The Todd Bentley spectacle: faith or fraud?

Prof. William Dembski of Southwestern Seminary recently took his autistic son and the rest of his family to a Todd Bentley meeting in Denton, TX. His family's expression of faith in a sovereign God who can and does use people to heal people is remarkable. But even more remarkable is the blatant manipulation and Finneyesque con artistry used by Bentley and the leaders of the meeting. Dembski's account is truly sad, but not surprising.

Neither my wife nor I regret going. It was an education. Our kids are resilient. But the ride home raised a question. We found ourselves avoiding talking about the event until the children fell asleep. Then, as they drifted off in the early morning, we talked in hushed tones about how easily religion can be abused, in this case to exploit our family. What do we tell our children? I'm still working on that one.

Are we on God's schedule or is God on our schedule?

It would seem that the "mighty outpouring" going on down in Lakeland, FL is going to take a short hiatus so that Todd Bentley can take his summer vacation. According to the press release, the fresh fire of Lakeland requires a "refresh". For nearly 100 days now, Bentley (of multiple piercing and prison-grade tattoo fame) has been "ministering" to the Lakeland revival and is getting tired of having to do all this work.

I am so glad that the Holy Trinity has Todd Bentley on hand to lead this revival. I can't imagine what God would do without Todd Bentley on his side! And I am also so glad to see that Mr. Bentley can turn the "mighty outpouring" on an off like a spiggot so that he can have time to get some rest and continue doing "God's work".

God will surely use Mr. Bentley some day to draw people to the faith through the only true Gospel, but not in any way most people might think:

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time."

Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

- Acts 13:6-12