Could these blessings actually be a punishment?

Could it be that the signs and wonders, the manifestations and the unusual behaviour so typical of the big ‘revivals’ in the US and now occurring much closer to home here in the UK are actually PUNISHMENTS from God.

Could it be that those who promote, encourage and lead groups of people into these ‘experiences’ are actually bringing down God’s judgement on them?

GOLD DUST

Read Exodus 32, the account of Moses coming down from the mountain and discovering that the people were worshipping a golden calf.

“When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it”

Exodus 32:19-20

The gold dust was not a sign of blessing, but a punishment for faithlessness. Read the whole chapter.

‘SLAYING IN THE SPIRIT’

Being Slain in the Spirit typically means falling backwards at the laying on of hands or the speaking of certain words or phrases (I have experienced this personally and I’ll write about it some time soon).

Of the (very) few verses used to explain this phenomenon, none tell of the sort of experiences supposedly connected with being ’slain in the Spirit’ – a gentle falling backwards into a state of bliss, blessing and healing. Check them out for yourselves…

Genesis 15:12
Genesis 17:3-8
Numbers 22:31
Numbers 24:4
Joshua 5:13-15
Ezekiel 1:28
Matthew 17:5-6
Revelation 7:11
Revelation 11:16
Acts 9:3-4

These scriptures variously talk of a man going to sleep and having an important dream, people realising they are in the presence of Almighty God and prostrating themselves in worship or people in fear for their lives because they were experiencing judgment. The last reference is Saul on the road to Damascus. He wasn’t refreshed by that experience. He went blind!

As with many attempts to justify weird manifestations and practices by referring to the Bible, why are the references so weak and/or oblique and/or a complete re-interpretation based on lifting single verses?

There’s not a single reference in the Bible to someone falling gently backwards under the power of the Holy Spirit, having been ‘given’ an impartation by another person, then experiencing a time of blessing, healing and soaking in God’s presence. Not one. And yet this is what is taught and repeated week after week in far too many churches.

Instead, when the Bible talks of people being unable to stand (as opposed to those who prostrate themselves in worship) it seems to be because they are in opposition to Jesus (Saul, the soldiers in the garden) and the power of  I AM causes them to fall.

Not a blessing, but a judgement.

I pray that those who crave these experiences, who see them as some sort of confirmation that God is at work, or simply find them an interesting distraction would stop and think about what the Bible has to say.

On those rare occasions when Bible verses are used to justify these activities, go and read the whole chapter, put the verses in context. God is ready and waiting to show you the truth. It is not hidden from you, it’s in the pages of the Word.

Don’t let your leaders drip-feed you Scripture – tuck in!!

Todd’s Defence

Man of the moment Todd Bentley has published a letter to his critics in which he makes a plea for Christian unity and attempts to justify what’s happening in the ‘Florida Outpouring’.

It’s worth a read and is clearly aimed at us ‘traditionalists’ even citing endorsements from someone called Dr. Gary S. Greig, PhD., in an attempt to sway the academic brigade.

Maybe I got suspicious when I read the title – ‘Lifting Jesus High!’ – I can never think of that phrase in the same way again.

I’ve been meaning to write a response to some of the points made in Bentley’s article but helpfully, Jon Sharp got there before me and did a much better job.

Instead I’ll re-make one simple point. Todd argues that God is still revealing truth and light to the church – that ‘further revelation’ is still happening. He says that we should expect and welcome experiences of God that are not in the Bible and that, by implication, we can’t always use the Bible to help us judge whether something is ‘of God’ or not.

Once you remove the Bible as a means of checking, what are you left with?

Well, Todd’s supporters would argue that you can see the healings and that these are proof of God’s work. Indeed a commenter on this blog seemed to be making the same point. Do I really need to point out the Biblical problem with this?

However, one sentence in Todd’s defence letter really stood out for me…

“Nevertheless, trust that if what I’m doing is of the flesh or of the devil, I will fail, but if what’s happening is from God, nothing and no one can quench this blazing revival fire unless God wills it.”

The second part is undoubtedly true (although I’d hazard a guess that Todd has spoken about the dangers of ‘queching the Spirit’ in the past).

The first half is on dangerous ground. Especially if you measure success in terms of number of followers, number of ‘manifestations’, even numbers of healings. IF what Todd is doing is of the devil, he may very well not fail, indeed he may prosper. After all, that would be precisely in line with what the Bible says about deception and apostasy in the end times.

Anyway, that’s enough from me. You really should read this now!

Todd Bentley’s Statement of Faith

OK. To be precise Fresh Fire Ministries’ Statement of Faith, but Todd’s the man at the top and the one everyone’s talking about.

