False Preacher: Rodney Howard Browne

How would you like to attend a revival or church service with constant laughing? Then look to Rodney Howard Browne or those who support his ideas.

Rodney Howard Browne calls himself the “Holy Ghost Bartender”. His mission was to get people drunk and laughing in the spirit and he called it Holy Laughter. But is this so called spirit really from God? You’ll see that this so called Holy Laughter is demonic and not of God from what I see.

Remember what John wrote in John 1:41 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

The Holy Laughter phenomenon was mainly popular during the ‘90s and it got started at the Toronto Blessing in 1994. It got started by Browne at a small church near Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada. Then it got popular and spread to other churches and other pastors claimed it was a new movement of God.

But what about remembering this verse when we see somebody deciding to bring something new into the church?

“But the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1 MKJV).

Some videos on holy laughter:

Here’s Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland getting involved. [link] At the 1:30 mark, Hagin’s laugh sounds pretty creepy. And how did he make everyone fall over? I’ll admit that red-haired girls laugh towards the end of the video sounds funny though and almost makes me want to laugh along.

Only a few people laughing here. I wonder why? And the preacher is preaching as the laughter goes on. [link]

Rodney Howard Browne helping people laugh: [link]

Rodney Howard Browne slaying people in the spirit and also making them laugh. And notice the song playing in the background about having God’s “new wine”. [link]

Browne helping Oral Roberts into Holy Laughter: [link]

A skeptical pastor tries Holy Laughter for himself, and struggles to say it while everyone else is laughing…: [link]

What David Wilkerson has to say about Holy Laughter: [link]

I believe that’s what I am seeing in Holy Laughter. A spirit not of God.

When I see and hear Holy Laughter, it makes me uncomfortable. The way the people laugh even sounds evil and demonic. Oftentimes, the laughter sounds like it comes from monkeys, hyenas and other kinds of animals. Sometimes they fall over, lay on the floor and say they got drunk in the spirit. Sometimes the laughter sounds like it’s from an evil villain you might see on tv, laughing over his evil plans to take over the world. The laughter doesn’t sound like natural laughter. And it’s followers claim that this is what the people did on Pentecost in Acts 2 because they appeared to be drunk to observers. No mention of laughing is there, no mention of falling onto the floor either, being “slain in the spirit” and the only behavior that makes the believers look drunk appears to be speaking in tongues.

Holy Laughter followers use Acts 2:4, 7-8, 11-15 to defend themselves. I think when speaking in tongues, shouldn’t it be a language that people on earth use? Since in Acts 2:6, the foreigners heard their own languages spoken by the worshipers who had no knowledge of other languages? And also, what is the point of Holy Laughter anyways? How does it glorify God when preaching and teaching are replaced by constant laughing?

The Holy Laughter followers seem to have forgotten these verses:

“Ephesians 5:18-20 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Notice it doesn’t say “Be drunk in the spirit.”

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

In other words, be of a mind that doesn’t make you act or look like a drunk.

Galatians 5:22, 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Right there clearly in verse 23: Self Control!!! I don’t see that in Holy Laughter, especially when I see people laughing uncontrollably, falling on the floor, acting like animals, spasms and more.

When I watch the videos on youtube, at times I get tempted to laugh along with the people. Is that an evil sprit getting into me? Probably not since those were recordings and I wasn’t there. Or maybe I am just laughing at the people for how funny they sound. Or maybe it’s that laughter is contagious. But I really shouldn’t be laughing because those people have no idea what they are under.

I believe the Holy Spirit can make you act in ways that give glory to God, that give joy to Him, such as when David danced before God in 2 Samuel 16:14. and during Pentecost in Acts 2, where there was speaking of tongues.

Holy Laughter appears to have similarities to practices done in certain eastern religions and cults. Such as in Kundalini, which is a practice done in Hinduism. Check this video and notice the similarities between what the followers of Kundalini go through and what our own church revivals do. [link]

It’s almost as though Rodney Howard Browne and other revivalists have stolen the techniques used in Kundalini to trick or hypnotize their followers into believing that what they see is the Holy Spirit.

Rodney Howard Browne has said some pretty awful things too.

"Either You come down here and touch me, or I will come up there and touch You" (The prayer Howard-Browne prayed before he got the supposed "anointing") (Holy Laughter, Albert James Dager, 1996)

Wow. Ordering God around and threatening Him? Must be a miracle that Browne is still alive today.

"Take another drink...the bar is open....Be filled! We loose the power! Have another drink!" (Rodney Howard-Browne, Charisma, August 1994, pg. 24).

No thanks….I’ll stick with a nice strawberry-banana smoothie, thanks. I don’t want any of your demonic Holy Laughter drink. Better yet, I rather drink from the well Jesus described in John 4, so I would never get thirsty again.

“I am drunk, I am drunk. Every day of my life I am drunk. I've been drinking down at Joel's place every night and every day. I am drunk on the new wine." Then he asked us all to lift our hands and "let that river of joy come out of your belly." ("An Evening with Rodney Howard-Browne" (from the Newswatch column of the Christian Research Journal, Winter 1995, page 43) by Julia Duin)

Joel’s place! That looks like fun! Where I can act drunk and laugh it up! Even though that’s not what Joel 2:28 and 29 meant. Supporters of Holy Laughter refer to those verses, taking the “pouring” out of context when God meant that the Holy Spirit would be put on people. “Pouring” was used as a metaphor, not as an excuse to be “drunk” in the Holy Spirit.

"You really cannot understand what God is doing in these meetings with an analytical mind," he said. "It's not a move of man, it's a move of God. The mind is never going to understand what God's doing....The only way you're going to understand what God's doing is with your heart." ("An Evening with Rodney Howard-Browne" (from the Newswatch column of the Christian Research Journal, Winter 1995, page 43, by Julia Duin) and (Holy Laughter, Albert James Dager, 1996)

Yet, Jeremiah 17:9 reads: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

"You can't have revival without stirring up the flesh....When revival comes you will see manifestations of these three things in meetings: (1) the Holy Spirit; (2) the flesh, and (3) the devil. But, I'd rather be in a church where the devil and the flesh are manifesting than in a church where nothing is happening because people are too afraid to manifest anything...Don't worry about it. And if a devil manifests, don't worry about that, either. Rejoice, because at least something is happening!" (Rodney Howard-Browne, Charisma, August 1994, pg. 24).

Yeah…people laughing nonstop at church over nothing. I guess that must mean something is happening. Even though the devil is involved, it’s okay! Because at least the Holy Laughter is going on, right? Ugh, how did he get away with saying that?

“One night I was preaching on hell,' Howard-Browne says, 'and [laughter] just hit the whole place. The more I told people what hell was like, the more they laughed'" (Rodney Howard-Browne, Charisma, August 1994, pg. 24).

Yeah, because Hell is SO funny! Knowing that’s where people will end up who don’t receive Jesus must be really funny to everyone at Browne’s revivals. And maybe it's really funny to Browne also.

Hope you enjoyed reading and look forward to the next false teacher.