Great Florida Outpouring – Endorsements
A number of leaders in the Body of Christ are going to be in Lakeland on June 23th to bless the Outpouring. Bill Johnson, Che Ahn, C. Peter Wagner, John and Carol Arnott, among others, will be there according to the announcement Todd made last night.
I saw another great statement from Bill Johnson regarding Todd Bentley. This is from his ministry site.
Recent response to the above answer:”How in God’s name can you endorse Todd Bentley?” This is my response:
Have you spent time with Todd? Do you know him? Have you watched him with his wife? Or have you seen how he treats his kids? Have you spent any time with his staff? Have you been to his ministry? Has he been to yours? Have you laid hands on him and prayed? Has he laid hands on you and prayed? Have you grieved over tragedy together? Have you celebrated victory together? Has he sought your counsel? Has he traveled a great distance just to meet with you privately for advice? Have you ever received his counsel? Have you been in the room when God has showed up on him, and used him in stunning miracles? Have you seen him operate in the word of knowledge or the prophetic? Have you met with his counsel of elders? Have you personally benefited from his gift? Has he benefited from your gift and ministry? Has he ever honored you for who you are in God? Has he partnered with you as a friend? Have you sacrificed for his welfare, or that of his family? Have you sought God with him? Have you ever worshipped the Lord with him?
I didn’t think so. I have. And I’ll continue to support those who I have walked with in life and ministry. He’s my friend. More importantly, God calls him friend. And if you and I were ever friends in that level, and people hated you and turned against you, and started web pages to tear down your ministry, and criticized you to your friends, and wrote against you in Christian magazines, and criticized you on the radio and wrote emails to other conference speakers and authors, I’d still be your friend.
By the way – criticism in the form of a question is not a question. But to respond to your statement, “How in God’s name can you endorse Todd Bentley?” It’s easy. I do it in God’s name.
Bill
One thing that I admire about Bill Johnson is the fact that he makes no apologies for his friendship with Todd. He focuses on what God is doing, not what God is not.
Thank you, Bill Johnson, for being a man of integrity.
Rahab's Place 
Nice work on all your blog’s. It is good to hear people of God building up instead of constantly picking apart and tearing down.
Unfotunately most the people who urge discernment and how the devil is doing all this are not willing to let the Holy Spirit speak to their hearts because of their stuck mindsets.
Keep up the good work.
Blessings to you
Thanks, Hirch. Nice to know there are people reading who get it.
This is just mere “pontification” there are so many enumerated issues, doctrinally, with false visions such as Jesus in a non-glorifeied body visting Todd, the apostle Paul and hsi visit to the “cabin” next to Jacob’s Ladder….I mean puhleeze spare me the details. As far as associations…William Branham, who Todd and Jones mention this “anointing” is being restored from. Branham was a “world class” heetic, denied the BIBLICAL doctrine of the Trinity, thought that the Zodiac was as true as scripture, beleived he was the prophet Elijah, and yet God is going to viloate His Word and His character and His DEMAND for men and women who preach and teach amongst us to follow His Word?? HUH? Let’s remember even very recenylt there seems to be know correction and/or biblical rebuke of Wendy Alec’s false prophecy, jsut kind of dismissed by Bentley, when even he realized what a load of Hooey taht was. But we are supposed to ignore this and many other issues taht surround this man. He is controversial and being called to repentance not becuae of the alleged and mostly unverified healing and resurrections, but because of hsi proud boasting taht the “Spirit” told him to knick a woman in the face, and body slam a pastor in order to be healed or rfeceived his mantle? But. all that is laid aside. Doctrine is laid aside, as it has been within the WOF movement isnce the earliset of days, and we have let these purveyors SOAk the body out of literally hundreds of millions of dollars os thaey can travle in their private palins, and high end imported vehicles, and million dollar ocean estates, and calim they are healing, and yet, verification is promised but diregarded once the demands have quited down. Lastly, the Arnott’s brought their approval when the last “dissaster” struck in Toronto, their lack of discernmnet, and false teachings, and prophecies brought shame and ruin, and eventually even Wimber seperated the Vineyard from that mess. C Peter Wagner is promulgating this notion that he and his band of prophets and apostles are going to begin bringing congregations under there alleged” authority which should literallly scare THE HELL out of all of us.
Mister Larson methinks you are a little bitter and your venting speaks volumes of where your spirit is.
