Police say Zachery Gallo runs a video production company on Virginia Avenue in Butler where he stored videotapes.

Police were called there after a man, identified as Patrick Risha, Jr., of Belle Vernon, allegedly broke in with a sledgehammer, demanding a video of his sister’s wedding.

Risha’s father, Patrick, Sr., the former superintendent of the West Mifflin School District, walked his daughter down the aisle on the video. He died a week later.

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According to the criminal complaint, Patrick Risha, Jr., came in with the sledgehammer, demanding all of the hard drives and computer equipment and footage from the wedding.

The victim says he suggested DVDs of the footage instead. The complaint says Risha told the victim if he had all of the footage he was looking for, that would be the last he would see of him.

A warrant was issued for Risha’s arrest. He’s been charged with robbery, burglary, criminal trespass and terrorist threats.

According to the complaint, he got the video of his late father.

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The incident happened on Interstate 70 westbound in South Huntingdon shortly before 5 p.m.

State police in Belle Vernon say traffic is getting by in the left lane.

There are no reports of injuries.

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Here comes the rain again, as a famous woman once said, not to mention the occasional hail stones.  It interrupted the first full week of the 2011 WPIAL regular softball season, and it’s already starting to wreak a bit of havoc on the second.

Nevertheless, it’s time to get excited about the female equivalent of our national pastime, as some exceptional players have returned to the diamond, and a few local teams seem to have a realistic shot at PIAA gold.

Mount Lebanon (Class AAAA) and Chartiers-Houston (Class A) earned it in 2010, while Montour (Class AAA), Valley (Class AA), and Vincentian Academy (Class A) joined the Blue Devils as district champs.  The road back for Lebo might be a difficult one, given the general emergence of other Quad-A programs this season, but the others are looking strong again, and the plot thickens with Valley moving up to Class AAA.

Indeed, we can expect to see some pretty exceptional teams back in the hunt again, and we can also expect to see some pretty exceptional players leading the charge.  Here are a few things–and people–Mr. High School Sports will look for as the season unfolds:

CLASS AAAA:

Section 1 features Latrobe and Connellsville, two of last year’s WPIAL Semifinalists, and Hempfield, which some are pegging as a title favorite in Quad-A.  The Wildcats, typically a powerhouse in this sport, barely won the section crown, and it probably won’t be much easier to defend in what could be the best section in the classification.  They are staffed by Alexa Larkin, who went 7-3 and struck out 99 during the regular season, and Rebecca Taylor, who fanned 74.  Hempfield is also going to lean a lot on pitching with Hope Pherson coming off a 10-6 regular season in which her 123 strikeouts ranked among the top five in Quad-A, and battery-mate Alyssa Bates is back behind the dish after hitting over .400 as a shortstop.  Megan Uher had an equally strong regular campaign for Connellsville, going 9-5 with 115 K’s, and the Falcons seem to have good senior leadership, including catcher Tommi Nickelson, who delivered the walk-off single that put her team in the 2010 playoffs.

Defending its first-ever Quad-A district title looks to be a long-shot for Mount Lebanon, which has a great leader and clutch hitter in infielder Tess Apke, but graduated its best pitcher, among other key components of its PIAA championship squad.  Peters Township or Baldwin are more likely to come out on top in Section 4 and later challenge for gold.  Hard-hitting Morgan Matetic will try to spark the Indians’ offense, and the Highlanders boast a talented arm in Anna Lauterbach, who finished third in the WPIAL and tied for the Quad-A regular season lead with 186 strikeouts after putting up a 13-3 record.  Look for Shaler, which lost the WPIAL title game to Lebo (and lost to the Blue Devils at states), to come out of Section 3 with a shot at redemption, as Sydney Smyers is in her first full year as new starting pitcher, and catcher Lauren Hackett earned all-section honors in 2010.  One under-the-radar team to watch is North Hills.  The Indians have a lot of experience between pitcher Jess Rectenwald, who struck out 119 the previous regular season, and manager Libby Gaisor, who was a member of their last WPIAL championship team in 2000.

CLASS AAA:

Section 1 might be a gold mine for teams likely to compete in the postseason–pun entirely intended–and it might be one of the toughest in the entire WPIAL.  Montour looks like a tremendous favorite to become the first winner of consecutive district titles in Class AAA since North Allegheny went back-to-back in ’02 and ’03.  Pitcher Kaitlyn Kutchman is back after going 14-6 during the 2010 regular campaign and finishing third in Class AAA and eighth in the district with 163 K’s, while infielder Stacey Capp leads one of the most balanced lineups around after a solid freshman year.  Ambridge will be thinking upset after getting nipped by Montour in the district final, and the Bridgers will count on another great campaign from recent basketball hero Kayla Haslett, who went 11-3 on the hill with 144 regular season strikeouts.  West Allegheny reached the semifinals thanks largely to shortstop Ashley Gerhart, who was hitting .500 after the 2010 playoffs, though the Indians will need her supporting cast to continue evolving if they wish to compete again.

If the Spartans are not bound for more diamond glory at California University, it might be because of the Valley Vikings, a longtime power in Class AA that is playing up due to periodic realignment by the WPIAL.  For another loaded Vikings squad the Section 5 crown appears to be theirs to lose, and the ability of pitcher Caitlin Nealer to take over a game could make the 2011 postseason an interesting one.  She went a sparkling 17-0 during the last regular season to pace District 7, her 179 strikeouts ranked fourth in the WPIAL, and she led the team with 24 RBI.  All-PIAA honoree Kelsey Bonk will provide Valley one of several steady bats.  The dark horse in Class AAA is probably Yough out of Section 5, led by Nicole Sleith, who went 17-1 and owned the competition in 2010 with 269 regular season strikeouts.  The Cougars were a WPIAL Semifinalist, and by the time the playoffs were over, Sleith led the state in that category.  Another competitive team out of that section should be Belle Vernon, if Katie Gauden can stay healthy after posting 119 K’s and eight wins last year.  Sister Molly Gauden, who has moved to third base, hit over .400.

CLASS AA:

With Valley gone, Burrell, the team that bowed to its geographic rival in the WPIAL Class AA Final, appears to have a leg up on district gold, given the lineup they’re fielding.  Section 5 should be theirs for the taking, as one of the premier pitchers in the area, combined with an improved offense, should give them hope.  Casey Moses led the Buccaneers during the regular season with a 13-2 mark, putting her in Class AA’s top five, and her 141 K’s put her in the top ten in the classification.  Nina Spagnolo, the starting shortstop and daughter of manager Mike Spagnolo, provided multiple clutch hits in the postseason while batting .410 overall.  Kaitlyn Sweeney brings another powerful bat, having hit .419 through the 2010 state playoffs.  In the meantime, Valley’s departure also leaves the door open for a traditional power like Bishop Canevin, and the Section 1 champs should be even hungrier this year after a stunning first-round upset.  Jamie Kertes, one of the top ten pitchers in the WPIAL, put the Crusaders on her back last regular season with a 14-2 mark while striking out 170, and talented infielder Shanna Quinn will be counted on to help the offense tread water with a number of new starters in the fold.

One possible x-factor in this year’s playoffs could be Avonworth, a Class AA newcomer and potential challenger to Canevin in Section 1.  Catcher Melissa Milbert, a Class A all-section honoree, should be one of the team’s most consistent hitters.  Infielder Natalie Zivic also made the all-section squad and led the ‘Lopes with five home runs and 20 RBI in 2010, and Ali Chambers could have a breakout year at the plate.  Another under-the-radar threat could be Waynesburg, which reached the WPIAL Semifinals last season.  Despite graduating its top pitcher, the Red Raiders should still be the team to beat in Section 2, featuring 2010 all-section shortstop Brianna Morris, who will provide valuable experience.  Third baseman Taylor Johnson will also help the offense, something Waynesburg struggled with in the playoffs.  But if we’re talking about these two programs, we might as well pencil Riverside into the list of contenders as well.  The Panthers are a prime contender for the Section 5 title, and Emily Pritts, who ended 2010 with a miniscule ERA after striking out 124 and going 12-4 in the regular campaign, can steal some games.

