Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Spiritual Malnutrition Personified

Have you heard about the "revival" going on in Florida under the leadership of a man named Todd Bentley? My dad played Crosstalk's show about it the other night at the dinner table so our whole family could be informed about it.

Here's the deal. Mr. Bentley is receiving angelic visits such as a fairy-like "Emma" who sprinkles gold dust on people in the church to bless them financially; as well as a fourteen-foot tall "angel or whatever" (his words) called Winds of Change who, interestingly enough, has also visited other charismatic leaders such as the Bob Jones of Kansas City.

He is receiving messages - from God, he says - to heal people by banging one woman's legs against the platform like a baseball bat or kicking another old lady in the face with his biker boot.

He is covered in tattoos and body piercings.

He shows off gold teeth that "God has given people."

People start barking like dogs and clucking like chickens.

He preaches that "the Anointing is Jesus . . . . the Anointing is not Jesus . . . . the Anointing is Jesus . . . . the Anointing is not Jesus."

I don't know about you, but this sounds like chaos to me. And we know from Scripture that God is not the author of confusion. The Bible says in another place to "test the spirits, to see whether they be of God." Does this really sound like the Holy Spirit we read about in the Bible, or maybe more like some other spirits we see in the same Book?

Here is what's really scary: A lot of supposed Christians - evangelicals, actually - are falling for this guy, driving down there to hear him, getting him to lay his hands on them, and then taking this stuff back to their local churches. Where are these people's Bibles?

Check out these links for more information.
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/
http://http//blog.thewaycf.com/2008/05/pastor-strader-speaks-on-todd-bentley_31.html
http://www.wingswatchman.org/

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