I’m only 28, but I’ve been feeling very old lately. I don’t mean that I’m feeling very mature lately or anything like that. It’s just that it’s weird to think about the fact that it was 10 years ago that I was 18. Or 15 years ago when the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series. I can remember those things like it was yesterday.

When I read the other week that Delirious? are breaking up, it kind of shocked me again. I mean, I remember when my brother and I first heard “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” and were awestruck. What was this music, this sound?

I remember when the King of Fools record came out and I was just getting my friends into them. It was worship music, but it sounded good. It wasn’t cookie-cutter lyrically but had passion and poetry.

They gave me vision to see music break out of the Christian world into the world. Music that could not be contained within four walls. They were a group of guys who gave vision to hundreds, if not thousands of songwriters all over the world to write big songs about a big God. They gave bands boldness to believe that their music could touch the lost and the broken. That music was meant to inspire and heal.

Now they are breaking up.

I feel old.

Where did these 13 years go since we first met?

Anyway, thanks Martin, Stu, Jon, Tim and Stew for dreaming big and making good music that I could meet God with. You gave vision and boldness to millions of young people who will redefine Christianity as we know it in one generation.

There is a brilliant article by Joel Belz in the current issue of WORLD magazine on why single-issue voting (ie. Pro-Life) is right and responsible. Here’s a snippet:

It’s true that we evangelicals sometimes haven’t been as zealous as we ought in fighting racism, abuse of the environment, and poverty. But on all those fronts and more, we’re at least facing the right direction. We’re sometimes slow.

But here’s the difference: What evangelical do you know who says insensitivity to the poor should be promoted? What evangelical leader is calling for more racism? Who advocates the uncontrolled plundering of the environment?

Go read the whole thing!

We went and saw WALL•E on the weekend. Although I liked Ratatouille better, it was still really great. Somehow they made a little garbage compacting robot be cute and expressive, not to mention his little cockroach friend. Anyway, the point of this post is not to give a review, but to give my viewpoint on something about the movie.

You see, the point and message of the movie was to love one another and indulge in human, and not virtual activities. Yet the way that the story was told was to focus on a character who’s job it is to clean up the earth after humans have literally trashed it. Humanity has been on a cruise-liner space ship for 700 years while little WALL•E down below dutifully cleans up after them. This means that the movie is seen as having an environmental message. Right? Well, I disagree.

Here is what the director, Andrew Stanton, said in World Magazine:

WORLD: How do you feel about reports that WALL•E is an environmental movie?

STANTON: People made this connection that I never saw coming with the environmental movement, and that’s not what I was trying to do. I was just using the circumstances of people abandoning the Earth because it’s filled with garbage as a way to tell my story.

I always knew that I wanted WALL•E to be digging through trash for two reasons: One, I wanted him to be the lowest on the totem pole. It’s a janitorial job; it’s the saddest, lowest status amongst his kind; and it just makes him that much more of a lonely guy. Two, trash is really visual. Even the littlest kid understands when there’s stuff in the way and it needs to be picked up, so I didn’t need to spend time explaining his job. And then I just reverse-engineered from there, “OK, if there’s trash everywhere, how did it get there?”

So the “environmental message” isn’t the message at all, but a way to tell a story. The main message of the movie is that to be genuine human is to love your neighbor and experience life in all its fullness. If WALL•E, a garbage robot, can yearn for love, shouldn’t humans be loving one another in service and genuine relationship?

Instead of having genuine relationships with one another, virtual reality prevails. Instead of enjoying the stars, farming, dancing, and swimming, virtual reality prevails. Humans no longer touch one another. They are all robots programmed to eat and vacation.

You can say that it is an environmental movie if you wish, but it is Paul’s version: Creation is groaning as the result of human sin. Not, “we had better pick up our garbage because if we don’t the earth is going be wasted.” So there.

I’m reading a book called The Life and the Times of the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim. In speaking about the announcements of the birth of John and Jesus, he writes:

“From the Temple to Nazareth! It seem indeed most fitting that the Evangelic story should have taken its beginning within the Sanctuary, and at the time of sacrifice…In the Sanctuary, in connection with sacrifice, and through the priesthood–such was significantly the beginning of the era of fulfillment. And so the great religious reformation of Israel under Samuel had also begun in the Tabernacle, which had so long been in the background” (102).

I found this idea to be fascinating. The beginning of the new era where Israel’s Messiah would finally come to His people was birthed at a prayer meeting! As the passage in Luke says, one priest was chosen each year to offer the incense of prayer before the Lord in hopes that it would be accepted by Him.

In the midst of Zacharias being before the altar, the angel Gabriel appears before him and says that his prayers have been heard. Not only will his barren and aged wife, Elizabeth, have a child, but his people would finally see their Messiah. His son would be the herald, the forerunner, to prepare the people.

Hannah presented her baby Samuel to the Lord to serve Him for the rest of his days. He was to be the prophet who would lead the people and anoint their king: David. Elizabeth received word that she would have a son and he would be the forerunner of the true King of Israel. What are we doing?

