I will never forget the sense of disappointment I had when I first realized I had been falsely taught within the walls of the church I was saved in. The issue at hand was being slain in the spirit. I had experienced this phenomenon myself at a Friday prayer service after losing someone close to me. God ministered greatly to me that night as wounds were healed and I was comforted. As I continued to grow in my pursuit of ministerial credentials my bible reading left me no choice but to accept that the entire concept of being slain in the spirit was simply not supported. This is the danger beloved in the NAR teachings of experiential Christianity. Bill Johnson and Mike Bickle for example would tell me that my experience means God exceeded scripture to show himself to me. My experience would in fact trump scripture. Except I knew I was not that special -- only God is. So I had to conclude that in that prayer service I was overwhelmed emotionally, not spiritually. Do I think God used it to minister to me? Absolutely. Do I think I was slain in the spirit absolutely not because the bible is my final arbiter of truth.
These are not easy things. Everyone claims to want to be more discerning until what is being discerned brushes up against a long held belief. I tried recently to speak to a held belief that is straight up NAR teaching that has infected the church today. The result was expected. Some pleasant exchanges in disagreement and some people who just lost their minds. It was like speaking to a Joseph Prince adherent about why Prince is false. Or speaking to Joel Osteen fans about why he is a wolf. One carnal argument and defense after another. So I want to try again beloved to show you what the bible says even though someone accused me of doing the work of the devil. With each passing hyperbolic post it only further proved my point. When we are blinded by our deeply rooted beliefs we become myopic. We only see what we want -- everything else be damned and there is no subject that makes Christians lose it quicker than politics. So let us reason again to try and understand what God is saying in these end times.
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has a core teaching called the seven mountains mandate where they believe the church must conquer seven cultural mountains in order to facilitate the second coming of Christ. This is pure heresy in that it directly infers Christ cannot come back without our help. It takes our eyes off of Jesus and places them onto this world. It strives to save this world. The NAR likes Sodom for the same reasons Lot did. We have all seen the America worshipping that goes on in church today despite the bible teaching us that we are actually not citizens here on earth anymore. Our citizenship is in heaven. The bible says we are in fact pilgrims and sojourners passing through this world. When the bible says the church should be a shining city on a hill it is teaching that we ought to be different from the world and stand out! I remember one mega church pastor say that he celebrates Halloween in his church because he doesn't want to be the weird church at the end of the block that has no relevance to the neighborhood it is in. That is so backwards. We are supposed to be a peculiar people. We have no relevance to a decaying and dying world. Yet the cold hard truth is that the vast majority of churches worship this country and they do so unapologetically.
The topic at hand this week is the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. The NAR sees Mr. Kavanaugh as the possible deciding vote to overturn Roe, another idol they furiously chase after. If you do not believe me, just look at the homepage for Charisma News, ground zero for the NAR, and you will see false teacher after false teacher defending him. One claims that the same spirit that came against Moses and Jesus is now coming at Brett Kavanaugh. Another blames the "strongman Moloch." Paula White, one of the most dishonest charlatans out there today smeared the accusers by claiming they just wanted to smear him. Jennifer "sneaky squid" Leclaire claims God showed her a 30 foot demonic spirit that is wrestling against Kavanaugh. She further claims God told her that the Catholic Kavanaugh "lives pure and fears Him." I am not passing judgment on the carnal issues beloved just the spiritual ones. If you find yourself aligned with Paula White, Cindy Jacobs and Jennifer Leclaire that should really make you uncomfortable. That is the point of the warning about how the NAR has been engrained in all of us who have experienced churchianity. If we see a politician being advised spiritually by Paula White we wink and nod and look the other way as long as he promises to overturn the Johnson Amendment (which Christians should not be celebrating). Yet no one wants to see this if they are embodying it. I understand it is hard to realize that maybe you have accepted poor teachings into the core of your faith. By the way, this does not mean you cannot believe Kavanaugh. It does not mean that you can't like our president. It just means your faith comes before any of this. It means the Gospel comes before any of this. Well what does that mean preacher?
Excellent question because we often do not get practically what is being said spiritually. It means our allegiance to each other is based on the bible and not negotiable to the carnality of this world. Just because I did not lock step to slander Kavanaugh's accusers and instead offered the notion that as Christians we ought to be in pursuit of the truth I was summarily dismissed by many. By default I was questioned about supporting Hillary Clinton, someone who was never even discussed. I was labeled not on the side of Christianity because Kavanaugh might decide Roe! I was even accused of working for the devil and was "everything wrong with Christianity." Let me deal with each of these separately.
Hillary Clinton. I understand where this accusation comes from. This country is beyond divided. It is hyper-polarized. So when someone hears me say that maybe we should listen to the accusers the immediate assumption is I must be on the "other team." Suddenly it becomes question about the 2016 election where we had the choice as always between the lesser of two evils. It just seems a foreign concept that someone could believe that women who say they were raped or almost raped should be heard AND be conservative at the same time. Now maybe the four accusers are all lying but if my daughter was the one accusing I would want her to be heard at a minimum. Somehow the spirit indwelt within me makes me uncomfortable when trying to dismiss someone who claims they were gang raped. It makes me ask myself if the Supreme Court is worth my identity as a Christian and the only answer I come up with is no. Now, you may come up with yes but that does not make us polarized unless you do the splitting. Jesus did not say they will know us by our politics but by our love for each other. I am saying that if you are willing to accuse your brother of working for the devil because he disagrees with you politically, then you are only proving the overall point about the NAR inside of us all. It is a cancer that needs to be excised.
Kavanaugh might decide Roe! Who cares? I know, I know, it's the third rail of Christo-politics but what weak, incapable God do you serve? The God I serve allows all through His permissive will. He does not need my help nor asks for my help with the matters of this world OTHER than bringing the Gospel to the lost. Think about the politics of His day! The Roman Empire owned, controlled and abused the nation of Israel. His disciples desperately wanted Him to deliver them from this but He came to deliver them from sin! That is the higher calling beloved! The NAR teachings instill that deliverance from Roe is paramount but the Gospel message remains a deliverance from sin. We have our eyes on the wrong prize. Do you think the Supreme Court is beyond the scope of God's reach? Why do we seem to think He needs our help then? Because that is exactly what the NAR seven mountains mandate taught us.
