The epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy relationships.
Despite the proliferation of iPhones, Blackberries, e-mail and social networking Web sites—not to mention Starbucks locations—many Christian men, if they are honest, will tell you they are lonely. They may Twitter several times a day to co-workers; they may have occasional golf buddies; they may even grab coffee with colleagues from time to time. But so many men who attend church regularly are friendless.
This was made real to me last weekend when I spoke to a group of men at a large charismatic church in Rochester, N.Y. I was talking about three different types of relationships we need: (1) "Pauls," who serve as spiritual fathers; (2) "Barnabases," peer-level encouragers who support and challenge us; and (3) "Timothys," younger men we inspire and mentor.
I asked the guys in Rochester to write down the names of the men in their lives who fall into each category. When the session was over, one man went home to his wife and announced that he couldn't write down one name in any of the categories. He had no meaningful relationships. Other men I spoke to that night admitted that they don't have mentors and have never been transparent with a male friend about personal problems.
Men are disconnected. And we wonder why the American church is dysfunctional?
Secular psychologists can tell you why men struggle to build close relationships with each other. But we rarely address this issue in the church—and as a result many men who love God live in painful isolation. I've identified the three biggest barriers to healthy male bonding:
#1. Macho stereotypes. The macho myth says a real man is a rugged individualist: strongly independent, emotionally detached, covered in body armor without visible weaknesses. The macho myth tells boys they must never cry—even when they are in pain—and that when they become adults they cannot be intimate with their wives or tender with their children. The macho myth says they must maintain dictatorial power and control in relationships, even if abuse is necessary.
Yet when we look at Scripture we see that Jesus Christ radically challenged the macho culture promoted by the religious leaders of His day. The Pharisees looked down on women, stayed aloof from children, and celebrated their own importance while refusing to touch the needy. Jesus, on the flip side, empowered marginalized women, held babies in His arms, touched lepers and told a parable about a father who embraced and kissed his wayward son. Jesus destroyed the macho myth by demonstrating that the strongest masculinity is gentle and approachable.
#2. Fear of homosexuality. In my travels I've noticed that men in other countries feel perfectly free to be affectionate. Men in Africa hold hands; in Latin countries they kiss each other on the neck. Sociologists say male affection was once more common in this country—but it waned around the same time awareness of homosexuality increased. Nowadays, many straight men are afraid to offer a consoling embrace to a friend lest it be viewed as a sexual advance.
That's tragic for many reasons, mostly because all human beings need affection to thrive. There are men today in their 60s and 70s who still crave the affection their emotionally-repressed fathers never gave them. So they live in shells and suffer in silence.
Many guys turn to homosexuality as a substitute for the healthy, non-sexual male affection they should have received. (Then the devil is all too eager to convince them they were "born that way.") The church could offer genuine healing to guys who struggle with sexual identity issues, but it will require us to offer fatherly or brotherly affection without fear.
#3. The competition trap. Let's face it: Guys are so insecure and so work-oriented that we rate each other and ourselves solely on performance. Whether on the fourth-grade playground or in the corporate boardroom, we are so obsessed with the game that we can't let any other guy get ahead. We have to win, so every other male becomes an obstacle to our goal.
Male pride is the single biggest reason we can't get close to our brothers. It's the reason a Christian guy with a porn addiction can't be honest enough to call a friend and share his ugly secret. It's the reason some pastors can't admit their marriages are suffering. It's the reason successful businessmen end up drinking on weekends instead of finding a support group. A big, fat ego stands in the way.
Jesus showed us how to deal with male pride. Right before He went to the cross He gathered His male followers together for the Passover, stripped off His clothes and put on a slave's towel. Then He proceeded to wash His disciples' smelly, dusty feet. When He finished the job He told His men they should treat each other the same way.
The current epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy, honest relationships. The only way to reverse the trend is to reintroduce men to the servant Savior—who was so humble that he took off His macho armor and became vulnerable.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady. He is the author of 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, which is availablehere.
Tuesday, 05 May 2009 08:35 J. Lee Grady Newsletters - Fire In My Bones
Put on your seat belt. What we are experiencing is so much more than an economic recession.
Unless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep for years, I'm sure you feel the daily convulsions that are rocking our world. Change is hitting America right between the eyes. Everything that can be shaken is being shaken—from banks and insurance companies to car manufacturers and media empires.
Trusted brands, including Chrysler and United Airlines, may go out of business within months. Newspapers are laying off employees in droves as readers go digital; bookstores like Borders can't compete with Amazon.com. Pontiac is officially dead, and the city of Detroit—once the proud global headquarters of the auto industry—is rusting and jobless.
"Please don't fight the changes God wants to bring in your life. As you hold on to His unchangeable love, allow Him to push the reset button."
What we are experiencing today is more than an economic recession. The upheaval is affecting us politically, socially, technologically and spiritually. It feels as if God has pushed a giant red reset button in heaven. Change is being forced on us.
Meanwhile there is a big problem in the church: We Christians don't have a great track record when it comes to embracing change. We are slow adapters. Often we insist on doing church exactly like Grandpa did, and then when we realize we are outdated it's too late.
For a few months I've been pondering the changes happening in charismatic churches and praying about our future as a movement. I've been asking hard questions and wrestling with my own fears of change. And I've reached some uncomfortable conclusions:
1. The charismatic movement as we know it has ended. I celebrate what God did in recent years to bring the Holy Spirit's renewal to the church. My life was totally changed by it. But the cloud is moving, and we cannot pitch our tents around the revivals of the past. While we embrace the eternal things He gave us in those days, we must discard the styles and methods that are no longer fruitful so we can advance.
That doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cling to what is good. But we must leave behind the excesses, extremes and flaky doctrines that give us a bad name. The one-man show is over. The prosperity circus was a failure. We must abandon the deceptive hype of the past. People today are craving authenticity—not shallow words and empty promises.
2. A "new generation" church is emerging. I visit two or three churches every month in this country. Those that are healthy and growing have developed new paradigms. Though they embrace the power of the Holy Spirit, they also place high value on evangelism, small-group discipleship, social justice and world missions. They are extravagant in giving to outreach. They are relational, not event-driven. And they demand character from leaders rather than simply celebrating a man or woman's spiritual anointing.
No one has coined a term for this movement yet, but it is growing—and it represents the future of Christianity in our country. These new generation churches embrace healthy leadership and don't tolerate the kind of ministry monkey business that has embarrassed us in recent years. These churches love sinners and preach grace, but they draw the lines necessary to enforce biblical standards.
New generation churches are also connected in a healthy, relational way to other churches, yet they are not denominational in a restrictive sense. They refuse labels. Rather than wearing the cumbersome armor of a religious structure, they are free to pray, dream and be creative about how they should reach the children, high school students, business leaders, drug addicts, immigrants, homeless people, twenty-somethings and church dropouts in their communities.
3. God is tearing down the walls that divide us. For too long we've been content to congregate in our comfortable tribal groups. But the essence of Pentecost involves the Holy Spirit's outpouring "on all mankind" (Acts 2:17, NASB). This means true Pentecostals cannot harbor racism.
God's agenda in this next season of revival will involve tearing down racist structures—and this will occur not only in white churches but in black and Hispanic ones as well. It also means that church leaders from China, India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America will have a greater platform to speak into our lives here in the United States. Western Christians must accept the fact that we don't have all the answers!
4. We face an unprecedented global opportunity for evangelism. I've never been the first to try new gadgets. I still like to hold my newspaper and read it on the back porch—and I don't watch TV shows on an iPhone. But regardless of my creature habits, I can't stand in the way of today's technological revolution.
Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth—and that requires us to use every means possible. God is in a hurry to reach places like Uzbekistan, Niger and Yemen—and He will likely use podcasts, Blackberries and Facebook to do it. We should claim all new media so that every person on this planet can hear that Jesus died to save us.
Please don't fight the changes God wants to bring in your life. As you hold on to His unchangeable love, allow Him to push the reset button. Then buckle your seat belt and hold on. We are in for the ride of our lives!
____________________________
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady.
Today was quite the day. After a week of dealing with the accident that my dearly loved daughters were in, and thank the Lord He kept them safe, we got a settlement on the car and went out shopping for the replacement car. In my cluster of friends (guys) I have three that drive Toyota products and they swear by them (in a good sense, like "affirming"). So, after searching through the Internet, we found a Toyoda Corolla, and decided that first thing we would go and see it. So we went out to the dealer to look at a 2006 Toyota Corolla. We saw it and it had all kinds of scratches and dents and the rear panel had obviously been involved in an accident. The salesman "Mike" was showing it to us, when another person came out of the dealership saying that this car had just sold! Lori, my dear wife said, "Good, because we don't want it!"
Then my wife looked at me and said, "Let's go see Mikki at Alpine!" So off we went to the dealer that had sold us our last two cars. We took out three different Hyundai Sonatas and then an XG350. We were sold on the last one, the XG350. So we got a new car. It will be ready for us on Friday. We are thankful for a new car, and thankful at how it all came together. The dealership was great, the sales person, Mikki, was equally great. Alpine Hyundai have been first rate with us for our two previous cars. This time was no different.
We have to look at the purchase of cars as a necessary expense and also with an eye that we are not buying a lemon. Testimonials of users, especially of those who make sure to maintain and upkeep with regular service their vehicles, are the best testimonials.
With all Hyundai vehicles the main maintenance issue is the timing belt, which should be changed every 100 K. If you don't you end up causing all kinds of other problems that pile up on top of each other. It only makes sense, money wise, to maintain and thereby minimize your costs. Our Santa Fe is a great vehicle and Lori drives it to work each day to Woodstock (67 KM one way) and it has proven to be very reliable, both in spring/summer and especially fall/winter driving.
Our Elantra was a great vehicle as well, and even in the accident, it absorved the head on collision quite well, airbags deployed and the seat belts did their thing to preserve our daughters lives, never mind the excellent defensive driving skills of our daughter Caitlin, which prevented the vehicle from being hit on the sides. See the video of the crash test for the Hyundai Elantra.
Anyone who talks about the stupidity of airbags and seat belts really do not understand how much they do assist in preserving life. Both saved the lives of our daughters. So we were pleased with it, but wanted a bigger vehicle. The Sonata made the choice easy until we saw the XG350. The XG350 is like a upscale Sonata.
So, having looked around online, I found a video of the main features of our new car. Here it is:
We are thankful that we could pay cash for the car and not absorb debt. So there is a lot to be thankful for. We have gainful employement. We have our daughters safe and sound. We have our insurance which came through to provide the means to get another car. God is good, for He works through all these situations and people, to provide for us and makes us stewards of our finances so that we can have the means to be about what He wants us engaged in, including our jobs. Today I thank God that we have Him involved in all our affairs. Our family is very grateful for His caring hand, and for His hand of provision. He sustains and keeps His own. He uses people and companies and employers to bless His people, and He wants us, His people to be responsible stewards with that which He provides.
1-3Live creatively, friends.If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him,saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. [The Message]
I have waited until now to wade into this charismaniac nightmare called the Bentley Debacle in a growing circle of conservative charismatic Christians. "Debacle" is a noun, that is defined as "a sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco". This whole debacle has revealed the ongoing erosion of biblical evangelical conservative theology, morality and ethics in the Western church, and the false heretical teachings which have become more and more normative within charismatic circles over the last decade. There are no more variant deviant theologies than those of Rick Joyner and Bill Johnson. To even consider these men as being able to bring Todd Bentley into accountability, discipline, correction and restoration, is the most deceptive ludicrous collusion that could take place within charismatic Christianity. It is in fact the pot calling the kettle black. Both Joyner and Johnson have aberrant theologies that mirror the same heretical teachings of Bentley. It is a frightening development that will further divide and marginalize the body of Christ. Were it not for such men as J. Lee Grady and such publications as Charisma magazine, the wider charismatic stream would not be aware of ongoing developments.
So here I am today, a former ordained minister, who left the institutional church a decade ago, but still very much in the stream of evangelicalism as a charismatic Reformed Anabaptist believer in the growing house church movement, still affected by the excesses and extremes of a charismatic renewal movement that has gone off the rails. Much of this derailment can be traced to the Toronto Blessing and its subsequent off shoots, who more and more emphasized experience over godly character development, and weird manifestations attributed to the Spirit, but very much filled with flesh and the demonic such as an obsession with the angelic, unbiblical signs and wonders.
I know, for I was on the inside, and was very much engaged with the Toronto Blessing, even after the Vineyard split from it. I was hoodwinked by the likes of John Arnott and TACF, Rick Joyner, Bill Johnson, as well as Todd Bentley, Joshua Mills, and Patricia King. I was an active financial supporter of Bentley, Mills and King. I was so hungry for God, that I parked by theological training aside, and just swallowed hook line and sinker so much "crap" from these people, that it took God to bring me to a place of repentance for having embraced false teachers, and a false revival movement. The most frightening aspect of their teaching was its mixture of partial truth with grievous error, and its seducing power over your heart and mind.
My withdrawal from the wacky charismatic side began three years ago. I came across many who were deeply disturbed by the extremes dominating the charismatic branch of the church, and many who chose to withdraw and join other more conservative and less controversial expressions of the body of Christ. The writings online of such bloggers as RobbyMac and his subsequent book "Post-Charismatic?" expressed much of the angst and much of the heart of those who withdrew, hoping for a return to biblical orthodoxy by these false teachers and their followers.
There was no need for "I told you sos" when the supposed revival in Florida in 2008 was exposed as being as fraudulent as its leader. Bentley and his cohorts were being exposed for some time, and the Florida "revival" proved to be stage for his undoing and full exposure as a heretic, false teacher, and false healer. When the gang of "apostles" took centre stage with Peter C. Wagner, the deception was complete, and yet, God in His sovereignty and mercy brought the whole enterprise crashing down.
Bentley was proven to be a fraud, and yet now, more than ever we have the likes of Johnson and Joyner bullying and pimping their product (the power ministry of Bentley) upon the still conservative charismatic branch of the body of Christ. They misuse and misinterpret passages of Scripture at will, trying to convince and re-establish Bentley in ministry.
I find it disturbing that these men get away with such misrepresentations of scripture. Restoration in the New Testament has nothing to do with ministry. All the passages conscerning restoration have to do with restoration to God and to other believers. The passage that Joyner has brow beaten many with, including J. Lee Grady, is Galatians 6:1 "Brothers, if a person is trapped in some sin, you who are spiritual help make him right again. You should do this in a gentle way. But be careful! You might be tempted to sin too." This only has to do with restoration to God, through repentance, and forgiveness, and restoring such a one to God and to the local body of Christ. How Joyner and others use this for restoration to ministry defies the laws of hermeneutics and twists the principles of interpretation and application.
