Todd Bentley is a major figure in the Charismatic Christian world whose alleged sexual immorality has disqualified him for ministry leadership per others.
The leaders who wrote did the investigation into the immorality allegations and made their report include Dr. Michael Brown, Joseph Mattera, James Goll, Jane Hamon, Bishop Harry Jackson, and Don Finto.
Among their conclusions in the report, they stated:
…we see a steady pattern of compromised behavior, including credible accusations of adultery, sexting (including the exchanging of nude pictures or videos), vulgar language, and substance abuse.
And, to repeat, these charges have been brought by numerous witnesses over a period of roughly 15 years, right until 2019. Even more importantly, many of these activities have involved people for whom Todd was spiritually responsible (interns, staff, team members, individuals he was ministering to), making these violations all the more serious.
I applaud this group of leaders for attempting to do something to stop and hold accountable someone who is abusing his spiritual authority in sinful ways per these allegations.
Sadly, I doubt it will do much. These sort of leaders are not under a denominational structure that can hold them accountable in real ways. The best they can do is something like this statement making the situation known to others in their networks.
This is love, tough love, for Bentley. Hopefully, this difficult step will be a first step towards real repentance for Bentley… but I am not holding my breath on that considering his track record of persisting in this behavior allegedly for over a decade.
Also, these leaders are expressing love for his alleged victims. These leaders have taken a clear stance that they condemn this behavior as both ungodly and incompatible with someone in Christian ministry leadership. That is laudable and more than some Christian leaders would be willing to do.
I do not take joy in the fall of any Christian leader.
That said, I am gratified to read about Christian leaders in the charismatic world addressing pervasive and disqualifying sin as alleged in one of their own. It is nice to read a story where Christian leaders are taking adultery and other such sins seriously. Plus, it is good that they acknowledge how heinous abuse of pastoral authority is in this statement as well.
