November 28, 2008 UPDATE
Taken from Fresh Fire Ministries website:
"Here are the facts:
"1. Todd has yet to enter into a clear system of accountability with the leaders he identified that would be involved in such a process. Todd has visited Rick Joyner in Fort Mills, South Carolina, and indicated early on in September that he would be moving there soon to become a part of the community there and to receive counseling from Rick Joyner, Jack Deere, Bill Johnson and others that Rick might feel to bring alongside. Todd is in regular contact with Rick Joyner and has agreed together with Rick that he will move to Fort Mills during the first few months of 2009.
"2. Having spoken with Todd in recent days, he is resolute in his intentions to divorce Shonnah, and in his mind, the restoration he is seeking is one which would not include reconciliation with his wife. Todd admits to being 100% responsible for the divorce.
"3. It also needs to be clarified that Shonnah has in no way initiated this divorce and has no present intention to do so at any time in the future. She is understandably hurt by Todd’s infidelity, but is not asking or pressing for a divorce. The legal separation from Shonnah was initiated completely by Todd and he has not seen her or the children since the last week in July. To our knowledge, Todd’s relationship with the female staff-member, who was a former intern and also, at his initiative, a live-in nanny in his house for over a year, is still ongoing. We believe that there are currently no biblical grounds for Todd to leave his wife and children. While it has been maintained that no physical contact happened between Todd and the former female intern until after he filed for legal separation from Shonnah, in the Boards’ eyes, the nature of the present relationship between Todd and his former staff member is that of adultery."
October 19, 2008 UPDATE
Good old spell check proves useful in more ways than one Western Standard- Shotgun Blog, Canada - 12 hours ago
One of the main supports of BC evangelist Todd Bentley’s “Lakeland revival this summer was the live coverage provided by God TV, a London-based charismatic ...
Mr. Bentley's credulity is exposed Western Standard- Shotgun Blog, Canada - 13 hours ago
During Canadian faith healer Todd Bentley’s revival campaign this summer, 31 alleged resurrections from the dead were reportedly connected to the revival in ...
The faith healer, his disabled wife, and a possible divorce Western Standard- Shotgun Blog, Canada - 13 hours ago
It’s very unusual that someone that I wrote about in my Report magazine days (not once, not twice, but three times) would have since become an international ...
October 14, 2008 UPDATE
'Outpouring' Revival Finished
The Ledger Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 11:49 p.m.
source
After six months, the local religious revival that drew thousands of people to Lakeland from all over the world has officially ended.
The final meeting of the Lakeland Outpouring, formerly led by Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley, was at Ignited Church on Sunday.
After months of ministering to thousands of followers daily, Bentley stepped down from public ministry in August, announced his separation from his wife and admitted to having had an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member.
The meetings continued after Bentley's departure, moving from a 10,000-seat air dome at Lakeland's Sun n' Fun Fly-in to Ignited Church in Lakeland, where the revival began.
GOD TV, the worldwide television network that broadcast Bentley's revival, plans to broadcast other offshoots in the United States and United Kingdom, including meetings in Dudley, England.
The organization Bentley founded, Fresh Fire Ministries, is still in operation.
October 1, 2008 UPDATE
Does it ever end?? Todd Bentley is "deeply sorry for the problems that his problems have caused others" - so says Rick Joyner.
Oh brother.
Read more here.
September 26, 2008 UPDATE:
Message from god-tv
Received the above in an email today. Oh brother. Too bad Rory and Wendy are deceived and deceiving others on purpose, in my opinion.
The only good thing about the Lakeland/Todd Bentley 'circus' being broadcast is it has brought into greater focus the lies/deception of the charismatic/pentacostal movements.
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Matthew 24:4,5
In the meantime, may we continue to pray that the Truth be revealed, the lies be exposed, the deceived wakeup, the sinner repent, the lost get saved and the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified. Watching by the grace of God,
Cathy
"Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Mark 13:35-37
EMAIL reply from Berlin, Germany
September 1, 2008 UPDATE:
We have had enough of false prophets!
"This article is not about false prophet Todd Bentley; it's about the esteemed leaders and role models who helped create the Lakeland disaster."
August 28, 2008 UPDATE:
Whatsup with Joel's Army?
Tattooed across Todd Bentley's "sternum are military dog tags that read "Joel's Army." They're evidence of Bentley's generalship in a rapidly growing apocalyptic movement that's gone largely unnoticed by watchdogs of the theocratic right."
ugust 22, 2008 UPDATE:
Can we trust Dutch Sheets?
