Top New Apostolic Reformation Ministry Calls For Talk To Action To Be "Silenced"
Bruce Wilson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 02:48:03 PM EST
"We need to pray that all false accusations and the voice of the accuser of the brethren be silenced in the name of Jesus!" - Spokesperson for Global Havest/Global Spheres, Inc. ministries

Leading up to the 2008 election, prominent NAR apostles prayed with and blessed Sarah Palin, and they overwhelmingly dominated the August 6th, 2011 The Response prayer event that served as the de facto launch for Texas Governor Rick Perry's 2012 election presidential bid. Apostles from this same movement are now encouraging their followers to pray that this website be "silenced in the name of Jesus!"

It's no secret that Talk To Action, which I co-founded in early 2006 together with Frederick Clarkson, has since September 2008 featured what has been probably the most extensive in-depth coverage of, and research on, the New Apostolic Reformation among secular media. So it is not altogether surprising that a spokesperson for the personal ministries of the man who named the New Apostolic Reformation and, more than any other leader, has helped shape and organize the evolving NAR, C. Peter Wagner, has called upon believers to pray that Talk To Action be "silenced."

But the edict is very notable in light of concerted efforts, by Peter Wagner's movement, to brand itself as moderate or even quasi-progressive, and it sharply contrasts with Wagner's statement to NPR's Terry Gross, for a Fresh Air interview published October 3rd, 2011, that his movement respects pluralism. Asking believers to pray to God that one's critics be "silenced" is not an expression of respect for pluralism.

As Peter and Doris Wagner's Prayer Coordinator Rebecca Greenwood, who teaches for the Wagner Leadership Institute, is considered an authority on "Spiritual Warfare Prayer", and has authored the book Breaking the Bonds of Evil: How to Set People Free from Demonic Oppression (2006, Chosen books) told the faithful, in an October 3, 2011 Constant Contact communiqué sent out on behalf of Global Harvest ministries and Global Spheres, Inc. (the successor ministry to Global Harvest),

"For those of you who would like to know more of the type of things that are being said and portrayed concerning Peter and Doris, Cindy Jacobs and Lou Engle, and many others, you can go to www.talk2action.org. This gives a clear representation of what is being discussed even in conservative Christian arenas.  We need to pray that all false accusations and the voice of the accuser of the brethren be silenced in the name of Jesus!"

The "accuser of the brethren" is commonly taken within Christianity to refer to Satan, so Greenwood's construction clearly suggests that Talk To Action is either publishing "false accusations" or is in fact channeling the voice of the devil. There is nothing "moderate" about painting one's critics in this manner or encouraging one's believers to pray that such demonized critics be "silenced".

It is impossible to know how many believers in the New Apostolic Reformation will be praying for Talk To Action to be silenced, but the Global Harvest/Global Spheres ministries have the ability to tap into charismatic prayer networks, in development for over two decades, which have both national and also international reach.

Oddly, the conjoined Global Harvest/Global Spheres ministries seem to be in rough agreement with former Orlando Sentinel religion writer Mark I. Pinsky--who in a controversial, nationally published USA Today September 19, 2011 op-ed, insinuated that contributors to Talk To Action have smeared evangelicals in the manner in which the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and blood libel, have been used to demonize Jews.

Both Global Harvest/Global Spheres and Mark I. Pinsky point their readers directly to the Talk To Action website, which both accuse of terrible, unfair attacks against evangelical leaders; both fail to provide their readers with any evidence whatsoever to justify their dire accusations. Unlike Global Harvest/Global Spheres, Mark Pinsky does not suggest that Talk To Action is channeling the voice of absolute evil but in secular terms his accusations are as absurd, especially for the utter lack of evidence.

The existence of the New Apostolic Reformation began to seep into secular American consciousness in the lead up to Rick Perry's August 6th, 2011 The Response prayer event, which served as the de-facto launch of Perry's presidential campaign. NAR intellectual godfather C. Peter Wagner has since acknowledged that one of his apostles, Alice Patterson, organized the event at the personal request of Texas Governor Perry, and Wagner's ICA apostles dominated The Response--which, for the ideological extremity of his NAR movement, likely has no precedent in American political history.




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Of course the NAR is calling for censorship of the truth. From their perspective, anyone who tells the truth about them or who is less than 100% supportive of their agenda is "demonic." I am thankful Talk to Action is here to tell the truth.

by khughes1963 on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 03:16:50 PM EST

What?

C. Peter Wagner is spouting sanctimonious Ka-ka while "baring false witness" about talk2action? He's using "accuser of the brethren" dog whistles to literally demonize free speech?

Don't worry, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few commandments. (I think that's the cliché)

Pinsky has converted me to see that Wagner only does this sort of thing on days that end in "Y". nothing to see here, move along folks.

