Gerald Coates

The Crazy World of

The Toronto Experience

(now also the Pensacola Outpouring)

1.Where did it start?

Began in January 1994 at the Toronto Vineyard Fellowship (now Toronto Airport Church) 
Had roots before that with various prophecies about Toronto from Restorationist leaders like David (Paul) Yonggi Cho, Benny Hinn and Marc Dupont. 
Spread over to the UK in the summer of 1994 and on into 1995, dubbed 'The Toronto Blessing' by The Daily Telegraph. Hotbeds were HTB (Nicky Gumbel, Ken Costa and Sandy Millar), Sunderland Christian Centre (Ken and Lois Gott), Queens Road Baptist Church (Rob Warner- EA, Baptist Union), Church of Christ the King in Brighton (Terry Virgo, New Frontiers) and Gerald's Pioneer People church in Cobham. 

2. What was the reaction?

Professing Christian leaders Gerald Coates (Pioneer), Terry and Wendy Virgo (New Frontiers), Bryn Jones (Harvesttime/Covenanters), Ken Gott (Sunderland), Bob and Ellie Mumford (Vineyard), Nicky Gumbel & Sandy Millar (HTB), Clive Calver (EA), Colin Dye (Kensington Temple), Roger and Faith Forster (Ichthus), Steve Chalke (Oasis), Colin Urquhart (Friends of Jesus) all came out heavily in favour stressing that this was a major move of God and a prelude to national and global revival (hence Virgo's book, From Refreshing to Revival, for example). Also backed by US ministers John Wimber (Vineyard head honcho), Paul Cain (peripatetic false prophet), Benny Hinn (AOG *2 , travelling huckster and bogus miracle worker), Kenneth Copeland (Word of Faith prosperity mogul), etc etc, not a sound man among them! 
RT Kendall said that "if we put him under a lie detector he'd had to say it was not of good, [sic] but he had to back down and change his mind" but does not (a) give reasons why or (b) explain what kind of pressure was on him such that only a lie detector could bring him out against. RT has now fully thrown his weight behind the experience, which has conveniently rubber-stamped TE with 'theologically sound', although regrettably RT is losing the fine standing he once had with true evangelicals who remember the days of his sound gospel preaching. 
John Wimber amazingly threw Toronto Airport out of the Vineyard Network. However, he stopped short of saying that TE was a counterfeit movement, only a 'little exotic'. No, the differences were purely on a pastoral level and yes, this was still a bona fide movement of God. Courageous Biblical charismatics like Clifford Hill (Prophecy Today), Stanley Jebb and Peter Fenwick all emerged as opponents of the move, and have won many over with their irrefutable combination of charismatic pedigree and Biblical fidelity. 
The quasi-gospel course, Alpha, used the hype and newspaper coverage of the TE at HTB to orbit into figures of over a million attendees, but sadly only to also increase the syncretism of the Church of England into Rome from the charismatic end of the CoE (the work having been begun many years earlier by counter-Reformation traitors like Runcie) [see previous issues].
STOP PRESS: rumour has it that Nicky Gumbel is trying to 'play down' the Toronto element in the Holy Spirit weekend of the course, especially as TE's credibility has worn a little thin because of no real revival fruit, and many strong arguments proving its defective character. Both the Anglican and Methodist churches have produced reports displaying vehement reservations, and a very recent newspaper headline said "Toronto Blessing feared to be a work of Satan".
Indeed, notwithstanding all the many who have come to know the Lord better through His honouring their genuine searching for Him. 

