Todd Bentley is "as far from the understanding of God as [he has] ever known'

{[Posted at Bene Diction January 29, 2013] Why is Todd Bentley starting a little bit of a public relations campaign these days? Well, some of it may be due to the fact that some Christians are dismayed by his actions. One English Anglican vicar comes to mind. Earlier this month, Canon Colin Boswell of Croydon, England shared his thoughts with a reporter from a local newspaper. I'd be disgusted if I were him. I'll explain... Croydon will ring a bell with Bentley watchers. [We blogged on what happened fairly extensively at the time, but I will briefly recap.] Last summer, we will recall, Bentley planned to come to Britain for a series of meetings, one set to be in Croydon. Attention was drawn to Bentley's onstage persona of doing violent ministry if necessary, and local Labour MP Malcolm Wicks became interested. Wicks, along with others, lobbied British immigration authorities and Bentley was banned from entering Britain. Mr. Wicks, who had been suffering from cancer, passed away last September. And then Bentley opened his mouth in a video posted on his website. Big hat tip to Apprising Ministries for saving the video in question where Bentley can't get rid of it in their post here. Todd Bentley and his friend and mentor Rick Joyner basically say that God, like a gangster, had Malcolm Wicks whacked for his efforts to stop Bentley from coming to Britain. Bene D and I quote Bentley here, but I'd like to quote Rick Joyner's remarks from a minute or so later in the same video. Joyner says: "....So mark your calendar....Mark this day, God is removing opposition from his people. He is going to take the opposition out of the way. Listen, we need to have the pure and holy fear of the Lord come upon us too. I tell you, it os going to be extremely costly to get in God's way for what He is about to do. We need to take this with the utmost seriousness. We don't want anybody dying. No Annanias and Sapphiras. But this is serious business. I'll let people hear it for what they want to hear it. "...We are moving into a time of Annanias and Sapphiras. We are moving into a time when the fear of the Lord is gonna come..." While we leave ourselves with the unpleasant image of Bentley and Joyner acting like Robert DeNiro's portrayal of Al Capone in The Untouchables, I'll just add that a little later in the same video, a British lady gets up to pray and says "...You know, the enemy [Satan] is scared. That's the reason [why] that you didn't get in [to Britain]. He's so scared...] Now, returning to The Croydon Today story--thanks to them--you'd understand why Colin Boswell, the local Anglican official, is so aghast. The reporter quotes Canon Colin Boswell as saying: "I believe Malcolm [Wicks] to have been one of the most courageous people faced with death that I have ever met and someone speaking such theological nonsense is an insult to his memory," Boswell added that he felt that Todd Bentley has "lost any connection with the reality of a loving God". "If he thinks that Mr Wicks suffered cancer because he campaigned against him, he might like to go to the children's ward of his local cancer hospital and tell them what God is punishing them for." God, the paper quotes Boswell as saying, "won't kick you in the face". Indeed, sir, indeed.