[Posted at Bene Diction Blogs on April 13, 2013]
Todd Bentley is preparing to crank up another revival. And GOD TV, the cable TV and internet TV station has just announced this morning that they are jumping in with both feet.
Bentley is in South Africa as I write in a revival oh so modestly dubbed
"The Great Awakening" And I figured that something was up when he or one of his minions made this announcement by e-mail yesterday.
What's the saying? "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"?
Bentley's update reads in part:
My wife, Jessa, was healed of a severe fever on the first day of the Great Awakening, South Africa meeting. Her healing came after a shower. The glory fell and her whole body was covered in gold. The gold was in all three hotel rooms where we stayed and now it is showing up in the meetings. It is now appearing on local muslims and hindus. After the gold came, six diamonds were discovered.
Every day there are testimonies of people having encounters with God. My wife woke up at 4 am to a rushing wind in our hotel room. She heard the Lord's voice saying that the winds have come and the times have changed. There is a lot of angelic activity in the services and an angel of revival breakthrough is coming. There is a sovereign grace realm coming in the meetings. You can sense the goodness of the Lord. We had the whirlwinds and fragrant perfumes of heaven pouring out. The anointing and wine is just so new.
Pray for us. We are also asking all our partners and friends for your help in Africa. The cost is great and we are ministering to many poor. Hundreds of hindus and muslims are coming for salvation and it is a great harvest opportunity. We are seeing crowds of 3000-5000 a night. Please sow on freshfireusa.com a seed for revival breakthrough in your city, life and church. This fire is contagious!
Yours in Africa Harvest,
Todd Bentley
And we will remember, a few months ago, GOD TV and Bentley
kissed and made up. [I've been meaning to unpack all of that Long GOD TV segment, and I apologize for not having had the time to do so.]. Anyways, GOD TV has heard of Todd's tales and decided to get involved in a big way--announcing this morning that they will be preempting their regularly scheduled programming [It makes for great, ratings attracting TV, so GOD TV's decision is understandable.]
The all caps are GOD TV's:
WE'RE SURE MANY OF YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THAT IT HAS BEEN WITH A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PRAYER AND DELIBERATION UNDER THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD THAT WE HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO GATECRASH THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE TO LINK LIVE TO THE GREAT AWAKENING HEALING REVIVAL IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA WITH TODD BENTLEY.
AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, IT TAKES COURAGE FOR US BOTH TO OBEY THE INSTRUCTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT KNOWING THE PERSECUTION THAT WILL INEVITABLY FOLLOW, BUT WE HAVE NEVER BEEN CALLED TO FOLLOW MAN OR THE EXPECTATIONS OF MEN. WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO FOLLOW ONLY THE LORD JESUS, THE HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR WONDERFUL HEAVENLY FATHER.
GOD HAS INSTRUCTED US TO BE OBEDIENT TO HIS VOICE AND TO HIS INSTRUCTION ONLY, NOT TO ANY MAN'S VOICE - AND SO - IT IS WITH TREPIDATION BUT WITH IMMENSE JOY AND HUGE EXPECTANCY OF INCREDIBLE OUTPOURING THAT WE AND OUR GOD TV TEAM HAVE GATECRASHED THIS WEEKEND'S GOD TV SCHEDULE.....
In case you don't catch on to how you are supposed to respond, there is a handy "prophetic word" by GOD TV's Wendy Alec that Todd's ministry itself just sent out.
This is "The Lord" speaking, through her. I'm quoting in full, in case it disappears :
For do not look at the past says the Lord. Do not look to the things that have gone before. For behold, watch I do a new thing. And I will pour out my spirit in a new way, in a manner that you have not known before.
For behold this is a new day, it is a new day, and behold the past is behind, and all things are become new.
And yes there will be naysayers and yes there will be persecution, but they know not the mind of the Lord. They know not my mind. For am I not God? Is man's heart not in my hands? For I tell you that I am God Almighty, God of heaven and earth and I choose whom I choose to choose.
And I tell you that in days and in weeks to come you shall even see signs that you have not known. And you shall see wonders. I tell you wonders. Wonders in the sky, wonders in the revival, wonders in the overflow rooms, wonders in the stadiums to come. For I tell you that the stadiums- they are to come. The stadiums, the living rooms- the glory.
For my fire shall fall. My fire shall fall from heaven and there shall be thunder and there shall be lightnings and there shall literally be the sounds of heaven, the sounds of heaven shall resound through the earth through this outpouring. Visitation, visitation, visitation says the Lord. Prepare for visitation in homes, in your cities, in your Nation. For what I am about to do cannot be contained. It cannot be contained and I will turn unbelievers in their steps and I will open blind eyes and the paralyzed will walk.
A Great Grace
But the hallmark of this next move shall be a great grace says the Lord. A great grace, and there shall be weeping and tears. Many, many, many tears shall fall upon the altars - physical altars and the altars of men's hearts.
And I shall burn up those besetting weaknesses and those addictions. My spirit shall be poured out upon the prisoner and the murderer and the adulterer and the heroin addict and the pornographer. My spirit shall be poured out upon the pedophile.
Ohhhhhhh roars the Lord of hosts from this place. From this outpouring I tell you a great great, grace such as has never been poured out upon all flesh before, shall be poured out in this dispensation.
The World
And from this kindling fire in Durban, from this seemingly insignificant beginning in South Africa, to the world. The world shall be set light with a great grace and as the fire comes down. And as the great, grace pours downward from heaven from the heavenlies, satanic forces will be paralyzed. For the great grace is my Son says the Lord. The great great, grace is none other than the Holy, Holy Lamb of God.
