The following article was published August 21 by Dutch Sheets on his personal website:
It has now been a couple of weeks since I heard about Todd Bentley’s
plans for separation and divorce. Like everyone, I have had a variety
of emotions including anger, sadness, and grief. Every time I see this scenario repeated, I grieve: for the husband and
wife involved; for the family that will be scarred in so many ways;
because of the incredible reproach it brings to Christ; and the
distortion it gives concerning God’s heart and ways. I am praying for
Todd and his family.
I was asked numerous times to write my position on Lakeland while it
was happening, but always felt checked by the Lord—the waters were too
muddy and emotions too high. I now feel strongly that the Lord wants me
to do so. It will be arguably one of the greatest risks of my ministry
to date, but one I feel must be taken. Fathers, when given the voice to do so, bear the responsibility of
giving correction and wisdom. I hope mine qualifies for the latter. I
assure you I have spent many hours praying and thinking through the
situation. The risks are broad: with some of my dearest friends and
co-laborers, I risk harming those relationships; with many in the
charismatic body of Christ, I risk appearing to be an arrogant,
“self-appointed” spokesperson for them; to the “I told you so” crowd, I
risk the accusation of “spinning” the situation. (As far as the heresy
hunters and revival police—not those who raised legitimate questions
about Lakeland, but the attack dogs who make their living and build
their ministries criticizing everyone else—I lost respect for them long
ago and couldn’t care less what they think.)
My purpose and sincere prayer in writing this statement, however, is
three-fold: to see healing begin for the body of Christ; to initiate a
process that can remove the reproach brought to Christ and the Church;
and to do these things while preserving and honoring my current
relationships. I pray that these desires, along with my heart, come
through loudly. And I hope I’m writing this with true humility— who
among us clearly sees all hidden in our own hearts? Let me also preface
this statement by saying that what needs to be said cannot be done
quickly or carelessly. I do not want my heart to be missed and am not
willing to run that risk for the sake of brevity, so please bear with
the length. (Incidentally, I think it will be obvious no one involved
in the Lakeland situation has asked me to write this; and for the sake
of integrity on my part, none have been consulted concerning what I’m
stating.)
Mistakes at Lakeland
Did leaders handling the Lakeland situation make mistakes? Yes—
huge mistakes. Beyond the obvious fruit of salvations and healings, can
good come from Lakeland, as some have suggested, even with the recent
revelations concerning Todd Bentley? Yes, but only if there is complete
honesty and transparency, the removal of all attempts at
self-preservation, and absolute humility from all sides.
Did I endorse the Lakeland meetings? No, I did not, nor did I
condemn them. I acknowledged that healings were occurring and some were
being saved, which I still believe and rejoice over. I realized and
stated that the thousands of people attending were hungry and sincere,
as were those involved in leading the 2 meetings. The worship was
regularly good. But looking past some of the immediate and positive
results, I, like many, also looked ahead to the possible fruit from
questionable doctrine and experiences, exaggeration and hype, youthful
pride, character issues and the frightening potential of a 32 year
“young” man leading a movement that could shape the future of the
Church.
These things were frightening, very frightening, to others and me.
When something has the potential of setting precedent, birthing a
movement and being reproduced as a prototype, we are no longer simply
endorsing good brothers, good intentions and miracles.
Doctrine and foundations will be built on these events. Teachings and
paradigms for future ministries will be formed—in short, the next
generation of the church and the move of God in the earth could be
greatly impacted. This is why I stopped short of endorsing everything
at Lakeland. Just as importantly, I could not ignore the “check”, the
uneasiness, the sickening feeling deep in my spirit telling me
something else was wrong—terribly wrong—in this situation. Like other
leaders I tried to push past my uneasiness with the showmanship, the
“bams,” the head butts and kneeing, along with certain experiences and
doctrines, all in order to embrace the good. Like many of my friends I
tried to be—and believe I was—gracious, accepting, ready to think “out
of the box”, etc. But try as I may, the uneasiness in my spirit just
wouldn’t leave.
