Episodes in the battle for truth.

What are we to make of the would-be Prime Minister’s claims?

‘Straight’ staff at the BBC will be isolated by new recommendations

What our suicide problem says about our society.

Why are young men in Britain killing themselves at the rate of 17 every day? It is a national scandal that has rattled the Government, hence the announcement this week of the appointment of a Minister for Suicide Prevention.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the appointment of Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price to the new role will help tackle the stigma surrounding suicide. She was speaking on what has been designated World Mental Health Day, and she also announced increased funding for the Samaritans and for schools’ mental health work among children.

Mental health is a worldwide issue of immense proportions, especially in Western nations. In the USA nearly 45,000 people killed themselves in 2016 – more than double the homicide rate. In Britain severe mental illness has been rising steadily since the beginning of the 1990s and has become the biggest problem area for the NHS. Women are now more prone to severe mental disorder than men, but men under the age of 49 are more likely to take their own lives.

It is this particular problem of suicide among young men that is troubling mental health experts. The train I was due to take to London last week was cancelled due to “an incident on the line”. Yet another young man had jumped from a railway bridge in front of a train. I did not know this one but I did know a young man who did the same thing recently. I knew his wife and two young children. He had become unemployed and introverted so no one could communicate with him. He was just 36.

The particular problem of suicide among young men is troubling mental health experts.

We probably all know similar tragedies that are happening in families throughout the land, creating untold misery, hardship and poverty. It is, of course, those left behind who suffer most – regret and self-recrimination are hard to live with when tragedy has hit a family. The first suicide funeral I had to conduct is still a vivid memory when I too suffered personal blame. She was a beautiful young woman in my church congregation and I had deep regret that I had not been aware of her problems. But is there something as a society that we can do?

Understanding the Symptoms

We all need to become more aware of the symptoms of mental health problems – stress, anxiety and depression are all signs that should alert us to the difficulties that someone is facing. It’s when we ignore these signs that we blame ourselves later on. Being more alert and more caring for others would undoubtedly save lives. But we are all too busy, too self-centred on our own little world to bother with other people.

The number of young people you see today walking the streets with their eyes glued to their smartphone and unaware of what is going on around them is a vivid expression of the level of individualism and unreality that now afflicts a whole generation. Many young people live in a virtual world where they have hundreds of contacts but very little personal interaction – a situation exacerbated by social media, which has been linked to numerous mental health problems.

Many social studies show that loneliness is suffered by millions in the population, even when they are living in densely populated cities. Of course, much of this is due to the breakdown of family life: once, large families cared for each other and interacted with other similar families, providing plentiful opportunity for friendships to flourish. Today, we lack community and live in a virtual world.

Individualism and unreality now afflicts a whole generation, with many people living in a virtual world.

Another big culture change that has particularly hit young men is a loss of masculine identity in a world where women demand equality and sameness. Men were once proud to be the breadwinners and take care of their young wives while they were nursing children. Today, career women employ nannies and childminders so that they can become the breadwinner, pursuing their ambitions to make it to the top in their professions.

Lack of Peace with God

Human beings have immense adaptability and no doubt men will adjust to their new status in society, but we are clearly in a transition period which places extra strains, anxieties and insecurities upon individuals. The social changes we have been experiencing in the past two generations have coincided with the loss of faith in God and the abandonment of our Judeo-Christian heritage that provided fundamental security in the lives of individuals and whole communities.

It is the lack of this sense of being at peace with the God of Creation who made us in his own image that is the most serious absence in our modern culture. If we really want to understand the problems in our society we need to read the first chapter of Romans, where the Apostle Paul offers a penetrating analysis of social change. He says that once we suppress truth, we are driven by the powers of darkness that lead from one degree of corruption to the next.

Jesus taught his disciples the cure for anxiety. He said “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” He also said “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you” (John 14:15 and 15:12).

The combination of family breakdown, bringing the loss of fatherhood to millions, together with the loss of the Fatherhood of God, is the devastating product of our postmodern, atheistic, humanistic world.

If we really want to understand the problems in our society, we need to read the first chapter of Romans.

The only cure for all the ailments in society, especially the anxieties and insecurities that lead to black despair and suicide, is the rediscovery of the Gospel, biblical truth and the Fatherly love of God for each of us his children. The Bible tells us that “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever” (Isa 32:17). In the New Testament Paul tells us that “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).

It is being at peace with God that transforms our whole worldview and our interaction with other human beings. Paul urged the Christians in Rome “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). This is the message that the new Minister for Suicide Prevention needs to understand if she is to make any real progress in her work of transforming society.

Simon Pease reviews ‘A New Apostolic Reformation?’ by RD Geivett and H Pivec (Weaver Book Company, 2014).

Geivett’s and Pivec’s book, investigating the teachings of the so-called ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR), has already garnered widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers asserting that this work provides a much-needed service to the Church. This reviewer concurs.

The ‘NAR’ is a short-hand term for a loose, unofficial collection of ministries, individuals and teachings, largely emanating from the USA, which have combined over the last 30 years to become a highly pervasive influence in the worldwide Church. However, as the authors point out, many Christians who are influenced by the NAR are not even aware of its existence.

In this helpful and balanced book, Geivett and Pivec draw together the various strands of this movement and systematically review its core beliefs, which owe significantly to the 1930s Latter Rain Movement and associated ‘revivals’ such as the Toronto ‘Blessing’.

Hyper-Dominionism

The authors acknowledge that they faced a challenging task researching the NAR as a whole. In contrast to a denomination, it is harder to pin down a formal set of beliefs within this nebulous-yet-influential movement.
In essence, NAR teaching asserts that God is raising up an end times generation of apostles and prophets, to whom the Holy Spirit is revealing ‘new truth’. These apostles and prophets will lead a massive revival, demonstrate extraordinary miraculous powers, and assume worldly positions of power in spheres such as Government, education, the media, arts, etc in order to bring the Kingdom of God on earth.¹

Geivett’s and Pivec’s book, investigating the teachings of the so-called ‘New Apostolic Reformation’, provides a much-needed service to the Church.

In traversing NAR beliefs, which can be summed up as hyper-dominionism (though Geivett and Pivec do not use this term), the authors reference and quote a variety of sources, most frequently C Peter Wagner. The most extreme example provided is of Bill Hamon, who teaches that end times apostles and prophets will attain immortality and perfect health before Jesus returns. Although some within the NAR reject these ideas, they nevertheless align with the overall direction of the movement.

