Dr Clifford Denton reviews ‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel’ by Rivi Litvin (Milestones International Publishers, 2017).

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish community, Rivi Litvin was shocked upon coming to faith in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to discover that many Christians believe that God has now rejected Israel and replaced her with the Church.

With access to sources of Rabbinic Judaism as well as the opportunity to consult with the most prominent scholars, she and her husband Danny began a quest to help others understand Yeshua in the context of God’s purposes for Israel.

After her husband’s sudden death in 1986, Litvin (a third-generation Israeli) continued with this work in Israel before later relocating to the USA, keeping her home in Migdal, Galilee, as a base for teaching.

She now has a worldwide itinerant ministry helping believers to recover the true roots of the Christian faith.

Israeli Rivi Litvin was shocked, upon coming to faith in Jesus, to discover that many Christians believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church.

Multitude of Insights

At last Litvin has found time to put her multitude of insights into a series of books, of which this is the first volume. She could have taken a thematic approach, applying her Hebraic knowledge to topics like the biblical feasts, the Sermon on the Mount and so on – but instead, she has chosen to write a commentary on the Gospels.

Inside this first volume, the reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts, including the answers to questions such as:

• What happened historically that caused the world to see Jesus as a son of Greece instead of an observant Jew?
  
• Who were the mysterious shepherds present at his birth?
  
• Were the wise men really Babylonian sorcerers - and how did they recognise the birth of the King of the Jews?
  
• Why are the Gospels so silent regarding Jesus’ Jewish education?

Divided into two main sections, the first covers the early life of Yeshua, while the second focuses on Yochanan Ha-Matbil (John the Baptist). In addition there are two appendices, one on the Tzadokim (Sadducees) and one on the Perushim (Pharisees).

Litvin’s choice of title is apt. In presenting Jesus specifically as the Son of Israel, extra light is shed on the Gospel accounts. Litvin also includes useful word analyses throughout the book, allowing those with limited knowledge of Greek or Hebrew to understand what is often missed in English translations.

The reader will discover insights from Hebraic and historical sources that shed new light on what we read in the Gospel accounts.

Highly Recommended

I highly recommend this book for those already some way on with their studies of the Hebraic foundations of the faith. For those who are just beginning, it is recommended with some qualifications. Litvin’s breadth of reading and depth of knowledge are welcome – but newcomers to such studies may well be daunted by some of the conclusions she draws. While some are enlightening, others contrast those of other reputable scholars and may not sit well.

She also seems at times to call into question the accuracy of the gospel writers in places where the biblical text is seemingly at odds with other Jewish literature. Her strong desire to consider other rabbinic sources means that a mature and discerning mind on the part of the reader is required.

That said, this book is surely a major resource for the Christian Church to reconnect with the Jewish roots of the faith and the continuity of God’s covenant plan.

‘Presenting Jesus the Son of Israel: A Jewish Commentary on the Gospels, Volume 1’ (paperback, 237pp) is available on Amazon for £12.90. Also on Kindle.

Swanwick conference unites intercessors for Britain’s future

Earlier this week, over 100 watchmen and watchwomen from all around Britain gathered at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, united by a fervent concern for the state of the nation and a desire to be strengthened in understanding, intercession and action.

The two-day conference of discussion, prayer, worship and seeking the Lord was not intended to be an overly structured event dependent on front-led sessions with leaders and experts, but was planned in such a way as to emphasise Body ministry and the unique contribution of each member of the ‘ekklesia’ of God.

Plenary sessions with corporate worship were led by Dr Clifford and Mrs Monica Hill and supported by the Issachar Ministries and Prophecy Today UK teams. Prophetic songs were brought and each morning the shofar was blown. But the richness and depth of the gathering was really established in smaller groups, where time was spent praying together and sharing wisdom and insight.

Surprise Speakers

Surprise additional speakers were Andrea Williams of Christian Concern and Syd Doyle of Nations Light Ministries. Andrea updated those present on the state of the nation, forthcoming legislation and current issues facing Christians in the workplace. Apparently, the Christian Legal Centre are dealing with four or five new enquiries each week from Christians regarding workplace issues.

Andrea Williams speaking at The Hayes, Tuesday 19 March 2019. Photo: Prophecy Today UKShe also agreed with Clifford and Monica Hill that Christians are “living in Babylon” and that believers will need to begin to form their own businesses and schools to provide employment and education, which will provide safe environments for them and their children. Chiming with this assessment, the Hills’ Living in Babylon book and workbook were recommended particularly as a resource for prayer and study groups.

Syd Doyle encouraged conference with exciting stories of outreach to Muslims and others in various places. He was also moved and encouraged to hear Clifford’s word about the “jewel in the crown” role of the DUP in the Brexit negotiations, full details of which are in our Editorial this week and have been sent in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Perhaps most importantly, time was set aside to seek the Lord in quietness, after which prophetic words and pictures that had been received were shared with the whole group. It was during this session that Clifford received the word about the spiritual significance of the DUP.

Though the programme was a full one, time was made for fellowship over coffee and meals, allowing those present to establish and strengthen their own personal connections. Clifford and Monica took the opportunity to reminisce with stories about their 50 years of ministry, some of which appear in The Reshaping of Britain. One story that didn’t make it into Clifford’s latest book was his and Monica’s first meeting, over 60 years ago – on a tennis court at The Hayes Conference Centre!

A Way-marker

As the time progressed, the sense of the Lord’s presence and leading seemed to become more palpable. Those who came expecting quick-fix answers to the national situation will have been disappointed, as the long-term, complex nature of our spiritual battle was brought into view and the responsibility of each individual to seek the Lord for their own understanding and response was emphasised. This was not a gathering to hype up expectations of revival (which will not come without repentance in any case, as Clifford pointed out) – but collectively to face up to reality and “strengthen feeble arms and weak knees” for the task ahead (Isa 35:5; Heb 12:12), putting all things in the context of the nature and purposes of God.

As such, it was not an end-point or a culmination, but a starting-point for some and a way-marker for others. Some found Dr Hill’s session on Jeremiah 30-31 especially significant, as a way into developing our understanding of how Brexit and God’s plans for Britain might fit into his overarching covenant plans for Israel and his purposes for the whole world.

Others were inspired particularly by Andrea Williams speaking about the socio-cultural and political battles being fought in the nation – the worldly face of our underlying spiritual conflict. Still others were galvanised by Syd Doyle reminding us of our collective responsibility to make disciples, including amongst Muslims – “the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

We trust that the Holy Spirit will have reached and ministered to each delegate in a unique and special way. Each person was encouraged to think about how they could develop their own witness and ministry in their area, in unity with other believers. It is hoped that in the future, Issachar Ministries will be able to play a part in connecting up believers locally.

It’s time to nail our colours to the mast

As we sail into stormy seas over Brexit, it’s time for both Church and state to nail their colours to the mast – over their stand with Israel in particular, and with biblical truth in general.

We have seriously lost our way, thanks to little political co-ordination and much confusion. What we really need is a heavenly compass. Have our politicians asked God for directions? Has the Church made its position clear? Most importantly, whose side are we on?

