Emergent Monday: What Is The NAR?

24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. (Matthew 24:24-25)

I didn't want to write about the New Apostolic Reformation, I just wanted to expose the false prophesy of Rick Joyner who, had he actually received a prophesy from God about the Carolina Panthers it would have been "Broncos by 14". But lately I've been seeing the NAR almost everywhere in the blogosphere and in media. As many Christian bloggers can tell you, sometimes you just have to write something on a particular subject. While not wanting to wax Pentecostal, I believe that the Holy Spirit occasionally wants a subject to be broadcast and I've noticed that when I feel His push to write about a subject I often see that several other Bloggers will write about the same subject too.

For those that have never heard of the New Apostolic Reformation, you're in luck, I'm going to be writing a bit about them, for a while at least. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a title invented by C. Peter Wagner to describe a group of people that seeks to establish their own form of Christendom. The conspiracy theorist would call their vision the "New World Order", and you know something? They would (for once) be right:

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

My wife likes Greg Laurie. I kind of like his message on occasion, but he's definitely no Tony Evans. For one thing, Tony Evans earned his doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary, while any degree held by Greg Laurie is merely honorary. In fact I'm unable to find any reference to Greg's education, theological or otherwise. The only theological "training" I can see in Greg's bio is leading a small Bible Study group for Chuck Smith.

I think the last time I listened to Greg Laurie was his farewell to Chuck Smith, but normally I avoid his shows because I can't stand the noise "worship music". But maybe there's something more that's whispering in my ear.

Did you know Greg Laurie has a TV Show? He sure does, right there on TBN at 8:30 PM (Eastern) on Monday and 1:00 AM on Thursday. You know TBN, the station that John MacArthur calls the "Unholy Trinity" dominated by "faith-healers, full-time fund-raisers, and self-proclaimed prophets spewing heresy", "brazen false teachers", and "religious quacks" spreading a "damnable lie".

I've written about my concerns for Greg Laurie in the past, mostly about the concerns I have about the crowd he's been running with (man, I'm starting to sound like my mom), especially when in the light of 1 Corinthians 15:33. Then last year we catch Greg fawning over prosperity pimp and scripture scrambler Steven Furtick's newest scam book. Then we find he's chumming around with Mormon priest Glenn Beck, But now Mr. Laurie has gone completely off the rails.

Spurgeon Thursday - Try What You Read

Try what you hear. Try what you profess. Try what you read. Goldsmiths keep bottles of acid by which they test everything that is offered them for sale, to see whether it is gold or merely tinsel. And the Christian should keep God’s Word near at hand and treasured in the soul, to test thereby all that he hears. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Many hearers believe all that is said because of the person who declares it to them. This is not according to Christ’s mind! 

We ought to receive nothing as vital religious truth except it is sent us from above! And however much we may respect the pastor or the teacher, we must not so give up our judgment to any man as to receive his teaching merely because he chooses to utter it. Bring every form of the truth of God that is delivered to you, though it may glitter with oratory and seem reasonable and proper, to the test of Scripture! 

It is very difficult, however, to get men to do this. They seem to fancy that you have sinister motives the moment you tell them so. There is a conservatism in the nature of us all with regard to our religious faith which is right enough if it were balanced by another principle. To hold fast what I know is right, but to be willing to receive or to do anything that God would teach me to receive or do is more right still. I must know what it is to which I hold fast, or else I may be injuring myself by the fixedness by which I stand to what I have learned. 

The woman of Samaria said, “Our fathers worshiped God in this mountain.” That is the argument of numbers of persons. “Our fathers did so-and-so.” This would be a capital argument supposing that our fathers were always right, but a very absurd argument supposing that they were wrong! I hope we are not like that early Saxon who asked where his father and all his ancestors had gone—and when he was told they were no doubt lost—he replied to the missionary that he would rather go where they were than become a Christian and be separated from them! 

