What Was The Eschatology
Behind
The Lakeland Revival?
Eschatology
is the study of end time events
Evangelist Todd Bentley, who led the Lakeland revival from a modest
beginning to near-historic proportions, has filed for separation from
his wife, a former spokesperson said on August 11, 2008, and will not
return to the ongoing revival.
Lynne Breidenbach, who had been a media liaison for
Bentley during the four month-long Florida Outpouring Revival, told The
Ledger that Bentley announced to his staff Monday afternoon that he and
his wife, Shonnah, had separated. The Bentleys have two daughters and a
son and are Canadian citizens. Breidenbach, who resigned as
revival spokesperson Monday, called the news of the separation “very
sad.” “God uses fallen, flawed people. ... This doesn’t invalidate what
Todd did,” she said.
The revival began April 2 at Ignited Church in Lakeland. Bentley
announced two weeks ago that he would end his regular appearances at the
revival on Aug. 23 to resume his traveling evangelistic work, but he was
scheduled to lead services next week. The Rev. Stephen Strader, pastor
of Ignited Church, said Tuesday that he was informed three weeks ago
that Bentley and his wife had been undergoing marriage counseling for a
few years.
Bob Jones proclaimed the
Lakeland revival to be, "The Third Wave."
This Third Wave was
mentored by the most prominent prophets who gave glowing prophecies.
It was endorsed by the
most prominent of the Apostles and Prophets, on stage, on camera,
before multitudes.
Now it has faded into
history after lasting only four months, and becoming just one more
short lived revival.
What do these events
show us about all these Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists?
Revelation concerning
the doctrines behind this movement contributed to its closing
down...because...
Even though the Lakeland Revival is over now,
the information in this article will help you evaluate all future
outbreaks of revival, however big or small they may be.
My prophetic watchman ministry compels me to
look deep into the history, theology, and eschatology of ministries.
Reason being, when a move of God begins, some of the doctrine will
linger in the background until the excitement settles down a bit. The
movement will initially manifest itself in such wonderful things as a
huge number of people getting saved, and/or a huge number of people
are getting miraculous healings, and even the dead are being raised.
This has been going on for some time in nations such as China where
the Christians are under terrible persecution, but it has been a long
time since this has happened in America.
When the newness and excitement settles down
some, then the teachers and preachers come on stage with the
evangelists who were in the forefront of the movement. I remember
this so well from the 60's and 70's during the beginnings of the
Charismatic Movement. With great exuberance I soaked up the theology
of the movement because I hardly even knew there was such a thing as
the Holy Spirit. Ever sense then I have studied church history and all related
subjects extensively, and am now better prepared to understand the
doctrine behind movements before they even start.
Here is the major point I
hope to make in this watchman letter
The thing I am on guard the most about is the
theology and eschatology behind any new move of God. In any doctrinal
group a hefty portion of their theology revolves around, and radiates from, their
eschatology. So a major portion of their theology will only be as sound, or as erroneous
as their eschatology. Let us not be naive and assume that any new
move of God is going to be grounded in your or my end-time teaching. Ignorance is an unguarded door for the enemy to come through unawares.
Now I am asking, what is the eschatology of the current move of God?
Is it even one you have ever heard of before? I have found that
most Christians have never heard the word "Preterist" before, yet we
are surrounded by them. They may be in your denomination and
your church, and you really do need to know what they teach.
The
end-time events include the coming of the antichrist, the 7
year tribulation, the Second Coming, and Christ ruling during
the 1000 years of peace...if you are a Premillennialist.
But if you are a Preterist or Historist you don't believe in
any of these prophesied events.
Here are some doctrinal groups you need to defend yourself from:
Some of the most popular Charismatic leaders are
Amillennialists or Postmillennialists, and are leading their followers into these controversial doctrines:
Amillennialists say
that the Second Coming, the Antichrist reign, and the tribulation all took place in
the era of AD 70 when General Titus
destroyed the temple and marched Judea into captivity, and we have
been in a none-literal millennium ever since AD 70. They
call themselves Preterists. Many Preterists teach Replacement Theology
and Dominion Theology.