Yesterday, Dutch Sheets wrote a lengthly 'Statement and Appeal Regarding Lakeland' with the purpose being to ' identificationally repent on behalf of the leadership of the charismatic body of Christ' with reference to Nehemiah 1:4-7 & Daniel 9:1-19. However, is Dutch Sheets one to be trusted?
And the prophets prophesied falsely and the people loved it so
"Bentley had more supernatural experiences than all the apostles put together. Like immature children being tucked into bed modern day charismatics accepted his supernatural tales. These were tales from a master of story telling- but it was not Rod Serling of the Twilight Zone, or Alfred Hitchcock-- but Todd Bentley of the supernatural zone. The more they heard the more they became accustom to his storytelling and forsook the word of God. And the church leaders stood by said nothing-- they endorsed him."
Did I Sit On The Sidelines While The Playing Field Burned?
"... The question that I now have to ask myself…the question that will haunt me for quite a while is…did I sit on the sidelines while the playing field burned? Should have I blogged about it…spoken out about it publicly…done more to get the word out to the rest of the world that this whole thing was about Todd and not God? I took care of my own house…but should I have done more to take care of the entire neighborhood?"
August 19. 2008 UPDATE:
Bentley bends
B. C. healer, televangelist withdraws for his own healing
Brian Hutchinson, National Post
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
source
VANCOUVER -It wasn't his outrageous claims of raising the dead that finally landed Todd Bentley in trouble. Not the contradictory sermons, or even his criminal past. Not the face piercings, the neck-to-knee tattoos, the biker-dude lifestyle. His followers could live with all that; it was part of the act.
And what a performance it was: For the past few months, Mr. Bentley, a 32-year-old former drug addict from Canada's west coast, was the hottest thing going on the global televangelist circuit. A hog-riding faith healer with a devil-may-care attitude.
Then he failed his flock, the old fashioned way: By consorting with another woman.
Mr. Bentley is now taking a long time out from his ministry, for some healing and reflection. The news was delivered on the weekend. "We have discovered new information revealing that Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff," reads an Aug. 15 letter from his church, Fresh Fire Ministries, based in Abbotsford, B. C., an evangelical hotbed.
The letter, posted on the Fresh Fire Web site, followed another online note three days earlier acknowledging that Mr. Bentley's marriage had unravelled. "Todd and Shonnah Bentley are presently experiencing significant friction in their relationship and are currently separated. We want to affirm that there has been no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah, nor has there ever been," it reads.
The news comes just as Mr. Bentley's ministry -- which began a decade ago on the streets of Vancouver's miserable Downtown Eastside -- had found a worldwide audience. In April this year, the stocky preacher received an invitation to travel from Abbotsford to Lakeland, in southern Florida, to take part in a series of Christian revival meetings.
Audiences there were dazzled. Mr. Bentley was asked to stay. So began what became known as the Lakeland Outpouring, an unfettered expression of charismatic fervour that quickly became a full-fledged phenomenon, with 8,000
people daily packing into a baseball stadium, then inside a church building. Twice a day, seven days a week, through the spring and summer, with Mr. Bentley taking centre stage, yelling and exhorting, and sometimes smacking around the ill and infirm.
GodTV, a specialty on-line service dedicated to Christian worship, quickly made room for the Lakeland Outpouring in its broadcast schedule. Millions of potential worshippers were exposed to Mr. Bentley. Among others, people with health problems travelled alone or with church groups to Florida for his sermons, loud and aggressive multi-media performances punctuated with faith-healing demonstrations and requests for financial contributions.
Mr. Bentley claims that God uses him as an instrument to heal the sick. He demonstrated this capacity at one Outpouring meeting by taking a run at a professed cancer patient and planting a knee hard into the man's gut. The man fell to the floor, grimacing.
At another meeting, Mr. Bentley laughed about kicking a woman in the face in order to help deliver God's healing touch. He spoke of his encounters with angels and prophets. He waved letters in front of his audiences, claiming they were written by relatives of people declared dead. Their dead kin had risen, he explained, after being exposed to his sermons, via GodTV broadcasts.
"I have in my hands the 13th testimony as a result of this Outpouring, of somebody raised from the dead," he said a few weeks ago. "I'm saying to the media, the dead are being raised…Are you ready to hear the 13th story? Now, many of them,
we've been following up. We still haven't had a chance to verify this. I can read it to you as I received it."
At last count, Mr. Bentley had been used by God to resurrect 20 people -- verifications still to come.
His claims have attracted plenty of skeptics, some of whom have carefully parsed his sermons, looking for what might be considered heresy, or simply false statements. Internet bloggers certainly found inconsistencies in his stories; for example, Mr. Bentley seems to confuse dates and events when describing his various visits with angels and his discussions with God.