Anchor for the Soul

In 1947, the United Nations voted – by the required two-thirds majority – to recognise a reborn Jewish state. But Britain, badly bruised by her shambolic oversight of the region she was charged to prepare for this purpose, abstained in the vote and has been reeling from the blow of betraying God’s chosen people ever since.

Another key moment was the bold step taken more recently by President Trump in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But none of the major powers have yet followed his lead, preferring instead to seek appeasement with Israel’s enemies, which is one reason Europe is in crisis.

In the midst of the turbulence in Parliament over the prospect of a future outside of Europe, our only hope of steadying the ship of state is in returning to the Judeo-Christian values espoused by the Bible-believing MPs from Northern Ireland, who currently hold the balance of power. And as a further acknowledgement of the God of Israel, and the source of Western civilisation, we need to start seriously standing with the Jews.

Our only hope of steadying the ship of state is in returning to Judeo-Christian values and standing with the Jews.

Do Everything in Your Power

When, during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel came perilously close to defeat, Prime Minister Golda Meir appealed to President Nixon for help, and his response in sending reinforcements saved the day – and Israel!

Years later Nixon said: “When she was talking [on the phone], I could hear my mother reading stories from the Old Testament to me when I was a boy.”

He recalled one thing in particular. “I could hear her tell me: ‘One day Richard, you will be in a situation where the Jewish people will need your help. When that day comes, do everything in your power to help them.’ It confirmed all my instincts and I knew I had to act. I suddenly realised why I had become President of the United States. It was the moment I had to do what I had to do.”¹

With a legacy blighted by the Watergate scandal, which saw him authorise illegal activities in pursuit of being re-elected, I guess few people realise the crucial part he played in Israel’s preservation.

Call to Churches

In righting wrongs of past sins committed against Israel, Britain’s Tory Government has made a start with an apology of sorts for restricting immigration to the Holy Land for Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe.

Yet in some respects things have worsened, with the opposition gaining in the polls in spite of being plagued by anti-Semitism, while both the South African and Irish governments have made their anti-Zionist feelings known.

In light of this and especially of the threat posed by Iran, Christians United for Israel UK is calling on churches to stand with Israel as corporate institutions, rather than leaving it to individuals and para-church organisations.

Confidence in the Gospel

The Church as a whole, meanwhile, badly needs to recover confidence in the power of the Gospel. This was brought home to me forcefully as I watched Scotland make what one pundit called a ‘miraculous’ comeback against England in last Saturday’s Six Nations rugby test match at Twickenham.

Down 31-0 in as many minutes, they were facing a humiliating slaughter, but came right back with a brilliant second-half display to lead 38-31, before the hosts tied the match by scoring under the posts deep into injury time.

It reminded me of David and Goliath, especially after picking up a 4oz weight from a display of vintage balance scales in a café that same morning. On being surprised at how heavy it felt, I understood how the Philistine giant failed to survive the shepherd’s lethal slingshot.

The Church as a whole badly needs to recover confidence in the power of the Gospel.

The comparison was complete when I realised that Scotland had scored five tries – all converted – plus a penalty, whereas the young David had picked up five smooth stones for his fight. But he only needed one!

The Sea of Galilee, where Jesus calmed the storm with a word. Photo by Charles Gardner.The weapon we have been given is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:17), while our power is the Gospel, which is “the power of God that brings salvation to all who believe: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom 1:16).

Jesus made it clear that if we fail to publicly acknowledge him, he will disown us (Matt 10:32f). Speaking of the signs of his imminent return, he said it would be a time when his disciples will be hated and when many will turn away amid much deception and wickedness. But he who stands firm to the end will be saved - and the Gospel will be preached to the whole world in preparation for his return (Matt 24:9-14).

Opportunities Ahead

So, in the midst of the great trials ahead, Gospel opportunities will come – perhaps as never before – as spiritually hungry people seek solace and comfort. Amidst the hardship, there will be a harvest.

As the tempest rages, remember that Jesus is the one who calmed the storm on Galilee!

References

1 Davies, P, 2018. The Miracle that is Israel. True Vine Media Limited.

How the West was lost – and what God's people ought to do about it.

Editorial Introduction: Randall Hardy concludes his interview with Bishop Ashenden, who speaks about how believers can respond in these turbulent days.

Part 2: Paying the Price

RH: Many Christians, from a broad cross-section of Bible-believing backgrounds, are holding on to a hope that the secularisation of the West could be reversed. The bolder ones expect this to be the case. Do you see such hopes to be realistic?

GA: I've spent the whole of my adult life trying to reverse secularism in the West. I've done it energetically and I've done it in its heartland, which is the university where I spent 25 years arguing - enthusiastically and joyfully - for the Kingdom and for belief. I enjoyed tripping up my atheist friends with the weaknesses in their own arguments, but I have to say that no matter how many arguments I won, they didn't often result in the change of the human heart.

If I look at the extent to which the churches have changed human hearts in the West, however, whatever you put it down to, we haven't succeeded very well. So some of us can enjoy scoring points philosophically, but that isn't the goal and it doesn't achieve very much.

We ought to give some thought and pray for discernment to understand why we've lost so many hearts, but I think you have to take into account…the notion of spiritual conflict…and also the inevitable hubris of technological innovation.

I'd like to think that as time [goes] on and secular society [begins] to collapse under the weight of its own ambition and cleverness, we could [make] more impact on hungry human hearts. But long before that will happen, [I believe that] Islam will overtake us and we won't have the opportunity.

RH: For centuries the Western church has considered itself to have a role in governing the state. Do you think this has been helpful in fulfilling its main mission? How do you think Christians can most helpfully engage with the state in the future?

GA: The role of Christians is always to Christianise people and, again, the human heart. The Gospels ought to have taught us the danger of hoping to produce a Christian state, because of the constant danger of imbalance between the life of the Spirit and the life of the flesh, speaking theologically.

So the best Christianity can do is to infiltrate and infect the state for good, but its influence grows and wanes. There have been times when we've done that very effectively, partly because our rulers have been hungry for God, and [there have been] times when we have done it very badly, partly because our rulers have had hard hearts. But it's always ebbed and flowed. The great temptation is to imagine that we can capture the state for the Kingdom of Heaven, and that's a category error.

We ought to give some thought and pray for discernment to understand why we've lost so many hearts.

What we now find is that we live in a period of time when the state [is] resentful of Christianity…to some extent the animus we experience as Christians in [Britain] is driven by hatred and resentment of moral constraints that Christianity offered as an understanding of the virtuous life.

And in that sense we're experiencing a delayed reaction of revenge from a culture that is in rebellion against God the Father and the transformation He calls us to. [The culture] takes some delight in taking that revenge out on a weakened Church.

RH: The rise of secularism in the West and globally suggests that we face a very uncertain future. What advice do you have for Western Christians as they look ahead?

GA: I think the first thing I would say is make sure you understand the history of Islam, and don't believe the propaganda about the convivencia in Spain. The suffering of Christians and Jews in Spain reached the most dreadful scale - until Muslims were driven out by force.

There are only two ways to deal with Islamic ambition in history - and they're either to convert Muslims from Mohammed to Jesus, or to meet force with force. I'm still puzzling and praying about my own response to these two ways. I obviously prefer the first, and I don't know to what extent the second is accessible.