CLASS A:

Since 1999, when the WPIAL added Class A to softball, the gap between the haves and have-nots in that classification doesn’t seem to have diminished much, so let’s focus on the perennial powers.  Vincentian Academy has already become the third WPIAL Class A team to win three championships in a row, and now it has designs on becoming the fourth team in the history of District 7 softball to “four-peat,” and the second to do it in Class A.  But do the Royals still have the horses to be the team we’ve gotten so accustomed to seeing?  The answer is yes…if the latest member of the Melvin family has anything to say about it.  Vincentian is a dynasty within a dynasty, and Bridget Melvin, who is switching from catcher to pitcher after coming up huge in last year’s title game, comes from a long line of successful players at that school.  Having said that, the addition of Sto-Rox, which is moving back down to Class A, will muddy the waters in Section 3.  It’ll be interesting to see if infielder Vicky Vuljanic, an all-section honoree in 2010, can continue her proverbial hit parade against Class A pitching.  Plus, the Vikings have Bill Palermo, one of the most successful managers in western PA history, in their dugout.

Section 1 features WPIAL runner-up Chartiers-Houston, which now becomes a more clear-cut favorite after some of the graduation losses Vincentian has had to endure.  The Buccaneers should take the section title with relative ease, and don’t be surprised if in 2011 they begin a run of dominance like the one that Vincentian ended a few seasons ago.  Kiersten Conwell finished fifth in the WPIAL with a 15-1 regular season record, and ended up tied for sixth in the WPIAL and tops in Class A with 173 strikeouts.  Shortstop Rachel Tucker swung a mean bat even as a freshman and came up huge in the state playoffs.  Catcher Colby Miller has always had good chemistry with Conwell, and she too is always capable of delivering a big knock.  So with Class A being so top-heavy, it’s hard to imagine a sleeper team upsetting the apple cart, but Carmichaels looks good coming out of Section 2.  Third baseman Megan Bayles adds power to the Mighty Mikes’ batting order, catcher Lindsey Osborne made the all-section team, and pitcher Felicia Burns showed great potential as a freshman in last year’s postseason.

For continuing coverage of WPIAL softball, be sure to check in with Mr. High School Sports throughout the 2011 season!

According to police, a tow boat operator spotted the human remains in some low-lying branches around 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.

The area was about 500 yards off of Route 906 in Belle Vernon.

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The Fayette County Coroner has not made a positive identification on the body at this time. However, they have reason to believe that it could be the body of Lisa Johnson.

Johnson, 49, was last seen on March 5. She left her house with no keys or cell phone.

Her roommate reported her missing two days later when she did not return home.

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The cause and manner of death have not been determined and an autopsy has been scheduled.

Police do not believe the woman’s death is suspicious.

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On Sunday the National Hockey League’s finest faced off in Raleigh, exactly one week after Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League’s finest faced off in Rostraver.  The newly-restored Rostraver Ice Garden in Belle Vernon was home to the 2011 PIHL All-Star Event, four games between the Northeast Conference All-Stars (representing teams in Sections 1 and 2 of each classification) and the Southwest Conference All-Stars (representing teams in Sections 3 and 4) featuring players voted on by their coaches.

This year’s result was a split that started with the Open Class Northeast team defeating the Southwest 7-2 behind a goal and two assists from both Hollidaysburg sophomore Sam Lafferty and Kiski Area junior Brandon Donnelly, and 10 saves from Ford City’s Tyler Skerkavich.  The Northeast Conference would later win the Class AA game also, with Latrobe senior Zach LaDuke netting two goals and three assists in an 8-4 victory.

The Southwest Conference All-Stars hung on for a 5-4 victory in the Class A contest after Deer Lakes senior Joseph Smith scored his second goal with his team shorthanded in the closing moments of the second period.  In the nightcap, the Southwest squad jumped out to a 5-0 lead and prevailed 6-3 in the Class AAA contest with a goal and assist each from Canon-McMillan duo Brett Oldaker and Zach McKown.

Here’s what some of the kids had to say about their All-Star experience:

“I played in the All-Star Game last year, and it was even more fun this year…and the outdoor game was something I’ll never forget.  I’ll remember every second of it the rest of my life.” -Andy Herbert of Westmont Hilltop on playing in two marquee events on the same weekend

“It feels good…it feels good to see the new guys out here, and it’s fun.  It’s nice to be recognized.” -Elliot Tisdale of Mars on playing with first-time All-Star teammates

“Obviously it’s a large bench, so you don’t get a lot of playing time.  You want to skate as hard as you can when you do get out there, and try to make something happen.” -Matt Walsh of Bishop Canevin on his approach to the event

“It’s definitely an honor to be skating with wingers who you know are as good as yourself…and being the only one from my school also made it an honor.” -Nigel Crighton of Moon on playing with the Class AA Southwest Conference All-Stars

“It felt really good…Coach told me to go upstairs…the next shift, I went upstairs, and sure enough, I got the goal.” -Brett Oldaker of Canon-McMillan on his breakaway goal, which gave the Class AAA Southwest Conference All-Stars a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the game

“Definitely.  For one thing, it’s a lot easier to see in this rink.” -Brandon Savka of Pittsburgh Central Catholic, who made 22 saves in the Class AAA game, on if playing in an outdoor game and an All-Star game as a JV call-up will make him better in the long run

For continuing coverage of the PIHL and Penguins Cup Playoffs, be sure to check back with Mr. High School Sports throughout the 2010-11 season!

According to emergency dispatchers, the blaze broke out at Tri-County Muffler, Brake and Tire on Finley Road in Rostraver Township around 11 p.m.

There is no word about injuries or what sparked the fire at this time.

Stay with KDKA.com for the latest details.

Lucy Gondak, 77, went to her 102-year-old neighbor’s home and was attacked by an Akita dog.

She had injuries to both of her hands, as well as her right arm. She was treated at Med Express, but was later taken to Jefferson Regional Hospital because of an adverse reaction to medication given for the dog bites.

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Gondak was previously attacked by the same dog a couple of weeks ago. In that incident the sleeve of her jacket was torn.

The dog was removed from the James Street home, where the elderly woman lives, and was taken to the dog owner’s home in Uniontown.

Fayette SPCA and Southwest Regional Police are investigating.

So when Army Staff Sgt. Pat Egros made it home just four days before Thanksgiving, the Egros family in Belle Vernon could breathe a collective sigh of relief.

“It’s tough on any family really when you think about,” Pat Egros, Sr., the soldier’s father, said. “It’s on your mind everyday.”

This second tour of duty took Pat to Afghanistan for nine months, making him miss the comforts of home even more.

“All the food for Thanksgiving, spending time with my family, getting to see all my friends a couple of days before Thanksgiving catching up on some lost time,” Pat said.

That time includes one of Pat’s favorite pastimes

“I would have to say pick on my father,” he said.

And dad, in his own way, misses the harassment and torture.

“Like I say, we always joke around and just the companionship back and forth,” he said. “He had the cattle prod out chasing me around the dinner table tonight.”

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But underneath all the laughter, the reality that Pat is one of the blessed to make it home alive, is never far from anyone’s thoughts on this Thanksgiving.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Pat said. “It’s always nice though when you come home and having people there to support you and tell you thank you. I still think about the guys that are over there. The friends I’ve lost in the past.”

Pat will have a few more days to spend time with his family until he goes back to his regular job as a State Trooper at the Huntingdon County barracks.

For the first few months, her new boyfriend seemed great.

Emily, then 19 and a recent graduate of Elizabeth Forward High School, was working as a dental assistant when a cute patient caught her eye. The two soon started dating.

