This guys is crazy.

Let me try to bring some balance to all of the brutal, negative, and hateful things that have been spoken........spoken all in a true spirit of brotherly love, I am sure.  (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

In spite of the tattoos and other remnants of his former life as a biker, drug-user, alcoholic, convict, etc., etc......many of you miss the point that Todd Bentley may just very well be a genuinely born-again, saved, anointed servant of GOD.  Like the rest of us, he is still very much a man.  He is subject to human failure, even as he operates in ministry.  Also, he needs the wise counsel of others around him.....others who are respected as leaders in the church and in the Charasmatic movement.  Some are missing the fact that he could be just as called of GOD, anointed by HOLY SPIRIT, and experiencing phenomenal words of knowledge and gifts of healing as anyone else upon whom you would place credibility. 

While Todd’s unorthodoxy and lack of theological training brings an enormous challenge to traditional Christianity, I believe it was to help us adapt to such situations that HOLY SPIRIT inspired Paul to write in 1st Corinthians 1 : 27 - 30, “GOD has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and GOD has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, has GOD chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-30.

Do the methods employed by Todd appear “foolish”?  Yes.  Do the methods employed by Todd appear “base”?  Yes.  Are the methods employed by Todd “despised”?  One need only to read the responses to this story to know that the answer is a resounding “YES”.  Friends, I would be very careful concerning that which I have an urge to despise simply because it offends me.  Many were offended by JESUS.  Many were offended by Paul.  The offenses got those two a death sentence.  Jack Taylor said once that “the church just needs to have an Of-fen-dectomy”.  I would tend to agree.  Often, something offends us and we use that offense to discount and discredit something when it just doesn’t fit with our way, our flavor, or our presuppositions of how a move of GOD should appear. 

Many of us discard the gift because the wrapping paper offended us.  We say, “I’ll never fall under the power of GOD.” We say, “I’ll never do this or do that....” Well, guess what!  You didn’t have to until you drew the line in the sand with GOD.  But, now you make yourself a prime candidate for those strange things because your pride has risen to a point where it must be destroyed so that you can be broken and experience what GOD has.

We should also remember the warning in 1st Chronicles 16.22 that says, “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm!”

Brothers and sisters, if you desire to speak out against Todd Bently, you need to be positive that you have received a clear word from the LORD and that you are not simply reacting out of offense.

Mr Lett, I can assure you I do not care about his tats, I care about his theology.  He simply is way out of line with scripture. 

He is not a prophet, his ministry is not like Christs, he is deceived and is in communion with evil.  Don’t be so blind you cannot see what he says is not from God.  His claim to have sat with the apostle Paul in heaven who revealed that Abraham was his co-author in writing the book of Hebrews.  His teaching on angelic ministries, his teaching on prosperity and a bunch of other things are why I think he is WAY OFF.

re: above post—the testimonies were of some miracles that had happened away from the meetings during their own “normal” lives—praying for people in situations that had happened around them, (i wasn’t very clear in the previous post.  sorry)

N8, it matters what people believe and teach.  This man with all the fire and fizz teaches things not in scripture.  Jesus said many will come on the last day saying didn’t we do miracles and cast out demons and Jesus will say; “I don’t know you.”

I am not saying Todd is not a believer, I am saying your standard for measuring his ministry is not a biblical standard. 

Any time you make your standard “miracles and potential good” you run the risk of being deceived. 

I believe in miracles and healing but I think this guy is whacked.

Charismania said:  “Also, Mr. Lett says we should not speak out against Todd Bentley because of the Old Testament verse of, “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” I cannot understand what this verse would have to do with Todd Bentley.  This directive was given for OLD TESTAMENT prophets, from whom God demanded 100% accuracy.  About those same Old Testament prophets, we are told that if what they prophesy does not come to pass, we are not to “fear” them.  The penalty for false prophecies was death by stoning. 

Response:  There is a danger in setting a timeline today for a prophet’s words to come to pass.  After all, there was a span of hundreds of years between the proclaimation and fulfillment of OT prophecies concerning Jesus.  Today, it is a fact that we are living in the age of grace.  So, I would ask the question: Just because a NT prophet is wrong on occasion, does that mean that he is false?

Charismania said: “Todd Bentley has been highly inaccurate on many occasions.  Usually, if someone is going to come to Bentley’s defense in this respect, they will say that New Testament prophets are not held to the same standards that Old Testament prophets were held to.”

Response:  Ok, are NT prophets held to the same standard?  If so, where is the book, chapter, and verse proof-text to back it up?  I mean, aren’t these some questions for which we all search for the answer?  Aren’t we wanting to know the truth in these areas?  Also, could you document some of the areas here for us where Todd has been “highly inaccurate”, as you say?  It seems completely irresponsible, on your part, to lay out accusations such as this and fail to offer a few examples.  But hey...you may very well know of them and have them.  I’m open to that, and I am also open to opposing views.  It seems as if you read my writing as an outright defense of Todd.  In doing so, you were wrong.  If you will go back and read it again, that would be good.  Pay special attention to my use of phrases such as:  “may just very well be” ....... “he could be” ....... “he is subject to human failure” ....... and other phrases that fail to meet the definition of unconditional defense of something or someone.  The purpose of my whole post was to cause us to stop and think about our motives before lashing into this guy and what is going on....which, in fact, is exactly what you did in response to my post.  (And I haven’t even kicked anybody in the face.) The short span of time what we take before reacting is concerning me here.  Its like, we see something that disagrees with us and instantaneously we are ready to POUNCE.  Brothers, this is reactionary and dangerous.  I have worked with church leaders without vision and whose only actions were “reactions” to things that happened and things that were said.  I have seen, first hand, how dangerous, this type of “reactionary” activity is.  Let’s slow down and allow elder churchmen who are more experienced and much wiser to take a lead in affirming or otherwise.

