The more I have researched this ‘revival’, the more words of caution I have written. Initially I was open and hopeful, I then became cautious, and now? Well we’ll come to that shortly. 
Bloggers everywhere are discussing it! Christians everywhere are discussing it. It seems to me that there are those who are for, those who are against and those who are in the middle.
Adrian Warnock comments on the Florida revival. Adrian is a reformed evangelical charismatic and blogs on a number of relevants issues. His own response to the Florida revival could possibly described as ‘open but cautious’. In His own words…
“We should not rush to either wholeheartedly reject or accept everything that is happening. I suppose I am taking something of a Gamaliel approach, at least for now.” Adrian Warnock
Dan Phillips from pyromaniacs comments on the Florida revival in his typically blunt cessationist type way…
“Several good sibs-in-Christ have asked what I/we think about the Florida Revival. I’ll not speak for my bros-in-blog. But here’s what I think about it.Oh, first, just one disclosure before I begin: I don’t know anything about it specifically. Not one thing. Haven’t read an article, haven’t listened to an anecdote, haven’t heard a podcast or sermon or phone-in commenter. I think a friend said something in an email… but I’ve forgotten it.All I know is that there is supposed to be one, it’s the latest buzz, and people as far away as England are wondering about it.”
Insane but true! Dan commented on without even checking it out! But then again, perhaps there is more wisdom in his approach than I am giving him credit for!
“Believing in the sovereignty of God and having read (and believed!) Acts 2, I know that it is at best extraordinarily unlikely that it will manifest any revelatory or attesting gifts that have not been in regular evidence among Bible-believing Christians over the last 2000 years (1 Corinthians 12:11) — which is to say, not any. For that reason…
I know that any claims to revelatory or attesting gifts will likely fall short of Biblical standards. This really, really matters to God (Deuteronomy 13:1-11; 18:20-22), so it should really, really matter to me. Specifically:
I know that if the majority of unbelievers aren’t, without any massaging or special sauce from the “revival’s” advocates, goggling in slack-jawed and clueless astonishment at undeniably supernatural events, and desperately scrambling for explanations, any claimed miracles are nothing like real miracles (cf. John 11:47-48; Acts 3:9-10; 4:16).
I know that if it doesn’t center on and exalt the person and work of Jesus Christ, it’s not Holy Spirit-breathed revival (John 16:14; Colossians 1:18).
I know that if it wasn’t produced by the preaching of the Word of God, it’s not Holy Spirit-breathed revival (Nehemiah 9).
I know that if it doesn’t produce greater conformity to the written word of God, it’s not Holy Spirit-breathed revival (Psalm 138:2; Matthew 28:18-20; John 8:31-32; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
I know that if it doesn’t produce holy living, which includes adorning behavior and specifically self-control, it isn’t Holy Spirit-breathed revival (Galatians 5:22-23).
I know that if the leaders of it aren’t men well-known for embodying/pursuing the pastoral traits of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9, and specifically for being in subjection to, and for soundly teaching, the whole Word of God, it’s unlikely to be a Holy Spirit-breathed revival.”
I have to say, other than points one and two I think Dan Phillips is spot on!
Terry Virgo did a couple of blogs, he expressed his discomfort with GOD TV, called for caution and ‘testing of all things’. Gave a definition of Biblical Revival not unlike that which has been included in Three Streams over the last few weeks. However he more or less approved of the revival. You could say he was middle of the road but more on the side of openness than caution.
Let me give you a quote from one of Terry Virgo’s freind who was present at the revival.
“A friend of mine who actually attended the Lakeland meetings for several days felt ‘I hate this … I want to get out of here’ but actually went on to be blessed.”
Jessie Phillips, a friend of Asrian Warnock, went to the revival and says this…
I did not feel an incredibly strong sense of God’s presence. I’ve been part of meetings where the presence of God seemed so thick you could almost cut it with a knife….
Someone asked me today, “Is there a real move of the Spirit there?”
I answered, “I don’t know.”
I expected to walk into the room and instantly be aware of God’s presence, and that something was ‘going on.’ That’s what can typically be the experience in seasons of outpouring. To me, the environment seemed more casual than that. It was very electric and excited, but lacking that general overwhelming sense of God’s immanence and holiness that just makes you stop in your tracks and worship.
Terry Virgo’s friend is not the only one who initially felt uneasy with the revival. Adrian’s freind is not the only one to say that God’s presence is not there during the meetings. There is an aknowledgement of an ‘energy’ and ‘excitement’, but there are voices declaring the absense of God’s presence.
The following interview includes two guests (put up with the waffle of the dj to get to the gold of the guests) one went to hold open air meetings outside of the revival. A women came out and said ‘Why are you denouncing this, this is God’. The preacher got a word of knowledge, ‘I am doing what your grandfather did for he also denounced false prophets!’ She said ‘how did you know about my grandfather, how did you know he was A.A. Allan?
Check it out for your self.
At this she began to confess that she initially had a ‘check in her spirit’ about the revival, the preacher said, ‘what the heck are still doing in there if you had a check in your spirit? That is God trying to tell you something is wrong!’
It seems to me that Tery Virgo’s freind has done the same thing. Why did he find it so awful initially?
I am convinced that the ‘revival’ is a deception. I realise that I am taking a big risk by saying this on such a public medium. I realise that we need to be cautious and not to fall into the trap of the religious leaders who thought that Jesus was a deciever. I do not desire to blasphemy the Holy Ghost. I fear God and long for revival. Some people who are on the middle of the road position, such as Art Thomas believe it is a mixed blessing. They see elements of God and elements of the demonic. This would be ok, if the mixture was in the ‘revival i.e throughout the meetuing in the various people. However, we are talking about in the man! That is both of these elements being evident in the ministry of Todd Bentley! Todd does teach New Age Astra Projection, His Angel encounters go beyond scripture and his minsitry does not center on Christ.
In the area of deception we are not commanded to ‘take the meat and spit out the bones’ but we are warned to abstain, reject and seperate ourselves from false teaching. We are told to beware!
“1 Cor 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”
Rethinking Toronto
What is hapening in Lakeland Florida is an outworking of what began in Toronto. I embraced Toronto a few years ago, however I am in the process of rethinking the whole thing. The root and the fruit of these waves are seriously questionable. We need revival in teh church, but more than ever we need discernment. We are in a spiritual war with demons. There are many N.T prophecies that warn about deception in the last days. Yet most Christians do not see the warnings of deception as relevant to them. So, my cards are on the table, from me its pretty much stay away from this thing.
I believe we need to get into the word of God like never before. Search the scriptures to see if the things we are hearing are in the Word of God.

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