A few months ago I wrote a post about Todd Bentley, a gentleman professing faith healing in Florida.
Nightline recently did a story on him and after it came out, ABC got some interesting news: After this story aired on “Nightline,” Fresh Fire Ministries released a statement announcing that preacher Todd Bentley would be taking time off “to refresh and to rest” after having spent four months in Lakeland, Fla., leading revival meetings. In the meantime their Lakeland broadcasts on GOD TV are put on hold.
I actually was surprised at how the story was written because the author didn’t really seem to push Bentley until he had been given a chance to tell his story. Then the article by ABC says:
When asked to present evidence of the healings, Bentley promised to give “Nightline” the names and medical records of three followers who would talk openly about his miracles. He never delivered. Instead, his staff gave “Nightline” a binder filled with what he says are inspiring miracles, but with scant hard evidence. It offered incomplete contact information, a few pages of incomplete medical records, and the doctors’ names were crossed out.
Is Bentley doing God’s work? I don’t know. I’ve never been down to his ministry and after feeling like I sounded like a jerk in the post I wrote about him kicking old ladies in the face, I don’t feel like I am in a position to really offer any sort of great comment on what he is doing. (It’s so easy to be judgmental with stuff like this.) But recently, the Baptist Press posted an article by a seminary professor with an autistic son who went to a Bentley service to be healed and wrote about the experience.
Do either of these articles offer a complete view? No. Is judging other people or other ministries unfairly a good thing to do? No. Should we take our opinion of what is right with God and what is wrong with God from ABC? No. But these articles do give a lot more information than my piece did, especially the professor’s story, so I thought you might want to see them.
