Though often hailed as a monentous, historic revival, I have not found the Lakeland Outpouring to compare favorably to other revivals using biblical criteria. Whether people want to admit it or not, leadership matters.
The “mother of all revivals” was the Great Awakening. There have been many books critically examining the Great Awakening, some by no less a heart and mind on fire for God than Jonathan Edwards. Imagine how that assessment might change if Edwards, or Whitefield was discovered to have been an adulterer. Or simply divorced his wife? Would we say that God uses flawed people? Well, of course he does since only Jesus was perfectly righteous. But when you look at the flawed folks who led revivals in the Bible, did they have such smudge marks? No. David’s life was marked by pain and conflict after his affair with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite (not to be confused with Uriah Heep).
Photo 6/12 by Michael Wilson
Today I heard that Todd Bentley is separating from his wife– the first step of divorce proceedings in Canada, of which they are both citizens. She recently packed up her bags and left the warmer climes of Florida with the kids. This after a few years of marriage counseling.
Rev. Stephen Strader assures us that no third party is involved. Is this supposed to make us feel better? No adultery, they just can’t get along. The ‘gospel’ he preaches can not help them work out their marriage issues. There is no grace to be offered to one another. There is no power to change their sinful patterns of behavior. No miracle for them.
Isn’t this what the gospel is primarily about, sin issues? Isn’t one of the effects of the gospel reconciliation with one another because we’ve been reconciled by God? I’m hitting this hard precisely because this seems to utterly contradict the sound doctrine that is in keeping with the gospel which he claims to represent. I don’t want to dismiss their personal pain and disappointment. But this essentially says- ‘the gospel doesn’t work.’ And that is what is so telling about this.
The former media liason (she resigned Monday) had this to say:
“God uses fallen, flawed people. … This doesn’t invalidate what Todd did,” she said.
That about sums up the problem. It is what “Todd did”, not what God did. And it might be a hint into the character of this whole thing. After all, Todd is in the business of ‘conducting revivals’.
photo by Cindy Skop
Most pastors would look in the mirror and say, at the very least, I need a break. For if I can’t manage my own household, how can I manage the household of God? But Todd is following the footsteps of other central Florida “evangelists”, the Whites. While he’s leaving the Lakeland Outpouring, he’s not leaving ministry. He’s going back on the road. He’s going back on the road to proclaim a gospel that focuses on the miraculous, but ignores the ordinary things like “loving your wife like Christ loves the church.” It is a gospel disconnected from real life, and that is what separates it from biblical revivals. They were intensely concerned with real life- changing how you lived, particularly how you treated others because you are rightly related to God.
Have no fear, the ‘revival’ will continue (as if we could ever have any such knowledge). So will the unsubstantiated claims of miracles including over 12 resurrections (that would actually be a resusitation, for like Lazurus they will die again). Oddly, they hide behind HIPPA, and the cured themselves offer no evidence that God has indeed healed them. Sadly, people will continue to be duped by false promises, and a false gospel.
Update: John Piper weighs in.
Cavman Considers 
You’re right…the whole thing is about what “Todd did”, not what God did. And when you want to propel yourself into the limelight…you need to check your personal life first. Personally, if there HAD been adultery, I may have felt a little better. But to appear to simply give up on a marriage with out good reason….makes me sad. Thank you for your common sense on the whole subject.
This article is not about common sense but unbelief. I believe Jesus could stand before you and do miracles & you would deny it. Isn’t that what the Pharisees did & then they crucified Jesus. You are doing that to Todd Bentley. He is a man & with that comes flaws. Aren’t you juding him when you say he ignores loving his wife. If you read the article it said they had been going to marriage counseling for several years. The strain of this revival must have pushed the envelope to the breaking point. Of couse the religious group is known for killing their wounded so why don’t we just shoot him. As for “Todd did” was a statement not a fact of theology. He would have to be some kind of person to have arranged hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to come to Lakland. My son went and was healed & he did not come back with anything weird except maybe the love of God which I am not sure you have. I do believe if God had used you for this outpouring it would have been real.
