has thus far been able to clean up America? The fact remains that America is still decadent and the morals are declining steadily rather than gravitating towards godliness. It must be emphasized that any moral renewal on the part of America involves turning to the Lord Jesus as individuals and placing our faith and trust in Him with brokenness and repentance, not looking to any politician or leader to usher in the heart change we need.
Dhinakaran continues painting a rose-colored picture of America’s future:
"All the Christian ministries will blossom; all the pressures on them will go.”
Sadly, this is not biblical. The Bible says we will have tribulation and suffer as long as we are in the world.
Hinn: "That’s the word God gave you for America?"
Dhinakaran: "Yes every year He tells me what is going to happen in the coming year (not even the biblical prophets had this happen). When I was praying in December '99, 31st of December, the Lord came and told me many, many things about India and the whole world, and when we came to the US he told me this … many, many times he has said this to me: He says, ‘Whatever may happen to the United States of America, whatever be the condition, always remember that 200 people that came over in a ship called the Mayflower to the US of America seeking freedom to worship Me. I will never forget that and will always bless this country."
Lets get this right, no matter what kind of evil we do we will be blessed? God certainly did not do this to Israel. He punished her for her sins. He warns over and over if you leave the Lord you will reap judgment. But Dhinakaran is telling us that God has exempted America from judgment.
Hinn then had him pray and Dhinakaran asked the Lord to bless Benny’s family and ministry, adding "…and if he (Benny Hinn) is blessed we are blessed."
Hinn’s program and ministry has gone “where no man has gone before”; not the apostles, not even Star Trek. He is setting his followers up for an incredible deception with all this ear tickling. Between predictions of Jesus appearing physically at Hinn’s own crusades, speaking to dead people and promoting for others to do the same, teaching that TBN is a channel to heaven, and that the dead will be raised as they touch the TV set if its on that channel (all this in the last year), it is clear that Benny Hinn is presenting the church with a whole new religion. It certainly isn't Christian but more like Spiritism.
Brethren I appeal to you, please, abandon ship before it becomes too late. I can almost see where this is all going, and I’m getting a real bad taste about it.
Mike Oppenheimer is the director of Let Us Reason Ministries based in Hawaii (USA). His site offers many teachings and informative articles on Spiritual Warfare and a wide range of other subjects so relevant for the days in which we live.
Utilize this great tool by logging on to http://www.letusreason.org