Christians in America

From a “Letter to Barack“-style article at Fox News comes this concise, perhaps simplistic, but IMHO apt characterization of Christians in America at three levels of intensity in their faith:  Christian, Evangelical, and worldview. 

God bless ‘em all!

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Eighty-four percent of Americans call themselves Christians: when you think of this group, think of John McCain or John Edwards — they’re Christians, but they probably can’t really tell you how they became one, and if you asked them they’d probably say because they were Americans or because their parents were Christian.

Next, 47 percent of Americans are Evangelicals or born-again Christians, i.e., people who can give a time and date when they were “born again” or had a transformative experience with Jesus, — but are sometimes confused on the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. You’d (Note: the article is addressing Barack Obama here) probably be in this category, along with Bill Clinton.

Finally, there is the smaller category of “world view Christians,” around 7 percent of the population — think Mike Huckabee or Pat Robertson — because their faith comes with an accompanying worldview, the kind of stuff they read in books by authors like Chuck Colson, Francis Schaeffer or Nancy Pearcey.

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Wonder Down Under

The Lakeland revival has made it all the way to the other side of the world, as noted in the Sunshine Coast Daily Online:

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But Suncoast Christian Centre senior pastor Chas Gullo says he’s not interested in chasing angels or hero worship, saying it is God who is moving, not Canadian preacher Todd Bentley.

Pastor Gullo was preaching at a church in Florida about six weeks ago when he heard about the ‘Florida Outpouring’ and decided to check it out for himself.

He said in many ways the meetings were similar to other charismatic meetings but there was a far greater spiritual hunger – and expectancy from those attending.

He said since returning to his Woombye church there had people healed of back pain and other ailments – but not as they were being prayed for by him – but rather as they praised God during the service.

“God is doing it sovereignly,’’ Pastor Gullo said.

He said while there were not deaf people hearing or the blind seeing, there were those with sickness and injuries who were testifying they had been healed during the service.

Pastor Gullo said there had also been remarkable restorations of broken marriages and family relationships.

He said the beauty of what was happening at Woombye was that it was not the result of one man’s ministry but just a greater expectation by the whole congregation.

“These people are believing for a move of God from the first note (of the song service),’’ he said.

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As a bonus, how about this from back in the US, the Louisville Courier-Journal :

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Jim Stead, of Salvisa, Ky., said he had been in a wheelchair for 41 years because of injuries he suffered in Vietnam.

He got on stage, saying he felt an explosion of power during the service, and walked and got down and rolled over.

Before the service, “I could walk short distances, then fall down,” he said afterward. “My spine had a catch.

“God has put me back where I was 41 years ago,” he said as his wife and daughter agreed. “I feel like dancing with my wife. I want to go jump rope, I want to ride a horse, I want to do things I haven’t done in 50 years.”

Stead then walked out, pushing his wheelchair as those around him cheered.
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Faith, Fraud, and Optimism

Recently in the Signs and Wonders movement someone planted gemstones in a meeting to create the impression that they came from the Spirit.

That is fraud, and God bless the leaders of that move who were incensed over it and took action.

Fraud is attempting to deceive others for your own gain.

I personally find such fraud to be very rare in the Kingdom (there are some notable and well-documented exceptions), and may there be none of it. 

I have been shown no evidence whatsoever of fraud at Lakeland.   (Someone called in a hoax resurrection report – that was fraud, but it was not by the people who are leading and staffing this outpouring, but rather by its opponents.)

Then there is Faith.

There is a lot of faith at Lakeland. 

Faith is acting on the basis of revelation.  It is acting with conviction based on what has been revealed to us in the Spirit or what we read in the scripture.

Of course what is revealed in the Spirit must not contradict scripture, and what is read in the scripture may be (it does not have to be in order to be acted on!) illuminated by the Spirit.

Certainly there is a lot of faith at work at Lakeland.  May there be even more!

Optimism is a little different.

Optimism is sincerely expecting that good things will happen.  Pondering those things.  Looking forward to them.  I believe the scripture endorses this.  It is not a sin.

Even the OT prophets who saw trouble coming almost always went on to say that in the long run, the earth would be filled with glory and the Lord would reign from Zion.

There is a lot of optimism at Lakeland.  May there be even more!

