I don't know about you, but when someone does me a big favor I say "Thank you". I don't go around saying that nice person is a fraud.
Several years ago, a nine year old blind boy went to a Benny Hinn evangelical event. Most of you know, people who are sick or have some defect go there to get it fixed. That is what Benny Hinn does, heal people. Huge numbers come on stage and are knocked down by the power of Jesus and leave healed.
Benny took time from mass healing to pay special attention to this boy. In front of a packed house and TV broadcast, Benny prayed over the boy and told him he could see. The boy agreed he could see.
Now the guy is in his 20's and claims, I want to emphasize,
claims, he is still blind. He now says he thought he saw the big crowd that night that Benny told him was there.
We have no proof this guy is still blind. Anyone can buy a white cane and poke around with it. Anyone can claim they are reading with their fingers when they are really peeking through slightly open eyelids.
The kind of fraud this "blind" man is doing must be stopped. Benny Hinn deserves a medal of great citizenship for all the people he has healed.
or the second day in a row, federal investigators remained on scene Thursday at the Grapevine office of internationally known televangelist Benny Hinn.
An IRS special agent said Wednesday they executed a search warrant.
"Criminal investigation primarily investigates financial crimes against the government," said Special Agent Michael Moseley of the IRS Criminal Investigations department.
And few are likely paying more attention to what's going on than 25-year-old William Vandenkolk.
William Vandenkolk
"I really just want justice," he said Thursday from his home in Nevada. "I want him to admit what he did was wrong."
We still don't know exactly why the government is raiding Hinn's office. But Vandenkolk is interested regardless. You can see Vandenkolk's story posted publicly in a YouTube video, which shows him at a Benny Hinn service when he was just 9 years old. He was supposedly "healed" by Hinn during a service in Las Vegas.
Vandenkolk is legally blind. He said while he was on stage, he felt he could see people's faces clearly in the crowd.
"He told me that everything was going to be fine, that my vision would be 20/20 if not better," he said. "I was just like,'I'm cured!' And then, like I said, a couple hours later, I can't see the TV. What's wrong?"
Not only was Vandenkolk not healed, the family also says the church raised money for William, which they never saw.
"They started giving us the runaround of, 'We're not the people who handle that; call this number.' 'Oh sorry, let me transfer you to this department,'" he recalled.
The wife of TV evangelist Benny Hinn, seen here in a 2002 photo, filed divorce papers earlier this month citing irreconcilable differences. The couple has been married for more than 30 years. (Photo: WFAA)
This is the second time the IRS has looked into Hinn. The first time was in 2005. Hinn has built a multi-million-dollar empire with his healing ministries.
Vandenkolk said Thursday that what he went through upset him for years.
"He abused people's faiths," he said.
We now wait to learn why he's under the federal microscope this time.
© 2017 WFAA-TV
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IRS raids televangelist Benny Hinn's office in Grapevine
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