In one of the greatest deceptions in this modern, technological age, evangelical ministries, via the medium of television, have destroyed Christianity in America. Does this sound startling to you? Then you need to consider this. Television ministries such as The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) claim they are doing the work of God and are “saving” thousands of souls. But the truth is for every soul that is supposedly saved, there are a least twenty that watch TBN and then think to themselves, "this is ridiculous". They change channels and walk away from Christianity for the rest of their lives.
This sounds harsh, but consider. In the 1950's and earlier, most American families woke up on Sunday morning and readied themselves to attend their local church services. Typically, these were Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, etc. This was considered a normal part of life and was accepted by the majority as the means to obtain spiritual fulfillment. This was before the days of the televised ministries. Does it seem that things may have been a bit better back then? Most people today are struggling with many more challenges when it comes to raising a family. It is interesting to note, that at the same time the television ministries were becoming prominent features on our television screens that a revolution in immorality was taking place. Today, the United States leads the world in producing pornography that is widely available on the Internet. Hollywood produces, vile and violent movies, that are not fit for anyone to watch, let alone children. Television comedies are rife with themes are about sex, bed-hopping, and stupid, inane humor. The increase in perverse entertainment in the media has tracked almost equally with the rise in television evangelism and these ministries have done nothing to prevent the moral erosion that has taken place in America.
Why do most people turn their backs on television ministries? Let's look at TBN, for example. Almost nightly we see examples of what is call the gift of healing. A very prominent practitioner of this is Benny Hinn. People by the thousands attend his meetings thinking that they will be witness to a miracle of healing. And they do see people supposedly healed of heart disease, cancer, deafness, headaches, backaches and so forth, as claimed by Benny Hinn. It does not seem to matter that there is never a supernatural, visible, change to the person being healed. These so-called miracles are based solely on the verbal claims of Benny Hinn and the person he has healed.
The odd thing about the miracles of Benny Hinn, is that according to the Bible, Jesus Christ plainly stated that his followers would be able to do greater miracles than his own. This is not the case with Benny Hinn. You might say his miracles are somewhat less and weaker than those performed by Jesus Christ. With Jesus there were startling, visual, supernatural events that could not be denied. Jesus filled empty baskets with fish and bread from out of nowhere. He healed blind people. I have yet to see Benny Hinn heal a blind person. Oh, plenty of hard of hearing people have suddenly found they could hear someone shouting in their bad ear after a Benny Hinn healing. But they still seem to have some difficulty understanding what is said so they apparently are only partially healed.
You know what would be a great miracle for Benny Hinn to perform? It would be a healing of a veteran, returned from Iraq with both legs missing. To see two new legs suddenly appear is certainly something that God could do. Benny Hinn was asked why he does not go to children's hospitals and heal the children who lay sick and dying of cancer and leukemia. His answer was that God wants to perform his miracles in front of the largest amount of people so many more can witness the great works of God.
So why have television ministries, such as TBN, with their focus on healing, caused so many to walk away from Christianity never to return. It really is simple. Most of us can see through the utter fraud perpetrated by the likes of Benny Hinn. He has given people false hope by deception. He cannot, and God will not heal anyone through such a con-artist.
