Post by Paddy by Grace on Sept 7, 2008 19:32:12 GMT -7
Date: 07/03/2008 07:14:49 AM
These are definitely very serious times that we live in. I pray that each of us will search our hearts to see if there is anything in there that is not of the Lord Jesus and totally surrender. So much of our flesh cries out for attention and the word of God says we are to crucify it. May we all come back to the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ and the cross on which He died for us. This message below sent to me says what I believe to be true.......
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
I pray this letter finds each one of you in good health and growing in the knowledge and revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom goes ALL the glory and honor and praise .
The reason I am writing this letter comes from a deep concern and burden for the Body of Christ and the preservation of the integrity, the purity and truth of the word of God as well as the desire to see the unadulterated word being preached from the pulpit.
This letter is an invitation to test the spirits, to examine all things in the light of scripture as well as to sound a clarion call and warning to the Body of Christ to be beware of deception .
Before I start writing I want to say that it is my hearts desire to see God move in power, to see revival and reformation within the body of Christ .
However I am not willing to just jump into every wind of doctrine that presents itself as a move of God and I am sure not willing to accept something as a move of God at the cost of compromising the truth or lowering my standard for truth written out in the Word of God in order to fit the move.
I am very concerned and appalled at the increasing amount of false teachings, deception, apostasy, demonic as well as fleshy natured practices have been creeping into the Church and being accepted as being of God , although I am not surprised because scripture foretells this to happen .
One of the latest one of those moves that causes great concern to me is the so called Lakeland Revival / Outpouring lead by Todd Bentley that started during a series of meetings at Ignited Church in Lakeland Florida and has been going strong for the last approx. 8 weeks and been attracting thousands of Christians from all over the world traveling to Lakeland to receive an impartation , a touch , a healing .
I have been following this move for some time now with increasing concern and unbelief at the heresy, demonic manifestations and erroneous unbiblical teachings, beliefs and practices going forth that are being accepted as from God .
Scripture teaches clearly in 1John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. "
Below are some concerns of mine , although this is not an exhaustive list and merely touches the top of the iceberg of this entire move as well as all the other moves and ministries linked and connected with it. I also would like to add that Lakeland is not the first time I heard about Todd Bentley and all the other moves, matter of fact I used to be on Todd Bentleys mailing list and some others for quite some time and due to major concern about some of the heretical teachings being promoted that I encountered eventually left those lists .
1. Firstly I see a lack of preaching of the word, a lack of preaching repentance , holiness and instead a great emphasis on manifestations, feelings, getting drunk , experiences, angels, signs and wonders and very little of preaching the word .
Mark 16:20 tells us that " And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." The apostles preached the word, they preached repentance and they preached the Gospel, Salvation and the kingdom and the preaching was backed up, was followed by signs at wonders.
At Lakeland first there is the focus on signs and the wonders, the manifestation the getting drunk and the invitation to " come get some " to ALL, the invitation to get some sort of impartation , no matter what their spiritual state , whether they are even saved and then at the very end there may be a short ' salvation' message and a quick ' if you want this God then pray this prayer " kind of message . Yet even then you hear little about true repentance and the invitation is more toward if one wants the God of the miracles, the feel good, the getting drunk rather then a pointing out of their wretched state of their own souls and eternal d**nation and the need for repentance .
Usually the preaching of salvation is pretty short and I have seen it happen that the asking for the offering at the end , getting people to ' sow into revival so it wont die " (which is not biblical btw either ) , was longer and more dragged out then the talk about peoples need for a savior . Otherwise when there is preaching , the preaching is usually build around to make it fit the 'revival' and the support of what is happening rather than true preaching truth from the word.
Going back to sowing into the revival so it won't die because according to what is proclaimed at Lakeland ' the greatest enemy of revival is a spirit of poverty" . Where in the bible to we find support for a statement. Where do we see the Jesus or the apostles go around and collect money so the Holy Spirit wont stop touching and healing people ? Where do we see when people was healed that the apostles started collecting money with the remark ' if you don't sow into this then God will not continue to heal and deliver anymore and all this will die down "
If this statement is true why then do we see true revival and true moves of God in countries like Africa, China where there is great poverty as well as great persecution ? Money has never been and never will be an issue for God to ' stop' a revival, however revivals have stopped in the past because man tried to take over and make a move fit their agenda.
