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Costi Hinn is an American pastor and author known for publicly criticizing the "prosperity gospel" televangelism model popularized by his uncle, Benny Hinn.
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00:00My name is Kosti Hinn, and I grew up in one of the richest televangelist families in the world.
00:04I left it all after I realized it was a scam, and this is everything I'm authorized to tell you.
00:12I saw speaking in tongues all the time, and you have all these people working each other up into
00:16a frenzy. If you can get people to speak in tongues in mass crowds like that, and now you
00:22can pretty much get anything you want out of them. They're manipulating people.
00:32Televangelism is the basic idea of an individual getting on a medium like TV, YouTube, that can
00:40reach a lot of people, and you're sharing your message, preaching the Christian gospel in the
00:47name of saving souls, insofar as they're actually trying to do that. The problem is when the
00:53proclaimer and what they're proclaiming is corrupt. The terms televangelism and faith healing are often
00:59synonymous, people believing that God will heal them through this anointed person. You got a lot
01:06of sick people in the world. You got a lot of people that got a doctor's report, and the doctor
01:11said, we can't do much more for you. And so they turned to God, but these guys and women sell
01:19this
01:19idea that if you give money and you have enough faith that Jesus will make you happy, healthy,
01:25and wealthy, and you need to really believe and listen to all that they say. My uncle is Benny Hinn,
01:31one of the most famous faith healers in modern history, and he rose to fame through the 80s,
01:38the 90s, and the 2000s. My uncle's program was in over 80 countries, and it was worldwide. We would go
01:46and pack out stadiums, so 20,000. We're talking like full capacity United Center in Chicago, Air Canada Center in
01:54Toronto. He would go to places like Columbia, he'd go to Nigeria, he would pack out soccer stadiums
02:00with 100,000 people. He used television and media brilliantly, and the entire empire eventually just grew
02:10into being a hundred million dollar enterprise a year, and being taught from an early age that my
02:16uncle, my father, and some of my other uncles who are in this line of work as well are the
02:21most
02:21anointed men on planet earth, the most powerful, the most faithful, the most humble of God's servants.
02:29We're serving God, and we're healing and helping all these people, and that is why we are so blessed.
02:36God is looking upon us with favor for all we do. I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia.
02:43It's my dad. After working with my Uncle Benny, he's built this monstrous house, you know, almost
02:4810,000 square feet. I got a huge room, my own ensuite bathroom. I've got gold fixtures, my own soaker
02:55tubs. We've got like steam room, indoor hot tub, pool, little mini golf course, my own sport court.
03:01It's all I ever knew. It was a life of privilege, no doubt. It was Beamers, Benzes, and Bentleys,
03:09$8 million homes. We ended up buying another house in Orange County, California as well,
03:14so multiple properties. We would go to Hawaii, going to France, going to the Alps, going to Switzerland,
03:19just having a blast and enjoying life. The way I started working for him is I'm graduating high
03:25school and sitting down with my family and discussing what my next step was. It became,
03:32we should not go to college right away, and I should take a year or more and devote my life
03:41to serving my uncle. But I go work for him, and I fly in his plane. We would drive in
03:47his car. I was
03:48his driver for a season as well. I was his personal assistant. I carry the Louis Vuitton, Fendi, all of
03:54the different luggage and everything. But it ends up being a year plus. And so circa like 2003 into 2004,
04:03I'm going to all of the best places, all of the best restaurants, and we're packing out stadiums
04:09everywhere. I ended up driving Benzes. I got a H2 Hummer on 22s, like custom rims. And I had TVs
04:16in the backseat.
04:17I'm a 20-year-old kid. I had a $10,000 limited edition Breitling watch. I mean, it was just
04:22everything that
04:24the rich and famous enjoy. But for being really good athletes and really wealthy from business,
04:31entrepreneurs, for us, it was selling people on this idea that God will make you happy, healthy, and wealthy
04:37if you give us all of your money. The messages at these crusades and in the televangelist world,
04:48we would call it like the gospel. If you want God to do something for you, you got to do
04:53something for
04:54him first. You need to give or sow a seed. They say, you know, sow a seed of faith. It's
05:00called seed faith
05:01theology. The seed is money by giving, and you're going to reap like a farmer, the harvest.
