The Deaf & Dumb Spirit

I need to make an announcement about some "serious" developments that just happened, which have called some aspects of Todd Bentley's credibility and character into question.

I feel this needs to be addressed, so we are postponing lesson 7 by one week to address these things. I do intend to continue the teaching series after this announcement for the remainder of Todd's lessons. But I felt you needed to have this information now, as opposed to at the end of the series.

(If we run this teaching series again at some future date, this will become lesson 11 in the series.)

Developments You Should Know About

The first "development" (announced on July 21, 2008) was that Bentley had decided to leave Lakeland to resume his itinerant ministry. He said he would continue holding nightly meetings in Lakeland through Aug 23, but after that, he would turn them over to Steven Strader (the pastor who had initially invited Todd to Lakeland). Todd believed the Lord was calling him to travel so he could minister and impart his healing anointing to many different locations. Lakeland was expected to continue running with the same level of power/anointing as before, but now people in other places could be exposed to this revival without making a pilgrimage to Lakeland.

Critics of the revival saw that as a "defeat" or "fatal blow" to the "Lakeland Revival." But most proponents saw it as a good thing--as God bringing the healing and signs and wonders to the church on an even bigger scale. In hindsight, this "separation" may have been the hand of God removing Todd Bentley from Lakeland because He knew that a major controversy about Todd was about to spring up.

That controversy surfaced a couple of weeks later, on August 12. Fresh Fire Ministries (FFM) announced that Todd and his wife were separating. That announcement came in the form of a prayer request posted on their web page. It said that there was "no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah, nor has there ever been." It implied that the separation came from pressures of full time ministry added to the stress of an already "strained" relationship.

Opponents and supporters of Todd Bentley had two drastically different viewpoints on this. The opponents saw the troubled marriage as evidence of a failed ministry, and they felt that disqualified the "already questionable" Todd Bentley from public ministry. However Todd's supporters saw the separation as evidence of an enemy attack (e.g., spiritual warfare) against the Bentleys because of the anointing. Their response was to rally in prayer for a reconciliation and healing of the marriage.

However, a new development was announced on August 15, when FFM reported that they learned that Todd had entered into an "unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff." That means that there was no sexual sin, but Todd (a married man) was romantically pursuing another woman. While that is not technically "adultery," most Christians would consider that sin, and it is of great concern to everyone--opponents and proponents alike.

What Do These Developments Mean To Us?

So the question arises: does Todd's failure invalidate Lakeland or what God did through Todd? I would say NO! Bill Johnson summed it up very well when he said, "Great character and maturity are not a prerequisite for great anointing." A person can have great anointing before they are fully mature in their character. Todd Bentley is relatively young, and it is becoming apparent that his level of maturity is not quite as high as his level of anointing.

This failure is not evidence that Todd is a charlatan or fraud, but it is evidence that he has some issues he must resolve before he can continue in Christian leadership. Personally, I believe that Todd is genuinely of God, and that he carries a legitimate anointing. However, he had a serious moral failure that we cannot overlook. We can't ignore what Todd did, nor can we allow him to continue in that sin and at the same time to keep ministering.

Todd's "fall" is more like spiritual warfare (in the form of great temptation) because of the great anointing. The devil did not like all that God was doing through Todd, so he attacked him. If Todd was more mature, he might have been able to withstand that temptation. But his lack of maturity and subsequent sin is not the same thing as lack of anointing.

Has Todd Bentley made a serious mistake in this? Absolutely! Should Todd step down from public ministry until he gets things in order? Yes, I believe so, and he has already agreed to do that. Will he be able to come back into ministry one day? I certainly hope so, but that is really up to how he handles this and if he lets the Holy Spirit transform and mature his area of weakness.

Should we reject his teachings on healing because of his moral failure? No. There is still wisdom and spiritual understanding to be gained from them. The principles about faith and unbelief that Todd teaches in this series are just as valid today as they were before Todd gave in to temptation.

We need to recognize the moral failure and hold Todd accountable to Bible standards in terms of what he is allowed to do for future ministry. But I do not think we should throw out quality teaching just because the person who taught it "fell" in a completely different area long after that teaching was released.