2. Todd Bentley for years now ( even while I was still on his list and this was one reason why I unsubscribed ) has placed a great focus on angels and teaches about his experiences with angels that can't be backed up or validated by scripture or are simply in contradiction with the word of God.
a. Todd teaches that there is healing angels that come and heal people at the revival
One quote by Todd on Apr 26 2008
Thank God for the anointing, thank God for that healing
thank God for that transferable, tangible healing anointing.
But there is something different that happens when the healing angel comes . I will tell you that this outpouring began with the vision that I want to share with you . I want you to get hungry, because this is a whole lot more of a prophetic story. I'm prophesying to you now.
I believe something is going to be released into the atmosphere, as we begin to talk. Because I was waiting on the Lord tonight, I saw heaven open in this place. I saw the Lord come down tonight. I saw the healing angel come down tonight . There was a mighty pool of Bethesda. There was a stirring of the healing waters tonight. There is going to be a release of those healing spirits. There is going to be a release of those healing angels.
In different ministries that are here tonight . Oh my God, how would you like to say " Lord let me take one of those angels home with me."
First of all the bible doesn't teach us that there is an healing angel, but the bible says that Jesus is the Healer and that by HIS stripes we where healed .
Secondly it is not scriptural to desire or asked God to " take home an angel " . We are not to worship angels and place a great emphasis on them.
b. Todd also frequently has spoken about an angel that supposedly follows him around and has ' partnered ' with his ministry. He says this angel is named Emma and is the same angel that according to him started the Kansas city prophetic movement.
Emma is supposedly to be the angel of the prophetic that has been part of Kansas city as well as now of Todd Bentleys ministry.
The bible does not indicate anywhere that there is any female angels. All angels mentioned in the bible are male. Female angels are not scriptural .
Also nowhere does the bible indicate or mention angels of the prophetic or that angels start a movement . God is the initiator, not angels .
c. Another angel Todd frequently mentions is the angel of the wind of change and the angel of revival, that according to him has started this revival.
Once again all those angels that are being named( "angel of wind of change" , " angel of revival " are not biblical and nowhere is the notion in the bible that angels start revivals, movements etc.
One of the greatest " outpouring ' of Gods Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost ( Acts 2 ) and was the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to send the comforter. It was the result of those in the upper room seeking the Lord in unity , in prayer, probably fasting and laying down their lives, probably repentance and resulted in the Holy Spirit coming down on each one of them as a mighty rushing wind with tongues of form , empowering them to preach the gospel with boldness.
The purpose of this outpouring was not so they could get blasted or loathe in the ' drunken glory ' , nor was it so they could have all kinds of weird manifestations or have angelic visitations , but the purpose was to empower them to preach the gospel with boldness.
d. Todd also believes instead of going to God for financial provision that he can just partner with the angels by petitioning God for a release of the angels that are assigned to get him money so they can go to the four corner of the earth to gather money for him . Where in the bible do we read of financial angels?
e. I'm also very concerned about the extreme overall focus on the angelic realm and angels in general. There seems to be a greater mention of angels and visions of angels than the mentioning of Jesus . I have even witnessed in one of the meetings where there was repetitious chanting of Todd and the crowd for the angels to come and the release of angels in the meeting.
That is NOT biblical . we are not to worship angels, nor are we told anywhere in the bible to seek angels , to call on angels at our bidding.
Col 2:18 "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, "
Yes God does send angels. The bible says they are ministering spirits and they are messengers but it is at Gods bidding to use them for His purposes.
Its very dangerous ground we place ourselves on when we desire or seek angelic visitations , because it opens the doors for the enemy to come in as an angel of light and pose as a messenger from God .
f. Another serious error Todd Bentley is spreading is that he says that God told him that it was more important to get people to believe in the angel than in Jesus , because according to Todd, God told him people already believe in Jesus but they don't believe in the supernatural .
Transcribed Quote from Todd Bentley
" Now for some of you that are here it doesn't matter all that stuff, all you care is Gods moving and you know what that's all that really matters . So if you are not big on prophetic, supernatural and angels, I'm sorry , its my testimony . But if you wanna know why Gods moving, I have to tell you the whole story and if you don't believe the story, well ....sorry .
