The video discussed in the sermon transcript is about the Toronto blessing, a phenomenon that attracted people from all over the world to attend services at the Toronto airport vineyard. The Toronto blessing is characterized by the experience of Holy Laughter, where people laugh uncontrollably. The speaker compares this phenomenon to the preaching of the word of God, stating that in the Toronto blessing, people become dumb and unable to speak or preach, while in the preaching of the word, women and children boldly declare the works of God. The speaker also mentions a book that highlights the differences between the Toronto blessing and the revival in the 1800s, emphasizing the strange and unusual behaviors associated with the Toronto blessing.

Peter, for the welcome, I feel very much at home with you and thank you indeed. I hope you're trying to fit in my lingo. I'm a Welshman, don't hold that against me. Actually, I came to New Zealand when I was just 12 years of age, but then went back to England when I was 21, only intending to stay there for a short period, but I ended up staying there 18 years. And then, with my family, went back to Australia in 1978. And we've been back over here in New Zealand now for three years. Well, that's enough about me. But it really is a joy to be with you and to talk on this topic tonight. It is something that is gripping the imagination and the thought and attention of many Christians in many situations, and I have no doubt that it will influence those who are in the Brethren assemblies, if not directly, because of your good Bible faith, certainly through relatives and friends and so on. And so it is good to have some information. And so I'm happy to come along and share with you tonight. Just a little bit about the material which Peter mentioned. I've got some videos, which I presume are the videos that are circulating in the assembly, by a man who is a Baptist minister in England called Alan Morrison. And we're making those available to our ministry, which is called Christian Witness Ministry. And they're going very, very well at the moment. Lots of people are ordering them. We also have a couple of audios by the same gentleman. The audios sell at $10. There's two audios, $10, put out by a charismatic group who have expressed concern about what the hill. And he got together a lot of leaders from the charismatic circles who were concerned about it. And so you get it from the perspective from both sides. Taken there by yours truly. Well, I've titled my topic tonight, the subject of discussion, the Toronto Deception. And I thought perhaps in our introduction we might look at three considerations. First of all, the actual term. I was debating in my mind how to tackle this and what to call it, whether to call it, as some do, the Toronto Blessing, or refer to it as the so-called Toronto Blessing, or as some of you have said, the Toronto Curse, or the Toronto Blasting, or whatever. But then eventually I settled on this term, the Toronto Deception. Certainly we can't call it Toronto Revival, which some are generally trying to call it, because it's not reviving anything. The word revival means to make, to live again. And of necessity, therefore, if it's a revival, it must be something that has preceded. Yet with this Toronto thing, it's not something which has preceded in a general sense. In other words, there's no precedence for it in history. Now, with regard to our own group here tonight, the Brethren Movement, when it was formed in 1830, or thereabouts, mainly by J. N. Darby, he was the person who brought it into prominence, at least, although there were people who were using the name in Ireland and various other places before he came on the scene. But he certainly, as you know, and you probably know the history better than I do, popularised the movement, which became known as the Plymouth Brethren, and eventually the name Open Brethren, which I presume is to be related to. There are precedence for what happened there, because it was a Bible movement. And there have been many revivals throughout history which have grown out of a return to the word of God. In fact, in scripture, we read of how Ezra read the word of God to the people in Nehemiah's day, and he read it for a quarter of each day. So before they went to work, he got up on a platform, and he stood there, and everybody stood. That's a good idea, you know, we preachers tend to stand when the people sit. When the Lord Jesus taught, he sat, and the people stood. It's a good idea, because you can't go to sleep easily if you stand like this. If you do go to sleep, you certainly know about it. But Ezra stood, and they all stood for a quarter of the day, and they read the word of the Lord. And it had an incredible impact. There was a revival which came. We read also how in the days of Hilkiah the high priest, in 2 Kings chapter 22, and verse 8, how Hilkiah the high priest found the law of the Lord, and he delivered it to King Josiah. And Josiah, when he read the word, he was grieved in his heart that the people of God had drifted away from the principles of Scripture. And there was a revival as a result of the rediscovery of the word of the Lord. And so it has been with most of the major generally referred to revivals. I'm a Welshman, and we talk about the revival in Wales, which was a fairly short-lived event, but it impacted the world. The revival of 1904 to 1906, and so much developed out of that. But all of these historic revivals are related to the Scripture, or some genuine movement of God which can be identified with Scripture, in spite of the Pentecostal extremes which we would acknowledge. And I, having been among it for many years, would readily acknowledge that there have been extremes. And yet with the early Pentecostals, there was certainly a biblical base, and they endeavoured always to relate. Now gradually, with the charismatic movement, that has not been the case. And if you read this little booklet which we're offering, The Charismatic Crossroads, you'll find that Clifford Hill here and the group, they actually got together and they repented before the Lord for allowing all sorts of non-biblical innovations to come into the charismatic movement. And I'm aware of the fact right now, a good friend of mine in England, who very much speaks out about the false things that are coming in, and Clifford Hill and one or two others, have even met to consider the possibility of redirecting and re-establishing what has been known as the charismatic movement. Well, whatever happened out of that, I don't know. But I simply say that to say this, that in its inception, there certainly was a biblical base, and then perhaps a movement away from that. But this is not so with regard to this Toronto thing. There is no precedent in history in any general sense for the so-called Holy Laughter. And so we cannot give it the name Revival. Nor do I think we can give it the name Blessing, which is what some people call it, the Toronto Blessing. Look with me for a moment to Matthew 7, will you? And in verses 15 to 20, Jesus talks about roots and fruits. But as a run-in, let's have a look at verse 7, we'll read in from verse 7 down to verse 20. