By Rick Hiebert. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.
Some Todd Bentley “stop press” items for your information.
Be sure to scroll down to the end where Todd Bentley calls the cops on his “critics”, if nothing else. Yes, apparently so.
One
The evangelist’s return to the public eye continues apace, with a new TV interview. He notes on his Twitter feed…
IamToddBentley: School is going well. Just finished doing some filming with Lisa ling for a new tv series on opray Winfrey telvision network on healing.
about 16 hours ago from Twitterrific
Speaking ironically, it would seem that Oprah’s new TV network is off to a great news start. As you may remember from the ABC News Nightline segment that helped scupper the Lakeland Revival, Todd seemed unable to provide accounts of healings that could be confirmed by doctors.
Part 1
and Part 2
Or perhaps we could also look at the World magazine article which found not only a lack of healing, but that people declared to be healed by Todd Bentley’s ministry had since died.
Or perhaps we could look at this account from a fellow with TV experience who noticed that at Lakeland people who were gravely ill or severely disabled were kept out of the range of the GOD TV cameras.
We can hope that the Oprah Winfrey network crew spots some of these things, but, alas, the quote attributed to G.K. Chesterton to the effect that a lie is halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots comes to mind.
Two
Todd Bentley also “tweeted” yesterday (February 5) on Twitter:
IamToddBentley: Thanks for the Love. God is blessing his people. Tonite the presence was so sweet and God bless those who persecute us
about 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
Hmm. “God bless those who persecute us.” Well, what’s happening that he defines as persecution? All that I have seen on the Internet recently are blog posts and comments that question his theology or whether he is fully repentant of his past actions. As Bentley has been, and certainly intends to remain, a public figure, these are fair comments, surely?
What is a little chilling is that we are not talking about some things that would perhaps be libelous, say. We are merely seeing public differences of opinion. (And the voices in favour of Bentley are better organized, have more resources, and are much “louder” in a getting the attention of the public sense than those who differ with him.) Most Christians don’t have a problem with respectful give-and-take…but Bentley seems to.
Disagreeing is “persecution”? I’d hate to be someone in Todd’s new ministry or at Morningstar who wants to constructively critique what Bentley is doing. I fear I would be shunned, fired or purged.
Define “persecute us” please, Mr. Bentley. I’ll wait. A long time, I expect. But I am patient.
Three
Jessa, Todd Bentley’s new wife, is jumping into his ministry with both feet.
When Todd’s “starter wife” Shonnah appeared at Ignited Church during the Lakeland revival, she was recorded on CD. Listening to the CD later, I got the impression that Shonnah is very much a “stay-at-home” type who only very reluctantly took the public stage. Months and years passed with her and the kids in the background.
Not so with Jessa, Todd’s “trophy wife”. You may recall that in the repentance video that she did with Todd with Rick Joyner, she explained her background and how she came to Abbotsford to attend the Fresh Fire school because she wanted a ministry of her own.
As you might infer from her dream in which she talked to Oral Roberts after his death, she wants to be involved in Todd’s ministry in a big way. We have video evidence of this now thanks to Phil Naessens putting this onto You Tube:
“Todd Bentley commissions His disciples” is the title given to the video. And halfway through, we see Jessa doing the shake-and-bake as Todd prays for her.
It looks like Jessa plans to keep a close eye on her husband. Which, given what happened, may be a wise idea.
[I hope that "Todd Bentley commissions his disciples" is a name that Naessens himself gives the clip. Todd Bentley himself thinking that he has "disciples" that he can commission would be kind of obnoxious, even for Bentley.]
UPDATE:
Re: “persecute us”
Okay, one Google search later…here’s an account of what happened last night from a blogger who is a big Bentley fan:
Ken and I both perceived, at different points during worship, a strong demonic presence in the room. It felt like it was brooding. Or festering. That might be a better word.
So worship ended and Todd Bentley took the stage and started to take up the evening offering. From the balcony a voice rang out – screeching about adultery and repentance. Security came and got him.
Then, in turn from all around the room other men did the same thing. I think there were five in all who spoke up. There were two more who hung out the rest of service and didn’t say anything.
It was ugly. As each man began to speak you could actually feel the demonic presence coming from them. It was like… it was on their voices. Not something I’ve experienced quite like that before.
Todd was gracious. I was impressed. I don’t believe I would have been that nice under those circumstances.
Security helped them all find the door. All but one went peacefully.
