"Pentecostals re-examining" controversial revival? Let them re-examine their own Palin worship.

madfloridian

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Sun Sep-14-08 12:51 PM
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"Pentecostals re-examining" controversial revival? Let them re-examine their own Palin worship.

The religion editor of the Lakeland Ledger says that pentecostals are doing some soul searching since the massive Lakeland revival led by the tattooed and controversial Todd Bentley.

Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley speaks during the "Florida Healing Outpouring" revival at The Lakeland Center on May 12, 2008.

That is not nearly enough re-examination. They have taken our country to the edge of a precipice, and many seem ready to take us over it.

Perhaps they will re-examine their hearts and souls enough to see if they really want a beauty queen for president, one who opposes the most basic things such as the choice of a rape victim not to bear that child.

Perhaps they will re-examine the choice of a woman whose main claim to fame is shooting moose and wolves, seeing Russia from her home....and thinking Iraq was a war in which we were led by God.

I am very skeptical of any self-examination unless it includes the fact that McCain has just sent the country reeling right back into the culture wars. Let them research that...let them examine their hearts about whether they have an obligation to help their fellow men.

Todd Bentley controversy leads to Pentecostal re-examination.

The giant white tents are gone now, and so are the crowds of thousands. The evangelist, disgraced, is in hiding. The revival carries on as a bare remnant of its former glory.

SCOTT WHEELER | THE LEDGER
APOSTLE RON JOHNSON speaks at the Lakeland Outpouring at Ignited Church on Wednesday. Since controversial evangelist and faith healer Todd Bentley has left the revival, crowds have dwindled dramatically. Charismatic Christian leaders are actively debating the legacy of the Florida Outpouring, which drew thousands from North America and around the world.

One effect of the revival was to provoke what some believe is a crisis in the Pentecostal community, or in that part of it known as "charismatic," meaning those who believe in powerful manifestations of God, such as speaking in tongues, faith healing and prophecy.

"Major Pentecostal figures have been alarmed because the Florida Outpouring epitomized recent excesses in the charismatic world. The dark side of the Florida Outpouring has been a wakeup call," said Jim Beverley, professor of Christian thought and ethics at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, an evangelical who has studied the Pentecostal movement.

There is this one paragraph that shows me they really don't have a clue what John McCain has done in his pick of Sarah Palin. He did exactly what this pentecostal leader warned about.

"True revival will be accompanied by brokenness, humility, reverence and repentance - not the arrogance, showmanship and empty hype that often was on display in Lakeland."

McCain arrogantly and smugly picked a VP running mate using showmanship and empty hype.

Let there be enough stir in the hearts of those who have pushed for a theocracy to make them stop and think where we are going.

That is the only kind of self-examination that will count.

This is not about Todd Bentley and Joel's Army, and Arming for Armageddon.

This is about the fact that many of these pentecostals, evangelicals, Christians...whatever they call themselves...have closed their minds to the rest of us and treated us with disgust. It happened in families..mine. It happened in communities. It has happened all over our country.

Nice try, Cary McMullen, but not quite enough. Your column was thoughtful, but not enough.

We are on that precipice now, time to take sides or go over.