My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. It was a sin to even pluck your eyebrows, and they thought it was a sin for me to be there looking like Jezebel. Dolly Parton

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History of Michael Brown

Michael Brown is well known in charismatic circles and is a proponent of Messianic Judaism. According to Wikipedia:

is an American radio host, author, apologist, activist, and proponent of Messianic Judaism, Christian Zionism,^[1] and the Charismatic Movement. His nationally syndicated radio show, The Line of Fire, airs throughout the United States. He contributes articles to the Christian news platform The Stream as well as to the news site Townhall, and serves as head of the Coalition of Conscience, a Christian organization in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. He holds a Ph.D in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from New York University.^{[citation needed]}

I could not find the Coalition of Conscience but was instead redirected to the Mattera Institute, which appears to be a training institute for those involved in “Apostolic Ministry.” Recently, I butted heads with those in “apostolic leadership” in upstate New York who have been dreadfully silent on the alleged abuse of Melissa Hobson by Marty MacDonald. It was covering this story that I learned how protective apostolic leaders appear to be when it is one of their own.

He is also:

• president and professor of practical theology at FIRE School of Ministry in Concord, NC.
• was one of the leaders in the Brownsville Revival,

He founded and was removed from the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry. According to Christianity Today, which posted Schism Threatens Brownsville Assembly of God as School Head Fired:

Michael L. Brown, founder and president of the Pensacola, Florida, Brownsville Revival School of Ministry (BRSM), was voted out by the school’s board of directors last week, apparently because he would not join the Assemblies of God. According to a statement by the school’s board, the denomination “made a multimillion-dollar loan to BRSM at the request of Pastor [John] Kilpatrick [head pastor of the Brownsville Assembly of God] to purchase the current campus, and requested some form of simple accountability for Dr. Brown to represent their interests. It was suggested that Dr. Brown hold credentials with the Assemblies of God during the time of his duties as President of the school.” Brown’s version corroborates the story, for the most part: “After much prayer, God dealt with me that I was not to be Assemblies. It was contrary to his calling for my own life. I was to reflect something different from that. I shared that with Pastor and he then gave me an ultimatum.”

Maybe he was uncomfortable being under the leadership of a denomination?

According to Wikipedia:

In 2001, Brown started the FIRE School of Ministry, a Charismatic leadership training institute heavily influenced by the revival movement from which Brown was removed.

The Woman Problem

The Christian Post wrote Michael Brown admits to ‘lack of judgment’ as woman accuses him of sexual misconduct.

admitted to a “definite lack of judgment” but denied allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct with a former female staffer he said he treated like a “family member” 23 years ago.

“Both Nancy and I were shocked and horrified by the mix of accusations, allegations, false statements, and mischaracterizations. That’s why we wholeheartedly supported our board’s immediate decision to launch a thorough third-party investigation,” Brown said in a statement to The Christian Post that was also shared with The Roys Report,  which published the allegations

The investigation in which they uncovered another woman.

Essentially, Brown denied anything until he admitted to a little something. This caused such an uproar that Brown cooperated with a third-party investigation by Firefly. According to some folks who follow him, Brown told people not to make judgments until the report came out. Did he need to work quickly to get some folks to help him tell his story?

According to MinistryWatch:

An independent investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Dr. Michael Brown of The Line of Fire “concluded that Brown’s actions toward the two females were inappropriate and unacceptable for his leadership position within the ministry.”

Brown was accused of sexual misconduct by crossing physical boundaries with a 21-year-old woman, Sarah Monk, who was working as a secretary at Brown’s FIRE School of Ministry, based in Concord, North Carolina.

While admitting to a close relationship with his accuser, Brown claimed the relationship was “totally non-sexual in every way.”

The investigation conducted by James Holler Jr. of Firefly Independent Sexual Abuse Investigations looked into the allegations by Monk and allegations that Brown engaged in another inappropriate relationship with a married woman in the congregation, who is now deceased.

