18 Areas the American Church Has Been Deceived – part III

Continued from our series,

“18 Areas the American Church has been Deceived – part II”

“18 Areas the American Church has been Deceived – part I”

Proof Number 9: Drinking of “New Wine” Such as “Holy Ghost Laughter”; misrepresenting God the Spirit and His Power

People have a choice whether to blindly follow a popular voice in the religious world or to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God” (2 Tim. 2:15)!

Joy (chara) is not interchangeable with laughter (galeo). Joy is an inner delight with God for all He has done and is doing. Joy comes from believing God’s Word (Romans 15:13; John 15:11). Joy remains in trial when the laughter is gone (2 Corinthians 8:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Jam. 1:2). Correctly interpreted, Proverbs 17:22 emphasizes a rejoicing heart, contrasted to the broken spirit.

There is no biblical gift for a spirit of laughter.

Rodney Howard-Browne repeats, “Fill — let it bubble out your belly — Ho-ho, He-he — Fill — Ho-ho-ho, Ho-ha-ha.”

His spiritual expressions and methodology are more at home with the occult than in Christianity. ^[27] Never is there the slightest hint in Scripture that we are to worship God from the belly. “Living waters,” in John 7:38, has nothing to do with laughter! The “living waters” symbolize the Holy Spirit who dwells in the heart or the innermost part of a Christian.

Rodney Howard-Browne’s meetings are not Spirit-filled laughter or joy, but hysteria and frenzy which are clearly condemned by God! This bunch is responsible for the millions today who view the chaos and disorder as “Christian” madness (1 Corinthians 14:23). Rodney Howard-Browne likes to call himself “The Holy Ghost Bartender” who dispenses “new wine” ^[28] In Ephesians 5:18, the filling of the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in honoring God musically, melody in our hearts, thankfulness, fear, and good marriages.

We must interpret in true context! This verse will never justify “laughing in the spirit.” and those who use verses such as those outlined above, are making a mockery of the Word of God – and bringing public disdain from an unbelieving world toward those who practice such scriptural immaturity… and rightly so, they should!

Proof Number 10: “Slain in the spirit” A Sure Sign of Satanic Deception – Embraced by the Ignorant Church

Every Christian ought to view this “falling under the power” with grave concern! Born-again believers are not safe from satanic deceptions and experiences if they fulfill the conditions for demonic activity.

The closest biblical counterparts of those who fell backwards, “slain in the spirit,” include the sinning, the unbelieving, the demonized, and God’s enemies!

A demon-possessed son fell into the fire and the water (Matthew 17:15). Judas and his band fell backwards when Jesus identified Himself as the great “I am” (John 18:6). Saul of Tarsus and company all fell to the earth before Jesus’ glory (Acts 26:13,14). The priest and the erring prophet of wine and vomit fell backwards in Isaiah 28:13.

Are they different from the new wine of those “vomiting-in-the-spirit” and “slain-in-the-spirit” at a Rodney Howard-Browne meeting?

Worship is always to be biblical, orderly and reverent in manner. God’s Word underscores a true spiritual response to God’s power. The godly, in reverential awe, adoration and worship, fall forward in a prostrate position. There is no trace of hysterical laughter or convulsions (Genesis 17:1-3; Leviticus 9:24; Joshua 5:13-15; Ez. 1:28; 43:1-5; 44:4; Matthew 17:5-6; 28:9-10; Revelation 1:17; 7:11; 11:16-17).

Proof Number 11: Practices of Clairvoyance, Sooth-Saying and False Prophecies From Communication With Demons

The spirit of anti-christ will appear to be Christ. As the serpent beguiled Eve, believers are seduced by “another spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4).

The “Holy” Laughter movement, like the Mormon movement, developed through a boy who had an experience from a god. Rodney Howard-Browne says he prayed,

“Either You come down here and touch me, or I will come up there and touch You.” ^[1] He will one day meet the God of Isaiah on bended knees (Phil. 2:10)!

You can’t trust demons. John Wimber gets doctrine from demons! He says some demons have bodies etc. because the demons told him. ^[2] Wimber admittedly does not know if the encounters taking place in the Vineyard movement are from God or the devil.

In fact, he says “there’s nothing in Scripture that supports these kinds of phenomena.”

Surely you would expect the head of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship that popularized this movement to go to the Word and test the spirits whether they are of God (1 John 4:1)! No. Wimber says, “So I feel no obligation to try to explain it.” ^[3]

Howard-Browne’s proof that this is the move of God is that when he leaves it doesn’t stop. ^[4] People, think! The blasphemous recrucifixion of Christ in the Mass does not stop (Hebrews 9:28; 10:10)! Rock music, the occult, and Satan’s effort to destroy this generation does not stop! The aberrations in the Church at Corinth did not stop because Paul left; they stopped because the Apostle confronted them with 1 Corinthians. By the time he wrote 2 Corinthians, they stopped.

A study of demonology reveals that demons interact with the mind, the emotions and the flesh. God deals with us primarily in the spirit.

A 1994 article of Charisma quotes Rodney Howard-Browne as saying, “One night I was preaching on hell, and laughter just hit the whole place. The more I told people what hell was like, the more they laughed.”

The Great White Throne judgment and the horrors of hell are no laughing matter! The works of the flesh and Satan’s devils mock the Word of God and interrupt the scriptures. Could a man alone get so many people to fall for such Satanic mockery?

People are responding to the powers of darkness. The attitude changed toward Bible messages about God, sin, morality, growing in grace, and the Church.

$IGN$ AND WONDER$? One wonders why this group bothers to use the Bible at all. The focus is reduced to “will it sell?” Jesus Christ’s command to “Go ye into all the world” becomes “Come to our meetings!” A “new zeal for evangelism” is a zeal to draw other people into a the same religious aberrations. The idea of evangelizing people is to zap them. ^[5] The substitute is a cheap “go-with-the-flow” message.

Howard-Browne blusters how at the age of twelve, “The voice said these words to me…Your mom will not be home today.” ^[6] Are we talking about the experience of some super-saint or of one involved with clairvoyance? People are encouraged to let go of their doctrine and clear their minds of biblical objections. He says, “The only way you’re going to understand what God is doing is with your heart.” ^[7] (Check your brain at the door!)

Beloved, God warns that your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9)! The Bereans used their minds, searching the Scriptures even to check out real preachers of integrity, the Apostles! God commended them (Acts. 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Without the principles of the Word of God, how are we to see through the deceptions, the complex issues, the false Jesus, the false gospel, and the false Spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4)?

In a movement so theologically poverty-stricken, real preaching is very rare! Preaching is reduced to silly shallowness, subjectivism, and spiritual hype. Scriptures are jerked out of context to legitimize the experience (smart devil)!

Charisma magazine admits that the pulpit becomes irrelevant.

The whole blasphemous circus makes “the word of God of none effect” (Mark 7:13). ^[8] A sign of demonic activity is demonstrated by the irreverence, ignorance, intimidation, brainwashing techniques, fundraising games, and overall hypocrisy. This Charismatic phenomena departed from the Headship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the mission of Bible evangelism, and Bible education. Now it’s all a joke to them!

Some pastors recognize the sham but they never rebuke the sin. The cowardly shepherds pet the wolves as the wolves eat the lambs!