Live Cross to Justin Peters’ Meetings in Denmark

The “Back to Scripture”(www.backtoscripture.com coming very soon) network has just hosted our first meeting with Justin Peters. Justin is understandably tired after having a late night televised debate in England and then catching an early flight to Denmark. In spite of all of this Justin has been a true soldier of Christ in laboring tirelessly in God’s word and answering the relentless questioning he received.

Integrity is a word that I must use sparingly in these modern times of VIP preachers with bodyguards, private jets and five star hotels but integrity is a word I can lavish on Justin Peters. Not only does he come willingly without asking for money, he never asks for special treatment, and remains extremely accessible to anyone who wishes to speak to him. Justin is someone who never draws attention to his physical disability (cerebral palsy) nor uses it to emotionally manipulate people. His great love and joy is preaching and teaching from God’s Word and he has continually shown himself to be a workman faithfully handling the Scriptures (II Timothy 2:15).

Tonight, in the Danish city of Aarhus, Justin spoke about the difference between true and false revival. It was riveting and pertinent with so many people here sifting through the ruins of the so called “Lakeland revival”. Justin faced a barrage of questions about Todd Bentley and gave many of the audience a refreshing lesson in reasoning from the Scriptures. The questions continued unabated and it became clear from this that the “emergent” movement is alive and well in Denmark spreading it’s poison in many fellowships. Justin dealt with everything biblically and graciously and imparted precious insights to the hungry hearers.

Go Here To Watch Justin's Video Series Exposing the Word Faith Movement

Sacred Cow Saturday - Episode 5 - Todd Bentley Post Mortem

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I posted a 2 part series exposing Todd Bentley's false teaching at the height of his popularity.
Click Here for Part 1
Click Here for Part 2

Well this sacred cow is now a rotting carcass. Here is a video posted recently quoting a key leader within the Apostolic movement repenting and giving his post mortem of the "Lakeland Revival" and the dire future for the Charismatic movement if they don't start practicing biblical discernment.



There are several things worth pondering in the aftermath of all this.
1. We should be grieved and deeply saddened by the public reproach this brings to the name of our flawless Savior.
2. We should be grieved and praying for the many people deceived by this false revival.
3. We should be grieved for Todd Bentley's marital situation and personal integrity and that he would come to a place of sincere repentance.
4. This once again highlights the need for leaders to have a willingness to speak out when they are in the know for the sake of Christ's Name and the wellbeing of the wider body of Christ.
5. Not just those in charismatic circles, but also in the wider evangelical community need to really go through a deep process of self examination and biblical study so as to be able to biblically critique and examine the claims of every "new thing" that keeps appearing on the horizon.
6. The fact that there were no documented verifiable organic miracles that took place in Lakeland is ultimately irrelevant. Our first port of call must always be the purity of the gospel they preach. Because in the last days the Bible warns us that many will be deceived by miraculous signs and wonders as we see in Mark 13:22 which says "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect."
7. Self appointed people portraying themselves as an authoritative voice for God should always cause alarm in our spirit and instruct us to proceed with extreme biblical caution.

Here is an article written by John Piper about the "Lakeland revival" and the need for biblical discernment:

Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, one of the main charismatic magazines, has written a lament and critique of the Lakeland “revival” which is now in a tailspin over the leader's announced separation from his wife. Grady’s summons to pray for the church and our nation is right, and among his commendable questions and observations are these:

"Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs and wonders than have a quiet Bible study. Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity. Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It’s way past time for us to grow up."

"True revival will be accompanied by brokenness, humility, reverence and repentance—not the arrogance, showmanship and empty hype that often was on display in Lakeland."

"A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley’s news hit the fan. He said to me: “I’m now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment.” Ouch. Hopefully we’ll learn our lesson this time and apply the necessary caution when an imposter shows up."
Charismatics will not be the only ones who follow the Antichrist when he rises. So will the mass of those who today in thousands of evangelical churches belittle the truth of biblical doctrine as God’s agent to set us free (John 8:32).

