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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
‘MANDATE
2008’ with COLIN DYE:
Another cause for concern
Not for the first time the invited
and announced speaker for the annual MANDATE men’s conference in
The Mandate 2008... |
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The Call: Rediscovering the
Life Less Ordinary
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Date: 15th November
2008 |
Price: £30 per person |
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Location: The Odyssey Arena, Belfast (click
on link for map) |
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10:00am morning Session 1 |
11.15am coffee break |
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11.45am morning Session 2 |
1.00pm lunch break |
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2pm seminars |
3.30pm seminars repeated |
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4.45pm worship session |
5.15pm tea break |
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7.00pm evening session |
8.45pm finish |
the speaker:
Colin Dye
In
this article I want to identify 4 particular ‘connections’ involving Colin Dye
that should give discerning Christians real ‘cause for concern’ and then I will conclude with
some comments on the current spiritual ethos and activities of Colin Dye and of
the church he pastors in London, Kensington Temple London City Church.
Colin Dye and Morris Cerullo
For the past 15+ years a regular visitor to London has been Morris
Cerullo who heads up the Morris
Cerullo World Evangelism organisation based in San Diego California where according to one
report found on
http://www.cephaslibrary.com/evangelists/evangelist_morris_cerullo_fraud.html
‘Morris Cerullo is an ordained Assembly of God
Minister and Healing Evangelist. His personal ministry mansion and two-storey
home is over 12,000 sq ft. It is behind two secured gates in the richest
neighbourhood in America and has been estimated at over $12 million. Mr Cerullo
and his wife are the only two that live there, and report that they are on the
foreign field 70% of the time... what a waste of God's money!’
According to promotional materials
that I have for Morris Cerullo’s 1993, 1994, and 1995 ‘Missions to London’
[MTL], Colin Dye was fully involved in the planning of these events and as
you will see participated on occasions as a speaker. I want to show first the
front page of a Morris Cerullo 1993 MTL newsletter announcing the event
to be held in London at the Earl’s Court 1 Arena from 15-22 August 1993.
In the right-hand column of the text of this newsletter reference is made to the holding of an “All European School of Ministry” and this next graphic will show details of some of the speakers lined up for this “School”.
I have highlighted in yellow Benny Hinn, R W Schamback and Marilyn
Hickey, just 3 of the names that would give grave cause for concern to
believers who are familiar with the heretical ‘health and wealth gospel’ sent
forth across the world by so-called ‘Christian’ TV broadcasters such as TBN [Trinity Broadcasting Network].
So, where does Colin Dye come into all of this? The next graphic gives details of a ‘Board’ and ‘Committee’ involved in the planning of this 1993 MTL and you will see the name of Colin Dye listed as a member of the MTL ’93 Board
of Reference. His name is listed 2nd
in the left-hand column.
Moving on to the 1994 MTL I want to show a graphic of the MTL
’94 Board of Reference and
again you will see that Colin Dye is listed as a member [2nd name on the list].
As regards the 1994 “School of
Ministry” the following graphic shows that Colin Dye is now listed
as a speaker [2nd photo in from the left at the top] – once
more the ‘health and wealth gospel’ teacher, Marilyn Hickey [8th
photo] appears as does another ‘health and wealth gospel’
teacher from Sweden, Ulf Ekman [4th photo] -sadly
for us in Northern Ireland both Marilyn Hickey and Ulf Ekman have spoken here
in times past, as has also of course more recently, Benny Hinn [photo-
right-hand column].
Moving on to the 1995 MTL held
from 7-13 August at the Earl’s Court 1 Arena we find that the “School” has
now been virtually blasphemously renamed as the “School of the Holy Spirit” as
this graphic will show.
This next graphic will show some
of the speakers lined up for the “School of the Holy Spirit” and you
will see Colin Dye listed [3rd photo in from the right] –
once more Marilyn Hickey is there [3rd photo from left].
Should such evident wholehearted support of Morris
Cerullo by Colin
Dye be a ‘cause
for concern’? I certainly believe
it should be for to give Morris Cerullo any kind of support indicates to me a total lack of Holy
Spirit, God-given “discernment”.
In 1st Corinthians 12:10 the Apostle Paul wrote of the “discerning
of spirits” and Pastor John
MacArthur in his bible notes writes – ‘Christians with the gift of discernment
have the God-given ability to identify deceptive and erroneous doctrine…it is
still essential to have people in the church who are discerning. They are the
guardians, the watchmen who protect the church from demonic lies, false
doctrines, perverted cults and fleshly elements’.
