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“Verified” Lakeland Resurrection from the Dead was a Lie

Thanks to poster ’Arise My Love’ for pointing this video out here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toGYy-H3pCw&feature=related

From 6.20 minutes onwards on the video explains how the Fresh Fires Ministries passed through their ‘audit’ process an email, and Todd Bentley read out this same email of an alleged raising from the dead, without even attempting to check out any of the facts, let alone verifying them.

Update 17th July: despite explictly being told the story was false, they haven’t retracted this story from their website or verbally.

July 15, 2008 - Posted by endtimespropheticwords | False Prophets and Teachers, Fresh Fire ministries, Kira Mitchell, News, Prophecy, Raising the Dead, Todd Bentley, signs and wonders | , , , | 36 Comments

36 Comments »

  1. No surprise, the whole thing is a scam. Part 1 of the same video demonstrates how Todd parses his words in such a way to make it appear that his saying one thing, when in fact, he means something totally different!

    Can you say, “Slick Willy”?

    Comment by mr_scooterjones | July 15, 2008

  2. Where are the clips of peoples limbs growing back?
    How is it the crippled are still crippled but people with illnesses we can’t see the healing in, claim they are well?

    If this was in the secular circus ring, you’d ask for a refund

    Comment by wodadler | July 16, 2008

  3. This is awesome stuff! The world needs to know.

    To save people watching everything and working it out, what’s happened is some genius has sent Todd a false story of a resurrection which Todd presents on TV as being verified. That is a total lie. What’s more, there is a message encoded in the testimony saying “Let me see if you verify this Todd or just publish this lie”!!!!!

    The fake testimony is still on Todd’s website here:

    http://www.freshfire.ca/index.php?Id=&Act=show_testimony_details&pid=8&post_cat=Healing&tpid=4331&bid=959

    (Although I expect it will disappear pretty quickly now. I have grabbed screen shots for “evidence”).

    The saddest thing to me is seeing Todd “manifest” just before he reads the fake story, saying “I feel the glory”. What “glory” can there be in a lie? And, as the author points out, if Todd is a prophet with a hotline to God, how come he was taken in by this? The real glory is in the exposing of Todd as a fraud.

    For completeness, it is worth pointing out that we don’t know the situation behind the other claimed resurrections, although I think at least one was later denied. But this does prove that Todd’s “verification” process is a sham, and that he is a liar, and it obviously casts doubt on everything else he claims, resurrections included.

    Comment by Anonymous | July 16, 2008

  4. I’ve been thinking a bit more about this.

    Even if Todd believed that the false testimony had been verified (I very much doubt that – I’m sure he knew full well that no-one had contacted the author to check the story), why did he “manifest” regarding something false? Between 5:30 and 5:50 on the video, as he’s about to read the fabricated story, Todd is seemingly affected by something and laughs, grunts, and bends over repeatedly. He says “I feel the glory”.

    There’s no way that God was in the testimony, so either (1) Todd is conciously faking his manifestations, (2) Todd’s subconcious is very deceived and is generating the manifestations, or (3) Todd’s manifestations are demonic.

    Option (2) is very unlikely IMO, and option (3) seems illogical – why would the enemy give credence to a known lie that will be exposed.

    So my money is on option (1). Todd is putting on a religious show and will do whatever it takes to keep the audience entertained, filling the seats and bringing in the money. He is a con-man who cares not for the truth.

    Comment by Anonymous | July 16, 2008

  5. [...] “Verified” Lakeland Resurrection from the Dead was a Lie Posted by sheepyweepy Filed in Todd Bentley, dead raised, false prophets, miracles [...]

    Pingback by Looking back at those “Verified” Resurrections « Wolf Tracks | July 16, 2008

  6. This is what it says:

    Ivor 2008-07-04 Back to Testimonies
    ELEVEN YEAR OLD LEADS CLASS TO PRAY AND TEACHER IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD

    Let me tell you an awesome story of how God Has supernaturally raised my daughter’s teacher from the DEAD! Not by me, but my 11 year old daughter who led the prayers and got all the kids to pray for her to be brought back to life after she suffered a massive hart attack while teaching in my daughters class. We will see her tomorrow as a family, at her home as she has asked to say thank you to Jessica for her faith and prayers. She said that if she had not got the children in her class to pray she would not be here today!

    The paramedics said that ‘you should not be here; we stopped working on you 10 minutes ago because you were gone”! This is miracle I can verify because we were called to the school to collect our children as all classes had to be cancelled. The teacher was not saved but this lady sure knows now that God is real! I just want to say to you Todd, thank you for being the mouth piece of GOD for this revival. We want to see greater things than this or even the return of Jesus in power right now! We live in a small town in Leicestershire, England just about 60 miles from Dudley where the fire is falling. We have seen even here in England the TV news publish the revival not as a story but as FACT! The Revival is breaking out all over the country with it this message, “Come and Get SOME!” As the Children at the school, so we to declare that ‘the lie of the Devil that we have no hope of life is not God’s will!’

