from: MSNBC "Field Notes" http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/29/1075189.aspx
Revivalist claims hundreds of healings
Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2008 8:36 AM
LAKELAND, Fla. – "Holy Spirit fall! God is here! We want more! More, more, more!"
That's what Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley yells out nearly every evening to the thousands who gather to hear him preach. The 32-year-old Bentley looks more like a biker than a minister, with body piercings and tattoos all over his arms and neck. But the crowds don't seem to mind how he looks. They just want what they believe Bentley has – the ability to heal them.
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| Courtesy Loren Brown |
| Todd Bentley at the Lakeland Convention Center in Lakeland, Fla. on May 21. |
Bentley claims that God has used him to supernaturally heal hundreds of people of diseases ranging from glaucoma to diabetes to even cancer. How to explain it?
Bentley said in an interview that he doesn't know exactly why now, why him, why Lakeland, and he does not promise that everyone who comes to him will be healed. But he does maintain a pragmatic posture toward prayer.
"I say, you have nothing to lose but your sickness. If the doctors can't help you, why wouldn't you give God a chance?"
Growing crowds
"If you want God, just come get some," he shouts on stage nearly every
night.
Bentley has repeated a version of this invitation daily since April 2 when he and his team from Fresh Fire Ministries, which he founded in 1997, first arrived here from British Columbia, Canada, for what he thought would be five days of "revival" meetings in a local church. But those plans changed, he said, because "God is moving...and people know something is happening here." His meetings have been extended indefinitely.
While Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries are not part of an organized Protestant denomination, his beliefs tend to follow Pentecostal, charismatic traditions.
He claims that God has used him repeatedly before this revival to heal the sick, but added that this series of revival meetings is unprecedented in his personal experience as a minister.
The meetings have outgrown four venues, including a local convention center that seats roughly 7,000. Now they meet under an air-conditioned tent that can accommodate 10,000 on the grounds of the local airport. Organizers estimate that more than 140,000 people from at least 40 nations have attended meetings here.
In this country, the self-billed "Florida outpouring" has generated mostly local media attention. But word of the revival has been generating plenty of buzz online, taking Bentley’s message and claims far beyond Florida.
So far, according to Fresh Fire Ministries, 1.2
million people have watched live streaming broadcasts of the meetings on the
Internet. The meetings also are carried on the religious satellite channel,
God TV, which transmits Bentley's healing services to more than 200 nations.
In this country, God TV is carried on DIRECTV.
Not everyone is comfortable with this expression of Christianity,
including some Protestant theologians. R. Douglas Geivett, a professor
at the conservative,
evangelical Talbot School of Theology, is deeply skeptical of the "Florida
outpouring" and does not believe Bentley’s claims of supernatural healing are
consistent with Christian doctrine
"I don’t think it fits neatly into any branch of Christianity," said Geivett. "Mr.
Bentley’s worldview appears to be a mixture of New Age notions, an obsession
with the paranormal, and an untutored grasp of Christian theology."
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| Courtesy Loren Brown |
| A woman named Deborah, who suffers from scoliosis, prays with Todd Bentley in Lakeland, Fla. on May 5 as David Tomberlin looks on and Russ Roderick acts as a “catcher.” Afterwards, she claimed her illness was healed. |
Claims of healing
Still, what seems to be drawing all these people of varying ages,
ethnicities, and classes is a clear hunger for what Bentley's meetings are
offering: the hope of healing and some sort of touch from God.
David Tomberlin, an evangelist who's been dubbed the "Ryan Seacrest" of these meetings because he serves as an emcee of sorts, tried to explain the claims of healings, saying, "The Bible talks about Jesus healing sick people. It says he was moved by compassion, so part of it is God's heart of compassion."
So every night, Bentley and his ministry team take to the stage and try to call heaven down to earth.
That's when the sick are urged to come forward for prayer and healing.
In many instances, Bentley places his hands on
someone's head or area of infirmity and cries out for the power of God to
descend. In response, some people may stand and physically tremble, while
others may literally fall down to the ground in what they call "falling under
the power" of the Holy Spirit.
Bentley’s associates say that this is not a painful experience, but rather one
of being physically overcome by the loving presence of God. Anticipating these
sorts of responses, one of Bentley's staff members stands behind each
individual to serve as a "catcher" to gently guide the person down to the
floor. Skeptics claim this "falling" can be the result of being overcome with
emotion or a learned behavior.
At a recent meeting, Stephen Godula was brought on stage to tell his story. He testified that he had been healed of multiple forms of cancer by watching the meetings on the Internet at home. He plans to return to his oncologist in Philadelphia to document his healing.
Patsy Wallingford traveled from Arkansas in search of healing. Since a tractor-trailer plowed into her mobile home three years ago, Wallingford has been bound to a wheelchair because of nerve damage in her legs and feet.
