In one corner, the defending champion from the Lakeland Revival / Florida Outpouring, Stacey “Shakeums” Campbell

(look at the clip starting from 2:40 until 6:00)

In the opposite corner, the challenger at Morningstar via the Morningstar Outpouring / IHOP-KC student awakening, Jessa “the Jerkette” Bentley

(look at the clip starting from 2:55 until 3:45)

(Credit goes out to Todd Bentley plays Can You Top This? from Bene Diction Blogs On)

After seeing the Jessa clip, the first thing it reminded me of was the now famous Stacey Campbell “prophecy” clip from the Lakeland Revival. I therefore went to Youtube and looked at both the Stacey and Jessa clips and I came to the conclusion that…

It is the same foul, rotten, demonic, and filthy spirit that was causing Stacey Campbell to gyrate at Lakeland that is causing Jessa Bentley to do the same thing at MorningStar

Between the “voice” coming out of both of their mouths, the similar pitch, similar tone, and similar frequency of the “voice”, and the redundant “hissing” and upright ’slithering’ that took place, It sounds like the same ‘voice” is speaking out through two different people that have allowed this foul, rotten, demonic, and filthy spirit to manifest inside of them. I don’t think the two women are ‘faking’ this.

This really looks like the Kundalini manifestations Andrew Strom mentioned in his last e-mail entitled “KUNDALINI WARNING – Urgent” from his mailing list. And they call these outpourings “of God”? I think not

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Shake Em Up

You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy

The phrase was used specifically to describe young men who were raised on the farm but who eventually left the agrarian life and went away to college in ‘the big city’. However, the more I thought about that statement, I began to realize throughout 2009 that I could substitute the word ‘country’ with the words ‘pentecostal/charismatic movement’ and get a ‘new saying’ (not to be confused with ‘new thing’ of popular pentecostal/charismatic ‘new thing’ theology) that was equally as true

You can take the boy out of the pentecostal/charismatic movement, but you can’t take the pentecostal/charismatic movement out of the boy.

I have always heard that similar phrase where the word “country” was replaced by the word “Catholic” in basic theological discussions, but there was something about the year 2009 where I felt as if I was at a crossroads and point where I had to make a whole-hearted and legitimate attempt of

You must still keep the man from going back to the pentecostal/charismatic movement, while at the same time take the pentecostal/charismatic movement out of the man.

It started in January of 2009 where I figured out that I had to do something about this. I felt as if life was beginning the process of repeating similar life patterns experienced around ten years ago which brought back from the repressed and cobweb memory a very popular concept within pentecostal/charismatic churches that I would like to refer to as simply…. “test theology”

“Test theology” in the pentecostal/charismatic mindset is defined as going through the exact same process and life patterns over and over again until you eventually ‘get smart’ to ‘make the ‘right’ decision’ that God will approve of before you can somehow go forward into the ‘next level’ (another theology of it’s own). Every life experience was viewed as this ‘divine’ test that had to be ‘passed’ by making the ‘right decision’ before one could go further or be considered as being ‘anointed’ enough to be viewed as either ’saved’ or ’spiritual’.

Of course, if you failed, the typical excuses of ’secret sin’, ‘lacking faith’, and ‘disagreeing with your pastor or a televangelist’ was the force-fit answer of why you were not spiritual enough to receive the blessing of making the right choice…..

what a blooming idiot I used to be for believing this crap….

I had to do something as pente-anxiety started to try to work its way back into my life and instill more and more fear than it was supposed to have liberated me of. I had to do something that the repent-a-thons, mega-fasts, hyper prayer rallies, etc could never do….

I had to go back deeper into the Word and literally learn to ‘deprogram and reprogram’ myself into some new thought processes by studying the Word with a new fervor all by myself.

There was only one way to ‘effectively’ do this…..

Skip church every other Sunday and devote that time you would have spent in church into a very deep Word study and prayer session.

WHAT?????

And that was what I did throughout 2009. I took every other Sunday off from church and devoted those mornings away from church into a very deep Word study and prayer session with God. Call it skipping Church, call it playing “Holy Hooky” LOL!

In fact, the first major battle of getting the pentecostal/charismatic movement out of the man was addressing the fear (instilled in the pentecostal upbringing) of missing church on Sunday. Growing up pentecostal with a holiness slant, you didn’t miss church on Sunday, you didn’t go out to lunch after church (the early years), you didn’t go to the department stores that were opened after the repeal of the ‘blue laws’ on Sunday in fear of not keeping the day holy and in fear of getting the ‘holy heiney beating’ from God and ‘holy hexes’ on your life. And don’t tell anyone you watched football either. In fact, you were expected to be there sick to get prayed for (but somehow the pastor and deacons were somehow ‘exempt’ from this requirement).

I vividly remember one time where a family prominent in the church walked into the church thirty minutes late all tired and sweaty. Their car had broken down due to a fan belt breaking (attack of the enemy in their eyes) and the father got on the microphone and bragged of how they walked all the way to church from their broken down car to the point of ‘overcoming temptation’ by walking past the open auto parts store in fear of dishonoring the Sabbath and placing more ‘wrath’ on their lives while passing up rides from other ‘Christian looking people’ claiming that he was going to receive his ‘mega blessing of prosperity’ for giving the devil a black eye…. Twenty years later, he was dead from a major organ failure, still living in the same old small house working at the same old job, and months after his death when seeing one of his daughters for the first time in twenty years at a department store; she asked me not to talk about Jesus because of all the shame and ‘persecution’ she experienced at school growing up because of the ‘pentecostalism’ (always in dresses, low self-esteem, always looked poor to appear holy, never pretty) that the other kids laughed at….

