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If I was to walk up to someone with cancer and told them I could rid them of their cancer. When I kicked him like this I figure I would have about 15 minutes till the cops would be there. 20 minutes after I kicked him would be in the back of the police car. Now if I claim to be a faith healer I can do anything even cause someone to die from not being treated and it is all ok. That tells me all I need to know about how easily people are fooled into being punching bags for a sadistic person.
This dude should sue Todd Bentley.
If he’s still alive, that is. God knows Bentley’s death toll is growing every day.
Todd Bentley makes me want to load Simone the Sniper Rifle with 7.62 Lauper rounds and sit in a high window waiting for him to pass…
these people are “stage four” idiots.
What they didn’t show is him keeling over and dying in the next 5 minutes backstage.
This guy had a huge following before he was found to have had an inappropriate relationship with an office worker. It’s so strange that in America politicians and religious leaders can get away with almost anything until there’s sexual allegations.
It’s also important to recognize how much importance is placed on emotionally charged physiological states– “You felt a quivering, didn’t you?”. This is accepted mundanely as a communication from God by pentecostals and charismatics. Much of evangelicalism places great importance on things like ‘the witness of the Spirit’, attaching them to god-talk when they are simply emotional impulses shared by all of humanity. Incidentally, LDSers also place great emphasis on ‘the witness of the Spirit’ in their conversion experiences.
Yes, the quivering is an ordinary stunned feeling and the socialized suppression of the natural urge to fight. If anyone has ever dropped something down the sink, been startled by someone knocking at the door, been or almost been in a minor car accident, then you’ve felt this quivering. If someone has ever demeaned you at work or embarrassed you in front of everyone, but it wasn’t the right place or time to do anything but smile, or you couldn’t think of the right comeback, and you were raised to hold your punches unless physically provoked, you have felt this quivering.
You also have to think about how being singled out in front of people like he was as a factor. I know if I was called out in front of that large of a crowd I would be nervous and freaked a bit. I sure wouldn’t want to tell anyone that I wasn’t feeling whatever it was I was suppose to feel.
Sickening. Where are all the exorcisms these days? Seems like devils taking over people has kinda died out lately. What’s up with that? What don’t angels possess people? As george carlin would say “it’s all so confusing”.
Norman Grubb…
In his simply titled booklet “The Key to Everything” Grubb says that “Love must not be a thing I can possess, Love is exclusively a Person, a divine Person in that God is love. That there is only one God, and the human creation is brought into a living relationship with this One so that He can manifest Himself in His perfection of life and love through us. The whole of creation exists because Spirit must have a body in which to manifest Himself. As scripture says the whole earth is full of His glory and that Christ ascended that He might fill all things…with Himself that He might be “all in all”.
The greatest marvel, the greatest height of personality, is that we can look at a human being and exclaim “God is there”. Normal humanity is God-indwelt.
We are mere containers for His wonderful presence.
I counted at least 16 declarations. Where’s the evidence?
In my 25 year experience I found this to be true…its a journey that leads ever deeper into the very great heart of God with increasing light and love all along the way at every turn. Its like an adventure that you had no idea how exciting and wonderful it was going to be when you set out. The more childlike and trusting I am (just like Christ said was the key) the more of the true nature of God and His heart for us He shows me.
He save His best/highest secrets for when we are in LOVE with Him, when we trust Him implicitely. I’ve always said that I’m convinced that one of our biggest barriers to “God” is that the truth is simply too good for us to get our hearts and minds around and so we just…dont. But oh if we do.
Why I know That There is a God and That He Loves Me
A Personal Testimony.
Years ago doubt was creeping into my head about the Lord and then a miracle happened.
Three years ago 100 members of my church were enroute to a bible camp in the Blueridge Mountains of Virginia. They were traveling in a chartered bus. As they sang hymns, Satan was up to his old tricks. You see, the bus driver was an atheist alcoholic socialist and that day he was filling his coffee mug with vodka. As the bus wound up through the switchbacks, the driver got progressively drunker. Then it happened. It was that day that changed this poor sinner’s life forever. Entering a particularly tight switchback, the besotted driver finally lost control of the bus and it plummeted 1500 feet down into a ravine where it exploded into a fireball incinerating the flock. The only survivor that day was a young boy who was thrown from the bus by his father seconds before it hit the bottom.
