Leaving the NAR Church: Lizzy's story (Part 2)

Leaving the NAR Church: Lizzy's story (Part 2)

“We were about to encounter the greatest exposure to what we know now as the New Apostolic Reformation. This church had a female as the Senior Pastor , and she quoted Bill Johnson more than ScriptureI had observed how many of the husbands in the congregation were either non-believers or spiritually "weak" men; it seemed like their wives carried the baton in this church.

There was no discipleship, and no expository preaching whatsoever. They did have “discipleship classes” that were focused on fitness and health, the prophetic, and spiritual warfare.”

After many years and hopping from church to church, Lizzy and her husband were slowly opening their eyes to the shocking heresies of the New Apostolic Reformation’s teachings and practices. (If you missed Part 1 of Lizzy’s story, you’ll want to read it here.)

What and whom did it finally take for her to finally see the truth about this hideous movement that had nearly shipwrecked her family’s faith? Lizzy’s story is the final testimony in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Lizzy's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Lizzy's story

“One time I was flat out on my back at the altar and a female prophetess stretched herself on top of me like Elijah had done in the book of Kings to the dead boy. We also headed over to Lakeland to meet and be a part of the Rodney Howard Brown meetings and would all experience visions and laughter and all the uncontrollable nonsense. It was called a Holy Ghost revival.”

Lizzy sat under some of the most famous NAR pastors and pastorixes in the nation, and by the end of this story you will see how twisted and demonic these teachers were and still are.

She has allowed me to include her story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short. Her story has so many twists and turns that we are presenting this testimony in two parts.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Alicia's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Alicia's story

“Tithing was required to serve in any ministry. If you don´t regularly tithe you would not be entered into the yearly church anniversary raffle for a TV, Beats headphones or Visa gift cards. I couldn’t believe my ears, this was cause for the tables to be flipped over in disgust for the obvious disregard for God´s holy place of worship.”  

Alicia has allowed me to include her story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short. In this series, I want to take readers beyond the textbook What is the New Apostolic Reformation Movement explanation, into the personal experiences from those who have been there, and what happened when God opened their eyes to the truth.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Pam's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Pam's story

“At our ladies group the leader would say, “let us just open our minds to Jesus and let Him love on us,” and then everyone would just sit there praying, swaying, and sighing that Jesus was “holding them.” Everyone had smiles on their faces as I just sat there not feeling a thing. Of course I was told it was me that was the problem…”  

Pam was a young, trusting seeker who now has many regrets about her long spiritual journey in the NAR-influenced churches she attended.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Val's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Val's story

"I would hear something bizarre about some “apostle” who had just been to heaven or someone else who had visited hell and I believed it all. I was hungry for spiritual experiences and there was a kind of competition in these meetings where everybody would be hoping that they would be the person picked out for a prophetic word."

Val was a Charismatic Catholic, who was deceived by the heretical NAR teachings, blended in with the New Age and Word of Faith.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Robert's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Robert's story

"It was our Christmas Service that year, and they opened worship with Hell’s Bells by AC/DC.  Yeah, the full song with lyrics posted, and an R-rated video to go with it.   We had five guests, and four of them walked out before the song was over.  About a fourth of the audience walked out with them."

And then the pastor lied and told Robert that he was the only one who ever expressed concern. Robert has allowed me to include his story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short.

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Willow Creek 2017

Last year - two pastors. This year, one. And it's Andy Stanley.

Draft text from 2016:

 

The 2016 Global Leadership Summit is kicking off this week, hosted by its founder, Willow Creek Church’s senior pastor Bill Hybels. This year’s Summit continues its trajectory in a secular direction by including fewer pastors in its speaking faculty and more worldly leaders. (see related articles below.)

Case in point: In past years the GLS has featured at least a handful of pastors teaching leadership skills to other pastors, but this year that number has drastically dwindled to its lowest ever since the Summit began: Two. That number again: 2, besides Bill Hybels. That’s down by half over the previous years.

2016 GLS Faculty

Besides Hybels, the biggest global celebrity name this year is Melinda Gates. (Click here) for the full faculty list. Church growth by numbers is usually the topic mega church leaders take on, and this year will be no different. 2016 speaker Wilfredo DE Jesús pastors New Life Church, and is lauded for taking his congregation from 120 to an impressive 17,000.

 

The other pastor on the Faculty is a celebrity in his own right, but not in a good way: Bishop T.D. Jakes is known for being a “ONENESS” Charismatic Pentecostal, or Modalist, which denies the Trinity, for teaching a name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel called Word of Faith, for coming out in favor of LGBTQ-supporting churches, and for coaching Oprah Winfrey to present a Christian brand to her followers.

