THE TODD BENTLEY DISAPPOINTMENT

THE TODD BENTLEY DISAPPOINTMENT
by Pam Clark (pamclark@prophetic.net)
 
Well, the note was in my mail box this morning as well as thousands of others that Todd Bentley is being unfaithful to his wife and children with another woman who was in the ministry with him there.  Some people - even those who did not support or believe in the Lakeland Revival - sacrifice everything but their hearts for the Lord.
 
It's a painful thing.  And while I can already anticipate all the "I told you so" emails I am going to get, the truth is I don't agree with all their premises.  Todd Bentley's "moral failure" hurts millions of people.  It hurts the Body of Christ, and subjects it to mockery, but he is human and humans fail - and some more publicly than others.  Your sin will find you out but so will your Savior.
Todd Bentley did not guard his heart.  And so many will feel betrayed.  Even I have to guard my emotions from the lies of the devil over this. 
 
This is not the first disappointment I have ever felt from the ministry.  I can go back many years and give examples, but we are dealing with humans in flesh.  My favorite heros have disappointed me, but do I give up on them anymore than I give up on myself?  I am sure I have failed others in their views of things.  And often we don't know the whole story, we just want the other people to be perfect in our eyes.
 
In this article I want to discuss some factors to consider.  This article is not meant to persuade you as much as it is here to help you and cause you to think.
 
I wish I was an drawing artist, I'd make a sketch, but have you ever seen those virtual people sillohuettes where you can put on the hair and clothes and even the voice now that we have advanced technical skills?  In my youth, we made paper dolls and made different paper outfits for them.  Now we do it in 3d animation.
 
But I would like to take one of those blank sillohuettes and ask you to make and show me the "model Christian."  Oh believe me, people have their ideas about that - what they look like, how they dress, and talk and act, and this is their prototype.  When they give to foreign fields for missionaries to people very unlike them, they (some) don't really care about the people, they just want to look like the model Christian who has sympathy for the "underprivileged."  They have no plans to love someone different than they are.
 
I have been on both sides where I have been blessed with money and also very needy and I have seen the different attitudes in giving.  Some, if you weren't so desperate, you'd like to throw it back at them!  Some gifts I have refused because they had slimy strings attached.  But God really does provide, through saint and sinner alike.  And He has the better way of proper ethics, which is something we struggle over.
 
I am saying all that to say this:  What is the model (perfect) Christian?  What is in your mind as to pass and fail, good and bad, okay and not okay, big time yes and big time no?  And does that measure up to what Jesus said and did with people?  Do you receive blessings from unrighteous people?  Do you receive money from unrighteous employers on your job even though you struggle to be good?
 
The Lakeland Revival focused on physical healing.  Very important but only one tiny aspect of the full salvation of Jesus Christ who restores spirit, soul and body and relationships.  God has emotional healings and family healings and inner healings as well as physical healings.  This world needs governmental healings as well!  And we have Bible promises for that.
 
I was talking to someone who is not in Spirit filled circles the other day and brought up the Lakeland Revival and she said she read in the paper how someone was healed at the Revival but when they got home, the healing went away.  There are a lot of factors in that I want to mention relating to that.
 
Jesus, who was God represented to us, brought healing.  That is undeniable Scripture and reality.  But how did He heal?  Did he send them to a doctor or put down doctors?  No to both of those questions.  When people came to Jesus, He usually asked them if they believed and had faith.  When they did, they received healing.
 
Sickness many times is a result of a bad environment or generational failure which can bring about a curse of judgment from the unrepented sin.  Sin also opens doors to devils or demons.  If a person gets in a Godly environment, especially around a corporate faith of belief, then it is easy to "catch" and receive the healing and deliverance. 
 
However if there is a return to an unbelieiving or even sinful and disrespecting or fearful lifestyle, that person can lose their healing because they were not strong enough alone on their own.  I think many fail to understand this.  If I go and get a healing and then return home to an environment that does not respect and honor God, He is not obligated to sustain that healing.  Many times the healing evangelist is blamed for that - when he or she is the one who worked for the corporate atmosphere of healing!
 
Todd Bentley had a lot of zeal.  He was passionate and driven and he used that strength to bring about a corporate atmosphere.  His zeal had some manifesations that were out of order but at the time, I would say he meant well but his zeal outran his wisdom.  (I am talking about methods of ministering to some people.  Some went beyond decent and in order in the fruit of the Spirit in being too aggressive with people.)  That wrong overzealous way of doing things happens to everyone in their life at one point or another - this just happened to be before a big audience and so it cost a lot.
 