Charismania said:  “Todd’s defenders cannot have it both ways – either he meets Old Testament standards and is therefore worthy of the “touch not mine anointed” thing, or he hasn’t attained that same level of accuracy as a “New Testament prophet” and does not have to risk stoning when he prophesies falsely (and Todd has prophesied falsely on MANY occasions).”

Response:  It is not my desire to “have it both ways”.  Again, re-read my post with some enlightenment and lose that knee-jerk reactionary element.

Charismania said:  “And yes, I do believe that I have a “sure word from the Lord” in speaking out against Todd Bentley.  Actually, we ALL have a “sure word from the Lord” – His written Word, the BIBLE.  The Bible clearly shows us, in many ways, how Todd Bentley departs from what Scripture teaches about the Christian faith.”

Response:  You know, the BIBLE can be used to prove or disprove just about anything....and has been for centuries.  Cessationists “use” it to say that the modern-day validity of the gifts is in error.  Those who believe in the necessity of baptismal regeneration “use” it to say that one who has received Christ but not been baptised will certainly wind up in hell.  Those against women-in-ministry “use” it to say that they should be silent in the church.  I could go on ad nauseum.  So, be careful when using certain verses to make your case.

In everything I have said, I have tried to get us to step back, think, and use caution before making any kind of judgement or statement for or against Todd and what is going on.  I refuse to endorse or speak against him at this time.  If you will re-read my postings, you will see that the warnings are not to Todd, rather they are to us....all of us.  We need to be warned that, before criticizing, we need to stop and think.  We need to be warned, before 100% acceptance, we need to stop and think.  We need to be warned to stop and think......oh yeah, and pray.

We need to remember Jesus’ story about wheat & tares while they were growing together in the same field.  The landowner would not allow the tares to be pulled, eventhough they were obvious, out of concern of the wheat being uprooted, also.  So, if you percieve that you have recognized tares in this operation, leave them be.  How sad it would be for you to uproot wheat in your religious zeal to remove the tares.  Are there things going on that are questionable?  Yes.  Are there things going on that are genuine?  Sure.  Do we have a mandate to uproot the tares?  No.  As he later revealed to His disciples, Jesus can and will take care of the tares in His own timing.

Also, we need to remember the event in Mark 9:38-40 where, coming to Jesus, “John said, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is for us.”

Church, all I am saying is this: Caution.  Caution before endorsing.  Caution before speaking against.  Caution.  Healthy, love-filled, honestly-seeking....Caution.  Caution that is not hard-hearted and even ready to receive that which goes against our flesh, our flavor, and our preferences...if indeed, it is of God.

Personally, I think we all just need to take a few steps back and meditate on the words of Jesus in the stories above.

I know the last post is from a while back, but I have been doing a lot of digging on Todd Bentley and it’s unreal. I didn’t know that being guided by a FEMALE angel of “financial blessing” was Biblical, in which Todd claims he is visited by (which probably has been removed from his site now...bad theology.). Also, when was there ever Angel Abductions and “surgery by angels” for quick Spiritual growth ever done in the Bible? What is up with the angelic junk? Creflo Dollar, Patricia King, Todd Bentley, Bob Jones (whacko) and others present and past, who claim to have these angelic visitations, esp. of financial blessing. Let me say urge you who believe in this “outpouring” of God’s spirit to read Matthew 24. WARNING: false teachings are taking place. Yes, I believe in the supernatural, obviously, it is in the Bible many times over. But like ‘Charismania’ wrote, if Todd Bentley or any believer for this matter had common visitations by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, THE son of God - we would be on our faces in amazment and wonder that He would even show Himself to us!!!! I sense no humility about him, or other leaders that he associates with. God have mercy on us all, have mercy on America!!!

Just another thought here.  I sometimes ponder the question, “Why are cessationists so vehement in their battle against what Charismatics would call an event of revival or renewal with manifestations of the miraculous?” Most typically, what I see is the decades-old baptist vs. the charismatics battle.  I was in (southern) baptist work since the age of 18 for the next 20 years.  Recently, we left an SBC church and have started attending a “non-baptist” church.  Some of the remarks from friends and acquaintances have been of this sort:  “Ya’ll ain’t going over to that “other” church, are ya?” There have even been meetings among local baptist leaders to try and figure out “just what to do” about this charismatic church in town.  Its amazing to me as I watch this phenomenon unfold.  You know what I think, more than anything?  I think that events that would be labled as charismatic revival are battled against out of fear - fear that folks will see and be attracted to a genuine move of God and venture out from the safety of their home church.  This absolutely scares church leaders who fear that they will lose members.  And from my viewpoint, maybe not with my friend Chraismania, much of the battle boils down to this gripping fear of losing church members.  I suggest to combat this fear that we all become more Kingdom-minded.  I suggest that we focus more on building the Kingdom and forget about protecting our own empire.  If someone leaves a church, so be it.  As long as they stay in a church that preaches “Jesus is the only way to God"......"Jesus is Lord” and “Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus....”.....then what’s the problem.  All other issues are secondary issues of doctrine and there should be liberty among the tribes in these areas. 

And yes....we should still examine things that go on within the Kingdom with open hearts....looking more to receive what God has than to crush that which offends our flesh.