You know I told the Lord, "why cant I just move in healing and forget talking about all that other stuff? " HE said" because , Todd you gotta get the people to believe in the angel " I said" God why do I want people to believe in the angel. Isn't it about getting the people to believe in Jesus ? "
He said : " The people already believe in Jesus , but the church doesn't believe in the supernatural . "
"The church has no problem believing in Jesus , what we don't believe in is the supernatural , we don't believe in angels , we don't believe in the prophetic , we don't believe in some of what's going on . And I tell you what. We need to have an awakening
I said" but God maybe you wanna give this ministry to somebody else, because nobody is gunna receive it in the package that I come in . I said " you gotta give me the most controversial testimony , you gotta visit me with all this supernatural stuff, I mean, hey maybe if I was a little more clean shaven and polished , people would believe me more . or maybe the world is looking for something new . How many of you believe we need something NEW? "
This is utter erroneous teaching and this was NOT God telling him that, because God would never go against His own word. All creation testifies of Jesus , all scripture points to Christ and even the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself but points to and testifies of Jesus . It is not about the angels, not about the supernatural, not about anything BUT Jesus. Its a dangerous place when we get our priorities out of order as well as stop being satisfied and content with the truth already laid out in Scripture and start seeking something NEW.
3.Thirdly Todd as well as many in the prophetic movement including Bob Jones, Patricia King and others teach that they can enter third heaven and encourage and teach others to strive for seeking those type of experiences as well as how to have those kind of experiences.
This is not scriptural. Yes, the bible speaks of third heaven encounters and trances and gives examples of those that God took up to third heaven or took them into a trance or open visions or transported them to a different location either in the spirit or physically. Some that come to mind are Paul, Peter, Ezekiel, Philip. But in each one of those cases it was God initiating those experiences for a specific purpose.
One example, Paul, was given great revelation when taken up to heaven, but he had such humility and brokenness that he didn't even outright say that it was him that had the experience but speaks of " I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me. ( 2 Cor 12:2-6 )
It was God initiating and , so different to what we see at those meetings where there is great boasting about all the different types of visions, angelic encounters, third heaven experiences they was given. Todd even claims to have had gone to the third heaven and talked to the apostle Paul who in term revealed to him that he with the help of Abraham was the one writing the book of Hebrews. ( when did it become ok to speak to those that have died? )
Also it is being taught in those circles that everybody should seek third heaven encounters as according to their teachings that is where relationship starts. They teach that yes we where seated in heavenly places when we where born again but when we go to the third heaven we start a relationship and there it is where we can begin to see things According to their teachings it is very important that people go to the third heaven because they got hooks in them down here on earth but when they go up go past the second heaven the hooks come out and whatever hooks the enemy got in them , when they go to the third the hooks come out .
Not only is all this seeking and going at will to the third heaven teaching unbiblical more so it is demonic and comes straight from new age guided visualization techniques as well as spirit travel teachings. Also it creates a spiritual elitist mentality because unless one seeks or has had those encounters they are truly not deemed as spiritual and not seeking the ' deep' things of God. Despite all the new agy undertone to all those teachings, it is widely and openly embraced as Christian and in Christian circles.
4. There is some strange manifestations going on including uncontrollable jerking and vibrating .
its been taught in this outpouring by Todd as well as Bob Jones that the vibrating has spiritual significance. Bob Jones announced to Todd Bentley that when one vibrates there is 2 portals one clock wise portal and another counter clockwise portal . the teaching is that if someone vibrates clockwise it closes demonic vibration and means healing, but if someone vibrates counterclockwise is means it is demonic.
This is not a joke, but an actual teaching being taught in the Lakeland , Kansas city prophetic movement and is not biblical and utterly false, heretical doctrine. Also nowhere in scripture do we see Jesus or the disciples manifest like animals, jerk, scream, or have any other uncontrollable body movements or sounds manifest.
5. Another great concern of mine is the taking of that which is holy and making it profane and my spirit is deeply grieved at the grave blasphemy and taking the precious and holy things of God and making them common.
