BAM! BAM! YOU’RE DEAD!
By Doug Krieger
Brethren
- this "thing" regarding the total exposure of one, Todd Bentley, is a
horrendous embarrassment to the Body of Christ. The Tribulation Network, on
8-2-08 - just prior to Bentley's downfall, had had it with this farce and ran
Jackie Alnor's expose with this introduction:
At a certain point in time and space, the ridiculous converges with the
absurd, thievery merges with wholesale chicanery, and something phony somehow
begins to stink real bad. How’s that? Well, if you want circus – and you’re
attracted to spectacular forms of “Christian deception” – then, you better
take a gander at Jackie Alnor’s rendition of the latest escapades of
Charismania. Yep, we’re at it again. “We’re” – well, sort of. This is
supposed to be the latest breath of fresh air from the Spirit of God. There’s
probably some reality of Christ in there somewhere; after all, everyone there
(in the main) professes vibrant faith in Jesus Christ—and are crying out for
supernatural manifestations of the Holy Ghost. But what’s really happening –
well, you’ll have to read Jackie’s account of Todd Bentley’s clergy-laity
preferences and strident appeals for more and more funding to keep up the work
of the Lord in these prophetically fiery displays of the Almighty’s healing
power—He’s just a little short on change; but, then again, isn’t CHANGE in the
air these days?
(http://www.the-tribulation-network.com/Apostasy_deception_2008/8-2-08.htm)
Now, below, we have an
interpolation by Dutch Sheets' - a (in point of fact) COVER-UP of the Bentley
fiasco. Things are really beginning to smell real bad in here. I'm ticked
off because my son and other well-meaning brethren--apparently Bill Johnson of
Bethel in Redding, CA, as well--were taken in by this charlatan and now the
man who aspires to the prophetic, one Dutch Sheets, after two weeks of
Bentley's extra-marital, drunken affairs' expose, has the audacity to treat
this thing with kid gloves when, if I had a hammer, should smash this thing to
smithereens for all the pain and suffering this has caused to so many
brethren.
Listen, Jackie (of Apostasy Alert) and others had the guts to blast this phony
to bits--even to go down to Bentley's boondoggle at USC/So. Cal. and blow the
trumpet; and to do so way out in front of the curve, while us MEN OF GOD--you
know, the so-called prophets out there who haven't a clue as to what's real
and genuine in the Spirit sat around viewing Bill Johnson's cover-up of
Bentley on U-Tube. Of course, we're awash with sympathy because all of us in
one way or another have been exposed to undue criticism and could "feel the
pain" of Bentley--not having "prayed with the man" - and, of course, "not
having walked in his moccasins" - and, finally, knowing we're just a bunch of
sinners saved by grace in the first place--so better to keep our mouths shut
and let God's people continue to suffer!
Man, after viewing brother Johnson's video--I felt ashamed I hadn't gone to
Lakeland to get some "bam, bam!" Now, we've got Dutch Sheets' remarkable
insights parading around as if "fool me once shame on me, fool me twice,
shame, shame" (as in bam, bam).
The only mercy in all this is the meteoritic ending of this charade. And what
is this anyway? Do we have to endure the likes of C. Peter Wagner's "anointings"
and these Kingdom Now prophets until the Treaty of Hell and Death? Apparently
so--the GREAT APOSTASY goes right along with the GREAT CITY, and prior to
commercial Babylon's upheavals in Revelation 18, the Great Whore of Babylon is
devoured in Revelation 17--not even the politicians can stand her "prattling"
any longer!
I normally don't get this pushed out of shape--as I told one brother: I'm
into the money trail and view with utter disgust the ripping off God's
people--that's "my thing" - AND, I get really upset over false doctrine
regarding the "end times" because it has such a devastating affect upon the
Body of Christ - and, worse yet, I get totally torched when so-called
"America's pastor-types" run around and tell God's people that "Bible prophecy
is a distraction" to the Body of Christ! Now, that puts me over the top, big
time. One dear brother inquired of me during the "Bentley's Binge" - "Why
aren't more people out there talking about Bible prophecy like you, Doug, if
that's what God is doing today? It seems like all "these guys" are moving in
the Spirit and if the Spirit is moving in this way--well, how come you're sort
of an odd voice out there, etc.?"
We've be here before--too many times--far too many times. We're not desperate
for the truth--our ears are itching so bad that we can't get enough of
Charismatic hyperventilation-style scratching and inhalation. Sure, when you
take in that much air, you have a tendency to pass out--too bad it isn't the
Spirit of God we're breathing in.
I remember when a bunch of crusty brothers, led by one of Berkeley, CA's
hero-hippies (back in the early '70s), got up in a meeting of a
"Christian-style cult" which was following a man who was using God's people to
build up his financial empire and boldly declared: SOMETHING IN HERE STINKS
AND IT'S THE "XYZ CULT" (he used the name of the group itself)--IF ANYONE IN
HERE CAN SMELL WHAT I SMELL, THEN LEAVE WITH ME! He walked out--what a bold
exodus was this! And, you know what--I never got up and walked out with the
troops--I sat there, thinking to myself: Wait, I smell what he smells, but
I'm frozen to my chair--man, it stinks so bad in here--why am I sitting here?
All the rationalizing in the world couldn't justify the "frozen chosen" - the
"left behind" feelings--I just sat there.
Doug Shearer got up and walked out--God bless him. Dene and I didn't--later
Dene and I totally left that falsehood. But sadly, and just like so many
deceptions of the past which have been exposed to His One Body--since the
deceiving spirits abound and have ground in us, we're just as apt to fall for
another fraud because we're really not desperate enough for the reality of
Christ; we'd rather have a "quick fix" - a, if you would, "bam, bam" - than to
be broken before God, sold out to genuine Christ-like living. Instead, we run
around looking for the next Rodney Brown or Todd Bentley or just sit there and
fossilize or become wholly indifferent to it all.
Chasing Bentleys and Fatimas is the bane of Christianity - "where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" doesn't
seem to turn us on all that much. Are we missing something here? Apparently
so - or rather, GLARINGLY SO! Ornate temples and spectacular performances of
one charismatic sort or another--especially American-style
extravaganzas--dominate the seekers field these days. Mega-churches
included. The more ornate, the more spectacular, the bigger the choir, the
greater the demonstration (so-called) of the spirit (small "s"), the more
turned on we become--but then the implosion, exposures, justifications,
explanations and one whole lot of claptrap ensues.
Man, I hope this makes us desperate for Jesus Christ--the real Jesus--the One
Who saved us and keeps us--the One Who so much desires all our hearts, without
phony baloney but total consecration regardless of feeling or the so-called
spectacular. If He alone does not satisfy--then we are of men and women most
miserable. The next "thing" coming down the pike will either make us the
greater fool or, having our spiritual senses sharpened, we'll know the
difference because Christ will have wrought Himself into our walk--then, and
then only, will there be genuine discernment, genuine humility and real love.
That will be the miraculous--free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty,
I'm free at last!
Bro. Doug
http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/dutch-sheets-re-todd-bentley-divorce-and-lakeland-part-1/