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Petition Calls for Apologist Michael Brown to Stop Online Ministry

By Rebecca Hopkins
Apologist Michael Brown appears on his radio show, In The Life of Fire. (Video screengrab)

Despite reportedly taking a break from public ministry following sexual abuse allegations, Messianic Jewish apologist Michael Brown has been sharing prayer and weight loss tips and pitching his new memoir in YouTube videos. So, former staff and students of Brown’s ministry have launched a petition, calling for Brown to stop all public ministry until a third-party investigation is finished.

“We do not believe a truly repentant leader would be seeking to maintain his platform while serious allegations remain uninvestigated,” the petition states. “When Dr. Brown releases upbeat podcasts and speaks about his love of preaching while these matters remain under investigation, we feel he demonstrates a chilling disregard for the ongoing suffering of those who carry the scars of both his spiritual and sexual abuse.”

However, The Line of Fire Board Member Jonathan Bernis said Brown is running only reruns to fulfill contracts with stations and networks for his Line of Fire speaking ministry.

“I inquired and was told no new posts or videos are being made by Dr. Brown,” Bernis stated in an email to The Roys Report (TRR). “Line Of Fire is running reruns on paid platforms. But once again, Dr. Brown is NOT currently producing any content.”

However, TRR has learned that while Brown is airing pre-recorded podcasts, he is inserting new introductions for those podcasts. He also is playing promotions for his new book in the podcasts.

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive a copy of “Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities’ by Dr. Andrew Bauman, click here.

michael brown
Michael Brown preaches at a church in Quezon City, Philippines, in 2017. (Photo: Facebook)

Brown has been accused of crossing physical boundaries with former secretary Sarah Monk, such as holding her hand, kissing her on the lips, and slapping her bottom in the early 2000s. Brown has denied any sexual component to the relationship but said he lacked judgment.

Brown has also been accused of engaging in an “inappropriate” relationship with a married congregant when he was her spiritual leader. Brown denied committing adultery, but said he had an “emotional, not a physical, tie” with her.

Monk sent the petition to The Line of Fire board more than a week ago with 50 signatures. As of today, the petition has more than 100 signatures with a nearly identical version posted Saturday on social media.

In addition to The Line of Fire, Brown has run two schools of ministry—Brownsville Revival School of Ministry and FIRE School of Ministry, which is associated with FIRE Church.

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Michael Brown preaches at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, circa 1997. (Photo via social media)

Brown was a leader of the Brownsville Revival, which drew millions to Florida in the 1990s. The letter signers are former faculty, staff, students, and congregants from these ministries. Also signing the letter are former high-level ministry leaders and administrators at schools Brown led, such as Robert Gladstone, Keith Collins, and Niels Prip.

“Contrary to what some have said, none of us are bitter, vindictive, or living in unforgiveness—we simply want to see true accountability,” they wrote. “We believe it is right and proper for the Line of Fire (LOF) Board to require that Dr. Brown take a complete leave of absence from the ministry while these serious allegations are being investigated.”

TRR reached out to Brown for comment, but he didn’t respond.

Brown seemingly posts new content

Last month, Line of Fire board members said they’d urged Brown to take time off of public ministry due to the allegations. But Brown continued to post podcasts and videos. Some seemed pre-recorded, but some seemed to include new content.

In the pre-recorded introduction of a podcast from Jan. 3, Brown told listeners he was  taking a “sabbatical.” But he made no mention of the allegations and instead seemed to indicate he needed a long-overdue break from ministry.

“This is a season where I pull back from public preaching and teaching and just spending extra time with the Lord, time and renewal in my own heart and life,” Brown said. “I started full-time vocational ministry in late 1983—so that is 41 years ago—and I’ve never taken a sabbatical in my life. Maybe the longest vacation was like two weeks.”

The petition claimed Brown was being dishonest.

michael brown
Michael Brown on his radio show. (Photo: Facebook)

“Listeners who know what’s happening can see this as dishonest; we feel that listeners who do not know are being misled,” the petition stated. “We feel strongly that Dr. Brown’s full leave of absence will be a much better example to the body of Christ than the mixed message his continued posts send, especially if his comments implicitly contradict facts.”

On the Jan. 3 podcast, Brown played a previously-recorded question-and-answer session about gaining freedom from strongholds of food.

“A genuinely broken man would not be sharing weight loss tips while his victims continue to suffer,” the petition states.

In a different podcast published Jan. 6, Brown promoted “Living in the Line of Fire,” a new book he’s written about his own life that is scheduled to be published in early March.

“It’s a tribute to the Lord for my first 70 years and the grace he’s shown me and the miracles I’ve seen of His providence and lessons learned called ‘Living in the Line of Fire,’” he said in the podcast.

“It seems inappropriate and tone-deaf for Dr. Brown to talk about his forthcoming autobiography in this new podcast, which likely will not include this present situation that he is facing,” the petition stated. “Someone who is being investigated for sexual sin (and the covering up of that sexual sin) should not be peddling a book they wrote about their spiritual exploits as the investigation is going on. His seeming inability to empathize with victims is astonishing.”

Over decades, many former faculty, congregants, and staff have tried to confront Brown about his interactions with Monk but said Brown wasn’t repentant.

“For a period of 23 years, it seems to us that Dr. Brown has not been willing to face these allegations with transparency or biblical repentance and restoration,” the petition states. “Each time, he deflected, downplayed, and continued in public ministry without genuine biblical accountability, as we understand it.”

After TRR published the sexual misconduct allegations, The Line of Fire Board hired Firefly Investigators to investigate. The International House of Prayer-Kansas City also is using Firefly to investigate sexual misconduct allegations by its founder Mike Bickle.

