LAUGHING REVIVAL EVANGELIST HAS A DREAM

LAUGHING REVIVAL EVANGELIST HAS A DREAM

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Updated February 28, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Charismatic evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne is planning a massive crusade for New York City. He claims that God led him to do this in a dream. Howard-Browne is the South African evangelist who started the "Laughing Revival" at Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, in 1983, which led eventually to the "Toronto Blessing" at the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church in Ontario and the "Pensacola Outpouring" at the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. We have documented the fearful error of the "Laughing Revival" in our 186-page book The Laughing Revival from Azusa to Pensacola (1998, Way of Life Literature, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277. 360-675-8311).

The following is Charisma magazine’s description of Howard-Browne’s dream:

"In the dream, which he had in February 1998, Howard-Browne had a conversation with evangelist Billy Graham. The 80-year-old Graham told him about his 1957 campaign in New York City, a campaign that lasted nearly four months and brought more than 2 million people through the doors of Madison Square Garden. More than 55,000 people made decisions for Christ" ("Rodney Howard-Browne Plans Huge Madison Square Garden Campaign," Charisma, Feb. 1999, p. 18).

It is exciting to see men who desire to do something for the glory of God and who are willing to take large steps of faith, but we cannot follow or support Howard-Browne’s dream.

The Bible tells me to "prove all things" (1 Thess. 5:21), and the Bereans were commended because they searched the Scriptures to prove whether things were true or false (Acts 17:11). When I "prove" Rodney Howard-Browne’s dream and ministry, I find that it is false.

FIRST, I REJECT RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE’S DREAM BECAUSE HE IS A FALSE TEACHER AND A BLASPHEMER

Rodney Howard-Browne has often called himself the "Holy Ghost bartender" and pretends to be dispensing the new wine of the Holy Spirit. He claims the Holy Spirit comes upon people and makes them inebriated. This type of thing happens frequently in Howard-Browne meetings. He claims it is the same thing that happened to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, but it is not. Those who are intoxicated on this "new wine" stagger about and fall down like drunks; they ram their automobiles into garbage cans and into other automobiles; they stagger about; their speech is slurred; they are unable to speak; they fall on the floor and are unable to get up; they are unable to find their way home or to put themselves to bed; they do all sorts of silly things. None of this happened on the Day of Pentecost.

The wife of Toronto Airport leader Guy Chevreau was drunk for two days when she first experienced the "holy laughter." During this 48-hour period they had company over for a meal, and instead of serving them in a sane and orderly manner, she threw hot fish around the table and then dumped a box of French fries in the middle of the table and pushed little piles of them to each person, all the time laughing hysterically.

In December 1997, the Toronto Airport Church sponsored a "Have Another Drink" Conference, and their web page announced:

"If anyone had any concern that the Have Another Drink conference this week would get off to a slow start, those fears were quickly squelched. Not five minutes into the week-long festivities, you could see the main speakers STUMBLING TOWARD THE FRONT OF THE AUDITORIUM IN A DRUNKEN STUPOR! Darrel Stott, John Scotland, Peter Jackson and Georgian Banov SPENT MOST OF THE MORNING SESSION IN A PILE AT THE FOOT OF THE FRONT ROW. …Ian Ross led the meeting in his typical fashion as he PLODDED ALONG IN A DAZE, trying to put together his thoughts enough to get his welcoming message across. ‘John asked that we give thought to uh.....something.....’ was about all the thought he could muster. ‘I’m so drunk, Janice (his wife) and I got the wrong teeth in this morning!’… Before Darrel Stott came up to speak, John Scotland, from Liverpool, England, was introduced. When asked what his thoughts were on what he expected of the week, HE IMMEDIATELY GRABBED THE MICROPHONE AND YELLED ‘OOOOOOHHHH’ A FEW TIMES BEFORE WOBBLING OFF TO THE SIDE FOR PRAYER. We’re still checking, but we think he may have actually said something in the five minutes he spent on the stage, but we’re not too sure yet!"

During one Rodney Howard-Browne meeting, a man and woman holding a baby were overcome by the "power." A bystander had to take the baby so it would not be harmed by the "inebriated" mother. For a long period of time the mother and father were unable to care for their own child, having become "drunk on the Holy Ghost," and the baby was left in the care of strangers.

The so-called drunkenness in the Spirit as a form of blessing is not found in the Scriptures. Those who promote the Laughing Revival grossly abuse the passage in Acts chapter 2 in an attempt to prove that the Apostles were drunk in the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This is nonsense. Those who said the disciples were "full of new wine" were the mockers who wanted to debunk the miracle of tongues (Acts 2:13). The mockers did not say the disciples were drunken because they were staggering about and slurred in speech and falling to the ground, but because of the many languages which were used to preach the Gospel that day and because they wanted to slander the servants of Christ. In his reply to these mockers, PETER PLAINLY SAID THEY WERE NOT DRUNKEN (Acts 2:15).

