By Gary E. Gilley
On Father's Day 1995, a church in
Evangelist Steve Hill was scheduled to be at the Brownsville Assembly of God for only one night (June 18, 1995), but when he gave an invitation for "refreshing," a thousand people came forward. Recognizing what he thought was a sweeping of the Holy Spirit over the people, Hill looked at the pastor, John Kilpatrick, and said "More Lord." At that point Kilpatrick got "more" than he bargained for when he was "hit by the fire of God, and fell to the ground. He lay there for two hours" (The Remnant, June 1998, p. 12). (The Remnant is a newspaper devoted to reporting on the charismatic revivals around the world).
This was just the beginning of a bizarre phenomenon for
"the glory of God was so strong on me during the early days of the revival that sometimes I could hardly keep my eyes open. When we would go home, my son would have to help me get undressed because of the tremendous glory that God was putting upon my wife and me. I tried to get up early in the morning the next day and go to the office and found myself so drunk in the Spirit that I would go from wall to wall walking down my hall. I hadn't developed my legs yet to stand up under the glory of God. For months they had to take me and my wife out of the sanctuary in wheel chairs" (6/98, The Remnant, p. 2).
Things got more exciting a few weeks later when a nineteen-year-old college student by the name of Alison Ward stood and prophesied: "God is in a hurry. There’s not much more time. He aches and He grieves for your spirit." As she spoke these words she was shaking so violently that a casual observer may have thought she suffered from cerebral palsy. When she completed this prophesy she fell to the floor (6/98, The Remnant, p. 19; see also The Christian News, Dec. 30, 1996, p. 9).
The Brownsville Revival is reported to be a fulfillment of a prophecy by Word-Faith pastor David Yonggi Cho (see the April 1999, Think on These Things, "Word-Faith Movement"). Cho says he gave the following prophecy during a 1991 Seattle Conference:
"I became deeply concerned about the spiritual decline in
Experiences
The revival at
A couple of other interesting things worthy of note are the prayer banner and the Shofar ministries. According to
"In the fall of 1993 the Lord spoke to Pastor Kilpatrick saying, 'My house shall be a house of prayer.' He then sought the Lord for direction concerning this prompting and was impressed to initiate specific times of intense intercession. The Sunday evening service was set aside for praise, worship and prayer. Nine specific areas were targeted for prayer: warfare, family, schools, souls, ministries, leaders of our country, healing, pastors, and revival. Three additional areas were added later: the peace of
The
1. To identify and bring focus.
2. To bring the body into one accord.
3. To bring glorious victory to the church.
These banners are displayed on the walls in much the same manner as a Catholic church might display icons throughout their sanctuary. In addition, these banners and others are waved constantly during the three hours of singing and dancing that precede the sermon. It would quite interesting to learn of the supposed "Biblical basis" for use of the banners. What is the New Testament instruction that would even remotely sanction this practice?
Even stranger is the blowing of the Shofar. According to an ad placed in The Remnant (from which you can order your very own Shofar for a mere $139.00), and from information available at Brownsville-type churches, the Shofar (or ram's horn) has many purposes. In the Old Testament it was used to usher in the Biblical festivals of
It is most likely the latter two purposes that have captured the interest of the
Like
"Pray only 30-45 seconds for each person. Watch your catcher for a signal if you are praying too long. Pray the following prayers: 'More Lord, Sweet Jesus, More healing, More peace, More of Your love, You are the bride of Christ, give him/her a refreshing from the Lord, etc.' Keep phrases soft and simple. Do not raise your voice" (Prayer Team Manual, pp. 9-10).
"Catchers" (those with the "ministry" of catching those "slain in the Spirit") have some guidelines as well:
"When you walk behind a person, gently touch the shoulders to let them know you are there in preparation to catch them. Remove your hands afterward. If the person falls, hold your hand on their back just above the waist -- not under the arms. Do not touch the person while they are receiving prayer … look for open areas before you begin to pray. This will avoid falling on others. Please do not block the aisles. If an individual is in the aisle and they are 'slain in the Spirit,' they should be laid uphill" (p. 10).
Coming from a movement that is highly critical of the "organized church," this is an amazing amount of structure involving a supposed sovereign, spontaneous outpouring of God.
Speaking of organization, the leaders at
Ecumenism
John Kilpatrick boasts:
"This is not a
If all of these people were truly coming to the Christ of the Bible, we might be more inclined to rejoice, but that is not the case. Mormons come as Mormons and leave as Mormons; the same is true of Catholics and Jews, etc. People are not coming to hear the gospel; they are coming to experience the manifestations. The result is a unification along experiential lines rather than doctrinal.
By way of example, we might recall that the Toronto Blessing originated in the sphere of the Word-Faith and Vineyard churches, those representing the "New Charismatics" or the so-called Third Wave of the Holy Spirit this century. The
By way of verification of all this is the March 1999 issue of Charisma (the most popular magazine in the Charismatic world). The lead article had to do with the infiltration of the Brownsville Revival within the ranks of the Southern Baptist Convention. Considerable disruption among Southern Baptists has taken place, as many who have tasted of the "Revival" find that they now have more in common with this extreme fringe of the Charismatic movement than they do with their own denomination. It is interesting that Charisma gives considerable credit to Henry Blackaby and his book Experiencing God for opening the door for acceptance to this phenomenon.
The Assembly of God itself is highly divided over the revival, although Thomas Trask, the general superintendent of the denomination, "gave a full endorsement of the Revival in Pensacola and said the Brownsville Assembly of God has done more to change the direction of the Assemblies of God organization than any other organization" (6/98, The Remnant, p. 2). Trask believes the revival to be the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit (see "The Murky River of Brownsville," by G. Richard Fisher, a publication of Personal Freedom Outreach).
Conclusion
The metaphor of a river is a favorite of the
But one must be careful when jumping into an unknown stream. When people are claiming phenomena the likes of which are never found in Scripture, when the Word of God is constantly distorted, when doctrinal error is prolific, even the best swimmers had better exercise great caution. Rather than leaping into an unknown current, the Scriptures caution that the spiritual man "appraises all things" (I Cor. 2:15), and warn us to "examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil" (I Thess. 5:21). When the child of God tests these muddied waters in the light of Scripture, he will stay on the solid rock (Jer. 5:30-31; 14:14; 16:12; Deut. 13:1-3; Matt. 7:22,23).
* This report has been excerpted and or adapted from an article by the same name in the November 1999, Think on These Things, Southern View Chapel,