It is not rocket science. Take the time to read Paul's writings concerning bishops, elders and deacons and you will find very strong language about conduct and behavior and the character of those who are called to servant leadership. Marriage is a huge issue in the texts found in the epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) and here we have one area where "restoration" should have been attempted secondly, only after Todd had been restored to God. As for the latter, we have not really discovered if Todd has trully repented. For such a public personality, you would think that he would express repentance to God and the body of Christ publicly, and not go through self-justification exercises on YouTube with Joyner. Todd should have demonstrated humility and done all that he could, and more, as well as call on the body of Christ to pray for him and Shonnah, for their healing and restoration to their marriage. But no, Todd has no such faith. So what kind of "great faith gift" does Todd actually have? Does he not believe that God can and does heal and restore broken marriages? All this is a cop-out and the shaming of the institution of marriage and a dishonoring of the scriptures and the truths they reveal about God and His holiness.
There is no doubt that there are people who divorce, but I find that there is no argument for remarriage within the texts of the New Testament. Divorce was granted for the hardness of our hearts. Remarriage is not an option, for marriage is a picture of the relationship the Bride of Christ has with Christ. If anything the Old Testament and the New Testament call upon believers to forgive and restore those who have injured their marriages through unfaithfulness, and adultry. Why would Bentley not desire what God says plainly that He desires?
I have gone from one position to a more liberal position in regards to remarriage, and back again to a conservative reading and application of these same texts. Ironically all the marriages I officiated as an ordained minister were for divorced people, other than one marriage, which was for a widow and widower. I regret that I ever performed these divorced peoples' marriages, but I cannot undo them. So, now I no longer support such a view as I do not believe it to be biblical.
Likewise, I believe that unfaithfulness in marriage, compounded by erroneous theology, and aberrant false teachings, leads to the disqualifications of such persons from opportunities at servant leadership. Persons such as Todd Bentley should not be restored to any kind of public ministry, ever. Disqualification in ministry is taught and clearly revealed in 1 Corinthians 9 (especially when contrasted to the standards in the pastoral epistles, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus). In 1 Corinthians 9 we read:
23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Paul postulates about apostleship and character and commitment to holiness and integrity, and shows that "disqualification" is a possibility. Todd Bentleydisqualified himself. Plain and simple.
I pray and hope for a full restoration of Todd Bentley to God and to the Body of Christ, but that by no means includes a restoration to public ministry. There certainly are a host of others in the charismatic stream who have divorced and remarried and carried on with "successful ministries" since their second marriages. That says more about the followers than it does of the divorced and remarried. Charismatics crave public personalities and heroes, and unfortunately, through the ongoing machinations of the likes of Joyner and Johnson and their respective propaganda campaign through seducing videos on YouTube, they will wear down many, and draw many others to support the public ministry of Todd Bentley, regardless of the sins committed and the disqualification from public ministry standard found in scripture.
Joyner and Johnson have argued without a thorough study and exegesis of the biblical passages, and have dodged all attempts at true scriptural standards. They have stood on an easy theology of greasy grace, where they have neutered the biblical call to discernment and judgment. They have accused those in the Body of Christ of judgmentalism, when in fact, those who have been committed to truth and holiness, are only calling people like Bentley to a right relationship, through repentance, forgiveness and restoration to God honoring relationships. This is biblical accountability, nothing more and nothing less. Joyner avoids these things, and counter attacks with smoke and mirrors. Joyner made it abundantly clear that he only wants Todd's ministry restored, as he has this great "gift" that must be used. If Joyner truly knew the scriptures, he would know that God cares more about character than gifts. This is the whole point of the qualifications of eldership found in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.
The unfortunate thing is that eventually Bentley will be "restored" by a perversion of the biblical texts, by false teachers such as Joyner and Johnson, and Bentley will again have a following. The degree of that following will depend on the people doing the following. Those who continue to seek after weird experiences and aberrant non-biblical teachings will continue to follow the tune of Bentley the pied piper, to their own demise and destruction. The only thing we in the wider Body of Christ can do, is to continue to pray and intercede with God for the preservation of those who belong to Him, that they will not be seduced by false teachers and their aberrant teachings. May God have mercy on us and may He rescue those who are sincerely seeking after Christ and His Kingdom.
Soli Deo Gloria Sam in Waterloo, ON, Canada
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The latest videos from the friends of shamed Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley show that his divorce and instantaneous remarriage is central to their thinking as they seek to "restore" him to ministry. Evidently, they hope that he will be the first of thousands, if not millions, to be restored in this way.
Mr. Bentley, they are determined, will be making a comeback....and if his friends have to change the beliefs of millions of Christians about marriage and divorce to do so, that is merely incidental.
One feature of the developing restoration campaign may be doing the evangelist himself a disservice. Another feature of the campaign may do a disservice to the Christian church as a whole, particularly the charismatic Christian subculture that Mr. Bentley and his friends are in a position to most influence.
You may recall that Mr. Bentley separated from his first wife Shonnah immediately after the collapse of his internationally famous revival in Lakeland, Florida, last summer. The separation was attributed to an "affair" that he had been conducting with Jessa Hasbrook, whom he married shortly after his divorce was finalized with his first wife.
Although there are several reasons to view Mr. Bentley and the fruit of his revival with dismay, it appears that Mr. Bentley's friends--led by his mentor, U.S. charismatic evangelist Rick Joyner--see his instant trophy wife as the biggest obstacle to his being restored, as their series of videos thus far have concentrated on Mr. Bentley's divorce and the resulting fallout.
Mr. Bentley is to be definitely restored to the ministry, no ifs ands or buts, Mr. Joyner explains in a video released a few days ago, or Mr. Joyner has failed in his task:
At the 1:20 mark of the above video, Mr. Joyner, citing Galatians 6:1, argues that when the verse "...talks about being restored....it really does mean to restore them, to put them back where they were. That has to happen." This restoration, moreover, can be as short, or as long as necessary.
In Mr. Bentley's defense, this sort of thinking may harm him. Things are being structured to not allow him the chance to do a deep soul searching, rethinking everything including his work, his theology and what God might have called him to.
For example, his tapes and CDs are being sold by Mr. Joyner's ministry. So, his mentor is saying that there is nothing wrong with his way of looking at the Bible. This discourages Mr. Bentley from studying the Bible, learning in-depth theology, and praying about whether the fruit of what he teaches is good--let alone considering the views of those who fear that he has lapsed into heresy, and whether they might have some valid points to consider.
Mr. Bentley has had what some of his friends consider two extramarital affairs. They are being blamed, at length, on "burnout", in statements issued by Mr. Joyner. Mr. Joyner, moreover, notes that Mr. Bentley's first wife Shonnah wanted to keep him grounded, more often at home with her and the kids. Perhaps Mr. Bentley is not suited to have a high pressure, international ministry and should be a pastor or a lay worker who should only do evangelistic work in addition to his day job. I don't know, but in the best interest of Mr. Bentley, he should be free to consider options like these. [I can argue that his first wife seems to have been a check and balance that could have kept him better grounded, and not burned out. His new wife, Jessa, will have less ability and authority to tell him to slow down, being younger and less mature in the faith.]
Everything, however, is being set up for him to be an evangelist again. He already has a new ministry office, Fresh Fire USA, based at Mr. Joyner's ministry. It seems, from the subtext of what Mr. Joyner and his friends are saying, that they would have a hard time explaining that Todd Bentley was restored if God didn't "put him back where he was". Todd Bentley could be very happy and content operating a skid road soup kitchen, but with a theological build-up on the need to "restore" Mr. Bentley, anything less than full-time evangelism would be seen as something continuing to be "wrong". And that's not fair to Mr. Bentley.
