So if you are much of a Charismatic, or whatever the current label is for someone who follows deeply the activity of the Holy Spirit, I'm sure you've heard about the Lakeland revival and Todd Bentley.
The obvious questions that arise from such activity is "Is this from God?" "Is it real?" "What will happen now that Todd has stepped out of it?" etc...etc...etc...
My response to these questions is simple: Yes, yes, yes.
Is it from God:
Let me ask you this;
Do you know anyone who can even bring a physical improvement for a cold by simply speaking words? Have you ever met anyone who could cause another person to fall down simply by speaking?
The only person I know who can do that is Jesus, so its not a far stretch to see it happen through people who claim a connection to him.
If you want to go and try blaming this activity on the devil or his spirits, I need to remind you that his (the devils) main operating strategy is to kill, steal, and destroy...none of which fits into the activity I've just described.
Anyone who maintains that Lakeland was the work of the devil is in major deception and needs serious deliverance from demonic strongholds rooted in unbelief...there I've said it may the truth of that sink in.
So what about all the unusual demonstrations and the "hype"?
I don't know. Really. What difference does it make?
If you suggest that the world will reject Jesus because of the weirdness of this event, I gotta say, the world has already rejected Jesus, what makes you think any activity of God would be designed to impress them anyway?
The same Jesus who heals the sick with a "BAM" told the religious leaders of his day that in order to have life they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood...and then he did not even bother to explain what he meant to them, he just let them get all hot and bothered and upset to the point that many of his own followers ended up leaving him.
Let me say this perfectly clear:
God owes you no explanation.
Jesus does not need to explain the whys and where-for's of his activity.
To quote from a Matrix movie " Your comprehension is not a prerequisite for your cooperation.".
So where does that leave us? Especially considering that Todd Bentley has basically resigned from the movement?
Well that's an interesting question.
There is one thing I would like to remind anyone who followed this movement about, many times I heard speakers, including Todd refer to the coming revival as the faceless nameless army, meaning that God was raising up an army not composed of superstars and headliners, but instead He was raising up something that had no particular form or comeliness that we should be attracted to it, it would be average Joe's doing the miraculous.
Once you make that declaration as a leader, you sort of volunteer yourself to become a nobody, and the difficulty with Todd's presence was that in order for him to lead the faceless, nameless army, he himself would need to become the very thing he prophesied.
Kinda tough under all that spotlight to fulfil that kind of declaration...so I do not find it even slightly unusual that in the course of this he would basically disappear from the spotlight, regardless of how it transpires.
I am not suggesting that God orchestrated the seemingly impending divorce, but what I will suggest is that God can and will use it to move Todd into a place of obscurity so that he can fulfil the next stage in the declared purpose in this movement.
Where do we go from here? Well that remains to be seen, if you consider that what happened in Lakeland was actually a "seeding" process, well that's some pretty impressive seed there and when it comes to full fruition it will be everything the hype suggested and more, I suspect we will look back at Lakeland as a spark that grew into a flame that became a fire that burned a nation and beyond.
As one of the old charismatic songs would say..."It only takes a spark..."
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