For those of you who were touched, blessed, imparted into or even healed through his ministry--this does NOT negate what God did for you. I know that I personally was very blessed and met-by-God when I went to Lakeland in June. I am not going to allow the devil to steal my blessing just because Todd, in the midst of his marital problems, became attracted to another women. I will not condone his misbehavior--I will call it what it is: sin. But I will not deny or reject the real anointing that was present at Lakeland. It is too bad that the top leader from Lakeland fell, but that doesn't undo the healings and salvations and impartations that God did through Todd before He exposed the sin in his life.

So How Can God Anoint Someone Who He Knows Is Sinning?

To discuss this, I have to talk about character and anointing, and how those two things are not always at the same level in a person's life. It is possible for a person to move in a very high level of anointing (for a season) and still have a serious character flaw.

Todd is not the first spiritual leader to have a secret sin--in fact, if you were to compare Todd's sin to some other leader's sins, it might look "small" in comparison, because there was nothing illegal and no extra-marital sex. Still, it is absolutely unacceptable for a spiritual leader to do what Todd did, and he is being held accountable for it.

Todd is not the first strongly anointed person to be caught living with an area of his life in blatant rebellion against God's word, and he is not the first to be temporarily removed from ministry because of it. This type of thing has happened many times before and (sadly) it will probably happen again.

You might ask, how can this be? How could God anoint someone when He knows what they are doing? Shouldn't God yank their anointing because of the secret sin?

The answer to that question can be found if you look at God's nature and character. One of His attributes is grace and another is patience. God will frequently give an errant leader a grace period before He exposes him/her, hoping that leader will repent and be restored. God can be patient with them, but He will also begin actively working in their life during that grace period, inviting them to turn them to repent and turn back to God. That strategy worked well with some of His leaders, such as King David. (That story is found in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12).

David fell into sin with Bathsheba. He committed adultery and murder and he worked hard to conceal what he had done. This caused David to be separated from God, until God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him on it. At that point, David confessed his sin and repented, and God restored him. Look at what He said to David through the prophet: "The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13).

That implies that if David had not repented, the Lord may have struck him dead for the sin and cover-up that he did while in his high-ranking leadership position. We will never know for sure, because David did repent, and he received mercy and restoration.

There are many leaders throughout history who fell and who repented, and God forgave them and restored them to ministry. Their sin was not okay, and God did not approve of what they did as a spiritual leader, but it was covered by the blood of the lamb. Here is the key that allowed them to stay in leadership: they turned from their sin back to God, and submitted to His correction and began living according to His ways.

This is not true of all leaders. Some continued in sin through the end of their grace period, and they were eventually removed from ministry. King Saul is an example of this. So are Eli's sons, who were struck dead for abusing their priestly ministry. They had been given a grace period, just like King David was. But they did not repent. So instead of being forgiven and restored, they were removed from their leadership role.

This concept of a "grace period" is not a new thing--it has been going on almost as long as man's history with God. God doesn't reserve this grace just for leaders, He extends it to many--even to entire people groups. The Bible first introduces the concept of a grace period in Abraham's life. We see it in Genesis 15:13-16, when God was making His covenant with the childless Abraham. He told Abraham the future history of his descendants, including the fact that his descendent's would one day possess the land where Abraham was standing as God spoke to him. But God did not give it to them at that point in Abraham's life, because the Amorites (who currently lived there) were still in their grace period. God looked forward in time and saw that they were not going to repent. Even though He wanted to give their land to Abraham and his descendants, and even though He knew they would not repent, He still extended the grace period to it's point of completion.

Why would God do that? It is because grace is a part of God's nature. He is a God of grace and mercy, and he extends His grace to people in hopes that they will respond to Him.

The book of Jonah gives us another example of God's grace period-- grace with the hope of repentance. In this case, His grace period was extended to a very sinful and corrupt city named Nineveh. God sent an unwilling prophet named Jonah to prophesy to them of an upcoming judgment, so that they could have a chance to repent. If God just wanted to destroy them (to punish them for their sins), He would have been completely within His rights to send the judgment with no forewarning. But God's desire wasn't to punish; it was to restore.

God wanted the people of Nineveh to repent and be restored to right relationship with Him. That is why He sent a prophet to warn them of the upcoming judgment. In Nineveh's case, they responded precisely the way that God hoped they would--they sincerely repented and determined to change their behavior. As a result, God spared their city. Repentance always leads to forgiveness and restoration with God.

The same thing applies when a spiritual leader falls into some type of secret sin. God's greatest desire is not to punish that leader, but to restore that leader to holiness. That is why He usually gives them a grace period where they can continue moving in their ministry before they are exposed and removed. God is hoping that they will repent and be restored, just like King David was.

