In the previous post we suggested that New Age thinking and teaching is infiltrating the churches on a significant scale. We ended with “The Florida Phenomenon”, promising to evaluate some of the teachings in this movement, which is closely associated with the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR). Recent developments appear to have led to a major split in the evangelical church. The magazine ‘Christianity Today’ may have downplayed the controversy in favor of the movement, but there are quite a few websites with serious -mostly well documented- criticism about NAR’s teachings and its practices. And for every page of criticism, there seem to be a hundred readers’ replies, which are either very concerned about the developments or very upset that the movement is being criticized.
No More Christmas! (two theological theories)
Two key theories in the movement are (1) the kenosis
theory and (2) the dominion theory. The
kenosis theory may have had its origins in the late 19th century in
Gottfried Thomasius, who wrestled with the apparent tension of the humanity and
divinity of Jesus Christ. He used Philippians 2: 7 (‘Christ emptied himself’;
kenoo = to empty out) to propose that Jesus voluntarily gave up (some of) his
divine attributes, like his omnipresence and omnipotence.* Adherents to this
theory today agree that Christ was both fully human and fully divine, but not
at the same time. In the NAR this is a
key doctrine. “New apostles”, like Bill
Johnson of Bethel church (Redding, Fla.) propose that the young Jesus was not
divine. A special anointing of the
Spirit (at his baptism in the Jordan River) empowered Jesus to live a sinless
life and to do mighty miracles for God.
We, or some of us with the same kind of anointing, can do the same kinds
of things. Therefore -it is suggested- we,
too, can and should heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead-
just as Jesus did. In fact, some members
of the Bethel church have been at a local morgue to try this, and there are stories
circulating that some have been raised from the dead. Christ’s purpose (we are told) was that we
should follow Him in doing signs and wonders for God! The consequences of this teaching should be
obvious: Jesus is no longer unique: others –with the same kind of anointing-
can achieve the same things! Does this
mean that we, too, can become without sin and acquire divinity…? This is what the New Age teaches**; Jesus is
one of many yogis; others have accomplished the same kinds of things as he!
The dominion theory claims that Adam and Eve lost
their dominion over God’s creation.
Consequently, the enemy became the (true) prince of the world. Through Jesus’ ministry, however, he
recovered the kingship, and he gave it to the church. Now it is our task to
assure that God’s Kingdom is established on earth. We should not wait, in confident expectation,
for Christ to return to make all things new. He has given us the power
to do this, and Christ will not return until we have accomplished it! If we want Christ to return, we’d better join
the “signs and wonders” movement, because this is the way that it will happen!
Bob DeWaay summarizes Johnson’s message (in his book
“When Heaven Invades Earth- a practical guide to a life of miracles”) as
follows: “God always wants to do abundant and remarkable miracles but is
kept from doing so by the fear and unbelief of the church. God waits the arrival of specially anointed
and enlightened Christians who will enable Him to bring at long last an
invasion of heaven to earth before the return of Christ.”
Somehow, when I read the letters of Jesus to the seven
churches, it seems that the real Christ has a different message as he warns
against false teachings and idolatry, rather than urging us to do signs and
wonders!
Take off that armor! (no more testing)
The evangelical church has always maintained that the
Holy Spirit uses the Word, and that we must use the Word to test the spirits to
see whether or not they are from God. If
the enemy wants to deceive the church, he must first turn off the alarm
systems. Needless to say, this is what
is happening today. The masses are
deceived by sensational reports, but they have little interest in systematic
Bible study. They are like the people of
Galilee, who loved to see great miracles while they had little interest in the
Word of truth. Where Bible study is
despised and preaching becomes short and shallow, the focus is shifted from the
cross of Christ and a transformed life of growing in godliness to involvement
in community projects or hyped-up revival meetings. Apparently, at Bethel church one of the
popular sayings is, “God has only nice things to say”; no wonder former members
report that the word ‘repentance’ was never used. Pastor Johnson repeatedly downplays reliance
on God’s Word for knowing God and the NAR seems to have little respect for the
Bible. Johnson writes, “Those who
feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scripture enjoy a false sense
of security. None of us has a full grasp of scripture, but we all have the Holy
Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to
follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map- to go beyond we know.”
Whereas Paul urges the church to put on the full armor
of God so we can stand strong against the devil’s schemes, the “apostles of the
new reformation” assure us that the Holy Spirit will always protect us. We need not worry about deceptive spirits,
they seem to suggest, while Paul urges us to be on our guard against the
spiritual powers of the darkness! Where
Paul sees demons, the NAR sees only angels of light. In fact, they talk more about angels than
about Jesus Christ; when His name is used, it’s often like a (constantly
repeated) mantra. Johnson argues that
heaven has started to invade the earth, and his wife reports how she and her
friends drove across Arizona and New Mexico on a mission to wake up angels. They
take this serious, so I begin to wonder, “What is going on? Are they called to mobilize fallen
angels or deceiving spirits for the last battle?”
