Restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place …….

Zimbabwe's version of the White House is a colonial mansion, with two stuffed and moth-eaten lions at the entrance. Inside this spacious retreat, Robert Mugabe will claim victory after today's bloodsoaked fiasco of an election.

But his triumph could scarcely be more hollow. The atrocities of the past few weeks have been so unspeakable and the electoral chicanery so egregious that no one, possibly not even President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, will grant him the halo of an elected leader.

This is a crucial moment. All the signs are that election observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Pan-African Parliament will denounce Mr Mugabe's re-election for the travesty it was.

This has never happened before. Mr Mugabe only let these observers into his country because they have blithely approved every previous poll - including Zimbabwe's murderous presidential elections in 2002.

Their condemnation of the contest, if it comes, will be a stinging blow. The first consequence will probably be the unprecedented spectacle of African leaders declining to recognise Mr Mugabe's victory. Even Mr Mbeki, who has exasperated everyone with his indulgence of Zimbabwe's leader, will find it extremely hard to recognise Mr Mugabe as a legitimate president.

On Monday night, Britain helped ensure the unanimous passage of a statement by the UN Security Council, which presently includes South Africa. The crucial passage reads: "The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on June 27." By signing up to these words, South Africa has agreed that today's poll will have no credibility. Logic demands that Mr Mbeki cannot then recognise the outcome. Thanks partly to persistent British diplomacy, South Africa has been boxed in.

So, however much he celebrates his "victory", Mr Mugabe may find that no one else views him as Zimbabwe's elected president.

World's leading atheist changes his mind: there is a God!

So-called 'new' atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have stood on his shoulders in debunking the existence of God. But Professor Antony Flew's thinking has recently been turned upside down - or maybe right side up! He now believes in a Creator.

The book's title declares: THERE IS NO GOD - but the 'NO' is scribbled out and replaced by an 'A'. And the subtitle adds, How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind. Antony Flew engaged in debate with C.S. Lewis at the Oxford University Socratic Club in 1950, when he presented a paper called Theology and Falsification. This became the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last century. The Socratic principle emphasised by this club - of following the evidence wherever it may lead - became a guiding principle throughout Flew's career.

It was that principle, he explains, which led him to change his mind about God after more than sixty years of atheism and a distinguished career as a philosopher. In a chapter entitled Atheism calmly considered (following John Wesley's sermon, Predestination calmly considered), Flew describes his various debates with theists over the decades. Some were attended by thousands. The professor found himself confronted in debate with increasing evidence of an intelligent designer behind the universe. Big Bang cosmology, implying that the universe had not always existed, had pulled the rug out from under some of his key arguments. Other developments in modern science too seemed to point to a higher Intelligence.

"In one report it was said that of all the great discoveries of modern science, the greatest was God!"

In May 2004, Flew was invited to participate in a symposium at New York University, to debate with Israeli scientist Gerald Schroeder and Scottish philosopher John Haldane. All were greatly astonished when he announced at the start that he now accepted the existence of a God. The scheduled debate thus became a joint exploration of the implications of recent scientific discoveries. In one report of the event, it was said that of all the great discoveries of modern science, the greatest was God!

Asked that evening if recent work on the origin of life indicated creative Intelligence, Flew answered: 'Yes, I now think it does... DNA (investigations have shown)... that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together.' Atheists, he explained, were fond of appealling to the idea that given enough time, chance could produce anything, even life. But Schroeder impressed Flew by debunking the so-called 'monkey theorem': that enough monkeys banging away on enough keyboards could eventually produce a Shakespearean sonnet. Or, by analogy, that life could emerge by chance.

Schroeder referred to an experiement conducted by the British National Arts Council, in which six monkeys were put in a cage with a computer. One month and fifty typed pages later, not a single word had been produced by the monkeys. Not even the single-letter words of 'a' or 'I'. Actually, argued Schroeder, the likelihood of getting a one-letter word was one in 27,000. What chance then was there of getting a fourteen-line Shakespearean sonnet by chance? Schroeder did the maths and came up with 10 to the 690th. To get that in perspective, the number of particles in the whole universe-protons, electrons, and neutrons-is a mere 10 to the 80th! For Flew, this was a convincing display that the monkey theorem he and others had often used to discount any intelligent Creator was simply 'rubbish'.

"Look and follow the evidence wherever it may lead."

Flew calls his discovery of the Divine a pilgrimage of reason, not of faith. He claims no personal experience of God or any experience of the supernatural or miraculous. Yet he includes as an appendix in his book an article by Bishop Tom Wright arguing the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Introducing the article - 'by far the best case for accepting Christian belief that I have ever seen' - Flew states: 'I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honoured and respected whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true... If you're wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.'

The book's other remarkable appendix, by Flew's collaborator Roy Abraham Varghese (The Wonder of the World), is a critique of the 'New Atheism', represented by Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (The End of Faith), Lewis Wolpert (Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast), and others. Varghese accuses these 'atheist evangelists' of ignoring the very phenomena relevant to the question of God's existence. These are: rationality, implicit in all our experience of the physical world; life, the capacity to act autonomously; consciousness, the ability to be aware; conceptual thought, the power of articulating and understanding language; and the human self, the 'centre' of consciousness and action. All the evidence we need is in our immediate experience, argues Varghese; only a deliberate refusal to 'look' is responsible for atheism of any variety.