The More I Learn The Truer This Gets

The NAR, The Emergent Church, The Prosperity Gospel, The Christian Left... the more I learn about them, the truer this gets

Is Dominionism What God Wants?

When warriors for the atheist faith sharpen their swords, their main targets are actually dominionists, not Christians. However being ignorant of the bible and Christians in general, atheists don't know the difference between dominionists and Christians. 

Atheist acolytes such as Mikey Weinstein and his cohorts are really up in arms about dominionists, claiming that dominionists want to take over the world. And the horrible thing is that they are right. Dominionists claim to be Christian, they claim to worship God, they claim to love Jesus, but in reality they fall short of all three claims.

So lets's play a quick round of Final Jeopardy. The Final Jeopardy answer is: This verse in the bible says that followers of Jesus are required to take over the earth. Please word your response in the form of a question (Jeopardy theme for 30 seconds) Times up. The correct Jeopardy question is: What is none?

That's right, no verse in the bible even remotely hints at Christians taking over the world. So who in their right mind would would even consider claiming to be a Christian and insisting that they are going to take over the world? The correct answer should be "no one"... but then there's the New Apostolic Reformation - the NAR. 

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Sometimes being a watchblogger is just too easy. To be honest, much of the time the writing can be pretty difficult. A concept, verse, or situation will arise that takes hours of research, prayer, and introspection to bang out a few hundred words. I've found that my personal spiritual paradigms crumble to dust on more than one occasion as I dig deeper into God's word. I can't even imagine what Pastor Paratus has to do to flesh out his weekly sermon up to 30 minutes (wink).

I have had articles sit in the draft stage for months until finally one day it happens - and it can only be the Holy Spirit - an insight occurs, or I realize that the direction must change, and suddenly it all makes sense and a complete article is staring at me from the screen.  This post is a shining example of that.

But like I said, sometimes it's just too easy. Take the Mr. Trump - Mr Pope dust up. Mr. Pope says Mr. Trump is not a Christian. Mr. Trump says that no religious leader should have the right to question another man’s faith. People with discernment watch their pitiful exchange and realize that the end is near. I mean seriously - no religious leader should have the right to question another man’s faith? Donnie, ever hear of 1 Corinthians 5:12? Mr. Trump claims to collect bibles, but I haven't seem much evidence that he reads them.

Meanwhile Mr. Pope calls Mr. Trump "not a christian" for wanting to build a border wall. Odd words for someone who lives in a country that is completely surrounded by border walls. This is a country that has only 450 citizens and has the strictest immigration policies on earth. In fact being born in this country does not grant citizenship in Vatican City (Mr. Pope's country) only an appointment from the King of Vatican City can grant citizenship and approve or deny immigration applications. And by the way, the King of Vatican City is none other than Mr. Pope himself. You just can't make this stuff up! So for me the whole kerfuffle is like watching a fight between Lex Luthor and The Joker - I want to watch both loose.

Celibacy isn't chastity, so the pope had a girlfriend.

Joel Osteen's Counterfeit Gospel (artificially sweetened with sacrilege)

Do you celebrate Lent? Why?

Spurgeon Thursday - A Warning For Lent

I shall not detain you longer upon this point when I have said another word. Though this is a Protestant land it is beyond all question that there are some Popish enough to perform great religious acts by way of merit! What a goodly row of almshouses was erected by that miserly old grinder of the poor as an atonement for his hoarding propensities! What a splendid donation to that hospital!

A very proper thing, indeed , but the person who left it never gave a farthing to a beggar in his life! And he would not have given it now, only he could not take it with him, and so he has left it as an atonement for sin! 

Sometimes persons think that the doing of some outrageous religious act will take them to Heaven; frequenting Church prayers twice a day, fasting during Lent, decorating the altar with needlework, putting stained glass in the window, giving a new organ or such like. At the suggestion of their priest they do many such things, and thus they go on working like blind asses at a mill, from morning to night, and make as much real progress. Do I address any such persons here? 

