6. Benny Hinn – $42 Million
If there’s a name that has made both believers and skeptics, it’s Benny Hinn. He’s one of the most famous televangelists in American history, but his popularity goes beyond the United States. He’s made a name for himself as a healing preacher who goes from coast-to-coast using the Christian biblical idea of “laying on of hands” to miraculously heal people. He even allowed a film crew to document him back in 2001 for HBO to show that he was a true healer, but the director later said that he didn’t witness any true healing during filming.
Just a few years later, CBC Television did an undercover story on Hinn and his ministries, where they caught Hinn’s staff redirecting the truly ill or sick people who wanted to be touched by Hinn away from the preacher. It was suggested that actors were specifically handpicked out of the audience and pretended to be healed to bolster Hinn’s reputation. He was also accused of cheating on his wife with Christian leader Paula White, and in February of 2010 his wife filed for divorce. By 2012 they were reconciled and Hinn stated that they separated because of her addiction to prescription pills. In 2013 the two were remarried.
Even after being allegedly exposed, Hinn is still a world-leading faith healer to the millions who flock to his events every year to buy any one of the dozen books that have turned him into one of the richest religious leaders of today.
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