    In Him,

    Pastor Ivor Biggin
    Leicestershire

    Comment by endtimespropheticwords | July 16, 2008

  7. Todd is not the only liar in this game show. His staff members are also. I wonder how much money they’ve made from this? And now they’re off to the UK to do the same. I hope enough people in the UK caught wind of this, and won’t be fooled as alot have here.

    By the way, how does the encoded message in this email work? Can you bold the words or something. Thank you.

    Comment by seventy2 | July 16, 2008

  8. Looking at the testimony on Todd Bentley’s website. Has anyone else noticed the pastor’s name?

    Try saying it outloud (preferrably not in public!).

    It is an obvious hoax! The pastor is not even a real person!

    Comment by Billy Bob | July 16, 2008

  9. Yes, the name ‘Ivor Biggin’ is a deliberate joke, showing how carelessly this was considered and discerned.

    Comment by endtimespropheticwords | July 16, 2008

  10. the encoded message works like this -
    line 1, word 1
    line 2, word 2 (she says that the ‘by’ isn’t supposed to be in there, the 2nd word should be ‘me’]
    line 3, word 3
    Cont..

    Comment by bethany | July 17, 2008

  11. seventy2,

    First you need to change the start of the second sentence from “Not by me…” to “Not me…”. This was altered by Fresh Fire ministries from what was submitted.

    You then take the first word from the first sentence, second word from the second sentence, third word from the third sentence, etc.

    You should get:

    “Let me see if you verify this Todd or just publish this lie”

    Comment by Anonymous | July 17, 2008

  12. Do a Google search on Ivor Biggin and you realize that you are jumping to conclusions way too quickly (as usual) about it being a joke name. It is a legitimate name in the UK.

    Comment by Chris | July 17, 2008

  13. I’ve contacted the author of the story and he’s given me permission to publish what he said. Here is our correspondence verbatim:

    Me:

    Tell me one thing, after submitting the fake story, were you contacted by anyone trying to verify it? I get the impression that you emailed it to them, and they published it without making any effort to check it out, but this isn’t completely clear. If you can tell me the exact sequence of events it would be helpful

    Author:

    Hi, yes they did e-mail me within about two hours of me sending in the story. the reply was from Kira Mitchell , but before I replied (and I replied the same day as the e-mail was sent) my e-mail was posted on their website.

    In the e-mail Kira Mitchell sent medical release forms and press release forms. I e-mailed back and said that they could not verify the story, As yet no reply to that e-mail.

    Todd then announced it as a verified e-mail.

    From another e-mail I requested the evidence that this story was verified. As yet no reply to that e-mail either.

    I have also e-mailed and said that it is a story I made up to see how and if the stories are verified. As yet I have had no reply.

    You can see my assumption wasn’t 100% correct – they did try to check the story out but published it nevertheless, and haven’t retracted it despite being explicitly told it is false. As of now it’s still on their website.

    Comment by Anonymous | July 17, 2008

  14. I must be really tired or my blondness is showing but I don’t get the ‘Ivor Biggin’ joke…

    Comment by Deborah | July 17, 2008

  15. Chris - I take it you did NOT look at the video where this person who sent this “testimony” shows sending it in, said it was deliberately false and not even attempted to be verified by Fresh Fire in any way, yet was read out as fact while Todd manifested some theatrics along with it of the “glory” – btw, the name is a well known joke in the UK that every child would get.

    Comment by endtimespropheticwords | July 17, 2008

  16. Here is a full confession of ‘Ivor Biggin’ that his email was a joke/test to see if anyone (Todd) would verify it.

    Comment by Deborah | July 17, 2008

  17. Ivor Biggin = “I’ve a Big ‘Un (one)”

    Comment by endtimespropheticwords | July 17, 2008

  18. Todd said they were “claiming” to be raised from the dead.

    Comment by Liz | July 17, 2008

  19. And here ya go, I posted a Youtube of Todd claiming today in Louisville, KY 32 resurrections from the dead and over 10,000 physical healings a night in Lakeland!

    Comment by mr_scooterjones | July 17, 2008

  20. He also said VERIFIED

    1. to prove the truth of, as by evidence or testimony; confirm; substantiate: Events verified his prediction.
    2. to ascertain the truth or correctness of, as by examination, research, or comparison: to verify a spelling.
    3. to act as ultimate proof or evidence of; serve to confirm.
    4. Law.
    a. to prove or confirm (an allegation).
    b. to state to be true, esp. in legal use, formally or upon oath.