If this ‘revival’ was so stressful, perhaps he should have loved his wife by taking a break. Is he taking a break now? No, he’s going back on the road. What you are saying doesn’t match the facts of the matter.
I’m looking at his actions, and saying something is wrong and it doesn’t match up with the gospel. I think that is discernment.
Unbelief is a serious accusation. We have a big difference of opinion on how to determine whether an experience is from God or not.
I have no proof of miracles. The Pharisees did, and refused to believe. There is a significant difference there, wouldn’t you say?
This post is very judgmental. Does Paul killing Christians not count as a smuge mark? Sure he did it before his conversion but regardless of the time line God is not dumb to have completly ignored the fact that Paul was a self righteous and sinful guy. How about the disciple’s racism in Luke 9 when they urge Jesus to destroy Samaria? Is that just not bad enough for God to still use them in ministry? Jonathan Edwards was just as sinful as we know him to be righteous and would be embarassed for you to know what lived in his heart.
It is so easy to judge someone’s struggles, and though I’m a person who hates the whole concept of divorce myself and agree with you in the fact that there was much selfishness involved, does not dismiss the fact that God uses broken, fallen people. Just because you are not divoced does not mean you are not just as fallen and just as broken, you just look more apealing on the outside, but our hidden hearts have done so much worse and yet here we are in ministry. I’m not a fan of this preacher by any means, but this post is gossip and should be removed, at the end of the day he is still our brother regardless of how much we disagree with his theology and life decisions. Jesus calls us to love each other, not spew out judgments that even we would be found guilty…and yes, everyone who reads this is guilty of divorce. How many times have we divorced our spouces in our hearts? How many times have we atempted to divorce our savior… which is far worse. Even as I post, i feel like I’m even coming across as self righteous, just towards you and I apologize. We cannot escape our sin, and praise God He chooses me to minister anyways.
As to the first commenter…you may have felt better if there was adultry involved? Goodness, do you have any idea on how awful that comment was?
Abe,
Sinful? Yes.
Were I to begin divorce proceedings w/CavWife? I’d step down, and I suspect you would too.
The biblical standards for those in ministry are higher than for people not in public, vocational ministry. Those standards address outward manifestations of the sinful heart.
Do we not agree on that?
Is it wrong to expect true revival to result in godly living? I find that a mark of true revival.
Why is it self-righteous to point out that a public religious leader is publically sinning? If I divorce CavWife w/out biblical grounds, I expect people to tell me I’m doing the wrong thing, not just sweep it under the rug of common human failure.
BTW: congrats on the birth of your daughter.
Of coarse I agree ministers have a higher standard. But I’ll never forget what Pratt said, when your faith becomes your living you loose one of them, we compromise al the time because the gosple is how we make our living.
Would you agree there is a difference in someone telling you in a Mat 18 kind of way than just confronting via web blog?
And thank you…I’m looking forward in getting out of this country and meeting her next month!
Sadly, it seems that those who could talk to him in a Mt. 18 kind of way are ignoring it. They are dismissing it.
The problem is not limited to Todd Bentley, but within the whole “revivalism” movement.
Hello Mary and Abe,
Mary, Your comment to Cavman about his unbelief even were it Jesus performing the miracles?
Cavman actually points his readers to Christ; but not just Christ the miracle worker but Christ crucified as well.
Bentley does not.
Abe, you pointed to Cavman not being divorced suggesting he is just as sinful and broken. I’ve read Cavman quite a bit, and never found him to run from the fact of his sinfulness and brokenness. Yet Abe, honestly, Cav was never asserting his own personal standard of what constitutes a permissible divorce.
Cav actually pointed to the words of a Jewish rabbi, raised in Nazareth, crucified on Golgotha.
