There you have it. Straight from a woman who's met Todd Bentley. I rest my case.
| vjamelarin wrote on Oct 24 Lorie, I never have written in reply to your posts. This time though I will put my two cents' worth in. I'm peeking at your can of worms. =) Having met Todd Bentley in person (albeit briefly) and actually seeing him in action, I can assure you of his gifts as being from GOD (some of it, anyway). BUT. The gifts of the SPIRIT & the fruit of the SPIRIT are different. Being sufficiently renewed in the mind through the washing of the WORD - this he may have lacked. He is a believer who shot up into prominence & power without sufficient grounding and accountability to keep him in line & stable. " Be careful when you stand lest you fall..." A person's spiritual gifts means squat when we talk about truth & lies. GOD's gifts are irrevocable and unfortunately, the devil can use them through us when we allow him to. However, we can choose what we use them for & how we use them. We can deceive & destroy or operate in truth & bring life. This fiasco has revealed two things - that Bentley had lacked the character & truth to contain what was given to him, and, how sad it is that some Christians will gobble up almost anything without discerning rightly. Because of the dearth of GOD's power & holiness as exhibited in many of our personal lives, demonstrations of power can be very appealing. On the other hand, others will go to the other extreme of shunning everything they do not understand because it is "from the devil". His fall also serves as a warning to all of us, especially to prideful people who think that they are always right regarding their opinions of spiritual matters, who see other peoples' motes but not the planks in their own eyes. Hypocrites - that's what the LORD calls them. We have to test ourselves always to see if we are in truth. FYI for all of us... It is actually possible not to have an opinion regarding things we don't necessarily understand. Also, GOD is always in control, even when it appears that the devil seems to be having a heyday. We are not always right, only GOD is able to do that. Not matter how much of the Bible we know, we do not know everything nor understand everything. Let us not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Let us remember that we can & should reject unscriptural teaching but we should not reject the man teaching it. He is NOT the enemy. We are called to be humble, not to judge others yet to shun evil. We are called to love, not to join the devil in skewering a man who, in spite of his sin (don't we ALL sin?), is somebody who Jesus died for too (false prophet or not). It is our choice when we decide to join hands with evil & destroy for the sake of "righteousness" as the Pharisees have done in the past. We are called to restore men from sin (in this I thank Rick Joyner), to build up and not tear down. If anybody says that he was never a Christian - How do they know that? Has GOD made them judges of men's hearts already? Please, let us not hand Todd Bentley over to the devil in a silver platter. In spite of everything, he has been and still is our brother. After all, we would like the same to be done for us when we stumble & fall. JESUS said that we shall be known as HIS because of our love for one another. HE didn't say that it is by our truth. Not to belittle truth in any way but just to remind us that even truth means nothing if there is no love. They have to go together. Love truth & love the man but hate the sin. GOD bless all of you... |
F.Y.I.
Gigi is a member of Vineyard Cincinnati, the church headed by Bob Sjogren, writer of Cat And Dog Theology. She is an active member of the Intercessory Team, and while she doesn't care for titles, and she cares more for the love of God and of people's character, the credentials I mentioned ought to tell you of what stuff she's made of.
She used to go to church in Victory Iloilo, and she also attended Alliance in her hometown in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. She is no stranger to prophecy, and neither is she a stranger to controversy. Her life is a testimony of God's redemptive power, God's redemption, and His extreme mercy and grace. She knows what it feels like to have fallen, and she knows how sweet it is to be restored to Jesus. I personally have avoided the biggest temptations that could have rendered me irrestorable for decades, thanks to the mistakes she's fallen into and gotten up from. For a big part of my own healing, restoration, and protection and learnings, I give God credit for using her.
Yes, she called my attention to the way I worded my previous posts. It's too late to recant and edit it, but I truly admit that I was too red-in-the face and too extreme in my wording. Thankfully, hers is a more level-headed and more true-to-life account of who Todd Bentley is. According to her, in our conversation over the phone, "I don't care if Todd Bentley committed murder, since I know that he is a brother, it is my duty to protect him."
I second that. Again, it's not the human being who is our enemy. And our weapons ought not to be the barbs of accusation and criticism. Rather, we were called to use the godly weapons of love, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and goodness.. and all the other fruits of the spirit.
I pray that you'll finally understand where I was coming from. And that it'll hit you that it's actually those critical radio pastors whom you need to be wary of.
I maintain the position that I am tabula rasa/neutral regarding the phenomena that they experience in the United States. Until Jesus comes to clear things, I maintain the attitude to suspend judgment until I've experienced these things I don't understand myself.
God bless your weekend, friends!
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