The alleged conduct took place between 2001 and 2002.

According to the report dated April 12, Brown’s conduct “violated the ethical standards expected of someone in his role and undermined the trust and integrity essential to leadership within the church community.”

It also stated the following, which is totally “yikes-worthy.”

Firefly investigator Holler says Brown has been “deliberately deflect[ing] questions about allegations of sexual misconduct” over the past 25 years.

“This pattern of deflection appears to be a calculated effort to evade accountability, suppress the allegations, and protect his ministry’s reputation. By maintaining silence and avoiding direct answers, Brown has seemingly sought to shield himself from scrutiny, potentially enabling these stories to remain hidden and preserving his position within the ministry,” the report states.

So what does a man of introspection and godliness do in this instance? Maybe step down? No siree, Bob! My elders agree!!

A man of apostolic stature gets himself a group of elders who want to get him back in the pulpit ASAP. The Christian Post wrote: Elders reject Firefly’s findings in Michael Brown investigation, say he didn’t engage in sexual abuse.

A group of Christian leaders asked by the board of the North Carolina-based The Line of Fire – Dr. Brown Ministries, Inc, to review the findings of a Firefly investigation, which concluded that the ministry’s founder Michael Brown engaged in sexual misconduct with two women, have rejected the findings.

The group, officially called the Elder Accountability Team, includes: Jonathan Bernis, president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International; Raleigh Washington, founder and pastor emeritus of Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church in Chicago, Illinois; Leif Hetland, founder and president of Global Mission Awareness and Leif Hetland Ministries; and Mark and Nicki Pfeifer, lead pastors of Open Door Church in Chillicothe, Ohio.

If I only had time to deep-dive into the history of this “elder” group… Let us know if any reader knows these folks. I suspect a story here.

Now, just in case you think I am picking on the Apostolic elders, may I remind you that this blog started because a group of the elder pals of my former SBC pastor put together an investigation into the claim they knew something a year before the molester was caught in my former church. They exonerated the pastors. This is the SBC (Reformed) pastor who proudly told “yours truly”  that his elders only disagreed with him twice in 28 years! I disagree with myself more than two times in 24 hours!

Matthew 18 wasn’t followed, according to the elders. 😡 Social media is to blame as well.

I’ve spent 16 years at this gig, and nothing seems to change. Am I spitting in the wind?

“It is the position of the Elder Accountability Team that the LOF Board should have been officially contacted to seek a proper Mathew 18 process since these allegations resurfaced 5 years ago. Instead, these allegations, which could have been resolved with proper Biblical Due Process, were relitigated with accusations, judgement and sentencing by a jury on social media,” the elders said in a statement included in a 27-page response to the Firefly report on Monday.

What in the world is “Biblical Due Process?” I bet if I asked five different people this question, I would get five different answers, along with a “Huh?”

A word salad ensues.

The following statements are fascinating.

the Firefly investigators overreached in their investigation of Brown’s actions when they expanded their definition of “sexual abuse” beyond the “historically narrow understanding of those terms” to classify his conduct with the two women in 2001-2002 as, “sexually abusive misconduct.”

It was merely “moral indiscretions.”

We believe a more accurate and historically consistent characterization of what Dr. Brown did is Moral Indiscretions in the case of the Wife and Leadership Misconduct in the case with Sarah,” the elders wrote.

It wasn’t grooming, it was merely a” grievous lack. of judgment and a violation of conduct established by his standards.”  Did these guys keep looking up synonyms in an online Thesaurus?

A claim that Brown groomed Monk was also distilled down to “a grievous lack of judgement and a violation of the conduct established by his standards for Fire School of Ministry.”

He’s perfectly able to be in ministry because we said so.

That “trustworthy” old man is baaack.

The elders recommended that Brown or Line of Fire should offer to pay for reasonable counseling expenses for Monk. Among other things, it was also recommended that Brown receive counseling “to focus on the appropriate means of engaging ministry with a clearer perspective of the events and processes that led to this point.”

