Firsthand testimony from a Todd Bentley Fresh Fire Ministries Conference
This post is by someone else.
“I went to a “Texas Ablaze” conference in Austin, TX. It was put on by Stand Firm World Ministries, Fresh Fire Ministries, and Streams Ministries. Some of the speakers were Keith Miller (SFWM), Todd Bentley (FFM), and Barbie Breathitt (Streams Ministries). It was hosted at one of the local Austin churches (I forget the name of the church). It was three days long beginning on a Friday, in February.
One of my friends had recently become engaged, and his girlfriend was visiting San Antonio to go to this Todd Bentley conference. They had been to one before somewhere else in the USA. I had never heard of Todd Bentley or Fresh Fire Ministries before. She compared going to a Todd Bentley conference to having “An ice cream sundae treat in the Spirit.” Well, my friends and I were up for that, so we registered and paid the fee and booked a hotel for the weekend. I believe the registration fee was 35 dollars, but more if you paid at the door. It felt weird to have to pay to go to church like you would a concert or sports game. I attended the conference with several people from the single’s group at the church I was going to (Vineyard Church of San Antonio.). Many other families from the Vineyard also attended, but us singles carpooled and shared hotel rooms because we were cheap, and some of us did not have much money to pay for our own hotel rooms, so it helped defer the cost. We were all excited about this conference and prayed that God would do great things while we were there. I went expecting a move of God.
“I hope he does the ‘ring of fire’!!” one of my friends commented. Ring of fire? Apparently a thing where he makes a ring of fire in the air and you walk through it, and supposedly this is some anointing or blessing or something. You walk through the ‘ring of fire’, and he prays for you and you fall down. It’s awesome, they said. That it was a rush to get the Spirit like that. They way they talked about it made me feel a little apprehensive about it. I hadn’t read anything about a ‘ring of fire’ in the bible. (He didn’t do this signature ‘ring of fire’ at the conference I went to after all.)
The first night it was jam-packed with everyone trying to get in. Because we had paid our fee in advance, we went to the pre-registered table. They required us to get these purple wrist-bands that we had to wear for three days (we could not take them off, not even to shower, or we could not get back in.). I am lucky my wrist is very small and I could slip mine on and off because they did not put it tight enough. It would have been obnoxious to have to sleep/shower with that thing on. They did not want anyone who had not paid to get in. They had ushers (guards?) at the doors to the sanctuary to make sure you had your wristband. They would check your wrist after you went to use the bathroom too, before they let you back in. I guess they were afraid of people getting the Holy Spirit or getting healed without paying for it first?
Around the registration tables were tables piled full of things you can buy from the ministries, or outrageous prices, too. 25 dollars for a CD, or 30 bucks for a book. They had sets to teach you how to have experiences like Todd Bentley has (going up to the third heaven, meeting angels, etc, etc.) From Todd Bentley’s ministry you could also buy hankies and get Todd to pray over them, and transfer the anointing to them, so your sick relative or friend might be healed, or if they were healthy, just get an “explosion” of an anointing of the Holy Spirit. (based on people getting healed from Pauls’ hankies in Acts. I don’t think Paul made people pay for hankies though). Streams Ministries had cards that excited everyone, because our church was involved with Streams Ministries, and was doing Dream Interpretation. They had laminated cards that you could buy for $10-25 that were ‘cheat sheets’ on things like 1) What causes what illnesses, or 2) What numbers, colors, letters, and various animals mean in dreams. My friends bought the illnesses card and the dream card, and I looked at them on the way home. The Illnesses card had things like “Obesity is caused by low-self esteem.” “Low back pain is caused by familiar spirits.” Etc. It was a chart with the illnesses on the left and the demons/spiritual conditions on the top , with X’s to show you what caused what. Some things were caused by multiple things. They also had other material for sale that of course, showed you how to cast out whatever demons you had so you could get well, or how to get better self esteem so you wouldn’t be obese. The dreams card was your basic run of the mill dream interpretation stuff, like the color red means danger, purple means royalty, etc.
One thing I noticed is they interrupted the service a lot to advertise products at the pulpit. They would talk for a minute about a book or CD, and then remind us that we could buy it in the foyer for a “low, low” price. I did not see how this is doing anything but turning a house of prayer into a house of merchandise. They did this between speakers. They encouraged people during the breaks to go out and shop at the tables.
In the sanctuary, they had special areas roped off for ‘VIP’ people. Churches that were partners with the ministries, or groups that had paid extra money, got to sit in these special areas up front. Everyone else that had just paid the regular price had to sit in the back. Sometimes we could not all sit together because there wasn’t enough room in one area, and we had not reserved an area for our group. Apparently paying extra money for your group got your group mentioned up front, because the first day they were like “And we’ve got guests from such-and-such church over here” and then that church would clap to show everyone where they were. They did not mention any groups that were not seated in the VIP sections.
At the beginning of the conference Keith Miller talked about how he felt there were going to be “open heavens” during this conference and people were going to get new anointings and stuff like that. I don’t remember much about Keith Miller, except that when he was ‘invoking’ the Holy Spirit, he kept saying “psssshhh, pssssh” into the microphone. Like, “Come down Holy Spirit, psssh ,psssh, psssh. The Holy Spirit’s coming tonight, psssh, pssh. Psssh. Psssh.” It was very weird, and I did not know that making hissing noises into the microphone like that got the Holy Spirit to come down. It actually made me a little uncomfortable, the way he was doing it. But I had not experienced something like that before, so I did not pay much attention to it, but it did not seem much like praying to me. He talked a lot about angels appearing to him and such, and how there were angels in the room. He talked a lot about ‘mantles’. How God was going to rip off a tiny piece of His robe and float it on down to you to cover you, and you would get a new mantle that would give you some kind of power. That prophetic mantles, and healing mantles, etc, would be given out today, straight from God. (They tie this in with Elisha taking Elijah’s mantle).
