River Church : Open Revival meetings to continue

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	robert Webber (Guest)	23/05/2008, 23:16
i have been a christian for 20 years now and would consider myself to be spiritually mature..i live local to the church and i am rather troubled at the ease of which people are just accepting the things which go on in florida...are they aware that just last week there were 3 convicted child molesters on the platform !! including todd bently....the facts are all over the internet...be aware before you pass this on
	Christen Forster	24/05/2008, 11:48
Hi Robert, Todd's past, drugs imprisonment etc has not been hidden by him. That is of course the power of the Gospel. I have been out myself to see what is happening. Those that write on the web about this have normally written this off for pre-held theological reasons... but the criteria of scripture is - does it lead to people saying "Jesus is Lord" more? ... Certainly on the stage and in the audience there is a far greater reverence and love for Jesus than in most churches I have been to ... Then of course you have the actual miracles... when you are in the crowd you actually see people's bodies being touched and changed before they get up on stage to give testimony. There was a lady right behind me shrivelled in a wheel chair with an oxygen mask, her nurse of 17 years had brought her. She got healed that night, as did a lad with no inner ear of his deafness.... either these are all hundreds of co-conspiritors or they really are getting healed. Then there was the traditional alter call for repentance and to receive Jesus, well over 100 went forward the night we were there and prayed a tradional prayer to receive Jesus ... an odd strategy if this was the devil doing the healings. Of course Jesus had to answer the criticism that it was the devil healing through him. Then of course there is the issue of sincere people all around the world getting healed just watching the programmes and joining in the prayers for their own conditions... we have two people in River who have got healed this way. There has probably never been a significant healing ministry that has not drawn all sorts of unpleasant criticism and muck raking... I myself was healed by Jesus through one of these ministries... I was given three months to live as I had extremely advanced non-hodgkins lymphoma. The cancer went from my entire body overnight, though it took the doctors 2-3 monthes before they would finally accept it, but the fact remains that no single test after I was prayed for ever showed a sign of cancer again. I've been told by other Christians since then that God doesn't do things this way, he would need to be doing it for everybody to be fair and consistent. But here I am alive and loving Jesus in a way I didn't before... "we love because he first loved us ..." again if it was the devil, bad strategic move.. and if it was just psychosomatic why does the world spend so much on drugs when it's all in the mind. Robert the question you raised is a really important one! If this is the Lord then you should be throwing yourself into it and if it is not we should have nothing to do with it... it's such an important question that we should put some investment into finding out... I would really recommend you go to Florida with an open heart to what the Lord might be doing, secure in the knowledge he will not let you be plucked from his hand if it is all fake. Lots of Love in Jesus.
	Robert Webber (Guest)	24/05/2008, 21:20
Hi Christian i appreciate your reply and i dont doubt the healings or in fact that God may be present there.....my concern was one of a warning not of any malice against Todd or the other ministers. i think it is very important for us to actually understand these moves of God from a scriptual biblical perspective.....the way that i see things is probably 2 fold... If this is a supernatural unpresidented move of God and if Tod bently has actually been to heaven and met Jesus, Adam, Solomon, David and others then he must be the most annointed man of God on the planet today....If not then we should be carefull as a hungry people to not just accept and be spoon fed theology that at best is suspect...and at worst is heresy...... to pary to the Angel of Finance for money.....as Todd has done frequently is without doubt unscripual...do you agree ?? Paul warned us of false prophets that come to tickle the ears of those who want to hear.......there is no doubt that in England we want to experience a renewed out pouring of the glory of God...but we should be wise, as instructed by Jesus, to not be turned by every whim and fansy to satisfy our longing and hunger... regarding the apostolic covering, which i think you would agree is important....someone once said, if you want to know a man then you should look at his friends... i have been a follower of many moves of God across the past 15 or 20 years and i have followed the trail left by the men who Todd relates into....Bob Jones, Paul Cain and other similar ministrys who have all basically fallen over the years....something which i dont revel in but a common thread is established..... only one has remained true...Mike Bickle..From IHOP where i have been frequently. i have ministered in Africa on several occasions and i am very aware of the fact that the devil will do anything to take christians off of the true path...many healings have happened which are not true, or occultic........ i hope you understand the spirit in which this is written because it is not meant to be in anyway destructive to what is happening but i dont want us in england to take our 'eye off the ball' and sell out to something which, in time may be proved to be false at best.... i am sure that you understand the way in which the american church is set out, similar to the american spirit of independence.....the only fruit that is often left after time is broken churches and rich ministers... true revival will always bring new converts which are born into the kingdom in a powerfull and unique way...you only have to look back in our own country a 100 years to see how Wales has never been the same since the revivals which took place there...similar to Scotland during the Camaslang revivals....fruit still remains.... unlike what happened in Toronto...which as far as i can assertain has only exclusivitised the 'power' of god for those that jumped into the river.... God is no respecter of person, slave or free, woman or man...evangelical or breatheren........ true revival crosses the boundarys of religious barriers placed by man...because its a move of God.....not for the few but for all.. my prayer is that god would release a hunger for us to contend for the faith which he delivered to us...to set our eyes onto him, to open our spirits to his...to walk step by step as he leads.... i'm not part of your church, so ill probably just leave it there for now and leave your message board for your congregation...i just came across your church from a link elsewhere.. God Bless
