Released on: August 18, 2008, 12:47 pm

Press Release Author: The Voice Magazine

Industry: Non Profit

Press Release Summary: The Voice magazine's editor reviews the cautious warning and
the next steps in the wake of Todd Bentley's fall.

Press Release Body: HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. (August 18, 2008) - The Lakeland Revival.
So famed was it that Canadian evangelist , appeared on the Fox News Channel and
MSNBC. People purchased URLs and built websites like TheLakelandRevival.com and
RevivalLakeland.org. And even Wikipedia, the popular social media-style online
encyclopedia, chronicled the event for historical purposes.

Some leaders are now back pedaling ferociously from previous support to the Lakeland
Revival and others are spiritualizing the recent calamity as just a necessary
\"spiritual adjustment\" like when a rocket ship enters orbit and drops off it\'s
booster rockets. The troubled Bentley, who recently filed for separation from his
wife Shonnah is reportedly in an unhealthy relationship with a female member of his
staff. Bentley has since stepped down and agreed to undergo a season of counseling
before returning to public ministry. The Lakeland \'outpouring\' is over, but many
hurting people are left in the wake asking lots of questions.

\"Are there any lessons for us to learn from all of this?\" asks Jennifer LeClaire,
editor of The Voice magazine. \"They say hindsight is 20/20, but so is Holy Ghost
insight and there was little, if any insight, offered into the goings on in
Lakeland.\"

LeClaire reviews a few of the statements of concern about the Lakeland Revival and
Bentley\'s peculiar operations. These are just a small sampling that met with
backlash and called critical, judgmental and even religious.

Dr. George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God gave some sound
counsel to the Body of Christ. Regarding revivals he said, \"....a doctrinal test for
any revival is whether the content of the preaching is the same as Jesus and the
apostles. The Word of God stands over personal viewpoints.\"

Wood also said that revivals should content for the faith, \"Any Biblical revival
must \'contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints\' (Jude 3).
If so-called truth is being proclaimed that cannot be found in Scripture, then that
proclamation violates the specific announcement of Scripture that the faith \'was
once for all entrusted\' and such a proclamation also deviates from the apostles\'
fidelity to preach the Word, and from the early Church\' s devotion to the apostles
doctrine.\"

Reggie Scarborough, pastor of Family Worship Center in Lakeland, a charismatic
congregation that frequently practices faith healing, told the Lakeland Ledger that
he saw a lot of passion from Bentley, but there was too much hype. \"I just don\'t
feel I can endorse something that\'s being exaggerated,\" said Scarborough. \"We hear
about the dead being raised, but we don\'t know who they are or where they are.\" It\'s
easy to get caught up in the hype, but it\'s also easy not to if you stay rooted and
grounded in the World.

When it comes to the Lakeland Revival, there were plenty of mature Christian voices
and organizations, including The Voice magazine, trumpeting the need to proceed with
caution, to measure the very public prophecies and esoteric visions given at the
\'outpouring\' against the written Word of God and to remember past historical lessons
of unscriptural revival errors - and avoid a repeat performance.

LeClaire suggests considering the words of Jack Hayford, pastor of The Church on the
Way in Van Nuys, California: \"With time, whatever is taking place in Lakeland and
through activities issuing from its happenings will either verify or discredit the
source of the manifestations.\" Indeed, Hayford\'s words ring prophetic. What\'s
interesting is it didn\'t take long, LeClaire says. Hayford made that statement on
May 20, 2008. In less than 90 days, the fruit of Bentley\'s personal life was
manifest to the world.

\"While many were slow to discern the goings on in Lakeland, no one can defend an
extramarital relationship that causes a married couple to separate. We do not yet
know the extent of the \'exaggerated\' healing and miracle testimonies that came out
of the Lakeland Outpouring. Nor do we know the extent of Bentley\'s character issues.
These things will continue to unfold over the coming days, weeks and maybe months,\"
LeClaire says.

\"I can only think of how all of this grieved the Holy Spirit and how many people
were hurt and feel cheated by this whole experience. As leaders in the Body of
Christ, we must point people to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, not to
a man, an angel or an outpouring. Hopefully we will learn some lessons here. If any
repentance is in order this must surely be the time for it.\"

For more information, visit www.thevoicemagazine.com.

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Editor@thevoicemagazine.com