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| Toronto Airport Anointing [message #12173] |
Sun, 25 December 2016 04:06  |
 Mark L
Messages: 853
Registered: October 2006
Location: Canada |
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I'm not sure if I ever posted this or not. I've been going through some of my old notes. I realize the Toronto anointing is more or less passe but I don't think anything has really changed in Christendom.
Also I know I'm preaching to the converted here but we don't always know who is reading.
I think I have a unique perspective on this as I was very close to there attended a number of meetings and had close family and friends involved there. I was very concerned for them and did a lot of praying which is why I think the Lord showed me some of what he did.
You can read
"Meanderings on Scripture by Mark
https://mlederman.substack.com/
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| Re: Toronto Airport Anointing [message #12174 is a reply to message #12173] |
Sun, 25 December 2016 04:22  |
Mark L
Messages: 853
Registered: October 2006
Location: Canada |
Senior Member |
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Is The Toronto Airport Anointing Of The Lord??
We are going to examine its origins – Where did this anointing come from??
If we don’t contend earnestly for the faith it won’t be long until we don’t have one. Jude 3-4 clearly says we are to contend earnestly for the faith and (right in context) the doctrine of Christ. The information I have given here comes from my own study and from materials printed directly by the Toronto Airport and from the Christian Research Foundation.
Where did this anointing come from???
Somewhere around 1990 Rodney Howard Brown arrived in America looking for his future and a place to minister the call he as a Christian minister believed God had put on his life. I don’t think it would be going too far to say he felt a sense of destiny and was looking for it. He eventually arrived at Ken Copelands church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During a meeting there Ken Copeland laid hands on him and Brown received the anointing he now ministers under.
Some time later a Vineyard pastor from St. Louis, Missouri named Randy Clark who was feeling at the end of his rope spiritually & was crying out to God for more. He felt he was dead spiritually and had no anointing and even though he was a pastor he was just going through the motions. He was absolutely desperate. He had heard about this tremendous anointing that had come on Howard-Brown. The lives that had been transformed , the joy that had come, the laughter and the renewing and the rekindling of their spiritual life.
Vineyard pastor Clark had heard that Brown was going to be at Ken Hagins Tulsa church and in spite of his theological objections to both Hagin and Copeland (JDS) he was just so absolutely desperate for God that he went anyway. While at that meeting Brown laid hands on him and he received the same anointing Brown ministered under.
Prior to the Brown encounter he had scheduled a meeting at the Toronto Airport Vineyard. For some time previous to this the Vineyard pastor John Arnott had been crying out to God for revival and more anointing on his church and ministry. He had experienced an anointing in the past wasn't careful with it and it disappeared.
He had promised God and determined in his heart that if God sent the revival and anointing he wouldn’t lose it or let it go this time. The rest as they say is history! Randy Clark fresh from the Hagin meeting where the anointing on Brown had come on him came the next day to Toronto. The anointing on Clark came on the Arnotts and the meeting and has stayed there ever since. This same anointing that came on Brown through the laying on of Ken Copelands hands has also started revivals in Brownsville Florida and Springfield Missouri (currently in the process of moving to Kansas city) (I realize some of this quite dated)
The Question then is . . . Is it valid for an anointing to come from the source it did??
The Bounds of Orthodoxy
Within evangelical charismatic or conservative Christianity there has been from the days of the NT & the apostles a recognition that the religious world throughout the earth is divided into 2 camps. Christianity in one camp and every other religion in the world in the other. The dividing line between the 2 camps has always been down through history the person of Jesus Christ.
That Christian belief could be summed up with Peters words in Acts 4/12 “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The result of believing and responding to that we call being born again. With the result we are transferred into Jesus kingdom and out of the kingdom of darkness.
Christianity and the religions that have come from it (various cults, Mormons, Jehovah Witness) are also divided into 2 camps We call the dividing line between these 2 camps “ The bounds of Orthodoxy” There are Christians of every sort and description in the world holding many different political religious & social views and beliefs. But there is a belief common to all of us about who and what Jesus Christ is.
He is the only way to salvation
He is God himself and equal with the Father
He is completely divine and completely human
Etc./etc./etc.
The true Christian world calls this “ The Doctrine of Christ” To not be in agreement with any of these bible teachings (doctrines) concerning Jesus Christ is to place yourself outside the bounds of orthodoxy.
