Sid Roth - Touch of God
Sid Roth: Hello. Welcome to my world where it's naturally supernatural. My guest, I have traced this and it's amazing, my guest is responsible for praying for someone that brought the move of the Holy Spirit for the three greatest revivals in modern day history, and then the fire spread to another church in England, and brought the fire to England. That's his job. That's his job description. He is a fire starter and I believe that we are about ready to have a fire jump from him right on you. And it's nice that he's a fire starter. But he wants you to be a fire starter. Now my guest Rodney Howard-Browne, Rodney, I think it's such a wonderful heritage you have. I mean, at five, you're born again, at eight you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Tell me when you were a young boy you came home one day and you saw your mother laughing in the Spirit. Tell me what you observed.
Ronald: Well I walked in the living room and Mom was sitting there and just beside herself laughing uncontrollably. And I said to my father, I said to my dad, I said, "What's happening to Mom"? He said, "Jesus is touching her". Now what people don't know was that Mom had fallen and broken her arm in three different places, very bad break, and God had miraculously healed her, and it was actually that afternoon that she had been healed. Well she ended up taking the cast off of her arm after four days. But she was being touched by the power of God in her home, and I saw that as a young boy.
Sid Roth: What a heritage to have. I mean, I wasn't even sure there was a God when I was young boy. You are so blessed, Rodney. But then tragedy hit your home. In 1978, your older brother who you respected, you looked up to, he developed leukemia. What happened?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Well he died suddenly. It was chemically induced. He was, the place he was working at. God had called him to ministry. He was 14 years older than I was and so suddenly he dies from this leukemia, which really affected the whole family. You can understand. I mean, we never expected him to die. But I remember standing at his death bed. I was only 17 at the time and I was really angry, you know. I was not mad at God. I was mad at the devil and I remember saying this at that moment, I said, "Devil, you'll rule the day that you touched my family". And I didn't know what I was saying. I said, "People are gonna laugh at you around the world".
Sid Roth: Now let me explain something to those that have never seen Rodney minister. He is known for an anointing that causes people to laugh. And I have to tell you the funniest story I know about Rodney. I had an uncle that was a professional comedian, Jewish like myself. He was a non-believer and I decided what would a professional comedian think of seeing Rodney speak and people laughing uncontrollably? Would that be an interesting experiment? So I sent it to Uncle Jay. He watches it. He calls me on the phone. Angry. Cursing. He said, "Sid, that man is not funny. He's getting more laughs than I'm getting". You know, it's so funny, it sounds like I'm making it up, but I'm not. I mean, he couldn't understand it. So Rodney, when your brother died, you got angry at the devil and you got more serious at pursuing God than you've ever been in your life. What happened the next year?
Rodney Howard-Browne: From August of '78 until July of '79 was a time of great hunger pressing into to God. You know, I knew God had called me to the ministry and I knew that if I was going to into ministry I had to have the fire of God. And in Luke, Chapter 3, Verse 16, John even said, "I baptize with water but there's one coming after me who will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire". So I knew about the Holy Ghost, but I wanted this end fire. And so that's what I was crying out for. Even though I was already baptized, I already spoke with other tongues and already had several gifts of the spirit, I wanted the end fire, because I had a lot of people that were in the ministry, they spoke in tongues. But I didn't see the end fire part. It's like the prophet of, it's like a fire shot up in my bones. So for me, it came to a crossroads in July of 1979, in a prayer meeting with about 18 people present, young people, most of them, all Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Dutch Reform, Pentecostal. And I was crying out and I said, "Lord, I want your fire". And I was shouting at the top of my voice, and I did this for about 20 minutes, and I actually, my voice starting going. I mean, when you shout, somebody said, we don't have to shout, God's not deaf. He's not deaf, but he's not nervous either. I was desperate. When you are desperate, you cry out. And I was crying out, I said, "Lord, either you come down and touch me or I'm coming up there to touch you". And I meant it. I've got to have your touch. And it was like suddenly somebody poured like it was warm oil or honey, or however you want to describe it. I sometimes say like gasoline and then took a match, I mean just set me on fire. From the top of my head to my feet. It was like electricity was running through me. But it wasn't, if you've had pins and needles, it's like that, but not pins and needles. Pins and needles is very uncomfortable. This was glorious.
Sid Roth: You described it like honey.
Rodney Howard-Browne: Yeah. But it was like a river was flowing out of me. I was laughing, I was crying, and I was speaking in tongues all at the same time. I was beside myself.
Sid Roth: Now wait until you find out what happened to these evangelicals that think he's a little meshuggah. That's Hebrew for a little crazy. Guess what happens to these young kids.
