Book Review: GOD, GREED, AND THE (PROSPERITY) GOSPEL by Costi W. Hinn

If you are at all familiar with American televangelists, Word-Faith, and “prosperity” preachers, the author’s last name might ring a bell. Costi Hinn is, in fact, the nephew of the (in)famous health-and-wealth preacher Benny Hinn. In this book, Costi tells how he was groomed to be the heir-apparent of the Hinn empire, and how he came to discover the lies and deception at the heart of his uncle’s ministry. When Costi encountered the real Jesus, the one who died for his sin and gave him peace and joy that money can’t buy and transcends the frailties of the flesh, it literally changed his life. Costi left the family’s multi-million-dollar lifestyle to pastor a church in Arizona. His goal for this book is to expose the false gospel of the prosperity movement, and lead readers to an understanding of true faith and deeper, lasting spiritual health and prosperity.

I became a Christian within the Word-Faith movement, though I was never sold-out totally to it, and I am now as far from that movement theologically as I think you can get (you can read my story here and here). As you can see from my story, I had a particular connection to Benny Hinn, so my interest in Costi’s story is more than casual.

The first thing I’ll say about this book is that Costi is very transparent about his motives. He’s not out to trade on his family’s name. In fact, he has said that a large portion of the book’s royalties will go toward “theological education and providing resources to pastors and people who have been exploited by the prosperity gospel.” Also, while he is honest about the lifestyle he and his family led while a part of the movement, he tries not to glorify it. He’s not proud of what he was a part of, and would sooner people see it for what it is: a scam.

Costi’s story is, itself, very interesting, and he writes it well. The book opens with a little background on his father and uncle, where they came from, and things that shaped Uncle Benny’s life. He goes on to talk about what it was like “behind the scenes” of the ministry, and life in the Hinn household. Denials of sickness and promises of healing to family members diagnosed with cancer, trips to Dubai staying in luxury hotels, owning a fully-loaded Hummer at age 21, and so on.

But, Costi had nagging questions, and certain experiences left him feeling uneasy with the way the ministry raised funds. Again, Costi tells it like it was, and doesn’t spare his pride. This is especially true when he talks about the way the Lord confronted him with what the Bible says about healing and prosperity versus what his uncle had been teaching. In particular, Costi had an uncomfortable encounter with the sovereignty of God in Scripture that turned his world upside down.

This is a very readable book, and very pastoral. It is not meant to be an apologetic against the prosperity movement–though Costi does deal with some of the movement’s more egregious Scripture-twisting–but more a contrast between the false and the true, and what happened when Costi stopped living the lie and embraced the truth. It is an appeal to those caught up in the movement to take a step back and consider what Scripture really says about these things. It is also an appeal to his father, his uncle, and others at the center of promoting this teaching to repent and leave this deception.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone with any kind of interest in the subject. A very solid five Goodreads stars.