The return of the Lord will only come when the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” in unison (Rev. 22:17). As I stand in this little prayer room, and as believers from every nation lift their voices to the throne, we are preparing the way for the Lord to come. We are changing the atmosphere for a people who will arise in holiness and righteousness to welcome our Lord Jesus Christ back to this planet.

Whenever we go to pray, we are going to a waiting room. We just don’t know how long we have to wait.

Here are IHOP, there has been prayer and worship 24/7 for almost 9 years. But what is the reason for the House of Prayer? For a long time I have considered the release of revival as the purpose for the House of Prayer (globally not just locally). Yet lately I’ve been seeing things a little differently.

If you start with the idea that heaven and earth will be joined together at the end of this age, the purpose of the House of Prayer starts to take a different shape. In short, we are to mirror on earth the prayer and worship in heaven happening now in anticipation of the day when we will join the worship of heaven as heaven descends to earth.

If the angels, the 24 elders, and the 4 living creatures are worshipping God day and night now, should not there be an expression of this on earth? We are to enter into unceasing prayer and worship as a corporate people because He is worthy and we will be doing this forever.

“For you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14).

God is jealous for worship not because He is egotistical, but because it is right and it is healing for our souls. As we worship Him, we become like Him. As the purpose of new creation goes forward, He wants a place where worship continually goes up before His throne joining the incense of heaven.

David understood this and appointed the Levites “to stand every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening” (1 Chr. 23:30). Notice that their job was to “thank and praise the Lord.” That was it!

The purpose of the House of Prayer is to pray for revival, but it is so much more. Revival will come, but the House of Prayer will never stop. It will just join in with the chorus that has been sung since the creation of those creatures in heaven:

“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME” (Rev. 4:8).

I’m at my parents house in South Carolina waiting to return to my wife tomorrow. We just returned from being in Lakeland, FL at the healing outpouring for 3 days. I’m still processing what I experienced, but I will offer some of my thoughts, however random they might be.

Todd Bentley, from what I witnessed, is a genuine man of God who is of godly character, sound doctrine, and a mighty hunger for God. While his ministry style didn’t always make me comfortable, I didn’t feel that he was trying to manipulate people or drawing attention to himself. I felt that he has a great compassion for people and a desire to see God be glorified. Any “hype” is probably his way of stirring up faith and hunger in people and not exhibitionism.

I saw genuine miracles. He reported that there have been 20 people raised from the dead in connection with the outpouring. He actually retracted one report because they discovered that it was bogus. While we were there, we witnessed people having deaf ears opened, being freed from chronic pain, and coming out of wheelchairs. One man testified that he was on the verge of suicide because of pain from cancer in his body. His friend flew him down to Lakeland and he was free from pain. Seeing God rescue this single father of two was truly miraculous.

The funny thing about miracles is that you really have to believe the people when they say that their back hurts or whatever. Tears in the eyes, friends with the healed on stage, and empty wheelchairs and abandoned hearing-aids definitely help you to believe in the healings. Yet the fact remains that skeptics will always find a way to not believe.

As the revival is being broadcast on GodTV in 213 countries and on the Internet every night, I think it is going to impact more people than any other revival to date. Those who cannot come for whatever reason are able to experience it through media. The remarkable thing is that many have been healed by watching on the Internet.

There is a lot of talk about this being the beginning of the end-time healing revival that will touch the ends of the earth. While I believe that this is true, I believe that we have many years ahead of us. While many were healed on stage, there were more who were not healed. This isn’t a negative on the revival, but a reality check to see that what is happening in Lakeland is only a little power.

I am grateful and awed by what is happening, but I am hungry for more. The trip has given me confidence that what is happening in Lakeland is real and it is from God. But I am also emboldened to see that the ministry of intercession is pivotal for birthing moves of God that will increase in power and expression. I feel renewed to believe for great things in my city and in my day.

I’m leaving for Lakeland tomorrow at 6:10 in the morning, which Jocelyn is none too pleased about. I’m flying to Charlotte to stay a day with my parents at their home in Columbia, SC, then we will drive down to Lakeland on Wednesday. We’ll be there for 4 days and then come back to spend a couple days with my parents. It’s a little confusing.

I’m excited to being going for a few reasons. First, I want to see miracles. I’m not going to lie to you. Second, I want to see firsthand what is actually happening so that I can be better equipped to explain what is happening. Third, I want to see my mom healed of migraines that she has suffered with for years and years now. Fourth, I want to be provoked in my faith to see God move in my city.

There are more reasons, but that will suffice.

As one who is called to stand in the house of the Lord and minister to Him

“We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

I was looking briefly at 1 John 4 today regarding the issue of deception and discerning truth. I ran across this verse that I came across a couple of weeks ago and I think it is hilarious.

So John, tell me again how we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of error?

Oh that’s easy, Ian. If they don’t listen to us, then they are not from God. If they do, then they are. Any questions?

Er, no sir. None.

Jiang Guohua, the Communist Party boss of Mianzhu, knelt Sunday to ask parents of earthquake victims to abandon their protest. - New York Times 5/28/08

Imagine being that guy? Being blamed for the death of children because of the “shoddy construction of public schools.”

