#207. The idea of kicking old ladies in the face for God. What?!?

For a few weeks, I've wanted to do a post on faith healing. It's an interesting topic but to tell you the truth, I don't have a whole lot of experience with it. The pastor of my church, Andy Stanley, rarely takes his coat off and hits someone in the face with it to heal them. My dad, another minister, never healed anyone either. So in many ways, I don't feel qualified to write about faith healing. I don't understand it. I don't have a firm grasp of what the Bible says about it. I don't feel "called" to write about it. But, I feel perfectly capable of writing about interesting things we Christians do. And on the radio this morning, I was given the perfect chance to write about faith healing by a guy named Todd Bentley.

Todd is doing a revival right now in Florida. But this is not about revivals or faith healing. Todd has a bunch of tattoos and seems to have lived a hard life prior to becoming a minister. But this is not about redemption. Todd, much like the burning bush or the donkey, might be simply a creative, outrageous vehicle God is using to spread His word. But this is not about creativity.

This, is about kicking old ladies in the face.

I know, I know, just what you need, another post about kicking old ladies in the face for God. But I couldn't resist. When I heard a secular radio station playing Bentley clips today it felt like a present had landed in my lap. How so? Well here is what Bentley recently said about a church service he was leading:

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.

So I asked God, “What was that all about?” The answer was: obedience.

Here is what I think about that quote, even if the old lady was never actually kicked in the face:

1. Can you imagine if your current minister had that same thought? What if you were at LifeChurch and it was kind of a quiet Sunday and Craig Groeschel just kicked some old lady in the face?

2. If you went to Todd Bentley's church, wouldn't you sit in the back row?

3. If were went to church and the minister kicked your grandmother in the face, wouldn't you fight that minister?

4. You know how certain songs or sermon topics will become trendy and sweep the nation in lots of churches? What if face kicking was the new trend?

5. Don't you wish that old lady read this blog and could post a response? What would that look like? "I was just at church worshipping when all the sudden the minister kicked me right in the face. When he tells the story he says I fell under the word of God when his boot hit me. Another way to say that is 'he knocked me out cold.'"

I really hope people don't interpret this as me picking on faith healing or a particular minister. I don't know Todd, have only listened to a few sound bites of him speaking and in am in no way attempting to call his ministry names. I hope no one emails me and says, "God told Abraham to kill his son, is that less crazy than kicking an old lady in the face?" The truth is, I would make fun of Andy Stanley, Donald Miller or anyone else on the planet that kicked old ladies in the face for God. That is a silly story, but I can't help but give you one more Bentley story:

We had a meeting in a word-faith church; not much was happening. Everyone was wearing a suit and the appearance was ‘real proper.’ I looked around thinking: God, you promised me revival. Immediately I heard God say: “‘Leg-drop’ the pastor.” That’s what He said to me! Meanwhile the pastor was lying on the ground. Then the Lord told me to leap off the platform and just jump in the air and leg-drop him. God, you’ve got to be kidding, I thought. He said, “No! Make it real. I want this to be a real leg-drop.” him. God, you’ve got to be kidding, I thought. He said, “No! Make it real. I want this to be a real leg-drop.”

Update: 5/25/08

This one generated some interesting commentary. I didn't write it to serve as a discourse on how I feel about faith healing or Todd Bentley. I didn't write it to, as one reader put it, possibly "create division within the body of Christ." Not at all. In fact, I edited out two things that I felt went too far. I took out the word "crazy" and another section that I felt was uncalled for. I took them out because I don't know Todd. I've only seen him do things on video clips which is a poor, small example of who a person is. I should have been clearer in explaining that I am by no means trying to say, "God can only act in ways I understand." God is bigger and wilder than my little head can understand. I do however stand by the idea that leg dropping another minister and feeling that God is calling you to kick an old lady in the face is a subject worth exploring on this blog. I do not stand by what might have come off as an attack on a minister I don't really have any experience with. I am going to make loads of mistakes. I do not feel putting this post on the site was one, but I do think some of my word choices were.