Dutch Sheets on Todd Bentley and Lakeland

A Statement and Appeal Regarding Lakeland
August 21, 2008

It has now been a couple of weeks since I heard about Todd Bentley’s
plans for separation and divorce. Like everyone, I have had a variety of emotions
including anger, sadness, and grief. Every time I see this scenario repeated, I
grieve: for the husband and wife involved; for the family that will be scarred in so
many ways; because of the incredible reproach it brings to Christ; and the
distortion it gives concerning God’s heart and ways. I am praying for Todd and
his family.

I was asked numerous times to write my position on Lakeland while it was
happening, but always felt checked by the Lord—the waters were too muddy and
emotions too high. I now feel strongly that the Lord wants me to do so. It will be
arguably one of the greatest risks of my ministry to date, but one I feel must be
taken. Fathers, when given the voice to do so, bear the responsibility of giving
correction and wisdom. I hope mine qualifies for the latter. I assure you I have
spent many hours praying and thinking through the situation.

The risks are broad: with some of my dearest friends and co-laborers, I
risk harming those relationships; with many in the charismatic body of Christ, I
risk appearing to be an arrogant, “self-appointed” spokesperson for them; to the
“I told you so” crowd, I risk the accusation of “spinning” the situation. (As far as
the heresy hunters and revival police—not those who raised legitimate questions
about Lakeland, but the attack dogs who make their living and build their
ministries criticizing everyone else—I lost respect for them long ago and couldn’t
care less what they think.) My purpose and sincere prayer in writing this
statement, however, is three-fold: to see healing begin for the body of Christ; to
initiate a process that can remove the reproach brought to Christ and the Church;
and to do these things while preserving and honoring my current relationships. I
pray that these desires, along with my heart, come through loudly. And I hope
I’m writing this with true humility—who among us clearly sees all hidden in our
own hearts?

Let me also preface this statement by saying that what needs to be said
cannot be done quickly or carelessly. I do not want my heart to be missed and
am not willing to run that risk for the sake of brevity, so please bear with the
length. (Incidentally, I think it will be obvious no one involved in the Lakeland
situation has asked me to write this; and for the sake of integrity on my part, none
have been consulted concerning what I’m stating.)
Mistakes at Lakeland

Did leaders handling the Lakeland situation make mistakes? Yes—huge
mistakes. Beyond the obvious fruit of salvations and healings, can good come
from Lakeland, as some have suggested, even with the recent revelations
concerning Todd Bentley? Yes, but only if there is complete honesty and
transparency, the removal of all attempts at self-preservation, and absolute
humility from all sides.

Did I endorse the Lakeland meetings? No, I did not, nor did I condemn
them. I acknowledged that healings were occurring and some were being saved,
which I still believe and rejoice over. I realized and stated that the thousands of
people attending were hungry and sincere, as were those involved in leading the
2 meetings. The worship was regularly good. But looking past some of the
immediate and positive results, I, like many, also looked ahead to the possible
fruit from questionable doctrine and experiences, exaggeration and hype,
youthful pride, character issues and the frightening potential of a 32 year “young”
man leading a movement that could shape the future of the Church. These
things were frightening, very frightening, to others and me.

The rest of this article can be found at www.dutchsheets.org

John Piper - Abortion is About God

No Greater Love

John 15:13 "No greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

My prayer is that all would realize that God has done the unthinkable. He has done what no one has ever done or will ever do. What God has done for you through Jesus is the most glorious act of love. This love cannot be understood by those who love the world and all its pleasures. Only those who have been born again can say with a resounding scream, “There is no greater love.” So what about you, the one who is unsure of your eternal destiny, the one who has not yet bought in to the idea that there is only one way to the Father, the one who says I have a pretty good life, the one who says my life stinks how could there be a God with this measure of love. I can tell you how this LOVE that I speak of is true. It has rocked the earth, divided families, cost people their lives, family, friends, wealth, stature, popularity and most of all the Bible teaches it.

This love is no romance novel, or sitcom lust story. The love I speak of is pure, holy, and vibrant. It is delicious and all satisfying. It is full of purpose and hope. It is “patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13)

The Cross of Christ

I will begin this blog by humbly acknowledging that I in no way have even began to understand the Cross of Christ and all it's meanings. But I will say that my salvation, sanctification, hope, future, peace, love, and all the other benefits of being regenerate begin at the Cross of Jesus Christ. Though I am not excited to write this nor can I even begin to explain, I must also say that my suffering (not for my sin but for my obedience) begins at the Cross.

