So by now I’m sure many are familiar with the weekly video updates Rick Joyner is doing on Todd Bentley’s restoration process. There has been a real blitz the last two weeks, including some stuff with Bill Johnson in it, etc. The issue I was most intrigued by was Todd’s quick remarriage. In “Frequently Asked Questions, Part I”, Rick specifically addresses that. He mentions that his number one value is Galatians 6:1, that we should restore one who has fallen in to sin gently. He even takes some responsibilty for Todd remarrying. Apparently Todd came to Rick and asked what he should do and Rick told him go ahead. Rick also said he didn’t agree with divorce or quick remarriage, yet this is what has happened. I guess that is one I’ll always be disappointed in, that he remarried so quickly. What if, after a while, Shonnah had a change of heart? What if their family could be restored, say, in a year? Now, with Todd remarried, there is no potential at all. I know he is committed to his kids and all, but still. Whatever I think, what is done is done. Now I get to wrestle with my attitude toward Todd on this issue as a brother. My issue, not his. Am I going to let a bad, judgmental attitude enter my heart toward him, or not? That’s a question for us all, really.
Okay, so now if you want to know what is going on with Todd Bentley, you need only go to the Morningstar Ministries website and look for the weekly video update. That’s right, Rick, Todd and the Morningstar leadership are committing to taping a weekly video update of what is going on with Todd’s process of healing and restoration. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing before involving a “high profile” leader in the Body of Christ. If you haven’t seen the first one, check it out. Todd speaks of how Shonnah and the kids are doing, and that he talks to his kids multiple times a week. He even speaks candidly of past ways of relating that have contributed greatly to the breakup of his marriage. He ends with a candid apology to the Body for all the hurt this has caused. I’m very interested to see how this plays out, for they are obviously opening themselves up to let the world comment on practically every step of the process. Hopefully this will become an example of how to handle these kinds of situations in the future. Hopefully, we all have the humility to see what God may want to show us through it as well.
Wow, what an update. Rick Joyner just put out an bulletin on Todd Bentley. Click the link below to read it. The remarriage thing blows me away. My heart breaks for his three kids at the divorce. I guess I knew about the divorce, but it just hit me about his kids. We need to pray for Shonnah and the kids, as well as our own hearts as Todd goes through his process with Rick, Jack Deere and Bill Johnson.
Here’s the link to Rick’s bulletin. http://www.morningstarministries.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000045589
The other day at our all staff meeting, Mike Bickle mentioned that through many prophetic dreams he and others have had, as well as long time intercessor Gwen Shaw, that he had a “chance” meeting with here a couple of weeks ago, the Lord is planning on releasing more Holy Spirit wine here at IHOP. The word given Mike two weeks ago said that “…and what happened at Toronto is about to happen here”. You may recall that in 1984, God said through Bob Jones that He was going to release three types of Holy Spirit moves to prepare His poeple for the End Times. One was wine, one was wind and the other was fire. Bob said then it would start in 10 years. The “Toronto Blessing” in 1994 was the “wine” movement spoken of, healing the heart of man and making it glad. Now we are being told this is coming again to IHOP. How big and for how long we don’t know. Personally I hope it is soon, for I went through it the first time with little or no understanding of what it was for, other than getting my wife and I into the the things of the Spirit. Now I’m asking God to prepare me and my family for this, that we will get all the healing and have all the fun He intends for us. With what is coming, we need every bit of grace and preparation God is offering. Pass the wine!
A friend sent me this link today. It is a video and an article about a 12 year old Canadien girl who did a speech on abortion for school. She was told from the begining not to do it – “it’s too tough, it’s too ‘mature’ a subject, you’ll be disqualified”, etc. Bottom line is she stood up, said an unborn child is a person and it is wrong to kill them. She is going to the regional level of her speech competition with this same speech. Let’s pray for this girl – God is giving her a voice!
Here’s the link – http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=89135
Last Friday night, Mike shared a dream he’d just had that morning. It was a “real” experience of what Revelation 12:7-9 will be like. The sheer terror of this time is something we can not even imagine. In Mike’s dream, he saw demonic principalities falling to the earth that manifested as 100 yard snakes that were 50 feet thick. Everybody in the place, from major spiritual leaders and to those who followed and were well taught by them fled from the place in abject panic, Mike Bickle included.