    Comment by seventy2 | July 17, 2008

  22. Has anyone noted that William Braham said he “hated women?
    It’s in one of his sermon books–read it for yourself!

    Sure glad Jesus loved Mary and Martha…

    Comment by Mary E Adams | July 18, 2008

  23. I do not see why anyone would be shocked if the Todd Bently stories about all those healing and resurrections taking place would turn out not to be a true move of God.Those of you who read their bibles “do you not know that a day is coming or is already here where people will be told that Jesus is here there etc &etc. and that the days of deceptions are on the rise and even in our mist .We must test the spirit and Lakeland Florida revival is odd and I would hope that people would not be decieved but I have a problem with Todd and I just do not get a warm feeling when I here him laughing and going bam.

    Comment by Anna | July 18, 2008

  24. Odd thing happened today. Another blog I frequent, that has posted my stuff with no problem so far has kept back my postings about this video twice “for moderation”. I get asked for “proof” and when I post strong evidence like this it is withheld. On the face of it the page seemed quite balanced, but with this kind of censorship, it’s good to come back here where people are allowed to explain themselves. Thanks so much for that.

    Comment by Eve | July 18, 2008

  25. Thanks Anonymous for helping me out on that.

    Im sad today, as I have fond out that several members of our church and other churches in my area are really into TB & Lakeland, Cooke and Johnson. These are people whom I highly respect and love. Im asking for the Lords strength on his matter as I dont want to push them away and lose their friendship. It feels like a disease or something. When you find out that someone is into TB, your reaction is as if they contracted something.

    The one thing you have to understand about where I live is this, Washington state is the most unchurched state in the nation and so when something like this happens everyone really gets into it because the churches that are here are really close to each other and everybody knows everybody.

    Im very thankful though that my senior pastor and the rest of us staff members are not swayed by TB and the rest. We have been standing firm on the Gospel and the Truth that is found in Christ Jesus. Please pray for us. God Bless & Thanks

    Comment by seventy2 | July 18, 2008

  26. Dear endtimespropheticwords,

    You have opened the eyes of my understanding. i have been asking the Lord to please show me the truth because our own church has been caught up in this craziness especailly my pastor. How can I present the truth of this to him . he is actually my father and law and i am very concerned for hiom and our church. He says he has never felt so refreshed and “on fire” for God in a really long time. How can I present this truth to him or should i just pray and ask the Lord to reveal it directly to him.

    Please help and thank you

    Comment by carmen | July 18, 2008

  27. Dear endtimespropehticword,

    I also forgot to mention that he has gone back four times,(to Lakeland) and now wants to take our youth. He also listens and views TOdd Bentleys tapes all day. Also he has picked up some of Todd’s ways of shaking his head which he didn’t do before not to mention that his demeanor has changed in ways I cannot explain.

    Can you shed light?

    Thank you

    Comment by carmen | July 18, 2008

  28. Your missing out on the best part of this TB mistake.

    It’s our Lord and saviour trying to tell us something.

    More clues will follow this one that it is a false revival, false anointing, false prophecy, false move of God.

    The troubling part is how many are involved, caught up in this is one thing, but engineering it is another one.

    Ask the one true God for the gift of discernment and obvious mistakes like this will increase to help the body of Christ decide which side they are on.

    Be sad for the followers of God TV and Todd Bentley.

    I was one of them till last saturday July 12th

    Thank you Jesus … I am now free to move about my cabin.

    Comment by geetrue | July 18, 2008

  29. It really grieves me to hear from so many people who’s pastors are falling into the trap of believing that this horrible “manifestation fest” is of the Lord.
    I had a dream 2 weeks ago which I can not get out of my mind. I have not watched very many of the Bentley videos online because I can not stomach them. But God gave me a dream.
    In my dream, I was standing outside of an open air stadium. Inside of the stadium were multitudes of people and they were cheering and whistling and acting as though they were at a ball game of some sort. I wondered what they were cheering about. In the distance, beyond the stadium, was a launching pad for a missile. A missile appeared.It was a white missile with a vertical red stripe. The crowd grew more frenzied with their cheering and they started singing songs and dancing.

    All of a sudden, the missile took off, which surprised me. The multitude of people let out a roar of approval. I was even slightly impressed by the sight of the missile taking off.

    Several seconds after the missile took off, it changed direction. The missile came back down to the place where it was launched. It exploded. People were no longer cheering and dancing, but began to run. Some people ran over others to save their own lives,and there were wounded people laying on the ground. Some wandered around helplessly, and some dropped dead in their tracks.

    In the dream, I was tempted to run with the others, but I heard the Lord tell me “There will be fallout” and to tend to the wounded. That was the end of the dream.

    I don’t often have dreams from the Lord, but I believe this was one.