Flew's book is a powerful challenge to all to 'look' and follow the evidence wherever it may lead.

Save Zimbabwe from Mugabe

Petition to Thabo Mbeki and other leaders of Southern Africa:

We call on you to hold an emergency meeting of Southern African leaders, to work by all means necessary for a legitimate Zimbabwean government that reflects the will of its people, and to decisively isolate those who stand in the way of a peaceful, democratic future for Zimbabwe.

Sign the Petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/
save_zimbabwe/97.php?cl_tf_sign=1

God will remove Mugabe

Robert Mugabe vowed to remain president of Zimbabwe whatever the outcome of next week's election, saying "only God" could remove him from office.

A couple of months ago Robert Mugabe lost the presidential election to Morgan Tsvangirai. But Mugabe has not honoured the will of the people of Zimbabwe, and has stayed in office.

His latest horror is the murder of an opposition leader's wife a couple of days ago. A few of Mugabe's men stopped by the home of Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district, found only his wife there, and proceeded to cut off a hand and both of her feet, and then burned her to death.

Mugabe needs a Saviour. He needs the Lord's forgiveness for his great sins. He also needs to be out of the picture. Now!

'Gay Wedding'

A statement from the evangelical group within the Church of England, Reform, on reports over the weekend of a homosexual 'wedding' between two gay Anglican clergymen......

News of the service of blessing for the union of two male clergy at St Bartholomew’s church in the City Of London last month has brought to a head the issue of whether or not the Church of England intends to remain faithful to the Bible’s revelation.

The Church of England now faces the same sort of division as the Episcopal Church of the USA. Our only hope of preventing this is for bishops to exercise swift and clear discipline. Unless this happens, the floodgates of indiscipline will open. There is no longer any room for carefully constructed statements designed to hold everyone together in an uneasy truce. Schism in the church is being caused not by orthodox believers but by clergy pursuing a liberal agenda.

The issue is clear: will a church which is formally committed to the Bible’s teaching on marriage now exert discipline in order to support its belief on what mainstream credal and apostolic Christianity holds to be a fundamental of the faith? This “service of blessing” has brought the issue to a head on the eve of the departure of many orthodox church leaders in England for the Global Anglican Future Conference and Pilgrimage (GAFCON).

Faithful Anglican leaders both at GAFCON and Lambeth will now be looking to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to take decisive action. We urge them to do this before GAFCON convenes in order to prevent a further loss of confidence in the Archbishop’s willingness to tackle the issue and to demonstrate their communion with the Global South.

The choice they must make is whether or not they want to keep true to the doctrine of the Church of England (as defined in the Worship and Doctrine Measure 1974 (Sections 5.1 and Canon A5)) and secure discipline. A failure to secure such doctrinal discipline will lead globally to a ghettoisation of a declining revisionist “Canterbury Communion”.

Those seeking to be true to the doctrine of the Church of England will necessarily have to realign themselves with those Anglicans, at home or abroad, who can affirm with integrity Canon A5.

For the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London the choice, therefore, is between being faithful to the Bible’s teaching or acquiescing in the promotion of the liberal sexual agenda. They cannot do both. Words are no longer enough. It is only clear action that will now speak to the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as to orthodox Anglican and other church leaders in this country.

Shift of Focus

As Todd Bentley begins to stretch his wings and go out from Lakeland to minister in other parts of the USA and, indeed, in other parts of the world, no doubt the focus will come off the man and possibly even the event in Florida.
I believe that this is a good time to do the same and to have a look at what else is going on in the world and to look at it from a Christian perspective.......
Let's create a new blog label called: What in the world is going on?.......

Todd Bentley speaks for himself

Bringing Biblical Light to Your Questions
about the Lakeland Outpouring & Todd Bentley

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for hearing my heart on some of the issues that seems to be causing division and some confusion in the Body of Christ. Throughout the Old and New Testaments and in every age following, as far as I can determine, the Lord has given His people dreams and visions, signs and wonders, heavenly encounters and divine supernatural experiences that, for the most part, we cannot understand with our intellect. In the spiritual realm, God isn't limited by our thinking!

God's ways of communicating with us hasn't changed from the beginning of time, although the Bible is the mainstay of His communication to us in today's Church. Sometimes pictures say a lot, though, and the Lord does speak to us through visions and dreams, just as He spoke that way to the people of ancient days and just as He has promised us that He would in the Last Days. God says, "I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6).

Whenever God pours out His Spirit, dreams and visions become integral to the move of God and are especially a Last Days phenomena according to Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17. God-given dreams and visions are often because of the gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They fall into the category of the miraculous when supernatural revelations are imparted. Ezekiel, the prophet operated in a continuous miracle ministry in the revelatory realm.

