Rick Joyner’s Angry Response to Lee Grady’s Column, Plus..

HT to Onward, Forward, Toward: Christian Celebrity Repentance, Episode 1

This is getting uglier by the day folks.

Lee Grady responded to Rick Joyner’s Bentley bulletin a couple days ago, (Lee Grady speaks out on the Todd Bentley “Bulletin”) and it now appears it ruffled Mr. Joyner’s feathers to the point he has responded at Charisma. Sounds like He’s threatening Lee Grady to me. My prayer is that Lee holds to his stand and refuses to allow Joyner’s rebuke (and threat) to move him off of the truth in this matter. Sadly in the past Lee has been known to flip-flop.

Rick Joyner’s Response to Lee Grady’s Column, “The Tragic Scandal of Greasy Grace”

Lee, I think what you call “the Lakeland disaster” would be disputed by multitudes of people who got healed or touched there. If you are such judge of this what gives you the credentials? What moves of God have you led? What have you built? Paul the apostle claimed to have authority for building and for tearing down, but what gives you authority to tear down the work of others is having built something yourself.

I, Todd, Bill and Jack all know this is a very serious matter, and are treating it as such. I am deeply offended that you would call our work “a travesty.” The Lord had far more grace for sinners than for the self-righteous, who He had no grace for at all.

I am personally far more concerned for you than for Todd.

Lee, I love some of the things you write, but I also feel that some are straight from the mouth of the accuser. I do think you have done at least as much damage to the church as Todd’s fall has by your unrighteous and unfair judgments. I don’t think you have earned the credentials for it, and you’re putting yourself in far more jeopardy by trying to be such a self-appointed judge.

I’m quite sure you will misunderstand what I’m saying, and I’m definitely not implying that we want to cover anything up, or promote cheap grace. We have just started the process and its being judged negatively. Give us some time, and some grace. Grace is, by the way, something we are supposed to be giving to each other.

If you care to follow this, Todd and I will be doing Video Special Bulleting each week that will be posted on our website, U-Tube, and carried by many others. These will be short, like the first, only about 10 minutes, but we want to cover the mistakes Todd has made, and as much as we can in the time we have, how he fell into some of the traps he did, strictly for helping others to not have to go through what Todd has. He will no doubt be doing a lot of public apologizing during this time because the public deserves these apologies.

I think you owe Todd, myself, Bill, and Jack apologies for your presumptuous judgments. I think they should be as public as this letter was. If not, I feel that I will have to address this publicly, and I don’t think that is in your best interest.

I also think you need to come down and spend some time with Todd and me. If you have problems with someone we have Matt.18 as a guide to how we should deal with them. Read the first part of that chapter. This was given to help protect people from becoming stumbling blocks, which the Lord made quite clear was something we do not want to be. If you think being a journalist exempts you from complying with Scripture, I would like to know what philosophy you have bought into that trumps Scripture.

Sorry if this comes across as harsh. I don’t mean for it too but I am quite busy and just don’t have the time that I would like to maybe be a bit more tactful.

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My flesh wants to respond with a ‘Shuddup!!’ to Joyner. (But I won’t)

What I would like to ask Joyner is: what did you expect, accolades for making this come back of Todd’s an on-going public spectacle by weekly-installments on your website and youtube? Egads! Get real!! Sounds to me like Joyner’s pulling a ‘don’t touch God’s anointed’ trick out of his hat.

Enough!…Joyner’s public ‘letter’ makes me ill. I need to be silent.

• Onward, Forward, Toward also posted a comment which was left under Lee’s post on Greasy Grace, which I believe is important to read. There were many people hurt by Todd’s actions–and these people have not been given enough consideration, and that includes by me. For that I truly repent:

quote..

Not only did Todd divorce Shonnah and the children, he divorced Fresh Fire Ministry, the leadership, the associates and interns, the church base, and all his employees. There are many wounded here in Abbotsford and Canada.

Todd was given counseling for his marriage and apparently God told him to take a sabbatical. He was given a specific length of time by God which he ignored. During that time he went to Africa and ended up in the hospital. Our leadership tried hard to work with Todd and we all prayed and wept for the restoration of his marriage.

Our church is the laughingstock of our community thanks to Todd.

FFM supporters are not speaking to friends and neighbors who belong to other denominations who wonder what happened. All of this has caused great division and harm to our community. No one is here helping us get over this.

As a regular at my church, I am grieved at these premature announcements of Todd’s return to ministry. It is timed exactly when we are putting on our first conference and Shonnah is going on the first missions trip to Uganda under Transform International.

Todd called himself a ‘businessman’ at a church meeting in September 2007. I wonder if this timing is a shrewd business move to make sure he loses as few supporters as possible to TI while retaining their $$$ at FFM USA.

There has been no concern shown for the 64 orphans and the ministry in Uganda either that remained with Transform International.

Many employees lost their jobs or left in indignation. Some still have not found employment and are struggling. Where is the financial support for them? Where is the love for all the broken, hurting people left at home?

It is easy to apologize over the impersonal internet. I invite Todd to come back home and apologize in person to all the people he has wounded. Then he should carry on to Sechelt and apologize to that community as well.

Your support for Shonnah and the children, both locally and globally at the Uganda Jesus Village, can be addressed to Transform Central formerly known as Global Harvest Centre in Abbotsford, BC. (posted by more x-family)

• I also want to repost something here which I had placed under the Morningstar (video) thread this afternoon. This was posted at phoenix preacher blog by pastor Alan Hawkins.

