Is Holy Laughter From God Or Satan?
Question : What about Holy Laughter, is it from God or the Devil? I think because of the disorder it might be from the evil one to break God's order in the Church. I have seen yoga guru's of the east trying to whip up laughter in people, and also great men of God laugh for three months in a row fully with Holy Laughter in the Church and say that it is a new move of God in this generation. What is your opinion from the Bible about it?
Answer : "Joy and laughter" go together, if we are joyful, we smile. We should not come to judge all laughter as demonic, like as you say the yoga fella trying to laugh can be fleshly, unspiritual and demonic which will look usually as if the devil is trying to laugh through him (Jam 3:15), as he will have no real joy in his face at all without Christ Jesus in his heart. Such foolish laugh of the flesh is like as the crackling of thorns under a pot, because it is the laughter of the fools who do not believe God and His Word; this also is vanity because there is no life and reality that will be present in it (Ecc; 7:6). The end of fleshly joy that comes by whipping up emotion is only grief (Prov 14:13).
There is no joy in a unbeliever really because demon cannot really give joy which is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), but Kenneth Hagin is a great man of God, and because of God's joy was able to carry on in his life with all the problems of life he faced. We should always understand that the manifestation of the Spirit is as diverse as His gifts, and to each one in variety of ways He acts through them (1 Cor 12:4-6, 7), but at the end of it all does it profit anybody in their spiritual lives and growth? That should be our question? If it has profited for the Glory of God, then we should rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15).
The truth of his life is seen all around the world, and many many millions have been blessed through His ministry of the Word. I think there is not a better man to bring revelation of faith deeply out of the word of God. He has been tested by God for more than two decade of hardship after which God blessed His ministry.
When there is original, always there will be counterfeit from the enemy. No one fearing a counterfeit should ever consider abstaining from embracing the real one. If you do so, the enemy will succeed in his mission of confusing God's people from abundant joy filled lives.
In this I choose to disagree as God is a God of order that doesn't mean that God cannot manifest in ways out of the ordinary through the manifestation of laughter, in fact because God laughs and expresses his faith that His future planned for the wicked will soon come to pass, he laughs uncontrollably expressing his joy that His righteousness will prevail no matter what. The Bible says, "But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming." (Psa 37:13). "The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord makes fun of them." (Psa 2:4).
Laughing is a sign of our faith in God's destiny rather in the depressive work of the devil around us. Then what about the verse that says, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psa 16:11). Fullness of joy can only be expressed through smile and laughter. In other words, when God's Presence comes, laughter comes and revelation comes after which pleasures of God are felt all over us as the above verses reveals. So spontaneous laughter and unspeakable joy is a natural manifestation of God's victorious faith that is supernaturally expressed in the natural realm by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:8-9; Acts 3:19; 13:52). Satan has neither joy in himself, nor has the ability to produce joy to give to other, the only sadistic ability of Satan and his cohorts is to steal joy from people when they allow them to control their lives, especially from the people of God who have the joy and enjoy life abundantly with it through smile and laughter which God graciously gives to those who seek Him (John 10:10; Eccl 2:24-26).
I believe in this, that without knowing the difference between Holy Laughter and Demonic Laughter, we should not pass judgment because of lack of understanding it. Because of its unusual way of manifesting from the ordinary way of regular life, joy is expressed through laughter which is the natural outward expression of the inward feeling of joy, even smile is a mild expression and laughter is a strong one. What do people experience after such Holy Laughter, bondage or freedom from self, sin and Satan? That is the crux of the matter. I have seen people's face glow like being in heaven and the freedom that they feel after such Holy Visitation of the Lord. Even if Brother Kenneth by the Holy Spirit has laughed for three months, He has spoken the Word for a life time with clear revelation that others never had in their life which shows the fruit of the Holy Laughter (Heb 13:7; Acts 16:32; Mar 4:33).