I think if Christians want to preserve any kind of safe space to worship Jesus without interference from the state, we need to enter the public arena with more courage than we've found in the recent past and tell as much of the truth about the human heart, the prophet Mohammed and Jesus the Messiah as we can, in the hope that some secularists will listen and that this will buy us a bit more time.

I think as I look at the history of Islam and the weakness of hedonistic secularism, my own sense is that we have to prepare for a Europe entering a period of darkness in spiritual terms, with the Church having to go underground.

I say that in the appreciation that the Holy Spirit is bringing renewal and new life to people in Russia and in China, and astonishingly within the heart of Islamic culture: Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether we are paying the price of our faithlessness as a Church or the hubris of Enlightenment culture, it looks as though Europe is about to enter a period of darkness - so I'm grateful for the light that the Holy Spirit is bringing elsewhere in the world at the same time.

If Christians want to preserve any kind of safe space to worship Jesus, we need to enter the public arena with more courage and tell as much of the truth about the human heart, the prophet Mohammed and Jesus the Messiah as we can.

RH: You've just mentioned that Christians in places such as China and Iran, to name but a few, face intense persecution in various ways. How do you think their experiences can inform our thinking as Christians in nations where freedom is being eroded rapidly?

GA: Christians are always persecuted - even in Europe. As Christian voices have called rulers and populations to account; the Christian voices that have done that, whether they have been Catholic or Protestant, have always faced a reaction of anger and repression from the state.

When Christians aren't persecuted, it may be a sign that they're too deeply steeped in an accommodation to the culture around them. Jesus makes this very clear in the gospels.

So I think that when we look at people who love Jesus paying a very deep price in repressive states around the world, we ought to see them as an inspirational norm and perhaps count it as a privilege that we too may be called to suffer for him in ways that in our more relaxed society we have escaped up until this point.

You can read the first part of Randall's interview with Gavin by clicking here.

Author Biography

Gavin Ashenden read Law at Bristol University, before studying theology at Oak Hill Theological College in London. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1980, subsequently serving in a London parish for 10 years. He spent 23 years at the University of Sussex as a senior lecturer and senior chaplain, lecturing in the Psychology of Religion and Literature.

Over the years he has written occasional newspaper articles and worked for the BBC on a freelance basis presenting a weekly faith and ethics radio programme.

In 2008 he was appointed a Chaplain to the Queen. In 2017 he resigned from this position in order to be free to speak out for the faith in public. Later that year he resigned from the Church of England, convinced that its leadership was replacing apostolic and biblical patterns with the alternative values of Cultural Marxism.

He is now a Missionary Bishop to the UK and Europe in the Christian Episcopal Church.

You can find out more about Gavin’s extraordinary life, journey and ministry on his blog.

Paul Luckraft interviews author Steve Maltz about his latest book, ‘Shalom’.

Over the years, I have reviewed most of Steve’s books for Prophecy Today and in the past I interviewed him to find out what motivated him to go on writing. “I was born to write, that is my gift” was his reply, and it would seem that with Shalom, his 25^th book, that gift is still in full flow. But a valid question remains: why another book? And why this particular book?

Steve admits to being on a personal journey and that writing books is his way of continuing that journey. As he explains in the preface of Shalom, “every book is a personal odyssey and a time of great learning” (p9). Pressing him further on this, he added that “I always write what is on my heart and each time I finish a book I think the journey may have ended, but so far it hasn’t.”

The journey actually started when he was crossing London Bridge ten years ago and God began to show him how the Church had lost ‘the Way’ by detaching itself from its Hebraic roots. Many books later, Shalom brings that vision into greater focus.

Its theme is an exploration of what Paul in Ephesians calls the ‘One New Man’ (Eph 2:15). If the Church is ever to recover what it lost in the past and achieve God’s shalom, God’s peace, it will need to embrace the truth that Christ has broken down the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile and that Gentiles are Gospel heirs together with Israel: members together of one Body, sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:6). Steve’s argument is that embracing this truth will bring renewal to the Church, individually and corporately.

Searching for Answers

As such, Steve isn’t just writing for his own benefit. He believes others are asking the same questions that God has put on his heart, and seeking the same answers. This was dramatically illustrated just an hour or so before meeting up with me in London.

If the Church is ever to recover God’s shalom, God’s peace, it will need to embrace the truth that Christ has broken down the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile.

Prior to our interview, Steve visited a major London bookshop to introduce his new book and drop off a couple of copies. While talking to the staff there one of the customers overheard him explaining the book and suddenly burst into tears! “This is just what I’ve been looking for!” she explained. And then added that she had been on a train on the Underground when God had told her to get off at that station and go to the bookshop there. She had no idea why at the time, but clearly God knew what she needed!

Just like this lady in the bookshop, readers new to Steve’s books can start with Shalom without having to read all that has gone before. Each of his books stands alone and usually contains several quotes or references to previous ones. To this end, the first part of Shalom takes us back over how the Church lost the Way, the Truth and the Life by severing ourselves from Israel and our Hebraic roots. Here, Steve explains the problems in the Church that show our need for God’s shalom, found only in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).

After a short second part on ‘The Shalom of Salvation’, in the third part we are reminded how the key to recovering the Hebraic nature of the Christian faith is function, not form. In other words, it’s about discovering and developing our roles and callings – who we are and what we do - rather than about offices and structures; it’s about being and doing ‘church’ rather than church as an institution or set of rituals. This is a significant theme in his previous books.

After this comes Part Four, which is devoted to exploring what shalom means when it comes to the Church and the idea of the One New Man. It should be stressed that just because the title is ‘Shalom’, the book is not merely a study on this particular word. Rather, as the subtitle emphasises, here we discover ‘God’s Masterplan’ for oneness or completeness, which Steve unpacks through seven other Hebrew words (simcha, chaim, kadosh, chesed, mishpocha, limmud, berakhot). Through these we can reverse all the Greek thinking that has dominated Church life since the 2^nd Century and undo the unbiblical practices introduced by Constantine and others.

In short, Steve asks the big question: what would the Church look like if there had been no influence from Greek philosophy or Roman emperors? Through these Hebraic concepts the answer starts to emerge. The next big question is, who will be brave enough to try it the Hebraic way?!

Steve believes that others are asking the same questions that God has put on his heart, and seeking the same answers.

Joyous Conclusion

The final part of the book came as a surprise, even to Steve. “Here’s a chapter I never intended to write because it references a series of events that came after the writing of the first draft of this book” (p215). At the ‘Foundations 10’ Hebraic conference in Devon, Steve saw Hebraic church come alive, in practice – ‘it happened in Devon!’ is the joyous conclusion to the book.

Shalom is being launched this weekend at the 'Foundations 11' conference, being held at The Hayes in Swanwick. The conference is appropriately entitled ‘One New Man’ and will continue to explore the theme further through teaching and discussion.

That walk over London Bridge many years ago has certainly borne a lot of fruit. Is the journey reaching a conclusion? I doubt it. The next book, and 'Foundations 12', are already being planned!

‘Shalom’ (234 pages, paperback) is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10.