An example of true soul-searchhing comes to mind, one that should come to Mr. Joyner's mind as the evangelist recently, in great humility, reminded the entire Internet that he had helped Jim Bakker get back on his feet after he was released from prison. Jim Bakker, as his book I was Wrong shows, had a crisis of conscience while in prison. He came to believe that the "prosperity gospel", a feature of his PTL ministry theology, was quite wrong, and in the years since leaving prison has developed a different mindset about Christianity and how it should best relate to the world.
It would be a good sign if Mr. Bentley would be open to putting everything on the table. But, there seem to be overt and subtle pressures to leave doors and drawers locked in the spiritual house of his ministry, so that he cannot re-examine everything, as God may wish him too. Of course, Mr. Bentley's critics would suggest that his theology and ministry are so aberrant that he should blow up everything and start over. But that can't happen if restoration must, of necessity, mean that Mr. Bentley goes back to preaching the same things in the same way.
A last point about "restoration". Mandatory restoration to doing the same thing in perhaps the same way opens up questions of prudence, discernment and common sense. Mr. Bentley may have been removed by circumstances precisely because, in the great scheme of things, it is very unwise to have him doing this sort of work. Had Christian leadership thought things through, it may have been wisest to leave him working in that Fraser Valley sawmill, for various reasons. That can't happen now.
As sad as this reluctance to allow true self-searching to take place is for Mr. Bentley, what is sadder is his friends' attitude to the ease of fixing divorce.
After decades of ministry, Mr. Joyner and his friend, California minister Bill Johnson, have perhaps discovered only recently that divorce is endemic in the Christian church. And, lo and behold, the process that will "restore" Todd Bentley will restore millions of Christians too.
In the very first video made by Mr. Joyner, he notes that more than half of U.S. church members have suffered from a divorce. He defines it, however, as having "been through something similar to what you've (looking at Todd Bentley) gone through." Not so. If accounts are correct, Mr. Bentley precipitated an affair and got married as soon as possible, an explosive end to a marriage which is not the norm in most divorces.
Divorce, though serious and sad, is not the end of the world. Shortly after the 8:58 mark of this video, below, Mr. Joyner remarks that "God is divorced". But, happily, He is going to "re-marry Israel", so all will be well in the end, one assumes:
More odd thinking is prominent in a recent video, which was saved to YouTube in two parts. I'm citing the second of the two parts. Mr. Joyner is on the right, Mr. Johnson the middle and Mr. Bentley the left:
"We've got people hiding in the thousands," Mr. Johnson says, contuing (at 1:32 into this video) to add that "he (i.e. Todd Bentley) is going to raise a flag of hope for these people."
This leads Mr. Joyner to chime in a few seconds later with the note that allegedly many divorced people have been contacting his ministry to say that the Bentley restoration process "gives them hope."
Mr. Bentley's example, adds Mr. Johnson "is going to prophesy to those without hope, to those without jope, to those who have given up, to those who are outside the church for any reason".
This leads Mr. Joyner to add, "We have a terrible scourge of divorce. It is tragic, but if you've been though it, it isn't the end. God hasn't given up on you and we haven't given up on you, even if it was your fault."
The two ministers decry all the giftings that are going to waste because excessively conservative Christians are not allowing divorced people to step up and do Christian work. They express hope that Todd Bentley can be an example of the restored diroced and remarried person being an example to the church, and Mr. Bentley chips in with "I want to be that message."
Two points.
It is self-serving for Mr. Bentley's friends to appeal to the thousands of divorced Christians in their audience, hoping that he will get some residual sympathy from those who think that they have been treated unfairly after their divorce. Mr. Bentley's divorce and remarriage is different in scale and public impact that the divorces suffered by most Christians. His divorce and remarriage is arguably worse because as a minister with a very public ministry he had a thousand times more reason to want to avoid a divorce and remarriage. The Bible holds ministers to a higher standard than lay people as well.
As one gets "restored" from one's divorce, one shouldn't be surprised to see Mr. Bentley in front of you in line, with a shy grin on his face. His work is arguably so important that he has to butt in line, and who are you to say that the grace extended to you shouldn't be extended to him?
I do realize that Christians have very differnt views on divorce, but what troubles me is that historically charismatics have been very conservative on the issues of divorce and remarriage. (I'd respecfully argue that reading the Bible to mean what it says would seem to imply that men and women should only marry once in their lives.)
What disturbs me about how Mr. Bentley and his friends are approaching this is that it isn't being addressed Biblically so far. Theological liberals, who have, well, liberal views on these questions are at least trying to parse the Greek, look at history and such. There's none of that so far in the videos, and if Mr. Joyner, Mr. Bentley and friends really want their audience to rethink their views on these questions, they need to start here. (Start and end here, my theologically conservative friends would say, as they probably would be hard pressed to do that without reading into the text and dismissing things that are there.)
It's chilling to see these issues being addressed on grounds of utility. People are not in the church! Their gifts aren't being used! Their offerings aren't being taken--er, strike that. Perhaps I'm too much of a conservative, but I would like to see some solid theological arguments. I hope that Christians hearing Mr. Bentley's appeal would demand them.
One last note. If what is being reported on his behalf is true, Mr. Bentley's affair caused him to act quite peculiarly. See if you agree.
Mr. Joyner, issuing a follow-up statement on what has been happening to Mr. Bentley, discusses his affair with Jessa. A few days ago, Mr. Joyner wrote:
....After Todd hit the wall with burnout, he then fell to an emotional attachment to a staff member. There was no physical relationship, and the girl did not return even the emotional attraction. When Todd went to his leadership team about what he was feeling, they immediately sent the girl away. Todd, trying to be open, then went to his wife to confess this attraction. Todd was trying to be transparent, but he is convinced that this was what killed what was left of his relationship to his wife.
Todd often called this attraction “an affair,” but it was not one. There was no physical adultery or even physical contact with the girl. However, Todd said that he knows he would have entered into such a relationship if she had been willing, and therefore, he felt that he needed to repent of it as if it had been an affair. I can appreciate Todd feeling this way. Because of the way rumors spread and grow, many still think that Todd had an actual affair several years ago, when in fact he did not.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that this is true for a moment. Wouldn't the ultimate defense for this be Todd and Jessa themselves issuing a statement to this effect in print and in video. Or were things seen and overheard that would lead to the pair being openly rebuked for what they said?
One assumes that Todd Bentley would have said these things privately to people before Mr. Joyner sent his trail balloon to fly. Where are the retractions and apologies from Robert Ricciradelli, C. Peter Wagner and Stephen Strader, often cited as the most reliable sources that something like an affair (at least) was going on? One would think that even one apology would be trumpeted by Mr. Bentley, but there is silence so far.
The governing board of Todd's old Fresh Fire Ministries defined Todd Bentley's actions as "adultery" in an open e-mail last fall. Are they so conservative that they would define something harmless, conducted in the brain according to Mr. Bentley, as adultery. One assumes that Shonnah Bentley would know the most details. As her reformed ministry is under the guidance of Califormia pastor Bill Johnson (a friend of Mr. Bentley's, as noted above), the first Mrs. Bentley may well be under an-offer-she-can't-refuse kinds of pressure to smooth over her ex-husband's affairs. But she has let her statement, as part of the board, be.
