Very Bizarre 'Holy Laughter Annointing' Theology at Sarah Palin's
Juneau Church

By Bruce Wilson, Talk To Action. Posted September 13, 2008.

'Third wave' sermons supported by religious leaders at Juneau
Christian Church, include "uncontrollable laughter, weeping,
shrieking."

Mike Rose is the senior pastor of Juneau Christian Church, where
Governor Sarah Palin attends when in residence in Juneau. The Alaska
Update of the Alaska Assemblies of God featured a story on Palin's
attendance at the 2008 Alaska District Council and stated that
"Superintendent Ted Boatsman, who was Palin's junior high pastor at
Wasilla Assembly of God, along with Pastor Mike Rose of Juneau
Christian Center, where Palin presently attends church when in Juneau,
laid hands on the Governor and led the Council in Prayer."

Watch Bruce Wilson's video - Palin's Churches and the Holy Laughter
Anointing: http://www.alternet.org/rights/98703/?page=entire

Rose is well known as far away as Australia for his participation in
the "new wave" of the Holy Spirit. Former General Superintendent of
the Assemblies of God in Australia, Dr. Andrew Evans, has also been a
supporter of the "new wave" and its manifestations which he lists as
falling, shaking and drunkenness (in the Spirit),and uncontrollable
weeping and laughing. (He has been a controversial figure for his
belief that these manifestations would aid in church growth in his
denomination in Australia although these activities have been
repeatedly denounced as Deviant Behavior by the U.S. General Council.)
Evans writes about Rose's ability to manage these manifestations in
his church without excessive disruption of services. He also notes
that Rose had been an advisor to Rodney Howard-Browne's Revival
Ministries committee and had "sat in over 110 of Rodney's meetings."
Andrew Evans went on to found the Family First Party of Australia.

Rodney Howard-Browne is one of the most controversial and publicized
figures of the Third Wave movement. While many of the leaders have
been almost invisible in the mainstream media, Howard-Browne and his
Holy Laughter anointing have been covered by CNN , Time, Newsweek,
PBS, and numerous British media outlets. Howard-Browne refers to
himself in many of these articles as the "Holy Ghost bartender."

He is also one of the most controversial figures in the Evangelical
world and is the subject of many hundreds of internet pages from other
Evangelical and Fundamentalists discernment groups who view his
unusual revival manifestations such as uncontrollable laughter,
weeping, shrieking, and animal noises, as cultic. Other conservative
Christians also find fault with Howard-Browne's end time belief that a
unified and purified church is currently being restored through a
"great awakening" that is manifesting itself through these "signs and
wonders." Howard-Browne, like the other leaders of the Third Wave,
believe that they are raising a great end time army that will take
control of the world through spiritual warfare, and triumph over Satan
before the millennial reign of Jesus. Many in the movement, such as C.
Peter Wagner believe that the Apostolic age began in 2001. John
Bevere, author of curriculum for the Master's Commission of Wasilla
Assembly of God, believes that he is teaching the final generation
before the Millennial which he calculates will begin in 2028 or 2029.

Rodney Howard-Browne and his family moved from South Africa to the
United States in 1987, and settled in the Lakeland/Tampa area after
having a successful revival at the church of Karl Strader, Lakeland's
first Assemblies of God, Karl is father of Stephen Strader of Ignited
Church and the current Lakeland Revival fame. Howard-Browne and his
wife continued to lead revivals around the world and often worked
closely with the late John Wimber of the Vineyard movement and the the
Kansas City Prophets. They introduced hyper-charismatic activities in
widely publicized revivals in both the United States and Great Britain
including the Toronto Airport Blessing which began in 1994, and drew
people worldwide to experience the phenomenon. Howard-Brown is also
credited with a role in the Brownsville Revival, 1995, and more
recently, the 2008 Lakeland Healing Revival with Todd Bentley.

Additionally Howard-Browne has been instrumental in the introduction
of these "signs and wonders" all over the world including Brompton
Holy Trinity, a high-profile charismatic Anglican church in May, 1994.
The resulting Holy Laughter and other unusual manifestations at this
prominent church and others in London shocked the British press and
was the biggest story covered by British Christian media in 1995 and
1996. Brompton Holy Trinity is now primarily known as the source of
the ALPHA course.