Sid Roth: So in 1979, Rodney is desperate. He's a broken man. His brother who he loved dies from leukemia, suddenly. He's crying out to God for all, I mean, he didn't care who was around or anything. There were people that did not understand being filled with the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit. Well Rodney had had all of that, but he knew there was something more. There was something greater. The Bible refers to it as "the fire of God". He cries out and the fire comes upon him. How long did this fire stay on you?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Well when the fire come on me, I didn't know what to do. I realized we're going to have to have a glorified body when we get to Heaven. They're going to have to carry us everywhere. But the day will come when this corruptible will put on incorruptible. Immortality will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But the presence of God was so overwhelming. So all of the people around me, I just started laying hands on them because I thought the only way I can get rid of this is to give it away. But it didn't lift off of me. It got on them and the fire got on all of them. They were filled with the Spirit, people falling under the power.
Sid Roth: So what happened to these people that didn't know diddly about the power of God, these young kids, what happened?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Well there was a bunch of girls from a high school for girls out of the town of Greenstown, and it was an Anglican school. And of course they all got hit by the power. One of the ladies, of course she's now married to a pastor friend of mine, years later we were talking and I spoke about the night the fire came on me. She said, "You were the guy". She said, "Do you know what happened"? She said, "A revival broke out in that school. It went for three years, and many people were called into the ministry". Because that's what happens when the fire comes on people.
Sid Roth: Rodney, get ready. It's coming again. And I believe that fire is going to start right now. I believe that fire is going to start with you. So Rodney, being raised in South Africa, had something from God. He knew he had to come to America. You told me you used to line up your Teddy Bears. Tell me about that.
Rodney Howard-Browne: Yeah. I used to line up my bears. I was only five. My little brother was three. I'd line up my bears and I'd preach to them and then I would hand the service over to my little brother, and I'd climb out the window to go to America to go preach. And then I would come back ten minutes later to tell my brother and the bears all the great things the Lord had done. I mean, I'd lay hands on the bears, all the bears fell under the power. And what's so interesting is that we don't have bears in Southern Africa. America is the land of the bear. So it's like the Lord was getting me ready.
Sid Roth: Okay. So he comes to America. That's a story in itself. But then in 1989, he goes to Clifton Park, upstate New York. What happened?
Rodney Howard-Browne: All right. I get invited to do a week-long meeting in Clifton Park. The pastor said, "What are you going to teach on the morning time"? I said I felt led to teach on the subject of the anointing, how the Lord touched me. So on the Monday morning, the church ran about 250 people. So you know, Sunday morning looks great. Monday morning about 60 people showed up, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that's, we never ever had a Monday morning meeting before. Tuesday morning about 100 people came and I told my wife, I said, something is happening. There's a hunger that's taking place. But right in the middle of the service as I was sharing out of the Book of Luke, Chapter 4, Verse 14, Jesus returned the spirit. He went out in to Galilee round about and he taught in synagogues. And in Verse 18, where he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me," preached the gospel, heal the broken hearted, preached and recaptured sight of the blind, forgive the Lord. As I was sharing that, suddenly, it was like the very atmosphere of the room changed. The air parted and became, the only way I can describe it, it became holy. And I could feel the air moving in front of me. And while I'm talking, the power of God started hitting people in the congregation. It was like an unseen hand and people just started falling out of their seat. And some were weeping, some were filled with great joy, others shaking under the power. And of course, the noise is getting louder and I managed to speak above the noise of the people. And that's what happened in '89, and has continued unto this day.
Sid Roth: You told me that you never had that happen. People are usually respectful when someone is teaching or preaching. What did you tell God?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Well I mean, I had seen it happen often. But I said to the Lord, "Lord, you're ruining my meeting". But I had been crying for God to come and move me. You remember, '87 and '88 were terrible years in America. Ministries collapsed. There was an apathy in the church and we had been crying out for a revival. So the Lord said, "Well I'm moving. You asked me to come and move". And He said, "Let me touch my people". He said, "If you're ashamed of what I'm doing I'll take it away from and give it to another". Because I understood there would come persecution and criticism. People don't understand the ways of the Spirit of God. But I said, "Lord, don't take it away. Just come. Let your fire fall and whatever happens, happens". People are going to say what they want to say, but thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit, and we will never compromise the anointing of power of the Holy Spirit and not to be accepted anyway, not for many, not for fortune, I will never comprise the touch of God.
Sid Roth: You know what? Many of you are so empty you don't even feel anymore. That is not normal. That is not, in other words, you're so used to religious Christianity that you don't know what normal is if it just rears up in your face. But I'm going to tell you something. Many of you for the first time in your life are going to be normal because, I'm going, when we come back, I'm going to ask Rodney to teach you how to be normal, normal as defined by the Bible.
