I’m sorry to post twice in one day about Todd Bentley, but my excuse is that for the first time for some weeks there is actually some news about the man himself. Thanks to “learnfrenchwiththebible” for the link. Rick Joyner has written an article, dated yesterday (26th September) and apparently his first since 23rd August, which includes the following, starting at the beginning (I have added the italics, the bold emphasis is Joyner’s):

The number one question I am asked is, “How is Todd Bentley doing?” Todd came to spend a few days with us, and in general I was encouraged with how he’s doing. He is deeply sorry for the problems that his problems have caused others. He is well aware that he made some mistakes and foolish choices. Todd wants to express this as clearly as he can in a letter, which should be coming in a few weeks. It will take that long because I will be helping him with this, and I will be out of the country for three weeks. We also want to get input from a few others, and this will take time.

The present plan is for him to get some practical issues worked out in his life, visit with a couple of friends who have gone through similar things in their lives and have come through them victoriously, and then come to Heritage for a period of time to begin a healing and restoration process.

I have also spent some time with two of the primary leaders of Fresh Fire Ministries. I am confident that both Todd and Fresh Fire will not only make it through this, but will be a powerful force and factor in what will be unfolding in the coming times. …

I appreciate the patience and the prayers of those who have not given up on Todd, Fresh Fire Ministries, the Lakeland Outpouring, and especially on the Lord to continue moving mightily in Lakeland and in many other places. Lakeland was a spark that has lit many fires and continues to light them—they are not going out. If you were touched in any way by it, keep moving forward. This was never about Todd Bentley but the Lord, and He is moving at a dramatic pace now. This really could be the beginning of the move of God that does not stop moving!

At the same time, we cannot keep killing our own wounded. As Galatians 6:1 declares, we have no choice but to restore those who are caught in “any trespass.” I am very confident that Todd  will not only be back in ministry, but will ultimately have a much bigger impact and be walking in even more power than he has yet walked in. …

At the same time, I was not very surprised by Todd’s problems. Those of his nature and calling have always been prone to great victories and advances, and great mistakes. The Apostle Peter is a good example. Right after he received one of the greatest commendations in Scripture, the Son of God Himself called him “Satan” (see Mark 8:33). One minute Peter was hearing straight from heaven, and the next minute he was hearing straight from hell. Right after denying the Lord, which is one of the worst things we could do, Peter was restored and became the leader of the revival on the Day of Pentecost. Go figure.

Joyner concludes his letter by quoting in its entirety the letter from Rory and Wendy Alec of God TV which I discussed in a previous post. He describes this letter as follows:

I thought this was as close to a letter with true apostolic weight as I have yet seen about these issues.

My fellow bloggers John Hobbins and David Ker don’t seem to be ashamed to blog about celebrity tattoos. So why shouldn’t I blog again about Todd Bentley’s tattoos?

The subject came up again in comments here by Julie Steadman. Originally she claimed concerning one of Todd’s tattoos:

the japanese symbols exactly match what is used to depict the Budhist angel Emma-O.

I asked her for evidence, and she replied yesterday, more than a week later, with a quotation from this web page which in fact by no means supports her claim. The tattoo in question, pictured here, consists of three Chinese characters, which are also used in Japanese where they are called Kanji. According to a Japanese “expert”, the first character means “great” and the third “king”; the middle character might mean “protect”. But in this order they make no sense in Japanese, although they might be rearranged to mean “Protect the Great King”. So what is the link to the supposed Buddhist angel “Emma-O”? Only that this angel is also sometimes called “Great King”. Well, God and Jesus are also sometimes called “Great King”, so why is anyone suggesting that a tattoo on a Christian refers to a Buddhist rather than a Christian king?

But it turns out that this is not the real significance of the tattoo. Now I don’t know any Chinese or Japanese personally. But I do know how to identify Chinese or Kanji characters. It seems that the three in Todd’s tattoo are:

大衛王

The middle character, the one which the Japanese “expert” consulted for the page Julie linked to had trouble identifying, is Unicode character 885E, with (according to Unicode data) the Mandarin pronunciation wèi, the Korean pronunciation wi, and the Vietnamese pronunciation vệ.

A bit of googling gave me a whole page about this character including this image, from which I determined that its Japanese pronunciation is mamoru, and its English meaning is “defence”. I also found that the combination 大衞斯 dai mamoru shi, pronounced together daieishi, is used for a man called Davids, and the first two characters here are the first two characters in Todd’s tattoo. Since the third character of the tattoo means “king”, this suggests that the tattoo could perhaps be read “King David”.

