Trip to Laos

28 October 2008

Dear Phyllis,

I am in Vientiane, Laos today sitting in a guest house writing you on my computer. My heart is so full I scarcely know where to start. When I am in Vientiane my number one stop is the Philippine embassy. The meeting this morning was almost indescribable. The only word I know to describe it is explosive. In a letter I wrote you a couple of years ago I said, “The spiritual atmosphere in the meeting was so hot you could take a corpse out of a meet freezer and in 15 minutes it would thaw out and be clapping his hands shouting Hallelujah!” Today was different. It was more like a ride on a rocket sled. Today would have been more like the time in Nain when Jesus stopped a funeral procession and spoke to the dead man in the casket. The young man immediately sat up. This morning there wouldn’t be the 15 minute thawing period. The frozen corpse would have stood up shouting Hallelujah immediately.

I have been in many Pentecostal meeting where they are having an exhausting time trying to worship the Lord. People are jumping up and down like an aerobics class, singing 7-11 songs (7 words sung 11 times). It is just hard work. That is flesh trying to be spiritual. This was different. The room was packet with every seat taken and people standing clear to the back wall. Shortly after it started I found myself shouting “Wheeee”. It was like a take off in an F-102 in AB (after burner). The presence of the Spirit of Christ was so strong in the place I was singing at the top of my lungs – which is pretty loud – but I could scarcely hear myself. I thought, if this keeps up I am going to be hoarse. But soon I stopped singing, and just stood there in amazement at what I was witnessing. The vast majority of the people there were Lao young folks. The average age couldn’t have been much past 25. Most were students who were some where between 19 and 22. The singing was in English but the Lao words were also there with the power point projected on the screen. I honestly don’t know which language they were singing. It may have been English or maybe more were singing in Lao – I couldn’t tell – but the spirit was the dominant factor. The singing was loud, but I could see several, like myself, who weren’t singing, but just quietly standing there with their head bowed worshiping the Lord. For most of the rest of the worship time my contribution was basically the tears that were running down my face soaking my shirt.

A week ago I really wasn’t planning on being in that service. My objective was to travel around Laos on a survey tour to see how things were progressing, and to see what contribution we could make to the Church there. Nine years ago I found myself miraculously standing in front of a Hmong church in Xieng Khuang in northern Laos. How I got there was one of the major miracles of my life and a very long story. But I asked the pastor if they had any Bibles. He said they had four Bible that were brought up there by an American four years previous. Through that contact, in the next six years, we were able to funnel in thousands of Bibles into northern Laos. But it had been four years since the last time I was up north.

I rented a good Honda motor bike in Vientiane and headed north. The second day I was riding up the main highway between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. I had been over that road many times by bus but this was my first experience for a long distance trip by bike. That is some of the most breath taking scenery in the world. Much of it is long stretches between villages of gorgeous towering vertical mountains – and a lot of very curvy road. I had to watch my fuel as there are very few gas stations along the road in the mountains. I was thinking the road to Phonsavan turned off at Kasi and planned to fill up there. I was getting low and went by a couple of gas stations but didn’t stop as I wanted to fill up just before heading out on the long stretch to Phonsavan. I was thinking Kasi is just a little further ahead. But as I kept going I kept thinking “this doesn’t look right”. At last I went by a police check point and asked how far it was to Kasi. I was terrified when they told me I had gone by it and Kasi was 20 km behind me. The gas gauge said I couldn’t make it. I turned around and headed back, kicking the bike into neutral and coasting all I could down hill. I was almost bone dry when I, miraculously, saw a shack with a hand crank gas pump. Praise God I was saved! But I still wanted to go back to Kasi to get filled up at that gas station.

While I was there, a man came up to me to speak in English. I asked how far it was to the road to Phonsavan, and he told me that was still ahead of me another 50 km. We had a nice chat for 5 minutes when I asked him his job. I was stunned when he replied a “Christian leader.” I couldn’t believe my ears and asked him three times. I gasped and asked, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes, I am a leader. This is my wife.” When I told them, “I am a Christian missionary.”, they both teared up. He invited me to his house but I had no idea where that was and didn’t intend to interrupt my trip.