Did I voice my concerns to the appropriate people? Yes, including
stating my concerns for Todd’s marriage to the Lakeland Outpouring
Apostolic Team. Did they listen? Some did, some didn’t. But I want to
state emphatically, this is not an “I told you so” statement. In fact,
much of what I want to address goes back several years into our
charismatic Christian history. And I assure you that concerning our
present weaknesses in the charismatic church, there is plenty of blame
to go around. Personally, I’ve been right at times with my discernment
and decisions, wrong at others. It would be worse than hypocritical for
me to point the finger of accusation—I have no stones of judgment to
throw.
Nonetheless, mistakes were made and must be acknowledged and learned from in order for us to heal, grow and move forward.
Some of my closest friends endorsed and participated in the
Lakeland meetings. For them I have both criticism—all of us lose
credibility at this point if we’re not completely honest—and
affirmation. Should they have been more discerning and have listened to
the warnings they received? Obviously. Should those who “aligned” Todd
with spiritual fathers (which was a good thing and positioned him to
receive help if he chooses to accept it) have realized to do so
publicly was a mistake and could be interpreted by those watching in no
other way than as a complete endorsement? Yes, they should have,
especially when the event became a commissioning ceremony, complete
with decrees and prophecies of going to higher levels, predictions of
Todd’s increasing world-wide influence and leading a world-wide
revival, emphatic and prolific endorsements of his character, etc. How
could those watching believe the evening was anything but an aligning,
endorsing and commissioning ceremony? It was. It really doesn’t matter
who laid their hands on Todd—all share responsibility. This was unwise
at best, naïve at least and at its worst, foolish. And should the
leaders involved have realized that those of us connected to them
relationally, ministerially, and as movements—some even in alignment
with them apostolically and as sons and daughters—would feel
minimalized, if not betrayed, by the fact that they were in essence
taking us onto the stage with them? Yes. These feelings were
inevitable, especially when we had such uneasiness and asked them not
to. Should there be an acknowledgment of these mistakes to the body of
Christ for the sake of accountability and in order to rebuild trust? I
believe so, and remain hopeful this will happen.
With such strong statements of disagreement, what is the affirmation
toward my friends who led, participated in or endorsed this ceremony
(and the meetings in general)? Simply stated, I know their hearts. It
is not a contradiction of my criticisms toward some of their actions
to, at the same time, defend and endorse their hearts and character. It
is completely appropriate — when true—to defend a person’s heart and
integrity while disagreeing with their actions.
I think the blunder of that night was huge and very damaging to the
body of Christ, but I also realize that in their hearts, those involved
honestly felt they were doing the right things. Again, while not
defending the action taken, I would defend the character and integrity
of Peter and Doris Wagner as vigorously as anyone I know, and do so
with absolute confidence. There are no two people, and I mean that
literally, who embody the qualities of humility, integrity, holiness
(no compromise!), sacrifice, unselfish kingdom-thinking, the tireless
giving of themselves to Christ’s cause and the body of Christ—and do I
need to add risk-taking?— as much as Peter and Doris Wagner. It remains
my great honor to be associated with them and call them a spiritual
father and mother. And again, while not minimizing or “sweeping under
the rug” any wrong decisions, I remain steadfast in my belief that
similar affirmations could be made of others involved—either directly
or indirectly—in the ceremony. And some of them still see their
endorsing of Lakeland as an endorsement of revival generally, not of
Todd personally.
The Bigger Picture
It may come as a surprise, however, that my real purpose in writing
this is not to only state the above, as important as I believe saying
it is.
My primary purpose, and I believe my assignment from the Lord,
is to identificationally repent on behalf of the leadership of the
charismatic body of Christ (see Nehemiah 1:4-7; Daniel 9:1-19). In
doing so, I do not have a pompous, “no one else will, so I’ll do it”
attitude, nor am I arrogant enough to think I have become the
spokesperson for the charismatic church.