So Barbie from Streams Ministries also spoke. She spoke about “heavenly orbs” that people would be seeing at conferences, and how they would capture them on camera. How these ‘heavenly orbs’ were God’s glory and angels and things like that. How they had pictures of one that when you looked close, you would see a figure with her hands held out. That these orbs (Angels) were here to minister to us. They showed pictures on the projector of orbs at other conferences, some of the pictures had more orbs than others. How many orbs were there was supposed to be in proportion to how much glory of God had come down. I was extremely skeptical about the whole orbs thing, because it just did not sound right to me. One of my friends caught ‘orbs’ on her digital camera ,but when we showed them to our photographer friend back in San Antonio who could not come to the conference, she told us that those orbs were nothing but ‘lens flare’. Also while Barbie was talking, she interpreted some dreams from pastors. She would only do it for pastors and not anyone else. The reason she gave for this was that they work hard and we need to give something back, etc. Strangely, all the pastor’s dreams, while each one very different, all seemed to mean that God would be blessing expanding their ministry and bringing them rich people to their church to help. (One guy had some dream about diving into a well with a big fish ,and she took this to mean a ‘big fish’ businessman who would be able to finance ministries.)
When Todd Bentley finally spoke (I believe it was the 2nd day), the atmosphere in the room was like “Finally! The guy we have been waiting for!” And you could feel the room get excited in anticipation. He started out really energetic. There wasn’t any prayer beforehand. He was sweating within like 3 minutes. Not that there is anything wrong with sweat, but you could see the perspiration on his brow from the back of the room. What was weird, was that he said he was going to preach on a psalm. So we all got out our bibles. But every time he went to try to read the verse, he would begin to laugh, and stagger, and make weird noises. This made me EXTREMELY uncomfortable. It seemed as though he was mocking the scripture, by laughing at it when he began to read it. Everyone admired him for this, though, saying he was so “drunk in the Spirit” that he could not read his bible! He would calm down, but as soon as he went over to the pulpit where his bible was, he would immediately become so “drunk” that he could not read nor preach, but just would stagger around laughing and snorting for a few minutes. Still acting rather drunk, he began to preach about all the great things he’s done (with God’s help, of course.) About how he went from having no money to having a multi-million dollar ministry, and healings, etc, and how great it all was. Everyone thought this was a fantastic testimony on his part, but I wondered why God would have him set aside whatever he was going to preach on to brag about his accomplishments. He laughed, snorted, and chortled through his entire speech. Whenever he would begin to mention something a scripture said, he would become incoherent. Why could he not read nor recite the scriptures without breaking into a fit? But was able to maintain enough composure to brag about all the great stuff God’s done with him. And people ate it up! It was seriously disturbing to me. He talked a lot about how he would go to the third heaven, and how many times he’s met angels, etc. And how you, too, can get into a Holy-Spirit induced trance whenever you want and go to heaven, and how he’s got teachings on how to do it. (apparently we can force the Holy Spirit to take us to heaven and have out-of-body experiences whenever we want.) He related one tale, of a witch doctor. Who had come to a conference of his. That night God took him out-of-body, supposedly, and into the witch doctor’s dreams, and witnessed to him while he was dreaming. The witch doctor came back the next day saved because of being witnessed to while he was dreaming. He also talked about one time, he got taken up into the third heaven, and angels were running around saying “The books of destiny, the books of destiny!” and stuffed a page from one of those books which had a map of this one African country into his mouth, and then 3 days later the ruler of that country called his ministry.
Eventually he quit talking about his accomplishments and moved right into the “Awesome Signs and Wonders” part of his talk (so there was no sermon or teaching. Just Todd saying how awesome he is, and now I guess proving it.) So he starts blowing people down in the spirit and such. And calling people out based on sicknesses, and they would fall down and be “healed”. But mostly of stuff you can’t see. Actually, all stuff you can’t see. Like one lady supposedly had chronic elbow pain, and she said it was gone after she had fallen down under the power. He had everyone who had a “metabolism” problem stand up because He felt the Lord was going to “reverse metabolisms” and that everyone would be free from struggling with their weight, if they would just stand up and get this blessing. TONS of people (fat, and those who thought they were fat), stood up as he spoke ‘words of healing’ over them.
He prophesied over one lady, that she was going to get the “Esther anointing.” Apparently in the prophetic world, women can only have one of two things, 1. A Jezebel Spirit or 2. An Esther Anointing. Apparently the Esther anointing means God gives you favor with people to get where you want to. (like the King had favor with Esther.) Like if you want to get promoted at a job, having the Esther anointing with give you favor with your employer to get promoted. Things like that. So he prophesied that this anointing would fall on her, and many good things would come her way because of it. Getting the Esther anointing is a sure way to get ahead in the world, apparently.
