I went on the Line of Fire radio show today with Dr. Michael Brown. I should have known better...

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But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." -- Matthew 12: 48-50 (ESV)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5EtZ8Efa0E&feature=youtu.be

Beloved, I should have seen it coming. I had good brothers in other discernment ministries warn me to not bother going on Dr. Michael Brown's radio program today, the conversation of which is at the above link. I had been on with him previously and knew how skilled he was at monopolizing time and not letting the guest formulate coherent thoughts. I even wrote last month that people need to stop going on his show in the hope that he can still be reached with the truth. To be honest though I did not expect him to turn on me as he did today, bully me through the final segment of our interaction and after listening to it for the first time it is apparent to me that was his plan all along. It is interesting that when he reached out to me it was supposed to be about a recent devotional where I said he was a gatekeeper for the NAR and various false teachers but when coming back from the break he referenced a devotional from 2016 to his readers entitled, "Why Dr. Michael Brown No Longer has Any Credibility." That is quite a tell that he was more upset about that devotional then the one he lured me onto the show to discuss.

I am a big boy. I can take being bullied by someone. What I cannot do however is let that stand as the final record when the Bible and truth is so badly mangled in the process. The more he spoke over me the more I thought to just let him rant. The more I thought he would make himself look foolish. Let us reason together and outline what happened today. The first segment of our discussion was short and quite genial as Dr. Brown was setting me up for the turn in the second segment. He expressed regret over appearing on the Benny Hinn show a few years back, the last time I had spoke to him. While relatively milquetoast about it he did say if he had to do it all over again he may not have gone on the show. It is interesting that his greatest point of upset with Benny Hinn is that he didn't air the fourth show they taped, which was on hyper-grace and the primary reason Dr. Brown agreed to go on the show he claims. Nevertheless, as we went to break Dr. Brown said he would like to speak about Bill Johnson, who I had called a false prophet/teacher and one of the people Dr. Brown acts as a gatekeeper for. When his assistant came on during the break to let me know the second segment would only be eight minutes I should have smelled something. I should have seen the turn coming.

Dr. Brown asked for reasons why I felt Johnson was a false prophet and teacher. I had a list of 12 of the more known heresies and issues surrounding one of the most obvious heretics of our lifetime. I have written before that I can understand why people get deceived by Joseph Prince, but Bill "angel feathers just start floating around me in the diner" Johnson? You have to be in such thick darkness yourself to not see how false Bill Johnson is. My plan was to simply list the 12 pieces of evidence as follows:

1. Operates a school for the supernatural, where he teaches the gifts of the Spirit

2. Has claimed the false manifestations of gold dust, gemstones, and glory clouds

3. Allows anyone to prophesy at his Friday services

4. Believes in mandatory healing, despite wearing corrective eyeglasses

5. Refuses to rebuke the grave sucking theology that comes from Bethel

6. Refuses to rebuke his daughter in law for referring to the Holy Spirit as a "sneaky blue genie"

7. Refuses to rebuke the Bethel Dead Raising Team that claims credit for 15 resurrections

8. Anointed Todd Bentley a prophet and oversaw his restoration after adultery

9. Preaches Christ was not divine while on earth

10. Preaches that Christ had to be born again

11. Preaches prosperity, word faith, NAR, dominionism, and 7-Mountains Mandate

12. Chief proponent of experiential Christianity, downplaying the supremacy and sufficiency of Scripture

Mind you these are in no particular order yet as you can hear, no sooner did I get the first one out of my mouth does Dr. Brown snap. Acting incredulously that this would be my first point, he gets a little cute and says: "That's your first? Of course we are supposed to teach ON the gifts of the Spirit.Despite his attempts to shut me down I was able to call him on his obvious deception. No one is arguing that you are not supposed to teach about the gifts. That is not what Bill Johnson does at this school. He teaches people how to manifest the gifts, which is pure and absolute heresy. Called on his obvious attempt to deflect he resorts to accusing me of misrepresenting Bill Johnson. Really Dr. Brown? Here are just two class descriptions from the school's own website:

"Spiritual Formation and Community is designed as hands on learning experience for students to put into practice the disciplines they are learning in school. ie: prayer, worship, community, study, words of knowledge, prophecy, healing, etc."