Sarah Diamond includes Howard-Browne's rise to fame in her book, Not
by Politics Alone. After the introduction of Holy Laugher, Diamond
states,

"he became a celebrity in charismatic circles. Charisma magazine
published a cover story about him. Trinity Broadcasting Network aired
many hours' worth of Howard-Browne's videotaped laughing services so
that viewers could see exactly how ordinary-looking churchgoers look
when they land on the floor and laugh hysterically. The TV images
served as a form of role modeling for others who would eventually
experience the Toronto Blessing."

Rodney Howard-Browne became a major celebrity on both TBN and in
Robert Strang's Charisma Magazine. Strang is a director for John
Hagee's Christians United for Israel and one of the approximately 500
Apostles of C. Peter Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles.

Howard-Browne's role as the Holy Ghost's bartender has often been
treated in a light-hearted and joking way by the mainstream media but
Howard-Browne, like other Faith Healers who been shunned by many of
their fellow evangelists for years, are deadly serious about their
mission. Under the current and more coordinated organization of the
Third Wave, they have seen a huge increase in the embrace of
supernatural "gifts of the spirit" and the concept of spiritual
warfare in churches across the world. They have been particularly
successful in the organization of youth, such as the seminars and
events at Morningstar Ministries and Lou Engle's "The Call."

Howard-Browne's bio on his ministry site, Revival Ministries
International, states his driving motivation for continuing new
crusades. He believes that his daughter, who died at 18 from cystic
fibrosis, was taken by the devil. He has vowed to take one million
souls back from the devil in return, and believes that this will take
place through the "river" or outpouring of special gifts and powers.
He further believes that anything or anyone who gets in his way or
refuses to open themselves to this "river," are rejecting the movement
of God and are therefore servants of the devil who must be defeated.

Howard-Browne's greatest opponents are other conservative Christians,
even those from the most Fundamentalists segments of Evangelicalism.
PBS Religion and Ethics News Weekly profiled Howard-Browne after his
six-week long revival in Madison Square Garden in 1999. The article
included a quote from Hank Hanegraaff , who featured Howard-Browne in
his book Counterfeit Revival. Hanegraaf states,

"He is a classic example of a guy who works people into an altered
state of consciousness, employs peer pressure, the expectations of
people, the subtle power of suggestion, so that people become
hypersuggestible, willing to believe virtually anything that enters
their minds, no matter how mundane or outlandish."

Hank Hanegraaff is a former colleague of D. James Kennedy who went on
to establish the Christian Research Institute, which researches and
publishes on those groups inside of conserverative Christianity which
they consider to be cults. (Kennedy later distanced himself from
Hanegraaf and his work.) In his book Hanegraaff has even stronger
words, claiming that Howard-Browne had threatened him when he attended
one of Howard-Browne's revivals.

"I'm telling you right now," [Rodney Howard-Browne] hissed, "you'll
drop dead if you prohibit what God is doing!" Dramatically he gestured
toward the crowd and warned them that those like me, who would dare to
question that what he was doing was of God, had committed the
unpardonable sin and would not be forgiven in this world or the next."
[Hank Hanegraaff, "Counterfeit Revival" (1997), page 22]

Howard-Browne has a great disdain for "dry" religion that rejects his
very emotional and experiential style of belief. Yves Brault, a pastor
from British Columbia began writing his countercult book, "Behind The
Scenes; the True Face of The Fake Faith Healers," after a conflict
with Benny Hinn, another famous faith healer. He writes about
attending a 1996 revival in Vancouver to see Howard-Browne:

It came close to threatening when he accused the more conservative
people by saying, "We'll cast the religious devil out of you." He did
not miss an opportunity to put his critics down, "Some people have got
more faith in believing the devil can come into this place tonight to
touch people. How dumb can you get and still breathe!" Referring to
North American theologians, which he named dead heads, he said, "Bunch
of whitewash, full of dead bones, like a constipated mule."

While Howard-Browne has many opponents in the Evangelical world, he
also has strong supporters who believe that his unorthodox methods
will win millions of souls, drive demons from the sin cities of
America, and perhaps trigger the third and last "Great Awakening."

Rodney Howard-Browne's ministry and promotional videos can be seen at
www.revival.com.

Read more of Bruce Wilson's work at Talk to Action.