IT’S CRUNCH TIME FOR GOD’s (FALSE?) PROPHETS

This post is the second in a series of related posts. Here is a link to the original post.

Did you know there is a quiet, invisible spiritual battle taking place right now for the soul of America?  You might have missed it, as the battle is taking place beyond the view of the daily news, and involves a small but fervent portion of the evangelical Christian church.  To those involved, it is real, and critical, and among the most significant nation changing events of recent times.  The battle hinges on the reelection of President Trump, with the leaders of this battle for America’s soul declaring a massive surprise in the upcoming weeks leading up to the presidential inauguration.  God is going to show up - just in time - to provide a great victory for His kingdom, and return the United States to its rightful covenant relationship with Himself.  All the deception and lying concerning the massive coordinated election fraud will be revealed, and President Trump will be reelected, thereby advancing Christian-influenced (dominated?) governance and ushering in a great harvest of souls for God.

Only very recently did I learn that this subset of evangelical Christians is loosely organized as a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).  I’ve learned this movement has been on the radar of Christian apologists for at least a decade, with many apologists asserting it is a full-blown heresy.  A simple search for New Apostolic Reformation using your favorite internet search engine will produce plenty of sites to explore.

I first discovered some of the leaders of this movement earlier in 2020, when I looked into what presidential candidate endorsements were being made by Christian leaders and influencers.  My background in pentecostalism has always made me curious what self-proclaimed prophets declare God is saying about current events.  In the case of the 2020 election, I quickly learned that the prophets were unanimous in their declaration that President Trump would be re-elected.  I posted a blog entry on this discovery (August 27, 2020:  God’s prophets are pitching a shutout against Biden.  At the time, I had no idea that several of them are adherents of NAR theology.  What I was primarily interested in was if their unanimous declaration about the U.S. presidential election was correct, and how they would react if President Trump was not re-elected.  I should note that I am unconvinced of the idea that America is in a covenant relationship with God from its founding, and that America, as a country, can be “saved”.  Here is a blog post someone else wrote explaining why America is not in covenant relationship with God.   Nor am I convinced by the argument that it is God’s will for President Trump to continue to be the president.  Consequently, I’ve been skeptical of the legitimacy of these prophetic declarations about the 2020 presidential election. Here's another Christian blogger who is also skeptical of these prophetic election assertions.

After the election results came in, I continued to listen to these prophets - many of them posting updates daily, exhorting listeners to be steadfast in prayer, and remain in the battle.  As days and weeks passed by, and more and more government officials and cultural leaders acknowledged Mr. Biden’s election victory, the majority of these prophets have remained firm in their position about the election.  Among them include Sid Roth, Hank Kunneman, Jeremiah Johnson, Kenneth Copeland, Tracey Cooke, Mario Murillo, Lance Wallnau, and Dutch Sheets.  Of these, I ended up watching Dutch Sheets the most.  Dutch Sheets has posted videos daily since election day, and went on a prayer tour of the “battleground” states, visiting each state multiple times, holding live streamed worship and prayer services (mostly with large in-person crowds and without social distancing or masks), under the moniker of Operation Valkyrie (here is a news article explaining Operation Valkyrie.  He also held a couple of special live onsite prayer events in Pennsylvania prompted by prophetic dreams he received, one which was in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in the middle of the night!

Within the past two weeks, a number of individuals are actively opposing these prophets on their live video streams and video posts (via chat feeds), so the spiritual war in the heavenlies between God’s angels and the forces of darkness is now manifesting in online chat battles between the defenders and opponents of NAR theology (and President Trump’s claim to the presidency).  

What is so astonishing to me is that the NAR proponents are imploring God to overthrow the clear will of the majority of voters, and to “steal” the presidential election from the rightful winner! (and if anyone reading this feels that Mr. Biden or the democrats stole the election, I’m still waiting to see the evidence - and I mean real, verifiable evidence - of the sort which would persuade a federal judge).  Of course, they view what they are asking for is just, as they believe President Trump truly won the election.  Many of them are planning to show up for a rally in Washington D.C. on January 6th.

How large is this NAR movement?  I’ve seen estimates that there are roughly 3 million evangelical Christians participating in NAR-type churches in the U.S.  From my online video surveillance, it looks to be no more than 250,000 really dedicated individuals who are tuning in regularly.  So the good news is that the NAR movement isn’t particularly large, but the troubling news is that it is large enough, with sufficient followers and financial resources to potentially persuade additional Christians to buy into their errant theology.

Throughout, I’ve debated if this is something I should speak out against - and warn those watching and listening to these prophets that what they advocate for is not aligned with Biblical Christianity.  On the other hand, there are a lot of sincere Christians who are participating in prayers for the country, albeit some of what is being prayed for is misguided, in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see how the prophets of the NAR movement respond after the electoral vote count next week and the Presidential inauguration.  Right now, they are declaring victory in advance of President Trump’s inauguration.  I’m eagerly waiting for their prophetic updates to be posted on January 7th and January 21st.

Click here for the next post in this series.