Another breed of optimism – we could call it relational optimism – is believing the best about others. Also, not a sin.  In fact, it is more like a commandment!

There is a lot of believing the best about people that is surrounding what is happening at Lakeland.

May there be even more!

I choose to look at all the available evidence, and based on that evidence, accept the interpretation that portrays in the best possible light Todd Bentley, Stephen Strader, and the thousands serving at all levels to make this outpouring such a blessing.

After all, they are family.

Thanks and Godspeed to all of them. 

May we all be moved by this event to a greater level of Christian character, humility, and power.  And a greater and deeper love and respect for our whole family.

Offended by Lakeland?

For some reason, some people are not happy with Lakeland.

Yet they are happy to claim to be followers of a Man who ransacked the temple, called people dogs, and on top of that, said anyone who did not eat Him was dead.  Then He died a humilating death Himself.

There is a lot about the Lord to be offended by.

Why do you think He said, “Blessed is he, whosoever is not offended in Me.”?

It seems that He knew that some things He did and some things done to Him would test those who love Him.

When something upsets us, it is up to us to decide whether we will continue to walk with Him anyway.

Todd Bentley upsets people.  But guess what? 

He is a servant to Jesus.

Normally, one thinks of unhealed sickness as what has the potential to offend Christians.  It can be hard to understand why a loving God would leave any of us in pain and incapacitated.  It is easy to sympathize with anyone who struggles over that!

But with Lakeland, oddly enough, it is not sickness, but healing that offends people. 

That healing occurs in the ministry of an individual in whom they find offense.

Some offended by Lakeland said at first, “This is not of God, because there is no healing.”

Then the healings became undeniable.

So they said, “There is healing, but the healings are not from God.”

Then they saw real Christians being healed from real pain and disease.

So they said, “The healings are of God, but He is doing it in mercy, not because He approves of Lakeland.”

Then they saw many being saved and having their lives touched profoundly.

So they said, “God is moving, but He is using a wicked vessel Todd Bentley.”

Now really.  At some point you just have to laugh.

What kind of person gets upset over lives being touched by God? 

Only a true Pharisee.

Give up already.

God bless you, Todd.

And for those of us who need it, may our own personal pharisectomies turn out to be successful operations.

Partial Healing at Lakeland

Dale comments that God does not heal partially as some see happening at Lakeland.

Thankfully, the scripture addresses this by including at least one example of a healing that is a process that starts with partial improvement (Mark 8:24). 

Was Jesus too weak in faith to heal this man completely and immediately with one prayer?  Of course not. Then why didn’t He? 

Even though this precedent is there to help us with this particular question, not everything has to have some precedent in the scripture to be valid.  All it needs is to be edifying.  The scripture teaches that all things are lawful, a truth so important that it appears twice. 

The New Testament question is, What will build people in the faith (“edify”)?

Concerning “partial” healing:  Suppose my vision went from 20/300 to 20/50 after prayer.  That would definitely edify me.

Should I ask the Lord to put it back to 20/300 so I would not be guilty of accepting a partial healing?
 
We see in part, we prophesy in part, and sometimes, we get healed in part.

What if God completely heals part of the problem?  That would appear partial.  Does every healing from God have to result in complete health in every area?  Could He cure your diabetes but not at the same time heal your sore shoulder?  That would be partial.

A better attitude is to accept whatever good gift the Lord offers.

God is the God of gradual, partial progress.  When the children of Israel were entering the land, He said, Little by little I will drive out your enemies from before you.  If He is God, why not drive them out all at once?  Is He too weak?  Of course not.

He is able, but we respond gradually.

The development of the canon, the spread of the gospel, our own spiritual growth – partial and gradual is the way God works.

Why did He not create the earth in a single microsecond?  Is He too slow?  Of course not.  The way He works is often partial and gradual.

Obviously, ultimately in heaven, those of us that love Him will be fully and completely healed.  That will be joyful.

In the meantime, that is no reason to reject anything partial, because on earth, almost everything is partial and gradual. 

It would almost make more sense to be suspicious of anything that was not partial and gradual!

The people healed by Jesus died eventually – I guess the healing that they received was not total after all.

I hear better out of my right ear than I did before Todd Bentley said, “There is a man whose ear is being healed, he will feel a cracking and popping in his ear.”