Professing Christians in positions of leadership should especially be
exercising such “discernment” when it comes to the likes of Morris
Cerullo. In a previous article
I outlined my concerns about Mr Cerullo’s ‘ministry’ and included video
evidence of his false pronouncement of the healing of a young girl from cancer
– a young girl who subsequently died just a few weeks later. Herewith are
excerpts of what I wrote together with a link to the video clip – [the full
article can be viewed on http://www.takeheed.net/StrangebedfellowswithEA.htm]
‘The lead article on the front page of the British Church Newspaper
[Issue 88: May 12 2006] was entitled “Morris Cerullo, Benny Hinn and
R T Kendall in ‘Mission to London’”. This refers to the latest ‘Mission’
to be staged in London by the ‘Morris Cerullo World Evangelism’ organisation…Part
of the article in the British Church Newspaper also stated –‘Some
ten years after Morris Cerullo’s organisation disaffiliated from the
Evangelical Alliance [EA], it [EA] has allowed Cerullo’s forthcoming ‘Mission
to London’ a FULL-PAGE advert in its magazine, IDEA’.
Prior to the Cerullo organisation ‘disaffiliating’ itself from EA it had been the subject of a 3-year investigation by EA who had as a consequence in 1995 issued a statement saying that they ‘had concerns’ about the organisation but they stopped short of ‘excommunicating’ it – however, not long after, the Morris Cerullo organisation voluntarily resigned from EA.
Just as an example of the type of information that EA might have considered when ‘weighing up’ the Morris Cerullo organisation and coming to their conclusion that they ‘had concerns’ about it let me quote extracts from a short article that appeared in the Evangelical Times of December 1992 –
Cerullo
‘bundled out’ of India
A front-page feature
article in The Times of India [India’s largest selling newspaper] on 17
October 1992 reported that “A so-called miracle healer, Morris Cerullo, who
prefers to call himself a man of God, was declared ‘persona non gratia’ and
bundled out of the country by Calcutta police this morning after mass healing
services on Park Circus Maidan yesterday evening turned into a fiasco when
members of the crowd stormed the dais challenging the efficacy of his healing
power”. The article went on to declare that “For indulging in undesirable
activities Morris Cerullo was put on a plane bound for the US this morning”. It
was reported that the crowd became restive as Mr Cerullo could not prove his
healing power…The Indian crowd had the good sense to test the claims of
Cerullo. It is a pity that British crowds seem more naïve.
Perhaps the ‘lament’ in that article that British crowds were less ready to ‘test the claims of Cerullo’ was based on events earlier that year when Cerullo had held a ‘Mission to London’. It did attract media attention and several BBC programmes [‘Heart of the matter’] showed Joan Bakewell ‘quizzing’ Mr Cerullo about his claims for ‘healing’. Dr Peter May, a member of the C of E Synod also challenged Mr Cerullo to cite his ‘best’ 3 cases of healing during the ‘Mission’ and these were analysed in the second of the TV programmes.
Herewith are extracts from ‘HealthWatch Newsletter no 15: June 1994’ that can be accessed on –
http://www.healthwatch-uk.org/newsletterarchive/nlett15.html#miracles
Miracles at Earls Court
This summer, American TV healer Morris
Cerullo returns to London, with his claims of miracles at his meetings. Two
years ago, posters showing a broken blind cane, an overturned wheel-chair and a
discarded hearing-aid were displayed on bill-boards across the capital, to the
anger and dismay of many disabled people. Challenged in a live television
interview to produce his three best cases from the week for public scrutiny,
Cerullo found himself under an intense spotlight Joan Bakewell's "Heart of
the Matter" team presented the cases in a powerful television documentary,
leaving Cerullo protesting that he needed more time.
He consequently appealed to people on his
mailing list to come forward with their stories and set up a medical panel to
analyse them. Cerullo's posters claimed they had 2,250 cases from which to
choose.
A year later, after the medical panel's final
meeting, a public statement from one of the doctors said emphatically that "there is no
evidence that anything has occurred that is outside the realm of normal
clinical experience"
One of the most disgraceful
and heartbreaking incidents related to a time when Morris Cerullo paraded
a very young [4 years old] girl called Natalia Barned around the
stage at Earls Court, together with her mum and then asked the audience
to give thanks to God for ‘the healing’ of little Natalia’s bone
cancer. Within a matter of 2 months Natalia was dead. You can
view Cerullo’s false claim for ‘Natalia’s healing’ by clicking on this link
The
British Church Newspaper article that I quoted from stated - –‘Some
ten years after Morris Cerullo’s organisation disaffiliated from the
Evangelical Alliance’. Around the time of the breaking of the link between Morris Cerullo and
Evangelical Alliance the February 1997 issue of ‘Charisma and
Christian Life’ carried an article in its ‘EuroCharisma and Christian
Life’ section entitled ‘UK’s Biggest Church Leaves EA’ and herewith
are extracts from that article –
‘In a move that could
signal a major split in British Evangelicalism, Kensington Temple, claimed to
be the biggest Church in Britain, has resigned from the Evangelical alliance.
