'Wily' Christian right group is gearing up for massive assault on 2024 election: writer
Opinion by Sky Palma
Anew "anti-democratic" and pro-Trump religious movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has been exposed in a new book by Canadian scholar André Gagné who says it's gearing up to play a massive role in the 2024 election.
The book, “American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times,” adds some context to the little-known movement that is confusing outsiders. According to Salon's Paul Rosenberg, the greatest strength of the book is its “focus on how [NAR] adherents speak of their beliefs and practices."
Researcher Bruce Wilson, in an online discussion of the movement, described it as “highly experimental, always trying new things to see what works. The star megachurch ministries, among which are Bill Johnson's Bethel Church in Redding, California, Mike Bikel's IHOP in Kansas City, and Rick Joyner's Morningstar in South Carolina, are all hotbeds of innovation,” he said.
Wilson said he has uncovered well-funded programs launched “to obscure, to confuse and confound reporters and journalists and academics who are writing about and discussing dominionist Christianity.”
In the same discussion, Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, said NAR is ,“constantly changing, [and] has factions in tension with one another.
" ... They are wily because they are worried that the rest of society will figure out who they are and what they are up to.”
Churches that promote the ideology of NAR seek to align themselves with other churches under the guidance of “apostles,” to engage in “spiritual warfare” against demonic forces, and conquer the “seven mountains of culture” and establish dominion over the world, according to Rosenberg.
According to Gagné, the movement's defining characteristic “relates to the ‘amount of spiritual authority delegated by the Holy Spirit to individuals,’” which was also “applicable to non-charismatic church leaders.”
NAR “revolves around the restoration of the five-fold ministry [a concept drawn from Ephesians, referring to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers] and an apostolic system of governance. This model challenges the democratic structures of churches," Gagné said.
Read the full report over at Salon.
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