Lakeland:redux Aug 15th 2008
A previous article on the Lakeland Revival saw lots of traffic so I thought I’d post a (relieving) followup. Earlier this past week, Todd Bentley announced that he’d both be leaving the revival and that he was separating from his wife.
It would seem, unfortunately, that the concerns were quite valid and that the level of discernment exercised by people was no where near enough. The editor of *Charisma* magazine writes:
But among those who jumped on the Lakeland bandwagon, discernment was discouraged. They were expected to swallow and follow. The message was clear: “This is God. Don’t question.” …
Godly leaders are supposed to protect the sheep from heresy, not spoon feed deception to them. Only God knows how far this poison traveled from Lakeland to take root elsewhere. May God forgive us for allowing His Word to be so flippantly contaminated. A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley’s news hit the fan. He said to me: “I’m now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment.” Ouch. Hopefully we’ll learn our lesson this time and apply the necessary caution when an imposter shows up. …
Ouch indeed. I’m glad though that there are voices within this movement watching and testing. As someone who has witnessed the GOD radically moving, I want to see revival as well. But not like this, ending in a wake of destruction.
tags: faith, Lakeland, news, revival
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i'm a twenty-something starting this journey called life. i studied microbiology and chemistry in college and currently work as a systems analyst. that means i manage computers (and a lot of them at that -- linux, solaris, os x, and windows). but that's just what i do to pay the bills. less important than where i am at now is where i am going. for quite some time i've had a nagging voice whispering "mission" in my ear. thus the direction i walk. contained in these pages is a log of a bit of that journey (and everything else that i do).
Chris Archer said on Aug 16th 2008:
I am sorry to read about this, sorry but not that surprised. After a while, it seemed that the revival was centered upon Todd Bentley, and not upon the Lord. Does this discount the whole opening? No, all of us are flawed, and all of us sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Compassion is needed now, more than ever before.