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On Nov. 5, 2023, Michael Brown preaches at Forerunner Church in Grandview, Mo. (Video screengrab)

In an email to Brown’s board, Monk asked the board to meet with advocates they trust, including Shelanu TV President Ron Cantor, former FIRE School of Ministry leaders Bob Gladstone and Keith Collins, and Mike Lubanovic, former pastor of FIRE Church.

Bernis said he met with that group by Zoom.

“It was an amicable discussion, and we agreed to disagree on certain requests,” Bernis said in an email to TRR.

Bernis said the investigation will begin soon and the ministry will publish the investigator’s summary report in full.

The latest copy of the letter urges Brown’s board not to allow him to post any new content.

“Once again, we call on the (Line of Fire) Board to require that Dr. Brown . . . discontinue uploading new content created after September 13, the day Dr. Brown became aware The Roy’s (sic) Report and others were ‘gunning for me,’—that is, that they were investigating him for clergy sexual abuse and spiritual abuse,” the letter states. “It simply sends the wrong message, as if he, and by extension, you, are not taking this present situation seriously.”

Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.

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10 Responses

  1. “Brownsville”

    Right… that was Brown’s gig…

    Go and review that chaos yourself…

    That will tell you what you want to know.

    Riffs off his Jewish heritage – and very basic doctoral background –

    Ultimately, of course, it is all about the cash flow – see almost every evangelical leader especially of this sort.

    1. Red flags were there when I saw that on his regular articles (daily??) for the Christian Post, he would mention one of his books EVERY SINGLE TIME.
      Truly regenerate Christians (the only kind: John 1:12-13, Romans 8:9, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:23 etc) are only interested in publicizing the Lord (not themselves), they are too busy ministering to others (in the TRUE sense) to write books (maybe they’ll write ONE book at most) and are not remotely interested in accumulating wealth – especially on the back of the FREE gift of salvation and the FREE and abundant SPIRITUAL blessings (eg Galatians 5:22-23) that they themselves received.

      It’s only truly lost, carnal, unregenerate people who are obsessed with self.

    2. Greg,

      The fact that many “Christians” think the shenanigans at Brownsville was a move of the Lord shows how depraved “Christianity” in the West is and how little discernment people have. I once saw a video of Michael Brown talking about how Christians can grow in discernment and I almost choked on my food. That’s like Benny Hinn giving a talk on how Christians can grow in living a modest life

  2. Welcome to the world of celebrity Christianity where accountability is as scarce as humility. These “shepherds” sure act a lot like career politicians.

  3. He sowed a seed for this harvest. He would do well to posture himself in humility instead of pride. Repentance is the only currency in this season.

  4. Jerusalem Bible Institute has this statement on their website:

    Dr. Michael Brown: (US-Based)
    Director of Spiritual Renewal and Apologetics
    In light of allegations on social media against Dr. Michael Brown, his board has commissioned a professional third-party organization to conduct an independent investigation. Until the results of that investigation are made public, and his board has had a chance to release their statement, JBI has placed Dr. Brown on temporary teaching leave.

  5. I do not understand why Brown is being billed as a Messianic Jewish devotee here. Brown is a New Apostolic Reformation hack. He has spent a good deal of his career covering for fallen Charismatics embroiled in scandal such as Mike Bickle and Todd Bentley. So it comes as no surprise that he was engaged in the same kind of behavior as others of his ilk and it is also not surprising that he does not want to repent and step down from ministry. He has steadfastly proclaimed that he did nothing wrong, and that his mistreatment of women within his ministry was not adultery. Guilt-tripping woman to kiss you and carrying on flirtatious behavior with them continually is the very definition of adultery. So why is anyone surprised he isn’t doing the right thing? These adulterous Charismatics never take responsibility for their actions and they never even attempt to make things right with the victims of their predations. They fly under the radar as much as possible for a time until they think they can pop their head up out of the mole hole again.

    1. Yes, it’s disgusting, isn’t it, they are disgusting, aren’t they?! I can’t believe the likes of what some gullible folks fall for. Such a blatant crop of obviously false teachers exist because people flock to their false teachings, rejecting truth and sound doctrine, preferring lies and myths, allowing these fakes who prey on women to thrive. Followers and defenders allow them to continue by supporting them financially even when their “moral failings” have been exposed, then they hide for a moment until they’re right back at it…with more deceived supporters. A repeated cycle. Perry Stone is another one who comes to mind who survived his “inappropriate” turmoil. If Christians desired truth and rejected immoral men, it would put an end to these disgraceful ‘preachers’ in their tracks. Sadly, not so, but they need to go. May it please the Lord to continue exposing imposters and mercifully opening the eyes of His people.

    2. Many Messianic Jews have embraced NAR. We experienced it back in the 90s. This was the reason our congregation withdrew from the Messianic Jewish organization that Brown was (and still is) affiliated with.

  6. Friendship with the world is enmity with God – need we say more?

    There is simply no way – NO WAY – one can operate in the rarified air of celebrity, wealth and sexual temptation and remain a man or woman of God. Not one – NOT ONE – of these “It’s All About Me” self-promoters is a genuine man or woman of God.

    The real evil is not the celebrity, weath and sexual indiscretions. The real evil is the ease with which these individuals, organizations and denominatiions delude themselves and their sycophants into thinking they ARE men and women of God as they pursue their very worldly lusts and ambitions.

    Would Jesus recognize any of this silliness as resembling anything He had in mind? Really, ya think?

    Wake up, people. Michael Brown and those like him are merely one symptom of a larger disease that infects all of Christianity, Inc.

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Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive a copy of “Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities’ by Dr. Andrew Bauman.