This course is designed to give students an overview of the purpose of prophetic ministry, a historical understanding of prophetic ministry in the Bible, the characteristics and creation of a healthy prophetic culture, and practical training in operating in the spiritual gift of prophecy.

So here is the first salient question. Do you believe that man can teach the gifts of words of knowledge, healing, and prophecy or do you believe the Bible? The Bible clearly states that no one has all the gifts and they are given out as the Spirit wills. So I was not misrepresenting Bill Johnson or his heretical school. Dr. Brown however has now publicly stated that he supports this.

Trying to regroup I went for the two blatant heresies of Christ being born again and giving up his divinity while on earth. Brown again does not let me finish the sentence before declaring "no, no, he does not teach that." Really Dr. Brown?

"Jesus lived His earthly life with human limitations. He laid his [sic] divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father: to live life as a man without sin, and then die in the place of mankind for sin. This would be essential in His plan to redeem mankind. The sacrifice that could atone for sin had to be a lamb, (powerless), and had to be spotless, (without sin)."

Do you know who said this quote? Bill Johnson. How do I know? Because it is in his book! What about Jesus being born again? This two-minute clip from Justin Peters, which includes video of Johnson making this assertion in a sermon, explains it better than I can in this small space:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIpVvz63IAg

Dr. Brown claims I am 100% wrong in this assertion. Is he aware the Internet exists? Brown tries to jump through theological hoops to defend Johnson by claiming what he really teaches is that while on earth, Jesus did not use his divine powers to heal and instead did it through the Spirit. Yet the quote above from his own book says he laid His divinity aside. Even if we take Dr. Brown at his word, what Scripture supports the notion that when Jesus healed it lacked divinity? At this point Brown cobbles three different scriptures together to pretend that the Bible supports a divine-less Christ. The three he references are:

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. -- John 5: 19 (ESV)

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,^{"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captivesand recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed,to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." -- Luke 4: 17-19 (ESV)}

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. -- Matthew 12: 28 (ESV)

Mind you, Dr. Brown does not cite these verses in their entirety. He states in regards to Johnson's heresy,

"Jesus Himself says that. I can only do what I see the Father doing. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. I drive out demons by the Spirit." -- Dr. Michael Brown

Beloved, you do not cobble verse fragments together like this. It is very deceptive. The first verse is not Jesus affirming His lack of divinity but the exact opposite. The missing context is right before this verse the Bible states the Pharisees were upset because by calling Himself the Son of God He was making Himself equal to God. Verse five is Jesus claiming that exact divine truth. The second verse is Jesus quoting from Isaiah and if all you walk away from this story is that somehow because He references the Spirit He must not be divine, then you have missed the point. He announces right after that this scripture is fulfilled through Him! How in the world is that setting aside His divinity? The last verse is as close as Brown gets to making his point but it still is a swing and a miss. Johnson's teaching, which Brown supports, makes no biblical sense. So because Jesus operated under the power of the Holy Spirit that meant He was not divine? Is not the Holy Spirit part of the Trinity? Are not all three divine? There are plenty of scriptures in the gospels where Jesus references the Father directly. This is simply a false teaching and Dr. Brown would know better if he didn't want to reflexively defend every charismaniac he runs into. At this level of disagreement, Brown goes to what he always relies on, personal testimony:

"Anthony, I know the man. I have sat face to face with him. I know people that have been in his church for years and years and years. What you are representing is not what he believes. -- Dr. Michael Brown

He then accuses me of misrepresenting Scripture. I call him on it immediately as that is something I take very seriously. He claims that I misrepresented about the gifts of the Spirit, which I most certainly did not, and then says I misrepresented what Bill Johnson teaches. I point out the obvious. That what Bill Johnson teaches is not Scripture. Knowing someone is not on par with the truth of Scripture. It does not matter how many people you know that go to Bethel it only matters what they teach. Dr. Brown closes by claiming I am of a totally different spirit and filibusters the remaining two minutes chiding me that I have left the things of the Spirit and claiming that he gets death threats every day. Beloved, if you listen to this twenty minute conversation some things become apparent:

1. It did not matter which Johnson heresy I led off with. Michael Brown planned to jump me the second I offered any criticism to act bewildered that I would call Johnson a heretic. Operating a school that teaches the actual gifts of the Spirit is rank heresy. While we are at can we please demystify this term. Heresy simply means teaching something different than the Bible. If you persist in such teaching and refuse correction, you are a heretic. If you enable such heretics, you are a gatekeeper for them.

2. To defend the indefensible, Brown will misuse scripture, bully people, and lie about the very teachings that are on record from the heretics he defends.

3. Dr. Brown will go beyond reason and sane rationale to defend Charismania. Here are two quotes I want you to digest as we close:

"Your Double Harvest Miracle - Are you ready for God to do the "impossible" in your life! Are you ready to see your harvest doubled? Are you ready to see your debt cancelled in the next 90 days? Imagine not dreading going to the mailbox, no bills piling up on your counter, and no calls from collectors coming to your home. God wants to wipe your debt out! Every bit of it and in the next 90 days! This is an appointed hour. Imagine: Your $100 gift immediately doubles to $200. Your $500 seed literally becomes $1,000. If God leads you to plant $10,000, it instantly grows into a $20,000 seed! And your double seed, sown bountifully, will reap bountifully through the supernatural law of multiplication! Only God could provide something like this--a double harvest for you." -- Benny Hinn, 2013

"I did write him (Benny Hinn) a very strong appeal with concerns about the way he raises funds in his ministry. I didn't hear back" -- Dr. Michael Brown, 2017

Dr. Brown. The above quote from Benny Hinn is not an outlier. It is what he does for a living. It is why he is worth over 42 million dollars. It is money he stole from the sheep he then devoured. There is no "double harvest miracle." God never said this to Hinn yet he claims to speak for God and promises people twice their money back for what they give to him. This is not a mechanism for raising funds for ministry. Surely a man as learned as you must know that somewhere deep in your heart. This is a scam. Benny Hinn is the huckster the Bible warns us about making merchandise off the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is not fund raising. He is robbing poor people and devouring widow's homes. Yet despite that you must have felt some conviction to write him a "very strong appeal" and despite him never answering you and despite him lying to you about airing your hyper grace show so he could air a "carnal fundraiser" as per your own words I asked you if you still consider him a brother in Christ and you said:

"I have no reason not to." -- Dr. Michael Brown

I was on your show for twenty minutes today. You called me a liar, accused me of misrepresenting scripture, said that people will condemn me to hell and that I am of a different spirit. In twenty minutes on the telephone. But a man who fleeces the very flock of God for a living you see no reason to not call a brother in Christ. Brother Steve Kozar was right. I should not have gone on your show today but I am glad in a way. You are on record now Dr. Brown. You defended a man who thinks he can teach the very gifts of God and a man who claims God told him that you need to sow 10 grand into his ministry so God can pay you back 20 grand. These are your brothers you said. Good brothers you said. Yet our key verses remind us who Jesus says our actual brothers are. They who do the will of the Father. Is teaching what only God can give and promising money from God doing the will of the Father? Then you say that I will be held for every careless word, which we all will. Yet the irony walks right on by you and you are so blind to your own inherent biases that you cannot even see it. You said at the end of our conversation today that you reached out to me for me. Another irony because I told people I was willing to go back on your show for you. I had hopes that I could reach you but you didn't want to be reached. You wanted to jump me. Good job. I still got you to defend Bill Johnson by lying through your teeth and openly declaring that Benny Hinn is your brother. Not bad for twenty minutes of work considering you probably only gave me three of those minutes to speak. Take care Dr. Brown. Say hi to Benny for me.

I expect two hellos in return.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- June 9, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.