This young boy suffered severe brain damage from hitting a rock head first and will have to wear a football helmet and drool cup for the remainder of his life. But his survival proved to me that miracles do happen because God does exist and loves me. The Lord used that accident to bring me back to his flock.
Hallelujah!
Praise Jesus! Just open your eyes to his miracles and you will see them everywhere.
Comments:
1) The driver was a socialist? No wonder he crashed the bus.
2) He probably crashed because he was drinking from his coffee mug, rather than watching the road (whether it was vodka or coffee doesn’t matter – he wasn’t paying attention).
3) Who says the boy’s father threw him from the bus? They all died and sonny doesn’t sound like he’s saying much. And anyway, if they were bouncing down the ravine, no-one would have been able to do anything like that.
4) Poe, right?
4Q) Poe, right?
4A – Yuh-huh!
I found some non-Poes. They are HILARIOUS.
http://theshackbook.com/discuss/index.php?topic=4237.0
Exactly! God was a nasty bastard to let all those other people die.
Got any evidence for all that touchy-feely stuff you posted?
Yea, Roger…the love in my heart for you man.
That’s hot
If you were on ‘shrooms, at least you’d have an excuse for being utterly non-sensical.
Are you sure he’s not?
Dude, in my younger days I’ve taken ‘shrooms, acid, ket’, ‘phet, payoti, cocaine, weed, hash, skunk, speed, blow, X, mud and a whole other pharmacopia besides, often on the same night – And I have never been that loved up with an imaginary friend. That right there is mental illness writ large.
I found these articles about what it looks like in your brain when you are having religious thoughts and experiences:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/03/10/god-on-the-brain-researchers-probe-the-neural-circuitry-behind-religious-beliefs/
http://www.sciencenewspaper.eu/open-articles/2009-03/dmtr.aspx
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/dec/god-experiments/
I thought about how John C must feel when he believes what he believes and that it’s coming from a relationship with god, what that’s doing in his brain and how that makes him feel – why he thinks it’s true. I’m no scientist, but I read the articles, and maybe someone can tell me if they’re helpful or if they’re quacky.
@Question…
The “evidence” is in your inner man, your spirit. But since you deny its very presence/existance you have become dull to know it, to uncover it. Its analogous to muscle atrophy…if you dont ever use it, it withers. The head reasoning faculties were not intended to be man’s only capacity/utility but since we are so comfortabel with it, we try and employ it across the board, but there is a hidden function within, albeit (currently) dormant.
You can “awaken”, turn of the proverbial “lights”…His offer stands, His Love never changes.
Correction…should have read “comfortable”, not comfortebl, lol. Is that old English spelling? Have I been reading too much Victorian english lit, ie…A.J. Scott, George Macdonald, Henry Sutton?? Uggh
Please supply some evidence for this inner man. Ditto for inner spirit. You just saying it exists is supposed to accomplish what?
I dunno, perhaps prompt you to take a look within? To make a wonderful discovery? Then you will have all the proof you need.
There is a wonderful surprise waiting for you. All you have to do is look for the box and push the button to open it. I promise you there’s a box if you look for it.
Your constant, unrelenting use of argument by metaphor is worthless. And after hundreds of posts you still can’t give a responsible reality distinction between your asceticism and the asceticism of other religions.
John, you’re obviously a nice guy but you’re barking up the wrong tree, driving Miss Daisy in the wrong direction and if you only would look at InnerSkepticMan you could open up to the fact that your heart is in fact a muscle.
@Question-I-Thority
I think you just won this thread.
This is not a competition, nobodies wins and nobody loses, this is a forum for exploration and we (man’s constitution, his very being and present reality) is the terrain. David asked the Lord “what is man that thou art mindful of him”? And so we ask and collectively and respectfully share our diverse thoughts…its fun and intriguing.
Thx Question…all the very best to you.