He also called a boy that had been helping collect offerings, who looked to be about 8 years old. He prophesied over him that he would have many ministries and bring many people to God. Then he threw the Spirit into the boy, and the boy shook as if having a seizure, and then fell over. When the boy got up and went off the stage, Todd called the boy back up and did it again, so the boy shook and fell down, twice. Todd also prophesied over a very young girl (about six or seven), all good things of course, and then did the shake/fall thing with her, only he made her come back two more times, for a total of three. Each time the girl got up crying, and was on her way to her mother, but since Todd called her back, someone would take her hand and guide her back to Todd. When she finally did get to her mother she hugged her very tightly. I could not tell if she was crying because she was frightened or not. Todd eventually went through the aisles blowing down aisles of people. He skipped my aisle. When Todd Bentley took up the offerings (on top of the other offerings that were already taken, and the entrance fee ,and whatever ridiculous amount of money they were profiting off their books and prayer hankies), he began to talk about how God had given him a word that somebody in the congregation was going to feel led by the Lord to write a check for twenty thousand dollars, and God was going to bless them for that. And that if you felt that that word was for you, and you are the one with twenty thousand dollars in the bank, you should get out your checkbook, because God was going to bless you by multiplying your offering 100x. He talked about seed offerings a little, too, saying that if you gave a seed offering, your checkbook would be bulging because God was going to bless you, and you would be able to get a new house, and a new car, and whatever else you needed. He was really intent on getting somebody out there to write a twenty thousand dollar check, because he went back to it a few times during this offering speech.
Todd Bentley said that, the next night, to pack in the sick people because there would be a healing angel there. I did not know how they planned to pack in the sick people since you had to have a wristband to get in. He also said that he had seen a giant angel straddling the church to protect us from evil spirits. Also he promised that he and Keith Miller would touch and bless every single person there, no matter how long it took. And man, people were seriously anticipating that. They looked forward to it, hoping that God would give Todd Bentley a word just for them. I wanted a word from God, too, of course. I prayed to God that if this was really of Him, He would knock me down and give me a word so I would know if it was. But that if it was not, I did not want to fall down just because I was emotional or because somebody pushed me, or because I felt I had to. I have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, so my friend suggested that I pray for that, and pray for my “prayer language” (tongues), to come. So I prayed that if the Holy Spirit was there, that something would happen. I did not pray for tongues specifically, but just ‘something’ from the Holy Spirit so I would know that it was Him. (I was extremely uncomfortable with a lot of what was going on, but my friends kept saying it was because I was not used to it, and that I just needed to let the Holy Spirit flow.) I prayed for most of the third day through the conference, and decided to not be so skeptical. At lunch break, one of my friends was so “drunk in the spirit” we wondered if it was safe for him to drive. He drove, but we watched him in the mirror and he was definitely having jerky limb movements while driving. We were glad he did not get into an accident the way he was driving.
There was a quadriplegic boy that was deformed in a wheelchair. His mother was spoon-feeding him in the hallway. They had come to the conference every day. You could tell by the hopeful expression on his face he wanted to get healed, and that was why he was here. I prayed that God might grant their request, and if it was God speaking to Todd Bentley, that He would give him a word and heal the boy. But all of Todd Bentley’s words from the Lord were to heal people of being fat, or tennis elbow, or having chronic bowel trouble. The quadriplegic boy left the service in the same physical state that he had come. So did all the other people that were wearing leg braces, or using crutches, or canes. I wondered why God wouldn’t heal them, but heal all these other people of much more minor ailments.
Todd Bentley spoke about the “kingly anointing”. He took some obscure passage from the old testament and talked about how the kingly anointing allows us to hand out judgment and serve justice in the world by decreeing righteousness. And how, when we have it, we can proclaim things and then justice will supernaturally happen. But if we don’t decree it, then the injustice is allowed to stay. Like if someone does something wrong, we have to set forth a heavenly decree saying “That isn’t right! It’s not right, and I will not tolerate it!” and then something will happen to serve justice, because you put forth your decree of judgment under your kingly anointing. Like if somebody beats you up, you can be like “It isn’t righteous! It’s wrong! I will not stand it any longer, Lord!” , and then watch them get run over by a car. Wham, Bam, Justice served. (Ok, I exaggerate with the car running over people. But that was the main jist of it, was that people would get their just deserves. ) Then he led the congregation in prayer over their bellies, saying that water would come from our bellies and bring life. Then he led a prayer for the kingly anointing to fall on everybody so everybody could go out decreeing righteousness.
That preaching didn’t last long; pretty soon it was all about the healing. Todd Bentley asked people to get out their cell phones and call a sick person, because he was going to speak the healing words through all these cell phones, and so everyone would be healed all at once. That seemed weird to me, but I was game, because my mom was really sick at the time. But I found I could not call her because I had not brought my cell phone with me that night (which is odd because I had brought it the other two nights, in my purse, but had not put it in my purse that day. I had left it in the hotel room.) After he spoke the “healing words” my friend lent me her cell phone, after she had called her mom (who was also ill) but it was too late because he’d already spoken the ‘healing words’. I was devastated; because my mom was super sick at the time (this was around the time of her surgery on her neck, and being diagnosed with Lyme disease.) I cried a lot, and wondered why God would have let me forget my cell phone, and miss a chance to have my mother healed. My friend was very comforting to me during this. People began to share testimonies over the cell phones of people getting healed. The people my friends called did not seem to get healed over the phone.
Todd Bentley supposedly cast out a demon that was causing a woman chronic lower back pain. (if you have lower back pain, it is always a demon lodged in your sciatic nerve, he said. This was supported by the illnesses card that was being sold by Streams Ministries that I mentioned earlier.). She writhed on the floor screaming for quite a few minutes while he was casting out the demon, then hopped up all happy and thrilled, saying her back pain was gone. It was seriously disturbing watching this woman writhe on the floor. I suppose that makes sense though, since if it was a demon it is natural to be disturbed at it manifesting. But why would a Born-Again Christian woman have a demon possession problem with a demon being stuck in her sciatic nerve?