Don’t lump the Renewal movement in with the WOF people. I do not know a single ministry in the Renewal movement that is in to prosperity teaching to the excess that you find in the WOF movement.
Every movement has had it’s excesses and we have to acknowledge these things and move on with our own lives.
I personally think that the Lord doesn’t get too twisted off at the whole thing. Remember from the word (Matt 13:24-30)that when it was discovered that the enemy had planted tares amongst the wheat the owner of the field said to wait until harvest time and then the wheat would be separated from the tares. It is not our job to go around looking for tares and start pulling them up.
We need to have the same attitude as the Lord. In reality you have two choices :
1/ have everything nice and predictable and controlled where no one ever makes any mistakes. Which is dead, boring, and lifeless.
2/ have life and the possibility that people will make mistakes, or may even use the life for their own advantage.
We all love to look out over God’s creation and extol it’s beauty. The reality is that when you really take a close look at it, it is very chaotic and you will see life and death working side by side. This happens at the smallest scale up to the largest scale and it is no different in the Kingdom of God.
So what do you want:life and the mess that comes with it or do you want the opposite?
Blessings
BWA
PS use the spell checker next time
so who is Bill Johnson???
William Branham is a classic example of how the Lord values heart over head. Branham really was anointed of God, because satan cannot heal. His doctrine grew to be incorrect, but he was a very humble man. When he moved outside of his calling (which was an evangelist) and set himself up as a teacher, God dealt with him through Gordon Lindsay and gave him time to repent. When he did not, God took him home early.
God’s calling and God’s giftings are without repentance. According to Branham’s son, Billy, who was on the scene of the accident that eventually claimed Branham’s life, Branham’s wife was dead at the scene. She had no pulse and was not breathing. Branham prayed for her even though he was twisted in the steering wheel (it took them an hour to remove him from the car), and she began to breathe. He never, according to Billy, prayed for himself that night.
Bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. He is a prolific author of such books as The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind (which I highly recommend). He has been advocating and producing a revival culture in his church for a number of years, and they regularly see people healed in their midst. He wholeheartedly believes that the Christian life is a supernatural life and that signs, wonders and healings are a normal part of the Christian experience. The corporate life of his church backs that belief up with the life they live. Bethel’s website is ibethel.org. Bill’s website is bjm.org.
In response to Bill Johnson: This issue isn’t about Todd at a personal level, as far as how good of a husband, friend, or father he is. He can be great at all those things and I have no doubt that he is.
The problem people are having is with the focus on angels and demonic manifestations such as this..
Take note of the girl in green.
Any discerner is going to have problems with some of the things in Lakeland that are being passed off as of God.
I don’t particularly have any problems with anything I saw in the videos. I have been on both sides of that equation. I have been the one praying for people who fell out and I have been on the floor.
What you need to be doing is asking the people who were there what the Lord was doing in them. You cannot judge from the outside the internal work going on inside of them.
I know for me, the last time I was on the floor, God pulled out a major root of rejection that had kept me from walking in what He wanted for me for years. After that experience, my friends were amazed at the change in me. Things that used to destroy me no long even phase me.
Hi THNKYOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS ON Todd I am fed up with people pulling down what God is trying to do , i ssy let God be God , do not put God in a box, if God is not happy with what is happening it will be God, who deals with it not us Human Beings as for me i am trusting in God that this is His works untill He tells me differently arent we children of the most High God and arent we suppose to love one another and support one another i have not had the privilidge of going to see Todd, but i am in full support of what he is doing, the things is with myself and Todd we have the same ministry and i know when my breakthrough comes this is going to happen to me ,but i tell you this it will not stop me doing the work God has called me to do, have you been through the trials to get to the level were Todd is at please pray for Todd and His Family and Let God be God
Prasie God Great Artical
“Branham really was anointed of God, because satan cannot heal.”
That is untrue. I know a missionary who personally witnessed a witch doctor/shaman in SE Asia stab a little boy multiple times, blood was everywhere, he had no pulse — and the shaman brought him back to life with demonic power. In Latin America, there are deceived people who make pacts with La Santa Muerte — the Saint of Death — and their family members get well, but they pay the price in the end for dealing with the devil.
If Satan can make someone sick, I think it’s safe to say he can suppress the very sickness he produced, only to bring it back later.
That’s pretty cool to read people that are being loyal in relationships they’ve made in the past no matter what difficulties or what people are saying about it.
