THE COMING HEALING REVIVAL: PART 1
Date: June 13, 2005
Author: REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
This week in Part 1 of The Coming Healing Revival I will share about two life-changing encounters I had with the Lord Jesus Christ, both on Mother’s Day but seven years apart. Because of the revelation released in the second encounter we will examine the Lord’s desire to usher in a mighty healing revival. Next week in Part 2 we will discover how to be in the right position to be a part of this coming healing revival and how we can “tip the scales” so that our lives, our cities, regions and nations capture their hour of visitation.
The number “7” is used in the Bible about 600 times, I’m told. In biblical tradition this number has several meanings: perfection, completeness, finished, God’s seal and rest. With this in mind it’s quite remarkable to share with you that it was seven years ago on Mother’s Day (1998) that I had a visitation of the Lord, Himself. When He spoke to me that day I was 22 years old and I was in the midst of a three-month soaking time (in the presence of God) between four to twelve hours a day. I was recuperating from an industrial accident at home and so it was a great time to completely devote myself to the Lord. God’s presence was truly tangible and many days all I could do was weep and shake and lie on the floor for hours.
On that particular Mother’s Day in l998 God came to me in a powerful way saying, “Todd, tonight you will be called into the ministry and I’m going to send you to the nations.” This was amazing to me because I had only been a believer for four years and before the accident, I was working in a saw mill stacking lumber. The Lord continued to say that I would never return to secular work and “tonight your ministry begins.”
Awesome things have been happening these past seven years because of that encounter with God. The Lord has given me a life of miracles, signs, wonders and healings! We’ve been in 50 nations and in the last year we’ve seen over half a million decisions for Christ. Also some of our associate ministries have seen close to over half a million decisions for Christ and our goal this year is to lead over one million souls to the Lord.
DECLARING: "KINGSHIP!"
So it was awesome when the Lord began telling me ten months ago that He would visit me again this Mother’s Day, 2005, exactly seven years since the day that He came the last time. During those past ten months God was preparing me with prophetic words, visions and dreams. He said, “Todd, expect on Mother’s Day that I am going to visit you again. The kingly anointing begins on Mother’s Day.” He said that the anointing of kingship and fullness would begin.
Now we know that when God called David (1 Sam. 16:12-13) it took 13 years for David to step into fullness and become King over all Israel. It was a thirteen year process. In like manner, I would say that I have been in a seven year process and that up until Mother’s Day (2005) everything that was done in the last seven years we’ve done without kingly anointing. But the Lord promised me, in a real personal way, that kingship would begin May 8, 2005. Having said that, quite often when God does things with prophetic people, their testimony becomes a sign to the church of what He is doing. So as we hear about their encounters, it’s God speaking to the church. So, right now, based on what the Lord is releasing in my life I am declaring: “kingship, kingship, kingship!” It’s the apostolic! It’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah! There is something about the kingly anointing that we are stepping into this year and it brings authority, real power and real dominion.
So the Lord was speaking to me about the kingly anointing and then the night before Mother’s Day something unusual happened. I was in New Jersey preaching quite late at night when the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke these words to me: “Close the service now.” Well! People wanted me to pray for them; they had come for healing and the place was packed. There was standing room only. However, I couldn’t do anything else but obey the Holy Spirit so I told everyone, “The meeting is over and I’m not praying for anyone.”
Not in seven years have I ever just shut down a meeting and left but the Lord said to shut the meeting down right away and leave. So right after the meeting ended I went into the hospitality room and noticed that it was 20 minutes before midnight. Mother’s Day was about to begin in 20 minutes! Feeling a strong presence of God, I went back to my hotel and went to bed. When I got up in the morning on Mother’s Day there was something different about the spiritual atmosphere. I was expecting God to visit me but I didn’t know when it was going to happen.
What suspense! The clock kept ticking and then suddenly at 2:30 in the afternoon the Lord spoke to me. He said to me, “Your healing ministry begins.” I didn’t understand what He meant so I said, “God, I’ve had a healing ministry for seven years.” He responded by saying, “Your healing ministry begins today.” I argued with God and said, “God I’ve had a healing ministry for seven years, how can I tell the people that my healing ministry begins today?” He said, “Your healing ministry begins today.” And I argued with God again. On the fourth time God said to me, “The healing ministry begins today.” And I realized, not my healing ministry. Immediately in my mind I thought of William Branham and the day the Voice of Healing was born. And then Gordon Lindsay, A.A. Allan, Jack Coe came to mind and the Voice of Healing of the 1940’s and 50’s.
