I got a question from an old friend Mike who in large part is responsible (guilty) for my living in Chicagoland today. I don't forget.
Thanks Mike.
He had a question of my take on the whole situation in Lakeland. I suspect many of my friends are confused by my take and the take of many of this event and "move of God".
Since I know that Barry and others wince when I wax eloquently about all this I think it's high time I put it all in perspective at least from my point of view and using all the discernment (which is not the same as critical spirit) and prophetic insight I can release.
Todd Bentley and the Lakeland revival is a precursor to what God wants to do. It is a breaker. It is breaking off, breaking in and breaking thru the religious infrastructure of the land. God never modifies he always recreates. When you were born again you were not modified, you became a new creation. Some people live like they are modified. That's not God's best. So for God to do what he wants to do he does it by a break out.
This has been true thru history. God breaks out, the church is rattled, skeptics rail, church police try to arrest the activity, denouncement takes place. But in the end God breaks out of the box the Church tried to put Him in.
It started with Luther:
MARTIN LUTHER SAID, "GOOD WORKS DO NOT BENEFIT THE SOUL; ONLY FAITH CAN DO THAT"
God can do whatever He wants, but will always honor the faith of His people. He is fascinated when He discovers a human being responding and living outside of their present limitations - limitations that are dictated by fear, sin, doubt, etc. He is searching for people like this because when He finds them, it gives Him an opportunity to MOVE; Move against or move for. IMAGINE THAT!
When God wanted to move against the religious system that had controlled the European people in the 16th century, He found a German monk by the name of Martin Luther, who had rebelled against the lies of the church of that time. The church had taught the people that it was only by their penance and good works that they would attain salvation. Martin Luther challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority, and that baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood.
He argued in his book, The Sermon on Good Works, "that good works do not benefit the soul; only faith can do that." His belief that salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state and being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
God found someone who was prepared to lay down his life for this truth, and due to this passion and faith, Martin Luther created an opportunity for God to free the people from the grip of religious control, making the Bible more accessible to ordinary people. At that time, the ordinary people could not read the Bible, as it was not in their language.
Due to this "opportunity" created by Luther, there was a furtherance of a standard version of the German language, an addition of several principles to the art of translation, and his act influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. Hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.
Imagine all of this happening because someone defied the control and limitations of that time, and believed that God would honor his courage and acts of faith and show up! He affected the future. Luther saw himself as returning Christianity to its roots. He believed that he was setting the clock back. In reality, his ideas irreparably changed the world and pushed it kicking and screaming, not into some ideal past, but into the modern future. God was fascinated once again. (from Kim Clement's most recent newsletter)
In other words he broke out of the box.
This has been true in my lifetime 4 times. I remember Oral Roberts in the 50's. I was only 8 or 9 but I remember it. We ridiculed it in the Lutheran Church, a practice I'm not sure I have been forgiven for yet. I repent of it -often. We called them Holy Rollers, they had a church on our block. We made fun of them. What blindness we exhibited.
After the healing revival quieted down and became part of the traditional, the church believed more in healing like it had not before. People didn't forget. God had broken out and changed the face of Christianity.
In the 70s the Jesus People Movement took place. I came from the end of that. It changed worship from Hymns to Choruses. Preaching changed from dry sermonizing to living Christianity practicality. Even the traditional churches were changed or they emptied out. IT was railed against by the same demons of religion. I remember the song, Jesus is Just alright with me, Spirit in the Sky. I wasn't saved but those silly songs spoke to me. Even Superstar stirred me. Pop. Stupid but it was getting the religion out of Christians. God broke out. Long haired hippy freaks for Jesus. The face of Christianity changed once again.
That quieted down and Christianity became an industry. Churches grew but not MEGA (yet). We belonged to a big church. NOT YET Mega. Then the crisis in the late 80's we all lived thru. Scandal in the Church. Ministries fell. Ministry got a bad name. Churches were shaken up. We all retreated for a while. God wasn't happy with what it had all become but wasn't satisfied leaving her in that shape. Rumblings were rumbling.
