I didn’t think I’d be posting any more on the Lakeland Revival, since visiting several weeks ago. However, it has been my observation from watching–and even being involved in–several similar movements, the collateral damage of bad theology is broken relationships. Lakeland revivalist Todd Bentley has apparently filed for separation from his wife. Interestingly, this is simultaneous with a statement from Peter Wagner explaining his attempts at providing apostolic oversite for Bentley–although no mention is made of the separation. As disturbed as I was by my experience at the revival, this is a time for grieving and praying, not gloating.

Friday night I visited the Lakeland “Healing Outpouring” with two friends: Jon Rising, a writer who contributed several pieces to Ministry Today when I was editor; and Simon Chan, a theologian and author from Singapore whom I had the privilege of sharing a meal with at the Azusa Street Centennial in Los Angeles.

We arrived as the music was beginning, the area in front of the stage filled with people singing and jumping at worship leader Roy Fields’ direction. The boom camera swooped above, zooming in on the devotees around the stage, but avoiding the back and sides of the tent, which were more sparsely populated. The common theme of the lyrics was freedom, as Fields instructed us to “drop the chains of tradition,” “shut down your minds” and “shake off religion.” I assume the “tradition” to which he was referring was the 400-year-old tradition of sitting in a pew, listening to a sermon and singing from a hymnbook–not the 100-year-old tradition of shouting, clapping and dancing in the spirit under a tent.

Todd Bentley came on stage toward the end of worship and promptly lay down behind the pulpit. Back in town after a traveling hiatus, the tattooed revivalist was attired in torn jeans and a “Heavenly Devoted Son” t-shirt styled like the “Harley Davidson” logo. Before introducing Bentley, an emcee gave several testimonies: someone healed of arthritis and a man raised from the dead. No location or identifying information was given for either account.

After taking the microphone, Bentley informed us that this was a “day of acceleration” and that he would be “unlocking things in the heavenlies.” The message for the evening, he said, was one that God had taught him in 30 seconds on his first trip to heaven soon after he was saved 10 years ago. He assured us that it was a “divine decree,” a “prophetic activation to loose and birth some things” and that a “breakthrough anointing” would begin within the next 24 hours. The first 40 minutes of his message was a repetition of these themes–an anticipation of something that God was “getting ready” to do. This was particularly significant, as Bentley will be leaving Lakeland in several weeks–concluding 144 days of ministry there (a number which he noted was “prophetic”).

The basic gist of Bentley’s message was that some people are intended to receive prophecy, healing or deliverance, but that they don’t experience them because they don’t “know how to go into heaven and get them.” Bentley explained that, not only had he learned to go into heaven and claim his “prophetic destiny”, but that he had figured out how to speed up prophecies that would normally take 10 years and make them happen in 1 year.

“I have learned that there are some things that God wants to do today, but there is a delay,” he explained. “So, I just go into heaven and help God along, so it doesn’t take 21 days for it to happen.”

The service closed with a time of worship, in which attendees mimed shooting arrows at Satan, symbolically acting out the warfare that it would take to claim their prophetic words. Then, they lined up to be anointed assembly-line fashion by Bentley with cloths dipped in buckets of oil.

The sincerity of the attendees could not be questioned. Although one could argue that they were “sign-seekers” merely chasing bizarre manifestations and exotic teachings, many had obviously come with a hungry heart to experience God. But it is likely that they will leave the Lakeland meetings with a flawed view of Him.

In Bentley’s world, God is a very human character, who must be bargained with and wrestled to accommodate our expectations. The supernatural is a mystical realm that can be manipulated with the skills of modern-day shamans who understand the rules and lingo by which it operates. The mind is a dangerous hindrance to worship that must be disengaged before we can effectively interact with our Creator or understand His ways. And religion and tradition are always negative factors that hinder truly “spiritual” activities.

Simply put, it’s modern-day gnosticism.

http://www.ministrytodaymag.com/blog/2008/08/it-didnt-take-long-after-lakeland.html