Todd Bentley

Todd Bentley
File:Toddbently free.jpg Todd Bentley at his florida healing revival in april 2008.
Born	(1976-01-10) January 10, 1976 Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation(s)	Chairman, preacher, and evangelist.
Known for	Florida Healing Revival
Spouse	Shonnah Bentley
Children	Elijah, Lauralee, and Esther Bentley
Parent	David Bentley
Website	http://www.Freshfire.ca/

Todd Bentley (born 1976) is a Canadian evangelist. He is currently involved in extended revival meetings in Lakeland, Florida, which have been occuring since April 2008.

Early life

Todd Bentley was born in 1976 in Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada.

He lived in Gibsons, British Columbia where he grew up. When he was six years old, his parents divorced, and he grew up with his mother, who lost her hearing years before the divorce. His father moved and TODD visited regularly At the age of eleven, Todd started drinking with his dad. At age 15 he ended up in youth prison after perpetrating a sexual assault on a minor (more on this in the next section).

Following his release from jail, he moved from one care home to another until he finally ended up with his father again on the Vancouver island He was moved into various foster homes throughout an area known as the Lower Mainland, B.C., where he continued to struggle as an adolescent.

At 17, he landed unconscious in hospital, after swallowing a bag full of illegal drugs (amphetamines and hallucinogenic pills). After pumping out his stomach, the doctors believed him to be only minutes from death. He claims to have afterwards surrendered his life to God shortly thereafter, and states that he was cured from drug addiction.

Criminal history

According to The Report Newsmagazine, a social conservative publication that is now out of circulation [1], Bentley was jailed for 18 months when he was fifteen years old for crimes of a sexual nature against an 7 year old boy.

As a juvenile offender, Bentley's record should have been protected from public disclosure The article in The Report acknowledged the Canadian law, but stated that Bentley freely provided details of the offence. Two years later Bentley said he had no idea the reporter interviewing him would publish his acknowledgment of the molestation. "[The reporter] did not tell me he was doing a follow-up story," Bentley told Charisma. "He was just friendly and told me what the mother had said, and I admitted to him in what I thought were off-the-record comments that it was true, but that it happened years ago and I had since been changed by the gospel."

A few months after the article in The Report was published, the mother of the victim contacted the media in Kewlona, B.C. where Bentley was holding a crusade. In response, "Bentley decided to address the local outcry by going on the 6 p.m. local TV-news broadcast. He admitted the crime on-air, asked for forgiveness, told viewers how ashamed he was, and how he was transformed five years after the incident by the gospel's power."

Bentley willingly admits his past: “I turned around and did what had happened to me. I was assaulted too.” He states in his book “Today I want to be sure that in the future no one can say I hid things or mislead people about my past” . (Journey Into The Miraculous, p.24, used by permission)

Ministries and activities

Todd Bentley has travelled internationally holding church services and crusades in over 55 nations including South Africa, Malaysia, Peru, Ethopia, and Uganda where he has a children's home for orphans called the "Uganda Jesus Village." In addition to these activities, "Freshfire Ministries," which Todd serves as CEO since 1998, oversees a Supernatural Training Centre in conjunction with a group in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Efforts to train native pastors to help set up a Supernatural Training Centre in Kampala, Uganda were undertaken in January 2008. Todd's claim is to raise up sons and daughters for his kind of ministry. His home church is Global Harvest Centre [2].

Florida Healing Outpouring

Main article: Florida Healing Outpouring

In April 2008, Todd Bentley was invited to Ignited Church in Lakeland, Florida for a several-day conference. The meetings continued indefinitely as people reportedly experienced miraculous healings. Meetings moved from the church to local auditoriums and stadiums, continuing daily and broadcasted live via God TV satellite channels and online streaming.

Personal life

Todd currently resides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. Bentley is married to Shonnah, and has three children, Elijah, Lauralee, and Esther. his father on Vancouver Island

Bentley lives in an Abbotsford home, he owns a 2007 GMC Sierra and a 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle.2008 f150 35 foot travel trailer (The Province Newspaper) ,

Todd Bentley's current interests as expressed on his MySpace, page are: Family, Sushi, Harley Davidson's, Music, Starbucks, Movies, hanging out with friends.

His heroes are listed as: Jesus!, Paul the Apostle, true Spiritual Fathers (anyone who can be a true father), David and the Mighty Men, Overcomers, and those who take up the cause of the widow and the orphan. (citation needed)

Views and beliefs

Todd Bentley is considered to be a heretic by many within the broader Christian community.

Todd Bentley has a long history in the "Laughing/ Drunkenness" movement - but also is a leading proponent of strange "Angel" encounters. His meetings are served up with a healthy does of "Sheeka Boomba!", also, with a side of "BAM!" Todd has openly promoted these encounters for years -

Here are a couple of extracts from Todd's 2003 article 'Angelic Hosts':

So when I need a financial breakthrough I don't just pray and ask God for my financial breakthrough. I go into intercession and become a partner with the angels by petitioning the Father for the angels that are assigned to getting me money: "Father, give me the angels in heaven right now that are assigned to get me money and wealth. And let those angels be released on my behalf. Let them go into the four corners of the earth and gather me money.

Todd continues...

jane, ANGEL Of The PROPHETIC

Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: "Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?" He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, "Bob, who is Emma?" He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out. Within a few weeks of Bob asking me about Emma, I was in a service in Beulah, North Dakota.

In the middle of the service I was in conversation with Ivan and another person when in walks Emma. As I stared at the angel with open eyes, the Lord said, "Here's Emma." I'm not kidding. She floated a couple of inches off the floor. It was almost like Kathryn Khulman in those old videos when she wore a white dress and looked like she was gliding across the platform. Emma appeared beautiful and young - about 22 years old - but she was old at the same time. She seemed to carry the wisdom, virtue and grace of Proverbs 31 on her life. She glided into the room, emitting brilliant light and colors. Emma carried these bags and began pulling gold out of them. Then, as she walked up and down the aisles of the church, she began putting gold dust on people... Within three weeks of that visitation, the church had given me the biggest offering I had ever received to that point in my ministry. Thousands of dollars! Thousands!... During this visitation the pastor's wife (it was an AOG church) got totally whacked by the Holy Ghost - she began running around barking like a dog or squawking like a chicken as a powerful prophetic spirit came on her. Also, as this prophetic anointing came on her, she started getting phone numbers of complete strangers and calling them up on the telephone and prophesying over them... Then angels started showing up in the church.

More recently, Todd stated that in one of his "Third Heaven" trips he literally visited the small cabin where the apostle Paul lives in Heaven. Paul told him that he wrote the book of Hebrews with the personal help of Abraham the Patriarch: “The authorship isn’t clear because it was Abraham and I; Abraham shared the content with me.” Todd's 'Third Heaven' tales are full of such astonishing claims - and of course, more angels. This of course, is considered controversial since Scripture prohibits any contact with the dead, saved or not.

In this YouTube video ([3]) Todd speaks of the angel that is going to "visit the children" and then he begins to jerk and laugh uncontrollably. He prays that a 'drunken glory' will move across the whole place, with evidence within the audience. Both Todd and Bob Jones credit an angel that carries the "Winds of Change" for the current healing revival - an angel that they say is still driving it.