Join Craig von Buseck weekdays as he shares his perspective on the major trends and news affecting the Body of Christ today.
Jesus taught his disciples this powerful truth from the Gospel of John:
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." John 14:12, NLT
These "greater works" are being done through God's grace and by faith through believers all over the world -- yes, even today! Now we are hearing reports that a revival is breaking out in Lakeland, Florida. According to Breaking Christian News (BCN) and Charisma Magazine, because of the continuing outpouring of Holy Spirit healings and salvations, evangelist Todd Bentley has extended his healing meetings at Ignited Church in Lakeland.
According to Teresa Neumann of BCN, Linda Dodson of Albany, Oregon, flew to Lakeland after hearing about the healings there and submitted the following report:
"I just had to come and experience [the revival] for myself! The Internet is spreading this move of God all over the world. There are people in the meetings from many states and countries. I met a man at the front desk this morning from the UK that was booking a room for his friends from Switzerland coming in for just four days!"
"Oh, the anointing of God: there is a glory in the room that heals, that brings peace, that delivers, that brings joy, that causes hearts to weep and worship from the depth. At one point, the worship rose and rose to higher levels and I heard angelic singing, joining our singing. This glory, this anointing, this move of God is so free-flowing, with no effort, and so full of peace. Todd is not striving one bit, and he has such a look of joy, Holy Ghost presence and anointing, wonder on his face. He is like a true child of God saying: 'Did you see that?!' or 'Did you hear that!' then repeating the miracle testimonies."
"His words of knowledge are flowing so strongly. He'll give a word of knowledge about God healing someone's lungs, and then there is that person right in front of him giving testimony to the burning or warmth flowing in their lungs and then they can breathe freely. Just imagine in one evening dozens of illnesses being healed, things people have carried in their bodies for years and years—gone. And one night, God REMOVED many serious scars and birthmarks on people's bodies, raised scars, gone; scars that used to dip down into the skin, filled in; purple and dark red blotches, gone! Many, many scars healed. He not only heals us, He removes even the scars that are left behind!
"People are going out into the community during the day and hundreds are being saved at Wal-mart, in the hotels, in the restaurants and on the streets. Todd said reports are coming in that people are feeling this anointing all over town. As I'm sitting at the hotel computer right now, I can hear a conversation about the revival from the two women working at the front desk. One woman had a headache and I've prayed for her twice already. She's feeling better.
BCN reports that God.tv is carrying the meetings live.
According to J. Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine, people of all ages, including plenty of retirees with bad backs and partial deafness—crammed into the 700-seat Ignited Church to watch 32-year-old evangelist Todd Bentley pray for the sick and to hear testimonies from the healed.
Grady reports that many had been coming to the meetings since April 2nd, when what was supposed to be a four-day conference began. But then the miracles started happening and the meetings zoomed into overdrive. Others had just arrived in Lakeland from out of state after hearing reports of the revival on the Internet.
"The night I attended," Grady writes in his "Fire in my Bones" column for Charisma Online, "host pastor Steve Strader said more than 90,000 people had watched the meetings online. The scene inside this church, a former Scotty’s home-supply warehouse, was beyond unconventional. Teenagers with spiked hair worshiped God side by side with soccer moms and scruffy, pony-tailed bikers. After an hour of singing they cheered Bentley as he took the stage looking like a roadie for a grunge band."
Grady reports that Bentley is heavy-set with a beard and shaved head. "He wore jeans and a black T-shirt that said 'Legend Killers' on the back. The metal studs in his ears and left eyebrow glistened in the stage lights. His tattoos covered both arms and most of his neck.'
"By his own admission, Bentley is a walking miracle. He should have died 15 years ago—but his life was spared when a burly stranger carrying a large white Bible knocked on his door and delivered what Bentley calls 'the fieriest hell-and-damnation sermon I’ve ever heard.'”
Grady writes that immediately after his conversion at age 17, Bentley began spending four to 12 hours a day in prayer and Bible reading. It wasn’t long before he was preaching to huge crowds. A high school dropout, Bentley has conducted healing crusades in dozens of nations including Ecuador, India and Tanzania. His staff says crippled people have left their wheelchairs behind numerous times.
Some have already begun referring to these meetings as the “Florida Healing Outpouring.”
Pastor Strader told Charisma Magazine how a New Zealand preacher prophesied in March that Bentley would be used “like a boomerang” to trigger a national revival that would start in Florida.
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