Systematic Comparison with Scripture

Geivett and Pivec have written a clear and accessible work. Their respective backgrounds as university professor and investigative journalist are clearly visible in the book’s neatly arranged structure and evidence-based approach.

The impetus for writing the book arose from an enquiry by an ordinary Christian directed to Holly Pivec when she was a university magazine editor. The book itself is simply dedicated ‘To the Church, the Bride of Christ’, though it is probably geared more towards church leaders, being quite an academic work. Seemingly recognising this, the authors have written a complementary book entitled ‘God’s Super-Apostles’, together with a study guide, which provide a brief introduction to the NAR, with personal stories and recommendations for responding to the movement’s teachings – evidently aimed at a broader readership than the one currently reviewed.

The first three chapters of ‘A New Apostolic Reformation?’ are devoted to explaining what the NAR is, its extraordinary influence (both within the worldwide Church and as a political force in the USA) and the highly organised strategies it has adopted to become so powerful within mainstream Christianity.

The book then systematically examines key NAR teachings, following each with a summary of biblical teaching and a comparison between the two. Invariably NAR teaching is revealed to fail the crucial litmus test of Scripture.

The book systematically examines key NAR teachings, which invariably are revealed to fail the crucial litmus test of Scripture.

The authors also counteract NAR teachings by referring to other commentators within mainstream Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement – presumably because their belief in modern-day gifts of the Spirit makes them the closest Church streams to the NAR and their views might therefore carry greater weight with the reader.

In so doing, Geivett and Pivec ensure that the book’s powerful critique is not damaged by getting side-tracked into debates such as cessationism. They also work to ensure that believers caught up in the NAR movement will not be alienated by the book, stating clearly that they consider NAR leaders to be genuinely committed believers, though never beyond reproach.

Opportunities Missed

Despite its excellence, the book does miss a couple of good opportunities. For example, the authors point out that the NAR now has its own Bible, the ‘Passion Translation’, written deliberately to promote their theology. So brazen is this ‘translation’ in its re-writing of Scripture that at least an appendix with some choice quotations would have been valuable.

In the same way, there is the occasional passing comment regarding the similarity of NAR practices to the New Age movement - but this theme is never developed. To their credit, however, an appendix is devoted to Todd Bentley’s commissioning by ‘apostolic decree’ and his rapid demise, highlighting spectacularly why NAR leaders’ claim to speak authoritatively for God is flawed.

Unlike other books on this topic, which tend to focus on the bizarre spiritual practices and unorthodox teachings of one particular ministry or leader (e.g. Bill Johnson and Bethel Church), here is a comprehensive overview of the entire movement that is highly recommended to help counteract NAR teachings within the Church.

‘A New Apostolic Reformation? A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement’ (272pp, paperback) is available from ICM Books for £12.99. Also on Amazon Kindle.

Notes

1 The clearest theological expression of this teaching is found in the ‘Seven Mountain Mandate’, in which mountains represent these spheres of cultural influence.

Why are we often so different?

In response to Linda Louis-vanReed’s recent article ‘The War on Trump’, Jock Stein muses on the contrasts between American and British attitudes to life and liberty.

In earlier life I had an American colleague who, domiciled in Scotland, heroically adopted three children from Devon. The oldest had an inherited genetic condition and suffered from depression as an adult. Last year, living on his own in California, he took his own life – but not before seeking help from three hospitals who all refused him admission because he had an insurance card called ‘Obama Care’.

The hospitals all refused to use the Obama Care card because they had been purchased by large hospital conglomerates, who wished to pursue more expensive insurance options.

American Christians have a record second to none in dedicated missionary and humanitarian engagement. But it has always puzzled me why their attitudes to healthcare provision, as well as to other political issues, are often so different from ours in Britain. If it were a matter of Christians thinking differently from others, I would expect and understand that – but my impression is that these attitudes represent the majority of Christians as well as Americans in general.

This article is an attempt to explain why this may be the case; it draws upon conversations with Americans as well as past reading, but I am open to correction.

1 Separation of Church and State

The Declaration of Independence is premised on belief in God. But because the American colonies saw church affiliation as directed by the attitude of the reigning monarch (rather than based on theological principles) they decided to allow for a separation of Church and State, hoping that this would make differences between denominations less problematic. Indeed, America was big enough to allow what missionaries called a ‘principle of comity’, with some States being mainly Presbyterian, others Baptist and so on.

Those who signed the Declaration never intended this separation to rule God out of public life. They just wanted to avoid the ‘establishment’ model being replicated in America, so that Christians (especially Non-conformists) would have a freedom they had not enjoyed in Britain. This has resulted in thousands of denominations freely proliferating.

On the one hand, this has allowed a freedom of theological inquiry which is non-aligned to political identity. On the other hand, it has inevitably led to the emergence of ‘tribal’ political identities, with politicians courting ‘the Christian vote’, just as Britain has had ‘the Non-conformist vote’ and ‘the Catholic vote’.

Those who signed the Declaration of Independence never intended the separation of church from state to rule God out of public life.

Since the Constitution does not actually name God, in the 20^th Century atheists began to argue more strongly not just to keep church out of state business, but to keep God and the Bible out of it too. Abortion and religious education in schools became crunch issues. While much the same kind of situation has now been reached in Britain by a different route, nevertheless here there is not the same stark gap between faith and public life that exists in the USA.

For example, take the polarisation between Christianity and science. In the USA, believing scientists such as Francis Collins (who cracked the human genome) have to tread very carefully around this issue when they write (as Collins does in his latest book The Language of God, which includes his testimony), despite the fact that 70% of US scientists across the full spectrum of disciplines identify as being ‘people of faith’ (Christian or otherwise). In the UK, there has been a far greater historic acceptance of faith and science rubbing along together.

This modern American attitude to separation – keep faith out of public life – seems to have embraced aspects of service also, feeding the arguments (outlined below) that welfare and healthcare are private matters - the responsibilities of individuals and churches, rather than the state.

2 The Formation of American Identity

The century leading up to the First World War did a lot to found American values. It was a Cowboys-and-Indians century in which Americans drove the frontier westward, with a belief (parallel to the spirit of British Empire) that the United States had a destiny to subdue the entire continent in the name of God.