05:07What's the harvest? Well, whatever you want. You want infertility to go away? You want your cancer healed?
05:11You want a job promotion? God won't do something for you unless you give something to him. So, really sick
05:17and
05:17twisted way to manipulate people versus like free will charitable giving. My uncle's signature move or
05:24distinguishing mark became, you know, the waving of the white jacket, the wildness of the theatrics. When he would take
05:32the jacket off, it was game on. He would be waving his jacket and hitting people. When he'd say, if
05:38you
05:38want the power of God, if you want what I have, if you want the anointing on your life, get
05:42down here.
05:43And you'd have people flooding the altar. He'd pull them up on stage and he would say, fire, fire, fire,
05:50and he would hit people with his jacket. But his distinguishing mark, in my opinion, is greater levels
05:57of chaos. Crazy, wild, chaotic scenes of people falling all over each other or yelling. A lot of
06:08the showmanship is also meant to convey power and excitement and supernatural activity. You'll sing it
06:17quiet. Jesus is healing you right now. Some of you are going to feel electricity. Power of suggestion
06:24is a huge piece of the showmanship. Telling people again and again and again, God's going to touch you.
06:31You're going to feel warmth. Some of you are going to feel like crying. Some of you are going to
06:34feel
06:34electricity. They'll say, just lift your hands and sing it and he's going to heal you. And people
06:40raise their hands. The more you can get people to agree to small things, the more you can fool them,
06:46on the bigger things. My uncle learned all of his techniques from Catherine Coleman, the early
06:52faith healer. She had proven that you could get large crowds together, put on a bit of a theatrical
06:57show, and you could present a picture of spiritual experience and healing all from a God who loves you.
07:05This made her very wealthy. So he really built that persona up. He also took the television element to a
07:14new level. My uncle had the best equipment. He hired the best people. You talk about game-changing,
07:19next-level moves. He was pulling people away from like major, major corporations to work in his
07:25television department. And he was able to bring in so much money that he could get on the major
07:29networks. He said, we're going to reach more people if everything is high quality. And that's
07:34something that he distinguished from the early televangelists. What do they preach? A lot of the
07:40messages are testimonials. Maybe somebody's cancer did go in remission, and these are the unfortunate
07:45situations. I'm glad somebody's cancer went into remission. But when they credit the faith healer
07:50or because they gave money, and it just happened to be that because of chemo or their body, they begin
07:56to eat differently. When they think it's related to the faith healer, let me tell you, we ride that
08:03thing like a train going home. A lot of the healing crusades are highly coordinated. They're planned.
08:15You have people running the healing lines, people controlling who can get on stage, people only
08:20allowing people to appear on camera or come up on stage if they're really selling their experience.
08:27You have others that really think that they've gotten healed or they've experienced something and they
08:33just want to get up there so he'll pray for them. Some of that's the euphoria. Some of it is
08:37a desire
08:38to get up there and to be touched. Remember, just like people cry when they see Justin Bieber or these
08:44fans, you know, see Taylor Swift. There are people who idolize my uncle and look at him as like some
08:49holy anointed celebrity. And they weep just at the thought of being near him. And then they have a person
08:55up on each side of the stage. And they'll say, my uncle, when it's time to like really sell the
09:00testimonials in the portion of that service, he'll say, what happened over here? And they'll say,
09:06oh, pastor, this woman has had pain in her leg for 30 years tonight. She got hit by the power
09:13of God.
09:13The fire of God fell on her. When you said fire, she felt heat and she has no pain now.
09:19And he'll say,
09:20oh, wonderful. Jesus, we give you praise. And they'll lift their hands and he'll pray for them.
09:24They'll fall. God's power is flowing through him because he's a conduit of the almighty.
09:30And that person is going to feel like an electric touch. And they can't stand in the presence of
09:35God and his servant. And so they fall. You catch them, lay them down gently. I was a catcher. And
09:40then he'll yell at the crowd. He'll go, give God a mighty hand of praise. And the crowd will go,
09:45yes.
