HOLY
LAUGHTER
OR WHOLLY LUDICROUS?
The following booklet
was written by the Editor of Balaam's Ass Speaks, Steve Van Nattan. It
is compiled from real life experiences of Charismatic Christians who exposed the
mess. Let us understand that not all Charismatics are 100% on their heads.
Some really encouraging things are happening as a few of these folks open
their Bibles and check it out. House churches are starting all over America
and Canada as Pentecostals flee from the mega-church chaos. We
need to encourage these folks to, "come out of her, my people."
You may help yourself to this booklet,
but you are under Christian ethical obligation to leave it as is. Only typos
or syntax may be corrected.
HOLY LAUGHTER OR WHOLLY LUDICROUS A STUDY FROM THE KING
JAMES BIBLE BY Steve Van Nattan INTRODUCTION: We
hear that people break out in hysterical laughter during Charismatic services.
This follows automatic writing in Scotland in 1890, uninterpreted and devilish
tongues in about the year 1900, holy rolling in about 1900, holy dancing, trances,
and wailing in about 1950, being slain in a demonic spirit in about 1950, holy
rock and roll in the 1960s (Chuck Smith), "running the bases" in the 1970s, holy
karate shows in the 1980s (BJU), holy laughter in about 1990 (Wimber and Wagner
in Toronto), and holy coat flinging and blowing in about 1992 (Benny Gehenna Hinn).
None of these, as they are practised today, are found in the Bible eras,
mighty claims notwithstanding. I hasten to add that some of these are found in
modified form in Baptist and Fundamental churches under color of the Holy Spirit,
but they are just as devilish there as on TBN. The Fundamental Baptists are the
most guilty in what might be called "holy joking" or "temple tomfoolery." Compare
this idiotic comedy show (centered in a school in Hammond, Indiana) with the whole
life of Jesus and the Apostles. Guilty as charged! Faithful pastors
are now having to call out devils from people who got them in Charismatic services,
and most Charismatic pastors are themselves demon possessed. Some Pentecostal
pastors are very frightened at this new turn of events, but they are too terrified
to bell the cat because they will be accused of questioning the work of the Holy
Spirit. Some sincere saints have entered into Charismatic zeal only to find they
have "holy" sexual arousals, erections, and orgasms. Can one of the Charismatic
gurus please explain this to us from the Word of God? Of course they can.
Like their father the devil, the first liar, they give every Satanic aberration
some divine interpretation. What will be next? Watch for Holy dope,
or drug induced spirit manifestations. Also, holy odors will soon develop filling
churches with sweet smells. True believers will find the smells exceedingly gross.
Holy auras will appear with "cloven tongues of fire." Holy bells will ring.
This may progress, after the Rapture of the true Church, to holy cursing and casting
spells, holy vomiting, holy rage, holy sexual intercourse, holy urinating, holy
cutting of oneself with knives, and holy cannibalism. I am simply projecting into
the future what has been in the past from Babylon. It is no big trick to predict
Satan's devices if one is willing to predict it the way Satan has revealed himself
in his perverse ways. Being literal with the Word of God and history is
no big trick, but applying it to the present is hard to handle, right?
In the hope of arresting the attention of a few saints, and to prevent those
on the narrow way from wandering, let us examine "holy laughter" simply using
the Word of God, the King James Bible. We begin by making the assumption that
if it is not in the Word of God, it is not of God. Those who believe that God
is adding new and extra-biblical manifestations today-- those folk will no doubt
throw this away and go to their hysterical holy Whore church and rage on. Some
will listen though, because God has a small remnant yet in the Charismatic movement
who are true saints. In the average Benny Hinn rally, there are usually one or
two who don't fall "under the spirit." Those are the true saints. We cannot
totally abandon them to the wolves, so we offer this study. Here then
is laughter as found in the Holy Bible, King James Version:
Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in
his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall
Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? The first
laugh in the Bible was by a man doubting God, laughing at His promises. Compare
this with the last laugh in James. Men who laugh allegedly "in the spirit" have
no encouragement to keep it up-- not from the Lord at any rate. Genesis
18:12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall
I have pleasure, my lord (Abraham) being
old also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying,
Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the
LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of
life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not;
for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. Sarah
laughed at God, then she lied saying that she didn't laugh. Laughter can really
get you into trouble with God. I believe devils control the minds of those who
practice "holy laughter." These devils are using the human voice of that possessed
person to mock God. Genesis 21:5 And Abraham
was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said,
God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she
said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children
suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. This
is one of the very rare times when laughter is not in an evil context. To claim
that Sarah's laughter over the birth of a son is equal to the hysterics that interrupt
the Sunday church service is mental suicide. But then, Rodney Howard Browne
is spiritually brain dead. II Kings 19:20
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria
I have heard. 21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The
virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the
daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
God is using laughter in the only form which He inspires in the
Bible, that is, scorn. In this case, it is part of a curse on Sennacherib. Laughter
is powerful here, since Sennacherib was perhaps the most ruthless man the world
has ever known. No one dared to laugh at him, but God did, through his people.