The dividing line between orthodox and unorthodox is your personal belief about Jesus and in the case of a minister what he would teach about Jesus
I want to make the statement here that as “far as I am aware” the Vineyard / Rodney Howard-Brown / Randy Clark and the leadership of the Toronto Airport Church all believe and teach orthodox Christian doctrine concerning Jesus Christ
The problem here is that there is the two other individuals involved neither of whom hold to orthodox Christian doctrine. I am speaking here of Kenneth Hagin & Kenneth Copeland. Both of these men are major charismatic leaders and as far as I am aware they live morally upright lives and in every respect are normal decent human beings.
Both of these men are central to the anointing coming to the Toronto Airport (which is why they are mentioned here) and both have departed from historic Christian doctrine concerning Jesus Christ in very serious ways. I would have to place both of them outside of orthodox doctrine into unorthodoxy. The significance of that is that it places both of them outside the Christian church AND salvation as well.
In Acts 15 there was a church council held with all the leaders of the church. Those that walked with Jesus like Peter as well as Paul and all the leaders in the church were in attendance. The reason for it was some of the teachers and leaders coming from Jerusalem were teaching the Gentiles that belief in Jesus Christ wasn’t enough. You also had to follow the Jewish law and be circumcised.
After much discussion there was a decision rendered by the leadership of the church (most of whom had walked with Jesus) that trust in Jesus atoning work was sufficient for salvation and the gentiles didn’t have to follow the Jewish law. Later on in the bible Paul called those who didn't agree with that teaching false apostles.
Sometime before 325 AD a Christian leader named Arius arose in the church. He began to teach that Jesus was not the eternal Son of God but was a created being like the angels. That he was not one essence with the Father and did not exist from eternity. The uproar over such heretical teaching so divided the church that the Roman Emperor Constantine called a meeting of all the major leaders of the church.
Over 300 attended from all over the empire showing the importance placed on it. The result was the church affirmed its belief that Jesus was God was one essence with and equal to the Father. The result of that council held at Nicea was the Nicene creed affirming the churches belief of the deity of Christ. The significance is that Arius and his followers were put out of the church with its attending consequences of being out of heaven as well.
Both Hagin and Copeland were instrumental in the anointing coming to Toronto. Rodney Howard Brown received his anointing at the hands of Ken Copeland.
Randy Clark received the anointing he brought into Toronto from Brown (and by extension Copeland) in one of Ken Hagins meetings. Both Hagin and Copeland believe and teach as a central doctrine of their ministries that Jesus on the cross became a sinner died spiritually took on the nature of Satan went to hell was tormented by the demons for 3 days and then was miraculously born again.
To say this is not orthodox Christian doctrine would be putting it mildly. What it is is a blasphemous heresy and the men who teach it are not Christian ministers and are outside the Christian church.
(As an aside apparently Copeland and those who follow him have changed this doctrine somewhat to make it more palatable. The increasing crescendo of criticism got to them. Its still heresy though.) Also for those looking for discernment . . . there is more to Copeland than just being a false teacher or prophet.
What is really tragic here is the multitudes following these men & hold this teaching as they have been taught. The significance is if they got save believing in a Jesus who died spiritually then they don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible. I don't care what kind of emotional or supernatural experiences they had. To make a few distinctions here. If someone got saved believing in a Jesus who died spirtually at best I question their salvation. Also a true christian can get caught up in this teaching and still be saved. But there is a line one can't cross without walking out of ones salvation. That line I think would have to be determined by the Lord.
If you don’t understand the significance of how heretical this is there are books available on the subject. Bro Freemans book “Did Jesus die spiritually” deals extensively with the subject.
So this is where the Toronto airport anointing came from. Directly from the hands of men who stand outside the Christian church and teach heretical doctrine.
So we have to ask the question . . . Would God send an anointing from outside the church to his church? My answer would be no. Anointings come from the Holy Spirit. If it comes directly through the hands of a man who is not a christian minister how can it be of God?
The really tragic thing here is the multitudes that came from all over the world to these Toronto meetings. Desperate hungry people looking for God. I know personally of several people who sat under the faith message but were so hungry and so dry they threw caution to the winds and went anyway.