The move is a sequel to the recent resignation of evangelist Morris Cerullo
from the EA. A press statement from Colin Dye, the church’s senior pastor said,
“For some time I have felt the Alliance was not adequately representing the
concerns of Pentecostals on the radical end of
the evangelical spectrum. I had hoped that the Alliance would indeed prove
itself broad enough to carry the full breadth of opinion that wished to rest in
it. But despite recent assurances and moves towards total acceptance of a
greater diversity within the Alliance, I find the handling of the whole Morris
Cerullo affair to be too telling to ignore’.
The
fact that wholehearted support for and participation in these MTL events,
even to the point of pulling his church out of the Evangelical Alliance because
of their treatment of Morris Cerullo, appears on the ‘spiritual CV’ of Colin
Dye should be a serious ‘cause for concern’ to Christians who desire
to preserve and protect the truth of God for the honour and glory of His name.
Colin Dye and Roberts Liardon
Over the years I have received much helpful information via the
ministry of Philip Powell who I would describe as ‘a conservative Pentecostal’.
His ministry is called ‘Contending Earnestly for The Faith’ [cetf]. I have in
my possession a number of issues of a magazine called ‘Vanguard’
that Philip, along with other
‘conservative Pentecostals’, helped to publish. In the May 1999 issue there was
Part 1 of an article called ’Unmasked –
Colin Dye’. Phil Powell himself
wrote the preamble and then Neil Richardson penned the bulk of the article.
This article can be viewed online on http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/van1999/cdyer99.html
What I propose now to do is to quote some extracts from both the
preamble by Philip Powell and the main article by Neil Richardson and these
will give you a clear indication of the link that there was between Colin
Dye and Roberts
Liardon.
Extracts
from the preamble by Philip Powell
‘Part of Satan's strategy in the spread of End Times deceptions is to target notable cities and churches. London's Elim Kensington Temple (KT) is one such. I have preached there on two occasions, both when Wynne Lewis, now [1999] Superintendent of the Elim Foursquare Church in Great Britain and Ireland, was Senior Pastor. On the occasion of my first visit in the early 80s KT was just getting going so to speak. After preaching at one mid-week night service I more or less received an open invitation to return and did so later in that decade…On my second visit I met Colin Dye who had become part of the pastoral team. Again, Wynne Lewis told me that the platform was open to me for future ministry. That was before Toronto [The so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’] and my strong stand against the false manifestations and teachings of that abomination. When I went public on the issue, Wynne Lewis contacted me to explain that KT's platform would no longer be open to me if I opposed Toronto. I refused to bow. Since then it has been my sad lot to observe KT descending into all sorts of false teaching as they have increasingly opened their platform to false teachers and false prophets…Heresy opens the door to immorality, corruption, fraud, self-seeking and the like. A number of these things, on close examination, can be discovered in KT’
Extracts from the main article by Neil Richardson
‘Our first criticism of
Colin Dye is his warm and close association with false teachers. Any man who is
prepared to wholly endorse the ministries of Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo and
Rodney Howard-Browne must be responsible for the detrimental effect of the
teaching and behaviour of these men. Dye shares platforms with these men,
brings them to his churches and conferences as keynote speakers and has in fact
withdrawn London City Church from the Evangelical Alliance because the latter
presumed to inquire into the finances of Morris Cerullo's missionary
organisation. The danger Dye presents to the Christian church today is as much
his capacity as a ringleader and promoter of false teachers, as his role as a
false teacher himself…The first false teacher who is championed and vaunted by
Colin Dye is Roberts Liardon. Most of the information garnered on Liardon is
taken from the following video.
`Are you really ready for the Promised Land?', Roberts Liardon with Colin
Dye (Kensington Temple/London City Church), Noel Richards and Band at
the London Arena, December 12, 1993… This 140 minute, £14.99 video is
brightly covered, with two pictures of Roberts Liardon, one of Colin Dye, one
of the outside of London Arena and one of the main stage (pastors and band
prominent).