Cyprian,
the Bishop of Carthage in A.D. 248 -258, was among the first church
fathers to use the allegorical method to interpret the Bible, a
concept that was used by St. Augustine in the fourth century to
develop the beginnings of Preterism,
and has been the essential position of the Roman Catholic Church ever
since. But it was the Spanish Jesuit Luis De Alcazar
(1554-1613), who wrote a 900 page commentary called Investigation
of the Hidden Sense of the Apocalypse, that developed it further.
Do
you think this doctrine is heretical or just in error?
Postmillennialists
say that the Second Coming can not take place until the end of
the millennium when every human has been led to Christ (allegorically
understood to just mean "a long time" and not a literal 1,000 years).
They call themselves Historists. Many
Historists also teach Replacement Theology and Dominion Theology.
Do you think this doctrine is heretical or just in error?
Premillennialists
are called Futurists because we say that the antichrist will come on
the scene sometime in the future at the onset of the seven year
tribulation period, and that the Second Coming will take place at the
beginning of the millennium. Premillennialism and literal scriptural interpretation dominated the
first two centuries of the Church Fathers.
To the extent that you take the scriptural text
literally, you will be driven to a
premillennial point of view. To the extent you are willing to treat
the text symbolically or allegorically, you will drift toward the
amillennial perspective, rationalizing these promises in figurative
terms. Discovering that God says what He means, and means what He says
--literally-- raises the fog of diffidence and energizes the most
exciting adventure of anyone's lifetime!
The three major Premillennialist groups are the pre-tribulation, the
mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation rapture groups. Few Futurists teach Replacement Theology and Dominion Theology.
Replacement Theology
teaches that the Church has replaced Israel and that the many promises
made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian Church, not
in Israel. Scripture makes it clear there are separate promises to
both, and at times they overlap. (see Romans 11) So, the prophecies in
Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the
Promised Land are “allegorized” into promises of God's blessing for
the Church. To give away land God has given to Israel is to bring the judgment
of Isaiah 55 upon us. In Genesis 12:1-3 God placed this blessing over
the land that was to become Israel: Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go
forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your
father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make
you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless
you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the
families of the earth will be blessed." Do you think this doctrine is heretical or just in error?
Dominion Theology
Teaches that the Gospel of Salvation is achieved by setting up the “Kingdom of
God” as a literal and physical kingdom to be
“advanced” on Earth in the present age. Some Dominionists liken the
New Testament Kingdom to the Old Testament Israel in ways that
justify taking up the sword, or other methods of punitive judgment,
to war against enemies of their kingdom. Dominionists teach that men
can be coerced or compelled to enter the kingdom. They assign to the
Church duties and rights that belong Scripturally only to Jesus
Christ. This includes the esoteric belief that believers can
“incarnate” Christ and function as His body on Earth to establish
His kingdom rule. An inordinate emphasis is placed on man’s efforts;
the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is diminished.
Dominion Theology says the church will
completely Christianize and rule the world (i.e.,a
one world government? with its one world religion, industry,
education, army, etc) before Jesus can return (the Second Coming)
to rule the world. As I understand
this doctrine, they are saying there will not be
a seven year tribulation period or an Antichrist whom the book of
Revelation says will become a One World dictator for a brief time in
history. There will only be Christian super leaders who (in unity of
the spirit with all believers) conquer the world for Christ. And
then Jesus will come again. Dominionism is
always an aberration of true Christian
theology. Do you think this doctrine is heretical or just in error?
Dominion mandate by control
Dominion theology is predicated upon three basic beliefs: 1) Satan
usurped man’s Dominion over the earth through the temptation of Adam
and Eve; 2) The Church is God’s instrument to take Dominion back
from Satan; 3) Jesus cannot or will not return until the
Church has taken Dominion by gaining control of the
earth’s governmental and social institutions.*
[emphasis added]
Al Dager,
Vengeance Is Ours: The Church In Dominion
* Al Dager,
Vengeance Is Ours: The Church In Dominion (Sword Pub., 1990), p.
87. This book is a historical “encyclopedia” of the history of
modern dominionism, clearly demarking the various sects. Dager
approaches the subject from a Christian perspective.
http://www.discernment-ministries.org.
