THE TORONTO EXPERIENCE,

A BLESSING OR A CURSE?

The news of the so-called "Toronto Blessing", has made its way rapidly around the world, even making headlines in the secular press. It has caused many true believers to question, "Is it of God, or is it not?" Sadly some of the elect have been deceived, and in their desire not to miss out on any blessing of God, have given their minds to deceiving spirits, that claim to be the Holy Spirit, with rather sad and regrettable results. We have seen videos of people who would normally be sober and balanced people, behaving in unseemly ways, that could never be said to be glorifying to God. One could be excused for making the same comment about them, that the Apostle Paul said that one who came in from the street would say of the Corinthians, if they all "spoke in tongues", " Ye are mad", (1 Cor. 14 ; 22.)

Without going into the doctrine of the phenomenon, one only has to look at its source, and the channels through which it came.

The place that has become world famous for this thing, is the "Airport Vineyard Church", in Toronto. The founder of the "Vineyard" network of Churches, is one John Wimber, who is a prime mover in the "Signs & Wonders" movement, & such I fear, are the "Signs & lying Wonders", referred to in 2 Thess. 2 : 9-13.

This person is a proven deceiver, & though claiming to have the "gift of healing", is himself suffering from terminal cancer.

John Arnott, the Pastor of the Airport Vineyard Church, & his wife are both divorced & re-married, thus according to the words of our Lord Jesus are living in adultery, & though we would not ever seek to limit what the Holy Spirit may do in His sovereign will, yet we would hardly expect some remarkable movement of the Holy Spirit, to come through such unclean channels.

The enclosed chart tracing the "Genealogy of the 'Toronto Blessing', was sent to me by a brother who had almost been deceived by these people, when he was a member of an "Assembly of God" Church, but he has recently left that Church. It is interesting to trace the evolution of what obviously comes from the Prince of Darkness. I have met & counseled new believers who have just come out of the Roman Catholic Church, having experienced the salvation of God through repentance & faith in out Lord Jesus Christ, these poor souls were terribly confused by the hysterical behavior of those who had fallen under this power, so much so that they were thinking of returning to the R.C. Church, saying that in that church there was at least some dignity & composure. I thank God that I was able to reach them in time.

Kenneth Hagin, & Benny Hinn, were names that these believers mentioned to me, & it was the first time that I had heard of these two men.

As we come down the 'family tree', the name of Kenneth Copeland appears, one of the leaders of the so-called 'Faith Movement'. This man is undoubtedly a heretic, his statements both in preaching & in writing in his books, prove him to be such.

He claims that the Lord Jesus has appeared to him & spoken to him these words, (amongst others), "they crucified me because they said that I claimed to be God, but I never claimed to be God". If he did see anything, or any one, it was not the Lord Jesus, but the manifestation of some 'deceiving, or lying spirit' Any spirit that does not confess "Jesus Christ come in flesh", whom John tells us is the "True God, and Eternal Life", is not of God. Further, Copeland has said, & written, "Cats beget cats, & dogs beget dogs, & God begets Gods, you are all little Gods", (end quote). This is what Satan promised to Eve in the garden of Eden, "Ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil", that she would become a little God. This is the main thrust of Hinduism also, & India is full of "little gods", men who claim to be incarnations of God, and accept the worship & adoration of people of darkened minds This brings us to Rodney Howard-Browne, the principal actor in the whole drama. This man is from South Africa, & is a disciple of Kenneth Copeland and others. He was in a Pentecostal type Church in South Africa, & became desperate for some super-natural experience, & by his own confession, shouted at God to give him what he wanted, & told God that if He would not give it to him, he was going to commit suicide & was coming up there to argue, or to wrestle with God until he got what he wanted. He also said that whether this thing was of God, or of the devil, he wanted it.

I am quoting now from memory of statements that I have read in books written by those who support the Toronto Curse. The man got what he wanted, but I am sure that he never got it from God. I have watched both he & Kenneth Copeland going through their stunt, on a video. The very physical appearance of the men was repulsive to me. I have seen some very ugly believers in my time, one brother especially stands out in my memory. But though his face was so ugly, yet there was something about him, & his beautiful smile that attracted me, it was the beauty of Christ. Another person who did not know him, said after hearing him preach, "Who was that terribly ugly man, with a heavenly smile".