Another thing that one never did on Sunday was to start the annual summer vacation on Sunday but instead leave town on Monday. I vividly remember the stories of the family that would do this to experience something bad happening on that vacation ranging from wrecking the car to a visit to the emergency room for some bizarre accident and how they would cry and ‘repent’ for not going to church that Sunday because those things was the wrath of God for skipping church on Sunday. I remember growing up one summer where my father had to go to a week long work-related training seminar in another state and took the family with him as a form of summer vacation. We had to leave that Sunday afternoon to be at the hotel by Sunday evening. I remember not being too far from our destination when dad saw that the fuel gauge indicated that he was about to run out of gas. He started looking for gas stations and could not find an open gas station. I still to this day remembering the anxiety, heart racing, cool sweats, and worry that overtook my body thinking that running out of gas was going to be the ‘punishment’ for traveling on Sunday and started silently praying to God asking for forgiveness for all my sins (and invented ones as well). I vividly remember when dad finally found an open gas station with the fuel gauge near empty and filled up the gas tank, I was finally able to feel relaxed and un-tense and felt like God loved me enough and that my sins were indeed forgiven and we wouldn’t miss the rapture…. Further relieved when we made it to the hotel safely.

I had to overcome that anxiety first of things happening to my car and/or my body for skipping church. I was in an anxious mess that first Sunday this past year when I decided to skip church to start the in-depth study of the Word, fervent prayer, and killing of ’stinking-thinking’. I went after watching Charles Stanley on tv and got breakfast that morning, went to the grocery store for groceries, and filled up the car at gas station praying for forgiveness of my sins before stopping and restarting the car each time fearing the potential mechanical breakdown, the potential wreck, or the potential grand theft auto crime that could somehow take place because skipping Church on Sunday now “opened the door” for one of those things to happen. I made it home safe and sound.

It was during these times where I had to do many things:

Rediscover my Faith in God and that Faith was not a formula

Had to re-embrace my Christian Spirituality as Gospel truth instead of doing things in fear of superstitious repercussions

Had to rediscover the ability of attending church for the purpose of worshiping God in Spirit and in truth instead of the ‘mafia-like’ obligation it eventually turned into from past ’stinking thinking’ learned as a child fearing a beatdown from God if I skipped.

Had to deprogram stinking thinking and bad pentecostal / charismatic / word of faith / third wave fear-mechanisms and theology and literally reprogram myself with the pure and adulterated Word of God myself

and for every other Sunday, that was what I had to do…. to survive!

This became the “Life Fight” that I had to do myself

And those Life Fights (on those alternating weekends I took off) usually started on late Saturday nights all throughout the night into early Sunday morning. On some of those overnight sleeps, I would vividly remember dreaming about being dragged into some back alley and getting a gang-style beat down to eventually wake up in the middle of the night in a cool sweat but at the same time feel every muscle ache in deep throbbing pain to where I felt like I could not walk without the help of IcyHot and a deep hot shower with the water pressure on ‘jet’ to massage my muscles. I physically felt as if I had gotten beaten up and left there in pain. I would later tell my closest friends that I felt that the meanings of that dream applied to both the spiritual and physical realms.

Some overnight sleeps did not even involve sleeping at all. It involved 3 AM prayer sessions where I would pray about conquering the stinking-thinking, praying for my deepest desires for a Godly wife, and praying for my loved ones and my closest friends to see God move in the midst of their lives.

Unlike the famous song by the Commodores, those Sunday mornings were not “Easy”. The mornings would start out at 5:45 AM with a short prayer time, a shower / shave, getting dressed, and some Bible reading until 7 AM when Charles Stanley would come on television. After Charles Stanley’s program ended, I would go to a local breakfast house for breakfast buffet because I needed the food for the intense study, prayer time, and blog time that would follow throughout the rest of the morning until noon when I broke for lunch and by 1 PM to 5 PM, take a long nap to recharge my batteries.

I had to re-read the Word to suddenly realize that the Word stated alot of things that I never learned before and to dispel many bad teachings I had received from the pentecostal / holiness movements. Sometimes, it would go fresh into my memory while some times, I could not focus enough to get those teachings to activate within me. I had to learn to dispel fear and truly learn how to apply Godly faith as the Word of God became my source of inspiration instead of the shock value of oak tree evangelism.

It was me and my Bible on those Sundays and later on, I used the Westminister Confession and the catechisms (with the Bible as the ultimate source of inspiration) for some ‘basic training’ to rewrite simple and basic Bible doctrines coming to a renewed understanding of justification by faith, God really does love me unconditionally, nothing shall ever separate me from the love of God, God is sovereign and provident and omnipotent no matter what happens to Christian America, and that my salvation is secure and firm never to be taken away by anyone, and that Charles Finney is the biggest scumbag to ever walk the earth proclaiming the name of God with his perfectionalism theology.