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. For what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophet. Enter by the straight gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. Generally we take that and apply it in a gospel sense. And I think we can quite legitimately apply it in the gospel sense. But look at the context in which it is set. It is set in the context of false teachers and false prophets. Let's read on. Verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from sickles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Now generally people say, or the people who support the Toronto thing, say, look this must be alright, look at the fruits. And they point to people whose lives seem to have been blessed, people who have had this so-called holy laughter, who have come into some type of release and are much happier, and certain people who have, they say, come to know the Lord as a result. And so they say, look at the fruit. Now there are several things about fruit. First of all, we must remember that fruit is not immediate. Both nature and history demonstrate that it takes a time for fruit to come. So, it's a bit early yet to even talk in terms of the fruit in that sense. It's not what happens immediately, but it's what happens down the line that counts. That's the first thing. The second thing is this, that Jesus didn't talk about fruit in that way. He talked about it in the reverse way. He took us to the root, and said, if the root is bad, the fruit. We tend to look at the fruit and say, OK, the root. But Jesus didn't do that. He went to the root, and he said, analyse the root, because if the root is wrong, the fruit will be wrong also. Now that is very, very important. So, the fruit is the product of the root. But if we can analyse the root and determine the nature of it, we can make a fairly good conclusion as to what the fruit is going to be like. If the tree is bad, the fruit is going to be bad also. That is what Jesus taught. Now, back in this chapter, he also spoke about asking of God. And he said, look, this is the example he gave. He said, if you are a father, and somebody comes to you, your son comes to you and asks for a good thing, will you give him a bad thing? And Jesus said, of course not. If your son or your daughter asks for something good from you, you're not going to give something bad. The parallel passage is very, very illuminating. It's Luke chapter 11, verses 9 to 13. Let's have a look at that for a moment. Luke 11, verses 9 to 13. And I say, if you ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father, and now he doesn't talk just about good things, but he says, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Now the general interpretation of that is this. If we come to God the Father, and we ask for the Holy Spirit, we're not going to end up with a false spirit. But just a minute, is that what Jesus is really saying? Or is He rather saying this? Here is a test. If you end up with a serpent, and you've asked for an egg, who's given it to you? In other words, He is saying, if you end up with something wrong, it's not come from your heavenly Father. So it becomes a test of what we end up with, rather than a guarantee that we're going to get that which is right when we simply ask. Now I believe that we're living in a day of great deception. The New Testament has predicted it. We should not be taken by surprise. There are many, many passages which we'll look at in a moment, in the Scriptures, which tell us about the deception of the last days. And there's not just the Holy Spirit who is around. There are all sorts of wrong spirits around. And particularly so, in the day in which we live, when we are being invaded by the teaching of the New Age, when philosophy and psychology have come into the Church to such an extent, that now, largely speaking, in many, many churches, notably Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, the Gospel which is preached is not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is a Gospel of psychology and philosophy and all sorts of other things. Into that situation there comes all sorts of false spirits. And so, even there, where people who maybe their lives are not right, they haven't been directed to the cross, they haven't had cleansing, they haven't had a real encounter with God to change their lives, they haven't gone through the process of repentance, and they come into a situation where they're asking for the Holy Spirit. It is quite easy for them to end up with a wrong spirit. And this is what Jesus is saying, basically. He says, if you get a serpent, know this, it's not come from God the Father. It's come from another one. In regard to the Toronto blessing, I'll give you some illustrations of the so-called Toronto blessing, which I've called the Toronto Deception. I received a letter only a few days ago from a lady in Australia who told me that a young lady had gone to one of these meetings and she had been elevated in the meeting and she ended up on her head, she landed on her head and was concussed. She ended up with a serpent, didn't she? Where did she get that from? What Jesus said, she didn't get that from the Heavenly Father. There are all sorts of things that are emerging and basically the Lord is giving us a test and He's saying if you may, was that at one time He taught that the Holy Spirit was a gentleman and that He would not in fact impose Himself upon anyone or do anything that would cause embarrassment and He said, I want to tell you that that is absolute heresy. He said, I have repented of my teaching about that and He said, I want to tell you that the Holy Spirit will do just what He wants and then He went on to recount how that while He was preaching on one occasion He was transfigured. In this position He said for 15 minutes and He didn't move and He wasn't aware of the fact that He was in that position. Now of course in my opinion He was simply mesmerized that's all but He tried to say that that came from the Holy Spirit. He also said that in this one particular meeting He was picked up and He was thrown to the back of the platform. Now that man has got hold of a serpent and Jesus said if you get hold of a serpent you can be assured that it hasn't come from the Holy Father from the Father from our Father Heavenly Father. To be thrown across the room to be roaring like lions growling like bears barking like dogs is not from the Heavenly Father it's not from our Father. Now that's what Jesus is teaching basically in Luke chapter 11 verses 9 to 13. So back to this business of roots and fruit. What we have to do with any new movement is to look at the root. Basically what the people are saying in the so called Toronto Blessing is that you have to leave your mind behind. This person this creature his name is David Cartley he is actually a member of the Assemblies of God in Australia he is now going around the world promoting and he basically says that he has renounced so much of his teaching and is changing the course of his teaching. But the thing that flows on from the root is what we will ultimately see not the immediate but the ultimate. We will see individuals who will be blessed but they are not blessed because of Toronto nor are they blessed because of a preacher by the name of Rodney Howard Brown or anybody else. They are blessed because God is a God of blessing. They are blessed from the root. If they are genuinely blessed the blessing flows from God. He is the root the source of all blessing. That does not authenticate the movement nor does it authenticate the ministry. To authenticate the movement and the ministry if we are going to be biblical we have to go to the scriptures and Isaiah chapter 8 verse 26 I think it is particularly says to the law and the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no truth in them. So you don't look at the fringe sort of little blessings. If God will bless sometimes because of and sometimes in spite of but that does not authenticate the movement. That is very very important for us to know. So I couldn't call it tonight the Toronto blessing. I didn't feel I could call it the Toronto revival. I didn't feel I could call it the Toronto blessing. So I call it the Toronto deception. And now here I want you to look with me 2 Thessalonians please chapter 2 It is a key passage of scripture in the day in which we live. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Now brethren that is a good start isn't it? Now brethren concerning the coming it is the Greek word parousia concerning the coming. The same word appears in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 15 where it says For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming. Again it is this word parousia and it really means the arrival and constant presence. So we might put in there those who remain until the arrival and the coming of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 of the same book 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming the coming the parousia the arrival and constant presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 23 is another illuminating verse. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 23 By each one of us in his own order. Going back to verse 20 we have this great statement about the resurrection but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all died even so in Christ all shall be made alive but each one in his own order Christ the first fruit afterwards those who are Christ at his coming at his perusia at his appearing and consequent presence. Now just to get a bit of an indication of where this how this applies even in natural life have a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 6 it says there nevertheless God who comforts the downcast and comforted us by the coming again it's the same word perusia by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming again the word perusia his arrival and his subsequent presence. So Paul is saying okay this man Titus he arrived and he was with me and he comforted me and supported me. He uses the same idea with regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have a parallel statement concerning another person in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 10 where it talks about Paul himself where he is alluding to the fact that some people in Corinth despise him and they are saying in effect they say for his letters they say are wasting and powerful but his bodily presence his arrival and subsequent presence his bodily coming same word perusia is weak and his speech contemptible. So we understand what Paul is talking about when he speaks about the coming of the Lord Jesus. It is something quite physical and it is something which is ongoing. So he says now brethren concerning the coming that is the appearing and subsequent presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not with us now but he will appear and he will be with us. That is what he is talking about. He is talking about the second coming obviously the return of the Lord Jesus. Now brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. The old King James says as though the day of Christ were at hand and it probably misleads us somewhat but basically what they were saying was Christ has come it has already passed. There was a teaching that has invaded the church and Paul is dealing with that and he says now don't be confused by this either as if it has come from us directly or from some spirit or even some letter from us. This is not true. This is not true that the day of Christ has come. Let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come and now here is another very important Greek word. We talked about the first one erousia which conveys the idea of his coming and his consequent presence with us. Now there is this other word that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. It's the word apostasia from which we get the term apostasy and here is one referred to as the great apostasy. Incidentally that word appears only twice in the New Testament here and again in Acts chapter 21 verse 21 where it refers to the apostasy from Moses in the teaching of the law. So basically here Paul said is a sign. He talks first of all in verse one of the setting. The setting is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the erousia but then he gives a sign. The sign is the apostasy the falling away the great falling away and he said Christ will not come until there comes a great falling away. Now when Jesus talks about faith you remember he used an amazing little illustration of a woman who was very persistent and he said that this woman wanted to be avenged of her enemy and she couldn't get any attention from the judge and so basically what she did she said to herself I won't let this fellow have any rest. I'll trouble him night and day. I'll knock on his door. Whenever he comes out in the street I'll wrang him I'll grab him by his coat that's the picture and I'll say listen avenge me of my enemy do something and Jesus said though the judge didn't hear God or men he was fed up with this woman he said this woman is going to plague me to death so I will avenge her swiftly so I'll get this matter out of my hair and then Jesus said will not God also respond to those who are equally determined and that is the picture God is not an unjust judge of course he is a just judge but he wants us to prevail that's the picture a woman who prevails who is determined then at the end of that parable that story Jesus said this nevertheless when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth and in actual fact probably in the literal rendering it should be translated will he find this kind of faith on the earth faith which is determined faith which prevails faith which persists faith which never gives up they say that one of the most famous speeches went to a group of boys at a school where he trained and they got the famous prime minister down to make his speech he stood up and he said boys never never never never never never never never never give up and he sat there and they said it was one of the speeches that he made which had one of the greatest impacts of such a lesson for us priests yeah but this is what Jesus is talking about and this is the same picture here where Paul talks about the falling away that is people who do not persist in their faith now sadly today we are putting our faith in all sorts of people we have created superstars in the church particularly I remember when that film came out first I was preaching in New York actually Britain and Jesus Christ superstar was all the rage I remember distinctly standing there Jesus Christ never came to be a superstar Jesus Christ never intended to be a superstar but generally speaking in the church we have tried to turn him into a superstar and what we have tended to do is make a hero of him Jesus would not be made a hero of in this life when a very religious man came to him and said hey we know who you are nobody can do the things that you do except God be with him Jesus said I am not interested in what you have got to say I really am not he said unless you are born again you will not even see the kingdom of God and there are a lot of people today they do it for a quarter of an hour in some places when they engage in their so called praise and worship saying nice things about unless they have had a radical change in their lives it does not mean anything unless they have been born again and you can see how the drift comes in we turn Jesus into a superstar then we turn his minister into superstar but this is what then prepares the way for the ultimate superstar which is presented here unless the apostasy comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet you see I believe that Bible prophecy has several fulfillments there is an immediate fulfillment there is often a subsequent fulfillment there is frequently an ongoing fulfillment and very often there is an ultimate fulfillment Daniel talks about the abomination of desolation the abomination which makes desolate and when Antiochus Epiphanes the great Greek criticator came along and desecrated the Jewish temple and so despised the Jewish religion that he actually took a pig and offered it on the altar they called it the abomination of desolation they thought that was the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy but Jesus comes along and he said when you see the abomination of desolation standing where you are and then of course in the year AD 17 when the Roman captain Titus who became ultimately one of the Caesars when he destroyed Jerusalem and pulled the temple down and actually razed it to the ground stone by stone because of the beautiful jewels and ornate gold and silver that was interlaced in that beautiful stonework of Solomon's temple a temple that was built a beautiful construction they pulled it down stone by stone and fulfilled the words of the Lord Caesar and what he did was then set up the inside of the temple said this is the abomination but there is yet a future when a man will appear who will purport to be Christ and many will go after him including