"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. " Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -- Matthew 5: 1012 (ESV)
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Beloved, it has been hard to watch the fall of Dr. Michael Brown. It is hard to watch someone who had worked so hard in the kingdom become a bagman for faux-Christian political forces and a gatekeeper for the New Apostolic Reformation. It has been painful to watch him defend the indefensible and contort himself into pretzels to defend the most voracious wolves of our times. Many in discernment and mainstream ministries have begun to take notice. It now appears that recently Todd Friel of Wretched Radio and Phil Johnson branded Dr. Brown as "dangerous, sub-orthodox and willfully self-deceived." Anyone who refuses to warn the sheep and encourages wolves is in fact dangerous to the flock. The level of orthodoxy is only compounded by the fact that he refuses to apply the standards of what he knows is false to anyone actually teaching those false doctrines. He can write a book on the error of hyper-grace for example but refuses to rebuke Joseph Prince and to make matters worse he cannot see the disconnect. As for the charge of willfully self-deceived I would agree that he absolutely refuses any sane correction from anyone in the body of Christ. Any criticism is met with disdain and an eventual article to defend himself, just as he has done above to the Friel/Johnson critique. Let us reason together to see what happens when being dangerous crosses the line into being delusional.
"What do we make of such charges? And are they worthy of response? I actually have a "hate mail" file where I store the latest attacks, which often include death wishes (like, "I hope your heart fails," or, "You're an idiot; I hope you die slow from pancreatic cancer" -- misspelled, in the original, of course) and even death threats. To me, this is a crown of honor, a sign of the Lord's favor, and another indication that our message, by God's grace and to His glory, is making an impact. I rejoice, in accordance with the Lord's words in Matthew 5:10-12." -- Dr. Michael Brown
Brown is a master at this debate tactic and he uses it frequently on his radio program. He conflates something really bad with the accusation he is defending himself from so to lend sympathy to his cause. I am sure that Phil Johnson and Todd Friel would never wish such vile death threats again Dr. Brown. They leveled critiques based on positions Brown has actually taken. The two are simply not congruent but Brown is trying to get people to dismiss the real charges by conflating them with the vile death threats. The delusion however is to believe that defending Benny Hinn and Bill Johnson would result in the favor of the Lord or that just criticisms are a crown of honor. That is just staggering in its ignorance. The key verses for today are the Matthew verses Brown references here and to believe that criticism is persecution is simply delusional. No one has falsely accused Dr. Brown of anything and to then compare yourself to the prophets? Wow.
"And so, when I was informed that Todd and Phil had branded me "Dangerous Dr. Brown," I took this as a compliment from heaven (the exact opposite of what they intended), and their malicious words were like water to my soul. You see, I have often prayed that the Lord would make me dangerous: dangerous to the kingdom of darkness; dangerous to the devil; dangerous to dead religion; dangerous to the status quo of a sinning world. May we all be dangerous in that sense of the word!" -- Dr. Michael Brown
Perhaps he did not mean the inference but in order for this logic to work, Dr. Brown has declared Todd Friel and Phil Johnson as part of the kingdom of darkness who believe in a dead religion. Once again however the real problem is in the utter delusion Dr. Brown operates under. Anyone who levels any criticism at him is immediately branded and dismissed out of hand. Mind you, whenever the criticisms have come against Dr, Brown they are always the same. Those leveling the critiques include myself, Chris Rosebrough, most discernment ministries and now Friel and Johnson. Hardly a lineup of apoplectic lunatics but to each one Brown considers us as having a critical spirit for daring to question the company he keeps and defends. The truly sad and delusional part is he is simply giddy about thinking he has become dangerous to the devil when in fact he serves to steer people away from Christ and towards some of the most egregious false teaching today.
"So, these zealous brothers have not hurt me in any way, and I hold no ill will towards them. Sadly, though, they have hurt themselves, they have hurt those who follow them, and they have dishonored the name of the Lord by being divisive and sowing discord. (See Proverbs 6:19, which teaches that it is hateful in God's sight to sow discord among brothers.)" - Dr. Michael Brown
It amazes me how myopic good theologians can get when trying to use the Bible to defend themselves. Brown is learned enough to know that Romans 16:17 explains that it is false doctrine the divides the body of Christ. Whether that be the insidious hyper grace of Joseph Prince, the false healing of Benny Hinn or the inane sneaky squid spirit of Jennifer Leclaire. As dangerous and divisive all of these are separately, how much more so is a man like Brown who defends and lends credibility to each of them? That brings us to sunny point number two here that Brown cannot see. Proverbs 6:19 deals with sowing discord among the brethren. To Michael Brown; Heidi Baker, Benny Hinn and Bill Johnson are brethren and therein lies the problem. They are voracious wolves making a killing on devouring the sheep of the Lord. Proverbs 6:19 does not mean we should sing Kumbaya with every false teacher or anyone who can spell the name of Jesus correctly.
