True. No wonder nothing gets through, these people are infested with the demonic.
If this thing spreads like a virus, consider the implication for how widespread it must be in the overall global Pentecostal movement.
From Second Protestant Reformation By Sylvia MacEachern:
Wildfire Transmission
One source offers a conservative estimate that within nine months 90,000 people had attended the Toronto Airport Vineyard. Of those, 30,000 attended for the first time, and "over 4,000 pastors, spouses and leaders from across North America, Britain, Chile, Argentina, Switzerland, France, Germany, Scandinavia, South Africa, Nigeria, Japan, New Zealand and Australia have come to receive the outpouring."’ Virtually every Christian denomination has been represented in those numbers — including, we now know, Roman Catholic.
The October 1994 Catch the Fire Conference held in Toronto drew twenty five hundred participants from twenty countries. It was aimed specifically at pastors and leaders (included in that "multitude" were Fathers Roger Vandenakker and Dennis Hayes of Ottawa.)
Since Holy Laughter is said to be contagious or infectious, those who are "blessed" — especially pastors and leaders who are singled out for special Vineyard leaders’ sessions — typically return to infect their home congregations. Hence, one can only guesstimate the thousands upon thousands of poor souls worldwide who have, by now, been exposed to and infected with the Toronto Blessing. And, since each "blessed" person is capable of infecting another, it just goes and on and on and on like a plague.
Furthermore, if one is to believe the bizarre scenarios recounted by British author/editor and "Holy Laughter" proponent Dave Roberts, even the most unwitting and unlikely candidates become infected.
In order to put the following scenarios in their proper context, it must be understood that many of those who are "blessed" have a peculiar habit of breaking out into gales of uncontrollable laughter — often at the most inopportune times. Such was the scenario when, according to Roberts, a woman driving her car was listening to Rodney Howard-Browne on the radio. (Howard-Browne is the South African evangelist who is credited with triggering this epidemic.) The said woman was overcome by laughter and, it seems, her ability to navigate her vehicle deteriorated. The next sequence is quite straightforward: the woman’s driving was a little erratic; a policeman spotted her; the policeman was convinced she was drunk. Then the story takes a strange twist, which, if factual, proves the potency of the "blessing." When the policeman touched the woman as he tried to remove her from the car, "he began to laugh and was unable to do anything for several minutes." Once he had regained his composure and Howard-Browne had reached his appeal stage on the radio, the policeman, a "backslider Pentecostal," began to weep and the woman "led him back to the Lord." 2
The second account is similar. In this instance a woman was asked to take a breathalyzer test and, we are simply told: "as she blew into the bag, the policeman fell to the ground laughing."
No doubt it was incidents such as these, which prompted the following headline in The Daily Telegraph (London, England, 20 Nov. 1994): "The Blessed shall not drive cars.
Now for some interesting background on the Vineyard.
Since the Toronto Blessing is endorsed by, promoted by, and spreading through the world via the chain of Vineyard Fellowship churches, it is relevant and most revealing to take a look at the Vineyard, and, in particular, its affiliation with a group charged with "charismatic heresy."
What is now referred to as "the Vineyard" has its origins in 1977 when one John Wimber, a former evangelical Quaker and former manager of the Righteous Brothers, founded the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim (California).4
As the Vineyard grew, so did question regarding its doctrine. By 1985, when the chain had swelled to 120 churches, the Christian Research Institute (CR1) studied the organization and issued a statement regarding their findings. Although the CR1 examines such groups from a purely Protestant and mainly evangelical perspective, their findings are noteworthy.
The CR1 found various positive things to say regarding the Vineyard (i.e., sound doctrine in most areas and basically operating in keeping with those things which would qualify it as a "sound Christian church". However, the CRI also found negatives. Some of the problems which CRI identified then, are pertinent in light of the direction the Vineyard would take in future years. Those are: an overemphasis on the "role of experience," a willingness to "assume that whatever transpires in their midst is of God", a lack of any written statement of faith; and an avoidance of setting strong doctrinal standards.
Then, in May 1990, John Wimber made an extremely controversial move. He allowed a group known as the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF, often referred to as the Kansas City Prophets) to join the Vineyard and come under his leadership.
KCF, founded in 1982 by one Mike Bickle (now a vocal and oft’ quoted proponent of "the Blessing"), was a controversial group even in charismatic/Pentecostal circles. The Kansas City Prophets were renown for giving wild "end-time" prophecies and for promoting the emergence of a "new breed" of end-time prophets. There were also stories circulating about KCF pastors experiencing angelic visitations, visiting Heaven and Hell, seeing auras around people, and receiving revelations from God. So outrageous were KCF teachings and prophecies to evangelical ears, that, shortly before the Vineyard/KCF merger, one charismatic leader charged KCF with "charismatic heresy." The group was also charged with teaching the "heresy" of another highly controversial group, the Latter Rain. 6
The Latter Rain, a "revival" movement originating within the Assemblies of God in North Battleford, Saskatchewan (1948-52), taught a doctrine called — interestingly — The Manifest Sons of God. This doctrine teaches that God will restore the offices of apostles and prophets; He will restore ‘the church’ to its intended position of power; many people will leave their denominational churches; under the authority of apostolic churches, believers will start to be perfected and mature into the full stature of Christ; at this time these "sons of God" will be fully manifested on earth; these sons will be equal to Jesus Christ — immortal, sinless, perfected sons who have partaken of the divine nature. ~ A most pertinent component of Latter Rain teachings is its prophecies that a "Second Pentecost" was to begin in Canada in 40 years (1989-1992!). The Assemblies of God officially rejected the Latter Rain teachings in 1949 as heresy.
John Wimber concurred that there were problems with KCF theology, and to that end put out a belated 15-point statement listing the errors he found. This occurred one month after the KCFlVineyard merger had transpired! Despite the statement, many were skeptical and feared that KCF theology would infiltrate and damage the Vineyard fellowship. Skeptics held variously that Wimber had: already been affected by KCF; been urged by Bickle back in 1988 to consider changing the Vineyard’s emphasis to than of a prophetic ministry; already introduced the new prophetic style ministry to the Vineyard in a 1989 edition of his periodical Equipping the Saints; affirmed, like KCF, that the "new breed" of prophets need not be accurate when prophesying; already featured many KCF "prophets" at a massive February 1990 Vineyard conference (9,000 with 4,000 turned away).