I’ll tell you, this past year, I have come a far and long, long way forward! Hallelujah bless God. In some areas, I still have quite a bit of distance to go. However, one of the many blessings during the end of 2009 was an article I discovered by Jared Wilson entitled Imperfect Love Drives In All Fear where after reading his article, I felt like I must have known him from somewhere even though I never met the author before because I too grew up with the same types of fears and fearmongering against the same types of people he had to grow up fearing (except his reference to the Baptists was actually “Basically any non-pentecostals”).

But like Wilson, I knew my pastors, Sunday School teachers, and church leaders loved me (I just did not know if God really loved me or not because life was always chaotic that must have been caused by something I did). They cared about my soul. But they also made me a very frightened, timid, paranoid, anxiety-ridden, and powerless believer with no self-confidence and no self esteem. And I too was so ill-equipped for real life, because I too had been given the spirit of fear which was further amplified when life did eventually cave in, crumble apart, and breakdown and those warfare prayers and Charismatic ‘personal prophecies’ for some reason grossly failed….

It seemed that like Wilson, when I went to a new church, a ‘new set’ of fearmongering was at work. Instead of The Smurfs as agents of Satan, people who played the lottery and drank beer, The Olympic Games as the AntiChrist of the Week, and HeMan as the forerunner of New Age thought, it was the DEMONcrats, Madalyn Murray O’Hair wanting to take God off television years after she was dead, and the abortionists that Jerry Falwell claimed to have caused 9-11-01 was the new enemy that it took a repent-a-thon, mega-fast, hyper prayer sessions, 2 Chronicles 7:14 rallies, and defeating the DEMONcrats every November to conquer them.

It was during those alternating Sundays where I did rediscover Faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen instead of a formula. I re-discovered Christian spirituality as a lifestyle of grace instead of being a re-legalism of works. I re-discovered the joy of attending church because I wanted to worship Jesus instead of being an obligation to avoid a visit from the “Holy Hitman”. I discovered that missing a Sunday will not give me a incurable disease only cured by vocal repentance in a church service, wreck my car, bankrupt me, give me the flu, miss the rapture, nor cause me to have a bad week at work.

Looking ahead, I know what I still need to work on, but I also choose to rejoice for the progress that has been made in my life and finally getting to start understanding Colossians 1:9-18

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Life Fight

I guess that is what is being stated in the latest video to come across Charismania. Chrystal of the Slaughter of the Sheep Blog has documented here and also here the contents of a recent video where Bob Jones (not the Bob Jones of the independent fundamentalist Baptist fame) spoke to the congregation at Rick Joyner’s church and literally stated:

I want you to break curses. I want you to break a curse off of Todd Bentley. Because well-meaning christians have put a curse on him, and that’s leaving an opening for him to be assassinated. Also, that curse is on everyone that protects him. In other words, MorningStar has been bombarded by this same disgruntled-Christian curse, not knowing what they’re doing. Take the curse off that. This building’s been…a curse put on it…take that off.”

So according to this guy, anyone who speaks out in truth against the antics of Joyner, Bentley, and Jones and also spoken out in the name of apologetics and protecting the flock are guilty in the eyes of God of ‘placing curses’ on them?

That is what it sounds like…. And it also sounds like it could be taken to the lowest common denominator that it wasn’t Todd’s fault for his adultery, it was the fault of other Christians who spoke out and disagreeed…. Come on. Who are you kidding.

When Charismatic-crapola like speaking against them is cursing them is taught, all these people are doing is being “CC” (charismatically correct) and their mindset of making believers believe that speaking against them is cursing them is actually the “CC” term for simply telling their disagreers to “Shut up”.

Since they are always feeling like they are the only true ones getting all of these attacks and curses, I want to reverse the thought processes here and ask a question here…

When people like Bentley, Joyner, Jones, and others love to call those who disagree with them through the use of proper Christian Biblical doctrine “pharisees”, “full of religious spirits”, “religious devils”, “agent of Satan”, “spiritual Judas”, “Saducess”, “rebellious”, etc. and claim that this is in reality “Cursing them”; Are these same people actually doing the exact same thing (cursing) they accuse those they disagree with them of doing? (cursing)

If their logic is properly applied to both sides, then they too, are “cursing” and are guilty as such. Christians who are ‘cursed’ by people such as Bentley, Jones, and Joyner should not only rebuke those curse applied back but should follow the Biblical command found in Matthew 5:43-45 which states :

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Tag, you’re it…… I’ve tagged you, now you’re it. And that is exactly what is being done here. It becomes like the schoolyard fight that gets broken up and the person who throws the last punch that hits is declared the winner. Or the person who sees an argument in a Christian forum and is the last one to respond means their opinion is God’s official opinion on the matter.

But this really shows the ‘level of justice’ within the charismatic movement. Big name celebrities are always ‘attacked’ by name-calling, tragedy, disagreements, and personal moral failure but the ‘little guys’ and ‘enemies’ are always blamed for their own personal tragedies and personal moral failures as committing either ’secret sin’ or ‘touching God’s anointing’ (aka disagreeing), or “lacking faith”. In reality, the average charismatic seen as ’small’ in their eyes is treated by the ‘bigwigs’ in a similar manner as their ‘enemies’……

Look at their mindsets here… It seems they never get anything done because to them; there is always another curse to break, another “repent-a-thon” to have, another mega revival to have, and another 2 Chronicles 7:14 prayer rally to attend in order to ‘break’ these ‘negative forces’ and it seems to me that there are just ‘too many’ of these ‘negative forces’ to the point where it would be way too time consuming and their agendas and goals would never be accomplished in their own lifetimes. Therefore, these people have to get ‘charismatically creative’ in order to twist the Scriptures to make them line up with their own global agendas.

