‘Unhealthy relationship’ sinks faith healer’s visit.
And yet, people will still defend the ‘wonderful move of God’ at Lakeland ‘pastored’ over by an adulterer and a drunkard who spoke with angels. Let us continue to pray for those that were involved, on any and every level, and they may come to see God in the real light.
A controversial faith healer’s return to Abbotsford after a four-month revival stint in
Florida has been cancelled amid scandal.
Todd Bentley was slated to be the main speaker at a conference in his hometown Wednesday.
The event was cancelled when it was revealed he had had an “unhealthy relationship on an emotional level” with a female staff member during the revival.
The married father of three made international news in April when he arrived at the Ignited Church in Lakeland, Fla., for a five-day preaching stint that eventually stretched to four months. The nightly revival meetings — during which Bentley prayed for healing for the sick — are estimated to have drawn more than 300,000 people.
But things began to unravel in August, when Bentley suddenly left the pulpit. A message was soon posted on the Fresh Fire Ministries website — the Abbotsford organization Bentley helped form — revealing the faith healer’s emotional infidelity. He has since separated from his wife.
The message, written by the organization’s board of directors, said Bentley and his wife, Shonnah, would be going through the “necessary steps towards restoration and wholeness” while the evangelist took time away from the ministry.
Further revelations by those close to Bentley have since revealed he was drinking heavily during the Florida revival.
The conference scheduled for Abbotsford on Sept. 17 was cancelled and removed from the Fresh Fire website.
Contacted last week, Shonnah said she isn’t certain where her husband is. She declined an interview about the Florida revival.
In an article posted two weeks ago on the website of the Christian magazine The Voice, evangelist Rick Joyner claims to have had daily contact with Bentley as he spends time with friends in California. Joyner provided a statement on behalf of Bentley, saying the faith healer is “grieved by the trouble and confusion this has caused, especially to his friends, coworkers and all who have trusted him.”
This isn’t the first time Bentley’s been involved in controversy.
In 2001, the evangelist acknowledged to a reporter with The Report magazine that he was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor when he was also a youth. Controversy ensued, and the evangelist appeared on an Okanagan news station to ask for forgiveness and explain how he was transformed when he became a Christian five years after the incident.
After release from jail, Bentley bounced between foster homes before turning to the streets. By 17, he had overdosed on drugs three times.
An article in the Christian magazine Charisma said Bentley became a Christian at 17 after hearing about God from a former drug addict and friend of his drug dealer.
According to a biography previously posted on the Fresh Fire website, the experience brought him out of “a lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction without cravings or withdrawal symptoms. He was also delivered from a lifestyle involving criminal activity, youth prisons, drugs, sex, satanic music and bondage . . . Todd was instantly transformed into a radical disciple and soul-winning evangelist for Jesus.”
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
