Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. -- 1John 5:1-3 (ESV)
The fall of Dr. Michael Brown has been both sad and precipitous. Brown is a likable fellow who has a deeper understand of theology than the vast majority of Christians. He also has a firm grasp on apologetics and understands ancient languages furthering his ability to properly handle the Word of God. He has written many books, some centered on the various errors he sees within the church today. Unfortunately, he has had three glaring and related problems, which he simply refuses to correct. The first is he has a terrible blind spot when it comes to Charismaniacal teaching. There is simply no wrong that can be done within these parameters. Holy Laughter? Move of God. Brownsville kundalini spirit outpouring? Move of God. Sure he writes books that may call out doctrine here or there but that leads us to error number two -- refusing to name names. It is actually worse than this for Brown because he refuses to name names not because he thinks it is unseemly but because he considers the wolves tearing the sheep apart to be brethren. The third area is a reflexive nature to defend the New Apostolic Reformation and the idol worship of this country. This third one is a topic for a different devotional however.
Instead we will focus on the first two. Dr. Brown once appeared on the Benny Hinn show for a week. He has been a regular on the Sid Roth supernatural heresy program as well as staunchly defended the likes of Bill Johnson, Jennifer "Sneaky Squid" Leclaire and Joseph Prince -- just to name a few! The last time I was on his radio program he admitted that he considers both Hinn and Johnson to be brothers in Christ! The first time I appeared on his show he said that Joseph Prince is a good brother in the Lord who has a powerful revelation of the grace of God but has some holes in his theology. No Dr. Brown, he is a voracious wolf who wishes to maul the sheep of the Lord. The sadly ironic thing is Dr. Brown has written a book on the hyper grace error that Joseph Prince teaches religiously. He understands what is wrong and why it is wrong yet refuses to call the chief wolf of hyper grace a false teacher! Today he has written another article regarding this heresy and instead of going line by line let us just look at his opening to see how deceived Dr. Brown is and how he is actively deceiving others:
"To be clear, there are many wonderful truths presented by hyper-grace teachers, who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are life-giving truths. Jesus-centered truths. Transformative truths. To each of these truths, I give my hearty "Amen." But these truths are mixed with dangerous, even deadly, errors." -- Dr. Michael Brown
For the uninformed, hyper-grace is a centuries old heresy known as antinomianism. This basically teaches that the modern Christian need not concern themselves with the moral law of God. All one needs to do is read the key verses to dispel such false teaching. Creflo Dollar once taught that believers need not bother with the Ten Commandments despite the key verses teaching us that it is the love of God that we keep the commandments. This belief system leads the teacher to all sorts of drastically unbiblical stances. Prince has taught that repent means only to consent to be loved. He has also taught that the flood was an act of love, not wrath because to Joseph Prince God is never upset with us. The Holy Spirit never convicts us of sin. Now, any heresy is dangerous because it leads people away from the truth that can set them free but these are especially insidious teachings that convince goats they are sheep and convinces sheep to sin.
So Dr. Brown is correct in calling out the teaching but he is a gatekeeper for the false teachers that espouse such garbage and inject it into the body of Christ. So to be clear -- there are no wonderful truths presented by wolves beloved. Can a hyper grace teacher teach something accurate? Of course they can! So do all false teachers but that does not make them any less false and dangerous. I never understood those that say to eat the meat and spit out the bones. If the bone is rotten I do not trust the meat. You also must realize that you may not choke this time but at some point you will not be able to discern what is meat and what is bone. This is the principle of the leaven spreading through the entire batch. Instead, find a teacher who will present to you the wonderful truths of the bible without any bones to choke you.
Hyper-grace wolves are NOT our brethren beloved. I have had enough of people coddling wolves while the blood of the saints is still in their jowls. Joseph Prince is not our brother in the Lord. If he were, he would stop lying about God talking to him directly and he would stop preaching absolute heresy. He taught that his followers are the last generation before the rapture. What he did to the story of Joseph and Benjamin in "The Benjamin Generation" is criminal. One of the worst sermons I have ever heard. He presents no life giving truths -- only life taking. When you preach a sinless, lawless gospel that requires no repentance all you can do is take lives out of the kingdom. These are not Jesus-centered truths! If they were they would agree with His word! No beloved, the center of Joseph Prince's hyper-grace teaching is YOU, not Jesus.
While not truths, the preaching of hyper grace can be transformative. Trying to talk to one of the followers of Joseph Prince is like speaking to a cult member. There is no rationalizing or using the bible to show how they have been misled. That is the primary transformation. From unsaved to falsely converted. Everything becomes sloppy agape love and if anyone has the temerity to try and help they are greeted with every bible verse that contains the word "grace" without truly understanding any of them. Goats are transformed into fake sheep and sheep are transformed into Joseph Prince acolytes. To all of this, Dr. Michael Brown gives a hearty amen.
Perhaps the most pathetic thing is the final sentence here. Dr. Brown knows these are dangerous errors and even deadly! He admits it right there! He knows that hyper-grace can kill you eternally. Yet it does not matter to him as much as keeping the peace with the wolves. He did the same thing when he went to meet Joseph Prince. He defense was littered with all the things he had in common with him. As if any of that truly mattered! The bible is clear about wolves beloved. We are to mark them so that none may fall prey to their attacks. We are to call them out by name according to Titus and the writings of the Apostle Paul. Peter assures us that their destruction is set. There is no witnessing to a wolf! There is a reason why they are called wolves! We are not talking about someone with a hole in their theology or preaching an issue inconsequential to salvation. This is a teaching so vile that it literally leads people straight to hell and the sad thing is Dr. Michael Brown knows it, admits it, and doesn't seem to care about it. Now he does not teach it and in fact will write books against it but his insistence that we all pet the wolves and that they are part of our family makes him just as dangerous. He is a gatekeeper for wolves. Stay far far away beloved.
Rev. Anthony.