A nation of self-made people was in the process of forming its own identity, especially after the Civil War, which left the country shaken and wounded. During this century, the steel magnate and self-made multi-millionaire Andrew Carnegie wrote a book called The Gospel of Wealth. In it, he argued that economic inequalities then emerging in American society should be tackled by the wealthy upper class, who should put their hard-earned millions to good use, engaging in thoughtful, responsible philanthropy.

A sense of individual responsibility came to characterise white American society and its Christianity.

This sense of individual responsibility came to characterise white American society and its Christianity, while it was black people who began to identify the Gospel communally – i.e. with a people and a race.¹ This contrast between individual and communal aspects of Christianity is expanded later.

Both Britain and the US have struggled to work through their race issues, but in Britain the work of those like ‘the Clapham Sect’ extended far beyond slavery into other social issues, and eventually Christians and non-Christians formed a consensus to support ‘the welfare state’ after the Second World War, which included the provision of social care. The same did not happen in USA.²

3 Individual and Social Provision of Care

The Old Testament teaches that God’s justice and care for the poor does require some social provision, not just individual charity (e.g. Lev 25). Similarly, the New Testament teaches that equity cannot be left simply to the goodwill of individuals (e.g. 2 Cor 8:13-14). This has often been reflected in the teaching of Christian leaders – for example, Calvin’s concern for his neighbour led him to support low interest rates and a city-sponsored job creation programme.

The theological underpinning of this comes from the biblical idea that each individual human being is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26) and is in need of rescue from sin through the coming of Christ and his sacrifice (John 1: 14, 29). But we also see (e.g. in Hebrews 2:5-10) a social or corporate focus – Jesus taking on humankind as a whole and dying, once for all, on the cross.

That is why the early Church Fathers described the incarnation as having both an individual side - the Lord coming to earth as a specific individual (enhypostasia in Greek) – and a corporate side - the Son identifying with humanity by taking on human nature (anhypostasia). And it is why the illustration of the Church as the Body of Christ – one body with many parts – is so powerful.

In other words, both the social and the individual matter when it comes to salvation, and this affects how we see the Gospel impacting society. My impression is that Christians in Europe, perhaps more influenced by Calvin, have taken on both these aspects of our salvation, the corporate aspect which lends itself to socialism, and the individual aspect, favourable to capitalism. This has led (all told) to a centrist economic position incorporating aspects of both in the provision of social welfare, but without the exclusion of charity.

Both the communal and the individual matter when it comes to salvation – and this affects how we see the Gospel impacting society.

In the US, it is the individual emphasis which has largely prevailed, while socialism has often been identified with communism (seen as the great rival of the American way of life, especially since the McCarthy era), and so rejected.³

In Britain the founder of the Labour Party (Keir Hardy) was a Christian; and early Trade Union branches, especially in Wales, were known as ‘chapels’. While of course many Christians held other political views, socialism was respected in Britain and found political expression in a way that did not occur in the States. The US Democratic Party had very different roots.

Final Thought: How Far is Grace ‘Unconditional’?

Healthcare is expensive, and understandably all governments struggle to put a cap on cost in one way or another, especially in ageing societies like Britain and the US. Both countries continue to debate this.

Although the contexts are very different, there is one question about attitudes which both societies face: do you help the poor regardless, or only the ‘deserving’ poor? And – to pick up the story I began with – do people really have to be wealthy enough to afford a certain level of health insurance before they qualify for assistance?

In other words, should the State set ‘conditions’ for the receipt of benefits, and if so, what conditions should it set? This may be directed by cost, but it is also a moral dilemma. Responses on each side of the pond will, at least in part, reflect the cultural differences outlined above.

Christians face this with regard to their own giving: do you help the poor, whether they deserve it or not - whether they belong to your group or not? Or do you limit generosity to ‘those and such as those’? In Roman times, the Emperor Julian used to complain how Christians supported pagan poor as well as their own, even though they would also have known Paul’s priority expressed in Galatians 6:10. And beyond the Church, is ‘charity’ only a private and individual concern, or is taxation and welfare a proper concern of ‘charity’?

In the days of the New Testament, Christians had to work out these issues within a minority group of believers – and in many respects we are now back where they were then. But the laws of Western nations were drawn up when Christians were at least nominally in a majority.⁴ Our social and political witness does, I think, require us to put these questions on a wider canvas, while we still retain the freedom to do so.

References

1 The formation of this ‘evangelical identity’ is well documented (see for example George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, 1980, OUP).

2 A recent interesting book which explores the history of these ideas is by the American writer Marilynne Robinson, The Givenness of Things (2016, Picador).

3 See Bob Goudzwaard, Capitalism and Progress: a Diagnosis of Western Society (1979, Wedge Pub. Foundation).

4 See The Evolution of the West, by Nick Spencer (2016, SPCK), Research Director of Theos.

The world in the Church.

David Noakes continues his chapter giving a personal and biblical perspective on renewal. First published in 1995. Click here for previous instalments.

We can now see within the Church the equivalent of the world's superstars, the hero on a pedestal supported and followed by his admirers. In some cases, the gifted man in leadership has been exalted in the minds of his followers to a point of infallibility, which brings both him and them into great danger.

Within the last year, a mature Christian man with leadership responsibilities said to me: “David, I simply cannot believe that X [a prominent charismatic leader] could possibly get anything wrong”. I could only respond that in that case, he had effectively elevated the man to the status of God, bringing both of them into great peril. We have brought into being the phenomenon of the Christian guru.

During the last 20 years we have seen emerge another characteristic of the spirit of the age: the desire to create large-scale enterprises, to build church empires. This is the ecclesiastical equivalent of the multi-national conglomerate commercial organisation, ruled through a hierarchical authority structure with exalted executives directing operations and visiting outposts of their empires from their central headquarters. It has much of the world's ways about it, but little of the biblical revelation of the structure of the Church or of the servant-leadership of which Jesus speaks in Matthew 20:25-28 and 23:1-12.

The world's delight in spectacular entertainment has infected the Church with the love of the big show on the public platform. 25 years ago we would see lines of people quietly waiting to receive the laying-on of hands so that the Holy Spirit would show the compassion of God in bringing gifts of healings. Now, however, we have progressed to the point where we expect that in place of the ministry of the word and prayer, men will perform as magicians to cause others to fall to the floor, for no good reason, but simply as a demonstration of power.

