Dr. Michael Brown Responds (kind of)

Dear Dr. Brown,

Let me first say I appreciated the interaction with you last night on twitter. It is noble that you make yourself so available to your followers or those who have questions for you. Honestly, I don’t know how you manage to keep up with all of your various ministries and responding to your inquirers, but I do thank you for the hour or so you spent with me last night tweeting back and forth.

I also hope you made it to this paragraph, as I learned last night you don’t care too much for open letters. But, I find it to be a transparent and thought-provoking method to communicate with a public figure. It provides an opportunity for open and public dialogue, not only giving us an avenue to communicate, but also for the public to see two men respectfully engage one another as we navigate through difficult issues. I hope you have found my tone to be respectful and welcoming, and I continue to seek open communication with you, despite where we concluded early this morning.

As much as I desire dialogue with you, the issues of concern are not about me. It is about you, your ministry, and those whom you believe to be men of God, but teach and practice doctrine and worship contrary to God’s Word.

This letter, then, serves to update concerned Christians of where we stand in response to my inquiries. As you know, yesterday I reiterated my original questions posed to you on facebook in An Open Letter to Dr. Michael Brown on His Relationship with Rick Joyner. My questions were the following and pertained to this video of Rick Joyner’s worship practices at MorningStar Ministries:

1. Do you indeed consider Rick Joyner to be a ministry friend and man of God?
2. Do you believe the practices in the video above to be an “authentic move of the Holy Spirit”?
3. If yes, can you provide Scripture that would support this woman as manifesting a work of the Holy Spirit?
4. If no, have you called Rick Joyner to repentance for these practices, or do you plan to discuss these as “extremes/excesses” in your upcoming book or by other means?

I discovered on twitter last night that you were aware of the open letter I published, but I was disappointed in your initial response. You indicated that you had no interest in watching a video that was “mockingly produced”. I scratched my head as to what that meant, possibly that you did not like the video title, “Rick Joyner’s Circus”. It was difficult to believe that you refused to watch the video with this kind of justification. Anyway, here’s how that conversation went:

Your initial reaction was that I am not to be taken seriously because I sent you a video that was “mockingly produced”. This is troubling. If someone came to me and said,

Justin, you need to watch this video as it contains footage of your friend participating in wicked practices,

I could care less how it was produced, as long as the footage itself was unaltered. I would want to know what is so alarming about my friend so that I could 1) be aware 2) confront the friend in their sin 3) come alongside them seeking for them repentance 4) distance myself if there was no repentance 5) warn others as necessary. Yet, a “mockingly produced” video prohibits you from doing your due diligence to protect your ministry, protect your followers, and exposing the deeds of darkness in a ministry that you presently (and blindly?) endorse? You are not testing all things, Dr. Brown.

After expressing that open letters were not a good way to dialogue with you and some other comments, the conversation began to conclude:

I appreciate your reluctance to watch a video compilation, as videos can be easily edited and altered to manipulate the viewer. But, as I shared in my follow-up tweet, the video was not altered, nor was it a compilation, but rather single video footage with added commentary:

So here you gave me conditions upon which you would watch the video. Respectfully, Dr. Brown, this is starting to sound a bit disingenuous. I can’t help but wonder if you do not want to watch the video because you do not want to be accountable for the information. And truly, these open letters are no different than your public campaign to hold John MacArthur et al accountable for their positions and comments surrounding the Strange Fire conference and Strange Fire book. Anyway, when I responded that I would not be able to provide you with unedited video footage, you responded that you actually did begin to watch the video the night I posted the original questions to your facebook:

I am still trying to figure out what you mean by mockery. Aside from the video title, “Rick Joyner’s Circus” (which, by the way, is stating a fact), I do not see any mockery in the video commentary. In fact, for your convenience, I went back through the commentary and decided to share it here so that you can see it beforehand. I hope it gives you assurance that the video editor is merely using the video as a teaching tool to warn believers. Here is the commentary, in total, and I hope you see I am making every effort to remove any barriers to you watching:

Local Pastor Channel

Rick Joyner Morningstar Ministries

and a look at what false doctrines produce

deep error and a strong delusion

This is “Prophet” Rick Joyner

and this is his ministry…

Welcome to “MORNINGSTAR”

…and to some of the strangest things you ever saw

Yes, this is Rick Joyner’s ministry

“Prophet” Rick Joyner, who in his book…The Final Quest

Joyner Claims

To have eaten from the Tree of Life

Jesus is an angel named “Wisdom”

To have spoken to the deceased

That there will be a Civil War in the church

To have more power than the Apostles

To have Apostle Paul’s “Apostolic Mantle”

Rick Joyner is currently helping Todd Bently prepare to return to the ministry

Joyner also shares platforms with and endorses “Prophet” Bob Jones who was disgraced in a scandal having women undress in his office in order to “receive prophecy”

Joyner teaches “manifest Sons of God” doctrine that claims Christians will become “supermen” and there will be no rapture of the Church

He is associated with “Kansas City Prophets” and teaches “Latter Rain Theology”

and is part of C. Peter Wagner’s New Apostolic Reformation

…and this is what is happening to people at Morningstar Ministries

They believe that drums and other instruments can carry an “annointing of power”

That this “anointing” is transferrable

and the effects look similar to Todd Bentley’s Lakeland Revival  and other meetings where which follow these “Third Wave”, “Apostolic/Prophetic” and “New Breed” teachings

notice the children?

it is tribal

unscriptural

occult-like

…and disturbing

and it is passing itself off as “Church”

and it is the fruit and export of Rick Joyner’s false gospel

and it has attracted many

who have abandoned the Gospel and bound themselves to a lie

and their families with them

PRAY

PRAY THAT THEIR EYES WILL BE OPENED

THAT THEY WILL SEE

THIS IS NOT THE GOSPEL

THIS IS A STRONG DELUSION

2 TH 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie:

God shall send them strong delusion (because they asked for this “anointing”)

that they should believe a lie (because they rejected sound doctrine)

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine – The Apostle Paul

Dr. Brown, what is mocking? That the video editor put “prophet” in quotation marks? That they called it “strange”?

I’m afraid that you are losing more credibility the more excuses you provide. You have gone from not having enough time to watch the video, to claiming you won’t watch because of your ethic to not watch “mockingly produced” videos. This is showing a lack of integrity and unwillingness to call error – error.

In closing this for now, I will respect your request to give you one week to watch and respond to the video. Let’s say by next Saturday, OK? Remember, it is you who have called Rick Joyner a friend and man of God, but the video footage reveals that he is the enemy of God and mocker of the Holy Spirit. The burden is on you to watch the video and respond in an appropriate manner to affirm these practices as “authentic fire” or unashamedly rebuke them as “strange fire”.

Patiently waiting your response,

Justin