THE HEALING ANOINTING IS CHANGING
Next, audibly, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Acts 5:12 begins today.” Paul the apostle tells us: “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people” (5:12). There is something very crucial about signs and wonders, the apostolic, and the kingly anointing. I believe God is watching to see if the church will begin to say, “God, there is a need for the apostolic gift to be restored again to the church.” We need to see that it was “by the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.” I don’t want to emphasize “apostle” too much but rather the “apostolic” because God has been speaking to the church about the apostolic.
I believe that there is something happening in the area of signs and wonders that is connected to the church beginning to recognize its need for the apostolic and to pray for it to come back into the church. That’s the face of the lion. Behold the lion. That’s the apostolic ministry of Jesus and it represents kingship. It’s the lion of the tribe of Judah. So there is something about that kingly anointing. Paul goes on to say in verse 14 that believers were increasingly added, multitudes of both men and women. There is a connection between the harvest and signs and wonders. And what’s the result? Believers were increasingly added to the body of believers.
The Lord said to me, “This is the hour that the church is about to come into.” When God said that, I had these thoughts: for seven years we’ve had great healing conferences. We’ve seen some signs and wonders. There have been healing ministries and healing waters but we haven’t seen the harvest; not in Canada and not in North America. But He revealed that there is a “harvest dimension” coming that is described in verses 15 and 16 of Acts 5.
“so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”
The healing progressed to such a level that the sick were brought into the streets on their beds and couches so that Peter’s shadow might fall on them. The Lord said, “Todd, we are moving into that place in healing where My shadow is about to show up.” Wow! There will be such a dimension in the release of healing that His tangible presence will come! It’s like the glory clouds of miracles and the power of the Lord being present to heal. It’s a whole lot different than the “gift of healing” that we have when we pray for the sick at the altar. Rather, it’s this dimension in which even the very shadow passing by held such a manifestation of how much of God was on a man, that even as he passed by the sick, the Spirit of God in him brought healing to the people on beds and couches.
Now think about the shadow of Peter. Think of the word shadow in the same context as when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and overshadowed her. A shift has happened! It’s no longer just about the gift of healing that we have as believers! The realm that we will be walking in can be pictured like this: even as we pass the sick and they are there on beds and couches, there is a realm and a radius of the activity of the kingdom of God around us. It’s God’s kingdom breaking in and people are reporting healings in area hospitals! I believe that the Holy Spirit is coming to cities and regions and will literally overshadow entire city blocks and entire meetings. I’m contending for that!
The Lord spoke to me and said, “I am about to release notable, remarkable miracles!” This was the visitation that I had on Mother’s Day and it went on. Several days later we were in Mozambique. The anointing for healing was strong and during one of the meetings for two hours we were “nearly perfect” in healing. The reason I say nearly perfect is because we are still men. I can’t think of anyone in that one meeting that we called out by the word of knowledge that didn’t receive healing.
THE ANOINTING FOR NOTABLE, REMARKABLE HEALINGS
Speaking of mere men, Oral Roberts had an incredible healing ministry in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Tens of thousands would attend his meetings. There would be a healing line and they just would bring the sick regardless of what condition they were in. They would just come one by one and sometimes he would be praying until three or four in the morning. “What’s your name? What’s wrong with your body? Do you believe Jesus can heal you?” Then right in front of all the people he would lay hands on them and they would receive healing. Then he would go to the next one and the next one and the next one asking them the same three questions. Then right in front of all the people he would lay hands on them and they would receive healing and he would go to the next one. He would do this for hours. Many people were healed but not every single person.
There were over 100 prominent healing ministries in the 40’s and 50’s. Almost any night in any major city in America you could find a healing meeting like this. And it went on in great strength for about 12 years. But then competition and jealousy crept in so God just shut it all down. As a result, in the midst of that outpouring, God began turning the taps off in heaven. It was one of the greatest healing movements we have ever seen since the days of Jesus. Then all of a sudden it was over. That was it! We still haven’t seen the same dimension in our day. Listen. Whole invalid tents totally healed! We’re talking crippled, mangled bodies, one after another after another and all the people would watch the miracles unfold right before their eyes. Limbs would grow out right in front of the people. That’s the kind of miracles that were happening.
Then something happened in Oral Roberts’ healing ministry. During one of his meetings he was going down the healing line ready to lay hands on a young boy. Suddenly he just broke down and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. This is what the Lord told him. “You will never lay hands on another sick person in a meeting like this ever again.” Jesus said to him: “The healing ministry is over.” That was the shift right there. And so Oral Roberts left the healing ministry and eventually built a university. But here is what many people don’t know. The Lord told him, “The people have elevated you above Me and you will never lay hands on another sick person in a meeting like this again.” Not that he would never pray for the sick again, but not in a meeting or setting like that. I believe that was the day, officially, that the Voice of Healing was over.