So at the end of the conference, we were supposed to move our chairs out of the way and stand in line to get the anointing from Todd Bentley and Keith Miller. The “prophets” went in the back room to pray while everyone stacked their chairs along the walls. Then we all lined up in semi-circles with space in-between, and waited for them to come back out. They came back out and you were supposed to hold out your hands, and wait for them to touch you. They had men to walk behind the lines to ‘catch’ you so you would not hurt yourself as you fell. So they were touching people’s hands, and people would fall over. So lots of people were falling. They got to one guy, and he would go into a seizure-like state, as he was falling, sortof crazy dancing and squealing. They thought this was great, and it made them laugh, so they had the catchers lift him back up so they could touch him again and laugh as he did this weird dancing/seizure thing as he fell backwards. They did that a few times. They did not spend a lot of time with most of the people, just touched them and moved on. I was praying during all of this, that God would show me if it was of Him or not. I was a little frightened at the prospect of it NOT being of Him, and possibly opening myself up to the influence of evil spirits. So I was a little scared too, I did not want a bad spirit to make me fall over. I had considered opting out of being touched, but then I thought what if it IS of God and I miss my chance to get a word from God? So when they finally got to me, Todd Bentley said “FIRE OF GOD!” as he touched my hands. But I felt nothing. Certainly not any fire. The other guy touched my hands as they passed by. I just had a very heavy feeling, and I began to cry. One of the prayer ladies that were following them to pray stopped by me because she had seen that I had not fallen, and she put her hand on my forehead to pray for me. She did not seem to understand that I wasn’t falling, because she kept praying for the Spirit to come over me, and pushed her hand harder on my forehead. Her pushing made me plant my feet even more firmly on the ground. She was not going to knock me over. She gave up when she realized I was not going to going to fall over, and was just going to keep crying, so she moved on.
I was not the only one who did not fall over. I noticed that a few others did not either. I went and sat by the wall to pray, and was crying a lot because I just felt horrible at this whole experience, and was wondering where God was in all of this. The prayer pastor from my vineyard came over to talk to me, but I did not have much to say. I could not express what I was feeling about this whole event, and everyone just assumed that the holy spirit had touched me through the prophets and that was why I was crying, they did not know I was crying because God did NOT touch me through those prophets, and I did not know how to tell them that I didn’t think that God was here. I felt uncomfortable about the whole conference, and it just reached a climax at that point, as I saw people shaking with seizure-like things, and laughing uncontrollably, and rolling around on the floor. I cried a lot, also, because nobody seemed to really be praying to God. In fact not a whole lot of prayer seemed to go on during this conference, for as long as it lasted, there were only a few times that any of the speakers prayed. The only ‘prayer’ was to call down the Holy Spirit, or ask for angels to heal or give anointings. They talked about the Holy Spirit a lot, and not so much about Jesus or the Gospel. There wasn’t hardly any talk about sin, or repentance either. Just anointings and mantles and prophecy.
Anyway, it was getting late, and people were still lying around under the influence of the Spirit, or dancing around, etc. Because they wanted to get home and close up the church, they kicked everybody out. Some people had to be carried out. And that was the end of that. We drove back to San Antonio that night. For my birthday (we had a birthday party for me and one of my friends while in Austin because our birthdays were that week), my friends had bought me Todd Bentley’s Autobiography and his cd, “marinating”. Listening to the CD disturbed my spirit. It seemed like trance-inducing music with Todd Bentley popping in once in awhile to try to hypnotize you. His autobiography said some interesting things as well, but I cannot remember all of them now, but he talks a lot about all the supernatural experiences he’s had after being saved (some of them are really weird.). I was very disappointed leaving the conference, I did not feel ‘refreshed’ or ‘renewed’ like everybody else was saying they did. I didn’t “fall under the power” or receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or anything that I had gone there expecting. I did feel like He showed me where NOT to look for Him, though, because I felt like the whole thing grieved God very much. I did not know what all of made me feel horrible, but I know that my uncomfortableness was not just because it was unfamiliar to me. Many times during the services it seemed like they were mocking God, though nobody took notice of it. I could not explain to everyone why I felt so disturbed, so I mostly kept my mouth shut. Later, after God led me to leave my church (I was having issues with my church as well), I began to realize what was wrong with the conference, and why God did not like it, and I would remember things I had previously forgotten about the conference that disturbed me. There were many other things that happened at the conference that I have not mentioned here, but I cannot remember all the details of them all.”
This post was from http://forum.narrowistheway.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=952
If you go to the link from which you got this story you’ll find it is a blog and the individual who went to this conference in 2005 is now married. If you scroll down to the last comment (posted by her husband), you’ll see a link which leads here:
http://blog.trentonadams.ca/2008/03/24/todd-bentley-patricia-king-and-emma-the-angel-of-light/
Here, Trenton tells of a dream he has in which others are talking about an angel named Emma. The LORD told him (Trenton) in the dream that, “Emma is not one of my angels.”
Interesting…
LOL. I was so sure I had read this before. Hmm, guess I did. hehe
Okay, if I had known this particular testimony of mine was going to be posted all over the internet instead of just our little forum, I would have edited it to make it more clearer and grammatically correct — instead of just me rambling on, and on. LOL
I wish Christians would recognize that often times this ‘uncomfortable’ feeling is actually the Holy Spirit communicating with you. Why would you feel uncomfortable or disturbed in the presence of GOD? When in doubt, flee.
And, can I just say (since things presumably worked out well for this man), that I just couldn’t get pass this part:
“At lunch break, one of my friends was so “drunk in the spirit” we wondered if it was safe for him to drive. He drove, but we watched him in the mirror and he was definitely having jerky limb movements while driving. We were glad he did not get into an accident the way he was driving.”