The Church has remained silent on Israel for too long

As Jews the world over next week mark a feast they have celebrated annually for the past 2,500 years, it presents a perfect opportunity for the Church to step into the breach on behalf of God’s chosen people.

The feast of Purim recalls the time when a beautiful young orphan queen known as Esther saved her people from annihilation in ancient Persia.

Her identity as a Jew was a secret at the time of her accession to the throne, as the potential for anti-Semitism was so great that the Bible’s account of her heroics only mentions God in code.

But when her guardian, Mordecai, alerted her to Haman’s genocidal plot against all the Jews in an empire stretching from India to Egypt, he challenged her with these words: “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Est 4:14).

Esther knew it would be dangerous to approach the king without being summoned but, just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego risked the fiery furnace rather than compromise their faith, Esther too bit the bullet, defiantly declaring: “If I perish, I perish” (Est 4:16).

Modern Threats

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews as Esther did? The Church in Germany were, for the most part, silent as they watched Hitler’s anti-Semitic cancer spread.

Thankfully, para-church organisations like Christian Friends of Israel, representing thousands of individual Christians, have until now played the part of Mordecai in their attempt to alert the Church to the dangers.

One of them, Christians United for Israel, has actually launched a campaign called 'Operation Mordecai', warning of the danger posed by Iran (modern-day Persia) to Israel and the West, and is encouraging churches to nail their colours to the mast by showing corporate support for Israel rather than leaving it to individual believers.

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews just as Esther did?

Israel’s existence – and by extension that of the Jewish people – is threatened once again. First Pharaoh tried to obliterate them, then Haman, followed by Herod and Hitler. Now the likes of Hamas are inflicting their murder and mayhem on Israel’s southern borders while, in the north, Hezbollah have some 120,000 missiles hidden among Lebanon’s civilian population.

At the same time, a harrowing new wave of anti-Semitism is sweeping across Europe and America, while in Britain we are witnessing an unholy alliance between hard-left Labour and the far-right - including Islamists - viciously persecuting innocent Jews.

Time to Stand Up!

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed against the Jews. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised for Britain’s blocking of those trying to escape the Nazi butchers and for its holding of others in detention camps like Atlit, near Haifa, during the 1940s. And Home Secretary Sajid Javid has finally pronounced a full ban on Hezbollah.

But the Church in Britain – as a whole – has badly neglected the Jews. We are not only responsible for the scourge of social engineering now blighting our beloved country, but also for the disgraceful scandal of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

Where have the strong Christian voices of support for Israel been over the years? Do we really think God has reneged on his promise of everlasting love for the Jews (Jer 31:3)? Do we realise that such misguided belief gives carte blanche to the sort of unbridled hatred for Israel pronounced by many of those seeking to wrest power from the Conservatives?

Jeremy Corbyn and his close allies – like terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas – believe Israel has no right to exist. It’s time to make amends for our indifference by taking on the role of Esther – intervening on behalf of an endangered people, both in prayer and action.

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed by Britain against the Jews. But the British Church – as a whole – remains silent.

Cursing Turned Around

In modern Persia, the ayatollahs are determined to wipe Israel off the map, using nuclear weapons if necessary. But the tables were turned on the anti-Semites of ancient Persia. Haman literally made a rope on which to hang himself and the evil scheme he had devised came back on his own head. Those who dare to stand against the Jews or their Messiah will surely come to ruin!

Indeed, the tables were turned on Germany, and it all came back on their own heads as their cities were reduced to rubble – Darmstadt, for instance, had its own 9/11 when, on 11 September 1944, the city was destroyed, leaving 12,000 dead and many more homeless.

Similar devastation awaits those who touch the apple of God’s eye today (Zech 2:8).

God is working his purposes out.

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to a packed fringe meeting at the Church of England Synod in Westminster. There were a number of bishops and clergy of all ranks and the general atmosphere was one of deep concern for the state of the nation. The meeting was in Church House alongside Westminster Abbey and I think we were all aware of events across the road, where our politicians are struggling with seemingly intractable problems.

If any of those attending the meeting came expecting, or even hoping for, easy answers or joyful tidings, I’m afraid they would have gone away disappointed. The primary message I had to give was that God holds the Church responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation. I had been asked to speak about my latest book, ‘The Reshaping of Britain: Church and State since the 1960s’. I spoke about the last four Archbishops of Canterbury who I’ve known and worked alongside; and I spoke about the lack of a prophetic voice from the Church giving leadership to the nation in a time of revolutionary social, economic and political change.

It was not a comfortable message and in the short time of discussion it was clear that there are no easy answers to the situation. How do you bring creative, biblically-based change into an organisation as massive as the Church of England? I was only able to repeat what I’ve said so many times that there will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church. Of course, this is no easy message for those who are dealing with a multitude of pastoral problems in their congregations.

Right Understanding

One of the clergy asked, “Should we be encouraging young people in our churches to go into politics?” I know it is a very lonely and difficult place for Christians in the House of Commons at present. If there were a significant number of those who uphold biblical values and whose trust is in God, it would undoubtedly change the dynamics of politics and that should be a future hope and objective for all church leaders.

But I think it would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on. This means discerning the difference between the social engineering that has been driving the nation for the past 40 or 50 years generated by secular humanist advocates, and what is divine activity initiated by God.

It would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on.

Most Christians do not think in these terms because we do not rightly handle the whole word of God. We concentrate upon the Gospels and Epistles, but neglect to study the biblical Prophets, whom God used to reveal his nature and purposes to humanity in preparation for the coming of Messiah. Without a thorough understanding of this background we can never understand what God is doing in the world today. I said yesterday that this should be the major concern of church leaders today.

Listen to this from Isaiah 45:7: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!!! In fact, that is God’s purpose! He is longing to see his children enjoying the blessings of those who uphold righteousness and live by the standards of truth he has revealed in his word over many thousands of years.

Shaking All Things

God is at present shaking all the nations, as he first revealed to the Prophet Haggai in 520 BC, the significance of which for today is explained in the New Testament in Hebrews 12. You can see this in the upheavals and bitter Brexit divisions in Britain, in the rise of the populist movement in many countries throughout Europe, and in the fear of the Brussels elite at what may happen in the EU election in May this year.

You can see it in the USA, where there has never before been such bitter division between Republicans and Democrats. You can see it in the upheavals in South America, in Venezuela; similarly in Africa, especially in Nigeria in recent days, in the Middle East, in the distressing humanitarian crises in Yemen and Syria, and in many other parts of the world.

It is not only the nations that are being shaken, but all the great institutions in which we human beings put our trust – including the Church! Right now, the Roman Catholic Church is being torn asunder by having to face the sexual sins of its clergy over many decades that are being revealed to the public. Successive Popes have delayed the day of reckoning for many years, but the Vatican is having to face the uncomfortable truth that a system of forced celibacy in a social climate of sexual libertarianism is a recipe for disaster! Large numbers of clergy have misused their spiritual power for sexual gratification, exploiting vulnerable children and adults. The day of judgment has arrived, and this has not just been brought about by social pressure, but by the judgment of God.

All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!

For Love

Why is God shaking everything? It may be amazing to those who do not study the whole word of God – but when God brings judgment upon the evil institutions of humanity it is an expression of his LOVE!