But when we parted, I was going at high speed up the road and he was staying right beside me with his wife on the back pointing to the left. I tried to loose him, but he was persistent. So I stopped and asked again if he was trying to get me to come to his house. He was. We went back about half a kilo and turned off on a muddy alley way. Soon we came to his house, that would have been a poor man’s chicken coupe. He invited me in, and his wife served me a glass of water, which was the most elegant courtesy she could offer. I asked how many gathered there each Sunday. Thirty five. He had just baptized twelve in the past year. I asked if they had enough Bibles, and he said they were fine. He got his Bibles from an open (registered) church in Vientiane. I knew that church and had taken Bibles there a couple of years ago. I asked, “Why did you speak to me?” He said he was passing down the road on his bike when Jesus told him, “Go speak to that man.” He turned into the gas station and started up the conversation with me. How about that for miracle guidance?!! I was only there fellowshipping with them 10 or 15 minutes but that brief encounter was the highlight of this trip to Laos.

bill

Back to Jerusalem Encor

19 October 2008

Dear Phyllis,

I just got home from speaking at a Thai church this morning. I have visited that church about four times and I believe this was the second time I had spoken there. I had asked the pastor for the opportunity to share with them the Back to Jerusalem Movement message. Ordinarily there would be about a 30 to 40 minute slot to speak, but I warned him that I didn’t think I could squeeze it in that short a time. In order to give me a maximum amount of time they cancelled the Sunday School/Bible hour at 9:30 and said I could have two hours combining the two services. Fortunately it wasn’t all just an oral thunder storm; they did sing a couple of songs at the beginning of both services and had a 10 or 15 minute break between the Bible hour and the worship service; but I was embarrassed that I started speaking slightly after 9:30 and it was nearly 12:30 when I finally sat down. Three hours is the longest Sunday morning message I have ever given. Even then I had to cut my message short, and left out a great deal of things I wanted to say. I was hoping to quit by 12:00 o’clock, but when the hands were pointing to 12:00 there still was a great deal of very essential things needed to covered. At one point the interpreter broke down in tears and couldn’t speak. She had to call on Scott to help her out, and even he was struggling to get the words out. It has been a long time since I have seen that kind of presence in a service. I probably could have gone on until 1:00, but I felt I had pushed the limit of grace by running half an hour over the usual 12:00 o’clock limit.

I know I have written to you about the Back to Jerusalem message before, but there is nothing that burns in my heart more intensely. I passionately believe it. To me it is one of the most irrefutable messages in the Bible. There are three reasons why I am so adamantly convinced of its accuracy.

The first is the testimony of nature. Every morning since the first day at the dawn of creation God has spoken to the world that His movement is from east to west; as the sun, moon, and stars all follow the same path every day. Because of the rotation of the earth God has settled in nature that everything moves in that direction.

The second major reason is the testimony of Scripture. In doing a little preparation for this message, I was again amazed at the number of references in Scripture all testifying that God’s direction is from east to west. Of course, I can’t share in a few sentences what it took over two hours to orally cover this morning. But one of the major proofs is the layout of the OT Tabernacle and Temple. It is obvious that the direction the priest had to travel everyday when they came before the Lord was to enter the east side and proceed heading west. The Holy of Holies was, of course, on the back or the west side of the Tabernacle.

And it is equally clear that the Scripture points out that the devils direction is the opposite. In Ezek. 8:16 we see where the Lord showed Ezekiel what was going on in the Temple with the men with their backs to the Lord facing east worshiping the sun. How insulting! Turing their backs to the Lord and worshiping the sun (Ez. 8:16)! I said, “God’s movement has always been from east to west, but the devil moves from west to east. Today the biggest problem in America is New Age, which is nothing but Eastern religion infiltrating America. The devil has brought this to America from the Orient.” I was stunned when I was in Nebraska last December to learn that it is illegal to sell horses to slaughter houses now.  Animal rights people have closed that down. You can’t kill a horse in the slaughter house, but millions of babies are slaughtered in abortion clinics. America is rapidly becoming like India where animals are more important that human life.

The third proof of the Back to Jerusalem movement is church history. This is the argument that enflames me the most. Incontestably the Gospel has moved exactly as the Lord promised beginning first at Jerusalem and them progressing to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts traces the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. It was largely dormant in Rome from the end of the second century until the time of the Reformation under Luther in Germany. The great heralds of the Gospel for 100 years were the Moravians, who set the example from which the present missionary movement sprang. At one time they had more missionaries going out than the ones who stayed home. But then in the early 18^th century the Gospel moved from Europe to England, where England became the custodians for the next 200 years. Around the early part of the 20^th century we saw the Gospel move from England across the Atlantic to America. For most of the 20^th century America stepped forward to be the driving engine of the Gospel. For many years America was famous for carrying the vast burden of sending out missionaries and funding missions world wide.