And wouldn’t the apostles have recorded such incidents among them if the LORD had indeed moved in such a away?
I’m looking forward to the day when Christ Jesus returns and puts all these blaspheming, demon-possessed charlatans in their place.
Nicole, if you want to edit or correct it, please let me know and I will alter it for you. Please feel free to add anything too.
Thank the Lord for the discernment He gave you . There are many false teaches and false prophets out there,
God bless you.
It sounds like the focus is on personal experiences rather than learning more of God.
It sounds like the Lord was really keeping you awake and aware Nichole, your heart of love for God is evident. We need to stick to the Word of God and not the feel-good teachings of men! 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Thank you for sharing your experience, even though it wasn’t initially meant for here.
Watch out for BARBIE BREATHITT. She is associated with all of these OCCULT ministries. The TRUE GOD of the universe is a GOD of ORDER, NOT a God of Chaos, which is what goes on during these so called revival services. In the name of the true Son of God, Jesus Christ, I ask that these charlatans, ALL of them, be EXPOSED for who and what they are !!!
I read your story on the Todd Bentley revival and wanted to let you know my take on it as I have been participating in the Lakeland out pouring. I have been filled with the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues since I was 11 years old. I have seen some of the things you are talking about at this revival, but I can assure you that nothing is done out of order or in emotion. Now, however I did experience a young girl rolling on the floor and laughing in a silly manor. I have recieved the Holy Laughter before and I can atest to it that she was making a mockery of God. See, people can just act silly simply because they don’t want to feel left out. I went up for the mantle annointing and did the same thing. I did not fall out in the spirit (and I do regulary). I fasted all day before going, I wanted to make sure I was I was in tune with God. About a week later, I felt the manifestation of Todd Bentley annointing me. The Holy Spirit used me greatly in our Youth Group service as I am a Youth Pastor too. The same God that has been showing up at those services showed up at our service, JESUS CHRIST. God showed me that we all can walk in the annointing through scripture. Read: Epheshians 4:11. I told Jesus that I wanted to walk as He did. GOd brought me to this scripture and showed me that Jesus walked in the 5 fold ministry. He was whatever God called HIm to be when God needed it. Same with Paul. I Prophesied over those kids that night and I actually experienced the hand of God! my face and head was on fire that whole service like radiating heat, thats what everyone else was feeling at these revivals here. God has completly restored my sinuses. I hav severe tingling and numbness in my head and face, I just got a bunch of MRI’S. checking for M.S. no MS! and I am healed! I pressed in to God so hard that night seeking his face and not his hand that I know I entered the thrown room of God! I have never prayed through so hard in my life! kids were touched and God is continueing to bring winds of change through Florida. His word says that, “His ways are higher than our ways”. So we really can’t fathium all he is doing. And read Acts 2:17 and Joel 2:28, its coming into fullness all he is doing. I believe with a greater attitude, I will even surpass Todd Bentley, because I now walk in the light of who I really am in Jesus. Jesus even said, ” you will go on to do greater things then I”. SO whatever God has I want it all and nothing less. I thank you for your letter, oh. and you can be “drunk in the Spirit”. You will know what I am talking about when you experience this yourself. It’s a feeling of walking on air and a surpassing peace that noone can understand unless they experience it themselves. You do get a little light headed, but its a good peacful feeling, not that of sin or the worlds way of drunkeness. Look into something called “soaking” and God will show you that realm of peace and you will see what I am talking about. Its just laying out before God in a quite room with soft music on, waiting for his pressence to show up. your sister in Christ. Do not be discouraged just keep pressing on!
Spring:
You say you can ‘assure you that nothing is done out of order or in emotion’ yet at the same time you say ‘I went up for the mantle annointing.’ How unbiblical is this on multiple points of scripture? (Do I need to explain to you why?)
You mention a lot of feelings and experiences that you press in for, but feelings can decieve and are not the yardstick you test by. So what if you felt heat or tingling or peace or whatever, is what is causing the experience and feelings from Jesus Christ, the flesh or the demonic, that is the point? What is happending beyond the flesh? That is the real issue and the real focus. Most of modern day Charismanatic signs and wonders is really empty for there is little to no depth to these experiences and feelings. They are fluff and little else.
The true drunk on the Spirit, by the way, is not by ‘a feeling of walking on air and a surpassing peace’, it is rather an empowerment with the (true) gifts of the Spirit to preach the gospel boldly…..and to see fruit from it.’ Some people do feel peace with it, but that manifestation is not, and cannot and should not be the focus, for if feelings lead, you will surely be led astray and lead others astray with you. Consider your steps, Spring, for this reason for you are accountable if you are not wise and lead others astray with you….however well meaning you are.
“Charismanatic,” haha, that’s funny… Other than that - right on, endtimespropheticwords!
Just more evidence to expose the phoniness of Bentley: A friend of mine emailed a prayer request to Bentley’s website. He got a response stating that if he paid a whole bunch of money, Bentley would personally pray for him. That’s a load of crap!
Aaron, what exactly did this email say please?
I wonder if this so-called ‘Kingly Anointing’ can be used to put a stop to people like Bentley? Because what he is doing is certainly an injustice.
I also wonder if he got his $20,000 cheque.
I’m not sure whether to get angry or grieve.
Way over 1 million decisions for Christ. DOCUMENTED healings of cancer gone, blind eyes opened, deaf ears hearing, limbs restored, etc. Lets see, do I sit around and judge God working through one of His less than perfect children, or do I shut up and pray? It’s okay, I understand your need to kill the work of God like others with the same religious spirit who picked apart Jesus for healing on the wrong day, and rubbing spit in someone’s eye. You stay here and destroy people, I’m out the door be the hand of the God extended to a lost and dying world.