When people have high energy, they look for ways to release it.  High energy people usually are leaders.   And if their home life is not guarded or in order, some bad things like this can occur.  These are things that fathers are supposed to teach sons and that mothers are supposed to teach daughters - natural and Spiritual. 
 
Todd came from a dysfunctional family life according to his own testimony, much of which had been restored, but things aren't always healed fully and suddenly.  Some repairs come over time through continual ministry.  We can know where we are in life and in our Body of Christ influence by our total (global) failures.  But we are making progress, too!
 
But we have a huge breakdown of the family today and it almost seems like it is every man for himself there, and those who were blessed with family support too often seem to lord it over those who didn't have that and delight in the mockery of failures with their better than thou "I told you so" spirit.
The Scriptures say:

Galatians 6:1-5 (NKJ)
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For each one shall bear his own load.
Many people blame "the manifestations" of shaking and yelling and laughing and running but that also has to be weighed.  I used to think all that was weird until I was around it and felt "the power."  On the day of Pentecost, people thought they were drunk and Peter had to explain it.
 
I have trembled before God, had holy laughter that loosened me up, felt so excited that I wanted to run and yell, had tears of sobbing intercessions, and felt that joy unspeakable and full of glory.  King David danced with all his might until his outer garment came off and did it before the Lord.  His wife who mocked him was distanced over that offense and therefore did not conceive children. 
King David's own offense with Bathsheba almost wiped him out and caused a lot of anger and disrespect and loss of honor in his kingdom.  Later his own sons caused him great grief as a result of all that.  All that had to be overcome, but it was!
 
There are different natures and experiences, and people express their emotions in different ways, but the Bible does say that the fruit of the Spirit is self control.  However, if you pour boiling water on me, I am going to have a reaction and yell and so will you!  Is God always unemotional?  I would say no.
 
Jesus is Truth and sometimes you have to work through things to see it.  Some prices are too high for different people.  But can God be found?  He is Truth and Truth will stand in your heart.  And if He can be found is there a value on the finding? 
Is everyone going to be the same?  No.  But if you want a certain thing (like a healing) strong enough, you will press through a lot of stuff to get it!
 
What if we judged everyone on what kinds of foods they enjoyed?  How crazy that would be.  Yet there are some foods that are definitely not healthy or safe or good for us.  Sometimes it's the portion more than the food.  We have to have some good logic and reasoning.
 
I am disappointed that Todd failed this temptation.  It hurts deeply his wife, his children, his staff, his converts, and everyone who loved and supported him.   What happened will go down in the books as history and will be even later very controversial. 
 
But do we guard our own hearts from letting this destroy our faith in a good God?  Can Todd repent?  Many will lose heart over this and that is the tragedy we will experience in pain.  Many will allow this disappointment to cause them to lose their healing or even more, their faith.  But where is their heart?  It can be resilient for many.   It's hard when the witness is through a person but maturity learns to let go to full dependence on His Spirit.   But for many it comes in stages.
 
Does that make Todd "of the devil" or "out" when the Scriptures say that the gift and calling of God are without repentance?  He may have succumbed to the devil and his plans with this failure, but does God judge by us or by His Son Jesus? 
 
We know that He judges by His Son who remained faithful.  And all sinners must come to and through His Son who remains faithful. 
 
Do moral failures happen in the mainline churches?  They most certainly do. 
 
I heard a story once about a Baptist deacon whose teenage son was killed in an auto accident.  Blood tests showed that he had been drinking and the father was livid over who would provide his underage son alcohol.  He made a really big deal out of it.  Time went by and one night the father went down to his basement where he kept his own secret stash of alcohol for stress and found the bottle missing.  It was then he realized where his son got the liquor.
 
Life is not perfect because we live in a fallen nature world.  But the places where we can express the righteousness and Kingdom of God are obviously more blessed places than many other places. 
 
Our nation has court systems which express judgments by your peers.  Not perfect by a long shot but better than places where a tyrannical dictator can decide your fate on his mood or whim.  The Kingdom of God has arrived here more than there by evidence of the righteousness and Love.  We need the graces of God.
 
Yes, we are going to hurt for a while.  The media and the non-stop professional critics will have a field day.  But is your Savior worth keeping?  I think He is.  Spread the Word!  Jesus lives and He wins!