Then in 1970 we saw something unprecedented when the Gospel jumped the Pacific Rim to Korea. What has happened in Korea is amazing. I was there in the late 1950s when Korea was still an utterly devastated country from the Korean War. Today Korea is a highly prosperous country that has moved forward to being #1 world wide as the greatest missionary sending nation. Of course, America is larger, but per capita, Korea has moved ahead of America to where America is now #2.

But the phenomenon that just astounds me is China. I remember in the 1960s we thought the Cultural Revolution in China had totally extinguished the faintest flicker of the Gospel in China. But now we see that from those ashes the Lord has raised up a church in China that probably exceeds anything that the Apostles saw in the 1^st century. I probably would not be as intense about this subject, but through my relationship with New Life League I have seen, first hand, what is going on in China. I have personally seen thousands of tons of Bibles flow out of Japan to China. And the cry is as desperate as ever. There is a movement of the Spirit of God in China today like this planet has never seen. Clearly the hottest place on this planet for the Gospel today is China.

And the Chinese brethren feel commissioned of God to take it the rest of the way headed west, back to Jerusalem.

Of course, the great obstacle standing in the way for the Chinese to carry the Gospel back to Jerusalem is the 10-40 window. The 10-40 window is that portion of the globe located between the 10^th and the 40^th northern latitude. And running east and west from China to the Middle East. It is in the 10-40 window that the Islamic nations lie. Historically, Islam has been the greatest resistance that has ever existed against the Gospel. There is no question about what the Lord is doing toady. Muslim is easily the most major problem in all western countries. It is hardly necessary to comment on the prominence of that problem in America today. It is the most serious problem in Europe. It is the number one problem in Thailand where there is fighting going on in southern Thailand every day. It is a huge problem in the Philippines, Indonesia, and many other countries. The Muslim extremists in western China were the biggest headache for the Chinese government during the recent Olympics. Muslim extremism is the greatest threat to the world today. But I believe the reason for that is because God has the Islamic world in His cross hairs. We are going to see a move of the Spirit of God in the Muslim nations such as this world has never seen. And I believe this is on God’s agenda for the very near future.

Gomen nasai, Phyllis. I didn’t mean to talk about this today. Actually I had a totally different subject in mind, but my mind is so enflamed by what the Lord had to say us today that it takes discipline not to pound on my computer. I nearly smashed the pulpit and the white board as I was talking for three hours this morning. There is no question – these are the days! These are the days spoken of by the prophets. And it is our unutterable privilege to live in these times to see the dramatic move of the Spirit of God as the tsunami of the Gospel moves ever westward. Phyllis, I am sorry. I am sorry for repeating myself. I know you have heard this all before, but this message so engages me that I was nearly standing on the pulpit shouting this morning. And now I haven’t shared 1/10^th of what we discussed this morning.

It can’t be long from here. Jesus will be here soon. Looking forward to seeing you then.

                                               bill

PS: I am going to Laos tomorrow and may not be back next week.

Revelation, Not Linear

12 October 2008

 Dear Phyllis,

Praise God, we are one week closer to that wonderful moment when the kingdoms of this world will be the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 11:15). Daniel saw a wonderful thing when he saw that great image and the stone that was cut without hands that smashed the toes of that image. The Lord promised, “In the days of those kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people…and it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2:44). How wonderful that you have graduated from this life and are looking at things that are only dreams for us here on earth. But even you all in heaven are waiting with us for that moment when Jesus will receive the full reward of the price He paid at Calvary.

 The two dominant news items of the past week have been the political situation, with the elections coming up in three weeks, and the economic crisis. In the past thirty years the bad guys have put up three champions. The first one was that poor dunce from Georgia that was so weak and brain dead he was an embarrassment for the country. The next one was that clever fellow from Arkansas whose main concern was seducing women, and he couldn't keep the zipper on his pants zipped up. He was a disgrace to the White House. But the one they are setting forward this time looks genuinely spooky. If he gets in, I don’t like to think of where the poor USA will go. That could be on a rocket sled to destruction. The handmaiden of the election certainly is the economic crisis. For anyone under 70, we haven’t seen anything like this in our lifetime. In talking with another brother the other day he remarked, “The frightening thing is that it is hard to believe that there are so many stupid people living in America.” I wonder if this isn’t the long-awaited judgment of God on America. It has accurately been said, “If God doesn’t judge America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. I wonder if there has ever been a county that has had more light and yet been responsible for polluting the world with more filth and moral degradation than America. Someday the ax must fall. If this is the time, then we are in for a severe time of purifying.

