[Originally posted at Bene Diction Blogs On, Jan. 7, 2010]
Don't be surprised if a "revival" breaks out at the Morningstar ministries headquarters in the U.S.. With Todd Bentley and Rick Joyner eager to get their fingers all over it.
A great catch by the blogger who writes Slaughter of The Sheep, who writes :
I’m afraid I have some bad news. Since the charismatic outpouring at International House of Prayer (IHOP) is getting all the attention, Todd Bentley and Rick Joyner can’t be left out. Todd Bentley announced on Twitter that “God” broke out on Morning Star’s students this morning, and the meeting went for twelve hours. They’re gonna try it again tonight to see what happens.
IamToddBentley Today 9 am God broke out with ministry students at MS and meeting went 12 straight hours. We are showing up 7 pm tomo to see what happens.
I honestly hope that God would be at work if anything were to break out. But, alas, it wouldn't surprise me if Todd Bentley took something small, or even non-existent, and turned it into something big.
Consider Lakeland.
Recall that when it began, when allegedly the "revival" was the purest--before God TV started its broadcasts--a friend and fellow revivalist visited the revival and talked to Bentley. Bentley told him something to the effect of "Isn't this revival great?", which led him to say "What revival?" (This second hand account was passed on by evangelist Robert Ricciardelli who spoke to this other fellow and may--if memory serves--have related it on that radio interview on Seattle's KGNW radio wherein he critiqued the Lakeland revival.)
We also have the extensive record of dishonesty associated with the events at Lakeland. To cite merely one example, Bentley's helpers trumpeted that people had been healed, only to have World magazine find out later that they had died.
So, as someone who has watched Bentley for many years, I can understand this blogger's suspicions. I can pray and hope that Bentley and Joyner don't exhibit a Marjoe Gortner level of deceitfulness...but I, sadly, would not be surprised if Bentley whomped up a "revival" out of nothing. If the "star of Lakeland" hopes to travel the world dispensing "outpourings" wherever he goes, I fear that something might need to be created in order to convince people who want to hire Bentley that whatever Lakeland was was not a fluke.
I hope that my readers will pray that the right thing will come to pass...