John Kilpatrick
:
"Walk as Jesus walked-and remember, He did it all as a man who did not pull from any source other than those that are available to man."
(John Kilpatrick, When the Heavens Are Brass, p. 22)
Likewise, there is no shortage of false prophets surrounding this revival. For instance, on April 6, 1997, Brownsville Pastor John Kilpatrick, angered by the apologetics of CRI president Hank Hanegraaff, made a bold prophetic statement:
"And Mr. Hanegraaff, I want to say to you, before you get back on national television and start spouting off at the mouth again about something of which you know nothing of, you'd better be careful… If you want to keep any kind of a semblance of a ministry, you better back off from this revival and what God is doing. You better back off, because I'm going to prophesy to you that if you don't, and you continue to put your tongue in your mouth on this move of God, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down. I said, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down."
When the 90 days were over on July 4, 1997, Hank Hanegraaff and Christian Research Institute were still standing, and still stand strong to this very day, making John Kilpatrick an unmitigated false prophet. Sorrowfully, thousands upon thousands pour into his church each week to "hear from God," despite the fact that God clearly shows us in His Word that He does not use false prophets to speak His truth.
(John Kilpatrick, Brownsville Assembly of God, April 6, 1997, quoted from, "Counterfeit Revival: The Deception Of The Elect, by Jeff Spencer)
"Brownsville pastor John Kilpatrick, in his book, When the Heavens Are Brass, denies the deity of Christ in a manner similar to Howard-Browne. Although in one place Kilpatrick affirms the full deity of Christ, in other places he makes very confusing and, I submit, contradictory claims. Kilpatrick claims that Jesus "did not move in omnipotence on the earth."[11] While this statement could be interpreted as meaning that though Jesus was omnipotent, He voluntarily did not use His omnipotence on earth, Kilpatrick does not mean such. Taken in context of the chapter, Kilpatrick means, by this statement, that Jesus did not have omnipotence. In other words, Jesus was not all-powerful when He was on earth. Next, Kilpatrick claims that Jesus "did not move in omniscience on earth. Had Jesus been omniscient, He would have known when He was coming back."[12] Again, Kilpatrick claims that Jesus did not have omniscience. Finally, Kilpatrick strips Jesus of His deity by stripping Him of another divine attribute, claiming, "Jesus was not omnipresent on earth. . . . Jesus could be only in one place at a time because He was not omnipresent."[13] The Jesus of Kilpatrick, at the very least, is not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent. Thus, Jesus, according to Kilpatrick's teaching, cannot be God.
There are several problems with such Christology. First, when Jesus took on flesh, He was 100% God and 100% man. The Incarnation did not subtract from His Deity, but added a human nature to the divine Person. The infinite, eternal, unchanging divine Person, without changing or giving up any attribute, took on a new nature, a human nature. Thus, Jesus is two undiminished natures in one Person. He did not become less-than-God as Kilpatrick and Howard-Browne suggest. Second, Jesus did not give up any of His divine attributes. The subtraction of even one divine attribute would mean that Jesus was not God, because the attributes of God "are essential characteristics of His being. Without these qualities God would not be what He is - God."[14] In other words, God minus even one attribute equals non-God. Apologist Norman Geisler explains that, "God is by his very nature an absolutely perfect being. If there were any perfection that he lacked, then he would not be God."[15] Third, Jesus did not give up attributes, but submitted to a voluntary non-use of His divine attributes while on earth. He did, however, display His divine attributes at times."
(John Kilpatrick, Brownsville Assembly of God, April 6, 1997, quoted from, "Counterfeit Revival: The Deception Of The Elect, by Jeff Spencer)
"The newspaper disclosed that “Feast of Fire,” the ministry of church pastor John Kilpatrick, bought “16 acres in Seminole, Ala., and constructed a combination bus barn, guest house and office.” The barn was built to accommodate the $310,000 deluxe motor coach (literally an apartment on wheels) to chauffeur the pastor on his revival-related travels. Also on the property, Kilpatrick has built a $340,000 luxury home. All of this comes despite the pastor’s hollow declaration that: “I have always strived to set an example by not living above the means of my people.” Kilpatrick’s salary from his ministry in 1996 was $100,000 (for which the newspaper claimed he worked 20 hours a week) and he received a $73,600 annual salary from the church."
