Todd Bentley is not on God's side

The following was written by Pastor Tim Snell from Christ's Church of the Valley in Appleton, Wisconsin. He writes regarding Todd Bentley. I agree with Reverend Snell on this matter.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Matthew 7:15

One of the most consistent warnings God’s people are given throughout scripture is to be aware of false teachers and false prophets.  These people not only introduce teachings into the church which are incompatible with Biblical Christianity, they also operate under demonic spirits that are to have no part in our lives today.

Certainly all of us can point to examples we have personally experienced.  However, I want to highlight one … because we have one such teacher coming to our Valley…and we in the body need to be warned.

Here is the scoop.  Starting the first full week of June, Todd Bentley is coming to town.  Todd is well known for several things which should cause flags to go up … and then cause us to ultimately run away.  First of all, Todd is known for his healing revivals during which he claims God tells him to punch people in the face and kick them as a part of healing them!  Yikes!   Beloved in Christ, this is not from the Lord!  God simply does not tell people to do this.  However, even more troubling is Bentley’s character and morality.  Just about 2 or 3 years back Todd was leading one of the biggest “revivals” in our nation down in Florida.  During the time he was leading this revival, he was sleeping with one of this ministry associates.  Ultimately then, rather than repenting, he divorced his wife and married the gal he was having the affair with.  Of course, he claimed that God was “restoring him” even as he married this other gal.   

Church of God, be warned!  Todd Bentley is operating under a spirit other than God’s Holy Spirit.  Do NOT go to hear him.  Do not be taken in by those who say that this is all okay.   Opening yourself up to this man is to open yourself up to something quite dangerous spiritually.

CCV, I want all of us to follow hard after the Lord.  I also want us to have a discerning heart and mind about what often happens under the banner of “Christianity.”  Not everything “Christian” is of Christ.  By staying vigilant in prayer and by keeping our feet planted on the Word of God, we can avoid the spiritual dangers the scripture warns us about.

My Rough Conclusions on Rob Bell's "Love Wins"

“And God let heretics vex His Church so as to arouse the mind by conflict, and to lead it to search God's Word.” – Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit

Having read Rob Bell’s previous works, “Velvet Elvis,” “Jesus Wants to Save Christians,” his many Nooma short-films, and even my familiarity with his preaching, I looked forward to what would be revealed about his doctrine and theology in his new book, “Love Wins.” The phrase, “Love Wins,” is years-old and apparently on bumper stickers adorning vehicles all over the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area, where Bell is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church. With all of that being noted, this will not be a dissection and exegesis of the book. Read the book, or don’t, but as with any teaching, discern it carefully. I hold the strong belief that if you are going to judge the book, then you should first read it. This mitigates the need for backpedaling, apologies, blog updates, flux capacitors, forget-me-now amnesia pills, the proverbial eating of proverbial birds, and the subtle proverbial sweeping of things under proverbial rugs (that being said, I will update this as is necessary). It is okay to be informed. This is a brief version of my review and conclusions.

The Importance of Retreats - Testimonies

Testimonies

This is key.  Do not forget this part.  Once back at your usual gathering, take the time for the students to share their testimonies with the tribe.  This time of sharing is scriptural (Revelation 12:11) and helpful.  Those who attended can share what they learned and what God is doing in them with everyone, including those who could not attend for one reason or another.  This can help solidify the experience as well.  As weeks go on, perhaps invite others to share again, now they have had time to implement what they have learned and committed to.


Continued...

The Importance of Retreats - Shared Tribe Experiences

Shared Tribe Experiences

The community that is built in 48 hours of immersion as a community at a retreat is worth more than 12 weeks of 2-hour meetings.  The depth of community that happens as students worship together for hours and hours over the course of a weekend is unobtainable through the normal youth gathering structure, and it is not to be ignored.

New Friends

The friendships that are formed not just within the tribe but with other students from the area are great to see.  It's a subtle encouragement that says, This is not limited to you.  God is moving all over the place!  You are not alone.

Witness

At retreats and camps, students are able to witness several things.

1. Other people worshiping God
2. Other ways people worship
3. God moving in others
4. God moving in their friends

Continued...

Music at Youth Gathering - part 2

Sacred versus Christian

I have been trying to deliberately stop using the phrase "Christian Music."  That's really a marketing term, anyway.  Let's talk about sacred versus secular.  Sacred is the term that I have used to replace "Christian" when it comes to music.  I ask myself, "Is this music set apart to worship and lead into worship as engaging God and glorifying Him?"  Secular has a negative connotation about it, but it shouldn't.  To me, secular is just a broad term to describe music that was not written for the purpose of leading worship.  A lot of Christians have sung the song "Jesus Take the Wheel."  We could say that this is a "Christian" song, because it talks about Jesus.  But would we say that his is a sacred song that we should sing as part of our glorification and honoring God during our gatherings?  In most cases, the answer is no.