We are not to judge, or assess any one on their personal appearance, but it would seem to be reasonable to expect those who are said to be mightily used of God, to manifest something of the beauty of Christ, in their words, manner, character, & also in their appearance.

Some who have experienced the Toronto thing, claim to have been drawn nearer to the Lord, & many other such things, however such testimony is not to be trusted. The testimony of those people who live with then, work with them etc., who know them intimately is what counts.

Another characteristic about the meetings of such people is that there is no opening of the scriptures, no preaching of the word of God, even people who are "praying", are sometimes commanded to stop. It is the Holy Spirit who inspired the Apostles & others to write the word of God, is it reasonable to assume that the Holy Spirit would go beyond, or even against the word of God which He Himself has inspired? I think not.

Another thing that suggests that the whole thing is not of God, is the connection with a place, & the fact that people from all over the world have spent large sums of money to journey to that place, (Toronto), in order to get the experience. This is s denial of the Omnipresence of God, & is a characteristic of what is demonic & manifestly false.

I travel to India each year, ( not to get some blessing, but to preach & teach the word of God), & there are famous pilgrimage centres in different parts of the country. It is mountains & rivers that are important there, (not airports), & people travel for many hundreds of miles to be present on auspicious occasions in order to get different blessings. At some places it is the forgiveness of sins that they seek, by washing in the filthy, disease laden waters of a river whom they believe is God. In other places it is healing that they seek, or just to witness some spectacular occurrence, or appearance, (which is usually faked), but mostly the poor deceived people go home disappointed. With the Roman Catholics it is the same, & you & I can call to mind the names of places where thousands of people congregate, in order to receive some "blessing".

The strange thing about it all is , that the further away you are from the place where the blessing is supposed to be, the more famous the place becomes. people who live nearby don't bother to go to such places, yet others will go into debt in order to get there from far away.

I happened to be in the Toronto area in 1993, when this thing was taking place, yet I knew nothing at all about it, in fact I first heard about it when in Dubai, U.A.E, an Arabian Gulf Country.

Once the blessing of God was associated with a place, but no longer. Jerusalem was the place to which the earthly people of God, (Israel) were to go, three times in the year, but no more.

There is an important scripture in Romans chapter 10 verse 6 to 10, which shows us that we do not have to make physical journeys in order to get the presence of Christ, or the blessing of God. We need neither ascend into heaven, to bring Christ down, nor go down into hell to bring Him up. People go to Toronto & bring something back with them then try to impart it to others. But the Lord Jesus dwells in the believer, by the Holy Spirit, & the precious truth is that He is with me, "all the days", & He promises never to leave nor forsake me.

The Lord Jesus foresaw that this kind of thing would happen, & so He warns us in Matthew's Gospel chapter 24, verses 11 to 14, & verses 23 to 28. First He speaks of the false prophets, who He says "shall deceive many", this is surely true of the 'Toronto' experience. The bait to get many to accept the hoax, is that it is the forerunner of wonderful world wide revival, however three years have passed & we have yet to see such a revival. It is interesting to link the verse quoted with the Lord's statement in Matthew 7;15, where He warns us to beware of false prophets. The verse that follows in chapter 24, (verse 12), shows the spiritual climate out of which the false prophets will arise. A state where iniquity abounds, & where the love of the most will grow cold. This describes our present generation, love for Christ, love for wife & family, love for truth, & the word of God, with most have grown cold. This has created a fertile soil for false prophets to arise & to grow in. The consequent grieving of the Holy Spirit, coupled with a sad ignorance of the word of God, has robbed even the elect of the necessary discernment to detect the falsehoods & the deceivers. The deceivers when rejected by the Lord in the end will claim to have prophesied, cast out demons, and to have done many wonderful works, all in the name of Jesus, but the Righteous Judge will strip away the sheep's clothing, & show them to be workers of iniquity. (Matt. 7:23).

The only infallible test of doctrine or practice is the Holy Scriptures. It is somewhat amusing to see the way that the supporters of the Toronto experience try in vain to twist passages of scripture, & pervert them to suit their cause. They take the reviling of the scoffers in Acts 2 : 13 to blasphemously attribute to the Holy Spirit, the uncontrolled, drunken behavior of their victims. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is exactly the opposite of being drunk with wine, & is contrasted with it in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18, where such conduct is said to be debauchery, (J.N.Darby N.T.).