Some people desire Scripture for every manifestation of God - for every detail of every God-given, Holy Spirit inspired vision, dream, encounter, or demonstration of the supernatural realm of God manifested on the earth. While I firmly believe that we're to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I don't believe we're to defend divine manifestations of God, because they are proof within themselves of the Gospel, wherever the Word of God is sent forth. Discern yes, but defend, no. Consider that many of the "greater" things that Christ said we would do hadn't even been done yet and weren't recorded in the Bible.

On Visions

While it's good and right and biblical to test the spirits to see if they are of God, it's vital to realize that just because a type of vision or a sign is not listed in Scripture, that it's unscriptural, to be discounted, or false. For instance: If you dream of Jesus visiting you, and in your dream, Jesus, the Man, was the most handsome man you'd ever seen, would the fact that the Bible described Him as having no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him (Is. 53:2b), discount your dream as being scriptural or genuine, relative, and of God?

Just as no two people are alike, no two experiences are alike. Guaranteed, the Bible doesn't list the details of each dream, each encounter, or everything that God has, does, and will eventually reveal to His people. It doesn't record every detail of every dream, or everything someone has seen in the spirit realm, or on earth for that matter. Nor does it record every possible miracle, but it does say that nothing is impossible with God (see Luke 1:37; Matt. 17:20). We have no account of miracles like amputated limbs growing back, but the absence of this is Scripture doesn't mean that such a miracle unbiblical.

If a person is of the mind-set that everything spiritual that happens or manifests in our lives has to be found in Scripture to be divine and of God, then that standard or belief would have to be applied to every area of one's life. God responds to each one of us in different ways so the specific way He speaks to any of His children should not become a doctrine of correctness.

Someone once said that limiting revelation is like trying to fit an ocean into a cup. God is continually restoring truth and light to His Church. Therefore, we should place no limit on further revelation. To have a view that everything that happens in someone's life because of God's loving response to us as His children should be listed in the Bible or else it's wrong or evil, is like saying that Jesus, who is the Word represents a list of do's and don'ts. Jesus is a Person who, through intimacy and relationship, we perceive and understand by the Holy Spirit what is good and what is evil. If Jesus listed for us everything that we needed to know, then knowing Him would have become an option. It's in knowing Him, who is The Word that we enter into what He has prepared for us.

To apply doctrine to the response of God in our lives is wrong. For someone to assume that something that happens to us isn't of God because it's not in his or her doctrine or knowledge of Jesus is, in my opinion, to grieve the precious Holy Spirit. I believe each experience is unique and tailored to the individual's background, experiences, circumstances, capacity to receive, and personal relationship with Jesus. The experience is usually one that a person can relate to. The Lord meets us where we're at and often shows us things in a way that gets our attention, in a way that we, as individuals, uniquely understand and relate to.

Some are questioning the soundness of my visitation from Jesus while I was in Redding, California. I stated in an interview that it was as though He came into this realm and I saw Him as I would imagine Jesus would be with the disciples on the Earth, as the Son of man, a humble servant as He walked the earth, not in His resurrection glory. The purpose of this experience was for God to impart to me His supernatural peace in my life. God chooses, in His infinite wisdom, to reveal Himself in different ways, and in various aspects so that people can understand, relate, and even receive Him. Why do some think it so bad if God wills to come in His grace and reveal Himself to us in whatever manner He chooses?

Focus on the Revelation

This can be drastically different from one person to another. What's important, however, are not the details of, for instance, a vision, but how it points to Jesus, the revelation gleaned, what we learn from the experience, how we apply it to our life, and/or speak it into the life of another, and how it draws us closer to Him, for His name's sake. Because one person may not be able to relate to a dream, vision, or experience of another, he or she may attribute this to the devil or to the flesh, or hallucinations, for example. I'm sure many have seen strange things happen in our meetings - things that puzzle, things that aren't normal to them, but understand - God doesn't seek approval for how He manifests through His people or in signs and wonders.

The Bible is full of visions, encounters, signs, wonders, miracles, and manifestations that people have experienced, some of which may be downright hard for many to wrap their minds around, let alone believe it could happen today. Again, it's all relative to each individual, their experiences, and backgrounds, and with what they have learned through intimacy with Christ Jesus, and what they have received as a love response from God. I spend hours and hours at the feet of Jesus and perhaps the next person doesn't.

As I can recall, Smith Wigglesworth once had a vision of Satan. He'd been sleeping in bed during a thunderstorm that had rattled the windows and made the lights flicker. Suddenly he saw a vision of Satan standing at the foot of his bed. However, he wasn't in the least bit disturbed because he had first-hand knowledge and experience of God's protective nature and understood the power of the name of Jesus. "Oh, it's just you," he said to the devil, and turned over and went back to sleep.

If this were a new, breaking story today, how would people receive or respond to the account of what he saw? It would all be relative to what you know or have experienced relating to demons, or the knowledge that you have about the authority that you have as a blood-bought child of God, even to the church climate. If you've never cast out a demon from your life and seen him run at the mere mention of the blood of Christ Jesus, you wouldn't understand.

