Hinn Invites Chinese House Churches To His Upcoming Crusade In China. Is This A Death Sentence?
I don't know if any of you keep up with what's going on with Benny Hinn, but I thought it important to share this. I don't watch him, but my Mom does, just to know what 'they're' doing. As it happens, Benny is making plans to go to China. This has been in his plans for some time, but is finally coming to pass. Paul Crouch has petitioned many senators to get the trade continuing in the country, making way for Benny to go in. TBN has been over there, and they were showing on their show all the pretty little churches, saying that the church is NOT being persecuted over there. Anybody that reads the Voice of the Martyrs would know that these 'pretty little churches' are the ones the Chinese government has just for show. Yesterday, I believe, either on Benny's show or TBN, they were talking about how all the secret home church members would come out to Benny's crusade. They said how they would come into unity with the 'established' churches. Mom recorded it, but I haven't watched it yet, so the details may not be exact. But this gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach. If the underground church is drawn out, they will most likely be killed. Please pray that these precious, 'hidden' people will not be deceived! They must not come out of hiding!!!
H.
First of all, if anyone recorded this exchange, we at DITC would appreciate a copy. Also, we would like to hear from anyone else who heard these things said on TBN. I believe that TBN has already done irreparable damage to the work of the Lord by betraying the true house churches in China. But if they have been invited to Benny Hinn crusades, you can be sure that now the Chinese government will be watching who attends these meetings very closely. There could be a terrible price to pay later for the unwise meddling of TBN and Benny Hinn. This is just another symptom in a long list to prove that the Third Wave is basically destroying mission work worldwide where true mission martyrs in centuries past gave their lives to preach the gospel.
For the background to the story concerning the negotiations between TBN and the Chinese government, check the following story from the Let Us Reason news section:
Paul Crouch recently went to China to see if he is able to Broadcast TBN in their country. This is what transpired from his trip.
CNN News, May 12, 2000
BEIJING (May 12) XINHUA - A television preacher from the United States
today praised China's progress in human rights and religious freedom, denouncing
some reports on China as "distorted and unbalanced."
"Many Americans and other peoples around the world have a distorted
and an unbalanced view of China from the reporting on
Chinese progress in human rights and religious freedom," Paul
Crouch, president of the U.S.-based Trinity Broadcasting Network ( TBN),
said this afternoon at a news briefing with the local press.
Crouch, who preached in churches in Beijing and Shanghai in his previous
visit to China years ago, said he has personally seen that Christians
can openly practice and profess their faith in China, adding that the Bible
is publicly printed and freely distributed.
Crouch, who is here at the invitation of the China Association for
International Friendly Contact, a Chinese non-governmental organization,
met previously with Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen and other officials
from China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, the State Administration
of Radio, Film and Television, and the Information Office of the State
Council.
Crouch has used the Internet to obtain information on the Falun Gong
cult, and said he does not believe that Falun Gong is a faith, and it is
detrimental to people's health.
The Chinese government's reaction to dealing with the Falun Gong cult
has been inaccurately portrayed as the government practicing religious
oppression, and in fact the government is attempting to protect its citizens
from this deadly and dangerous Jim Jones-like cult, he said. China could
also have accused the United States of violating human rights when the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. terminated the Branch
Davidian cult years ago, he said. He also said it is in the best interest
of American citizens that China enters the World Trade Organization.
Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
Crouch says they are not a deadly cult. He then according to another news report changes his mind.
Chinas right on cult, says TV evangelist
The TBN founder likens Falun Gong to Jim Jones' settlement in Guyana
Kyodo News Service
BEIJING - A U.S. televangelist denounced the Chinese spiritual group
Falun Gong today, calling it a "deadly and dangerous Jim Jones-like type
of cult."
Speaking in Beijing, Paul Crouch, founder and president of the California-based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), which describes itself as the world's largest Christian television broadcast network, also announced that within a week, his religious television service had won permission to begin broadcasting in China.
Crouch had been invited to China by Beijing's ambassador to the United States to evaluate religious freedom in the world's most populous country.
He said he found reports of religious oppression to be "distorted and unbalanced."
"I have seen that Christians can openly practice and profess their faith in China. Christians can also meet at their homes in Bible study groups. This would never have happened a number of years ago," he said in a prepared statement.
He also approved of Beijing's hard-line stance against the banned Falun Gong.
"The government of China's reaction to dealing with the subversive Falun Gong cult has been inaccurately portrayed as the government exercising religious oppression instead of the truth that the government is only attempting to protect its citizens from this deadly and dangerous Jim Jones type of cult," Crouch said.
In 1978 more than 900 people died in the jungles of Guyana after cult leader Jim Jones ordered a mass suicide.
Crouch, in offhand remarks to reporters at the conclusion of the briefing, admitted he might have been "recruited" by the Chinese government in their cause to suppress Falun Gong. "I suppose in a sense that I was," he said.
[Ed. Note: Anyone who has been to China knows they have to smuggle Bibles in. The Government is a communist dictatorship does not allow freedom of speech or religion unless it is controlled by them. Crouch said off the record he may have been influenced to agree with the Government. What could have possibly changed his mind?]
CURRENT NEWS SUMMARY
by the Editors of Religion Today March 14, 2000
A Christian group is among several "targets that need to be attacked,"
a Chinese official says. China does not officially recognize the China
Evangelistic Fellowship or approve of its house-church activities, the
official, Mrs. Yang, told The Associated Press.
...The China Evangelistic Fellowship is a cult that endangers social
stability, Yang said. The government has been cracking down on unregistered
religious groups, ranging from underground Catholic and Protestant churches
to eastern spiritual movements such as Falun Gong and Zhong Gong.
...Police are holding 16 members of the group, arrested March 2 in
a raid on a home meeting in the city of Xinyang in Henan province, the
Hong Kong-based Information Center on Human Rights and Democratic Movement
in China said. Police confiscated Bibles, money, and other belongings,
AP said. One of the detainees, Jiang Quinggang, is a house church leader
who has served two sentences in labor camps and was released last month,
AP said.
It seems that Crouch will say what is needed to have his programming in China. The lengths people will go to for what they seem to think is the work of the Lord. What seems paradoxical is that Crouch will speak about a certain cult in China but has nothing to say about their oppression of the freedom of their citizens.