It’s always helpful when people publish what they believe on their websites. Then you know it’s not hearsay or rumour, it’s their actual words.

The full statement can be read here.

For a start there’s the whole ‘Dominionism’ heresy … “His Kingdom is revealed here on earth through His Body, the Church, resulting in a glorious Church and global harvest at the end of this age.” … Er. No. Biblical prophecies don’t speak of a glorious end-time church. They do speak of many being deceived in the end time and following the wrong man … one who seems to be God [2 Thess 2:3-4] – but I’ll leave that idea for another day.

Did you gasp when you got to point 12. I did.

“We recognize that God is continually restoring truth and light to His Church. Therefore, we place no limit on further revelation; however, each must be substantiated according to the Scriptures.”

No limit on further revelation?

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
Revelation 22:18

The very fact that the statement of faith says ‘each must be substantiated according to the Scriptures’ is an oxymoron! Scripture says there is no further revelation. We have the Bible. We have the Good News of God’s Grace. That is sufficient.

In Todd’s World it seems, the rules are still being written. Not in God’s Kingdom.

Much more here

Lakeland Revival – Eye-Witness

“A couple of weeks ago I began to receive phone calls and emails asking me if I knew anything about a “revival” that was going on in Lakeland, Florida. Since that town is less than an hour away from me I decided it was important to find out what was happening in my own “back yard,” so to speak.”

The excellent Herescope blog has started to publish a series of articles by Pastor Gary Osborne called “Lakeland’s Recycled Revival”

Gary describes himself as a Pentecostal Christian who believes that the gifts of the Spirit are for today and that God still baptizes people in the Holy Ghost. Having attended meetings to see Todd Bentley in action, as well as watching Todd’s show on GOD TV, Gary is far better placed than me to write about the ‘Lakeland Revival’.

So far, only part one of the article has been published. I’m certainly looking forward to reading the rest.

Darrel Stott prophesied revival would begin in UK in May 2008

It’s here in black and white. God, speaking through Darrel Stott (ie. prophesying) has said that revival in my country has started. I took a ‘grab’ of the relevant web page, just in case something happens to Darrel’s website and this important information gets lost…

Read the full ‘prophecy’ here.

This is exciting news and I look forward (as with the last revival in my country a century ago) to reading press reports about transformed lives, seeing pubs and clubs closing and learning that the police have little to do due to dramatically falling crime rates.

If you have any verifiable ‘revival news’, please let me know.

Unfortunately, Darrel seems a bit light on the gospel message of repentance and forgiveness. Two things the Bible says are essential for true revival.

STOP PRESS!

The following has just been added to Darrel’s website.

June 14, 2008

The Vick Owens family had a meeting to read again the prophesy given to them On Oct 31, 2007.  The prophecy was by Natasha Vaughn.  It stated in detail that God has chosen the Welsh Revival Center a church in Pontypool Wales owned by Vick Owens as a center of revival where millions of people would be impacted.  The prophetic word said God was offering the scroll to Vick Ownens but he and his family must decide to take it or someone else would.

Let it be noted the family voted and they accepted the prophetic word as being from God and accepted the scroll offered to them to serve the nations as a place of revival.

There is no doubt that Britain needs revival (or ‘England & Wales’ according to Darrel’s prophecies – sorry Scotland and NI, you’re not on the list). Darrel claims to be a ‘carrier of the glory of God’ and, it would appear, also believes that he needs to either bring revival to the world, or at the very least follow it around.

That’s why he’s arrived back in my part of the world.

But he’s been here before. In fact I’ve heard him preach and helped him to liven up his audience by playing some recordings of his Indonesian trips. On his previous visits Darrel has proclaimed imminent revival. The experiences now being described as ‘fresh’ and ‘new’ and ‘the start of revival’ have been happening in my neck of the woods for years. So far there has been no revival.

I hope and pray that Darrel, Vic and everyone involved in the “Welsh Revival Centre” will focus on preaching the Gospel. Every true revival is characterised by a heightened awareness of sin, a cry for forgiveness, a thirst for the Word of God and truly changed lives. The world needs to hear the gospel message. They do not hear it from many mainstream churches for fear of upsetting other faiths, but they are equally unlikely to hear it from the so-called ‘on fire’ churches. Meanwhile the question remains unanswered, “Whom shall I send?”

Sadly I fear – based on my own experience – that the revival they talk about is of the short-lived, highly localised, experience-led kind. The people of England and Wales (and elsewhere) need Jesus, not ‘experiences’.