His skeptics learned of a terrible incident. In 1991, Mr. Bentley, then 15, was convicted of sexual assaulting a seven-year-old B. C. boy. The case was outlined in The Report newsmagazine 10 years later; confronted with the facts, Mr. Bentley consented to a discussion of his conviction. "I was involved in a sexual assault ring," he told The Report, now defunct. "I turned around and did what had happened to me. I was assaulted too."
He said he considered the matter closed. "It's something that's dead and buried for me."
In June, FOX TV snoop Geraldo Rivera interviewed Mr. Bentley. The matter of his conviction did not come up; rather, Mr. Rivera asked for verification that he had helped heal the sick.
Again, Mr. Bentley waved a fistful of papers in the air but offered no names, no proof. ABC's Nightline examined Mr. Bentley's claims in July and was met with similar obfuscation.
But others have bought in. Several of Mr. Bentley's colleagues in the televangelism trade--including fellow Canadian Patricia King -- vouched for him, even after the unflattering FOX and ABC exposure.
"The healing of the sick, the casting out of devils, the raising of the dead, the cleansing of lepers, this was all taking place" at the Lakeland Outpouring, Ms. King insisted last weekend, during a sermon broadcast on her Extreme Prophetic Television program.
Ms. King, who is also based in the Abbotsford area, went on to describe in the barest of detail Mr. Bentley's latest transgression and fall from grace, and said that any form of sin is intolerable.
No one from Fresh Fire Ministries or its affiliate church organizations in Abbotsford responded to interview requests yesterday. Mr. Bentley is reportedly in California, staying with friends.
He will not offer any public ministry for at least a year, according to the latest Fresh Fire letter. He will not return to Florida for the rest of the Outpouring; it winds up on Saturday, after a 143-day run. A stadium tour across the United States has been cancelled. Gatherings in the U. K. have been "postponed."
There is no talk of resurrection, or revival. Just the hope of forgiveness.
bhutchinson@nationalpost.com
August 17, 2008 UPDATE:
Satan's Plan to Destroy Christianity
August 16, 2008 UPDATE:
Todd Bentley: 'Unhealthy Relationship' with Female Staffmember
From
Freshfire:
"We wish to acknowledge, however, that since our last statement from the Fresh Fire Board of Directors, we have discovered new information revealing that Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff. In light of this new information and in consultation with his leaders and advisors, Todd Bentley has agreed to step down from his position on the Board of Directors and to refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life."
August 15, 2008 UPDATE:
Today received from Bud Press at Christian Research Service:
August 15, 2008
Now Online at Christian Research Service...
Todd Bentley and the Hotel Fire in Seattle
Judgment from the 'Lord' or 'Accidental'?
by Bud Press
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/ToddBentley7.htm
Excerpt:
"Common sense dictates that when a person makes a claim, but refuses to provide PROOF, it calls into question ALL the claims he or she has made, both past and present."
Discernment the Size of A Flea
An Open Letter to Charisma Magazine
by Bud Press
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/CharismaOpenLetter1.htm
Excerpt:
"For years, many Christians have been conditioned to accept anything that comes down the pike--no matter how far-out or ridiculous. Part of that conditioning process is to lift-up, admire and adore false prophets, downplay their false prophecies with a grin and shrug, brush the false prophecies off as simple mistakes, then concentrate on "all of the good things" the false prophet does."
Letter to Stephen Strang
Are You A Christian?
By Bud Press
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/SStrang1.htm
Excerpt:
"The time has come for you to stop promoting false prophets and false teachers in Charisma magazine and other publications."
Updated! Todd Bentley Articles Page
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/ToddBentleyResearchPage.htm
Updated! Todd Bentley Videos Page
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/ToddBentleyVideoResearchPage.htm
God bless,
Bud
August 14, 2008 UPDATE:
Article:
Faith healer abandons pulpit
Video:
Todd Bentley and the Fallen angels - testimony posted last month of visitor to Lakeland meeting.
August 13, 2008 UPDATE:
Received an email today which tells what Charisma Magazine editor, Lee Grady, thinks about the latest Bentley news (
read it here).
But Grady still doesn't get it. He says he can't understand why the leaders didn't warn the people. The leaders who supported Bentley didn't warn the people because they are deceiving wolves themselves. Why should they or would they warn their victims? In my opinion, they knew EXACTLY who they were promoting when they came to Lakeland.
There were A LOT of warnings from this blog and elsewhere. However, deceived people don't always wake up easily. But hopefully these latest events will shake more folks out of their charismatic/pentecostal stupor.
Grady is still looking for an end time healing revival but the scriptures never say that. Rather they say there will be a great falling away/apostasy which I believe is currently in the works. He said a prominent Pentecostal evangelist told him he's now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment. With this, I totally agree.