With all the so called ‘repentance’ and spiritual warfare that has taken place and is currently going on, would you think that by now they should have already succeeded in obtaining ‘their next level’?

It is very clear to me that by now, not repenting hard enough, not praying and fasting long enough, not confessing enough sin, and not giving enough money are not the main reasons as to why their fantasies of utopia have not come to pass and their attempts have outright failed. The main reason why is because God is so sovereign, provident, and all-powerful to the point where HE will not allow any person or organization to both profane His holy name and to take credit or claim that it was by their mights, theories, and force that their utopia has come into existence.

The only thing that needs to be broken are not the ‘imagined’ curses on Todd Bentley that is actually the truthful spoken words of the Scriptures, but the chains that allow the charismatics to bind people up into a state of Christianized co-dependency to where they are without function without their influences speaking to them.

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Curse Tag

If you still really believe that charismatic witchcraft works (and based on what they say in church, they convince people that it does), I want to challenge you the next time you get a speeding ticket, tell the police officer that by giving you that ticket, he’s touching God’s anointed King’s Kid…. The next time a teacher gives you an “F” on your math test, tell that teacher that he or she is going to get weird and incurable cancers… The next time you are passed up for that promotion, tell that HR guy that his next child will be born retarded and his current children are now ‘permanently cursed’ for the next ten generations… The next time the fast food worker shorted you of your fries, tell that fast food worker that he is forever cursed with poverty, addiction, and homelessness…

Tell me what happens…. If you are man or woman enough to practice it in the church because you believe it, you should be man or woman enough to practice it in the real world.

More than likely the police officer is going to warn you, call for backup, and if you persist, show you who is really anointed by taking you to jail.

More than likely, the teacher will get you kicked out of school and may pursue criminal charges of communication of threats.

More than likely, you will not only get fired, but treated as a workplace terrorist and find it very hard to gain employment by another company.

More than likely, you will get your fries plus a coupon for a free value combo meal the next time you visit and that employee will be taken into the back office and scolded. But you will lose respect and no one will want to help you.

This led me to another coast to coast phone conversation with the always thinking “Triple-P” about our experiences in this realm where these mega Christians, super Apostles, and hyper prophets always used to brag with glee about not only getting to say this stuff, but always had some testimony of whatever happened to the person that did ‘touch the anointing’ and ‘disagree with the pastor’ and we both came to the same conclusion…..

Q: The Kings Kid Mindset Only Works Where?

A: Inside the church culture.

Besides the diner after church on Sunday mornings where Dominionism Might Work, have you ever noticed that this stuff never works in the “real” world but only works in the church world? How does this compare to the Scriptures that instruct Christians on how to be Christians not only within the four walls of the church, but also outside those same four walls?

Look at Acts 6:1-4

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

In the King James, the term “of honest report” was used. The Gree word used here is “martureō” meaning:

to be a witness, that is, testify (literally or figuratively): – charge, give [evidence], bear record, have (obtain, of) good (honest) report, be well reported of, testify, give (have) testimony, (be, bear, give, obtain) witness.

It is where we get the word “maturity”.

It did not say seven men with successful businesses. It did not say seven men of nepotism to the disciples. It did not say seven men with theopolitical influence. It did not say seven men consisting of lawyers, stock brokers, and real estate agents. It did not say seven feminized butterfly-kissing home-school “family-focused” dads.

It says seven men of good reputation and reputation here was not limited to inside the church. It meant both inside and outside the church. Plus, they also had to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

The reputation had to go beyond the four walls of the church. Let us look at Timothy 3:1-7

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop,he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

In addition to all those things in verses 1-6, an elder also had to have a good reputation outside the church with the general public. In fact, the Greek word used for “outside” is “exōthen” which literally means “outside”. How many times do we see elders get elected on this requirement in addition to the other requirements listed previously? Very few. Most are known for their deeds within the church instead of their behavior outside the four walls.

In reality, the hyper charismatics who brag about telling people not to “touch them” and practices “charismatic witchcraft” knows deep down from within that it does not work. If they really believed that it worked, they would have already used the tactics on bill collectors, waitresses, the tax man, traffic officers, etc. instead of the “little Christian laity” sitting in the pew beside them on Sunday morning.

The teachings of the Bible were designed from the very beginning to be applied in the church in reference to laity and government as well as being the standard of how to live right and holy at all times and to go out into the world via the Great Commission and reach the lost and instill the same teachings. It was never designed as a “schizophrenic spirituality” where we live as one personality amongst church people and a different personality within society and culture while claiming to be culture warriors.

And the un-churched wonder why many Christians can’t act like Biblical Christians? They know that the duality mindset is at work. They know that in the church the self-professing Christians with their t-shirt theologies are the “spiritual superhero” Spider Man and outside the church they are Peter Parker. They understand that the Christian life is not Religious programming at church and then HBO after church. They see the hypocrisy and inconsistency and they see how consistent we are at being inconsistent.

It is time to be consistent at consistently living out the Christian life.

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

The Kings Kid Mindset Only Works Where?

