May 30, 2008
My People Love It So…
Why There Must Be Yet Another Mystical Revival
By: Pastor Bill Randles
For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (I Cor. 11:19)
If there wasn’t a false mystical revival, ala Lakeland, sooner or later someone would have to manufacture one. Likewise a Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and flavor of the day, Todd Bentley. These people are not the authors of their respective heresies, (they are far less innovative than they realize). They only embody them. They are the proponents of a false spirituality embraced by thousands of professing Christians around the world. They merely act out and express the false spirituality of their constituency, that is why no matter how many times these spurious revivals are discredited, as soon as another one breaks out there is a ready made congregation to joyfully participate in them.
I am only echoing the prophet Jeremiah in His own day who lamented that:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?
There you have it, MY people love it so… as long as there is a willing market for such Gnosticism it will always flourish. This is why there will always be a Toronto Blessing, Pensacola revival, or Lakeland outpouring. The problem goes much deeper than the various personalities leading these false movements. I and many others have written and documented thoroughly the false predictions of the so-called ‘prophetic movement ‘leaders, such as Rick Joyner, Benny Hinn, Bob Jones, John Paul Jackson, and Paul Cain. But it seems that the more these “prophets” are exposed, the greater their following grows! The ‘prophets’ are false teachers as well, Bob Jones received ‘revelations ‘ from a Spirit Guide named ‘Dominus” whom he also considered to be a visitation of Jesus! Kenneth Copeland taught that he or any born again believer with the same “revelation knowledge’ could have died on the cross!
Todd Bentley speaks of a Spirit that He calls ‘Emma”, which authored the current “revival” as noted below-
Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: "Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?" He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, "Bob, who is Emma?" He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering-type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out. Within a few weeks of Bob asking me about Emma, I was in a service in Beulah, North Dakota. In the middle of the service I was in conversation with Ivan and another person when in walks Emma. As I stared at the angel with open eyes, the Lord said, "Here's Emma." I'm not kidding. She floated a couple of inches off the floor. It was almost like Kathryn Khulman in those old videos when she wore a white dress and looked like she was gliding across the platform. Emma appeared beautiful and young-about 22 years old-but she was old at the same time. She seemed to carry the wisdom, virtue and grace of Proverbs 31 on her life.
From Todd Bentley article-Angelic Hosts
www.etpv.org/2003/angho.html
Of course in another time, such trafficking in Angels would be considered dangerous, even demonic, but we live in a time where discernment is at an all time low. In the excerpt below Bentley relates an encounter with the Angel that William Branham consorted with;
I first saw the angel called Healing Revival on December 5 of 2000 in Grant's Pass. The angel came to me again in Albany the next February. He stood in the church service with his body going through the ceiling of the church. Then the Lord told me the angel's name and that he was the same angel I saw in Grant's Pass earlier. God also revealed to me that this angel was involved in the ministry of John Lake, William Branham, and John Knox in Scotland. This angel, the Lord said, is from the North West Healing Revival and is manifesting again as a sign that God is restoring the Voice of Healing revival and opening up the ancient wells. From Todd Bentley article-Angelic Hosts
www.etpv.org/2003/angho.html
Why does this blatant occultism, which in any other time would have been rigorously discerned and rejected by all evangelicals, now have a growing following? Because, My people love to have it so… the problem goes deeper than the heretical leaders of these movements, it is a matter of the unfaithfulness and disloyalty of God’s own people! There has to be a Todd Bentley trafficking in Angels, and reveling in the “power of God”, if there wasn’t one, someone would have to come up with one, to express and manifest the false spirituality of the multitudes of God’s people.
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deut 13:1-3
These apparent ‘signs and wonders’ are a spiritual test, God would have us know whether we “love the Lord our God with all “ of our heart and soul. What we are witnessing in this phenomenon is nothing less than spiritual adultery; MY People love to have it so… the last day’s defection we were warned about from the beginning. Who loves God with all of their heart and soul? Is it those who are constantly seeking ‘the power’? Is it those who are ‘madly in love with Jesus’? Is it those who are so tolerant of their ‘ministers’ that there is nothing they could ever say or do that would dissuade them from supporting them? Paul Cain can be exposed as a drunkard, Bob Jones as an abuser of women, but a Rick Joyner and a Todd Bentley can re-instate them into ministry as great men of God, even Fathers of the “prophetic”!
According to Deuteronomy 13, loving the Lord is being loyal to the Truth. It has to do with a choice between the ‘power gifts’ and the teachings of a given ministry. The power gifts are spectacular, but the teachings would lead people after other gods. If God’s people love Him, they will judge the teachings, and reject the ministry, no matter how powerful, should those teachings ever take people after other Gods.
Of course Moses didn’t envision anyone stepping into a pulpit and blatantly calling on people to follow Zeus or Astarte! This is a more subtle test than that. More likely, it is that though the teaching proclaims the name of the true God, it in effect is a call to follow another God, a false Jahweh, a phony ‘Jesus’.
The God of the Bentley’s angel, Emma, is not the God of the Bible. The God of William Branham, who taught that the horoscope is equal to the Bible, is Not My GOD! The God of Paul Cain and Bob Jones, is not the God of the apostles. These people are promoting other gods in the name of our God. Certainly the God of Rodney Howard Browne, self-proclaimed as ‘God’s bartender’ is not the God of the Bible.
But they are all so powerful, and they have a sense about them, a feeling of ‘the prophetic’ and ‘the supernatural’ and they seem to be the fulfillment of ‘prophecies’ and ‘Words’ given by other modern prophets. And worst of all My People love to have it so, but I close with the same question Jeremiah ‘s verse asks- Where is it taking us or rather where has it taken us, or as Jeremiah himself asks, What will you do in the end??