To name only a few, but people are being laid hands on ' in the name of BAM " ( not in the name of Jesus ), the Holy Spirit has been named the " Holy shekababa boom bam "
Gods precious glory and presence , becomes the ' drunken glory " and great focus is placed on getting ' whacked" and ' juiced up ' as well as expressions such as 'Lord thank you for that bam boomba anointing " , " we gunna shooba boomba bam wham pop everybody " , " i got some boomba" .
Lakeland is just the tip of the ice berg of all the profanity done in the Lords name but there many other ministries and streams that are connected to all this and are partnering and supporting Todd Bentley and the Lakeland "revival" such as the entire Kansas City prophetic movement , the new mystics move, Patricia Kings Extreme Prophetic that is closely connected to Todd Bentley and also promotes and highly focuses on the angelic realm , manifestations, visitations and validating experiences such as hunting after gems, feathers , orbs and other weird unbiblical manifestations .
Just as at Lakeland we can see the same kind of focus on getting drunk and the same kind of profane, blasphemous and disrespectful language when referring to the Holy Spirit and the things of God by using terms such as " toking the ghost " ( refers to getting high on the Holy Spirit ) , Jehovahuana ( comparing the precious Holy Spirit to smoking marihuana and getting high ) , Godka ( getting drunk on God instead of Vodka ) and the Holy Spirit becomes the Holy Ghost bartender or they speak of bartender angels .
I don't think I have to go on to convey the grave disrespectfulness of those involved in those movements and the tremendous lack and absence of the fear of the Lord at Lakeland as well as all the connecting ministries.
As I said this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is much more erroneous teaching that comes from those ministries . To mention all or every detailed insistence would take too much time to write all down , because there is so much and defies the overall purpose of me writing the letter. Mentioning some of the things going on and being taught serves merely as an example of the heresy, the error and to demonstrate the source of the things going on .
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Based on this teaching and saying by our Lord we then have to ask ourselves if a tree (e.g. ministry) teaches and spreads erroneous teachings that is heavily tainted by the New Age as well as places heavy focus on unbiblical teachings and offbase experiences than how can this tree, which with its roots drinks and gets nourishment from another Gospel, be able to produce healthy,godly fruit and impart that into people or more so should we then not be greatly concerned to partake, to go or even have hands laid on us and some sort of ' anointing ' being imparted and transferred into us? It is not possible !
Galatians 1: 6-9 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. "
This move is a very dangerous move and many are being deceived into believing this is a genuine revival and it spreads rapidly because many are receiving impartations and take them to their churches and countries.
This move at its root has a spirit of divination and an anti Christ spirit operating (in the Greek the word anti does not only mean ' against' but also ' Instead of" ...and there is much that is going on that is being infiltrated that is instead of Christ , instead of the true anointing and instead of the Truth ) , as well as new age teachings.
People hear the worship and see signs and wonders and see and hear all kinds of testimonies of healings and because of that throw out every discernment of the spirits operating behind the entire move as well as many are out there that won't test the spirits because this move tickles their ears and caters to their own desires of getting blessed and want feel good experiences and seek after visitations without repentance and paying the price .
The bible says in Matthew 24:24 " For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. "
2 Thes 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Just because something feels good, sounds good or we perceive a presence there or we see the supernatural operating does NOT mean it is of God. Satan is a counterfeiter and he appears as an angel of light.
the kingdom of God
But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
I want to urge you to not receive this move, to test the spirits , to hold on to the truth, not just with this move but with ALL things because there has much deception, much apostasy , compromise, much tickle the ear of the masses crept into the Church and not much truth can be found anymore in the Body of Christ. many are giving heed to a different gospel and want to be fed with spiritual candy
I'm so grieved and appalled to see the precious and holy things of God being marred , to see the price He paid to be taken so lightly and being replaced by things that are so disrespectful and make the Gospel and Christ's sacrifice look like a circus at best .
We as a Church need to repent , dearly cling to and know the truth , and come back to a place of the fear of the Lord that is so greatly absent from the false gospel preached and presented in so many of the modern moves and churches .
The gate is narrow , so is the path that we are to walk on and the price to walk on this path is costly and will cost us everything . We as a church live in an hour where its more important than ever before to stay in the word and to test every spirit because the deception is growing greater and greater .
This is a matter of life and death because many will be deceived and already are and none of us can say they are beyond deception.
We need to know the truth , for truth is the only antidote against deception.