I received in my RSS this article from The Writing on The Wall blog about a Florida pastor who did this exact same thing. According to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel news article, a pastor by the name of Rodney McGill not only turned his back on a judgecursed those who testified against him in a courtroom that brought forth a conviction. McGill stated these words prior to receiving his sentencing:

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, for every witness called against me, I pray cancer in their lives, lupus, brain tumor, pancreatic cancer,”

McGill was given by the judge a sentence of 20 years for the crimes of grand theft and racketeering plus 5 years for the crime of mortgage fraud to run concurrently. After he is released from jail, McGill will also have 10 years of probation.

To the non-Christian and members of mainline denominations, this guy is nuts. However, in the pentecostal, charismatic, prosperity gospel world, this guy did what they felt they were ‘entitled’ to do as King’s Kids for ‘touching God’s anointed’.

It was part of the ‘elitism’ to see ‘former Christians’ meet their ‘fate’ and ‘rejoice’ because God did care about ‘us’ to give ‘justice’ to ‘them’

I remember those verses used to promote this mentality

“Touch not mine anointed’

“People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house.” – Proverbs 6:30-31

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” – Luke 9:51-54

“And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. – Luke 22:47-50

——

What is it that causes people to grossly misinterpret these verses? Is it a dominionist mindset? Is it a lack of ‘perceived justice’ in their own lives against their own ‘enemies’ fueled by the chance for someone to ‘get even’ for them when they feel powerless by either their own resources or the same Bible they claim to follow? Or is it that these people think that “God takes way too long” to deal with this stuff?

We forget to realize in the last two stories, Jesus did two amazing things…

(A): He rebuked his followers and instructed them. Look at the remaining text of Luke 9:55-56

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.

He corrected them by telling them that (1): Their thoughts were not God’s thoughts and came from ‘another spirit’ that is not of God. Jesus saw through the Charismatic witchcraft and dealt with it. (2): Jesus continued on his focus of saving and restoring life. It was never about killing enemies. It was always about saving them and restoring them.

(B): He restored to their ‘perceived enemies’ what ‘God’s children’ wrongfully took from them in ‘His name”. Look at Luke 22:51

But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

There are Christians in the world today who are asking this question?

Why are God’s enemies prospering while I am struggling?

To some people, the answer to that question relies more on the fact that God is trying to show them the truth about his sovereignty and providence.

But to some people, they hold on to a false believe in that pragmatic spiritual shortcut of charismatic witchcraft that God must do bad things to the ‘enemy’ in order to be sovereign and provident. I have to ask them this question:

Have these people ever thought about the fact that maybe God is blessing these enemies and restoring what was wrongly taken away from them ‘in His name’ because you chose to pray down curses, death, fire from heaven, work behind the scenes to cost them their jobs feeling you did God’s work, etc?

Have you ever thought about trying to take responsibility for your wrong that they called you out on and you are still denying and trying to convince everyone else about your “loophole -in-the-spirit”?

Have you ever though about just letting it go (even if you were legitimately wronged) and placing your faith and trust in the sovereignty and providence of God?

The scriptures were never about getting even and back odd again. It was about Jesus coming down to die for our sins and rise on the third day to defeat sin, death, hell, and the grave. It was never about being “King’s Kids”. It is about being sons and daughters of the Father.

But to these people, it was never about Jesus, it was always about them! Somewhere, a congregation is calling the newspaper, the police investigators, the mortgage companies, bloggers who blog about this story, and the justice system “agents of Satan” and will go into hours of ‘ra-ta-ta’ for their pastor to be acquitted.

If you still really believe that charismatic witchcraft works (and based on what they say in church, they convince people that it does), I want to challenge you the next time you get a speeding ticket, tell the police officer that by giving you that ticket, he’s touching God’s anointed King’s Kid…. The next time a teacher gives you an “F” on your math test, tell that teacher that he or she is going to get weird and incurable cancers… The next time you are passed up for that promotion, tell that HR guy that his next child will be born retarded and his current children are now ‘permanently cursed’ for the next ten generations… The next time the fast food worker shorted you of your fries, tell that fast food worker that he is forever cursed with poverty, addiction, and homelessness…

Tell me what happens…. If you are man or woman enough to practice it in the church because you believe it, you should be man or woman enough to practice it in the real world.

More than likely the police officer is going to warn you, call for backup, and if you persist, show you who is really anointed by taking you to jail.

More than likely, the teacher will get you kicked out of school and may pursue criminal charges of communication of threats.

More than likely, you will not only get fired, but treated as a workplace terrorist and find it very hard to gain employment by another company.

More than likely, you will get your fries plus a coupon for a free value combo meal the next time you visit and that employee will be taken into the back office and scolded. But you will lose respect and no one will want to help you.

You know it doesn’t work.

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Pass The Buck Buddy

Then Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

Where my pastor was using this Scripture to make a point about the subject of vengeance as it relates to the overall scope of forgiveness, another thought immediately crossed into my mind that I wrote down on a scrap piece of paper to ponder later on (Because my pastor’s sermon was something I needed to hear):

Lamech comes across like most modern-day televangelists.

As I pondered this thought on the way home and after reading Genesis 4:23-24 again, I deeply felt and started to see more and more parallels between many of the cocky televangelists on television today and the cockiness displayed in Lamech’s words.

