Confronting the pseudo-biblical beliefs of the NAR.

I feel I must speak further about the Prayer Day in the Wembley Arena last month. We have had a storm of emails and phone calls coming into the office. None of them have been abusive, but they have all expressed concern about the presence on the platform of speakers whose ministries are linked with certain pseudo-biblical beliefs and practices.

On the one hand I am very encouraged that so many Bible-believing Christians in the Arena, and those who watched online, are aware of the dangers facing the Church today. On the other hand, I am concerned that I was one of the speakers sharing the platform with the individuals in question, with whom I would not normally be associated.

Public Dissociation

Many of the emails have been critical of David Hathaway, whose ministry sponsored the event. For many years David’s ministry has been in Russia, Eastern Europe and in Israel, so our paths had not crossed until recently when he felt the Lord calling him to do evangelism in his home country. He has a passion for the gospel and he knows that our nation is in trouble, but having been absent from the church scene in Britain for so long, he trusted others to invite speakers to the Wembley Arena meeting. They brought in people of whom he had no knowledge and had never met.

I had accepted the invitation to lead the opening prayers of confession. I was expecting half an hour would be allocated for such an important part of a prayer day, but I was only allowed ten minutes. I left the Arena soon after the lunch break and I did not watch the afternoon’s footage until the following day. I was shocked to see some of the things that happened.

We have received many expressions of concern about the presence on the Wembley platform of speakers linked with certain pseudo-biblical beliefs and practices.

I want to take this opportunity of publicly dissociating Issachar Ministries and Prophecy Today UK from events in the second half of the Wembley Arena meeting. I was pleased to be involved in the act of repentance for the divisions between the black and white churches in Britain in the first half of the day. I have laboured for many years in inner-city areas of London longing to see such unity and believing that the day would come when God would use the vitality in the African and Caribbean churches to bring a fresh spiritual dynamic into the evangelisation of Britain. But I cannot endorse many of the other things that were spoken and prayed from the platform later during the prayer day.¹

Of course, I should have been aware that the enemy would do everything possible to spoil the day, but the amazing thing is that God can turn any situation around for good. When Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Egyptians, what they intended for harm, God used to work out his purposes for good. I believe God can do the same with the Wembley Arena meeting.

Its mixture of spirits reminded me of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and the days when the magazine Prophecy Today was at the forefront of the battle for biblical truth. But because of this mixture at Wembley, the issue of error in charismatic churches has been brought right back to the fore and there now seems to be fresh opportunity to challenge and expose it.

Battle for Truth

Today, the battle for truth has never been sharper, nor has there been a greater need for Bible-believing Christians to stand together and to exercise godly discernment. The teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) must be exposed or they will destroy the charismatic Church at the most critical period of history since the Second World War.

NAR Dominionist (‘Kingdom Now’) teaching is bringing ‘strange fire’ into the Church. In its crudest form states that we are in the last days and God has raised up a new group of ‘apostles’ with greater power and authority than the original apostles. Not only that, but individual believers are also granted unlimited power and blessing. Together, this ‘army’ are to found the Kingdom of God on earth, taking dominion over the nations and, in due time, when they have subdued all opposition to the gospel, Jesus will return and they will present the Kingdom to him. Dr Frances Rabbitts, our Managing Editor, has a long-standing interest in this subject and has written an excellent overview article which we are pleased to publish alongside this editorial. Please make it essential reading.

Because of this mixture at Wembley, the issue of error in charismatic churches has been brought to the fore and there now seems to be fresh opportunity to expose it.

Dominionism was the teaching of the ‘Kansas City Prophets’ whom John Wimber brought to Britain in July 1990. Bob Jones called them ‘Omega Apostles’ with more power than the ‘Alpha’ (i.e. first) Apostles and Paul Cain convinced John Wimber that he was the super-apostle with the task of presenting the Kingdom to Jesus. I spent a whole day trying to convince John that this was all based upon false prophecy. Sadly, he was deceived, but later repented and dismissed the Kansas City Fellowship and the Toronto Airport Fellowship from the Vineyard group of churches.