Bruce, you should be ashamed for telling the truth about stuff. Don't you know that if you tell a lie enough times, it becomes real. My pink fluffy-bunny & unicorn farm is a testament to this, and if you keep telling the truth, I'm going to have my trained "attack Leprechaun" hunt you down.


by Stacey Tallitsch on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 03:54:08 PM EST

Ha! Her "training" regimen for me has been to hide me bottle of "medicinal spirits" under Chick tracts and antagonizing me by saying stuff like, "Leprechauns at Mass are too funny, 'cause the other parishioners can't tell if we're kneelin' or sittin'!"

Besides, I only "attack" when oi'm not hungover, which, coincidentally, never occurs on days ending in a 'Y'.



by trog69 on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 09:41:34 PM EST
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I was listening to a skit on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion today, and he talked about the zombies taking over a church, including the pastor.
Weird, huh?

Jim of Olym

by rdrjames on Sun Oct 16, 2011 at 07:58:37 PM EST
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Somewhat off topic, but for anyone who can use this feel free to cut and paste.----- I e-mailed it to our Lord and master, Fischer:----- Fischer's Phone: 888-589-8840.----- E-mail: focalpoint@afr.net----- THOMAS JEFFERSON ON RELIGION.----- 1) Irrelevance of religious beliefs.----- "But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."----- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782----- 2) Separation of Church and State.----- "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, " thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."----- Jefferson, Thomas. "Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists: The Final Letter, as Sent." The Library of Congress Information Bulletin: June 1998. Lib. of Cong., June 1998. Web. 7 Aug. 2010.----- 3) Jefferson compares the virgin birth of Mary to a pagan myth.----- "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter."----- Thomas Jefferson: Letter to John Adams, Apr. 11, 1823----- 4) All non-Christian religions are equal.----- "The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason & right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally past; and a singular proposition proved that it's protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read "departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion" the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it's protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination."----- Thomas Jefferson, July 27, 1821,----- Autobiography. ME 1:67.-----

by Villabolo on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 11:21:14 PM EST
How do you break paragraphs? Mine just become a steady stream of sentences.

by Villabolo on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 11:23:19 PM EST
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Use

where you want a paragraph to occur. ;)

by phatkhat on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 04:03:31 PM EST
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LOL, I put in a paragraph break instead of the tags. Okay, put in the less than (<) sign, "br", then the more than (>) sign. Do this twice, and you will get a paragraph break. (Take out the parentheses and quote marks. I had to put them in to keep the system from reading it as code, LOL.)

by phatkhat on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 04:09:15 PM EST
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IMHO, I believe this is a thinly veiled call for violence. By literally demonizing this website (and keep in mind that the NAR would have us believe that all of the writers for T2A are actually possessed by demons if not Satan himself), that opens the door for crazies to do God's work by combatting Satan directly.

by rahilliard on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 09:00:54 AM EST
They've already committed violence in a lot of places, and I fear that we all will experience more.  Because we speak truth and call them on their LIES, they want us destroyed.  They ignore Jesus own words and warning to Peter and the others who asked him to bring about destruction.

"Good Christians" - NOT.

Anti-Christians is more like it.

We could also call them terrorists, especially if the first one of us is harmed in any way.


by ArchaeoBob on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 12:06:52 PM EST
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Note to the owners here: Watch out for hackers!

Jim of Olym

by rdrjames on Sun Oct 16, 2011 at 08:04:57 PM EST
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...back when a group of us "walkaways" were actively opposing what was at that time characterized as a "model" NAR organization, Every Nation (they've since denied that they have anything to do with Wagner or the NAR), I was told that the leaders were "cursing" us.  They certainly responded to us online and off, similar to what CPW is doing now, by attempting to deny and back away their more problematic beliefs and abusive, cultic tactics, which of course included the whole world-takeover thing that is the NAR's modus operandi.

I even got a phone call from someone "assigned" to check me out by his pastor (this pastor was connected to top EN leadership going back to original group, Maranatha Campus Ministires), to see what my deal was... mainly to see if they could label me crazy, "bitter," "rebellious," "non-Christian," etc.  At the end of the day they came up with a story that I was never a member of the group at all because they couldn't demonize me nor could they discount anything I said about the group.

Didn't quite work.  Even though it's been a while since I was actively researching and exposing EN, the stuff is still out there on the 'Net for anyone to see, and while the group still exists they aren't quite what they were 6-7 years ago, particularly not in the US where they are almost a non-issue.  But what characterized them characterizes the NAR as a whole.

Plan:  Take over churches, take over American Christianity, either from the bottom up (rank and file influence, media influence, internet/social media, events like the Response) or top down (actual takeovers), it doesn't matter, whatever works.  Get politicians submitted to their apostolic leadership and inculcate them... get them in office, take over.

And when you get caught, lie.  Because "non-Christians" and Christians who are possessed by the "Spirit of Jezebel" don't get it, are the enemy, and it's ok to lie.  Rank and file believers who aren't fully inculcated are like children and just like parents don't tell the entire truth to their children when they aren't ready, they deny this stuff to a lot of the rank and file too.

And there is lots and lots and lots of documented evidence that taking over the world in order to rule and reign (since many of the leaders believe that they either are Christ incarnate or are about to be) is their modus operandi...