And the good that has come out of all this? I learned a lot and realize now more than ever the importance of testing EVERYTHING by the Word of God. In fact, folks need to stop chasing after another 'God-goosebump-experience', forget Elijah list's prophetic nonsense, get back in the Bible and repent to the Lord Jesus Christ of their sin/their un-scriptural activities.
August 12, 2008 UPDATE:
ARTICLE: Evangelist Bentley, Wife File for Separation
Special prayer request from
Fresh Fire website:
"...The Lord’s blessings and abundance have been so evident on the ministry during this season of intense activity and we rejoice in seeing and being able to participate in what we believe is only the beginning of a worldwide awakening. It is with considerable sadness then, that we must temper the jubilation we know you all feel with the sobering news that Todd and Shonnah Bentley are presently experiencing significant friction in their relationship and are currently separated. We want to affirm that there has been no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah, nor has there ever been. Undoubtedly the pressures and the burden of the Outpouring, which approaches 144 days on August 23rd, have helped to create an atmosphere of fatigue and stress that has exacerbated existing issues in their relationship. We wish to stress however, that the Outpouring is not “to blame” for the current chain of events and that in effect we have no interest in blaming anyone, but rather we deeply covet your prayers for Todd and Shonnah and for Fresh Fire Ministries during this time..."
August 11, 2008 UPDATE:
Separation May End Bentley's Lakeland Appearances
Todd Bentley, the evangelist who has led the Florida Outpouring revival here in Lakeland since April 2, has filed for separation from his wife and might not return to the revival, according to his former local spokesperson, Lynne Breidenbach.
Bentley Family
She said Bentley made the announcement to his staff this afternoon. Bentley and his wife, Shonnah, have two daughters and a son and are Canadian citizens. Under Canadian law, separation is a first step in divorce proceedings and takes nine months. Bentley and his wife have been in marriage counseling for several months, Breidenbach said. She called the situation "very sad" but insisted it "doesn't invalidate what Todd did" at the revival.
Breidenbach, who said her contract with Bentley's Fresh Fire ended today, said it is not clear whether Bentley will make further appearances at the revival. About two weeks ago, Bentley announced he would leave the revival on Aug. 23 in order to resume his traveling evangelistic work.
The Fresh Fire Ministries Web site indicates that a September appearance by Bentley in England has been postponed. Stay tuned for further information.
source
August 4, 2008 UPDATE:
Todd Bentley Leaving Lakeland August 23
August 3, 2008 UPDATE:
Video clips and article on
spiritual drunkenness and false revival
August 1, 2008 UPDATE:
This following article was written back in June but has some very important information regarding the Sanskrit words that Todd Bentley uses:
Todd Bentley Raging Revival/A VERY SERIOUS WARNING!!!!!!
July 31, 2008 UPDATE:
Received the following comments by Andrew Strom in an email today. I don't agree with everything Strom says/believes but the following is interesting. Thanks Steve!
Are WAGNER's APOSTLES LEAVING??
- Andrew Strom.
Last week we published a number of strong statements against
Lakeland by one of Peter Wagner's 'apostles' named Robert
Ricciardelli. For those who are not aware, Peter Wagner heads
up an organization devoted to setting in place "apostles" over the
church. This is known as the 'New Apostolic Reformation' (NAR),
and it has been very controversial. I myself have never seen it as
any kind of true "Reformation" - because all it seems to do is
set up another level of hierarchy over the existing ones. I also
question whether many of the "apostles" are true apostles - but
that is another story. Suffice it to say, that Wagner runs one of
the most powerful and far-reaching global networks in the
Charismatic world.
I don't know if Peter Wagner fully realized what he was doing
when he went down to Lakeland and publicly endorsed Todd
Bentley and the 'revival' there. But clearly he started a rift in his
own movement that may very well almost tear it apart.
However, before we discuss this further, it is also important to
note that even some "pro-Lakeland" churches are beginning to
have second thoughts about supporting that movement - as more
factual information begins to emerge about what is really going on.
The following was written by the leader of a "pro-Lakeland" church -
and forwarded to me this week. (I have removed the identity of
both the leader and the church). This really is an amazing
admission for such a "pro-Lakeland" leader to make:
"Hi staff,
We need to talk, probably as a staff, and go through what I've
found out. I had a long talk with Robert Ricciardelli. He's no revival
critic... He loves revival, believes in healing, prophecy and all the
rest and is delighted to hear about the healings we've had here.
