"That's why as much as I share Doug and Holly's concerns, I also find their work to be divisive, confusing and fear producing. If you want to know about my larger concerns with the Pentecostal Charismatic movement, read my book Playing with Holy Fire. If you want to know my precise beliefs about NAR and related matters read the online statement, I coauthored with Dr. Joe Mattera called NAR and Christian Nationalism. If you want an in depth study of the larger movement get Dr. Mattera's book The Global Apostolic Movement and the Gospel. So yeah, there is a real NAR that we can discuss and critique in depth and the NAR of the critics that does not exist. That's why for the sake of truth and the health of the body this wider terminology of NAR should be dropped." - Dr. Michael Brown
Divisive? Just this week Brown wrote an article on Charisma News declaring he did not understand how anyone who is Christian can vote Democratic because that is what NAR Leaders believe. That divided half the country against the other half. Before that he wrote after the presidential debate that Joe Biden disqualified himself because he appeared old but not a peep about the other guy who lied over 30 times. Once again, divisive NAR talking points disguised as Christianity. I want to however in closing suggest that Brown might be on to something here as it relates to the work of discernment ministries. Our work is divisive because it focuses people back on to the bible, which divides people by nature. THAT is the true issue that makes Brown uncomfortable. He has built himself this perfectly sealed hermetical bubble. Inside of it, everyone praises him as a learned scholar and deeply sourced man of God. Anyone who has the temerity to disagree, with scripture mind you, is dismissed out of hand as divisive, hyper-critics, mudslingers, using uneven weights or whatever his next diversion is. It makes him uncomfortable to face the unbiblical realities of what he supports and defends because somewhere he knows he is wrong. He knows for example that Steven Strang, his boss at Charisma, is a political operative. He knows that Strang never should have declared Mike Bickle exonerated in December and advocated for his restoration even months after that. Still, he went on his podcast after and said yes sir. He knows he never should have gone on Benny Hinn's show or defended Jennifer LeClaire's sneaky squid spirit nonsense but he did nonetheless. When discernment comes along and tries to divide him from the untruths he supports, he lashes out and this closing argument is just the embodiment of that fact. Why not throw in some plugs for your book while you are at it? Does it make a difference what your concerns are with Pentecostal Charismania if you then defend the people making those problems a daily reality? That is like writing a book about how bad killing people is and then declaring that Jeffery Dahmer was an ok guy. This is again the fundamental point Brown misses. Pointing out the bad theology is important but it is far more vital to say who are the ones teaching it. There is only one NAR and Brown knows it. He is still trying to discard the term so that he can focus on individual teachings and sound like he is being reasonable in disagreeing with them without having to declare the teacher as false. For example, discernment ministries know that C. Peter Wagner was a false teacher. Period, full stop. Brown in this closing argument said he disagreed with a lot of what Wagner said but if you ask him, he will still think he was a good brother in the Lord. As mentioned, Che Ahn told his sheep to return to church because COVID was over way before it really was. I am sure Brown would say that was wrong but he still exalts Ahn, not only as an apostle but as another good brother in the Lord. Dr. Brown may have won this roundtable because he is a formidable debate opponent but he revealed in his closing remarks why remains so very wrong. Continue to mark and avoid.
Reverend Anthony Wade - July 18, 2024
