Evangelical Preacher Accused of Offering Male Intern $1,000 for Sex

A prominent evangelical preacher is facing allegations of sexual misconduct, and his response has only added to the strangeness.

The allegations target prominent speaker Todd Bentley, and originate with a former colleague who has accused Bentley of various sexual misdeeds. In a rambling Facebook post, Stephen Powell alleges that Bentley's "perverse sexual addiction" led him to make "sexual advances" toward interns both male and female, in addition to having sex outside of his marriage.

Powell formerly worked at Fresh Fire USA, a ministry founded by Bentley in South Carolina. The accuserl claims to have gathered evidence to back up his claims, including testimony from a male intern who says Bentley offered him $1,000 for oral sex. Another intern claims that he was offered $500 for a masturbation video. Powell also says he has evidence that Bentley made out with a female assistant and smoked pot before offering another intern sex.

Powell offers a few allegations of more harmless behavior that would still be seen as damning in the evangelical community -- that Bentley and his wife are swingers, that he curses, and that he watches porn. Powell suggested that Bentley was being used by a "demonic entity."

What's more, Powell says, he sent his evidence to other religious leaders who dismissed it. One such leader, Rick Joyner, said that Powell was the one suffering under an affliction, that of "witchcraft."

So far, Powell has offered no evidence that he is not a witch.

For his part, Bentley responded with a rambling video of his own, asking accusers to come forward and identify themselves. Tripping over some words, he added, "I do have the things in my past I gotta say ... whether they are six months, a year, two years, five, six, seven. Many of the things that I've addressed and continue to address in my life to be clean."

Among the specific refutations Bentley offered is that he is not, he says, homosexual. "I am not guilty of the things that I'm being accused of as far as those homosexual acts," Bentley says in his video. "Things that are taken out of context in inappropriate text messages or conversations that I had that were not right that I've had to own, that go back to 2013."

Bentley also said that he did not have any affairs or commit adultery.

In addition to being a convicted sex offender, Todd Bentley is notorious for bizarre claims; in the past, he's said that he caused a boy to levitate, and made a woman spontaneously re-grow a breast though means he does not specify. Bentley also claims to have brought dozens of people back from the dead, and has spoken about the healing power of kicking women in the face.