Abe, really, whether Cav has experienced a divorce or not is nothing short of irrelevant. Holy Spirit inspired Scripture is our standard for marriage and divorce. Regardless of how many “stars” fall below that standard you, Mary and the rest of us need to submit to Scripture, not stand in judgment of those who declare Scripture to be the divine standard.
You two get off of Cav’s back, and sit down and read Mt. 5, 19, 1 Cor. 7 for your standard of what constitutes biblical grounds for divorce.
Man…such hostility Ted. You are missing my main point. I understand there is a standard, but that standard has been proven time and time again to be completly out of our reach. Different ones of us fall at different areas of that standard, and all I’m suggesting is, if Jesus can use a murderer of Christians and a bunch of ate up disciples, he can use a guy who has been divorced. Do I agree at the timing of this guy hitting the road, of coarse not. But there is grace for this man in this situation becasue if he is a believer then the judgment of God has already fallen on His Son and who are we to sit atop the hill pointing our fingers? And by the way, Cav not having a divorce is completly relevant, becasue I guarante if he had one, being in the ministry, he would approach this story with a different perspective. Though I don’t suggest he ever get one, he lucked out and got a great lady.
Would you rather rely on your ability to keep a standard or on Jesus? That is the key point if you want to repy again. This whole post comes accross as judgmental, and we as Christians need to stop throwing rocks at each other and realize we all are helpless witout Jesus. I’m going to sin, you are going to sin regardless of how much we don’t want to and how well we know the standard…and rather than pointing out each other’s junk to make ourselves feel more holy, how about we enter into the pain and struggle of this life together encouraging each other to look toward Christ as our ony hope? If you want a passage to look up, how about the one where Jesus said the world will know we are Christ’s disciples becasue of our love for each other (John 13:35) not how well we can point out how fallen we all are.
I re-read this and frankly I must be blind to my own sin if I am so utterly self-righteous. I see that I am critical of the ‘revival’ for reasons I lay out. I see that I disagree with some of Todd’s decisions.
Perhaps I’m wrong but there is a difference between criticism and judgmentalism. Jesus did tell us to judge rightly, and that we will know people from their fruits.
Is the assesment that this doesn’t look like a biblical revival mean that I’ve judged the individuals involved- or tried to understand what is happening in light of Scripture lest I either be deceived, or miss out of something God is really doing? Are we not to test the spirits?
You can disagree with my assesment, and try to pursuade me using Scripture. But to
attackaccuse me – self-righteous (this ain’t about my righteousness), unbelief etc. don’t seem like proper responses.Paul “killed Christians” before his conversion, not after. I’m not sure how that fits into this discussion. If Peter had left his wife, then we’d be comparing apples and apples.
I know God uses flawed people, struggling people. But there are clearly problems that disqualify a person from vocational ministry- at least for a time. Vocational ministry, not being a part of the body.
I get the sense from some comments that we should say “let sin increase that grace may abound”. Paul firmly denied that grace meant any such thing. His gospel “teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness so that we can lead upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus)”
Todd’s gospel is over-realized where it comes to ‘miracles’. It appears to be woefully under-realized when it comes to sin. THAT should bother us. It bothers me.
I’ll approach this in another post sometime, but what I find is frighteningly similar to what I see in 2 cor. 10-13 with the ‘super-apostles’, it is about the cult of personality and power, not Christ crucified and biblical standards instead of the worldly standards used by them to discredit Paul.
I don’t mean to accuse you as a person as being self rghteous, I thought I’ve been very careful to state that this post comes accross as that, not intending to attack your personality.
I think at the end of the day I need someone in my life like you that leans on the standard side and you need people in your life like me that lean to the grace side. I’m not at all saying grace is free so let’s party, but only lets allow the reality to set in that we are forgiven.
Rather than picking apart each other’s arguments let us both put our defenses down and allow the Holy Spirit to challange us from each other’s perspectives.