God so loved the world that he gave his own Son to save humanity from self-destruction. But our tiny minds simply cannot comprehend the magnitude of God’s purposes without the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit to flood his truth into our lives.

Let me give a small illustration of the great truth that I’m trying to convey. For more than 30 years I have been trying to teach a basic sociological truth that when you weaken and undermine the family, you destroy the social fabric of society, because the family is the linchpin holding everything together. This is what we have done in Western society and this is the underlying cause of knife crime, gang warfare, drug use, bullying, depression and suicide. We have crucified truth and produced an age of fake news, lies, hatred and violence, driven by the forces of darkness that we have embraced.

But amidst all this, God is working out his purposes to bring human beings to the point where they recognise that they have no solutions to the problems they have created. When they begin to cry out ‘O God, what has gone wrong?’ God knows they will be then open to the truth. He is calling upon his Church to be ready for a great spiritual awakening! Not a revival of the old institutions that we call churches, but a genuine new openness to the truth, met by a Church that genuinely both lives and declares the unchanging word of God.

That is the way disaster will be turned into prosperity! And the good news is that we may not be far from the turning point!

God must sometimes tear down in order to build up.

Why are our politicians still in confusion? Why is there no shared vision or clear strategy in Westminster after so many months of debate? Surely the simple answer has to be that there are no political solutions to the problems in the nation. But when will our political representatives realise that something is wrong and begin to look below the surface for the real problem – and the real answer?

The evidence that Britain is a sick society is all around in our daily news: the huge rise in knife crime in the past five years, young people dying on our city streets, the homeless sheltering in shopfronts, children becoming drug mules, self-harming, suicides, domestic violence, family breakdown, gambling addiction, alcohol problems, poverty, inequality - we could go on and on with an endless list of symptoms.

But they all come back to the same source – our society-wide rejection of truth, trust, faithfulness, integrity, justice, love, unselfishness, service and loyalty - all the values of the Gospel set out in the Bible that used to be taught to our children in every state school and in Sunday schools.

We have ditched the lot! So, our children have no yardstick by which to measure truth; and we are surprised when their world of social media, soaked in fake news and lies, leads them into depression, self-harming and suicide. The media rages against paedophiles who groom vulnerable children online, but are we not a nation of child abusers in the eyes of God? We have despised his word and we are reaping the harvest.

A Second Chance?

It’s time to face up to reality: Brexit will not solve our problems! But to remain in the EU would be even worse. And the worst possible outcome would be another referendum! The nation is already bitterly divided and calling for a so-called ‘People’s Vote’ is a recipe for civil war!

Maybe all the Brexit negotiations are pointless anyway as the EU itself appears to be set on a course for disintegration. Populist movements are gaining momentum across Europe which is likely to bring in a lot of hostile MEPs in the EU election in May. With Italy in recession and France and Germany not far behind, if Britain leaves without a deal and without paying its £39 billion settlement bill, it could be a fatal blow to the EU.¹

It’s time to face up to reality: Brexit will not solve our problems!

If Britain succeeds in getting out of the European Union next month in the face of massive opposition, I believe it will be a sign that God is giving us a second chance and an opportunity to deal with the social problems in the nation.

The Cost of Revival

At the Wembley Arena Prayer Day, I made two points which I believe are important:

1. God holds the Church responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation.
   
2. There will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church.
   

I apologise for referring again to the Wembley event. I’ve taken a lot of flak for appearing on that platform, but at the risk of indulging in self-justification, I really have to say that I still believe it was right for me to go there and say those two things – and possibly also to witness the teaching that is appearing in some of our churches!

I was a lone voice calling for repentance at Wembley, which should worry Bible-believing Christians because we know that judgment begins at the house of the Lord. If we do not recognise our responsibility for the state of the nation and repent before God, there really is no hope for Britain!

Why is it that when evangelicals come together for prayer, the predominant thing they want to do is to call upon God to send a revival? What they often don’t realise is that the cost of revival is repentance for our responsibility for the mess in the nation. We are part of a Church whose preachers have committed adultery, have broken their marriage vows, have indulged in sodomy, have lied and cheated. We have allowed Scripture to be manipulated in support of sinful lifestyles. We have tolerated televangelists with luxurious lifestyles and enjoyed the pronouncements of false prophets who have tickled our ears with promises of power, miracles, signs and wonders.

How do we dare to ask God to send a revival to such a Church? I am due to address a lunchtime meeting at the Church of England Synod next Thursday in London, and I intend asking how we can expect God to bless a Church that is not giving clear godly leadership to the nation in a time of great turmoil.

If Christians do not recognise their responsibility for the state of the nation and repent before God, there really is no hope for Britain!

Learning from Jeremiah

In the Prophet Jeremiah’s day, he faced a similar situation. The religious leadership of the nation, the Temple priesthood, were as corrupt as the rest of the population. Jeremiah said “I have seen something horrible: they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are like Sodom to me, the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah” (Jer 23:14).

Do you not think that God is saying something similar to us, not only in Britain but in all the Western nations, where we have had the Gospel for centuries but we have turned away from the ways of righteousness – selling our inheritance for a mess of pottage?

Jeremiah was told that God’s purpose for the nation was peace and prosperity – Jeremiah’s task was to build and to plant. But there were six verbs in this instruction, not just two. They were “To uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The nation was so advanced in corruption, immorality and idolatry, that a lot of things had to be removed from its culture before there could be blessing and prosperity.

God was giving notice to Jeremiah that he was about to shake the nation to its very foundations. The great institutions of state, its political and economic structures, including its religion, would all be shaken. Nothing would be spared. This is what happened in 586 BC when the Babylonian army tore down the walls of Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, the Palace and all the great buildings.

Is God today warning the Western nations that the whole of our civilisation is coming under judgment? How much uprooting and tearing down must be done before building and planting is possible again? Has God brought Islam into the West for judgment, or to expose its false teaching and bring about a Muslim harvest for the Gospel, along with a revival of true biblical Christianity in the West?

At a Crossroads

Surely today we are at a crossroads. It is not only Brexit that is a warning sign, but the populist movement that is spreading across Europe, and the huge divisions that are shaking America. The ‘Arab Spring’ began the shaking of Islam. God has promised to shake all nations – he has already started.

Surely it is time to search the scriptures for understanding of the times and come before the Lord with repentance, humility, trust and hope for the future.

Notes

1 It would not be good for the German economy if BMW build a plant in Britain to avoid paying a tariff on their cars (Britain is their best export customer)!

From hyper-grace to healing vibrations: how the NAR is leading charismatics astray.

*Longer article*

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:10)

At Prophecy Today UK, we believe that the Pentecostal movement of the early 20^th Century and the charismatic renewal movement of the 1960s and 70s were moves of God to equip his people with a greater understanding and appreciation of the Holy Spirit. We have often said that this equipping was intended for a specific purpose: to prepare the Church for effective witness in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries, during which time the global population has boomed and the religious map has changed dramatically.

However, we recognise the danger of such moves of God being hijacked and corrupted by human sin and satanic deception, and that this danger is no less today than it was in the days of the early Church. Then, the infiltration of the new-born Christian community by false teachers and false prophets led Paul and the other Apostles to speak often and passionately about the importance of guarding against deception.