AA,
Documented where?
Yes I have seen this all before. Started with the Toronto Blessing. Someone has a special visitation and everyone has to go get it. The amazing this is I saw it for what it was but because I stayed under the teaching of it had some real experiences that confirmed it was all God. Until in my hunger for God I heard a small still voice beckoning me to go the extra mile and study the word and actually understand what it was to be a Christian. It was then after talking with the leaders of the AOG in Australia I realised they had no idea what was happening. Their response was we don’t know what God is doing when queried about demonic manifestations that were cast as being the holy spirit.
I realised I didn’t know either so I studied mass hypnotism and realised the exact same process was used. So then I went to bible colledge and studied what I beleive and how to put everything in correct context and test the spirits.
The other funny thing is though God will work in the midst of these liers and charletans regardless as people do come truly seeking Him from the heart. Then these guys all use that to comfirm their ministries as being true.
I was a skeptic and rose to be the pastors right hand man. Then the Lord opened my eyes and I left realising every manifestation was readily creatible by the participant. All I can say people is read the word and keep the basic things Jesus taught. If you can do that without faltering let alone being pulled up to third heavens I am sure God will give you all your hearts desires.
It is appointed unto man to one day die. So eternal health will not be your lot, unfortunately. I have seen people healed myself and I have seen people live their Christian lives thinking they are right lige the previous poster above. These emotional meeting are easy to create. I used to do it until I got out on the streets and started telling the prostitutes and destitute and lost about Jesus and helping them.
Where would Jesus be if he was here now. Ask yourselves that and if you are caught up in the middleclass come get it syndrome I suggest you revisite the Gospel message.
These truly are the last days and Apostacy is around the bend due to the average Christians willingness to not do the hard yards and learn the scriptures for themselves. Jesus said in the last days the wood would be dry.
Sorry I didn’t mean the poster directly above but the others talking from emotion and not knowing what they are dealing with.
Test the spirits according to the word. Is it about money, Mans glory or salvation and getting out there and helping the needy and the poor and sick. The ones that have not yet heard the Gospel.
I know what you mean. Some preacher was preaching about some jackass that saw this angel, and said he had some sword or something.(Surely one of those Elisha list crazies!) He kept this guy from proceeding saying this angel would of killed him.WACKO!! What next animals talking?
I never been to a conference but I heard from a friend how powerful the man of God is! And all I want is for Todd Bentley to pray for me.I need healing in my body cause it is sick,I need strength,I need to have more faith,I need my four children to be saved as well as my husband cause I am already saved.I NEED A FINANCIAL MIRACLE case I am tired of living like I am.I need NEW DESTINEY CHURCH to have that ressurection in faith and love one another while we are there in that little town in Pahokee having church at the high school in the audotorium.
Please help with several questions.
I too was encouraged to go to the Florida revival. Of course I was excited about the prospect of going to see a real move of God. I prayed about the potential trip and felt that I was not to go. I watched several sessions on God TV and was concerned.
I do like several comments that share the perspective that even though a leader may be out of order, God still works in those enviroments for His glory. (I agree).
1) I have seen tremendous real healings in person, I didn’t see anything in the few “shows” I watched. Did anyone witness real healings in person - where others could testify? (Yes, I know that healings to don’t mean that Jesus did them).
2) Todd mentions angels often. What is the role of an angel in the bible? (Yes, I know delivering messages in dreams & visions, visitations to Mary).
3) Todd mentioned a circle or pool on the stage and many that came near “fell out”. Trenton, are there references in scripture with being drunk in the spirt?
4)Finally, Trenton, because this is your forum, is there a situation where you would ever believe that Jesus is moving where a church or group of believers would receive healing, speak in tongues, or be anything but a typical plain vanilla congregation? I ask this because I get the sense as I research popular church leaders that there is always a segment of people that won’t accept anything that isn’t in their comfort zone. I am not defending Todd Bentley or anyone, but at the same time I know as a examine scriptures, there are many, many things that are unbelievable and unexplainable and clearly take me out of my comfort zone. (try any of the miracles performed in the bible). At what point do you critically come to the point where you say, I don’t understand this, but I believe this is Jesus working? Have you ever come to that conclusion with any church leader?
Tommy
Tommy:
This is not Trenton’s blog, this is endtimes (Miriam’s) blog, but this one post was taken from Trenton’s blog.
There are references in the Bible to being drunk in the spirit, yes - but there drunkeness and Bentley’s drunkeness is not comparable because of both teaching and practises - and the fruit.
Yes, absoultely, God can move in power today. I believe in the genuinine spiritual gifts and healing etc - I have been healed myself. But I also believe in fakes and false prophets. And Todd is one of them.
As far as not understanding something - I and others - understand only too well what is happening there. And it ain’t from God!
Just a question…where are the references in the Bible to being drunk in the spirit? Just wondering……;.
Within its CORRECT context: -
Eph 5:18 “Be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” (5:18).
Various references to new wine (of the spirit) in Old and New testaments
and ‘….these (men) are not drunk, as you suppose’ (Acts 2:15)
But note that how these verses are viewed today are twisted out of context. They did not act like drunken slobs at a Holy Spirit slosh fest as John Crowder calls it.
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Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:22-37
I have read all comments so far, I can only say that we must stick to the Bible which is the word of God, and it must be spoken, thaught and refered when a Christian group meets. The word of God is the one that allows us to know the WILL of God. Be careful when the Bible is not used in the gathering of the belivers.