Angels

Likewise, if I say that I had a vision of an angel, or encountered one or even spoke with one, but you haven't doctrinally or experientially, come to terms with the reality of angels being in our midst, then you may not attribute it as valid. You may even tag me as someone who worships angels, seeks them for counsel, ministers under the power of, or misrepresents them in some way. In the case of the angel called "Emma," who I described as having mother-like nurturing qualities, some have automatically assumed that my doctrine is that I believe in female angels. This has never been the case! For whatever reason God chose to show me this angel in a female persona, He did. This isn't to say that the angel was female. Angels are spirit and appear in many forms. Perhaps that's the form God chose this angel to take for the purpose of the revelation He gave me. They are spirit beings of light, created out of God's glory, without gender, and appear in whatever form God chooses to send them to us.

Let me throw this out there for you to think about. If someone encounters an angel on earth that has come in the form of a female human being, and even refers to the angel as a "she," it doesn't raise eyebrows. We know they must sometimes appear to us in human form because the Bible tells us not to forget to entertain strangers, "for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2). There is biblical precedent for angels appearing in human form in the example of the two angels who came to Sodom to warn Lot before the destruction of the city in Genesis 19. They visited, had a meal, and even spent the night. Their human "form" even fooled those who tried to accost them and the angels struck them blind.

Even though they appeared as men, they are still genderless. Emma appeared to me in angelic form appearing feminine, which is not to say Emma was female or had a gender. This was the first angel I'd ever seen in feminine-like form, in this motherly nurturing type of persona that opened up a well of healings and breakthrough.

Mary, Paul, Peter, Jesus, the shepherds, and several disciples, and many Old Testament folk like Abraham, Hagar, Daniel, and others had angelic encounters and some interacted with them in conversation. That doesn't suppose they worshiped these angelic beings or sought them out for revelation apart from God. I never summon angels directly. I do ask God to send angels to encamp around me, and others. Let it be said, that I seek only God for revelation and should He send an angel to me to impart revelation, get my attention, or open wells of revival and healing, so be it. I'll echo Mary's words when the angel Gabriel visited and conversed with her "You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said." And the angel left her (Luke 1:26-38).

Christ paid the price for our spiritual blessings and access to heavenly things - angels included. Where I would be concerned about angelic revelation as being deceptive or as angels actually being demonic spirits, is where not-yet Christians claim angelic revelation while rejecting the cross of Christ.

Angels have a purpose in God's plan. It shouldn't come as a surprise to the Body of Christ that an angel, called the "Winds of Change" should usher in a new move of God.

Of the angels we learn, "He makes His angels winds and His servants flames of fire" (Heb. 1:7, NAS; see also Psalm 104:3, 4). If God has chosen to send them to us, it behooves us to welcome their presence as we usher in the presence and move of the Lord.

We see a manifestation of God's presence and power by means of "wind and fire" in the New Testament on the day of Pentecost "when suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4).

Angels are messengers from God in heaven to His church on earth, and they seem to appear at the most critical points in the history of salvation. We get the sense also that they observe what's happening here on earth at least in the life of the Church. Christ ended two of His parables saying "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7,10, NKJV). They are also reapers in the great harvest, "...the reapers are the angels" (Matt. 13:39). Described as "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14, italics mine).

Encounters/Visitations

Some people have even ventured to say that my visions and visitations are false. That's like telling someone who's just told you about a dream they had in their sleep that they didn't really dream it.

In the case of my encounter with Paul the apostle, just as Paul didn't know if he was in his body or out of his body when he was taken into the third heaven, I don't know whether my encounter was in a vision or an actual encounter. I do know that it was not of the adversary. God had reason for this experience and for the revelation that transpired from it. These things I cannot refute.

It's not that far out there when you consider that the apostle Peter beheld Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration and was actually commissioned while in a visionary trance, to preach to the Gentiles (see Matt. 17:9, Acts 10:19).

Some may not find my experience doctrinally sound, and liken it to speaking to the dead, and unbiblical, citing the apostle Paul's warnings in Galatians 1:8, and 2 Corinthians 11:14, of which I'm very aware. My accountability team and I, through careful examination, determined that this vision was not outside of God's realm. God had a purpose and a plan for the revelation He gave me and it all pointed to Christ.

In visions and encounters that I share, I emphasize that it boils down to Jesus Christ who is the essence of everything and is the All in All. It's all about Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. An encounter with heaven is an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many people don't see what's happening in the spirit realm, viewing things only from the physical realm. This is one reason why there's so much division right now. I have found that many are judging things by what they see or hear in the natural, by their natural senses, to feelings, or without having relevant supernatural experiences themselves.

No Prototype for Revival

One of my colleagues told me of a pastor and his wife visiting Lakeland from Las Vegas last week. They pastor a church of over 5,000 people. They shared that they had to repent for believing in their hearts some of the concerns that they'd heard or read about, without first seeking the Lord about it or attending the outpouring, and experiencing first hand what God was doing here. They were amazed by the power and the glory of God there, and have headed back to Nevada with good reports!

This seems to be what I hear from many attending, and from what I read on blogs from people who've experienced the fire of God at our meetings. Every night we see hundreds of pastors and leaders all hungry for the fire of God to touch their churches, to disarm the religious paradigms that keep God in a box, quenching the work of the Spirit.

People may see me or others sprawled out on the floor, or in heavenly laughter, or shaking because of the glory and presence of God, but try to look beyond and understand that something's happening in the spirit, trusting that there's that other realm that you may not see.

