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Todd White's enthusiasm - a little truth and a lot of error
We have been receiving numerous questions on Todd White and giving out a general statement. At the same time I have been further researching his statements and practices. As with any article we take time looking at their interpretations of scripture, the practices and associations. White tells us he was an atheist for 34 years and a former addict for 22 years who became a believer in Christ over 12 years ago, (2004); God opened Todd’s eyes to the truth and that Holy Spirit wants to flow through every believer everywhere we go, at work, school, grocery stores, malls, gas stations, everywhere. Todd has Dreadlocks which may have an appeal to a certain segment of the youth, to others it has the opposite affect (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadlocks His ministry is called Lifestyle Christianity (which is apparently a reaction to a Sunday Christianity.) He has gained notoriety through Darren Wilson's videos (Finger of God). He has various videos of his testimony, teachings and practices are on youtube. What I like is that he is prompting people to get involved. What I don’t like are the general promises given to what will take place which is from bad interpretations. But this is not about my view but the Bibles. You must back up your practice and activity with doctrine that is correctly interpreted, not by touting experiences. One’s personality, likeable or unlikeable is always subject to their teachings. The main statement on his homepage: “Our mission statement of the gospel is to become love so that wherever we go, people want what we have!” First thing I noticed: he has NO statement of faith. That’s ALWAYS a concern. But one can basically hear AND see what he believes by what he teaches on the videos and it is not all good. As far as becoming love, no one looked at Jesus wanting what He had? Jesus said “By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another” (John 13:35). In other words how we treat each other shows who we follow and that we are one. It is NOT to make them want what we have. What a true Christian has is within, Christ. And to have Christ Jesus one must admit their sinfulness and receive him, believe in what He did for them, his crucifixion and resurrection as the solution. It appears Todd’s sincerity and zeal is genuine, however this cannot be more important than ones doctrine. Our practice comes from the teaching we hold. It did not take me long watching his videos to see certain common denominators. This man does not seem to have a grounding in certain Scriptures and from what I have seen is being co-opted by false teachers. You can’t have God as your focus without knowing the TRUTH found in your Bible. It's about what God has said, not what you experience. Since White associates with experiential Latter Rain Charismatics, he is learning from them. So its just like going to school. Love without being coupled with the truth is not true love exhibited or expressed. No one was saved by love! You can’t win someone to Christ without telling them the truth about their condition and the solution- the gospel. So its half a message, for it is Jesus crucified that saves. That is God's love in action. Half the things he says are right, and we can say amen too; but the other half… He says that he doesn't just read the Bible - he lives it! So let’s look at some of the main statements he is teaching others on this. In one video, “Lifestyle Christianity,” Todd tells the people: “I didn’t go to bible school, didn’t go to Bible college I just went to the Bible.” (This will be refuted as we see what he teaches he has learned from others) He says he lives his life by the Scripture: “you will hear so much scripture come out of my mouth. My life is laced with so much Scripture because I live it… my days are saturate in my growing in whom God says I am.” I don't read the Bible so I can teach you-never read your Bible so you can teach people!" (and if you’re a pastor or teacher what do you do?) You read the Word-you get in there and you say 'God, this is who you say I am, I need to become what this book says!" (Jesus we can do nothing without him, he didn't just gives us power to go on our own ) "God places this inside of me, so that I can become a living epistle, known and read by men." I think it’s more important to have a correct interpretation of Scripture, than bad applications which have you arrive at the wrong conclusions. Todd is taking 2 Corinthians 3:2 severing it from its context for the intention of esteeming the people to have power to do God’s work. 2 Cor. 3:1-3 “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” A living epistle" to Todd means that we are to "become Scripture," for people to see Jesus. Paul is not at all telling people to "become the Bible." Paul was saying that the believers in Corinth were all like letters of recommendation because of their spiritual maturity. He is referring to their spiritual growth that God had done by his ministry through the Spirit. (The early church wrote letters of that recommended a member who was traveling that would validate the maturity of them as a teacher 1 Cor.16:3) Scripture is God’s Holy Word, not us. Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