This is far removed from the activities of the Jesus revealed in the gospels, who disdained to exercise power for wrong purposes. He was consistently unwilling to perform signs and wonders to impress, but only in order to demonstrate the compassion of his Father to the sick and the needy and as confirmation of the truth of the word which he spoke. Many meetings now, however, are not for the purposes by which he was motivated, but for those of worldly display, financial gain and the elevation of the ministries of men.

The Church today has adopted the world’s delight in superstars, spectacular entertainment and commercial empires.

The materialism of the Western world and its 'get rich quick' philosophy has entered the Church in the form of the prosperity gospel. By 'naming and claiming' we seek to oblige a penny-in-the-slot god to deliver the goods which a hedonistic philosophy desires. Paul would have found it very hard to believe in such teaching in the midst of his impoverishments, imprisonments and shipwrecks! Yet the Church wants to be like the world, luxuriating in a form of self-indulgent religion.

“To the law and to the testimony” cries Isaiah 8:20. What does the word of God say of this? “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God” (Prov 30:8-9). The Scripture explains clearly the wisdom which underlies the teaching of Jesus that we are to ask simply for our 'daily bread'.

How Has the World Gained Access?

What has made possible this wholesale invasion of the Church by the thinking and the ways of the world? Most of those who have introduced these ways are men who originally started well as ministers of the word. What has ensnared us?

The largest factor leading us to embrace the world and its methods is exactly that which led Abraham into the trap of his liaison with Hagar: the operation of the uncrucified flesh, the inherent drive towards self-gratification rather than to what is pleasing to God. The permanent conflict within us between spirit and flesh, so plainly spelt out in Romans 8 and Galatians 5, always poses one stark question: whose will is going to be carried out, that of God or that of self?

The attributes of the self-centred, self-gratifying flesh will always drive us away from the Lord and into the embrace of the world. As with Abraham and Sarah, the flesh causes us to think that we know best and can manage God's business quite well for him. This pride, however, for that is what it is, opens the way to the desire for wealth, for fame and for the praises of men; and to the urge to exercise within the Church not godly authority, but worldly domination and control over the lives of others.

The attributes of the self-centred, self-gratifying flesh will always drive us away from the Lord and into the embrace of the world.

As a result, leaders unwittingly usurp the place of Jesus as Head of the Body, just as Jezebel usurped the authority of her husband King Ahab. Instead of gifted leaders being used by the Holy Spirit in his primary purpose of building up the Body of Christ, they often became the agents of causing the people of God to become crushed and ineffective under a religious tyranny, unable to grow and mature as the Lord would desire.

A further effect of overbearing leadership, and one which is potentially of immense and far-reaching danger, is that all discernment of the source of spiritual activity becomes the prerogative of leaders and the rest of the people have often no alternative but to stifle the witness of the Holy Spirit within them. We shall return to this topic later.

Doctrinal Error

Pride, and its accompanying desire for power and dominion, all too easily opens the door to false doctrine. Taken together with the vital ingredient of the deep root of anti-Semitism (the largely unadmitted and un-repented sin of the Gentile Church through so many generations), pride has opened the way for the doctrines of Dominion theology and for the false concepts of Restorationism and Reconstructionism.

The rejection of the clear and unambiguous teaching of Scripture concerning the continuing part which the nation of Israel has to play in the purposes of God throws away a vital key to a biblical understanding of the significance of the times in which we live. It leads to error and confusion in eschatology; to deny that God will fulfil all his word concerning Israel in the closing days of this age is to throwaway, as it were, the hub of the eschatological wheel into which all ancillary doctrine fits like spokes.

Discard Israel from the equation and there is no clear understanding of how the rest can fit together. We cannot understand how or when the coming Day of the Lord will affect the Church or the world unless we first understand how that event will affect Judah and Jerusalem.

The concepts of Restorationist thinking can only be sustained alongside a theology which maintains that God has replaced Israel with the Church; and to hold that theological position involves the assertion that God has broken his word of assurance to the Hebrew nation, particularly with regard to their restoration to the land given as an everlasting covenant to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ps 105:8-11).

The God whom we know as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not, however, one who breaks his word of covenant, for to do so would be to deny his very character. He will undoubtedly fulfil to the uttermost all his word concerning the descendants of Jacob.

Restorationist teaching and the accompanying 'Dominion' or 'Kingdom Now' theology depends, however, upon an interpretation of Scripture which denies that God will fulfil his word concerning Israel. Such an interpretation is utterly false.

To deny that God will fulfil all his word concerning Israel in the closing days of this age is to throwaway the hub of the eschatological wheel into which all ancillary doctrine fits like spokes.

The basic concept of Restorationism stems from an erroneous understanding of Acts 3:21. This verse is interpreted to mean that God will restore the Church to a glorious condition in the world before the return of Christ. However, the same verse goes on to define this restoration as being that which God has promised to do through the Hebrew prophets. Of what, then, did they predict the restoration?

They prophesied concerning the restoration of the Davidic kingdom (Amos 9:11-15) and all that accompanies it, which will be restored by the action of the Messiah at his return. No 'restoration of all things' prior to the Second Advent is predicted by the prophets of Israel.

Why should this error of understanding matter so greatly? Clearly it must matter for the fundamental reason that any distortion or error in interpretation falsifies the word of truth and misleads those who are wrongly taught. In the times into which we have now entered, however, it has an additional peril for those who have been misled by it. False doctrine gives rise to false prophecy, and false prophecy leads to confusion and disillusionment because of the failure of its expected fulfilment.

In that part - and it is a very considerable part - of the charismatically-renewed Church which has espoused Restorationist thinking and Dominion theology, there has been a consistent strain of prophecy predicting glory and dominion, power and rulership for the Church before the return of Christ. Triumphalism has been a dominant feature. It is very appealing; it appealed strongly to me when I was first hearing it more than 20 years ago but its appeal, unfortunately, is to the flesh in us. Who would not prefer to be the head, rather than the tail?

The problem, however, is that neither the basic doctrine nor this prophetic theme are true; they are both deceptive, for neither accords with the revelation of the word of God concerning the last days in which we are now living. These are days, not of increasing light, but of increasingly great spiritual darkness on the nations of the earth (Isa 60:2), which will intensify until he who is the Light of the World returns. Along with this darkness will come the false light of the increasing power and extent of New Age religion, leading ultimately to the worship of Lucifer.