May the Lord richly bless you and keep you
In Him,
Chris Hirsh
These are definitely very serious times that we live in. I pray that each of us will search our hearts to see if there is anything in there that is not of the Lord Jesus and totally surrender. So much of our flesh cries out for attention and the word of God says we are to crucify it. May we all come back to the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ and the cross on which He died for us. This message below sent to me says what I believe to be true.......
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
I pray this letter finds each one of you in good health and growing in the knowledge and revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom goes ALL the glory and honor and praise .
The reason I am writing this letter comes from a deep concern and burden for the Body of Christ and the preservation of the integrity, the purity and truth of the word of God as well as the desire to see the unadulterated word being preached from the pulpit.
This letter is an invitation to test the spirits, to examine all things in the light of scripture as well as to sound a clarion call and warning to the Body of Christ to be beware of deception .
Before I start writing I want to say that it is my hearts desire to see God move in power, to see revival and reformation within the body of Christ .
However I am not willing to just jump into every wind of doctrine that presents itself as a move of God and I am sure not willing to accept something as a move of God at the cost of compromising the truth or lowering my standard for truth written out in the Word of God in order to fit the move.
I am very concerned and appalled at the increasing amount of false teachings, deception, apostasy, demonic as well as fleshy natured practices have been creeping into the Church and being accepted as being of God , although I am not surprised because scripture foretells this to happen .
One of the latest one of those moves that causes great concern to me is the so called Lakeland Revival / Outpouring lead by Todd Bentley that started during a series of meetings at Ignited Church in Lakeland Florida and has been going strong for the last approx. 8 weeks and been attracting thousands of Christians from all over the world traveling to Lakeland to receive an impartation , a touch , a healing .
I have been following this move for some time now with increasing concern and unbelief at the heresy, demonic manifestations and erroneous unbiblical teachings, beliefs and practices going forth that are being accepted as from God .
Scripture teaches clearly in 1John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. "
Below are some concerns of mine , although this is not an exhaustive list and merely touches the top of the iceberg of this entire move as well as all the other moves and ministries linked and connected with it. I also would like to add that Lakeland is not the first time I heard about Todd Bentley and all the other moves, matter of fact I used to be on Todd Bentleys mailing list and some others for quite some time and due to major concern about some of the heretical teachings being promoted that I encountered eventually left those lists .
1. Firstly I see a lack of preaching of the word, a lack of preaching repentance , holiness and instead a great emphasis on manifestations, feelings, getting drunk , experiences, angels, signs and wonders and very little of preaching the word .
Mark 16:20 tells us that " And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." The apostles preached the word, they preached repentance and they preached the Gospel, Salvation and the kingdom and the preaching was backed up, was followed by signs at wonders.
At Lakeland first there is the focus on signs and the wonders, the manifestation the getting drunk and the invitation to " come get some " to ALL, the invitation to get some sort of impartation , no matter what their spiritual state , whether they are even saved and then at the very end there may be a short ' salvation' message and a quick ' if you want this God then pray this prayer " kind of message . Yet even then you hear little about true repentance and the invitation is more toward if one wants the God of the miracles, the feel good, the getting drunk rather then a pointing out of their wretched state of their own souls and eternal d**nation and the need for repentance .
Usually the preaching of salvation is pretty short and I have seen it happen that the asking for the offering at the end , getting people to ' sow into revival so it wont die " (which is not biblical btw either ) , was longer and more dragged out then the talk about peoples need for a savior . Otherwise when there is preaching , the preaching is usually build around to make it fit the 'revival' and the support of what is happening rather than true preaching truth from the word.
Going back to sowing into the revival so it won't die because according to what is proclaimed at Lakeland ' the greatest enemy of revival is a spirit of poverty" . Where in the bible to we find support for a statement. Where do we see the Jesus or the apostles go around and collect money so the Holy Spirit wont stop touching and healing people ? Where do we see when people was healed that the apostles started collecting money with the remark ' if you don't sow into this then God will not continue to heal and deliver anymore and all this will die down "
If this statement is true why then do we see true revival and true moves of God in countries like Africa, China where there is great poverty as well as great persecution ? Money has never been and never will be an issue for God to ' stop' a revival, however revivals have stopped in the past because man tried to take over and make a move fit their agenda.