Then this past Sunday, Allen Hood preached on the question, “How do we get prepared for the End Times?” This comes on the heels of Mike informing everybody that the main meaning of his dream is that neither he, nor anyone at IHOP, is ready to stand in the face of these events. Allen even pointed out that the prophet Daniel, who is fresh off of being rescued from the lion’s den, is so terrorized by the vision he’s shown of those days that he falls on his face, with no strength, no ability to function. (See Daniel 10:8). Folks, God is telling us clearly, at point blank range, we ain’t ready, not even close. Now if the guy who has been a major voice for the prayer movement worldwide and has taught extensively on the End Times and what is coming isn’t ready, who at IHOP, Morningstar Ministries, Bill Johnson’s church or any local church is ready?! What does this mean? Why is God saying this to us? Could it be that He loves us and doesn’t want us to fail? Yes. Could it also be that the time is way closer than we realize? Definitely. I think it is so easy to assume that it still so far away, we really don’t have to worry about it. That way we can gather the information on it, talk about it, debate it and discuss it but never really engage it at a heart level. I believe we need to get with it, or we will wake up and find it is here and we don’t have clue how to handle it.
This is intended in to be a continuation of my last post, really. Rewards. What am I talking about? Eternal rewards. Rewards as they relate to how I live my life here in this age, which relates to the issues brought up in my last post. Why, if I’m “saved by grace” should I worry about whether or not I watch a lot of movies, what kind of movies I do watch, have a beer or two, etc.? Because they can profoundly effect the sensitivity of my heart to the Holy Spirit and my overall passion for Jesus and His Kingdom. In other words, if I’m giving my time and evergy to these things, what capacity do I have left for God?
We also have certain ”issues” to overcome in our personal life and experience, much as the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3 did. Jesus offered them rewards related to His Kingdom if they would keep pressing in and seek to “overcome” the things Jesus called out to them. This obviously says that we have a choice – overcome the things that seek to “weigh us down” (Luke 21:34) and get these rewards or give in and give up and don’t get them. This is where the issue of “works” comes in. It is up to us as to how weighed down we will be, and therefore, how much overcoming we do. Overcomers get the rewards, those who do not detach from things and over come, do not. We will spend all of eternity with the consequences of our choices.
Mike Bickle had a great message on this this past Sunday. You can see them at www.fotb.org. Click on the free rescources button and you will his notes as the first set at the top of the list.
One of the things I hear a lot around IHOP is that “they/we/you/Mike, etc. have a religious spirit. This usually comes in context to someone, from Mike Bickle on down to the hundreds of 20somethings we have here talking about cutting back on, or stopping altogether watching movies, TV, playing video games, and so on. Folks come here and they feel like IHOP is cutting edge, that it is not business as usual like in the church they came from. Then they run in to the message and lifestyle of the End Times messenger and intercessor and there are problems. So do we have a religious spirit here? Well, frankly, no we don’t, at least not anymore than most Christians do. As a “side note” - whether we think so or not, we all have some of the religous spirit in us. The more we say we don’t, the more likely it is that we are controlled by it. Okay, so back to the original point – what I usually hear is that Jesus died to save us by grace, so we don’t have to “do things” anymore. Therefore, I’m free to watch movies, TV, play video games, have a beer, etc. The people that get so passionate about this have a misunderstanding of what we have by grace and what we attain by coming after it ourselves. We are saved in a judicial sense by grace. We can never earn that and we should never try. What I believe they are doing is seeing people who have found out that you can ”go higher” in their relationship with God because they chose to go for more. In doing so, they have given up TV, movies, video games, drinking, etc. A new, better desire has simply pushed those others out. But for those who haven’t found this, these statements and lifestyles make their flesh uncomfortable, so they accuse them and put them down. Why? To justify their own satisfaction with those things, and remove any “pressure” to look at their lives more critically. Now if that sounds harsh, I understand. I’ve had to examine my own heart and motives a lot in the past year or so. I used to think it all was “religious spirited”, but I’m seeing it differently now. I much prefer being motivated by internal desire for intimacy than external standards. Without the internal desires, I think it is religious as well.
Lou Engle is affectionately referred to around here as “The Hammer” because of his habit of rocking back and forth while he stands and prays. He will also do this sometimes when he is preaching.
So I was just in the coffee shop here at IHOP and I notice he is sitting at a table behind me with his wife and son Jessie. I turn briefly and notice a movement out of the corner of my eye. I look and it is Lou rocking as he talks to Jessie. “So son, how’s it going?” (rock, rock rock). I wonder if the whole family does that? Can you imagine a family dinner?! Cracks me up.
Today is the last day of this month’s ”GBF” here at IHOP-KC. “GBF” stands for “Global Bridegroom Fast”, but like most things around here, it gets reduced to “GBF”. Okay fine. But people forget that at times, like they forget what “ATM” stands for. So, they say things like “ATM machine”, which really means “Automatic Teller Machine machine”. I’m tempted sometimes to refer to it as the “Global GBF”. I think I’ve actually heard “GBF fast”. Could you say “GB Bridegroom F” and really mean it?! By now I’m sure you get the idea. Have fun with somebody the next time you here them say “ATM machine”.