“Probably six months in, he pushed me,” recalled Emily, now 24, who asked that her last name not be used because she feared drawing her ex-boyfriend’s attention. “I was hysterical. And then they give you the BS, ‘Oh, I love you, I won’t do it again.’ And I believed maybe he wouldn’t.”

Read more.

The kids were the first out on the dance floor.

I had a blast with you guys, and I hope you’re thoroughly enjoying your honeymoon!

See more on Facebook ·  See more weddings ·  Contact me
 

Ceremony & Reception: Rostraver Gardens

Before we left Altoona to go to Belle Vernon (where I grew up), I received a text from my best friend Billy asking me to pray for him because he was having severe stomach pains. Some background info: He had to get a colonoscopy that morning and something went wrong that didn’t show up until later in the day. Because of this complication, he was having intense pains in his stomach, he had a high fever, and he could barely walk (due to the stomach pain). It was so bad that he couldn’t even stay to watch the Steeler game; and he is a die-hard fan like me! That’s how I knew it was serious! Billy’s fiancé (whose name is Ashley) got off of work, rushed to his house and took him back to the ER (at the same hospital she works at). I did get to pray with and for him before he left, and I was very thankful for that.

While we were waiting on the results, we hung out at his house and watched the first half of the game. When we found out that he was going to need an emergency surgery, we rushed out the door and attempted to get to the hospital as fast as we could. We were making decent time and it looked like we were going to make it there in time to see him and pray with him before his surgery!

I was driving my truck and Ashley and Rob (Billy’s cousin/my friend) were with me while Becky (Billy’s sister) and JORDAN (her boyfriend…who asked me to put his name in all capitals) were in another vehicle. For some reason (which I later realized why) I decided to pass them. No more than three seconds after I passed them, I heard this loud clunking noise that sounded like someone was beating the crap out of my truck with a baseball bat! I immediately pulled off of the road and got out to see what happened while JORDAN and Becky kept on going to the hospital. When I got to the side of the truck that the ruckus was coming from, I found a bungee cord sticking out of my tire…a stinking bungee cord! How does that happen? My tire was flat and the other end of the bungee cord was missing in action. I soon found out what happened to that though. As Rob and I were changing my tire (which was an interesting experience), Ashley noticed that my rear, right taillight cover and taillight were completely shattered. Apparently the other end of the bungee swung back and busted my taillight. All I could do was laugh, because again, it was a bungee cord…how could I get mad at that?

Anyway, we got the tire changed and finally made it to the hospital about a half an hour after Billy went into surgery. JORDAN and Becky made it to the hospital in time to see him before he went in. When we got there, we saw that there were eight people (family, friends, pastor) there waiting for the results of his surgery. It was encouraging to see them all there. We spent some time praying, talking, and laughing while we waited. While Billy’s pastor was praying, I was thinking and asking God why the bungee cord incident happened. Then God helped me to realize that my passing of JORDAN and Becky and getting the flat tire prevented Becky’s car from getting the flat tire and not being able to get to the hospital in time. Then I realized that Billy needed his sister (who is a nurse) by his side before surgery to help calm him down, pray with him, and let him know that everything was going to be ok! He needed his sister there and God knew that, so He orchestrated my running over of the bungee cord and the events that followed! It’s funny/awesome how God works at times!

Billy’s surgery lasted over four hours and he is currently recovering successfully! He has forty-four staples in his stomach and is not allowed to go back to work for four weeks! Thank you to those of you who saw my updates on twitter and the church prayer chain and were praying for him. God answered those prayers! Please continue to pray for a safe and successful recovery with no complications!

This story happened on September 11 and I am just now finding the time to write about it. I think God wanted me to write about this today, as opposed to last week, because I needed to be reminded of how God is in control of every situation. No matter how bad things seem, no matter how worried we get, no matter what we think will happen, God KNOWS what will happen and has everything under control!

Thanks for reading!

-          paulg

by David J. Stewart & Andrew Friedman

At Benny Hinn’s crusades—he dazzles the crowds, plays captivating music, and manipulates the emotions of the audience; BUT, he is not of God.  What is happening is not of God.  Benny Hinn is a master con artist, who fully understands the human psyche.  I was watching one of Benny Hinn’s crusades the other day on TV.  At first impression, Benny Hinn appears as a man of God.  He has that curious and distinguishing look that mesmerizes the crowds.  Benny Hinn comes across as an extremely interesting character, with the power to hypnotize the masses with his charm, music, and exploitation of the Bible.

As I watched Benny Hinn perform on stage, it reminded me more of a rock star in concert.  There were many thousands of people in the audience, and no doubt, millions more on TV..  Just as rock-n-roll fans, the audience was in the palm of the performer, Benny Hinn.  Hinn never mentioned the word “sin,” never mentioned the word “Saviour,” but just kept talking about how wonderful Jesus is.  This is one of Satan’s greatest deceptions.  We read in Acts16:16-18, “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.  And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.“  Just as the demon possessed woman in Acts 16:17 who spoke the truth while also serving the Devil, so does Benny Hinn speak of Jesus Christ while serving the Devil.

Hinn’s money comes mostly from people in TV land, who are foolishly conned by what they see on TV.  It couldn’t be more obvious that Benny Hinn has hired a top-notch group of manipulators to work with him.  One of the camera tricks which Hinn employs is to zoom in on certain audience members who look like they’re having a religious experience.  Seeing someone having such an uplifting experience, while hearing the emotion-producing music, and listening to Hinn ramble on with religious lingo, easily mesmerizes the viewer.  As I watched Benny Hinn, he told the audience to get ready to receive the power of the Holy Spirit.  Next, hundreds of people towards the front, dressed differently than the people in the back, all fell backwards to the floor.  It was apparent to me that the event was staged.  Then came the alleged healings.  During the healing period of the crusade, several dynamic, sharp-looking, and trained people bring forth the alleged recipients of Hinn’s healing power.  To no surprise, as is COMMON to self-proclaimed faith-healers like Oral Roberts, ALL of the healings are unable to be substantiated.  A small boy was brought up on stage, allegedly deaf in one ear since birth, but now able to hear.  Another woman in a wheel-chair was wheeled up to the platform, allegedly crippled from diabetes, then she walked on stage.  Another man was claimed to have been deaf in both ears from birth, but now was healed.  Then Hinn prompted the man to speak in an attempt to confirm the healing, and he did speak.  So when did the man learn to speak if he was deaf his whole life?

I’d like to see someone with no legs receive their legs back.  Why doesn’t Benny Hinn ever go into a hospital and empty it out of all it’s sick patients?  Why only on stage, behind the camera, while asking for money?

Benny Hinn ministries took in over $100,000,000 last year alone.  Again, I ask, why doesn’t Hinn ever use his alleged power to heal the sick people in hospitals?  The reason is abundantly clear … Hinn is a fraud.  Hinn, like John Edward, Sylvia Browne, Oprah Winfrey, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, and so many other false prophets, EXPLOITS Christianity and God’s Word to gain wealth, prosperity, control, influence, and popularity.  God’s power is not for sale.  Do you really think God would allow anyone to exploit his power on stage, for money, and to a false prophet who praises the cult of Catholicism?  Satan is working relentlessly through today’s false prophets to UNITE Christianity with false religion, which is APOSTASY!  When Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of Roman in 380 A.D., it led to total apostasy, and the beginning of the formal Roman Catholic cult.  Don’t be deceived, Benny Hinn and Billy Graham are false prophets who are leading ecumenical churches into the New World Order (the beast system of antichrist).  Satan knows that the easiest way to deceive people is to obscure and blur the truth of God’s Word.  This is why we see so many watered-down Bibles nowadays.  This is why we see Protestants praising Catholics, and Catholics protecting homosexual priests, and homosexuals twisting the Bible around to claim that Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was only a lack of hospitality.  The Word of God is under attack!

The Bible teaches that the gift of healing ended with the Apostles.  The sign gifts were only to validate the message of the Apostles.  This is evidenced by the Biblical fact that the Apostle Paul, who had once been healed of a deadly snake bite, couldn’t find relief for his thorn in the flesh later in 2nd Corinthians 12:7.  2nd Timothy 4:20 also states that Paul couldn’t heal his friend Trophimus,

“…but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.”