Revival is often messy because there's a lot happening and sometimes it's hard for people to take in everything they see in the natural. Many come and some do manifest fleshly things, but for the most part, everyone is sincere and of good intention at a revival. Trust it's better to be full of life with a little untidiness than to be dead. Also, trust that God is big. He can handle it and can separate the tares from the wheat.

Revival shakes paradigms. It doesn't fit the mainstream Church's way of thinking. Revival is an upstream move of God that breaks away from the stagnant pools of religion and tradition. Those bound by tradition and inside a paradigm of do's and don'ts who give way to an upward stream, find transformation, and a new supernatural, empowering paradigm for their lives.

Moves of God like this are never normal. Do you think what happened in Acts looked normal to the disciples, or even to the onlookers? Pentecost was way, way out there, pretty far out, and must have caused much talk. No one had ever seen anything like it before. Revival is about new things happening, so it's important not to be quick to judge. There's no prototype for revival. It's not a cookie cutter thing. We're only in our baby stages - and there's a lot to learn, but what we need now is the support of the Church because unity is crucial.

If you cannot understand the supernatural things of God, or even if you disagree or choose to discount or discredit me in any way, then I urge you to look at the fruit. Every day we're seeing salvations. Every day people are being healed, not only physically, but emotionally too! Every day, people who thought they knew Christ are discovering Him in a fresh and powerful new way. Every day, we're teaching people how to use their gifts to evangelize. We're equipping and sending hundreds into the streets and marketplaces to talk about Jesus.

It's not even limited to this region. We're seeing this move of God as exponential growth because people carry the anointing and glory of God home to their churches and regions, empowered to "do the same stuff" and ignite more fires.

Before You Pick Apart the Worker...

Please examine the fruit before you pick apart the worker. People are being saved! Certainly this is common ground with every believer - our hearts should always be for the lost. Can we not come together and make this our mission, understanding that our theologies may be different but that we agree on this very important and vital commission. We serve the same God. God is the Father of all of us. We are His children. We are all in the same family. We are all running the same race but at different paces. The Word planted on good soil bears good fruit!

Salvation of the Lost

If you're watching out a window from a distance and see a child running around a busy street and in obvious danger of being hit, but see someone close-by who could help, what would you do? Would you first judge the person to determine if he or she is "fit" enough or qualified to lend assistance, in your eyes? Would you check to see that the person is wearing an "S" for "Superman" on his shirt? Would you wait for the right person to come along that fits your mold, or would you throw open the window and yell, "That child - save that child!"

Please. Our mission is to save the lost. Period. Everything that is happening at Lakeland is to that end. God is good. People are being saved. That should be the priority of every believer. You may not understand some of the things that you see. It may be out of your paradigm or traditional way of thinking, but trust that if God didn't want this to happen that He is more than capable of shutting it down single-handedly without the help of man.

Jumping into rivers of condemnation, disapproval, even censure before experiencing things for yourself could make you responsible for the loss of the one who may have come to the Lord but for quick judgments or criticisms. God is doing new things! Church history should never be used as a blueprint for experiences or beliefs, that's what the Word of God is for.

New Wineskins and New Garments

This move of God may not fit your perception of revival, especially if you are basing it on previous revivals, or even on the traditions of the Church. So too, I likely don't fit the mold of the traditional evangelist. Jesus used the Pharisees' disapproval as an opportunity to teach why it was important that He didn't fit into their mold. First, He used the metaphor of the patched garments and said "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old" (Luke 5:36). To try to attach a new, unshrunk garment to the old will not only tear and destroy the new but also the old won't look right and will eventually tear again. Jesus contrasted the old and new again with a parable about new wine and old, saying that if a person pours new wine into old wineskins the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wineskins would ruin (Luke 5:37, 38).

What could possibly be so new in Jesus' day as to be ruined by being attached to the old? The radical Gospel! Man-made rules and tradition would hinder the work. Jesus wanted them to see that the dead Pharisaical traditions didn't result in heart transformations. It would be easier for them to clasp onto and justify what was familiar and comfortable, than to be led by the Holy Spirit but the two can't be combined. Jesus wasn't throwing out the law or discounting it but came to fulfill it. The Gospel needed to be free of the confines of tradition and religious comfort zones to work its power. Jesus wanted to restore the hearts of the people, to restore life to the core of the Hebrew faith. Those external things, as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:23, "have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh." Their system of laws had lost Christ who was their substance. They had the shadows but not the substance of Christ. Pride pretended to penetrate heaven but hadn't.

Signs, wonders, and miracles should be proof of the Gospel. However, Jesus said there would be false signs and wonders in the last days that were not done by Him (Matt. 7:21-23). Of this, I am well aware. Some people may do these things in His name and yet never really have a relationship of love and fellowship with Jesus. Salvation is knowing Jesus and being known by Him - it's much more than spiritual works or a verbal confession. I understand that lofty places in this visible kingdom are no proof of anyone's acceptance with God, and neither are the mighty works, even done in Jesus' name. However, the condition of the heart is what truly allies us with Him. This I've stressed repeatedly in my ministry. The heart changes when someone spends much time with the Lord. This is the foundation of my ministry and my walk with Jesus. From the outset of my salvation, my ministry, and even today, I spend hours in the secret place of His presence. I seek Him and His will for every meeting. My team here at Lakeland knows that several hours of every afternoon; before every meeting, I'm not to be disturbed as I spend time with Jesus. Signs, wonders, miracles, dreams, and visions I believe are His loving response - the fruit of fellowship.