…12The sixth angel
poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried
up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. 13And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the
mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean
spirits like frogs; 14for they are
spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole
world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the
Almighty.… (Revelation 16)
Some have criticized the movement or its leaders as
the anti-Christ (as they reject that Jesus came to earth as the Christ), but
the NAR replies: No, the term ‘Christ’ refers to the anointing.
Therefore the real anti-Christs are those who are opposed to the anointing, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit and its associated miracles!
Embracing the enemy
Once the alarm systems have been turned off, the enemy
must convince us that there is no true antithesis. The NAR and their partners
are convinced that we must learn from the New Age, because it knows of methods
and techniques that can help us to perform mighty signs and wonders. They are
convinced that the New Age actually stole most of their techniques from the
church, so it is our duty to take it back.
Although the New Age is still seen as an enemy, or at least as
competition, the theology and methodology of NAR begins to look very similar to
that of the New Age!
There is nothing new under the sun. Marilyn Ferguson
wrote thirty five years ago (in her book ‘The Aquarian Conspiracy’) “My
definition of Christianity has expanded over the years. After I became involved
in meditation, for example, I experienced the vision of Christ more vividly
than I ever had through sermons and dogma. You would be surprised, I think, to
know how much of the New Age Movement centers on Christ Consciousness Many
Christian churches are seeing that direct spiritual experience offers a
revitalization for modern Christianity.”
The only new difference is that today these ideas are no longer
exceptional; they have become the common perspective of many or most mainstream
churches.
Take stock and mobilize your church!
When you scan the Internet, you will find that every
popular preacher has been called a false prophet or the antichrist! For every issue of biblical tension (like:
The Bible is the Word of God, yet it was written by humans. Christian faith is
God’s gift, while it is our responsibility. We are saved by faith alone, while
faith without works cannot save us.), there will be those who emphasize one
side of the truth, criticizing those who emphasize the other side. I, too, have been called a false prophet and
a heretic. When the church of Christ is thoroughly divided, only the enemy
stands to gain! Therefore, we must be
cautious before we judge.
And yet, we are called to test the spirits to discern
what is in accordance with God’s Word! We
do have many warnings in the Scriptures, and we would be foolish not to heed
those just because we hate to slander.
We must also realize that Satan is clever enough to mix in a good dose
of walk and talk that looks very genuine. When Jesus was tested in the
wilderness, the enemy also started his attacks by quoting from Scripture. As churches begin to neglect idolatry and
pussyfoot around sensitive issues, they will lose the power of God’s presence.
When that happens, the members reach out to programs and courses to experience
the presence and the power of God. Yet,
this will not work! It is like Eli’s
sons, bringing the ark of God onto the battle ground.
How are these things impacting your church, and how
can we equip and protect the faithful ones?
I can only offer some suggestions.
- · Don’t think it does not affect your church. Even the most conservative or orthodox churches has members and groups or courses (inside the church or followed in parachurch organizations) that impact the members in these ways. Just keep your eyes and ears open when it comes to shifting interests and new courses that are offered or embraced!
- · Although anything relating to the ‘mystical’ can be used as a portal to the New Age, not everything may be bad in or by itself. We are leading a course on ‘Experiencing God’, where the warning is always heard to test (what appears to be) the Spirit’s leadings by the Word of God. Also, we may use ‘lectio divina’ and certain forms of chanting in our worship, but we must be careful when these involve ‘emptying ourselves’ in submission to whatever spirit seeks to enter us or using mantra-like phrases in ongoing repetition.
- · Yoga and TM must always be treated with the greatest suspicion, and just because ‘it feels good’ and ‘it helps me to relax’, this does not mean it pleases God or cannot be used by the enemy to lead us into darkness. We may pray, ‘lead us not into temptation’, but if we do not heed his warnings and continue to go there, we cannot trust that God will never let us go.
- · Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2, among other passages, give us serious warning about real things. Yet, our Lord reminds us that those who are the true believers (‘the elect’) will remain true to the faith. Although all the false teachings seem to destroy the Body of Christ, it’s actually the dead or dying church that is swept away. “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather!” (Matthew 24: 28)
- · Be prepared for backlash. The impact of this (NAR) global movement is so great that many have been charmed by it to such an extent that they may respond in great anger when they see their heroes being criticized.
* Similarly, popular evangelical authors like Philip
Yancey, in their efforts to solve the tension between God’s sovereignty and
human responsibility, have argued that God has voluntarily given up his omnipotence,
taking a real risk in order to give full freedom to human beings in their
response to the will of God. This
thinking has further deteriorated into Clark Pinnock’s Open Theism, where one
cannot be sure whether or not God’s plans will ever be fulfilled.
**”Autobiography of a Yogi”, by Paramahansa
Yogananda
Major sources:
Bob DeWaay An
Invasion of Error, in response to the book “When Heaven Invades Earth”
John Lanagan The
New Age Propensities of Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson,
in
response to the book “the Physics of Heaven”
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