The most published author of Dominion Theology
books is the well known Charismatic theologian,
Peter Wagner. In his latest book,
titled:
DOMINION! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World,he states that he is a
Partial Preterist and a strong advocate of
Dominion Theology. Wagner said his
eschatological views became clarified when he read Victorious
Eschatology by Harold Eberle and Martin Trench. He feels that
Victorious eschatology fits Dominion theology
like a hand in a glove. Eberle and Trench say, "Before Jesus returns,
the Church will rise in glory, unity, and maturity. The Kingdom of God
will grow and advance until it fills the Earth."
In some versions of this concept, the
manifest
Sons of God will already have perfected new Kingdom-bodies, and they will
be able to stride across the earth with the power of gods. The
manifest sons will have a "Joshua Generation" or "Caleb
generation" as followers, the faithful few whom God will
greatly empower. The manifest sons and Joshua
generation would exercise Dominion over society, establish the
Kingdom, complete the Church, and (a few even whisper) perhaps even
complete Jesus, who up until their success is a head without a Body.
The organized bodies of Christianity (denominations, seminaries,
interchurch agencies, most Para church groups, and most especially the
Roman Catholic Church), so Dominion theory goes, are controlled by the
spirit of the Anti-Christ and thus will be among the first to be
vanquished by the new order. This doctrine is know as: The
Restoration Movement, Third Wave,
New Wave, Latter Rain,
Christian Reconstruction and
Manifest Sons of God.
Amongst Southern Baptist theologians,
Rick Warren has
single-handedly accomplished more to bring about a public convergence
between the three sects of dominionism than any other individual.
Warren received his doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary under
the tutelage of his advisor, C. Peter Wagner of the spiritual warfare
Dominionists.
Warren has audaciously called for a “Second Reformation” based upon
his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is a study in dominionism.
No matter how much we read in the Bible about
how Christ and the early church were totally unconcerned with getting
control and power over the world or the nation, or even their own
villages, we can't get this conquest stuff out of our heads.
Christ's followers were not called to seek dominion, they were called
to serve and love.
As you have surmised, I have been alluding to the Lakeland Revival in Florida
All pre-millennial views are probably
less
than perfect (as we are), but at least they are not heretical. Yes, I
believe that Replacement Theology and Dominion Theology and all their sister doctrines are heretical, meaning
these doctrines depart from the basic fundamental tenants of the
faith.
While I believe
God is healing and saving people, and Todd Bentley has a great gift of
faith, and has a strong stage presence, I am very uncomfortable with his "heavenly visits" and elaborations on
colors,
tattooing his arms recently, and piercing his body. But it is
Todd's mentor, Bob Jones and Bob's fellow Dominionists, that is my major
concern. Looking beyond the serious error of Bob Jones' thing with
angels, I find endless references to him being a long-time
practitioner of Latter Rain, Manifest Sons theology, and Kingdom Now Theology,
all of which are part of the Replacement and Dominion Theology
defined here. It is clear to me that Bob Jones is in the background
fathering this movement and mentoring Todd Bentley.
Peter Wagner endorses Todd Bentley
To see the ceremony click on June 23 on God TV
"Participating leaders at the ceremony included [C. Peter] Wagner;
Ché Ahn, pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, Calif.; John
Arnott of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in Canada; Bill
Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, Calif.; and Rick
Joyner, founder of MorningStar Ministries in Charlotte, N.C."
See it at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nVdY9ufJmz8&feature=related
What is the
spirit behind the Dominionist heresy
I have been in the Charismatic
movement since January 1965 — over 40 years. In that time I have seen
a lot of doctrines and streams come and go, or just change. An
observation I have made in my 71 years is that where there is a wrong
spirit, other wrong spirits will be attracted. Whatever the unclean
spirit is at the top of the organization, it will attract other
unclean spirits all the way down the chain of command or association,
whether in secular, political, or religious organizations. The same
thing is true of heresies, there is always a spirit or spirits behind
every heresy.
So, when there is one heresy in a
theological doctrine, other heresies will attach themselves throughout
that doctrinal group.
As I
see it, Dominionism is a heresy often found within the Preterist
heresy, and the driving unclean spirit behind Dominionism is an
arrogant spirit of power, domination, manipulation, and control ...
the spirit of witchcraft.