There was the prophecy of June 9, 1994. God was about to change everything and reveal his glory. That was spoken by a prophet no one remembers. It's only record is by a few heresy hunters who point to it as false prophesy. That's the link above. I didn't see it that way. Whatever prophetic discernment I had at that time was stirred up. I had met Rodney Howard Browne shortly after he came to the USA. That was right after the scandals in the Church. I knew something was up. I started anticipating what God was doing. The June 9th prophecy began to weigh on me. June 9th came and went without any discernable event. Yet a year later nothing was the same in the church. The Toronto Outpouring was in full flow and Pensacola Brownsville began. It caused havoc and offended almost everybody. Manifestations, music that no one had heard before, messiness, and worse messages from people without seminary degrees. It rattled the church. People lined up on both sides. As John Wimber has said, 'God will offend the mind to reveal the heart.'"
People went by the millions, it was transferable. Many took back to their churches what was happening. From that time till now the music and worship in most churches is reflective of what happened in Those two revival outpourings. God changed everything. Brand new.
I was at a wedding last weekend and we sang a song from Brownsville as one of the wedding songs. Turn on our very traditional WMBI Christian radio station and most of the songs they play even today come from people at that time. I had a worship leader say to me at that time that all songs coming out of that revival and the spirit of worship that is coming from that will change the face of the church. That these songs will be sung in worship in the Episcopal churches of America in 10 years. It's 10 years and it's all true. Oh sure, there are a few hangers on, but they will die off or die out soon. God changed everything and revealed his glory starting on June 9, 1994.
Brownsville is gone. Toronto is occasional. But the changes those two outpourings had still affects the church. The rise of the Mega Church embracing some of those elements is an outgrowth of all that. But that too is not God's best.
NOW, Todd Bentley goes to Ignited Church. Carl Straders Son Steve is Pastor. Carl Strader had tried to ride this wave but things had moved on. Even Rodney Howard Browne had said, "Where's mine Lord"? It seemed like the whole thing had past him by. Revival will divide and even destroy a church if it doesn't understand it all. Most don't understand and are destroyed. Look at Brownsville for a textbook case. Look at Strader One.
If you are in the Church Building business you don't want revival. It's divisive. If you are in the Kingdom Building business you hunger for it. That's where I am.
Todd goes to Ignited Church for one meeting. Things break out. It messes up his whole planned out life. I didn't know much about Bentley. I had read some things he had written, not books, pronouncements. I sensed the power of God in them. I had never seen him live except once or twice on God TV before. So my interest in him was no more or less than anyone else. In fact before the Lakeland events the I watched on God TV with dedication was Rodney Howard Browne. I liked his evangelism traveling school outreach. Going to Churches to teach people how to be evangelists.
Then Lakeland broke out. We began watching almost from the beginning on and off. I saw all the flaws, tattoos, weirdness, radicalness and everything every heresy hunter sees. But I saw something else. I saw people needing a touch from God getting it. People needing healing receiving. I saw unity (initially). I saw religious demons screaming. If you google Todd Bentley you will get a full load of religious demons screaming.
People all have opinions. Opinions are like noses, everyone has one. I read them but I depend more on what I have seen and heard. That's what Jesus told John the Baptists. What do you see and hear? I don't depend on the some says of the world. Jesus asked his disciples "who do people say that I am? " They answered, some say you are Elijah returned, some say Jeremiah, some say John the Baptist resurrected, some say a great prophet.
They had read all the google spam on Jesus. The some says.
Then he asked them, Who do YOU say that I am. And Peter gets it right. YOU ARE THE CHRIST.
The crowd, the religious police (Pharisees), the traditions, the reporters, the experts, the heresy hunters of his day were wrong about Jesus.
Todd Bentley isn't Jesus. In fact, I'll go out on a limb here. This is going to die out. There's something more coming. Something bigger. Something even less palatable to religious folks. God is breaking out again.
I appreciate Todd's willingness to be used. I suspect he will struggle with what is next. The past revivalists always struggle with the new. Every past revival criticizes the new revival.
Is this of God? Of course it is. Does it Glorify Jesus? Yes. In spades. Is one man leading is and is he weird? Yep. Like John the Baptist.
This is the beginning of the Beginning.
Oh, and one other thing, most of the critics of the Revival haven't actually seen (at length) the revival or been there. They are operating on Hearsay, (somesay). What people aren't up on they are down on.
So, tonight once again as I did last night I will engage myself and watch the Glory of God poured out. It is precious but it is transient. God is up to something and he is going to mess with us to do it.
I know where I want to be when it all comes down. This looks very much like a dream of revival God gave me 12 years ago.
It's radical, fresh, weird and wonderful. Peculiar.
Isn't that Just Like GOD?
Isn't that what he called us to be?
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