2. Todd Bentley for years now ( even while I was still on his list and this was one reason why I unsubscribed ) has placed a great focus on angels and teaches about his experiences with angels that can't be backed up or validated by scripture or are simply in contradiction with the word of God.
a. Todd teaches that there is healing angels that come and heal people at the revival
One quote by Todd on Apr 26 2008
Thank God for the anointing, thank God for that healing
thank God for that transferable, tangible healing anointing.
But there is something different that happens when the healing angel comes . I will tell you that this outpouring began with the vision that I want to share with you . I want you to get hungry, because this is a whole lot more of a prophetic story. I'm prophesying to you now.
I believe something is going to be released into the atmosphere, as we begin to talk. Because I was waiting on the Lord tonight, I saw heaven open in this place. I saw the Lord come down tonight. I saw the healing angel come down tonight . There was a mighty pool of Bethesda. There was a stirring of the healing waters tonight. There is going to be a release of those healing spirits. There is going to be a release of those healing angels.
In different ministries that are here tonight . Oh my God, how would you like to say " Lord let me take one of those angels home with me."
First of all the bible doesn't teach us that there is an healing angel, but the bible says that Jesus is the Healer and that by HIS stripes we where healed .
Secondly it is not scriptural to desire or asked God to " take home an angel " . We are not to worship angels and place a great emphasis on them.
b. Todd also frequently has spoken about an angel that supposedly follows him around and has ' partnered ' with his ministry. He says this angel is named Emma and is the same angel that according to him started the Kansas city prophetic movement.
Emma is supposedly to be the angel of the prophetic that has been part of Kansas city as well as now of Todd Bentleys ministry.
The bible does not indicate anywhere that there is any female angels. All angels mentioned in the bible are male. Female angels are not scriptural .
Also nowhere does the bible indicate or mention angels of the prophetic or that angels start a movement . God is the initiator, not angels .
c. Another angel Todd frequently mentions is the angel of the wind of change and the angel of revival, that according to him has started this revival.
Once again all those angels that are being named( "angel of wind of change" , " angel of revival " are not biblical and nowhere is the notion in the bible that angels start revivals, movements etc.
One of the greatest " outpouring ' of Gods Spirit happened on the day of Pentecost ( Acts 2 ) and was the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to send the comforter. It was the result of those in the upper room seeking the Lord in unity , in prayer, probably fasting and laying down their lives, probably repentance and resulted in the Holy Spirit coming down on each one of them as a mighty rushing wind with tongues of form , empowering them to preach the gospel with boldness.
The purpose of this outpouring was not so they could get blasted or loathe in the ' drunken glory ' , nor was it so they could have all kinds of weird manifestations or have angelic visitations , but the purpose was to empower them to preach the gospel with boldness.
d. Todd also believes instead of going to God for financial provision that he can just partner with the angels by petitioning God for a release of the angels that are assigned to get him money so they can go to the four corner of the earth to gather money for him . Where in the bible do we read of financial angels?
e. I'm also very concerned about the extreme overall focus on the angelic realm and angels in general. There seems to be a greater mention of angels and visions of angels than the mentioning of Jesus . I have even witnessed in one of the meetings where there was repetitious chanting of Todd and the crowd for the angels to come and the release of angels in the meeting.
That is NOT biblical . we are not to worship angels, nor are we told anywhere in the bible to seek angels , to call on angels at our bidding.
Col 2:18 "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, "
Yes God does send angels. The bible says they are ministering spirits and they are messengers but it is at Gods bidding to use them for His purposes.
Its very dangerous ground we place ourselves on when we desire or seek angelic visitations , because it opens the doors for the enemy to come in as an angel of light and pose as a messenger from God .
f. Another serious error Todd Bentley is spreading is that he says that God told him that it was more important to get people to believe in the angel than in Jesus , because according to Todd, God told him people already believe in Jesus but they don't believe in the supernatural .
Transcribed Quote from Todd Bentley
" Now for some of you that are here it doesn't matter all that stuff, all you care is Gods moving and you know what that's all that really matters . So if you are not big on prophetic, supernatural and angels, I'm sorry , its my testimony . But if you wanna know why Gods moving, I have to tell you the whole story and if you don't believe the story, well ....sorry .