Laughter is one way to see happiness and hear it; it’s happiness made visible and audible. It’s the sound of joy (Jer 33:11). It’s not joy’s only sound; there is joy in sorrow, in tears, underneath sobs, and in silence. And there is laughter — this happy treasure — to cherish as a gift from God. God gives exhilarating joy unspeakable through our mouth because he wants to heal us spiritually and physically from all crushed experiences of our past times which the enemy has done to us to make our bones dry with sorrow, God's joy turns sorrow in to laughter through joy unspeakable (Prov 17:22). When God's joy hits our tongue, and we try to speak praise and thanksgiving, and then God suddenly increases the intensity of joy further, then we break out in to laughter which is joy inexpressible with words (Psa 126:2).
Apostle Peter said, "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY." (1 Peter 1:8). Note the word "rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY", and this is what pearls of laughter crackling as a thunder when it comes out of us, with vigor and faith of what God is doing and going to do because of our love and trust towards him, really is explained as a natural outwards expression of our inward faith in the God whom we do not see yet believe from our heart. So such laughter is a holy laughter that only God can give to us to recharge us with the atmosphere of heaven within and around us.
Many who say, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), use this one verse to make us reject the laughter of the Lord, but they are mistaken and deceived because having a long faced look, with external piety of repentance, having deathly sorrow without life and expressing our religious unsatisfied anger through our stern look never glorifies God and is not holy at all. In fact when the Israelite's expressed themselves with such a attitude to God's conviction that came through His Holy Word, immediately Nehemiah told them, ...“Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8:10). In other words, if the wisdom of the Lord stays within us to make us understand that we can never do anything spiritually pleasing to the Lord except through by faith in the strength of the Lord, it will give joy to our heart constantly and make us rejoice in God's goodness which He freely gives to us, then the sternness of our face will go away and it will bubble up with joy, laughter and gladness instead (Eccl 8:1; Prov 27:19). Actually to be sober and vigilant is to be careful in our thought, word and actions that leads us to sin. Peter warns us not to give in to sin when the devil tempts us with it, when we given in to it, we are giving the devil an opportunity to devour us in to defeat and discouragement spiritually. This does not mean to keep ourselves serious with a long faced seriousness that will make us seem foolish before the Lord with pride, and also turn others from receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ when they see no joy or laughter in our lives.
Did Jesus ever laugh?
Perhaps no one is clearer on Christ’s laughter and joy than Scottish theologian, Donald Macleod:
Jesus is said to have rejoiced again and again with great joy and exhilaration in the Scripture. Jesus was never long faced, boring and dull, but was always bubbling with the joy of His Heavenly Father. "Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit" (Luke 10:21), Jesus said about the joy of serving the Father and forgetting the natural hunger to eat because of the infilling of joy inexpressible that came as a substitute food for a sinner repenting towards God as "I have food to eat of which you do not know" (John 4:32, 34; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32). This shows that joy in itself is a food that sustains us physically (Prov 17:22). Can you see that joy which the Bible writer ascribes to God as something tangible more than the effect of joy we have after eating food in abundance, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." (Psa 4:7, ESV). God Himself should be the source and object of our joy (Psa 43:4).
Was Jesus joyful with laughter? The writer to the Hebrew speaks prophetically of Jesus' life saying, "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions." (Heb 1:9), which reveals to us that Jesus with this immeasurable [anointing] oil of gladness broke the yoke of heaviness, sadness, grief and loneliness to stay in joy, laughter, praise and rejoicing in fellowship with His Heavenly Father all the time, truly the anointing breaks the yoke (Isa 61:3, 7; 10:27). Joy strengthen us physically, spiritually and literally in all other areas of our lives. The prominent emotion in the Kingdom of heaven is joy and joy only, and the reward for obedience to God is also joy only, such is the importance of joy (Rev 21:4; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32; Rom 14:17; Matt 25:21, 23; Jude 1:24). To take away the effect of suffering for Christ and lighten our heart with heaven's fuel of strength to carry on, God fills us with His joy at the right time consistently in our lives (1 Pet 4:13). Joy is something that God gives us as a anointing ointment to soothe us of the earthly pains we receive, so that through it we might experience a little heaven now and expect for more of what is coming (Hab 3:18). Joy and laughter takes us out of the present and fixes our heart on future reality that assures that the future that God has for us is a reality that will come to pass soon. If Jesus not only overcame difficulties with joy of the Lord, but also had joy as the incentive to work on earth for God and look forward to it as a reward, then we must also design our lives with joy and laughter just like Jesus did by choosing to rejoice at all times through praying at all times and thanking God for all things no matter what happens around us (Heb 12:2; Php 4:4; 2 Thess 5:16-18; Psa 32:11).