I have been studying Revelation for the past several months. The Lord promised a special blessing to anyone who read that book and keeps His commandments (Rev. 1:3; 22:14). Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would show us things to come. That is one of His ministries (Jn. 16:13). But more importantly, we are told right at the beginning that this book is not about the revelation of the judgment that is coming on this earth, but it is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1). I want to know Jesus better and so I am reading this book that is the revelation of Him. Needless to say the Revelation of John reads considerably different than the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John tells us of Christ on this earth, but Revelation shows us Christ as He is now sitting on His Throne.

One of the biggest things I have learned from the study this time is to come to an unshakable conviction that the events in Revelation are not linear. They are not sequential. I have always been very traditional and felt that everything was linear, but I see now that is impossible. It might be accurately said that this book is about  the opening of the Seven seals, or God’s concluding plans for the world.

 The first four are the four horses; the White, the Red, the Black, and the Pale (Rev.6:1-8).The White horse is obviously bloodless conquest. The Red horse is clearly war; probably nuclear. It says, “A great sword was given to them to kill one another” (Rev. 6:4). The Black horse is probably economic. It says the he that sat on the horse had a balance in his hand. The balance was always used for buying and selling. This is commerce. The Pale horse is God’s primary mode of judgment used frequently in the OT – the sword (war), hunger (famine), death (disease), and beasts (crime) (Ez. 14:21, Rev. 6:8). They are given to kill ¼ of the earth.

The 5^th Seal obviously is terrible persecution. We see the souls under the altar who have been martyred, and they are told to wait until the rest of their brethren are killed (Rev. 6:9-11).

The 6^th seal we see everything breaking loose: massive earthquake, the sun turns black, the moon turns blood, the stars fall on the earth like figs, the heavens rolled up like a scroll, and every mountain and island moved out of place. If this isn’t the final gong I don’t know what is. This is exactly the same scene that we see when the final vial is poured out on the earth in Rev. 16:17-21. I see Rev. 6:9-11 as the same event as the final vial in Rev. 16:17-21.

But then I see the 7^th Seal as an explanation of what led up to this final event on earth. The thing that preceded that final judgment was Seven Trumpets (Rev. 8:1,2). The 1^st Trumpet is defolligazation (8:1). The 2^nd Trumpet looks to me like a meteor strike in the ocean; or it could be volcanic – “a burning mountain falling in the ocean” (8:8). The 3^rd Trumpet is the rivers (8:10). The 4^th is the atmosphere sun, moon and stars darkened (8:12). The 5^th Trumpet is the release of demonic hordes (8:1-11). And the 6^th Trumpet is the Euphrates (9:13-21).

The 7^th Trumpet we see the temple of God opened in heaven (11:15-19).

 Out of the temple we see seven angels appear (chap 14).

The 1^st angel preaches the Gospel unto the earth (14:6). The 2^nd angel proclaims Babylon is fallen (14:8). The 3^rd angle declares if any man worships the beast (Anti-Christ) or receives his mark (666) they can never be saved (14:9-11). The 4^th angel comes out of the temple crying “Thrust in the sickle” (14:15,16). The 5^th angel comes out of the temple with the sickle (14:17). And the 6^th angel thrusts in the sickle to reap the earth (14:18-20). I see this as the same event as the 6^th Seal.

And the 7^th angel are seven more angels having vials of the wrath of God to be poured out on the earth (15:1). The thing that I find amazing is that these final seven angels are the same as we see with the Seven Trumpets. The 1^st was grievous sores on those who had the mark of the beast (666) (16:2). The 2^nd is the ocean (15:3). The 3^rd is the rivers (15:4-7). The 4^th is the atmosphere – the sun was seven times hotter (15:8,9). The 5^th is darkness (15:10,11). And the 6^th vial is the Euphrates again (15:12-16). And the 7^th and final vial is the grand finale that we previously saw as the 6^th Seal – earthquake, hail, mountains and islands moving out of place.