The video begins with 26
minutes of singing led by Noel Richards… Then Colin Dye gives a
homily from Psalm 19 about the importance of tithing and the "great
reward" mentioned in verse 11 (This subject of ‘tithing’ is addressed on the Kensington Temple
website on http://www.kt.org/?p=teaching
)…(then) Thanking
Roberts Liardon, he invites him ("a great friend of mine") to
come to speak. "I believe so much in what God is doing through
him...all different streams and traditions are moving into what God has for us
in this day of power, and I believe Roberts is one of God's great prophets and
apostolic figures that He is raising up in the world today to minister that new
spirit, that new anointing from Jesus Christ for the body of Christ at this
time."
Roberts Liardon comes to the front and opens his address in prayer. His prayer is characterised by strident repetition… we thank you that your word shall come unto us!… Not words from man, not words from me, but words from heaven…(at this point Liardon bursts into senseless gibberish that masquerades as tongues sounding something like "sopran-talabikamahai. Woooah branstakahayai!") Then continues… oh England you shall change, hallelujah! England, YOU SHALL CHANGE, hallelujah! We declare it in the heavens, we declare it in hell… that England shall change for the better… Liardon goes on to promise a fun time… Exodus 2 is his text. Jokingly, he accuses the audience of sinning by not having read his books, and plugs them strongly… Egypt, the wilderness and the Promised Land are his three themes. Egypt is identified with the state of unbelieving. To have "the born again experience" is to leave Egypt. “Being born again makes you normal. If you're not born again, you're not normal. If you don't speak in tongues you're not normal either.” The crowd seems a little uneasy with this, and he commands them to say amen (as he often does throughout, seemingly needing confirmation and support for his ideas)… Liardon then heads off on a digression to get the crowd going about how marvellous the space in London Arena is, and what a threat it is to the devil… This is disturbing for at least three reasons.
1. He mocks the devil, which is expressly forbidden in Scripture:[Jude 8-9].
2. He takes God's name in vain, which even in `quotation' should make a Christian squirm (he does this again when mimicking the ten doubting spies).
3. He shouts and whoops in ‘tongues'… None of these publicly spoken `tongues' is given an interpretation…
He embarks, then, on an extended prophecy spoken in the first person as it were the voice of God: a ‘thus sayeth the Lord' prophecy. His prophecy is notable in that it is punctuated by `OHHHs', much finger and hand waving and the same kind of syllables/’tongues’ as before… Liardon works himself and his audience into an incredible lather with this largely meaningless, extremely repetitious shouting, gesturing and prowling. It is classic demagogic hype and mesmeric crowd manipulation- watch any video of Hitler and the similarities will strike you:.. The defiant and contorted features of Liardon's face and the almost enraged tone of his voice as he says, pointing and grimacing, "THE HEAVENS BOW!!" make me think that he is man possessed, flaunting his enmity against God before the very supposed church of God.
In the mould of Rodney Howard-Browne, he "feels led" to pray for preachers of the Gospel… Brothers and sisters, let's not beat about the bush. If Roberts Liardon is not possessed by devils, he is surely deceived by Satan and bringing others with him (2 Timothy 3:13). If he is not deceived, he is a cynical manipulator of gullible church-goers (2 Timothy 3:6). If he is none of these things, he is a vicious, brutal, aggressive bully who evidently takes pleasure in forcing his bulky frame into people's personal spaces, humiliating them and pushing them over…I have not one flicker of doubt that he is a savage wolf in the merest of sheep's clothing (Acts 20:29-30). He is not sparing the flock; he is humiliating them, confusing them and striking them down, physically and spiritually…
The next target is a young woman who does not look preacherly enough for Liardon. He knocks her over after barely listening to her response, commanding demons to leave her. THIS IS NOT PRAYING FOR PEOPLE… There is further ‘clairvoyance' as he tells people about their lives and what `God wants to do in them'… With more yelling and bellowing, he commands more people to come and get the gift of ‘tongues’ or be ‘born again’…
The crowds dispersed to be
‘ministered to' further, but a lone woman comes up to Roberts. She begins to
speak, but he can't be bothered to listen. On her head goes his hand: "I
BLESS you in Jesus' name" and off he goes. Colin
Dye takes over and commands the people to give a thanks offering (i.e. a round
of applause) to Jesus.
If you are still not convinced of the falseness of Liardon, here are…more good reasons why you should be –
1. He claims that he has had a personal tour of heaven given by Jesus who, according to him, is 5'11" with sandy brown hair…
2. In heaven, according to Liardon, there is a building full of spare body parts unclaimed by people who do not have the faith for their healing…
3. There is also a medicine cabinet in heaven with bottles labelled "PEACE" and "OVERDOSE OF THE HOLY GHOST"…
4. Jesus dunked Liardon in
the River of Life and they had a water fight, he says.