(1): Look at the number of wives: When you look further back in Genesis 4 at verse nineteen we see something of significance mentioned here.

Then Lamech took for himself two wives…..

In fact, this was the first ever mention of polygamy. Adam and his descendants to this point only had one wife and now we see Lamech having two at the same time. Look at many of the televangelists and research them and see how many spouses they have had. Even though they were not married to two spouses simultaneously, in most cases there was already ’something going on’ with the ‘other woman’ during marriage number one that caused divorce and the other woman became the new wife. It was two emotional, and some cases physical relationships going on simultaneously.

(2): Their bragging for seeing people die because they attacked them: In verse twenty-three, we see these statements made:

For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.

See how many televangelists brag about the people who have died physically and/spiritually for ‘disagreeing with them’, for ‘exposing them’, for coming against the ‘annoying’ and doing the ‘profit$’ harm. I used to hear it all the time in pentecostalism how many families that ‘God broke up’ all because these parents came against them.

Worse was the fact that it was propagated that if you one day reached ‘the next level’ (send them money, pray harder, etc…), you can one day earn the same right to have God do the same atrocities / vengeances / murders, etc. on your enemies because of what ‘your enemies’ did against you.

(3): Their bragging for seeing worse punishments done to their enemies than seen by the enemies of their predecessor preachers (aka: fathers of their faith): In verse twenty-three, we see these statements made:

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

The reference to Cain and ’sevenfold’ is found mentioned in verse fifteen of Chapter 4 after God cursed him and declaired Cain a ‘fugitive and a vagabond’ and that God would punish the man who would succeed in killing Cain sevenfold. Lamech’s words of “seventy-sevenfold” is in a spirit of bragging but implied that there would be a worse vengeance against anyone who attacked him.

Doesn’t this sound like the same concept of Lamech and the same spirit of vengeance / murder that spews out of many televangelists mouths when people come out and call them out?

There is a huge problem here. Where the televangelists justify this same spirit of vengeance / murder by using the oft-repeated ‘…touch not mine anointed and do not the prophets harm…’ as coming from God, the problem here is that the spirit of vengeance / murder propagated from the mouth of a televangelist comes from the root of a murderer that stemmed from a spirit of jealousy traceable back to Cain who murdered Abel for providing the acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God.

It comes from a televangelist who emotionally and spiritually murders a true worshipper, prophet, evangelist, apostle, etc. for proclaiming the real truth and bringing forth real correction, for seeking and saving the lost, for setting the captives free, and for manifesting the true signs that follow them (in my name they shall cast out devils….)

It comes from a brother killing their own brother….

It manifests when the ‘cursed of the ground’ is offered up to God as the sacrifice and the problem is that the wrong blood is being wrongly shed to try to ‘atone’ for someone else’s sin.

It comes from the small church very few people attend that looks for and publicizes the flaws in the church down the street that grew because of obedience to the Lord.

It manifests in a ‘third wave revivalist’ mindset as these self-appointed mega apostles resent the sacrifices brought forth by the church leaders of the past claiming that their ‘dead spirit of religion’ is ‘holding up’ God from moving on earth to reestablish God’s Government, end abortion, marketplace ministries, and seven mountain mentalities.

It manifests when the ones who are ‘attacking them’ are deemed as ‘resenters’ when in reality, the spirit of vengeance / murder is the driving force that causes them to ‘resent’ any true worshipper, prophet, evangelist, apostle, etc. for proclaiming the real truth and bringing forth real correction.

It manifests in a theo-political mindset that believes they are going to be able to ‘take dominion’ over the earth and re set back up the justice of God to where God can come back again and get rid of their perceived enemies and set up the official state religion.

In this environment, we do not see the Lion and the Lamb. We see instead lust, lasciviousness, and the mentality of Lamech. We do not see repentance nor do we see a contrite heart. We instead see an arrogance that really believes that these leaders are more anointed and more powerful than the men of the Bible to the point where they really believe that God will punish their detractors using worse methods because they see themselves as being more important to God and even worse, God can not do anything on Earth without them.

The Lakeland Revival tried to bring the mentality of Lamech forth via an covert and deceptive manner via the now famous Todd Bentley commissioning service. Lakeland in many ways was the re-enactment of the mentality of Cain (Bob Jones, Paul Cain, C. Peter Wagner, Kansas City Prophets, etc.) who despised the true Abel blood sacrifices passed down to the younger generation possessing the mentality of Lamech (Todd Bentley, Patricia King, Bill Johnson, Che Ahn, etc.) who despises everyone who gets in their way. What we saw during the now famous Todd Bentley commissioning service (along with ‘Stacey Shakems’ bobbing her head like Linda Blair in the Exorcist), was the ‘coming out’ of the new self-appointed leaders announcing to us to get out of their way, they were going to take control of the church, reestablish God’s government, and that they would be viewed as being the ‘real church’ of the ‘real God’.

The mentality of Lamech resents someone else being called ‘the true people of God’. The mentality of Lamech resents the toil that the martyrs died for to promote the Christianity as portrayed in the book of Acts because the martyrs are seen as the ‘fathers of old religion’ while they want to be seen as ‘the new thing, the new way, and ‘the new and improved’ way we do church.

The mentality of Lamech to this day still wants to offer up something that was built upon the foundations of the cursed and the ground instead of accepting the ultimate blood sacrifice that Jesus gave us via his death on Calvary. The mentality of Lamech believes ‘vengeance is theirs’ when the Lord states that ‘vengeance is mine’.