II Chronicles 30:1 And Hezekiah sent to
all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they
should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the
LORD God of Israel..... 9 For
if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion
before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land:
for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face
from you, if ye return unto him. 10 So the posts passed from city to city through
the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to
scorn, and mocked them. Israel was invited
to join in the revival service in Judah. What was their response? "Holy" laughter.
This is just what is going on when a pastor prepares a Bible based sermon to edify
the saints, and just as he is getting to the meat of the Word, some jerkette raises
her hands, with eight pounds of junk jewelry on them, and breaks out in screeching
laughter. She is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We are assuming there are still
Charismatic pastors who are under His authority, but this may be presumptuous
thinking. Nehemiah 2:18 Then I told
them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that
he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened
their hands for this good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah
the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to
scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel
against the king? These enemies of God and of Nehemiah
were laughing at God and the Persian civil authority over them. Is not "holy laughter"
a mockery of God's authority who said in I Timothy 3:8,
Likewise must the deacons be grave not double tongued, not given to much wine,
not greedy of filthy lucre; I Timothy 3:11, Even so must their wives be grave,
not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Titus 2:2, That the aged men be
sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
What kind of "pastor" starts a sermon, then breaks into fits of hysteria?
Answer: Only a demon possessed jerk. A godly pastor is grave, serious, and not
a slap stick laughing gas nut. Job
4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said...... 4:12
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15 Then
a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16 It stood still,
but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there
was silence, and I heard a voice, saying....
This mystic Eliphaz was one of Job's tormentors
whom God fiercely rebuked later saying that he got everything he said entirely
wrong. Why? Well, here we see that he got his vision from a devil, just like David
Wilkerson's vision and Mr. Collett who claimed to go to heaven. Next follows a
demonic prophecy in the same text. 4:20
In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid
of destruction when it cometh. 22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh:
neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23 For thou shalt be
in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at
peace with thee. Lie of the devil. God told
Noah in Genesis 9 that he would be at enmity with the animals. Double lie, New
Age pantheism. The earth was cursed because of Adam's sin and thorns and sorrow
are with us until we are taken out in death or the rapture. This is the sort of
"gift of prophecy" that can be expected along with "holy laughter." The
prophesied "laughter" was also coming from a devilized flake. Job
8:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said.... 8:20
Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. 22 They
that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked
shall come to nought. Bildad, another lousy friend of Job.
And, he was a brazen liar. Job never laughed for this fool, nor should a true
saint go around to one of these Charismatic mausoleums and laugh with them.
Job 9:1 Then Job answered and said....
9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong:
and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? 20 If I justify myself,
mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me
perverse. 21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise
my life. 22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect
and the wicked. 23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of
the innocent. 9:32 For he is
not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
In the first part of the book, God declared Job to be the most godly
man on earth, yet Job didn't "claim his healing." Indeed, he was in terror of
the Lord, and he definitely feared hearing God laugh. Think on this, Jesus never
once laughed, nor did any of His Apostles. Don't tell me "it stands to reason"
that He did. That is the reasoning of Salt Lake City, not the Bible.
