THE SORCERY & TRANCES OF TODD BENTLEY VS. SCRIPTURE
Open Letter to: Brian Olynick, Stephen R. Strader, Gary S. Greig, Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries Staff,
I am responding to your charges that we are “judging the Bride of Christ.” If you had bothered to read the testimonies you would see that we are not judging the Bride of the Christ, as only Jesus Christ can do that at the Bema Judgment Seat. But we are commanded to judge the teachings of anyone who claims to be part of the Bride of Christ. So in one broad stroke you have already borne false witness against us. I was expecting that at some point you would retaliate with ad homimum personal attacks, instead refuting the charges against Todd Bentley and his collaborators, with Scripture as the Apostle Paul has mandated. We are required to judge teachings and be good Bereans to test the Scriptures to see if these things be true. You have done none of this. But we will! All of my discernment colleagues have exposed Todd Bentley as a false teacher, not by some emotional appeal, but by purely comparing his teachings as well as the roots of his teachings and teachers to Scripture. When did this commandment become extinct? We are not heretic hunters. In fact, we don't even have to hunt for them, they are in your face, published, and in constant media national and international media coverage.
Anyone can flail accusations, but if you are a Christian, you must prove your charges against us with Scripture, otherwise it is you who have become guilty of bearing false witness against a brother, which God has deemed is an abomination. If you continue to promote and defend Todd Bentley, then you become an accomplice and share in his iniquity. If you think every Christian shouldn't judge the teachings of a so-called Christian or Christian teacher, then you are deceived. If a man calls himself a brother i.e., one of "Christ's bride", but brings teachings contrary to Scripture, then we are commanded to expose him and expel him from the church. The Apostle Paul commands us to name names. So we are compelled to name Stephen R. Strader, Todd Bentley, Gary S. Greig publicly for being false teachers, refusing correction or warning, and for bearing false witness against those who have exposed all of you. We are not attacking the bride, because we are part of the Bride of Christ, rather we are exposing wolves who are attacking the Bride of Christ. Todd Bentley and company are not the Bride of Christ...the Bride of Frankenstein would be a more apt description, spiritually speaking.
If you are a pastor, then
you should know that. Your failure to
do so and defend your own sheep from wolves in sheep's clothing and Satan's
servants masquerading as a servant of righteousness, then you are a false
shepherd and derelict in your duty to protect your flock. In this regard, I am compelled to join my
colleagues and expose both you and Todd Bentley publicly on the various
discernment newsletters and national radio programs we frequent, informing them
that you both refuse correction and have failed to repent even upon being
confronted, and represent a clear and present danger to the Church of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
I have read Todd Bentley's defense of the female Angel Emma posted at: http://sheepyweepy.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/todd-bentley-responds-to-criticism/#comment-730
and quoted from Bentley's
site, that the angel would not necessarily be female, just appear female. Response, so now God is the author of
confusion, so we are not able to discern?
What biblical precedent is there for any angel (male or female) to
heal? As to discernment critics needing
to think outside their comfort box, I have read Jackie Alnor's, Mike
Oppenheimer's, Gary Osbourne's and Jacob Prasch's demolitions of Bentley's
stronghold(s). I assure you that their
comfort box is in fact Scripture itself.
Is it written or is it not written?
What Christians should worry about is when they are comfortable outside
of the Scripture zone! If we are
Christians and good Bereans, our comfort box will be that the fruit of the
spirit is "self-control", not "out-of-control"...evil
shrieks are the sounds made from evil spirits coming out one someone possessed,
not the sounds made by people after they are delivered or for that matter
coming from saints who don't even need deliverance or healing!
As to Bentley seeing
Jesus physically, this reminds of Paul Yonggi Cho claiming he saw Jesus appear
dressed up as a fireman. (Jesus
wouldn't be a fireman anyway putting fires out, rather he will be sending the
fires of judgment on the earth.) Sound good that Jesus is paying us visits? Big
problem! The Book of Acts; 3:21 states
that Jesus Christ must physically remain in Heaven until he returns in glory when
he will restore all things! Jesus
Christ himself warn us in Matthew 26:23-27 (and Mark 13:21-22) that if anyone
says Jesus Christ is here or there, don't believe him or even follow after him. Jesus Christ knew people like Bentley would
come along, so he made it crystal clear that he would not return to the earth
until we all see the entire earth engulfed in the white lightning of his glory
with the heavenly hosts following him.