So guess what I found when I asked Yahoo Babelfish to translate “King David” into traditional Chinese for me? 大衛国王. Todd’s tattoo consists of the first, second and fourth of these characters. The third character, meaning “country”, is apparently redundant, because the whole tattoo, 大衛王, translates back into English as “David king”.

To confirm this, I looked at Bible Gateway for the Chinese Union Version (in traditional orthography) of 1 Kings 1:1. Here is the verse:

大 衛 王 年 紀 老 邁 ， 雖 用 被 遮 蓋 ， 仍 不 覺 暖 。

In English the first part of this of course means “When King David was very old …” (TNIV). The first three characters appear to be exactly the ones of Todd’s tattoo, clearly implying that this is the traditional Christian way of writing “King David” in Chinese. It doesn’t make sense in Japanese because it is not Japanese but Chinese.

I can only presume that Todd went to a tattooist and asked for a Chinese tattoo meaning “King David”. And he got what he asked for.

Please forgive yet another post about Todd Bentley. In this one I attempt to sort out some possible confusion about what Peter and Doris Wagner, of Global Harvest Ministries, have written about Todd Bentley. There has been some uncertainty about this because they have sent out various statements by e-mail to their mailing list but have not put them on their website. Others have posted them on blogs and other sites, but with no link to the source and no assurance that they are genuine and unedited. At least one of these sites has indeed made some minor edits to the text.

Therefore, as I mentioned in this comment and this one, I wrote this morning to Global Harvest Ministries asking for confirmation that these statements are genuine. In reply I was sent copies of the three recent statements, which I have myself compared (using Microsoft Word’s Compare Documents facility) with various versions found on the Internet.

The earliest of the three statements which I received, entitled “The Lakeland Apostolic Findings”, was written by Peter Wagner and dated 11th August. This statement was published in full a few days later by Pastor Burt, the most reliable source I have found on the Internet for these statements. This statement precedes the revelations about the breakup of Todd’s marriage. It is a preliminary report of an investigation by a team of ten “apostles” into the alleged problems of the Lakeland Outpouring. The largest part of this statement is an account of how Peter got involved with Todd, and how Todd came under the apostolic oversight of Che Ahn, Bill Johnson and John Arnott – but not of Peter, Rick Joyner or the other apostolic leaders present, who did not lay hands on Todd.

The second statement was from Doris Wagner, but included shorter letters from Chuck Pierce and Peter Wagner. This was also published in full in the same post by Pastor Burt; Dan Curant posted the part of this by Doris herself, from which I quoted in a previous post. This statement was an initial response from Doris, in Peter’s absence on an international trip, to the news about Todd’s marriage breakup and taking a break from ministry.

The third statement is a new one yesterday from Peter Wagner. Again Pastor Burt, in a new post, is the best Internet source I have found for this. I read it originally in a version set in a hostile context from Antagoniz, and I was initially sceptical about the genuineness of this. Indeed this version has been edited, but only by the possibly accidental omission of a couple of sentences of little significance, and by the addition of a lot of tendentious underlining with no note that this was not original.

In this new statement Peter revisits a lot of what he wrote in the first one about how he came to be involved with Todd. The reason I was doubtful about the authenticity of the statement was these words, especially in the context given to them by Antagoniz:

Speaking of the public figure going down the tubes, Todd Bentley now carries the label of a liar and a deceiver. I’m sorry to mention it, but I felt personally deceived in the same way when Ted Haggard’s sin was exposed and he was immediately removed from ministry.

But to be fair to Peter, here he is giving his initial reaction, perhaps to inaccurate accounts, and not his considered opinion; and the label “a liar and a deceiver” was not given by Peter but by a hostile public.

Concerning the present situation, this is the main part of what Peter writes:

Since this is an update, I will share some of what I know about what is happening with Bentley, but not all because some things need more verification and it is up to discernment of Revival Alliance what and when this will be revealed. Suffice it to say that there is more than I am going to mention. First of all, Todd has been removed from public ministry until further notice. He has resigned from the ministry he founded, Fresh Fire, so he is no longer a part of that board. It has become clear that he indulged in periodic drunkenness. He has no intention at the moment of reconciling with Shonna, nor does she with him. Their marriage has been torn for years by his emotional attachment with at least one other female whose physical contact went beyond hugging and kissing and holding hands. Enough said-maybe more details will be revealed later-but it was clearly immoral. All of this was skillfully concealed by lying and by swearing close associates who had observed his behavior to secrecy. Stephen Strader, for example, knew nothing of this before June 23. Apparently some of his board members did, but they did not have the ability to deal with it.