My ear cracked and popped.  I hear better.  I often talk with the phone to my right ear now.  I hear my wife better when I am driving (Dale, as I am sure you know, in the United States, unlike in England, that means she is on my right!). 

I thank God that He completely healed some of the hearing loss in my right ear.

I look forward to Him completely healing the rest.

We have inside of us the One who is complete and perfect.  We have complete and full forgiveness available to us, and we have complete and full citizenship in heaven.

But as that Perfect One expresses Himself in us, we see the effect gradually and partially, in our thoughts, in our behavior, in our character. 

The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. 

May we all get brighter and brighter every day.  That would please Him.

Thank you, Lord.

A Question About Medically Verified Miracles

Anonymous (I will refer to him as “Dave”) notes below his disapproval of Lakeland and asks what planet I am from.

I thank him for his comment, and since my response is somewhat lengthy, I am making it in a blog post.

First, I am somewhat new at this blogging thing, and still trying to sort out just what I want to see on the site. My current inclination is to try to keep things fairly pleasant, and from that perspective his post seems a little harsh.

But in the interest of allowing plausibly constructive debate, I will keep it for now and we will see how it goes.

The substance of Dave’s post that I will address is, more or less: Since there are no medically verified healings after all these meetings and all these claims, Lakeland is false.

I think that is a reasonable conclusion.

However, I do not accept that conclusion, and this is why.

I experienced healing at a Todd Bentley meeting – a slight but real increase in hearing in one ear. I cannot prove it.

I have a friend who recently posted fairly convincing before-and-after pictures here (scroll to the top of the linked page) showing a healing from scoliosis at Lakeland. Those of us who first saw these pictures were somewhat torn between on the one hand, our desire to push for medical verification, and on the other hand, our wanting to minimize giving the deliriously happy and pain-free person an unnecessarily hard time about her claim. So there may be medical follow-up publicly posted at some point, I do not know.

My daughter is a nurse in an intensive care unit and has personally observed two fairly impressive instances of healing resulting from Lakeland.

A person with terminal cancer, in fact one whom Todd kicked, testifies online that that he saw an unprecedented 53% drop in his CEA (Carcinogenic Embryonic Antigen) number as a result. For those who might try to google that, “Carcinogenic” is mispelled as “Carcenogenic” in some excerpts of this person’s testimony.

My recollection is that in the Nightline episode, the parents of the young man with spina bifida were cited as having said that he shows improvement.

On Todd Bentley’s web site there are many testimonies of healing, including some I have pasted in here.

None of these is a medically verified healing. Nor does the scripture indicate that any of the healings performed by Jesus were medically verified. It does indicate, sadly, that entire cities that saw the miracles rejected Jesus. So it stands to reason that there must have been excuses developed by the people of Capernaum and Chorazin to make it possible for them to discount the healings in order to reject the healer.

Also, as I tried to explain here, for a number of reasons only a fraction of actual healing miracles will end up ever being medically verified.

Nevertheless, I fully sympathize with Dave’s desire to see medical verification.

I personally suspect that Dave is zealous for the Lord and that he would like to see miracles which he could accept as genuine. Like him, I have not seen any such documentation coming out of Lakeland. Perhaps to a lesser extent than he does, I too see the absence of any such documentation as inconsistent with the number of healings that are announced on stage.

However, I attribute this to sloppiness, legal difficulties, and other reasons, and not to duplicity.

In part, I give Fresh Fire the benefit of the doubt because everyone who knows Todd Bentley personally testifies to his integrity. Whatever the sins he committed in his early teens, everyone who has known him and worked with him as a Christian and as a ministry appears to believe in him as a decent and honest person, tattoos and all.

Finally, I do not agree with the implication that everyone who believes that some actual healings have occurred as a result of Lakeland, or sees the work of the kingdom happening there (people being saved and having their lives impacted in a positive manner) needs to be asked what planet they are from.

Nevertheless, the answer to that question is that I (and Dave as well, I trust) am a citizen of heaven.

I have heard differing opinions as to whether that is a planet.

On a happy day, we shall find out.

May God bless us all.

Dan

Todd Takes a Break!

Personally I am extremely glad that Todd Bentley has stepped out of the limelight for a while. 