3. Who started it?

Rodney Howard-Browne, in a word or three (fully acknowledged by Gerald Coates). 
He is a South African 'evangelist' on an incredible power trip. 
Calls himself 'The Holy Ghost Bartender' and invites people to 'Holy Ghost blow outs'. 
Says that experiencing the Holy Spirit is like 'plugging your finger into an electric light socket'. 
Frequently strikes preachers of the gospel dumb, , and induces them to weep and pull contorted faces which have to be seen to be believed. He claims that this is "as great a work as raising Lazarus from the dead" (ie 'I am Christ') (A Different Gospel video by Alan Morrison - I've never seen demon possession, but this is how I'd imagine it). *3 
Incites manic 'holy laughter' in meetings, even when preaching on the subject of hell 

• "The less I preached, the more people got saved" 
• "Don't pray, it's not a prayer meeting, pray when you get home" 
• "Don't try and analyse. Just yield" 
• "Go get those stuck faces Lord" 
• "Laughing is like this ' hahaha, hohoho,hehehe- I command you to laugh in Jesus' name and in the name of Jesus (x30)' " 

4. What is it?

Nothing really (and that's just the problem- no Jesus, no Bible, no cross, no gospel). Just a lot of froth and bubble best characterised by Patrick Dixon's list under 'Manifestations' in the index of Signs of Revival: 

What a mean, shoddy and fleshly list compared the glorious fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. None of those manifestations are encouraged in the Bible, none are recorded as evidence of the inward workings of grace in the soul (see Jonathan Edwards' 'negative' distinguishing marks- ie, what signifies nothing either way). 
Many or most of the leaders like Ellie Mumford, Ken Gott and the president of Oral Roberts university claimed they were spiritually dry, desperate or even bankrupt before the experience. This puts them as prime targets for the deception of the enemy. Keep praying for these poor folk who very often mean well and really do want to see revival. Sadly, they make do with the counterfeit, and a terrible, boring, stupid thing it is too, prompting only understandable shaking of heads from those in the world (except psychologists who love the case-study it presents of hypersuggestability under the influence of group laughter, and so on). 
More seriously, the only real body of teachings behind the TE is the Word of Faith heresies. These particularly stress not only that all Christians should be completely healthy and wealthy for their earthly lives, but also that 'we are all little gods' which explains how the psycho-religious power experience of Toronto ties in. Benny Hinn 'prayed' [i.e. blown on, threw his jacket at, pushed over] for John Arnott "50 times before I went over". There is a direct link right down from Gnosticism, through Christian Science, William Branham and Essek Kenyon to the Word of Faith movement. The twin prongs of Benny and Rodney then converged on Toronto, used John Arnott as the friendly front man, and manufactured a worldwide pilgrimage site (the Toronto church has a nice little deal going with one of the local hotels- about 10% commission). Brits like Nicky Gumbel claim they have never heard of the origins of the movement, and do not care, "so long as it produces good fruit". RT Kendall, however, openly supports both Rodney and Paul Cain and will not have a word said against them. 