The atmosphere of the wicked shall become the atmosphere of heaven and the atmosphere of the addicted and the oppressed shall be infiltrated by the supernatural. And the sick, oh how my heart yearns, oh yearns for the sick and the chronically ill and the terminally ill. And I tell you that in this season and in this hour and from this place comes a great, grace upon the sick. And this great, grace of healing, this healing grace shall pour out upon the sick and upon the dying. And my resurrection power and the power and the glory of the supernatural shall break, shall destroy, shall disintegrate the shackles of the spirits of sickness, of the spirits of infirmity, of the spirits of death that the enemy has loosed on the church in this last hour.
The Tables are Turning
The tables are turning. Church saints, arise with a roar. Arise with the shout of Zion for your time is upon you. Your time has come and the glory of the Lord shall cover the sea and this great, grace shall burn from Durban to Capetown, to Johannesburg to Namibia, to Mozambique and to Zimbabwe. It shall burn and there shall be governmental changes in the outpouring.
England and United Kingdom, heaven speaks to you. You are one who is dearly held in the courts of heaven. Oh I weep for you United Kingdom and I tell you I am coming to you. I love you. I am coming to you. I am about to pour a great and terrible holy, grace upon you. And this fire that has been kindled in this far off place, this fire that has been kindled in Durban shall reach to your shores like a blazing firecracker. And all who have been hungry will be filled.
And I shall do manifest miracles and wonders in England says the Lord. In the North. You shall see my fire fall. In the midlands, in the south and the southwest my fire will burn.
And Scotland, Ireland, and Wales: you have yet to see your day and your day arises. And this fire will overflow from Durban, South Africa into living rooms across the nation of great Britain and to Europe, Scandinavia, and Germany says the Lord of hosts. I call your name. I call your name Germany. The fire is falling Germany. And Bulgaria, Poland, Russia, France. Durban to France. Durban to Switzerland. Holland.
And now beloved America, beloved America, oh like a blazing fire I come to you. Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire. From this place, fire fireballs ignited from this place all across the United States. Ohio. Texas. Georgia. Kansas. Missouri. Louisiana. New York. I call you New York. Los Angeles. California. Ablaze fire fireballs all across California, the northern California. Fireballs aligning and joining with Redding, California a mighty burning bush blazing across California.
Oh I have waited. I have waited and it is time. It is time; no more shall you say revival is coming. In this day and in this hour of dispensation you shall surely say revival is here. And communities, rainbows say the Lord. Muslims. Hindus. Buddhists. India. Africa. North Korea. Philippians.
And as the devil sets his schemes into motion in the governmental and political arenas of this world, I declare that I alone am the lord of hosts and this is not the enemy's day. This is my day. This is the day of my son. This is the day and the great outpouring of the lamb.
Let the enemy tremble. This is the day of the glorious lamb.
Wendy Alec
GOD TV Founder
Some observations...
"The Lord" through Alec, uses a rhetorical baseball bat to the kneecaps, to intimidate "naysayers", and to warn the easily deluded that they may need to believe Bentley and not their lying eyes.
That said, this could wind up being a real revival. Will believe it when I see it, though. Acts 17:11 remains in my Bible.
Keeping in mind Deuteronomy 18:22, let's note what is also supposedly about to take place.
--Durban South Africa will see "signs you have not known" and "wonders"
--"And from this kindling fire, from this seemingly insignificant beginning in South Africa, to the world". Notice that "revival hall spread" is implied but not said. So, there will be an out that could allow "dismay with fake revivals", say, can be plugged in there retroactively.
--"England and United Kingdom...I am coming to you." Not using Bentley, as he is banned from coming into Britain because of government apprehension about his ministry. That said. Alec also adds that the Lord is able to do what He wants and can brush government objections and decisions aside. This will be handily trotted out if Bentley is let back into Britain, but notice that it is not explicitly predicted that this will happen. Perhaps, in case it does not?
--The United States is cited for revival too, with specific cities named.
--No longer will Christians says that revival tarries, "you shall surely say that revival is here."
Some things about "The Great Awakening" that strike me as being planned differently from Lakeland.
It was always hoped by Bentley that Lakeland would end well, and that he could tour the world doing the same thing from place to place. So, this time, it has been announced that Bentley will only be in Durban South Africa until April 29.
Remember that in a contemporary interview on Seattle's KGNW radio, Robert Ricciardelli quoted someone as having this exchange with Bentley at Lakeland before the GOD TV cameras showed up. Bentley, reportedly, was crowing about how great "the revival" was, which led this other person to say "what revival?!?". So, whether valid or not, the excitement will need to be quick if Bentley is to follow his plans. [Alec's prediction that revival will be like a "heated firecracker"...interesting. Firecrackers are known for their quick bangs.]
Moving on quickly would not allow reporters to do their work in a systematic way, unless they are really quick. There would
likely be no stories as in World magazine noting that those who were "healed" wound up dying.
The advantage of Bentley staying in Lakeland for several weeks was that it allowed those with an interest in discerning what happened in Lakeland to do their work in a timely way, with not only blog posts, but making booklets, extensive YouTube videos and event a full scale video sermon on the subject.
It will be harder for little accidents to happen when Todd Bentley is packed to leave, such as t
he fellow with TV experience who noticed that at Lakeland people who were gravely ill or severely disabled were kept out of the range of the GOD TV cameras, even in a different building.
.
All this will be harder to do, especially as most people with an interest in Bentley are in North America while this is in South Africa. Checking this out in person while this is happening in South Africa could be logistically very difficult.
If skullduggery is afoot, was this set up this way on purpose? I'll leave it to you to decide.