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Edited by David F. Dawes
THE LAKELAND OUTPOURING, the controversial revival in
Florida led by Abbotsford evangelist Todd Bentley, has come to an end, amid
reports that Bentley’s marriage is in trouble.
The board of directors of Fresh Fire Ministries, which
Bentley founded 10 years ago, issued a news release August 12, stating:
“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.”
On August 15, the board issued another news release,
declaring: “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.”
Questions have been raised about whether Fresh
Fire’s board was telling the whole story. After the August 12 news
release, Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church, which originally
invited Bentley to Florida in April, told the Lakeland
Ledger, “I’ve been assured by his
people that there is no third party involved.”
After the August 15 release, Strader said Bentley
“told me he kept me out of the loop for my protection.”
However, Strader further stated, “Three years ago, he did the exact
same thing. He grew out of his relationship to his wife and transferred his
affection to another . . .
“The bottom line is that he was traveling too
much, and not taking care of his wife and family like he should.”
Strader also said he had been informed three weeks
earlier that Bentley and his wife had been undergoing marriage counselling
for a few years.
Bill Johnson, a pastor from California, said in a
sermon August 17: “I was involved in a restoration process to help
Todd a couple years ago, in this very area.”
Sadness
A statement from Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
pastor John Arnott, a key Lakeland supporter, expressed “sadness and
disappointment” over the latest turn of events.
Regarding his personal relationship with Bentley, he
noted: “I have known Todd for several years and have seen God work
mightily through him.” However, he conceded that Bentley “has
chosen to do something that is wrong according to scripture.”
Arnott asserted that “The Holy Spirit, who is
perfect, must use imperfect people, even in revival.”
He added that those who felt blessed by Lakeland should
“not allow the seeds of hope and healing that were sown into you
there [to] be uprooted by this leader’s mistakes. It was God who
touched you, and no one can take that away unless you allow it.”
In their August 12 news release, the Fresh Fire board
of directors, referring to both Bentley’s marriage and ministry,
stated: “We are hopeful that the outcome will include restoration,
but we can make neither promise nor guarantee.”
Bentley went to Lakeland April 2, to lead four days of
services at Ignite Church. The meetings were so successful that his stay
was extended. The meetings attracted more attention when they were reported
in Charisma magazine,
and broadcast on GodTV.
Soon people were flying in from all over the world to
attend. The meetings were eventually moved to a venue which could
accommodate up to 10,000 people.
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However, the increased attention also led to criticism
of Bentley’s tattooed appearance, his occasionally violent approach
to healing (sometimes kicking and hitting people), his emphasis on angels
and prophetic revelations, and his claims of healings.
Bentley also said more than 20 resurrections from the
dead had occurred during the Outpouring. However, news media such as
ABC’s Nightline complained
that none of the healing claims had been substantiated.
The crowds began to decline, particularly after July
13, when GodTV announced
Bentley “would be taking some time off to refresh . . . after
nearly 100 days of ministry.”
The meetings returned to the 700-seat Ignited Church,
and Bentley was scheduled to resume preaching. It was decided to end the
meetings in Lakeland August 23, and then Bentley was scheduled to embark on
a series of Outpouring meetings around the world. However, those meetings
have now been indefinitely postponed.
Further polarization
Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, told the Lakeland
Ledger that Bentley’s fall would
likely further polarize those following the revival.
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This is particularly true in the charismatic community,
where a very active debate has been raging, particularly on the internet,
ever since the Lakeland Outpouring began.
One notable participant is Andrew Strom, who had
already written the first book on the phenomenon, True & False Revival: An Insider’s Warning, in addition to posting information on his website.
The intensity of the debate is reflected on Christian
Info’s CanadianChristianity.com, in the extraordinary number of responses to a feature on
Bentley.
Grady said that some who had been ardent followers of
Bentley will suffer “spiritual shipwreck” in the wake of the
Outpouring’s demise; but for others who “are not grounded in
scripture . . . it won’t be an issue.”
While Bentley may be off the revival platform for the
foreseeable future, his spiritual insights are available in books called The Reality of the Spiritual World,
and Journey into the Miraculous.
In the latter, he said he once had an extraordinary
vision of Christ as a “warrior king.”
“Upon his breastplate,” Bentley wrote,
“was the imprint of a golden eagle . . . His biceps were enormous,
the size of my head, and he had massive forearms and huge hands. There was
Jesus, the mighty warrior God! He towered over me, three to four times my
height.”
The evangelist further claimed that Christ gave him a
special revelation, declaring to Bentley: “I have a hidden, secret
army around the earth that I will enlist and uncover at my time. They are
hidden away in the secret prayer closets – a generation of nameless,
faceless nobodies . . . You are one of many first fruits of an entire army
that I am equipping.”
Elsewhere in the book, Bentley exhorted his readers:
“The power of the early church that we read about in Acts is an
example of the normal Christian life – the way it should be. And
that’s the blueprint for us, and our lives, too – but the new
dimension of this Christian life will be even greater. Have faith in the
God who does miracles!”
Bentley’s theology was learned from figures who
are considered prophets by some charismatics, such as Americans Paul Cain
and Bob Jones – and Patricia King, whose Extreme Prophetic ministry
(like Fresh Fire) is based in the Fraser Valley.
While some bloggers have contended the Lakeland
Outpouring was based on deception from the beginning, many in the
charismatic movement argue the revival was genuine, and needs to be
separated from Bentley’s failures.
Lynne Breidenbach, Bentley’s media liaison during
the Outpouring, observed, “God uses fallen, flawed people . . . This
doesn’t invalidate what Todd did.”
Bigger than one man
The Fresh Fire board of directors pointed out in their
news releases that the ministry is still running conferences, led by
associate ministers, and pursuing missions and relief work in Africa.
They cited Bentley’s own words: “What God
is doing is bigger than one man.”
One of the most balanced observers of the Lakeland
Outpouring has been Charisma’s Grady, who has been writing about the phenomenon from the
beginning. While sympathetic to the charismatic movement, he has been
urging caution about Bentley and his supporters.
In an article called ‘Sorting out the
confusion,’ Grady was critical of people who were so eager for
revival that they were “just plain gullible.” He was also
critical of some Lakeland supporters – such as GodTV, which dismissed any criticism of
Bentley as “demonic.”
Grady further criticized “respected
ministers” Peter Wagner, Che Ahn, Bill Johnson and John Arnott who
publicly laid hands on Bentley June 23 to “bring him under their
care” – but apparently didn’t ask the hard questions, or
provide him the help he so desperately needed.
September 2008
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