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A Todd Update

I’m here in the prayer room, marveling at God’s goodness, His patience and His unfailing love. His word says His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22,23). Wow, what a blessing, we get to start over every day!

In that spirit, I offer the following from Rick Joyner on what’s going on with Todd Bentley:

“The number one question I am asked is, “How is Todd Bentley doing?” Todd came to spend a few days with us, and in general I was encouraged with how he’s doing. He is deeply sorry for the problems that his problems have caused others. He is well aware that he made some mistakes and foolish choices. Todd wants to express this as clearly as he can in a letter, which should be coming in a few weeks. It will take that long because I will be helping him with this, and I will be out of the country for three weeks. We also want to get input from a few others, and this will take time.

The present plan is for him to get some practical issues worked out in his life, visit with a couple of friends who have gone through similar things in their lives and have come through them victoriously, and then come to Heritage for a period of time to begin a healing and restoration process.”

Okay, there’s an update. Now I want to get at the spirit of how this is going forth. Rick Joyner is a guy who is able to discern the issues someone may have without throwing out what God is doing though them. Yes that’s right, God does work through imperfect, mistake prone human beings. I think of Peter, whose personality wasn’t changed by Jesus, just his heart. Peter released some profound revelation about Jesus to the other disciples, but was also called Satan by Jesus Himself and was later rebuked by a young, “upstart” apostle named Paul for being a man pleaser in Galatia. None of this kept Peter from being used to write two books of the New Testament and to open the doors of the Kingdom to the Gentiles.

Look at the heart Rick is communicating, not to mention the wisdom, in the following:

“There are also profound lessons in almost every aspect of this issue. Resolving them and learning from them will greatly strengthen the church for the future. Personally, I have never doubted that the Lakeland Outpouring was a crucial visitation of the Lord for our times. Thousands and thousands not only were healed or experienced miracles, but the faith of countless others was lifted. This has resulted in continuing outbreaks and spiritual advances in other places, and is helping the church prepare for the times in a way that will be most crucial—knowing Jesus as our Healer and having faith in Him for needed miracles. For these we must keep growing and rising far above the place that the church is in at this time.

I also think the issues raised by Todd’s problems must be addressed by the body of Christ before we go further or similar issues in the future could be even more devastating. As we are able to get more specific, I think you will agree. Handling this correctly is a great opportunity for the strengthening of the body and preparing the church for the times ahead. Though there is good reason to be both encouraged and discouraged by the way many have handled this to date, how it is resolved can strengthen the whole church in a way that we desperately need at this time. The potential benefit from this is huge. The Lord always leads us in His triumph, and I am confident that we will see this here.” (emphasis mine)

This statement says it all. There is an admission of problems, but they are presented as an opportunity to learn and grow, not to judge and condemn. Rick is the one clearly communicating and walking in the heart of God, not the judging and condemning spirit so many have adopted toward Todd. I agree that the choice to not only learn from this but to let our hearts be changed, is critical in this hour. As the Body of Christ, we must leave behind our destructive tendency to think we can criticize and “heresy hunt” without offering any solutions. The hour is very near when truly counterfeit signs and wonders will be done to woo and dececive us. We must give ourselves to letting the Lord teach us about this now so we are prepared as a Body. Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves siding with some guy who’s making a peace deal with Israel and calling those who says he’s the anti-Christ “heretics”!