The disgraced-in-all-but-charismatic-circles Todd Bentley, the only person Dr. Michael Brown said was a false teacher disqualified from ministry (but only temporarily, as he also said he was supernaturally gifted and could return one day), took to Facebook to defend against charges that he is disqualified from ministry owing to his history of allegations regarding marital infidelity, drunkness, coarse language, hitting on homosexuals, sexting, pornography, proffering his wife to other men, and a host of other spiritually seditious activities. [Editor’s note: Yeah, he is one sinful dude.]
You will recall a panel/tribunal of charismatic leaders were called to examine evidence and decide whether or not the allegations were true. Before long, Bentley bailed on it and ended his involvement in the process, calling it a “witch hunt.” This did not stop the tribunal from releasing the summary of the report, where they declared him guilty, but that they had hopes for his future due to his miraculous gifts. Charismatics and NAR adherents historically have enjoyed infinitesimally low levels of discernment when it comes to the sinful behavior from their leaders, and this case has sadly has proved to be no different.
Like water off a duck’s back, Bentley shrugged it off and shortly thereafter resumed the ministry, recently putting on healing conferences and rallies throughout his state, as well as continuing to host his own church service. Then, another accuser:
While Todd’s explanation written in a way that is barely coherent, what comes through is that he views it as all fake news (a coined term, popularized by President Trump, whom incidentally Bentley prophecied would win reelection):
All the other stuff you were listening to was the wrong source, because to this day nothing was verified or proven, and that’s why I’ve never been charged with any kind of crime – because it was fake news! Not everything appears as it seems. Time will prove that I’m not guilty of the things I’m accused of…it was just the opinion of a few people, my brother.
Bentley previously admitted that he has done some of these things, but claimed they all happened 6 or 7 years ago when he was put under secret church discipline and it was all dealt with. He has never said which allegations are true and which aren’t, however, and now appears to be denying them all outright.
Of course, the internet holds things forever.
Last year, Rod Radosti, founder of Church14 ministries and former frequent ministry partner of Todd Bentley, uploaded a video to his Facebook page of one of Todd’s victims speaking out and detailing the nature and the existence of their sordid relationship, explaining that they regularly engaged in sexting and the exchange of nude pictures.
What is damning is that when confronted about this woman and her story, explicitly stated to be in 2017, and which showed Todd being the victimizer and her being a victim, he did not dispute it but rather took exception to that characterization of it as abuse.
In the process of reiterating his insistence that they were consenting adults and that “we as adults sinned,” he acknowledges and corroborates the veracity of her story and put the lie to his claim that this all only happened back in 2014, or now, that it never happened at all.