I must say I wonder how Peter knows this, considering that he has apparently only met Todd on the one occasion. This seems to conflict with what Rick Joyner has written. The most serious charge relates to Todd regularly lying – although given the massive publicity at Lakeland it would be reasonable for him to ask his staff not to reveal his whereabouts during his time off. There is at least the possibility here that Peter has given too much credence to some of the hostile accounts which have been circulating. Indeed this information needs to be verified.

Peter finishes as follows:

Two separate things are going on. (1) The Revival Alliance is dealing with Todd Bentley and the fallout from his sin that has been and continues to be exposed. (2) I have told you previously about a group of 11 apostles that I have formed into the Lakeland Outpouring Apostolic Team. We no longer need to deal with Lakeland I and Bentley as such. However, we have a list of 24 serious issues that have emerged from that unpleasant experience which need to be thoroughly discussed with the conclusions circulated in the body of Christ. …

It will take time, but our Apostolic Team will get to work on the 24 issues after some of this present dust settles, and we will be back to you!

I look forward to their further report.

Todd Bentley has broken his silence about his personal situation with a statement which he has asked Rick Joyner to release. Rick has included this in a longer article which is a follow-up to the one which I posted extracts from last Friday.

Thanks to Dan Curant for the link.

Here is what Todd asked Rick to publish:

Todd Bentley asked me to convey his appreciation for all the prayers, expressions of love, and concern while he tries to navigate through this present situation. He is grieved by the trouble and confusion this has caused, especially to his friends, coworkers, and all who have trusted him. He wants to make a clear statement about it, acknowledging his responsibility in this and the mistakes he made, but he feels that he should first meet with Pastor Bill Johnson, who is out of the country and will not be available for a couple more weeks. He asks that you would continue to pray for him, and he thanks those who are willing to be patient. He wants to do this right and not hastily or superficially.

Rick adds, as part of a longer article:

I would like to accept personal responsibility for counseling Todd to wait until he has talked with Bill before trying to make the “full disclosure” of his mistakes. This needs to be done right and in a way that does not unnecessarily hurt even more people. In just a couple of weeks, things should have calmed down enough for a statement to be made. Impatience is not a fruit of the Spirit, and I have personally never seen anything done under the kind of duress and pressure that some are trying to exert at this time that ended up not being a mistake.

The only thing that I have received from the Lord about this matter directly is that “those who rush to judgment will be exposed.” This entire matter, including the Lakeland Outpouring, is a test. To me, the miracles, healings, salvations, and profoundly changed lives that resulted in people, some that I personally know, make all that is happening now still worth it, many times over.

Reflecting on the sometimes rash statements which others have made. Rick makes an interesting suggestion:

I think we should … maybe have a moratorium to allow everyone a chance to retract what they have written for the last couple of weeks.

This paragraph reveals a bit more about what is happening now:

I recommended to Todd to allow a panel of those who are considered true elders in the body of Christ, who could be impartial, to judge this situation, and he readily agreed. He did not make any demands or suggestions about who should be on the panel. He only said that he felt he should not cross the line and say anything negative about his wife, and that he intends to continue to love her and his children, and take care of them.

I will take Blue, with a hint of amber’s advice and refrain from further comment.

Just a quick link to a few more statements about Todd Bentley which I have just come across:

Bill Johnson, one of the “apostles” who commissioned Todd at Lakeland on 23rd June and who is scheduled to meet with Todd next week, writes his latest thoughts on the matter here. I note that he states that Todd “has filed for divorce”, the first time I have seen this information from a reliable source. Here is part of Bill’s statement:

I did not go to Lakeland and stand on the platform with Todd Bentley because he was perfect in character or because we agreed with every aspect of how he conducted the revival in Lakeland. … It was my intention to bring a deflection into the mix so that he wouldn’t take all the heat by himself. Little did I realize it was too late. He was at the place of burnout again, abandoning his marriage and pulling out of all public ministry. While I will never blame Todd’s opponents for Todd’s bad choices (Todd alone is responsible for them) their opposition had a greater effect than any of his critics will likely own up to in this lifetime.

Now what? Pray for Todd and Shonnah for complete healing in their marriage and personal lives. Pray for those giving counsel to them that they would use great wisdom.

Please know that while we may not give details of our efforts, we are doing everything possible to help bring healing and order to this tragedy.

I found this account of the 23rd June commissioning service, with details of who was present and involved and summaries of what they said.