The end result of all the spiritual learning that we do and increase is to learn to "be joyful at all times, pray continually and be thankful for everything." (1 Thess 5:16-18). If a person can be joyful not just three months, but all times irrespective of the circumstances we go through in our lives, we have really learned the first greatest lesson for spiritual stability in our lives, that is why I say it is not just inside the Church that the joy of the Lord, spontaneous holy laughter and smile should be found, but rather it should continue outside the Church in our daily lives for heaven to invade our homes and make our homes to be a former heaven before the real latter heaven we will go on to enjoy. The fruit of such joy will improve our mind, strengthen it in faith and will enlarge our spiritual life or else it is not the real thing of heaven. So rejoice in the Lord always, laugh as much as possible and smile at every one, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4). Maintain your order in the Church, by expressing as much as possible of the joy in Christ and at the same time avoiding dramatics by the flesh before others which can easily come in if we are not mature in our spiritual life. This is the new move but of the old and it will be new every morning as only heaven can really give us joy and thereafter holy laughter spontaneously in this depressive world around us.
Thanks and Blessings...
Answer : "Joy and laughter" go together, if we are joyful, we smile. We should not come to judge all laughter as demonic, like as you say the yoga fella trying to laugh can be fleshly, unspiritual and demonic which will look usually as if the devil is trying to laugh through him (Jam 3:15), as he will have no real joy in his face at all without Christ Jesus in his heart. Such foolish laugh of the flesh is like as the crackling of thorns under a pot, because it is the laughter of the fools who do not believe God and His Word; this also is vanity because there is no life and reality that will be present in it (Ecc; 7:6). The end of fleshly joy that comes by whipping up emotion is only grief (Prov 14:13).
There is no joy in a unbeliever really because demon cannot really give joy which is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), but Kenneth Hagin is a great man of God, and because of God's joy was able to carry on in his life with all the problems of life he faced. We should always understand that the manifestation of the Spirit is as diverse as His gifts, and to each one in variety of ways He acts through them (1 Cor 12:4-6, 7), but at the end of it all does it profit anybody in their spiritual lives and growth? That should be our question? If it has profited for the Glory of God, then we should rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15).
The truth of his life is seen all around the world, and many many millions have been blessed through His ministry of the Word. I think there is not a better man to bring revelation of faith deeply out of the word of God. He has been tested by God for more than two decade of hardship after which God blessed His ministry.
When there is original, always there will be counterfeit from the enemy. No one fearing a counterfeit should ever consider abstaining from embracing the real one. If you do so, the enemy will succeed in his mission of confusing God's people from abundant joy filled lives.
In this I choose to disagree as God is a God of order that doesn't mean that God cannot manifest in ways out of the ordinary through the manifestation of laughter, in fact because God laughs and expresses his faith that His future planned for the wicked will soon come to pass, he laughs uncontrollably expressing his joy that His righteousness will prevail no matter what. The Bible says, "But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming." (Psa 37:13). "The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord makes fun of them." (Psa 2:4).
Laughing is a sign of our faith in God's destiny rather in the depressive work of the devil around us. Then what about the verse that says, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psa 16:11). Fullness of joy can only be expressed through smile and laughter. In other words, when God's Presence comes, laughter comes and revelation comes after which pleasures of God are felt all over us as the above verses reveals. So spontaneous laughter and unspeakable joy is a natural manifestation of God's victorious faith that is supernaturally expressed in the natural realm by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:8-9; Acts 3:19; 13:52). Satan has neither joy in himself, nor has the ability to produce joy to give to other, the only sadistic ability of Satan and his cohorts is to steal joy from people when they allow them to control their lives, especially from the people of God who have the joy and enjoy life abundantly with it through smile and laughter which God graciously gives to those who seek Him (John 10:10; Eccl 2:24-26).