I have recently been reading through the first couple chapters of John R.W. Stott's book called "The Cross of Christ." In the first chapter Stott looks at the Cross from Jesus' perspective. He gives three reason why Jesus' death on the Cross was inevitable. Stott says, "The opposition of the hierarchy and the predictions of Scripture, however, do not in themselves explain the inevitability of Jesus' death. The third and most important reason why He knew He would die was because of His own deliberate choice. He was determined to fulfill what was written of the Messiah, however painful it would be. This was neither fatalism nor a martyr complex. It was quiet simply that He believed Old Testament Scripture to be His Father's revelation and that He was totally resolved to do His Father's will and finish His Father's work."

How wonderful is God's love. God's love is lavished upon us through the painful sacrifice His Son was willing to pay for our sin.

Dead In our Sins, Alive in Christ

As I was reading through Ephesians 2, the question occurred to me, "How can someone who is dead raise themself to be alive?"

I have heard this mentioned many times by Reformed thinking teachers but the crux of the message would usually rest in verses 8, 9, and 10 in chapter 2. As I meditated on the first five verses of Ephesians 2 as well as reading through Ephesians 1, I sensed a growing need for gratefulness in my life for the work of God in the salvation of His people. What God has done in raising humans from the dead (spiritually) is something He and only He can do.

John Piper provides us a great illustration in our need of God and salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.

In the Morgue, Not the Doghouse
The first reason we need a Savior is that without a Savior we are all dead in our trespasses and sins. Paul says this twice in the text. In verse 1 (literally): "You being dead in your trespasses and sins . . . " Verse 5: "Even when we were dead in our trespasses . . . "

If you were to ask most people why sin is a problem, and why we need a Savior from it, they would say that sin makes us guilty before God and brings us under condemnation; and so we need a Savior who can forgive our sins and take away our punishment. And that is absolutely right. But that is not the point of Ephesians 2:1 and 5. That is not all we need.

The reason we need a Savior is not just that we are in the doghouse with God and need to be forgiven for offending his glory. We need a Savior because we are in the morgue. In the doghouse you might whimper. You might say you are sorry. You might make some good resolutions. You might decide to cast yourself on the mercy of God. But what can you do if you are in the morgue?

I am more convinced than ever that God saves those who cannot save themselves by resurrecting them from death to new life with Him. "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:9-12)

John Piper says, "Without a Savior we are ruled by sin. We have no inclination to seek God. None of our deeds is good. All is the veiled expression of sin."

How grateful am I, who was once dead in my sin and now is ALIVE in Christ forever!

Interesting Quote

I heard this on the radio this week:

"I would rather be called legalistic by the church
and holy by God,
Than be called liberated by the church
and unholy by God.

Author: Unknown

RT Kendall on the Lakeland Revival:

The following article was taken from R.T.Kendall's website. This article was published before the "Revival" ended and the recent revelations about Todd Bentley's marital problems.

"I can think of nothing worse than for God to be powerfully at work and I miss it – all because I was biased and devoid of discernment. All my life I have waited for an authentic work of God that was not unlike the Great Awakening in Jonathan Edwards’ day. In more recent years I have hoped to see the beginning of ‘last day ministries’ – when Isaac succeeds Ishmael – which would precede the Second Coming. God owes me nothing and it may please him to by-pass me entirely in what he chooses to do.

I wondered if passing me by might be happening with regard to Lakeland. I say this because I have become more and more uneasy with what was going on there. It happens that I watched the Lakeland meetings virtually every night for the last three months. I prayed for the evangelist and for the people there. I would stand before the TV screen and pray for my own healing. I tried very, very hard to support this strange move, especially when some of my closest friends were endorsing it and urging me to do the same. Furthermore, knowing that God loves to do what makes some of us say ‘yuk’, I was prepared all over again for this to happen.