First of all, God did tell us to memorize scripture by example, “thy word I have hidden in my heart,” said the King of Israel (David). Jesus, the Son of David cited the correct Scripture against the devil in his temptation in the wilderness, how by memory. Since we are to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9), this too involves knowing scripture, the right scripture in its correct interpretation. In fact when the Jewish Scribes copied the word they memorized it. The average Jew in Israel memorized large portions of the Old Testament. Maybe Todd looked and did not find the word memorize in Scripture but the words remember and keep are, and the intent is all through it. Here a few examples. Deut. 29:9 "Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.” You can’t keep what you do not commit to memory. Num. 15:40 "and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. Acts 20:35 "… And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Or the national anthem of Israel called the Sh’ma to listen and do. Deut 6:4-9"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Thus they were surrounded by the word to keep it John 14:23-24 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and he goes on in v.24"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.” “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” I Jn. 2:5. “Keep” - Gr: tereo-to attend to carefully, to take care of a) to guard b) metaphorically, to keep, one in the state in which he is c) to observe d) to reserve: to undergo something.” To keep it does not mean we carry a Bible in our pocket and take it out when necessary. It means that it is memorized it becomes the way we live. There are just too many examples, like Jude, “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 17). So this claim to not memorize is wrong and to say you become Scripture is also wrong. This was something taught in the older Vineyard conferences under John Wimber and the prophets. “YOU become that Word,’ was part of the new Breed Latter rain teaching. Since one of his teachers he is associated with, Bill Johnson, is repeating the errors of the Vineyard, I presume he heard it from him, because it is not found in the Bible. 1 Chron. 10:13 Saul died for his unfaithfulness – “for he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.” Where it all began for Todd White
Within the first year and a half of his Christian walk he was directed by Jason Westerfeild to go to a conference with Bill Johnson and Randy Clark. He says it was called “Healing fusion,” but he first instead said it was “The Voice of Healing,” oops … that is what Gordon Lindsay's magazine was called. The Voice of Healing was about William Branham’s ministry, of whom Bill Johnson of Bethel church recommends. This slip up tells me a lot of what he is learning. So in this meeting Todd is in he describes himself as feeling very uncomfortable, sweating. Clark then points him out, as he is profusely antagonized with what most would consider palpitations and thinking he is having a heart attack and Clark says “you have been asking the lord for a baptism of fire haven’t you? And “boom” (his words) the Holy Spirit hits me and drops me between the seats and I’m screaming and think I’m gonna die…”its like I’m being electrocuted, it’s the scariest thing” “I’m sitting there shaking and Trembling.” Randy Clark says, “you won’t die - more Lord” (The fire of God will Cost you, its worth it -video). Todd thinks God answered the cry of his heart. And He wants other to have the same experience he had, that’s dangerous. Overwhelmed with bodily sensations of utter discomfort, feeling like they are physically dying is not of God. It does not matter if it is in Jesus' name. Now at this time I want to point out that what happened to Todd White is the same thing that happened to Todd Bentley at the 'Healing Explosion' conference with Bill Johnson. Todd Bentley: “I’m sitting there trying to listen to the speaker and all of a sudden I’m aware of like an electrical presence, an electrical, it was like electricity and it was like 2-3 feet in front of me” right in front of my chair, it was like a whirlwind actually, it was swirling, … So I put my hand out and heres what happened RRRRRR (I didn’t hear that noise that’s for you) “it was like putting my hand into an electrical force field.” And the same experience happened from the originator of this anointing, Rodney Browne from whom Randy Clark received it from. Browne said The anointing of God as wonderful as it is, is electricity and describes it “I was plugged into heaven's electric light supply and since then my desire has been to go and plug other people in.” “My whole body was on fire from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.” “The fire of God was coursing through my whole being and it didn't quit ....Because of that encounter with the Lord, my life was radically changed from that day on” (Rodney Howard Browne, The Touch of God, pp. 73-74.) Where in the Bible does the baptism of the Spirit (which they say is the baptism of the fire) do this? And they are still plugging people into this false anointing. This is the common experience from Kundalini “fire” power. The Bible says the anointing is a person, the Holy Spirit, who is God. And he is like Jesus, do you see any of this in Jesus’ ministry? Once again we have someone who insists he is not going to Bible school or college but going to all these meetings of Latter Rain adherents. Should we not expect that his spiritual openness was answered, he had no armor on. We find the same false spirits targeting them by spiritual experiences in these meetings, thus the same errors are repeated. Randy Clark had been to the Rodney Howard-Browne’s laughter meetings (1993) in Tulsa, Okla., at Kenneth Hagin, Jr.'s Rhema Bible Church (this is significant, as we see the same characters and concepts continually involved.) John Arnott invited Clark to come to Toronto Airport Church, (Jan. 20 1994) and that is when the Toronto blessing began (www.letusreason.org/Pent30.htm) Clark describes this fire they experienced being brought to Holy Trinity of Brompton. They were laughing so hard. One guy had his eyes on the floor for about two hours and could not walk (Randy Clark, Evidence Of This Present Move, Toronto Airport Vineyard, October 15, 1994). Clark “I don't want you to quench the Holy Spirit, I don't want you to stop laughing, just please dial the decibels down a little bit." (Randy Clark, Let The Fire Fall Conference, Anaheim Vineyard, July 1994) CBN writes “He has been blessed to receive impartation from Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, Roland and Heidi Baker and Benny Hinn. What a strange brew this is.
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