Brian, I do not doubt what you are saying. I do believe that occultists do have power. I do believe satan can bring back someone from the dead that he controls in a contrived situation like you describe. I seriously doubt he could do the same thing with a Christian, because he has no control over their spirit. Just out of curiosity, were the child’s wounds completely healed? And was he fully back or was he a zombie? I’m asking because I am still researching all this and I am open to correction.
Removing a spirit of blindness, for example, is not healing. That is, technically, deliverance. Since satan does appear to control demonic forces, I readily admit this happens. What he can’t do, for example, is create a new eyeball that works in someone blind because they don’t have one.
The reason I am chasing this line is because I believe that the saints of God are giving far too much credit to satan and his ability to deceive. His deceptive ability is nothing compared to the Holy Spirit’s ability to lead us into all truth.
Yeah, Ethan. It’s one of the reasons I like Bill Johnson.
Rahab, regarding whether or not Satan can raise someone from the dead: When I was in Asia I was told a story by a Pastor of a church in Nong Khai. He told about a demon possessed man that lived on eating rocks and water for years. Shortly after they prayed for deliverance for the man, he died. Dropped dead. When they did an autopsy it was discovered that his body was decayed inside as though he had been dead for many years. They believed the man to be dead for years, but the demonic spirits continued to dwell in his body. Crazy, yes?
I did not witness this myself, but I trust the missionary that I was working with as well as his friend, the pastor experienced this and told the story. Just food for thought.
By the way, I enjoy reading your blog. While i have been reserved about the Lakeland revival, I am heartened by your wonderful spirit and heart. God shines through you. I also appreciate reading your comments about Branham. God uses imperfect human vessels to work through. Treasures in jars of clay. There will always be some dirt, some humanity at work with God’s treasure. We may hear a word from God and in our own humanity throw an extra few words in. That does not mean we should throw out the whole word, nor does it mean the person is of the devil. It blesses me to know that He wants my heart to long after him and then he can use me too, inspite of all my imperfections. Keep blogging. It is uplifting to read.
Thanks for your kind comments, EG. I can totally understand someone being reserved about Lakeland. It is kind of wild. I’m really happy to see Todd slowing down and addressing some of these issues. I know that he has always been big on documentation to back up his claims to the miraculous. One of the problems with that is many of the miracles he’s seen in the past happened in third-world nations where the only medical treatment people had received was from the local witchdoctor. No wonder he’s like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited line of credit in Lakeland.
Your story is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about. Satan doesn’t have life within himself, but he can produce some amazing shams.
Matthew 7:15-20 – a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, neither can a bad tree bear good fruit. William Branham has been proven to be a bad fruit. He is a heretic. For example: he didn’t believe in the Trinity, believed God is flesh, that was a created being, that Jesus and Holy Spirit are the same and declared that in 1977 Jesus would be coming back. He also believed that Eve had sex with Satan (“serpents seed”) and that women [are] not worth a good clean bullet to kill them with it”. He also blamed the moral problem of our age on women. He believed that the The Word of God was given in three forms: the zodiac, the Egyptian pyramids, and the written scripture.
Also, I believe Satan can work miracles and wonders:
Job 2:7, 2 Thess 2:9, Mark 13:22, Exodus 7:9-11;8:17-19, Deut 13:1-5. Also, in all major world religions there is evidence of miracles: Hinduism has statues drinking milk, New Age movement even have sacred scripture called “A Course in Miracles” and spiritualists speak to the “dead”.
I would welcome your feedback on this:
[audio src="http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.southamptonchurch.co.uk/studies/TPRevival.mp3" /]
Absolutely satan can work lying miracles. My point has been that there are two he can’t do – healing and resurrection.
Scripture teaches that false prophets can do all sorts of things – cast out demons, prophesy, false signs and wonders. What isn’t in the list is heal the sick and raise the dead.
Branham did indeed teach false doctrine. I never disputed that. What I am saying that he was a very humble man when he started out (I believe he was actually a Baptist pastor.) The Lord did indeed use him, but he wanted to be a teacher without having a calling to teach. Gordon Lindsay dealt with him about it, but he chose to continue. God gave several people warning dreams (including Kenneth Hagin) that Branham would be taken home if he did not repent. Branham himself told Paul Cain that he felt the Lord was going to take him home if the people didn’t stop idolizing him. He, however, did not change and he was taken home before his time in 1965.