This is a sample of Paul Cain’s teaching:

If you have intimacy with God, they can’t kill you, they just can’t. There is something about you; you are connected to that vine: you’re just so close to Him. Oh, my friend, they can’t kill you…If you’re really in the vine and you’re the branch, then the life sap from the Son of the Living God keeps you from cancer, keeps you from dying, keeps you from death…Not only will they not have diseases, they will also not die. They will have the kind of imperishable bodies that are talked about in the 15^th chapter of Corinthians…This army is invincible. If you have intimacy with God, they can’t kill you.²

There is not a shred of biblical evidence to support this teaching but it had great appeal to people who had little knowledge of the Bible. It also appealed to church leaders with dwindling congregations who were longing for a revival and who grasped at anything that had popular appeal.

The harm that has been done since the 1990s to thousands of churches in Britain, America, Australia and throughout Europe is immeasurable. But the KCF teaching was not new; it had been around since the 1940s. It originated in 1948 in the so-called ‘Latter Rain Revival’ beginning in the Sharon Bible school, North Battlefield Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Latter Rain, or ‘Manifest Sons of God’ teaching (Rom 8:19) has never gone away since. It has a subtle appeal with its message of power to the powerless. Ever since the events in Toronto in the 1990s, Dominionist teachings and spiritual practices have been spread worldwide through books, music, the internet and through big Christian gatherings such as New Wine and Soul Survivor. Today it is almost impossible to find a charismatic church in this country that has not in some way bought into the influence of such as Bill Johnson and Bethel Church in Redding, California. It is also being promoted by a great many false prophets who use so-called words of knowledge and other spiritual devices to deceive the unwary.

The teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) must be exposed or they will destroy the charismatic Church at the most critical period of history since the Second World War.

The Centrality of the Word

We are in a battle for the truth that has been raging in the Church throughout the Western nations for the past half-century or more. No doubt it is because we are in such a critical period of history that the enemy is doing everything possible to frustrate the purposes of God. The only way that this battle can be won is through re-discovering the centrality of the word of God in the life of the Church.

At Prophecy Today UK we recognise the seriousness of the battle and intend producing a new series studying the biblical word of God as given to the Old Testament Prophets, beginning next week with the ministry of Jeremiah. He faced a similar battle for truth when the nation was facing a threat to its very existence – a message that has great relevance for us today.

References

1 With the exception of the contributions of Barry Segal on Israel and anti-Semitism.

2 Quoted in Blessing the Church? (Hill et al, 1995), p90.

The Church needs to return to the whole word of God – for the nation’s sake.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” – so says an ancient proverb in the Authorised Version. The NIV translates it “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint” (Prov 29:18).

Both of these statements are good descriptions of what is happening in Britain today, in Parliament and in the streets around Westminster. There is no clear vision in our Government or among our elected representatives. And the people in the street merely shout slogans at each other expressing contrary views. Why is this? And why is this happening at such a crucial period in the history of the nation?

The simple answer is that we are living in a generation that has abandoned truth. Everywhere, we are surrounded by lies and deception. Social media is full of it and our newspapers cannot be trusted – they all have their own agendas to promote. Even the BBC, that was founded upon biblical principles of declaring truth to the nations, has succumbed to the epidemic of ‘fake news’, promoting ideology while pretending to be impartial.

Listening to BBC Radio 4, the flagship of national news broadcasting, is painful today as the interviewers constantly interrupt those they are questioning, trying to force their own views (which are clearly biased towards ‘remaining’ under the dominion of Brussels and undermining every attempt to get a clear and clean Brexit).

Unexpected Co-operation

There was, however, a significant shift in the House of Commons this week as panic at the prospect of leaving the EU with no deal gripped MPs of all parties and persuasions. This caused them to move from simply declaring what they won’t accept, to searching for some common ground. It was a major change of attitude which brought agreement that Government and Opposition parties will combine in the search for an acceptable deal. Of course, this should have happened two years ago - it might have avoided the current impasse with Brussels that looks impossible to solve at this late hour.

We are living in a generation that has abandoned truth.

It certainly looks as though our MPs have left it too late in coming to a common agreement in time to find an acceptable arrangement with the EU. The Prime Minister may be given the impossible task of going back to Brussels and attempting to re-open negotiations which the 27 other members of the EU consider closed.