"You might say, "But you're missing the whole point. These men are doing God's work. They are exposing error and rebuking false teachers. This is healthy and positive." I don't doubt that in some cases, they are doing God's work, and I deeply appreciate that. Constructive criticism is a lifesaver. And I don't doubt that there are plenty of problems in the charismatic movement, of which I serve as a leader. (For more on this, see below.) Unfortunately, their criticism, which can only be branded hypercriticism, does far more harm than good. It is destructive, not constructive. It tears down without building up. It strains out a gnat and swallows a camel. It uses double standards. It pronounces people guilty by association. And much more." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is another hallmark of the Michael Brown playbook. He always wants to sound like the more reasonable party in the discussion. So he pays lips service to the cause of the other side. There is absolutely no evidence that he believes constructive criticism is a lifesaver. None whatsoever. The critique of Friel and Johnson was the same critique Pastor Rosebrough had when he called into his radio show and the same critique I had the two times I was on his show. Were our pleas all non constructive? No beloved. In fact they were all consistent. The first time I called into his radio program it was just because I was worried about him lending his credibility to Benny Hinn by appearing on his TV program for a week. The second time Brown mugged me for daring to criticize Bill Johnson, one of the most egregious heretics on this planet. When I see Johnson operating a school to teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit I want to destroy that evil work. When I see him fake spiritual manifestations through bogus glory clouds, gold dust and angel feathers I want to tear that down. That is the problem for Dr. Brown. There is no false teacher worthy of tearing down.
"The recent wave of hypercriticism says this: We will not evaluate you by your life work. We will not evaluate you by what you have written (in my case, more than 30 books and more than 1,000 articles) or taught (thousands of sermons and teachings and broadcasts and debates). We will not evaluate you by the fruit of your ministry (souls won; disciples made; churches planted; Bible schools launched; humanitarian works started). We will not evaluate you by your character. No, we will evaluate you by this criterion: If you will not condemn so-and-so as a false teacher, you yourself are suspect. Not only is this unbiblical, it is ugly, it is judgmental, and it is self-righteous." - Dr. Michael Brown
No Dr. Brown, just no. First of all, I heard the Friel and Johnson segment and they went out of their way to be nice and not overly confrontational. I believe Friel admitted to liking you. I know I have said it over and over again. The situation with Dr. Michael Brown saddens me because of the good work he has done for the kingdom. I also heard the Rosebrough exchange and Pastor Chris was calm and cordial throughout the entire dialogue. Even when Dr. Brown was shouting me down on his radio program I did not return fire. Every evaluation I have heard about the work of Dr. Brown outside of his involvement with being an NAR gatekeeper and his recent love for everything Trump has been extremely positive. But then we come to his absolute refusal to call out anyone on false teaching despite the Bible commanding him to do so. He references his 30 books but your book outlining the errors of hyper-grace becomes useless if you refuse to call out Joseph Prince!
"So, in recent days, on social media and elsewhere, I have been challenged to condemn Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson, Mike Bickle, and Carl Lentz (among others), since they are allegedly false prophets and false teachers, all of them hell bound (I kid you not). And if I don't say they are hell-bound sinners? That proves that I'm willfully self-deceived and dangerous (in the bad sense of the word)." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is a tactic I witnessed first hand from Brown. The notion of calling these people hell bound sinners is HIS expression. I never said he had to say that and neither did any of the people who have criticized him. He sets this strawman argument up to make his critics seem unreasonable. Technically, I do not recall ever saying he must even denounce these false teachers. I have said he must stop acting as a gatekeeper for them and lending credibility to them. There is a difference between declaring Benny Hinn false and going on his television program for a week. There is a difference between declaring people false and giving them softball interviews and air time on your national radio program. It is quite telling however who he lists here. Heidi Baker who rambles incoherently and laughs uncontrollably as the underpinnings of her "ministry." Bill Johnson who ascribes to nearly every false teaching today. Mike Bickle who runs the fabulously heretical IHOP and Carl Lentz; the pop icon site pastor from Hillsong. Are you serious? IHOP, Hillsong, Bethel and the NAR in one sentence and defending them proudly? Yes Dr. Brown that is delusional. Your willful self deception is not in refusing to call them hell bound sinners. It is in presenting them to the body of Christ as brethren when in fact they are wolves of the highest order.
But these hypercritics do hurt many others, sowing discord, engaging in unequal weights and measures, and even rejecting wonderful biblical truths in the name of a hyper-narrow orthodoxy. In short, they have things totally upside down, majoring on the minors and throwing many health babies out with some bathwater. (In their view, there are no healthy babies in the bathwater.)" - Dr. Michael Brown
It remains so sad to watch someone so skilled in the word miss the points over and over again. People like myself, Rosebrough, Friel and Johnson are not preaching some form of narrow orthodoxy That is absurd. We just want the Bible to be followed. Unfortunately biblical adherence has become narrow to Dr. Michael Brown. To him the Bible is now the minors and defending the sneaky squid spirit is the majors. That is what happens when you transition from dangerous to delusional.
"In the case of Heidi Baker, forget about the thousands of gospel-based churches she and her husband Rolland have planted in Mozambique; forget about their sacrificial ministry to the poorest of the poor; forget about her Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the Kings College in London; forget about the content of her books. Just look at her shaking and acting like she's drunk! She's obviously a false teacher, going to hell, and if I won't condemn her, then I'm willfully deceived." - Dr. Michael Brown
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