Free Donuts

Just trying to get down to the heart of the matter

Last couple days have been rough-- I find myself between projects, developing new ones, and getting into theological differences about Lakeland with youtubers and friends.  I find myself lacking the great scriptural or psychological knowledge that's needed to overcome and prove my point, and I get frustrated.

A beggar came into the camden nero's disturbing my morning as I was sipping an americano and wriitng, and I just kept watching the guy.  He had some kind of palsy so he really couldn't communicate, he kind of just shuffled from table to table. 

I just thought, this guy has no clue on theology and I'm sure he'd love to know the God loves him, like, really loves him-- I'm sure he'd also like God to bring healing, but being I was in theological battle mode, I could not get there.

I've been through lots of seasons of renewal and near-revival, I've experienced the power of God enough to know that there's something deeper happening in me and also in the church that has less to do with a series of televised meetings and pentecostal theology.  The toronto blessing was about the Father's love and also about creativity being restored to the church, Brownsville was about repentance, blah blah blah I know this stuff well...

What I think that I found at Lakeland was something much different: yes its about getting fire back in the church, it' certainly Dr. Jesus being the Great Physician.  But more than that-- it's God gathering up a bunch of hungry losers in order to bring victory. 

It's people, and I do include myself in this category, who have been told

"you can't do that!!!" 
"you can't do that on the streets-- pray for people, you are not a (fill in the blank) pastor, teacher, miracle worker"

It's those who have been shelved for a long dry season (by man or God, who knows?) and being taken off the sidelines and God saying, "Here's the football, go play some."  

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Tags: revival, outpouring, bentley, healing, miracles, Jesus, christianity

ramblings and exploits

My belfastian buddy Don has posted about our recent God-exploits here. He calls the blog post "Lakeland Fruit", and I would comment that his question of "where's the fruit" to various renewals and revivals is answered by developing an intimate relationship with God as Father, something that takes some time to do. Although the effect of having a Bentley, Arnott or even Joe Smoe on the ministry team lay hands on you is immediate with an instant manifestation attached to it (falling, barking, spinning, getting drunk) it does not mean that you get instant fruit with that order as well. Revivals are a catalyst designed to get us to do the Stuff we are normally supposed to be doing: reading the Word, praying for people, experiencing grace for ourselves and others-- they are not designed to impart character, although I would not limit God from doing that as well.

This morning I woke up thinking that a year ago, the last thing on my mind was to go and pray for the sick. I was on fire, but certainly not on fire for God! but He knows that , thats why He pours out His Spirit so wayward sons such as myself can get back on the right track. I opened up Bobby Conner's book, The Shephard's Rod, and found this:

Don't let your past failures keep you from your future victories. There is a great grace offered for each of us to get over past failures. It makes no difference how twisted and tangled your life has been or is now; God is able. God always makes a way to free us from our past. We are in a season of refreshing and restoring. This is a new day, old things have passed away. God is releasing divine favor to us so that we can accomplish great exploits for the glory of God...

Technorati Tags: lakeland, revival

Zam!

Yesterday-- got prayer at Chorleywood church. 

Ken Gott, Lois Gott, Mark Stibbe were speaking on Lakeland.  I think Chorleywood has the Fire.  It's so organized on one level, laid back in another, taking the best of Lakeland and making it culturally relevant to the Brits. 

So after getting prayer yesterday, I felt zonked.  Snookered, zonked, blasted, etc.  And the result was disorientation.  I got lost on the Tube coming home.  I got lost trying to find a restaurant in Camden Town.  I would make a decision and then just kind of drift into another one without a problem.  This morning I tried to put my eyeglasses on upside down.   It's like the Bam! but with a Z added, so I think the effect is Zam!, as compared to the Bam! of Lakewood.  

Why does the Zam! happen?  I don't know yet, haven't figured it out, and I'm not even gonna try. 