If the apostles had been drunk after the fashion of the Laughing Revival, they would not have been able to testify and preach as they did! I witnessed Kenneth Hagin, Sr., get "drunk on the Spirit" at a meeting in West Virginia in 1998, and he could not read the Bible or preach while he was in that condition. That is certainly not what happened to Peter on the day of Pentecost! Consider Peter’s sermon as recorded in Acts 2:14-40. It was a lengthy, detailed sermon. He quoted many Old Testament scriptures and precisely analyzed and applied them to that present situation. It was the sermon of a very sober-minded preacher. Those who are intoxicated at Laughing Revival meetings find it impossible even to walk or drive properly. When they are asked to give a testimony of what is happening to them, they often cannot do so. Sometimes they merely stare blankly and cannot say anything. Others say a few words or sentences in a halting, slurred manner. Others, when they try to reply to questions, fall over and lay immobilized or flop around on the floor. This type of experience is a direct CONTRAST to that which occurred on the day of Pentecost.

In Ephesians 5:18 Paul CONTRASTS drunkenness with the filling of the Spirit. The drunk is not in control of himself but is under the power of a foreign substance. In contrast, the Spirit-filled Christian is entirely in control of himself under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

We know this is the proper interpretation of the verse because of the context, which commands duties requiring great soberness of mind and heart. For example, the one who is filled with the Holy Spirit according to the context of Ephesians 5, is one who walks circumspectly, meaning very carefully (Eph. 5:15). That is the exact opposite of being so-called "drunk in the spirit."

We also know this is the proper interpretation of the verse because of the biblical example. There is absolutely no case in the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ or the Apostles or early Christians staggering about in a drunken stupor, falling down and unable to arise, speaking incoherently, unable to attend to necessary duties, and otherwise being affected in the manner of the laughing revival.

We also know this is the proper interpretation because not only is the Christian commanded not to be drunken, but he is commanded to be sober at all times (1 Thess. 5:6,8; 1 Tim. 3:2,11; Titus 1:8; 2:2,4,6; 1 Pet. 1:13; 4:7; 5:8). If for no other reason, I would reject the laughing revival on this basis alone. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

The only example of "spiritual drunkenness" in the Bible is in the Old Testament prophets and it refers to God’s judgment upon sin and apostasy (Isaiah 29:9-14; Jer. 13:12-15; 51:37-40). These prophecies sound a solemn warning to the Laughing Revival crowd. They have rejected the sound teaching of the Bible; they have refused to be sober and vigilant; they have mocked careful biblical discernment; they have exalted experience over doctrine; they have gone awhoring after feelings and "signs and wonders"; and they have been blinded by demonic delusions. God warns that those who refuse to obey the truth will be blinded by lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:9-12).

If for no other reason, I would reject the Rodney Howard-Browne ministry because of the false teaching about spiritual drunkenness. Nothing could be more spiritually dangerous than to yield oneself to such an unscriptural experience.

SECOND, I REJECT RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE’S DREAM BECAUSE HE IS NOT GOING TO PREACH REPENTANCE

Rodney Howard-Browne is preaching the false, positive-only, ecumenical gospel. In describing the message he intends to preach in New York, he said,

"WE’RE NOT COMING TO NEW YORK WITH JUDGMENT, TO SAY THAT GOD IS GOING TO SEND AMERICANS TO HELL IF THEY DON’T REPENT. We’re coming to tell them that God loves them and forgives them" (Charisma, Feb. 1999, p. 20).

That is false teaching. It is true that God loves the people of New York City and wants to save them. The Bible says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). It is equally true that God is going to send Americans to Hell if they don’t repent. The same verse that says God wants all men to be saved says that they must come to repentance. When the Apostle Paul preached to the pagans in Athens, he boldly preached repentance. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30). THOSE WHO DO NOT PREACH REPENTANCE DO NOT PREACH A BIBLICAL GOSPEL. THEY ARE FALSE TEACHERS. ALL OF THE BIBLE PREACHERS PREACHED REPENTANCE. Rodney Howard-Browne is preaching only part of the gospel, and to preach only part of the gospel is to corrupt the gospel. The average American today has been brought up on a diet of self-esteem. He has been taught to think of him or herself as the center of the universe. God is only there to help us and satisfy our desires. This is the "me" generation in America. It is land filled with idolatry and false christs. What America desperately needs is not more positive-only preaching, but true Bible preaching which tears down the idols and digs up the soil of man’s deceived soul to make the way for genuine repentance and faith. The only hope for America is for compromising, cowardly preachers (and I am referring to many who claim to be fundamentalists) to rise up from their manmade philosophies and people-pleasing attitudes and to preach a holy God, a hot Hell, and a genuine repentance. Only then could the soil be prepared for spiritual revival.