I listen to so-called "Christian radio" that plays CCM (Contemporary Christian Music).  These are positive songs that sing about God, but are not sung to God.  They're declarative in purpose, but fall short when it comes to directing focus on who God is.

Continued

Music at Youth Gathering - part 1

Stop the Music

As with all other aspects of a youth gathering, the music should serve a purpose. Music, however, is only a part of the overall gathering, and only a part of worship. Worship is the attitude with which one engages God. This series will not be a discussion about music style, so you won't find a rant about the Led Zepplin meets leprauchan style of "We Will Dance" (at least not in this series). Style is cultural. Worship is not.

It is important to worship with purpose. The music is not there merely to fill time or entertain. In fact, if the music at your youth gathering is there only to fill time or entertain, then stop the music. Don't let your musical worship time be merely a "song service." A song service is more performance oriented; singing songs without the expressed purpose of worship. It's easy to fall into the trap of wanting to bait students with popular songs. Don't get caught in that mindset! Even though a song is played on CCM radio doesn't mean it's a worship song.

First and foremost, make sure that the songs that are sung are theocentric (God-focused). Not all Christian or Gospel songs are designed for bringing focus to God. Some Christian artists just have good positive music, but the lyrical content is so watered down that the songs are not catalysts to engaging our creator.

Continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Series

Adam Posegate shared a four-part series on Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary, and the importance of what it is we speak into the lives of those we shepherd.

Part 1: What is Normal?
Part 2: Does our "Normal" Honor God?
Part 3: A Different Type of Relationship
Part 4: Conclusion

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 4

Conclusion

This culture starts with our vocabulary. We must adopt a spiritual vocabulary. We must be in prayer and moving in the Spirit. When we tell someone of a challenge in our lives, we most not omit that we have prayed and what God is telling us and what we learned from scripture as we studied. We must not just give the summary of conclusion, but we must share what God has done in us and to us and for us, because that is our testimony (Acts 4:33, 2 Timothy 1:8).

For me, this started when I was outside of church gatherings. It was with family members. It was with people at work. It meant honoring God in how I talked about my life and the things in my life to others. And this was hard. Strangely, it was just as hard to begin that sort of conversation with those in the church. This is because up until that point, even though we had Christ in common, our conversation topics had focused on music or television or other things. God, as a topic of conversation, was relegated to leadership meetings and prayers, when we really "got down to business."

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 3

A different type of relationship

The relationship we develop with our students must be a spiritual relationship. We reap what we sow. If 100% of our conversations with a person are about sports, then that person will only feel comfortable discussing sports with us. If 100% of our conversations are about fashion, then our discussions will never go beyond the superficial.

The different kind of relationship I am talking about doesn't mean to omit sports, or politics, or news, or the world from conversations. It means that our vocabulary must reflect a new cultural mind set of the Kingdom of God.

It means praying for someone immediately, with your hand on their shoulder, instead of saying, "I'll pray for you," and walking away to remember or forget.

It means talking openly about the good things that Jesus has done in our lives (that's our testimony, friends), instead of commenting on how lucky we are.

It means going beyond saying, "I am blessed," to saying how good God really is.

It means cultivating a culture in your gatherings that is one of love; using the word "love."

It means seeing opportunities to speak truth into peoples' lives and making the most of those opportunities, no matter how small.

It means directing conversations back to things that are God-honoring, and explaining why we do that.

It means we stop talking about "going to church" and we start talking about "being the church."

It means continuing to discuss sin honestly, but also elevating the discussion of God's glory and salvation.

It means making the culture of our gatherings and our relationships founded on scripture and Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit so that we are creating a blatantly different "normal." And it means teaching those things to our leaders. And it means teaching those things to our students so that we have a new culture (which is really an old culture). This culture is spiritual and it is Kingdom-focused.

To be continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 2

Is our culture E!, People, and gossip?

If a significant (read: great amount of) of our conversations revolve "entertainment news" or celebrities or even the personal and dating lives of those around us, there's a chance that our "normal" is gossip. Does our "normal" honor God? Are we praying for others as we consider them, or are we talking about everything they do wrong?

Is our culture political, CNN, and Fox News?

If most of our time is spent preaching and teaching moral theism and cultural values, instead of equipping students to be disciples and learn these things from scripture on their own, we may be missing the mark. Getting conservative Christians riled up about politically conservative values is lazy when only done for the sake of preaching to the choir. Rev. Tim Snell once said, "You shouldn't talk about those in elected office in ways that you wouldn't let your own children speak to you." He's right. We cannot make our gatherings a political safe haven for either the left or the right. Chances are, 90% of our students don't really care about politics anyway. We must create a spiritual safe haven and sanctuary-- sacred space that is set apart for worshiping God and learning how to be his disciples.

