By Robert I Holmes and Brian Medway

The gospel we preach

It is from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34) and it is what is inside a man that makes him unclean (Matthew 15:11). Our letters, emails, correspondence, prayer meetings and web sites portray to the world what is inside us. Our broadcasts, messages, podcasts and videos are an expression of our hearts. So if we want to know what a person's passions are ... simply listen to them.

The apostle Paul issued a stern warning to us about men or angels who preach another gospel or that demand attention (Galatians 1:7). Though angels are part of our worship celebration, of healing the sick and even preaching the gospel we must be wary of worshipping them, honouring them overly and being puffed up with visions (Collosians 2:18). What then is the gospel being presented through Todd's ministry and the Lakeland Revival? What are the first things being concentrated on in the preaching there?

Angels are central
www.god.tv Angels are the focus of this Florida outpouring (opening screen, banner). Todd, in his May 9th, 2008 address speaks of the release of financial angels. Todd claims to be walking with the angel who accompanied William Branham. He promotes an angel named Emma, said to be associated with the prophetic movement in Kansas City. Jesus intimates that angels to have assignments, but that they are without gender (Matthew 22:30). We find Todd's miracle working and healing quite different to the word of knowledge based ministry of Branham.

Third heaven focus
www.extremeprophetic.com In an interview with Bob Jones, Todd Bentley and Patricia King, Todd focused in on the idea that, "Relationship with Jesus starts in the third heaven" and that we "have experiences in the supernatural dimension, to release the glory"... (WSTK-ITV broadcast). We find it difficult to substantiate either of these statements in the gospels.

Appeals for money
www.lakelandrevival.tv The first thing presenting itself at both the main web sites is a request for money to keep the meetings going in the large auditorium (www.ignitedchurch.com). Evidently the finances are not sustaining the revival. For this to happen so early on seems to indicate an incorrect focus, or a reliance on human technique.

Focus on anointing
www.hubpages.com/hub/Lakeland-revival "One of the ten anointings that was going to manifest is the fire anointing!!!" (April 27th, 2008). There's the prophetic anointing, the healing anointing, the prayer anointing, and our favourite - the anointing to cancel debt (May 9th 2008). It is once again very difficult to substantiate such anointings from the Word of God.

Transferable impartation
www.freshfire.ca the oft repeated phrase is "Come and Get Some" - some what? Stroll around the web site and it's all about Todd, and all about supernatural impartation. Great, but what about Jesus Christ? How about the things He cares about - the lost, the lame, the poor, the widow and the orphan?

Heavy self promotion
www.charismamag.com/news Why do we have to promote, advertise and request for a revival? When did revivalists have to call their own meetings "a healing outpouring" and "the greatest revival in history"? This trend of self promotion is disturbing. www.ustream.tv/channel/great-florida-healing-revival

The use of and promotion of violence
Whilst we recognise that at times God uses unconventional means to heal (such as spitting in the dirt) or raise the dead (like lieing on the body of a boy), the use of violence in promoting the gospel seems to go right against the heart of who Christ is. Over several meetings Todd laid out the use of violence in his ministry including kicking a lady in the face, spear tackling a man, smashing a cripples legs, and chocking a man to bring deliverance.  

Questions

1. Why are we calling this a revival?
The largest churches in the UK (such as Kensington International) draw more people every week than are turning up to Lakeland. The largest church in Nigeria (Faith Temple) draws three times that number! These churches win as many people to Christ each week as are being won at Lakeland. We do not call them revival because such a term implies that communities are being affected, towns are being changed, nations are being shaken. Our team has searched earnestly for credible evaluations of how many have been saved in Lakeland, Florida. We could not find any. There are estimates of how many people show up, and how many are falling down - but not of salvations?

2. Why have all the recent "revivals" which cause tourism take place in America?
Toronto, Smithton, Pensacola, Lakeland... thousands travelling to see it. In the last week of June, 2008 there was a baptism of 10,000 new converts, gathered in from hundreds of COC churches in Northern India (where it is illegal to change religion). Two weeks after that, there was the confirmation of 8,000 new converts in a Pentecostal assembly in Uganda. It is estimated that 1,000 Iraqis are being converted a week now from Islam. Why don't we fly to those places - whose statistics are far more impressive than Lakeland?(For more information on revival tourism to those places watch this space!)

