Florida Revival…Same Old Junk in the Name of Jesus

This was the girl being presented at the revival…

This was Bentley being briefed prior to the night the girl was to be presented up on stage…

Comments from Dan Phillips on this so-called Florida Revival…

So now, HSAT, here is what I think about “The Florida Revival,” going in:

1. Believing in the sovereignty of God and having read (and believed!) Acts 2, I know that it is at best extraordinarily unlike 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…
2. 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:
3. 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).
4. 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).
5. 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).
6. 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)
7. 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).
8. 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.

PERSONAL NOTE: I (Brian) just watched another bit from one of the other videos of this Bentley guy who is leading this “revival”, and he said, “I’ve only preached three, maybe four times in three weeks.” What does that say to Phillips’ comment #5 above about whether or not this movement is the result of the preaching of the word of God?

Picture of the Week

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanos are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008.