The mentality of Lamech wants to offer up their ‘tentmaking’, their livestock, their flutes and harps, and their craftsman / metalworking industries (Lamech’s children’s trades) calling it ‘marketplace ministries’ when God wants us to just obey and go out and fulfill the Great Commission and seek and save the lost bring them until salvation and repentance.

It is of interest to see that after Genesis 4:24, we see no further mention of Cain’s descendants and Lamech (the Lamech mentioned in Genesis 5:25-31 is not the same person). It is not really known if they died out at this point of if they multiplied (and never documented) and were ultimately destroyed in the great flood as told in Genesis 6-8. But we can clearly see the point here.

As Cain, Lamech, and the rest of Cain’s vengeful descendants eventually dies. God wants the jealousy, resentment, bragging, vengeance, taunting, and murder that may still exist inside of us dead and inoperative.

God wants us to be free from being the tracker of what happens to those who have wronged us. God wants us to be free from thinking that we must be the ‘Holy Hitman’ and get rid of God’s enemies for him. God wants us to be free, period and one of the many ways of obtaining the fullness of life in Christ is to let those hurts, wrongs, and desires for ‘God to get them’ loose to where you can go onward, forward, and toward a productive life. Instead of the wrath and vengeance manifested in Lamech. God wants us to act in love, freedom, and compassion towards those we may disagree with or who may have wronged us.

All we can do is be forgiving at last, and let it go….

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

When Lamech Starts Bragging

update: 1-2-09 9:55 PM; It has been revealed via this page that Bentley also has a Facebook page

It appears that Todd Bentley has got a new MySpace page up (with Demon Hunter music in his playlist) and sales of his ’stuff’ now goes through a company named “Sound of Fire” which appears to be overseen by Bentley’s dad and step-mom.

However, Miriam has done an excellent job of research and link tracing to both capture a conversation on this blog (see comment # 106237 in particular) and linking it to one of Todd’s MySpace “friends” (who I admit is physically, a very attractive woman) named “*~*Jessa*~*” if indeed this is true that “*~*Jessa*~*” is ‘the other woman’.

I know that everyone who is criticizing Todd is dealing specifically with the issue of his adultery, future divorce, his poor theology, and other issues too numerous to mention here. I agree wholeheartedly with many of these people that are bringing up this issue.

However, I want to bring up an aspect of this story that no one in the Christian blogosphere is talking about right now via a rhetorical question.

Where is the other woman’s own sense of marital fidelity?

Even though Todd, as the man in a marriage and head of the household is ultimately responsible for what happened with his marriage to Shonnah, I feel that we need to call out the other woman for her part of this whole tragedy for her part in all this for she needs to also bear some responsibility in this tragedy.

Most people, when being taught their core Christian value systems about marriage and marital fidelity, are taught the basics (and how complex it is to maintain the basics) of “Once married, stay married; One spouse till death do us part; Remain faithful to your spouse and thou shalt not commit adultery.”, “Do not even pursue another relationship outside of your own marriage”, etc.

However, that is only half of the concept of marital fidelity…

What about the other half of the concept of fidelity. The other half that consists of a teaching of core Christian value systems about marriage and marital fidelity especially as it relates to single people of “If a person of the opposite sex is married, do not approach them about a relationship”, “If you approach a person of the opposite sex about a relationship (you truly not knowing they are either married, engaged, or in another relationship) and you find out that they are married, engaged, or in another relationship, you apologize to that person and move on and find someone else who is not married or in a relationship”, and “If a married person of the opposite sex approaches you desiring a relationship, do what you have to do to stand firm and say no. Run like Joseph or openly rebuke them.”, etc.

Somehow we have either failed to teach this other half or that we have become ‘pragmatic relationship opportunists’ and we do not believe the other half of the core values exist anymore.

If this other woman was approached by Todd knowing all along (the other woman was supposed to be the nanny for the kids) that Todd was married, she is equally guilty of adultery and should be called ‘adulteress’. She should be equally called out as adulteress like Todd has been called out as being. She should have had the core value system of relationships to where she should had stood her ground in the name, respect, and honor of someone else’s marriage and said

NO!

and told Todd’s wife and employer what happened.

It is like we develop a false and deceptive sense of hope that the other person will eventually get tired and bored and eventually want us instead of ‘the spouse’. It is like we treat the one we want like a mouse and we put out whatever mousetraps and cheese it takes to ensnare them in order to entrap them.

Why is it we treat spousal relations and finding a church much like a job interview? Why is it that we seem to not be able to honor a lifelong covenant in the eyes of God and believe it’s ok to dump our spouses and betray our families when ‘a better opportunity comes along’? Why is it that we believe that ‘the grass is greener on the other side’?

Let’s take this phrase ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ literally…

Let’s say that there is a fence separating your yard from your neighbor’s yard and you look over the fence and see that your neighbor has beautiful rye grass growing while you have dried up brown centipede grass. Do you decide to move out of your house and move in with the neighbors because the grass in their yard is greener?

Of course not!!

What do most people start doing? Most people start researching, learning, and eventually go out to the garden shop at Home Depot (consulting with the ‘expert’ in the orange apron) and spend some money on some fertilizer and/or grass patches and began a process of seeding/planting, fertilizing, watering, and manicuring the new grass in their yard to where it’s lively and green.