Spend time in His presence and you won't be as resistant to change. You won't be afraid to be a new wineskin, God's present wineskin. You won't even be the same wineskin as tomorrow, because with God wineskins are new and newer. New wineskins won't limit God or what He can do.

When Did the Devil Change His Plan?

From what I've been hearing, my heart is saddened because critical people are bringing more attention to the supposed "works of the devil" in my life, and here in Lakeland than to the very real and wondrous works of God. Too much credit is being given to the devil and to man to the detriment of God's sovereignty and power. Some are even attributing good and wonderful manifestations of God's loving response to His children, to the devil! But this exalts no one but themselves when they choose to make a ministry out of their judgments and criticisms in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since when did the devil come to heal the sick, raise the dead, open deaf ears and eyes, lead people to salvation in Jesus, or preach that the Kingdom of God is at hand? Just when did the devil change his plan? Jesus promised life and life more abundantly, and that's the fruit that we're seeing in Lakeland.

For this reason, I asked my staff to remove from our website, articles that are causing such strife and division and deterring the Body from the very real and pressing focus of these last days. Jesus wept when people missed the purpose. Every blessing flowed and people received, but they missed the purpose. Don't miss the purpose!

Again I emphasize, it's good and right to search out the Truth and to discern the spirits, God expects us to do so. Nevertheless, it's also important to do so outside of one's comfortable box, not mistaking discomfort for discernment, and realizing that God is not only a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but also a God of new things. Realize also, that if you spend time in His presence, in fellowship with Him, and if daily, you put on the full armor of God and spend time in His Word; you'll be more comfortable erring on the side of extravagance rather than quench the Spirit. A body of believers without the Holy Spirit is a breathless, lifeless body.


Accountability

I am accountable to God, and to those who He has sent to me to speak wisdom into my life and ministry - (I submit to an accountability team that comprises my pastor and spiritual overseers from varying backgrounds and denominations). They have not discounted the things that the Lord has shown me just because they don't fit the mold of tradition or the old wineskins that some are carrying. The dreams, visions, and experiences that I've brought forth have been solely for ministering to the Body of Christ. My experiences have made me even hungrier and more zealous for God. That hunger transfers into a hunger to see others experience what I know to be true. They've been substantiated through the Word of God in principle, and accepted and given the go-ahead by my accountability team.

I also have an entire department of our ministry devoted to intercession, to coordinating and administering prayer covering over my life and family, over the ministry, and to those to whom we minister. We have an email list called The Firewall that comprises hundreds of intercessors from around the world who keep us covered in prayer.

Steadfast Word of God

Certainly, some people may not understand the visions God has given me, just as I may not understand theirs, but I'll always hold and stand firm on the truths and the promises He's given me because He lines them up in my life with the Word. What eternally matters is His Word, which is steadfast and true. My visions may fade away but God's Word never will. As long as I have the Word, I don't even need manifestations to prove to me that God is God.

However, God has promised that it shall come to pass in the last days that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh: that "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28). God is raising up an Ezekiel company empowered with the gifts of faith and the working of miracles, with voices like trumpets commanding and heralding the miraculous power of God. Effectiveness and power isn't limited to clergy. God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.

We have to be immersed people. I want to be saturated with everything that God has for me - including dreams, visions, miracles, signs, wonders, and everything accessible to me as a child of God in the supernatural realm of His kingdom. I want the same for you, and so does God.

Go the Distance

People may criticize me for my boldness and zeal, for my methods and ways, for my intensity and urgency, but when we follow the Holy Spirit, He often leads us to do bold and even unexpected things - even outside of our norm. Samuel prophesied to King Saul that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and that he would prophesy and be turned "into another man" (1 Sam. 10:6). I am another man. Try to look beyond my paunch and the tattoos, and see how God has used me, and see how He can use you, and is using others.

Christianity shouldn't be a dead religion but full of life, vim, and strength! Supernatural signs and wonders so often lead people to the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether people know it or not, no matter which way a person comes to Christ, the supernatural is involved.

It's vital for us to go the distance with God if the world is ever going to experience the might of who He really is! Walking in communion with God and in the reality of heaven on earth is the distance to aim and reach for but you have to be open to the impossible happening, even if it bursts your wineskin. The realities of heaven that have happened in my life, and that are happening here at Lakeland are to glorify God so that the lost would come into right relationship with Him, for He is mighty to save.

Take Part in the Feast

God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. For some reason, He's chosen a bald-headed, red-bearded, tattooed, pierced, imperfect man as an agent for revival. I understand why I would come as a shock to the religious camp. Nevertheless, trust that if what I'm doing is of the flesh or of the devil, I will fail, but if what's happening is from God, nothing and no one can quench this blazing revival fire unless God wills it.