Paul spoke of Timothy’s “often infirmities” in 1st Timothy 5:23, but he couldn’t heal his friend Timothy either.  Clearly, the “gift” of healing had ceased.  If you want to read an excellent in-depth Biblical examination of tongues, healing, and gifts, then please read FACE TO FACE WITH TONGUES by Pastor Max D. Younce.

In Benny Hinn’s crusades, he sings, he praises the name of Jesus, he places his hands on people and they fall to the ground; BUT, it is not of the Holy Spirit.  I’d like to see Benny Hinn cry one time.  I’d like to hear Benny Hinn expose the demonic Catholic religion.  Benny Hinn is a fraud!  According to a Dateline investigation in December of 2002…

Where does world-famous televangelist’s money go?

Benny Hinn has millions of believers and millions in donations

NBC News

Dec. 27, 2002 - Maybe you spotted him while you were channel surfing one night
or maybe you were already tuned in. Either way, he's hard to ignore. Benny
Hinn - televangelist, faith healer, and appointment viewing for millions of
believers. His popularity and his wealth are matched only by the devotion he
's shown by his followers, many of them desperate for help. Their stories
and his ministry play out almost every night in made-for-TV mini-dramas. But
there are other stories, other scenes that reveal much more about Pastor
Benny, caught on Dateline's hidden cameras. Correspondent Bob McKeown
reports.

   HE ALWAYS ARRIVES onstage when they begin to sing the hymn, "How Great
Thou Art."

    And whether you measure success in his TV ratings, attendance at his
live services or crusades around the world, or the money he raises, he is
unquestionably one of the most popular and successful televangelists in the
world today. His television show is available around the globe. He attracts
capacity crowds at arenas and stadiums at home and abroad. And scenes like
this one in his TV studio are a big reason why:

    Benny Hinn: "Yes Lord. A lower back is being healed. Thank you Lord.
Emphysema is being healed. We rebuke it in Jesus' name. Somebody's legs have
just been healed."

      On television or at his crusades, Benny Hinn promises that wherever
he goes, miraculous healing will follow.

    Benny Hinn: "In the name of Jesus, I rebuke the allergies out of you.
Touch! - The glory of God is in the studio. We are having a visitation in
the studio today as we have been taping these TV programs."

    Those miracles, Hinn says, can cure injury and illness - even
terminal disease.

    Benny Hinn: "The healing may happen instantly, and may happen
gradually but
 surely as God is God, your legs will work again, and your body
will be healed again."

    And according to Benny Hinn, it gets even more miraculous than that.

    Benny Hinn: "On the program today, you are going to see a clip of
this man who was raised from the dead."

    Those dramatic claims - and his dynamic preaching style - have
attracted millions of devoted followers, like Carlotta Moore.

    "When I go to a crusade, I'm going because I need to be refreshed. I
need to be renewed. I need to be revived in my spirit," says Carlotta Moore.

    Moore says she also watches Benny Hinn's TV show everyday.

    "The Bible speaks of spiritual fathers," says Moore. "That is my
spiritual father. He's a
 leader. And he is a mentor."

EVANGELIST AND FUNDRAISER

    And he is a master fund raiser as well, so along with that devotion
comes money - a lot of it. Though pastor Benny denies it, estimates of total
ministry revenue exceed $100 million a year.

    Benny Hinn insists his only mission is to preach the gospel, save
souls, and heal the sick. But is there
 more than that to the man they call
pastor Benny?

    "Dateline" looked at the ministry of pastor Benny Hinn, who claims
miraculous power flows from God through him. We'll take a closer look at all
his healings and at all the money that goes into his collection buckets.

     Hinn was born in the Middle East, raised in Canada, and modeled
himself after a faith healer, the legendary Katherine Kuhlman. Hinn started
a church in Orlando, almost two decades ago. By 1999, he'd left Florida,
building his ministry's administrative headquarters in Dallas and his TV
studio in southern California where he now lives.

    Hinn's claims of miracles have made him immensely popular, but those
healings, combined with his ministry's enormous wealth, have also triggered
scrutiny of a different kind.

      "I say he's in the business of raising money and spreading his own
celebrity," says Ole Anthony, who heads the
 Trinity Foundation - a Christian
watch-dog group that examines the workings of television ministries. The
organization operates on donations, grants, and sales of its magazine and
tapes.

    Ole Anthony himself has been highly critical of television preachers
who don't divulge the details of how they raise and spend their money -
especially Benny Hinn.

    "We've gotten most of the complaints lately from Benny's organization
and Benny's followers," says Anthony. "That became our focus, we've been
following him intently since 1993."

    "Dateline" asked the Trinity Foundation to provide access to, among
other things, documents and videotape it's collected about the Hinn
Ministry. We reimbursed the foundation for its costs.

    And we also went looking for some answers ourselves. For almost two
years, "Dateline" sought permission to videotape Benny Hinn's crusades, to
see how this affluent
 television ministry really works.

    Eventually we were allowed to bring our cameras to a crusade in
Atlanta. But the ministry made it clear we were only permitted to tape the
first hour or so. Then after Hinn's entrance, a few hymns and some saving of
souls, we were told to stop.

VIEW FROM A HIDDEN CAMERA

    So, in order to try to find out what really goes on behind the scenes
of the Benny Hinn Ministry, we attended a number of other crusades and
walked in right though the front door with everybody else. Only this time,
the cameras were hidden.

    At least once a month, somewhere in the U.S., 50,000 or 60,000 people
attend one of Benny Hinn's two-day crusades. Over the past two years, we
followed pastor Benny around the country to Hampton, Virginia; Las Vegas;
Buffalo, and a few cities in between.

    At each of the crusades we attended, the faithful began to arrive
hours before
 the service. And so did we with our hidden cameras.

    But even when you get there early, the best sections are already
taken - reserved for major donors, church VIPs and, at the back, for the
disabled and those in wheelchairs.

    In Buffalo, we found our seats high up in the bleachers and we began
recording the service in the middle of that noisy crowd with a hidden
microphone and camera.

    What brings the faithful out to see Benny Hinn is the healing. The
expectation that sometime tonight they're going to see, or perhaps even be -
one of those people who arrive desperately ill and leave miraculously cured.
 What brings the faithful out to see Benny Hinn is the healing. The
expectation that sometime tonight they're going to see, or perhaps even be -
one of those people who arrive desperately ill and leave miraculously cured.

      The script - Benny Hinn's tried-and-true formula - was always
 the
same. And it always started with the music. There's an orchestra, a heavenly
host of local church choirs, and an all-star cast of Christian headliners.
The crowd's emotional temperature seems to rise, as they anxiously wait for
pastor Benny.

    "It's organized more closely than a political convention," says Ole
Anthony, of the Trinity Foundation.. "There's the repetitive music, there's
the mood lighting, there's this whole arrangement of waiting and waiting and
waiting until he comes on stage. The band is playing, "How Great Thou Art"
and then the process starts."

    Once he arrives onstage, pastor Benny preaches, prays and spiritually
tends his flock.

    Benny Hinn: "If you mean business with God, he means business with
you."

    At a Benny Hinn crusade, you can't
 help but notice the faith of his
followers and how much they appear to believe in him and his healing
message.

    The impression one gets being among that crowd is that whatever's
happening down there on the stage, however it may or may not be
choreographed, these people have come because they truly believe.

    "There's no question that the people that are there have strong
belief or a strong want-to-belief," says Anthony, "and so they respond."

THE TENSION BUILDS

    In fact, all evening, throughout the arena, the tension keeps
building because everyone here knows what's going to happen next.

    Benny Hinn:
 "There's power here, people. Lift your hands and receive
it."

    According to pastor Benny, that "power" will soon lead to miracles:

    Benny Hinn: "By moving those legs that have been crippled for all
those years."

