Todd Bentley and Contemplative Meditation

by Wolf Tracks (by a sheep who weeps) 

LTRP Note: Many people have been inquiring about Todd Bentley and the “revival” that is taking place in Florida right now. The following information will show Bentley’s spiritual resonance with a man named Sundar Singh (1829-1929). At one point in Bentley’s ministry, he had a vision of Sundar Singh – this vision greatly influenced Bentley. According to a biographer of Sundar Singh, Singh spent much of his Christian life in deep trance-like states communicating with spiritual beings:

We know he had long hours of meditation … Also he had days of silence…. One day … he was in the woods praying…. Suddenly his spiritual eyes were opened and he saw the glories of the spirit world. After that he had visions from time to time. Later on the visions came as often as ten or twelve times a month and he then had long talks with the beings of that world. 1

Todd Bentley and Contemplative Meditation

by Wolf Tracks (from a sheep who weeps)

Why would God give his children a vision of a contemplative who combined the East and West in his meditative disciplines? Is this where Todd Bentley’s ideas about visions, spirituality, and ‘soaking’ prayer are coming from?

Has anyone ever heard of Todd Bentley’s strange vision? You can read about it here:

THE GLORY CLOUD OF REVELATION & PROPHETIC MANTLES – PART 2: CONCLUSION BY TODD BENTLEY, FRESH FIRE MINISTRIES 1

This is what he saw:
“…in a vision, the Glory Cloud of Revelation descending upon the church. It was also during this time of prayer that God took me in a vision to what I believed to be the Himalayan Mountains. I saw an Indian man with a turban on his head and heard the whisper of the Spirit say, “This is Sundar Singh. I am releasing anointing of revelation like this.” I had no communication with this old saint, nor did he say anything to me. The experience lasted only a moment….”

And this is the revelation he learned from the man with a turban:

THE CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITION (LECTIO DIVINA)

Sundar Singh spent at least two hours daily in reading the Scriptures, meditation and prayer. He would arise at 5:00 am and finish by 7:00 or 8:00 depending on what his schedule was for the day. He often spent the whole day or night in prayer. His discipline was to read one chapter of the Bible, rapidly at first reading, then to return to reread passages or verses that were more suggestive to him. These he would linger with and meditate on for as long as it was fruitful for him to do so. Next, he would enter into a period of “recollection” for twenty minutes or so. This was a time of silence, in which he would allow the Lord to speak to him in some way. With his own mind and heart quieted, he opened his mind and his heart to hear what the Lord would have to say to him or just simply enjoy companionship with his Lord. Often this period of silence would extend into a deeper state called “contemplation” in which he enjoyed complete rest and refreshment in the love of God.

Often during times of contemplation, he entered into experiences of ecstasy. Click here to read this entire report.

Related Information:

Following the Tracks – from Abbotsford to Lakeland – Part 1

Following the tracks – from Abbotsford (BC) to Lakeland and Around the World – Part 2

Sundar Singh’s Universalist Beliefs:

However bad and evil-living a man may be, there is in man’s nature a divine spark … this spark of the divine is never extinguished … If this divine spark or element cannot be destroyed, then we can never be hopeless for any sinner… The Creator Himself will not destroy it (man’s soul)… even though many wander and go astray in the end, they will return to Him in Whose image they have been created; for this is their final destination. (from his book, Meditations on Various Aspects of the Spiritual Life in the chapter “Finally All Men Will Return to God)

To understand the Word-Faith movement, the Latter Rain movement, the Apostles/Prophets movement, etc., read Kevin Reeves biography, The Other Side of the River.