5. Jesus and Liardon tell each other jokes.
6. Jesus told Liardon that He was "calling you to a great work. You will have to run like no one else, preach like no one else, be different from everyone else... Go, go, go like no one else has gone. Go and do as I have done".
7. In a vision, Jesus commanded Liardon to mug up on the lives of great army generals whilst he was watching
8. Roberts Liardon takes his name from the great Word-Faith heretic and huckster, Oral Roberts
9. Liardon's website (www.robertsliardon.org) reveals that he actively supports the ministries of some of the biggest heretics this century has seen
It is certain that Colin Dye is a great fan of Roberts Liardon, who is in
turn a tremendous devotee of his namesake Oral Roberts and numerous other
heretics. What is also apparent is that with these men come their false
teaching and bizarre behaviours, and that Dye has deliberately chosen to
associate himself with, and indeed build upon, these ideas and experiences…
On Roberts Liardon’s website there is a photo gallery and currently [in the light of this entire article] you can view the following relevant pictures –
Morris Cerullo
and Roberts Liardon
Colin Dye of
Kensington Temple speaking at International Invasion, Irvine, CA
Let me just mention one ‘fact’ that is not listed amongst the following ‘quick facts’ that are listed on the website –
1. At the age of
23, Roberts Liardon was awarded the prestigious title of "Outstanding
Young Man of America" 1989
2. Personally
spoke in over 100 nations
3. Recognized as
one of the leading historians of church history specializing in Pentecostal and
Charismatic movements
4. Internationally
best-selling author, selling over 6 million books and counting
5. Writings
translated into over 50 languages
6. Built a fully
accredited vocational college for Christian ministers and humanitarian workers
with branches in four nations
7. Founder of Embassy Christian Center,
declared to be one of the 100 fastest-growing churches in the 1990s
8. Member of The Winston Churchill Society
and The Ronald Regan Presidential
Library
9. Received
special recognition from President George W. Bush for his humanitarian work in
Orange County, California
10. Has a personal
collection of church history memorabilia that stands as one of the world’s
largest, containing rare books, films, photos, voice recordings, and personal
effects of leaders of Reformation as well as Pentcostal and Charismatic
movements.
11. Provided
humanitarian assistance in many nations of the world, supplying food, clothing,
and medical assistance for those in need.
12. Helped to
start the first AIDS Prevention campaign in public schools of Namibia, Africa
The ‘fact’ to which no reference is made is detailed on this website http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/van2003/bilby_restor16.html where we read
‘Roberts Liardon is a prominent Charismatic leader based in California, who “confessed” to a homosexual relationship and “stepped down” from the ministry. He was “disciplined” in December 2001 and was back ministering by March 2002 — three months later — to a standing ovation of those who remained in the Church… The following report comes from the Charisma News Serviceweb pages and is dated Monday, March 11th, 2002 (http:// www.charismanews.com/online/ articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=5596):’
‘Pastor and writer
Roberts Liardon preached yesterday at his church for the first time since he
stepped down three months ago after admitting to a “moral failure.” The founder
of Embassy Christian Centre in Irvine, Calif., gave a 30-minute message on
keeping the faith. In December, Liardon confessed to a short-term homosexual
relation-ship with the church’s youth pastor, John Carrette… He received a
30-second standing ovation from about 650 people. Liardon, 36, told the Embassy
congregation that his appearance was “just for one Sunday. I am still working
with my counselling.”… About one-quarter of Embassy members, as well as Bible
college students and missionaries, have left the church since Liardon’s
admission’
Further reference to this moral lapse and the unsound admiration of Liardon for others that he refers to as ‘God’s Generals’ can be found on this link
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/pentecostal-leader-homo.html
The
fact that wholehearted support for and participation in an event involving
Roberts Liardon appears on the ‘spiritual CV’ of Colin Dye should be a
serious ‘cause for concern’ to Christians who desire to preserve and
protect the truth of God for the honour and glory of His name.