    This is from a highlights tape we bought from the ministry's Web
site.

    Benny Hinn: "You're tired of all the pills you've taken, and all the
needles they put in your body and all the pain you felt. Well, I'm here to
tell you, you will be healed tonight!"

      After the preaching, there's the passing of the collection buckets.
And then comes the moment when Benny Hinn makes his
 much-anticipated
announcement - God is speaking to him, he says, revealing a multitude of
miracles, actual healings now taking place throughout the arena, some of
them very specific.

    Benny Hinn: "There is a young man named George. George has HIV. But
my brother George, the holy ghost is burning it out of your body!"

    At all of the evening crusades we attended, it was about 10 p.m. when
Hinn announced God was speaking to him.

    Benny Hinn: "Another arthritis has been healed."

    Benny Hinn's ministry says that in order to verify the miraculous
healings that have taken place, it screens those who claim they've been
healed before they get up on stage.

    First, Hinn staff members talk to the people who get in line. This
screener is even a
 doctor and he evidently thinks this woman is a good
candidate to announce her healing up on the platform with pastor Benny.

    Doctor: "No pain? Great job. You couldn't do that before? (As she
moves her head around.) That is neat. Yeah, take her up there."

    The people selected by the screeners are then introduced to Benny
Hinn and the capacity crowd. Those who've been healed, and others who attend
each service, are given a blessing by pastor Benny with his own personal
touch. And whether he blows or flicks or waves his hand, the faithful are
strewn across the floor like bowling pins. So what exactly is at work here?

RELIGION OR HYPNOSIS?

    "They'd fall down," says Michael Cohen. "They'd fall backwards. He'd
blow on them. They'd fall over. And I thought these were actors that came in
and they paid them so much. And they had a string and they pulled them
 down."

    Even some who were skeptics at first soon became believers, like
Michael Cohen.

    "And when I finally went up there, I ended up falling down," says
Cohen. "I closed my eyes but I knew that Benny didn't push me. I knew I wasn't
 pulled or tugged. I knew that was God touching me."

    But Ole Anthony says he thinks it's a phenomenon that has much more
to do with mass hypnosis than religion.

    "And they watch him on television over and over and over for years,"
says Anthony. "And they see it, they expect it, they see other people
upstage are falling over right and left. Sometimes Benny falls over the
place. It's a circus. It's like professional
 wrestling."

    Bob McKeown: "But in fact he's been on the record time and time again
saying he is not a healer."

    Ole Anthony: "Of course."

    Bob McKeown: "It's God who heals."

    Ole Anthony: "Of course."

    Bob McKeown: "He's just the vessel that's been chosen."

    Ole Anthony: "What's the reason that people come to the crusades?
What's the main thing that happens onstage? That's his attraction. He
promotes himself as a healer, as a healing ministry."

    But according to former Hinn insiders, there's a great deal more to
Benny Hinn's crusades than what you see on television - and what we've found
supports that. A woman who worked at crusades said she was instructed to
look particularly for those standing in front of their wheelchairs.

    Benny Hinn: "Look at all the empty wheelchairs here in Las
 Vegas,
people!"

    Empty wheelchairs apparently imply there's been a lot of healing
going on. But for every one of the people declared healed by pastor Benny on
stage and on TV, many more leave the arena still sick or disabled.

    "Desperate people, the really desperate ones, the ones that break
your heart are at the back on the crusade, they won't let them up in the
lines," says Anthony.

    The broadcasts of Benny Hinn's crusade in Buffalo did not include
what our hidden camera captured. This man was escorted from his seat by
security guards after crying out for pastor Benny to touch his apparently
ill son. "I wanted to take my son up there and get prayed. That's all I
wanted," he said.

    So not everyone who wants to get up on stage is allowed to.. But what
happens to those who are called up on the platform to be touched by pastor
Benny? To try to find out, we attended a crusade in
 Las Vegas, and we did
our best to keep track of each and every one of the miracles Benny Hinn
proclaimed. By our count, there were 56 of them in all - many of which ended
up on this videotape we purchased through the ministry.

    This little boy said his damaged vision was cured: "And as soon as
God healed me, I could see better."

    According to one woman, her cancer was gone. Hinn said God told him a
demon had caused the cancer, and he cast it out.

    Benny Hinn: "Go out of her! It's gone!"

    One woman said she had a diseased lung.

    Benny Hinn: "The lord is asking me now to ask him to give you a new
lung."

    According to pastor Benny, she got that new lung, right there on
stage.

    Benny Hinn: "That's why she's coughing... that's why she's coughing."

    And there was this woman, who said she was cured of lung cancer. She
says: "She had cancer in the lungs. She don't have it now!"

HEAVYWEIGHT HEALING

    In his 25 years of healing, there have been thousands of similar
stories from Hinn's followers - none of them more famous than this one. At a
crusade in 1994, Benny Hinn came to the aid of the former heavyweight
champion of the world. Evander Holyfield had lost his boxing license because
a medical test had revealed a serious heart
 ailment.

    Benny Hinn (at a crusade): "The Lord is telling me right now he is
repairing Holyfield's heart completely."

    Reportedly, Holyfield promised Hinn a check for $265,000, and before
long, he got a clean bill of health, and won the world title back.

    But Benny Hinn doesn't only minister to the rich and famous.

    Bob McKeown: "And you needed a miracle."

    Belva Ventura: "Oh, did I."

    Bob McKeown: "You and your son."

    Belva Ventura: "Yes."

      We met Belva Ventura at a crusade in Worcester, Massachusetts. She
and her son had both been diagnosed with cancer. Both had been told it was
terminal. Before long, she and her son were on stage in front of 14,000
people, right next to pastor
 Benny.

    Bob McKeown: "And what did Pastor Hinn say to you?"

    Belva Ventura: "Oh, he hugged us. And he put his arm around me. And
he couldn't believe all the cancer in one family. And he said we're gonna
get this cancer out of this house right now. It's not gonna bother you no
more. And we came home, we were happy. I was healed. I know I was."

    The question is, despite all the claims, how does anyone really know
if Belva Ventura or any of the others was indeed miraculously healed at one
of Benny Hinn's crusades?

    So we asked pastor Benny to help us follow up on some of the people
we saw on his stage. Then we did some following up of our own.

    Bob McKeown: "As far as you know, the ministry has no idea whether
your cancer is still there or not."

    Belva Ventura: "No."

    Bob McKeown: "Whether you're alive or not."

    Belva Ventura: "No. No. they don't."

   Benny Hinn: "But as surely as God is God - your legs will work again,
and your body will be healed again, and your lungs will breathe again, and
your eyes will see again!"

PROOF OF HEALING?

    At all of his live crusades, Benny Hinn proclaims a breath-taking
litany of miraculous healing. Pastor Benny has said that everyone who gets
up on his platform has been checked by a doctor. His ministry also claims
 it
has a follow up process with people afterwards that it describes as
"exhaustive" and "thorough," and that medical information it collects is
reviewed first by a nurse, then by a doctor.

    So we wanted to find out how that process works and which of those
claims of miracles actually can be verified. We thought a good place to
start would be with the ministry itself. Last year, we asked Benny Hinn to
help us confirm the 56 healings we counted at just one of his crusades - the
one in Las Vegas.

      By the time we asked, dozens of those "miracles" had already been
broadcast around the world on his TV show, including the woman who Benny
Hinn said had grown a new lung right there on stage.

    Woman: "Feels like something in there, like someone was reaching in
my heart, in my lung."

    Benny Hinn: "I want you to
 go back to your earthly doctor, have him
give you an X-ray. I want to hear about it. I want a full story."

    But if Hinn knows the full story about who was healed in Las Vegas,
he's not sharing it with us. In a letter from its lawyer, the ministry
refused to provide proof of any of those healings to "Dateline."

    So since the ministry wouldn't give us any information, we did some
checking of our own about Las Vegas, and other reported healings.

