Flake Calleth Unto Flake
Its desperation time within the charismatic extremist “camp” because now all the former revivalists from the Kansas City Vineyard, the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, the Pensacola Outpouring are now all getting behind Mr. Bentley and embracing him not just as a mere evangelist but as of June 23rd he has become an Apostle!
A good brother to DMI, Scott sent me the link on
You Tube that showed the entire apostolic commissioning ceremony of Bentley. I
watched the entire 4 segments and was appalled and amazed at what was
transpiring on the stage. Allow me to set the scene for you.
It begins with C. Peter Wagner speaking who heads up the
International Coalition of Apostles, an organization which currently recognizes
over five hundred men and woman as being God-ordained apostles. That in itself
is amazing when you consider there were originally twelve men called by our
Lord Jesus to serve as apostles, Paul counts as the thirteenth and he admitted
to being one who was “untimely born” (see 1 Cor. 15:8). According to
Wagner, a man who engages in some extremely bizarre spiritual activities and
one who endorses every weird manifestation within the Church now tells us there
are just over five hundred recognized, i.e. legitimate, apostles on the loose!
What does the Bible say regarding the qualifications to be an apostle? In Acts 1:21-22 we read quite plainly what was required to be an apostle of the Lamb:
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."
They had to replace Judas and the requirements
set down by the apostles themselves consisted of the following: First, the
individual had to be with the eleven from the entire time of Jesus` ministry.
Secondly, they had to be an eyewitness of His resurrection and lastly, no
women were ever called biblically to serve as apostles. Although Paul
did not meet any of these qualifications he was supernaturally called to faith
in Christ on the road to Damascus. His apostleship was accepted by the
original apostles and when called to Paul would “prove” he was a genuine
apostle by working the genuine signs of apostleship (see 2 Cor. 12:12).
When the apostle John died there is no solid evidence that the role
of apostle continued. It should be noted that nowhere in the New
Testament, apart from the calling of Matthias do we read of any of the apostles
laying hands on other individuals “calling” them into the ministry of apostle.
Peter knew of his impending death yet he did not transfer his apostolic
anointing/covering {a little charismatic lingo} to anyone. Paul also knew of
his forthcoming death and nothing is recorded about him bestowing apostleship
upon any of his disciples.
The bible is very clear (thank you Dr. H. Wayne House) concerning the role of apostles and prophets. They were foundational gifts. When anyone builds a house the first thing that is done is to lay the foundation and then the superstructure is built upon it. What does the bible say about apostles and prophets?
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:10
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built [past tense] on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. Eph. 2:19-20
These ministry gifts laid the foundation for the Church, which the Holy Spirit has been building upon for the last two thousand years. There is no need for a “new” foundation, the Bible says the foundation stands firm (2 Timothy 2:19). Yet now Mr. Wagner tells us we have at least 500 men and women who are proclaimed as genuine apostles and we can now add Mr. Bentley to that number! Never mind that there has never been a God-ordained woman apostle. Forget that none of these people meet the qualifications laid out by the original apostles themselves. Naturally, let’s not muddy the flow of the spirit by mentioning the reality of false apostles:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Cor. 11:12-15
If the genuine biblical apostles laid the foundation of the Church, then it stands to reason that false apostles, like termites, undermine the foundation of Christ. These false apostles back up their message by pointing to the pseudo signs and wonders allegedly transpiring in their meetings. Yet the bible warns us of such people:
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 Thes. 2:9-12
Brothers and sisters, Wagner, Bentley, Arnott, Ahn and all the others who declare that they are genuine apostles of Christ are in fact false apostles, men and women who are extremely deceived and are going about deceiving others:
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Tim. 3:12-13
Three leading false apostles (Che Ahn, John
Arnott, Bill Reading) laid hands initially on Todd and uttered a wide variety
of swelling “prophetic” words over him. I’ll paraphrase some of their utterances:
Arnott --- “you are leading an amazing change, use your anointing to change
the face of the Church.” Reading --- “Today Todd looses a kingly
anointing and MONEY, MONEY, MONEY is released.” Stacy Campbell (a false
prophetess) is given the microphone and while she shakes her head back and
forth at an abnormal rate of speed she utters “Todd is the firstfruit of a new
generation and he will release the glory of God in all its fullness!”
Stacy looked a person undergoing some sort of spastic attack, something you
would expect to see in the movie “The Exorcist.” You can see all of this
yourself to validate what I am writing by visiting www.youtube.com and in their search box simply type
in Todd Bentley’s commissioning.
Thinking of The Exorcist there is another YouTube video clip
of Todd Bentley speaking about how he had many demons cast out of him AFTER he
was a Christian! Now brothers and sisters I realize that the devil is a real
enemy and he does harass and plague our lives. I also readily admit that there
is such a thing a genuine spiritual warfare. However, I stand firmly against
the notion that any Christian can be demon possessed. There is not one account
of any Christian having a demon cast out of them in the Bible. When a person
is drawn to Christ he or she is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (see Eph.
4:30) and we are translated from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom
of His beloved Son (see Col. 1:13). If Mr. Bentley had any spirits cast
out of him then he must not have been a Christian at the time, even though he
thought he was. This much is certain he has willingly jumped into the gyre of
deception by believing he is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
What was especially troubling to me was not only what was said and done on the platform by men who have been proven to be heretical teachers, false prophets and false apostles but that this “commissioning” took place at Lakeland with several thousand people cheering Todd on. The lack of biblical discernment was palpable especially among the “leaders” but also among those cheering from the arena.
I am thankful to be able to serve in some small way as one of few voices shouting “the emperor has no clothes on.” Those involved in Apologetic, Polemic and Counter-cult ministry on a full-time basis can be counted on both hands. It is not a popular position to be in, to “teach truth and expose error” in an era of no absolutes, even within the Church. It certainly does not pay well, yet God is faithful and DMI is thankful for those He has raised up to help us continue to make a stand against the heresies, blasphemers and heretics impacting our Church today. May our gracious Lord Jesus strengthen all our hands for the days ahead! Selah.