A televangelist's nephew reveals what he saw and why he left the flock

A televangelist's nephew reveals what he saw and why he left the flock Costi Hinn describes his upbringing as "Beamers, Benz's, and Bentley's."His family's nearly 10,000-square-foot home had an indoor hot tub, a pool, a steam room, and a sport court, he says. They traveled to Hawaii and Europe for vacation and stayed at high-end resorts, he added.By high school, Hinn says, he drove a Mercedes. Around age 20, he had an H2 Hummer with custom rims and a $10,000 Breitling watch.For years, Hinn says he believed his family's wealth reflected God's favor. Hinn was born into a wealthy televangelist family and is the nephew of faith healer Benny Hinn, the flamboyant televangelist known for preaching in white suits and presiding over healing crusades before packed arenas."We are the example of what will happen to you," Costi Hinn said of what he believed at the time. "If you have enough faith, if you believe like us, if you do what we do. Oh, God will make you rich.""If you had cancer or some ailment or you were struggling with infertility," he added, "we would question your faith."Hinn spoke to Business Insider for its flagship video series "Authorized Account" about growing up in a wealthy televangelist family and ultimately rejecting a system he said tied donations and faith to false promises of healing and prosperity.Working for Benny Hinn made him walk away A young Costi Hinn with the H2 Hummer he drove at 20. Courtesy of Costi Hinn At its peak, Benny Hinn Ministries was bringing in over $90 million a year.After high school around 2003, Hinn says, he began working as his uncle's personal assistant. He says he traveled on a private plane, carried Louis Vuitton and Fendi luggage, and stayed in expensive hotels. Hinn says he also participated in healing crusades as a "catcher," helping lower people to the ground when they fell after his uncle prayed for them.The job brought him closer to the people who came seeking help. What he saw, he says, challenged what he had believed his entire life."I started questioning when I was younger in my teenage years, why certain things didn't happen as they were said to have happened," Hinn said. "What really got me was working for him and seeing everything behind the scenes and realizing nobody's really getting healed."The board of directors of Benny Hinn Ministries disputes Costi Hinn's account, saying his limited logistical role did not give him meaningful insight into its healing services, fundraising, or policies. Faith healer Benny Hinn during his Miracle Crusade at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images While Costi Hinn was working for his uncle, Benny Hinn's ministry was already under scrutiny.HBO and CBC investigations questioned the ministry's healing claims and financial practices. The IRS opened a tax inquiry in 2004, and the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley's office — then the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee — later reviewed Hinn's ministry as part of a broader examination of televangelists' finances and governance. That review was not criminal, and Senate staff said Hinn cooperated and made "significant reforms."In 2017, federal agents searched the ministry's Texas offices, though authorities did not publicly disclose the focus or outcome of the investigation. Benny Hinn has not been charged with a crime.Leaving also meant challenging his familyCosti Hinn says family identity and loyalty ran deep, making the prospect of leaving difficult even as his doubts accumulated."It is so easy to forget when just after questioning, you begin to live in the extravagance and the lavish blessings of that lifestyle," Hinn said.In 2004, Hinn stopped working for his uncle. He says it took him more than a decade to speak publicly about the experience: first, he focused on college and moved on with his life; later, he says, he spent years studying and reexamining his beliefs before addressing the subject as a pastor.Today, Costi Hinn runs For the Gospel, an online Christian resource ministry.He's an outspoken critic of his uncle's ministry and the prosperity gospel he grew up with. "I left it all when I found out it was a total scam," he said. Costi Hinn is a pastor and runs For the Gospel. Courtesy of Costi Hinn He's written books about his experience and spoken publicly about what he describes as the manipulation of people seeking healing or financial help.He says his organization operates on an annual budget of about $700,000 to $800,000 and files a Form 990 — an annual IRS disclosure by nonprofits. Churches, including Benny Hinn Ministries, generally are not required to file one.Transparency, Costi Hinn says, is one of the distinctions he tries to draw between his work and the world he left.He says he speaks out because he believes his role as a pastor requires him to warn people about religious teachings he considers deceptive.The board of directors of Benny Hinn Ministries disputed Costi's depiction of Benny Hinn and the organization, calling it false. It also questioned Costi's motives, saying he has used his association with the ministry for more than a decade as material for books, interviews, speaking engagements, and his own organization, giving him professional visibility and financial benefit.Costi said the visibility his criticism has brought doesn't establish his motive and that most of his work centers on pastoral ministry and Bible teaching, not his uncle. "If I was interested in money or visibility, wouldn't I have just remained involved in Benny Hinn Ministries?" he said.Benny Hinn Ministries said that for more than five decades, Benny Hinn has preached globally to millions of attendees. He continues to preach and hold healing services. Read next Carter Thallon is a NYC-based senior managing producer for Business Insider's video team. He has previously worked at Vox, CBS, and A&E Networks. Jessica Orwig is a senior editor at Business Insider, where she collaborates with reporters, editors, and producers across teams to shape, write, edit, and publish stories that connect with a global audience. While her roots are in science and technology journalism, her work today spans business, careers, culture, and the big ideas shaping the future.She earned her Master’s in Science & Technology Journalism from Texas A&M University and holds a Bachelor’s in Astronomy & Physics from The Ohio State University. 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