3. What has our Christianity become about?
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not primarily about angels, third heaven revelations, impartations and transferable blessings. Jesus did not primarily die to make us rich, or cancel debt we have accrued through the self focused spending we engage in here in the West. What happened to the simplicity of the gospel - repent, believe and be baptized?

We do not think the meetings in Lakeland will do much to make churches around the world look and act more like Jesus. The need for holy love, perfect oneness, release of the saints to ministry and completion of the great commission is not enflamed by enamel teeth or even miraculous healings. These tasks will remain long after Lakeland has become a set of archives in the YouTube history. Before you spend thousands of dollars going there, take a trip to the empty buildings at Pensacola, edifaces with a high debt and few people. Or perhaps go to Toronto and see a city that has successfully resisted God's presence in her midst these last twelve years.

Never the less, when asked about people who worked miracles in the name of Jesus, but who may be off centre, or walking a different path from Himself, Christ answered, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. For He who is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:39,40 NKJV).

Comments (12)

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Happy Riches said:

Law And The Testimony I know a pastor who is always chasing revival. He is always in with the lastet revival. Todd Bentley was always on the tip of his tongue in 2008. He is a good man and loves the Lord. But he longs for something that he has not found. By the time I got to check out on Todd Bentley, he had commited adultery and been endorsed by Paul Cain (a proven liar, and unrepentant homosexual and alcoholic according to Rick Joyner and many others) as the new breed. Now the interesting thing about all this is many people are attributing falsehood to Todd Bentley and trace the roots of his falsehood to William Branham. A preacher by the name of F.F. Bosworth who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1906 at Azuza St, said that even though he preached about what the Holy Spirit could do regarding healing and miracles, he had never seen anything close to what he expected God could do, until he had seen God move through William Branham. Kurt Koch, a Lutheran minister and writer, in one of his books wrote of Branham "Without a doubt the man who poses us with the most problems is Branham. He not only exhibits abilities of fortune telling, memerism and magic but he also gas certain Christian characteristics. His whole work is hidden behind a screeen of Christian words and phrases..." Koch believed that Branham carried over mediumistic abilities into his Christian life. There are always people who oppose one thing or another because of what they do not understand. Jesus more or less said, "Let others do what they like, you follow me." I commend Storm Harvest for the level-headed response to Todd Bentley. Isaiah said that if people do not acknowledge the law and the testimony then disregard them. The law is the royal law of God and the testimony is the revelation of what Jesus is doing in a person's life.

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08 April, 2009 | url
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shona h said:

... 2 Corinthians 12.1-2 Paul talks about the third heaven continue on in the chapter then read on to chapter 13. Revelation and signs and wonders etc were not immature but given for the Body of Christ, but the evidence to be a son of God than a servant of God really comes in having the Fear of God Psalm 25.14 As most families share their secrets so if we are Gods son he will share his secrets too. Having the fruit of the spirit and not just the gifts of the Spirit, living in the resurrected power of God to overcome the works of the flesh the oldman, knowing who we are through Jesus Christ and walking in the spirit not after the lust of the flesh, we are the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ,so lets not chuck out the baby with the bath water we need to read the whole chapter 1 Corinthians 12 then verse 31 says covet earnesty the best gifts of course we know the Love chapter but are we practising it, i am still dying to self that christ may rein in me, i thank god for his grace and mercy i need it but lets keep moving in the things of God and stop shooting the wounded pray for them and lets be mature sons of God Blessings in Christ Shona H

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29 January, 2009
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Jimmy P said:

Jimmy P Dip theo Ok, so its easy to perhaps take a hardline view of this event. But how can we judge this from our part of the world, without ever meeting the people involved. I was recently in the USA, and on the streets of SanFrancisco I met 2 people, who had been trained from the revival in evangelism and outreach. They were seeing amazing things happen, whilst they walked around and spoke and prayed to the homeless, poverty striken people, many who were drug addicts. Many being set free immediately from their addiction. And again whilst I was in Las Vegas, I met a group of 20 young people who had come from the florida revival, following a direction from God to pray on the streets of Las Vegas. And what was happening on the streets of Las Vegas was simply God. So those of you who sit here and try to explain away what happen, you simply can't. Its easy for you to pull out your concordence and pull out the scripture verses that support your point of view. Yes what happened with Todd Bently in some ways was not perfect. But God doesn't use perfect people. Paul used to persecute Christians. He was stoped by Jesus on the road to Damascus. If that happened today, would we too criticise and say it wasn't God? Look at the other people involved in the ministry. Over 40,000 people were trained in the prophetic. I met one guy in Las Vegas, who awoke one night from a dream of a young guy who was about to jump of the roof of the local stadium and commit suicide. He got in his car straight away, and drove their, to find a young guy about to jump. Long story short he didn't jump and gave his life to God. Perhaps its better to let God deal with these things, and get on with what he has called us to do. And for the lady who commented about the tattos. Seriously if you are going to judge someone by there outward appearnce, then so be it. But God looks at the heart. There are millions of people with tatto's like his, some of them in the ministry too. Lets get on with what God has called us to do. We only disagree with what we don't understand. "?Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?"

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08 January, 2009
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Sharon Kwan said:

Mrs Yes, the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed, and those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, sons through faith in Christ Jesus who have been baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with fire. For the Holy Spirit is to remind us of everything Jesus said, tell us what is to come, make known to us all that belongs to Jesus, bring us into all truth, convict those who believe of righteousness (what is right according to God, which for we who partake of the New Covenant is the Father's 1 command to Jesus' disciples to listen to His Son Matt 17.5)and give us the power to be witnesses for/of/about Jesus. Sons who willingly receive discipline from the Father, rejoicing because He disciplines those He loves, and sons who seek to honour the Way, the Truth and the Life by submitting to the full counsel of the Holy Spirit in His work that they may be trained up to the full stature of the Christ, taking up their cross daily to follow Jesus and laying down their life for their fellow disciples, who after putting their hand to the plough, will not give up, turn back or stop, but push in as Jesus did to be victorious overcomers. Sons who hear Jesus' words and put them INTO practice, practice which incurs failures before success comes, that we can honour Jesus at His words of Jn 14.12 that whovever believes/has faith in Him will do what He has been doing and even the greater things because He was going to the Father, so that He can bring glory to the Father. Sons who prove their love for Jesus by being obedient to His commands and keeping His words, sons who seek first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness, seeking to fix the Father's needs rather than children crying out to their Father to fix up all their needs. For the Father's needs are that all of Jesus' words are proved true, that Jesus is proved righteous in ALL His words, the words the Father Himself gave Jesus to speak. Sons who seek to fulfil the work of the Holy Spirit for Jesus to come without further delay, and who seek to bring honour to the Family for the glory of God and not use the power and things of God for their own glory, peacemakers within the Family of God, rather than disharmonious agitators. Sons who have their eyes on the return of Jesus echoing the invitation of Rev 22.17 by the Spirit and the Bride, New Jerusalem, for Jesus to "Come!" Sons who have used the glory Jesus gave them to become one as Jesus is One with His Father, and can be trusted to do what Jesus has been doing and the greater things that Jesus can bring glory to His Father. Sons the Father has always desired who have become just so precisely like His Son, the impossible made possible not only by God, but by those who believe... We will be blessed if we go and do what these things we have been told... "Listen to Him... My Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased." Visit us at holyspiritsworkshop

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26 October, 2008 | url
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philzterizer said:

Prophecy by Dr. Sharon Stone Prophecy by Dr. Sharon Stone One Day Before Revival Alliance Blesses Todd Bentley Posted on August 30, 2008 by realmsofglory God always knows what is coming . He is not shocked! He decided to use Todd anyway, you and I anyway, King David anyway. People who thought God was dead saw He was alive and well! Thank the Lord He uses us flaws, warts and all. To God be all the Glory. Rory and Wendy, I salute you! You have blessed us beyond measure by taking a chance! Bless you brother and sister!! You GO!!! June 22, 2008 Dr. Sharon Stone Belfast, Northern Ireland As I left my hotel this morning, My spirit was pulled to the building across the street. And I began to prophesy. The building turned out to be the BBC. Media Revivals have just begun. You have not seen anything yet. Major cities and obscure villages will be a part of My demonstrations in the earth. This is an updating across nations, living rooms and those on the internet. The experiential truths will be the topic of conversations in government buildings, business offices and university campuses. The sick being healed, those in bondage being delivered and the dead raised will infuse believers with faith to do the works of believers. Hope will arise in those needing My miraculous power. Rory and Wendy Alex have gone through this gate in 2008, now many will follow. Rory and Wendy the Lord says you did not make a mistake, regardless of the criticisms that will come at by the end of the summer. God says to His church, I have used the most offensive means to break religious taboos. I will allow men to fail that the nations will look to me not man alone. Do not be a part of vultures that eat upon something once it is dead. If your feet get dirty I will wash them, but you will have seen me. This September 2008 let my cleansing winds blows over My global church. Encourage yourselves, I am bringing My Revival of Spirit and Truth. Dr. Sharon Stone Christian International Europe