I do not find fault with you for what you do, but I do find fault with you for why you are doing it! If you dream that you are saving yourselves, remember that your acts are selfish acts, and that there is nothing good in them. They may be good things in themselves, but as they are done not unto God, but evidently with a view to your own welfare, they are done to yourselves, and He will not, therefore, accept them. 

Let there be never such splendid deeds of alms- giving, never such marvelous mortifications of the flesh, never such devout attendance at daily prayer—they avail nothing before God—when they proceed from a self-righteous heart. Away with them! Away with them all! They are dross and dung before the Most High, if you bring them to Him with a view of purchasing salvation. No, you must have done with these, and trust in Jesus only. 

When a man can say, “I am saved. Christ is mine”—then he can serve God acceptably, and his deeds shall be received through Christ Jesus. 

- Charles Spurgeon. “God or Self – Which?” Volume 8, no. 438, 1862.

Where There's No Vision, the People Perish?

Emergent Monday - False Doctrine from a False Doctor

Dr. Rick "Super Bowl" Joyner not only is a false prophet, he has a false degree. Mr. Joyner received his 'doctorate' from a "paper mill", an unaccredited institution that cranks out doctoral certificates that claims that "experience" is as good as a bachelors AND a masters degree. Earning a degree means that you have undertaken the prescribed course of study, which for a doctorate is 14 years of intense study. In a legitimate institution the prerequisites for a doctorate requires a bachelor's degree which takes four years to complete, and a masters degree which takes an additional two to three years. Generally a doctor's degree will take an additional 8 years to complete. Rick Joyner skipped the bachelors degree and the masters degree and went straight into his doctoral program with a high school GED. Mr. Joyner purchased his doctorate from North Carolina College of Theology whose accreditation is questionable at best.

Oh, and by the way, Rick Joyner is the founder and Executive Director of MorningStar University. Would you go to a university whose director has only one legitimate diploma, and that one is a High School Graduate Equivalency Diploma?

Mr. Joyner's falsehoods go beyond his academic career, his prophetic 'gift' needs a bit of a tune-up too. On June 23, 2008 Mr. Joyner joined several of his cohorts in the New Apostolic Reformation to "ordain" Todd Bentley as an apostle in the NAR at the Lakeland Revival. When it it Mr. Joyner's turn to speak he steps up to the microphone and proceeds to prophesy over Bentley. In part he says:

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I mentioned earlier that I was beta testing the Brave web browser. It's still in development so most of the features you come to expect in a browser are missing, such as bookmarking and accessing your history, but believe me, this stuff is going to be good. Opening a web page in a browser which automatically blocks ads and Adobe Flash nonsense is incredible. It's so awesome having your web page open immediately and the fact that the text you're reading isn't covered by slimey ads creeping across the page and distracting nonsensical and inappropriate  ads all over the pages makes reading the text a joy, even if it's weird text.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to drum up a blog entry on cessationism (yeah, it's that whole Rick Joyner thing again) and I ran across a statement lately that said "the age of the prophets ends with the coming of God’s son Jesus into the world." Does anyone have any insight to that? I can find nothing to corroborate it. I agree with Dr. MacArthur when he says "the written Word of God is perfectly sufficient, containing all the revelation we need", I'm just doing the Berean thing.

The angels in heaven must be singing up a storm! A Jewish writer of secular erotic romance turns to God for answers after Sandy Hook and strays into the New Testament, she's now given up the erotic writing and has been baptized as a brand new Christian. Pray for her growing maturity in Christ and take a moment to greet her into the family!

Spurgeon Thursday - Ten Wonderful Quotes

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born on June 19th, 1834 and was possibly the most influential preacher of the last three centuries. He was never trained for the ministry but he read an average of six weighty books a week and could remember what he read decades later. His collected sermons run to about 25 million words, and he would preach for 40 minutes on a single page of notes He founded churches, Sunday schools, an orphanage and a theological college that still operates today. Spurgeon was such an ardent and passionate opponent of slavery that American publishers deleted those references from his books.

