TWELVE HOURS - WHAT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY NIGHT...

“...they were all amazed; and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”  (from Mark 2:12)

On Friday, my wife and I and two people from our church went in to the Benny Hinn crusade.  We decided to take an earlier train and to eat lunch in Boston, so we took the 12:15 out of Framingham.  We ate very good Italian food in the North End, and arrived at TDBankNorth Garden around 3.  I went to the place from where I’d entered the Garden on Thursday.  I was fortunate enough to quite easily find the woman who had the information about special prearranged seating for pastors and guests and to get the special ticket for our “group”.  As with Thursday night, the doors for the Garden opened at 4.  This time it was completely different from Thursday.  Things were much more orderly and professional.  I guess they learned their lesson from Thursday night.  We actually had three “checkpoints” to go through, and we ended up being sat in good seats on the floor.  As seems to always be the case with me, there WAS a “crazy situation” in that at the second point where I was checked off, the person KEPT my ticket.  I did not realize that was NOT supposed to happen.  Once our group was seated, we realized there was no way to get up and move around without a carrying around your “group ticket”.  I felt very foolish borrowing someone else’s just so the others from our group could go to the bathroom. Then I used that ticket to go to the bathroom.  I realized the only way I could get another ticket was to find the woman from the entrance who was in charge of the special seating and get another ticket from her.   Well, with the place already getting pretty mobbed at 5 and the Garden NOT being the easiest place to navigate, that all seemed pretty impossible.  I frankly just prayed and asked God to let me somehow get another ticket.  On the way back from the bathroom, among the mob of people on the floor, I saw the woman who had been in charge of the special seating.  I went to her and explained my plight.  She looked at me as though I’d just come in from the planet Venus and took a minute to thoroughly check out my story- then I did get another ticket!  I was glad because I was then able to get cold drinks for us.

Ironically, just before the service started, another important person handling the seating came up to Mary Ann and I “out of the blue” so to speak and said there were two extra seats on the platform and asked if we wanted to sit there!  I would have done it in a heartbeat, but Mary Ann was kind of nervous about it, so we declined.  Anyway, I know it was a sign from God that He was letting me know I got pretty bad seating and treatment on Thursday night, and that He was just turning around and blessing me!

As with Thursday night, there was a lot of good music.  Benny Hinn’s mother was present at the crusade.  He introduced her and spoke about the importance of honoring your parents.  Famous Charismatic author and speaker Harold Bredesen was present at the service.  I read a book by him about thirty years ago which very much affected my life, so I was quite blessed to see him.  Bredesen is eighty-seven.  He spoke to the crowd briefly.  The  healing service was vintage Benny Hinn- pretty loud and pretty wild.  People were falling down under the power of God like dominos.  The most dramatic healing was that of a young girl who had been totally deaf and had begun hearing in one ear.  She had never heard before or spoken before.  Benny had her try to mimic the sounds she was hearing for the first time.  She’d been brought by a family friend.  Why ONE ear was opened and not two- I don’t know.  I know skeptics will say that healings like that can be staged and faked.  They can, but I will say there’s no way that one was faked.  

Yes, Benny Hinn tends to make sensational statements.  Yes, he is flamboyant.  Yes, he is controversial.  Do I agree with EVERYTHING related to Benny Hinn and his ministry?  As I’ve said on many occasions, I don’t- but I’ve also said that you can’t put God in a box.  Was EVERYTHING last night done “decently and in order” and 100% as the Lord would want?  Maybe not.  Did God bless and move in the service?  He did.

We stayed until 10:45, and the service was still going on as we left.  We got on the last commuter rail train from Back Bay Station and arrived at 12:15 in Framingham- exactly twelve hours after we’d left Framingham.

I almost NEVER sleep in.  I got up at almost 8:30 today which is “sleeping in” for me, and I think it’s going to take until Noon for me to really feel awake!