Remember that when Jesus was on his ministry on earth, he always spoke the word of God, refered to the scriptures and said “do as I do”
The purpose of the Holy Spirit according to the scriptures is to witness that JesusChrist is the Son of the living God. and be a Counsellor to us and a Comforter.Please, all of you read your Bibles every day, to feed your spirit and meditate and pray over what you read.
Someone asked me what I thought the drunkeness in the Spirit was. I mentioned the above verses and stressed they should be viewed in their correct context, rather than their incorrect one - I more gave these to the poster to show where these drunken ideas come from and how they are distorted, rather than trying to state my own theological position.
I do believe in the infilling of the Holy Spirit. But while some will quote Acts and quote Peter saying ‘These men are not drunk as you suppose ….hey, it is only nine o clock in the morning..’ and say, see, you should be drunk as in acting like an inebriated child at a Holy Spirit slosh fest, and drunk - I say yes there was an infilling of the Spirit but it was not this sort of drunkeness displayed. The manifestation was not everybody crawling around on the floor inebriated, doing silly things - rather it was loud voices - fully cognisant - proclaiming God’s wonders in many different languages. That is another thing entirely.
People also twist Eph 5:18 “Be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be (continuosly) filled with the Spirit” (5:18), saying see you should be drunk on God, but that is not the point Paul is making in this context, comparing fleshly with spiritual things.
I hope this explains my position.
I’ve been to Todd Bentley meetings, as well as meetings by other affiliated leaders such as Patricia King and Bill Johnson. There is real, true, and holy fire being poured down. I’ve witnessed actual miracles — in one instance, I was next to a stage where Todd prayed for a girl who had leg deformities. She fell down under the power of God, and I SAW with my OWN EYES her legs straighten out. She then got up and started RUNNING around the entire conference center.
Todd’s rather unorthodox, and I have a few qualms about certain aspects of the culture surrounding some of these revival meetings. But I have seen God’s handiwork and felt His power through the ministry of Todd Bentley. He is no charlatan, and he LOVES Jesus.
I normally don’t blog, but I am outraged by these “testimonies” of healings. God can do anything, anytime, anywhere HE wants to. I was involved in the charismaniac movement, and NEVER did I see limbs grow back, sight restored, deafness healed,ect. NO HEALINGS COULD EVER BE MEDICALLY PROVEN!!! Come on folks, go study a little bit about Katherine Kuhlman…and we are falling for it again. All I suffered was a broken home and a broken marriage. I got out of the movement, my ex-wife stayed in.I believe John McAuther, (paraphrased) said the movement is more addicting than coca and cannibus and is nothing more than a feel good, hot tub religion. Please don’t be deceived.This is demonic deception at it’s best. Righteous wolves in sheeps’ clothing.
What absolutely nobody has mentioned is all of this is
THE GOSPEL! The only mention was the Psalm that Todd Bentley was unable (or unwilling) to read. If anything that happened is contrary to God’s word, it is from the pit of hell. Experiences do not supersede God’s word.
I cannot to this day and never have, understood why people think they need the so-called anointing of another man to get a healing and a touch from God! If a man is anointed by God, fine good for them but all you need is Jesus his word and trust in HIM and HIM ALONE!!! I just can’t wrap my mind around it, people waiting in line for the Benny Hinn’s and Copeland’s and Bentley’s and whomever makes claims, when JESUS will meet you right where your at, in your house in your car, in your back yard for crying out loud. And guess what Jesus don’t charge anything!!! Whom are these followers serving anyway? Go get your bible, sit down and start studying, pray to JESUS ask for understanding, put some HOLY SPIRIT music on and just start to thank Jesus for your salvation and guidance. Then there wont be so much confusion about what is of God or what isn’t! It will be crystal clear because then you’ll know you have the Holy Spirits guidance.
Seems to me all people want is a quick feeling fix, and don’t want a relationship with God! Ohhh..I felt that, did you feel it..yeah I felt it that man is anointed he must be of God. HOGWASH people!! Look to NO man but LOOK unto the author and finisher of our faith, in JESUS,NOT MAN. OK got it! For all who think that all you need is a quick feeling than that’s all your going to get, and you had better hope it is from God, because if it isn’t then your on a road to GREAT DECEPTION, which will lead you ultimately away from GOD when the time of testing comes!!! YOU MUST RUN RUN RUN, to JESUS except what his will for your life is NOT what your will is. Jesus said whoever does the WILL of my father shall enter the kingdom of HEAVEN. NOT whoever does their will. It isn’t easy to do Gods will, it’s not all peaches and cream. But to many use any method they can get their greedy little hands on to avoid Gods will. And when that happens then you have opened a HUGE DOOR to all kinds of demonic influence, which will stir up nothing but confusion, which is exactly what most of these so-called faith healers and money bags are doing!!!
Preach it Ron!
I couldn’t agree more! I’m absolutely flabergasted at the number of believers being sucked in by this movement, and am convinvced that there is a powerful force at work here ~ but my spirit most definitely does NOT recognize it as God.
Christians, wake up!
I just wanted to add a few more things, after much thought on this topic. First, I bet money, and I’m no betting man, that most of these people if not all of them have never known the real authentic move of the spirit of God! Satan knows this, he also knows what people’s desires are too, and takes pure advantage of it, in a very deceiving way, he’s a counterfeit. The real reality is that people aren’t happy with their lives, and like a drug addict needs an escape from reality, life is very hard at times, and people look for an emotional feeling to get away from it, and Satan will for sure fulfil it. How many keep this in mind, when they go to these conferences? The very reason they go there to begin with is if you stop and think about it, is to get a touch, a feeling, wonder how many would go if they knew all they had to do is listen to a preacher preach God’s word? I can tell you the seats would be empty or near it. How many go to these conferences that even know the bible and read it for themselves? The bible makes it clear, and the history of it says that God’s spirit will not always strive with man. There are many instances in the bible where God spent years keeping his spirit from people, for long periods of time. But yet these people seem to get a touch from God every time they go there….hmmmm? And may I add that God seems to be there in a very powerful way every time. So what has God turned into in most of these people’s eyes..? A give me touch me get me feeling good God?
