“I want more than the powerless Christianity that I grew up with”.
This is one of the comments that we will hear from those who leave our churches. There are two sides to the matter and the first is there is probably more mediocrity in our fellowships than we care to admit. But the other side is, as they pursue “something more”, many are being misled by unbiblical teachings. Teachings that are part of a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and is affecting many of our churches.
What Is The New Apostolic Reformation?
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a large cumulative movement with Pentecostal and Charismatic beginnings but has elements of various other movements within it. They promote a five-fold ministry based in Eph. 4:11 that we should restore the offices of apostles and prophets in the church today along with evangelists, pastors and teachers. These apostles and prophets are people empowered with special anointings of the Holy Spirit performing signs and wonders and engaging in high level spiritual warfare battling and binding territorial and generational demonic strongholds.
They believe a dominionist theology that the kingdom of God that we are to establish here on earth will take control over the seven spheres of influence within the world before Christ returns. This often masquerades as missions on steroids and is taught using terms like the Seven Mountain Mandate[^1] and redefining scriptures like Isaiah 2:2 to support their own private interpretation of scripture (2 Peter 1:19-21) explaining scriptures in ways that most of the church throughout the years has not.
The NAR is not a denomination or organization with official members and is a term that is mostly used by those outside of the movement to label those that teach these beliefs. Generally, those within the movement will not identify themselves under this name. Some because they never affiliated with C. Peter Wagner who originally used the term New Apostolic Reformation in proclaiming this new era of prophets and apostles. Others will try to distance themselves from some of the more extremist factions within the movement to try and not discredit their own views. As with any movement, it is debatable at times on who all should and should not be grouped within this label.
3 Hallmarks of the NAR
Although it would be a lengthy list to name all the different attributes of this movement, I see 3 primary themes that these teachings revolve around, those being signs, power, and apostles.
Signs
Extravagant claims of miraculous healings and all kinds of spiritual manifestations are one of the primary things that draws many people into this movement. The holy laughter and being drunk in the spirit that came out of the Toronto Blessing in the early nineties and that was denounced by even the traditional Pentecostals[^2], has given way to things even more bizarre. Some of the “special anointings” that result in chaotic, uncontrolled actions are indistinguishable from the demonic manifestations that people experience through Kundalini yoga practiced in Hinduism. In contrast, self-control is a fruit of the real Holy Spirit. There seems to be very little discernment in testing the spirits which I believe is due to a high emphasis on personal revelation and not on the authority of scripture.
Rather than trying to analyze what specific practice is biblical or not, I would like to ask, how do we reconcile the following two verses?
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Why is it written that certain signs shall follow them that believe and yet Jesus said, it is an evil generation that seeks a sign?
Mark 16 ends with verse 20. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
This passage is in the context of evangelism. The word of God being preached to people everywhere. The Lord does not leave his people powerless to accomplish the work he sets before us. This word was being preached to people that had not yet heard of this new gospel and what the accomplishment of Christ on the cross meant for us. God confirmed his miraculous work on the cross with many other miracles that followed his disciples that we now have recorded in scripture, and yes, I believe that God still does miracles today. But to understand the working of miracles today, one must understand the context of all biblical miracles. To build this context properly, we must ask, why did Jesus do miracles in the first place?
As recorded in John 8:58 Jesus told the Jews that “before Abraham was, I Am”. This was a very clear statement that Jesus claimed to be God.
In John 10:37-38 Jesus said, “Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
The purpose of miracles was and still is to confirm the truth of the gospel and to glorify God.
In Mathew 9:6 Jesus again claimed his divinity in the fact that he was able to forgive sins. “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”
Now fast forward through about 2000 years of church witness and we can read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and still believe in the sufficiency of the inspired scriptures that were given to us through the teaching of the apostles who established the foundation of the church as Jesus himself appointed. If we need more than this to confirm the work of Christ than either the scriptures are not sufficient, and therefore making them false, or we have simply rejected the faith that is required unto salvation.
I believe this leads us to properly understanding the passage in Matthew 12:39 where Jesus was speaking to those who understood Old Testament scriptures and should have recognized as Nicodemus did that Jesus was from God. These are who Jesus called an evil and adulterous generation. Let us walk in faith, not doubting and looking for signs.
I do believe it is good and well to pray for miraculous healing, believing that God has the power but not the obligation to heal. Those in the NAR would teach that it is always God’s desire to heal because by his stripes we are healed through the atonement of Christ on the cross using 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53 as a scriptural basis. Because of this some teach that you can also receive communion to induce healing. This has resulted in very unbiblical practices of receiving communion.