so-called Christians who will be deceived and he will set himself up in the temple setting himself up to be worshipped as God do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things before and now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time and there is a lot of discussion about what it is that is restraining whether it is the Holy Spirit or the presence of the church and the whole doctrine of the rapture and all that which we can't go into for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work my oh my isn't that true in our day and isn't it a mystery you know you know it's the mystery of iniquity the mystery of ultimate failure that's what it is and yet people will go down that path even though they know it will destroy them you think of you know the sexual promiscuity which has invaded the world and as a result of it with the sicknesses the AIDS epidemic and all of it and yet with all of that hanging over people people still will do it the mystery of lawlessness thank God there is another mystery which Paul talks about that he calls it the mystery of godliness and the world looks on and they can't understand this great mystery that works among us and it's the two forces that are vying for control in the world the mystery of lawlessness of godliness that mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now is framed will do so until he is taken out of the wrong way and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming the coming of the lawless one according to the workings of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all righteous unrighteous deception among those who perish okay so we have the setting it's the parousia the coming of the Lord Jesus we have the sign the apostasy the great falling away and here now we have also in this passage a certain significance this expression here the unrighteous deception it's two Greek words and basically it means to cheat or to beguile or to deceive and the second Greek word means a de-violating law and justice an act of unrighteousness the new king James said with all unrighteous deception now the key to the Toronto thing is this word deception and that's why I've used it the Toronto deception there's an enormous amount of deception which is flowing out from this so called Toronto leaders of it whether they are doing it deliberately or unwittingly I don't know but they're engaged in a mammoth deception they try to tell us that what is happening in the Toronto blessing has happened throughout history in fact a person that I know quite well a former colleague of mine wrote to me because of the stand that we've been taking and he said from my research and my investigation I have discovered that the things that are happening in the Toronto move have happened always in every movement of God's right history I wrote back to him and I said your research is defective not only is it defective but you're ignoring an enormous amount you are ignoring the things that differ and you are maximising the things that differ now this is what they do with regard to church history basically what they do is they maximise minor similarities and they minimise or ignore major differences I've got a little book here which somebody sent to me to try and convince me that it was right and it talks about the revival in the 1800s and what it says is the things that are happening in the Toronto thing where people are roaring like lions and growling like bears and doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things a pastor from England who is into this thing I've got one of his tapes said that when he went to Toronto he ended up on the floor for three and a half hours when he came out he was like a drunken man he had to crawl to the car he couldn't drive his car somebody else drove it for him he got to the hotel and he crawled out of the car into the hotel past all the people that were looking at him wondering what in the world was happening and he looked up at them and smiled and waved and crawled to his room and he called that a blessing I happen to know that at one time there were two groups in that particular hotel one was a business group and the other was the so-called Toronto speakers group and the business group left the hotel because of the conduct of the so-called Christians they couldn't take it their activity was so bizarre that they were horrified by what was happening yet these people tried to say this is what happened in the Great Awakening now there were some unusual happenings in the Awakening in the 1800s here's a little booklet called the Days of Revival the thrilling account of a visitation when thousands were swept into the Kingdom they had what was called the jerks now they tried to say okay this jerking which happened in this revival which was very very infrequent it wasn't general it was infrequent is the same as what is happening in the Toronto thing they talk about barking as well in this little booklet but they talk about it in a different context altogether usually the people who got the jerks were in fact those who resisted the gospel and they came under such great conviction of things that their body went into almost like convulsion now I can accept that I can accept in a great revival that there comes such a fearful sense of the presence of God that if we don't yield to God then there is a reaction in our body but generally it was to those who were not seeking blessing but to those who were reacting against the blessing they tried to magnify the similarities and they minimized the major differences the jerks happened to basically people who rejected the gospel in fact it is recorded that one man jerked so much that he actually died he was a blasphemer he cursed God and he was jerking or whatever and he actually died now I can understand that I can accept that that was like a judgement session the barking was associated with the jerking that the jerks as they jerked there was a sort of guttural sound that came out and it wasn't widespread it was just very, very occasional and so what they tend to do is to take those similarities and they magnify them one man writes about that particular revival in the 1800s he says many, very many fell down as men slain in battle and continued for hours together in a comparatively breathless and motionless state sometimes for a few moments reviving and exhibiting symptoms of life by deep groans or piercing shrieks or by a prayer for mercy most fervently uttered and then it goes on after lying in gut for hours they obtained deliverance the gloomy cloud that had covered their faces seemed gradually and visibly to disappear and hope in smiles to brighten into joy they would then arrive shouting deliverance and addressing the surrounding multitude in language truly eloquent and impressive with astonishment did I hear women and children declaring the wonderful works of God and the glorious mysteries of the gospel their appeals were solemn heart-rending bold and free under such addresses many others would fall down in the same state from which the speakers had just been delivered that is entirely different from the Toronto thing the Toronto thing if you see the video which we are offering and some of you have seen it it makes people not eloquent but they become absolutely dumb they cannot preach they cannot speak that is a vast vast difference from what happened this is a book that goes on to say that certain people laugh as well but in their laughing it created a solemnity with all the other people present that is vastly different from the Toronto thing the Toronto thing when somebody laughs everybody laughs and it becomes really actually they laugh at what's going on and the preachers try to encourage them to laugh Rodney Howard Brown has been in several times on video I didn't bother to go up to Stephen in Auckland I wouldn't give any money to that that man is laughing when you think of what he got in five days I would say from New Zealand he walked away probably with anything around $200,000 in five days he is the one that is laughing and he is laughing all the way to the bank now he will say of