Tuesday 2nd September 2008

Tom Brock comments

Tom Brock

I have been getting so many emails about all the things that are going on in Lakeland, Florida. It is amazing to me the array of things that are being said! From I told you so, to the enemy is killing the move of the Lord, to it was never real, and everything in-between. The issues all seemed to be pointed at Todd, but I'm not sure that is where we should be looking for answers. As we travel to different bodies around the world, many are perplexed as to why God would use someone with flaws; someone who seems to have so many "issues". Well, it's not the first time nor will it be the last. I know that there have been many failings in my life, and if it was based upon who is perfect or who hasn't made a mistake then I would have been out a long time ago. I am not justifying anything Todd has or has not done. I really don't know, nor do I want to know, all the things he is being approached about. It really isn't my business to be involved in those issues. I pray for God's grace for him and his family. I pray he will fall into the hands of his loving merciful God instead of the hands of man.

1 Chronicles 21:13 "And David said unto God, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man."

Before I go on, I do want to say that the feeding frenzy that is taking place regarding this is really scary, and maybe we need to refocus on the meaning of what we say we believe. Come on! Is there anyone who is without fault? Who will throw the first stone?

John 8:7 "When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.'"

What I want to talk about is what causes people to run from place to place to try to find the move of the Lord. Why can't we find it in our home fellowships? What is going on, that we who say we believe and want to see the move of God are falling short of the goal we say that we want? In talking with different pastors, it seems that almost all would say that they want to see the Lord move in their services. There are those who really don't want things to go "that way" for fear of scaring off those who are "seeking". So our times of gathering become meetings to air our own opinions and collect the funds necessary to keep things running. The question then comes back to those who want to see the Lord have His way but feel that we are coming up way short.

2 Sam 6:9 "David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, "How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?"

And so we ask, like David, how can the Ark of the Lord come to us?

This is where I think phenomena like Lakeland come into play. It is pretty evident, there were healings and there were deliverances taking place. I know that at least three of the bodies we work with have been radically changed and challenged by the move of the Lord on them as a result of visits to Lakeland. I'm speaking about healings, salvations, repentance and an awaking of a hunger for the things of God. It wasn't because of Lakeland, but it did demonstrate that God is alive and well and still willing to touch planet earth.

Could we really see God move in our gatherings? If we ask will he really come?

1 Kings 18:24 "'Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire-he is God.' Then all the people said, 'What you say is good.'"

Do we, like Elijah, dare take a chance, make ourselves vulnerable and ask God publicly to come and move among us? Think about our times together. We have made it an art form; everything is set to a time schedule from beginning to end. We know what songs to sing, we know just the right things to say, not too long not too short, but "just right". We are truly in control of the service. So, when does the Lord get a chance to show His stuff? Maybe in-between the offering and the teaching, or that time when you can come for prayer in the back or off to the side, as long as it doesn't take long and we're quiet about it. We become more concerned about our presentation than about seeing the results of the Lord.

If you were to go to the doctor or hospital, and you walked in to a beautiful lobby and waiting room, with comfortable chairs, TV, magazines and nice music in the background, you would be pretty pleased to take a seat and wait for your treatment. But when it came time to see the doctor, if he or she sat you down and spent time telling you about all the wonderful discoveries in the medical field, what wonderful works were taking place for sick people around the world, encouraged you that there were medications to deal with any and all the symptoms you were experiencing, then stood up and thanked you for coming in and told you to settle your bill on the way out, I think you would have an issue to take up. When do you get your treatment? When do you see the results and when is your need met? If this happened, I don't think you would go back any time soon, but amazingly we still "go to church," we pay our bill and we go home with our sicknesses. I think it is time for us to take a stand on this.

Are you tired of the church focusing on policing the community instead of seeing the hand of God move in our lives? I am! We are so busy making sure that the lost stop acting lost, and making them conform to our ways of thinking, that we have lost our true purpose of presenting the good news: our God is alive and able to meet their need right where they are! Maybe it's time for us to take a closer look at the effectiveness of the church at this time. A good friend of mind says that if a vote was taken right now, he's not sure the current Christian leadership would get reelected. Crime is up, divorce is up, suicide and despair run rampant, and hopelessness seems to be the ruling spirit of the day. What are the watchmen up to? I find, for the most part, the watchmen are competing, judging and maintaining a semi-private club that not many want to join anyway. I'm not so sure that was the heart of the Lord for His Church!