Job 12:1 And Job answered and said, 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and
wisdom shall die with you. And
so it is with Benny Hinn and the majority of Charismatic pastors. They have a
superior attitude. I have tried to gently counsel a number of them regarding the
Hindu saying, "Shandilyamai Shundai," and they all raise their noses up yonder
in the clouds and tell me how holy they are when they say those words. This paper
marks a turning point in my dealings with Charismatic blasphemy. I shall no longer
be gentle. It has got me no fruit, nor did it with the Lord Jesus as He dealt
with the Pharisees of His day ( exception--Nicodemus ). By the way, Shandilyamai
Shundai means, "In praise of the glorious mother goddess." Do I hear anyone say,
"Har Har Har?" Can anyone begin to mourn? Is there a Nicodemus anywhere? 3
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth
not such things as these? 4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon
God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn... "Holy
laughter" is scorn of the truly HOLY believer ! That old four flusher,
Eliphaz, is again speaking, and "under the anointing" no doubt. Job
22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16 Which were
cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17 Which said
unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18 Yet he filled
their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19
The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
What a blasphemer! The Bible teaches that Noah preached the everlasting
Gospel to the pre-flood crowd for 120 years, but nowhere does it say that he laughed
at them in the context of his own innocence. He never laughed at them at all.
The godly DO laugh at rebels, like Benny Gehenna Hinn and Ichabod Schuler, but
not in self-righteousness as Eliphaz claimed. True believers laugh, as I do regularly,
in derision and mockery of the God hatred and self-exaltation of the TBN flakes.
I laugh, not WITH the "holy laughter," rather; I laugh AT it. Har har har.
Job 29:21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and
kept silence at my counsel. Job
tells of his relationship with his friends and neighbors before he was stricken
down with God-permitted sickness. 22 After my words they
spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. 23 And they waited for me as
for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. 24 If I
laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast
not down. They trusted Job's motives so much that if
he laughed at them, they didn't believe it was an insult. They trusted him. Can
God trust the laughter of hysterical maniacs? Too strong language? Well go around
to the local mental hospital. Listen to the laughter there, and tell me there
is a difference. Both the mental hospital folks and the "holy laughter"
folks have this in common-- They are out of control-- cannot stop for hours. NOWHERE
in the Word of God are we told that the work of the Holy Spirit will shut our
minds off. Job's laughter was not hysterical, it was tender, and his neighbors
trusted it. I don't trust the raucous rantings and screechings of the Charismatic
frenzy machine. Do you? 25 I chose out their way, and
sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.
Later we will see that mourning is far more becoming to saints than laughter.
Job 41:1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an
hook? God is now speaking sternly
to Job and showing Job the power of His creation, particularly Leviathan, a great
and powerful creature. Job 41:29 Darts are
counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
God shows that Leviathan, the natural picture of might and power,
laughs at man's might. So, let us laugh at the raging laughter of the Charismatic
mob. I say Har Har Har to Benny Hinn's threats to true saints. Psalms
2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
Psalms 22:7 All they that see
me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psalms 37:13 The LORD shall laugh at him: for
he seeth that his day is coming.
Psalms 52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away,
and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the
living. Selah. 6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
Psalms 59:8 But thou, O LORD,
shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
Psalms 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt
thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? 5 Thou feedest them with the bread
of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. 6 Thou makest us a
strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Psalms 126:1 When the LORD turned again the captivity
of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done
great things for them. Of all of the texts in Psalms on laughter, all but
one have to do with scorn. Please note: The only time God laughs in the Bible,
He is mocking at rebels who are damned or, at best, backsliders. What does this
say for "holy laughter?" Also, how about these Fundamental Baptists who spend
half of Sunday morning chopping each other and cutting up? Blasphemy, that's what
it is. Jack Hyles is the guru of the guttural hee-haw band. Take note please.
Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones,
will ye love simplicity? 1:26
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Have you ever noticed the trite and light weight nature of the
Charismatic events? They flutter about shining on each other. TBN is the worst
at this. There is no humility and no grave expression of the fear of the Lord.
So when the hysterics begin, so be it, let us all mock and laugh them to scorn.
Har Har Har. Proverbs 14:13 Even in
laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
Solomon warns us that, when we put a big emphasis on laughter, we end up
in heaviness. If the Charismatic follower doesn't end up "heavy" in spirit after
a hysterics session, well then, that is a sure sign he is on his way to Hell.