We're throwing a feast and we're inviting the sick, the poor in spirit, the oppressed, and those bound in old wineskins. We're going out to find and minister to those that no one else can touch to bring them in, and we're seeing an outpouring of God's blessings such that we cannot contain. Is it the work of the devil?

Spend time praying for souls. I pray you can see past my imperfections and gaze at the perfection of Christ Jesus. Break through your old wineskin and into the present one. Trust the wisdom of God and His hand in all of this.

I'm thankful that people are being watchful in these last days, just as I am watchful. Questions are good when we're uncertain of things. Trust too what a respected Pharisee advised in Acts 5:38, 39: "And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it - lest you even be found to fight against God."

I understand that people have questions, and God understands too! I invite you to come to Lakeland to see what God has for you, and to see for yourself the mighty and wondrous things that God is doing here. Thanks again for hearing my heart. It is my heart that we can bring unity to the Body of Christ to see a great harvest.

Fresh Fire to you,

Todd Bentley

PS: Just as I was wrapping up this letter to you, I received an unsolicited email from Dr. Gary S. Greig, PhD., a former Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Regent University School of Divinity, and Senior Editor, Theology and Acquisitions for the Regal Publishing Group. In his letter, this biblical scholar and theologian shared that the Lord had healed him of sleep apnea while entering into worship while watching a telecast of the Lakeland Outpouring. He wrote that the Lord prompted him to write and send us an independent theological witness to help as many leaders and believers as possible understand that the Lakeland outpouring is from God. That by writing this theological response to questions and criticisms in: Biblical Reasons to Receive God's Glory and Give it Away in Power Evangelism, that as many as possible would receive "biblical permission" to get on board and fully commit to receiving the Lord's glory and anointing, and to give it away in power evangelism.

This paper is written at a high level of scholarship for pastors, church leaders, and theologians yet is understandable to the layperson. The Lord told Dr. Greig to "sow into the revival," not by publishing this 55 page booklet in a conventional way, but by donating it to Fresh Fire Ministries to use as we will, even if it's just as an encouragement to the ministry. He has granted us permission to post or distribute this paper free of charge and advised that the Lord told him to suggest a donation of $3-$5 to go to Fresh Fire Ministries to help cover the costs for ushering in the outpouring in Lakeland, though to remain free for those who cannot afford the cost of the booklet. Dr. Greig writes: "(God's) desire is to help every potential reader know that what God is releasing through Lakeland and through the Fresh Fire Ministries team is indeed squarely biblical and is not New Age or outside the clear teaching of Scripture and historic Christianity."

According to the Lord's leading, and our examination of the booklet's contents, we are in agreement with his theological assessment. Our accountability team has made this very informative document available to you on our website in PDF format for download, and will have print copies available as soon as possible. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Dr. Greig and to the Lord for this timely and vital theological response to concerns and criticisms. Please click here to download of Biblical Reasons to Receive God's Glory and Give it Away in Power Evangelism, by Dr. Gary Greig.

Messed-Up People

Revival, what everyone is waiting on! All the Old Testament stuff like "Oh God rend the heavens" and people praying "God if only you loved Scotland as much as I did there would surely be Revival” ... sad really some friends of mine at bible college have got caught up in this. There is a church in Dudley that has had the anointing passed on to them and are now in Revival!! I don't have time to bore you all on this one.

I think Before we can experience Corporate Revival we must have a Personal Revival, an encounter with the living Lord Jesus who promised that He would send a comforter that would never leave us or forsake us no matter what we do he is Bigger than our issues and our sin!

I'm with Peter on this one. By the way I have tattoos so nothing personal Todd! Seems to me that there are a lot of messed up people getting even more messed up through this and the watchmen need to begin speaking out, I personally haven't seen much in the way of people coming to the Saviour in all of this either.

Thanks for the blog Peter,
Martin

Media Revelation

Rory and Wendy Alex, the founders of the God Channel, have become media moguls. I can remember, around 12 years ago, when they started broadcasting from their London kitchen. Such is God’s favour.

It has been a fantastic blessing to watch their development to this point where they now broadcast Christian TV into 240 nations around the world. Now, it seems, after years of trying, they are cracking open the USA Market and they are pulling out all the stops and using all their accrued acumen to do so.

The naked eye may not see the inner workings but to one who understands how the media works, it is clearly evident.

The Lakeland Outpouring has become a fantastic vehicle with which to ‘ram-raid’ the American market (and the rest of us). Night after night both God 1 and God 2 crash into our homes airing the latest developments from Florida.

The controversy that surrounds Todd Bentley keeps us tuning-in and the ‘free’ airing by the God Channel has America and the satellite TV world buzzing. Todd told us from the platform that Americans are rushing out to buy satellite dishes just to be able to tune-into Lakeland (and, of course, the God Channel).

A constant “thank-you” from the platform and the occasional prophetic promise from Wendy remind us who is making all this exposure possible.

It seems, at last, that the God Channel has arrived in America. Thank you Lord, or should that be, thank you Todd.