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08 September, 2008
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Seth said:

Another perspective that leads to maturity 1 of a little long I am currently reading "Spiritual Man" by Watchman Nee. In this book he deals a lot with discerning the difference of the flesh and the spirit. He makes very clear distinctions concerning the reliance on the soul life of man and how that plays out in many ways and how God leads us to total dependance on Him and the leading of His spirit in ours. I would like to post a portion of what I read today that may pertain directly to what is going on in Lakeland. I do believe that God can move any way He likes but when we understand His purpose and passion then what ever we judge can be seen in the proper light. Meaning does this help or hurt God's purpose. Is this about man or about God. Here is the portion of the book from the section of The Life of Feelings and a small portion of The Life of Faith. THE MEANING OF THIS EXPERIENCE According to the believer's interpretation, he is at his spiritual peak when in possession of the wonderful feeling: he is at his lowest when deprived of it. He often characterizes his walk as full of ups and downs. By this he means that while he is feeling joyful, loving the Lord and sensing His presence he is at his spiritual best; but if his inward sensation is marked by dryness and pain he must be at his spiritual worst. In other words, he is spiritual so long as the warm fire of love is burning in his heart but soulish if his heart turns icy cold. Such is the common notion among Christians. Is it accurate? It is totally inaccurate. Unless we understand how it is wrong we shall suffer defeat to the very end. A Christian should recognize that "feeling" is exclusively a part of the soul. When he lives by sensation, no matter what the kind, he is being soulish. During the period that he feels joyful, is loving the Lord and senses His presence, he is walking by feeling; likewise, during the period that he feels just the opposite he is still walking by feeling. Just as he is soulish whose life and labor are dictated by a refreshing, bright and joyous sensation, so is he equally soulish whose walk and work are determined by a dry, gloomy and painful one. A real spiritual life is never dominated by, nor lived in, feeling. Rather does it regulate feeling. Nowadays Christians mistake a life of feeling for spiritual experience. This is because many have never entered into genuine spirituality and hence interpret happy sensation to be spiritual experience. They do not know that such feeling is still soulical. Only what occurs in the intuition is spiritual experience-the rest is merely soulical activity. It is here that Christians make one of the grossest mistakes. Under the stimulation of emotion a child of God may feel he has ascended to heaven. And naturally he assumes he has an ascended life. But he does not realize this is solely how he feels. He thinks he possesses the Lord whenever he is conscious of His presence, yet he believes he has lost the Lord whenever he cannot sense Him; once more he knows not that this is but the way he feels. He thinks he is truly loving the Lord as he senses a warmth in his heart; but should there be no burning sensation then he concludes that he has veritably lost his love for Him; yet again he is ignorant of the truth that such are only his feelings. We know that fact may not agree with feeling for the latter is exceedingly untrustworthy. Indeed, whether one senses much or senses nothing, the fact remains he is unchanged. He may feel he is progressing and yet may make no progress at all; he may likewise feel he is regressing and yet may not regress in the slightest. These are simply his feelings. When full of lively stirrings he reckons he is advancing spiritually; this, however, is just a time of emotional excitement which soon will subside to its former state. The working of emotion seems to assist soulical people to advance but the working of the Spirit causes spiritual men to advance. The progress of the former is false; only what is attained in the power of the Holy Spirit is true.

