The following message was written by Andrew Strom about Wagner and the Lakeland Revival. Judge it yourself! Quote:
Last week we published a number of strong statements against Lakeland by one of Peter Wagner’s ‘apostles’ named Robert Ricciardelli. For those who are not aware, Peter Wagner heads up an organization devoted to setting in place “apostles” over the church. This is known as the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR), and it has been very controversial. I myself have never seen it as any kind of true “Reformation” – because all it seems to do is set up another level of hierarchy over the existing ones. I also question whether many of the “apostles” are true apostles – but that is another story. Suffice it to say, that Wagner runs one of the most powerful and far-reaching global networks in the Charismatic world.I don’t know if Peter Wagner fully realized what he was doing when he went down to
The following was written by the leader of a “pro-Lakeland” church -and forwarded to me this week. (I have removed the identity of both the leader and the church). This really is an amazing admission for such a “pro-Lakeland” leader to make:
”Hi staff, We need to talk, probably as a staff, and go through what I’ve found out. I had a long talk with Robert Ricciardelli. He’s no revival critic… He loves revival, believes in healing, prophecy and all the rest and is delighted to hear about the healings we’ve had here. He’s a close friend of Stephen Strader… He’s in an accountability relationship with Lee Grady (editor of Charisma Magazine) and is a writer for Charisma on occasion. He’s part of C. Peter Wagner’s apostolic network, recognized by Peter as an apostle. I’ve seen the man’s website and he’s legit, not a heresy hunter.“The reports he has given me are firsthand, not hearsay. I am deeply troubled, grieved and tormented at what I’m hearing. He attributes most of the anointing at Lakeland to Roy Fields (worship leader). I agree.
So here we have a ‘pro-Lakeland’ church checking out these facts for the first time and now deciding that they “need to back up and not identify ourselves closely with Lakeland.” Pretty amazing! Meanwhile – back to the topic of “apostles” and what is now happening in Peter Wagner’s main ‘ICA’ organization: One of Wagner’s apostles, Robert Ricciardelli, put out an email this week saying that he has received a great deal of support for his stand against Lakeland – the majority of it from pastors. And he also made the following very significant statement:
“As a member of ICA, Peter Wagner actually caused many questions to come my way because of my membership there. I will no longer be involved with that organization and actually have not tracked well with them and some of their agendas since I have been involved with them. However, I have enjoyed the many relationships I have developed from going to the annual meetings. Most all of those relationships are also disengaging from their affiliation with
Robert wrote to me:“The ICA leadership continues to adopt belief systems without seeking the advice and counsel of members. Many of the members do not, and will not support these beliefs, including the support ofanti-biblical behavior and doctrine currently being expressed through Todd Bentley and Fresh fire Ministries. In fact as ICA embraces this, they now have taken a stance that will indirectly have to embrace many of the same ministries, including “New Mystic” John Crowder and others. This escalating focus on angels, experiences, trances, etc is far from the focus of Jesus, His Kingdom, and His righteousness… Many of us who really enjoyed the ICA annual conferences are now forced to make a decision as to whether to continue our involvement with them.”Robert has also stated that he personally was never into “Dominionist” beliefs or the “hierarchical NAR agenda.”
His last statement to me was: “I think that there is a chance that many may disassociate with the ICA depending on Todd continuing to reveal his deceptive doctrine and Peter continuing to support such doctrine.” I wonder if Peter Wagner ever imagined that by endorsing Todd Bentley he may be sowing huge seeds of destruction in his own movement? -Perhaps only time will tell.
Entries (RSS)