Lakeland "Revival"?

Someone asked me a question on my blog entry about having a terminal disease. I answered it in the comments section but it was so long I thought I'd post it here. I'd be interested in your comments.

Scott said...
Have you been watching any of those revival meetings in Lakeland ? What are your thoughts on that Joyce ?

May 24, 2008 7:17 AM


Joyce said...
Scott,

Wow. That's a big question! Yes, I'm familiar with what has been going on there and I've done a lot of research. There are many things about it that concern me.

True revival begins with repentance and a turning to God. The gospel is shared, hearts are changed. I've listened and read closely many of the messages being shared at Lakeland and rarely do I hear the gospel shared and even more rarely do I hear the name Jesus. That bothers me. A lot.

Now ... I absolutely believe in the gifts and believe that they are just as active and alive today as they were in biblical times. But there is so much about this "revival" that really disturbs me and has too many of the markings of a false revival.

There are many problems with Todd Bentley's teachings resulting inmost serious problems with the "revival" in Lakeland. There is a very heavy influence of the Latter Rain movement, word of faith, impartation of spiritual gifts and healing at the WILL OF MAN ...etc.

Todd Bentley claims to have frequent visitations with angels, trips to heaven, personal meetings with Jesus Christ and so on. He also has no higher biblical education (not that I think that is a requirement for God to use someone. Just an observation).

God can and will move when people are truly reaching out for Him, but that does not validate a person's teachings or beliefs - it is not God's seal of approval.

You should read some of Todd Bentley's teachings, also read up on William Branham, who Bentley calls his mentor. Also, see what Todd Bentley has to say about the angel 'Emma'.

I copied this following article (written by Todd Bentley, in his own words) about ‘his’ angel Emma from his own website back in December. I think that an urgent warning needs to resound so more people do not get caught up in this counterfeit revival.

There are a lot of concerns (not just one) that many watchmen in the church have about Todd Bentley and his ministry. Todd Bentley’s past has been brought up (he was jailed as a teenager for child molestation), but this is not an issue for me at all in terms of why I am critiquing him. Though I in no way condone his actions, nor do I glibbly gloss over them (I do not in any way, nor could I - it is horrific and inexcusable) - I do not think it fair to judge a repentant reformed forgiven born again adult (if that is what they are) for what they did as a messed up abused kid before coming to Christ. So that factor shall be of no regard in my weighing or testing his ministry at all - for if the old is done away with, I shall not bring it up.

Anyway here is the article by Todd Bentley:

“Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: “Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?” He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, “Bob, who is Emma?” He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out. Within a few weeks of Bob asking me about Emma, I was in a service in Beulah, North Dakota. In the middle of the service I was in conversation with Ivan and another person when in walks Emma. As I stared at the angel with open eyes, the Lord said, “Here’s Emma.” I’m not kidding. She floated a couple of inches off the floor. It was almost like Kathryn Khulman in those old videos when she wore a white dress and looked like she was gliding across the platform. Emma appeared beautiful and young-about 22 years old-but she was old at the same time. She seemed to carry the wisdom, virtue and grace of Proverbs 31 on her life.

She glided into the room, emitting brilliant light and colors. Emma carried these bags and began pulling gold out of them. Then, as she walked up and down the aisles of the church, she began putting gold dust on people. “God, what is happening?” I asked. The Lord answered: “She is releasing the gold, which is both the revelation and the financial breakthrough that I am bringing into this church. I want you to prophecy that Emma showed up in this service-the same angel that appeared in Kansas city-as a sign that I am endorsing and releasing a prophetic spirit in the church.” See, when angels come, they always come for a reason; we need to actually ask God what the purpose is. Within three weeks of that visitation, the church had given me the biggest offering I had ever received to that point in my ministry. Thousands of dollars! Thousands! Even though the entire community consisted of only three thousand people, weeks after I left the church the pastor testified that the church offerings had either doubled or tripled.

During this visitation the pastor’s wife (it was an AOG church) got totally whacked by the Holy Ghost - she began running around barking like a dog or squawking like a chicken as a powerful prophetic spirit came on her. Also, as this prophetic anointing came on her, she started getting phone numbers of complete strangers and calling them up on the telephone and prophesying over them. She would tell them that God gave her their telephone number and then would give them words of knowledge. Complete strangers. Then angels started showing up in the church.

I believe Emma released a financial and prophetic anointing in that place. That was the first angel that I have ever seen in the form of a woman. Some angels I’ve seen seemed like they were neither male nor female. However, Emma appeared as a woman who was like a Deborah, like a mother in Zion. When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing. That congregation also saw more financial breakthrough than they had ever seen before.

I was at another meeting in Atlanta when my wife, Shonnah, saw two financial angels walk into the service and pour oil out on the pastor. Shonnah then knew there was financial breakthrough coming. That night two people wrote the pastor cheques for $16,000 and $17,000 and others also wrote cheques to Fresh Fire for thousands of dollars, which we used for missions to the nations. In addition, many people experienced great financial blessing as well. The day after this angelic visitation one guy had millions of dollars released to him-he had been waiting for about 10 years for this breakthrough. All this financial release came because my wife saw two financial angels walk up and stand on the platform. Can you imagine? We need to pray for the Father to give us financial angels for our lives, our church and region. With this angelic assistance, we will prevail and overcome the warfare trying to hold back our financial breakthrough. Some of you don’t know how to use the angels in intercession like this. You don’t even know whether it’s OK or not….”

There are several red flags that immediately are raised from this piece.