Back to Mother’s Day in my hotel room! So there I was, lying in my hotel room in New Jersey on Mother’s Day. The Lord had just spoken to me and said that the healing ministry is about to begin, and then He also said, “What I took away from Oral Roberts, I am going to give to you.” He said, “…that same grace and permission, if you will continue to give me the glory, I am going to release again to the church.”
As I said earlier, within several days of this Mother’s Day encounter we were in Mozambique. I was seeking the Lord about the meetings and I thought: God, we can do healing by the word of knowledge, we can do healing en masse or we can ask the ministry teams to come and we can pray for the sick. God had a plan and right away He said, “No. Here is what I want you to do. I want you to bring up six cases, the worst cases, and I will heal every single one of them. I want you to tell the people before you pray that every single person that comes up on the platform, one by one, you are going to interview and pray for them and they are going to be healed.”
With those instructions I told the people, “I want you to bring me six people of your choice up onto the platform, preferably blind, deaf and crippled. We are going to line them up on the platform and lay hands on them and they are going to be healed.” I knew that the gift of miracles would be in operation. So there were six or seven that came forward to the platform. The first person was a young man who was going blind; the second person was totally deaf and couldn’t speak. The third person was a girl who was crippled by polio. Her hand was withered, her arm was totally useless and her leg was partially paralyzed. So we prayed for the young man who was going blind and his eyes were instantly healed. We laid hands on the deaf-mute person who was instantly healed. Then it was time for the crippled girl. Everyone was watching closely. I said, “Okay God, if this was really a word from You, let’s go for it right now!” We laid hands on her and right away her arm, like a flower, just opened up right there. The doctor examined her and said, “Todd, I checked this girl before she came up onto the platform. She’s had polio. She couldn’t move her arm. Her hand was withered and her left leg wasn’t working.” Now she was totally healed! When we laid hands on her, her arm, (you watch it in the video), it unfolds and you even see her eyes as she sees her hand opening for the first time. And whoever the other three were they were instantly healed, too. The Lord said, “That’s the dimension I am about to release to the church—that anointing for notable, remarkable, miracles.”
In those same meetings they bought two individuals who were blind in both eyes. They couldn’t see anything, and they were healed! Now those are miracles and I thank God that the blind see. We don’t take any healing for granted. But the most exciting miracle for me was when they brought a blind woman up. The doctor examined her and said that she had bilateral eye blindness with no iris or pupils. After prayer a new iris with a pupil was formed in her right eye and she could see from that eye. It was created right within a matter of three seconds. Now that is Jesus!
HEALING ANGELS BEING RELEASED TO SPECIFIC PLACES!
We saw nearly 9,000 people in those meetings, all Muslims, give their lives to Christ because of these kinds of miracles. Listen! I believe that God is releasing again, in the church, a healing revival that will be greater than any other revival that we’ve ever seen. It will carry us right into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This is what God is doing. This is the anointing that we can receive today. God is looking for men and women that He can release into the ministry of signs and wonders.
We live in a great day. We live in a great hour. It feels like time is flying by. It was only about six years ago in January of 1999 while I was praying in a church in Abbotsford during a Sunday morning service that I heard something extraordinary. It was like I heard about 10,000 people in a stadium praying in tongues, although I was worshipping the Lord and there probably weren’t any more than 30 people in the service. To make a long story short, no one was hearing what I was hearing. I even thought maybe somebody was piping in through a speaker, a choir of angels! I said, “Something is happening in the room! I can hear angels! I can hear the tongues of angels!” And then all of a sudden I was sucked up out of my body, just like that. Boom! I was taken up into a vision. I don’t know whether I was in heaven or not, but I was in a vision on a football field and I was in the game! (I don’t play football! I was overwhelmed!) The scoreboard said it was the last quarter. The ball was in our hands and we were headed for the end zone. It was a close game and the clock was about to run out. I had a revelation that either we’re going to “take this thing” or that we would literally default for one hundred years. That’s the severity of the vision. We could default or we could win the battle. That’s the encounter.
In the vision I was aware that people weren’t in the stands but there were angels in the stands and they were chanting, “Go, church go! Go, church go! Go, church go!” It was a host of angels. And in that instant I realized that these were healing angels and that they were about to be assigned to cities, churches, regions and ministries. In that encounter I realized that these were like the angels assigned to John G. Lake in Spokane, and to Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois and to William Branham in the Voice of Healing. And I realized that these were angels like the angels in John 5 and they were about to be sent to cities, churches, regions and ministries and it was all about the coming healing revival.
