Counterfeit Religion: NAR

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) — look it up with your favorite search engine.
You’ll get lots of names, places, organizations. It’s big and growing fast, with money pouring into by the truckload every day. If there is any religion today threatening humanity, this is probably it. I’ll give you a clue: They think God votes Republican, which in reality plays out to Fascism. Worse, it has one foot deep into blasphemy.
You can read all you like, but the best way to spot a counterfeit is to have a sure knowledge of the real thing. I’ll raise a few issues of the real deal so you’ll understand why NAR is fake.
Jesus never had any interest in politics, aside from knowing enough to avoid getting involved. Granted, everyone involved in politics will interpret a genuine Christian faith as a political statement, but they would do that with a drop of bird splat. Jesus said His Kingdom was not of this world, and His disciples would not be involved in changing the political situation. If politics need to change, we leave that in God’s hands, because we have too many otherworldly concerns to occupy our time.
Christians are looking to escape this world, not fix it. Of course, true religion is taking care of widows and orphans, and anyone else who suffers in some way, powerless against a broken world. That’s because the message is our sacrificial love, a willingness — nay, an eagerness — to lay down one’s life for the sake of the message. And if that means dying from a thousand voluntary cuts to our own welfare, fine.
That business of being a “victorious overcomer” is a reference to conquering one’s own personal demons. God may choose to extend His hand to perform signs and wonders, and may grant some of us a limited authority to direct that power, but only because we have demonstrated to His satisfaction a certain level of commitment. That’s the meaning of that fancy word, “faith.” We are committed to tossing aside all our worldly concerns, and though we hardly expect to succeed against our own fallen flesh every time, we are committed and ready to keep trying until we die. We overcome death by facing it head on, and passing through it to the other side. No miracle from God is granted based merely on human need, but upon some revelatory need to express a higher truth, to correct some spiritual injustice.
There is nothing wrong with using the term “apostle” to describe an office assumed by some human person at any point in human history, and on into the future. That’s because the term is synonymous with “missionary.” It implies a certain amount of authority over those who respond to the missionary efforts, but even Paul considered himself accountable to those who sent him. We all recognize we are ultimately accountable to God, but we also know He works through other people as surely as He does us. It’s not about rank, but role. Paul said he would rather lose his influence over someone if it meant they went out and preached the gospel.
There are also prophets throughout human history. In broad terms there are two types, with a lot of overlap, because it’s all by the same Holy Spirit. There are prophets under the Laws of God, such as yours truly. There are also prophets who receive a particular spiritual gift, considered part of the so-called charismatic gifts. The difference is the internal process involved, and a broad difference in how the ministry operates. Neither of them says anything contrary to what is well established in Scripture. Everything is merely an application or contextual refinement arising from deep and ineffable truth. No prophet today will add to Scripture.
Scripture is a Hebrew document, even the part written by the Gentile, Luke. It’s based on a Hebrew intellectual world view, which happens to be distinctly mystical. The logic is symbolic, and the language is largely parabolic. It is not analytical in logic, and not often literal in expression. If you start from the Hebrew assumptions, the literal portions will become obvious. To assume a literalistic rendering of clearly symbolic language is asking for trouble.
Real religion is a matter of tagging alongside while God does the real work. Teaching faith is not about talent or charisma. Paul was notoriously untalented as a public speaker, yet so very effective because he didn’t rely on his personal abilities. The message carries its own power. It also does not depend on money, because God supplies by free will, voluntary offerings. If people won’t ante up, that’s their problem. God’s work gets done regardless of any human agency, but He surely prefers to use all the servants He can get.
If/when we have a national government dominated by Republicans, we will have to contend with the very real threat from this NAR stuff. And you thought the Spanish Inquisition was rough.