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given from the R.H.B CO.
Rodney Browne has introduced himself to the Church as the Holy Ghost bartender that is serving the new wine at Joel's place, He tells us that you can drink as much as you like, the drinks are on the house. Browne claims the Lord told him to get the people drunk on the new wine, to get them inebriated. I believe his wine serving license should be revoked! Rodney misrepresents Joel by saying to get drunk at Joel's places-Joel says “Awake, you drunkards , and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth”--Joel 1:5.What was good for the priests in Israel's day can certainly be applied to the Church. Concerning Acts 2, Rodney Howard-Browne and his followers claim that the disciples must have been behaving like drunkards because the people who stood by labeled them as being drunk and filled with new wine. According to Browne and others, the first Pentecost was the former rain, and now today God is giving us the Latter Rain a "new Pentecost". God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. This is choke full of error. First, we see that the ones who said that the apostles were drunk in Acts 2 were the mockers (unbelievers) they didn't understand spiritual things, they were mistaken. Is Rodney's followers making the same mistake? Why were they accused of being drunk? Because they were speaking in other languages they did not understand. However, others heard the same thing as praises to God in their own languages. So those in this movement agrees with the mockers and not those who understand spiritual matters. Rodney Howard-Browne and others are using their doctrine from the scoffers. "They were drunk" Peter goes on to say that "These men are not drunk as you suppose." Being or acting drunk according to the scriptures is sin, we are not to look like the world. It is Peter who wrote to be sober and vigilant for the adversary (the devil ) is roaming about seeing who he may devour (chomp on). He's having a tasty meal for years now, a little meat with some wine.Whenever you see the Scripture mention drunkenness there is a physical aspect and there can be a spiritual aspect or counterpart. It doesn’t say anywhere to get drunk in the spirit but the very opposite And do not be drunk with wine--- Ephesians 5:18. Ephesians 5:18 says: "Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." From this verse comes the doctrine of being drunk in the Spirit. Rodney Howard-Browne says: " There's a way to get drunk in the natural so there must be a way to get drunk in the spiritual." He's wrong, at least not in Christianity is there a way to be drunk. Ephesians 5:18 is not showing this at all, but is showing a contrast between how one acts while under the influence of alcohol and how one should act in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is self control. There is not a hint of any erratic behavior that accompanies being filled with the Spirit. When "being filled with the Spirit" takes away one's self-control, that one cannot perform his normal functions, it is not the holy Spirit but our fallen nature (flesh) or another spirit in action. To be filled with the Spirit means we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not act like this. Not once do we find a description of this behavior from the apostles. Yet we see sardonic laughter, violent shaking, dumbness, incoherency, paralysis, and people acting so drunk and out of control that they are unable to drive home are what to expect at these new wine services. After some of these services, the church offers designated drivers to take people home because they are too intoxicated on "The new wine" to drive (Maybe it should have been better if they could not drive to the services?)“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”( 1 Pet.5:8). When you have a lion stalking you- you don’t want to be drunk but sober. We are told to keep sober because the days are evil. Why is this happening mostly in a church setting? Why is this not happening on the job or when people drive? Can you imagine driving down the road drunk under the influence of the spirit going over the lines and being pulled over by a policeman. He says to the driver you're drunk, and the person says no, no I haven't had a touch of liquor, this is the Holy Spirit, I'm on the new wine. Go try that when you come out of one of these meetings and it won't be long before you will hear the clang of bars in front of you. But it will be from another bartender at the precinct. In his meetings, Rodney repeats the phrase "filled on the new wine". In the scriptures, wine is not a symbol of the Spirit (water most often is). Wine is a symbol of the New Covenant. Jesus lifted the cup and said "This is My blood (wine) poured out for the forgiveness of sins." He also said "You cannot put new wine into old wineskins (symbol of the New Covenant replacing the old). So if wine is a symbol of blood, then what does Rodney's statement actually mean when he says new wine? Is he saying that the old blood of Christ no longer has strength or is no longer valid ? This is typical of how he lifts Scripture out of context, changes the meaning to whatever he may like. A prime example is that we are not to be drunk on wine but he says if there is away to be drunk in the natural there must be a way to be drunk in the Spiritual. Not so, but for those biblically illiterate it is so! Consider Belshazzar's feast in Daniel 5! They partied and brought out the vessels of God's temple and filled them with wine to get drunk. Are we not the vessels of the Lord, his temple. Could The hand writing be on the wall for us just as it was for them! What is new is Rodney's teaching on Jesus, it demotes him. "Nothing Jesus did was because He was the Son of God. The Bible says He laid aside His royal robes of Deity and when He walked on earth He did so as a Prophet under the Abrahamic Covenant" (Rodney H. Browne) Jesus according to the apostles teaching was, and is forever God, He never stopped being God. So what Jesus is this that is serving new wine to those at Joel's bar?? This so-called "Holy laughter" occurs during sermons when the topic is Hell. Rodney states "One night I was preaching on hell, and laughter just hit the whole place. The more I told people what hell was like, the more they laughed." Instead of stopping this he affirmed it. What kind of minister of the gospel would approve of such a thing. Jesus died so people would not go to hell
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