His style of speaking was plain and simple, no grandiose eloquence, just a simple earthy manner. He was not a technical scholar, and he never pretended to be one as he had no patience with pretension. He appreciated simple, nice things, such as his flower gardens; one gardener who professed to have attained religious perfection had to be dismissed for carelessness, and Spurgeon declared that he would have a sinner next time. He loved fine scenery, and was proud of his horses and took good care of them. He always said they were Jews, for though they took him to the tabernacle on Sundays, they always rested on Saturdays. 

He was a master of the understated retort. One time a person called at his house demanding to see him without an appointment, and when refused an interview, would not take a denial. The man sent Charles a second message that "one of the Master's servants wanted to 'see him on the Master's business." Spurgeon sent a reply that he was very sorry, but at that very moment he was engaged with the Master Himself, and had no time for the servant.

Here are ten wonderful quotes from the Prince of Preachers:

Beyonce, Coldplay, the Super Bowl and Satan

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders. (Psalm 105:1-2)

The memories of Super Bowl 50 will remain fresh in the minds of us Denver-ites for decades to come. The defensive struggle was one for the (NFL) history books. Personally I'll always root for an original AFL team, and I'll always root for the underdog (you get used to doing that as a Buffalo Bills fan) and when I get both I'm in my glory. But mostly I would have payed good money to hear this exchange on live TV:

                Payton Manning, you and the Denver Broncos just won the Super Bowl.                           Where are you going now?

               OMAHA!

Emergent Monday - Rick Joyner Is A False Prophet

26 "How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? (Jeremiah 23:26-27)

This may come as a shock to some of you, so if you're weak of heart please change your web page to something less shocking, like this page, Ready? Here goes: Rick Joyner is a false prophet. 

I know, I know - shocking news to some, old hat to others, but Rick Joyner, IHOP cult member New Age Emergent man of God isn't what he professes to be. Rick Joyner has made a comfortable life for himself through biblical shenanigans, false prophecy, and utter nonsense. Back in 1992 he wrote a book titled "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" which opens with this:

"The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a powerful Biblical model of the Law.  As the Apostle Paul declared "The power of sin is the law" (1 Corinthians 15:56).  This is because it is through the Law that we must derive our knowledge of good and evil.  We may wonder how this knowledge brings death until we see the fruit.  The knowledge of good and evil kills us by distracting us from the One who is the source of life; the Tree of Life - Jesus. The Tree of Knowledge causes us to focus our attention upon ourselves.  Sin is empowered by the law; not just because the evil is revealed but the good as well. It drives us either to corruption or self-righteousness, both of which lead to death." (There Were Two Trees In The Garden, Rick Joyner, pp. 9-10.) 

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

This Sunday is going to be an interesting day, it's Pastor Paratus' birthday and I'm sure there's something afoot among the congregation. This bunch is always up to something. Oh yeah, there's a football game on afterwards too. Living in Denver it's hard to miss that. Many of my former co-workers ended up in Charlotte so I will be available to comfort them on Monday. To be honest, many of my former co-workers are here in Denver as well, and like those in Charlotte are all Buffalo Bills fans first and foremost, so we're more prepared for loss than victory.

We received about a foot of snow on Monday and Tuesday, and being stubborn I put my oxygen tank in a back pack and went out and cleared the driveway. I used a snow blower but it was still a strain and I felt it through out my entire body for the next few days. But I'm grateful that God gave me the chance to do that, it's been decades since I had the chance to spend a few hours behind a snarling red snow eating monster. This was something I spent my youth doing, clearing my fathers driveway and our elderly neighbors drives. Considering my health it was a pretty stupid thing to do, but considering the time I got to thank God for seeing me through this was priceless.

A new NBC "comedy" suggests that Jesus was gay. Here's the link for feedback to NBC.

