I have to believe that they are not all frauds.

Look at the number of them that are now being used in police work. I am sure they get paid by the police department, yet they seem to be able to help track things down, when the cops are at a loss.

Slyvia Browne

BENNY HINN TUMBLES IN DENMARK

Correspondent Claus Larsen, in Denmark, gives us an account of the recent appearance in Copenhagen of televangelist Benny Hinn:

On April 28-30, faith healer Benny Hinn, whose ministry rakes in millions of dollars each year from sick, deluded and desperate people, held a three-day seminar in central Copenhagen. Over 20,000 people attended, from all over the world. Let there be no doubt about it: It was a huge success. On www.BennyHinn.dk you can read about how the "Benny Hinn Crusade Reaches the Whole Nation." TV2, one of the two major Danish domestic tv-channels, Saturday night April 29th, broadcast a 2½-minute-long feature prime time on the TV2 7 p.m. News. This gave the whole nation of Denmark the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the message of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all mankind, Benny Hinn version.

Curiously enough, there was absolutely no mention of a 13-minute feature on DR, the biggest Danish TV channel. Or, maybe not so curiously, because that feature took the skeptical approach, instead of the uncritical segment on TV2. Øjvind Kyrø, who also produced the television series "A Sense of Deceit" (www.randi.org/jr/060603.html and www.randi.org/jr/040403.html) took a crew from DR to the show, with permission to film what turned out to be a killer performance.

It was heart-breaking. Among the many sick and handicapped, we followed a 9-year-old girl, Kisser, who is suffering from a crippled spine, immobilized from the navel down, and thus confined to a wheelchair, probably for life. Her father had his hopes up from the start. Benny Hinn simply had to, one way or another, cure his daughter. "Today, it may be Kisser's turn", he said, with the girl on his lap. "We don't know if it is, but we will keep on, until it is. We have to."

Randi comments: Here is Hinn at his devious best. I’m reminded of the Toronto encounter I had with him. The parents of a little boy about eight years old tried desperately to get by the security lineup at the back of the main floor, and finally burst through carrying the child up to the foot of the stage, shouting that they had been to several of these meetings, but had always been denied access to the stage area. The child appeared to have some sort of palsy, and was twitching and crying out sporadically. Coolly, Hinn beckoned to them to come onstage, first whispering something to a guard.

The couple approached, Hinn took the boy in his arms, the lights came down to highlight him, and he said – from my memory, since this item was excised from the program as it was broadcast – “Lord, we pray that you will heal this innocent child. Do it now, or in a day or two, or a week, or whenever your great wisdom tells you. But we know you will heal him, as you have promised.” Hinn handed the child to a guard, then burst into song. Two more guards closed in, and forced the parents down the side stairs and into the hall leading out of the stadium. They unlocked the chained door and pushed all three out into the street. The parents’ objections were drowned in the music and hosannas…

Though this was videotaped by the Hinn organization, it was of course never used in the sanitized broadcast that went out after editing. Claus continues…

Thus, the stage was set, and the play could begin. Looking more like a rock concert than a sermon, it took several hours of uplifting singing, praying and hollering before Benny Hinn appeared. A large number of security guards, flown in from the US, made sure that everything happened the way it should. And Benny Hinn had hardly appeared on stage, before he gave the order: He whispered to an aide with a microphone, and then stared right into the main camera. After which, the camera was ordered to be shut off.

His spokesperson, Truett Hancock, explained: "The unfortunate truth is, the media has not really given us a fair deal, in reporting on the miracles that have taken place, and so we've just had to make the decision to avoid allowing the media to do that." In other words, "You guys don't tell it the way we want it, so you can't film what's really going on."

Fortunately, Øjvind Kyrø had anticipated this, and had placed hidden cameras elsewhere. What they filmed was the usual shtick, described in your book, "The Faith Healers": Lofty promises of miracles galore, hours of mindless droning, the most gullible being filtered before allowed on stage, old ladies jumping about, glowing endorsements from the gullible afterwards. Miracles were happening all over the place: Somebody was being healed of a skin disease to the right. Someone's spine had been healed. Some could feel a fire in their body. Some could even feel a "warm sensation in their bodies.” These people were never named, of course. Who wants to check, when the Holy Spirit – in the form of Benny Hinn – is at work?

Many people in the audience were in ecstasy. The blessed – and most malleable – few, who were lucky enough, made it to the stage. A child, suffering a brain tumor to be operated the upcoming week, was promised that God's power had already begun to work in her body. An elderly lady could stroll without her walker. A woman with bone cancer could wiggle her arms and legs (with Benny Hinn mimicking her movements, in one of the most cruel, mocking scenes I have ever seen). After these miraculous healings, Benny Hinn touched their foreheads, or threw bolts of God's healing power at them, and, BAM!, down they went, in a frenzied ecstasy.

Randi comments: Those who are admitted to the stage are all very carefully chosen, as I indicated above. As with all the so-called “faith healers,” anyone in a customized wheelchair, anyone showing an amputation or other obviously untreatable disability, is barred from the stage area and kept at the back of the auditorium where there are no TV lights. In the lobby afterward, there are often victims writhing on the floor, having recovered from the adrenaline rush they underwent when first touched by the “healer.” They are ignored by those leaving the arena, since they’d “lost the faith” and were once again in the thrall of Satan.

One could almost smell the endorphins. And there was never any role-playing. Oh, no. Only Britney Spears could have done a worse acting job.

Unfortunately, the little girl with a damaged back did not regain her health – she had to drive home with her parents, disappointed. She did, however, had a more pronounced desire to stand up and walk than she had before. Somehow, I think her parents hoped more than she did. She never looked as if she believed anything would happen anyway. Which, in the Land of Faith Healing, means that she is to blame for Benny Hinn's failure. If you are cured, it is the work of God (through the faith healer). If you are not cured, it is because you haven't believed enough.

But desperation breeds hope, hope springs eternal, and hope will make people pay. The collection of money (cash, checks or plastic) in white buckets to fund these "crusades," while songs of the promise of upcoming miracles churned out from the stage, made it very clear: "Prosperity Teaching" means that you can be healed, but only if you pay up. You have to "plant a seed," before you can bask in the grace of Hinn… sorry, God. A true Faustian deal with the devil.

And then, it was time for rationality to kick in on the Øjvind Kyrø show. A psychiatrist, Henrik Day Poulsen, explained that Hinn was merely using very simple but powerful methods to control people to give him money. He made it clear that it was extremely unethical to lure people to believe that e.g. a small child with a brain tumor could be cured in a second.

Michael Ahlstrand, magician and skeptic, who was both at the show and in the studio afterwards, aptly explained what was really going on, complete with a brief demonstration of how a person could be "hypnotized." Cool, calm, and collected, he gave a sound, rational explanation, thoroughly countering everything that had happened.

It was a very, very good show, exposing Benny Hinn's money-grubbing scheme of exploiting the sick and gullible, his voluptuous stays in hyper-expensive hotels (he reportedly stayed at the Copenhagen Marriott, in the Royal Suite, costing over $3,000 a night), and his refusal to let a free press operate, even turning down an interview – which he never gives. The skeptics were able to explain, calmly, honestly and seriously, how Benny Hinn operated. Only the most desperate would believe in Benny Hinn after that feature. Which, I'm afraid, they will.

Not a single newspaper had any follow-ups, though. Ah, well... Can't have it all, I suppose.

We can assume that Hinn will simply move on, wait for Øjvind’s efforts to be forgotten, and return to Denmark when he wants some more kroner. And the audience – new victims and the old ones – will be there, ready to be conned…

Thank you, Claus.