Televangelist Benny Hinn was admitted to the intensive care unit in an Orange County, California hospital this weekend after suffering heart problems in Brazil last week.
The 63-year-old healing evangelist is expected to make a full recovery, but recognizes that he may have overdone it during a week-long crusade in South America.
Update: Benny Hinn Expected to Make a Full Recovery After Suffering Heart Condition
"This is a challenge, but I'm getting good reports," Hinn told Charisma News. "We don't have all the answers ... as we get older, our bodies need repair."
Hinn's oldest daughter, Jessica Hinn-Koulianos, reported that her father was in Brazil for an intense ministry that catered to crowds of over 100,000 people. When he returned this last weekend, he began complaining of shortness of breath. His daughter urged him to see a cardiologist who has since treated Hinn for lack of oxygen in his bloodstream.
Hinn-Koulianos said that her father's heart rate reached 200 beats-per-minute due to an atrial fibrillation issue. According to the Mayo Clinic, Atrial fibrillation is where "the heart's two upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly - out of coordination with the two lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart."
Although it's not a life-threatening condition on its own, it is a serious medical condition if left untreated and can lead to more severe complications including blood clots. Luckily for Hinn, the condition was caught and treated before anything major developed.
"His heart rate is back to normal," Hinn's daughter reports. "We believe God is going to heal him."
Benny Hinn Recovery Update: Heart Condition Has Affected Hinn for Over 20 Years
Benny Hinn Ministries issued an official statement from longtime senior executive Don Price, who said that testing has been positive so far and they expect a full recovery soon. "Within a few weeks his doctors say he will be on his feet ministering around the world, just as he has for over 40 years," the statement said.
Pat Robertson and fellow evangelist Reinhard Bonnke have called Hinn to pray with him during his hospital stay, while Bonnke plans to fly out for a visit today.
Benny Hinn is best known for his Miracle Crusades that are attended by tens of millions of people around the world. He began televising these healing crusades in 1989 and started a talk show called "This is Your Day" years later. The program is currently seen daily by over 200 countries worldwide.
Hinn's ministries are reported to feed over 100,000 children a year and support 45,000 more through donations. He has stated that he has spoken to over one billion people throughout his crusades, including three services in India that saw over 7.3 million people attend, which turned out to break a record for the largest healing service in recorded history. Hinn has also published a dozen books on his healing ministry methods.
While Hinn has helped and inspired millions of people around the world, critics have often questioned his claims that he has cured everything from blindness to AIDS. Several documentaries have been made to both support and denounce the televangelist, and a 2007 senate investigation probed Hinn's ministry and financial records. In the end, the investigation concluded in 2011 with no formal findings of wrongdoing after Hinn was said to have cooperated "over and above what was requested."
"The doctor told me my dad has helped so many people that he was going to be sure to do his best to get his health back to normal," Hinn-Koulianos said. "(Finding that doctor) was a God thing."