Here we go again …… how much is pure God and how much is media hype? Depending on how you answer begs another question; who is the power behind it, the prince of the power of the air or God Almighty? The answer to this question will be influenced by the stand you take on the question; is Todd Bentley deceived or am I deceived?

Hang-over

How is it, after watching the ‘Lakeland Revival’ for a few hours each night over the past few days, I feel hung-over, confused and depressed? Each night I have slept fitfully and I am agitated. I am looking for God and trying to believe all the positive things I hear but the longer I watch the tighter the knot in my stomach becomes and the louder the scream forms deep within me.

I am reminded of those horrible feelings that came the morning after a night of over-indulgence; when the effects of the drugs and alcohol had worn off and I would be left in a haze of foggy confusion, riddled with guilt until I could find some ‘hair off the dog’ to make me feel better…… This is the downward spiral that leads to addiction, sickness and death.

Even although I have had times of personal breakthrough in the worship, I have decided not to go to Todd Bentley’s party any more. He reminds me too much of my past life and I don’t want to go there. Instead, I am going to spend some time with the word of God, listening to Jesus my teacher and soaking in a hot bath with the Holy Spirit.

My opinion of the revival is WOW!!

My opinion of the revival is WOW!!look what GOD is doing, I think it is time we stopped looking at the humanity in it and focused on what our wonderful GOD is doing and spreading, after all, GOD chose the workman. I am watching every night, and calling on GOD to remember Scotland and come and reside here. We all know that in every move of GOD there is the human workings also, at least it has been in every Revival that I have read about. Let us praise GOD for the work he is doing and focus totally on HIM, and pray that he visits us here and cleanses our land.
Janette

False Prophets

The New Testament tells us how we can recognise a false prophet or teacher. I may be deceived, but I do not recognise many of these traits in Todd Bentley. Type “false” into your Bible software and see what the N.T. says on the subject:

· They were once born-again Christians (2Pet 2:1 & 20-22) but have rejected the Christian way and are again entangled in the corruption of the world which they had at one time escaped from. Peter describes them as "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

· They still seem like good Christians but are in fact like wolves disguised as sheep (Mat 7:15), as Satan's servants masquerade as servants of righteousness (2Cor 11:15) and apostles of Christ (2Cor 11:13).

· They bring the way of truth into disrepute (2Pet 2:2).

· They are moved by the spirit of the Antichrist, a spirit that can be discerned by testing to see whether it 'acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh' (1Joh 4:1-3).

· They will appear especially in the End Times when “many (in the church) will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other; wickedness will increase and the love of most will grow cold” (Mat 24:10, 11).

· They are popular and many will follow their shameful ways (2Pet 2:2). Men speak well of them (Luk 6:26). They seek honour for themselves (John 7:18). They push themselves forward (2Cor 11:20); they are bold and arrogant (2Pet 2:10).

· They are recognised by their bad fruit: (Mat 15:16); they make us slaves to man-made rules (Gal 2:4); we wander away from true faith and love (ITim 1:5); an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction (1Tim 6:4,5); they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error (2Pet 2: 18).

· They have bad hearts which are revealed by their words: evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (Mat 15:19).

· They despise authority (Godly and worldly) 2Pet 2:10.

· They want to be teachers ... but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm (1Tim 1:7).

· They secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them (2Pet 2:1). They teach false doctrines : Things that promote controversies and meaningless talk rather than God's work (1Tim 1:3, 4,7); that do not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching (1Tim 1:6:3).

· They oppose true men of God and try to turn people away from the faith; they are enemies of all that is right, full of all kinds of deceit and trickery and never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord(Act 13: 8,10)

· They deceive many people (Mat 24:11). They perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. (Mat 24:26). Their miraculous signs are intended to deceive and 'gather the kings of the whole world for the battle on the great day of God Almighty' (Rev 16:13,14).

· They enslave their hearers, exploit them, take advantage of them, abuse them (even physically) 2Cor 11:20)

· They claim they have an unimpeachable spiritual, religious and ministry pedigree (2Cor 11:22,23). They may have been 'persecuted' or have 'suffered' but only superficially (2Cor 11:24-27). They make much of their 'visions and revelations from the Lord' (2Cor 12:1) and go into great detail about what they have seen (Col 2:18), they make up stories to exploit people (2Pet 2:3);

· Paul said: “I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses” (2Cor 12:5) but they are conceited and understand nothing. They indulge in self-confident boasting in the way the world does (2Cor 11:17,18).

· They live by the basic principles of this world and human commands and teachings and they submit to its rules (Col 2:20, 22). They mouth empty, boastful words and appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature (2Pet 2:18).

· They delight in false humility and harsh treatment of the body (Col 2:18, 23) but practice sensual indulgence and follow the corrupt desires of the sinful nature (2PE 2:10); they are slaves of depravity and mastered by depravity (2Pet 2: 19). Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with true believers. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable (2Pet 2:13,14)

· They worship angels (spirit beings other than God) but slander celestial beings and blaspheme in matters they do not understand (2Pet 2:10, 12)

· They do not teach faith and love (1Tim 1:5)

· They teach (and practise) that godliness is a means to financial gain (ITim 6:5); they are experts in greed (2Pet 2:14)

Tim