5. So what's this got to do with Gerald?

"When I heard the uproarious laughter, and people collapsed in the Spirit in droves, it was all fine by me" 
"I am convinced this is a visitation from God and my prayer is it will last as long as I live" (SoR, 39) 
He has wanted it to happen for some time: "He had felt for some time that 'something was going to break'". That something sadly was not our sin or pride or neglect of Bible preaching. That something was our residual discernment. 
He links TE with his very own March for Jesus- "whoever would have thought that around 15 million people would take to the streets to pray for the world on June 25th 1994? We should be astounded this initiative came from the UK. So there is at last something happening in the West. It is touching the USA, Canada and now the UK. This 'new thing' is being expressed in uproarious laughter, tears, confession of sin and apparent drunkenness" (Signs of Revival, 37) *4 
Simply, as one of the fiercest proponents of this, he has not only his own fabrications to answer for but also that of many more serious heretics, namely Kenneth Copeland ("Faith movement stalwart" as he calls him), Paul Cain, Benny Hinn: 
"When Benny Hinn blows on people the response is, 'But its not in the Bible!' When preachers pray for people and they are 'slain in the Spirit, the response is the same- 'where is it in the Scriptures?' But let me also ask, where is the one-man ministry? It is not there, yet God has worked through it none the less. Where is the hymn-prayer sandwich? Sunday schools? Ladies meetings? Six-thirty pm services? Church buildings? The gospel regularly preached to the converted? Bible students which are exegeted [sic] line by line? The odd missionary or two sent out into a massive field of humanism or the demonic? You won't find much of this anywhere in the Scriptures. Yet this is regarded as orthodox Christianity!" (The Vision, 107). 
Peter Fenwick straightforwardly points out that the problems with this argument- 
(a) just because none of the other things are explicitly in Scripture, it does not mean they are not in keeping with its general tenor 
(b) even if they are not in keeping with the general tenor of Scripture, this does not mean that the antics of Benny Hinn are justifiable, merely that they are all wrong [this is a classic piece of sophistry which says, 'well since you're doing something wrong, so can I] 
(c) even if things like "the hymn-prayer sandwich" are unBiblical, they are not claiming to be direct revelations from God or signs of a major global movement of God. 
There is a world of difference between unquestioned church routine and fundamental claims which impinge on the whole of our Christian experience and our view of God, His Holy Spirit and the sufficiency of His Word. 
We need to keep asking ourselves this question: where is the best place for our Bible? Open, and expounded in all our meetings faithfully? Or thrown on the floor and trampled underfoot in a fit of prophetic frenzy which is bereft of our Lord Jesus [see Alan Morrison's A Plague in the Land video]? 
Gerald's backing of Rodney Howard-Browne, kingpin of TE, is unquestionable: 
"[watching RHB video] During the hour or so of live ministry, there is no teaching whatsoever- that part of the meeting may well have been edited out of the recording. Instead the congregation was treated to the duo [RHB and Ken Copeland] 'hamming it up' like a pair of slapstick comics in burlesque. Their 'tongues' sounded totally unconvincing, and the American style was an embarrassing echo of all that is worst in banal tele-evangelism" 
This is Gerald at his finest! He cogently points out the lack of the most essential part- the teaching (so expendable, it seems, as to end up on the cutting room floor). He regrets the slapstick antics of RHB and Copeland, and the untranslated tongues. This is sound stuff! 
And yet these things are happening in Gerald's meetings at this very time and he will not have them criticised. 
Like RT Kendall, 'something must have broken'. Gerald has chucked out all his excellent, common sense remarks. WHY?! 
"Then Howard-Browne began to 'work' the audience, and literally dozens of people laughed and fell. Only a handful failed to fall when Howard-Browne touched them, one or two looked possibly to have been pushed, and some seemed to fall down because it was 'expected' of them"  This is painful! Keep going Gerald! But oh no 
"Yet the majority of people seemed to have been genuinely 'slain in the Spirit' in a spontaneous manner- in spite of Copeland's suspect theology, and Howard-Browne's association with the Faith Movement's heir apparent. I had no doubt that I was watching genuine spiritual activity at work, despite the 'punch-line' where Copeland touched Howard-Browne, and the stocky evangelist himself hit the deck" (Fearon, A Breath of Fresh Air, 122,3) 
Here is the most tragic thing of all. That despite despite despite, despite even the Devil himself, if 'genuine spiritual activity' is at work, we'll buy it. Please, readers, in your keen desire for revival, do not fall in to the trap that because the supernatural is at work, that the force is necessarily our Lord. George Carey, beleaguered archbishop, promises that the Millenium Experience will have "a strong spiritual emphasis". Indeed it will, but as all the faiths join together for a syncretistic souffle, the emphasis will not come from the Spirit of God. 
Because something is spiritual it does not mean it is automatically Godly. That is why we are told to "test the Spirits" (1 John 4:1, 1 Thess. 5:21). 
 