Who is the greatest danger to blacks in America? The "Christian" Left, naturally

They may be slow, but science is catching up to the bible

Eighteen "Don'ts" for discerning Christians

What Part Of "A Just God" Don't You Understand?

Do you know Dan Trabue? Dan has several blogs where he writes about literature and art and his church and critters and plants and Dan Trabue. Dan is interested in Arts, Culture, Children, Civil Rights, Humanitarian Relief, Education, Environment, Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Social Services. He's every involved at his home church whose core beliefs emphasize being peacemakers and being welcoming and affirming.

But for all that going for him Dan appears to be a sad, lonely man and needs our pity as well as our prayers. One of his ways of alleviating his loneliness is being an internet troll. He sincerely likes to troll Watchbloggers, harassing them with attacks, abusive language, and his own creative twists on scripture. This is very odd behavior for someone who is active in a church whose core beliefs emphasize being peacemakers and being welcoming and affirming. Several Christian bloggers have had run-ins with Dan, in fact Alec Satin at While it’s yet day has collected a few 'Dan Stories' to share. I too have had a Dan-attack very recently.

Why I Am Not A Prepper

Not very long ago Charisma News published an article titled The Rapture, Obama, Donald Trump and 50 Other Excuses People Use to Avoid Prepping. First of all, I don't recommend Charisma News to anyone with an iota of discernment, I say this mostly because of the presence of Rick Joyner on that web site. There are a bunch of articles about the prophesies of Mr. Joyner but somehow they missed his prophesy that when the Carolina Panthers win the Super Bowl it will be a prophetic sign of the "third great awakening"

Everybody knows that's just crazy talk because God doesn't use professional sports for prophetic signs and the Broncos aren't going to let that happen anyhow.

Now for those of you who aren't aware, prepping is the hobby of getting ready for an emergency either real or imagined. Mostly imagined. People whose days are taken up by preparing for some horrific disaster are called Preppers. Prepping consists of gathering and storing emergency food such as buckets of rice, beans, jerky, and dehydrated entrees. Preppers also gather tents, camping equipment, emergency radios, guns, ammo, bows, arrows, anything you can think of to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, or any other form of apocalypse if they run out of zombies.

Ecumenical Monday: Reformation? What Reformation?

I know of a fellow who says he loves God and Jesus but worships a dead woman. This fellow is full of all sorts of unique beliefs: he believes that folks who believe in justification though grace alone are crazy and should be damned, he believes that Christ's work was left incomplete on the cross, he believes that God isn't good enough to confess your sins to - you need to talk to a person instead. He also believes that the bible isn't enough and must be amended with tradition,  that you're not smart enough to read the bible, that God and Allah are the same, that Christ is not the only mediator between us and God, and even dead people can intercede for us. He even insists that salvation through grace is just crazy talk and that justification rests in specific measured works that must be accomplished before death. He also believes that when we die, we become Gods.

Oh, and he calls himself a Christian. 

The fellow is Mr. Pope Francis and not only unrepentant, he's set his sights once again on Christians. Years ago Mr. Pope's political ancestors took it upon themselves to wipe out biblical Christianity and insure that papistry ruled western theology. Starting in 12th century the Roman Catholic Church took it upon themselves to slaughter the Arnoldists, the Cathars, the Waldensians, the Fraticelli, the Husites the Beguines, and the Lollardists. Following the Reformation the Catholic Church declared war on Protestants, we were denounced as heretics and subject to persecution by the inquisition. The Roman Catholic Church's abject hatred of bible believing Christians caused eruptions of sectarian hatred such as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 where up to 30,000 Protestants were slaughtered.

Oddly enough, 30,000 is the same number of Protestants that were persecuted in Catholic Spain between 1936 and 1975. Even though the Spanish Bill of Rights granted freedom of private worship, Protestants suffered legal discrimination and were not allowed to hold worship service in buildings which had exterior signs stating that it was a house of worship.