    Remember the woman we met in Las Vegas who said she'd been cured of
lung cancer? With our hidden camera, we were able to go back stage to her
follow-up interview.

    Hinn staffer: "Now, what happened tonight that makes you feel God
touched you?"

    She did speak to a Hinn staff member, but it's hard to know how from
this conversation alone he could have known
 whether she was cured of cancer,
or even if she had it in the first place.

    Staffer: "That primary tumor can be one cell."

    She was asked a few questions, but it didn't appear to us that there
was any medical examination.

    Staffer: "Keep trusting God. Follow it up with your physicians. Thank
you so much. The Lord bless you all."

    Unfortunately, there's one thing we were able to determine about this
woman without the ministry's help. She died two and a half months after the
crusade. The cause was lung cancer.

    And then there was Evander Holyfield's heart ailment - which seemed
to disappear after that crusade in 1994 - touted as one of pastor Benny's
greatest healing successes.

    When Holyfield then won his world title back, it seemed a storybook
ending - except for one problem. According to the Nevada Athletic
Commission, two different clinics determined that Holyfield
 had been
misdiagnosed. His doctor had been given incomplete information about his
condition. In other words, there was nothing seriously wrong with Holyfield'
s heart in the first place. But three years later, pastor Benny was still
claiming credit for the champ's miraculous healing.

    On the "Larry King" show with Pastor Benny, he was aksed: "Evander
Holyfield credits you with curing his heart problem, although doctors said
that maybe it was misread in the first place."

    Hinn: "God healed him in one of our crusades, yeah."

    Evander Holyfield had no comment through his lawyer.

STILL DYING OF CANCER

    And remember Belva Ventura, who said Benny Hinn cast out cancer from
her and her son?

      A few weeks after that crusade in Worcester, Massachusetts, Belva's
son died of cancer. When we visited several months later, she said she hadn'
t had a follow-up call from anyone in the Hinn organization.

    Bob McKeown: "As far as you know, the ministry has no idea whether
your cancer is still there or not."

    Belva Ventura: "No."

    Bob McKeown: "Whether you're alive or not."

    Belva Ventura: "No. No. they don't. Otherwise, they would have got
hold of me. Nobody did."

    Her physicians evidently were not convinced of her claims of healing.

    Bob McKeown: "What do your doctors say?"

    Belva Ventura: "They laugh. They look at me and they laugh. They don'
t believe me."

    Belva
 still believed apparently until the end. A month after our
visit, she died. The cause, her doctor told us, was cancer.

    Bob McKeown: "If Benny Hinn, by whatever means, can give people like
that hope, is that not a good thing?"

    Ole Anthony: "Then why don't we just - why doesn't the FDA approve
snake oil? And we could have snake oil salesmen run around offering and
saying, "This little tube of water here, cost you $1,000. And if you take
it, you'll be cured of cancer." It's the same thing except he's doing it in
God's name, which makes it terrible, terrible. He's lying. False hope has to
always be exposed. It must be exposed."

    Benny Hinn says it's possible for someone to be healed at one of his
crusades only to have the illness or injury return later. Here's how he
explains it:

    Benny Hinn: "This is your Day Vegas... My
 Friend, hear this well. The
reason people lose their healing, is because they begin questioning if God
really did it."

    That, says Ole Anthony, only makes matters even worse for those who
are desperately ill.

    "Now they're twice as bad off as they were before because now,
according to Benny, they've done something wrong," says Anthony.

    After repeated requests to verify healings - specifically the 56 we
saw at the crusade in Las Vegas - Benny Hinn's ministry sent us details of
what it said were five irrefutable and medically proven miracles, but none
was from the Las Vegas crusade we were asking about.

    The cases they gave us ranged from a herniated disc, to heart
problems, cancer and Lou Gehrig's disease. When we called them, all five
people insisted they had been healed, but four of them wouldn't or couldn't
provide their medical records, and we could not speak to their
 doctors.

    As for the woman who said she'd been healed of Lou Gehrig's disease,
for which there is no known cure, we did speak to her neurologist, who said
he suspected she didn't have Lou Gehrig's disease in the first place.

    Though the ministry says publicly that the medical information it
collects is reviewed by a nurse and a doctor, in a letter to us from its
lawyer, the ministry acknowledged to us that it is ".... Impossible to
investigate and substantiate each and every one" of the healings proclaimed
at pastor Benny's crusades.

    But with our without absolute proof of the miracles, millions of
followers keep coming to the crusades, and continue to donate millions to
his ministry.

    But now, people who've worked inside the Hinn organization are
raising questions about where some of that money has gone.

Part two: Former insiders question what happened to some of the church
 money

Benny Hinn (at his crusade): "Only those who have been giving to God's work
will be spared."

    The money starts pouring in at Benny Hinn's crusades, thousands of
people filling hundreds of pastor Benny's collection buckets at every
service we attended.

    Chris Hinn: "One side cash, one side checks."

    A 1994 security tape shows Hinn staffers and volunteers counting the
collection money at a crusade.

    For three years in the mid-1990s, Mike Estrella says he was one of
those responsible for counting crusade collections in his capacity as Benny
Hinn's head usher.

    At the time, Estrella says, he was a devoted follower, and
 still
credits pastor Benny with curing his heart condition.

    Bob McKeown: "In cash, what was the biggest night you counted?"

    Mike Estrella: "In cash? Well, one night I counted $420,000."

    Steve Brock: "A dollar a day. Everybody say it with me - a dollar a
day."

    It may sound like they start out small, but the numbers soon get very
big. According to documents provided by the Trinity Foundation, and
published reports - Benny Hinn has more than 100,000 people who promise to
give him a dollar-a-day. If they keep that pledge, that would add up to at
least $3 million a month - $36 million a year.

    The people on this list seemed to be even more generous than that -
it appears some of them pledged or gave more than $100,000 apiece last year.

    Benny Hinn: "The greatest thing you can do for your finances is to
give to the work of God."

    On TV, and at his
 crusades, Hinn promises that not only will God
improve your health, but your financial life as well - perhaps by getting
you out of debt with an unexpected financial windfall. But first, you have
to give money to his ministry. Hinn calls it "sowing the seed."

    Benny Hinn: "Amen. So expect a financial harvest but you have to sow
a seed to see it happen... you may want to call your seed in today. Our 800
number is on the screen."

    Hinn follower Carlotta Moore told us she sows a seed of $12,000 a
year with pastor Benny, and that she expects to be financially rewarded.

    Carlotta Moore: "Because the Bible say [sic] what you sow, you gonna
reap. Now if you sow good things, you
 gonna reap good."

    Bob McKeown: "But might that mean that if you give money, you get
money back?"

    Carlotta Moore: "Oh yes, you will get money back. You will get money
back. Out of the clear blue sky, checks will come from somewhere. You go to
put on a dress or something, or take out a pocketbook up there in the
closet. There is $50 or $60 laying up in there. You'll be like, 'Woah, woah,
woah. Thank you, Lord.' You understand?"

    And the money Benny Hinn's ministry gets is not only in the form of
donations.

    "He sells his books, he sells his tapes, he sells everything, and is
just a money machine, and money pours in," says Ole Anothony. "He's one of
the most successful money raisers in history."

    In recent years, the Hinn ministry's total annual income has
increased dramatically from $50 million in 1997 to the latest estimates -
that the ministry says are inaccurate - of more
 than $100 million a year.
And because the ministry is registered as a church, all that money is
tax-free and Benny Hinn is under no legal obligation to make his finances
public.

    Bob McKeown: "Is there any way to know how much Benny Hinn makes?
Whether he's personally benefiting or not, and where the money goes?"

    Paul Nelson: "There really isn't, and that's why an organization like
ECFA has been formed."

    Paul Nelson is president of ECFA, the Evangelical Council for
Financial Accountability. Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and the Salvation
Army are among its 1,000-plus members who voluntarily disclose to potential
donors more financial information than the law requires.

