This article is about a festering “Christian” movement
preparing to bypass the cross and insisting on glory, worldly victory and great
prosperity. I am returning to issues I have written about in the past, over
thirty years ago. Then it was family and church members entering my office with
tapes and booklets asking me to review them and explain what their family or
friend was involved in. Now it is a movement turning political and dangerous,
marrying the Christian name to ideas of vengeful violence.
Years ago writing about two heretical religious movements
I saw they were so connected that I could see them merging into one large
movement. One group was Christian Identity, a movement of anti-Semites who
believed that most white people were descended from ancient Israel, and that
the actual Jews were the literal children of Satan.
The other group, often referred to as the Manifested Sons
of God, believe they will overcome and destroy evil and even death before the
return of Jesus; these two groups were so mixed that I eventually wrote a paper
on the Manifested Sons of God which contained quotes from both groups. And then
I focused on the racist group and wrote Christian
Identity: A “Christian” Religion for White Racist.
Recently I read three books on the New Apostolic Reformation,
a movement that contains adherents to the Manifested Sons of God teaching. All of
the books are written by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett. The books are: Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and
New Age Practices in the Church; A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical
Response to a Worldwide Movement; and God’s
Super Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement. The
books reminded me of my past papers on the Restoration
Movement and The Manifested Sons of God.
The movements I wrote about were the very early beginnings
of the movements Pivec and Geivett have written about. Their information is
excellent. They not only write about the heretical ideas but analyze them from
a strong biblical point of view.
Recently I wrote about Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Scott
McKay who are part of the far right and hold many conspiracy views.[1] They all, along with
others such as Julie Green who is considered a prophet and Eric Trump the son
of past president Donald Trump, are a part of Clay Clark’s The Reawaken America
Tour, and many have connections to the New Apostolic Reformation. While pastors
and writers such as Lance Wallnau and Eric Metaxas may not have attended the
tour they have interacted with and interviewed many participants including Clay
Clark. The movement’s connections are growing within the far right political
groups.
Among many of them one hears that God isn’t ready for the
tribulation so Christians must fight against the so-called globalists, Marxists
and Democrats in order to delay it. From Eric Metaxas [2]one hears that if
Christians don’t fall in line, obeying the political ideology pushed by the far
right, a greater evil than the Holocaust will happen. Pastor Michael Petro a
Manifested Sons of God teacher suggests to Bo Polny, his video guest, that the
early church taught that God would “pull a remnant out of the church then God
will cloth them in the glory that Adam lost and they will pull the greatest
revival that’s ever been seen.” Polny agrees with him.[3]
In their speeches and sermons atonement is rarely
mentioned but when it is, it is sadly connected to political salvation. God is going
to help Christians overcome and rule the nations by destroying their enemies. In
a slide show Bo Polny, one of the supposed prophets, is predicting what he
calls the Haman effect, a televised hanging of the movement’s enemies.[4] Some are predicting a
catastrophe with banks and financial institutions in many countries failing and
most wealth, meaning all gold, silver and real-estate, falling into the hands
of the Christians who belong to this movement. And some antisemitism is
connected to this particular prediction since several refer to the banks as
controlled by the “Khazarian Mafia” which is simply a name taken from a
Baltic tribe that converted to Judaism and is mythicized by several members of
The Reawaken America Tour into evil conspirators.
There are two ways open to followers of Jesus in this
moment. One is biblical consisting of both quietness in lifestyle (1Thess 4:11)
and courage in confession. The other comes from the father of lies and lifts up
sensuality, pride, a security that is tied to human strife and manipulation.
Some theologians refer to the two as the difference between a theology of glory
and a theology of the cross.[5] The first seeks constant
victory, material blessings and supernatural events; the other clings to Jesus,
accepting a cross that mirrors His.
The first doesn’t begin erroneous, it begins with the truthful
understanding that God is the creator who is powerful. (Rom. 1:19-20) But the
kindness and compassion of God understood in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus is not known by simply finding God in creation. God’s revelation in
scripture is Jesus Christ and God’s gift through Him of forgiveness of sins and
everlasting life. While many in the NAR movement and those on the extreme right
speak of God, even Jesus and salvation, they focus, as I have noted, on God’s
power, vengeance and His material blessings. They see supernatural signs as
proof of their own righteousness and correctness predicting a great revival
when people see how the world’s wealth has fallen into their hands.
The second way Christians are called in this moment, and
that by the Holy Spirit, is the way of the cross. We are called to live a life
that is often full of suffering. We are called to live our life in quietness,
confident only in the knowledge of our relationship to our Lord and our hope in
the resurrection.
And we are called to make our confession to others
including both the far left and the far right.
Lance Wallnau, one of the New Apostolic Reformation
leaders, teaches there is a difference between the Jesus who came to suffer for
our sins and the end times Jesus; not in his person but in his attitudes and
function. Wallnau sees the first as the compassionate Christ and the end times
Jesus as the vengeful warrior. But Jesus does not change, As Hebrews states He is
“the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:8).” He is always the
compassionate Lord and He is always the ruling King.
The problem with Wallnau’s teaching about Jesus coming
back as a wrathful warrior is not this image, but rather his teaching that
Christians must now become more like the end times Jesus in their ministry
seeking power in the various cultural vocations including government and education.
But rather Jesus called His followers, before His return, to abide in Him, to
make disciples, to pray for rulers and individuals, to pray for deliverance
from human evil and immorality, to care for those in need. We are not called to
seek power, position or wealth in his name.
Yes, Christians have vocations in this world, doctors, teachers,
senators, home keepers to name a few, but those vocations are not meant to be
political attempts to defeat enemies.
This festering movement consisting of heretical pastors,
so called prophets and apostles, political extremists and the people they are seducing
may in the end scatter, find darker visions and fade into nothingness. Or they
may become connected to an elected leader and believe they are fulfilling their
own prophecies. They may even attempt to fulfill their darker violent visions. Prayers
for them and their followers. Prayers for the Church.
But
sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 4:15).
[2] Naming
His Grace: Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas: An attack on
"Faith Alone": a book review by Viola Larson
[5]
Gene Edward Veith Jr.. The Spirituality
of the Cross, (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2011); New
Dictionary of Theology, Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, Editors, J.I.
Packer, Consulting Editor, The Theology of the Cross, R.J. Bauckham. (Downers
Grove: intervarsity Press: 1988).
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