For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God.
1Pe 4:17
The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the power of Satan. He will use every kind of power, including miraculous signs, lying wonders, and every type of evil to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them. For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion ...
2Th 2:9-12
For false christs and false prophets will appear and display great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Mat 24:24
Dear brothers and sisters,
I would have been only to glad to tell you about my task in Russia and what has taken hold of me there. But the ongoing happenings in the Body of Christ force me to write this letter as a warning!
Recently I have been asking my self: How will the LORD be judging his people? (1. Peter 4,17) If we are talking about judgment we think of all kind of catastrophes. But what is the worst judgment, in particular for believers? - Deceit! If the LORD himself is bringing about the spirit of deceit as a trial for his people, then it is really terrible, because this means that a lot of people will fall off, they will not spend the eternity there where they thought.
We are in the end times. According to the word of the LORD in 2.Thess. 2,3 it says: Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one who is destined for destruction ….. (the antichrist).
Why is the LORD himself bringing about the judgment over his people? Because He was always talking to his people through the prophets and his people did not want to listen and are still not willing to listen. In each generation GOD had his own, true prophets next to the false prophets. What did the people do to the prophets of the LORD? They despised them, denied them, ridiculed them, sometimes they even killed them! The ancient and the nowadays prophets of the LORD shout: People of the LORD turn round, there is no difference between you and the world, you are the community of Laodicea, throw the sin out of your life, rise, search the LORD and the lost, otherwise the judgment of the LORD will come on you!
But what doe the people say? Quiet! Who are you? GOD is love, not judgment!
Our GOD is a merciful GOD, but he is also a consuming fire. The people did not want to listen to Moses, they wanted to dance around the golden calf, they wanted to have a party and what happened then? Except for two people they all died in the desert. The people did not want to listen to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and so forth, what happened then? They were sold as slaves to other nations, they have suffered a lot and are going to suffer much more, because they still do not want to listen to their GOD. JESUS dictated the letters to the 7 communities, he warned the community, that if it would not turn round, he would overthrow the chandelier of the community. And what happened then? The same, the community was given away, a lot of nations became Islamic, and so on ….
The LORD is warning his people now: Turn around, you can not live in the manner of the world, without facing my punishment. I will come to take my bride and not a prostitute!
But we are laughing at the prophets of the LORD: GOD is love, GOD will never judge his children for he is a caring father, be quiet! We want to celebrate our feast, a little praising, a little dancing, a little preaching, but the sermon must not be to long. And if some signs and wonders happen on top of it, we are more than happy!
People of the LORD, you will have your signs and wonders, but it will be your judgment day.
You surely must have heard of the “revival” in Lakeland, Florida, with Todd Bentley. Thousands of Christians from all over the world are going to Lakeland to see the signs and wonders, but hardly any body is questioning the background. A year ago I was at a charismatic assembly somewhere here in Switzerland. The preacher, a prophet from the United States said: Come to me, I will lay hands on you an you will see angels. Later on he said: Come to me, I will lay hands on you and you will see JESUS. What really astonished me, was the readiness of the people to go to the front, no scrutiny! Can we just like this see angels or JESUS, just as it pleases us?
For weeks I am watching now the happenings in Lakeland. If you have access via TV or internet to God TV, or via internet on youtube.com, you can hear and watch services and interviews with Todd Bentley. I know the name of this man already for years, but so far he did not bother me, but now I am very much alarmed. About one year ago Todd Bentley, as a preacher of the gospel, has undergone tattooing. And this from the neck right down to the legs, not with harmless motives, but also with daemons. Often he is wearing T-shirts with huge daemons on the chest and on the back. If you look at a picture from the past and at a picture from nowadays, you won’t recognize him anymore. On top of it he has piercing and rings on nearly every finger, - very weird rings.
When I see this man on the screen, I ask myself: How is it possible that thousands of Christians go to Lakeland and let it happen, that this man lays his hands on them, in order to get the same anointing that he is possessing?
Do you know why the people of the LORD trust this man? Because signs and wonders are happening! How can and will Satan deceive believers and unbelievers? With signs and wonders! One talks about the biggest revival of all times! This is a lie of the devil. Are signs and wonders the indication of revival? No, the sign of a revival is repentance, deep acknowledgement of sin, which leads to a radical Christian life, characterized by devotion, self-denial, and the willingness to suffer for JESUS and the readiness to seek the lost, at any cost. In Lakeland all it is about is angels, anointing, revival, signs and wonders, but not really about JESUS.
