Sh*t Happens
I came online around 11:30AM. Within 15 minutes I had 2 emails and one chat conversation all telling me about Todd Bentley's separation.
And now I'm telling you.
Prayer support? Gossip? Media exploitation?
I wonder if Jesus held meetings that created an atmosphere of fatigue and stress. I know he often retreated from the crowds to rest. Maybe that's what Todd should have done. Retreated home. Got rested. Loved on his wife.
I guess I'm sad for two reasons: the media is having a heyday with this - another evangelist gone bad; and secondly, did it have to end this way for Todd? No. I don't think it did.
Unfortunately sh*t happens - TO EVERYONE. And unfortunately the church doesn't like sh*t and doesn't know what to do with it when it happens.
SOMEONE must have seen this coming! But what did they do to help Todd? Dunno. It's not really my place to speculate, but this kind of sh*t happens in the church all the time. The money is WAY more important than the sh*t. So, we try to cover up the sh*t and act like nothing is happening. After all, if we pulled Todd away from the Outpouring for a season to get rest people might stop getting healed! We may not get good offerings anymore!
More sh*t.
Can the devil count on us? I sure hope not.
It is with considerable sadness then, that we must temper the jubilation we know you all feel with the sobering news that Todd and Shonnah Bentley are presently experiencing significant friction in their relationship and are currently separated. We want to affirm that there has been no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah, nor has there ever been. Undoubtedly the pressures and the burden of the Outpouring, which approaches 144 days on August 23rd, have helped to create an atmosphere of fatigue and stress that has exacerbated existing issues in their relationship. We wish to stress however, that the Outpouring is not “to blame” for the current chain of events and that in effect we have no interest in blaming anyone, but rather we deeply covet your prayers for Todd and Shonnah and for Fresh Fire Ministries during this time.
And now I'm telling you.
Prayer support? Gossip? Media exploitation?
I wonder if Jesus held meetings that created an atmosphere of fatigue and stress. I know he often retreated from the crowds to rest. Maybe that's what Todd should have done. Retreated home. Got rested. Loved on his wife.
I guess I'm sad for two reasons: the media is having a heyday with this - another evangelist gone bad; and secondly, did it have to end this way for Todd? No. I don't think it did.
Unfortunately sh*t happens - TO EVERYONE. And unfortunately the church doesn't like sh*t and doesn't know what to do with it when it happens.
SOMEONE must have seen this coming! But what did they do to help Todd? Dunno. It's not really my place to speculate, but this kind of sh*t happens in the church all the time. The money is WAY more important than the sh*t. So, we try to cover up the sh*t and act like nothing is happening. After all, if we pulled Todd away from the Outpouring for a season to get rest people might stop getting healed! We may not get good offerings anymore!
More sh*t.
GOD TV is anxious that our viewers and partners will first of all respond to these unfortunate circumstances with an attitude of Christ-like maturity and pray fervently for Todd, Shonnah and their children as a family who are precious to the Lord. While we have learned today that immorality was not an issue, no doubt the enemy has exploited vulnerabilities in their marriage.
What the devil has not counted on is the Christ-like maturity and intercession that is currently being raised up all across the earth in response. We hope you will join us as a part of this prayer covering.
Can the devil count on us? I sure hope not.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 11:57 AM.
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12:32 AMI'm afraid to leave a comment.
Having survived a divorce, my heart goes out to this family. I know God will carry each individual through the pain of brokenness. He will provide hope where hope is needed and strength where strength is necessary.
Beyond that, I'm afraid to comment. Though my soap box is calling my name, I will try to pray instead. The temptation to "preach" is almost unbearable...
10:52 AM
@ttm: This is a free forum, so you're free to "preach" if you feel the need. If I think your message is too much for some readers I can remove it. That said, your "fear" has sparked my curiosity. Are you tempted to preach to me? Todd? The church in general? Or perhaps your thoughts are based on your experience with divorce and/or the church's response. If so, we probably need to hear that sermon.
Or maybe you are afraid you'll offend someone. That's understandable. But sometimes our minds need offending in order to change.
Either way, praying is always a good prerequisite. I'm happy to hear that you will try to do that first.
6:51 PM
Okay, you have encouraged me. And I trust that you will delete this comment if it crosses a boundary of concern and righteous indignation into an area of judgment and personal attack.
First of all, sh*t happens in the church all the time. But the church doesn't recognize it. In fact, it calls it something else. Abuse masquerades as "authoritative leadership." Hitting and punching and kicking are seen as acceptable when one is "anointed" or "disciplining." As you yourself implied in the original post, gossip is hidden as "prayerful sharing and concern." There are piles of sh*t in every church, in every Christian home, in every Christian's behavior, but we dance around it thinking that it is something valuable to keep around.
Second, even when we do recognize it for what it is, we have no sanitation system. The church doesn't have an effective way to dispose of it. The pat answer is to pray and God will magically remove it. As if God will swoop in like Mr. Clean and nod his shiny head and say something powerful like "Begone!" And low and behold; it is! You know, sometimes that actually happens.
But more often than not, it doesn't. Most of the time a shovel shows up on the doorstep and we trip on it on the way out to get the morning paper. And we think, "Gee, how did that thing get there?"
Yeah, most of the time we are stuck dealing with the sh*t ourselves. We have to locate a place to bury it. We need to pick up shovels and scoop it somewhere. We need to move it one heavy scoop at a time. And we must scrub, and bleach, and sanitize the hell out of crapped on surfaces which will never again be perfectly clean and shiny and new. (But we do have hope that don't have to remain permanently dirty, bacteria-bearing places.)
Third, when fellow believers (trying to get rid of their own sh*t) have just dumped a heavy load in your backyard or on your front porch, the church usually tells you to "deal with it" and "forget what is behind" and "keep pressing on."
Yes. And that same author (Paul) who penned those words about forgetting what is behind and straining to go forward, spent plenty of time in other places recounting all of his trials and tribulations. We cannot "forget" what is behind and effectively move forward until we have DEALT WITH THE ISSUES. And this takes time, patience, hard work, and a bearing with one another that goes beyond what most churches (or bosses or friends or even spouses) are willing to invest.
I guess my preaching is at the church in general. Not you. Not Todd. The church has an obligation to stop dressing up sh*t as something anointed, to get serious about the growing piles of it threatening the public health, and to partner with people in finding a better way to deal with it.
End of sermon. Thank you for bearing with me. The soapbox will go back in the closet now--next to the Febreze. ;^)
11:04 PM
@ttm: Thank you. That was a wonderful, and much needed preach. I'm glad you pulled the soapbox out. You should do it more often. :-)
"Dealing with the issues; partnering with others; bearing with one another."
Sounds Biblical!
We (the church) can learn a lot from your encouragement.
6:36 PM
Wow, ttm, you laid it out real plain and simple like.
Thanks for that ... it is the very reason that church is not a place I frequent often and as I wax older and wiser in Christ ... even less so.
l.i.General, I would hope Jesus held meetings that brought living water and refreshment. Apples of gold in baskets of silver. Beauty all the way around.
And a good point, He withdrew and spent a lot of time in prayer. He was never run by man and their ideas.
I know this following quote is about Chinese politics, but I see the North American church in here.
Just plug in North American church wherever China is mentioned.
"In the Olympic Village, you can find religious freedom. Maybe some foreigners can worship. ... But I tell you, the real crisis in China now is that there are no reformers left. The power struggle among the leadership is for power, not reform. To have real political reform, they would lose their power."
- Fan Yafeng, a law professor at the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a leader of an unregistered house church.
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