Instead of spreading the Gospel, Christians line up to have their ears tickled. They leave their churches, towns, even countries to experience the latest ‘awakening’, they turn from Scriptural truth to increasingly bizarre behaviour and prophecies that fail to come true.

And when the prophecies fail to come true, they carry on listening and following the very people who prophecied falsely. Could it be because they have strayed so far from the Bible they fail to understand the danger of following false prophets?

Lakeland Revival

Apparently not a resurgent interest in creative kitchenware (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/ - check out the ‘Banana Bag’) the ‘Lakeland Revival’ is actually the latest must-see phenomenon for wealthy Christian blessing-tourists.

I haven’t watched the GOD Channel for a very long time. I found myself shouting at the TV far too much when viewing the endless parade of weirdos and fakers who pronounce the Lord’s financial blessing and then spend days begging you to give them money(!)

But thanks to a tip-off from a friend I can report that the latest ‘big thing’ is Todd Bentley. His shtick seems to be shouting and in-your-face miracle-working with a hint of Phil Mitchell.

I’m not a fan of selective editing, but this compilation of Todd in action at the very least shows he’s not lacking in self-confidence…

The internet is buzzing with people ready to criticise Todd. Apparently he’s big on angels ’showing up’ at his events. In the past he’s claimed help from a specific, named angel called ‘Emma’.

All of these things and more are causes for concern. But as with all these ‘watch me, watch me’ merchants, the real test is what they DO NOT do.

If they can heal – why not go to sick people and heal them? Hospices, hospitals, road accidents.

And one more thought, courtesy of a fellow-blogger…

How could a just God who cares equally for every person in the world expend gold dust, supernatural gemstones, gold fillings and spiritual laughter experiences on those who are in the top 1% in the world wealth stakes and ignore the malnourished, the poverty-stricken, the widows, the orphans…It just doesn’t make sense.

It doesn’t. But thousands are falling for it.

And Florida’s such a nice part of the world.

If “Normal” Humanity is Eclipsed…

I’d forgotten about the Internet Monk. Then I stumbled on a great article, provocatively titled “I’m Weary of Weird Christians”. Here are a few quotes…

I’m burned out on Christians telling me about the next big thing God is going to do, as if they really know. I’m tired of Christians predicting the future and being consistently, continually wrong, but acting like they weren’t wrong. … Really, badly, embarrassingly wrong. So why can’t you act like you are wrong? Why am I so sure you will have more absurd predictions next Sunday?

…maybe you are like me. You are an ordinary Christian living an ordinary life. You don’t hear voices, see visions, or believe you are under constant attack by demonic forces. You may have some experiences that you call supernatural or miraculous, but they are the exception, not the rule. When you pray for people, things usually don’t change; you change. You have no authoritative insight into what is going to happen in the future. You suspect that if you were filled with the Spirit, you would love God and people more, and do the right thing more often. You’d be more like Jesus. You wouldn’t be running around in circles pointing out angels on the roof. The fruit of the Spirit would make you a person others would want to be around, not someone who would frighten animals and small children.

…

My point is not to trash anyone who believes in any of these things. Not at all. My point is that “normal” Christian experience is increasingly seen as “bad” or “abnormal,” while weirdness is increasingly seen as “normal” and proof that a person is really “spiritual.” This shift has enormous implications for Christianity in its essence, its witness, and its experience in the lives of believers.

The principle that I would like to put forward is this: The supernatural character of Christian truth and experience does not remove the basic, normal, human experience of Christians. If “normal” humanity is eclipsed, Christianity ceases to be Biblical, truthful or helpful.

…

Discernment is what we most owe to our weirder brothers and sisters. Not condemnation or rejection, but discernment and simple truth. We need to know our Bibles, and be able to point out the truth of the Gospel. Our lives need to be shaped by Christ, and display evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification and renewing our minds and characters. Even those who have given themselves over fully to every kind of weirdness are usually well aware of their own need of what is real. Many solid Reformed Christians spent a sojourn in this camp, and starved to death while everyone pretended there was a feast.

Intrigued? Incensed? Nodding profusely? You can read the whole article here.

Oh, and if you hadn’t guessed already, I’m nodding profusely.

=======

EDIT!!!

I’ve just read the article for a third time and found the best quote of the lot…

The weirdness looks at the events in the Bible as the first inning, and we are now playing out the game. In actuality, the Bible records the entire game and Christ wins! We are living out that victory now. The point is not the next big thing, but what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Always, being centered on the Gospel and on Christ himself is what we must strive to offer in response to the chaos currently gripping the church.

Amen.