As Gerald himself says, "there seemed to be little discernment between the Holy Spirit and other spirits" (The Vision, 102). 
What this means is that Bryn Jones, RT Kendall and Gerald Coates among many others have all had to overcome serious misgivings, and overlook rank disobedience to Scripture, simply to get through to the kernel of that spiritual- any spirit- experience they crave. They may just have found that their pig in a poke is a lot of empty air. 
By 1995, Gerald had totally overridden all his critical faculties. He spoke of people "staggering around in small groups ,laughing, to the point of agony, disordered gatherings, bodies piled up, scenes of noisy pandemonium *5, some of those still standing looking distinctly unsteady, others propping themselves up dazed and disorientated on the floor. The Queen [of Romania] meanwhile was swiftly and discreetly ushered into another room and then into lunch, by which time the dishevelled company had got themselves into some kind of order and staggered into the dining room" (Signs of Revival, 47) 
He can see the mayhem, the shameful disorder ("let everything be done decently and in order" 1 Corinthians 14:40), the humiliation, the pain, the senselessness of it all- this is why he is embarrassed to let the Queen of Romania (big name!) see it. If this was genuine spiritual activity of the heavenly sort, why should she have to be ushered discreetly away from it?! It's just a bunch of grown men who should know better making a fool of themselves because their ministries have lost the excitement of the early days, and the thrill of gospel preaching has waned. Ask a child at these meetings, and you will get "The Emperor's New Clothes" as a response, i.e. what is all the fuss about? 
Unabashed, however, Gerald goes on to pose as a Biblical apologist for Toronto (against his better judgement, surely)- hence '"Toronto" and Scripture' in Renewal magazine, and the ludicrous rubber-stamping section in the Rumours of Revival video. He trots out the specious comparisons with Jonathan Edwards' ministry (see Nick Needham's analysis of this at the 'Strange Fire' conference), that is, look Edwards saw "bodily strength withdrawn" so that's what the slain in the spirit experience is. 
The crucial contrast is that the converts of the Great Awakening sunk to the floor as a response to the preaching of the Word in conviction of sin. Toronto devotees hit the deck with little or no understanding of what is happening to them. The TE, if it must be compared to previous spiritual happenings, is much more akin to the shakti pat slayings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in its form and content (for one thing, everyone goes over backwards after being tapped on the forehead; in Edwards' day people sank to their knees or on their faces as their soul was convicted and renewed). 
Gerald runs desultorily through 'Trembling/ Shaking' (Ps 119:120, Ps.2:11,1 Cor 2:3), 'Weeping' (Ezra 10:1), 'Drunkenness/ Trances' (Acts 2:13-15, 1 Sam 1:13), 'Convulsions' (Mark 1:25-26),'Bodily strength diminished' (note use of Edwardsism so as to give the appearance of authenticity;),( Ex19:16, Daniel 8:27, 10:11, John 18:6). A careful reading of any of these passages shows that none of them are remotely adequate for defending the madness of the TE. But what takes the biscuit are Gerald's proof texts for 'Laughter'. "He who is enthroned in the heavens laughs" (Psalm 2:4). That is really important for Gerald. Because the next part of the verse says "the Lord shall hold them in derision". 
This verse has absolutely nothing to do with encouraging human uncontrollable laughter. 
My 15-year old sister saw this on the video, and burst in to laughter herself with the inanity of Coates' reasoning. Another classic is the use of "he makes me to lie down in green pastures" (Psalm 23:2) as a defence of the falling in the spirit and 'carpet time' (official Toronto term) experiences. 
Gerald's subconscious seems to catch a hold of the silliness of even attempting to back TE from the Bible: 
"I want to make a plea that we don't use the Bible as a text book and try and find an odd verse here and there to justify our behaviour" (Rumours of Revival). 

WHICH IS PRECISELY WHAT HE HAS JUST DONE!!