If you have not heard, there is quite the move of God happening in Lakeland, FL under the ministry of Todd Bentley. From what I have heard and seen, it is a remarkable outpouring of miracles and healing, like, people getting out of wheelchairs, being healed of autism, etc. No small potatoes.

Along with these remarkable healings, there is a fair share of gold teeth, gold dust, and talk of angels. Why is it that God cannot just demonstrate His power and revive His people in a more “normal” fashion? I say this half-sarcastically because it always seems that recent revivals have always had things that keep non-charismatics from embracing these “revivals.”

In light of this, this morning I ran across a blog post by a Dan Edelen on his concerns with the Lakeland revival. He seems like a good and well-meaning chap and would say that his concerns are valid, but would like to address them. Not for his sake, but more for my own thinking. Isn’t that what blogging is all about?

He wrote:

1. All true revival is marked by one overarching, indisputable reality: People are driven to repentance. And not “Me too, me too!” repentance, but the kind that soaks the carpeting in tears of holy remorse for sin…And those fruits remain. They don’t vanish six months after roadies pack up the revival tent; they last a lifetime.

While I agree with this statement, I don’t plan on waiting for 6 months to see the fruit before I jump in and embrace it. This kind of skepticism bugs me because it automatically assumes that nothing is of God until I am able to prove that it is. A commenter to his post said that we are to be skeptical like the Bereans (Acts 17:11). This is a bad understanding of what those Bereans were actually doing because it actually says that they received the word with eagerness and then examined it. So they weren’t looking to prove it wrong, but to prove it right.

As for evidence of repentance, I can’t give you an eyewitness account, but from what I have seen, there is evidence of repentance. I sometimes think we limit repentance to remorse over sin instead of also seeing it as a change in perspective and a renewed sense of the love of God.

I will say that God emphasizes things in different ways and at different times. In Toronto in 1994, the emphasis was on the Father’s love, while at the same time in Brownsville, FL the emphasis was on repentance. We don’t know how this thing will grow. I guess we’ll have to wait 6 months before deciding.

2. There’s no fool like a charismatic fool…Too many charismatics drink from poisoned wells only to clutch their guts in pain later, asking what went wrong.

I would agree that this does happen, but not because charismatics did not test the “spirit.” I think it has more to do with the fact that we slightly misunderstand the purpose of these outpourings. They are not the end in themselves but the means by which we get to the goal of transformation of cities and nations. Prayer, boldness, and godly character should be what we are pursuing. If this does not happen in the lives of everyone who attends these meetings does not mean that it is not of God.

3. Whenever the emphasis gets off Jesus, a revival’s focus is off target. The Holy Spirit always pulls people to Jesus. He doesn’t pull them toward angels, canny preachers, or displays of spiritual gifts. He doesn’t need gold teeth, gold dust, and angel feathers to point people to Jesus. (Those are illusionist and occultist tricks.) He just needs himself because He is sufficient to do the pointing.

This is why I would like God to do things in a more “normal” fashion. Just don’t give us any of these crazy tricks and weird manifestations. Don’t let the Todd Bentley’s of the world be anointed and things would be a lot easier.

Seriously, while I would enjoy that, God does like to offend our ideas so that we really do search Him out. While the weird stuff is happening, many more amazing things are happening. Does the fact that gold dust is appearing negate the fact that Jesus revealed Himself as a healer to heal a girl I know of a life-crippling disease that no doctor could diagnose? No! So why are we worried about this stuff?

5. Real revival doesn’t just draw one kind of Christian. It draws everyone. It draws Episcopalians, Lutherans, Reformed, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Brethren, Mennonite, Methodist, Baptist—everyone.

This is where I ask what sort of Scriptural evidence he has for this. If we want to talk about revival in Scripture, then we have to start with the fact that it’s not there. So that’s a problem. My point is that we shouldn’t be looking for certain signs that we think should be there when there is no Scriptural precedence for it. Who is to say that God will not cause what is happening in Lakeland to spread to many different denominations? Or that people from many different denominations are not attending Lakeland?

In considering all that is happening in Lakeland, I have to say that this is just the beginning of something that will not stop but will spread. Bob Jones, a prophet with a considerable track record, has said that this is the beginning of the revival that will not stop until Jesus returns. That is a massive statement with implications that are staggering.

What this means for the Church is both glorious and terrifying. The years and decades ahead will be incredible as God’s Spirit moves to transform lives. It will also be terrifying as End-Time judgments begin to break in on the earth and the beginning of birth pangs begin to happen, as Jesus prophesied.

In all of this, we can be confident that Jesus is a perfect leader. Sometimes I wish He would have everything happen in a more orderly way, but He chooses to work through weak and broken people who will not always get it right. What will happen will offend many people, but we must be careful to not judge God’s work when thinking that we are just using “discernment.” Sometimes this is just a way of saying that we don’t like what is going on so we will appeal to our discernment.

So let’s put on our seatbelts because I think we are in for the ride of our lives. It will be the best of times and the worst of times. God is in the business of purifying His bride and preparing the earth for His coming. He wants a people who will say “yes” to Him. I for one plan on doing that.