The Holy Bible is full of awesome episodes of human lives. This story is one of the most spectacular of all. The main story unfolded in a small town called, “The Town of Mary,” or “Bethany.” Bethany means “to go” or “to send.” The town appeared to be a kind of headquarters for Jesus when He was in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Mary, her sister, Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, had become like family to the Lord. The Son of God allowed Himself to become very close to selected persons, and this was seen in His relationship with this family.

Lazarus died suddenly while the Lord and His disciples were a considerable distance away. The sisters were comfortable sending Christ a report of Lazarus’ sickness and they apparently expected Him to hurry back to Bethany to heal Lazarus. Jesus tarried at His location to minister and to perform an even greater miracle than healing a sick body. There were no surprises in Christ’s life.  Every expression or event was foreordained in the perfect pattern of a Divine visitation. The same is true in the life of every saint of God if we are led by the Spirit. Tough places are just as important as smooth days.

When Jesus decided it was time to go to Bethany, He told His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep”(John 11:11b). Christ’s disciples did not understand, so He said, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14b). The Lord knew that this was an opportunity and a plan of the Father to reveal His Messiahship. He then stated, “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him” (John 11:15). Thomas adds a tender response to the Lord’s words, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”(John 11:16b). They all loved this family.

When Jesus arrived four days after the burial, Mary was disappointed and a bit miffed at the Lord. Martha, the steadier of the two sisters, ran to meet Jesus before He even reached their home, but Mary stayed home to pout. The Lord tenderly sent Martha for Mary. Martha secretly told Mary that the Lord was calling for her. Her words were a great expression of the Lord’s mercy, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee” (John 11:18b).

This is where the story turned supernatural. Mary hurried out of her home to go where Jesus was waiting. The Divine plan was that this company of Jews – no doubt very important leaders from Jerusalem – would see the miracle that had been planned by the Father. “The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there” (John 11:31). When Mary was before the Lord, she immediately “fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:32b).

The Lord’s great love and capacity for compassion lives in this awesome event. The Bible says, “He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled” (John 11:33b). Then, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). This was the one single time in the Holy Bible when tears were seen in Jesus’ eyes. It was actually more than tears; He wept or sobbed before the company of Lazarus’ family and Jewish friends. What a picture this paints of God in the very confines of human flesh! In the same story we have our Savior and Lord weeping in human compassion and then acting in supernatural glory.

He never chided Mary for human weakness but simply asked where they had laid or buried him. As these unbelieving Jews saw the incredible love and tenderness of Jesus Christ, they wondered why He had not prevented this death of Lazarus. Some said, “Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died”(John 11:37)

When the Son of God reached the tomb, He said, “Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days” (John 11:39). Notice that it was Martha, not Mary, that expressed this doubt. Apparently, Mary was now as strong in her faith as she had been in her grief. The Lord was very careful to guide both the sisters toward the “Miracle in the Making.” He lifted His head up to His Father and prayed a simple but extremely humble prayer.

After His submission to His Father, He called the dead back to life. Earlier He had said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this” (John 11:25-26). Jesus was careful to call the name of Lazarus as He cried out into a tomb full of many dead persons. Every word spoken by the Son of God commanded immediate action. If He had not specifically named Lazarus, the entire graveyard would have been emptied.

“And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him” (John 11:44-45).

The picture ended with “Two Sisters and One Resurrected Brother.” It sure would be grand to follow this great miracle and see how life unfolded in “The Town of Mary.” No doubt great crowds came to see the living testimony of this special family. They came to hear the proof of the priceless visit of “God in the flesh” to an ordinary household just like mine and yours.
Joseph R. Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org

The Antichrist spirit has moved to the frontline in preparation for his appearance following the Rapture.  The general population’s concept of God had to be altered in order for Satan to become the god of this earth.  God’s Word affirms that the entire world will actually worship the devil as God.  That cannot happen without a concept of God with which the masses can identify.  A Biblical view of God does not allow one degree of change.  It would be impossible to move from a fundamental Biblical concept to an acceptance of a Satan-god concept without the present slow, but powerful debriefing of all things Biblical.

Every part of our emerging church world is guilty to some degree for this subtle change.  The Bible never debates the sovereign facts of our great God; they simply fill the Scriptures.  From the spoken words of creation to the transcending picture of our God in the Book of Revelation, He is awesome, He is holy, and He is the finality of perfect love.  He said, “I change not”  (Malachi 3:6).  There is no measure of change in Him.  His purity cannot be defiled and His majesty cannot be compared for He alone is the plumb line of all things.

But every concept of God is undergoing a transformation.  Todd Bentley is only one part of what is happening, but he presents a perfect example of what I am contending.  He presents a picture of the Sovereign God that cleverly reduces Him to a zoo-like character.  If Todd Bentley’s god is Jehovah God, then the Bible is a fool’s imagination.  I declare to you that Todd Bentley’s god is the devil himself and that he is making preparation to be worshipped by the world.  Such a statement is too vast to be taken lightly and too serious to be ignored.  If Todd Bentley’s god is the devil, then two things are absolutely overwhelming.

