I was nine years old when my then-pastor, the Rev.James H. Thompson, raised as a Baptist, was criticized for inviting speakers to Gum Springs Pentecostal-Holiness (PH) Church, Taylors, SC, who were not from the PH denomination.
Those speakers reportedly had received “baptisms in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.” Pastor Jimmy resigned his Gum Springs pastorate. Some church members wanted to start a new church. The result was Faith Temple, an independent, interdenominational “church for all people.” My family became part of Faith Temple, Taylors, SC.
Pentecostals are continuationists, meaning they believe that all New Testament spiritual gifts, including “sign gifts,” continue today. (Descriptions of those gifts are found in 1 Cor. 12:4–11 and 1 Cor. 12:27–31.)
The Greek word “charisma” means "favor" or “gift." A “Charismatic Christian” is one who believes in the Pentecostal gifts but is not a member of a classical Pentecostal church. Some groups sprang up as Charismatic churches, though many Charismatics remained in old-line denominations.
“Among Anglicans, the charismatic movement emerged in 1958,” sources say. “The second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s was the golden era of the charismatic movement.”
Sources define the Charismatic Movement this way: “The charismatic movement is the international trend of historically mainstream Christian congregations adopting beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity similar to Pentecostalism. Fundamental to the movement is the experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata).”
EXPOSED TO THE NAR
At Logos International, a then-Charismatic publisher I worked for in 1973, I believe I experienced a baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In 1989, I worked for Gulistan Carpet in Aberdeen, NC. My wife and I (and two daughters) attended Sandhills Assembly of God in Southern Pines, NC.
After 12 years at Sandhills AG, my younger daughter persuaded us to join Grace Church of Southern Pines, NC, known as a Charismatic Church. After a time, a Grace Church friend said to me, “Steve, we have to pray in the Kingdom.”
I said, “I thought Jesus could return at any time.”
“No, we have to pray in the kingdom,” she said.
This lady and her husband liked Pastor Rick Joyner, so I googled “pray in the kingdom, Rick Joyner” and learned about a world I did not know existed: the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation). The NAR had influenced Grace Church.
The church I attended had been influenced in the early 1990s by by Professor C. Peter Wagner who fostered a movement that seemed to say this: Christ will return but not until we get the world in better shape to present to him. Wagner advocated that roles of Apostles and Prophets needed to be re-established, hence the name, New Apostolic Reformation. The greatest leaders in this NAR movement are referred to as Apostles or Prophets.
“The biggest innovation of NAR is the belief that apostles, working together with prophets, must take over the governance of the church — taking the reins from the pastors, elders, and denominational leaders — so that God’s end-time plans can be fulfilled and Christ can return,” says Holly Pivic, an author who writes about the NAR.
Most people, I believe, at the large church I attended (Grace Church) did not know the specifics of what the church’s inner circle believed.
I believe NAR influences hurt Grace Church. What had been a seemingly good Charismatic church morphed into an "Apostles and Prophets" experiment with strange ideas.
The RAPTURE?
A now-deceased NAR prophet said, “Christ is not coming FOR his Church; he’s coming IN his Church.” That means Christians should not look for a Rapture but should be empowered to “take the world” for Christ — becoming a sort of corporate version of Christ. That idea may come from an old movement called “The Manifest Sons of God” movement.
The NAR’s roots go back to a Latter Rain Movement (LRM) in the late 1940s. This movement was opposed by the Assembly of God (AG), the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination. The AG has published two “position papers” challenging NAR teachings that apostles and prophets must govern the Church. While some AG churches have allowed NAR teachings into their groups, AG leadership is opposed to NAR ideas about apostles and prophets ruling the Church.
HOW DID NAR IDEAS SPREAD?
C. Peter Wagner reportedly had his disciples approach independent charismatic churches to spread his views. But there is even a division inside many AG churches because of NAR influence. The NAR promotes “signs and wonders,” Dominion, and does not believe in a Dispensation Premillennial Rapture of the Church as classical Pentecostals do.
The late C. Peter Wagner said, “The Gospel will be preached to all nations ... I believe the world is going to get better ... we believe God has sent us out to restore things ... when that has happened enough, Jesus will return to a very strong world, reflecting the Kingdom of God.”
Many NAR adherents believe they will go through the End-Time Tribulation the Bible describes and that no Dispensational Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church will happen.
Taking Dominion of this world involves, for the NAR, a “Seven Mountains Mandate.” Those seven mountains are religion, education, family, business, government, the arts, and media.
SEVEN MOUNTAINS MANDATE
Strict Dominion ideas include that it is the duty of Christians to create a worldwide kingdom patterned after the Bible’s moral law. Strict dominionists believe that Christ will not return to earth until such a kingdom has been established.
After much research, I arranged to meet with the lead pastor of my church. We talked for an hour. I said, “Many of our church’s attendees, if they knew of these NAR beliefs, might leave the church.” He said, “Maybe.”
On Sunday morning at that church, one probably would not hear of most NAR subjects. The music is contemporary and messages are basic Christian appeals to seekers and generic believers.
My wife and I returned to the AG church, where most members had not heard of the NAR. In Jan. 2018, we moved back to SC. Carol passed on in Jan. 2019.
THE NAR — a SUMMARY (from sources)
In the NAR there seems to be heavy emphasis on spiritual warfare, “word of knowledge,” a pursuit of cultural and political control in society, and an emphasis on signs and wonders. Many of its followers will not self-identify as part of NAR.
The NAR teaches that God’s intended form of church governance is apostles and prophets who hold leadership over evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12). According to the NAR, God began to restore prophets and apostles over the last 30 to 40 years. Only now, as the church is guided by the appropriate spiritual leaders, can it fulfill its commission. This commission is seen as more than spiritual — it includes cultural and political control.
These apostles are also destined to be recipients of a great wealth transfer (in the end times), which will enable the church to establish God’s kingdom on earth, NAR sources say.
NAR Prophets are almost as important as apostles, in their system. They theoretically have been empowered to receive “new” revelations from God that will aid the church in establishing dominion.
Criticism of the NAR from bewatchful.org:
“The Bible warns us that in the last days, many will turn away from the truth (2 Timothy 4:4). Christians will not control the earth before Jesus returns. Conversely, persecution will increase, people will turn away from God, and the world will gradually fall apart. Only the return of the Lord can save it from utter destruction.”
The Rapture of the Church, which I learned about at Faith Temple (years ago) and at Bob Jones Univ. and at most churches I’ve been in, including the Assembly of God, is different from the Second Coming. The Rapture is “a taking away of believers, where Christ’s feet do not touch the earth, as I understand. Later, the Second Coming takes place when Christ returns to set up his Kingdom in Jerusalem, as I understand.
Some groups, including the NAR, seem to teach that there is no Rapture (of saints from the world before the Second Coming).
Will the Gospel be preached to the ends of the earth after the Rapture and during the Great Tribulation? Will it be preached by Jewish evangelists? I wonder.
The largest NAR question concerns the governing of the Church by Apostles and Prophets.
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
The NAR elevates apostles and prophets to governing roles over evangelists, pastors, and teachers as they interpret that verse. I see all five positions as being equal in that verse.
BOOKS by Holly Civic and R. Douglas Geivett for FUTHER READING:
“God’s Super-Apostles”
“A New Apostolic Reformation?”
“Counterfeit Kingdom”