    "We believe that most people would like to know that the charities
that they give to are governed responsibly, that they practice disclosure of
their finances and other activities, they willingly answer questions,
 and
that they raise funds with integrity," says Nelson.

    Members release audited financial statements, including the salaries
of their ministers.

    Benny Hinn is not an ECFA member. He wouldn't tell us his annual
salary, but five years ago he acknowledged it was then between $500,000 and
$1 million a year.

    And Hinn won't specify how his ministry's money is spent, except to
say he doesn't personally benefit from any of it.

    Benny Hinn: "Every dollar you give this morning is going to the work
of the Lord."

    What Benny Hinn does tell his followers is that all their donations
are spent on God's work - for example, the expenses of his TV show and
crusades, the salaries of his staff, supporting churches and orphanages
around the world and more importantly.

    Benny Hinn: "So everything you give this morning is going for souls.
Is going for what?"

    The crowd repeats: "Souls."

    And many of his faithful, like Carlotta Moore, say they have no doubt
that's true.

    "We're not giving it to Pastor Benny, we're giving it to the ministry
to do the work the Pastor Benny has been entrusted to do," says Moore.

    But this former Hinn ministry staff member says he has reason to
question pastor Benny's sincerity.

    "And Benny was laughing and joking and saying, 'Hey guys watch how
much money I make tonight,'" says Michael Cohen.

    For years, Michael Cohen and his wife were church members. He also
belonged to Hinn's security detail, traveling the world with
 him. Cohen
recalls an incident after a service at the church where he says pastor Benny
bragged about his financial conquests.

    "Like one little grandmother one time came up and cried, I think she
said, this is my last $5. And we got back in the Green Room and he said,
'Ha, I got her last $5, guys,'" says Cohen.

    The ministry says the incident never happened.

    As for his lifestyle, pastor Hinn has explained that some of the
perks he has enjoyed like custom-made suits and expensive cars have been
paid for by his personal income, including the royalties from his many
books.

    While that may be true and legal, it's only part of the story.
According to the Trinity Foundation, the biggest customer for pastor Benny's
books is pastor Benny's own ministry. Trinity says the Hinn ministry buys
thousands of the books for which Hinn apparently collects the royalties.

    The ministry then
 offers them for sale at crusades and on its Web
site, and gives them away to donors.

    According to Paul Nelson of ECFA, that kind of business deal is too
close for comfort, and wouldn't be allowed if Hinn belonged to his
organization.

    "Our standards prohibit the royalty in that case going to the
individual," says Nelson. "The royalty must go for the benefit of the
ministry."

    The Hinn ministry also spends a great deal on pastor Benny's
lifestyle when he's on the road. These records show hotel suites for well
over a thousand dollars a night and transatlantic flights on the Concorde -
at more than $8,000 round trip. That is, before pastor Benny began flying in
a multi-million-dollar private jet.

    But Hinn contributor Carlotta Moore says that use of money given to
Hinn's church for God's work is just fine with her.

    "I'm pretty sure NBC's man that owns NBC probably got his own
 jet and
multimillion dollars," says Carlotta Moore. "Probably got houses here,
houses there, and this that and the other. And I believe that the preachers
of the gospel, I believe they should live better than even NBC's president."

    But Benny Hinn's followers may not know about how all of their
donations are spent. For example there's Hinn's palatial new home, now being
built for $3.5 million in an exclusive gated community overlooking the
Pacific Ocean.

    The plans call for more than 6,000 square feet - 7 bedrooms, 8
bathrooms and a basement garage with enough space for ten cars. Who's paying
for that? Not pastor Benny. That mansion on the Pacific is considered the
Hinn ministry's church residence or "parsonage," and the ministry is picking
up all the expenses for land, construction, even property taxes.

    The ministry says the house is a good investment, but Paul Nelson of
ECFA says Benny
 Hinn should be concerned about the perception of that house
deal. He says the expenditure of millions of dollars of church money on a
house for it's leader, is almost unprecedented.

    Bob McKeown: "Are you aware among your membership of any church
residence, parsonage, that is worth $3 million?"

    Paul Nelson: "I am not aware of that."

    Bob McKeown: "Not Billy Graham's..."

    Paul Nelson: "I don't believe so. No."

    Bob McKeown: "...residence? Pat Robertson's?"

    Paul Nelson: "I don't believe so."

    However it managed to pay for his house. Benny Hinn's ministry has
apparently had problems finishing other special projects.

    Since February of 2001, the Hinn Web site has been soliciting
donations for a new orphanage to be built in this little town outside Mexico
City saying it would be finished "soon.."

    But when we checked in Mexico, more than a
 year-and-a-half later, we
could find no sign of any construction. But the Hinn web site kept promising
that construction would be finished in, "a few short months."

    That was news to the local official in charge of construction in the
town, who told us the Hinn ministry hadn't even been issued a building
permit yet.

    What we did find, however, was this sign - curiously not in Spanish,
but English - attached to a house the ministry called it's 'temporary
orphanage,' which appeared to be empty. The Hinn Web site continued to
solicit donations.

    And then there was pastor Benny's most ambitious project - his $25
million healing center to be built in Texas.

    Benny Hinn: "And the Lord said to me to build a healing center that
people can come to 24-hours a day, any day of the week to be prayed for and
get
 healed."

    That was Benny Hinn raising funds for the project in 1999, but this
was Benny Hinn on a Christian telethon a year later: "Many of our wonderful
friends have called and said, 'What's with the healing center?' and
basically what the Lord has said to me is to wait for his voice."

    Hinn announced that God had told him to postpone construction, so he
said he was going to spend that money on other things.

    Benny Hinn: "I am putting all the money we have in the ministry to
get out there and preach."

    According to ECFA's Paul Nelson, that kind of unilateral diversion of
funds would simply be unacceptable.

    "They're creating a backlog of funds and they're not really released
to spend those funds on anything else,"
 says Nelson.

    But now apparently, pastor Benny has changed his mind again and says
the money raised for the healing center is being held in special ministry
accounts until the time is right.

    Benny Hinn: "The day will come, I am in no hurry, neither is God. The
day will come I will fulfill that vision."

    Remember Mike Estrella, who was the head usher at Hinn crusades? He
says one night, the ministry's chief executive officer offered him a wad of
cash taken from the collection.

    How much money? Mike Estrella says thousands.

    According to Estrella, the man who took that money from the
collection buckets was pastor Benny's righthand man, CEO Gene Polino.

    "I just push it back," says Estrella. "One day he told me
 these
words, he says 'Mike, if you follow me and listen to me, I guarantee one
thing, you never have to work again.'"

    After that Mike Estrella says, he began to watch Gene Polino more
closely.

    Estrella: "One time, Polino says give me all the hundreds and all the
fifties. And I did that. And many of them went to his pockets."

    Now how does he know that? "Because I saw him doing it," says
Estrella.

    In a telephone interview, Gene Polino, now retired as Hinn's CEO,
denied those claims.

    Gene Polino told "Dateline" he has "no problem" with Mike Estrella,
but that the former head usher sometimes got "confused." But two years ago,
in a deposition given under oath, Benny Hinn's 's brother Christopher, who
worked in a crusade counting room, testified he too saw Gene Polino
regularly stuff $50 and $100 bills into a bag. Christopher Hinn also
testified that the ministry CEO told
 him "...don't worry about it." Hinn and
Estrella both say they don't know if Polino kept the money they described
seeing him take.

    But Gene Polino told us none of it happened, insisting he never took
any money from the collections.

    Bob McKeown: "You categorically deny that?"

    Gene Polino: "Surely."

    Polino was never charged with any crime and the ministry says he did
not engage in any wrongdoing while employed by the church.

    Christopher Hinn and Mike Estrella both say they told Benny Hinn what
they saw, and we wanted to ask him about it. Through his lawyers and
spokesmen, Hinn repeatedly turned down our request for an interview. We
finally approached him outside his hotel after a crusade in Buffalo last
year.