The Elder Accountability Team also cleared brown for public ministry with the expectation that he would follow their recommendations.

“Since Dr. Brown’s sins were committed long ago without any repeated behavioral patterns of like conduct, considering that these issues were believed to have been dealt with using Biblical Due Process as they understood it in 2002, considering his recent confession and repentance of his sins, considering his willingness to step back from ministry until the completion of the FIREFLY Investigation, believing he is trustworthy,

If you disagree with this, you have the spirit of Jezebel!

The Rioys Report wrote Massive Breach of Trust’: Christian Leaders Demand Retraction of Report Exonerating Michael Brown.

Apparently, those who support Michael Brown are mad at everyone who doesn’t support their boy.

some Brown supporters have taken to social media to toss “spirit of Jezebel” and “cancel culture” accusations at Brown critics.

Here’s the deal, fanboys. The moment you pull out a laughable term like “the spirit of Jezebel,” reasonable people think you are whacky. Plus, since many men are involved, isn’t that a gender confusing term or was that Jessebel?  Throw in a little political ideology, and the argument is lost before the discussion begins.

some Brown supporters have taken to social media to toss “spirit of Jezebel” and “cancel culture” accusations at Brown critics.

Some Christian leaders respond.

Never, ever have the wife make a statement. Jerry Sandusky’s wife said something about the fact that she never heard him bring home boys and that he was innocent. Bringing in the wife is emotionally manipulative, and whoever pushed this statement should hang their head in shame. Of course, she would say he is innocent. I won’t quote the statement because I am mad at such blatant emotional manipulation. Leave her out of this.

Ron Cantor, a whistleblower and president of Messianic-themed Shelanu TV, posted on his website Wednesday a scathing 17-page rebuttal to the elders’ report. Cantor listed what he called false statements and broken promises by the elders.

…Cantor, one-time friend to Brown, was one of multiple leaders and staff who attempted to confront Brown, but has recently spoken out against him.

…Both he and Joel Richardson, a New York Times best-selling author and Bible teacher, called for a retraction of the elders’ report.

Here is one leader with whom I had a quibble. In the TRR post, he said:

The wide spectrum of responses to accusations against Brown points to an accepted culture of cover-up in charismatic circles, argued Bible teacher Mike Winger, who heads up the YouTube channel “Learn to Think Biblically.”

..“This isn’t about some petty revenge or gossip, it’s about undoing the culture of cover up that is bringing unspeakable harm to the Body of Christ and is deeply ingrained in the charismatic movement,” Winger posted on X.

Here is my exchange.

The comments of Christian leaders who support Brown are equally ugly as those of their supporters.

From TRR,

Landon Schott, pastor of Mercy Culture, recently led a standing ovation of Brown at a conference, calling the accusations against Brown “gossip and slander.” Brown is listed as an apostolic elder at Mercy Culture.

…Beware the spirit of Jezebel that weaponizes accusation,” wrote the elders of the Fort Worth-based Mercy Culture Church, on the church’s Instagram page. Comments were turned off. “They are not preserving righteousness; they are spreading division. They are not restoring the church; they are attempting to tear it down.”

..former Trump prophet Jeremiah Johnson posted on Facebook  “The unbelievable slander, false accusations, fabricating and exaggeration of stories, hellacious reporting full of lies and deceit going around social media is evil and I sincerely pray many peoplerepent,” Johnson wrote. “I will continue to stand for justice and will use my voice to confront abuse in the body of Christ, but I will also continue to speak out against ‘kangaroo courts’ who are spreading massive division and ungodliness in the Lord’s body.”

For 16 years, I have been writing about the misuse of the words “gossip” and “slander” and misusing the story of “Jezebel.” My former pastors accused me of slander and gossip. Even they were too embarrassed to use the Jezebel spirit.”  I think it’s time to do some posts on churches and leaders who misuse those words.