Todd Bentley’s Encounter with Heaven

I have to say this is some of the strangest stuff I’ve ever read. I retract that statement…Rick Joyner’s book, The Final Quest is in the same category. Why does all this stuff have the distinct “feel” of the ‘new age’ teachings? Can’t quite put my finger on ‘why’…

Listen, I do believe God can show us things, even give us a vision. I’ll even be so forthright to say in my 28 years of serving the Lord, I was given visions (3 to be exact)-but the difference being I never have been prompted to divulge them: they were private, between me and God. And to be perfectly frank I’ve always sensed in my spirit, I wasn’t to share them. (also, they were NOT EVEN REMOTELY related to such things like the quotes below, or those in Joyner’s Final Quest)

Anyway..

Just a few excerpts from the teachings on Bentley’s encounter with Heaven:

From part (2)

In the chair, with my eyes open, I had an open vision. Jesus appeared right in front of me. It was as though He stepped right out of heaven, the Lord Jesus Himself, and stood before me as a Man. He wasn’t the King of glory or the Lord full of majesty. He was as He would have been on the earth as the Son of man. In fact, I was struck by His appearance, surprised that He did not look more majestic—King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. But I knew it was the Lord; I saw His eyes.

Now I want you to understand there are times when, although you can see everything (in a heavenly encounter), there are only certain details that become the focus. So, even though I could give a description of the Lord, the main thing that I was drawn to was Jesus’ eyes. He had brown eyes, and I know it sounds funny, but I immediately thought of Bambi! He had these big brown eyes and he was wearing a simple garment; it was almost brown, like the dust of the earth or almost the color of wood (the cross), with a little hint of purple. Pondering what I was seeing, I had the quickening realization that He was as the Good Shepherd would be. It was like Jesus simply stepped out of the harvest field, came as the Son of man, very humble in apparel. I focused on the eyes of the Lord. I wanted to go into His eyes. I was drawn into His eyes.

The Lord (of course) knew what I was thinking! He spoke to me without words— “These are My eyes as I had eyes on the earth. But if you were to see Me in heaven I have eyes ‘blue, like revelation eyes,’ like fire. These are My human eyes, not My God eyes.” (more at link)

An excerpt from part (3)

In the final segment of Encounter with Heaven Todd shares about his visit with the apostle Paul in the third heaven. As Abraham and David came forward from the cloud of witnesses and looked on, Paul explained to Todd crucial revelatory information about different scriptures in the Bible. You’ll learn (among other things) just how Paul received the revelation of the gospel as it was revealed to him by the Lord Jesus Christ in the third heaven. Then you’ll discover an amazing piece of the puzzle concerning how the Book of Hebrews was written….

Now it could have been anyone, or any thing, but by God’s design as unbelievable as it may sound, I actually saw the apostle Paul come walking toward me onto the bridge. You might be wondering how I knew immediately that it was Paul. I just perceived it by divine knowledge and revelation. Some things you just know.

People have asked me what he looked like, and so I will attempt to describe his appearance. He was short, not more than 5’1” or 5’2” (I’m 5’6”). He was bald except for a little crown of hair that came around his head. Looking very Jewish with a short, trimmed, white beard, my first thought was of a monk in a monastery! He actually had jolly cheeks and I thought: Paul you’ve got a little weight on you! I mean he wasn’t fat but he looked a little pudgy! Funny, eh? But that’s what I was thinking!

He sat next to me and he took his hand and placed it across my chest not saying anything. But I felt like I was receiving an apostolic blessing from a father—“For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established” (Rom. 1:11). While he touched my chest, Abraham and David appeared out of the cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1). Although they were very close (and yet somehow at a distance), they weren’t the main focus. They were simply there as witnesses to an encounter.

Just so you know too, Abraham was taller than David and Paul, about 6’5”. He was a very big rugged looking man, very big boned, large hands, having a long black beard and hair. In fact he looked quite East Indian or Pakistani (in skin color); not like an African man (in blackness), but closer to an East Indian man. He actually didn’t look Jewish at all!