Janet went to the ladies room shortly after that and said the place was swarming with police. I’m not sure if the guys got arrested, or if the cops just gave them a stern talking to.
It wouldn’t be my own cup of tea, but I could understand why someone would feel that the only way that they would confront Todd Bentley about his past would be to do so by yelling out during his meetings.
Several things, if this is accurate, strike me as odd…
You’ll notice that a “demonic presence” leads to the interruption. That’s fighting unfairly as a blogger…
As you already have security there, why call the police? It’s an intimidation tactic on Bentley’s part.
Why wouldn’t the group wait until he is starting his actual message to ensure that they made it onto the broadcast? I myself would assume that the internet broadcast could start after the worship and offering and Todd Bentley could easily get rid of the interruption later.
It’s not like they ran on stage and made their presence impossible to ignore, say.
Which leads me to wonder if this is a “black bag” job and something that Bentley himself staged. Bad enough to get him sympathy, but not bad enough to seriously hinder him.
SECOND UPDATE: I’m glad to hear that Bentley is not machiavellian enough to pull this off himself. Apparently this was a genuine protest by some Bentley critics.
Mr Hiebert:
When it comes to libelous there positions are very weak which suprises me considering the lengths they go to to protect themselves. They seem to think that jesus’s prescence is ‘prmarily’ for Mr Bentley and Co., Mistake No 1.
They seem to think that their ‘armies’ , be it the cry of persecution, betrayal, or ‘false’ will outwit the Fathers. Mistake No 2.
They seem to think they ‘own’ Jesus and his powers. Mistake No 3.
We may be witnessing their version of Jesus and his powers but believe me when he begins to move ‘healings’ will be the least of it and redemption a mere shadow compared to what he has to bring and say. He is greatly honouring at the moment, but always remember that he doesn’t have to!. When you are prepared to lay down your life and take on his then ‘nothing mere man can do’ comes into play. The problem is that few are willing to go the ‘course’.
1 Corinthians speaks of orderly worship. Everything in a worship service must benefit the worshipers. So, all the worshipers are included. A leader of worship needs to be able to strengthen the faith of believers.
Well, looks like Morningstar had some identifiable problems at that service. Paul embraced a problem on this subject. He confronted the people with their sins and shortcomings.
As for demons perceive, I think it’s evident there was not unity at the service, and that was a big problem. After all, there are strong concerns and opinions that some christians don’t want to blend in with the world or accept it’s values.
So, there are those whose faith will be tested over this incident, an as christians we should be sensative to this. ” Rather be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” (1:10)
In the meantime, I would be very hesitant about going to Morninstar.
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I was rather upset inside of me listening to and seeing:
1. The woman in the wheelchair
2. The boy with celebral palsy
3. The young child & father
The medical reports that Nightline persued and investigated was good.
Now Todd Bentley’s, “Bam, Bam” reminds me of someone of whom I’d heard doing this before I’d heard Todd Bentley saying the same thing.
The person has a very good cooking show
He’s born in New Orleans, Louisiana and is of Portuguese descent
Name is Emeril Lagasse
He’ll say, “Bam” sometimes in parts of his show as he’s cooking.
Well, for a Portuguese/Cajun fusion of cooking, I guess it could come with the territory, livens things up taking away any boredom.
Another fairly lively healing show was Ernest Angley who’d say, “Heal” or with his fairly think accent, “I’m a southern boy”
Todd Bentley’s shows are more lively than Ernest Angley
There is a passage in the Bible which speaks of Paul publicly taking Peter to task in front of the church, and I can’t imagine that was a pretty scene either, though I’m guessing not quite as scandalous or embarrassing in a time and culture where people were more used to speaking their minds freely and being spoken to in like forthright manner. The way in which church meetings are carrried out today with ‘celebrities’ up on stage and large groups of ‘spectators’ adds to the difficulty if a situation arises when confrontation is necessary. Church meetings were meant to be more like family gatherings, but there’s no room in formal church “services” like this for frank and spontaneous discussion, it’s not part of the “program” . Have no idea who these ones were in this case, but I’m wondering if, for public rebuke to be effective when it’s called for, it needs to come from men in authority in the church on a par or higher than the one being disciplined, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the idea of rank-and-file believers trying to do it.
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Did I understand correctly that Todd Bentley’s “show” is going on Oprah’s network? It seems fitting and not surprising that she would be interested in it – a new age TV network is perhaps where it belongs.
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HAHAHAHA… what a birthday present! Thanks for the press
Happy Birthday Kathi, you are welcome.