Colin Dye and Rodney Howard Browne
In the mid 1990’s much of my time was taken up with speaking against
the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’. On a website link www.eauk.org/theology/key_papers/upload/TORONTO%20CHRONICLE.pdf
there is ‘A Chronicle of the Toronto Blessing’ [referred
to as TTB] that was compiled
by Evangelical Alliance. There are a number of references to Colin Dye and
Kensington Temple and herewith are relevant extracts –
‘The weekly Christian Herald carries prayer leader
Brian Mills’ latest reflections on TTB. He reports that Kensington Temple, an
Elim Pentecostal fellowship and “Britain’s largest church” cancelled all
“normal” activities during the month of September “in order to seek God”’
[Brian Mills – Revival – the Missing Elements – Christian Herald 1st
October 1994 p7]
‘…Kensington Temple has recently been seeing “over 800 a
night pack the church”. “KT” pastor, Colin Dye is quoted as commending TTB as
something which can “lead us closer to the Lord” and in an article for the
coming month’s Direction magazine [the magazine of the Elim denomination] he expands on this as he draws parallels
with Isaiah 35. Just as israel is promised revival after a period of spiritual
dryness, so Dye sees the Blessing as an opportunity to reverse the systematic
removal of “God and his values from almost every level of society” over “the
past 50 years”’. [Colin Dye – After the Rain – Direction, November 1994].
Several other extracts from this ‘chronology’ are relevant to this
section and they read as follows –
‘In his regular column
for Christian Herald the prominent Anglican evangelical Tony Higton
reviews a RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE meeting he and his wife recently attended at
Wembley Conference Centre. Higton is less than impressed. “After an
eight-minute talk on 1 Kings 17 to introduce the collection (the only Bible
teaching)” he writes “Rodney Howard-Browne sang a long repetitive solo to a
jazz rhythm” – “I’m drunk, I’m drunk, every day of my life I’m drunk. I’ve
been drinking down at Joel’s place. Every time and every day I’m drunk with new
wine”. Higton is alarmed at Howard-Browne’s encouragement to the audience
to “get out of your heads and into your spirits” and is clearly
disturbed by the po-going…the loud hysterical-sounding laughter…The Anglican
Rector is offended by Howard-Browne’s labelling of those who leave the meeting
early as “religious dead-heads”‘ [Tony Higton – Opinion – Toronto
Revisited – Christian Herald 14 January 1995 p3].
‘Friday 2nd
June 1995: The Evangelical Alliance hosts a second major consultation on
TTB…David Noakes then proceeds to present TTB as a severe challenge to the
charismatic movement. Suggesting that charismatics, of which he is one, have
now “lost our way somewhat” Noakes recounts a visit he has recently paid to
Toronto…he describes the scene as one in which “anyone prone to easy hypnosis
might have ended up in a trance”. In addition he detects many of the
manifestations as being “demonic” with several women “unmistakably in a state
of high sexual excitement”. Reporting that he heard instruction being given in
Toronto that “discernment was unnecessary, that God was totally in control and
Satan could not get a look-in because the power of God was so great”, Noakes
comments that he “cannot imagine a more deadly piece of advice”. Having
examined the biblical arguments in favour of TTB, Noakes rejects their exegetical
foundation and concludes that “the boundaries of safety which Scripture
establishes are being torn down in order to justify the acceptance of new
experience. This spells utmost danger for God’s people”’.
The
sections just quoted are relevant because they introduce us to the man mainly
responsible for the peculiar manifestation that characterised the so-called
‘Toronto Blessing’ and that manifestation itself was dubbed ‘Holy Laughter’.
The man in question is Rodney Howard-Browne and in the report compiled by Tony
Higton he made reference to a meeting he and his wife attended at the Wembley
Conference Centre in December 1994. The following graphic shows how the
meetings were advertised and I want you to notice the LOGO at the top right of
the leaflet – it is the LOGO of ‘London City Church’, which is of course
Kensington Temple that is pastored by Colin Dye.
The Evangelical Alliance report of what Tony Higton wrote in his column
in the Christian Herald made reference to how he was ‘offended by
Howard-Browne’s labelling of those who leave the meeting early as “religious
dead-heads”’. The
EA report failed to quote the full extent of why Tony Higton was ‘offended’ because in his Christian Herald column he wrote, ‘At
9.40pm some people began to leave. Howard-Browne turned on them. “Tonight is
the first night religious dead-heads showed up. I can smell ‘em,” he shouted.
“Religious people will never understand about God’s presence…It’s not
understood with the mind; It’s something grasped with the heart”. Referring to
their leaving as “a cleansing” he shouted offensively “Every living organism
needs a bowel movement”’.
I obtained a video of the Wembley Conference meeting that was held on
the last evening, 15th December 1994 and in a link that I will
shortly provide you will be able to see about 9 minutes of extracts. Firstly
you will hear some of Howard-Browne’s opening remarks in which he thanks
various people and I want you to note in particular his reference to Colin and
Amanda Dye and the folks at Kensington Temple. You will see shortly after that
the ‘platform party’ and in the front row [to the left as you view it] is Colin
Dye and on his left is Gerald Coates [founder of the charismatic Pioneer church
movement].
