Taking the NAR survey: Prophets, demons and revival

A recent article on Religion News Service featured the New Apostolic Reformation, a quasi-Christian spiritual/political movement that is “rapidly redefining mainstream American evangelical theology, practice and politics.”

The movement is characterized by “apostles” and “prophets” who wish to bring about a revival that will transform America and the world into the kingdom of God on earth. They have become more prominent recently as supporters of Donald Trump and proponents of Christian nationalism. One of the movement’s leaders mentioned in the article is Lance Wallnau.

This is not an endorsement of RNS, nor will I examine the article in-depth. Rather, I want to take the survey that RNS ran about seven beliefs that are widely held in the NAR. Here are my answers to its questions:

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“The Greek word ekklesia, which is often translated as ‘church,’ actually means the ruling body government in the world.”

I’ve never heard any credible theologian or commentator define ekklesia that way.

The word means the assembly of called-out ones. It describes those who have been called out of the world, which would be the opposite of the world’s elite.

Ekklesia is commonly used throughout the New Testament to indicate the church at the time, which obviously was not a ruling world government.

So this would be a hard no. The statement is frankly a ridiculous fantasy.

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“God wants Christians to stand atop the ‘7 Mountains of Society’ (government, education, business, etc.).”

Another easy no, since neither Jesus nor the apostles ever talked like this. This is a completely made-up missiology.

The early church was a grassroots movement that never even stepped foot in the halls of government unless they were under arrest. They didn’t seek the world’s power or influence because they didn’t need it. As the Spirit-indwelt body of Christ, they had the power of God and His word with them.

We still do. Christ already has all power and authority on earth (Matthew 28:18), so He stands atop everything.

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“We are on the cusp of a Third Great Awakening (sometimes referred to as the ‘billion-soul harvest’) where a Holy Spirit-led revival will bring millions of people to the Christian faith.”

There are several issues with this statement.

First, I can’t assume there will be a Third Great Awakening because I’m not so sure about the legitimacy of the Second Great Awakening, which saw the Pelagian excitements and heresies of Charles Finney; the rise of Mormonism; and the social justice movements that would lead mainline denominations astray.

Second, the statement is an example of the NAR’s over-emphasis of the Holy Spirit. It is Christ who builds His church (Matthew 16:18, Acts 2:47); if there is a revival, it will be led by Christ.

Speaking of revival, a genuine revival is something that God sovereignly brings about in His own will and timing. It cannot be planned and is typically not predicted.

Finally, if this movement produces a “revival,” it won’t be to the Christian faith. The NAR contains so many serious aberrations that it can’t be called Christianity.

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“The church is supposed to bring the kingdom of God on earth before Jesus comes back.”

The kingdom of God was on earth during the ministry of Jesus (Luke 17:21). But that’s not what they mean; they mean the visible, political manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth. Basically, postmillennialism, where the church brings about the millennium before the bodily return of Christ through evangelism and the aforementioned seven mountains.

As a historical premillennialist, what I see in Scripture is Christ Himself bringing His political kingdom to earth Himself, by force, when He returns (Psalm 2, Psalm 110, Zechariah 14, Revelation 19).

Until then, the church IS the kingdom of God on earth.

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“There are modern-day apostles and prophets, and they should be integral to church leadership today.”

If by “apostles,” they mean the equivalent of the original twelve in power and authority (they do), absolutely not. The big-A apostles, the apostles of Christ, were Peter, John, etc., and they are still our apostles today, because they gave us the New Testament.

As far as prophets, I’ll recognize them only if they meet the Biblical standards of accuracy and doctrine (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). Someone who gets a prophecy wrong is not a prophet.

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“The church should organize campaigns of spiritual warfare and prayer to displace high-level demons.”

Of course we should pray, and of course we wage spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10-18). But those are things we do in our daily lives for all kinds of reasons. Scripture doesn’t say anything about us “displacing high-level demons.” The NAR has a demonology that goes far beyond the Bible.

We don’t need to worry about how high a level demons are on, because God is the Most High. Jesus is Lord, which also answers the final statement:

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“There are demonic principalities and powers who control physical territory.”

While there is Biblical precedent for a spiritual being to occupy a certain geographic region (Daniel 10:13), I cringe at the word “control.” Demons control nothing. God is in control. He sovereignly controls them, including the devil himself.

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So I can’t say I agree with any of these statements. The NAR is its own religion that distorts the gospel and misrepresents Christ. Run from it.