It is the devil's crowd that laughs without worry or sorrow. Proverbs
29:9 If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there
is no rest. Which is why I write this with fear and trembling.
I expect it will not add to my rest, not that I am wise, but I am basing my thoughts
on the wisdom of the Word. So, rage on, you blasphemers.
Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee
with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of laughter,
It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? The fruit of mirth and laughter is vanity.
To claim that such vanity is the work of the Holy Ghost is the most exquisite
of blasphemies. It is quite in order for us to join the Psalmist as he said in
Psalms... Psalm 139:21, Do not I hate
them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against
thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To
every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up
that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down,
and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance; This is a
favorite of the Charismatic scholarly giants. From this text they get both laughing
and dancing into the circus on Sunday morning. Problem: Ecclesiastes is a debate
between humanism and God's holy plan for living. This particular text is where
Solomon is giving the human philosophy, after which, he destroys it with the truth.
Why do you think the world loves this text? For the same reason the "holy laughter"
bunch love it-- this demonic philosophy vindicates their folly. Solomon ends his
book on a very different and very narrow ground. Read it, and see what is really
holy. Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than
laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 6
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this
also is vanity. And so the pot crackles every Sunday morning all
over the world as this new Satanic aberration enters the beings of the Charismatic
damned. Is this not the zeal and enthusiasm that will fire the lusts of the Whore
church after the rapture of the true Bride? YES ! Come out of her my people.
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter,
and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things. Human philosophy
again, but beware of some Baptist's lust for money. It is just as evil.
Ezekiel 23:22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind
is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
23:32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink
of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in
derision; it containeth much. Again, laughter is directed
by God against the wicked. It is not a Church age charisma or gift of the Holy
Spirit. Never was, nor ever will be, devilish TBN doctrine to the contrary.
Matthew 9:23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's
house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24 He said unto them,
Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
As I said before, I believe that devils who possessed alleged
saints (occasionally true believers) during the "noise" of speaking in tongues
and "slaying in the Spirit" have now graduated to use those same people to mock
and laugh at God. He has those devils in derision for "leaving their first state,"
so they have found a way to temporarily laugh back in His Holy face. Are you being
used in this supernatural war to mock at God. I have news for you, God will have
the last laugh. Luke 6:20 And he lifted
up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom
of God. 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are
ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Later, not now. Read on.
6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.
Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. When
these poor God-mockers find out that they have been used of devils to laugh in
the face of The Lord Jesus Christ, they will certainly mourn, but too late. They
will be on their way to the sides of the Pit instead of the sides of the North.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it. It is a lie to say that hysterical mania
is a blessing to God. James
4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning,
and your joy to heaviness. As Solomon said,
it is better to mourn. However; that would not bring in the masses to the big
cathedral. Mourning has to do with repentance, revival, and humility, which is
short supply in the Crouch club. So the laughter goes on and on. I can only leave
you with a strong command from the Word of God. II Corinthians
6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
This has not been a pleasant discussion for me, nor for you who attend and
participate in the blasphemies of "holy laughter." So what? We all have to be
willing to deal with Satan's devices and get them where they belong. Jesus wrestled
with the wickedness of the Pharisees frequently, and He never ran from them. So,
if this discussion has exercised you to attack me, praise the Lord. I have reward
enough from that. If, however; you are convicted of offending the Lord,
and if you go to I John 1:9 and
cleanse yourself, and if I get to have your fellowship in holiness now and in
the Glory, well then, that is a double blessing to me. I would be delighted to
hear from you if I have been of some service to you in Christ. The fellowship
of cleansing, especially when it comes with mourning, is very sweet. If
you persist, on the other hand, in your unholy hysterics, then I mock you and
laugh at you. I have you in derision, and, with the Psalmist David, I hate
you "with perfect hatred." This is not because you hurt my feelings. Rather;
it is because you have joined the devils of Hell to laugh in the Holy Face of
my Lord and my God, The Lord Jesus Christ. Your judgment could not come too soon.
His Slave and Your Servant, Pastor Steve Van Nattan, Editor: Blessed
Quietness Journal
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