"As God's manifest presence comes over these individuals, they respond in a variety of ways. It is similar, I believe, to what happens when a human body might hit an electronically charged power the body often cannot withstand the brilliant force. So it is when a supernatural God manifests Himself on a natural human being: people are sometimes knocked over limp (or slain in the Spirit), some shake uncontrollably, others are rigid and tense. Sometimes people break out into tears or laughter, they dance or sing, they sit or stand."
(John Kilpatrick, Feast of Fire. pp. 84-85.)
"So when I hit that floor and it felt like I weighed 10,000 pounds, I knew something supernatural was happening. ... The Hebrew word for glory, Chabod, translates weightiness. It is like a security blanket. ... The heaviness I felt that day, and for the next two weeks, was God's glory visiting us at last."
(John Kilpatrick, Feast of Fire, pg. 77.)
"What is today touted as the Pensacola Outpouring had its genesis on Father’s Day in 1995. In recalling the events of that day, John Kilpatrick, pastor of the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, said he suddenly heard what he first thought was a mighty wind but later discovered was a river of the Holy Ghost. The force of the river was so pronounced that Kilpatrick claimed, "My ankles flipped over." After being pulled up to the platform by his pantlegs, Kilpatrick shouted, "Folks, this is it! Get in! Revival’s come!" He goes on to exclaim:
And man, when I said that it was like dynamite exploding [explosion sound]. And it looked like somebody had taken a machine gun and mowed people down. Even out in their pews. Even out in their pews [sic]. I mean, they were falling out of the pews, they were falling down between the seats, they were falling out up here without anybody even touching them. A little like [machine gun fire sound], you know, somebody just cut ‘em down.
Man, I hit this floor up here. And evangelist [Steve Hill] saw me up here by the pulpit, and I was looking about half drunk, you know. And he just waved his hand like that and said, "More, Lord." And I said, "Whap!" And I hit the floor and I stayed there from 12:30 to 4 o’clock....I was laying there thinking, you know. It felt like I weighed 10,000 pounds. It didn’t feel like you was pinned to the floor or nothing like that, but you’re just so heavy. Just felt so heavy. It felt wonderful.
I thought, "Dear God, whatever this is, don’t take it off of me."
But one of our worship team ladies that fell in my arms—long after revival broke out a lady came up to me during the revival and she said, "Brother Kilpatrick, your wife is so sweet. She sings so good in that worship team."
And I thought, "Worship team?"
She said, "You know, the blackheaded one that was laying in your arms up there on the platform."
I said, "That’s not my wife."
She said, "It’s not?"
She just fell out under the fire too and just happened to land in my arms. And so I said, "Lord, this don’t smell like Brenda here."
As Kilpatrick looked over his shoulder, he said his ankles slipped, his knees bowed out, and a sudden "river of the glory of God" moved between his legs. "It felt like a telephone pole," he said. "An endless telephone pole was coming through my legs and it was coming in the church." With some help from another man on the platform, Kilpatrick stepped back and listened to the sound of the "rushing mighty wind" and what he described as the "river of the glory of God" as it swept into the church. He suddenly jumped to the pulpit and screamed, "My God, church, get in! This is it! This is what we've been praying for! Get in!"
"I'm drunk, my legs is wobbly, I can barely stand up ... and I saw bodies going every which way ... just flying, going down like a hurricane coming through and pulling trees down." Kilpatrick continued, "They were just going down, flopping on benches, falling across the aisles, nobody even touched them." Before he knew it, Kilpatrick said he felt a heaviness come upon him and he fell to the floor, paralyzed, at 12:30 that afternoon. He did not get up until 4:00 that evening. He described the sensation that enveloped him before falling to the floor. "I felt like I weighed 10,000 pounds," he said, "but it wasn't a bad heavy. It felt wonderful." Following the sensation of heaviness, Kilpatrick felt a calm, peacefulness come over him and then felt some form of fluid flow from his body. He said, "It felt like fluid was dripping out of the joints in my bones." In fact, he jokingly told how he was nervous, wondering what the audience would think if they looked on the platform and saw him lying in a pool of fluid. This fluid, he said, was all the stress that was built up in him from years of the ministry. He said God drained all the stress out of him on the floor that day. Later that day at the evening service when Kilpatrick got up to introduce the speaker, he could not move. He said he could not move his head, his tongue, or any part of his body. He sat in his chair on the platform in a comatose state until two or three o'clock the next morning. This, Kilpatrick claimed, was the glory of God manifesting itself to Brownsville.