Discernment is not created in God’s people by brokenness, humility, reverence, and repentance. It is created by biblical truth and the application of truth by the power of the Holy Spirit to our hearts and minds. When that happens, then the brokenness, humility, reverence, and repentance will have the strong fiber of the full counsel of God in them. They will be profoundly Christian and not merely religious and emotional and psychological.

The common denominator of those who follow the Antichrist will not be “charismatic.” It will be, as Paul says, “they refused to love the truth.”

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

Our test for every Lakeland that comes along should first be doctrinal and expositional. Is this awakening carried along by a “love for the truth” and a passion to hear the whole counsel of God proclaimed?
(quoted from http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1348_test_revival_with_doctrine/ )

Go On To Episode 6
Go Back To Episode 4
Go Back To Episode 1

An Apology From The Bottom Line

It has been brought to my attention that it was very difficult to post comments on my blog. Not being a nerd or having any cyber-skills I had no idea about this. My good friend (with a great blog) Lane Chaplin explained it to me over Skype. I had to change my settings in order to allow people other than people with a blogspot account to comment.

This has all now been fixed and anyone can now comment. I am very sorry for the inconvenience and I hope that anyone who has had their comment refused in the past will try and post again. I certainly welcome it.

Tomorrow - Justin Peters Part 4 but to hold you over until then here is Justin Peters appearing on Todd Friel's new TV show "Wretched TV". A word of warning though - the sync is out between the picture and the voices giving a distinct old kung fu movie flavor to it.

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Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival (Part 2)

The Gospel According to Todd Bentley

What we should be looking at is the gospel that Todd Bentley (I'll refer to him as TB from now on) preaches because the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Galatian church

Gal 1:8-9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Before we examine this I want to comment on some of the many strange things I have heard from TB's lips that have really disturbed me and should give any biblical Christian cause for concern. There are many I could comment on but I'll just comment on 3 of them.

1. TB claims in his testimony that he was demon posessed while being a born again Christian. Being born again means that we have the Holy Spirit living in us. Does anyone believe that the Holy Spirit can live in the same house as a demon or in TB's case 25 demons (what fellowship does light have with darkness? from 2 Corinthians 6:14). In this audio (below) TB recounts the story of this, I think it is very disturbing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSK9TyduR4

2. In another video TB says this:

"You know, I told the Lord, “Why can’t 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. But what we don’t believe in is the supernatural."

The most striking thing about Todd’s teachings here is, of course, that he is claiming to say that God spoke to him directly and told him that believing in Jesus is not the point - people already believe in Jesus - but that God wants to move so that the church will come to believe in the supernatural, in angels and in the prophetic. It is impossible to imagine that the God of the Bible would ever make such a statement like that. It is utterly contrary to everything everywhere in Scripture. Being born again is a supernatural thing (Eze 36:25-28) so I cannot understand how any true Christian would deny the supernatural. And if the people already believe in Jesus then why call it a revival? Prayer and the preaching of the Gospel have been the centrepiece of every true revival of history. You can hear the audio of this story here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKA_X1zxOQc

3. There is almost no preaching of the Word of God during the meetings but TB continuously tells stories that focus on TB. One UNVERIFIED e-mail of a person being raised from the dead said that the person woke from the dead praising God and "the Reverend Todd Bentley" - that is clearly not of God. Only God can receive praise and will not share His glory with another (Exo 34:14). If TB was a God fearing man he would have renounced anyone praising his name. Furthermore the e-mail claims that "while he (the dead person) was in heaven he heard the beloved Todd Bentley and his voice pulling his spirit out of heaven". Does anyone really believe that TB's voice can drag people out of heaven? Watch the video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGunFXd514Q

But back to the issue of the gospel TB preaches. The pdf document (the theological defence responding to various objections to the "lakeland revival") I received spoke about a lot of things but I will only respond to one point because that is all that's necessary because it relates to the gospel TB preaches.Point 4 on the document says this (the document is in a format where the criticism is written first and then their response follows):

Objection 4: “There is no emphasis on repentance and holiness in the Lakeland meetings, as there always has been in classic revivals and awakenings throughout recent history as in the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening.”