09:46And that person, whether they got healed or not, no one knows. But man, they just,
09:50they had a great experience. They got prayed for by Benny Hinn. And so there have been studies
09:54they've done that these people may have felt better or had a little bit of pain relief for
09:58a short time because of the euphoria of the moment or the adrenaline that fires in the body
10:03after they're even worse. And that's why a lot of these exposés start taking places. People say,
10:08hold on a minute. My pain is worse than before. Or I took off my brace and felt amazing. But
10:15the next
10:15week my doctor said, I'm basically going to have to be in a wheelchair the rest of my life. And
10:19I
10:19shouldn't have taken my brace off. But in the moment they sell it. That person though,
10:22you don't know any of that. They get up. Yay. They go back to their seat. All you see is
10:27the
10:27finished product on TV. And you're going, man, I got to give more money to Benny Hinn. Look at this
10:31guy. He's doing so much good work. So all of that's controlled and paced, all very scripted,
10:38all very structured, moving towards a logical end, very emotional. People watch it all unfold.
10:46And they think in order to experience God, I have to fall. If he touches me, I have to shake.
10:54And a small subset go, I don't know about this. And then an even smaller subset are like,
11:00this is a total crock. But every so often you get somebody that's up there and they're a little more
11:05dry than you wanted them to be. Well, my uncle hated that. It's not good for TV. Every so often
11:12would just yell at the healing line leaders after the service. Why'd you let that woman up there?
11:20She tried to touch me or that boy was not responding the way he should have. You've got to
11:26think. My uncle would yell at the healing line leaders. Don't let them up unless they are healed,
11:34look healed, or they're verified. You have to make sure they're the kind of person we want up there.
11:39And he would use terms. He would use really spiritual terms. Make sure you're really seeing
11:44God move in their life. Make sure they look like they've had an experience with God. And that's his
11:50way of saying, make sure they're selling it enough. This Is Your Day was my uncle's program. He'd have
11:55a live audience. He'd have great interviews and talk to people about health and healing and money
12:01and finances and all that stuff. And then he'd say, we're going to show you the highlights from our
12:06recent crusade in Cincinnati, Ohio. God moved mightily. And don't forget, New Jersey, we're
12:14coming to you next week. And I believe God is going to move in a special way. Give your best
12:20gift today and help us take this healing gospel around the world. And so now you're a person in
12:25Florida, Washington, Canada, Great Britain, India. You could be anywhere in the world and
12:32you're watching. This is your day. And of course, they always ask for money at its peak,
12:38around $100 million a year. And it's because the program was reaching everybody. I saw speaking
12:44in tongues all the time. People babbling, people saying, you know, shut up, but I could about
12:48I like just total gibberish, like means nothing. You have people lifting their hands, they're
12:52surrendered, their eyes are shut. And they're all speaking in tongues. There's idea that you are
13:00getting a language from God that no one can understand, but it's this heavenly language.
13:05And so it makes somebody feel like they're very connected to God. And it creates a hysteria.
13:10And you have all these people mumbling and gibberish and working each other up into a frenzy. It is one
13:16of the fastest ways to get swooned. I, at 12 years old, started speaking in tongues. This was normal in
13:22my church. You get called down to the altar. You all come down and they would say like, today,
13:28you're going to get the gift of tongues. There's like a pretty common belief in a lot of these
13:31circles. And so you go down and they coach you. They just say, just open up your lips and you
13:36lift
13:36your hands. You're always lifting your hands. And they say, just say what's on your, the tip of your
13:40tongue. And you're like, and they're like, yeah, you got it. You got it. And you start to feel
13:45like you're a part of the community. And here's the real kicker. A lot of these circles teach
13:50if you don't speak in tongues, you haven't experienced the Holy Spirit or God. You're not a real
13:55Christian. You don't have the power of God, which that allows this whole group of liars to create
14:01an elite class, put themselves in it. And then all of their followers are scared to what? Not be in
14:09the realm of blessing. And so they do whatever they're told and they go, blah, blah, blah,
14:12blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, I have tongues. I speak in tongues.
14:19I don't know if you remember Trinity Broadcasting Network, people tuning in all over the world.