course that it goes into his organisation and undoubtedly it does but who controls his organisation the man has become a millionaire and these are what the bible calls the bible refers to these sort of situations in the early days and Paul calls people who do that type of thing and that is a very very wrong thing to be engaged in so there is a deception which is right there at the outset church history in regard to church history they maximise minor similarities and minimise or even all major similarities in regard to scripture they distort corrupt and pervert the truth and the context of scripture some of you have seen my little paper that I put out called Contending Onesies for the Faith with the Toronto thing they tried to say that on the day of Pentecost the disciples were acting like drunken men there is no basis for that in scripture at all for that conclusion you might say well the people in the crowd some of them said oh not these men drunk they're drunk that's what they said but if you look at the context it's clear that the people who said that were scoffers that's what it said others scoffing said these men are drunk now what happened on the day of Pentecost you had 120 people in an upper room and suddenly they have this enabling to speak in a language which they have never learned and whatever we make of the so called gift of tongues you have a situation that these people come gushing out to the crowd and there are in that crowd people who understand the languages that are being spoken by these Galileans which told that very clearly Acts chapter 2 verse 13 I think it said how do we hear these men who have never learned these languages speaking in our tongues the language in which we were born Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, Asia, Pamphylia and the parts of you know Bithynia and so on and so forth speaking the wonderful works of God so there were those who knew what was happening they heard the languages but also others who were in the distance would just hear a babble wouldn't they and some wouldn't be able to understand the languages because they weren't speaking their particular language those who heard the babble or who did not detect the language simply to try and explain the situation said these men are drunk there is no indication that they were staggering around or crawling on their hands and knees as if they were drunk no indication at all that is to pervert the scripture to even suggest that sort of thing and quite clearly they weren't in that category because immediately afterwards Peter is in total control of his senses and he stands up and he preaches in a general language which was understood by all and he preaches one of the finest gospel messages you could ever imagine so he's not drunk that's for sure nor is he acting now to try and take that as a basis for what is happening now with the Toronto thing where they are acting as if they are drunk is an absurdity the same thing they try to argue from Ephesians chapter 5 verses 12, 13 9 to 18 where Paul says in particular one of the verses there he says I'll be not drunk with wine wherein it is set but be filled and this is actually the present continuous tense there but be being filled with the Holy Spirit Acts chapter 5 and verse 18 that's right and do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation but be filled or be being filled the present continuous tense of the verse there that be being filled with the Spirit now again you cannot build on that scripture that being filled with the Spirit makes you act like a drunk that's ridiculous Paul is using this not in comparison but he's saying don't act like that that's ridiculous don't get full of this wine and act like a stupid person but he says and here is the contrast being filled with the Spirit if you are filled with the Spirit you will be in your right mind and you'll act accordingly in possession total possession of your faculties there's no doubt about that so this deception extends not only into the category of church history but into the area of scripture and then there's another deception which I've called the deception of influence and I have discovered this that leaders who have gone into this thing notably from the charismatic and telecastal scene although of course from the Anglicans and from the Baptists and other churches have been influenced by it in fact I was saddened to see the name that appeared on the back of the pamphlet that was endorsing the visit of Rodney Hallett-Brown we had the general superintendent of the Apostolic Church in New Zealand we had the former general superintendent of the Evening Church in New Zealand we had a very prominent Anglican Baptist man in not Anglican Baptist man in Auckland chairman of the Baptist and I understand that people have spoken to him and it is rumoured that he might have withdrawn but I was saddened to see that influence now several of my knowledge who have been influenced have in fact first been influenced by their wives now that's interesting isn't it? you good ladies very interesting a former colleague of mine David Cartley who I've already referred to says that when he went to Toronto his wife was touched by it and he wasn't getting anything so his wife said to him these are his own words said to him you're living in your head and so he thought about that and decided that he would get out of his head it's a dangerous thing when you get out of your mind isn't it? but the influence now this word beguile is an interesting word who was it that was first beguiled? Eve it's the oldest trick in the book it's the oldest trick in history the devil beguiled Eve Paul very very clearly speaks about that Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 to 13 is the story but Paul talks about it in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 14 have a look at it 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14 and then one other reference 1 Timothy 2 and 14 we're giving you a good Bible study tonight and we're going to go on to the Toronto thing in a moment 1 Timothy 2 14 and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression they both fell into transgression but Eve fell first and she took Adam with her now Adam has to take the responsibility of course but that is precisely what happened again in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 the apostle Paul gives us a strong warning regarding that 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3 but I fear that somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness so your mind may be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ I don't make too much of it but I think it's a very interesting observation several people leaders in charismatic situations that I have heard a former friend of mine or so John Lewis his wife got into it first and then he ultimately was led into it Lady Cartley the same several others that I know of is it not the oldest trick in the book is it not something we must try again so I have my wife's permission to say that because she was the one who first made the observation so and I think it is a very very important point now having spoken about the Toronto Deception I want now to address the actual event itself how did it happen? some of you might not know a particular about it you've heard rumblings of it let me just I could give you so much material but I think the quickest way is to read a little bit out of this media spotlight which is one of the best summaries I've come across in that literature pack which we're offering for $10 tonight if you want it with a little booklet as well so you have all the information now obviously I can't give it to you all but I'll summarize it quickly the Toronto blessing people have flocked from all over the globe to attend services at the Toronto airport vineyard hoping to experience holy laughter so impacting has been the influence of this church on the holy laughter phenomena that charisma magazine devoted considerable space to the Toronto blessing in the February 1995 issue how did this start? on January the 20th 1994 what was intended to be the