John, I’m connecting to the thread here because the system won’t allow me to connect below where this quote from you comes from.
I don’t understand why you think I am competing with you or somebody else. I really am for friendliness and exploration but not at the cost of being truthful. I asked The Mystic Moment to provide evidence for his claims, he responded by saying that the evidence is “your inner man” and I asked him what declaring this accomplished. You then said it was to cause me to “look within”. Looking within is a metaphor for reflection? Or for something else?
John, when you make a comment to me I’m going to respond and tell you what I think. What I think is that you refuse throughout your experience here to face the consequences of mystical arguments which you make over and over primarily by way of metaphor. The consequence of this type of argument is that it cannot be distinguished from the same type of arguments made by way of mysticism in other faiths. When your arguments are self-referential– I know the truth because God has told it to me and I feel it deeply — you have to provide some external evidence to separate you from anyone else who argues the same way within a different faith structure. Or is what you say Truth just because you say it? Telling me to look within will not help me to believe your understanding over someone else who claims to talk to God and feel the love of Jesus or Allah or Vishnu with a completely different system of belief. In this regard you are not special, John.
What I would like from you more than anything is for you to say what you believe without resorting to metaphors.
Maybe you feel I am harsh or closed-minded. I am doing my best to communicate with you at the point that matters, at least to me. Metaphorical declarations about cloud banks of rapture don’t rock my world but backing up statements about God with non-self-referred evidence or reasoned arguments does.
Thx Question…
No my comments about it not being a competition was in response to Joe B declaring you the winner, I was responding to him not you, sorry for the confusion.
No, I dont think you are being harsh at all, dont worry about that please. I appreciate your request for me to communicate as plainly as possible in the interest of our discussions. I do not write “mystically” on purpose, the truth being of a spiritual origin or nature, so it tends to come forth in a heavenly, mystical kind of language at times which actually from my unorthodox perspective makes perfect sense, at least to me lol.
What do I believe…plainly? I would love to share that with you, but am about to crash now, lets catch up tomorrow if you dont mind. You have my word that I will share that with you in the briefest and most clearly defined manner as possible then…I can’t keep my eyes right now though.
Goodnight and all the best Question…
John C:
It isn’t. But you just conveniently assume it to be, so that you can label all the mystical nonsense you believe in as ‘truth’.
If you’re really interested in ‘truth’, start with what you can know without fooling yourself… That’s called scepticism.
Like a Kinder Suprise?! (Note: I’m not sure if they sell these in the USA, but they’re little chocolate eggs with toys inside).
Dr. R…
Yes, Truth is a Person (Christ) and so that is the revelation and Christ is of the eternal, spiritual realm wherein is no defilement, only pristine and…true.
Truth (Christ) is always liberating…for you shall know the Truth (Himself) and IT shall make you free!
In love (and freedom).
The reality of John C is that he doesn’t care if his words make sense at all. All that matters is that he feels called to witness and so he does. Relentlessly. There is no downside in his mind to sounding crazy, because the alternative is to feel like he is ignoring the call to witness.
The Mystic Moment, truth is not a person, it is a concept. You just call it a person so that you can justify for yourself that you believe in that person. That doesn’t mean it is true.
If I’m not supposed t use my head then what exactly am I supposed to use– my nasal cavities, colon, perhaps my belly button? This god stuff is so confusing.
Close your eyes and flip the switch off in your brain.
Good gravy. You’re just parroting claptrap you were force fed as a child.
Start thinking for yourself.
Couldn’t be further from the truth there Lebowski…I didnt know any of this as a child…unfortunately. You must be thinking of oppressive, rule-keeping religion, not life in Christ which is the greatest liberty.
Pray tell, just how does one have a personal relationship with an invisible, intangible, weightless, soundless, and scentless critter devoid of any heat signature detectable by NASA?
Because there is more than this natural, visible realm…just like He said. But, you gotta be childlike, trusting and yes….foolish enough to believe that God is a loving Father, just like He said if you want to really…know.
Remind me again what the difference is between People of Faith and People of Gullibility. I have trouble remembering it.
It’s funny how every discussion with believers ends with them pleading, “Look just stop thinking and start believing.”