The Dangers of Deception

The greatest peril to the Church, and one which will increase in danger as time progresses, will be that of deception. This is the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament. Satan will assume increasingly his two principal roles (Rev 12:9) of both dragon and serpent, persecutor and deceiver, and he will employ both means in causing many to fall away (Matt 24:9-13).

Any error in doctrine falsifies the word and misleads those who are wrongly taught – it also gives rise to false prophecy, which leads to confusion and disillusionment.

Deception, however, is his preferred method, for by it he can cause men unwittingly to serve his purposes. We are warned in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 that Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and his ministers as ministers of righteousness.

If the Church is not alert and discerning, we will surely be deceived, for he will prove too subtle for us unless we have open ears to hear and to heed the warnings which the Holy Spirit gives against deception whenever it arises, as more and more frequently it will surely do.

Counterfeit Spiritual Manifestations

Although deception is no new weapon against the Church (much of the writing in the New Testament epistles had the exposure of deception as its purpose) nevertheless of all the signs of the imminence of the Second Coming and the end of the present age, the increase of deception is the sign of which we are given the most consistent warning.

When the disciples asked this very question of Jesus concerning the signs of the end of the age, he began his reply with the words: “Watch out that no-one deceives you” (Matt 24:4). He immediately warns them of the emergence of false Christs (v5) who “will deceive many”, and in verse 11 of false prophets who “will appear and deceive many people”.

There is further warning in verses 23 and 24 concerning the appearance of false Christs and false prophets who “will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible.”
Jesus is warning of false men who will seek to validate their deceptive claims by performing great signs and wonders. They will manifest great spiritual power and bring about amazing activity yet nevertheless, they are not sent by God.

Satan is a master of counterfeit spiritual phenomena, as he had demonstrated when Pharaoh's magicians by their occult powers duplicated Moses' action in turning his staff into a snake, and then also duplicated the phenomena of the first two plagues which Moses pronounced upon Egypt (Exod 7:6-8:15). The source of their power was entirely different, but the results appeared identical. It was not until the third plague, of gnats, that God did not permit the magicians to succeed, at which point they recognised and declared to Pharaoh that the plague must be from God; their own source of power was no longer operating.

What a warning we should draw from such an account in Scripture. The outward evidence was identical, but the origin of their power was occult. If we look simply at outward appearances, impressive as they may be, we are candidates for deception. It is for this reason that the New Testament gives us so much clear warning concerning counterfeit spiritual activity.

Our need is not to reject spiritual manifestations, but to become increasingly alert and practised in distinguishing the source of the power behind them (Heb 5:14).

This is not so that we should become afraid of the genuine and reject all spiritual phenomena out of hand; rather the reverse, for the more the deceptions come against us, the more we shall need the genuine powerful activity of the Holy Spirit in order that we may discern and counter it. Our need is not to reject spiritual manifestations, but to become increasingly alert and practised in distinguishing the source of the power behind them (Heb 5:14).

Paul gives clear warning in 2 Thessalonians 2 concerning the coming of the Day of the Lord and the return of Jesus. He declares that first, a figure known as the man of lawlessness (or man of sin, the personification of the spirit of satan, sometimes called the anti-Christ) will appear. This person will be overthrown and destroyed at the return of the Lord Jesus; but before that, warns Paul in verses 9-11, he will display by the activity and power of satan “all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders” and “every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…”.

How awesome and terrible that last statement is: but for the believer it should be encouragement to hold firmly to the truth of what is revealed to us in the word of God.

A further major warning concerning counterfeit spiritual activity is found in Revelation 13:11-18, describing the second beast of John's vision. The first beast of that chapter corresponds to the man of sin, while the second is the 'false prophet', who is encountered again in Revelation 19:20. His function is to perform miraculous signs by power which counterfeits that of God, so as to deceive the people on earth into worshipping the man of sin. They will be fooled into thinking that he is the true Christ, but he will be the anti- or pseudo-Christ.

Next week: David turns to the issue of false doctrine, which joins counterfeit spiritual manifestations to make up the two major forms of deception.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Into the Lion’s Den’ by Steve Maltz (Saffron Planet, 2018).

When a prolific author such as Steve Maltz claims that his latest book is his ‘most important ever’, it is worth considering why. Certainly it is a timely book and its message vital, both in its socio-political analysis (parts 1 and 2) and its Christian response (part 3, which occupies just over half the book).

The title alludes to Daniel being tested in the lion's den. Christians today face a different den, but an equal threat: Western culture is our lion's den. In recent decades our enemy the devil has been prowling round seeking to devour (1 Pet 5:8), and has succeeded in changing our society dramatically.

In this eye-opening book, Maltz examines satan’s chosen method in the West – the unseen force behind the current explosion of political correctness, identity politics and blame culture – which goes by the name of Cultural Marxism.

Dismantling Society’s Building Blocks

Maltz has done some detailed research on the origins of our current social scene and its threat to Christian witness, presenting it in his usual readable style. He also provides a full and clear response to the threat of Cultural Marxism, drawing largely on his previous writings (Hebraic Church, Livin’ the Life) which in retrospect can be seen as preparatory to this book.

Maltz explains how Cultural Marxism took the failed ideas of economic and political Marxism and repackaged them in subtler, cultural terms, using techniques from other academic disciplines. The result was a “covert cultural infiltration, hidden in plain sight” (p8) that has made massive inroads into undermining the Judeo-Christian foundations of modern Western society.

satan’s chosen method to devour the West is Cultural Marxism.

He starts with Alice Bailey’s ten-point plan (first formulated in 1948) to wrench society away from its Christian roots, and shows how this was then built upon by others, in particular Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno, whose writings were very influential in the 1950s. This eventually led to the creation of the Frankfurt School and the development of Critical Theory in which everything is to be deconstructed, the aim being to ‘liberate’ those who have been oppressed for so long by Christianity and its associated institutions.

In Cultural Marxist thinking, points of previous stability such as the family, or the notion of two genders, are re-interpreted as inherently oppressive. The notion of objective truth is also considered tyrannical - relativism must become the norm. Truth is whatever you want it to be.

The Bible in particular, previously the ultimate arbiter of truth, is to be continually re-interpreted to support these new ideas, rather than read to bring us to a saving knowledge of God.