It is in this context, and with regard for recent concerns surrounding David Hathaway’s January prayer day at Wembley Arena, that we feel a broader statement (perhaps the first of several) is also necessary on a particular movement infiltrating the Western charismatic Church.

We believe that this cluster of ministries, teachings, practices and attitudes, often referred to through the short-hand phrase ‘the New Apostolic Reformation’ or ‘NAR’, has the potential to steer charismatics completely off course. But what is the NAR, and how can we combat its teachings with biblical truth?

A Brief History

The NAR is today’s expression of the same teachings that birthed the Latter Rain Movement of the 1940s, the subsequent ‘Manifest Sons of God’ movement, the Kansas City Prophets, the Toronto Blessing (1994 on), events at Brownsville/Pensacola (1995-2000) and the Lakeland Florida ‘outpouring’ (2008).

During the mid-1990s, Dr Clifford Hill together with several other British church leaders joined to sound the alarm about events in Toronto, the outcome of which was the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’, serialised in 2018 on Prophecy Today UK.¹ But though the alarm was sounded, the NAR movement has since only grown in reach and influence. Through the 2000s and 2010s, teachings that were once the domain of fringe itinerant revivalists filtered into the mainstream charismatic world.

The NAR today encompasses a loose collection of charismatic ministries, leaders and teachings without a central organising body or statement of beliefs, and defying traditional denominational categories. Many within it do not recognise the term ‘NAR’, though it was coined by one of the movement’s core founders, C. Peter Wagner.² It has also been termed ‘network Christianity’³ because of its nebulous, relational nature.

Today, NAR power-houses include Bill and Beni Johnson’s Bethel Church in Redding, California (formerly AOG, now independent), Hillsong Church in Australia (also formerly AOG, now independent), Catch the Fire in Toronto (formerly Toronto Airport Vineyard, now independent), Heidi Baker’s Iris Ministries and Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Ministries, amongst many others. You will find songs, teachings, books and events connected with these and other NAR ministries being promoted in most charismatic churches in Britain, at inter-denominational conferences, in Christian bookshops and on Christian TV and radio.

This ‘networking’ has been accomplished through a combination of music, literature, sympathetic publishing houses and media platforms,⁴ training programmes, social media use and platform-sharing/collaborations with well-respected ministries and leaders. The NAR now also has its own Bible ‘translation’ to boot.⁵

The global reach of this movement and the endurance of its core beliefs through time seem all the more insidious because of its lack of official organisation, prompting many to see a spiritual driving force behind it. So, what exactly do NAR proponents believe?

What are NAR Beliefs?

In many ways, the NAR borrows from biblical Christianity and most within the movement would still accept the basic tenets of the Gospel. It is evangelistic and charismatic; it believes the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It also usually takes a conservative stance on moral issues, values prophecy, promotes social action and can encourage support for Israel. However, there are important aspects of the NAR which are inescapably unbiblical, which pollute and redirect genuinely-felt love for God.

Indeed, while we are not disputing the sincerity of ordinary believers caught up in the NAR movement, we believe that, followed thoroughly and consistently, it promotes ‘a different Jesus, a different spirit and a different Gospel’ (2 Cor 11:4).

The US General Council of the Assemblies of God wrote in their official denunciation of the Latter Rain Movement in 1949 that its theology “claims prerogatives to human agency which belong only to Christ”.⁶ This remains a good summary of the NAR movement today which, though now evolved beyond these roots, still bears similar hallmarks.

In short, the NAR movement encourages believers to claim for themselves things that belong only to our sovereign God and remain His to bestow as He wills: things such as power and authority, control and dominion, supernatural ability, blessing and success, health and prosperity. It is a Christianity that doesn’t know when or where to stop: an over-zealous movement of theological and spiritual excess characterised by a lack of biblical checks and balances.

With the caveat that the NAR is a loose movement that encompasses a lot of internal variation, and to which proponents may only subscribe partially or inconsistently, core NAR beliefs include:

1. The leadership of modern-day ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’
   
2. Dominionism: the teaching that ahead of Jesus’ return, the Church will become all-powerful on earth and make it ready for the Lord⁷
   
3. The belief that unlimited divine power and blessing is available to believers to equip them for this task
   
4. An over-emphasis on the supernatural and extra-biblical revelation
   
5. An over-emphasis on power and human agency
   

In the remainder of this article, I will take these five NAR creeds and discuss briefly why each is attractive, deceptive and contrary to Scripture.

1. The leadership of modern-day ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’

The NAR movement distorts Ephesians 2:20 to claim that God is raising up end times ‘super-apostles’ and prophets – equal to or greater than the original Apostles commissioned by Christ - who will lead the Church to this-worldly victory. The appeal of strong, charismatic leadership in an increasingly uncertain world, particularly to young people, should not be underestimated.

While Christians disagree about whether the biblical offices of Apostle and Prophet are still current today, what is certain is that an elitist movement of self-appointed, celebrity leaders claiming divine authority is thoroughly dangerous, as well as antithetical to Scripture.⁸ The cult-like focus on personality in the NAR has led some believers to travel the world in order to sit under the teaching of specific people, desperate to receive some personal blessing and accepting their words unquestioningly.

The highly concentrated power of this relatively small group of men and women – now commanding global influence and millions of dollars every year, while being treated as infallible superstars - can easily be (and has been) abused, as with the well-documented examples of Paul Cain and, more recently, Todd Bentley. Both of these men fell from grace spectacularly but were quickly ‘restored’ with a conspicuous absence of deep grieving and true repentance.

All this is a world away from the New Testament ekklesia, the community of faith built on one name alone: that of Jesus Christ. The original Apostles were team-playing ambassadors of the Gospel who placed high premiums on humility and servant leadership, not self-promotion and gaining a following (e.g. 1 Cor 3:4; 15:9). Their teaching emphasised the importance of weighing and testing all things (e.g. 1 Thess 5:21) and watching keenly for false teachers and prophets, as Jesus commanded (Matt 7:15-20). Those in positions of leadership knew they would be held to a higher standard because of their greater influence (James 3:1).

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power. Though I am less than the least of all the saints…” Apostle Paul, Ephesians 3:7-8

“He must become greater; I must become less…the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.” John the Baptist, John 3:30-31

2. Dominionism: the teaching that ahead of Jesus’ return, the Church will become all-powerful on earth and make it ready for the Lord

Popular within the NAR movement are teachings like the Seven Mountain Mandate (the idea that Christians are supposed to take over the ‘seven mountains’ of culture in order to transform the world) and the concept of ‘bringing heaven to earth’, reclaiming society and Creation for the Kingdom.⁹

The biblical hope that believers will become bearers of light and blessing to their communities and nations through the transformative power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, and the understandable desire for revival, are extrapolated to such a degree that the responsibility for establishing a physical Kingdom of God on earth is transferred from Christ onto the shoulders of the Church.

The goal of re-establishing Christendom has obvious appeal to Christians in the West, who have hitherto watched their nations despise God and spin into terminal decline. But dig a little deeper and NAR Dominionism usurps Christ’s Lordship, wresting from him the mandate to redeem, restore and judge.