I love the story in John 5:1-4. In Jerusalem there was a certain place by the sheep gate where there was a pool of water. Multitudes of sick people would go there because an angel would come at certain seasons and stir the water and whoever was the first to step into the water after it was stirred would be healed. There was something happening in that place. Because the angel, the shadow and the glory cloud came, it was a healing pool, a resident healing pool. An angel came and there was a pool of healing that opened in that place. Listen! It could be open in your church, your city, your region and your nation! The angel can come down and be a sign to your life just as it was a sign to Alexander Dowie, John G. Lake and William Branham!
When the waters begin to move in the church in Canada and America, great multitudes who are lame and blind and who are waiting for a demonstration of God’s power are going to be healed! The kingdom of God is not mere talk but power! We owe the world a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power! We owe them more than words! There are great multitudes that are waiting for something more than just talk. They are waiting for tangible evidence that there is healing in the church again and then they will come. Remember they came from all over Israel because they said to each other, “There is a place in Jerusalem. There is a pool in the city. One place. A geographical place. We can be healed if we go to that place!”
These angels, I saw them in heaven, and God said, “They are about to be released again. I am going to open up these healing pools.” I felt in my spirit that it’s not just one, not just two, but why not one hundred healing centers all at the same time in which great multitudes of people would say, “If I could just get to that place in Abbotsford. Or, if I could just get to that place in Oregon, or to that place in Argentina.” There will be “pools” in certain places where the angels will come, the healing angels. I believe that God is about to release these pools and “whoever” steps into the pool will be healed because of the anointing that is in the place.
We ministered at a crusade in Rwanda and there was such an anointing in the place that when a deaf Muslim boy walked by the grounds, the power of God in the place healed him on the side of the road! He came immediately and gave his life to Jesus! In that same place another awesome healing took place for a boy with a large tumor in his leg. He was told by his doctor (in the hospital) that nothing could be done to remove the tumor and that he should go to the healing meeting! (In Rwanda the healing angel came for seven days.) So he came with his father in the car and when the car door opened and he stepped onto the grass, the tumor fell off! We didn’t even have a chance to pray for him!
Also there was a man covered in tumors all over his body sitting in a bar several miles down the road listening to us on the radio. The angel of the Lord was in the crusade and the anointing was so strong that in the bar the power of God touched him and every tumor came off of his body. He jumped in a taxi cab and drove all the way to the meeting and told us that he was instantly healed! Talk about the anointing in a place.
So I saw these healing angels and the Lord spoke to me and He said, “Todd, I am going to release a healing ministry. I am going to give it to you. I am going to raise you up as a first fruit to pioneer again. You are going to be a sign to the church that there is coming a great healing revival. And everything that you live for is impartation and every place that you go I want you to lay hands on people and I want them to receive this anointing. It’s not just a grace that I have placed on your life. It’s for the believers, the church, the cities, the regions and the nations. I want you to prophesy about this revival that is coming.”
When people hear about this the first thing they ask me is, “What cities, Todd? Have you seen the cities?” I’ve only seen about 10 to 12 cities that will have this resident healing anointing. Concerning this, the Lord told me, “It has not yet been determined in heaven which cities will receive an outpouring.” Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not know their hour of visitation (Luke 19:44). Jesus was just as willing to come into that city as He was to come into any other city. He had a great healing revival in Capernaum. Every sickness and every disease was healed (Luke 4:40)! Every sickness and every disease was healed in Capernaum in the region of Naphtali and Zebulun (Matt. 4:13-17) which was the international head quarters, the missions base for the ministry of Jesus. There was such an anointing in that place by the Sea of Galilee that when the sick came all of them received healing.
However, the Bible says that when Jesus went to Nazareth He could do no mighty signs there because of their unbelief (Matt. 13:58). What does that tell you? God was just as willing in Nazareth to bring them the same revival. A lot of people say, “It’s sovereign Todd. Look at Toronto, Pensacola and the Welsh Revival.” The Lord said, “No it wasn’t.” He said, “It is being determined in heaven right now.” Listen. Cities and nations, whether they are going to be “sheep” cities and nations or “goat” cities and nations (Matt. 25:32-33) are being determined in heaven right now. There is a literal scale in heaven right now and I believe the choices are being determined in heaven even today. We can literally tip the scale for our city!
Next week I want to discuss how we can tip the scale and then capture our hour of visitation. I’ll pin point several areas that will help us discern what God is actually doing right in this very hour. It’s exciting! So keep pressing in and prepare your heart because God wants to reveal to us the great and mighty deeds that He is accomplishing NOW! We don’t want to miss one good thing that the Lord is doing! Wow!
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