Reminds me of a story I read about Africa. A mother Rhino with a young one got her leg caught in a snare attached to a log. Then the log got caught near a water hole and she couldn't move far. The hyena's just sat and waited until the young one got desperate for water. It left the safety of mother and ran for it. The predictable thing happened of course. The hyena's got the young one. Not a nice story (although true) but exactly the same thing is happening at the Toronto Airport.
Some years ago when I was very close to a lot of people going there the Lord showed me something.
I saw in the Spirit (on the day rewards were given out by Jesus) John Arnott the then pastor there weeping and crying before Jesus. He saw that because he as a christian minister didn't take heed to the scriptures but followed the supernatural. Multitudes (no exaggeration) came through his meetings got affected by that false anointing and a deceiving spirit came into their life. Then later at the end of time when discernment was absolutely critical it reached out its hand covered their eyes and deceived them. They took the mark of the beast and walked right out of Jesus kingdom. He could see it was his fault and there was nothing he could do. Just standing there weeping and crying.
Again I know I'm preaching to the converted here but it is just so serious.
[Updated on: Sun, 25 December 2016 18:28]
You can read
"Meanderings on Scripture by Mark
https://mlederman.substack.com/
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| Re: Toronto Airport Anointing [message #12175 is a reply to message #12174] |
Sun, 25 December 2016 04:30 |
Mark L
Messages: 853
Registered: October 2006
Location: Canada |
Senior Member |
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A core teaching oft repeated and drilled by the leadership there was this . . .
they are afraid of being deceived
Sometimes deception is very subtle and that is exactly what this is. It just takes away discernment a check in the spirit being careful asking questions checking fruit etc. Because any questions is just you buying into the charismatic mistake of "being afraid of being deceived"
I am not exaggerating to say this was a very strong teaching there. It still also is by the Arnotts who still travel widely with this anointing.
Lots to say here but I think I'll leave it at that.
[Updated on: Sun, 25 December 2016 04:49]
You can read
"Meanderings on Scripture by Mark
https://mlederman.substack.com/
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| Re: Toronto Airport Anointing [message #12176 is a reply to message #12175] |
Sun, 25 December 2016 05:35 |
Mark L
Messages: 853
Registered: October 2006
Location: Canada |
Senior Member |
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Again I'm not sure if I ever posted this or not but anyway here it is. The writer is a former pastor at the Toronto Airport. This is his opinion of the fruit of the anointing there. Also I personally experienced this fruit coming from those who were impacted by this anointing.
THE TORONTO DECEPTION by a Former Vineyard Pastor
It has taken me nine years to actually come to the place where I would write this story. Part of the reason was because I was not fully convinced that it is appropriate to speak out against weaknesses in the body of Christ publicly. Another reason is because it has taken years of soul searching to become convinced that what happened in the Toronto Airport Church was actually all bad or at least more bad than good!
For the past number of years I have called it a mixed blessing. I think James A. Beverly called it this in his book Holy Laughter and the Toronto Blessing 1994. Today I would call it a mixed curse concluding that any individual good that came from this experience is far outweighed by much harm and satanic deception. I suppose that therein has been the dilemma.
I have tried to live my life in the fear of the Lord and Jesus told us that the unforgivable sin was the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Attributing to Satan what was in fact a work of God. If pressed as to whether or not the Toronto blessing is all God or all Devil I will still be hedgy, but I am convinced that Satan has used this experience to blind people to the historical doctrine of God, to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, to failing to test and discern the spirits and failing to test prophecy.
After three years of being in the thick of the Toronto blessing our Vineyard assembly in Scarbough (East Toronto) just about self destructed. We devoured one another, with gossip, backstabbing, division, sects criticism etc. After three years of “soaking” praying for people, shaking, rolling, laughing, roaring, ministering at TACF on their prayer team, leading worship at TACF, preaching at TACF, basically living at TACF we were the most carnal, immature and deceived Christians that I know. I remember saying to my friend and senior pastor at Scarborough Vineyard Church in 1997 that ever since the Toronto Blessing came we have just about fallen to bits! He agreed!
My experience has been that the manifestation of spiritual gifts mentioned in 1st Corinthians 12 was much more common in our assembly, before January 1994 (when the Toronto blessing started.) than during this period of supposed Holy Spirit visitation. During 1992-1993 when praying for people we would experience what I believe was genuine prophesy, deliverance and much grace and favour from the Lord. After the Toronto Blessing started, all ministry time changed, the only prayers were ‘More Lord MORE’, the shouting of ‘Fire’ the jerky shaking of the body with the ‘ooh ooh OOH WOOOAAH’ prayer. (I kid you not!)