In all honesty, given the nature of this whole matter, Todd Bentley should be out of ministry for the foreseeable future. He should find a job and work. He should be quiet. He should listen and learn from more mature voices around him. Why do I say this?

First, the simple nature of the offense. He has violated every sacred thing that a minister is sworn to uphold. When a minister takes ordination he takes the mantle of fidelity, trustworthiness and honesty. He has not shown that he can be trusted.

Second, the reality is that he had a prior brush up with something similar. Whatever it was it should now become public. If it was the same kind of offense then there is a deeper problem. We should never refer to moral failures as a ‘dark night of the soul.’  That title belongs to holier things.

Third, compounding of the adultery with the deceit of using the reputations of others to validate himself is egregious. The men and women on that platform in June have surely forgiven Todd and most have stated as much but the loss to their own credibility is great. Todd has reduced the credibility of the entire movement. The hastily performed endorsement is laden with its own problems but Todd allowed it to go on not fearing the Lord or respecting His name or the names of his advocates.

Fourth, this whole scenario is ignoring the voluminous problems with Todd’s ministry style. Many of his practices are questionable at best and as a pastor they are abominable. Shouting “Bam” as you ‘handle’ people is the least of many shameful behaviors that I and others would not allow in our churches. Throwing people to the floor does not manifest glory or anointing. I would have told him on DAY 1 in my church to stop it.

Then there was the matter of referring to the blessing of God as “getting some.” That phrase is well known by a whole generation as a sexual euphemism. It objectifies people and reduces them to a commodity to be possessed. Again, I would have rebuked the man in private and told him that we are not here to “get some.” We are here to touch the hem of His garment.

Fifth, Todd has been a man who has controlled his image by his voluminous words. He stood with bravado and made hundreds of claims, of pronouncements, of challenges that have fallen to the ground. He promised that the revival would be the most carefully recorded event of its kind in history and that the acts of God would be provable to all. He taunted the press and challenged them to come and see what God was doing. The promise of evidence was not forthcoming. The claims of worldwide revival fell fruitlessly away. Just take his claims on the night of the commissioning itself and objectively analyze them and you will see they came to empty words.

Sixth, and this is a very big issue. The matter of Todd’s truthfulness is very much in doubt. This pertains to not only his lifestyle and hidden relationship but to his pulpit stories and proclamations. This goes to the truthfulness of his heavenly visions, angelic encounters, heavenly visits with saints, and encounters with Jesus himself. What would a series of interviews with the former staff of Fresh Fire reveal? I suspect that it would reveal a habit of shading the truth that was obvious to dozens of people. I would go so far as to say that the famous video where Todd claims to have done a series of violent acts ‘under the anointing,’ cannot be verified. Todd’s actions have put the truth on trial. No restoration without this area being explored. The few videos of such acts are more like wrestling tricks than violent exchanges but to risk hurting people in this fashion is horrific.

Seventh, and I will stop at this for now. The cavalier treatment of divorce and remarriage in this matter weakens marriages and mocks the oaths given to God. Yes, half the church is divorced. I myself grew up in a broken family. We all know and love people who are divorced but the public handling of this pushes the limits of tolerance to unbelievable lows. Todd was publicly anointed with Shonnah for world revival. Then he disappears from public view and reappears with a new wife Jessa (I regret my former misspelling of her name) and all the talk is immediately about getting him back to ministry as soon as possible.

Who performed this marriage? And why on earth would anyone thrust a man back into ministry when he himself allows that the demands of ministry helped to destroy his marriage to Shonnah? And then on the first public appearance he chides the viewers with a statement that he and Shonnah have moved on and so should we. How were we suppose to move on?

The revelation of his divorce and remarriage came on Sunday and on Monday the news that he was triumphantly being restored.

The last thing that I want to mention and I intend to push back against this claim and challenge it on every occasion.  It has become a common matter for defenders of Todd to preemptively chide all critics as self-righteous and judgmental. We have phrases coined that are used to tell anyone who dares to challenge “apostolic authority” that we are possessed of some spirit of one thing or another.

This claim is deadly and it is a poison that misses the mark.

First, it presumes that if you call someone self-righteous that you yourself are freed from the same. That should on its face be obviously in error.

Second, it undermines all Biblical moral rebuke within the testimony of scripture itself. This claim makes it impossible to confront evil or to bring into question any behavior. It makes moral instruction meaningless.. (more here)

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God does not take lightly having His name profaned and his character misrepresented by those who claim to be his people. And that is what Todd Bentley, and now Rick Joyner are doing…profaning God’s name and his Holy Character before the world.

Even David, after sinning before God against Uriah was told by the prophet:

“However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also born to you shall surely die.” 2 Sam 12:14

All of us who bear the name of Christ before men have a solemn responsibility to live in such a fashion that we do not discredit or shame the Lord Jesus either in word or in deed. Beloved, one thing is certain. The Most High God will not leave him unpunished who profanes His holy name! If He does not vindicate His name upon them in this life, He will certainly do so in the next! No one can sin with impunity by taking His glorious name in vain by “professing to know God, by their deeds they deny Him” (Christians, A Letter of Christ)

“When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord..” Ezek 36