…and by His stripes we are healed. (Is. 53:5)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Posted by Kathi on September 18, 2008
Kelly says in her prelude, ” All I can say is WOW!” – I concur!! She had an awesome vision of what it is to be clothed in righteousness and why we don’t see ourselves as such.
She also tackles her thoughts about Lakeland now that some of the dust has settled – GOOD stuff there.
Kelly, if you read this – thank you for being such an encourager to the Body of Christ!
Posted by Kathi on August 31, 2008
A long time ago, I started to have a particular physical sensation when something of the Holy Spirit was happening. It’s subtle – not as forceful as my friend Frances has – she has a very intense physical sensation of discernment.
What I feel is very hard to describe – it’s holy fear and awe but more, but over time and with consistency I’ve come to know it as my “God is about” feeling. What I feel is subtle and I suppose could go un-noticed if I wasn’t paying attention. I never rely on “just” the “feeling” (I think that would be dangerous) but couple that with what the Bible and the Spirit actually say. (I can’t say that I’ve ever had the feeling when Scripture contradictions)
I also have a particular physical sensation when exposed to certain non-Christian teachings – occult, new age, JW, Mormon, etc. It’s almost like a cloud descends and it feels like something is trying to bend my brain. It’s an odd feeling, disturbing. (Likewise I can’t say I’ve ever had the feeling about something that’s actually God)
I’ve noticed over the last few weeks that I get that same cloud/bend sensation when I’m reading heresy-hunter stuff. I just happened upon a forum I figured would be pro-revival by its name. Some folks are, and some folks are rabidly anti-revival (not just Lakeland). Same sensation as I get when I’m around evil.
Just wanted to note it as something interesting.
Posted by Kathi on August 26, 2008
I’ve been cruising blogs this morning – I started on Tim Brownlee’s blog (see last post) and started jumping from link – to link – to link – a sort of three-dimensional web that led me to lots of new places, fascinating people, and even back to a few blogs I already read (six degrees of separation, anyone?)
Found two things of interest to everyone who’s following the Lakeland Revival/Todd Bentley and the issues therein:
The first, from Pray the Revolution, discusses heresy hunters and bereans. Good take on it.
The second, from the Prayer Room blog, talks about Todd’s comments on his situation, through Rick Joyner. I’m copying the relevant portion here – but the rest of what Rick has to say is important, too.
”Todd Bentley asked me to convey his appreciation for all the prayers, expressions of love, and concern while he tries to navigate through this present situation. He is grieved by the trouble and confusion this has caused, especially to his friends, coworkers, and all who have trusted him. He wants to make a clear statement about it, acknowledging his responsibility in this and the mistakes he made, but he feels that he should first meet with Pastor Bill Johnson, who is out of the country and will not be available for a couple more weeks. He asks that you would continue to pray for him, and he thanks those who are willing to be patient. He wants to do this right and not hastily or superficially. ”
Posted by Kathi on August 16, 2008
Note: I shorthand Todd Bentley to be TB and Lakeland to be L, and the two together are TB&L.
Given Fresh Fire Ministries’ announcements over the last few days regarding Todd and Shonnah Bentley’s separation and the subsequent announcement that Todd had developed an emotional bond with another woman that was inappropriate, a number of people are asking questions.
Perhaps the most common is, “How did all those leaders, pastors, and people who flocked to the revival lack discernment?”
My satirical response is, “Did YOU know it was going on?” (to which you’d reply, “no, but I knew SOMETHING was…”, and my further response would be, “Because millions and millions of Christians are poor, ignorant slobs who are dumber than a big bucket full of hair and who are incapable of hearing from the Lord and who should bow to your obviously superior connection to God” … except that the complainers generally have complained that many felt that Todd Bentley had a superior connection to God and I’m sure that said complainers don’t want THAT association. (not to mention that it’s rather ridiculous!)
The simple answer to “Why didn’t you know?” is, “He didn’t tell me.”
Contrary to popular opinion (mostly among non-prophetic folks), God does not tell His prophets everything. He doesn’t tell anyone everything. Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 13 that even if God DID tell us everything, but we lack love (KJV=”charity”), it’s all rather pointless.
My question is, “Where’s the love and charity for the Bentleys?”
Best ask God before you reply, “But we knew something was wrong from the beginning…”
Kathie Walters has a GREAT piece over on the Realms of Glory blog – talking about discernment and bitterness with regards to this whole situation. She even talks about Branham, Ron 
Someone else (when I remember who/were, I’ll edit) said that perhaps God has reasons for not telling people – because He’s wanting to teach the church about how to respond in love and humility to this situation.
A counterpart to the above question/response is this: The revival is/was never about Todd Bentley. TB is a man. But Jesus is Jesus, and that’s Who the revival is about.
A second counterpart to the above question/response is this: God used a flawed man. Find me one that’s not. [self included there!]
There’s no “excuse” for sin – but when it happens, what is the one who sinned supposed to do? Perhaps the critics and heresy hunters would be happy if TB doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire? One would hope not (but I wouldn’t doubt it!)… all TB has to do is go to God with it and get right, and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and marvel at His grace and love (as the rest of us should, daily!)… and it sounds like he’s doing just that.