Indeed, the ‘Kingdom Now’ culture promises the victory of Christ’s return and the blessings of Heaven to believers in this life, creating false expectations that ‘things can only get better’ and that the next big revival is just around the corner. This stops people from truly seeking the Lord and understanding his purposes. It also blinds them to vast swathes of Scripture which speak of dreadful days of deception and persecution ahead of the Lord’s return.

When difficult times do come, or when wild predictions of revival don’t come true, expectations are disappointed and believers can be driven either into denial, or away from faith altogether.

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Jesus, Matthew 24:12-13

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:20

3. The belief that unlimited divine power and blessing is available to believers to equip them for this task

Taking its cue from the Manifest Sons of God movement, NAR teachers emphasise that as God’s children destined to do great things in the world, believers can claim in faith lives of abundant blessing, health, supernatural power and infinite grace from God.¹⁰ Some, notoriously, have even argued that believers are ‘little gods’ who can attain to divinity and physical immortality.¹¹

The fleshly appeal of such promises of abundance is obvious (cf. Genesis 3:5). Deceptively, they take truths about the love, goodness, grace and blessing of God and blow them out of all proportion, well beyond scriptural boundaries. The life of faith is reworked around pursuing and ‘claiming’ this promised abundance, more than around growing in maturity and holiness. As such, NAR teaching de-emphasises concepts like discipline, judgment, sin and human weakness. It blurs the fundamental differences between God and humanity, exalting believers far above their given place.

Believers are told that illness and suffering are always consequences either of a lack of faith or of spiritual attack (rather than for any other reasons) while concepts such as repentance and denying one’s flesh are side-lined, as are scriptural injunctions to admonish, discern and warn.

The result is an entitled, spoilt Church culture – congruent with the consumeristic West at large. The NAR is known for its insatiable cry of ‘more!’

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Jesus, Matthew 16:24

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

4. Strong emphasis on the supernatural and extra-biblical revelation

The NAR movement puts a premium emphasis on an experiential relationship with God, including miraculous healings, the imparting of spiritual gifts/anointing through the laying on of hands, tangible experiences of God’s glory, words of knowledge, angelic visitations, supernatural manifestations and miscellaneous signs and wonders (notorious examples of the latter include the appearance of gold dust, gold teeth and feathers).

Biblical accounts of Jesus and the Apostles speak of miracles which are rarely seen in today’s unbelieving, hyper-materialist West. Ordinary Christians are understandably hungry for the supernatural – not only for proof of God’s existence but in order to ‘walk as Jesus walked’. However, this biblical desire for authentic New Testament Christianity is taken too far by the NAR, with cries of ‘relationship not religion’ quickly becoming a reaction against all forms of biblical authority, order and structure (save for the authority of the ‘anointed’ apostles and prophets!) and a privileging instead of the spontaneous, the ‘reckless’, even the ‘out of control’.

Such a postmodern theology of experience fits right in with millennials, but comes with a low regard for Scripture and the basic tenets of the Gospel, as somehow insufficient. Instead, a gnostic pursuit of the spiritual and of ‘new’ knowledge opens believers up to spiritual influences and grand prophetic claims that are simply not of God. In the name of faith, discernment is abandoned and thinking is suspended.

Unsurprisingly, the NAR movement has been marked from the start by strange manifestations, esoteric experiences and an abundance of provably false ‘prophetic’ words – all encouraged by a church culture predisposed to unquestioning acceptance, with criticism shut down as ‘judgmentalism’.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Apostle John, 1 John 4:1

“…there has emerged a famine of the Word of God…[which] has left large numbers of Christians without the capacity to judge for themselves from Scripture whether a thing is from God or not. They are defenceless from error, both in the form of doctrine and practice…” Peter Fenwick¹²

5. Therefore, given the above, the NAR places a strong emphasis on power and human agency

NAR-influenced church culture today emphasises the spiritual ‘authority’ of believers and NAR teaching often purports to help people ‘trigger’, ‘activate’ or ‘awaken’ blessing, revival and supernatural experience. NAR language is suffused with authoritative terminology such as ‘releasing’, ‘imparting’, ‘anointing’, ‘activating’, ‘breaking’, ‘declaring’ and ‘pronouncing’.

Being clear on the nature and limits of our authority in Christ is vital if we are to avoid usurping his role and claiming power for ourselves that is not ours to claim. In the NAR, this desire to wield spiritual power sometimes fosters a militant emphasis on spiritual warfare, particularly the practice of ‘taking’ territories for the Kingdom in prayer by engaging with territorial demonic spirits.¹³ Faithful proclamation of the Gospel is superseded by a dangerous desire to engage with spiritual principalities, while a concern to deal with sin is replaced by a pre-occupation with enemy activity.

Without discernment, these kinds of attitudes can worsen the ‘name it and claim it’ culture described previously and lead to all sorts of self-interested, unwise actions. Bethel Church in California provides plentiful examples of such behaviour: e.g. pacing around Temple Mount declaring ‘victory’ over the enemy, praying for a friend who fell down a cliff instead of calling the emergency services, and trying to stop the California fires by prophesying rain and commanding the wind.

We are not in any way denying the possibility of Holy Spirit-inspired declarations, or divinely-prompted acts of faith, or the power of intercessory prayer. However, NAR teaching wrests these things away from God and puts them solely in the hands of humans, as if the Holy Spirit is a force that man can learn to wield and bend to his will. This unhealthy attitude towards control, combined with the aforementioned preoccupation with the supernatural, opens a door for the New Age.

New Age terminology like ‘shifts’, ‘alignment’ and ‘destiny’ are common within the NAR, as are hypnotic music and mystical practices borrowed from the occult. One well-known example is The Physics of Heaven, a 2012 book by authors including Kansas City Prophets Bob Jones and Larry Randolph, with contributions from widely-followed NAR personalities Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton.

The book purports to ‘reclaim’ practices from the New Age like vibrations, healing energies, ‘dolphin therapy’ and ‘quantum mysticism’ to reveal secrets about how to achieve ‘personal transcendence’.¹⁴

“Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone.” Acts 19:18-19

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Jesus, Matthew 7:21-23

Conclusions

The above overview is not comprehensive, as anyone who has looked into these matters will know. However, it is intended to clarify Prophecy Today’s position on this movement. Our assessment is that it ducks and weaves through biblical Christianity, blending truth with dangerous distortions and downright falsities.

It is thus a prime example of a movement of ‘mixture’. Nobody is saying that NAR teachers don’t ever say anything true or worthwhile – that’s precisely the point. They sometimes do. It is extremely difficult to critique their material without appearing uncharitable towards the truth contained within it. More discerning Christians have therefore tended to be divided by the influence of the NAR - some see the good and are unwilling to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Others reject it completely as outright deception (2 Cor 11:4). Many are simply fearful of speaking out against a movement that may include things ‘of God’, in case they accidentally blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

As I said at the start of this article, we are not disputing the sincerity of believers caught up in the NAR movement. However, broadly speaking, when NAR teaching and culture is held up to the light of Scripture, it fails virtually every single test. The problem is that it has intermingled with and now suffuses mainstream charismatic Christianity in Britain, which is one reason why so many faithful charismatics find themselves unable to find a sound church fellowship.

