What started as a small local revival at a tiny church in town has grown into a international phenomenon. With live nightly broadcast on God TV and people flying in from around the world the revival just keeps growing. Everyone in town is talking about it, its all over the local news and the visitors are filling the hotels and streets of Lakeland.
With claims of 12 people being raised from the dead and with revivals now breaking out in Britain, South Carolina, Georgia, Australia, Germany, all through Africa just to name a few places we thought it might be time to check this thing out.
All three of us went in with open minds and hope that it was true. I have talked about this before.
We arrived about 30 mins before the revival began. Outside there was the giant TV van for God TV.
There were about 4,000 people there. The building seats 8,000 and looked a little over half full so my guess it about 4,000.
Worship lasted 2 hours! It was insane. There was person we knew from school singing on stage. We started with acustic worship and then it got louder towards the end. People had flags, shofars (Rams horns), whistles, and tambourines. Altogether the worship was actually pretty normal, outside of flags and shofars being blown throughout it. But nothing strange thus far.
After worship Todd Bentley got up and welcomed John and Carol Arnott (the pastors who started the Toronto Outpouring Revival). They then blessed the revival. I believe Bob Jones was also on the stage.
Todd Bentley then gets up and begins talking, and talking, and talking. Laughter begins to break out in the audience, people are shaking here and there and other strange manifestations are taking place throughout the room.
Todd begins to give a testimony of his healing career. He states that he wanted to be a healer, and after praying about it over and over again he just began, not knowing if it was what God wanted or not but he started it because it was what he needed to do.
He also mentions the book of James, but then keeps calling it a gospel (at this point Maggie, Pam and I are looking at each other quite confused.) He begins telling of how he was saved at 18 and didn't know anything about the Bible so he just took it all completely literal. He goes on about how he would pray and pray for people to be healed and they wouldn't be, then one day one was. After this healing he started focusing on deaf people being healed, he stated that he has healed so many deaf people now that it takes no faith to heal them, it just happens. He then finally gets back to his mention of James, again he begins talking about the gospels and places the book of James within that group.
He then starts talking about the healings tonight (this is almost 2 1/2 hours into his 'message'). He starts talking about how some people are healed, some aren't and some are half healed. If you aren't healed keep coming back till you are he says.
He then begins telling a story of a boy from South Africa. The boy and his parents come up on stage, they are weeping, the boy has a brain tumor. Todd grabs the boys head after the parents fall on the ground. Todd asks all in the audience to reach out and pray for the boy. After praying over him three times and asking the boy if he felt something the boy finally says he did and they walk off the stage.
He then says "Your healing is your salvation, your disease is your sin" He then calls up to the stage deaf people, which seemed funny, a guy hollering out "All those who are deaf come up here!" He then heals some of them.
At this point those in need of healing are lining up around the room. Todd calls pastors on stage and prays over them. They were registered before hand and have a sticker on there shirts, without the sticker Todd says he wont pray for you. Instead one of his associates will pray with you. In the front of the stage hundreds are people seeking healings. Todd has the pastors form a square around the lobby of the building as his associates begin praying for those in the healing pit upfront. It is now past midnight.
Many people are still here, being healed, laughing, and have other manifestations. Flags are being waved around the room. Slowly people are leaving. We finally leave around 12:15. In the lobby are the pastors that Todd prayed over, most are still slain on the floor.
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So that was the evening. Over a 5 hour revival service, with over 3 hours of Todd speaking and 2 hours of worship.On the car ride home all three of us discussed and dissected what we experienced. I still question the motives of the leaders, still am not sure if it is true. Truthfully I feel like it is more of show since I visited. But I will say that many people who are there are truly seeking God, truly worshiping him. What happens on stage may or may not be real but I believe that what many in the audience experience is real. I personally don't really believe in holy laughter or the Toronto outpouring but I believe that people are being healed and are being saved. I won't support the leadership of this revival but I still, as I stated before, believe that this revival can have a positive impact upon the country and globe. Many elements of the evening seemed like a televangelist like event but as I scanned the audience I say many people truly worshiping, many people being healed, and many seeking God. So I can't support the revival, but I pray and ask God to bless those who attend it.
I am working on a huge timeline/history lesson blog entry that shows the links between Kenneth Copeland, Rodney Howard Browne, Toronto Outpouring, Lakeland Revival, Brownsville, Kansas City Prophets, Vineyard Churches, Benny Hinn and others. I think its a pretty interesting little blog entry, so keep checking back for that here in the next few days.
2 comments:
What a great post. I'm going to read your Trail to Lakeland next. I'm not sure what to think. Toronto was my first Vineyard experience - way before the Toronto Blessing. But my experience of the Toronto Blessing was a mixed bag. I remember being in one meeting, very skeptical of it all and then being really impacted by a sense of the Spirit. IIRC I was moaning deeply. So I'm not troubled by the experiences, and I do know they can be contrived. But what is worse to me is the endless search for these experiences instead of a willingness to serve God wholly in the midst of real life. I think if you need that to renew you to be Christ IN the world, great, more power to you. But if it is all about turning you inward and fleeing from reality (and the world) then I would rather see it fizzle because that does more harm than good.
I too used to be in the charismatic circle quite a bit. I attended a church that had the Toronto manifestations. I experinced some of them personally. I also have visited Brownsville and lived close and visited Carpenters Home many times.
I agree with you statement, for it was a chasing after a rush. It was nothing more than a drug for me. I realized it was actually getting in my way more than helping me grow in Christ.
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