Mr. Bentley's critics will argue that Mr. Bentley may be testing how credulous his audience is. If so, he may have some success, as I have read commentary from people who wouldn't believe that something was amiss unless Todd and Jessa had (speaking purely hypothetically out of respect to the two in case they were good) gone to Tampa Bay and consummated an affair on the 50 yard line during Bruce Springsteen's performance at the last Super Bowl.
Sorry but I am more sceptical. Puzzled too. If Mr. Joyner's account is correct, we have a Mr. Bentley who is very conservative on sexual questions that can lead to an affair, then a divorce. Following Christ's admonition that looking at a woman with lust is essentially the same as adultery, he even polices his thoughts. Not necessarily thoughts that are a problem, thoughts that could lead to thoughts that are a problem.
Then, following his separation, Mr. Bentley goes from being very conservative on these questions to quite liberal. A church leader should be the husband "of one wife"? Shrug. Christ notes that the Isralaelites were allowed to divorce as a concession to their sinful frailties? Yawn. Off to the Nevada marrying parlour!
This is not the same person before and after. We have no evidence that Todd Bentley came to an epiphany in his understanding of these manners which, if he had rethought matters so profoundly, should have been amongst the first things he has said. Unless, Mr. Bentley is considering his very conservative audience and trying to put the most positive spin on matters that is possible, sadly even if at variance with the facts.
If Todd and Jessa Bentley were innocent friends, I'd like to hear and see them say it. Their reputations are at stake and I myself would be indignant and wanting to clear my name if falsely accused.
One wonders if they would be that brave. Sadly, one must wonder if the appropriate word, instead, would be "brazen."
Todd Bentley, shamed Canadian evangelist, seems to have friends who want him to return to ministry as soon as possible. His mentor, U.S. charismatic evangelist Rick Joyner, is putting several videos on his site per week about Mr. Bentley's "restoration process", not just the one video per week that was promised.
Todd Friel, an American apologetics expert with a weekly radio and TV show, analyzed parts of the videos this week on his radio program. If you are interested in his critique, I think he makes some very good points. His audio comments are below the fold of this post.
[For my part, I am puttering on several posts that may move the story forward. I think I am detecting the underlying logic of the argument that Mr. Bentley and his friends are advancing, and it's not good. But more later, as needed...]
Posted by Rick Hiebert on March 28, 2009 | Permalink
After ducking scrutiny that followed the Lakeland Revival's abrupt end in August 2008, Todd Bentley resurfaced this month. The Canadian Pentecostal disappeared from the public eye in August after filing for separation from his wife. Issuing a statement through the pastor overseeing his restoration process, Bentley said he was "sorry for the hurt and confusion that my decisions have caused the body of Christ." He indicated that he was pursuing a return to ministry in order to "fulfill God's call on my life."
Bentley fell even faster than he had climbed to prominence in 2008. He became a viral sensation during a healing revival that ran 100 consecutive nights and attracted 30,000 visitors per week. His renown spread with reports of his unusual healing tactics and claims that he had raised 25 people from the dead, all over the phone. But the Florida-based event could not survive Bentley's divorce and mounting criticism. One critic, Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, faulted Bentley for sending the charismatic movement into a "tailspin." He quoted an anonymous Pentecostal evangelist who said, "I'm now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the Antichrist when he shows up because they have no discernment."
Grady said he groaned when he learned from the March 9 statement what Bentley had done since August. After divorcing his wife, Shonnah, he married Jessa Hasbrook, a former intern. The statement provided no update on Bentley's ex-wife. Grady also found fault with how Bentley's ministry was characterized by Rick Joyner, who once counseled Jim Bakker and has taken Bentley under his wing.
From Grady's perspective, gifts trumped his character in Joyner's decision to aid Bentley's return to ministry. The ends seemed to justify the means. "From the time I first met him nearly ten years ago," Joyner said of Bentley, "I knew that he had an extraordinary purpose and a gift of faith for the miraculous that would be desperately needed in these times." He closed the statement with an appeal for funds to launch Fresh Fire USA, Bentley's new ministry, now headquartered at Joyner's church in South Carolina.
"As we have been constantly reminded, the Lord had great patience with sinners, but He had none for the self-righteous," Joyner said, anticipating the inevitable criticism for his work with Bentley. "We're all here because He had mercy on us, and we know we still need it. However, we also know that true repentance and restoration can only come if we refuse to compromise the clear biblical standards for morality and integrity."
Joyner's argument hardly placated Grady. "What is most deplorable about this latest installment in the Bentley scandal is the lack of true remorse," Grady responded. He wondered how Bentley could accept responsibility for his share of the divorce and not repent of his decision to pursue the relationship with Hasbrook and marry her soon thereafter. And he asked why Bentley had not sought reconciliation with his first wife. Then Grady's argument escalated.
"Many Christians today have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct," Grady said. "Our grace is greasy. No matter what an offending brother does, we stroke him and pet him and nurse his wounds while we ignore the people he wounded. No matter how heinous his sin, we offer comforting platitudes because, after all, who are we to judge?"
Joyner and Grady's exchange raises a host of questions about the nature of forgiveness and qualifications for ministry. Their public debate was intensely personal. Admitting he had no time for tact, Joyner took issue with Grady's qualifications for judging. In so doing, he seemed to confirm Grady's cause for concern about ends justifying means. "If you are such [a] judge of this what gives you the credentials?" Joyner asked Grady on March 12. "What moves of God have you led? What have you built?" He went so far as to allege that Grady's judgment matched Bentley's infidelity in the economy of sin.
Joyner's indignation reflects a common misconception about judgment. Elsewhere he faults Grady for violating Matthew 18 and airing his concern publicly before going to Bentley personally. But this pattern for church discipline, taught by Jesus himself, presupposes that local church leaders will need to hold one another accountable to God's standards. Similarly, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:12, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?" Christians must judge one another in this way to preserve the church's moral witness and warn one another against sin.
But if church leaders will judge the body of Christ in order to protect it, they must be marked by godly character. And that's exactly the standard for leadership that Paul lays out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. As they represent God in positions of authority, overseers must demonstrate God's communicable attributes, including love, patience, and fidelity. In a Christian of godly character, gifting such as knowledge, prophecy, or teaching brings glory to God alone. It does not exalt the gifted but the Gift Giver.
As Joyner suggests, King David's example shows us that God can still do mighty things with great sinners. But does God want us to learn from David's story that infidelity should be no impediment to ministry? God deposed other leaders, including Saul, when they had sinned against him. He spared David this fate because of the covenant he initiated to preserve the David kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:14-16), culminating in Jesus. The outcome of David's life warns us against learning the wrong lessons. David's sin undermined his leadership permanently. His son Absalom rebelled and chased the king from the city of David (2 Sam. 15).
To be sure, God's Word commands Christians to forgive, because God has forgiven them (Col. 3:13). But this forgiveness does not trump judgment as properly exercised in church discipline. And it cannot erase the temporal consequences of sin. Character, not gifting, is a leader's most important asset. This is the means God has ordained to accomplish his ends.
At last, new trophy wife in tow, Todd Bentley, the Canadian evangelist who has been having many problems over the past year (to put it lightly) has entered rehabilitation. Over seven months after the collapse of his internationally famous revival in the U.S., he has at last gotten around to going to North Carolina to come under the mentoring of charismatic leader Rick Joyner. Mr. Joyner is to help him return to ministry. Yet, already, in the annoucements and videos that are coming out with Mr. Bentley, there's more backspin than at a convention of billiards players evident, which is not a good omen for those hoping that Mr. Bentley can return to his work with integrity and a good character.