But in the same way that I can
identify with the racism of white predecessors and repent to blacks,
Native Americans and other races, I can represent the leadership of the
charismatic body of Christ and identificationally repent for our sins
and weaknesses. I encourage leaders who find my statements true and
appropriate to join me.
Beyond the simple fact of it being appropriate, I firmly believe it is
the only way to begin the process of rebuilding trust with those asked
to follow us and to remove the cynicism of the world we ask to listen
to us. As you know, regaining credibility is much more difficult than
attaining credibility. Concerning what I’m about to say, I don’t
believe I have a critical spirit, nor do I want to diminish the
sacrifices, faithfulness, and hard work done by so many in ministry.
The fact remains, however, that we have failed the Lord and His people
in many ways—not just with Lakeland but in countless other
situations—and must repent if we are to be trusted in the future. And
as you also know, no repentance is effective if watered down and
couched in excuses, therefore, I intend to be brutally honest:
1) We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in
an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try
to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma,
the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work
a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and
His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment
of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or
spiritual maturity.) We leaders in the Church have become no different
than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and
greatness. This has contributed to the body of Christ giving millions
of dollars to undeserving individuals; it has allowed people living in
sin to become influential leaders—even to lead movements, allowing them
influence all the way to the White House. Through our lack of
discernment we built their stages and gave them their platforms.
We have been gullible beyond words—gullible leaders producing gullible
sheep. When a spiritual leader we’re connected with violates trust, is
exposed for immorality or falls below other accepted standards of
behavior, it does not exonerate us simply to say we don’t condone such
behavior. Those we lead trust us to let them know whom to trust. We
have failed them miserably in this regard. For this lack of
discernment, and for employing and passing on inappropriate standards
of judgment, I repent to the Lord and ask forgiveness of the body of
Christ.
2) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, spin our involvement
and fail to acknowledge our responsibility when other leaders fall— all
of which stems from our self-preservation and pride. Enough of the
spin—we’re no different than Washington, DC . Every time another
embarrassing and disgraceful situation is exposed, the dancing begins.
It seems that no one bears any real responsibility except the man or
woman who actually commits sin. Incredibly, we even blame “revival”
itself—the pressures, attacks, weariness, the “revival is messy”
argument, etc., saying it is responsible for the failures. This is
disgusting. Those of us on boards of fallen leaders, those who helped
give them a voice, put them on TV, published and endorsed their books
(yes, I have), etc., are not exonerated simply by saying we don’t
condone the wrong behavior or that we didn’t know. We’re supposed to
know. I don’t believe anyone is expecting perfection from us—I know I’m
not. We’re far too human for that. But we are expected to have enough
humility to look the world and those who follow us in the eye when we
miss it and say, “we were wrong and we are sorry.” Our careless
accountability has caused the body of Christ to be spiritually raped
and abused. It has produced disillusionment and brought immeasurable
reproach to our God and cynicism to His message.
Concerning Lakeland, what was called the “greatest revival since Azusa
Street ” has become possibly one of the greatest reproaches. We, the
leaders of the charismatic church, are responsible. For not accepting
and acknowledging our responsibility, for caring more about our own
reputation than Christ’s, I repent to God and ask forgiveness of the
body of Christ.
3) Our procedures and standards of accountability are incredibly
inadequate. We have provided camaraderie, not biblical accountability.
For those on Todd Bentley’s board who had previous knowledge of his
marriage problems and said nothing, it was more than a mistake—it was
reckless, foolish, and irresponsible. For those on the stage the night
of his aligning and commissioning who knew and said nothing—ditto. For
those there who didn’t know, my question is, “why didn’t you?” You were
trusted to know. That is one of the purposes of public commissioning
and the purpose behind the concept of endorsement. I’m not trying to
point the finger; I’m endeavoring to get us to be honest about our
failures—we have serious credibility issues. Have I ever laid hands on,
commissioned or endorsed anyone without adequately checking them out?
