There’s a reason you need to know Rodney Howard Browne. That reason will be made known soon. In the meantime, we bring you this short expose’ on Browne so that you can be apprised of this dangerous enemy of Christ.
Brown is the pastor of The River at Tampa Bay and is head of a parachurch ministry called revival Ministries International. He is from South Africa, came to the United States in 1987, and currently lives in Florida. Browne received notoriety in 1999 when revivals he was hosting in upstate New York spread to Canada. He was involved in the Lakeland Revival and the Toronto Blessing. Browne is best known as the “Holy Spirit Bartender” because the manifestations of demonic power that emanate from his services causes the congregation – and Browne himself – to appear drunken. Also associated with Browne are fits of “Holy Ghost laughter,” in which people laugh uncontrollably. Although the laughter and drunkenness manifestation did not begin with Browne (Hagin also engaged in such chicanery), it is the most prominent feature of his ministry. First, a video from the proto-laughing-drunk, Kenneth Hagin.
Browne’s Holy Ghost laughing fits are seen below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXJ2hxbNCa4
Browne’s causing of people to go into a drunken stupor can be seen in the video below.
Phil Johnson explains the errors of Rodney Howard Browne’s theology at the Grace to You site…
Rodney Howard-Browne, self-styled “Holy Ghost Bartender,” has taken notice of the Strange Fire conference sponsored by Grace to You (October 16-18, 2013). He seems unnerved by the prospect that twenty-first-century charismatic phenomena are going to be examined in light of Scripture. Howard-Browne’s trademark giddiness has gone missing. Recently, he wrote this stream-of-consciousness rant on his Facebook page:
There is coming a massive attack on the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement by a group of individuals that don’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit today – these men do not believe in speaking in tongues or the gifts of the spirit – they think that because of excesses in the church that they have a right to write off the fastest growing sector of Christianity – over 800 million in the earth today – that would be as bad as writing Jesus off because of one of the 12 was Judas Iscariot – if these individuals just adopted Gamaliel’s advice of Acts 5:38-39that would be fine however they have no fear of God and are in grave danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost – they think that because the movement has had scandals that have been publicised that this gives them leeway to do what they are doing – however the only reason why it gets the attention is because these individuals are on TV – everywhere I travel I hear of scandals outside of the Pentecostal charismatic realm but these are never publicised because no one knows them – they are calling their exposé strange fire however you better have the alternative if you are going to criticise something as counterfeit you have to produce the real – or else you had better shut up! The only ones who have the right to bring correction are the ones inside the camp not outside!
All the standard charismatic arguments are summarized there: He says critics of modern charismatic claims are unspiritual people motivated only by rank unbelief. He insists the weight of sheer numbers validates the modern charismatic movement (yet the high percentage of scandalous frauds, philanderers, and false teachers spawned by the movement means nothing). He emphatically declares that those outside the movement are not entitled to criticize charismatic abuses. And of course, he includes the killer argument: The critics are people who “have no fear of God and are in grave danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost.”
In reality, those who tout false prophecies, obscene bodily gyrations, and drunken behavior as gifts of the Holy Spirit are the ones blaspheming Him. In fact, no one is more notorious for that than Rodney Howard-Browne himself. For him to decry blasphemy and pretend to know anything about the fear of God is the very height of arrogant irony.
We will definitely, definitely hear more about Rodney Howard Browne in the next few days. Stay posted.