One of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit that He produces in the life that He rules & fills, is self control. The phenomena of uncontrolled laughter is no where found in the Holy Scriptures. The blessed lord Jesus, who is our model, & to whose image the Holy Spirit seeks to transform us, is said to be "A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief", Isa. 53 :3. When we read the Gospels, never once do we read of Him laughing, though we do read of Him weeping. Paul instructed Titus to teach the old men, the old women, the young women, & the young men to be "Sober-minded, grave, temperate, & sound in faith, Titus, 2:1-7. We are told to pray for Kings & those in authority, that we may "lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and gravity", (! Tim. 2;2). Does it seem right that when society is so full of iniquity & violence, & the coming of the Lord Jesus is imminent, when masses are poised on the brink of eternal hell, that believers should be laughing uncontrollably? When the Lord Jesus looked on Jerusalem, He wept over it, may the Holy Spirit make us like Him!

There is not one instance any where in the Bible of any one being "Slain in the Spirit". It is claimed by these perverters of truth, that Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 9:4, & the Apostle John in Rev. 1:17, are examples of being "slain in the Spirit", this is completely false. Let us examine each case. In Acts 9:4, a "light from heaven" shone bout him & his fellow travelers, it was the light that filled him with terror & made him & the others fall to the ground, however when the others stood up he remained prostrate, he was consequently saved, but we are not told that the others were. To be slain in the spirit is something done by men, through some power that is certainly not natural, neither is it divine, so what is the source of that power? I will leave you to answer.

In the case of John, he had just seen a vision of the Lord Jesus in His judicial character & garb. the sight of the intrinsic holiness of the person of Christ was so awesome, that though John had leaned on His bosom at the last supper, yet he says "I fell at His feet as dead". He did not do as those I have seen in the videos, roll onto his back & begin to laugh hysterically. Nor was his condition, or prone position brought about by men, because he was alone there. There is therefore no comparison between either case, with that of the false phenomena of being "slain in the spirit".

Another has pointed out, that those in the Bible who fell on their faces, fell forwards, overcome by the sense of the awesome holiness of God. They prostrated themselves in worship, confession, repentance. But God says of those who reject His truth which He sought to teach them with such patience, would "fall backwards and be caught in a snare", (Isaiah 28 ; 13.)

How different things would be within the churches if we were to catch a glimpse of the glory & intrinsic holiness of our blessed Lord Jesus. The result would not be laughter, but tears of broken hearted repentance for our carelessness, our indifference, & our sinful state.

We need like the Church at Laodicea to buy from our Lord Jesus, eye-salve, to anoint our eyes that we may see the true state of our own lives, of the Church, & of the society in which we live. Rev. 3;18. But that will cost us something, because it has to be bought, there is a price to pay, & it may cause us pain, as it burns away the cataracts that sin, self satisfaction, & apathy have brought to our spiritual eyes to blur & blind our vision.

Let me counsel those who may read this short paper. Please do not accept Satan's counterfeit, do not allow deceiving spirits to rob you of the real, deep spiritual joy that comes into the souls of those who under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, through the word of God, truly humble themselves. Who in genuine repentance, discover, judge, confess and forsake all sin. Who experience the joy of being forgiven by our Lord Jesus, & thus are brought back into deep sweet fellowship with Him.

Let us like the Church at Ephesus, try those who say that they are apostles & are not, we too shall find them to be liars. But let us remember from whence we have fallen. Let us too repent, & do the first works, that is let us return to the warmth of love, the energetic zeal, the willingness to part forever with the things of darkness, that marked us in the beginning of our Christian experience. Rev. 2;2-6. Let us also learn to hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitines, which is so hateful to Christ. That is to hate the very notion of a man setting himself up to rule over the saints of God, call him Pastor, Priest or what you may. Let us joyfully submit to the rule of the Lord Jesus alone, & allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.

If this were to really happen to you & I, then some good will have come out of the Toronto curse. May God grant that it may be so for His own Glory.

C.E.Wigg, R.S.D. 287B. Yolla, Tasmania, Australia. 7325. 27/5/96.