bentley and the haters

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really don't like what I see going on in Lakeland surrounding Todd Bently. I am NOT his defender. But I'll add that I dislike just as much if not more what I see in the detractors exemplified in the likes of Schlueter and Silva.

Here's how their "biblical analysis" runs ...



First - I'm wondering why someone hasn't hunted down this glass-eyeball dude. I don't think that would prove anything overall but it sure would be interesting to find out if this is fact or fiction and if these guys are sincere, easily duped, or flat-out liars.

Then Ingrid Schlueter begins her quite obviously biased analysis. I couldn't help but wonder how easily she could have made the same analysis with Jesus and His followers.

Then Ken Silva makes his sad claim regarding those gold toothed Dutch folks (again it seems like some simple follow-up could be done relative to that). Silva states, "Where exactly do we see gold teeth being popped into people's mouth in Scripture. We don't. ... God doesn't do a new thing that has no bearing in Scripture." What can I say to that? Unbelievable. These guys have such low view of Scripture and the God of the Bible that I am simply at a loss for words.

Jon Sharp then states that this simply repeats the same narrow understanding of God as voiced by Silva. On the other hand, I do like his statement regarding evidence of fruit. I myself would like to see some of this although I'm not sure enough time has passed for that. At this point I am skeptical at best.

Sharp and Silva then respond to Bentley's "violent" methods. Again, I don't like what's going on in Lakeland but I really struggle with the analysis these guys provide. Silva mentions Elijah and says even he didn't do the extreme stuff that Bentley is doing. True. On the other hand it's pretty clear that these guys would not have approved of Elijah either had the stories not been captured in Scripture. Net - they wouldn't accept anyone doing any level of this kind of thing so I find it hypocritical that they are judging Bentley as if he could ever meet their standard.

Schlueter then plays the fruit of the Spirit card which in her analysis could also discredit Our Lord Himself. Net - just plain poor use of Scriptural standards. She claims that the gap is a missing knowledge of the Word of God. Actually I would say these guys have a wrong and limited understanding themselves. They even take this opportunity to poke at the emerging church.

Well I got through 18 minutes of this nonsense and heard enough. They would prefer we simply sit quietly in prayer while reading the Word as a model of Christian living. Sorry, no thanks. I'm glad God offers much more than that.

Oh well ... sin abounds on both sides of this conversation. Me, I'm going to go love God and share that with some others. Bye for now. Let me know if you listened to the rest and learned anything of substance but I pray you also have something better to do.

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