Sid Roth: Now I'm here with Rodney Howard-Browne. And you look at him, you find out about people with cancer that are healed, people that spend a lifetime in a wheelchair, they get up and start walking. You hear that he hears God so clearly and you say what a wonderful gift God has given Rodney. Rodney, really and truly, can everyone that gets hungry for God walk in the same presence of God that you are walking in?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Yes, sir. It's available to every single person. It's like salvation is available to all. All don't receive it for whatever reason, but's available to every single person. Healing, God's healing power is available to every person. His power to anoint in grace and is available to every single individual. You have to get hungry. In John, Chapter 4, Jesus talked about a water spring of everlasting life. And in John:7 he talked a river: "Out of your inner most being will flow rivers of living water". In John, Chapter 14, 15 and 16, he talked to the disciples about the fact that he would go away and he said, "I'm not going to leave you without a comforter. I'm going to send another comforter. The spirit of truth is with you now, but it's going to be in you". And so you see that taking place even after the resurrection when he told the disciples, "Go and carry it at Jerusalem". And they could have said, "But Lord, we already have had miracles. We walked with you for three and half years in your earthly ministry. We've seen the signs and wonders. We cast out devils". "But remember," he said, "The Holy Spirit is with you and now it's going to be in you". And so he told them to go and carry it to Jerusalem so they could be new with power. Now this promise is not just for the apostles. This is where many in the church have got it wrong. People say, that ceased when the Master Apostle died. That's bogus. There's not even a scripture to verify that. The fact that the matter is God is still pouring out His spirit on the earth today because the first Pentecost is still in effect. We don't need another Pentecost. We don't need another Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is still in the earth. He's still moving. God has been moving for 2000 years. The wind has been blowing. The fire has been falling to all those that are hungry no matter where you live in the earth. You might be in a remote mountain some place and you cry out to God and He will come. He will touch you. He will visit you. God can come and touch me in Africa in 1979, then He could touch you. You've got to cry out. You've got to be hungry.
Sid Roth: God knows that our people are hungry. Why do they have to cry out? He knows they want to be healed. Why is this cry out important?
Rodney Howard-Browne: If I told you, go do this, do this, do this, do this, you would do that, all those things and never get any closer. But it's about an intimate personal relationship with Jesus where you come in to that daily communion with him, and in him you live and move, and have your being. This is not about another church service. It's about the church service coming in on the inside of you, and his name is Jesus. It's about a person and you live in communion with him. And it's through all the test of the trials of life that he's still there with you. His presence is with you. His joy is with you. His peace is with you. Why is it that so many people in the church are depressed and they're said, and they're discouraged, and they're downhearted, yet the greater one comes to live on inside of them. It's about us coming to the place where he heal unto him, where we allow him to come and do whatever he wants to do in us. And you can, let me tell you, can be married, you can have children, you can work a job, you can be all of those things in the world out there and still have the anointing. You don't have to be a recluse living somewhere in a monastery or whatever. You can be a normal everyday person living the supernatural life where the supernatural is natural, and it's naturally super.
Sid Roth: Rodney, I like that. Can I steal it?
Rodney Howard-Browne: Sure.
Sid Roth: Okay now, are you ready at home to receive? I want Rodney to pray for you for an impartation. And I'm going to tell you something, I have seen this through because I've been on radio for many years. The anointing, to receive, that's up to you. But the one prayer, you will receive it right through this television right now. You in the studio audience, you're going to receive this right now. But you be hungry, you be desperate and you don't look for anything, don't look for falling, don't look for crying, don't look for laughing. Look for Jesus. Would you pray.
Rodney Howard-Browne: Yes sir. Right now, the first thing is to say, Jesus, be my Lord and my savior. Embody in my heart, because that's where it starts right there. It's not about an experience. Many people in the new age, they go looking for experiences about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We say, Jesus, come and be my Lord and my savior. And then when you do that, then you say, now, Lord, you are the baptized in the Holy Spirit, which he is. John the Baptist said, "I baptize you with water, but the one coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire". Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Ghost and fire. So right now just where you are, just lift your hands. I'm going to pray and the power of God is going to come upon you. Father, in the name that's above every name, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your anointing and your power. Just like on the day of Pentecost to come up each and every person crying out to you right, that the fire of God fall in the name of Jesus from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, fill them, fill them, Lord, fill them to overflowing. Let your river begin to flow. Let the wind of Heaven flow. Let the fire of God fall. Let fresh oil be poured out. Let new wine be poured upon your people even now. Anoint their heads with oil. Fill their cups to overflowing. Thank you, Lord. We thank you for it right now. Thank you. Thank you. Come on, just lift your hands right where you are and just begin to thank Him right now. Just begin to praise Him right now. Just begin to let the river of God just begin to flow out of you. Some of you, God is filling you know with that heavenly language. Just begin to speak it out. Others, the Lord is filling you with His joy. Just let that joy just begin to bubble right out of your belly. Let Him touch you. He wants to touch you so he can touch through you. That's what the touch of God is all about. It's not to keep to our self. It's to take it to a lost and dying world so that the whole world can see that Jesus is real, that he's alive, that he's risen and that he's coming soon. You will be witnesses unto him. Let him touch you right now. Let him fill you right now to overflowing. Father, we just thank you for your presence, for your anointing. Your presence, your presence, your presence. Thank you. Thank you Lord, thank you. Halleluiah.
Sid Roth: Now you must seek God for all of your worth when we go off the air. You must seek God all times. There is no one else. There is nothing else except, you were created to have intimacy with God. It's not an accident you're watching this show right now. God is calling you by name, by your name now.