The next segment follows a time of ‘ministry’ during which
Howard-Browne has – ‘zapped’ various people and you will see him weaving his
way through the prostrate bodies to make his way back up onto the platform to
read the Scriptures. You will then see excerpts of him reading the scriptures
to the accompaniment of what was earlier described as ‘loud
hysterical-sounding laughter’ and in several long-distance shots of the platform party you will see
that they are simply acquiescing to all that is going on. After finishing
reading the scriptures I will leave it to you to judge the sincerity or
otherwise of Howard-Browne’s petition for God to bless ‘the reading of His
Word’.
To view the Wembley Conference extracts click
here
Whilst in these video clips we didn’t witness any ‘active
participation’ in events by Colin Dye there was an article published in the
February 1995 edition of Evangelicals
Now that gave a report of
the meeting held a few nights earlier on 13th December 1994. Mike Taylor
compiled the report and herewith are some extracts from his article titled ‘Down
and out at Wembley’.
‘Rodney Howard-Browne is seen by many to be the
source of the ‘Toronto’ movement. At the end of last year he led a series of
meetings at the Wembley Conference Centre…The Wembley Conference Centre was
three-quarters full. The time was 7.30pm on December 13. Deafeningly heavy
music had been playing…Rodney Howard-Browne [RHB] came to the front of the
stage…Howard-Browne was getting the audience to chant after him…RHB came out
with a series of aphorisms [pithy sayings] such as “Isn’t God great?” Between each there was a
long gap, even one as long as two and a half minutes, while hilarity
ensued…COLIN DYE was introduced first as the pastor of a large inner-city
church in London, Kensington Temple. RHB handed him the cordless microphone,
all the time standing close by his right elbow.
Colin Dye started talking, appearing rather woozy and
unsteady on his feet, eventually becoming totally incoherent and forgetful.
Suddenly he let out a piercing shout. RHB managed to snatch the microphone as
Colin Dye swivelled round ending up face downwards on the floor, helpfully away
from the front of the platform where RHB was standing. The entire crowd
exploded with much mirth. Colin Dye remained in that position for some time –
no one checked whether he was alright…
At about 8.35pm RHB started
his sermon by stating that people ask where “these things are found in the
Bible”…RHB’s sermon was entirely concerned with outward manifestations. He
first read 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 in the Authorised Version: “the priests could
not stand to minister by reason of the cloud” although he mentioned that
other versions state that they had been unable to fulfil their ministry because
of the glory. He then referred to Colin Dye, “a reserved, respectable” man “who
had fallen to the floor and his Temple with him”. He said “Some of you will get
hit tonight. Some because your hearts are prepared and others because you’re
sitting in the wrong seat, at which the laughter greatly increased. Then he
said “Don’t worry, we’ve got all night”’…
By then it was 9.30pm. It
was evident that RHB was determined that something should happen at the
meeting…he went on to say that the Holy Spirit was on the first four rows of
people [During the whole ‘Toronto’ fiasco RHB blasphemously
referred to himself as a “Holy Ghost bartender” meaning he could dispense the
Holy Ghost just as a barman dispenses drinks] …RHB told
the people from the four rows to come forward and stand in single file – most
came forward but not all. While catchers were being arranged he started at his
left working his way round saying in a loud and impressive voice “Fill” and
touching each person mid chest…They fell backward one-by-one into the arms of
the catchers…a few jerked and laughed…Then more giggling, cock-crowing,
jerking, jumping and so on…I found it interesting that only certain people, for
whom it was expedient, fell over. For instance RHB never fell. The cameramen
and staff never fell. This feature did not seem accidental to me. The Wembley
Conference Centre staff seemed to be totally unaffected.
Just before 10.00pm Colin
Dye consulted his watch. Then at 10.00pm on the dot RHB told the people to go
home and get some rest…I found it hard to believe that anyone had taken the
meeting seriously. Were they unaware of having been manipulated from start to
finish?…The entire thing was most similar to stage hypnotism’.
Earlier I gave some quotations made by David Noakes that
are recorded in the Evangelical Alliance ‘chronology’ of ‘Toronto’. I have in
my possession a copy of a letter issued by David Noakes in the wake of a
meeting that he and 2 other concerned Christians had with 3 leaders of the Elim
National Executive on 31st May 1995. The Elim leaders were Wynne
Lewis, Gordon Hills and COLIN DYE. In
the letter David Noakes wrote – ‘Colin Dye, who as many of you will know is
the senior pastor of Kensington Temple, was responsible for organising the
meetings at Wembley last December at which Rodney Howard-Browne was the
speaker. Our concerns were fully stated but he appeared to reject everything
that was said. Wynne Lewis and Gordon Hills however were much more responsive’.