As videos began to be released a couple of days ago, there was a flurry of commentary and a bit of news coverage. Blogger Miriam Franklin has already weighed in with several pointed critical posts on Mr. Joyner and Mr. Bentley. I'd defintely agree with her on one point she has made, namely that people are concentrating too much on Mr. Bentley's divorce and quickie remarriage to Jessa, whose affair with the evangelist seems to be the proxinate cause of the "Lakeland revival". Not so. The affair was a symptom not a cause. That is to say, Mr. Bentley had a character problem that exhibited itself in lying from the pulpit about, for example, raising people from the dead. There were some aberrant, heretical things being said and done at Lakeland. And he was canoodling with a younger, prettier intern while his wife was either watching the kids or taking the pulpit herself to promote what her husband was doing. Marrying Jessa will likely not fix what leads to these sorts of actions.
My blogging friend Bene Diction makes an excellent point in a post that notes that many prominent charismatic groups and churches are slumping in the amount of people that are logging on to their sites. This relates to several things that I have been seeing on The Elijah List, an e-list that caters to charismatics, to the effect that people with alleged prophetic insight are commenting that God will bring Christians through the current economic woes, or bless them in amazing ways financially. There are reports of layoffs at ministries, and the tone of requests for donations has been stepped up. All this backs up Bene Diction's suspicion that there may be a lot of pressure to get Bentley out on the road prematurely so, as the "star" of the "Lakeland revival", he can start to draw the crowds again.
Mr. Joyner's first letter, announcing that Bentley and new wife had arrived, also noted that Mr. Bentley has a new ministry, Fresh Fire USA, which is organized under Mr. Joyner's own ministry for now. Those wanting to help Mr. Bentley were offered Fresh Fire USA's address. So, I had to smile when religion editor Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat, on his religious news blog, titled his note on Mr. Bentley's restoration process: "Sorry about the adultery. Please send $$$" .
Charisma, the magazine of record for charismatic Christians in the U.S., is covering this too. Their own story has an intestesting note. At the tail end of Bentley's time in Florida, a team of charismatic leaders and ministers lead by C. Peter Wagner held a special commissioning service for Bentley which was broadcast worldwide via Internet, in which the "Revival Alliance" members predicted that Bentley would go from success to success. They welcomed Bentley as a member of their group and even gave him a special ring, but Charisma's story quotes Revival Alliance member John Arnott (known for pastoring the "Toronto Blessing" in the 1990s) as saying that Bentley is no longer considered a "member in good standing" of their group. Mr. Wagner and Mr. Arnott revealed some of Bentley's misdeeds in the aftermath of his leaving the revival, so Mr. Bentley has evidently decided to form alliances with those who are more sympathtic to him, such as Mr. Joyner.
Mr. Joyner features in another Charisma item as well. Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, in his latest column, is disgusted with the rush to bring Bentley back too quickly, calling it a "travesty". Mr. Grady is righteously indignant, but what I find telling is Mr. Joyner's response. He writes, in part:
Lee, I love some of the things you write, but I also feel that some are straight from the mouth of the accuser.
It should go without saying that if you are a professing Christian, one of the worst possible insults that you could use would be to say that your opponent is being used by the devil as a ventriliquist dummy.
One would think that "fighting dirty" would be abhorrent for a Christian such as Mr. Joyner.
Mr. Joyner, as the conservative site Apologetics Index notes has a history of doing other things that would raise the eyebrows of many Christians. He has a reputation of being "prophetic" and having special insight from the Lord, but non-Christian sceptics would no doubt be amused that he occasionally sees through a glass very darkly, such as his prediction of Los Angeles being levelled by an earthquake and nuclear bombs in the 1990s.
Mr. Joyner's occasiional intemperance, as exhibited in his response to Mr. Grady, may also be shown in one of his famous prohetic words, in his book The Final Quest, about the "Blues and the Grays". He predicts a coming civil war in Christianity, with the winning side (of which Mr. Joyner is a part, of course) defeats the Christians who have been misled by Satan being defeated and removed from their positions of authority in the church. We must "remove the cancer from our midst" he writes in his book. (I wonder, given the violence waged between Christians in history, and in our own time, whether it is appropriate to share these sorts of visions in public. Certainly, Christians should "contend for the faith", but so sadly, they do not need encouragment to turn to violence in the direst of circumstances.)
I note these things and note that Mr. Bentley, when not kneeing cancer victims in the stomach, has often delighted in telling his audiences about times that he has kicked old ladies in the head with his biker boot and such. (As I write, some of these stories are preserved on YouTube.) Amongst the fruits of the Holy Spirit that should be exhibited by an evangelist such as Mr. Bentley are meekness, gentleness and self-control. I have to ask whether Mr. Bentley's mentor, Mr. Joyner, would be effective in advising him here when Mr. Joyner himself--this week--accuses his opponents of speaking on Satan's behalf, and cherishes visions of winning a "war in the church". Yes, often the flawed have to help the flawed, but this is not promising.
On to the videos that have been released to explain Mr. Bentley's rehabilitation process. The first video from Mr. Joyner's ministry has Mr. Bentley himself as a guest. I'm posting a copy of most of the first video that has been saved on YouTube in case the videos start to disappear from Mr. Joyner's own website:
Some things that jump out at me:
1. You'll notice that Mr. Bentley is full of talk of mistakes and errors, but never mentions the word "sin". Even Jimmy Swaggart had the grace to cry "I have sinned," when he next appeared before the public after he sinned.
Not that people would demand a pound of flesh, of course. But talk of sin and sinning would indicate that Mr. Bentley is a lot more serious about making things right than his critics think that he is. The evangelist already has the problem that it took him over half a year to begin this supposedly important process, so he needs to be seen to be taking it seriously.
2. I don't really believe that in an age of fax, e-mail and videoconferencing that it was impossible for Mr. Bentley to be working on his visa appeal with the U.S. custonms officials while moving to North Carolina. I'm sure that it is done all the time for compassionate reasons, for example. I sincerely doubt that it would be impossible as Mr. Bentley implies.
3. As a Canadian, I am a little dismayed to hear Mr. Bentley say this:
"....Shonnah's doing everything she can to help with my immigration process...."
It would appear that Mr. Bentley is tring to become a landed immigrant or even a U.S. citizen. No points for guessing that his marriage to Jessa was designed to help with this.
If we grant for a moment that Mr. Bentley's faith, giftings and burden to convert non-Christians are valid, this is sad. Yes, Canadian christians have been moving to the U.S. to pursue their calling since Aimee Semple McPherson, but the United States already has so many ministers and so much resources. If Mr. Bentley is who he says he is, the church in Canada needs people like him. Of course, his critics would say that Mr. Bentley should not let the door hit him on the behind as he leaves Canada. But the need is acute. If Mr. Bentley's style of faith-healing evangelism is what is needed, then it is particularly sad that he never devoted much effort to the nearest major city to where he lived, Vancouver. (The last time that he himself ministered in the city was at a medium sized church over five years ago.)
Of course, Mr. Benley's citics could question how committed Mr. Bentley was committed to "revival" in Canada's cities and towns in the first place, based on his decision to move.
4. Mr. Bentley, 7:30 into the video, starts talking about how he dealt with problems as an unsaved teenager:
"....That old [sin] nature in you is when you hurt someone, you just want to give up and run away from the whole thing. That's how I dealt with pain as I grew up as a child. If I was hurt or rejected or I disappointed my mother or disappointed my father, I just packed up and moved to the next town. When I burned all the bridges there, I just packed up and moved. This time we want to deal with everything square in the face...."