14:24My uncle, he has international offices in Canada, Australia, the UK. And at all those locations,
14:31you have teams and staff, which leads to a global empire. So that's really the picture of the reach
14:37of just one televangelist. And obviously there's dozens and dozens and dozens out there, but
14:43not to help people. They're trying to reach as many people as they can in the hopes that even just
14:48a small percentage who they can fool will give money, follow them and get attached and dependent.
14:56Now imagine doing that for upwards of four and five decades. That's how you end up with these
15:02hundred million dollar plus empires filled with tens of thousands of people giving $5 a month,
15:10$7 a month, $25 a month, $50 a month, being able to convince people that they need to give a
15:17certain
15:17amount. This is kind of a famous tactic to get a lot of reach and to get a lot of
15:20money is they'll say,
15:22you know, I feel like God is telling me that you need to give $7,777. Now, not everyone can
15:30give
15:30that amount. And so just like a good salesperson, they'll say, but some of you, you can give $777.
15:36And you know, God's perfect holy number is seven. You know, there's a spiritual correlation and
15:41people like, Oh, that's right. And some of you can't give $777. Well, some of you, you can give
15:48$77, but some of you, you can only give $7. You sow that seed in faith and God is going
15:54to multiply it
15:55tenfold, a hundredfold in Jesus name. And in Jesus name is like a magic phrase, but that's a famous
16:02example of just how they get on TV and they just pump the crowds. And now my uncle, keep in
16:07mind,
16:07he's on every single day. He's not on once a week. He's on every day around the world. If you
16:13do that
16:14seven days a week, you're going to make some money. He was targeting the desperate and the poor,
16:18but he was also targeting the rich. What do the rich want more than anything or as much as anything
16:26else? Well, they want to stay rich and they want to get more rich. What can my uncle sell them?
16:32Assurance, security, protection. Want to know one of the most abusive sides to this?
16:38When the protection and the provision and the healing doesn't happen, the faith healer blames
16:45the person's faith. If you had cancer or some ailment, or you were struggling with infertility,
16:50or you lost a baby or some other tragic thing that is so sad and so heartbreaking,
16:56we would question your faith. We'd say, well, have you been having faith in God? Have you been giving?
17:03I have a divine connection and a mandate from God. You don't. You doubted me? No blessing for you,
17:11which is why it's so sick and abusive. You get these people whose kids are sick and they think,
17:17I did kind of question God. Maybe that's why he didn't do it. You're manipulating them to the point
17:26where they're scared to even question. By the way, when I was younger, this is one of the reasons I
17:30didn't question a lot is I thought God's going to curse me. He's going to give me cancer. He's going
17:35to kill me. There's all these bad things that can happen. One of the biggest misconceptions with how
17:39money works within the televangelist world is that it's just all this massive effort towards tax evasion.
17:48And there is that part of it. They are obviously getting away with a lot of things, but people pay
17:53their taxes. They do things the right way. You have a structure in place following as many loopholes as
18:01you can get within the IRS code. Also doing things that are really manipulative. And so what you have
18:07is a system where with good lawyers, really good accountants, you can protect a lot of what the
18:13ministry is bringing in. They put themselves under the category of a church because they lead a little
18:18devotional once in a while, which means you no longer have to file a 990. If you have a nonprofit,
18:22if you're digging wells, if you are helping people, refugees, if you're doing any type of work that's
18:29philanthropy that people give and get a charitable tax receipt for, you have to file a 990 unless you get
18:36to categorize yourself as a church. They would host like a little small gathering at the offices or
18:42headquarters and then file the organization as a church. And now they have to show nothing bringing
18:48in over $100 million a year. Don't have to say a word. Don't have to show what you make. If
18:52your faith
18:53leaders are scared to answer your questions about finances and their practices, you should be suspicious
19:03about what they're doing behind the scenes. The other thing that I would say is, was always a major
19:09red flag for me, was just the amount of money that could get shelled out for very small tasks.
19:19There were others within the family that were making huge amounts of money on the payroll. They just spent
19:23money and kept absorbing it like it was the Kardashians and doing whatever they want as celebrities.
19:28That's how they viewed themselves. And so, but something interesting that I don't think a lot
19:32of people fully understand or may not even appreciate is he wouldn't even allow you to fly
19:38on the plane unless you were working because he wanted to pass all the checkpoints with the IRS and
19:44with the tax codes and with the things that things are for. He would only drive the Bentley when it
19:50was
19:50personal, but he drove the G-Wagon when it was ministry. And he was, he was very careful with that.