You know I told the Lord, "why cant I just move in healing and forget talking about all that other stuff? " HE said" because , Todd you gotta get the people to believe in the angel " I said" God why do I want people to believe in the angel. Isn't it about getting the people to believe in Jesus ? "
He said : " The people already believe in Jesus , but the church doesn't believe in the supernatural . "
"The church has no problem believing in Jesus , what we don't believe in is the supernatural , we don't believe in angels , we don't believe in the prophetic , we don't believe in some of what's going on . And I tell you what. We need to have an awakening
I said" but God maybe you wanna give this ministry to somebody else, because nobody is gunna receive it in the package that I come in . I said " you gotta give me the most controversial testimony , you gotta visit me with all this supernatural stuff, I mean, hey maybe if I was a little more clean shaven and polished , people would believe me more . or maybe the world is looking for something new . How many of you believe we need something NEW? "
This is utter erroneous teaching and this was NOT God telling him that, because God would never go against His own word. All creation testifies of Jesus , all scripture points to Christ and even the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself but points to and testifies of Jesus . It is not about the angels, not about the supernatural, not about anything BUT Jesus. Its a dangerous place when we get our priorities out of order as well as stop being satisfied and content with the truth already laid out in Scripture and start seeking something NEW.
3.Thirdly Todd as well as many in the prophetic movement including Bob Jones, Patricia King and others teach that they can enter third heaven and encourage and teach others to strive for seeking those type of experiences as well as how to have those kind of experiences.
This is not scriptural. Yes, the bible speaks of third heaven encounters and trances and gives examples of those that God took up to third heaven or took them into a trance or open visions or transported them to a different location either in the spirit or physically. Some that come to mind are Paul, Peter, Ezekiel, Philip. But in each one of those cases it was God initiating those experiences for a specific purpose.
One example, Paul, was given great revelation when taken up to heaven, but he had such humility and brokenness that he didn't even outright say that it was him that had the experience but speaks of " I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me. ( 2 Cor 12:2-6 )
It was God initiating and , so different to what we see at those meetings where there is great boasting about all the different types of visions, angelic encounters, third heaven experiences they was given. Todd even claims to have had gone to the third heaven and talked to the apostle Paul who in term revealed to him that he with the help of Abraham was the one writing the book of Hebrews. ( when did it become ok to speak to those that have died? )
Also it is being taught in those circles that everybody should seek third heaven encounters as according to their teachings that is where relationship starts. They teach that yes we where seated in heavenly places when we where born again but when we go to the third heaven we start a relationship and there it is where we can begin to see things According to their teachings it is very important that people go to the third heaven because they got hooks in them down here on earth but when they go up go past the second heaven the hooks come out and whatever hooks the enemy got in them , when they go to the third the hooks come out .
Not only is all this seeking and going at will to the third heaven teaching unbiblical more so it is demonic and comes straight from new age guided visualization techniques as well as spirit travel teachings. Also it creates a spiritual elitist mentality because unless one seeks or has had those encounters they are truly not deemed as spiritual and not seeking the ' deep' things of God. Despite all the new agy undertone to all those teachings, it is widely and openly embraced as Christian and in Christian circles.
4. There is some strange manifestations going on including uncontrollable jerking and vibrating .
its been taught in this outpouring by Todd as well as Bob Jones that the vibrating has spiritual significance. Bob Jones announced to Todd Bentley that when one vibrates there is 2 portals one clock wise portal and another counter clockwise portal . the teaching is that if someone vibrates clockwise it closes demonic vibration and means healing, but if someone vibrates counterclockwise is means it is demonic.
This is not a joke, but an actual teaching being taught in the Lakeland , Kansas city prophetic movement and is not biblical and utterly false, heretical doctrine. Also nowhere in scripture do we see Jesus or the disciples manifest like animals, jerk, scream, or have any other uncontrollable body movements or sounds manifest.
5. Another great concern of mine is the taking of that which is holy and making it profane and my spirit is deeply grieved at the grave blasphemy and taking the precious and holy things of God and making them common.
To name only a few, but people are being laid hands on ' in the name of BAM " ( not in the name of Jesus ), the Holy Spirit has been named the " Holy shekababa boom bam "
Gods precious glory and presence , becomes the ' drunken glory " and great focus is placed on getting ' whacked" and ' juiced up ' as well as expressions such as 'Lord thank you for that bam boomba anointing " , " we gunna shooba boomba bam wham pop everybody " , " i got some boomba" .