Perhaps you need to ask yourself why your bible god is so repellant to the thinking mind?
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, August 15, 1820
Yes, the highminded have always resisted the truth, even till today, nothing has changed. Until we allow that New Man made in the image of God to be resurrected within us, the old man of pride and rebellion will be firmly in place and we will see as the natural man see’s which is in one plane only.
The fact that you do not “see” the things of the spirit with your natural eyes does not mean the supernatural (heavenly) doesnt exist, it just means you cant see it. Try convincing someone about the spiritual/model world of Quantum Physics say…500 yrs ago? The conversation would be the same, but…it is real and so is the unseen spirit realm.
highminded=people who would rather think critically about the world around them instead of diving into some pseudospiritual babble that is saccharine, stupid, and without one whit of grounding in empirical reality.
That right there is a bunch of nonsense.
Isn’t it odd how the god of the bible went from one that hung with his chosen few to even fewer. Then he wouldn’t show himself nor could he for he was to pure and then he became a personnel god. When you look at it science advanced as the bible god started shrinking from what he was doing. Now the only way someone can believe is if they hide their god within themselves and change him to fit with truth. If your god dwells within all why do so many not know him, is he that weak a presence that most don’t feel him?
that…and that he went from a genocidal maniac to a spirit of love and goodness. how convenient.
“The whole of creation exists because Spirit must have a body in which to manifest Himself.”
Why? and says who?
so do you believe a freakshow like Todd Bentley has the “loving spirit of God” in him and that he can really heal by beating a very ill cancer patient? oh and how about this…how does someone with God’s love inside him get cancer in the first place? hmmm??
I’m just sayin…
Because our physical selves (bodies) are not eternal, the soul (which houses the spirit) is the eternal aspect of our being. As far as Bentley, that is not how I feel led to express the life of Christ within, but I he is not subject to me or my opinions, I am merelt attempting to answer your question.
What gives you the right to fumble around the word of your god in a pitiful attempt to explain him? He’s obviously perfectly capable of doing so himself. Why don’t you ask your god to answer these questions so you don’t have to do so with your limited understanding.
Whatever happened to my friend WINTERMUTE?? I haven’t seen him since I returned a few weeks ago?? Maybe he found Christ? Or was found by Him? Hmm…
I could come up with a clever remark to this or I could just move on.
Hmm.
Probably best to move on.
Maybe Wintermute is busy and still employed.
I wonder if this is what you said the last few weeks when I was gone…you know, if you left, I wouldn’t say “I wonder if John C has found reason”. I would find that offensive. How do you think this would make wintermute feel?
Criminal!
One wonders why nobody in the USA seeing this video is filing a complaint with the prosecution of the state it is happening in!
First it is criminal to assert that someone can be healed by or through a religion, secondly it is criminal to kick someone in the stomach, and thirdly it is criminal to kick a colon-cancer patient in the stomach, and fourthly, and moreso important, every idiot that is believing these crappers should be incarcerated indefinately, because of insanity….. an dbeing a danger to him- or herself.
My opinion
Todd Bentley and those of his stripe are an embarrassment to Christians. While these posts must be great fun to the atheistic bandwagon that characterizes this string of comments, do not be surprised that the embarrassing antics of professed atheists are lumped together by some as a target for generalized mockery.
And if they do things hurt and manipulate people, I’m happy to highlight that, too.
The point is not to mock Christians as a group. The point is to take note of an inequity in the application of the law. Normally, when someone kicks someone else in the stomach on camera, that person is charged with assault. But, the rules seem not to apply to him because he’s a spiritual leader. Atheists have no comparable sheep’s clothing to hide behind when we commit bad acts, no cloak whereby bad behavior is automatically rendered acceptable simply because of the religious position of the individual doing it.
The point is that nobody should have such a cloak. It is this sort of thing that has allowed sexual abuse to become rampant in clergy (of all stripes), and until recently pass unnoticed and unpunished.
Game, set, match.
Sorry, Dwight, you lose. But thanks for playing.
Among all the UF blogs and articles, this was one of the most painful things to watch.