Re: Florida revival: the wheels fall off

On 20 Aug, 21:24, Mark Goodge <use...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:33:08 -0700 (PDT), Gordon Hudson put finger to
keyboard and typed:

On 20 Aug, 07:03, The Real Doctor <ubergeek...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's not just the conviction for sexual assault of a seven year old
boy, or the failure to verify his claims to have raised twenty people
from the dead. It's a good old-fashioned televangelist sex scandal.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=732617&p=1

Ian

Why is anybody surprised?

Anyone who actually reads the report and finds that the above is a
long way from being a reasonable summary might be somewhat surprised.

I don't have any particular brief to defend Todd Bentley's style of
preaching[1], but the implication that he has been involved in any
form of sex scandal is, at least on the basis of current information,
distinctly misleading. The facts of the matter appear to be that he
is, indeed, in the process of getting a divorce[2] from his wife, and
this is why he's stepping down from his ministry position, but there
is no suggestion that this is due to any adulterous behaviour on his
part. And the conviction for sexual assault came when he was himself a
young teenager involved as what he has since described as an "abuse
ring" where he was as much victim as perpetrator. It's certainly not a
recent event, or a recent discovery - part of Bentley's own testimony
is how he has been saved from an abusive, and abusing, subculture to
become a Christian minister.

[1] On the contrary, I'm inclined to agree with the comments from more
level-headed Christian leaders[3] that Bentley has been over-hyped and
over-exposed in a way that has been detrimental to his own personal
and spiritual stability as well as creating unrealistic expectations
in his audience. If the wheels have come off, it's not because he is
fundamentally a bad man, but because he is - like all of us - a flawed
human being who has cracked under the pressure exerted by those who
seek to gain from their association with him.

[2] To some fundamentalists, of course, divorce is as bad as a sex
scandal, and no doubt those from the more conservative end of
evangelicalism are now feeling vindicated in their previous criticisms
of his style. But that's hardly a reason for those without such a
strict approach to the morality of marriage to take similar aim.

[3] For example,  http://www.churchexecutive.com/news.asp?N_ID=1441

Mark

What I meant was, is anyone surprised the wheels have fallen off the
bus?
I wasn't referring to the possible adultery, although to b fair they
only came clean about the reason for the separation when the canadian
press approached them with further allegations going backa few years.

Anyway, this article makes interesting reading:
http://www.reachouttrust.org/articles/deception/ToddB.htm
especially the deliberately bogus resurrection story that Bentley
presented as true without checking it.

People really do want to believe, but this can make them open to
manipulation.

I particularly liked the organisation of the lakeland events which
included the provision of ATM's in the tent to help with the
offerings.
.

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