(Testimony given by John Kilpatrick at Garywood Assembly of God in Hueytown, Alabama on January 20, 1997. As reported by Matt Costella, "The Brownsville/Pensacola Outpouring. Revival or Pandemonium?" Foundation Magazine, March-April, 1997)
"One man in particular experienced such unusual convulsions on the platform in Pensacola that he became the center of attention. When Steve Hill (the evangelist credited by Kilpatrick as a primary catalyst for the Pensacola Outpouring) realized that he was losing his audience, he turned to the man and said:
Now some of you are watching this young man up here. I want to tell you exactly what he is doing, and then I want you to turn your eyes from him. He’s interceding for your soul. Some of you are on the verge — it’s like we’ve got you with a thread and you’re hanging over hell. It’s intercession in the deepest form right here. It’s moanings and groanings, words that can’t be uttered. God’s put it on him. You can’t tell me God doesn’t love you, friend. You can’t tell me God doesn’t love you when He will stricken[sic] another young man who loves God with all his heart, cause him to fall to the ground and experience the moanings and groanings and the birth pains. He’s giving birth to you, friend. He’s giving spiritual birth to you. He’s dying for you right now. He’s dying that you might have life.
Pensacola promoters claim that "in less than two years Evangelist Steve Hill has won hundreds of thousands to Christ." Hill identifies two out of the "hundreds of thousands" as alleged drug dealers. As reported on the Brownsville web site, "Police officers had arrested three men in the Brownsville area for suspected drug dealing. For some reason, the police officers brought these men to one of our revival services instead of jail. Two of the three men responded to the altar call and were saved."
Not only does Hill assert that police officers have brought suspected drug dealers to the revival instead of to jail, but also he claims that congressmen are weeping under the power of God in Pensacola. Hill states,
We’re having politicians come in here now. Congressmen. I’m talking about Washington DCers are coming into this place now. It’s getting serious. Would you say that with me? It’s getting serious. When it gets to Washington, it’s getting serious. One of the congressmen that was with us from up north, his statement was this — I believe he made it to Charlie, or somebody — He said, "I’m bringing back 12." So we proclaim that in a very short while our congress, our senate is ablaze with the power of the gospel, that they’re on fire! That they’re on fire with the power of the gospel, that their lives are changed and transformed. Those of you that have that kind of doubt, would you open your eyes and watch what’s happening? You still can’t see it. We’re telling you, we’ve already had them here. The Congressmen are here. They’re weeping under the power of God. They’re already here. We’re not dreaming. They’ve already been here."
"Let’s take a closer look at a small sampling of Pensacola fabrications masquerading as facts.
Fabrication: "Police officers had arrested three men in the Brownsville area for suspected drug dealing. For some reason, the police officers brought these men to one of our revival services instead of jail. Two of the three men responded to the altar call and were saved."
Fact: While salvation statistics vary wildly from source to source,8 the men referred to above are two of the "hundreds of thousands" who were supposedly saved as a result of the "Pensacola Outpouring." However, the Pensacola Sheriff’s Department has stated unequivocally that this did not happen and, moreover, that it could not happen. When Pensacola promoters were confronted with this fabrication, they promised to remove it from their web site. Sadly, however, they continue to circulate this fabrication as a testimony to the authenticity of the "Pensacola Outpouring."
Fabrication: "We’re having politicians come in here now. Congressmen....So we proclaim that in a very short while our congress, our senate is ablaze with the power of the gospel...that their lives are changed and transformed....We’ve already had them here....They’re weeping under the power of God."
Fact: Despite Steve Hill’s dogmatic declaration that congressmen are in Pensacola "weeping under the power of God," he has not provided a shred of evidence to support his claim. His proclamation that congressmen will be changed and the Senate ablaze with the power of the gospel is at best an unrealized fantasy.
Fabrication: "Crime in the city of Pensacola had dropped off significantly....The driving force behind the declining crime rate [is] the revival."