The growth of the NAR must be weighed before the Lord, especially in the light of scriptures forecasting deception during the times of the end. I do not believe, however, that ‘retreat’ is the only option left for faithful believers. A systematic critique is desperately needed and we must search the scriptures carefully to find out the truth, and be ready to defend it, contending earnestly for the faith (Jude 3). If the NAR really is as deceptive as it appears, the future of the Western Church and its witness may just hang in the balance.

Paul’s instruction to Timothy is particularly pertinent for us today:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Our thanks to the many readers who have raised this issue with us.

References

1 Click here to read our serialised version, which provides a useful history of the whole movement.

2 Wagner, CP, 1998. The New Apostolic Churches. Regal, CA, p18.

3 See Christerson, B and Flory, R, 2017. The Rise of Network Christianity: How Independent Leaders Are Changing the Religious Landscape. OUP USA.

4 E.g. Destiny Image, Charisma Media, God TV and TBN.

5 The ‘Passion Translation’, though it is really a paraphrase. Read critiques here and here and note its NAR connections here.

6 See chapter by David Forbes in Blessing the Church?

7 There are other streams of Dominionist theology that transcend charismatic circles. Not all have the same perspective on the end times.

8 Some, like Bill Johnson, do not claim these things overtly. But neither does he stop people from claiming them for him.

9 This end goal of subduing the whole earth can precipitate some strange alliances, at great doctrinal cost.

10 This overlaps considerably with the ‘Word of Faith’ movement/the idea of ‘positive confession’ and has synergy with the prosperity gospel, also secular psychology.

11 This is a misappropriation of Psalm 82:6/John 10:34 and stems especially from Manifest Sons of God teaching. It can shade into New Age assertions about ‘the divine within’ and be coupled with a down-playing of Christ as the first of many sons, or as a human endowed with divine power, rather than THE only begotten Son of God, fully human but also fully divine.

12 Blessing the Church? p50.

13 We are not saying that prayer is not important or spiritually significant, nor that believers cannot be led by God to pray strategically – but this must be led by God and not assumed.

14 Bethel Church in California recently hit the news for supporting the use of Christianised tarot cards as a form of outreach, and are known for the practice of ‘grave-soaking’: visiting the graves of Christian heroes and physically trying to ‘soak up’ some of the ‘anointing’.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Biblical Church’ by Beresford Job (Bethany Publishing, 2007).

This excellent book challenges the traditional way that Christians do ‘church’, and explains what should be in place instead. The author aims to show that the church-going practices Christians generally observe are based upon teachings that have little or nothing to do with the Bible. Rather, they originated with men who led the Church after the Apostles were dead and the writings of the New Testament had been completed.

Though now over ten years old, this remains another useful resource for Christians who are currently ‘out of church’ – or who are seeking to rethink their current approach to church.

Delving into Ecclesiastical History

The book is in three parts. The first, called Traditions, starts by reviewing the Jewish ‘traditions of the elders’, which Jesus opposed. The author draws heavily on the teaching of others in these early chapters and the material may be familiar to many, but it forms a necessary background to his argument: that we have made the same mistakes, by building our own church traditions.

In chapters 4 and 5, Job looks in detail at the traditions of the early ‘Church Fathers’. He focuses on six from the two centuries after the Apostles: Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cyprian of Carthage. Job is clear that they didn’t get everything wrong; in fact, he praises them for spreading the good news and preserving the truth of the Gospel in the face of heresy. For this they deserve honour and respect.

But Job does take issue with the church practices they introduced, which stemmed from a fundamental flaw regarding leadership. By introducing a clergy/laity divide, they created a new priesthood and layers of hierarchy which led to further errors.

This new system of ecclesiastical power and authority made it inevitable that any teachings introduced from the top would be readily accepted - whether in line with Scripture or not. In time, without the necessary input from Scripture, it was unavoidable that the Church would morph into a human organisation you could join, rather than a living organism - Christ’s Body.

Job traces how over several centuries, the Church morphed from a living organism – Christ’s Body – into a human organisation.

Job’s revealing analysis of modern-day church is summarised helpfully with a ‘Not-To-Do’ list: things which believers unquestioningly accept but which actively go against Scripture (p100).

In Chapter 8, he considers common objections to his argument: God still seems to bless such churches. The Holy Spirit is still at work. So why cause trouble and upset people? Here the author offers an honest assessment of these questions, but remains adamant that the status quo means we are missing out on God’s best!

Discovering Biblical Church

Part Two, entitled Biblical Church, is more positive in outlook and considers in detail what biblical church should look like. The author repeatedly stresses that he is not drawing a contrast between true and false churches, but between biblical and unbiblical practices.

He highlights four key areas that, for him, make up the minimum for a biblical church:

• Leadership should reflect that in Acts, with elders as overseers, not a ruling hierarchy;
  
• Home meetings are best for developing fellowship and deep relationships;
• Worship should be led by the Spirit and reflect the unity of the Body of Christ, and
  
• The Lord’s Supper should be celebrated with a proper meal, not just a quick snack of tokens.
  

Like Steve Maltz’s work on Hebraic church, Job emphasises function over form. Get the function right and the correct form of church practice will emerge.

Job acknowledges that biblical churches are not guaranteed to be problem-free. They can still be unloving or undisciplined. But if they have the right ‘shape’ then there is greater opportunity for the Lord to change people.
The author closes Part Two with a chapter entitled ‘What the Experts Say’. He wants to show that all he has been proposing is not just his opinion but is backed up by theologians.

The author repeatedly stresses that he is not drawing a contrast between true and false churches, but between biblical and unbiblical practices.

What to Do?

Part Three brings something new and special to the growing debate on ‘out of church’ Christianity: If you do want to change, how do you go about it?

Job offers many pieces of good advice and some sound ground-rules, drawing on his own experience and testimony. For those who end up leaving their current churches, he insists there is no need for unpleasantness and advises on how to leave peacefully, retaining bonds of fellowship with those who remain. He also stresses that changing to meeting in a home may not itself be the answer – and that any attempt to start up a new form of church should be preceded by and birthed in prayer. Seeking the Lord, and asking what he wants, is vital.

Job is down-to-earth and practical, not romantic: he explains that for Christians wanting to pursue radical transformation in their church practice, it is important to take it slowly and learn to walk before you can run, learning to listen to others and growing in patience.

His list of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ is particular useful, as are his FAQs and chapter of advice on how to look for outside help (however, despite its good general suggestions this has been removed from the Kindle version since its mentions of specific people are now out of date). The key, he suggests, is to seek out those with maturity and a strong sense of morality: just being well-meaning or having a ‘ministry’ may not be enough to guarantee a good start-up or later growth.

This book is a worthwhile addition to the growing literature on ‘alternative’ forms of church that seek greater fidelity to Scripture. Nobody is claiming to have published the final word on this issue, but this book will undoubtedly be a worthwhile, thought-provoking addition to the shelves of anyone in a quandary over it.

‘Biblical Church’ (288 pages, paperback) is available from Amazon for £8.96. Also on Amazon Kindle. Find out more at www.house-church.org.