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19 July, 2008
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John Hendricks said:

Oh really . . . "Forbid him not . . ." Mark 9:39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. Luke 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us. "A house divided can not stand. . ." Matthew 12: 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? "be still and know I am God. . ." Psalms 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. I leave you with the question. What one among you has even considered to ask your brethren what you have aught against him and what he proclaims is of our God? "they reasoned amongst themselves. . ." Luke 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. "How can you say you love me when you do not do my commandments. . . " Deuteronomy 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. So in this I come to you Brethren . . . Matthew 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Have you ? None of you have stated you have and all I can do is listen to your typed words and wonder. Its time. Jesus Loves you. Be free. John

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13 July, 2008 | url
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Chris Anderson - First Love Ministry said:

A Developing View of Lakeland Having followed the Lakeland event on and off over a month, and having seen issues of both blessing and concern, I am offering impressions under development regarding an event that is also undergoing development. The strongest impression I have received regards the need for ongoing listening so we may be positioned to hear something higher, more authoritative and more broadly reflective of the mind of Christ than anything we have heard before about events like this. My sense is that the event is still too formative, and the point-in-time estimations being offered on it to date by wilderness saints are too premature to convey accurate reflections of the Lords mind regarding it. Regarding a broader perspective I see two points. First, followership around the Lords original ministry reveals a wide spiritual spectrum of adherents from John the Baptist to Judas. The same is true today. Prophetic forums take on a flavor somewhere on this spectrum. This forum assumes more of a John the Baptist holiness flavor and perspective on the Lords work. (Bravo!) But the point is no one perspective along the spectrum captures the fullness of the Lords ministry and perspective. Though geared to a John the Baptist heart myself, my larger hearing is that the Lords mind behind this mainstream outpouring is greater than what our classic John-the-Baptist perspective can account for, and that many of our holiness-based arguments against the work remain inadequate for fully assessing what is happening. My second broad observation is that in the main, we are making the mistake of evaluating the genuiness of rainfall by the kind of ground it falls on. So far, Ive witnessed an unusual mix of sound teaching, unsound emphasis, blessing and immaturity in Todd Bentleys delivery and venue. But none of this provides a basis for evaluating whether the Lord is touching people. Are the healings and resurrections real? Are they of the Lord? Is the Lord actually healing people through the internet? The objective evidence says that, yes, it is the Lord, failings and questions surrounding the key vessels notwithstanding. From a John the Baptist perspective, we want to see separate fields for wheat and tares. And we want to see outpourings only on the wheat. Yet it has never happened that way. And our weakness is our tendency to reject rainfall because we dont like what it is falling on. (Personally, I do not think Samson was a very good candidate for the anointing either. But the Lord didnt ask me about it.) Because of these things, I continue to listen. And I believe that if we will keep listening, we will in the end discover something from Lakeland out of which the Lord will be enabled to release the Elijah-class discipleship component of His heart which has been committed to us and which remains lacking in the mainstream body of Christ.

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28 June, 2008 | url
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Ray Ashmore said:

Against Jesus The message above ended with this verse: "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. For He who is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:39,40 NKJV). My question is: Does being against Jesus only mean that one is "openly" and "antagonistically" against Him. Or can it also mean, "One who substitutes misemphases for the emphases in scripture? That is, substituting the sign for the thing sigified (i.e. healings for the one they are to point to--Jesus). This can also be understood as the substitution of means for the end. Healings are a means to lead us to the goal, Jesus Christ. But what can happen is that "the name of Jesus (or glory, glory!) is used as a means to the goal of glorifying healings, the healer, and the "revival." I believe that the most dangerous of temptations is the one that is subtle and almost unidentifiable. A misplaced emphasis is like a slight deviation in a flight pattern. Tragic consequences can follow.

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28 June, 2008
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MORNING-STAR said:

	CARNAL MOVEMENT Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind ..
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26 June, 2008 | url
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P, Kallista said:

	... You not once mentioned the tattoos, the ones he has put on himself during his ministry! If he can afford to spend so much money adorning himself with forbidden markings, he shouldn't be asking for money. The tats are very disturbing.
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09 June, 2008
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Ms Terry Mosley said:

MORNING-STAR PRAYER LINE SON'S of GOD I have tried to read pro's and cons on this subject, I just asked the Lord for a Word on the whole matter/ and this is what he gave me. Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not. Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before. Stop Running after Signs and wonders/ It is a Sign of Immaturity/ God is getting ready to Reveal the SON"S of GOD/ What are you Looking for? This is all Carnal nonesense. Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Why would anyone settle for Angels appearing when it is the SON"S OF GOD Who we are Waiting to Appear. Ms Terry Mosley http://morning-star.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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08 June, 2008 | url
Votes: +7