Skirting the Issues…
Introduction:
In my previous entries, I skirted the issues that I really wanted to address because I wanted to build a solid biblical foundation. I am not interested in taking the Bible out of context nor am I interested in using the Bible for my own agenda. I want to point back to Jesus and make sure that it is clearly understood that everything I say has a biblical basis, or seeing as I am not perfect, I am at least attempting to have one. 
I am interested in helping to point back to being unified in Christ. If we have communion with the Father we can have communion with our fellow Christian brethren. The reason many find it easy to criticize, including myself, is because we do not have our Father’s heart. God judges, but it is not judgemental. It is always out of love, he is the righteous judge, and even in the case of Israel, he let Israel fall time and again, but in the end he always had a way of redemption for them, the last being Jesus. One of the first of many examples of God’s grace for us and Israel (With Israel as a Nation, not in the history of humanity or the Bible) rather than immediate judgement was shortly after Israel was liberated from Egypt
At this point Moses had been on the Mountain for 40 days and the people were wary of waiting for him to come back so they sought out Aaron Moses’ brother to make them a God; the golden calf.
Exodus 32:5-14 “5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. [c] Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.”
God did not want to judge Israel, that is why he raised up Moses as an intercessor for Israel. We see this happen time and time again throughout the history or Israel and the history of the world. Look at what happened to Nineveh in the book of Jonah. God did not want to destroy Nineveh if they would repent, and they did so he had mercy on them. God always gives us many chances to repent and is gracious with us, and rarely does God call out someone’s character flaws in public, except to refine their character. When someone is in a position of service, especially in Christianity, they are under a great amount of scrutiny by the world, so why should they be under scrutiny by the Christian community as well?
John 13:31-38 “31When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him,[c] God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
It is interesting that this paasage which Jesus tells us as believers that we are known to the world as Christians by our love for eachother (isn’t that a concept?) he also predicts Peter’s betrayal? God does not expect his servants to be perfect, none of them were, they all had fatal flaws, Peter being one of the most flawed, but also was proclaimed as the rock that the church ould be built upon. I am sure that in those days, and it is obvious in Paul’s writings that many, even those who claimed to be Christian’s criticized what they were doing. Sometimes, what others do we do not understand because we do not know them, and that is why we criticize rather than praying for them and seeking if we are the ones to confront them, we feel we have a right to do so.
The Defense of Gifts…
I have read a number of blogs bashing many in the charismatic/pentacostal movement. Those being bashed include: Patricia King, Benny Hinn, Jim and Michal Anne Golson, Katharyn Kuhlman, Matt Sorger, Kim Clement, Cindy Jacobs, the ever popular Tod Bentley, and many many more.
Some of the many people that are criticized are justifiably so, but as I supposrted in my previous posts “The Word that Pierces” and ”The Words of the Fool” a rebuke must be done in love. It is especially easy bto criticize someone when you do not know them personally and are separate from their ministry. Yes, there have been some pastors who have fallen and turned away from the Lord, but does that make all people in a position of ministry who emphasises supernatural experience bad or wrong.
It is up to the inner circle that these ministers have and God to rebuke these people if they are doing wrong. Why would they listen to some one they do not even know the character of? Especially when that person is making an assessment off of assumptions. At certain times, God will bring around strangers to speak into a person’s life because at times are more open to a stranger’s opinion then some one we know, but that, I find, is usually a last ditch resort for God.
I do not agree with everything that Todd Bentley does, but I do believe he genuinely has a heart for the Lord. How can we judge someone based upon their past and say that that means they are not fit for service today? Look at Paul; he was a murderer of Christians as a Pharisee, and yet he turned around when he had an encounter with God and served the Lord. I am certain that he was greatly criticized for his past, but does that make his service to Christ less legitimate? Am I comparing Todd Bentley to Paul? Only in the way that they are both flawed men that are servng the Lord. It is the easy thing to look at someone and say they are a phony because they are unorthodox. In fact it took me four months to believe that Todd Bentley was legitimate.
Does Todd have a gift from the Lord? Indeed. It is impossible for someone to draw millions of people from around the world in the name of Christ without the presence of God. God does not honor people with his presence if he is not pleased with them. That is why in instances like Leviticus 9, the Glory (His presence) of the Lord fell heavily upon the Israelites when they made an atonement offering, he was pleased with them.
It is possible to misuse our God-given gifts as was the case in the story of Samson (See Judges chapters 13-16), but he does not take them away even when we missuse them, as we see that God still allowed Samson to have his stregnth once his hair grew back. I do not believ that Todd Bentley had missused his gifts, he needs character growth indeed, but has intentionally missused his gifts to minipulate people, I doubt it. Even if he had, that does not invalidate his gift.
It is easy to doubt some one’s gift and judge them when you are not there experiencing it, or when you do not recieve the fruits of that gift, ie. a healing. God does and has used one man to bring about changes for years. Look at the cases of Martin Luther or even Jonathan Edwards. They may have not been the only ones saying what they were saying, but they were the catalyst for change and they were greatly criticized for it in their time even though it was needed. Look at the book of Judges, that is an entire book of how God used one person (many different people at different times) to turn Israel back to God.
A person is still gifted whether they use it for God’s glory or their own. Despite all of Todd Bentley’s character flaws, he is still a man he seeks after God’s heart. Even with the adultery or drinking or whatever. Look at King David (part of 1 Samuel, all of 2 Samuel, and th beginning of 1 Kings), he was a man who was severely flawed, he committed adultery, but he did repent of it and even though there were consequences (A curse of lust and division upon his family) he was still highly favored by God, not because he was perfect, but because he sought God’s heart with all of his flaws.
So, at the end of the day, we want to put our faith in God and not man, but man is flawed, so we do need godly leadership, but at the end of the day, we need God even more. We cannot judge a man’s heart, only God knows man’s heart (Read Jeremiah 17) so how can we say that Todd Bentley is not rpentant, only time will tell. My guess is that he is, and that he is probably ashamed of what is going on and feels helpless. My guess is this is a hard time of character growth for him, and that he needs all of the prayer that he can get.
God Bless ~Amy