start of several revival meetings of course they call them revival meetings in America where we would tend to call them crusades or events or whatever several revival meetings were held in a small church located in an industrial complex near Pearson international airport in Toronto within one year it had become what writing for charisma calls a mecca of thought because of the huge crowd seeking a sign from God the church conducts meetings every night except Monday even the secular media have focused reports on the phenomenon with articles and television documentaries the focus of all reports is upon the physical manifestations displayed at these meetings charisma reports vertices are overcome by laughing, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling and to the annoyance of some noise making that has been described as a cross between a jungle and a farmyard but of greater significance are the reports of changed lives healing, restored relationships and increased fervour for God Joseph attributes the origins of these Toronto blessings to vineyard pastor Randy Clark who I think is coming out very soon here to New Zealand of St Louis Missouri who had been influenced by Rodney Howard Brown in late 1993 what was intended to be a four day series of meetings which Clark expanded into months of nightly services that sometimes lasted until 3am news of the movement spread and by April 1994 curious international visitors were arriving at Toronto by December 75,000 people from almost every country of the world across the airport vineyard threshold cumulative attendance has been more than 200,000 some 10,000 of them clergy it can be honestly stated that until Clark took what he received from Howard Brown to the Toronto vineyard Howard Brown and Holy Laughter were virtually unheard of this in spite of the fact that Howard Brown claims he first experienced Holy Laughter in his meetings over 13 years ago although Howard Brown is now the most visible spokesman for the phenomenon it has virtually become a vineyard movement within Joan Wright present in Europe, Asia, Africa and other parts of the world the impact of the Toronto blessing has been especially felt in Great Britain where it is reported that it has touched every denomination in some way with estimates that from 2,500 to 4,000 churches have had meetings similar to those of the airport vineyard we could go on let me just read a little bit more is this hyperbole or are such tremendous figures for real knowing the penchant towards evangelistic speaking that is prevalent among charismatics I have my doubts but numbers aren't as important as the phenomenon truly the phenomenon truly spiritual origins and its true spiritual consequences Rodney Morgan Howard Brown a very 6 foot charismatic preacher from South Africa was born June 12 1961 in Port Elizabeth South Africa he said he committed his life to Christ at age 5 and was filled with all these spirits at age 8 in 1979 while praying for Aris seeking a deeper spiritual experience he challenged God either you come down here and touch me or I will come up there and touch you he prayed in desperation suddenly his whole body felt like it was on fire he began to laugh uncontrollably then he wept and began to speak in tongues I was plugged into heaven's electrical supply he later wrote in his book The Touch of God and since then my desire has been to go and plug other people in ok that's how it started now there's several things about that report the first thing is the type of prayer that produced it it was a power related prayer that is a dangerous prayer I remember hearing of a young minister hearing of a man in Australia I wasn't in Australia at the time I was in England who prayed Lord give me power and he kept praying it until in his imagination or his subconscious or whatever I don't know he heard what he detected as a sinister voice saying ask me for power and I'll give it to you he said from then on he never asked for power I can honestly say I've never asked for power in that sense when Jesus said you will receive power he used a different word it's the Greek word dynamic and it means ability Jesus said you will receive ability after the Holy Ghost has come upon you he uses the word dynamic which really means a dynamo an inbuilt energy that when the Holy Spirit is in us we have an enabling to meet every situation no matter what it is so we can witness to Christ in life and if necessary in death but when he said you will be my witnesses he uses the word martyr you will be my martyr and you can be a martyr in life as well as a martyr in death but you are that by the enabling of the Holy Spirit and by no other energy so it's not the power as we understand it too many of my former colleagues are constantly talking about power I hear them preaching it from the platform I hear them praying for power power because it is not the sort of power that the actual Holy Spirit does give that was a dangerous prayer that Rodney Hallibrand prayed it was an arrogant prayer he said you come down and touch me or I'm going to come up there and touch you he opened himself I believe by that prayer to a power pursuit how does it work he says I plugged in to God's electricity and now I want to plug everybody else in that's not biblical that's not scriptural they use terms like transfer transmission they talk about impartation that's the N word that is not biblical that is contrary to scripture it's a transferal of something and most of it is transferred by the raising up of the hand the other thing that is harmful is what we might refer to as the psychological phenomena laughter is the key to it all they call it holy laughter now they try and build it on scripture they use the verse proverbs 17 22 which says a merry heart doeth good like a medicine notice it doesn't say anything about laughter in that but a merry heart doeth good like a medicine of course in doing that they ignore so many other verses proverbs 14 and verse 14 for example i think it's important just to have a look at these verses proverbs 14 and verse 14 if i can find it in my bible here i think so it jumped out but it's here somewhere proverbs 14 and verse 14 is that the one i got the wrong one there 14 verse 13 is it even in laughter the heart may sorrow and the end of mirth may be grief why do they select one verse and ignore the others Ecclesiastes 2 verse 2 speaks of laughter Ecclesiastes 2 verse 2 i said of laughter it is madness and of mirth what does it accomplish chapter 7 several verses here chapter 7 verse 3 sorrow is better than laughter for by a sad countenance the heart is made better and then verse 4 the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth and then verse 6 for like the crackling of the thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fools this also is banished the only reference to laughter in the new testament is in James chapter 4 and verse 9 and its quite interesting James chapter 4 and verse 9 lament and war mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom the bible refers to the lord Jesus as a man of sorrow in actual fact even history goes on record as saying that he was seldom seen to laugh but he was often seen to cry now that doesn't mean to say he wasn't joyful and here is another thing with regard to this Toronto movement because they cannot find justification for laughter in the scripture they turn on the word joy and they say oh well there is so much reference in the bible to joy well that's true but joy is very infrequently expressed through laughter you can have joy which is deep seated and it just brings a sense of comfort and well being you don't laugh in fact laughter expresses many other emotions other than joy laughter expresses scorn it expresses scoffing it's often an expression of sarcasm laughter is also an expression of humour not necessarily joy so the whole thing is really mixed up incredibly now let me before I go any further just ask a question which I'm sure everybody would ask well ok this is interesting but what is our responsibility in it at all should we care and or do anything should we just leave it alone