© Gary S. Greig 2008
A Theological Response to Criticism of the Lakeland Outpouring and Todd Bentley
BIBLICAL REASONS TO RECEIVE GOD’S GLORY AND GIVE IT AWAY IN POWER EVANGELISM
© June 8, 2008 (Corrected Version)
By Dr. Gary S. Greig
Senior Editor, Theology and Acquisitions, Regal Publishing GroupFormer Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Regent University School of DivinityPh.D., 1990, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago
Contents
An unmistakable outpouring of the Holy Spirit
........................................................................................2
Criticism generating a lot of heat but little light
........................................................................................2
Objection 1: “The healings aren’t really real” and “People are only working themselves intoaltered states of consciousness.”
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Is the devil behind the healings and resurrections?
..................................................................................4
Normative New Testament evangelism is accompanied by God’s power
......................................................5
Objection 2: “Many healings are partial or gradual, and some people lose their healing after theyclaim to have been healed.” “Healings in the New Testament always happened immediately andcould not be ‘lost’.”
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Don’t let the enemy steal your healing! Close the door to all sin
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Objection 3: “The manifestations, shaking, vibrating, laughing, talk of electricity, and weirdbehavior didn’t happen in the Bible and cannot be from God.”
.....................................................10
Forget the weirdness and look at the fruit
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The raw power of God and human flesh: shaking, falling, and vibrating
.....................................................12
Energy, electricity, heat, and fire—yes, they’re in the Bible too.................................................................
13
Shadows, handkerchiefs, and aprons: creativity without hand-wringing
.....................................................14
Cataloging manifestations of God’s power coming upon human bodies
.......................................................16
Having a healthy, biblical expectation of miracles
....................................................................................18
Objection 4: “There is no emphasis on repentance and holiness in the Lakeland meetings, asthere always has been in classic revivals and awakenings throughout recent history as in theGreat Awakening and the Second Great Awakening.”
...................................................................18
Objection 5: “We should not be teaching people to interact with angels. Satan masquerades as anangel of light and people can be deceived by demonic angels like Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was deceived by the deceptive, demonic angel ‘Moroni.’”
........................................19
Golden bowl prayer and worship has only Father God’s address on it
.........................................................20
Prayer and worship, no. Interaction, yes. Back to discerning the fruit
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Focusing on Father God and interacting with His household servants
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A resurrected computer and a stopgap repair from an angel of the Lord
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God’s people speaking God’s words to angels
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Learning to pass on God’s words to the angels leads to very good fruit
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Objection 6: “It’s wrong and misguided for us to describe angels in detail or to mention theirnames. This will get our focus off of Jesus.”
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Objection 7: “There is no such thing as angels manifesting themselves as female angels inScripture. Jesus taught that angels are genderless. Talk of female angels is New Age deception.”
25
Guardian angels and mirroring God’s image in humans
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“Perhaps it’s his angel”??!!—Not a typical quote from today’s Western Church
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“In the image of God He made him, male and female He made them”
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God the Father and the motherly aspects of His nature
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The ‘
Imago Dei’
and the angels: Justin, Tertullian, and Calvin
...................................................................30
Zechariah’s visions and angelic spirits carrying out Yahweh’s will
..............................................................31
Objection 8: “No Scripture supports the idea that the Holy Spirit bestows healing mantlesthrough His angels. Only the Holy Spirit ministers healing, not angels.”
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The Angel of His presence and ten thousand angels accompanying the Holy Spirit from Sinai
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Healing mantles—don’t leave the meetings without them
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Clothed with the Spirit, burning with fire
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The Holy Spirit can heal and strengthen through angels too
.....................................................................37
Objection 9: “Todd Bentley teaching that believers can go up frequently in the Spirit to God’sthrone in heaven, is unbiblical and borders on New Age visualization.”
.......................................38
Jesus saw the Father in the heavenly throne room
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Hebrews: entering the heavenly sanctuary and approaching the throne
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Which part of ‘approaching’ and ‘entering’ do we not understand!?
............................................................43
New Age? No way! Biblical practice leads to good fruit again
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Objection 10: “Todd Bentley is a false prophet, because he teaches things I cannot find inScripture.”
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It is the fruit that matters most in distinguishing true and false prophets
...................................................45
Assessing good vs. bad character even more than prophetic accuracy
.......................................................48
1 Kings 13—true prophets should not let themselves become false prophets
..............................................49
False prophets focus on money, serve self not the Lord, and will be divisive, arrogant, competitive
..........52-55
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