One thing I would like to point out is that the men and women who have walked in the ministry of signs and wonders in the 150 years or so have paid an enormous price for that anointing. They were heavily targeted by the enemy and a number of them fell into sin or heresy. I believe that some of that was due to the fact that they were to some extent isolated from the rest of the Body of Christ. They were not in close relationships with peers who could speak into their lives before they were shipwrecked. The Body isolated them because they either did not understand or accept the gift or they idolized them.
This is one of the things that I am encouraged about in Todd Bentley. He has a group he is accountable to. He has more mature mentors who are speaking into his life and he is open to those people. He has a support system and is connected into the Body of Christ.
more mature mentors? Like Bob Jones? lol
Bob Jones has walked with the Lord for many years. He sinned, repented, walked in a season of correction that lasted almost five years. He was restored and has not walked in any further sin.
Bob has been amazingly accurate in things he has spoke around me. I do remember him prophesying about an earthquake that was going to happen in CA years ago that would be seen around the world. It happened about 9 months later during the 1989 World Series while the world watched.
I like Bob. He’s a cool old guy.
Church history is filled with many honorable men and women of the past who had powerfully anointed ministries that ultimately ended in failure and humiliation. This is primarily true because there was some corruption or self serving motive that regrettably emerged at the pinnacle of their ministry. For the most part, these were good, godly people who began their ministry with pure motives and paid a great price in their service to God. Many of the truths we commonly walk today are the result of their pioneering work and sacrificial labor. We need to learn from their mistakes so we can get it right in our day. By studying the healing revival of the 20th century, we discover that many of the ministries ended in shipwreck and disillusionment. Unfortunately, seeds of corruption remained hidden in their souls, into which Satan was able to sink his hooks, causing great confusion and collapse. When we examine the successes and failures of our church fathers we can derive important spiritual lessons. One of our noble obligations is honoring God’s men and women of the past as we contemplate the lives of great leaders. Just because their soul was not fully purged of the carnal nature and for whatever reasons only known to God, this left the enemy to exploit the seeds of corruption. This resulted in spiritual error and collapse of their ministry. We are presently living in a time characterized by God’s grace, allowing restoration of our soul where we can experience the fellowship with God that was lost in the Garden of Eden. This only thing hindering us is ourselves. I am glad that the leaders today are endorsing this movement. We need unity in this hour!!!
I love your blogs, keep it up.
Blessings to you.
You wrote that Satan cannot heal and cannot raise the dead. It is written, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal (Greek: “death”) wound was healed.” Revelation 13:3. If the Antichrist will be raised from the dead, satan can, at the very least, raise the dead as a “lying sign and wonder” (2Thess. 2:9). It’s all a moot point anyway because if Satan can counterfeit healings and miracles (Matt 24:24) then they aren’t acceptable to discern Godly origin. We must test the spirits (1John4) and then look to the root, not just the fruit. At the roots of this Lakeland movement is a host of demonics. A “Sundar Singh annointing” and an angel called “Emma” (which ‘coincedentally’ is a name for satan found in the satanic bible.) Look to the root, not the fruit!
The beast is not the antichrist. The beast is generally considered to be an economic system – the European Common Market has been considered to be the best candidate. Satan can heal economic systems all he wants, because he controls them at this point.
Satan can perform all kinds of false signs and miracles. My contention is that he cannot heal because he came to steal, kill and destroy. Healing is something God has reserved for himself and delegated to His children. Satan cannot raise the dead because he does not have life within him. Only God does. Only God can breathe on something and make it a living being. Scripture is clear that after death comes the judgment. God is in control of the dead, not satan.
By the way, healing is not listed in Matt 24:24. Signs and wonders are not healings.
>>At the roots of this Lakeland movement is a host of demonics. A “Sundar Singh annointing” and an angel called “Emma” (which ‘coincedentally’ is a name for satan found in the satanic bible.) Look to the root, not the fruit!
If there are counterfeits, there must be also a genuine existing.. spirit led Christians can tell the difference by the Holy Spirit.
as per your unsubstatianted assumptions, it is so obvious that you are desperately grasping at straws in your personal bashing of this revival, for what winning at all costs is so important to you, you forget decency, honesty, respect?
“Why Is Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship Angry still? ” http://anyonecare.wordpress.com/
Thanks friend. One more thought. Dont you think the great apostacy or falling away is more the kind of theology that you hear lately trying to unify religions and make extream anyone who says that Jesus is the only way. I think that is what we should collectivly stand against, not this. this is not the fight. Back off the witch hunt