Is there any hope? Certainly, for we believe in the power of prayer. Many Christians came together in meetings all over Britain last Saturday, observing a call to pray for the nation.

Dr Hill and David Hathaway, Wembley Arena, 26 January 2019.Faithful, believing prayer is never wasted and it may be that it was the day of prayer that influenced the MPs to move towards a more positive position, searching for a way forward together.

Different Theologies

But I have to be honest about my own involvement in the Day of Prayer. I was given the privilege of leading the opening slot at a large prayer meeting in the Wembley Arena which brought together Christians from a wide variety of church backgrounds both on the platform and in the hall (it was live-streamed and is still available on Youtube). The format of the meeting was good, following the biblical example of Daniel’s prayer – beginning with worship and confession before coming before the Lord with our requests.

In my experience this is the first time that leaders of the black and white churches of Britain have come together on the same platform confessing their division, asking God’s forgiveness and seeking his blessing upon the nation. I have been working with Africans and African-Caribbean churches for more than 50 years and longing to see relationships of love and unity that would release spiritual power into the nation.

The leaders of these churches came to Wembley last Saturday but they did not invite their large congregations so it was a mainly white congregation in the Arena. There was a sense in which they were just dipping their toes in the water before fully committing themselves to working together. This is a start – but there is much more work to be done.
Leaders pray for unity, Wembley Arena, Saturday 26 January 2019.

I am by no means criticising those who organised the meeting at short notice which was a valiant attempt to reproduce the kind of united praying church that succeeded in praying the nation to victory at Dunkirk and in the 1940 Battle of Britain. But it was nonetheless apparent that there is still a lack of clear, unified vision in the Church, even among believing charismatic evangelicals.

It may be that the lack of clear vision on Saturday was the result of cultural differences in the approach to prayer and worship. But I personally have never found these to be a barrier: I can worship in different cultures – and levels of sound! The thing I did find difficult was sharing the platform with those who have very different theologies: especially leaders who are expecting imminent revival.

Return to Biblical Truth

I made a statement that there will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church and I believe that to be true. Jeremiah faced a similar situation from false prophets who were telling the people of Jerusalem not to worry about the threat from the Babylonians because God would protect the city. Jeremiah told the truth that God would not protect a city full of idolatry, immorality, greed, lies and deception. He called for confession and repentance and this should be our call to the nation today. But it will never be heard in the nation until it is proclaimed in the Church first of all.

The Wembley meeting was a great start, and I believe it really affected the political realm in the following days, but it also revealed the enormous need for Christians of all traditions to search the scriptures in a common endeavour to recover biblical truth – starting with defining the very nature and purposes of God.

The Wembley meeting was a great start, but it also revealed the enormous need for Christians of all traditions to recover biblical truth.

The Church has glibly taken over God’s covenantal promises to Israel without ever understanding God’s true purposes and how he intends fulfilling them. We need to go back to Isaiah 55 and study carefully the word of the Lord,

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Replacement Theology must be swept from the Church, along with the false teaching, prophecy and spiritual practices of the so-called ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR) that are muddying the spiritual waters and creating confusion in the Church. The only way to find clear vision with which to give a lead to the nation is for the Church to return to biblical truth and declare the whole word of God.

Prayer Day at Wembley Arena, Saturday 26 January.

Reflections a year on from Grenfell and Manchester.

This week we were reminded of two tragedies in our nation. On Monday the media carried harrowing reports of the tragic loss of life at Grenfell Tower, as the main inquiry into the cause of the disaster began.

On Tuesday, memories of the 22 lives lost and the multitude injured in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack replaced memories of Grenfell.

I heard no-one in the media asking the obvious question, “Where was God in all of this?” Indeed, God has been so sidelined in the thoughts and lives of the majority of our nation that we no longer even hear the question, “Is there a God?”

Yet, we still live in a nation whose Queen, at her Coronation, swore an Oath to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who has protected us beyond our deserving over many years. Central to that Oath was the commitment to maintain his laws and the true profession of the Gospel. Over a generation, this commitment to God has largely been forgotten by the nation’s leaders and is rarely mentioned by the leaders of the established Church.