The blatant self-contradiction boggles the mind. You have to watch it twice to make sure you haven't misheard!! 
Some other pieces of his own advice for Gerald: 
"Ensure that you do not seek personal gain, prominence or benefit from what is clearly a divine visitation" (The Vision, £5.99; Rumours of Revival, £10.99, 'Champion of the World', £13-17) 
"Do not develop a ministry of manifestations, when God is wanting to do something deeper" 
"Maintain a focus on the source of the blessing, Christ himself and do not transfer people's faith either to a person, a place or a method" (We asked Gerald- he said, "It comes from Toronto, it is transferred by the laying on of hands, Rodney Howard-Browne started it") 
"Do not in any way manipulate the activity of the Holy Spirit. People must not be allowed to believe this is the work of human beings, but the work of God" (!! This says it all! And yet, what do we find in Gerald's meetings, but 'experiments' in the Benny Hinn, RHB modes, e.g. getting sections of the audience to stand up and trying to blow them all over, domino-style) 
We conclude the Toronto section with another quote from the master of muddle: 
"It became clearer to me that to sit under a ministry of confusion only causes confusion in the minds of the listeners. To sit under a heretical ministry creates heretics, who may well believe right things privately but are willing to support, finance and prop up churches whose faith is far from orthodox. Salvation is nowhere to be seen, was losing direction, was a blessing but wasn't building anything. It gave some a shot in the arm, but created an army who waited for their inoculation. But it was most unsatisfying" (An Intelligent Fire, 100-101). 

Celtic Spirituality

This is the Next Big Thing. Watch This Space. It is my conviction that this phenomenon is going to overtake TE in the scope of its plausibility and drag many more away from the truth. 
But to explain why Gerald should find it so appealing;

Arminianism

Gerald is an Arminian [he formally outlines his support in The Vision, 163, backing their "somewhat different view of Scripture"]. Arminianism is essentially the opposite position to Calvinism, which states (with reference to the doctrines of grace) 5 things: 

•  Total depravity of human beings after the fall (Romans 3, Psalm 14) 
• Unconditional Election by God of believers to salvation (Ephesians 1, Romans 8) 
• Limited Atonement- that is, that Christ died for the elect, not for all humans (John 10, Hebrews 9) 
• Irresistible Grace- that is, that God's call is effective to all whom He redeems (John1:12,13, Rom 9) 
• Perseverance of the Saints- that is, once saved always saved (Philippians 1:6, John 5:24) 

Arminianism has five opposing points:

• *6 God elects or reproves on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief 
• Christ died for all men and for every man, although only believers are saved 
• Man is so depraved that divine grace is necessary unto faith or any good deed 
• This grace may be resisted 
• Whether all who are truly regenerate will certainly persevere in the faith is a point which needs further investigation (later concluded that loss of salvation was possible) 

So where does Celtic Spirituality fit in with this?

Roger Ellis, Gerald's key youth leader, produced a paper called "The New Celts". It essentially promotes: 
'pre-Roman' Christianity- that is British religion before the Reformation with all its mystery and earthiness, etc, etc. This will most certainly pave the way to a merger between the pseudo- charismatics and Rome. 
"They lived simply and positively with creation" [ie their view was of Original Blessing, denying Original Sin] " and depended on signs, symbols and supernatural manifestations of God: all very appropriate to post-modern westernism" [yes, all too similar to the New Age; Roger Ellis calls for the day when "a Celtic symbol will replace a Christian Union's doctrinal statement"] 
"Celtic music seems to be striking a fresh chord with many people at the moment, not just in its traditional forms but also within dance culture" [ie New Age raves, altered states of consciousness, hypnosis, calling down spirits- Ellis calls for the spirit of the Peregrinati to fill young pioneers] 
Recommends anti-original sin, anti-atonement (therefore anti-Jesus) books like Restoring the Woven Chord (Michael Mitton), The Celtic Way (Ian Bradley). 
He also gave a talk in March 1996 at the "After the Rain" Pioneer conference in which he said: 
"Whereas in the past people were wanting to rightly divide the word of truth, now people are going to want to absorb the word of truth. The whole response to God is going to be different, and there is a challenge to us as we look at our pagan society, our pagan culture" 
"God is calling us to uncover our roots" (not our Biblical roots, our Celtic ones) 
"We are going to have to renounce the Roman spirit [not Catholic, but intelligent Reformation, he means]. We are going to have to renounce the spirit of control [cst Galatians 5:23]- the spirit that holds things in, the spirit of death that wants to impose power and to hold things and we must embrace the Celtic spirit, in order to move forward" 
"The eye that could look down upon what was going on in the natural realm and could address the powers and release the power of God" [release?! What kind of God do we release?] 
"I believe God wants to explode our concept of spirituality [ie get rid of the Bible] and hearing and receiving God. He wants us to flow in the inheritance of all that we have, and to identify with so much of what resonates within us" [ie walk in the flesh, deify yourself, do the New Age thing] 
Calls Pelagius "a great New Testament and Old Testament theologian", says that he "preached the truth" 
And so on, music continuously, various prophecies, mantras, spirits called down, total lack of Jesus, the Bible, sin, repentance, genuine prayer; also complete absence of historical evidence for these amazing Christian Celtic community. Ellis is an ideologue who speaks entirely without specifics, which means that he makes it up as he goes along. 
These things will not go away. Please take the warnings of Scripture seriously:  
"In the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves having a form of godliness but denying its power always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3).  
What is the Holy Spirit's (speaking through Paul) antidote to this? "All Scripture!"- which is able to make us wise for salvation! Blessed be God who saves and keeps us! 