Stay on 'em.  You've hit a nerve.

by ulyankee on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 01:18:30 PM EST

UL Yankee, thanks for your input and great to hear from you!  And for those not familiar with Every Nation's history, Rice Broocks was most definitely a part of the NAR inner circle including the New Apostolic Roundtable back in 2000. Other Maranatha alumni (in addition to Broocks) also embraced the movement including Maranatha founder Bob Weiner and J. Lee Grady, editor of Maranatha's Forerunner newspaper.

by Rachel Tabachnick on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 07:40:12 PM EST
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They were NAR before it was called NAR... CPW was on record as saying that Every Nation's "apostolic teams" became his apostolic paradigm.  Every Nation, previously Morning Star International, descended from Maranatha Campus Ministries, is a definite link between the Shepherding Movement and today's NAR.  And "apostolic team" is really the old Shepherding movement in different semantic clothing.

Though back when a bunch of us active on cult discussion forums were calling EN not only on their corporate and leadership ties to the old Maranatha which really didn't break up, but also on their connection with CPW, they publicly broke with the NAR.  But I'm almost 100% sure that it was for show, not because they really broke with CPW theologically, philosophically, or otherwise.  For starters, many if not all of the movement's leaders are bound together by covenant (see Shepherding, but on steroids) so if they are covenantally bound they might deny it but they won't break it.

I've not had the chance to say it before, but I am so impressed with your work here.  I would have loved to do more like what you are doing but it's difficult to do as a walkaway without getting too emotionally involved and burned out after a certain point.  I had to walk away for a while and start doing more "traditional" scholarship just for my own sanity.  But I am so glad that you and others here at T2A have taken this up.  Seven years ago I was ranting to all who wanted to listen that these guys wanted to take over the US and the world.  They of course thought I was a conspiracist nut.  I may have been an emotional wreck at times coming out of this movement but unfortunately I was all too right on that note.

by ulyankee on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 09:03:09 PM EST
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That name caused a small flashback.

They had a major influence when I was Pentecostal... tied to the groups that were working on me while I was in school, and their methods were used by the cell church that hooked me.

Shortly after the Pentecostals/Dominionists (or maybe I should say proto-dominionists) convinced me to drop out of school and "get a real job" (working as a night clerk in a convenience store, picking oranges, etc.) and turned me over to the Assemblies, Maranatha was temporarily banned from my school.  That all was over 32 years ago, and I'm still dealing with the fallout (especially of what the Assemblies put me through).  They're back and stronger than ever there (I returned once I reached a certain level of recovery), but trying to just barely stay within the rules (still doing the love bombing, bait and switch, and all of that stuff however - but they avoid me because they know I don't tolerate them and I am a lot older).

I've seen your name in the past... and glad to see you again!


by ArchaeoBob on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:16:23 PM EST
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Does anyone have any links to active forums discussing Dominionism and NAR activities?

Thanks in advance to any replies.

RAHilliard

by rahilliard on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 10:34:07 AM EST

Pro, con, discussion forums, blogs, all of the above?

Here is a link to the Morning Star International/Every Nation discussions on the FACTNet cult discussion forum that I referred to above. (Also the shortcut everynationinfo.com still works.) I haven't been active there in a few years now but based on my quick perusal there isn't anything there on the NAR per se, just discussion threads of a few NAR-affiliated groups including Every Nation, so you'd have to wade around a lot to find anything helpful.  And there weren't too many people besides myself posting specifically about the NAR or Wagner when I was active there.  So I don't know how helpful that will be, sorry.

by ulyankee on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 11:47:18 AM EST
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Discussion forums with communities that recognize Dominionist and NAR as the threatening cult that it is.

Thanks for the links. I'll check those out.

RAHilliard

by rahilliard on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 01:07:44 PM EST
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...the Rick Ross forums (http://forum.rickross.com).  Again, since like FACTNet it is more general for people coming out of cults and abusive movements and needing support, you will have to search to find what you are looking for.  But unlike FACTNet those forums are moderated so they are a little less unruly and better organized.  I did a quick search for "C. Peter Wagner" and several threads came up referencing him and the NAR.

I know at least a few years back scholars and counselors associated with the International Cultic Studies Association (http://www.icsahome.com) had also been looking at the relationship between cults/abusive movements and religious extremism manifesting politically, and the NAR was on their radar.  I searched their website and David Clark gave a presentation at their 2008 International Conference on Rick Warren, CPW and the NAR.  They don't have a discussion forum but other materials that may be helpful.  As an aside, I was on the same panel with Clark at the 2007 conference when I presented on Every Nation... he figures in Maranatha history since he was part of the "ad hoc" committee that "investigated" Maranatha--at their own invitation--to clear them of charges that they were a cult.  They did the opposite and concluded they couldn't recommend them to anyone.  So it was a treat and an honor to co-present with him.

by ulyankee on Sat Oct 15, 2011 at 09:02:34 PM EST
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