19:56And I think a lot of that was fear-based is because he didn't want to get busted anymore
19:59than he was already on the radar.
20:05The way that the structure of hierarchy works in a televangelist's ministry is similar to a
20:12corporation, you know, a company. You have your kind of key man or key woman. They're at the top.
20:16You picture them as the CEO. And from there, you'll have a chief of operations. You'll have a VP of
20:23what
20:23have you. And my uncle was the president, you know, and founder type of role. And then you had your
20:28vice
20:28president of television. You have managers at different levels. They're looking for like
20:33call center managers, basic security. My uncle had hundreds of staff, you know, at the peak.
20:39You have your healing line leaders. The healing line leaders are very, very important. They are going
20:45to hand select the people that get through the healing line and on stage. My father and any other
20:51family member who is in like major positions where it was their livelihood, they were making hundreds
20:56of thousands of dollars, like major, major money. But for some of the family members and the heavy
21:00hitters within the orbit, you go and you take over an assignment for one of the weekends, which my
21:07uncle would do if you were good at fundraising. He'd put you in charge of like taking up the offering
21:11for that particular crusade. And if you raked it in, you were going to get paid. For me, I was
21:20running
21:20about, you know, I'd get paid like $1,000 on a trip for travel day. I'd get paid then during
21:26the crusade, usually around like $350 to $400 per day. But so for me, like 1920, kid between
21:32college age, I was, I could rake in like a few grand over a weekend really fast. Do that
21:39every weekend and you can make a lot more money. I just was stacking cash, never had a single
21:45expense, never had to pay a single bill. And I'm traveling on the plane and I'm staying in
21:49a nice hotel. I just kept stacking thousands of dollars every single month over and over
21:55and over. And again, I'm a kid that just graduated high school, getting ready to go to college.
22:00NDAs were very normal, non-disclosures left and right. Like nobody talks. I have people to
22:05this day that reach out to me and they say, everything you're saying is true. And it's even
22:10worse. I saw this. I saw that. I mean, there are, there are people that are better experts than
22:16me on certain facets. Like there are people who worked in one department for years that
22:22have said, Kosti, it was even worse. They all signed NDAs. There were people that were in
22:28lawsuits. There were people that were suing my uncle. And so you have all these people from
22:31the highest levels, NDAs. I've had threats. I've had letters sent. They always send these
22:38like cease and desist letters. I'm under no obligation to respond to them, but they've sent
22:43them to everyone saying he's a liar. He worked a low level position. You know, we will let the
22:49ministry and it's years of faithfulness do the talking. I'm a disgruntled family member. Like
22:55all of these things that aren't true. I'm not disgruntled at all. I love my family. My uncle
23:00was so kind to me, paid me well, very generous, always favored me. But his lawyers are all very,
23:08very wealthy, very high power. He's got deep pockets and he's extremely well protected.
23:33I've often described the way I grew up as a hybrid between the royal family and the mafia.
23:38The mafia, because the loyalty to the family is strictly enforced. The royal family, because it
23:44was super wealthy and pretentious and, you know, high and above everyone else. That level of wealth
23:50and that level of loyalty create something in a young man that causes me to think, that doesn't
23:57make sense, but you don't go against family. You don't question. Well, let's just kind of leave
24:05this one alone. Okay. But inside, I'm beginning to have cracks in the dam of what I believe,
24:10my belief system. I started questioning when I was younger in my teenage years, there would be these
24:16moments where growing up, a friend in high school, she got cancer. And I remember, you know, asking
24:22family members, hey, let's go heal her. And if we would just, we'll go heal her of her cancer. And
24:28I
24:28genuinely, like completely naive, ignorant to a lot of things, I wholeheartedly believe what I believe
24:35and I mean it. And so I'm thinking, let's go heal her. And then they'll all see that we have
24:41this power
24:42from God. Well, I remember a family member saying, well, no, they don't believe like us. They don't
24:49have faith like us. She's, you know, not like our line of faith. And so, you know, it won't work.