Lakeland is just the tip of the ice berg of all the profanity done in the Lords name but there many other ministries and streams that are connected to all this and are partnering and supporting Todd Bentley and the Lakeland "revival" such as the entire Kansas City prophetic movement , the new mystics move, Patricia Kings Extreme Prophetic that is closely connected to Todd Bentley and also promotes and highly focuses on the angelic realm , manifestations, visitations and validating experiences such as hunting after gems, feathers , orbs and other weird unbiblical manifestations .
Just as at Lakeland we can see the same kind of focus on getting drunk and the same kind of profane, blasphemous and disrespectful language when referring to the Holy Spirit and the things of God by using terms such as " toking the ghost " ( refers to getting high on the Holy Spirit ) , Jehovahuana ( comparing the precious Holy Spirit to smoking marihuana and getting high ) , Godka ( getting drunk on God instead of Vodka ) and the Holy Spirit becomes the Holy Ghost bartender or they speak of bartender angels .
I don't think I have to go on to convey the grave disrespectfulness of those involved in those movements and the tremendous lack and absence of the fear of the Lord at Lakeland as well as all the connecting ministries.
As I said this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is much more erroneous teaching that comes from those ministries . To mention all or every detailed insistence would take too much time to write all down , because there is so much and defies the overall purpose of me writing the letter. Mentioning some of the things going on and being taught serves merely as an example of the heresy, the error and to demonstrate the source of the things going on .
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Based on this teaching and saying by our Lord we then have to ask ourselves if a tree (e.g. ministry) teaches and spreads erroneous teachings that is heavily tainted by the New Age as well as places heavy focus on unbiblical teachings and offbase experiences than how can this tree, which with its roots drinks and gets nourishment from another Gospel, be able to produce healthy,godly fruit and impart that into people or more so should we then not be greatly concerned to partake, to go or even have hands laid on us and some sort of ' anointing ' being imparted and transferred into us? It is not possible !
Galatians 1: 6-9 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. "
This move is a very dangerous move and many are being deceived into believing this is a genuine revival and it spreads rapidly because many are receiving impartations and take them to their churches and countries.
This move at its root has a spirit of divination and an anti Christ spirit operating (in the Greek the word anti does not only mean ' against' but also ' Instead of" ...and there is much that is going on that is being infiltrated that is instead of Christ , instead of the true anointing and instead of the Truth ) , as well as new age teachings.
People hear the worship and see signs and wonders and see and hear all kinds of testimonies of healings and because of that throw out every discernment of the spirits operating behind the entire move as well as many are out there that won't test the spirits because this move tickles their ears and caters to their own desires of getting blessed and want feel good experiences and seek after visitations without repentance and paying the price .
The bible says in Matthew 24:24 " For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. "
2 Thes 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Just because something feels good, sounds good or we perceive a presence there or we see the supernatural operating does NOT mean it is of God. Satan is a counterfeiter and he appears as an angel of light.
the kingdom of God
But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
I want to urge you to not receive this move, to test the spirits , to hold on to the truth, not just with this move but with ALL things because there has much deception, much apostasy , compromise, much tickle the ear of the masses crept into the Church and not much truth can be found anymore in the Body of Christ. many are giving heed to a different gospel and want to be fed with spiritual candy
I'm so grieved and appalled to see the precious and holy things of God being marred , to see the price He paid to be taken so lightly and being replaced by things that are so disrespectful and make the Gospel and Christ's sacrifice look like a circus at best .
We as a Church need to repent , dearly cling to and know the truth , and come back to a place of the fear of the Lord that is so greatly absent from the false gospel preached and presented in so many of the modern moves and churches .
The gate is narrow , so is the path that we are to walk on and the price to walk on this path is costly and will cost us everything . We as a church live in an hour where its more important than ever before to stay in the word and to test every spirit because the deception is growing greater and greater .
This is a matter of life and death because many will be deceived and already are and none of us can say they are beyond deception.
We need to know the truth , for truth is the only antidote against deception.
May the Lord richly bless you and keep you
In Him,
Chris Hirsh