Holy Laughter

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/bonnke.html
Benny Hinn was instrumental in getting Howard-Browne to spread the laughter movement which looks like it was something Hinn cooked up around 1986 which is shown on our new video called "Spirit Of Truth Or Spirit Of Error - Part 1 - Benny Hinn". 
(Well, it could be, but Howard Browne claimed in 1979 he experienced it. And he was not the only one.)

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/unmasked_____benny_hinn.html
In 1991, Benny Hinn commissioned Rodney Howard-Browne to be the ‘laughter dispenser' in the so-called new wave of the Holy Spirit: 

Rodney replies: ``Be filled right now. In the name of Jesus, I command you to laugh right now. I loose the joy of the Lord right now. In the name of Jesus, let it bubble out of your belly right now in Jesus' name. Let the joy of the Lord bubble out of your belly. Lord make everybody drunk in the Holy Ghost. Make everybody drunk in the Holy Ghost. In the name of Jesus [repeated 10 times]....Double dose!" [Pushes people over, weird tongues with no interpretation, etc.] (See clip from A Plague in the Land video by Alan Morrison available from CWM).



http://www.letusreason.org/Pent39.htm
the key players in today's revivalism all were guests on Hinn's program in the last several weeks (99'). Kenneth Copeland, Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyers and Rodney Howard-Browne and others.
It was on a few years ago he stated, "There is no such thing as a laughing revival. There is no such thing as a laughing - it is not in the Bible. I do not see it in the Bible. Much of what happens is pure emotionalism - contagious laughter. What does it do except make you look stupid? I am not interested in some emotional up."( Praise The Lord July 4, 1997) But then in       ( September 99) he had Rodney Browne as his guest, the very man who started all this. To be accurate it was Hinn who launched Browne into the laughing ministry when he allowed it all to happen at his meeting back in 1991. Laughter broke out among the children at Hinn's crusade and Rodney Browne who was on stage is called forward by Hinn. "Rodney, God has given you a great anointing for this. Let the holy laughter hit them in Jesus' mighty name."


http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/holylaugh.htm
Individuals who have flocked to holy laughter meetings span every denomination from Baptist to Roman Catholic.
Holy laughter has also received the endorsements of Oral and Richard Roberts, Marilyn Hickey, Paul and Jan Crouch, Karl Strader, Larry Tomszak, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, John Wimber, and many other hyper-charismatic luminaries.
the current popularity of the phenomenon can be traced to one man, Rodney Howard-Browne, formerly a Pentecostal South African evangelist. The major impetus for the worldwide spread of the movement has come through one church in particular -- the Toronto Airport Vineyard, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, famous for "the Toronto Blessing."
So impacting has been the influence of this church on the holy laughter phenomenon that Charisma magazine devoted considerable space to the Toronto Blessing in its February, 1995, issue.
On January 20, 1994, what was intended to be the start of several "revival" meetings was held at a small church located in an industrial complex near Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Within one year, it had become what Diana Doucet, writing for Charisma, calls, "a mecca of sorts."
"... Worshipers are overcome by laughing, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling and, to the chagrin of some, noise-making that has been described as 'a cross between a jungle and a farmyard.' But of greater significance are the reports of changed lives: healings, restored relationships and increased fervor for God."
Doucet attributes the origins of the Toronto Blessing to Vineyard pastor Randy Clark of St. Louis, Missouri, who had been influenced by Rodney Howard-Browne in late 1993:
"... What was intended to be a four-day series of meetings with Clark expanded into months of nightly services that sometimes lasted until 3 a.m."
It can be honestly stated that, until Clark took what he had received from Howard-Browne to the Toronto Vineyard, Howard-Browne and holy laughter were virtually unheard of. This, in spite of the fact that Howard-Browne claims he first experienced holy laughter in his meetings over thirteen years ago [1982].
In 1979, while praying for hours seeking a deeper spiritual experience, he challenged God:
"'Either You come down here and touch me, or I will come up there and touch You,' he prayed in desperation. Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He began to laugh uncontrollably. Then he wept and began to speak in tongues. 'I was plugged into heaven's electrical supply,' he later wrote in his book, The Touch of God. 'And since then my desire has been to go and plug other people in'" (Julia Dulin, "Praise the Lord and Pass the New Wine," 8/94, Charisma, p. 22).
It was in April, 1989, while Howard-Browne was preaching in a church near Albany, New York, that the holy laughter outbreak began. Browne claims that he felt a sensation like a heavy blanket coming over him. Soon he began falling out of their seats, some laughing, others crying.