there will be churches and elders and leaders who will say that's not our business leave that alone well I have a problem with that that Jesus called us to be those who are leaders in the churches to be shepherds and the responsibility of a shepherd is threefold Jesus brought it out very clearly in his interview with Peter when he challenged Peter and he said to him let it down me more than me do you remember he said it three times then after each of Peter's responses to Jesus Jesus said shepherds will sing my lambs then he said tend my sheep then he said feed my sheep and really what he's doing is he's putting his finger upon the important responsibility of shepherds within any leadership capacity within the church whatever our capacity whatever position we are occupied whether it's in the youth or in the adult church we really have a shepherding role no matter what we're called whether we're called elders pastors or I don't think the term matters very very much it's the duty that really is significant and within that framework of a shepherd we have a threefold responsibility our responsibility is first of all to lead secondly to feed and thirdly to guard this comes out in so much of the scripture and I don't need to go into it take for example that beautiful psalm, psalm 23 which is really a picture of a day in the life of a sheep that's what it is it's a sheep following the shepherd for a day and it's a beautiful picture and first of all you have the shepherd leading then you have the shepherd feeding then you have the shepherd guarding the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down he leads me and causes me to lie down in green patches it's the leading and the feeding he restores my toll and so on and so forth yea though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death now here's the guarding I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me what was the shepherd doing to protect the sheep against himself so that he wandered astray the shepherd spoke of guarding the sheep but then it became a rod in his hand when the wolf attacked and so it was a rod and a staff what a beautiful picture of a good shepherd and if we are shepherds of God people we have a similar responsibility we have a responsibility to lead feed and guard Paul said I have fed you with milk because you couldn't endure meat you couldn't endure substantial food but we must feed God's people that's the same thing in some churches now there's no word of God you go along and you hear a string of stories and you sing until you're just about seeing yourself horse or whatever and there's no feeding there's no word I'm sure your fellowship is not like that there must be the word of the Lord there must be the feeding there must be the leading but there also must be the guarding that classic passage in Acts chapter 20 verses 28-31 where Paul gathers the elders together and he's not going to feed them again at Ephesus and he said remember that night and day I warned as part of the ministry warning and he said remember this after my departure ravenous wolves savage wolves will rise and also he said even from among yourself teachers so you have wolves from without and you have false teachers from within and the true shepherd is there the guard and so there has to be that element of warning Colossians 1 28 tells us what the basic preaching of the New Testament was Paul said him we preach they always preach Christ they never preach the church they never preach the denomination they never preach the set of rules they always preach Christ but he said warning every man that we may present every man complete in Christ there must always be that element of warning and so I believe it is our responsibility not everybody is called to do it certainly not to the extent that we seem to be called to do it at this time but we are called if we have a responsibility in a church situation to give warning and so I commend you tonight on what you have done here OK let me just quickly run through I don't know how Alan got on can you can you endure a bit more this watchman is it alright can I go on a little bit longer alright let me just give you a background to this discussion and here let me just throw something up on the the board now this is put out by Alan Morrison who is the man on the video that some of you have seen can you see most of that now this is his perception of the link and you'll notice that he actually goes right from the top here Hinduism and he shows the link from Hinduism down through what he calls Gnosticism and Neoplatism which is the Christ within and down this line here Islamism Possession Trans Hypnosis and Mind Control and the New Thought Movement over here and so on now we have in the little group that we have meeting at the moment for prayer a man who has been converted from being a Hindu and he had a marvellous conversion he said when he got married this Hindu priest touched him and he felt something enter him he wasn't a Christian at the time but later he became a Christian and now he's full on for the Lord and trying to rescue everybody he really is but he was going to one of these churches that was in front of me and he said what he saw there is exactly the same as what even the transferal of the power and so on exactly the same now whether that is so or not I can't really make any comment on that because my knowledge is not sufficient in that but I suspect that he might be right but what I want to do is come from this perspective here this man E.W. Kenyon now E.W. Kenyon was looked upon particularly in certain Pentecostal circles as being a father figure but in actual fact E.W. Kenyon was into the mind sciences and he produced some ideas which were picked up by these other men under him William Branham and E.W. Kenyon who is now dead William Branham was influenced by Kenyon as was this man who is still alive Hagen who is the head of what is known as the Remer Movement the Faith Movement Remer Bible Center Kenneth Hagen makes some incredible statements but he's got most of his information from E.W. Kenyon in fact E.W. Kenyon's daughter at one time was looking at suing Kenneth Hagen because he had favorized her father's work but she wasn't able because of the legal implications to proceed but she was certainly seriously thinking of doing that now Kenneth Hagen has formed another first Kenneth called Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Copeland is the man who is now featured on our television here in New Zealand and again he has some incredible teachings totally false William Branham for example and incidentally there is now another video coming out which we will be offering shortly those of you who get our paper will hear about it as soon as it's available it's called Watching the New Wave and it's only half an hour but it actually gives the voices of these men saying the sort of things that I am charging them with being guilty of here tonight you'll hear William Branham's voice for example on the video and this is what he says now my precious brothers I can't say it in his accent but now my precious brothers I know this is a cable show now don't get excited let me say this with godly love the hour has approached where I can't hold still on these things no more good English sir Trinitarianism is of the devil I tell you that thus saith the Lord that's Branham's words that's his voice you get the video you'll actually hear his voice he also says why don't you examine your baptism of father, son and the Holy Ghost and that false Trinity it's so called so he's an anti-Trinitarian he brought in claimed to be a great miracle worker and so on laying on of hands of the latter day restorationism which has slowed down to others like Kenneth Hagen and Benny Hinn Kenneth Hagen in particular had some incredible false teachings and Rodney Howard-Brown was linked directly with Kenneth Hagen and his Rima Bible movement the teaching of Kenneth Hagen he talks about being born again and he talks about this in connection with Jesus in fact he says that Jesus was the first born again person ever and in this way he says why did he need