I praise the Lord that there are men who preach like this. They usually do not have big churches, but they have God’s smile. They don’t count thousands of empty prayers as salvations, but the fruit they do count is real and eternal.

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY THE PROPHETS OF OLD

"Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations" (Ezek. 14:6).

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin" (Ezek. 18:30).

Note that Bible repentance means to turn to God from sin and idolatry. When John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles preached repentance in the New Testament, it was understood by its historic Old Testament definition. In reference to man repenting toward God, repentance always means to turn from sin and idolatry.

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST

"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 3:1-10).

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY CHRIST

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).

"But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13).

"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" (Matthew 11:20-21).

"And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-5).

"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. … Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:7, 10).

"And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:46-48).

Christ’s goal in dealing with men was not merely to tell them that God loves them or merely to lead them in a sinner’s prayer, but to bring them to repentance and genuine salvation. He described salvation in terms of coming to repentance.

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY THE LORD’S DISCIPLES

"And they went out, and preached that men should repent" (Mark 6:12).

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY PETER

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38).

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31).

"Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (Acts 8:22-23).

REPENTANCE WAS PREACHED BY PAUL

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).

"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20-21).

"But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that THEY SHOULD REPENT AND TURN TO GOD, AND DO WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE" (Acts 26:20).

Note that the Apostle Paul preached the same message that John the Baptist did in regard to repentance. Repentance is not a mere change of mind that has no results in one’s life. True repentance will be evidenced by "works meet for repentance." That is not a dispensation message that applied only to John the Baptist’s day.

IF A MAN DOES NOT PREACH REPENTANCE IN A BIBLICAL FASHION, HE IS NOT A FAITHFUL BIBLE PREACHER AND HE IS TO BE REJECTED BY GOD’S PEOPLE, EVEN IF HE IS A FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST! Yet observe how many gospel tracts today do not even mention repentance, and if they do mention it, they do so only in passing so that they person reading it has no idea what repentance is and is not impressed that God absolutely requires it. People are urged to pray a sinner’s prayer when they have no concept of God’s requirement for repentance. That is an unscriptural ministry. I reject Rodney Howard-Browne for not preaching repentance, and I also reject independent Baptist preachers who do not preach repentance.

The only test to know truth from error is the test of the Bible. The Devil is very clever. He can disguise error in pleasant forms that appear to be the truth. He hides error in the midst of much truth. His wolves wear sheep’s clothing. They take on the appearance of truth. Praise the Lord that the Bible cuts through the Devil’s deceptions and protects us from his devices.

THIRD, I REJECT RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE’S DREAM BECAUSE HE YOKES TOGETHER WITH FALSE RELIGIONISTS

To accomplish his goal in New York City, Rodney Howard-Browne intends to yoke together with every church in that city, regardless of whether or not it preaches sound doctrine. He is getting participation from Hispanic Catholics, for example. This has long been Howard-Browne’s working principle.

According to a report on the November 1997, Charisma magazine, Howard-Browne has brought his ministry to the PRESENTATION BLESSED VIRGIN MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH in Philadelphia. More than 1,200 Catholics, many from far distances, attended the meeting. Charisma magazine noted that "Catholics laughed hysterically after they were hit with what Howard-Browne refers to as ‘the joy of the Holy Ghost.’" The church’s priest, Vincent Walsh, claims that the "revival" began at his Catholic church in 1994. Howard-Browne plans returns visits.

The true gospel is that the blood of Jesus Christ washes away the believer’s sin and grants him eternal life. The true gospel is eternal salvation by faith alone through grace alone without works or sacraments.

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:4-8).

The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, teaches a false gospel of grace plus works. The New Catholic Catechism plainly states: "The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation" (1129). According to Catholic theology, a sinner cannot be saved through faith in the grace of Jesus Christ alone without works or sacraments. This is a false gospel that adds works to the grace of Jesus Christ, and the book of Galatians says those who preach false gospels are cursed of God. "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8).

The Bible also says that those who fellowship with false teachers become partakers of the sins of those false teachers:

"Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For HE THAT BIDDETH HIM GOD SPEED IS PARTAKER OF HIS EVIL DEEDS" (2 John 8-11).

Ecumenical evangelists like Billy and Franklin Graham, Luis Palau, and Rodney Howard-Browne are partakers of the evil deeds of the false teachers with whom they fellowship. This is not our own idea. We say this on the authority of the Word of God.