There will be no wondering if he came back yet for his Second
Coming. There will not be a Third,
fourth, 50th or thousandth coming.
And no one can summon him. That
constitutes conjuring spirits or sorcery.
So if anyone says they saw Jesus before his final return, then they saw
another Jesus. Are we to believe Jesus
Christ over Todd Bentley who said he saw him?
Worse, Bentley is telling his followers that they can now summon down
Jesus and angels. Mike Oppenheimer
reveals that according to Bob Jones, one of Bentley's mentors, Bentley's
Lakeland Revival is supposedly part of the Third Wave following the First Wave
of the Toronto Blessing, followed by the Second Wave of Pensacola. Mike Oppenheimer also points out that Paul
Yonggi Cho falsely prophesied that the Pensacola Revival will last until Jesus
comes, but it has been a dismal failure, completely collapsing, ship-wrecking
the faith of many. Instead of revering
Bob Jones, Todd Bentley should have exposed both Jones and Cho. Dr. Christian Wei, who is the director of a
school which trains missionaries to take the gospel into Communist China has
written an excellent documentary exposing Paul Yonggi Cho. The persecuted and martyred Church in China
is already being alerted to false teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho. Dr. Wei is presently translating both of my
books on the false teachings of Rick Warren into Mandarin and Cantonese
languages to distribute to the underground church in China to warn them.
Dr. Christian Wei
Expose on teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/cho/general.htm
Paul Yonggi Cho quotes
compiled by Jim Fox:
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=557
Mike Oppenheimer's expose on Todd Bentley: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Even though Bentley's chief apologist, Gary S. Greig, is an instructor at Jack Hayford's Foursquare denomination Church on the Way, who is a Rick Warren promoter, Bentley is not yet the global clear and present danger to the church at large that Rick Warren is with his Global Peace Plan.
Gary Greig Biography:
http://www.vanguardministries.org/bio-garygreig.asp
Note from his own
biography that Greig hotlinks to both Injoy Ministries and Equip, which are
headed by John Maxwell who is virtually the E for Equipping in Rick Warren's
Global PEACE Plan. I expose John
Maxwell's teachings and his unholy alliance with Rick Warren in my second book
on Rick Warren entitled: Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural
Teachings on Peace. The entire book
is also available online at:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/Global%20PEACE%20Plan.pdf
(Once loaded, search
for “John Maxwell”)
Todd Bentley's false teachings (and Gary Greig's defense of them) aren't even subtle but glaring. Instead of repenting of defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit with massive and extensive tatoos all over his body and defying Scripture, Todd Bentley boastfully glories in them...a stumbling block to the “least one of these my children” and the poorest witness. Instead of repenting you (Brian Olynick) retaliate against the messengers, as though they are the enemy! No wonder the Apostle Paul said "I am now therefore the enemy because I tell you the truth"! So I must strongly rebuke all of you and pray that you repent while there is still a season to repent. So be assured we will publicly mark you and warn the church.
I had thought I was done with my own report on Todd Bentley and was ready to publish it and expose on the radio nationally and internationally when I read about Jack Hayford's commentary on this revival which is posted on the Foursquare International website as well as at:
Jack Hayford & Foursquare International Official Statement on Todd Bentley:
Therefore, I am now compelled to add the following commentary on Jack Hayford to this article on this "revival!"