I don’t see this as sequential at all. I see a great deal of overlapping or repeats. I see the 7^th angel the same as the 7^th Seal. I see the 6^th angel with the sickle the same as the 6^th Seal. I see the seven vials almost the same as the seven Trumpets – 2-  the ocean, 3- the rivers, 4- the atmosphere (sun), 5- darkness, and 6^- the Euphrates. These are the same in both the Trumpets and vials.

I don’t know in what order these events are coming to earth but I am sure they will be in a different configuration than what we are used to on earth. And this shouldn’t be surprising or unreasonable. These are events settled in eternity. In eternity there is no three phases of time. There is no past, present, and future. In eternity in the year 2000, 1950 is still happening, and the year 2050 has already come. All three years are going on simultaneously.

Where are we now? I don’t know. But I do know we are getting very close to the final events of time. We know that the political situation will be such that the anti-Christ will soon appear. We know that militarily, politically, economically, and religiously catastrophic events are coming soon. These are all human generated scenarios. But in addition to that, the Lord is going to send catastrophic natural disasters – the ocean, rivers, atmosphere, earthquakes, etc. Jesus said that all these things would be part of the last days.

We can dismiss Al Gore and his global warming. There certainly will be global warming but not the type he is talking about (2 Pet. 3:10, 11). The significant thing is that the cause of that global warming will be moral – not burning hydrocarbon. The cause is not CO2 but SIN. 

These could be very exciting days. But Jesus certainly is on the move and that is cause for great rejoicing. It won’t be long and we will all be together.

 

                                                                                          bill

Lakeland, Good or Bad?

5 October 2008

Dear Phyllis,

The highlight of every week is my visit to the ladies prison to spend two hours with Jeana Crane. She is a phenomenon like I have seldom – if ever – seen. She has been saved a year and a half, but her spiritual maturity is like someone who has been saved 15 or 20 years. Her spiritual perception rises above many pastors. The other day she was telling me that she had just been engaged in a very intense time of prayer for her daughter, Cynthia. Cynthia is 17, living in Canada, but seriously messed up. Just after this heavy time of prayer for Cynthia, two foreign Christian workers came in the prison. She had met one before, but the other person was new to her. She asked if she might meet with them. One of the workers is involved in a children’s ministry in Cambodia that Jeana is very interested in. She asked the worker for a contact address of the person in Cambodia. He jotted something on a piece of paper and handed it to her. In large letters across the top it read CYNTHIA FREED. When Jeana related that story to me, and showed me the piece of paper, chills ran up my spine. I asked again, “Where did you get this? Did he know anything about Cynthia?” As it turned out, Cynthia Freed is the name of the person to contact in Cambodia. But Jeana asked me, “What do you make of it?” I replied, “I’ll buy it! I’ll take this as from the Lord. Let’s stop asking the Lord to free Cynthia and just thank Him for doing it.” In a very mature tone, Jeana suggested, “It may be years later, but I believe that the Lord has heard prayer and Cynthia’s salvation has been secured. Time alone will prove the validity of that faith, but I am tremendous impressed with Jeana’s walk with the Lord, her maturity, and rock solid faith for her children’s salvation.

In talking with my very good friend, George, recently he was raving about an amazing moving of the Spirit in Lakeland, Florida with Todd Bentley. George is very enthusiastic about Todd Bentley. He had attended a Bentley conference in Seattle a year ago, and came home with a white angel feather that fell out of nowhere landing at George's feet. I checked a couple of web sites in Internet and heard testimonies where they are suggesting that Lakeland may be the most significant moving of the Spirit since the days of Azusa Street in 1917. A month ago the count was 27 resurrections from the dead, and astounding miracles are happening every day. God Channel TV is broadcasting it live and beaming it world wide. People from all over the world are flocking to Lakeland to get the blessing.
I don’t know.

I also checked several sites on Internet and saw several video clips of what is going on in the meetings. Much of what I saw this time was negative. The best I saw was an excellent message by Dave Wilkerson, and an interview of Andrew Strom. Dave Wilkerson was talking about unusual phenomenon in Christian meetings.

The Toronto Blessing was a major phenomenon 12 years ago. For several years tens of thousands flocked from around the world to go to Toronto to get this blessing. I personally knew several. The dominant characteristic of this revival was the laughing spirit. But another very common testimony was people howling like animals. I knew a man from Japan who went to Toronto and came back howling like a wolf in Sunday morning services. Wilkerson told of one pastor who stood up to preach but laughed uncontrollably for 30 minutes, and then sat down. He never mentioned one word of the Word of God. Another pastor barked like a dog, he crawled around the floor with a dog collar on, and his wife holding the leash while the congregation sang “Where He Leads Me I Will Follow”. But the most distressing testimony was a very famous healer who went around the auditorium sticking his tongue out hissing like a snake. People would fall down “slain in the Spirit” and writhe on the floor like serpents. Needless to say, it would be scarcely less than spiritual insanity to credence these weird phenomenon as the working of the Holy Spirit. But this is being lauded by a significant section of Christians as evidences of the Holy Spirit.