Victims vs Oppressors

Cultural Marxism divides society into oppressors - those clinging to a biblical framework - and oppressed: so-called ‘victim groups’, who need to be liberated from the ‘repressive’ norms of traditional Christianity. Today’s victim culture is the direct creation of Critical Theory which “began to roll out a series of ‘causes’, centring on those deemed to be ‘victims’” (p46).

The law of Cultural Marxism, which is ultimately as authoritarian as its political predecessor, is that these causes represent true freedom, and so must be upheld by everyone. To oppose or even question them is unacceptable, and so warrants derisive, shut-down treatment (e.g. labels such as ‘homophobic’, ‘racist’, ‘sexist’, ‘fascist’). Only Christians can never be considered as victims - after all, they are the oppressors, who have held the upper hand for so long!

Meanwhile we now have a whole range of potential ‘micro-aggressions’, anything that can be deemed to cause offence to victims’ feelings, ranging from casual comments to displaying biblical texts, wearing a cross or offering to pray for someone.

Cultural Marxism divides society into oppressors - those clinging to a biblical framework - and oppressed: victims who need to be liberated from the ‘repressive’ norms of traditional Christianity.

Cultural Marxism is seen as a progressive movement, helping us turn away from old superstitions, outdated morality and the restrictions of the past. Maltz has illuminated all these trends in a way that is easy to understand. We see how for decades Cultural Marxists, first in academia and then outward into politics and the media, have been pulling the strings behind the scenes in a war for hearts, minds and, ultimately, souls.

Dealing with the Madness

He concludes there “is no real hope for our society if Cultural Marxism is allowed to continue unchecked” (p71).

However, he does not finish there. In Part 3, ‘Dealing with the madness’, he offers a way for Christians not only to survive in this new culture but also to engage with it for the sake of the Gospel.

His starting point is that “we are not called to fix the Kingdom of the World, instead our role should be in the execution of the Great Commission, in helping to rescue people from this Kingdom by guiding them into the Kingdom of God” (p93).

This has always been our role, but now there is a greater urgency, as well as a greater difficulty. Yet there is also a greater opportunity. Despite the dangers of Cultural Marxism, the Gospel is not fettered and God remains sovereign. Perhaps he has allowed all this to shake us out of complacency and force us to re-evaluate our effectiveness? Cultural Marxism may have done us a favour if it results in a more authentic Christianity, one that is more Hebraic, more ‘first century’.

By exploring this possibility and how to achieve it, Into the Lion's Den is an exciting book, not a depressing one.

Has God allowed Cultural Marxism to proliferate to shake the Church out of its complacency?

Encouragement to Live Distinctively

Maltz takes Titus 2:11-15 as our mission statement for these times, using it to show how we can begin ‘Reaching a World gone mad’ (the book’s subtitle). He also draws on the main points of his previous book, Livin’ the Life, about honouring God, reflecting Jesus and engaging with the Spirit, arguing that Christians need to live distinctively.

He asserts that “our best weapon” in dealing with Cultural Marxism (p139) is understanding the difference between function and form. We must function as Christians, not just have the outward form. If we can’t talk about or quote Jesus without being criminalised, then we must become living examples of God’s word.

Towards the end of the book Maltz makes a vital point when he says that “Reaching a World gone mad is going to require more Godly Wisdom, rather than relying on our own powers of articulation or knowledge or experience” (p195). The book contains some real life examples of Christians (from all walks of life) being grilled in TV interviews, as good illustrations for us to learn from. When we speak up, God’s wisdom is needed. But if we ask him and listen, he will give us the words.

Over a long period, Cultural Marxism has been a creeping threat. We may not have seen it coming, but now we can see it clearly at work. But many may still be puzzled as to how our society arrived in its current state, how we got to this particular kind of madness, and how to respond. This book addresses these issues and should be read and then read again until we have absorbed its vital message.

How important the book will be only time will tell, but it deserves to be widely read and discussed.

Into the Lion's Den (238pp) is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10.

Further Information

Steve Maltz’s next Foundations conference takes up the same theme of Cultural Marxism – there are still some places left. Please see our News page for further details, and for information about further events involving Steve Maltz.

How the charismatic movement took on the characteristics of its social surroundings.

Last week we looked at the social and cultural characteristics of pop culture as it developed through the 20^th Century. This week we move on to see how this shaped the Church.

Youth-Dominated

Many of the founding fathers of the charismatic movement in Britain were men of deep spirituality, personal commitment to the Lord Jesus and with a passion to share Christ with others. Many of them, such as Denis Clark, Arthur Wallis, David Lillie, Campbell McAlpine, Michael Harper and Tom Smail - to mention just a few - were steeped in the Word of God and utterly committed to the promotion of New Testament Christianity. This, indeed, was their major objective, namely the restoration of authentic New Testament principles to the life of the Church.

There were many other men from conservative evangelical or Brethren backgrounds whose study of the Word of God led them to believe that the 20^th Century Church had strayed woefully from the New Testament pattern. They longed to see the restoration of the five-fold ministries, of the recognition of baptism in the Holy Spirit and of the exercise of spiritual gifts within the Church. Their witness within their denominational institutions often stirred heated opposition and many were ejected from their fellowships.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a few house church groups began to be formed, although this was never the intention of those who longed to see the restoration of New Testament teaching and practice in the Church. In the early days there were men in leadership of these new fellowships who were of sound biblical scholarship and considerable spiritual maturity. But, as so often happens in a new movement, it is not the thinkers who prevail but those who are the most convincing 'charismatic' personalities, popular speakers and natural leaders.

Young men rapidly took the initiative, both in forming new fellowships and in taking leadership. This was fully in line with the prevailing mood in Western society. These young men owed no allegiance to traditional Church or denominational institutions. They were untrained for leadership and most of them had no theological education. They rapidly developed new styles of worship using guitars, which were ideal for home groups, and new styles of meetings and leadership.

As so often happens in a new movement, it is not the thinkers who prevail, but those who are the most convincing ‘charismatic’ personalities. 

Anti-Tradition

The new house fellowships soon attracted those who were discontented with their traditional denominational churches. This, of course, is inevitable with any new movement. When David was outlawed by King Saul and took refuge in the hills, it is recorded that, “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered round him, and he became their leader” (1 Sam 22:2).