I believe in this, that without knowing the difference between Holy Laughter and Demonic Laughter, we should not pass judgment because of lack of understanding it. Because of its unusual way of manifesting from the ordinary way of regular life, joy is expressed through laughter which is the natural outward expression of the inward feeling of joy, even smile is a mild expression and laughter is a strong one. What do people experience after such Holy Laughter, bondage or freedom from self, sin and Satan? That is the crux of the matter. I have seen people's face glow like being in heaven and the freedom that they feel after such Holy Visitation of the Lord. Even if Brother Kenneth by the Holy Spirit has laughed for three months, He has spoken the Word for a life time with clear revelation that others never had in their life which shows the fruit of the Holy Laughter (Heb 13:7; Acts 16:32; Mar 4:33).
Laughter is one way to see happiness and hear it; it’s happiness made visible and audible. It’s the sound of joy (Jer 33:11). It’s not joy’s only sound; there is joy in sorrow, in tears, underneath sobs, and in silence. And there is laughter — this happy treasure — to cherish as a gift from God. God gives exhilarating joy unspeakable through our mouth because he wants to heal us spiritually and physically from all crushed experiences of our past times which the enemy has done to us to make our bones dry with sorrow, God's joy turns sorrow in to laughter through joy unspeakable (Prov 17:22). When God's joy hits our tongue, and we try to speak praise and thanksgiving, and then God suddenly increases the intensity of joy further, then we break out in to laughter which is joy inexpressible with words (Psa 126:2).
Apostle Peter said, "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY." (1 Peter 1:8). Note the word "rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY", and this is what pearls of laughter crackling as a thunder when it comes out of us, with vigor and faith of what God is doing and going to do because of our love and trust towards him, really is explained as a natural outwards expression of our inward faith in the God whom we do not see yet believe from our heart. So such laughter is a holy laughter that only God can give to us to recharge us with the atmosphere of heaven within and around us.
Many who say, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), use this one verse to make us reject the laughter of the Lord, but they are mistaken and deceived because having a long faced look, with external piety of repentance, having deathly sorrow without life and expressing our religious unsatisfied anger through our stern look never glorifies God and is not holy at all. In fact when the Israelite's expressed themselves with such a attitude to God's conviction that came through His Holy Word, immediately Nehemiah told them, ...“Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8:10). In other words, if the wisdom of the Lord stays within us to make us understand that we can never do anything spiritually pleasing to the Lord except through by faith in the strength of the Lord, it will give joy to our heart constantly and make us rejoice in God's goodness which He freely gives to us, then the sternness of our face will go away and it will bubble up with joy, laughter and gladness instead (Eccl 8:1; Prov 27:19). Actually to be sober and vigilant is to be careful in our thought, word and actions that leads us to sin. Peter warns us not to give in to sin when the devil tempts us with it, when we given in to it, we are giving the devil an opportunity to devour us in to defeat and discouragement spiritually. This does not mean to keep ourselves serious with a long faced seriousness that will make us seem foolish before the Lord with pride, and also turn others from receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ when they see no joy or laughter in our lives.
Did Jesus ever laugh?
Perhaps no one is clearer on Christ’s laughter and joy than Scottish theologian, Donald Macleod:
Much has been made of the fact that Jesus is never said to have smiled or laughed. Linked to the description of the Servant as ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ it has furnished a basis for the idea that Jesus’ life was unremittingly joyless and stressful. But this is a serious over-simplification. Apart from all else, a joyless life would have been a sinful life. Would Jesus have been guilty of the anxiety he forbade in others (Mt. 6:25)? Would he have fallen short of Paul’s attainment as one who had learned to be content whatever the circumstances (Phil. 4:11)? Or of the precept to ‘rejoice always’ (Phil. 4:4)? Could he have been filled with the Spirit and yet not have know the Spirit’s joy (Gal. 5:22)? Could he have given rest and relief to others (Mt. 11:28) while remaining depressed and disconsolate himself? . . .