Conclusion

Gerald Coates is a man on the move. He is a man who is in many ways sincere. He has made some excellent points about the stuffiness and ritual of the established church (including those who do not view themselves as 'established' but are nevertheless sunk into routine!). He is extremely motivated, and does more to promote his own cause and that of Pioneer than most of us do for the Gospel of Christ- we would do well to have some of his energy and enthusiasm. When I spoke to him, he was very polite and friendly. His criticisms of the lunacy of liberalism within the church are brilliant, and he refreshingly speaks his mind (even when it's complete rubbish). 
But I'd like to finish with another plea for us to pray daily for Gerald and those enmeshed in those house churches which are drifting from the Lord and His Word (not all by any means). These following points may help us in our prayers: 

• For compassion and discernment amongst all Christians (Ephesians 4:15) 
• For a serious look at the rituals within our own congregations, to see whether (as Gerald challenges) they really are Biblical, or just traditional  
• For a "returning to our first works", for a recapturing of our love for Scripture, and for the joy of our salvation in the Lord 
• For a renewed commitment to the preaching of the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not a "different gospel" or "another Jesus" (Galatians 1, 2 Cor 11) 
• For developing our minds so we can spot false and unBiblical reasoning in ourselves and others 
• For the courage to rebuke and receive rebuke 
• For a love of the unchanging truths of God, and not fleeting ecstatic experiences or group hype 
• For a valuing of truth and obedience over and above crowd-pleasing 
• For a caution and continued discussion about the proper use of spiritual gifts, especially tongues and prophecy 
• For a proper view of revival 
• For a firmness with heresy, and a gentleness with those under it 
• For a desire to abase self, and promote the Lord Jesus 
• For a commitment to NT Christianity, without any need for Toronto Experiences, Pensacola Outpourings or Celtic Spirituality 
• For a willingness to have our view of God's character be ever informed by the Bible as His totally perfect and sufficient means of self-revelation. 

Love in Christ, 
Neil Richardson. 

*1 The author would like to make it perfectly clear that he has the highest respect for many of the Brethren, and continues to benefit from their first rate Bible knowledge. There are, notwithstanding, many fellowships who have become isolated to the point of atrophy.
*2 Though rejected by many national AOGs, eg Italy and New Zealand.
*3 Horribly dishonest is the Rumours of Revival which entirely cuts out these sections from the clip it shows of the meetings, thus sanitising and presenting the 'acceptable' face of TE (not that there is much of it).
*4 Another common bogus argument is this: because something is happening, it must be good. "I would rather be part of a live heresy than a dead orthodoxy" Gerald quotes P.T. Forsyth.
*5 Pandemonium, by the way, is the home of the demons in Milton's Paradise Lost.
*6 From Roger Nicole's summary of the Arminianist 'Remonstrance'; David Steele & Curtis Thomas' The Five Points of Calvinism is required reading on this subject. 

OTHER REFERENCES to Gerald Coates.

http://www.christian-witness.org +

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Appeared in Issue UK 1997
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3