One is that multitudes of the church world are perfectly ready to make the move from a pre-Rapture state to a post-Rapture fact.  Millions of the world’s churchgoers, especially Charismatics, but including both Catholics and Evangelicals, have fallen in lockstep with this tattooed phenomena.  He has exceeded every expression of the modern day revivals of my lifetime.  In a matter of weeks he has had the greatest success of the modern day religious hype to capture both television and Internet. The man is nothing less than a phenomenon.  The biggest names in the Charistmatic world, beginning with Peter Wagner, Rick Joyner, and John Arnott, just met to anoint Todd Bentley as prophet par excellent.

Second, everything about Todd Bentley is pre-Antichrist revelation.  He fits the perfect image that Scripture demands of this second beast in Revelation chapter thirteen.  He claims Jesus is Christ, but totally re-invents Him.  The person of Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John has no likeness to Todd Bentley’s “Jesus.”  When Jesus healed, he said, “Tell no man.”  Todd Bentley spends the majority of his time performing signs and wonders that exalt him beyond recognition.  No one standing in the presence of the Son of God ever reacted like an insane person without Jesus calling such action the “work of demons.”  Todd’s Jesus is a masquerading spirit from the abyss.

Let’s look at this zoological god of Todd Bentley.  His god has commissioned angels to work hand-in-hand with the prophet.  They move in and out with Mr. Bentley to impart this strange anointing and to multiply incredible signs and wonders.  The last count of the unconfirmed resurrections is near twenty or more.  A leading angel is named Emma, who has a great history in Charismatic circles.  She dates back at least to William Branham, a Jesus-only minister, who was killed about forty years ago.  Emma floats into the meetings and distributes gold dust on the attendees.  One minister’s wife got Emma’s impartation and began to bark like a dog.  According to the prophet, Emma appears as an angel of light.

Todd’s god loves to see his worshippers having epileptic-like seizures, screaming incoherent babble, and acting like a spirit has cast them into the fire.  They even call the action that grips the people the fire and it is, but it is not the fire of the Holy Spirit baptism.  The violence of this god causes his prophet to kick the sick or slam the suffering with a dark force to drive out the disease.  This fits perfectly with the demonic healing found in the world of witchdoctors.

Here is a description of the normal activity seen in a Bentley worship service.  This comes from an eyewitness account.  “These are the effects that I have witnessed on people who have attended this movement and either have had hands laid on them or claim to have been imparted with ‘the spirit’: -They come back with this kind of childlike drunken stupor. -Descriptions of a burning sensation either in their veins, heads or stomachs. -Descriptions of being washed back and forth like the waves in the ocean;-Dancing about like drunk…-Inappropriate yelling and screaming like they’re at a football game;-Young men whistling over and over and holding their heads and claiming that they ‘feel the Holy Spirit about to split them in two’; -One young man’s back two teeth turned completely to some metallic finish.-People with their eyes rolled in the back of their heads and weaving around like they’re lost.-Women just gyrating and pulsating like they’re being ravaged from behind from some unseen force. -Drunken uncontrollable laughter in the middle of a solemn prayer time…-People being ‘slain in the spirit’… just falling down and being unable to move (like something’s holding them down).” (www.apostasyalert.org/REFLECTIONS/bentley.htm)

The flesh of both Todd Bentley, his helpers, and the crowds that relish his meeting is dominant.  From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible forbids an anointing upon flesh. The Holy Spirit only anoints the life that is fully identified with Jesus Christ.  The oil of the First Testament anointing presents the perfect type of an acceptable prophet or priest.  The Word stated, “Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you.”  “And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy” (Exodus 30:32,29).

Our Heavenly Father protects the purity of His anointing.  The nephews of Moses were eliminated for offering strange fire in the name of the Lord.  Very soon, the same defense of that holy anointing of the Lord will be reinstated.  It will occur similar to the judgment of those nephews of Abraham, Nadab and Abihu.  “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD”  (Leviticus 10:1-2).

It is an abomination to offer strange fire as is clearly occurring in connection with a host of Charismatics.  It is now elevated in the Bentley meetings to a level that reveals the true false nature of this crowd.

The concept of God that the world is now witnessing should warn every one of us of the closeness of His great Rapture.  The saints cannot be here when the actual Antichrist and his final religious mastermind appear.  They are held in check while their spirit is quickly developing and spreading.  The actual Antichrist and the False Prophet are being prevented from their public role until the escape of the Bride of Jesus Christ.

Todd Bentley and his god from the devil’s zoo is a perfect warning to every Bible believer.  Every saint of God should refresh his vision of our Heavenly Father. Consider His awesome person reflected in a glory that fills Holy Scripture.  Consider His holiness so pure that He offered His spotless Son to redeem us.  Refuse to be satisfied with an image of God that only reflects flesh and empty faith in some religious titillation.  Our great God wants you to know Him in the power of His only Begotten Son and the new life of purity and beauty.