24:54And I remember thinking, well, Jesus healed lots of people who, who didn't believe like him yet.
25:02And miracles became the proof that he was who he said he was. So why aren't we using miracles as
25:09the proof? So like go clear a hospital, heal my friend. Most of the miracles that my uncle claimed
25:16were happening were not able to be proven. That's very convenient. Back pain, ringing in the ears.
25:26A lot of people were still limping on the stage. And he'd, he'd say stuff like, I know she's still
25:32limping, you know, holding her hand sometimes. And just in case people were like, oh, they're still
25:36kind of limping around. He would say stuff like, you'd be limping too. If you've been sitting in a
25:41wheelchair for 30 years, we just got to move those legs and get all that strength back. And one
25:46crusade I was at in person was in Mumbai, India. Back in the early 2000s, I believe it's 1.4
25:53million
25:54people showed up to the services. They leased this land that was wide open. And I'll never forget it
26:01as long as I live. My uncle's there in his white suit. There's a choir with about a 500 person
26:06choir,
26:07all in blue robes. The choir, 500 people choir is like a tiny blue dot. And you're looking,
26:14there's people everywhere, but there's this particular section that's full of the sick.
26:19They have these tents and places where you'd put the sick people. I'm sitting there. I come off the
26:24stage. I walk down and I'm in this, it's the sick section. And it feels like one of those movie
26:31scenes, chaos everywhere. There's people who are laying on stretchers. There's babies. You don't
26:37know if they're alive or dead. There's people crying out. And I remember looking back and I see
26:43my uncle on the stage and he's in his pure, perfect white suit, flawless. And I remember just having
26:53this moment of contrast. And for so long, I had thought, well, I'm going to kind of push that
26:58under the rug. And as I'm working for him, I'm seeing everything up close and I'm looking right
27:05behind the curtain. And there are things that I can't unsee. As I looked up on the stage and saw
27:11a perfectly primped, white suited faith healer in contrast to the people that he's supposed to be
27:19healing. One looked like a war zone. Here is a man who is separate, doesn't want to be near people,
27:26won't touch people, claiming to serve and work for Jesus Christ as a healer. No, no, no. It was really
27:33that moment that seared in my mind. And I remember being so heartbroken. I was asking God, why didn't
27:40you heal that child? Those moments are eroding all of my confidence. But I began to see it. There was
27:47another example. We're in a particular state. I don't want to name it because just out of respect
27:53for that family. And we fly in. They have a particular health issue they're facing. They're
28:02waiting for us at the private airport. They come on the plane, make a donation of a massive amount,
28:09like massive, well beyond the six-figure range. My uncle prays for them. Because of that,
28:18that family becomes a bit of an attachment for him. He milks them along, keeps them believing,
28:26and they have deep pockets. We're talking billionaire people. I'll never forget thinking
28:33they didn't get healed. Nothing actually happened. But because he was able to sell them on this kind
28:41of keep on having faith, he, behind the scenes, is influencing major influencers. Watching that
28:49makes you go, wow, they're really, really working their way up. And it's all a money grab.
28:55I was in my teenage years when I first saw an expose on my family. And I remember thinking these
29:01people are really mean-spirited and at the same time saying, hmm, that's interesting.
29:09But often thinking, well, they're probably mistaken. No, no, I know my uncle. I know my dad. I know my
29:17family. I know my cut. Like, we're good people. Like, we're not what they're saying. We are. And
29:22exposing everything that my uncle's doing, this whole orbit of televangelism, prosperity gospel,
29:27these scam artist preachers making, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, having private
29:31planes and all this stuff. And this is what I was taught by my family. The reason all these people
29:34are attacking us is because they are of the devil. And the devil is attacking us because we're helping
29:40people so much. We're just like Jesus, the apostle Paul, and Peter, and all of the martyrs in the
29:47early Christian church. We're being persecuted for our faith. You realize the irony of getting onto
29:53a Gulfstream jet while saying, I'm being persecuted for my faith. And, but that was our story and we're
30:01sticking to it. And eventually those cracks got so plentiful that I begin to really question. And I would
30:10say that ethically I could no longer sleep at night. I couldn't live with myself. And that's when I started
30:17asking bigger questions. For me, eventually the cost of remaining in the system and supporting that
30:24system was far greater than ever speaking against it. I'd rather have my soul intact and in the hands
30:33of God the right way than in peril because I've sold it to the devil claiming to do the Lord's
30:39work.
