Is this that? Relections on the Florida Outpouring – Matthew 11:1-19
http://www.churchatthegate.com/podcast.php

This is a transcription I found of Todd Bentley preaching at Lakeland on May 23 – his actual words – it is certainly a clear salvation message.

God bless.

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Todd:

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.

In 2000, I was having two debilitating migraines a week – these would shut all life for me down and a doc in our church was giving me samples of Zomig ($10 a pill) and these high powered meds barely even touched the pain.

In 2000, we held a prayer conference in our church in conjuction with some PRAY TEXAS folks and they had a worship leader named Rueban leading worship. After worship, Rueban came to me as I was sitting in the back of the church. He could tell something wasn’t right and I told him a migraine was coming on. He asked if he could pray for me and I said yes. He gathered a few others over to me – he prayed… I remember weeping (I almost never break down like that but something was different here). Then he forcefully hit my forehead with the heel of his hand and said “spirit of infirmity be gone in Jesus’ name!”

You have to understand, when I would get a migraine, my hair would even hurt – touching me would have been bad, let alone hitting me in the head. My wife gasped because she was so shocked. BUT MY MIGRAINE WENT AWAY IN THAT MOMENT AND HAS NEVER RETURNED!!!!

I PRAISE GOD FOR USING RUEBAN TO HEAL ME AND THE SHOCK AND PAIN (I FELT NONE REALLY) OF HIM HITTING ME WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE PAIN I WAS LIVING WITH.

I will say, I do not recommend nor do I allow people in our church to hit people we pray for, but again I was completely healed. A couple months later the doc who was feeding me samples of Zomig asked why I hadn’t come asking for more… I told him “I didn’t want to jinx it but I think I was healed.” Shortly thereafter I sensed God say “if you don’t give me glory for this, you can have your migraines back.” Today, I publicly tell of my healing as often as I can. Shortly thereafter we had a healing outpouring in our church and 60 people were healed. I pray that we are now entering another great healing outpouring here in our city.

Last thought… the Florida Outpouring is not half as extreme as what I have seen went I went to Nigeria in 2005 to soak in the revival there. WHen I listen to America Christians struggle with what is happening in Lakeland I sometimes think we are so sheltered and soft and have no grasp on what is happening in the dark corners of the earth as the kingdom of God drives out darkness.

And, back to Bentley’s methods, evangelicals for the most part are vastly unaware of the variety of deliverance methods/practices that are out there in the church globally. I’ve seen strong authoritative ministers run demons down and shout at people who are possessed. This also, in part, explains what Bentley is up to.

Even so, your concern is very valid and I’m sure that many are rejecting Lakeland because of these practices. That’s why I list Bentley’s occasional violent methods/talk as something I wish were quite different.

“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.” Matthew 11:12

Evangeline,
Thanks for commenting. A couple things… there is much evangelism underway in Lakeland – it may not be evident from the TV but extended altar calls with clear gospel presentations happened each night I was there. People were called to repentance and faith in Jesus. In the AM hundreds are trained for street evangelism and sent out into the streets for the day. Also, people who are coming are leaving sharing the faith with great boldness in restaurants and airports and continue to do so after they get home. The evangelism of this revival stood out to me MORE than did the emphasis on healing.

On the fact that Bentley “kicks people in the face.” There are perhaps six things about him and this revival that I’d quickly change if I were in a position to do so. You have identified one. I have seen and heard Bentley do as you say but it’s not to anoint people or get God to touch them. Bentley talks about God asking him to do these things to test his obedience and willingness to do whatever God is asking him to do. God has led me to do some things way out of my zone of comfort so I can appreciate that. But, I’ve never heard God say anything such as kick or knee somebody. The lady Bentley felt God tell him to kick in the face actually didn’t get kicked in the face. Just as his foot went up she fell back under the power of God. It was a bit of an Isaac/Abraham moment – “sacrifice the child, no wait, I just wanted to see if you really would.” How willing are we to do what God asks? That I think is Bentley’s point. But again, I stress, I’m not-a-fan-at-all of talking about kicking people in the face. If nothing else, talk about this in small closed settings not on international TV where these things are greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted.

Final thought on God asking his people to do crazy stuff… Jesus “spit” in someone’s eyes one time didn’t he? Elisha laid on a dead boy once. Ezekiel spoke of seeing bizzare stuff.

The passage you quote – Lord, Lord didn’t we do many miracles… – two nights ago at the revival it was all about intimacy with Jesus – daddy stuff, Kiss the Son, etc. This passage – Lord, Lord is important. Repeating a name is a semitic expression of intimacy. JEsus is saying there are people out there “doing his work” who have no intimate relationship with him. He will say away from me I never knew you.

Again, Bentley speaks of intimacy with Jesus. HOWEVER, I’m been trying to make the point that the revival police who I’ve met are quite different. They love a good fight about JEsus more than they love Jesus.

[I'VE ADDED AN ADDITIONAL COMMENT TO EVANGELINE BELOW]

If that is your vision, sign me up.

here are four wonderful guidelines that I go by when discerning whether something is of God… Did Jesus preach it? Did Jesus practice it? Did the Apostles preach it, or did they practice it? I can not see Jesus kicking someone in the face, or choking someone, or drop kicking someone so they can receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It’s given by God as a gift given in Love.

Matthew 7:22-23 says ” Many will say on that day Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and preform many miracles? Then I will tell him plainly ‘I never knew you, Away from me you evil doers’”.

Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Why would he do something so drastically different now, then what he has done in the past? I know that God does not need to kick someone in the face to anoint them. He could speak a single word and they would fall on their faces, why would he have to kick them first? He doesn’t need to drop kick them to get them on the ground. His Holy presence is enough to break the mountains.

Please check out this site, and ask yourself… Can you honestly say that Christ would do this, or Peter or Paul, or even John the Baptist?

Jack, the verses in Romans are really helpful and I appreciate your comments on the Uzzah Scripture.

By my estimation, there are ten negative posts on this revival for every positive one. Those who are delighted to see it unfold aren’t wasting moments talking about it online. However, those against it are aggressively using the web as a place to so discord and doubt. So, I’ve been praying God will some lead people he wants to touch with this move of God to my posts instead of these others. If he does so for one person and they end up touched by God my purpose has been served.

When is revival not polarizing? The Kingdom of God is polarizing.

Had David been within the guidelines of the direction of God for His Glory, Uzzah would not have needed to die.

This has little to do with Lakewood, but I find the analogy with the story unfitting. As far as what is happening in Lakewood, I know nothing first-hand. I do find it interesting that it is causing such polarization within the body.

We do need to stop working to convince each other of what we believe to be right and allow God to make it real for us alone.

Romans 14:4-6 (New American Standard Bible)
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

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4(A)Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5(B)One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike Each person must be (C)fully convinced in his own mind.

6He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he (D)gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

check out this story!!!