Fact: According to the Pensacola Police Department, this widely circulated story has no basis in reality. As the police pointed out, total crimes have, in fact, risen from 83,849 in 1995 to 85,581 in 1996 (a total increase of 1,732 crimes). "Forcible sex" was up from 52 to 69; "assault" was up from 623 to 656; "drug possession" was up from 647 to 660. As Assistant Chief Jerry Potts reported, "Contrary to a widely circulating rumor, crime rates in Pensacola have not decreased dramatically." By way of contrast, as reported in the Orange County Register, 13 March 1997, the crime rate in Orange County, California (home of the Christian Research Institute) has dropped at least 23 percent."
"As Pensacola promoters endeavor to spread their movement worldwide, they dogmatically declare that bizarre manifestations are not the focus of this revival. The facts say otherwise.
One of the videos used by Pensacola promoters is entitled "Honey, Where Are We From?" It features the testimony of a pastor and his wife who become so spiritually inebriated that they can’t remember where they are from. First, the wife becomes incoherent, and her husband intervenes to explain what she is attempting to say. Then he, too, becomes disoriented and is unable to think or speak rationally.
The sensational physical manifestations of Alison and Elizabeth Ward are also strategically utilized to arouse people’s expectations for similar experiences. The sisters have been brought up before the entire congregation to describe and display their mysterious experiences, thus giving the people a sense that they are having a close encounter with the divine. Peer pressure is brought to bear as Elizabeth tells prospects, "After standing there so long watching those people being touched by God, I guess my spirit got hungry." When she finally threw caution to the wind, she said, "The shaking went on for about three days....I couldn’t eat and I was shaking in my sleep. My family had to feed me through a straw. My whole body was convulsing for three days." Her sister, Alison, says she shakes in the sanctuary because "it feels good."
Baptisms at Brownsville are used as yet another promotional gimmick. In a widely used promotional video some of the baptized jerk so violently that baptizers can no longer control their behavior. In one clip the subject shakes so severely that someone is actually kicked in the face. Physical danger is part and parcel of the process. Pensacola leaders point out that "the power of God falls during the Friday night water baptisms, and sometimes even the workers are overcome by the Spirit and have to be carried out of the water." Ironically, a word of caution has come from the Brownsville pulpit about not sitting too close to other people during the time of ministry out of concern that someone under the influence of a manifestation might injure nearby worshipers.
Thousands who have viewed the videos and subsequently experienced the manifestations testify to radically changed lives. Nevertheless, my 11-year-old son David and I recently attended a Christian convention during which the manifestations of Pensacola were promoted. He rode on an elevator with a couple of ladies who were still glowing from their spiritually intoxicating experience. They were delirious over the life-transforming work that the manifestations had produced in them. Suddenly, one of the ladies noticed my son’s name tag. Instantly she began shrieking, "I know who you are. You’re the son of the Bible Answer Man. You are a cursed child."
My son David is not the only child who has tasted the fruit of Pensacola. Several children from a youth group traveled to Pensacola and experienced such severe twitching that when they returned to their classrooms, they were unable to do their schoolwork. After these children were dismissed from school, their pastor encouraged them to view their expulsion as persecution for the sake of Christ."
"John Wesley correctly stated, "It is a fundamental principle that to renounce reason is to renounce religion, that religion and reason go hand in hand; all irrational religion is false religion." While he recognized physical manifestations as a natural response to an encounter with the gospel, he also attributed enthusiasms such as falling, laughing, and jumping to the "simplicity" of people and to the ploys of Satan. Wesley recounted the story of a meeting that took place in 1773. A hymn was sung over and over some 30 or 40 times, resulting in bodily agitations on the part of some of the people present. In response to this phenomenon, he wrote, "Satan serves himself of their simplicity, in order...to bring a discredit on the work of God."
Years earlier, in 1740, an epidemic of laughter had broken out during a gathering in Bristol. Wesley said, "I was surprised at some, who were buffeted of Satan in an unusual manner, by such a spirit of laughter as they could in no wise resist." A short time later the "spirit of laughter" returned. One lady present was "so violently and variously torn of the evil one" that "she laughed till almost strangled; then broke out into cussing and blaspheming; then stamped and struggled with incredible strength, so that four or five could scarcely hold her."