He's a close friend of Stephen Strader... He's in an accountability
relationship with Lee Grady (editor of Charisma Magazine) and is
a writer for Charisma on occasion. He's part of C. Peter Wagner's
apostolic network, recognized by Peter as an apostle. I've seen
the man's website and he's legit, not a heresy hunter.
"The reports he has given me are firsthand, not hearsay. I am
deeply troubled, grieved and tormented at what I'm hearing. He
attributes most of the anointing at Lakeland to Roy Fields (worship
leader). I agree. Roy is nothing but clean and God shows up hugely
when he leads worship. I can go into detail later about what is
surfacing, but there are huge lapses of integrity going on... Much
embellishment. Many claims have been made that simply are not
true. The Charisma crew has researched it. I want to weep. My
heart is breaking. For now, to be safe and for the sake of integrity,
we need to stop speaking about the claimed resurrections. Three
of them have been checked out with the doctors and EMTs
involved and found never to have happened at all. Todd has been
confronted with this and has not adjusted the numbers in his
claims. Not a single one of the other claimed resurrections can
be substantiated despite diligent effort to do so. Even after
Stephen Strader brought it down to 13 (and even those couldn't
be substantiated) Todd ran it back up to 27 and more.
Misrepresentation and embellishment!
"On the financial front, Todd recently told the crowd that God had
told him that there were 1,000 people who would give $1,000 and
that they would be blessed 1,000-fold. Robert called Stephen
Strader to confront the unbiblical nature of that appeal. It came
out that Todd admitted he hadn't heard that from God, that it was
just an idea he had so that they could raise money to build a big
stadium. Robert challenged them to issue an apology the following
night based on that false claim of being told by God and they
refused to do it on the excuse that it's a different crowd every night.
"That's the flavor of what I'm finding. There's a lot more. I'm so
grieved I can hardly think. I'm not saying the Lakeland Outpouring
is not of God (God is bigger than the men involved), although good
men whom I have respected all my life are saying just that (that it's
not of God), based on what they know and have seen...
"What I am saying is that we need to back up and not identify
ourselves closely with Lakeland and that we need to stop repeating
claims being made on the air lest we end up getting splattered
with the collateral damage when certain issues of false claims,
embellishments and lapses of integrity begin to come out more
publicly. By the way, no one is saying that some healings have not
happened - only that many false, embellished or unsubstantiated
claims have been made. A number of really good men, champions
of revival through the years, are actually saying that the whole
thing is of the devil and that even the healings are demonically
inspired. I want to be clear that I'm not going there..." [-end quote].
So here we have a 'pro-Lakeland' church checking out these facts
for the first time and now deciding that they "need to back up and
not identify ourselves closely with Lakeland." Pretty amazing!
Meanwhile - back to the topic of "apostles" and what is now
happening in Peter Wagner's main 'ICA' organization:
One of Wagner's apostles, Robert Ricciardelli, put out an email
this week saying that he has received a great deal of support for
his stand against Lakeland - the majority of it from pastors. And
he also made the following very significant statement:
"As a member of ICA, Peter Wagner actually caused many
questions to come my way because of my membership there.
I will no longer be involved with that organization and actually
have not tracked well with them and some of their agendas since
I have been involved with them. However, I have enjoyed the many
relationships I have developed from going to the annual meetings.
Most all of those relationships are also disengaging from their
affiliation with ICA, because of many issues beyond Lakeland."
So clearly Robert is now leaving the ICA - as are other 'apostles'
that he knows of also. I asked him to clarify this last point.
Robert wrote to me:
"The ICA leadership continues to adopt belief systems without
seeking the advice and counsel of members. Many of the members
do not, and will not support these beliefs, including the support of
anti-biblical behavior and doctrine currently being expressed through
Todd Bentley and Freshfire Ministries. In fact as ICA embraces
this, they now have taken a stance that will indirectly have to
embrace many of the same ministries, including "New Mystic"
John Crowder and others. This escalating focus on angels,
experiences, trances, etc is far from the focus of Jesus, His
Kingdom, and His righteousness... Many of us who really enjoyed
the ICA annual conferences are now forced to make a decision
as to whether to continue our involvement with them."
Robert has also stated that he personally was never into
"Dominionist" beliefs or the "hierarchical NAR agenda." His last
statement to me was: "I think that there is a chance that many
may disassociate with the ICA depending on Todd continuing to
reveal his deceptive doctrine and Peter continuing to support such doctrine."
I wonder if Peter Wagner ever imagined that by endorsing Todd
Bentley he may be sowing huge seeds of destruction in his own
movement? -Perhaps only time will tell.
July 23, 2008 UPDATE (Pls note, several of the following videos are no longer available - 5/15/09):
Hypnosis and Christians