What do we do? I'm not saying I have all the answers, but I can say this; I think it is time we give the church back to the Lord, and that we turn our hearts and minds to Him. Let Him have control of our times together. Let Him set the ground rules for who is in and who is out. Maybe it is time that we focus on the things that are on His heart and implement His principals instead of our own. I heard that Frances Chan said to his board, "the Bible says we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Let's give away fifty percent of our income to those in need." Wow that must have rocked their world and changed the focus of what the goals of their existence were! What is the purpose of rethinking our "strategy"? I believe we need to be a place where people can come and be reborn, rebuilt and reinforced by an encounter with the Spirit of the living God; a place of healing and deliverance; a place of offering thanksgiving for all the things the Lord has done for us; and a place where we want to bring others people to "meet the family" because we know they will be welcomed and loved and accepted. I think that is what Jesus would have the church look like.

LK 4:18-20 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Don't get me wrong, I love the church. Suzie and I have spent over thirty years serving her. We have nothing but hope and belief in her. But I do think it is high time we face the truth, repent from our present forms and be conformed into His image. We need to walk away, no, run away from this "thing" we have created as fast as we can.

Come on let's do this thing! If we seek Him we will find Him, if we ask we will receive! If we knock it will be open! If we will, He will come! What if we gave Him the time, and made the decision, that we would not build structure or support man made concepts, but would truly cry out to the Lord, allow Him to come and meet with us and answer us.

Matt 7:8 "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

About Tom Brock

Tom has been serving in full time ministry for over thirty-five years. He and his wife Suzie have founded and directed ministries, which have sent missionaries to four continents. They have also served as pastors for two congregations. As they have traveled throughout the United States, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand, their message has ministered life to those who have heard it. Both Tom and Suzie have been used in teaching seminars, retreats, rallies, church services, schools, and TV, and radio ministries. Tom and Suzie, now reside in California and are the Directors of Wave of Life Ministries International.

View all articles by Tom Brock

Reader Comments

Posted by juliet kyere in Ghana @ 15:05 on Aug 4 2009

i love all your musics just that searching for the lyrics sometimes is hectic. keep on with the good work that you are doing.God bless you.

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Posted by Laura in UK @ 14:10 on Nov 21 2008

Toms article is well balanced, and after we are still humans and make mistakes, and this is what Todd has done. The bible does say that we should always question what we see before us to determine what is god sent and what is demonic sent. With Todd warning bells happended when he never mentioned Jesus, and when he did the angels were higher than him.

But for the healings that take place I do believe some where of God, what does it say have faith like a musturd seed and you can move mountains, and if the people who gathered truely believed that God would do something then thats why they were healed.

After all as long as we dont worship the guy healing us then we have nothing to worry about, its when we change to praise him thats when we should worry.

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Posted by Christie in Orange Park, FL @ 20:07 on Sep 22 2008

Jesus had a passion for signs and wonders before He was crucified His ministry was based on them. "Tell John The Baptist - the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk and the poor have the gospel preached to them. " He also said signs and wonders would follow those who believe - like the Apostle Paul.

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Posted by Chris E in London @ 13:41 on Sep 22 2008

It's high time that the charismatic wing of the church recognised the dangers inherent in the course it is pursuing.

An obsession for signs and wonders over and above a passion for the truths of the Gospel and a concern for the glory of God is causing churches to blow up, leaving a wasteland in terms of hurt and disillusioned people.

This obsession is equivalent in many ways to the medieval fascination with relics over and above the truths of Scripture.

The Holy Spirit is real, he comes both dispensing gifts and fruit - but does so with the purpose of witnessing to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as he manifested the Glory of God to us.

When we take our eyes off the Giver and fixate on the gifts we start down a path of error that is more impressed with dramatic signs than the truly dramatic witness of changed lives. This leads to promoting the wholly unqualified, who don't have the depth to last out. Calls for discernment always end up getting thrown out with cries of 'touch not the Lord's Annointed' (a prooftext taken out of context - the Lord's Annointed is Jesus).

It's time that the charismatic church started rediscovering the truths of scripture and stopped it's reliance on the simplistic sloganeering as a substitute for deep teaching.

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Posted by FollowerOfJesus in London @ 12:26 on Sep 19 2008

I've seen videos of Todd from three years ago (far before Lakeland) and it was obvious that he was a very dubious character back then, preaching all sorts of unbiblical nonsense.

Yes, as Tom said, we are all flawed and sinful, but equally the Bible tells us that high standards are expected of those in leadership, not just in our personal lives, but also in our theology and beliefs. We wouldn't have a mormon speaking in our churches, yet thousands of people tuned in to equally bad lies and heresy from Todd. If Steven Strader, the pastor of Ignited Church, had an ounce of integrity and discernment he would never have invited Todd there to start with.

