Reading Time: 9 minutes One thing you can absolutely count on with evangelical leaders: their insular Good Ole Boys network certainly protects its own. I’m sure Todd Bentley is most appreciative of the help it’s given him over the years. Today, let’s see how Todd Bentley’s pals helped him back onto the gravy train — again, and why Bentley might be beyond their help this time around the tracks.
Toronto Blessing
Posted inReligion
American Gospel: Christ Alone (Red-Hot Mega-Review!)
Reading Time: 18 minutes Yesterday, we watched American Gospel: Christ Alone. In this 2018 documentary, Christians bicker and argue about exactly what ‘the gospel’ even means. The documentary makers decide ultimately that it means not prosperity gospel. Today, let me show you this documentary — and we’ll see how well they make their case.
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Here’s Why Rodney Howard-Browne Felt Obligated To Defy Virus Isolation Orders
Reading Time: 9 minutes Hi and welcome back! Recently, megachurch pastor Rodney Howard-Browne got himself in legal trouble for violating Covid-19 stay-at-home orders from his county. Readers of Roll to Disbelieve will easily remember this name because he was a very big figure in our recent look at the Toronto Blessing. Not coincidentally, he’s also a Grade-A wingnut. Today, let […]
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Kenneth Copeland: Why Grifters Gotta Grift (Chat Post #5)
Reading Time: 6 minutes Kenneth Copeland has been making waves with his newest money-making scheme. His involvement in the grifty end of Christianity ain’t new, though. As we’ll see, his name pops up all through modern fundagelicalism. He couldn’t exist without the flaws running through the underpinnings of his tribe — but he also helped create those flaws. Today, let’s look at Kenneth Copeland and his grifting griftery.
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The Lasting Legacy of the Toronto Blessing
Reading Time: 9 minutes Though it began in 1994 and ended quite some time ago, the Toronto Blessing left a lasting impression on today’s evangelicals. Today, let me show you what evangelicals miss about this movement–and what they ache to recreate.
Posted inReligion
Reconciling Christian Experiences With Deconversion
Reading Time: 7 minutes When people realize that Christianity’s claims aren’t true, often they reassess a lot of their former experiences in the religion. And in many cases, they must. What onetime Christians once considered real live miracles while we believed those claims turn out to be simple exaggerations or misunderstandings–or worse, outright lies or even attempts to con us out of our time and money.
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Power and Control: A Fitting Epilogue to the Toronto Blessing
Reading Time: 12 minutes For a while now, we’ve been talking about the Toronto Blessing (TTB). That’s a huge evangelical movement that broke out in Toronto in 1994, then spread to most of the evangelical Christian world. As our community here discussed it and engaged with it as a topic, some very familiar themes rose to our attention: power, control, and authoritarianism on both sides of the leadership divide. Today, I’ll show you the conversation I had with an ex-Christian who was very much a part of this movement as it happened–and what we both realized as we talked about it.
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The Toronto Blessing: A Leek’s-Eye View of the UK Takeover
Reading Time: 15 minutes Hello and welcome back to our conclusion to the Toronto Blessing series! Today, we enjoy a rare guest: LeekSoup, who hails from the United Kingdom (UK) and very graciously allowed me to pick his brain over the holidays. As a young leek, he experienced the Toronto Blessing (TTB) firsthand as it took over the evangelical […]
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How The Toronto Blessing Invaded the United Kingdom
Reading Time: 10 minutes Hello and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about the Toronto Blessing (TTB). This was a huge evangelical movement that broke out in Toronto in 1994. Very quickly, this movement skipped to other churches–yes, very much like an infectious disease–and even to other countries. It reached one other country surprisingly quickly. Today, let’s look at […]
Posted inReligion
The Christian Slapfight Over the Toronto Blessing Reveals a Dealbreaker Problem
Reading Time: 10 minutes This whole thing happened decades ago, but they’re still not ready to make nice–even at the cost of their entire religion’s credibility. Today, let me show you what they argued about, and why these huge doctrinal fights should matter to them–but never do.