Let's follow his logic. Mr. Bentley says that it is sinful, or at least immature, to deal with problems by running away from them. This is after he has divorced his wife and not only "packed up and moved to the next town" but moved to the next country. He has "burned all his bridges" with his ex-wife, turning in for a new model, instead of "dealing with everything square in the face" of Shonnah Bentley, his first wife.
How can you teach someone to stand and deal with their problems when they have just run away from most of them? What is preventing Todd Bentley from packing up and giving up on Mr. Joyner's restoration process when by implication, spending the past few months running from everything that is painful to deal with is quite all right?
Did Mr. Joyner even try to persuade Mr. Bentley to stay with his wife and kids and stay in Canada?
5. An offhand remark of Mr. Bentley's at the 8:55 mark will raise some eyebrows:
"There's so much that I've learned on all this. There's triumph. There's tragedy. And, you know, there'll be a message. Ther'll be a whole series of messages...."
Tragedy I can understand. Triumph? The only triumph that there would be is Christ somehow cleaning up the pig's breakfast that the evangelist has made, but the "restoration process" has only just started. Rather, are we seeing a "triumph of the will" specifically Todd Bentley's will? He got the wife he wanted. He got the parenting situation that worked best for him. He got a very sympathetic mentor to counsel him. He has a lot that he wants, and that might not be good for him.
Watching this video may bring a sense that Mr. Bentley is not being asked to be serious about his mistakes. This is an unease that is shared, according to Cary McMullen of the Lakeland Ledger newspaper, who has done a lot of great reporting on Mr. Bentley's revival and its aftermath. In a post on the reaction to the plans to restore Mr. Bentley in "Pentecostal circles", McMullen notes that many seem to fear that "this is just further evidence that Bentley and his supporters are frauds".
Mr. Bentley and Mr. Joyner have their work cut out for them. If they are truly wanting to do the right thing, there is a lot of scepticism to deal with. Well-founded scepticism, I am afraid.
Posted by Rick Hiebert on March 14, 2009 in Religion
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NOTE: This is directly from an email sent to me from David Bentley, Todd's father. I am terribly grieved by what I read here. It is best left to you to discern and review the information for yourselves.
Blessings,
Sam
>>>
Greetings in Jesus name:
This is David Bentley, Todd's Dad, I have not been in touch with you for quite awhile, I have been helping Todd go through his process of healing. We decided to touch base and give you an up date. Todd is no longer at the Fresh Fire Ministry office in Abbotsford BC Canada.
He is based out of North Carolina, and spends most of his time with Rick Joyner, during his restoration, as well as he is busy getting his ministry set up down there as well, it is called Fresh Fire Ministry USA.The Canadian office has changed it's name , and is pursuing in a different direction.
I would like to at this time, Thank You for your prayers during these past few months, they have been greatly appreciated. The children, are doing fine, and will be with Todd as much as possible. Please find enclosed the letter that went out the other day.
Many Blessings
David Bentley if you wish to call me with any question's call 541 223 7327
Sound of Fire Productions
Soundoffire.com
250 245 7003.
We now have all of Todd's teachings and his school's, and everything he has done.
>>>
Todd Bentley Begins Restoration Process
By Rick Joyner
Todd Bentley was used to spark the Lakeland Outpouring, which raised the faith level of much of the body of Christ. Testimonies of healings and miracles from it are now virtually all over the world. When Todd's marriage failed, he abruptly stopped all ministry and virtually disappeared for almost nine months. In the meantime, his divorce was finalized and he has recently remarried.
Todd has taken full responsibility for the failure of his marriage. He and Jessa also admit that their relationship was premature and should not have happened the way it did. Both are adamant that it was not the cause for the failure of his first marriage, nor did they begin their relationship until Todd was convinced that his marriage was over. They have both expressed that it was wrong and premature. They do not want to try and cover this up even though they know many will never accept them for it. Even so, they are married now and are resolved to make the most of their marriage, their lives, and to continue to serve the Lord in the best way that they can.
My position all along has been that I will do my best to comply with Galatians 6:1, "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" (NKJV). To obey this Word, I have always felt that it did not matter what one had done, and that it was my responsibility to help them find the grace of God to return to the place from which they had fallen. I confess that with Todd, I am not just doing this as a duty. From the time I first met him nearly ten years ago, I knew that he had an extraordinary purpose and a gift of faith for the miraculous that would be desperately needed in these times. I consider helping any of God's children an honor, and helping Todd is a privilege.
I also confess to some selfish ambition in wanting to do this. I had a dream two decades ago in which one of my children had fallen into a sewage ditch and could not get up. My child was being scorned and no one would help him. A man came along who helped my child get up and then cleaned up. In that dream, I felt as if I would give everything that I owned to this man who helped my child. Then I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Jim Bakker is My child. Will you help him?" Since that time, I have been devoted to helping any of God's children that I could who have committed any trespass, because I knew there were few other things that would bring the Father's favor. I consider this willingness to at least try to help others this way a major reason for the extraordinary favor that our ministry, my family, and I have received. I love Todd and am glad to help him, but I also know by doing this, I will be doing something that means a great deal to our Father.
When we release someone to minister in the body of Christ, we are releasing him or her to minister to God's own children, and I personally do not do that with anyone who I would not allow to minister to my own family. For all that was done through Todd, and especially at Lakeland, which touched and helped countless thousands, many were also left confused and hurt by the way it ended. I think Todd is even more sensitive to this than I am. Although in some ways he greatly misses being in ministry and praying for people, he wants to be sure that when he comes back that his life and his ministry are on the most solid ground possible so that he does not cause these kinds of problems again.
Jack Deere and Bill Johnson have agreed to be a part of Todd's restoration process. I asked them to be a part because I know they will probably see things I don't, but also because both Todd and I trust them and know they would not sign off on something they did not really believe in. However, both of them are going to be involved in this at a distance, and therefore, I will be the main person responsible.
Being a believer in body ministry, I expect our whole leadership team, and to some degree, our whole local church, to be involved in helping Todd and Jessa. Our staff and all from the church that I have discussed this with are very happy about them being here and want to help them in any way that they can.
In future Bulletins, we will go into more detail about what we're doing and why, as well as what we think was a cause of some of the failures Todd experienced. We will only do this for the sake of helping others avoid the same traps. We know that trust has to be earned and that Todd will have to earn the trust of the body of Christ for future ministry, which will not be easy, nor should it be. Todd, more than most, does not want to jump back into ministry prematurely, even as much as he misses it in some ways.
I for one have been very encouraged by the expressions of grace and genuine concern so many have expressed toward Todd in this situation. It gives me great hope. As we have been constantly reminded, the Lord had great patience with sinners, but He had none for the self-righteous. We're all here because He had mercy on us, and we know we still need it. However, we also know that true repentance and restoration can only come if we refuse to compromise the clear biblical standards for morality and integrity.
Todd wanted to personally say the following:
It has been a long while since I have spoken publicly and openly. I am sorry for the hurt and confusion that my decisions have caused the body of Christ. It has been a true season of brokenness, hiddenness, and a long process of grieving.
As many of you now know, my previous marriage has endured years of unresolved conflicts. I apologize that it has ended in divorce, and I take full responsibility for my part for the ending of the marriage. I realize that my silence and decisions have caused many of you to feel hurt, confused, and offended. The reason for the silence was for my need of healing, creating a restoration process under a team of qualified leaders, much needed rest after the Lakeland Outpouring, repentance, and the divorce process.