I also found this message from Rev Mark Stibbe of St Andrew’s Chorleywood, along with Trevor Baker one of the main UK links with the Lakeland outpouring. There is little new information here, except for some interesting testimonies. Here is part of what he writes:

The right and Biblical response in this situation is not to sit in judgment over Todd and Shonnah but to pray fervently for them and their three children, for a miracle of restoration and for God to be glorified in that miracle. Compassion not condemnation is called for. …

Just because Todd’s marriage is in trouble, that doesn’t mean we give up our desperate pursuit for revival fire to fall where we live and work! We have always been about pursuing God not Todd! …

I wrote and expressed my concern for Todd many months ago – on Day 40 of the outpouring in fact – because I sensed there were some major issues that he needed to take time out to address. Sadly this warning came to nothing. We must understand that high-profile, charismatic leaders are often wounded, flawed people. We mustn’t put them on a pedestal and idealise their character because of the potency of their charisma.

Rick Joyner, a highly respected charismatic leader who joined with Peter Wagner, Bill Johnson, John Arnott and Che Ahn in commissioning Todd Bentley at Lakeland in June (but for some reason was omitted from some of the lists of those involved), gives a different take on Todd’s marriage problems in the second half of this article, dated 17th August. I presume that he has Todd’s permission to write what he writes.

Many people have been alleging that Todd left his wife for another woman, and calling this “adultery”. The official statements have only said that they have separated, with nothing said about who initiated this, and that Todd “has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff”.

But according to Rick it was Todd’s wife who initiated the separation:

I still do not know all of the details of his separation, but I did ask him if there had been any immorality on his part, or if he had affections for someone else that was causing this. He assured me that he had never committed adultery, and that there was no “other woman” that caused his separation. Some of his leaders who I talked to also confirmed that Todd had not been in any immoral relationship, though they were all grieving over Todd’s marital problems.

The problems Todd and his wife have had getting along have been public knowledge for several years. I don’t know enough of the details to blame anyone, but I know Todd quite well, and being married to him has got to be like being hand-cuffed to a hurricane. …

When I was in Lakeland a few months ago, I was told that Todd had been making a real effort to patch things up and heal their relationship, but in June she had left and refused any contact. Todd has now lost hope that it will be worked out, especially now that she has made it clear that she will not even see him. Todd is obviously frustrated and just wants to resolve this situation that has been so hard for so long. …

When God got a divorce, was it His fault? Of course not! He was the most perfect Husband there could ever be, but He had a wayward wife that He finally gave up on.

Now I accept that there is some tension between these different accounts, but agreement on the basic facts. Presumably the “immoral relationship” denied is one involving physical adultery, and so distinguished from “an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level”. Without wanting to justify Todd, for a man who has been deserted by his wife to find emotional solace with another woman, while unhealthy, is a rather different matter from a man deserting his wife for the other woman. It is certainly not “adultery”. I note that Rick’s words are carefully chosen to show that Todd is not denying a non-adulterous relationship with another woman after the separation.

We don’t know what stresses led Shonnah to leave Todd, but “being hand-cuffed to a hurricane” through the daily meetings at Lakeland may be too much for any woman to take, so we should not blame her either.

Perhaps, and I am speculating here, we can now guess the real reason for Todd leaving Lakeland in July and then returning rather quickly: he could have been trying to mend his relationship with Shonnah by returning home, and found himself rebuffed.

So where should we go from here? Rick is more upbeat about Todd being restored to ministry that John Arnott, perhaps because he seems to have a closer personal relationship with Todd. He writes (his own emphasis):

The world will never believe our gospel of redemption and restoration until we learn to redeem and restore. Let’s take a worst case scenario here and say that Todd was guilty of terrible things and is the one at fault in the separation—what should our response be? We are told in Galatians 6:1:

Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.

So, if anyone has been “caught in any trespass,” those who are “spiritual” must restore them. Those who are truly spiritual approach every situation with that goal—redemption and restoration. This is more than just forgiving them—it is getting them back to the place they were. The next verse says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). …

This is a real opportunity for the church to show some maturity and Christian love. This does not mean compromise, but it does mean addressing this situation in an almost opposite way that we have tended to do in the past. We will all reap what we sow, and if we want to reap grace, we must learn to sow grace every chance we get. If we want to receive mercy, we need to learn to sow mercy every chance we get. Here’s a good chance!

Amen!

I regret that this blog has gone back to just one subject this week. I have been very busy and have not had time to write except to keep my readers up to date on this story – which does seem to attract readers here and hopefully provide some balance to the very negative perspectives I have found in some places.