Do a
Bible
search on "witchcraft" to see what I mean (2 Kings 21:6, 2
Chronicles 33:6). I see New Age practices and fleshly lusts and
perversions in some of the prominent leaders behind this movement. Do a
Google or Yahoo search on Bob Jones and Todd Bentley and you will find a
dozen sites documenting these things.
God isn’t
deceived and knows what He’s doing. He allows things to happen because
we do.
It takes being honest in our research of the uncompromising Word, the
whole council of God.
Speaking the
truth in love
In the Revelation we
are warned that, if possible, even the very elect may be deceived.
It occurs to me that if the deception arose within the elect's own ranks, it
could go unrecognized. Or maybe they are pressured to keep silent about it
by misusing the Scripture in 1 Chronicles that says "Do
not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."
21
He permitted
no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes, saying,
22
"Do not touch
My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."
23Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to
day.
If we are truly born of the Spirit,
then we all are God's anointed ones, and sometimes God calls upon one
prophet to correct (but not harm) another prophet. In the New
Testament we see Paul correcting Peter and other apostles without
doing their ministries any harm...he recognized their calling. But Paul confronted false prophets entirely differently.
So, IF both are TRUE
prophets, and one prophet tries to silence the other with this verse,
that prophet is not recognizing the anointing of the other prophet,
and is guilty of the very thing he is accusing the other of.
But IF one of them is a
FALSE prophet and has an unclean spirit, then the other prophet
will need to do more than bring correction. Rebuke and
deliverance is in order because he/she is indeed a false prophet.
These verses tell us there are in fact false prophets, and that we are
to "test the spirits to see if they are from God" or not.
For
false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs
and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24
But
false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be
false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift
destruction upon themselves. 2 Peter 2:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out
into the world.
1 John 4:1
For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore [it is] no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness
2 Cr 11:13
The
biblical charge to boldly speak the truth (e.g., Philippians 1:14, 1
Thessalonians 2:2) has been subrogated to the “never speak critically”
mantras of the Rick Warren’s purpose-driven church covenants (e.g.,
Don't complain, don't cause problems, eat the chicken and spit out the
bones, prefer our leaders to ourselves). These verses gives me the
right to speak the truth, but I also must speak the truth in love, as
expressed in verse 15 of Ephesians 4:11-16.
11
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as
evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work
of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13
until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which
belongs to the fullness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer
to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in
deceitful scheming;
15
but
speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even
Christ,
16 from whom
the
whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint
supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part,
causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Dr.
Dobson calls that, "Tough love."
Petty issues have been a plot of the devil to divide us. God wants us
unified, connected and moving together in power, but He also wants us
to not only be free of heresy, He expects us to warn the flock when a wolf is amongst us.
This is not a petty issue or holding a grudge, it is simply holding to
the true Word of God ... speaking the truth in love.
Do you see the need to know the eschatology
behind this move of God yet?
If
you were to plot a course from Los Angeles to Guam and your calculations are
off by ½ a degree you will miss the island so badly that you won't
even see the island as you pass by it— unto destinations unknown. We all
rejoice over whoever is truly saved, or receives an actual healing,
but what concerns me is the unclean spirit of Dominion Theology
lurking in the background of this revival. Being off
by a small degree can land this revival off target by a million miles
unless some repentance and repair is done, and done soon.
Please pray for Todd, asking for God to open his
eyes to what needs correction. His heart is right, it is primarily
the misguided mentoring that is throwing him off course, and therefore
the whole movement. Pray for Bob Jones. I am at a loss as to how to
pray for him ... just pray as Father leads you.
Every so often, we hear
reports of some sort of ‘out pouring’ of the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps
it’s worded as “God breaking out.” Those are encouraging reports. We
can give thanks for each person who comes to Christ and each person
who is healed by His saving grace.
My concern is that we are
failing to accurately describe our Lord who is omnipresent. As David
writes in Psalm 139, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where
shall I flee from your presence?”
Or as Paul writes in 1
Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that
God’s Spirit dwells in you? ”If the Holy Spirit dwells inside those
who are in Christ, why do we try to assign a location for the Holy
Spirit to show up? Isn’t He already here, wherever believers are?