We see straight away that this ‘angelic introduction’ comes through ‘prophet’ Bob Jones of the Kansas City Prophets. This, if we recall, is the man who had young ladies strip naked before him to recieve a prophetic word from him in private, and who claimed Jesus told him when he was in mental asylum he had to kill or forgive people to get his mind back, and from whom other spiritual abuses and elitism came from. (He is now supposedly under the pastoral care of Mike Bickle of IHOP/The Metro Vineyard fame, though I dispute these prophets have ever been pastored.) Bob Jones was then, and is still, a heretical false prophet - his words and practices are abusive and often weird (eg he claims his hands change colour to indicate spiritual conditions), his theology is Latter Rain Manifest Sons of God dominionism and blasphemy (direct from Branham’s ‘genetical’ line including Paul Cain), and many of his prophetic words miss the mark - scripturally and also historically. (But he claims that it’s not only ok to miss the mark, but it is to be expected as the church is not ready apparently for prophetic accuracy!) So therefore for someone to claim they got something spiritually imparted to them from Bob Jones is worrying. Of course it is also odd that one seems to have to be personally introduced to these angels by Bob Jones, which is spiritual elitism and bears all the hallmarks of cultlike tendancies. If these angels were truly from God, they need introduction from no man.

Bob Jones has, however, ‘introduced’ various angels to the many of the ‘new’ line of (false) prophets (eg the Elijah List favorites) including Patricia King of Extreme Prophetic (to whom Todd Bentley is linked) and Sharneal Wolverton of Swift Fire Ministries (Note the name ‘Swift’ Fire). One of the angels is a golden eagle called Swift - have you seen how many golden eagles there are on most modern prophetic websites? It was the erroneous false prophet and healer and occultist William Branham (who many pentecostals revere despite his terrible theology - including Todd Bentley (Todd also claims one of Branham’s angels now accompanies his ministry: allegedly, Cal Pierce of the Spokane Healing rooms (linked to John G Lake) came to a meeting with a 15ft high angel ‘in tow’ and told him that the angel was John Knox’s and William Branham’s angel and that if Todd ‘received’ the angel it would partner him in ministry.) It was William Branham who wrongly said that ‘Prophets are often represented by Eagles in the Scriptures, known for their vision, power, and speed…’ So the symbolism for the golden eagle is an identification with the NAR prophets, but also with their false spirits and ultimately to William Branham, his false spirits, teachings, prophecies and the heresies of the Latter Rain.

Then we move on to ‘Emma’s’ identity. (Incidently, all angels in scripture appeared to people as ‘men’ and they did not float above the floor, they were not all weird colours as described, they appeared as tall ‘normal’ looking men). We are told by Todd Bentley that Bob Jones told him: ‘Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She is a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out…’ That is one huge reason not to touch Emma or any of her ‘gifts’ with a bargepole (if she even exists and is not a lie or urban legend - for many of these ministries are NOT adverse to lying or to charlatanism or at least gross exageration, double-speak and cover-ups). The prophetic movement in Kansas City reeks and is false as can be. (See previous articles on this). It is not the true prophetic, and thus any angel (if there are angels involved as claimed) was not from God in birthing it, but is rather an angel from the Father of Lies, albeit dressed as an angel of light.

The described mothering element to Emma is also troubling, for God’s real angels point to the Father, or the Holy Spirit as a comforter - they are not mothers or fathers who ask men to come to them to be comforted or mothered or salved, but ‘only’ ministering spirits, servants of fire, sent to help those who will inherit salvation.

The next red flag is the gold dust and gemstones and oil element - a false sign and wonder (again not adverse to being counterfeited by human trickery). Patricia King, Joshua Mills, Rick Joyner and others are even now pointing to stigmatism as another sign and wonder and Rick Joyner. Patricia King apparently has three angels who appear wherever she goes. One is red - one is green - her prosperity angel (green like the dollar which these prophets are overly fond of) - and the other angel is either blue or yellow.

The next red flag is Todd Bentley’s prophetic testimony that God told him “I want you to prophecy that Emma showed up in this service-the same angel that appeared in Kansas city - as a sign that I am endorsing and releasing a prophetic spirit in the church.” If this actually happened as I believe many of these men and women are fakes, then Todd testifies he is a false prophet as God could not, and would not, and cannot endorse these manifestations or the word testimony that goes with them which is false Latter Rain heresy and dominionism. Furthermore, if God is ‘endorsing’ the release of the prophetic spirit within the church then Todd still has a long way to go if his own prophecies are anything to go by. It is a very odd and very false prophetic spirit indeed that Emma testifies to.

‘When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing.’

I also see the fleshly and not spiritual focus of these manifestations- the odd bodily behaviour that historically accompanies the counterfeit which we are told by Todd Bentley is actually being ‘whacked in the Holy Ghost’, yet the Holy Spirit is one of order and of self-control -- and the focus on the gold, on the money, on manna. ‘That congregation also saw more financial breakthrough than they had ever seen before.’ Yet the true test of the Holy Spirit is NOT the fleshly manifestations, not the alleged angelic encounters, not the prophecy, but whether the congregation are led to God, are led to their knees in submission and obedient service and self-sacrifice (is this church involved in more missions, are they feeding more widows and orphans, where is that gold going to, that is a test), and ultimately and always, that they are led into all truth. If they are not led into truth but error by the angel Emma and her servant Todd, then it is the spirit of error that accompanies him, and not the truth.

So ... I obviously have serious reservations and doubts on the authenticity of this so-called revival.

What are your thoughts?