to be begotten or born because he became like we were separated from God because he tasted spiritual death for every man and his spirit and inner man went to hell in my place can't you see that physical death wouldn't remove your sins he tasted death for every man he's talking about tasting spiritual death Jesus is the first person that was ever born again why did his spirit need to be born again because it was estranged from God now of course what he has done he has distorted scripture again the Bible says that he is the first born of many brethren it never talks about Jesus being born again it says he is the first born of many brethren that is he was the first to be born from the dead clearly the context shows that very very clearly and we will also experience that we will when we go into the grave we will have the same experience of the Lord Jesus he was the first born when the trumpet sounds we will come forth also and so he is the first born among many brethren but not the first to be born again Kenneth Copeland probably has even worse teaching he teaches that Jesus had a little wormy spirit in hell and the devil dragged him down there and then while he was down there the word came to him and the creative word and he goes as far as to say and I can quote the exact words that what Jesus did in hell Kenneth Copeland could do also now this is also what he says it is amazing stuff it talks about God and he says heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west consequently it must be a planet marvellous logic then he goes on and he says the bible said he measured the heavens with a 9 inch span now the span is the difference distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger and that bible said in fact the amplified translation translates the Hebrew text that way that he measured out the heavens with a 9 inch span well it is going to take an eternity to do it isn't it just a minute well I got a ruler and I measured mine and my span is 8 3 quarter inches long so now God's span is a quarter of an inch a quarter of an inch longer than mine so you see that faith didn't come billowing out of some giant monster somewhere it came out of the heart of a being that is very uncanny the way he is very much like you and me a being that stands somewhere around 6 foot 2 6 foot 3 that weighs somewhere in the neighbourhood of a couple of hundred pounds a little better has a span of 8 I mean 9 inches across stood up and said let it be let it be and this universe situated itself and went into motion well that is his impression of God that is a total distortion of the scripture total I mean you know that is where this sort of stuff has come from Kenneth Copeland Rodney Harris Brown and the man that is coming to New Zealand next is John Arnott he is over in Australia at the moment he is the pastor of the Toronto Vineyard Church well that just gives you a little bit of background of what the Toronto thing is all about there is another chart here which I won't bother putting up but if you get the video you will have more of that information so that is the background if I can find my notes I have lost them down here somewhere there we are sorry yeah let me just go on from that so let me just just switch this back on again here we have got E.W. Stangin see up there flowing down to Kenneth Hagan and William Branagh flowing down to Kenneth Copeland Benningham I could say a lot about Benningham but he is renowned so much for his teaching the problem with Benning is you never know what he believes I mean he is going to he is saying he is one of the most popular writers and preachers incredible how gullible people are but the stuff that he saw about Good Morning Holy Spirit I don't know if any of you have read that book it is non-truth and yet people went for it crazily we are living in that age where you know people are so gullible and so open to these types of things there are some other men who are linked and I will just quickly comment about them a person called Paul Kane Bob Jones John Paul Jackson and Brent Rue and they are people and there is a comment in this little booklet which I won't just go into tonight because of the time about them but they are basically what is called the Kansas City prophets and they have set themselves up as prophets they went to Britain and prophesied that Britain would experience revival in 1990 October 1990 well since then of course there have been more mosques churches Britain is anything but in revival and I think it is Toronto but of course it didn't happen on the date that he said anyway so by biblical definition John Wimber Paul Kane alright so that's the background what is the danger of the reception as I see it the two major phenomena is the holy master and what is called slain in the spirit these are the two major phenomena slain in the spirit is not truly physical there were fallings in the bible but generally it was they fell on their face and it was an acknowledgement of the awesomeness of God and there was a sense of conviction when Paul fell on the road to the masses now you receive the justification for these so called slain in the spirit but there is no parallel at all these men were Paul was radically changed had a vision of Christ was changed I've often said it's not a question of how we fall it's how we get up with marriage really but they feature on it they major on it it's not biblical and unless it happens with some of these preachers now they don't think anything happens I've got a rare idea of a man who was into this sort of thing a Jewish man and he said it was dreadful he said he was on this platform where everybody was so called slain in the spirit and he said there was no sense of God so he got up and he walked out of the platform as we said there's some power there's certainly some power I still believe in spite of what the Holy Spirit presented on the day of Pentecost when the wind came it was the word ruach is used in the Old Testament the word pneuma which expresses the idea of breath or wind but not as a gale or as a tornado never ever in Scripture if there is a force which lifts people up and throws them you can rest assured the other phenomena is holy laughter there is no biblical base for laughter in that sense in the Old Testament Abraham laughed and Sarah laughed I believe Sarah laughed in unbelief and Abraham laughed in faith I believe that's a personal belief I believe that Abraham's laugh was great but there is no basis in Scripture for um orchestrated contagious laughter by a whole group of people laughter is contagious it's like yawning if somebody yawns here now everybody yawns around so don't do it please but if somebody laughs in one laugh it's contagious that's part of the psychology of human beings it shifts the whole thing of the danger is that it shifts the focus from preaching the gospel to seeking psychological signs and as you will see they do not preach the gospel Rodney Howard Brown does not preach the gospel he does not preach the cross of Christ he preaches prosperity he preaches blabber and grabber laughter nameless and plain that's what he preaches it is a false gospel it is another gospel it is not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and so there is that shift and that is a very very dangerous thing ok in conclusion and then I know there are going to be some questions I've gone on too long I know conclusion there are some good things that come out of this so I want to finish on a positive note what does it indicate that what we're seeing first of all it indicates that there is an increasing interest in the fact that the newspapers can pick up phenomena like this the fact that people are influenced and so on I believe that there is a growing interest now the second thing is that museums have never seen and I think the brethren fellowship throughout museums the second thing is that it indicates that things happening around us indicate that the coming of the Lord so as I said earlier about the falling away and so on I believe that two things could be the falling away and the departure a move of God so it's not all gloom and doom