30:44My progression of getting out of all this was, I would say threefold. I leave my uncle's ministry
30:52working 2004. I go play college baseball and I end up at a school called Dallas Baptist University. It's
31:00the D1 school down in Texas and the Dallas area. And I have this coach, great guy, just a solid
31:08guy,
31:08man of integrity. And the way that he would talk to me about faith and life began to really get
31:16into
31:16my heart. And I could see he was the kind of man I wanted to be like. He was a
31:22family man. He was a
31:23faith man. I saw, I think for the first time, a man in a leadership position that was close to
31:30me
31:31doing things the right way. I'm like, that is, that is how faith should look. That is how a man
31:38life and character would align with what he says he believes. Phase two was this pastor at a church
31:45in California who I end up going to that church. And same thing, doesn't judge me, knows my last
31:52name, knows the background, knows who I'm related to. And instead of looking at all of that and judging
31:57me or almost like just kind of going, oh, this, that, he takes me seriously and he helps me in
32:05a
32:05big way, not deconstruct, but reconstruct and take a different view of faith and truth. And in a very
32:12real way says, hey, just because your family is full of a bunch of crooks, doesn't mean God's a crook.
32:18Doesn't mean faith is false. And he walks with me. And then third, my wife, I meet her. She is
32:25nothing like my family. My wife is a, like the product of a blue collar home. And we begin to
32:31walk through the phases of like, you know, dating and wanting to get engaged. Well,
32:35my family is not having it. They are nervous because she's not like us. And you know, just like
32:41mob style, just like royal family, you're going to marry the kind of woman that will fit in. And for
32:47us,
32:48that meant marrying the kind of woman who idolizes my uncle with a family that idolizes my uncle,
32:53because I'm kind of heir apparent and I'm the firstborn nephew in the family. And I'm this,
32:58and all these people think I'm supposed to, you know, take the reins of this kind of family
33:01business. They were prophesying it over me. So I always describe it as like the coach,
33:05the pastor and the girl. And God used each one of those phases to cause me to question
33:11everything I knew. And eventually they, my family basically were like, it's, it's her or us.
33:16And I was like, it's her. I'm going with this gal. And to this day, like there are people who,
33:23you know, had, had said back then, if you marry her, it'll be the biggest mistakes you ever made.
33:29Your position in the family is going to be taken away. And they had all these different threats
33:33because they did not want me marrying someone who would question the family. And so if you were to say,
33:38what are some of the biggest factors I would have to put at the top of the list?
33:42My wife, my wife has become, and is clearly known as God's greatest gift to my life because he used
33:51her to set me free from all of the lies that I was trapped in.
34:01In like April of 2017, IRS agents descend on his headquarters in Grapevine, Texas.
34:09They leave with boxes of stuff. And I see stuff like that. And I'm like, okay, like maybe,
34:14maybe justice is about to roll. Nothing comes of it. I think he has really good lawyers,
34:19really good accountants. You know, he's always coming under some kind of scrutiny or heat,
34:23but always seems to slip through the cracks. No one knows why the IRS agents stormed his headquarters.
34:31No one still knows. No one really, there was no follow-up report. Maybe it was a tip.
34:35Maybe it was insider information. My uncle would not talk to me and thinks that I am the enemy.
34:41And the reason for that is he took it all personally. It's not about the family. It's
34:46not personal. It's about the truth. For years with so many of my family members, they were like,
34:51you're wrong. Why are you doing this? Don't go against family. Be nice. Don't be mean because
34:56you called out Uncle Benny. And I'm going, is a police officer mean because he arrests a family
35:02member who actually is breaking the law. No, he's doing his job. I'm just doing my job.