John the Baptist came in the “dunamis”. John was quite effective, without all the hype. John the Baptist did not have any clever marketing strateigies. He did speak out against adultry, in the strongest sense of God’s Word.
Therese ~ These were not rank and file Christians confronting Bentley. They were pastors from around the country and a handful of their parishoners.
Other than that, we are all part of the body and are commanded to confront sin in the church when we see it. Suggesting that someone in authority is unapproachable by the church body is what leads to out of control church leaders. They get full of their own power and begin to build their own kingdom instead of God’s kingdom. It’s attitudes like that that keep the Todd Bentleys of the world in the sphere of power.
Joyce: Why can’t these men speak? Where they arrested? Are they part of Flip Benham’s group which is to our Canadian eyes the flip side of the same coin?
Have they been charged?
I believe in doing things in order, however Bentley is protected and this may have been the only opportunity. It’s too bad Michael directed us back to that article. Ante Pavkovic’s was arrested in Washington for disrupting a Senate prayer.
I hope you and your husband are okay.
it would be helpful if readers knew what denominations your friends belong to, how they did this, what happened, what police said and did, MorningStar said and did, what preparation was in place, what the consequences are for the group.
A few tweets isn’t helping to get the story out. Are you and your friends able and willing to share more?
Would your husband and his friends be willing to email Rick? You can contact him from the link at the top of the blog header.
Again Joyce, thank you.
Joyce, one more quick point – BDBO has an international audience following these posts Rick put up. While I can’t speak for Rick, as a fair and knowledgable journalist he can reach a wide and international audience for you, your husband and his friends from this blog.
Hi Joyce, I was just giving some rambling thoughts an airing with my comment above, not criticizing since I feel I don’t know enough about what took place or really how this kind of thing should be handled in today’s church reality, to be able to criticize or not. My main intent was to express my perception, right or wrong, that it must be difficult to do something like this biblically since the church itself is not structured or set up the way it was in the beginning.
The issue of authority is important, though, since not even the archangel Michael dared to rebuke Satan – I agree that ordinary believers are within their bounds to question and address error and sinful behaviour of those in authority, but rebuking before the church is a form of discipline, (i don’t know if that was the intent of the protesters?) and only someone with equal or higher status would be able to yield the authority necessary to do it as far as i can see. Otherwise it would be like a child rebuking a parent, ineffective and out of order. As far as my attitude goes, I confess my first impulse was to want to cheer on those confronters and hand them a microphone, but before God I want to examine myself, examine His word, and examine the situation, and try to find out whether that’s a right attitude or not. “Lord, teach me your ways”, is really my only desire here.
Hmmm… I will try to answer some of the questions.
If the men haven’t spoken it’s because they were not there for the sake of publicity. It was a genuine rebuke not intended to garner fame, but to address the sin of Todd Bentley and Rick Joyner and hopefully to be a witness to all the people who are being lead astray by these false prophets. We never wanted to disrupt a service, but Bentley was not accessible in any other way. As a matter of fact, right before the service began one of the senior pastors involved saw Todd Bentley in a room just 20 to 30 feet away from him. He tried to speak to him personally then to avoid the public rebuke. As always, Bentley and his people denied any access to him.
As to denominations, they were varied. My husband and I attend a charismatic church in the Charlotte area that once had ties to Morningstar. They seem to have quietly severed ties with Morningstar after the Bentley restoration affair. However, my husband was disappointed to see two women from our church in the audience. I wish our church leaders had made a public statement to the church about the Bentley controversy.
No one was arrested or charged. Seeing the camera crews advancing to interview the ousted group seemed to be enough to make security and the police back off and leave us standing on the property, but not in the building.
Therese- thank you for your further comments. I completely agree that we no longer function as the first century church did. Services are now shows that we have to keep perfectly timed so we can get a seat at the local restaurant before the church down the street from us lets out.
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So this guy is a convicted child molester. Someone should report him to his state’s authority for being an unregistered sex offender. (I called, and he is not registered.)
Todd Bentley IS a registered Se Offender. His offense was committed in Canada where he was born ad lived before he moved to US. If you contacted US state officials they would have no record of him in their books as his name is registered in Canada. Access to such details in Canada may be very difficult to obtain as Canadian law is different from US law!
John, there probably is no Canadian record for a couple of reasons:
1) Bentley was a juvenile and the records are sealed
2) a registered sex offender registry didn’t exist in BC