Unprotected Children

As far back as the 1980s, I was waiting one day in the playground of the school where our youngest two children were about to finish their school day. I watched as the classes were dismissed and as a crowd of children emerged, each looking for a parent to take them home safely. I thought I heard the voice of God in my mind saying that these children were no longer under his protection.

Over a generation, our national commitment to God has largely been forgotten.

I wondered if I had imagined it, because these were simply innocent children, embarking on their lives in a country God has greatly blessed and protected. I recalled the wonderful protection of my own childhood when, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, family and community co-operated to re-build our nation after the devastation of war, thankful for God’s deliverance from the evil that so easily could have engulfed us.

Yet, since that day when I thought I heard that voice of God, one disaster has followed another in our nation, making me think that God was indeed speaking, in the early stages of removing his hand of protection.

Let me say clearly, however, concerning both the Manchester and Grenfell disasters that God was not punishing those who had assembled there, any more than those who lost their lives when the Tower of Siloam fell in Jesus’ day. The picture is bigger: that, whilst we must also recognise that God allowed these disasters, they serve as signs to our nation – warning signs that we will not live in safety if we choose to live outside of his protection.

Knowing God’s Ways

If, as we should, we search our Bibles to discover God’s ways, we will see that God does take his protection away from his people if they do not seek him with all their heart. At the time of Samuel, for example, when the religious framework of the nation had decayed under Eli the priest and his wicked sons, the Philistines prevailed over Israel.

Again, when the kings of Israel and Judah led the people astray (kings whom God warned his people they should not desire), the troubles of the nations soon followed. Ultimately, God’s protection was removed: first from the Northern Kingdom of Israel which fell to the Assyrians, and then from the Southern Kingdom of Judah which fell to the Babylonians.

Disasters like Grenfell are warning signs that we will not live in safety if we choose to live outside of God’s protection.

God’s sadness was displayed through the weeping of the Prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in the Book of Lamentations. Similarly, Jesus wept over Jerusalem when he foretold the coming second fall of the City.

God knows what will happen when the doors are allowed open to the evil adversaries of the people of this world – adversaries both physical and spiritual. God weeps when the time comes for him to remove his protection from a people who do not seek him, who choose to try to live without him under the beguiling principles of humanism and false religion, where false gods are honoured. But he is willing to remove his protection.

We are reaping the consequences of this in Britain today despite the fact that we have had sign after sign that should bring us to ask, “where is our God?”

The Prime Minister adds her condolences to a 'Tree of Hope' in Manchester. See Photo Credits.The Power of Testimonies

The testimonies of those who lost loved ones at Grenfell and the memories of the fatal night in Manchester are profound. But they should not only be sparking human sympathy and attempts to celebrate and unite a community (such as in Manchester where a concert has been held), but be compelling those who have responsibility for our nation to lead us in seeking God in repentance.¹

God is a loving Father to those who seek him with all their heart and protects his loved ones beyond their deserving – always. But he is also a strong God who will not bend from the eternal balance of justice and mercy. He is Judge of the entire earth and cannot compromise in the ‘big picture’ of his eternal covenant purposes throughout history.

God weeps when the time comes for him to remove his protection from a people who do not seek him.

If he did not spare his own Son in these eternal purposes of overcoming sin and offering eternal redemption to those who would accept it, he cannot continue to protect a people who reject him and choose lives of sin.

There is a Way Back

There is always a way back and those who know the Lord, namely those in the churches of our nation (especially the leaders of the churches), should be his prophetic voice. It is imperative that we take the opportunity while we still have it to call this nation back to repentance and seeking God.

It is time for the leaders of our Government - from the Royal Family through to the executives who are duty-bound to outwork the purposes of the Monarch’s Oath - to take their responsibility before God and lead the nation back to him. This is what the tragic signs are telling us. We are vulnerable outside the protection of Almighty God and that vulnerability is bringing increasing pain, sadness and loss of life - not only to those who lead but to those for whom they are responsible.

Notes

1 And we do not mean just any God. The multi-faith service in Manchester which was part of the memorial activities a year after the attack is yet another symptom of how far our nation has compromised our allegiance to the One True God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.