My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. - John 10:27 (ESV)
Dr. Michael Brown revealed the true motivations behind a recent challenge he issued to cessationists for a debate. Remember as you read on that this challenge was cordial and overly genial. He tried to make it sound like this was all for the good of the body of Christ. That they would just have a friendly chat for several hours. Of course, he said there would be no discussions of contemporary abuses because his goal is never to call out the myriad of false teachers he supports and who prop up his brand. Well, all of that mushy "we are all on the same side" subterfuge is now gone with this new attack article. Spoiler alert - this was all to provide meat for his next book grift. Imagine my surprise. So let us reason once more together beloved through the above linked article.
"Pastor P. Yesupadam is one of my closest friends in the world and the truest Christian I know. But he was not always a follower of Jesus. To the contrary, although his father gave him the name Yesupadam, meaning "the foot of Jesus," he grew up hating that name and hating the caste system of India. That's because he was born into an untouchable family, suffering terrible deprivation and almost dying of starvation as a boy. Then, at the age of 11, he was recruited by a radical Maoist communist (called a Naxalite). This gave him a sense of purpose for the first time. Now, he would fight against the caste system, taking from the rich"violently, if need be"and giving to the poor. By the time he was in his early 20s, he was considered a lost cause by most who knew him. In short, he was an atheist, an alcoholic and a terrorist. But his Christian wife and some other believers were praying for him (his marriage was arranged, of course, as per Indian custom), and it was then that God intervened in his life. As he sat on his chair one afternoon, he saw something in the sky that got his attention, but it was somewhat distant. Then as the vision drew close to him. He realized he was seeing Jesus. Yesupadam saw the pierced and bloody hands, which were now stretched out. And he heard the Lord say, "Son, I have done all this for you. Now, what will You do for me?" At that moment, Yesupadam was radically and dramatically born again, going out on the street and clapping his hands and shouting, "Have you heard? Jesus died and rose from the dead!" Since then, he has done more good in more tangible ways than any man I know on the planet, planting 10,000 churches in previously unreached tribal regions in India, raising and educating thousands of orphans and needy children, caring for the elderly and the handicapped, building hospitals and more. And he has replicated his work in other continents as well. I should also mention that he has been stoned for preaching the gospel; that many, if not most of his workers have been physically attacked for the gospel at least once; and that at least five of his pastors have been killed for their faith. In fact, in virtually every case, these martyrs were men whom I sent out as well in one of my annual trips to India, commissioning them with Yesupadam to preach the gospel by life or by death." - Dr. Michael Brown
The
truest Christian you know? I thought that was Mike Bickle? Oh wait, he was a
"fine man" and his critics just didn't "know his fruit, his walk and his life."
Wait wasn't it, Ravi Zacharias? Oh no, Brown said he was a "great holiness teacher",
that's right. Was it Robert Morris? No, he was just a "good friend," who
actually endorsed one of Dr. Brown's books. I am in no ways suggesting that Mr.
Yesupadam is Morris, Zacharias or Bickle. I do not know the man and had never
heard of him, probably because his ministry is in other countries. The point is
Dr. Brown never learns. He uses this exalting technique all the time to
disparage people he has viewed as his enemies. Can we also discuss how Dr.
