I looked into this because some people were saying it is a hoax or spliced video.
So here are some quotes from Fresh Fire Ministries website - Todd Bentley’s organisation:
I’ve been led to do some crazy looking things in the gift of faith that took real boldness. One time I was in a meeting that was just dead. So I asked God how He wanted to bring a breakthrough. He showed me an older lady right in front of the platform worshipping Jesus and the Lord said to kick her in the face! Unconvinced, I felt to tell the Lord what He already knew: “I have these big biker boots on. You want me to kick this woman in the face?” Clearly I heard God say, “Yes.” So, with no one knowing what was about to happen, I went up to the edge of the platform and BAM my boot went right out at the exact moment that she fell under the power of God. In fact the power of God caused everyone on the platform to get knocked down. There were miracles that followed.
In those same meetings a man came forward for prayer who was missing one of his lungs. The Lord told me to drill him as hard as I could into the lungs! I did, and his lung grew back. (I have the doctor’s report and the x ray.)
Another time we were in a meeting in Africa. I was standing in faith exerting my authority, feeling led to pray only for those who were crippled. But after praying for about two hours and not seeing one crippled person healed, I was thinking, God, I need a breakthrough, nothing is happening! That’s when God said: “That’s because you didn’t take that young girl’s crippled legs and bang them up and down on the platform like baseball bats!” So I said, “What!?” Then He told me to go over to a certain young crippled girl who was paralyzed from the waist down. “Grab her legs and start hammering them up and down on the platform like baseball bats.”
The man is clearly dangerous and violence, deluded or both.
Joe–where are you having trouble embedding in wordpress? Maybe I could help.
Nancy–Isn’t it more a … laugh of discomfort, than of funninenss?
I’m thinking people in that sort of meeting aren’t likely to report an assault. They’re in a sort of … group hypnosis thing. I mean to say just showing up at these meetings implies having already convinced yourself at some level that it’s real, and something is likely to happen to you. You would have to have a certain relatively high level of hypnotic susceptibility, which (maybe) implies a certain willingness and ability to ignore certain things.
I don’t think it’s a spoof. This guy does this stuff for a living. See for instance here
I watched it again and don’t get the sense that the laughter stems from discomfort. Maybe the hypnotic susceptibility you mentioned plays a part. But if this is what he is about, then I would think that a good majority of those present would be expecting to hear these types of comments.
People laugh at worse things than a guy standing up there saying the devil, ahem, God made him do it. If you’ve spent any significant amount of time around groups of teenage boys, this should be pretty clear.
God said to Abraham, kill me a son.
(I assume in those days, child sacrifice was the norm, however.)
If God had told him to kick himself in the face as hard as he could, I could maybe accept it a little easier.
Comment by: joe
1Darn, I wish I knew how to embed videos in wordpress.
My wife thought it was a humorous spoof.
Comment by: joe
2I looked into this because some people were saying it is a hoax or spliced video.
So here are some quotes from Fresh Fire Ministries website - Todd Bentley’s organisation:
The man is clearly dangerous and violence, deluded or both.
Comment by: Nancy
3I don’t know what was most disturbing, his comments or the laughter of those who were listening.
Comment by: Jason Horton
4So, if he assaulted someone and they called the police it’d be OK because….why?
It would be a great spoof. I hope it’s a spoof.
Comment by: benjamin
5Joe–where are you having trouble embedding in wordpress? Maybe I could help.
Nancy–Isn’t it more a … laugh of discomfort, than of funninenss?
I’m thinking people in that sort of meeting aren’t likely to report an assault. They’re in a sort of … group hypnosis thing. I mean to say just showing up at these meetings implies having already convinced yourself at some level that it’s real, and something is likely to happen to you. You would have to have a certain relatively high level of hypnotic susceptibility, which (maybe) implies a certain willingness and ability to ignore certain things.
I don’t think it’s a spoof. This guy does this stuff for a living. See for instance here
Comment by: Nancy
6I watched it again and don’t get the sense that the laughter stems from discomfort. Maybe the hypnotic susceptibility you mentioned plays a part. But if this is what he is about, then I would think that a good majority of those present would be expecting to hear these types of comments.
Comment by: Hannah
7People laugh at worse things than a guy standing up there saying the devil, ahem, God made him do it. If you’ve spent any significant amount of time around groups of teenage boys, this should be pretty clear.
Comment by: martin gugino
8God said to Abraham, kill me a son.
(I assume in those days, child sacrifice was the norm, however.)
If God had told him to kick himself in the face as hard as he could, I could maybe accept it a little easier.