Where am I going with this analogy?

Plain and simple. Todd, the grassy life was never ‘greener’ with the ‘other woman’. Instead of pursuing a relationship with the ‘other woman’ that went too far via the adultery when you moved your emotions, affections, and sexuality to her, you should have prayed, researched, learned, and if needed, spend money on some counseling for resources that would have watered, fertilized, nurtured, and planted new seeds of growth within your own relationship with your own wife in your own backyard that would have reaped a beautiful harvest similar in ways to a beautiful grassy yard.

In other words Todd, if the woman approached you about a relationship and / or if you approached her first, the ‘approachee’ should have directed and shown the ‘approacher’ the

KEEP OFF THE GRASS

sign stating that the grass / yard / relationship was ‘off limits’ to everyone else.

But in reality, it should have never even gotten to this point. If true relationship core values were learned and followed, then the both of you would have had loyality and respect to God, your spouse, families, each other, and yourself and would have never allowed the temptation to take root and grow to begin with.

Like uprooting artichokes and dandelions that love to absorb the minerals that the grass needs to grow, the both of you should have treated that temptation like you treat artichokes and dandelions and got it uprooted as soon as possible.

But you didn’t and the grass became full of those artichokes and dandelions and you wanted to experience greener grass in a easier non-committed, less working way and you jumped the fence and the ‘other woman’ wanted you to jump the fence…..

Shame on both of you…

Fidelity is a two-sided coin where integrity of sexual purity before marriage is equally as important as integrity of sexual purity during marriage. Usually, how you conduct yourself in reference to integrity of sexual purity before marriage is a good indication of how you will act with integrity of sexual purity during marriage. It seems that we have lost the value of loyality and respect of fidelity to God first, and then to the person who we will one day call our spouse. We think that the other side is better when if we were to spend time nurturing what we already have, we would in the long run be more fulfilled, more satisfied, more in love, and more greatful for what we already have and desire nothing else.

Todd is wrong going outside of his marriage for an relationship with another woman and showing disrespect to God, his wife, and his family.

The other woman is wrong for pursuing a relationship with a known married man and showing disrespect to God, Todd’s wife, and Todd’s family.

Both need calling out. Both need a stern rebuke. Both need to sever their ties and go back where they came from.

It has been stated on other Christian blogs that Todd has no interest in restoring his marriage with Shonnah and that Todd would be going to a well known Charismatic hangout in Charlotte, NC in early 2009 to ‘get counseling, restoration, etc. I wonder since the new MySpace page showed up and that the new Ministry page is online if Todd will go and receive his ‘counseling’ or if he will go, ‘get a wristslap’ and go back out on the road because he is a third wave money draw, or if he will go back to business as usual looking for a new demographic audience unfamiliar with what happened to him (worked with Robert Tilton and Jim WhittingTONNNN) because he needs money for alimony and child support.

we are about to find out……

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

The Other Half of Fidelity

According to this Westernstandard.blogs.com article and another article from the same blog written by Rick Hiebert, Todd’s wife has a medical disability of her own that would contradict his healing theology that the author of the article so correctly explains:

You see, Mr. Bentley’s theology has difficulties with people not being miraculously healed. Christians of all stripes can attest to times when prayer to God has helped people to recover from illness and times when it has not. Certainly, given the loving and merciful nature of God as reflected in Christian theology, and the several Biblical references to prayer for the sick, it can be an expression of kindness and mercy by the Christian to either pray for the sick or offer them medical care or comfort.

Mr. Bentley, however, has moved from a balanced and mature approach to the subject to one that, while boosting Mr. Bentley’s alleged expertise in these matters, implies to the sick and needy that there is something wrong with you or your faith if you are not healed….

Mr. Bentley must realize that if, he divorces his current wife in favor of a trophy wife, there will be speculation in the minds of some of his Internet and Christian media critics that one of the reasons that he is getting rid of Shonnah is because her disability embarrasses him—and moreover, that his theology does not work with a wife hobbling along at his side.

One hopes that he will do the right thing and stay with his wife. One can pray that he will–and that everyone disappointed by Mr. Bentley’s flawed revival will be ministered to…some day…

Amen Mr. Hiebert

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

The Story That Never Ends

However, which song suits the revival more than the ‘la la la’ song Roy Fields used to sing everynight? The choice is yours:

Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) – Steam – 1969

or

Ray Charles – Hit The Road Jack (actually Todd)

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Lakeland 2.0 Is Over

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

On The Witch Hunt

It was interesting to read his past story and how the pro-Lakeland people have behaved towards him:

….I have been harassed,” cursed” and called names you can not print on a family website—not to mention the accusations of Pharisee, legalist and being one of the religious “dead.”

Read very carefully the words of LocalPastor when he described what some of the ministries involved in the Lakeland Outpouring have tried to do in reference to hindering his “free speech commentary regarding their public ministry”

Thank you LocalPastor for all that you have done. Your videos really helped educate many people in regards to Lakeland and the bad doctrine that was brought forth from that circus freakshow.

May God richly bless you!

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

The “LocalPastor” Talks

Post from: Onward, Forward, Toward.... copyright 2003-2009 ALO-OFT All rights reserved. - SPLOGGING PROHIBITED

Interesting Insight