On January 20th 1994 about 15 people from our church traveled over to Toronto Airport Vineyard in order to listen to Randy Clark, a Vineyard pastor from the USA. John Arnott had called our senior pastor to invite us. He communicated that Randy had been to the Rodney Howard Browne meetings and that the stuff had broke out in his church in the following weeks. John was hoping that something might break out with us too. We were only too happy to travel over.
We were a church plant out of the Toronto Airport and we started in 1992. In those days there were three Vineyard Churches in Toronto. One Down town church, Scarborough vineyard church to the east and the Airport Church. We were one big happy family. Because we were small in number we did special meetings, conferences etc, together.
The year before most of our leadership teams joined and had headed to Nicaragua for a short term missions trip. We had genuine love and fellowship with each other.
Since leaving the Vineyard churches I have read a fair bit of analysis from the critics. Some make out that the Toronto Blessing was one huge conspiracy to lead the body of Christ into heresy. Heresy and apostasy I suspect may well be the result, but none of these destinations were intentional.
I am honestly convinced that the leaders in the Vineyard churches are genuine born-again Christians who love the Lord, but have fallen into deception. They have not loved the Lord enough to keep His commandments. They have failed to obey the scriptures and have been led astray by our longing for something bigger and brighter and more exciting and dynamic. I am guilty of this sin also.
I have preached renewal in Korea, the United Kingdom, the USA and here in Canada. I am genuinely repentant and in writing this story I would ask you the bride and body of Christ to forgive me. Especially the Pentecostal/charismatic Christians among you, for you are my immediate family theologically.
I am an evangelical Christian, I always have been but I do not believe in the cessation of the spiritual gifts at the end of the apostolic era. I believe that it was my evangelical roots (my Family are Baptists and I was born again in the Presbyterian Church) that started to open my eyes to problems with this so called renewal In hindsight I look back and think how could I have been so blind?
I laughed at people acting like dogs and pretending to urinate on the columns of the TACF building. I watched people pretend to be animals, bark, roar, cluck, pretend to fly as if they had wings, perpetually act drunk and sing silly songs. How I thought that any of this was from the Holy Spirit of God amazes me today. It was loud irreverent and blasphemous to the Holy God of the Bible. I suppose in my mind I reasoned that as long s they did not teach any thing in direct violation to scripture then it was what we called the exotic. This is a buzzword for manifestations that could not be justified from a biblical perspective.
I was taught from the pulpit that we had two options. The order of the nursery full of life and messy or the order of the graveyard, very orderly but dead! As a young immature pastor I wanted life with mess. I failed to remember that God wants us to become mature and grow up in him.
I became disconnected by the prophetic words that came forth especially one by Carol Arnott in which she had her bride experience where she was taken into the very presence of Jesus and said that the love that she experienced was even better than sex! I was shocked in my spirit and thought how can one compare the love of God with sex?
When we suspected that demons were running riot in our services John Arnott would teach that we should ask are they coming or going. If they are leaving then that is ok! John would defend the chaos by saying that we ought not be afraid of being deceived, if we have asked the Holy Spirit to come and fill us then how could Satan come and deceive us? This would make Satan very strong and God very weak! He said that we needed to have more faith in a Big God to protect us than in a Big Devil to deceive us. This sounded very convincing but was totally contrary to scripture for Jesus and Paul and Peter and John all warn us about the power of deceiving spirits and especially so in the last days. Again we did not love God enough to obey His Word and the result was that we opened ourselves up to lying spirits. May God have mercy upon us!
Finally the penny dropped for me a I was rolling around one night ’drunk in the Spirit’ as we would say. I started singing and as I rolled around the floor the Nursery the Rhyme ’Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow.’ came to mind. I sang this in a mocking spirit and instantly my heart told me this was a demon. Instantly I repented and was in total shock. How could a demon get into me? Did I not love God? Was I not zealous for the things of God? Was I not nuts about Jesus? I knew that as unclean spirit had just manifested through me and I was guilty of great sin. After this experience I stayed away from TACF. I did not go back there any more. I did not possess the conviction to denounce the whole experience but thought that we were failing to pastor the Blessing well enough.
