Debunking Christianity has a good write-up about The Rise and Fall of Todd Bentley. His moral failures are really not the point though — the saddest part was that he was claiming to heal people, and he was lying. Perhaps he was fooling himself as many believers do, but he was lying nevertheless.
If a doctor was making these kinds of claims, and failed so miserably in fulfilling his promises, wouldn’t he go to jail for fraud? Or at the very least sued for malpractice?
But religion is protected. These preachers prey upon the weak and the sick and the ignorant, giving them false hope and promises, and when they are finally exposed as frauds or hypocrites, they keep all the money from the “love offerings” and everybody forgets them in a few months.
Then in a couple years, it happens all over again. It’s infuriating and sad.
Jesus did warn against following every new fad/miracle. In deed He said that miracles would follow the believers, not the other way round. I try to remember that these miracle performers, at the end of the day, are human beings just like me.
Even though I’m a Christian, I think the law should apply with equality to all, religion notwithstanding. But I see how hard it can be to apply this without infringing on people’s religious freedom, say, in matters of faith healing
My biggest bone of contention is in the ‘giving’ part, especially in third world countries. The preacher rolls in in the most expensive car, admonishes you for withholding from the Lord’s servant until you give him your bus fare and dinner and then they’re off to the next town/village. I also have a serious aversion to mega churches. They look more like businesses and not places of worship and fellowship to me.
the worst bit is that it often happens a couple of years later with the same people.
“Oh LORD, I have SINNED against THEEEEEE!”
Hmm…do I have to be part of an official church to be a faith healer and be protected?
Nope, all you need is the Bible and some suckers. Damn, it must be easy!
I must be out of the God-loop. I never heard of this guy until a couple days ago. Is this the latest Jimmy Swaggart/Jim Baker/Oral Roberts/addotherdisgracedpreacher-style fall from grace? I can’t keep track of them all anymore.
Bently’s fall seems to be propelled by the controversy he created while active. I kept running across his name on various Bible-blogs, mentioned with derision. He seems like just your average pentecostal faith healer, more interested in the works of the Holy Spirit that in doctrine or exegesis. I think this really annoyed those who do care about doctrine and exegesis.
There have been other accusations floating around before this. At one point he was being accused of kicking a woman in the stomach during a “healing.” Anyway, when this “unhealthy relationship on an emotional level,” crap came out, his critics started to pile on.
What’s kind of sad/funny is how those bible-blogs will mention certain faith healers with derision, yet treat others as if they’re the real deal.
They are all frauds, and the only difference between the good and the bad is the bad ones got caught.
@Steve -
True enough. To be accurate, though, most of the bible blogs are only happy with faith healers who have been dead for a reasonable amount of time – say 2000 years. That way, anything embarrassing or stupid they might have said or done has been lost by time, and we can make them look like profound thinkers as well as miracle peddlers.
No human being is GOD. And although the world don’t like to think so, these men of God are only still men…
We all sin and fall short of God’s glory! Ye with no sin, cast the first stone…and: Put your faith in God – He will never disappoint you!
Bentley’s ‘patients’ put their faith in God and died…
He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. John 8:51
Physical death and spiritual death are very different things.
I think the idea here was they were expecting to avoid the physical one for now. If what you say is true, why do Christians care if they’re sick, pray for cures? I’m not saying they shouldn’t, but the things you say, and what I understand is generally believed in, make me wonder why someone would buy a healing service, or even take very good care of themselves if the afterlife is so special?
That said, I’m reminded of a woman I worked with in her 20s who said she couldn’t wait to die, she was really looking forward to it, in similar effect to words you use, she talked about it every so often like it was a dream vacation she was saving up for. I also recall she was ill with something, something manageable I suppose, she had bargained to get health insurance coverage from Day One, and she was also an actual lunatic who screamed (at people and about them after they walked away, about anything they did or didn’t do to her or whatever slight was making her miserable) about 6 and half out of 8 hours every day and didn’t get fired for it, which may also have something to do with whatever her illness was, was it side-effects, or the lowest limit of effectiveness, I don’t know. So she probably could get what she wanted most of all, but took the medicine instead. Guh? Not enough medicine or the right kind as far as I could tell.
For example, physical death is real.
You know that the guy (or gal) who wrote the whole “cast the first stone” story lived a few hundred years after Jesus?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/aprilweb-only/117-31.0.html?start=2
Also, did you know that clicking on your screen name links straight back to this page? That’s not helpful…
To be fair plenty of christians have been saying he is a liar too.
He may be protected from fraud, but he isn’t protected from kicking people in the face, stomach, etc. So then the question needs to be asked, if these people aren’t being healed, then certainly someone would sue him for kicking them or kneeing them for assault (and then fraud could be brought in on that as well). However, it doesn’t seem anyone has sued him for that yet.
….something to consider.
I’m not into these healing ministries, but i’m not going to say that someone is a fake when people are saying they got healed. They are providing bloodwork documentation, xrays etc. if it’s fake, it’ll play out light will expose the darkness.
Sure, we may fall sometimes. Remember David. We need not tremain in sin though. To rush judging Todd is unwelcome. many of us also fall in the same. We may need to pray for Todd. God still loves him and I think we also need to and keep uplifting God’s name. I ptay for you Todd that you cling to God’s mercy, he cleanses us from all sin. his love never fails though others may judge and condemn us.
We do not need to pray for Bentley, we need to prosecute him for assault and fraud.
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