I have been enjoying him as a ministry, but concerned for him as a person.  He is so young, and yet he finds himself in the middle of something so huge.

Even the Lord Himself gave no more than a tithe of His earthly years to highly visible full-time ministry.

How much more stressful it must be for Todd when his ministry, like the Lord’s, directly challenges the religious establishment in some manner.

After the enormous level of stress he must have endured, Todd deserves to live the rest of his life in obscurity and peace, perhaps like Evan Roberts, the spearhead of the legendary Welsh Revival. 

Who knows what will happen, but I hope Todd can at least decelerate, survive re-entry, and live a normal life for as long as suits him and his family. 

God bless you, Todd! 

Enjoy your break, friend - you earned it!

May other ministries continue to arise to fill any void.

Whatever best serves the kingdom!  May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

For the time being, the meetings in Lakeland are off God TV but are still being streamed. 

The impact of this move of God will continue to be felt around the world.

Invitation From Lakeland

This is what Todd Bentley shared on May 23 at Lakeland.

Do you hear what she said — “I came to get saved by Jesus”.
Say, “Jesus I give my life my heart my soul to you I need a Savior I want you to be the Lord of my life and save me.”
Who else needs to get saved by Jesus! Come down here right now. Come and get saved. Don’t even hesitate. If you want me to pray with you and you will receive Jesus Christ and you want to be saved and you want to know tonight, right now I’m calling you out. Get saved by Jesus.
If you’re watching me on the God channel, or you’re watching me on the Internet -
A little girl has enough faith to say I know Jesus – He’s real – I want him to come into my heart
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior I’m telling you to get down here right now.
I want you to come and say, “I need to get saved.”
You want to get right with heaven.
Turn to your neighbor on the right and left and say, “Do you know Jesus?”
You come and stand before the Lord. I want you to come because you know that you need Jesus.
You’re saying, “Todd, I don’t know about my salvation, I’ve never been to a meeting like this.” You can be a new creation tonight.
I think it’s time for you to say, “Jesus I want to know you tonight.”
I want you to close your eyes and pray this prayer.
Do you want to give your life to Jesus?
Do you want to give your life to Jesus?
I want you to pray with me right now.
The only way that you can be saved is that you must believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again. You must believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The only way you can really be saved is that you must make a conscious decision: Tonight I’m going to repent of my sin and I’m going to ask God to help me change my life.
You’re saying, “I want to be a new creation.”
Is that the commitment you’re going to make tonight?
Because you must be born again to see the kingdom of God.
Do you want to see the kingdom of heaven? The only way you can know that there is eternity for you is that you’re born again and that can only happen when you come to faith and you realize that you need a Savior and you make that decision. Not my prayer, your prayer.
But if you’ll pray from the bottom of your heart and believe tonight, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Bible says you shall be saved.

Rick Joyner on Lakeland

Rick Joyner has been a true gift to me since I first saw him speak in 1991.  He has a heart for the whole church. 

He always somehow seems to have complete love, patience, and to the greatest degree possible, affirmation, even for those who disagree with him. 

His insights on Lakeland are here.  What a blessing you are, Rick!

The Impact of Lakeland

What will be the far-reaching impact of Lakeland? 

The ripples of the visit of the Holy Spirit to Lakeland extend into eternity.

Similarly, many went to the visitation in Toronto burned out and left refreshed.  As a result of the rejuvenated lives coming out of Toronto, there are literally millions saved and being taught to walk with the Lord around the world.

There will be many set free physically and spiritually, recharged, and equipped by Lakeland to carry the gospel into the world.  This will result in millions more in the Family forever!

Thanks to God for Todd Bentley, Roy Fields, and all the people that make this possible by serving, attending, ministering, and giving in whatever fashion.

We are part of a magnificent program of changing the world and changing people and ushering people into a wonderful eternity with each other, the saints of old, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is called the Kingdom of God.

Where will the next outpouring be?  This is so exciting.

The Kingdom has so many manifestations. 

It is there when someone is shouting to the world on stage at Lakeland.

It is there in the quietness and obscurity of our individual lives as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and as the still small voice of the Spirit, the scriptures, our friends, and the testimonies of our own consciences take us through that lifelong process of transformation to which we are all called.

May we learn to appreciate Him in all His manifestations.

What a marvelous journey it is.