Ironic really the world is getting WORSE in SIN and YET these movements are getting more prevalent? This should be a BIG BELL going off in the hearts of every believer. And yet people seem to be ignoring that, which in turn means their ignoring the sin..really is this what God does just pass off and ignore our sin? NOT!!! You show me in the bible where God just passes off and ignores sins in our lives, just so he could give us a touchy feeling? You won’t find that anywhere in the bible EVER! So in turn what most of these movements are doing is by passing the sin issue, and subliminally advertise a give me God!
Second the very word God, in the minds of most people is really a very generic term. God in the minds of millions is a WIDE door to fulfill their own conception of who God is. Even the term God in minds of millions is irrelevant, the question remains WHO is God..? Is God mine or your own conception? Many men in the past have considered themselves to be God, the very term is used very loosely, with very little boundaries. Satan thinks hes a God, the very Anti-Christ who is to come will claim he’s God. So unless you know who God Almighty is all you have is your own conception. You don’t think Satan knows who is who? If so then you have surprise coming your way, and most of these movements such as this on this topic, Satan is sure to fulfill that conception, GAURANTEED!! When people DON’T test the spirits as the bible makes it clear we must, then you’ll fall for the very first movement that comes your way, and you’ll be VERY deceived and NOT even know it!! Satan is a counterfeit, you want to gamble your soul on this then your being VERY foolish. When Moses asked God who he was to tell Egyptian Pharaoh who sent him, what did God say to Moses “I am that I am”. You want to know why? Because in those days there were many Gods, God wanted it plain and clear that he was not going to be confused with the other Gods that the Egyptians believed in! If God would have told Moses I am God then the Egyptians would not have only used their own conception of who this God was, but may have actually listened to Moses, which in turn would have omitted Gods very purpose of sending the plagues to Egypt. Which in turn would have actually prevented many from turning to God!!! It is in the hard times we get to know who God is, NOT in the good times with good touchy feelings!! I could point to you time after time in the bible where it points to this being the very case, but to many choose to ignore it because of escape from reality of life, because life is hard, and people want a quick fix, just like a drug addict! Funny really there’s no effort and work in getting a quick fix, which in turn is NOT CHANGE! No pain no GAIN as the old saying goes!
Very glad to read these comments. I had a miracle healing myself, at an event that had nothing to do with these guys. I know it was from God. I pray for all to have such blessing in their lives.I can’t bear to think that there are many suffering without the touch of Jesus. I tried to watch the florida-thing today, but could not. It didn’t leave us feeling blessed at all. So, by my yardstick regardless of whether God is correcting you, punishing you, healing you or anointing you with new gifts, there is such a great sense of being blessed in His presence; therefore because I did not feel good, but weakened somehow I switched off. I plead the blood of Jesus over us all, remembering my own imperfections & greatly thankful for His Grace, and acknowledge that it is not for me to judge or instruct, but simply to pray that God Himself would present such a clear signal that we could all know completely one way or the other. God does use imperfect vessels, but I would be worried about receiving an impartation from anyone I thought was knowingly up to something other than serving Jesus in all things. I love you all & bless you so much in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Let us all get to the foot of the cross & look up day by day seeking His face only through the finished work of the cross. His banner over us is love & we must be careful not to sin ourselves, by being unloving towards anyone whether saint or sinner. None of us are worthy. Even the most comitted saint can backslide, & repentance is the only place to start when a doubtful case presents before the Lord. Weep before Him all of you that are doubting & He will show you face to face the heart of the matter in any situation. He may wait til you’ve wept a lot, but when our own hearts are contrite and humbled fully before Him, He whispers quiet gentle blessings that heal and restore and bring us ease and favour because He loves us so very, very much. As a side note I am not liberal at all. I homeschool, and encourage only christian schooling and do not get involved with anything unless I have tested the spirits. The power of God is what? Yes - The Gospel of Jesus Christ ! Amen ! That is God’s Power. Remember and fight with that. I grew up in the new age/christian/humanist world mix, and I have seen many miracles that did not mention God. It is by the power, and the blood and the grace of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross at Calvary, was buried and rose that we have victory, and only by that power. Be not deceived. Be prepared to starve, lose limbs & all good reputation for Jesus.. lay it all down, and submit to Him, and you won’t have any doubt. He will feed you direct instruction through His Holy Spirit as you do that & the devil will flee, and you will not find yourself confused about anything. Oh and a last thought if you think you may have, even momentarily agreed with something that is not of God. Repent !!! and cast it to the cross, and pick up the yoke that is light. completely remove it from you as if it were not good at all. If you have received a false impartation, and you rebuke it in the name of Jesus, it will leave and you will shake as it does, but you must take full responsibility yourself, and not blame the imparter, but bless them & love them & pray for them, for they know not what they do. Amen? Haleluia. Amen. It is in Jesus name that we have all things available to us, not in man. God bless you all so much, to the tiniest details of your lives, that you woiuld not be filled with anything ever other than the spirit of God. I pray that The Loird God Almighty, His Son Jesus & His Holy Spirit is glorified in all our lives continually. Amen, amen, amen.