We are warned that there will be false teachers and prophets amongst us, and we are to guard against them and test what they say. Todd has been tested and found lacking in everything that he does.

I'm sorry to have to say this, but the events at Lakeland were at best a man-made circus and at worst a scheme of the devil. I'm glad they had come to an end.

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Posted by Mark in United States @ 03:56 on Sep 19 2008

What a great article!!! We are indeed so quick to throw stones. For those who want to call this thing demonic, let me ask you ... did all those whom God touched and healed and cast out demons through Judas Iscariot actually get all that done by the devil??? Jesus Himself sought His Father all night in prayer concerning whom He was to choose as His disciples, and Judas was one of them. Yes, Judas was used by God along with the other eleven. satan would not heal people and cause them to glorify God in heaven. satan would not cause people to repent of sin. The issue for US is not Todd Bentley, but our own propensity to idolatry. If you have ongoing relationship with Jesus, a man or woman of God whom God has used mightily but who then falls into sin or troubles should not shake your faith, because true "Christian" faith is a faith in the living Christ who has made Himself real to you.

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Posted by Rob Ash in Wales @ 14:12 on Sep 17 2008

Only one answer here,Todd Bently needs to repent and ,get back to his wife and children.And start again.
I mean how simple does God have to make it,you sin you repent ,and make amends.Thats what Jesus was talking about.

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Posted by Steve Parsons in Cheshire, UK @ 13:51 on Sep 17 2008

Tom seems to be saying that it's wrong to have structure in the Church. That all we need to do is "wait on the Lord" and give him time. With respect to Tom, whilst this sounds great it's not entirely Biblical. There seems to be a lot of people in the Church these days that want to do away with all forms of structure, believing them to hinder the Holy Spirit.

The early Church actually spent time putting structures into place and bringing some sense of order to the wonderful way the Spirit was moving.

It's true that in Acts ch 2 the disciples waited in the upper room for the Spirit to be poured out. But it's also true that later in the same chapter they started to build 'practices' into their lives. The teaching of the Apostles Doctrine, Fellowship, The Breaking of Bread, Prayer, Giving to the poor, Worshiping God all became regular activities - as well as signs and wonders!
Then Paul proceeds to write half the New Testament to address issues of Leadership, How to behave in public gatherings, Developing personal Character and so on.

I fear that we live in a time where some Charismatics want all the thrills and spills - but aren't so keen on being taught the Word, learning to live holy lives and developing Christ-like Character. 'Study time' sounds more boring than 'Carpet time'.
Planned services sound less spiritual than unplanned times.

Perhaps too often we want our services to be ‘other worldly’ instead of inviting the Holy Spirit to meet us in our humanness.

I am Charismatic believer and am passionately committed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But let's not fall for the idea that you can only have the Holy Spirit by getting rid of all structure.
That idea is both un-scriptural and dangerous.

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Posted by Neil Moore in Solihull @ 10:39 on Sep 17 2008

I particularly like your phrase 'feeding frenzy' in the aftermath of 'revelations' about Todd Bentley's lifestyle. It is very apt. Lets see how many UK church leaders jump on the bandwagon of hindsight wisdom. Prepare yourself for a fresh bout of squabbling and falling out, and 'I told you so' by UK church leaders. Or will they simply get on with what Jesus has called us all to do - to go into the whole world and make disciples. What do you think? Probably have a pop at other leaders and Mr. Bentley! Yes, me too.

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Posted by SH in UK @ 22:24 on Sep 16 2008

I found Tom's article above to be clear and well presented (thanks Tom). I don't think Tom endorses Todd at any time in this article, but is balanced.

The truth is that we all long to see God move. The challenge is for each of us to ask what we are doing for God and check our own motivations, obedience, holiness and our love! Are we seeing God move through us, are we demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit and seeing spiritual fruit in our own lives? Let's pray and be more concerned about that!! It's easy to criticise. It's healthier to really love people around us, love God and love each other in the church. Let's make sure our actions and words don't turn people away from Jesus.

You know what, the students and staff I work with in school couldn't care less about who Todd Bentley is.. They do care about finding their way in life, about who loves them, about how they find a way through painful lives and brokenness etc. Jesus is that answer. Tom's message re-affirms that Jesus is the way, while challenging us on how we do this. Let's focus on the message of Christ and not so much on the messengers! Let's radically love others as Christ did. He came to heal the sick, to bring restoration with God and bring hope, life. Let's work to do the same.

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Lessons From Lakeland

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