    Bob McKeown: "Pastor Hinn, I'm Bob McKeown from 'Dateline, NBC.'
Could we have a word with you? We would like to arrange an interview. As you
know,
 we've been trying to contact you."

    Benny Hinn: "I'm so tired right now. I'm worn out."

    Bob McKeown: "Well, we would be pleased to do it at any time you'd be
available."

    Benny Hinn: "Alright."

    Bob McKeown: "In the near future. But as you know, we've been trying
to do this for several months now."

    Benny Hinn: "I know, I've been so busy."

    Bob McKeown: "And we haven't had much luck with you."

    Benny Hinn: "No, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey, gentlemen, please."

    Bob
 McKeown: "We seem to be having a bit of a problem with your
security detail here."

    Benny Hinn: "I know, I'm sorry about that."

    We did eventually get a final answer from Benny Hinn to our interview
request - it was still "no."

    Benny Hinn's brother Christopher has left the ministry after a
dispute with his brother, and the church says it has had no further dealings
with him.

    As for those other former Hinn insiders, head usher Mike Estrella and
security man Michael Cohen, they say that when they tried to complain to
pastor Benny about abuses in his organization, they were fired.

    In another letter from its lawyer, the ministry says Mike Estrella's
allegations are "unfounded and
 unsubstantiated," and that he was "... Acting
irresponsibly, maliciously or suffered from some impairment when making the
charges."

    As for Michael Cohen, the ministry says, "he is motivated by a
misguided personal vendetta against pastor Hinn and the church..." and
called him an "...unstable and unreliable source."

    Bob McKeown: "What would he say about you now, and the things you're
saying about him?"

    Michael Cohen: "He may tell people that haven't been around for
years, that I'm a disgruntled employee. The fact is, when I first started
working for him, for two years, I wouldn't even take a paycheck."

    Bob McKeown: "Do you believe that he has healed people? "

    Michael Cohen: "No."

    Bob McKeown: "Or that people are healed because of him?"

    Michael Cohen: "No. I don't. I believe that people have been healed.
It's God's power, it's not Benny's. Benny, in the
 last couple of years,
wields this power around likes it's his power."

    Cohen and Estrella maintain they were true believers, who put their
faith in a man they thought could bring hope and healing to millions.

    "What I saw was a big business rolling millions of dollars every
year, many people getting rich," says Mike Estrella. "And the rich getting
richer, and the poor getting worse."

    But then, there's Carlotta Moore, a pastor herself, who like millions
of others says she still believes in Benny Hinn.

    She says, "Pastor Benny's job is the work that God has called him to
do, to be that mediator, that channel for that anointing that God has placed
on his life, the work that God has called him to do, to carry that work out
here on Earth."

    Benny Hinn (at a crusade): "Stand up, lift your hands, and
 receive
from heaven, in the name of Jesus!"

What more information do you need?  
Benny Hinn is a manipulator who EXPLOITS the Gospel and Christianity.

According to you & your pride, Jesus Christ is “fake”. but you just keep telling yerself that, & when you begin to beg Him for yer eternal life at the end of time, yer gonna look back at every single time He tried to send one of us your way to try to get you to see the truth about who He is, & the miracles that He could have performed in your life, but out of all that worldly garbage pride you people so covet, you chose not to. So be it. It’ll be your loss, & you’ll have no one else to blame for your getting tossed into hell, but yourself.

I hope that you will come to your senses, my main man. the test for you at this time is this: Do you have courage? Are you that eager to avoid an eternity writhing in agony in hell? Let us see, if you are brave, or if you are a sorry sucker of Satan. Y would you wanna side with an eternally- condemned deity (Satan) who will do nothing but get inside your head to fuck with yer health, both physically & spiritually? Surely you cannot be that much of a sorry sucker, are you? Or is it that you’re just plain weak? Because anyone who has either heard of an extensive story of miracles that Jesus Christ the King of peace performs in one of our lives, or if one of you have read one of our extensive testimonies of the miracles that He’s done in our lives but refuses to give Him a chance anyway, is nothing more than a sucker, & a coward — PERIOD.

Don’t you know that Satan is nothing more than a permission boy? He’s just some bullshitter & a chicken shit, who every time he hears the name of Jesus Christ, he runs like one. Oh & just so you know my man … we as the born again Christian have power over witches & warlocks. So getting cute with us will only get the fire returned back to you, alrghty then? Hahahaha …

Keep in touch, my main man.

Sincerely,

Andrew Friedman

http://delta-flt1189.xanga.com/703169840/miracles-that-actually-happened-to-me-on-the-night-of-11062006/

DELTA_flt.1189@yahoo.com

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” – John 20:29

For more information, see Jennifer Harr’s story in tomorrow’s Herald-Standard.

North Belle Vernon police said Robert E. Welch, 29, of 122 Nagy St. is facing a host of charges after they found him hiding inside Wally’s Pharmacy on Broad Avenue in Belle Vernon Wednesday morning with a duffel bag stuffed with thousands of oxycodone pills and several-thousand nitroglycerin pills.

Police said when the arrived at the pharmacy shortly before 5 a.m. they found a window smashed out and Welch hiding inside the business.

Police said he tried to barricade himself inside a room in the pharmacy and then fought with police as they tried to take him into custody.
Officers had to use a TASER gun to subdue Welch, police said.

He was charged before Magisterial District Judge Jesse Cramer with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, possession of drugs, possession with intent to deliver drugs, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, harassment and possession of an instrument of a crime, police said.

For more information see Josh Krysak’s article in tomorrow’s Herald-Standard.

Where do you consider home?  Is it the place you grew up; the place you're currently living?  Why is it home?
Submitted by uncagedbird. 

Funny that you should ask this QotD.  I've had this arguement with many people whilst living in different places.  When I lived in New York for two years, I never called it home.  Don't get me wrong, I loved NY (minus the reason I moved there), but it was never home.  I've now lived in Miami for going on three years and it is also not home.

Home is, was, and will always be at 245 Van Meter Road, Belle Vernon, PA, no matter who lives there now.  As long as that house stands, it will be home.  It's home because that's where I grew up.  It's home because I got to watch that house get built from the ground up.  It's home because that's where all my childhood memories are, the good and the bad.  It's home because that house, that yard, and that neighborhood are all a part of who I am today.  It's home because it's the only place where I've had my own space.  It's home because that's where my heart is.

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If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Why? 
Submitted by abcdefg81.

Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, circa 1970-1990.

I grew up in this wonderful place.  By today's real estate standards, it's still a gem and has much to offer.

• Location, location, location – only 20 minutes from downtown Pittsbugh, within a 30 minute drive of 5 major malls, a small hometown grocery story within 2 miles (where they know you by name and will charge it if you don't have enough), and not a long drive to several major universities (Pitt, IUP, WVU, Penn State branch campuses).
• Crime rate – back in the day, it was pretty much nil.  We left our cars unlocked with the keys in them and the doors unlocked overnight.  It was safe to trick-or-treat, go caroling, and just let your kids run around and play hide-and-go-freeze at night.
• School district – one of the best around.  My graduating class had a bunch of damn near geniuses in it (myself NOT included) as well as athletes.  Several went to the NFL and many now have prosperous careers.  Wonderful buildings housing our educators and students as well as the most kick-ass football stadium around.  Superb faculty and great opportunities for the students.
• Weather – yes, it rains, often.  But you take the good with the bad.  The first day warm enough to wear shorts (and after a long winter, that's the first day that breaks 50 degrees), summer days hot enough to go to the waterpark, SWEATER WEATHER!, the beauty of untouched snow in the back yard, changing of the leaves, crickets chirping at night, beautiful starry skies with no light pollution.
• People – everyone knows everyone, but they still kept their nose out of your business.  I knew I could always count on any of our neighbors if I needed a hand.

If you're passing through Pittsburgh, take a drive straight down Route 51 and check it out.

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