There can be little doubt that, apart from the brief (although indescribably intense) moment of dereliction on Calvary, Jesus was serene, contented, and happy. He rejoiced, doubtless, in the being of his Father, meditating on him as an object of wonder and admiration; in his Father’s love, approbation and constant help and presence; in the beauties and glories of his Father’s creation; in doing his Father’s will, promoting his glory and saving his people; in the friendship, company and conversation of those the Father had given to be with him; and in anticipating his return to the glory he had with the Father ‘before the world began’ (Jn. 17:5). Such joy was an indispensable element in the psychology of his obedience. He served not as a slave but as a son. (The Person of Christ, 171)
Jesus is said to have rejoiced again and again with great joy and exhilaration in the Scripture. Jesus was never long faced, boring and dull, but was always bubbling with the joy of His Heavenly Father. "Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit" (Luke 10:21), Jesus said about the joy of serving the Father and forgetting the natural hunger to eat because of the infilling of joy inexpressible that came as a substitute food for a sinner repenting towards God as "I have food to eat of which you do not know" (John 4:32, 34; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32). This shows that joy in itself is a food that sustains us physically (Prov 17:22). Can you see that joy which the Bible writer ascribes to God as something tangible more than the effect of joy we have after eating food in abundance, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." (Psa 4:7, ESV). God Himself should be the source and object of our joy (Psa 43:4).
Was Jesus joyful with laughter? The writer to the Hebrew speaks prophetically of Jesus' life saying, "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions." (Heb 1:9), which reveals to us that Jesus with this immeasurable [anointing] oil of gladness broke the yoke of heaviness, sadness, grief and loneliness to stay in joy, laughter, praise and rejoicing in fellowship with His Heavenly Father all the time, truly the anointing breaks the yoke (Isa 61:3, 7; 10:27). Joy strengthen us physically, spiritually and literally in all other areas of our lives. The prominent emotion in the Kingdom of heaven is joy and joy only, and the reward for obedience to God is also joy only, such is the importance of joy (Rev 21:4; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32; Rom 14:17; Matt 25:21, 23; Jude 1:24). To take away the effect of suffering for Christ and lighten our heart with heaven's fuel of strength to carry on, God fills us with His joy at the right time consistently in our lives (1 Pet 4:13). Joy is something that God gives us as a anointing ointment to soothe us of the earthly pains we receive, so that through it we might experience a little heaven now and expect for more of what is coming (Hab 3:18). Joy and laughter takes us out of the present and fixes our heart on future reality that assures that the future that God has for us is a reality that will come to pass soon. If Jesus not only overcame difficulties with joy of the Lord, but also had joy as the incentive to work on earth for God and look forward to it as a reward, then we must also design our lives with joy and laughter just like Jesus did by choosing to rejoice at all times through praying at all times and thanking God for all things no matter what happens around us (Heb 12:2; Php 4:4; 2 Thess 5:16-18; Psa 32:11).
The end result of all the spiritual learning that we do and increase is to learn to "be joyful at all times, pray continually and be thankful for everything." (1 Thess 5:16-18). If a person can be joyful not just three months, but all times irrespective of the circumstances we go through in our lives, we have really learned the first greatest lesson for spiritual stability in our lives, that is why I say it is not just inside the Church that the joy of the Lord, spontaneous holy laughter and smile should be found, but rather it should continue outside the Church in our daily lives for heaven to invade our homes and make our homes to be a former heaven before the real latter heaven we will go on to enjoy. The fruit of such joy will improve our mind, strengthen it in faith and will enlarge our spiritual life or else it is not the real thing of heaven. So rejoice in the Lord always, laugh as much as possible and smile at every one, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4). Maintain your order in the Church, by expressing as much as possible of the joy in Christ and at the same time avoiding dramatics by the flesh before others which can easily come in if we are not mature in our spiritual life. This is the new move but of the old and it will be new every morning as only heaven can really give us joy and thereafter holy laughter spontaneously in this depressive world around us.
Thanks and Blessings...
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