On a recent night, Wallingford took to the stage and received a prayer from Bentley. "I felt like what was a warm water flow from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet," she explained.
And that's when, she said, she could feel something cold against her right foot; she decided to step out in faith and step out of her wheelchair in front of clapping and cheering crowds.
As she pushed her wheelchair off the stage, she paused to answer questions from one of Bentley's staff members, who filled out a one-page form detailing the claims of miraculous healing.
Bentley and his staff say they welcome as much documentation as people are willing to provide after they return home.
~snip~
to read the full article go to: http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/29/1075189.aspx
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Charisma Magazine (excerpt's)
Paul Steven Ghiringhelli, Charisma magazine 'news' 5-22-'08
Placing his global itinerary on hold, Bentley said
he plans to remain in Lakeland, a city of about 90,000 between Orlando and
Tampa, for as long as God wants him to. “I have never been in such intense
glory,” said the tattooed evangelist, “nor witnessed so many miracles and
healings in America.”
“I would say in the last week we have touched a new realm of miracles,” he
said. “There were more testimonies of people coming out of wheelchairs [on
Monday night] than in any other meeting.”
Euphoric worship and claims of miracles have added to the excitement in
Lakeland and have prompted some to fly in from across the country and even
from abroad.
Fire marshals closed the doors to capacity crowds last month at the 700-seat
Ignited Church, locking out hundreds of people who waited in the church
parking lot until after midnight to receive prayer from Bentley.
Meetings relocated to a larger facility on April 24. Venues have since
included an arena, a field and a stadium. More than 10,000 have reportedly
filled venues during weekend meetings. Starting next week, services will be
held at an “air-dome” near a regional airport.
“I could never have dreamed that each day the anointing could grow any
stronger and continue [this way],” Stephen Strader, senior pastor at Ignited
Church, told Charisma.
John Arnott, senior pastor of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, where a
spiritual outpouring began in 1994, was at Tuesday night’s service with his
wife, Carol. Bentley honored the couple for sharing “the father heart of God”
with the world. Arnott later blessed the Lakeland meetings.
“Todd, it’s just amazing what God is doing here ... it’s being talked about
around the world,” Arnott said. “Carol and I are here tonight to absolutely
bless this, with everything in us.”
Worship lasted three hours that evening. “I feel like I’m under a shower right
now. Is it raining in here?” Bentley asked his associates on stage at one
point.
One woman sobbed facedown on the cement floor. A man with outstretched arms
slowly turned in circles where he stood. A loud chorus in the air above
them—“Less of me and more of you, less of me and more of you. I am thirsty,
hungry, desperate for your presence”—reverberated inside the giant-sized
auditorium.
“You’re in heaven’s atmosphere tonight,” Bentley said. “I feel the same fire I
felt when I first got saved ... there’s only one thing I want—the presence of
Jesus. I just want Jesus. I’ll lay anything down.”
The meetings have been broadcast live on GOD TV, opening the meetings to
millions of potential viewers worldwide. Strader said 1.2 million separate
computers have logged on to watch services online.
One YouTube video of the Lakeland meetings was ranked as the eighth most
viewed video in the world, according to Bentley.
Hundreds are claiming healing from various ailments, including deafness,
cancer, tumors and paralysis. There are also unconfirmed reports of the dead
coming back to life.
One of the cases involves a 3-year-old girl, dead for two days, who allegedly
woke up and coughed as she was being wheeled into a room to have her organs
harvested, Strader said. The hospital denied the report.
Another case involves a woman in West Virginia who had three heart attacks
last Saturday, but was revived after family members had made the decision to
pull her breathing tube. The woman’s niece, Darla Pence, told Charisma she
received prayers of “healing, revival and restoration for your family” one
week prior to her aunt’s heart attacks from someone who had been to Lakeland.
Pence said that since her aunt’s miraculous recovery, nine family members have
come to the Lord.
As word has spread of the Lakeland Outpouring, various circles within the
Spirit-filled community have been hesitant to fully acknowledge what is
happening in Lakeland as a genuine move of God.
Jack Hayford, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel,
said it’s important to “guard our souls from being either gullible,
doubt-prone or resistant to whatever God may seek to do.”
“With time,” he said, “whatever is taking place in Lakeland and through
activities issuing from its happenings, will either verify or discredit the
source of its manifestations.”
Bentley said on Tuesday that TheCall founder Lou Engle phoned him from Kansas
City, Mo., to let him know they were praying for him.
John Kilpatrick, who pastored Brownsville Assembly during the Pensacola
Revival of the 1990s, visited Lakeland recently to lend Bentley his support.
Kilpatrick told Charisma last month that he planned to visit Lakeland as soon
as possible in order to encourage Bentley. “It saddened me that many weren’t
willing to at least come and check things out,” he said of his early meetings
in the 1990s with revivalist Steve Hill. “I made a vow before God that if
revival ever broke out again, no matter where it was, that I’d at least go.”
