"To all the speakers at the G3 Cessationist Conference and to all those who appeared in the Cessationist movie, I want to give you a personal invitation. This is not a challenge, and this is not meant to be a provocation. Instead, this is a genuine, heartfelt invitation for the glory of God and the good of His people, an invitation to enter into a serious public dialogue about the cessationist-continuationist controversy. Will you please take a moment to read on?" - Dr. Michael Brown
As I pointed out, Dr. Brown always leads with perfectly sounding reasonableness. This aw-shucks routine is quite common for Brown. This is just a harmful little personal invitation! It is not a challenge or a provocation! Wink wink. It is heartfelt! Won't you please take a moment to read on? Ugh. Of course, he has to try and apply some good old fashioned Christian guilt to it. If you dismiss him out of hand, you of course would not be interested in exalting the glory of God and the good of His people, right? For the record, I do not agree with cessationism as the bible simply does not support it at all. One can hold that position however and openly acknowledge that the way the gifts are manifested in modern Charismania, which Brown vehemently defends, is equally wrong. One need only look at the evidence from Toronto, Pensacola (where Brown was a speaker) and Lakeland to see how false Charismania is. I understand why people gravitate to Cessationism and Dr. Brown is a driving force in that regard.
"Since 2013, I have offered to debate any of the speakers from the Strange Fire conference on a simple topic: According to the Scriptures, are the gifts of the Spirit - including tongues and prophecy and healing - normative for today? To date, none of the speakers responded to my invitation, although I subsequently had debates with Dr. Sam Waldron, Dr. Theodore Zachariades, and (in more limited form) with my friend and colleague Dr. James White." - Dr. Michael Brown
It is somewhat encouraging that many have resisted the ego-siren call to answer Brown's debate challenges. As for the limited scope of debate he is seeking, a word about the gifts he outlined. I understand why Brown would want to debate Cessationists because the bible is on his side when it comes to the gifts. That is not the proper debate to be had with Brown. The correct focus should be on how Charismania manifests those gifts. Tongues would be an interesting debate as the bible does not support the baby babble tongues that Dr. Brown supports. Private prayer language? Sure, but emphasis on the word private. I would show clips of Heidi Baker and ask Dr. Brown to defend "Shaba" being screamed over and over again. I would show the myriad of clips where false teachers randomly lapse into tongues in mid English sentence, for seemingly no reason and with no interpretation. When it comes to prophecy, I would review David Taylor prophesying the Broncos would win the Super Bowl and how they lost 44-8. I would review the myriad of Trump prophecies, which Brown has denounced while still supporting the false prophets who uttered them. I would ask, how can someone claim to hear from God but be wrong. Brown's position is the untenable notion that God somehow is only speaking to their hearts, but we already know their hearts are wickedly deceitful. There is no question that healing is for today, but I would show him clips of Benny Hinn knocking people over with his suit coat or the silly scenes from the Holy Ghost movies of healing people of random pain in the park at midnight instead of visiting cancer wards. Or the Todd White leg growing scam considering White is supported by Dr. Brown. In my opinion, debating IF the gifts are available today misses the boat and Brown knows it, which is why he only wants to focus on that angle.
"But for now, I want to offer an alternate proposal to any of the G3 speakers or to those who appeared in the movie: Let's sit down together one on one in a full-length, non-hurried, non-timed discussion where clarity and understanding is our goal. We will each lay out our positions in a private setting before video cameras, we will make sure we understand one another's positions, we will have opportunity to challenge one another's positions in a gracious way and to respond to those challenges. Then, we will post the video for free viewing on our respective social media platforms for everyone to watch and evaluate for themselves. Will you do it?" - Dr. Michael Brown
I sincerely hope the answer is no. Brown routinely debates in an unfair manner after promising puppies and rainbows. What he is trying to do is elevate his heretical beliefs by playing to the "we are all brothers" angle. Dr. Brown stands by his involvement at Brownsville and still swears that this demonic Kundalini spirit outpouring was a move of the Holy Spirit. He still stands by his weeklong stay on the Benny Hinn show. While he pays lip service to some of the errors Hinn traffics in, he refuses to call him false. Fifty million dollars fleeced? No problem! Absurd false prophecies never coming true? Hey, let him who is without sin cast that first stone! Knocking over swaths of people with his magical suit coat? Well, God used a donkey once! Brown is also an uber dominionist and refuses to stop working for Steven Strang, an even more uber dominionist. He stands by the false prophetic history of IHOP. He calls Ravi Zacharias a great holiness teacher. He defended the Jennifer LeClaire sneaky squid spirit. He affirmed the moronic Kevin Zadai Jesus at the foot of my bed playing a saxophone nonsense. He thinks Joseph Prince is a good brother in the Lord. He defends Bill Johnson ferociously. Why in the world would anyone want to debate that platform and loan it any credibility?
"My own view is that cessationism is either based on one's personal spiritual experiences or bad exegesis or faulty theological presuppositions (or all three). You, for your part, feel you have very strong and robust Scriptural arguments against my position. You would also question my interpretation of the Word, my theological presuppositions, and my own spiritual experiences. Fair enough! That's why we need to have this discussion: the Body of Christ deserves it. We will not debate contemporary miracles. We will not debate contemporary abuses. We will simply discuss one question: What does the Bible say?" - Dr. Michael Brown
We will not debate contemporary abuses? Wow. Hmm, why not I wonder? Could it be because he knows that is where he loses any rational discussion? This is supposed to be a discussion about the gifts in operation today but the topic of contemporary abuses of those gifts is forbidden? That is how you know this is a scam offer. What the body of Christ deserves is false teachers to be exposed. It deserves the truth, not a pseudo-intellectual display of narcissism disguised as a "healthy debate." This is designed purposefully by Brown the way he likes it. To talk tangentially about topics instead of people. This way he can wax eloquently about how much he agrees with you about hyper grace but say that he is not ready to consign Joseph Prince to hell. Brown recently did an event with Todd White! Yes, that Todd White! Under the bovine excrement rules he is setting up here, there can be no discussion about Todd White going to a Korn concert and doing the fake leg growing grift. Do not fall for this. It is designed to prop up Brown's brand and avoid the one thing that is anathema to him, the truth about the people and movement he supports.