it seems that holy laughter manifested itself at their meetings, almost always accompanied by claims of physical healings.
many deceivers claim that Jesus has come in the flesh; they even use the expression "Jesus is Lord." The Mormons, the pope, the Jehovah's Witnesses, virtually all pseudo-Christian cults and false teachers who come in the name of Christ will testify to these truths.
"believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God."
And how do we try the spirits? Luke gives us an example in Acts 17:11, in speaking of the Jews at Berea:
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

To the contrary, Charles and Frances Hunter tell us not to test it, but to go whole-hog:
"Could this be the way God is bringing us into the final great revival before the return of Jesus? Whether it is or not, we can feel the Holy Spirit moving -- and we're going right along with Him! Don't stick your toe in to test the water! Don't wait! Jump all the way into this flowing river" (Holy Laughter, p. 159).
Really? Just jump in? Don't test it? Don't wait? This is contrary to Scripture; it is the same tactic used by cultists to intimidate candidates to follow their way. Don't use your mind:
"We always need to be completely open to the move of the Holy Spirit and never be so closed that we cannot see that God might be doing something so fresh and new today that there is not way our finite minds can understand it! Let's just enjoy it an not try to figure out God" (Holy Laughter, p. 103).
The Hunter's language indicated that they themselves aren't all that positive about this thing. They use the phrases, "whether or not," and "God might be doing something." Yet they insist that we not test what they are promoting. This is characteristic of most of the major proponents of holy laughter, including Rodney Howard-Browne:
"Howard-Browne disparages those who try to apply a theological test to his methods. 'You can't understand what God is doing in these meetings with an analytical mind,' he says. 'The only way you're going to understand what God is doing is with your heart'" (Julia Duin, "Praise the Lord and pass the New Wine," 8/94, Charisma, p.26).
Howard-Browne does intimidate verbally. On several occasions he would "slay people in the Spirit," and if they didn't begin to laugh he would place his foot on their stomach and tell them to laugh. Some he would kick as they lay there, and accuse them of not yielding to the Holy Spirit. He would keep at it until they would obviously begin to force some kind of laugh out of themselves.
some ministers actually buy large crusades in third-world countries, offering one dollar per head, because it looks good on television (and in their full-color brochures). It can move people in affluent countries to contribute to their cause if they can offer visual evidence that they can assemble a quarter of a million people to hear them preach. $250,000 invested can result in millions in return.
How can a true man of God share the platform with men who pronounce curses upon people that don't give financially to their cause, telling them God will abandon them; they will suffer divorce; they will suffer financial hardship. Yet that is the message of the word-faith people with whom Howard-Browne associates.
How can a true man of God have hands laid on him by someone who consistently says that the Lord told him to do something and it will be blessed, when time after time it doesn't come to pass and God's blessing is not evident. In the process, millions of dollars of the faithful are squandered on the promise of God's faithfulness.




While the disciples were accused of being drunk, they were not staggering about in the manner characteristic of those "intoxicated" by holy laughter; they were accused of being drunk because, while some heard their own languages, they also heard other languages. Nor did all the people accuse them, but only the mockers. It was a phenomenon they did not understand, and to them it seemed for the most part like babbling. Peter set them straight and many of them repented of their sins and were born again by the Spirit of God.
Furthermore, Acts 3 and 4 record that the disciples' activities after Pentecost resulted in persecution by the religious establishment. Today's religious establishment isn't beating up on the holy laughter people -- it is embracing them. In no way can Acts 2 be constructed to mean that the disciples were acting like drunkards -- certainly not like the stereotypical comedic drunkard at the Howard-Browne meeting. Nor can it or Ephesians 5:18 be construed to mean that the Holy Spirit would cause us to lose our sensibilities.

The misapplication of Scripture by the holy laughter people is not limited to Acts 2. In listening to Howard-Browne and others, there is hardly a Scripture citation that isn't twisted to mean what they want it mean in order to validate their peculiar experience. This, if nothing else, should be ample warning for caution if not down-right rejection of these experiences.
As with Acts 2, the holy laughter people like to quote Ephesians 5:18 to prove their claim that being filled with the Holy Spirit may result in one acting like a drunkard. This misapplication is evident to anyone who takes the time to read Ephesians 5:18 in context. The meaning of being filled with the Spirit within the context of the body is demonstrated in verses 19-21. These activities do not reflect a mindless stupor; rather they reflect a holy attitude of worship and edification.



His Word says that all things in the Church must be done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). Women (let alone men) flopping on the floor and hooting or making animal sounds is not decent. Holy laughter is not orderly.

http://religioninfo.org/vine3is5.html