Even after I stopped going over to TACF, I had to pastor the fruit of it. One example was when some of our people returned from a meeting there asking us if we had all received the golden sword of the Lord? I asked them what they were talking about thinking that it was some prophetic reference to the Holy Scriptures but they said, ’no its not the Bible, it’s an invisible golden sword that only the really pure can receive.
If taken in an unrighteous fashion then the Lord would kill you. But if you are holy enough to receive it then you can wield this sword and it will heal aids, Cancer etc. and bring salvation. How one wielded this sword was by pretending to have this invisible sword in your hand and motioning to strike people with it when in prayer! I thought while even in deception at this time that the TACF had become Looney bins! This was purportedly first received by Carol Arnott and then given to the ones holy enough to receive it!
Another thing was the golden fillings in the teeth. We had people in our assembly peeping down one another’s throats looking for the gold fillings that God had placed there to show how much he loved them!
In all my time there I only heard one message on repentance given by a visiting speaker from Hong Kong named Jackie Pullinger. It went over like a lead balloon. We were not there to repent, we were there to party in the Lord! After one year into the blessing, I spoke out at a pastors meeting and said ‘guys we have shaken, rattled, rolled, laughed cried and bought the tee-shirt. But we have no revival, no salvation, no fruit and no increased evangelism so what’s the deal?” I was soundly rebuked – who was I to expect to see fruit when the Lord was healing his broken people? We had been legalistic long enough and god was spending this time restoring his wounded and freeing us from legalism I was told not push the Lord and the harvest would come in his time.’
So there is my story. I could go on and document much excess, folly, sin and latter day reign teaching that manifest from the prophetic end of this blessing but others have already done that. We sang about Joel’s army and the billion soul revival as if it were one of the Ten Commandments, and as always it was just around the corner. Next month, next year etc.
Jesus said that when the son of man returns will he find faith upon the earth ? And if he dies not return when he does no flesh would be saved but for the sake of the elect he comes. This is a far cry from the dominionism, that is being taught all through the vineyard/prophetic/spiritual warfare movement. I honestly think that they think they are going to take over the whole world! While in the Vineyard I embraced a life verse from the Apostle Paul the phrase do not go beyond what is written!
To finish I just want to say sorry for the damage, that I have personally done by teaching things that are not correct biblically. I repent before men as I already have before God. I will not excuse my falling into deception. I did not bother to test things when the scriptures commanded us to do so. Everyone who was there when this thing started knows that what I write is true, they would just come to different conclusions especially if they are still promoting the ‘river!’
To those in the river I would say swim out, there are things living in the water that will bite you real good! I love the people of TACF and the Vineyard movement but I think that we have much to answer for and may the Lord open your eyes sooner rather than later. I suspect that when this letter goes online I will get bombarded by emails from both camps, some damning me for still believing in the ministry of the Holy Spirit and still walking in deception and some old friends damning me for exposing dirt or being negative about the Lords anointed! Well, the Lord knows my heart and by his grace he will guide me into all truth as I seek to know Christ and him crucified!
I would call on all who read this to pray that the Lord would open the eyes of all who have been involved in this deception. Whether leader or follower, we are loved and the Lord is a forgiving God. He says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I believe we are like the church in Laodicea, we think that we are rich, have prospered and need nothing, we do not realize that we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.
We must take the Counsel of Jesus and buy gold refined in the fire (which is his suffering, not a false spirit!) white garments to clothe our shameful nakedness and salve for our eyes that we might see again. Jesus is calling us to repentance and thank the Lord that he is, for it will lead us to true restoration with our Father! If God has forgiven me and opened my eyes then he can do it for all those caught in deception too. I will finish with a warning from Paul, he says if you think you are standing firm be careful lest you fall.
Sincerely, Paul Gowdy
You can read
"Meanderings on Scripture by Mark
https://mlederman.substack.com/
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| Re: Toronto Airport Anointing [message #12177 is a reply to message #12176] |
Sun, 25 December 2016 05:55 |
Marilyn Crow
Messages: 598
Registered: September 2013
Location: Australia |
Senior Member |
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Hi Mark,
Blessings bro, & so thank you for the details you have posted. Very clear, hungering really with out humbleness. Looking for the signs etc & not the One.
regards, Marilyn.
BTW Just a few words of a song at this time -
`Out of the ivory palaces, in to the world of woe,
Only His great eternal love, made my Saviour go.`
Marilyn C
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