About the Lakeland Outpouring…
Following is my response to the concerns of a Messianic Jewish man in Israel in regard to the current “Lakeland Outpouring.” Because I believe MANY are entertaining similar concerns about Todd Bentley and the “revival” taking place in Florida, I thought I’d post these comments. I have changed his name for this posting.
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Thanks for your inquiry, David. Regarding Todd Bentley, I think it best to address Scriptural concerns with similar Scriptural occurrences. There’s nothing new under the sun, after all.
I have often stated that , if someone is being used of God, he could read a soup can label and it would bless the hearers. One could even preach on tithing and have many get saved despite that topic (I’ve heard of this happening).
Let’s see, regarding the “serious deception” of the Lakeland Outpouring (or anything like it)….Peter caught flack for eating with circumcised men. John taught a baptism of repentance, NOT what Jesus was teaching. In Philippians 1:15-18, Paul writes, “…It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.”
Then there was Gamaliel’s words of wisdom when he said regarding those who were followers of this new Jewish sect called Christianity, Peter and some other traveling ministers, “…my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
David, neither my wife nor I have been given a green light from Heaven to go to Lakeland. However, we have both been incredibly blessed - and have observed OTHERS whose lives have been impacted directly or indirectly - as a result of Bentley’s ministry. We spent the weekend in Austin, Texas with a couple who had just come from there and had one dynamic House Church meeting after another, including the three we were part of, one of which took place in a Chinese Church, traditional-style. AWESOME! Apparently the Spirit will move EVEN in a traditional church setting. Imagine that! I have watched Bentley’s meetings on my computer and have been moved to tears as people received healing. I noticed - at least when I was watching - that Jesus was magnified, glorified and exalted as Lord in those meetings. Maybe I caught it at the wrong time (or was it the RIGHT time?) and missed all that angel stuff.
My attitude has always been to eat the meat and spit out the bones. I do NOT have to buy every can o’ peas on the shelf. If I attended this revival and were not revived, I was already either already “vived” or I was a curiosity seeker and NOT a God-seeker or perhaps I was merely a signs and wonders follower. If I went because the Spirit led me there, I’m sure I’d be tremendously blessed.
There has never been a tidy move of God, David. As I’ve studied revivals in world history, I find that the wheat grows right alongside the tares. Cain Ridge, Lamphier’s Revival, Azusa (that black preacher had many CONVINCED this was not of God), even Toronto and Brownsville, all of these revivals had their share of nay-sayers and questionable happenings. The deaf man who heard didn’t care about all that. The blind man was simply glad he was seeing again. Ask the 20+ resurrected people now being attributed to a Lakeland connection if this revival is legit or not and guess what kind of an answer you’ll receive? I’m sure you recall the Lord’s response when John the Baptist has his disciples go to Jesus to ask if He was “the One or would there be another?” Jesus said, ““Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”
Don’t let “Emma” the angel frighten you. There actually is at least one reference to female angels in Scripture (Zech 5:9). God Himself is even referred to as an angel in Scripture. This happens many times in the Bible. Most translations refer to this as the “Angel of the LORD.” The first example occurs in Genesis, chapter 16 where the Angel of the LORD appears to a servant of Abraham (the person whose story the Bible is relating at that time). How do we know this angel we meet in verse 7 is actually God? We have two sources of evidence. First, if you read the language, it sounds like God. After all, a normal (or angelic) person would not say “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (verse 10). The second reason I think the Angel of the LORD is God, is because the servant says so in verse 13. Now, I admit that if this was an isolated incident that my argument would seem weak—but meetings of this type occurred many times.
Like you and me, Todd is an imperfect vessel - human conduit through which the stuff of God comes from Heaven’s throne to our ears. If God can use Balaam’s donkey, He can use Bentley, you or me, amen? The flesh will be with us always but whose job is it to determine that which is of flesh and that which is of God AND do we apply that same standard to tithing, worship, church attendance as well as preaching? Frankly, I see only one Biblical example of The Church gathering in large numbers to hear the Circuit Preacher Paul speak in a one-night-only meeting in a three story house. That was in Troas. Because of the nature of people, especially Jewish people in a time where public decorum was not yet embraced by society at large, I’m sure there may have been a bit more dialogue than the monologue there appears to be in the Biblical account. I mean, after all, the meeting went on until dawn - and nobody said a word but Paul? I have a hard time swallowing that. I also doubt the attendees sat in rows, especially when we consider poor “Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below.” I know, I know…I sound like a true Simple Churcher. Well, that’s me. Point is, God will meet us anywhere by any available means, even a Todd Bentley, even while seated in rows in a building.
I’m extending grace to the Lakeland Outpouring based upon the fruit of those I know whose lives have been greatly impacted (sister and husband, friends, nephew and wife, neighbors) as well as the Biblical situations I referred to above.
I hope this helps. Shalom, amigo!
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of God
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