I have now relocated to Fort Mill, South Carolina and have entered into my restoration and healing process under Rick Joyner, Jack Deere, and Bill Johnson. I am confident of this one thing—that God is faithful to His promise and my hope is to be fully restored, strengthened, healed, and to learn from all the mistakes I have made along the way.
Thank you friends and partners for your continued prayers, encouragement, and love. I am committed to the work of the Holy Spirit and confident that the good men around me will help me be restored first as a man, as a husband, and ultimately to fulfill God's call on my life.
Those of you who were touched by the Lakeland Outpouring do not lose your encouragement. What happened there was from God, and Todd is a true servant of God. He has made some mistakes, and he is trying to get his life back in order, and you can be confident that he will. Throughout the Bible, many of the greatest heroes in it also made some of the worst mistakes. King David, possibly the greatest hero in the Bible after Jesus, made one of the most horrible mistakes, not only committing adultery, but murdering the husband of the woman he committed it with. God knew that was going to happen with David when He called him, and He loved David before, during, and afterward.
One of the remarkable events in the Bible is that the Lord then used Bathsheba to bring forth the heir to the throne, Solomon, and she is part of the genealogy of Jesus. It still stretches me, but we need stretching in the grace of God. At the same time, we must balance it with how God hates divorce, and it is one of the scourges of our times that is tragically hurting many, many people. Marriage is under such an assault now because it is so important. However, legalism will not overcome lawlessness. This situation and similar ones that almost every church and family are now being faced with is one that we need answers for. We cannot run from Him, but must run to Him with our need.
Many of Todd's friends and former partners have asked if and how they might help. Donations can now be made to Fresh Fire USA at the following address:
Fresh Fire USA
C/O MorningStar Fellowship Church
375 Star Light Dr.
Fort Mill, SC. 29715
Make checks out to Fresh Fire USA or if you would like to donate by credit card, call 1-800-542-0278, and tell the operator that you want to make a donation to Fresh Fire USA.
This week's announcement about evangelist Todd Bentley's hasty remarriage and restoration is sending a confusing message to the church.
I groaned when I learned early this week that Canadian preacher Todd Bentley, leader of the controversial Lakeland Revival, had decided to divorce his wife, Shonnah, and marry his former ministry intern, Jessa Hasbrook. The news surfaced after almost nine months of silence and speculation, during which time the board of Bentley's Fresh Fire Ministries in British Columbia publicly scolded him for committing adultery.
In a statement released March 10 by Rick Joyner, the popular author and minister who is overseeing Bentley's restoration process, we were told that (1) Bentley married his new wife several weeks ago and moved to Joyner's base in Fort Mill, S.C.; (2) Todd and Jessa agree that their relationship was "wrong and premature" and that it "should not have happened the way it did"; (3) Bentley will remain out of public ministry while he seeks healing; and (4) Joyner will oversee the healing process with input from Dallas pastor Jack Deere and California pastor Bill Johnson.
"Many of us have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct."
It was also announced that Bentley plans to relaunch his ministry, called Fresh Fire USA, in Fort Mill, and that Joyner is now collecting donations from supporters to help rebuild it. (The Canadian ministry Bentley started has now been renamed Transform International, and it has severed ties with the evangelist.)
In a few places in his statement Joyner expressed tough love, especially when he said: "We know that trust has to be earned and that Todd will have to earn the trust of the body of Christ for future ministry, which will not be easy, nor should it be." He also made it clear that true repentance and restoration "can only come if we refuse to compromise the clear biblical standards for morality and integrity."
But there were some glaring omissions in the statements released this week that indicate a fundamental weakness in our freestyle approach to "restoring" fallen leaders.
First of all, it is outrageous that Shonnah Bentley, Todd's first wife, does not seem to be an issue in the current discussion. Her name is never mentioned in Joyner's statement—while Todd is mentioned 18 times. We are never told how Shonnah is handling the divorce. How will she manage to care for the three children she and Todd share? She and the kids seem invisible in this process. Yet if anyone needs healing and restoration, is it not the other half of this broken family?
Second, we charismatics still seem to have a habit of elevating gifting above character. It's almost as if the end justifies the means. (So what if a preacher ruins one marriage and makes a hasty decision to marry a younger woman—the important thing is that we get him back in the pulpit to heal the sick!) That is a perversion of biblical integrity. God can anoint any man or woman with the Holy Spirit's power; what He is looking for are vessels of honor that can carry that anointing with dignity, humility and purity.
What is most deplorable about this latest installment in the Bentley scandal is the lack of true remorse. In his own statement, Bentley apologizes for his actions and says he "takes full responsibility for my part for the ending of the marriage." But how can he be taking "full responsibility" if he willingly chose to have a girlfriend on the side—and then married her immediately after his divorce was final? Why did he hide for several months when he should have been listening to counsel and seeking reconciliation with his first wife?
Many Christians today have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct. Our grace is greasy. No matter what an offending brother does, we stroke him and pet him and nurse his wounds while we ignore the people he wounded. No matter how heinous his sin, we offer comforting platitudes because, after all, who are we to judge?
When the apostle Paul learned that a member of the Corinthian church was in an immoral relationship with his father's wife, he did not rush to comfort the man. He told the Corinthians: "You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst" (I Cor. 5:2). Sometimes we must draw a ruthless sword in order to bring genuine healing. The "wounds of a friend" are faithful to bring conviction and true repentance (see Prov. 27:6).
Paul actually delivered the unrepentant Corinthian man to Satan "for the destruction of his flesh" (5:5) so that he could be saved. That does not sound very nice. Many today would call Paul's tactic harsh and legalistic. But that is because we have lost any true sense of the fear of the Lord—and we don't realize that our laxness about God's standards is a perversion of His mercy. When the sin is severe, the public rebuke must be severe.
In all the discussion of Bentley and the demise of the Lakeland Revival, I am waiting to hear the sound of sackcloth ripping into shreds. We should be weeping. We should be rending our hearts—as God commanded Israel when they fell into sin (see Joel 2: 13-14). To give guidance to a confused church, our leaders should have publicly decried the Lakeland disaster while at the same time helping both Todd and Shonnah to heal.
We have not mourned this travesty. We have not been shocked and appalled that such sin has been named among us. We act as if flippant divorce and remarriage are minor infractions—when in actuality they are such serious moral failures that they can bring disqualification.
If we truly love Todd Bentley, we will not clamor for his quick return to the pulpit. While we certainly want him to be fully restored to fellowship with God, we cannot rush the process of restoring a man to ministry. Leaders must live up to a higher standard. We must demand that those involved in Bentley's restoration not only love him but also love the church by protecting us from the kind of scandal we endured last year.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. To read Rick Joyner's and Todd Bentley's public statement click here.
Do You Want Authentic Christian Relationship With Other Men?
We are a company of Christian men. We are also:
Natural loners - who have recognized the dangers of isolation and are determined to escape them,
Natural wanderers - who are finding spiritual peace and prosperity at home,
Natural liars - who are now finding freedom in the truth,
Natural judges - who are learning how to judge ourselves aright,
Natural strongmen - who are experiencing God's strength as we admit our weaknesses.
As Christians, we meet at other times for worship, for teaching, or for corporate prayer. Today, however, we meet to talk. Our purpose is to assist one another in our common journey. We do so by sharing honestly, out of our own personal experience, the challenges and encouragements of daily Christian living in a fallen world.
Our faith rests in the love of God, as it is revealed in His Word and in the life of His Son. This is the Great Fact of the Gospel. You are welcomed on this journey.
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