Elim's position on the Lakeland Outpouring

I have written the following article to address Elim's position on the Lakeland Outpouring

Lakeland Outpouring

By Dr. Ronald V. Burgio

Since April of this year, thousands have attended meetings in Lakeland, Florida. Could this be the major move of God we’ve all been praying for? I have watched the services on God TV and attended in May with my son, Jonathan. I was amazed at the strong presence of the Lord and of the supernatural atmosphere that was in the meeting. People were being saved, healed and delivered by the dozens. A number of our own credential holders and leaders have attended and many respected leaders are supportive, including John Kilpatrick, Lou Engle, Che Ahn, Steve Hill, John Arnott, Rick Joyner, etc.

The outpouring is one of the Word and the Spirit. “… my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:4-5NASU

God is doing something fresh in the earth. This is not like the revivals that we have experienced before. Because of God TV and the internet, the entire world is hearing and seeing the great things that are happening.

From the rising of the sun to its going down The LORD's name is to be praised.

Psalms 113:3 NKJV

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14 NKJV

Ken Sumrall wrote in a recent article: “Jesus told us to ‘be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’ Therefore let us not be gullible, but we should be careful not to speak harm on the meetings…

Many misjudged the charismatic revival in the 60’s because fakes were involved. But the move turned the tide from riots in the streets to revival, and hippies in rebellion against all authority became THE JESUS PEOPLE. During that time over 25 million people were converted and filled with the Holy Spirit from every walk of life and from every denomination.

Some ministers are warning against those who give weird reports of seeing angels in the meetings. If we think the Lakeland reports of angels are weird, what should we think about Isaiah’s experience with angels in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel’s weird experiences with angels in Ezekiel 10 and other chapters? Supernatural activities of angels are recorded in the book of Acts over 20 times. So I believe some testimonies in Lakeland are genuine and some are probably fake. Some of the acts of ministers in the 60’s were real and some we discovered were fake. With every genuine move of God come the flakes and the satanic. Paul tells us in 1 Thess 5:19-22 ‘Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.’ Billy Graham said at the beginning of the charismatic renewal in 1963: ‘Something is happening and I believe it is God.’ He could have said: ‘Most of it is of God.’”

We are wise not to fight this revival. Let’s let it unfold. Revivals evolve. They develop, refine and purify or they become clearly misguided. If you pull out the tares before harvest time you can end up destroying both the wheat and the tares. You need to wait until the wheat and tares identify themselves by maturing then you can separate them. I don’t think we have reached that point yet in this move.

As Elim Fellowship credential holders we should be open to this outpouring, even embrace it, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be discerning. We may not agree with everything said and done, but as men and women of God, pursuing and participating in any fresh emphasis of the Holy Spirit, let us take what we feel is Biblical and compatible with our beliefs and leave the rest to Lakeland and to God.

I pray for Todd Bentley and encourage you to do the same. We need to ask God to safeguard this revival and to protect His servant from the many attacks and temptations that come to anyone who does anything for God.

My son and I received a definite impartation when we went to Lakeland. We’ve seen a marked increase of healings in our church and wherever we have gone to preach. You can check out some of the testimonies on our church website at www.lovejoy.org.