Ironically, right after I posted a devotional detailing the various strategies Dr. Michael Brown employes in response to his recent sensitivity about being called false, I came across a tweet where he feigns to be merely asking honest questions of discernment ministers. I say feigns because what he is clearly doing is trying to mock and marginalize his critics by asking self-serving questions that reveal how little he truly understands. I am unsure if he expected honest answers but I have nothing to hide after a decade of exposing false teaching. So, I am game.
"Some honest questions for those whose primary "ministry" is critiquing others:" - Dr. Michael Brown
I normally would not start with just the intro line but even here we see his disingenuousness. By placing ministry in quotes, he is signaling his followers that discernment is not really a ministry. I understand why since Dr. Brown relies on his followers not being able to discern. This also reveals that he is not an honest broker in this debate. He just doesn't like being called out for his nonsense. So, he lashes out while pretending to take the high road. The other sleight of hand he tries to pull off here is to twist the discernment of teaching into a personal attack. The ministry is not critiquing others but rather correcting false teaching. Why? Because false teaching leads people astray according to the bible and shipwrecks their faith. You see, while Dr. Brown is inevitably concerned with the lack of love shown towards the wolves, discernment ministers are solely focused on the sheep. So, when Bill Johnson teaches that you can actually teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit or that God is required to always heal us, I say the teaching is false and thus he is a false teacher. The critique is of the teaching. The calling out of the teacher is for the safety of the sheep. Dr. Brown wrote a fine book exposing the heresies of greasy grace but calls Joseph Prince a good brother in the Lord. That is not just an intellectual disconnect but a spiritual one too as now, people can get caught in the deception of Prince because Brown endorsed him. He thus renders his book, irrelevant.
"1) Who appointed you? Was it simply that you felt called by God, or do you have the support and backing of your local church leadership and/or denomination leadership?" - Dr. Michael Brown
Not falling into this obvious trap. In Dr. Brown's apostolic world, everyone must be under some headship but the heads determine on their own the hierarchy. So, for example, Jennifer LeClaire offers to take people under her leadership for hundreds of dollars in annual homage. She in turn, is under the false prophetic network of James Goll, who she pays. She is a false as a three-dollar bill but she is under "covering" as far as Dr. Brown is concerned. For the record, I was under an Assemblies of God church and pastor for ten years and my ministry efforts started when I was still there. I feel I helped my pastor see the folly of preaching carnal politics and he kept me grounded, which admittedly must have been challenging. It was only when people rose up against him and he was forced out that I eventually left instead of staying under the hireling that replaced him. As for accountability, I have an entire network of good brothers who have no qualms telling me if something is wrong or not handled rightly. I remain horribly infallible and have issued corrections when readers show me if I am in error. As for calling, I will assume that Dr. Brown knows full well we are all called by God. I did not start my ministry in discernment, He led me there. Every time I have considered leaving it, He has shown me why I cannot. People's lives are at stake Dr. Brown. That is not hyperbole. That is biblical fact.
"2) What's your own ministry experience? How long have you pastored or served on the mission field or engaged in itinerant ministry or taught in a ministry school or seminary?" - Dr. Michael Brown
