There was so much in that one article from Tampa.com, I had to bust it up into three posts to cover it all because I didn’t want all the information to get lost in a long entry.
I believe the article can speak for itself. Please comment and tell me what you think. I’m just wondering why there is any significance in the oil being from Africa. Does that make it any more holy? Does that make it any more potent? Why Africa? Isn’t American annointing oil just as good? Or, was there some sort of special power “imparted” into this oil?
Examples of behavior like this is what leads credence to the admonition from the discerning saints that Todd Bentley is influenced by mysticism.
The quote from the article is below:
Get out your credit cards, he said. Write a check. Click on the blue button on the Web site. “You reap what you sow,” he said. “Generosity and the anointing go hand in hand.”
Some guests took this as their cue to walk outside for a burger and a $3 lemonade. They returned to find Bentley surrounded by fellow preachers, in the midst of a formal religious commissioning.
“Your power will increase,” said Peter Wagner, a white-haired minister from Colorado. “Your authority will increase. Your favor will increase.”
Bentley grinned, hands outstretched, head still bobbing, as another pastor anointed him with oil, special revival oil FedExed from Africa, and slew him in the spirit so he fell to the stage.
He was down for nearly 15 minutes. The prophets prophesied: One said Bentley was a tugboat breaking the ice of religious tradition; one spoke of glory issuing forth; one blew wind from her lips and shook her head so fast that her hair was a golden blur.
Bentley twitched as he lay there, occasionally raising his hands in triumph. Early in the fifth hour he stood up and the crowd rushed in to form what resembled a mosh pit. Someone wheeled an old woman on stage and he touched her for a while before she was whisked away.
“Let the wind of your spirit stoke the fire,” Bentley said.
A long-haired man writhed on the stage. When Bentley touched him he began walking like a fiddler crab and nearly knocked the lectern into the pit. Bentley made a wide sweeping motion with both hands, directed toward a thicket of people on stage, and they recoiled. People lined up and he knocked them down, bodies cascading like dominoes. “Bam! Bam! Bam!” He wiped his face with a white cloth. At 11:43 he checked his watch, and then he was gone. Source.
This sounds more like a satanic ritual than a Holy Ghost revival.
http://anyonecare.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/now-why-is-the-prosperity-gospel-so-popular-in-america/
By: thenonconformer on July 2, 2008
at 8:09 am
It seems to me you are trying to convince yourself as to what is the truth and no one else, you build up straw arguments, and then you reply to your own arguments.
Is 45:5 I am the Lord, and there is no one else; there is no God besides Me. I will gird {and} arm you, though you have not known Me,
The people who also tell us to use only the Bible often still lie further to us.. they ask us also to use men’s commentaries, instead of the Holy spirit to next interpret the Bible.
(Eph 4:18 KJV) Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
When you talk about what the scriptures say you honestly should mean how you interpret what the scripture says.. cause too many of us read different things out of the same scriptures as we all do know firstly..
(Jer 32:27 KJV) Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
(Neh 8:10 KJV) Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/god-can-speak-to-us-today-in-many-ways-are-you-listening/
By: thenonconformer on July 2, 2008
at 8:13 am
I actually happened to watch Todd’s commissioning via GodTV on the internet, so I know exactly what this article is referring to.
One of the many things that concerned me as I sat watching, was hearing how these pastors have consciously or unconsciously begun to add, or even substitute man made words for actual scripture when they speak, i.e. Revival.
I was going to write a post on this, because when Che Ahn (who is an amazing pastor of an amazing church) was praying over Todd, he referenced Ephesians where it says God made some to be prophets, others evangelists, etc. In there Che threw in “revivalists” as well. I opened up my bible and NOWHERE does it say revivalist.
Nowhere.
It was something so small, so hard to catch, because it sounded so good, that most people probably nodded their heads along in agreement.
It’s by these little degrees that we begin to subtly veer off the narrow path of righteousness. We are being conditioned to believe what isn’t actually bible, and then told that when we do ask questions, that “God is offending our minds to reveal our hearts.”
That phrase has been overused way too much and is pure manipulation. I would want to ask John Arnott, so do you really think that someone pretending to pee on a pillar at your church while under the power of the “Holy Spirit” (I would say it’s a different power), that God’s wanting to offend my mind? Come on folks. Do you think maybe these people have been duped into believing that all behavior is acceptable when done in the name of charismatic mania, oops, I mean anointing, or better yet, revival.
I spent 3 months in Africa with people who move in these same sorts of circles and this stuff is all the same. Hours of worship and prayer and repentance and manifestations, followed by very, very, very little Bible.
I just pray that people seek out the truth in the Word and not just take verbatim what these “Big Wigs’ are saying as solid Bible. As for me, I choose self-control, I choose seeking truth in the Word, I choose not chasing after God wherever He seems to be “pouring out” on any given day, because I know that my Jesus lives in me and walks with me wherever I am. I don’t need Mr. Bentley to pray for me to so that I can take some of this “fire” back home. Does anyone else see how ridiculous a notion this is?
Pastors are going there by the droves. I know one personally. He went to Toronto to bring some of “it” back and he’s done the same thing with Lakeland. I think he thinks this will be the answer to filling the seats in his church, but lives aren’t changed by emotional highs and experiences, they are changed by the power of God’s Word and walking with Him daily.
I wish I could challenge this pastor to spend more time being relational in his community, actually reaching out to the local people, and see what sorts of transformations begin to take place.
Oh we have been so misguided. It hurts my heart. God have grace and mercy on us. Help us to not be so easily distracted by every new whim that comes along. Transform our hearts to love those in need around us, to become outward focused and not so inward focused. Help us to stop looking to man answers, but let us always look to You.
By: Lara Kincer on July 2, 2008
at 12:18 pm
What would we do without computers and the internet? Oh, my! We might be forced to use television and telephone. And if we could no longer have those conveniences, tragically, we would have to read books, magazines and newspapers. Before printed material, we had hand-written pages, scrolls and plain old word-of-mouth. Before Christians had their own bibles, they had to rely on God’s chosen, anointed popes, priests and monks for their godly instruction or, in some sects, the voice of the spirit within, just as the apostles and prophets of old. Ok, now that we have established that God can use any type of media to speak, lets go to that passage in Ephesians that Lara mentioned. (I also watched the commissioning) and look at verse 4:12 where God gave those ministry gifts for the perfecting of the saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ. Doesn’t that explain why many pastors would go to these meetings? Lara says that they should stay home and minister to local needs, but in our day needs are so great that pastors feel powerless and overwhelmed. They need more fire and power to do their job like never before. I say lets wait and see what kind of fruit that this anointing produces globally before drawing conclusions about it while at the same time keeping watch on our own hearts for signs of straying from the truth. Please remember that there were many centuries that Christians had no bibles. Also remember that the modern world is ripened for harvest in terms of crises and sheer numbers like never before! “This Gospel shall be preached to all nations and then the end will come.”
By: doublemind on July 4, 2008
at 8:43 am