Now David’s appearance was much different from Abraham’s. Having seen Jesus before, I noticed that David’s features were similar to Jesus, the Son of David. Both Jesus’ hair and David’s hair were alike—long brown reddish locks that hung to their shoulders. David’s eyes were blue and he wore a purple royal robe but when he lifted his arm, inside his robe I saw the color blue; it was very kingly. He was very handsome with a short beard and he was really well kept.

What’s more, Paul said, “Todd, I want to share with you how I received the revelation of the gospel and I want to share with you some of the encounters that I had in the third heaven.” Thinking: This needs to be in the Bible, Paul, I said “okay” to that. Then, as Paul began pointing out passages of scripture, the Bible opened up to me – boom! ..

(Todd continues with what he believes this ‘Paul’ is revealing to him about his [Paul's] being taken into the 3rd heaven)

Back to Paul! I discovered while conversing with Paul that it wasn’t only Jesus Christ who taught him in heaven. I say this because Paul told me: “Abraham taught me, in heaven, and that’s how and why I wrote the book of Hebrews. What I heard was from the lips of Abraham himself.”

I know I’m stepping out on theology now; however, I want you to understand that Paul always made it clear when he authored an epistle—“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ” or “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ.” Always! Yet, for the Book of Hebrews, although most Bible scholars believe that it was authored by Paul, there are those that really can’t say it was him because the authorship is never clear. Paul told me why. Here is what he said to me. “Do you know why I know so much about Abraham?” [So much of Hebrews is based on other things that you just can’t pull from in other scriptures.] He said, “Abraham himself shared (information) with me and I simply wrote it” (in the Book of Hebrews). “The authorship isn’t clear because it was Abraham and I; Abraham shared with me.” [Much of Hebrews is about Abraham; i.e. Hebrews Chapter 11.] Paul said, “When I was in the third heaven, Abraham was with me like you are with me now.”

A VISIT AT PAUL’S HOUSE

Shuba! Next, I was at Paul’s house and he said to eat the Book of Titus!

What’s more, several days later I was taken back into heaven to Paul’s house! But this time I didn’t go inside. I stayed outside where I saw a ladder in his back yard like the one described in Genesis 28, Jacob’s ladder. [I’ve come to understand that there are ladders like that in heaven in order to ascend and descend into different realms because heaven has places, geographical places. For example, the first heaven is where we live on the earth; the second heaven is the invisible realm of Ephesians 6: 12; and the third heaven where I was with Paul, it’s the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).]

So I jumped onto the ladder and began to climb up into another realm. I saw around me that it was all clouds so I began to pull those clouds back. As I did, a hole opened up in the heavens. Immediately then, out of heaven, flowed the color green, not just a light; it was like a green liquid and it was pouring onto my eyes! When I asked God about this, He said, “You are coming into the throne room; you are beneath the sea of glass; there is a rainbow around the throne. It’s not just above the throne; it’s a circle around the throne, a rainbow, emerald, green in color.”….

Back to climbing! I went up from the throne room into the fifth realm which is the heavenly city. I saw streets that are golden and mansions and I noticed that it was very different from the Paradise of God (third heaven) where there are hills, still waters, and flowers. It wasn’t as peaceful. Next came the sixth realm of heaven which is the place where the angels live. There is literally a realm reserved for Michael, Gabriel, all the arch angels and all the angels under the arch angels! This isn’t the second heaven, the angel and demon realm, where they battle. It’s just a realm where the angels dwell. Then the last heaven I saw, the seventh realm was other universes and the solar systems;..

In this hour God wants us to realize that He is causing a great shift to take place in the church. Today He is releasing keys to unlock some of the hidden mysteries and He is giving crucial revelation to willing believers because God is building up His kingdom “on the earth as it is in heaven” NOW….(more at link)

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