Their response to the repentance part is this (and this is an important point as repentance is a necessary part of receiving salvation):

“And Todd does emphasize the importance of repentance and holiness for revival in his book, The Reality of the Supernatural World:
Repentance opens the heavens, and obedience keeps it open. . . ."

This is hardly a good theological response. Just because TB uses the word repentance doesn't mean he preaches biblical repentance and from his comment I would have to say that the repentance he is talking about is different from the repentance talked about in Scripture which is godly sorrow that leads to a turning away and hatred of sin and a desire to please God. The issue of repentance is too important to respond with one sentence and it is not a theological response, just a quote from a book.

One reason why I took so long to respond was because it took me so long through the hours of available video footage to find a video of TB presenting the Gospel (even though TB says that preaching the Gospel is one of his anointings). Well, I finally found something today. And guess what - there was no explanation or call to repentance (just a brief mention during the prayer)! You can hear it on this podcast (starting from 43 minutes into the show)http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2008/06/24/june-24-2008-hour-2/

There is no talk of the Holiness of God, no talk of the sinfulness of man, no talk of God's judgment, eternity, heaven or hell, no talk about what Christ did on the cross. I'm sorry Todd Bentley supporters but this is not the Gospel according to Scripture. He talked about "maybe you have a bad marriage or struggle financially". This is not why Jesus died. He died to endure the just wrath of God in the place of sinners that we might receive forgiveness of sins. HOW COULD HE NOT MENTION THIS and think he is preaching the Gospel. Just what are these people responding to?

Instead of the signs and wonders this is the first thing people should be testing. If more people practised this biblical discernment TB might not be getting so much time on television. As I quoted earlier

Gal 1:8-9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Go Back To Part 1

Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival (Part 1)

A friend of mine recently e-mailed me asking me to take a look at a pdf document which is supposed to be a theological defence of the "Lakeland revival" and Todd Bentley (I will refer to him as TB from now on).

I want to say from the start that I do believe in miraculous signs and that they can happen today. God saved me and changed me and that is a miracle in itself. I have also been witness to miraculous healings and words of knowledge. I have always been someone who is willing to lay hands on the sick (even strangers) as the book of James tells us to do.

Personally, I have never been very interested in the ministry of TB nor payed much attention to it. But so many people have asked me to comment recently that I decided to check out what's going on down in Lakeland with TB.

Christian brother or sister, please be careful and test all things with the word of God including what I am saying here. Some people might be wondering who I am and by what authority I speak. I have no authority in and of myself but the Bible does speak with authority on this subject so I ask you to consider what is said in the light of Scripture. TB's website itself says this: "We hold the Bible to be trustworthy, the only supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. Scripture is our source of revelation of God, the knowledge of salvation, the origin of all things and of the hereafter-it is the final Court of Appeal on all points of doctrine, life and godliness". So the Bible is what I will evaluate TB's ministry by.

Let me ask you, the reader, this question from the outset. Have you embraced the "Lakeland revival" because of the signs and wonders or did you evaluate it from Scripture first? Some people have actually said to me that the "Lakeland revival" is a true revival from God because of the signs and wonders. What does the Bible say about this concerning signs and wonders.

Mat 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Mat 7:22-23 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

These verses do not prove that the "Lakeland Revival" is false or true. But they do tell us that signs and wonders are not proof that it is of Christ. We should be very careful because Jesus warned us that the great deception that will happen in the last days will be because of signs and wonders.

To be continued tomorrow - The Gospel according to Todd Bentley

Go On To Part 2