I pray
we will truly repent for making idols of signs and wonders instead of
faithfully proclaiming the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world. And His name is Jesus!
The
end-time events prophesied in the Bible include the coming of the antichrist, the 7
year tribulation, the Second Coming, and Christ ruling during
the 1000 years of peace...if you are a Premillennialist.
But if you are a Preterist or Historist you don't believe in
any of these prophesied events.
Please forward this email to your mailing list
if you find this message worthy
Permission is granted
(and you are also encouraged) to reprint this article in hard copy form,
as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own
websites. We ask only that you keep ArkHaven website, email contact info,
and author contact information intact.
A Vision
given to Swarna Jha
"The People of God Will
Sniff"
In these days of
rampant deceptions, God understands the needs of His people
who are constantly begging Him to keep them safe from lies and the
falsities that abound.
Concerning this last link: Can you picture in your mind Jesus kicking old ladies in the
face with a biker boot? If Jesus is our model, does this speak of
Him? And which of the fruit of the Spirit is on display while the
old lady worshiping God is kicked in the face in his name? And
people were laughing in the audience as he bragged about it.
What spirit is in operation here? A personal friend of my wife
was at one of Todd Bentley's meetings, and he hit her ... and she
fell ... and it really hurt. At this time anyhow, she won't go
to another meeting of his.
If you were blessed by this article please consider sowing into this ministry.
[ArkHaven Ministries is NOT tax exempt]
TO SEND CONTRIBUTIONS
Click
button
We would love to hear from you!
Please click on the email button
to share your thoughts with us...
You can
SAVE
money on thousands of items, and do it on-line.
And if that was not enough, there is potential for
unlimited income... by letting your friends know
about this money saving service. We also give you
a chance to make a difference in the world with
your life by showing you how you can help any
cause you believe in!
Let's look at the high points
first: free registration, save money on things you
purchase every day, money making offer.
It's
not
MLM.
It's
notNetwork Marketing.
It's
notan Affiliate
program.
It simply doesn’t fit any
standard business model that most people use to
achieve financial freedom.
It is
COMPLETELY
FREE
– with no cost to whoever
wants to join MPM.
simply shops
on the 1000+ stores
on their own Power Mall...
With
shopping
rebates
paid through 9 Shopping tiers on every purchase made
from our millions of products.
There are
none of the
“Qualification Games”
that make success so difficult to obtain in other
business models.
There are
no meetings
or presentations
to learn. Just put a message like this one in an
email to your friends, and everything is provided to
enable their success. It is that simple.
Every member can
achieve
significant financial income
within the first 3-4 Shopping Tiers, with real wealth
coming as it continues to grow.
Member can
conduct
business anywhere in the world without franchise or
territorial restrictions.
The MPM Business Model is built
on one main concept –
KEEP IT
SIMPLE!
I'm not going to take
time to explain it because MY POWER MALL has created
some powerful movies and a great website that will do
just that. I will tell you it is totally new, totally
FREE, very simple, and can be done in conjunction with
anything else you are doing to generate financial
freedom.
I'm not trying to steal
you away from your current company if you're with one.
I'm offering you a way to create a multiple stream of
income. You could easily be making $4 - 6000 a month,
but your income potential is unlimited. Interested?
Click on the link below!
Ginny Dye, the founder
of My Power Mall, spent many years in the Network
Marketing or Multi-level Marketing Industry. She was a
leader and trainer in her company. Anyone would have
called her a success but she walked away from all of it
5 years ago.
Do you know that only 3%
of people in MLM actually succeed? That means 97% of
them FAIL. She simply could no longer introduce people
to something and ask them for money, commitment and
time; only to watch them fail, drop out and end up
discouraged and disillusioned.
She walked away and never
looked back. During the last 5 years she has worked
with a team of 60 amazing people, investing a half
million dollars of cash and time, to create a simple
system that EVERYONE can succeed with. It is not your
typical MLM. It is not a typical Affiliate Program.
Frankly, it is not a typical anything! It is simply a
brand new concept that will allow the 97% of people who
have failed before to finally succeed!
Stumble It!