Bentley said he’s grateful and even surprised by the attention. “I am
absolutely blown away by how many thousands of pastors and leaders have come
to receive impartation,” he said.
“Sometimes I think people think that I think that I know what I’m doing,” he
said Tuesday. “But what God does is sovereign. I wish I could duplicate
things, or just turn on the miracles, but I can’t.”
Bentley places a strong emphasis on taking “the anointing” from the worship
services and out into the streets. People have reported many salvations and
healings taking place in local parking lots, restaurants and malls throughout
Lakeland.
GOD TV made a financial appeal to its viewers today to “keep this revival
going” for another 40 days. “It is in complete obedience to the will of the
Father that we are extending coverage of this mighty move of God … all at
great expense,” stated Rory and Wendy Alec, co-founders of GOD TV. “Now we
feel challenged of the Father to commit to broadcast a further 40 days. But we
can only do this with your help.”
Bentley said meetings would continue for however long God’s “glory” continues
to manifest.
—Paul Steven Ghiringhelli in Lakeland, Fla.
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Thousands Flock to Florida Revival Meetings
Since early April, visitors have sought healing
and a touch from God at the ‘Lakeland Healing Outpouring’
Thousands of people desperate for a physical or
spiritual touch from God began flocking to
Lakeland, Fla., in early April to attend what some are calling the
“Lakeland Healing Outpouring.”
For three weeks straight, capacity crowds jammed the 700-seat sanctuary of
Ignited Church. After fire marshals locked out hundreds of worshipers on April
21 for safety reasons, church leaders temporarily relocated services to the
nearby 3,000-seat Auburndale Life church in
Auburndale, Fla.
Todd Bentley, the 32-year-old revivalist who has been leading the meetings,
said he is accustomed to revival-like atmospheres, but “nothing like this.”
“I feel honored by the Lord,” said Bentley, founder of Fresh Fire Ministries
in
Abbotsford, B.C. “This is a true, genuine outpouring from heaven. I’m
overwhelmed by what the Lord is doing in this hour.”
During one midweek service, the stocky, tattooed evangelist called out various
diseases, and dozens claimed healing. A 6-year-old girl whose elbow had been
broken told the crowd, “Jesus came out of heaven and touched my elbow.”
Before-and-after X-rays showing that her elbow is no longer broken were posted
on
YouTube.
Bentley prayed for a 5-year-old boy whose heart beat three times faster than
normal. It was “like a washing machine under his skin,” the boy’s mother said.
After falling into a trancelike state the boy opened his eyes and his mother
told the crowd that his heart, for the first time, didn’t “pitter-patter.
“Others claimed they were healed of rheumatoid arthritis, panic attacks,
ruptured discs, deafness, cancer and emphysema.
Word of the meetings, which at press time were being held twice daily, spread
like wildfire over the Internet. In mid-April
GOD TV began airing the revival live worldwide. As a result, some
people have jumped on planes bound for the Sunshine State to attend the
services.
“We are all shocked that each night a minimum of 60 percent [are] first-time
[visitors],” said Stephen Strader, senior pastor of Ignited Church.
Like outpourings in the 1990s in
Toronto and
Pensacola, Fla., the meetings center on experiencing God’s presence.
Some compare it with the “laughing revival” Rodney Howard-Browne led in the
same area 15 years ago.
Bentley said the revival meetings have taken him by surprise. He visited
Lakeland in early April to hold a conference. But on the second day of the
event, April 3, Bentley said an angel visited him. He sensed a stronger
anointing for healing and believed God wanted him to stay in Lakeland as long
as His presence continued to manifest. The meetings are being extended on a
week-by-week basis.
John Kilpatrick, who was pastor of Brownsville Assembly during the Pensacola
Revival, said he hopes Christians won’t prejudge what is happening in
Lakeland. “It saddened me that many weren’t willing to at least come and check
things out [in
Pensacola],” he said. “I made a vow before God that if revival ever
broke out again, no matter where it was, that I’d at least go.”
John Arnott, pastor of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, where revival
broke out in 1994, encouraged Bentley in a letter in April: “Todd, you need to
keep going in these meetings as long as the Lord is moving. I feel that this
is a prophetic sign that another wave of revival is coming to North America.”
Kilpatrick, now based in
Daphne, Ala., said he is hungry for more of God. “There’s another wave
of the Holy Spirit coming, a tidal wave of the glory of God,” he said in
between sobs. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing like the presence of God. It has
ruined me for life.”
PAUL STEVEN GHIRINGHELLI
in
Lakeland, Fla.
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*note:
To watch live streaming
of the Florida services online (on your computer)
time: 7 PM ET, USA
go to:
ignitedchurch.com
Or,
http://www.freshfire.ca/
Also streaming nightly online, or on tv, via
God TV