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Luke 6:38 - give, and it shall be given unto you... AGAPE.com
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IntroductionINTRODUCTION/RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE My earliest exposure to the Laughter Movement was in the latter part of 1994 when I read a feature article on Rodney Howard Browne in Stephen Strang's Charisma Magazine. The so called "outbreaks of revivals" drew my interest and attention but the manifestation of Laughter in these meetings sounded unscriptural to me. So I put the matter off my mind for a season, so to say. My interest was rekindled some time later when there was a local outbreak of laughter among people I personally knew but again I shrugged it off as perhaps something "of the flesh" and something having no spiritual significance. Then one fine day it dawned upon me that a thing of the flesh cannot possibly spread from Toronto to the United Kingdom and to Australia and New Zealand and even to our shores here in such a short period of time. Certainly there could not have been that many actors and actresses acting out their parts in so many cities of the world at the same time! Since then the burden in my heart has been to delve into the root of this phenomenon using God's Word as my spiritual lamp. The notes appended below and following are the result of months of critical analysis and research through the Bible, books, magazines, articles downloaded from the Internet, videos of Rodney Howard Browne, personal observation and testimonies from many different sources. RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE-THE FOUNDER AND
ORIGINATOR OF THE LAUGHTER MOVEMENT "In July of 1979, at eighteen years of age, Rodney M. Howard-Browne of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, reached a crossroads in his life....... while at an interdenominational prayer meeting with about eighteen young people at this time, he cried out to the Lord, `God, either you come down here tonight and touch me, or I'm going to die and come up there and touch you.' He began shouting, frightening nearly everyone who was present. He shouted for twenty minutes......"(1) Now the first thing to note is that Rodney Howard-Browne reached a crossroad in his life. There is nothing wrong with a crossroad provided you take the right turning. A wrong spiritual turning could be disastrous! If you analyse Rodney's prayer carefully you will notice the following points: *THIS PRAYER SAYS LET MY WILL BE DONE INSTEAD OF LET THY WILL BE DONE *THIS PRAYER VIOLATES THE SOVEREIGNTY OF
GOD. *THIS PRAYER IS NOT HEARD BECAUSE GOD ONLY
HEARS PRAYER THAT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS WILL...... Notice that Rodney Howard Browne threatened to commit suicide if his demand was not met. When we try to arm-twist or demand something from God, we are in essence asking for something OUT OF HIS WILL. So according to the above Scripture, when we ask out of HIS WILL, God does not hear us. On the other hand, someone else will hear and answer us. We must be aware that there are other spiritual forces at work in this universe. "In a 1994 interview on TBN with Paul Crouch, Rodney Howard-Browne said.....while he was preaching.... `People began to fall out of their seats...rolling on the floor. The air was moving. People began to laugh uncontrollably while there wasn't anything funny....."(2) So began the so-called Laughter Revival in the United States. Now if you look carefully at Figure No.1 you will notice that this "laughter anointing" passed down from Rodney Howard-Browne to Randy Clark (who apparently came close to a nervous breakdown in 1993) and from Randy Clark the "anointing" passed downwards again to John Arnott, the present pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church. John's church was apparently in a "hospital mode", (presumably spiritually sick), before the outpouring of the Laughter anointing. Later, John himself described this anointing as `highly contagious and transferable."(3) The services in this church are reputed to have gone on for six nights a week since January 1994. From Toronto, this Laughter Movement has spread to many parts of the world. The ultimate source of the Laughter Movement therefore is still Rodney Howard-Browne. Now let us analyse some of the things Rodney Howard-Browne says and whether his sayings have any Scriptural validity. The sayings of Rodney Howard-Browne (in italics) below are compared with Scriptures which are in bold. SAYINGS OF RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE SAYS... I Jn 4:1 RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE SAYS..... Rom 10:14 RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE SAYS..... Mark 16:15-16 RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE SAYS...... Luke 16:23-24 "Zacharias was struck dumb for nine months........And somebody said, `well that was a curse'. But it really wasn't...." Video entitled "The Holy Laugh", United Kingdom 1994 Luke 1:18-20 RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE SAYS..... Luke 10:27 RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE SAYS...... 1Thes 5:17-18 As you can see from the above, the sayings of Rodney Howard-Browne are contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Are you going to believe Rodney Howard-Browne or are you going to believe the Inspired Word of God? Nelson's Bible Dictionary defines a prophet as follows.... PROPHET A prophet is one who speaks God's Word. A false prophet is one who speaks God's Word falsely. He distorts the truth of God's Word. He also claims false revelation from God which is opposed to the Word of God. The verses below from Matthew Chapter 24 was spoken by Jesus to his disciples. Matt 24:3-4 The disciples were believers. So, in essence, Jesus is warning the christians today to be careful `not to be deceived'. There is no point in warning the non-christians as they are already in a state of deception...... 2 Cor 4:4 False Prophets operate through the process of deception. They lead christians into error (by distorting and twisting the Word of God). If it were possible, these false prophets would also deceive God's Elect by performing lying signs and wonders [and claiming these to be from the Holy Spirit]..... Matt 24:11 Matt 24:24 Remember that they will come IN HIS NAME and therefore mas-querade as "christian" ministers.... Matt 7:21-23 Does the name Rodney Howard-Browne ring some bells now?
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