Darn the enter button…posted too early.
I also thought it was interesting that your perspective of me attacking you personally was inappropriate. And it would be and I do apologize becasue I did venture a little too far because in my opinion you are wrong in this post.
Do you not see that you are doing the same thing to Ted?
I mean Todd…
Abe,
1- At no time was I denying the reality that we are forgiven.
Indeed, He who is forgiven forgives much.
2- At no time did I assert that I [or any other wretch that calls Christ his Lord] can keep the revealed standards.
3- At no time did I, nor do I ever, want to assert that I am relying on my ability to keep the standard rather than Jesus.
Abe, really, all three of those statements you made are to say the least quite the reach, and do not interact with what was actually stated by Cavman or myself.
Abe, it is altogether clear that you are wrestling w/ your view of grace and Law in the sanctification of the believer.
The Law condemns us, damns us, shows us to be terrible wretches.
Secondly the Law drives us to the need for a Savior.
God has provided in Christ, a righteousness for some sinners, and all of those people will be called, justified and eventually glorified.
Thirdly, your posts reveal a dispensational view of the Law that I recognize from my own past. Though you may be unaware, your posts very much read like, “hey we are forgiven so lets forgive, after all, we are under grace and not under Law”.
Abe, you are correct we are not under the Law’s demands to be considered righteous before God. We have received Christ’s righteousness and therefore the Law no longer stands over us as a threat.
Yet, Abe, in agreeing w/ Paul, I ask, “Are we to allow Bentley to continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Bentley professes to be in Christ, therefore, he needs to be confronted and told the power of Christ that saves him from Hell can also save his marriage.
Cavman recognizes there is a use of the Law which is ONLY for those in Christ. You jump on us, but you missed it entirely, and THAT is the point.
Law and Love cannot be made to be antithetical.
The church of Christ needs to rebuke Bentley and the Whites, demand repentance. Bentley and all who are genuinely in Christ have been set from the Law, set free from our obligation to fulfill it perfectly “Be ye holy, because I am holy”.
However, the Law is still normative for the believer. It is my standard, your standard and if Todd Bentley is in Christ, it is the standard for him too, and daily!
And no, I am not a legalist. A legalist believes he either attains life, improves his life or even sustains his relationship w/ God by his law keeping.
Furthermore, to not remind believers of the Law’s standards is Antinomianism. And because we are so loved in Christ, we want to obey his Law as we are increasingly sanctified.
What you are struggling w/ is distinguishing the Law and Gospel in the sanctification of the believer. The Law does not motivate or inspire us, the gospel does. Yet we increasingly delight in his law as the gospel brings us good news each day. Jesus said, “You love me if you keep my commandments”.
Bentley and the Whites [and all of us in Christ] need to be confronted from time to time, “If you really love Jesus, then obey his Law, because he lived and died for you”.
Ted, you have absolutly no idea what I struggle with or what my thology is on anything based on a few posts. Your arguments can be turned around just as easily on you.
I agree he needs to be confroned, but what is confrontation biblically? Nathan didn’t post on his blog before he went and dealt with David’s sin, it was all done in privite.
And next time rather than just trying to blast me, your points will be better recieved and respected if you show a little more respect. I’m an ordained minister for the gospel putting my life on the line in Afghanistan so that our troops might know the love of Christ.
Getting a bit off track here…….
see the follow up post.
Abe, I think it is great you are willing to be in Afghanistan.
As you did earlier you repeat the practice of not interacting w/ what is actually posted.
No, I actually do believe your posts do unveil a misunderstanding of the relationship between grace and law in the believer’s life.
And I don’t think Cavman was out of line at all as you began this cycle asserting.
But I’m willing to give it a rest.
Thanks for being willing to go to Afghanistan, Abe.
Possibly the worse tragedy of all. . . .those deceived believers still taking up for Bentely and the rest of the false prophets.
They need more prayer than Bentely or Joyner.