    Comment by cheryl | July 18, 2008

  30. The root of it all, Todd’s tattoos. To quickly bring someone into the light on this matter, a study of the discussion on this site and further study on the net might quickly reveal the “source” of power being demonstrated. Especially for those in leadership positions within the church. ie:) Thor’s hammer tattoo = bam, bam

    Just came from a conference in Houston, TX, with some of the elder members ministering. It was difficult to attend and it appeared that some of the ministers had a hard time ministering. Overall, it was a dry experience. A few appear to already being looking for cover. My eyes were opened around July 16th. I have loved most of these elders but am now convinced that we were/are all being led into deception. It could happen to any of us at anytime. Be on guard. Guard the Truth. I am now repenting and thankful the Lord has opened my eyes.

    Been around charismatic circles since the 1970’s. Long for revival like most, but agree with the “Achan” ideas. These are dangerous times we live in. Stick with your first love, Jesus, King of King and Lord of Lords and His Word.

    P.S. Brother Bob Larsen and Sister Kim Daniels, where are you! Thank you Jesus. Thank you Miriam of this End Times Prophetic site.

    Comment by eagles'eyes | July 19, 2008

  31. For those who don’t quite get the “Pastor Ivor Biggin” joke, it is simple…. ‘Pastor I’v a (Ivor) Big un (Big One)… Literally; ‘Pastor, I have a Big Lie’ (or Story) or story to tell you…

    No other connotations please we’re British. ;-)

    Comment by soupson | July 19, 2008

  32. Carmen,

    I’m sorry to hear of the situation with your pastor. There are a lot of sincere, mature and devout christians being deceived by what is going on with Todd and Lakeland. I personally believe that the problems are so serious they need to be confronted, but be prepared for a lot of flak if you do raise it.

    I’ve identified seven main issues with Todd/Lakeland: unbiblical teaching, false prophecy, exaggerated healing, financial emphasis, deliberate lies, emotional manipulation, and violent methods. If you study the posts here you’ll find plenty of hard facts for all of these. In addition I believe there are demonic spirits present that are passed on (“imparted”) by touch, but that isn’t so easy to prove.

    I think the stuff about fake healings is very convincing. As well as this post, look at:

    http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/healed-at-lakeland-double-check/

    http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/first-person-account-at-todd-bentley-denton-texas-healing-revival/

    Also you can find stories about Larry Reed, a pastor that Todd proclaimed was healed but died a week or so later.

    The fact that when asked by Nightline, Todd was unable to provide evidence a single verified healing after almost 100 days of meetings is very telling. Surely, given the huge numbers of healings claimed, even if only a tiny fraction could be verified, it would still give several confirmed cases.

    Also search for info on Marjoe Gortner and Peter Popoff – both were false healers – there’s good videos on YouTube. The similarity between them and Todd is amazing.

    See http://www.charismania.org.uk/christian-mp3-audios.htm for some audio recordings that are well worth listening to.

    One of the interviews is with Mark Haville – he has an interesting testimony – see http://www.christiandoctrine.net/doctrine/articles/article_00086_from_faith_in_faith_to_faith_in_christ_web.htm

    Hope this helps and keep praying.

    Comment by Anonymous | July 20, 2008

  33. I am really concerned for an online friend who seems to have bought into this “hook, line, and sinker”. She is constantly stating on her blog how much she believes in what TB is doing, she watches GodTV all of the time, and has been to Lakeland at least once. She thinks that anyone who questions this “doesn’t get it” and they are “heresy hunters”. How do you help someone like this?

    Comment by Nicole | July 21, 2008

  34. Tell her what the Lord woke me up to ask my pastor’s wife a few weeks ago:

    “Is it Love at Lakeland?” Or is it brutality in the name of the Lord?

    We don’t need to brutally kick people in the face in order for them to be healed in the same manner that we don’t need to scream at the Devil for our prayers to be answered.

    Is it love at Lakeland? Or is it brutality? Did Jesus punch, dropkick, poke, and make fun of people He was healing?

    Did Jesus rant “bla bla bla” over people so they could get drunk in the Spirit?

    Did Jesus proclaim that “HE COULD MAKE HIS FATHER IN HEAVEN MOVE!”

    Did Jesus ignore the real bondage of sickness — the problem of sin?

    Is it Love at Lakeland? Or is it Bam Bam fake machismo?

    Comment by AriseMyLove | July 21, 2008

  35. [...] “Verified” Lakeland Resurrection from the Dead was a Lie [...]

    Pingback by “Verified” Lakeland Resurrection from the Dead was a Lie and Todd sold it as true « Jesus Christology | July 21, 2008

  36. A blogger says that Todd has apologized for this – see

    http://dancurant.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/a-question-about-medically-verified-miracles/

    (It’s in one of the comments – search for apologized if you can’t find it)

    Still doesn’t explain his manifestations…

    Comment by Anonymous | July 22, 2008


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