"Of course, the Bible itself speaks against that viewpoint categorically, telling us that the Spirit will speak through prophecy, dreams and visions during the entire period of the last days, meaning from the death and resurrection of Jesus until His return (Acts 2:14-21, 39). And Jesus Himself told us that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27; these verbs are present tense and active in the Greek), while Paul wrote of the fellowship we enjoy with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). The truth be told, in the time it has taken me to write this article, the Lord has been speaking to His people, leading His people, healing His people, delivering His people and making Himself known to the lost in innumerable ways. It is a real cause for rejoicing.
For the cessationist, though, this is not a reason to rejoice. Instead, it is a sign of deception, a proof that Satan, not the Spirit, is at work"unless they simply write everything off as make-believe or the product of emotionalism." - Dr. Michael Brown
Brown is right that the Prophet Joel did say that these things will happen in the last days. This does not mean however that we are to blindly accept anything some idiot says about what he claims God told him or showed him. There is no discernment with Dr. Brown. If someone says they got something from God? That is good enough for him. He says, who am I to say differently. That is exactly what he said to Chris Rosebrough regarding Jennifer LeClaire claiming a "sneaky squid spirit was stalking her." Anyone with a sliver of discernment knows that there are no sneaky squid spirits and Jesus does not appear in a vision to play the saxophone. These things are akin to Kat Kerr without the goofy pink hair. The verse from John however, which is the key verse above, has NOTHING to do with the literal hearing of God's voice. It has to do with the gospel. The true sheep of the Lord know His word, His voice. David said he would hide it in his heart that he might not sin against him. It also works the other way. Discernment is also knowing what does not line up with the word of the Lord, or His voice. So, when Dr. Brown has events with Todd White, we can discern that White, who is an egregiously false teacher, does not receive any revelation from God. By default, Dr. Brown shows less discernment than even that. It is certainly true that God is always working, healing, delivering and making Himself known. No one I know is disputing that. Healing however, is not waving a magic suit coat at people and watching fall down in droves, like Benny Hinn does. Brown has called Hinn a good brother in the Lord by the way. Deliverance is not Isaiah Saldivar and the fake demon slayers teaching that born again people can be demon possessed. God is not making Himself known to Jenny Weaver so she can scam her flock out of three million plus per year through her "core" grift. These are all deception, not merely signs of it. Brown is making a disingenuous argument by conflating things like the converted Indian and Muslim with utter buffoons and charlatans that he supports and pretending they are the same thing. Makes me think about the unequal weights and measures Brown always complains about. The spirit is definitely at work beloved but not through liars, cheaters, and grifters, oh my.
"Today's hardline cessationist will not even allow for the Holy Spirit to bring a word of comfort to a mourner, unless it is a direct quotation from the Bible. Some even say that we don't experience God in worship or feel the Spirit, since God is omnipresent and anything we feel comes from our emotions. From a biblical viewpoint, cessationism is completely indefensible. I'm as sure of that as I am of the nose on my face"and it is a conspicuous nose. Experientially, as the Spirit continues to move powerfully all over the earth, the cessationist viewpoint is becoming harder and harder to defend. Simply pointing to charismatic extremes and errors will not stem the tide of the real, glorious moving of the Spirit. By God's grace, this tide will flood the lives of our cessationist friends too!" - Dr. Michael Brown
Cessationism is indefensible but so is Charismania. Therein lies the rub. I am unsure what Brown is referencing here but I would not want someone to fake a word from God even if the person is mourning. Especially considering the word of God should be MORE comforting. Why is the default always something extra-biblical? Is what God has already said for those who are suffering or mourning somehow insufficient? We certainly experience God and the Spirit in worship but not this droning repetitive nonsense that passes for worship today. The issue is not the music but the false doctrine being presented. Singing I am a friend of God does not actually make you a friend of God, to quote a pastor friend. Pointing out the extremes and errors of Charismania will hopefully stem the tide of the evil spirits being sold. It is quite telling that Dr. Brown embraces even these extremes and errors as he is saying, too bad - hopefully this tide will flood all of our lives. I pray not because drowning in a cesspool of lies is how we end up standing before Christ saying, "Lord Lord."
"That's why I was not surprised when a caller to my show expressed his shock at the doctrine of cessationism. He was an African Christian newly located to the States. He had no idea that any Christians denied the continuation of the miraculous gifts for today! That's also why I plan to write a book to be released in 2026 on the end of cessationism. The doctrine cannot be argued biblically, and soon enough, God willing, it will be a forgotten theological relic of the past.
Thank God for the outpouring of the Spirit!" - Dr. Michael Brown
The unbridled arrogance. He did not get his way with the debate so he lashed out and called his opponents pathetic. Now he is writing a book declaring their beliefs are dead. Unreal. It does not surprise me that someone raised in Charismania in Africa, which we exported there, might be just as deceived as Brown. We sent them the prosperity gospel, word faith and false signs and lying wonders and they ate it up, along with eating the grass as one famous African preacher made his sheep do. It is of little wonder that now so many of the richest pastors in the world come from the poorest continent. Beloved, Cessationism is not biblically supported. That does not make Charismania any more correct. It is equally unsupported. They are two extremes. One says there are no gifts and the other accepts the word of any two-bit hustler that their gifts are real. The reason why faith healers do not spend their days in cancer wards is the same reason psychics do not win the lottery. What is really despicable here is that Brown gives the game away. He issued the challenge for the debate with Cessationists when he clearly had already decided to write a book declaring Cessationism dead. Hmm, then why issue the challenge? Clearly it was not for the pure Kumbaya motives he pretended to have. Clearly it was so he could try and set his opponents up and use those debates as filler for his book scheme. When they declined, he then wrote this ridiculous article to call them pathetic, so he could eventually sell more books. He is picking a fight to drub up sales. He is doing so however by leveraging stories of people he claims are friends and butchering scripture. Dr. Michael Brown stands with the most insanely false teachers alive today. He works for Steven Strang, an obvious political operative and faux-Christian. He was buddy-buddy with the likes of Mike Bickle, Ravi Zacharias and Robert Morris. What are we really arguing about here? Guy says Jesus was playing the saxophone at the foot of his bed? Yeah, no problem! Sneaky squid spirits, marine demons and werewolves, all of which are promoted by Charisma News - hey - God used a donkey once! Fake schools of the supernatural where they literally teach people how to falsely manifest the gifts? You can't say anything because I know better because I have taught there! Bill Johnson, Benny Hinn and Jospeh Prince? Good brothers in the Lord. If you dare however to suggest relying on scripture instead of wild and unconfirmable personal experience he will write a book about you. There is a word I am searching to describe that"oh yeah, pathetic.
