Benny Hinn: Visiting the Facebook Pages of Prosperity Preachers, part 3

Quotes from John Piper, J.C. Ryle, and The Valley of Vision. These are what I usually see in my Facebook news feed. The insights they offer are truly edifying; truly soul-nourishing.

I wonder what if the Lord has not enlightened me on the evils of the Word-of-Faith Movement? What if I was left in darkness listening and reading these dangerous teachers? What would appear on my news feed if the Lord has not kept me away from their clutches?

On March 30, 2012, I decided to visit the Facebook Walls/Timelines of some of the big names in the movement.Their Facebook posts appears in red in this series.

If you desire to explore the depth of God's word using the same bible that Pastor Benny Hinn studies with, visit http://tiny.cc/QPYe2b This Is our Day-The Dake Bible or call 800-433-1900 to order your copy of the Dake's Annotated Reference #Bible. #TIYD

When I posted part 1 of this series, I thought Benny Hinn's prophetic utterance on each person of the Trinity as "a triune being by Himself" and that "there's nine of them" was original to him. Now I learned that it could have been due to the influence of his favorite study bible. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible teaches:

“What we mean by Divine Trinity is that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead, each one having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the sense that each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body, soul and spirit.”

You can see the influence of  Finis Jennings Dake in Hinn's view of God. Contrary to the biblical and historic Christian view that God as a spirit is without body or parts (Deuteronomy 4:15; John 4:24; Luke 24:39), Hinn believes that each person of the Trinity "possesses His own spirit-body." He made such assertion two years after he retracted his infamous "there's nine of them revelation". In Dake's writings, “God has a spirit body with bodily parts like man.” This God with bodily parts lives in "a material planet called Heaven" and the only reason why we can't see him is "because He is so far away". Think about that! The only reason why we can't see God is because the Hubble Space Telescope lacks power to reach God. If we could only make sufficient improvements in our technology, we can see God and Planet Heaven!

Dake could have had also influenced Hinn on his view of man. Hinn's teaching "When you say I am a Christian, you are saying ‘I am a messiah’ in Hebrew. I am a little messiah walking on earth" is not so far away from Dake's "humans are miniatures of God in attributes and power".

In John R. Kohlenberger's review of study bibles, he wrote:

This work contains a great deal that is speculative and unorthodox, such as Dake’s belief in God’s "spirit body" with "bodily parts" that "goes from place to place" (pp. 96-97 [NT]), his strong teaching on racial segregation (e.g., pp. 148 [OT] and 159 [NT]), and his dogmatism on just about every subject he addresses. The Dake’s study Bible cannot be recommended to journal readers, charismatic or not. 

 There are excellent study bibles in the market like The Macarthur Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible. Don't waste your money on Dake's.

"Open my eyes... " (Psalm 119:18)

Cuba Gooding Jr., from the film Radio

 "Open my eyes that I may see
    wonderful things in your law." 
(Psalm 119:18)

 
There is a 41-year gap between the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (1865) and the claimed first transmission of audio by broadcasting (1906). Suppose I were alive in 1865 and I live in a remote barrio in Pangasinan, I wonder how long it would take for the news to reach me? I suspect I would not even know that Abraham Lincoln exists.

Last week, when it was announced that Muammar Ghaddafi was wounded due to airstrikes and has fled Tripoli, the news spread quickly. Perhaps by Friday night, almost every Filipino heard about Libya's violent transfer of power.

When in comes to access to knowledge and information, this is a privileged generation. Gone are the days when every studious pupil's dream is to have a set of a multi-volume encyclopedia. Who needs to spend a fortune for a set that will be obsolete within a decade when Google is right before your fingertips?

When it comes to bible study, there are many tools available online: different bible versions, commentaries, dictionaries and expository sermons. A decade ago, if you want to hear the voice of John MacArthur, you have to be content with 20-minute broadcasts every night. Now, audio recordings from his 4-decade ministry is archived and available free of charge. You can even afford to be choosy. If MacArthur is not your type, go to Sermonaudio.com and take your pick.

While we must be thankful for such a privilege, we must also take heed, for this privilege could also be the cause of our downfall. How?

The danger is that we may think that spiritual insight is a common thing. And when something is common, you will not earnestly look for it. No one migrates to the Middle East for sand; we have enough of that in our  beaches. They go there because of job opportunities-- opportunities which are rare here.

But spiritual knowledge has never been common. You can't find in abundance. Spiritual insight was not given to all the families before the great flood but to Noah's family alone. God did not call out everyone from Chaldea, but Abram alone. The law was not given to all the nations, but to Israel alone. In Matt. 11:25, you won't even know God unless he chooses to reveal himself to you.

The first step to acquiring spiritual insight is admitting that we are blind to heavenly truths. Unless we take that first step, we would not plead earnestly before God to open our our eyes. There are many wondrous things in nature: the plants, the beaches, the sky, the rainbow, the butterflies, the smile of infants-- yet what are these things to me if I am blind? In the same way, unless the Lord opens our spiritual eyes, the wondrous things in the word of God will be of no value to us. We may open our bibles with all the tools in our library, but they shall remain as mere paper and ink.

The bottom line is for us to approach God's throne with humility and earnestness. Let us acknowledge that he possesses absolute prerogative to grant or withhold divine knowledge.

Bible Access: Vatican II vs. Trent

Vatican II

"Easy access to sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful... Since the word of God should be available at all times, the Church with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books."

Session XXV: Rule IV of the Ten Rules Concerning Prohibited Books

Drawn Up by The Fathers Chosen by the Council of Trent and Approved by Pope Pius:

Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular, there will by reason of the boldness of men arise therefrom more harm than good, the matter is in this respect left to the judgment of the bishop or inquisitor, who may with the advice of the pastor or confessor permit the reading of the Sacred Books translated into the vernacular by Catholic authors to those who they know will derive from such reading no harm but rather an increase of faith and piety, which permission they must have in writing. Those, however, who presume to read or possess them without such permission may not receive absolution from their sins till they have handed over to the ordinary. Bookdealers who sell or in any way supply Bibles written in the vernacular to anyone who has not this permission, shall lose the price of the books, which is to be applied by the bishop to pious purposes, and in keeping with the nature of the crime they shall be subject to other penalties which are left to the judgment of the same bishop. Regulars who have not the permission of their superiors may not read or purchase them.

The Tragedy in "The Book of Eli"

I watched The Book of Eli because BARM's Justyn M. recommended it in one of the threads. I do admire some elements of the film:

• It calls us back to Bible reading. Eli read it everyday.
• It calls us back to Scripture memorization.Eli dictates the whole English Bible to a secretary from his memory.
• I like Eli's strong conviction like the way he resisted the temptation of Solara
  
• It reminds me of Pastor Jun Malazo's teaching that we are immortal until the work assigned to us is finished. Eli was supernaturally bullet-proof until the later part of the film.

But it did not solve a large problem. Its tragic because in the film, the Hebrew and Greek texts were lost forever!

The tragedy is aggravated further because the bible that will be used in the new world will be the NKJV (which Eli mistakenly calls the KJV!!!).

"The only reason for retaining the NKJV is if you are among the less than one-tenth of one percent of all textual critics in the world who actually think the KJV and NKJV did use the better manuscripts... Time to put the NKJV on the shelf if you own one and get a modern translation that uses an accurate textual base." (-Craig Blomberg)

"... the NKJV revisers eliminated the best feature of the KJV (its marvelous expression of the English language) and kept the worst (its flawed text)... This is why for study you should use almost any modern translation rather than the KJV or the NKJV." (-Gordon Fee)