I do wonder what God thinks of all the curses that have been leveled at Todd and Shonnah. The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. That’s not some magickal formula, but it is a practical spiritual principle. If it’s true that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks – and the mouth is speaking vile words against a Christian – what is in the heart? Jesus says that we’ll give an account for our words, you know! (NOTE: again, I’m not referring to people who disagree. I’m sure if I attended my local Baptist church I’d find a lot to disagree with, and I might say so – but I’m not going to call their doctrines demonic and denounce the pastor and warn people about them! *)
(I’m going to talk about me for a second, because to talk about Todd with my next statement would be speculative and that would be wrong to do. Could it be part of what happened? Yes. Is it? Time, and God, will tell.) I’ve been the recipient of loving, constructive criticism. It can be hard to take sometimes, but when God is in something, even when two people disagree, all grow more in Him. I’ve also been the recipient of hateful, spiteful, cursing, venomous words – most often from people claiming to be Christians. Some of it’s current, but most of it’s in the past from my involvement at EW. Hopefully I’ve learned some lessons from that time, that I can apply to now. 
But I can say that discouraging words do tend to do just that – discourage. When it seems that not only is every demon on the planet out to get you, but friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, and complete strangers are out to get you also – it’s hard to maintain focus. It’s hard to escape the bitter soap opera (it just occurred to me, lots of the Psalms are about this very subject…).
I speak of the revival in the present tense, and will continue to do so. To the best of my knowledge, services are still going on at Ignited Church, but even if they were to cease, the impartation I received and revival I experienced still live in my heart. There is a holy passion for Jesus and a level of intimacy with Him that I have now that’s qualitatively and quantitatively DIFFERENT from what I had pre-revival (and I had no small measure before).
Someone (Anita or Alycin, I think) said that we should not take “pride” in our relationship with Christ. I think I’m going to have to write another post, about intimacy and relationship. To an extent I agree – if we start thinking that because we’re in tight with God, nothing bad can happen to us, and we can do no wrong, then things are likely to unravel. But we also must rest secure in Jesus and strive to grow in that relationship every minute of every day! I’ll say more in another post, maybe later today – we’ll see.
Again, I’ve written a much longer post than I intended to! I just get wordy in my old age and general sleepiness (it’s been an odd day – had to have Kayt to the RDU airport 90 minutes away, at 4:30 this morning for her flight to Florida. That means we got up at 2 and left here around 3. Came home, took a nap, but still zzzzzzzzzzz!! She just called a bit ago, arrived safely and is headed to Southeastern to get settled in! Thank You, Lord, for her safe travel!!)
* Clarification – since I’ve mentioned them before – There are two Baptist churches in our town that I DO warn people about – not because they’re Baptist, but because they routinely throw people out of church for not giving enough money and not dressing “appropriately” (One church asked Mother Louise not to ever come back, because she attended an evening service wearing a pantsuit). However, these two are exceptions to the rule and most of the other churches are quite nice.
Posted by Kathi on August 11, 2008
We were sitting at Waffle House a little after midnight. We’d been ministering to a mom and daughter who’d been at the revival service, and were just about to wrap it up and head for our respective hotels when my cell phone rang. It was Kayti.
Tears and hysterics. She’d had a car wreck up in Maryland (where her summer job was), and was pretty sure the car wasn’t driveable.
She’d been driving back to her room with 3 of her friends and a guy ran the red light. She’s pretty sure that he had no headlights on, because all she saw was shadow. She knew the shadow would hit the side of her car, so she swerved to protect her passenger. It’s a good thing she did, because the girl might well have died. She took the impact on the front left bumper of the car. They spun around a few times and ended up banging into a big light pole.
The kids were jolted around a little bit, and pretty shook up – but none of them were injured.
The guy who hit them parked his car and took off on foot. The cops busted him later and he was in jail last I knew. They towed her car off, and a friend came to give them a ride home (THANKS GAVIN!)
About a week before, God showed me that Kayti would be a car accident before she left Maryland. I didn’t tell anyone – I just started praying. After she called, I told Ken and he said, “God showed me the same thing! I’ve been praying for her safety all week!!”
God answered those prayers. The tow truck guy was amazed the kids had escaped injury.
Since her car wasn’t driveable, we headed up to MD to get her and all her stuff and bring her home. She was supposed to have left Saturday afternoon to drive home ANYWAY!! At that point we were figuring that the car might be fixable. Kayt went that afternoon to get her stuff out of it (AGAIN – THANKS GAVIN!) and sent us a picture:
I, of course, burst into tears. Ken was pretty close. We got to see the car for ourselves the next morning – it looks far worse in person. The front bumper’s gone, the radiator’s smashed right into the engine, pieces of the top of the motor, like the emissions canister, are mangled or gone. The airbag deployed and Kayti says at the accident scene there was oil everwhere – so we think the engine block’s cracked too.
The tow truck guy told us that the insurance company will likely total it. It makes us mad because although it’s an older car, it was in pristine condition. Kayt had just put new tires on it and had some other work done to it. It even got great gas mileage!!
He also told us that by the look of things, the guy had to be travelling a lot faster than the speed limit.
We’re still waiting to hear from the policeman who responded to the scene. The cops say we have to wait 10 days for a police report – which includes finding out the guy’s name and insurance info. WHAT? She’s got to be at school Saturday morning. How’s she going to get there??
So, we’re praying for God to make a way for a speedy resolution to the whole matter.
We could have gotten a midnight call that our baby had been killed. God heard our prayers and protected her!!
So, we drove from Charlotte Sat AM to Greensboro, and rented a car because we weren’t sure the van would make that long of a trip. Drove up to the far side of DC through hours (weeks? years?) of bumper to bumper traffic, and got there so exhausted we decided to get a hotel rather than risk driving home sleepy. So we stayed at the Sleep In in Laurel, MD. If you’re ever in the DC area that’s the place to say. Nice room, nice indoor pool, nice breakfast, nice people for far less money than any of the other hotels in the area!!!
We drove back Sunday afternoon, after seeing the car (and crying some more). Got in lateish last night and went zzzzzzzzzzz. Still feeling tired and achy from so much riding, but so glad to be home with our daughter safe and sound!!
