Questions for those claiming revival in Lakeland. 1. Healings. Can you supply any medical evidence for any healings? Has it been sustained over a period of time or was it only temporary? Note Healings in the New Testament were done publicly and there were witnesses, including many hostile witnesses who could not deny that something miraculous had taken place – see John 9, Acts 3-4. The claim that the privacy of the person healed is being protected by non disclosure of medical evidence is bogus. Medical evidence can be given with the consent of the person concerned. If a person has been healed of blindness, deafness, cancer or any other serious medical condition it will easily be verifiable. They will have some evidence of both their former condition and their present condition if they are really healed. Surely they would be so pleased with what had happened that they would be willing to release such information? 2. Raising the dead. According to Todd Bentley 21 people have been raised from the dead as a result of the Lakeland events (15 more than are recorded as being raised from the dead in the whole of the NT – excluding the resurrection of the Lord). What independent evidence is there for this? In the NT all people resurrected by the Lord Jesus or the Apostles were clearly dead and also obviously resurrected. NT raising of the dead - Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5.35-43), son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7.11-17), Lazarus (John 11), Dorcas (Acts 9.36-43) Eutychus (Acts 20.7-12). NB It is not 100% clear from the text that Eutychus was actually dead. These events were attested by many witnesses and widely made known. How come there are no reports in today’s newspapers of all these resurrections? 3. Confirming the word. In the New Testament the signs done by the Lord Jesus and by the Apostles confirmed the word of God (Mark 16.20) and demonstrated the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and risen from the dead. According to Todd Bentley his supposed miracles are to confirm belief in ‘the angel’. Bentley related at one of his meetings, ‘God why would I want people to believe in the angel? Isn’t it about getting the people to believe in Jesus?’ The response came back ‘The people already believe in Jesus, but the church does not believe in the supernatural.’ Since the Bible forbids worship of angels and in no place says that angels perform miracles, why does ‘God’ tell Bentley something which contradicts scripture? In fact this is only one of many unbiblical things Bentley says and claims he has experienced. 4. False prophecies. Wendy Alec of God TV sent Todd Bentley a ‘prophecy’ which he read out as a word from the Lord on June 7th. This claimed that Jesus said ‘I am coming in person’ to Lakeland on June 8th. ‘He will come in the clouds, in His chariot, surrounded by a great angelic host because the great honouring of the Lamb of God, the King of Glory is coming to visit Lakeland, to visit the revival, to visit the outpouring. … Tomorrow the King of Glory sets foot upon the stage in divine, personal one to one visitation.’ Did that happen? Obviously not. It is clearly a false prophecy because the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds surrounded by a great angelic host is a once and for all event which will happen at the Second Coming (Matthew 24.30). Until that time He is enthroned in the heavens awaiting His return at the end of the age. This is just one of many false prophecies which show that this movement is Matthew 24.24, not a true Christian revival. Unless proponents of this revival can give clear evidence of miracles and resurrections taking place and show that the messages given by Todd Bentley and others supporting this movement are in line with the teachings of the Bible we have to reject it as a deception. Tony Pearce. Light for the Last Days. BM 4226, London, WC1N 3XX.