I would just like to make a point here that all three men who were expressing concern about Rodney Howard-Browne’s ‘antic’s at Wembley were from a Pentecostal and or Charismatic ‘persuasion’.
Did this challenge to Colin Dye dissuade him from continuing along the ‘Toronto’ path? Clearly not. In the EA ‘chronology’ we read –
‘…at the end of June, [1995] Kensington temple
pastor Colin Dye writes in Joy magazine that “this fresh move of the
Spirit threatens the powerless and backslidden body of Christ represented by
Saul [cf. 1 Samuel 15”. By the same token he suggests the movement can also be
viewed in terms of the anointing which passed from Saul to David. As with the
humble shepherd-king, writes Dye “today it will be the insignificant, unnoticed
people who will do the greatest exploits for God”. [Colin Dye – Ready to face
the Giants – Joy July 1995].
More
evidence of his whole-hearted support for ‘things Toronto’ and Rodney
Howard-Browne in particular was evidenced in December 1995. Another series of
meetings featuring Howard-Browne was organised to take place from 4-7 December
1995 at the Olympia Exhibition Centre, National Hall, London. The following
graphic shows the front cover of the promotional leaflet –
On the inside of the front cover were some biographical details of Howard-Browne and a letter from him inviting people along and in which he assured them ‘The investment of your time and finances will be greatly rewarded by the Lord’. Then the back cover was given over to endorsements by ‘leading lights’ mostly but not exclusively from the Pentecostal/ Charismatic ranks. This next graphic is of that back cover –
Because of the background colour of the paper used it’s
perhaps not just too easy to read each of these endorsements so let me type out
for you just 2 of them. At the top left is a photo of COLIN DYE and he
comments read – ‘Experience the power of God in your life as he prepares His
people for Revival through the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne’.
The other endorsement I want to reprint is that made by
the gentleman whose photo is bottom right – LYNDON BOWRING – Executive
Director of ‘Care’ – he wrote ‘I have been in ministry for 25 years and
moved in many Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, but have recognised in
Rodney Howard-Browne an anointing I have never seen before’.
Perhaps you’re wondering why I chose also to highlight the comments of Lyndon Bowring. Well on this link http://www.themandate.net/team.htm you can find details of the ‘Team’ responsible for organising MANDATE. At the top of the list you will find this –
Lyndon Bowring is the
Executive Chairman for CARE. He is a ‘consultant minister’ at Kensington Temple
and serves as the chair of the Council of Management of Spring Harvest.
In
the light of this it is not too difficult to work out how Colin Dye comes to be
the invited speaker for MANDATE 2008. Have Colin Dye and Kensington Temple
sought to distance themselves over the years from Rodney Howard-Browne. The
answer to that would appear to be ‘no’ for on the KT website, on this link http://www.kt.org/?p=media_archive
you can access audios by various speakers including Rodney Howard-Browne. Just
in passing, others there we have warned about in times past would be J John and
Tommy Tenny.
The
fact that wholehearted support for and participation in events involving Rodney
Howard-Browne appear on the ‘spiritual CV’ of Colin Dye should be a
serious ‘cause for concern’ to Christians who desire to preserve and
protect the truth of God for the honour and glory of His name.
Colin Dye and Ian McCormack
In our June 1997 ‘News From The
Front’ I included an article called ‘Ian McCormack – back from the
dead?’ and the opening sentence read as follows –
“I
was given video of an interview which took place last year [1996]
on the Euro Christian Channel which is available to satellite TV viewers”.
Before continuing with
what I wrote in the article you can view this interview by clicking HERE
The rest of our June 1997 ‘News
From The Front’ article then read as follows –
“This
'Christian' channel was launched last year and the dedication service in London
featured people Like Ulf Ekman (see ‘News From
The Front' February 1997 pages 13-14) and Benny Hinn.
Another face seen at the dedication belonged to Colin Dye who is the senior
Pastor at Kensington Temple. Recently Mr Dye withdrew his church from
Evangelical Alliance and in Charisma magazine (EuroCharisma - February 1997) he
was quoted as saying 'For some time now I have felt the Alliance was not
adequately representing the concerns of Pentecostals on the radical end of the
evangelical spectrum." Just how "radical" Mr Dye is was seen
during his interview with a New Zealand man - Ian McCormack. Set out following
is a transcript of excerpts from the interview between Colin Dye (CD)
and Ian McCormack (IMcC)