A brother I know a little bit has been to Lakeland. After an assembly he saw an angel, who commanded him to follow. Arriving at the destination, the angel tore out the guts of my brother, threw them on the floor, stamped on them and they turned golden. Now this brother is absolutely thrilled. This story you can watch on www.youtube.com. What has frightened me terribly was readiness of this brother to surrender so easily, so completely to Todd Bentley.
Already years ago Todd Bentley was teaching how to get in to contact with angels and that people should be open to this. On the homepage of Todd Bentley was a report about a female angel cold Emma. Now this report was removed from his homepage and a few other things to, which could incriminate him.
Already years ago Todd Bentley was teaching how to get in to the third heaven, simply through faith. Bob Jones, an other prophet, took him once by the hand. Both closed their eyes an they were there in the third heaven. Just imagine, you just have to close you eyes, believe and already you are there in the third heaven. This testimony and also other ones are probably still to bee seen and heard on www.youtube.com, or www.godtube.com; simply enter „Bob Jones Bentley“ and you will find it.
Can Todd Bentley or just anybody, if he only wants to, gets so easily in to the third heaven?
One thing is for sure, he went somewhere, but surely not in to the heaven of our LORD!
You have to understand me well, if GOD decides to take us up into heaven, to show us something, then it is something completely different. But if I decide when I want to make such an experience, then something is foul and very dangerous. I myself had several dreams and visions, but the initiative always came from JESUS and it always happened when I was not expecting anything to happen.
What happened to Todd Bentley? Could it be that he started well, but somewhere, somehow along the line, through his experiences with angels, third heaven and so forth he went astray?
One thing is for sure: what is happening in Lakeland and has taken hold of million of Christians and has reached already many communities is a wrong revival, is the LORD’s judgment to the community of Laodicea! And this will gain!
A brother was of the opinion that if the matter was queer the LORD would correct it. Sometimes I am amazed about our naivety. The LORD will not correct it, to the contrary, the LORD will use it for separation: Wheat from Chaff! I am happy about men of GOD and brothers like David Wilkerson and a lot of unknown prophets in America, who warn the people of the LORD; but unfortunately a lot of them will not hear!
The LORD has, praise him, already warned a long time ago, that there will be a false and a true revival. Maybe you are asking, how do I know which is the wrong and which is the right one? First of all, the right revival is concerned about repentance, reversal, cleansing, holiness and the LORD JESUS and the cross are the centre. Secondly, if you are a person who spends a lot of time at the feet of JESUS, are obedient, wholly devoted to HIM ….. then you will know it beyond any doubt!
Why are so many running to Lakeland? It is not wrong to go somewhere where GOD is at work. A lot of them are hungry for more, they want to finally venture something; but also a lot of them are too lazy to seek the LORD themselves. Such people will sooner or later be misled, either now through Lakeland or later by something else. For Christians who find it boring to read the bible, for Christians who find it boring to sit at JESUS feet and this if possible for hours, for Christians who think only of themselves and only live for themselves, there is no protection against seduction and against the judgments of the LORD, sooner or later they will be mislead.
I have asked myself: Why do we want revival? That we need revival is clear, but what is our motivation for it?
I believe that a lot of Christians want revival, because they believe that they won’t have to labor any more. They believe that the Christian live will one day be just one big party. So a question right now: Where the apostles full of the spirit? Did they have the anointing of GOD? Did signs and wonders accompany their preaching? Yes, of course! What was their life like? I believe their life was full of work, suffering, but also full of joy. How many kilometers did they walk or drive to bring the gospel? How many weeks were they separated from their families? With how little sleep they had to coop? Paul preached for such along time, that someone fell out of the window because of tiredness! How much did they fast, how many tears did the cry? On top of it, how many did experience beatings, scoff, scorn, imprisonment and finally the death of a martyr! They were living daily in the revival.
Are you ready to pay the price, to see the revival? If you are not ready today to do the work, to bee true in the small tasks, you won’t see the revival, but you will see the judgment of the LORD.
Brothers and sisters you have heard an read enough, the responsibility is now up to you.
Don’t let anybody lay hands on you who has got anything to do with Lakeland, because you don’t now what and who is behind it. If it has happened already, ask the LORD for forgiveness for your carelessness and pray to the LORD to cleanse you from all which is not of HIM. Please pass this letter on, also to your leaders, then soon they will be confronted with it.
The revival will be coming, but first the judgment!
Behold I am at the door and nock! Repent! (Revelation 3:19-20)
My wish for us is discernment of the spirit and that we test the spirits.
Catherine Hafner, a maidservant of JESUS CHRIST!
Translation: H. Hegetschweiler