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Tags: chorleywood, lakeland, fire, outpouring, gott, Jesus

ken gott

ken gott is a madman- a spiritual tour de force and we saw him today at st. Andrews chorleywood. I got prayer and now I have totally lost my sense of direction and I feel awesome.

What matters is spirit

This is a great quote.  It's from filmmaker Lee Kern, who's going to be at a Shooting People event on June 30th over at the South Bank.    Recently I caught another round of flak for doing things "unprofessionally".  It's almost like there's a religious spirit out there attached to certain organizations that want slick, objective professionalism.  I don't care much about audio levels, or about how good my youtube stuff looks-- of course the non-youtube stuff I do I go for pristine art and flowing images and enjoy making great looking films-- but what matters with the shorter fare is if I catch a glimpse of God, of people being themselves who are normally seen in the limelight and having to be celebritiies, of some kind of power or energy that happens in the edit.

The more holy of you, please close your eyes halfway through the paragraph, others enjoy:


Whilst having the ability to make "professional" looking stuff I am of the persuasion that all that matters is spirit.  You could have all the technology and resources in the world and you could still make rubbish.  (Turn on your telly or go to the cinema for evidence). Ultimately, if you got passion and care about what you're doing it will translate - whatever creative medium you set sail upon - whether it be writing, film-making, Connect Four or Guess Who.  DV techonolgy means any idiot can make films.  This is a good thing.  Some would argue that a disregard for gloss and "professionalism" is limiting oneself - that you're hamstringing your ability to be picked up by broadcasters and other distribution networks. I would argue that it's liberating, and that those who argue the former - (I would argue) - on some level - are little bitch-monkeys.  F***the professionals. F*** the career monkeys.  F*** the commission junkies.  Everyone's gotta pay the rent, but who wants to live in a Borstal of Prostitution?  Film should be about passion.  The birth of a technology that people can intergrate fluently into their lives means a passion for film-making can be readily pursued.  It allows for pure, unmitigated contact between you and your finished film. The next Scorcese will come from someone's bedroom, not a film school. If your motivation is not to follow the rhythms of your own heart then the beat you follow is confused.  Find your own rhythm and syntax.  DV technology means film can be as spontaneous as scribbling down notes on a parking ticket found on the dashboard of your car.  I can shoot in the morning, edit in the afternoon and have a film in the evening.  

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Tags: LeeKern, DV films, spirit, God, Free Donuts, mini DV, documentaries,  

Bobby Conner sees into my Esophagus

    Bobby Conner has a distinct prophetic voice and thick texas drawl, and he worked wonders at a recent conference at Bath City Church.    He's both a gentleman and a scholar, with a touch of eccentricity, which is why he's a very popular speaker here in Europe.   Enjoy this film we shot a few weeks ago in Bath.     

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Tags: BobbyConner, Prophecy, Bath City Church, Healing, Evangelism

The 305

Here's a second in a series of short clip from Lakeland. 

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Tags: Outpouring, Bentley, Miracles, City Takers, Healing, Signs, Wonders, Jesus

The Midas Touch

Ok here's my first short film thing from Lakeland, which I shot on my birthday.   Didn't have to jump through hoops to get this one, God just showed up, Jeff Lewis was totally up for filming and will hopefully launch a tv ministry (but I hope he just goes with it, and doesn't get too christian tv minded) and DVD promo. 

What I like about this particular film, is that no one knew what was going to happen.  As you'll see in the longer version TBA, there's more to the story. 

There's more coming: got some lakeland remnants, and a Bobby Conner film too, but to be honest just enjoying breaking through the sound barrier @ lakeland, and hopefully will spread it around here more. 

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Tags: Lakeland, Jeff Lewis, healing, outpouring, revival, florida

Putting Things in Context on You Tube

Note: I did NOT make this film. This is a slanted piece of propaganda and I am just making comments on it- here goes:

A few weeks ago, when the Florida Outpouring was moving from a 700 seat church to a stadium, there was a cool sign:  three eagles, with fish in their mouths, flew into the stadium.   