The most glaring question I have for Dr. Jack Hayford's formal Foursquare Church statement regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival:
"by any
standard of biblical wisdom, it is far too early to assert anything on any
terms...We are not called to answer for
any other ministry or its report;"
Second problem with Hayford's defense or failure to speak out against Todd Bentley is his invoking Gamaliel. Gamaliel's statement in the Book of Acts was not prescriptive, but rather descriptive. There is no evidence that Paul took or used the advice that if it is not of God it will go away after his conversion. In fact, Paul taught the opposite as evidence by his fear of what would happen to the Church of Ephesus after he died. The Apostles taught that things would get worse and worse (exactly what we see in Todd Bentley). If what Gamaliel said is true, then Roman Catholicism and Islam would have long disappeared, but both of these religions boast 2+ billion followers. It is precisely because the apostate church did follow Gamaliel's advice that in great part produced the fix we are in today. Following Hayford's kind of unwise counsel is the same kind of advice to refrain from intervention in both the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola nightmare's in the Assemblies of God and Vineyard. We still recovering from this nightmare because these so-called watchmen on the wall who became spectators and worse participants. Had George Wood stepped in at the beginning this nightmare might have been averted in the Assemblies of God. But what does George Wood do in the case of the latest Rosemary's Baby? He issues a statement on June 5, 2008 that does nothing to condemn Todd Bentley's teachings. Had he condemned Thomas Trask, the previous General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a destroyer of the brethren and God-fearing AG pastors, and promoter of much the very same false teachings promoted by Bentley, the Assemblies of God denomination might not be in the state of apostasy that it finds itself. Had Jack Hayford and George Wood intervened in the case of Rick Warren's teachings and programs, that plague might have been averted in the Foursquare Church and Assemblies of God, respectively. But what does Jack Hayford do? He promotes Rick Warren and Richard Foster who cite some of the same contemplative prayer mystics that are the inspiration behind Todd Bentley.
Speaking
of Rick Warren, here is a update on him.
I just received a letter from a good brother in South Africa. A Christian broadcast journalist stated on
the radio there that Rick Warren is a false teacher. She has now received a threatening phone call from an attorney
threatening her with a slander lawsuit.
But this is not surprise because I was threatened with legal action by
Richard Foster's Renovare organization.
In the U.S. a major network Christian radio station censored the longest
standing national conservative Christian radio show if they ever again said
anything negative about Rick Warren...doesn't matter if what they said was
true. The New York City Leadership
group which was recently formed will be launching major events this Fall at
Madison Square Garden promoting Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard (also exposed in
my second book on Rick Warren) and his teachings...EVENT SPONSORS:
Buttafuoco
& Associates
Greg Laurie NJ/NY 2008 Crusade So BEWARE: Here is their website for proof of sponsorship:
&
http://copgny.org/316776.ihtml
So beware of Jack Hayford, Tom Trask, George Wood and those I have cited in this document. You don't even need to use the present documentation of events or fruit in Lakeland Florida Outpouring to demolish this stronghold, though there is plenty going on to already rightfully oppose it. In addition to the fruit of this thorn bush, you can judge him as well as this tree by the root system which is riddled with false teachers and teachings that Todd Bentley is still touting to his audiences.
Finally, one of the most troubling statements of Hayford's official position is this statement:
"With time,
whatever is taking place in Lakeland and through activities issuing from its happenings will either verify or discredit the source
of the manifestations." (More Gamaliel reasoning)
Comment: Give the wolf time...if given enough time, it can destroy the whole flock. Give leaven enough time it will leaven the whole lump. Give the siren calls of the harlot enough time, she will deceive the multitudes.
Therefore, Jack Hayford
is one of the least credible people one should trust. Here is an expose why you should give no credence to Jack Hayford
in the first place:
James Sundquist expose
on Jack Hayford:
http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/jack_hayford_expose.htm
Mike Oppeneheimer,
Director of Let Us Reason's expose on Todd Bentley:
http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Jacob Prash's expose
on Gary S. Grieg entitled:
A Review Of Gary S
Greig’s Pseudo-Scholarly Apologetic For The Unbiblical Antics Of Todd Bentley
And The Lakeland, Florida Sequel To The Failed Revivals Of Kansas City,
Toronto, And Pensacola,
is now posted internationally on Be Alert and Moriel Ministries at: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/review_of_gary_greigs_apologetic.htm
For Todd Bentley to claim he had a conversation with the Apostle Paul makes him a necromancer, forbidden in Scripture. Todd Bentley is not conducting true worship or true revival but seances. He is exploiting the masses with stories he has made up exactly how Scripture describes people like him in 2 Peter 2:3.
You have made a mockery
of Christ and his Bride, and compounded your sin by attacking those saints who
have exposed you for this circus. What
a reproach! So rest assured, we will
sound the alarm on His Holy Hill about you!
If anyone had wondered what signs and wonders would be performed to
deceive even the elect if that were possible, you are now witnessing it!
Final
Warning:
2Jo 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jo 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds
Sincerely in Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt Publishing
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/False-Teachers.html