In the interview with Andrew Strom the interviewer was trying to get Strom to bad mouth Lakeland. Strom held to his message that in looking at these modern movings of the Spirit it is necessary to examine them in light of historic revivals over the centuries. Without exception, all revivals since the Day of Pentecost have been characterized by the centrality of Christ, and the salient feature of terrible conviction of sin and salvation. I cannot imagine the Holy Spirit doing anything where Christ was not in the spot light. And when Jesus is lifted up there is tremendous conviction of sin and cleansing.

It is highly significant that these features are totally absent from the modern moving of the Spirit. I have seen many hours of these meetings but I have never heard one word spoken about sin. In these meetings, to suggest that there is a problem with sin is as unthinkable as a kitten in a dog show. The only thing I ever heard about Toronto was howling laughter, and the Todd Bentley meetings are a wild carnival atmosphere. I personally saw Todd Bentley boasting how the Holy Ghost told him to kick a lady in the face; and again take the legs of another lady in a wheel chair and beat them on the platform like a baseball bat. Everyone laughed and applauded. The commentator at the web site where I saw this asked, “What are they laughing at?”  Jesus is only mentioned in passing and to speak about sin is unthinkable.

In speaking with George the other day I asked, “What is Todd Bentley’s message?” George amazed me when he replied, “I don’t know.” He is an enthusiastic supporter of Todd Bentley but he doesn’t know what Bentley’s message is. The reason for that is because Bentley doesn’t have a message. He is all about phenomenon. The videos I saw of Lakeland were entirely about “the anointing!” There is nothing about Jesus, but it is all about the anointing and the super natural phenomenon that is happening. Because these are Christian meetings and a large number of super natural things are happening; this is the proof that this is of God.

Thailand and the other countries in Southeast Asia are highly spiritual countries. If we want to talk about supernatural phenomenon we have an abundance right here. Jesus clearly warned that in the judgment, "Many will say, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name, in Your Name cast out devils, and in Your Name done many wonderful works?’ Then will I profess, I never knew you…” (Matt. 7:22, 23). I am not the least bit impressed with miracles or supernatural phenomenon. The devil does all of that and it is not surprising that we are seeing a lot of that done in the Name of the Lord.

The Lord knows what is going on in these meetings. I will be glad to allow the Lord to pass final judgment on that, but – apart from the weird, insane things going on – the most significant feature is the focus. Jesus is not preached. Oh they say, “Praise the Lord”, when someone is healed. But the Gospel is not preached and there is utterly no thought of sin, repentance, or salvation.

I told George that I have a problem with the emphasis on being slain in the spirit. I have seen many meeting where that is the sum total of everything. And I don’t see it in the Scripture. George replied, “Oh, it is clearly in the Bible. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus and He said ‘I am He’, they fell down.” I remarked, “Equating what happened in the Garden to what is happening in Bennie Hinn and Todd Bentley meetings is an incredible stretch.”

This has been the subject that has occupied my mind in the past week. Obviously some very strange things are happening world wide these days. And much of it is very confusing. But when examined in the light of, what does it say about Jesus? Is the focus on Jesus or the anointing? And where is the sorrow for sin, repentance, and salvation? When these questions are raised, it raises some extremely serious doubts. There is no question that Todd Bentley and Bennie Hinn are very spiritual men. They talk a great deal about angels. George said, “Bentley’s purpose is to get people to see God.” This may be true, but Bentley’s approach to seeing God is by accessing the spirit world. I believe the teaching of Scripture is that we should see God in His character and as we see Him in Jesus. I don’t see where the central message of the Bible is a handbook on how to access the spirit world. New Age is very interested in this, and they see a lot of things too. I wonder if what we are seeing isn’t a Christian form of New Age that could be extremely dangerous.

Praise God, you are in heaven and see Jesus as He is sitting upon His Throne. I wonder if what we are seeing here is as confusing to you all in heaven as it is to us here on earth. See you next week.

bill.