Now any prophetic type of person will instantly respond as I did: wow.  This is powerful. God is speaking:  eagles are a prophetic sign, eagles with fish speak of evangelism, of accuracy in prophetic words, of God's provision and plenty.  That is what I think, at least.

But there are those who see things differently, and that tends to tick me off, but I've calmed down a bit now and can understand people without a knowledge or understanding of spiritual things, will take this eagle incident as believers worshipping some kind of freakish occult omen-- hence that is what this film says.

Ridiculous.
 

It's like the religious fear factor out there is so palpable-- I mean, is our faith, our belief in Jesus, limited to a strict code of what not to do?  Is one guy with lots of tattoo's praying for healing and preaching loudly going to wreck anyone's faith, simply because tattoos are not permitted in the levitical code?

In the commentary on this video, it compares what happened here to Bird Worship, invoking the worship of animals (especially birds, of course).  Therefore, Todd B and the Believers who saw this sight, are one-half step away from being modern day shamans running around in a tent in Lakeland, being deceived into a delusional mass-hysteria.  I bet the filmmaker believes the next thing will be we'll rip out our Dream Catchers and start another round of ancestor worship just for fun as the Eagles descend onto Todd's arm, and screech out a heavenly message.

Ridiculous.   Absolutely ridiculous.

When I was in seminary, there was a real intellectual guy into Jungian thought that whenever a passage about Jesus either putting mud into someone's eyes or talking about invoking the a spiritual name he'd blurt out "shamans used to do that in various traditions, too, I'll have you know".   Well, bro, thanks for your soul's brilliance, there goes my faith out the window, cause if Jesus did anything like anyone else, we can't claim exclusivity on our spiritual practices. 

Comparative religion is the pits.

I think there is a language of spirit, that every religion or faith speaks.  Prayer, ritual, sacrifice, speaking in tongues, signs and wonders, trances, visions-- are seen in all faith on some level.  It's just that in this language, Christ's Word speaks most loudly and clearly, a better word, Hebrews says-- he's the King, greater than Buddha, far greater than any Shaman: no one can access God without Jesus. 

Jesus is the highest of any spiritual high, both myth and fact, heavenly and earthly reality all in one man.   The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we all gotta deal with it.

   

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Tags: FloridaOutpouring, Todd Bentley, Eagles

Revival Blog does a good overview about Lakeland Outpouring, some tips on how to get the most from your Outpouring experience.

Little did Carl know, that I was planning to do the same thing. He even had some of my exact lines. Spooky.

So, giving all credit to him for being first, I add my own commentary:

The Tent. Squint and you can see a Rainbow hovering over it. Yeah there are Angels all over the place, feels like it at least, but I did not get a picture. The place is way out off of Exit 25 on I-4, so civilization is ten miles away, and all you get nearby is a Cracker Barrell, a rib shack
in Plant City, and a Wendy's.

Bathrooms. What you see is what you get. We are not here to be comforted and live in luxury, we're here to get God, people.

Flag Ministry. You will see a ton of Flags, all over the place. A couple of times I nearly got sideswiped by the Lion of Judah flag.

Two prayer intercessors as they "tabernacle" people, meaning they put people under this big
canopy, and pray for them as it descends.

It took a few minutes for me to get used to this one, but hey
I am open.

Parking Attendants. These are the unsung heroes of the Revival. They are a bit OCD, they will persist until you get into the space in an exact formation, lining up parallel to some very old chalk lines.

Be nice to them, they have guard dogs.

Refreshments. A Lemonade Stand, and a Burger shack. Not complaining, the people behind the counter are nice and deserve big tips. But really, there needs to be a cafe with wi-fi.

Todd's Bike? Quite possibly.

Technorati Tags: Carl Thomas, lakeland, Todd Bentley, revival, Revival Blog