35:06I have been clear with my family for years. If you mess with the flock of God,
35:10if you lie and twist the Bible, I'm coming after you. As a pastor, this is my job, not only
35:17to preach
35:17the truth, but to refute the error and point it out. Just like you would point out to a child
35:23to watch out for oncoming traffic. Or if someone was poisoning someone's food at a restaurant,
35:28you'd say, hey, hey, don't eat that. That's poison. And my uncle and his ilk are absolutely
35:33poisonous. I love him. He's still family. He's just, I tell him you're, you've been wrong about
35:39all your scams and your lies to people and you have to stop. That doesn't go over well, but I
35:43can
35:44still say, I love you. You love someone. You tell them the truth. When I started speaking out about all
35:48this, that was one of the first things I had family members calling me who really believe in this
35:52stuff, crying, pleading with me saying, Kosti, please stop. I don't want anything to happen to
36:00you. I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want your wife to be barren. You know,
36:03we didn't have kids yet. I don't want her to, I don't want you to lose your kids and all
36:07that.
36:08But over the years, you know, my wife kept having babies and they're going like, oh,
36:11how is he getting away with this? All of your superstitions aren't going to come true.
36:15I have a relationship with God. And if I do have a tough day or if I have a tough
36:20diagnosis or
36:21something challenging happens in my life, it's because I'm not immune to trials. No one is.
36:26And so that really messes with their heads. You know, I'm speaking out on televangelism and that's
36:32because I'm a pastor at a church. They're supposed to preach the truth. So they're to point out error.
36:38I'm heartbroken for people that believe that stuff, but also righteously fired up to go,
36:44let's go help them. Let's have these conversations and let's set the record straight. If I can help just
36:49one person make a wise, discerning decision and stop listening to the Benny Hens and all of these
36:56characters, just one person giving all their money to some empire building phony, oh, mission accomplished.
37:04I hope that the truth will help people.
37:30It's interesting the way that he's declined over these last several years. He does not have the
37:35crusades at the scale that he did, but you'll see him pop up. He just went to Africa. He's going
37:40to
37:40some different places and trying to rally the troops, but he rides the coattails now of a lot of other
37:45ministers, goes and shows up to conferences. He's sort of like the old grandfather figure.
37:49When he shows up, everyone goes quiet and it's like, so they honor him and they would never dare
37:56speak a word against him. I think the future of televangelism itself is already being seen.
38:02YouTube channels, high, high population of subscribers. Some of them have millions of
38:09subscribers. I think that they're going to be using social media. You'll see it. They already are
38:13because no longer are people turning on the TV to see the televangelist. It's right in the palm of
38:20their hand. And so they're watching videos. They're listening to their podcasts. It's digital. And so
38:24that's really where televangelism is going. It's not going to go anywhere. I think televangelism and
38:30prosperity gospel are still around because people want to be told they're going to be rich. They want
38:36to be told that if they do something for God, he'll do something for them. Around 2020, I see
38:43a whole new generation of prominent televangelists. No one really even calls them televangelists anymore.
38:49We call them influencers. And this guy named Michael Todd, he's down in Oklahoma. He's wearing
38:56Louis Vuitton. He's got a huge church, super wealthy. The prosperity gospel and a lot of this deception
39:02is more prominent in South American countries. So you got what I would call kind of the next generation
39:10of guys. And I had this idea brewing for a while. And here was the goal. Why are all of
39:17the online
39:18influencers and televangelists having free reign and nobody is challenging it with the truth? The goal
39:24of For the Gospel was to be for the true Christian gospel. So I thought I'm going to do a
39:29weekly podcast
39:30on Mondays and I'm going to just teach about truth every Monday so people can listen to it. And it's
39:37an alternative to that garbage. And I'll do a blog article a week. We'll do reels and I'll do interviews
39:43with people. So what we came along and said was, we're going to preach the truth. We're not going to
39:47pull punches. And that's what For the Gospel has become. And we don't do paywalls. We don't do
39:51subscriptions. I believe everything should be given away for free. And in that, people can choose to give and
39:58support, but it's their choice. There's going to be an option. We're sick and tired of our kids and
40:03our grandkids only having one option out in media.
40:28My family is walking around here.
40:28A parent of a義 cor 조심.
40:29And this is where he's walking around here.
40:29And we didn't read about år Xiaomi's warfare and what makes thank you again.
40:29Whether it's the lifetime of your life on thetarish tendon человек.
40:30stay gdzieś there, especially if someone's bad for their kids.
40:30You
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