What complicated things most of all was that people were apparently being healed. At last count there were 37 resurrections from the dead. If only one of them had a coroner’s death certificate it would be a very serious matter to say that what was going on there was not of God. The fact that ABC news could find no documentary evidence of a miracle was not enough to sway me one way or the other. I was even prepared – for a while - to overlook the claim that the angel Emma is the secret explanation for the special revelations and miracles. I believe in angels. What if Emma were a part of the ‘yuk’ factor?

It took a little bit of courage for me to endorse the Toronto Blessing in 1994. I have never regretted this. I was going to need courage again – to endorse Lakeland.

But a funny thing kept gripping me. It would take even more courage to say that the Lakeland phenomenon is not of God. Did I have the courage to say this? After all, I was reluctantly coming to the conclusion that it was not of God, but would I say it?

Yes. It comes to one thing at the end of the day: is the Bible true or not? If the happenings of Lakeland are of God, then what I have preached for the last 50 years is nonsense. Lakeland was making me say ‘yuk’, yes, but not all that makes us say ‘yuk’ is of God.

First, never once have I heard a clear message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Lakeland platform – except when a guest speaker did it. Second, when people were being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and ‘Bam – bam’, it both trivialized the Trinity and baptism itself. This is serious, serious trivializing. Third, if you were to ask how much a fear of God and conviction of sin emanated from these services – on a scale of 1 to 100 – I would say zero.

In 1994 I addressed a group of prominent evangelical leaders in London, having been given the subject ‘The Biblical Features of Revival’. I looked at my notes to see how Lakeland measured up. Not even close. A great awakening would, among several other things I do not have the space to go into here, demonstrate the centrality of biblical preaching. Preaching itself in Lakeland has been minimal, and what preaching there has been calls more attention to angels, miracles and manifestations than to Jesus who died on the cross. I’m sorry, but my heart is sick that these meetings have excited so many good people. They are indeed good people, very sincere; many of them have been a part of previous moves of the Spirit. And since church history has taught us that those who were in the middle of a move of the Spirit often lead the way in opposing the next work of the Spirit, some did not want to be seen doing this. I can understand that.

When one is reported to have been to the Third Heaven (as the main evangelist of Lakeland has stated) and told not to preach Jesus (because everybody knows about him) but rather angels (which people know little about), I can only call this ‘another gospel’ as in Galatians 1. I would go to the stake for the Gospel of salvation which Paul preached - that emphasizes reliance solely in the precious blood of Christ. I would certainly not go to the stake for the Lakeland message – and would be afraid to face God if I did.

It comes to this: is the Bible true? Because I believe the Bible I can testify: the jury of my mind on Lakeland is in. Leave Lakeland alone."

The Struggle With My Lean......

This morning as I took a consistent pace around my neighborhood, with my I-POD fully intact I saw the sun come over a hill side beautifully decorated with trees. As I finished my jog I landed on the highest point of our neighborhood in order to get a better view of the sunrise.

From that viewpoint, which happens to be my favorite spot in the morning, the sun shines on this one tree and it produces a color of green that is absolutely amazing. This morning was a bit different in that there was a light fog hovering just beneath the hillside where the sun burst it's first light every morning. I began to stare in amazement and wonder. I then turned the I-POD off that was rocking an awesome song by David Crowder called, "You Are My Joy."

In the stillness of that moment I whispered (a bit awkward I must add) to God a proclamation and prayer. The reason I felt awkward was less about the intensity of my volume but more about the truth that God was actually listening. I proclaimed to God that He was my joy, my hope, and my future. I prayed that I would not lean on my own understanding or anyone else's understanding but that I would fully lean on Him. Trying to pray biblically I reminded God, not that He needs reminding, that my dependence was on Him, the work of Jesus on the cross, and the preserving of my soul. I asked Him to give me more faith to trust Him. I thanked Him for my past, my present, and my future. I celebrated with Him my wife, my daughter, my family, my finances, and my calling.

So many times I struggle with my lean. Leaning on things that are unstable like myself, others, and what the world has to offer will bring us nothing but destruction (some deceptive pleasure as well). I want to lean on Jesus and all His truths.

God help me and my Christian brothers and sisters to learn to lean on You, for everything.

Blake

RC Sproul says......

RC Sproul says, and I quote, "A church without theology or a theology without God are simply not options for the Christian faith. One can have religion without God or theology, but one cannot have Christianity without them."

From his book: What is Reformed Theology -Understanding the Basics