Ok so with the whole Todd Bentley thing that we have been looking into - and because of his charismatic nature - Toronto has reared its head in conversation... and along with that "spiritual experience".
Now before Todd appeared I think Yah had been challenging me on the whole spiritual experience, finding out what was real and what was fake, so on and so forth... as a Christian I was always told to be careful around things like that, my parents were quite against the whole Toronto thing really, although they did kind of put it down to the fact that "the Lord can do what he wants". They would never outwardly condemn it, possibly for fear of offending the Holy Spirit.
Ok so - confession - I loved it, and I loved hearing about it. It stirred me inside with excitement to hear of the things that "God" was doing over the pond, and I would have loved to have gone over to see and experience for myself. I was quite a charismatic person myself in that I would enjoy the feeling and emotions gained from attending big events with rooms full of loud hip Christian music and self-like believers. I was a true happy clappy.
recently its something Yah has been challenging me on, and then Todd Bentley pops up... and so I was just rambling on to Yah about how can we quantify the fact that people CAN have self made religious and spiritual experiences, due to hype and other such factors....
Well, suddenly - out of the blue - I remembered a guy called Derren Brown. Now Derren Brown is a UK TV act, he basically does mind tricks - now he claims he does not believe in any kind of spiritual thing or magic to help him accomplish what he does and that its all down to the power of suggestion. In my personally view, there surely must be something deeper going on - this guy is insanely good at what he does...
SO why am I on about Mr Brown.... Well a while ago - maybe over a year now I can’t remember, I did not watch it because I think I was scared of being challenged although I put it down to him just stirring up stuff being an atheist of something. I don’t think I wanted to see my experiences cheapened... He made a TV show where he was going to try and get an endorsement from 5 leading people in their field of expertise in the USA. These were...
Psychic readings.
Christianity evangelist - he can convert people with a touch.
Medium - in tune with the dead.
Crystals and new age dude - he claimed he could catch dreams in a crystal machine and read them in his own mind.
Alien abductee that could now tell people things about themselves.
Although the video title suggests, he doesn’t believe he is the Messiah, or anyone particularly special (or so he claims). You can find the series of videos here in 8 parts. If you want to see the Christianity bits it spans 3-4, but I would suggest watching it all:
Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 1-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 2-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 3-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 4-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 5-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 6-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 7-8Derren Brown - The so called Messiah 8-8