Brown, who loves to whine about congenial discourse, has titled this article "How
Pathetic is Today's Cessationism?" I personally do not believe cessationism is
biblical but I understand why people flock to it and Dr. Brown supporting the
absolute worst in Charismania is a driving reason. Now, Pastor P. Yesupadam
sounds like a nice fellow. Brown is only using his testimony to attack cessationists
because they do not believe in extra-biblical revelation. Regardless of this,
the majority of things that occurred to Yesupadam are not in dispute. If everything
Brown says is true, I do not know anyone, cessationist or not, that would say
it is bad thing to help the poor. If there is any disagreement, it would be
because he claims in the 1970s that Jesus appeared to him and that he was
radically born again as a result. If someone other than Pastor P. Yesupadam
disagrees, or even agrees as Dr. Brown is doing, the correct answer would be that
you were not there. There is no value in debating this. Maybe he was sleeping
and had a dream. Maybe it is exactly as he remembers. Who cares? The important
thing is that he got saved and according to Brown is doing a lot of good for
the kingdom. People do not balk at this type of extra-biblical revelation. It
is because the people that Dr. Brown likes to support use this to then launch their
own lies about revelation they are receiving. So, the problem is not one guy in
India saying God spoke to him but rather 1000 false prophets in America claiming
God spoke to them and said Donald Trump was going to be reelected. It is people
like Joseph Prince, claiming God speaks to him every week to give him his
heretical sermons. It is replacing "God said in His word", with "God said to me,"
and me only. There is nothing God forgot to say in His word, that thousands of
years later He is revealing to the church through Benny Hinn, Jennifer LeClaire
or Dr. Michael Brown.
"For the cessationist, though, Yesupadam's conversion story is bogus, even if, somehow, he is truly saved today. That's because these cessationists do not believe that the Lord has appeared to anyone since New Testament times. (You may be shocked to hear this, but yes, that is their position.) Sadly, it is not only Yesupadam's conversion story that is bogus to the cessationist. Millions of other dramatic testimonies must also be questioned, including the countless Muslims to whom Jesus has appeared in dreams and visions, pointing them to the Scriptures. To give one case in point, one of the grads from our previous ministry school, who has been serving in Iraq for more than a decade, shared this with me firsthand. He met a Muslim woman to whom Jesus had appeared years earlier, telling her to get a Bible. But she had no access to a Bible and didn't know where to get one. Years went by, and then she met our missionary. She described to him what Jesus looked like, and he showed her an Arabic Bible, pointing to the description of the risen Christ in Revelation 1. To her absolute shock, that is exactly how she had described the Lord to our grad. Now, when she saw who He was in the Bible, her whole life was rocked.
Once again, the cessationist must protest. "God only speaks through the Bible! The days of dreams and visions have ceased."' - Dr. Michael Brown
Let us realize where this attack is coming from. Dr. Brown recently challenged anyone at the Cessationist Conference to publicly debate him and apparently, they told him to pound sand. I even wrote this week that they absolutely should say no, because the offer to debate is never genuine with Dr. Brown. He is issuing the challenge to promote himself and his brand and sharing the stage with him only allows him to leech the credibility off of others. Perhaps this could be allowed if Dr. Brown would denounce Steven Strang, Benny Hinn, Mike Bickle, Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, the entire gaggle of Charisma false prophets, Jennifer LeClaire, Todd White, Bill Johnson, Sid Roth and the other 10,000 false teachers he supports. Until then, he should be treated as every other false teacher since he is a willing gatekeeper of so many heresies sending so many people to hell. So, after he heard crickets to his challenge, now we get this article. The challenge was uber-cordial but geniality has apparently left the room. Now, he is trying to bait people into debating him by calling the people he was so nice to last week, pathetic. No Dr. Brown, your transparency is pathetic. The days of dreams and visions is not the issue. The issue is these days are filled with absurdly false dreams and wildly heretical visions. Jenny Weaver just called herself an apostle and told her followers to not evacuate Florida based on a fake word she said she HEARD from the Lord. Dr. Brown famously defended the ridiculously fake vision from Kevin Zadai about Jesus playing the saxophone standing at the end of his bed. So, spare me your pearl clutching Doc. The issue is not about a vision a random Muslim might have felt they received that led to conversion. It is the line of blather trafficked on the Sid Roth show that Dr. Brown openly supports. It is Bill Johnson, who Brown adores, swearing that angel feathers started falling around him in a diner. It is Jennfier LeClaire, who Brown defended on his radio, show claiming she can release the angels of abundant harvest but only if you buy her book of the same name! I could go on for weeks and all of this garbage, which shipwrecks people's faith, is openly embraced by Dr. Michael Brown.