Something like this happened in the early days of the house church movement. Many who were dissatisfied with the lifelessness of the denominational churches were attracted by the informality and freshness of the house church fellowships. The early days saw many groups split away from a parent group and form new fellowships. These splits often occurred on the grounds of teaching or practice, but in reality new young leaders were arising to challenge an established leader and form their own fellowships.

The emphasis was upon all things new in response to the new experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This was a new day. God was doing a new thing. Old established practices in the denominational churches were considered stumbling-blocks to what God wanted to do among his people. The Holy Spirit was sweeping away the dead wood in the Church and there were many calls for people to come out of the mainline churches because God had finished with the denominations.

These calls did not come from mature Bible teachers such as Denis Clark and Campbell McAlpine, who never formed new fellowships and whose ministries were trans-denominational. They came from the young men who eagerly seized the opportunities for leadership presented by new teaching and the impatience of many within the traditional churches to move faster than their pastors deemed to be wise.

In Brighton, for example, when Terry Virgo founded the Clarendon Fellowship he was joined by a large proportion of the congregation from St Luke's, Brighton and Hangelton Baptist as well as individual members from churches in the surrounding area.

Young leaders eagerly seized opportunities for leadership presented by new teaching and the impatience of many within traditional churches. 

Similar things happened in many other parts of the country, where house fellowships sprang up and rapidly attracted members of the mainline churches. These congregants were longing to experience new life in the Spirit and felt constricted by the traditions which bound them in the churches they had attended for many years.

It was a time of splits, of fission and fusion, as house fellowships multiplied, outgrew their drawing-room bases and began worshipping in scout huts and school halls. There were many cries of sheep-stealing and counter-charges of being blocks to the Holy Spirit. There were many hurts, but it is now a long time ago and most wounds have healed. The new fellowships are an established part of the Church scene. Their leaders are prominent in the charismatic movement alongside those in the mainline churches.

Most of the new fellowships planted in the 1970s or early 1980s have now aligned themselves with one or other of half a dozen streams such as Pioneer, New Frontiers, New Covenant or Ichthus, each of which is now an independent sect or a mini-denomination.

At the time these new fellowships were being formed, a significant renewal movement was taking place within the mainline churches themselves. Many ordained ministers quite independently experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to lead their congregations into renewal in the Holy Spirit. Many suffered considerably in doing so while others saw quite spectacular results. Colin Urquhart in Luton, Trevor Dearing in Hainault, David Watson in York, David Pawson in Guildford and many others each attracted large congregations and saw the renewing of the spiritual life in the churches they led and the exercise of spiritual gifts among the people.

It is questionable in hindsight whether it was ever right to fragment the Church by the formation of numerous new fellowships, or whether it was God's intention to renew the existing structures. The new eager young leaders reflected the spirit of the age, both in their impatience to get on with the new thing, and with their anti-traditionalism which regarded all things of the past as only being fit for ridicule and rejection.

Certainly the Church was in need of a radical shake-up and spiritual renewal, but was it really necessary to tear apart the Body of Christ so wantonly and create such division? Would a little more love and patience have enabled renewal and a new unity to run right across the denominations? Was this God's intention for his Church?

It is questionable in hindsight whether it was ever right to fragment the Church by the formation of numerous new fellowships, or whether it was God's intention to renew the existing structures. 

We shall never know the answers to these questions, but it is a fact that the decade of the 1970s which saw the greatest fragmentation of the Church was also the decade of the greatest social unrest, the height of the social revolution.

A spirit of rebellion was running right through the nation with numerous strikes in industry and a vast increase in marriage breakdown and sexual promiscuity, with all the accompanying evidence of the rejection of tradition and the eager pursuit of new social and moral values.

It is perhaps a strange quirk that the young rebel leaders who caused great division in the 1970s and who became the leading 'apostles' of the charismatic movement are now the very ones condemning as 'divisive' those who question the biblical validity of their teaching and practices.

Individualism

20^th Century evangelicalism has tended towards individualism due to its emphasis upon the personal nature of salvation. The seeds of individualism have been there since the Reformation, but 20^th Century Western culture has greatly encouraged this. By the time the charismatic movement was born, individualism in Western society was rampant and the new renewal movement embraced it wholeheartedly.

Unlike the corporate experience of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, the renewal movement was entirely personal. Its emphasis was upon the personal relationship of each believer with the Father. This, of course, is perfectly biblical and in line with the promise of the Lord, but the Hebraic background to Jesus' teaching has been lost over the centuries and with it the understanding of the place of each believer within the corporate community the Body of Christ.

Charismatic renewal is highly 'me-centred'. Each individual is encouraged to discover their spiritual gifting. Indeed, the gifts are regarded as personal possessions rather than together making up the spiritual attributes of the community of believers.

This individualistic concept of the gifts has led to some erroneous teaching, highly dangerous for the health of the Church, such as the 'positive confession' or 'faith movement' which has emphasised physical and materialistic values such as health and wealth. Its proponents have taught that God wants all his people to prosper, to be healthy and wealthy and that through faith or 'positive confession' these things can be obtained.

This teaching is fully in line with the desires and ambitions of Western acquisitive materialistic society which no doubt accounts for its popularity among charismatics, despite it being the very opposite of the teaching of Jesus!

Much of the preoccupation of charismatics with the exercise of spiritual gifts has been me-centred: me and my health, my wealth, my family and my personal relationship with God. The exercise of spiritual gifts thereby tends to meet the personal needs within the fellowship. The servant nature of discipleship - saved to serve - tends to become lost.

Much of the charismatic renewal movement has been me-centred: me and my health, my wealth, my family and my personal relationship with God.

Charismatic worship has both reflected this me-centredness and helped to reinforce it. A very large number of worship songs and choruses use the first person singular rather than plural. One of the great benefits of the renewal movement has been to heighten each believer's awareness of the presence of God and thereby to heighten each individual's active participation in worship and deepen their spiritual apprehension of God. This is wholly good, but the danger of an overemphasis on individualism is a loss of the corporate and thereby a loss of the essential nature of the New Testament Church as the Body of Christ.

Personal Involvement

If you walk into a strange church, you can usually know instantly whether it is charismatic or traditional. If it is traditional, the congregation will fill up the back pews first; if it is charismatic they will fill up from the front. In the traditional church the congregation is passive, the people are there to be ministered to by choir, readers and preacher; in the charismatic church the people are there for active participation. They want to be fully involved in worship with the freedom to wave their arms, clap, dance and give physical expression to their emotions.