[Note that there is often some type of punishment for the sin even after repentance. That is often a natural consequence of sin, but that punishment does not disqualify them from future ministry. In David's case, the child produced by his adulterous affair with Bathsheba had to die. David was very sad at the loss of the child, but his punishment did not remove him from ministry. God restored David and he went on to do many amazing things with God.

By the way, the consequences of David's sin did not end when the child died. His sin had opened the door for a spirit of strife and discord to enter into David's family. That plagued him and caused David intermittent hardship for the rest of his life. (See 2 Samuel 12:9-12 for more details on this.) In short, David had to live with the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life. But because he repented during his grace period, and he was fully restored to his leadership role.]

Some of you might be thinking, "OK, the grace period is great for those leaders in secret sin, and some of them might repent. But what about those of us who these leaders minister to while they are in still walking in their secret sin? It isn't fair to us to get inferior ministry because of their sin."

If you thought something like that, you have just unveiled why God frequently continues to anoint them when their are in their "grace period." They haven't been exposed and removed yet, so they are going to continue to minister. They will be ministering to people who God loves and cares about, so He allows His anointing to continue on their ministry. God doesn't do that for their sakes, but for the sakes of the ones who they are being ministered to.

If you receive a physical healing from someone living in secret sin, that healing doesn't go away when their sin is exposed. The healing is still a love gift from God to you, even though it came through a flawed vessel. If you received an impartation from someone who has secret sin in their lives, the impartation is not nullified when their sin is revealed. At times, God chooses to do real ministry through flawed vessels while He is inviting them to repent and be resorted.

Some people think that God "overlooks" the sin because He continues (for a season) to anoint the ones involved in the sin.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that way, it is not how God operates. God hates sin, and He will not tolerate it "forever." He does give many of His servants a grace period, but it is only for a season. If they don't repent during that 'grace period,' then God has another (and more severe) course of action.

God tells us what would have happened to David if he did not repent. Go back to 2 Samuel 12:12, and you will see that God's next step in dealing with David would have been public exposure. "For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun." God will not put up with secret sin in the lives of His leaders indefinitely. If they do not repent during their grace period, then He will expose them and remove them from ministry.

He may choose to do that in either of two different ways: permanent removal (such as Anaias and Sapphira experienced), or temporary disqualification.

Most of the time He chooses temporary disqualification, still hoping the leader will repent and eventually be restored. God removes them from their ministry for a while, and at the same time He actively works in their lives to try and get them back on course. If they respond to Him and submit to His purification, then God will release them back into ministry at some future time. Sometimes God uses something like sickness or personal tragedy to remove them, but most of the time He publicly exposes their sin and cover-up, which gets them removed from their leadership role.

That is what He did in Todd's case. Todd loved God and most of his life lined up with God's will, but he had somehow convinced himself that God had given him special permission to live in this one area of sin. He most likely convinced himself that God was so pleased with everything else he was doing that He would overlook this one shortcoming. He mistook God's grace period for God's approval, so he continued in the sin. But that grace period eventually ran out, and God took him out of ministry by publicly exposing him.

I hope that Todd will repent and get right with God, and that he will one day be restored to ministry. I think Todd has the same type of hunger and passion for God that King David had, so I believe that ho will chose to repent and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in being transformed, matured and refined. That choice is up to Todd, and his future in ministry will be defined by how He responds to God during this phase of his exposure and correction.

The bottom line is that God will not tolerate ongoing sin or deception in the lives of His servants. He may put up with it for a while because He is patience and grace, and He hopes that they will repent and be restored. But God is also Holy, and He commands His servants to walk in His holiness. Secret sin will not stay secret forever, it will be dealt with. One of the ways God deals with it is by changing the sinner to set them free from it's hold over them. But if they don't cooperate with Him in that, then His other way of dealing with secret sin so to expose it; God will bring the sin into the light, where all may see it and know about it.

Personally, I think it is much smarter to deal with any/all secret sin by responding to God's grace. Repentance and restoration sound a lot better to me than public exposure and disqualification. It is my prayer that if any of God's leaders are in secret bondage to an ongoing sin, that they will repent and confess to the Lord during their grace period. Grace and restoration are always a better choice than discipline or punishment.

But when a leader is exposed and punished, that does not undo or negate the real minisry that God did through them before He exposed them.