In a delicious piece of good news, the UK decided not to let self-proclaimed faith healer Benny Hinn enter their country. He tried again, and again, was denied.
Was he denied because his "parsonage," that is his personal home paid for with church funds, is worth $10,000,000? Was he denied because he won't open his books to public scrutiny? Maybe it's because he proclaimed that God would destroy the homosexual community with fire? No, it was none of these. It was a simple, non-personal change in British law that states simply that "preaching" is not work, and therefor a work visa will not be granted unless he has documentation from a church.For those unfamiliar with Benny Hinn and his ministry, he is a rather run of the mill "faith healer" who takes in millions of dollars each year and fails to offer anything of value in return. Randi has written about him extensively, and Hinn is featured prominenly in Randi's book, The Faith Healers. He's also been featured on prominent US television shows, a nice excerpt of which is found here.
The whole story as reported by by the UK's TimesOnline reveals that in fact, this was just a clerical error, and Hinn will be admitted once he fills out the paperwork. So while many of us might chortle at his misfortune, it's likely to be short lived, though it did costs him a trip in his private jet, and he did cancel three performances. Still, we should take moments like this to remind the public than men of Hinn's ethics are still out there, taking money from a gullible public.
It's rather amazing though, that a man with God on his side should fail to provide the proper paperwork to enter a country not once, but twice. What did he think would be different the second time? Did he pray in between, and if so, was his faith not strong enough? No matter—sadly, the same throngs that were waiting for him the first time will be waiting when he returns. Hopefully though, at least a few will have taken the time to learn more about him.