Several writers in comments here and on other blogs have been asking questions about the role of the the four “apostles” who prayed for Todd Bentley, on stage at Lakeland, on 23rd June. These four are Bill Johnson, Che Ahn, John Arnott and Peter Wagner. Some comments have implied that these four have acted irresponsibly, or predicted that they will now abandon Todd. Others like Mark B claim to be asking questions when in fact these questions have been answered – if they had bothered to look for the answers. In fact, from the evidence I quote below, it is clear that all four are acting very responsibly, as expected of senior Christian leaders, are standing by their man while not condoning his sin, and are looking towards his restoration to ministry.

I have already quoted Trevor Baker about Bill Johnson’s current position and plan to meet with Todd next week:

Todd has withdrawn from public ministry while he seeks counsel and help from those he is accountable to. A meeting with Bill Johnson is planned when he returns from Australia. This will take place on 30-31 August. Do pray for the Holy Spirit to give clear counsel during this time.

Today I found a link to John Arnott’s response to the current situation. John notes that Todd’s “behavior is wrong before the Lord”, then writes:

Be assured that nothing is being ‘swept under the carpet,’ but we are bringing it out into the light of God’s truth in mercy so that we can interrupt Satan’s plan to use this to discredit Jesus Christ by destroying the lives of Todd, his family and his friends. …

I am aware that the devil wants to tempt some people to say, “I told you so.” Do not allow yourself to become his instrument by using the sword of truth without mercy in this way. Before you cast a stone, remember that you are not without sin yourself. This is how pride can gain a subtle hold in your heart. What you sow now, you will reap in the future.
Had you lived during the reign of King David would you have judged him for his moral failure? While he was in sin, God saw David’s heart and knew that he could be corrected and redeemed. His sin and God’s judgment on it as well as God’s redemption of the situation are recorded in Scripture for everyone to read. …

May I enlist your prayers for Todd and Shonnah and their children at this time, that God, the Great Reverser, will miraculously turn this situation around?

Meanwhile Dan Curant has posted (unfortunately without giving his source, but I assume this is genuine) a letter from Doris Wagner, wife of Peter, going into the ins and outs of this situation. This is well worth reading. Here is Peter and Doris’ general perspective on Todd’s ministry:

We felt as though there was a legitimate anointing on Todd’s life. We knew he was an imperfect person but our honest desire was to sort out and save the good. The other charge against us is that we stupidly could not recognize that these miracles were being done under the power of a satanic spirit and that we were totally lacking in discernment. My answer to that is, there probably was some of the flesh at work on some occasions, and people operating with a higher level of discernment may have picked up on some things we could not. I seriously question whether a satanic spirit got away with all of the good. My conclusion is that it was mixed and we wanted to help sort out the good.

It seems that Peter Wagner was reluctant to get involved with Todd, but did so precisely because he saw that Todd needed a higher level of oversight and accountability. Indeed the reasons for this started to come out soon after the 23rd June ceremony. And it is clear that he and the other three are taking very seriously the responsibility they accepted on that day, but within the limitations of busy interrnational ministry schedules. Doris writes:

Todd now has the opportunity to address some character flaws and get them healed and corrected in order to carry the anointing God has given him. …

Be assured that Todd’s overseers, Che, John and Bill along with Peter are hard at work. Please give us some time. Peter is in Singapore and goes on to Indonesia for a few days and will not be back until next week. Che is ministering in Korea. Bill and John have killer schedules all summer long. We are working as best and as fast as we can, but there are constraints that slow us a little. Things like thousands of miles and schedules that cannot be changed, and when it is day here it is night in Asia.

I am very optimistic. I see a door of opportunity swung wide open. I see a wonderful, merciful God reaching out. What many are calling a rotten mess I see as a splendid chance for one of the church’s finest hours. The mess was there festering for a while anyway, now let’s fix it. Is Todd’s situation a strange thing? The breakup of the family is one of the most common societal problems we face today. How many other couples contemplating family breakup could be encouraged to get help if this is a successful rehabilitation?

Todd now has some fathers by his side to help in time of need and to avoid shipwreck if he chooses to accept that help. He now has some authority in his life, and parameters are comforting to kids. He is deeply loved by many who are in a position to help spiritually, emotionally and mentally. He is a place of protection he did not have the luxury of before June 23.

So let’s all continue to pray for Todd, as well as for Shonnah and the children, for repentance, acceptance of help, and over time full restoration. And let’s pray for these four “fathers” as they facilitate this process.