I have also discovered through personal research that many true miracles that take place are those on the mission field in the context of evangelism where people have not known the scriptures and God confirms his word and new believers come to Christ. It’s the difference of signs following those that believe versus those that have believed and seeking a greater sign.
Power
Much of the rhetoric in the NAR revolves around receiving power, a special, or greater anointing from the Holy Spirit. While there is a real need for us to become more deeply devoted as disciples of our Lord and Savior, many become disillusioned with what that means and have become ensnared with the false teachings of the NAR.
The pursuit of power is very appealing to our flesh, but New Testament power looks very different from the power that the world knows. At the heart of this power is the message of the cross.
1 Cor. 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
This message of the cross is very different from that which is preached by the NAR. Laying down our will and submitting to authority is not the worlds idea of power. The power of the cross is what enables a martyr to ask God to forgive those that are about to kill him and sing while being burned alive. That is very different from a cross that empowers us to be little gods.
Bill Johnson, a pastor of the Bethel Church in Redding CA whose heretical NAR teachings have had a large impact on our conservative churches, wrote that[^3], “Jesus set aside His divinity[^4], choosing instead to live as a man completely dependent on God.” Therefore, Johnson’s rationale is that we should be able to do all the miracles that Jesus did because we have the same spirit in us. Also, using the Lord’s prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, it is really God’s will that we have no sickness here because it is not his will to have sickness in heaven. Just because something may be presented as rational, does not make it a biblical truth.
Only the divine has power over death and we can see that Jesus held this power in John 10:17-18. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
This heresy then leads into dominionism and the Seven Mountain Mandate, where we are to take the Kingdom of God into all the world. This sounds like it could fit into any of our church mission statements until we understand what their definition of this means. It is the belief that Christians are to conquer all 7 areas (or mountains) of influence in our society and fully establish His kingdom before Jesus returns. The heresy begins with an unbiblical understanding of what the Kingdom of God really is and what it looks like. In John 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world”. It is a spiritual kingdom that operates very differently from the world. Even the media is beginning to take note of this NAR influence within the political right. Aljazeera, the middle east news agency has referred to the NAR as America’s own Taliban[^5] because of their theocratic philosophy and strong support of certain Republican politicians.
Along with dominionism comes a strong emphasis on Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare (SLSW). SLSW is about battling geographic and generational demonic strongholds. C Peter Wagner was a forerunner in some of these teachings. While we need to encourage prayer, we need to promote biblical prayer that is focused on communicating with our Father in heaven who is all powerful, rather than rebuking and binding occultic powers.
Jesus told his disciples to not rejoice in the fact that demons were subject to them but rather rejoice that our name is written in heaven[^6]. What is the significance of this? I believe the significance is that we tend to focus on the things that involve us in the doing, but having our name written in heaven has only to do with what Jesus did for us. It may not seem so dramatic, but it was the most dramatic part of the gospel story. God himself being killed for us.
Apostles
Along with the attempt to establish modern day apostles and prophets is the emphasis on personal revelation. Even though most of them would say that their revelations don’t hold the level of authority that the scriptures hold, their prophecies and revelations are presented with such authority that it becomes difficult to distinguish the difference. The attempt to establish apostles today only reinforces the spiritual elitism, a form of Gnosticism within the NAR that is seeking these elusive powers and understanding that can never quite be obtained.
The disciples were never instructed to install additional apostles and Paul made the argument for his apostleship throughout his letters. I don’t believe Paul cared about titles but rather what that office represented. Through these arguments Paul establishes the qualifications for an apostle. All apostles were witness to the resurrected Christ and were chosen and taught by Christ himself and the early church clearly understood that the foundation of the church[^7] was established by the apostles. John wrote in Rev 22:18-19 that no one was to add or take away from this book. Though John may have been referring to the book or specific scroll that he was writing, he also understood that he was the last apostle and that there was no one else qualified to write scripture. Earlier John writes (Rev 2) that there were already others that were trying to say they were apostles and were found liars. It is an important title and Jesus himself already established all the apostles and used them to establish the foundation of the church. We should build on this foundation where Jesus is the cornerstone. John writes that he saw the twelve foundations of that great city and the names of the twelve apostles in that foundation. Some claim that apostle simply means a church planter and I would say then let’s call them church planters, or missionaries. The biblical definition of elder is also not just someone who is older. It is a biblical position with specific criteria.
There are many more aspects of this fast-growing movement we refer to as the New Apostolic Reformation. The Bethel Church in Redding CA is having a huge affect on our own conservative people with their Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, Healing rooms, Jesus Culture and Hillsong music, Sozo counseling ministry and other practices that are being brought back to our churches. I believe the deception of this generation will result in an even greater falling away of the next.