Yes, but you better believe I’ll be more careful next time! And we must
not single out Lakeland. We’re all guilty. What about the leader in my
city who ran with some of the leading spiritual fathers in our nation—
sincere and good men, I might add, and not all “charismatic”
leaders—who sang his praises and helped build his stage—all while he
was doing drugs and having sex with other men? But we shouldn’t blame
only the high profile cases—what about those of us who unknowingly have
had adulterers on our staffs or appointed elders that turned out to
have compromise in their life? Sounding familiar yet? This is so
epidemic that every member of the body of Christ stands guilty—what
pastor or leader did you follow that turned out to have sin issues?
What ministry did you support that was unworthy? There is plenty of
blame to go around. The big question becomes not “who do we blame” but
“how do we fix this mess?” Leaders can live in sin—adultery,
homosexuality, financial wrongdoing, drugs, etc.—for years without it
being realized. They can offer completely unacceptable lifestyles for
the body of Christ to follow and still keep their TV programs and
lavish lifestyles. In the name of grace, compassion and forgiveness we
have lowered the standard so much that often there isn’t one. We have
bought into the lie that true discipline is “shooting our wounded.” We
have made a mockery of biblical restoration, making “ministry”—not
healthy individuals, marriages and families—its ultimate goal. The fact
is, integrity matters. No, we don’t need legalistic, pharisaical
standards, but we must have standards. For this lack of biblical
accountability, I repent to God and I ask forgiveness of the body of
Christ.
4) We, the leaders of the charismatic church, have built on hype,
sensation, innovation, programs, personality and charisma. This has
produced: shallowness; false movements; novice leaders— gifted but
immature and untested; a deficient understanding of God’s word; the
building of man-centered rather than kingdom- centered churches and
ministries; competition rather than cooperation; humanistic,
self-centered Christians who don’t understand sacrifice and commitment;
Christians without discernment; superstar leaders; a perverted and
powerless gospel; prayerless and anemic Christians; a replacement of
the fear of the Lord with the fear of man; and a young generation that
is cynical of it all. We are responsible, not the devil; he takes what
we give him. For this compromise in the way we build, for giving the
Church watered down wine, commercial Christianity, a flashy but weak
Church and hype disguised as anointing, I repent to God and ask
forgiveness of the body of Christ. Galatians 6:1-5 is an appropriate
reference with which to end this statement: “Brethren, even if a man
caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a
spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be
tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of
Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he
deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he
will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in
regard to another.
For each one shall bear his own load.” NAS
My passionate prayer is that God honors this repentance — I believe He
led me to do it and therefore, will—and uses it to begin a process of
cleansing and healing for all of us. In order for the coming great
awakening to bear maximum fruit we must have both, as well as a course
correction that sets us on a path of wisdom leading to life. There is
no doubt that past moves of God have been aborted, ended prematurely
and contained error or heresy that have wounded, if not destroyed,
many. The healing revival of the 40’s and 50’s, the charismatic
movement, discipleship movement and Jesus movement are all examples. My
heart is to help shape a movement, the fruit of which will last for
decades — better yet, forever. And I have great expectations for us—I
am not a cynic.
My passionate prayer is also that Todd Bentley’s marriage survives
and thrives…that he turns his heart fully toward Christ and toward
those with whom he is aligned, and allows them, as God leads, to put
him on a path of complete restoration. I thank God for those who were
touched by the Holy Spirit at Lakeland and while watching it on God TV
and the web. May we all move forward into all God has planned for us in
this awesome season of endless possibility.
With great hope—Dutch Sheets.
~SOURCE: http://www.dutchsheets.org/index.cfm
Posted on Tue, August 26, 2008
by Dutch Sheets