Is our culture ESPN and SportsCenter?

I once served with a small group leader who would almost exclusively talk sports with his group of guys. Sometimes, to seem relevant, he would also entertain conversation about video games. When I would fill in for him to cover the supporting spiritual materials for that evening's gathering, the kids would comment how they never go over "that stuff." This leader would say that he was doing this under the umbrella of "building relationships." Their normal was sports. In 10 years, sports won't give our students the tools for discipleship that they can only get from scripture. We must love our

students enough to build a different type of relationship.

To be continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 1

Let's talk about talking. Let's talk about your vocabulary. What is "normal" and what is "weird"?

What is normal?

Normal, right now, is to avoid talking about the spiritual, the Holy, and the Godly. It is one that seeks to avoid offense. This "normal" is our culture, and it's missing the mark. We must not be offended on account of Jesus (Luke 7:23). We must boldly and in the power of the Holy Spirit (and not our own power) testify to God's greatness. Our testimony is our story. It is what we relate about who God is to us. If we are ashamed or afraid to tell what God has done, and we use whispers to relay this information, we are not living in God's fullness and freedom. Let me be clear that I am talking to Americans who have freedom of speech, but who fail to take advantage of that.

"Normal" is the language of our culture. So, we must ask ourselves, what is our culture?

To be continued...

On Games

"We must make our youth group 'fun' so that kids want to be there! Then, while they're a captive audience, we preach and worship, and then they've experienced God without even realizing it!"

While that may be an over-simplification, if you really think about it, this is not far from the truth of many youth groups. Also, side note: if you know me, you know that "youth group" is practically a dirty word (youth group is who they are, vaguely by age, and not what they do). Say, for example, that your youth gathering is once a week for two hours. That's 2 out of 168 hours (24 hours x 7 days) in the week. For 166 other hours, your students are not at your youth gathering, and they are doing whatever in the world they want during those hours -- we have no direct influence. We need to take full advantage of the time we do have. As their shepherds, we must equip them to be disciples during those other 166 hours (yes, I'm including sleep time, because it's too hard to determine how many hours of sleep a teenager actually gets).

"If we don't have games, kids won't come."
Kids will come to youth gathering for a variety of reasons. They might want to know more about Jesus. They like the music. Their parents force them to. Maybe they even like the games. I am of the viewpoint that "recruiting" doesn't happen because of the games we play, but because of the relationships the have already developed or are developing. I posit that this is the number one "recruiting" method. We must equip our students to develop godly relationships with others, inviting them to youth gathering as prompted by the Holy Spirit. It's not about numbers. 10 students who are learning discipleship will be more effective in the Kingdom than 1,000 students who are merely being entertained.

What I am NOT saying
What I am not saying is that there should be no games, and that there should be no fun. On the contrary, there should be games. There should be fun. These are cultural languages that can speak to a higher truth. Games can support our efforts in ministry. The games should be engaging, and they should have a purpose. Everything you do in ministry should have a purpose. Start with the purpose (right, Rev. Warren?), and then act. The question is what is the purpose of the ministry?

Is the purpose entertainment?

Is the purpose discipleship?

Is entertainment the bait to trick kids into being discipled?

Then, after you have determined what the purpose of your ministry is, ask yourself these two questions:

1. Is this a stupid purpose?
2. Is this scriptural?

If it is stupid and unscriptural (entertainment as bait), then you have a bad purpose.
If it is stupid (foolish) by human standards, but scriptural and God-breathed, then you must do it.
If it is not stupid (foolish), and it is scriptural, then you have a sturdy foundation for proceeding.

What I am saying
"Is there even a good reason to play games?" Absolutely! There are many good reasons (even at your weekly youth gathering), but don't start with an idea and then look for a reason to do it. Start with your reason, and then look for a way to accomplish your goal.

For example, "We have a lot of kids who bring friends and guests, and not everyone knows each others' name. What can we do?" How about an icebreaker game that gets people to interact with everyone. Make a bingo chart with 24 personal items they must ask of the people in the room, then get signatures. That's just an example, but it gets people asking questions and learning about each other.

When God moves in one's life, it is not because they were able to pop the most balloons while blindfolded and dizzy (I don't know if this game actually exists, but it should!). It is because the Holy Spirit is invited to do something real in a person's life. There must be a deliberate approach to student ministry that does not include entertainment as bait. Discipleship must be direct, deliberate, and unapologetic. We are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died, and resurrected in atonement for the sins of every person. We are preaching a life lived for God and his purpose.

Whatever you choose to do, do it in obedience to God and in the power of his Holy Spirit.

Worship, Church, and Spiritual Discipline

Worship, much like church, is a lifestyle, not a designated time. Church is not the place that we gather. We do not go to church. We are the church. The church assembles, dissembles, and lives as individuals in a lifestyle of being the church. That is church. So too is worship.