This DIY worship is very much in line with the spirit of pop culture. Amateur musicians, worship leaders and singers give a performance at the front which is enthusiastically supplemented by the active participation of the congregation.

In the new sects which arose out of the house church fellowships, the preachers and pastors were also untrained. Hardly any of them had any formal theological training in a theological college or university theology faculty. A few had been to a Bible school although many of the younger leaders had received some sort of training from schools set up within their own sects. These were non-academic and simply pass on the limited teaching of the leadership.

This represents one of the greatest dangers of the charismatic movement, where the emphasis has been increasingly on experience-centred or revelationary-centred leadership with increasingly less emphasis upon biblical scholarship.

One of the greatest dangers of the charismatic movement is its emphasis on experience-centred leadership over and above biblical scholarship.

As the charismatic movement has tended to become increasingly driven by the leaders of new sects in concert with a handful of leaders from the mainline churches, few of whom are men of outstanding scholarship, the gap between biblical truth and current charismatic practice has widened.

The anti-professionalism of pop culture has been present in the charismatic movement from the beginning although leaders have been quick to assert their own authority. The excesses of heavy shepherding, which scarred many people's lives during the 1980s, have largely disappeared, although the authoritarianism of sectarian leadership has left its mark. Individual believers are encouraged to be fully involved in worship and the exercise of spiritual gifts, with the exception of the gift of prophecy, which is permitted as long as it is supportive of the leadership.

Next week: The final three characteristics of pop culture are compared to the Church: sensuousness, lawlessness and power.

First published 1995. Revised and serialised November 2017. You can find previous instalments in this series here.

Searing criticism of ‘pansy’ Christians who fail to challenge godless culture.

Much of Western society has been bewitched by a political elite seeking to change the order of God’s creation, with the result that the Church has lamely retreated from the public square with a message that could otherwise challenge it.

In a passionate call for Christians to engage with today’s world (Gospel Culture, published by Wilberforce Publications), Joseph Boot packs a powerful punch. Rarely do you find an academic/theologian calling a spade a spade, but it was a most refreshing experience as I became thoroughly absorbed in this scholarly work despite the author’s frequent use of words with which I am unfamiliar!

He castigates many of today’s Christians as being part of a “weak, ineffectual, intellectually impotent, compromised and complacent church culture of inward Christian pansies” by the way in which they have allowed the world to dictate how the Church should be run.

And he concludes that much of the Western Church has failed in its mission to bring the Word of God to every aspect of life. For the most part, he argues, we have subscribed to a heretical ‘Two Kingdom’ theology separating the sacred from the secular as a convenient excuse for not engaging with an apostate Western culture.

We retreat into our holy huddles and dare not raise the issue of politics in our pulpits, with the result that congregations are rarely, if ever, encouraged to weigh topical debates in the light of Scripture.

The Bible Speaks to the World

But this is God’s world, and the Bible speaks of all life – there is no big issue of our day on which it doesn’t have something pertinent to say. On the issue of abortion, for example, Boot’s experience has clearly mirrored my own with the way some church leaders don’t seem to see this as a topic on which the Bible speaks, and on which they ought to be giving guidance to their congregations.

In a passionate call for Christians to engage with today’s world, academic/theologian Joseph Boot packs a powerful punch.

When I was asked to lead intercessions at a church of which I was once a member, I included this issue in my prayers as it was being discussed in Parliament. But after being told off by the vicar for doing so on the basis that there were politicians in the church who might have been offended, my wife and I promptly left the church – for good!

Joseph Boot says we are not only called to win converts to Christ; we are called to be salt and light in a dark world and thus affect the culture around us, as our forebears did in bringing an end to slavery, child labour, illiteracy, poor health and much more.

But more recently we have allowed the secularism and humanism of the political and media elite to influence how we think, so that we are now effectively conforming to the world rather than being “transformed by the renewal of our minds” as St Paul urged the church at Rome (Rom 12:2).

Recovering the Full-Orbed Gospel

Boot argues that today’s political agenda is a resurgence of ancient witchcraft with its manipulative and brainwashing techniques.¹ And many of our churches have been influenced by it – a pretty damning and alarming thought. Disengaging from the public square was a “fatal flaw” which led to endless divisions among Christians “frantically drafting peace treaties with non-Christian thought”.

I guess this is why I’ve struggled for 40 years to convince Christian leaders in this country of the need for a media bringing a biblical worldview to mainstream debate. And I concur with the author’s statement that “for us to deny that we have a task on the earth to apply his salvation victory and lordship, his beauty and truth to all aspects of life and thought is to renounce Christ.” (author’s emphasis).

Boot argues we are not only called to win converts to Christ; we are called to be salt and light in a dark world and thus affect the culture around us. 

Just because culture is being relentlessly driven in the opposite direction to Gospel teaching, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t challenge it. It leaves the public at large not only alienated from God (and we are called through the Gospel to reconcile man with God) but now seeking to alienate God’s world from its Maker - “to separate what God joins and join what God separates”.

We desperately need a recovery of a truly scriptural view of life – “a full-orbed gospel” that takes God at his word and understands and applies the implications of Christ’s resurrection to all of life.

Dr Boot’s sphere of influence straddles both the UK and Canada. As well as being founder of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity and senior pastor of Westminster Chapel, Toronto, he is director of the UK’s Wilberforce Academy and head of public theology for campaign group Christian Concern.

Gospel Culture (2017, 128pp) is available for £5 + P&P. Also available as an e-book.

Notes

1 Boot writes: “If we are to understand the radical changes in our society today as inspired by diabolic principalities and manifest in ideological strongholds that set themselves up against the knowledge of God (Ephesians 6.12; 2 Corinthians 10.4-6), then we must grasp the essential instrumentality of modern political life as engaged, wittingly or not, in witchcraft – employing a ‘secret’ (elitist) knowledge in an attempt to join opposites.”

He further explains: “Our current culture is thus bent on defacing the image of God by denying that man is man and woman is woman, by negating the God-given nature of marriage and by politically manipulating people to believe and act as though an illusion were true – that homosexuality is normative, gender is fluid and that androgyny is the human ideal.”