	Andrew Swift	25/05/2008, 15:15
God Bless you too, Robert-Thanks for raising these points
	Christen Forster	25/05/2008, 17:27
Thanks Robert, this is a fair and gracious response.
	Christen Forster	30/05/2008, 10:08
There is a really good secular news report of the Florida Revival. I really recommend you read it ... see http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/
	Robert Webber (Guest)	25/08/2008, 18:18
Hi Christen i thought i would drop past your message board again to see your thoughts on what we had previously discussed regarding TB. im sure your aware of the news from Fresh Fire and i although i obviously wish no harm at all to Todd Bently, i cant but feel proved right regarding the news. i do believe that as we had previously talked about discernmant for the things of god, i wonder how you see things regarding the florida outpouring now ?? hope to hear back
	Nancy (Guest)	09/09/2008, 22:14
The comments Julia Loren made on her blog about discernment bring a lot of healing to the whole Lakeland situation. She wrote a great book with Bill Johnson called Shifting Shadows of Supernatural power. You can read her blog at wwwjulialoren.net.
	Christen Forster	10/09/2008, 09:35
Hi Robert, was on holidy when you posted your last comment. Just to say that you will probably notice that we have Roy Fields with us this week, he was the worship leader at Lakeland, so you can probably surmise that fundamentally my view of Lakeland has not changed... yes obviously there is disappointement, but in the end this is around the failure of the exercise of wisdom around the situation. Todd is open about his broken background and many know that he and his wife have gone through very difficult times. This was of concern to the few well known leaders that chose to go and stand with Todd to try and bring the wisdom to make what was happening sustainable. Sadly they where too late. But please not Todd is not the first to be used by the Lord who has experienced strain in their marriage as a result, John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth, apparently even Tozer though I don't know his details so well. In that sense I actually believe that it is the failure of grace in those that could bring good councel that leaves someone like Todd exposed and even activly cursed by those who are part of the same family... if nothing else the venom poured out at Todd highlighted a very ugly and hypocritical religious spirit in the church... people who where very quick to judge and quote verses about miracle workers not knowing Jesus, but ignoring that Jesus is quite explicit that those that dismiss their brothers as "(immoral)fools" are guilty enough for hell and that the very verse they quote from Matthew is given in the context of those that are judgemental and cast what the lord has done before swine in, this case there was a total ignoring of the fact that Todd's personal testimony is an incredible story of the grace of God that has taken a man with no earthly prospects and through him fed the poor, cleansed lepers and raised the dead and this is despite not having all his ducks in line theologically, it is a "pearl" of the kingdom. I think that the events of the summer have highlighted how much lip service many pay to grace... how often do we say your background and maturity are no barrier to being used by the Lord ... but when we see someone who is not as well trained and read as we are and whose backgound was not as stable etc being used older brother jealousy and insecurity in our relationship with Father make us quick to say it's just the devil... Anyway... as an individual I went twice to Lakelend with an attitude of "I want to get some personal breakthrough" and I did.. in the months since I have seen over 60 people healed through my own ministry... we have seen a whole family return to the Lord and settle in church through two members being healed at our impartation meetings, plus we have a good number of individual salvations some first time, some returning prodigals... So I am very happy that we made the right choice in pursuing what was happening. I know of scores of others who have seen a similar increase in their ministry since going to Lakeland. Hope this helps. Christen
	Allan Svensson (Guest)	16/09/2008, 19:00
Hi. I found your Web Site by Google And I wish you the best you can get, the peace of God through Jesus Christ. Welcome to visit my Site. Allan Svensson, Sweden Why does the revival tarry? It is because God's people tarry to obey the powerful command of the Lord in Rev. 18:4. This is the most powerful revival message of the Lord to his people in our time. http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM The coming revival, a nameless revival http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/POWERFUL.HTM Why was the Pentecostal Revival stopped? http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM As in the days of Lot, it is now. Lot was not interested to leave Sodom. God sent two angels to rescue him. One of the angels said to him: "Flee for your life sake ..." Just like as Lot, God's people are not interested to leave the great Babylon, but finally they must flee for their life from there. http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE88.HTM

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Since Early May River has been running and hosting Healing and Impartation meetings at least once a month.

Many have been Healed and/or touched by God!

Testimonies on the night include, a hole in the heart healed (beat became normal), an Ulcer pain disappeared, partial hearing healed, tinitus healed, sciatica, Back and leg pains. Hundreds shaken and laid out by the presence of God.

Listen to May 25th testimonies.... Click Here!

May 6th Report: Over 600 - lots of healings including Parkinsons, Tumours, Fibromyalgia, Lungs, backs, legs - all confirmed Healings!

Listen to individual selected testimonies... Click here!

Next Revival Meeting: tBC

Dont forget to book Bill Johnson and Che Ahn, Under an Open Heaven. Nov 11-13

Please tell us your Stories using the response form below