mbjones

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.

I’ve gotten several questions from friends about my thoughts about the “Lakeland revival” phenomena going down in Florida right now. In short, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Holy Spirit is at work and drawing people to Himself through legitimate healings but its in spite of the celebrity personalities and horrible doctrines, not because of them. Here’s some links well worth reading about the supposed revival:

• Dan on Discernment, Revivals and Godly Common Sense and A Strange Fire in Florida
• Robbymac on Bam! (thunk…) (Incidentally, I’m looking forward to reading his book Post-Charismatic)
• Bill Kinnon has a roundup of links here

I think as you read about what’s going on, particularly how people are flocking around the celebrity and his “signs and wonders” its important to consider what actually might be valid signs and wonders. Gold teeth probably don’t fit the bill (or at least they are much harder to add up in the wake of what’s going on in the world). Scroll down and watch the video for “All I Need” again for some much needed perspective on our priorities.