The audience

Because the speaker lineup usually includes some of the world’s biggest corporate and political movers and shakers, it might be assumed that the audience would be garden-variety corporate leaders who are trying to lead well in their workplaces. But that’s never been the intended target audience for the Summit, which invites its members of the Willow Creek Association.

The Summit audience has always been primarily made up of Christian pastors, elders, mega-volunteers and church staffers, all learning year after year what it will take this time to finally be a better, more functional team.

The problem

That’s a very different objective from how the Summit began, as an extension of its Willow Creek Association’s leadership offerings. (Click to see if your church is a member.)

In 1992, the Willow Creek Association was created as a way to link together churches for the purpose of “Reaching increasing numbers of lost people." The WCA develops training and leadership conferences – with the Global leadership Summit as its premiere - for its member churches.

Today’s mission takes the focus off of Christ and on our own vision for a better life and a better world:

 

According to the site, “The WCA serves pioneering pastors and leaders through world-class leadership experiences and resources. WCA is committed to a singular idea: that inspired, encouraged, and equipped Christian leaders create thriving local churches that redeem their communities for Christ.” (Question: Can communities be redeemed for Christ? That is a topic for another discussion, but seldom do the attendees hear about sin, repentance, Christ’s propitiation, and the coming wrath and judgment.)

To be a member of WCA it is a requirement that the member church, ministry, or leader hold to an “historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity.” source

 

And yet many if not most of its Christian pastoral speakers, like T.D. Jakes, have been the subject of controversy, flagged as those who have been promoting or teaching unbiblical doctrines. Here is a link to all of the summit headliners over the years, including celebrities Brian Houston, Steven Furtick, Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, Christine Cain, Tony Blair, mystic Mama Maggie Gobran, Catholic filmmaker Mark Burnett, and Gungor.

As pastors and staffers settle into their chairs around the globe to hear these leaders tell them how to shape their houses of worship, you have to ask rhetorically, why is the visible church in the shape it is in? Perhaps one clue can be gleaned from Bill Hybels’ 2016 GLS video promotion pitch, which never mentions Christ or God, and could have been made by any atheist CEO:

For additional reading, please peruse “Here’s your Willow Creek/Global Leadership Summit Research”, along with these past articles:

 

Leaving the NAR Church: Kelsey's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Kelsey's story

"I can tell you from my experience in the occult that contemplative/soaking prayer IS transcendental meditation.  People being "taken to the heavenlies/different places on earth" are experiencing astral projection.  The teachings and practices of the NAR is occultic in nature and is damaging the people who adhere to these teachings and practices." 

Kelsey has been on quite journey. She was raised charismatic, became a witch, and eventually attended a NAR-influenced Messianic church run by a manipulative Rabbi and his wife.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Melanie's story

 Leaving the NAR Church: Melanie's story

“There was so much supernatural stuff happening, people claiming to be healed, gemstones appearing on the floor, feathers floating from the ceiling, pink clouds, mist and smells such as lemon floating through the air.  I wasn’t sure what was making this all happen, but it was mesmerizing.”

Signs, wonders, wild experiences, all of these things are part and parcel of one of the biggest counterfeit movements in Christendom. Melanie has allowed me to include her story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short.

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How deep and wide does the NAR rabbit hole go?

How deep and wide does the NAR rabbit hole go?

How do you discover which networks of Apostles are working together to reclaim America and build God’s Kingdom here on earth? You click. Just keep clicking, and clicking, and clicking some more, until things click. It takes time to research, and if you’re looking for an easy, bullet-point list of what I’m sharing in this report, you should put this aside for when you have time to investigate.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Macie's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Macie's story

“I felt something push me down.  I stumbled up the stairs but kept falling.  It must have been the Spirit manifesting itself, I thought.  As I sat on my bed, I kept keeling over and twitching.  My brother and mother thought it was great.  In fact, my brother even videotaped it.”

Macie has allowed me to include her story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short. In this series, I want to take readers beyond the textbook What is the New Apostolic Reformation Movement explanation, into the personal experiences from those who have been there, and what happened when God opened their eyes to the truth.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Morgan's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Morgan's story

“Not really knowing better, I let them do a deliverance session on me. Basically, you sit in a chair, they command the demons to come up and speak, and then they get bound and cast out.”

Morgan was immersed in a so-called “Deliverance Ministry,” in which he was introduced to the demons who dwelled within him. But demons do not dwell within regenerated Christians, as he soon discovered through Scripture.

Morgan has allowed me to include his story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short.

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The Altered States of Contemplative Prayer

The Altered States of Contemplative Prayer

When we talk about Contemplative Prayer, right off the bat, we need to define our words. When I warn you of the dangers of Contemplative Prayer, what I'm not talking about is meditating on God's Word or contemplating His holy nature and character- which is what Christians are supposed to do!  No, I'm talking about the man-made methodologies used as a spiritual exercise to "experience God's presence." In spite of research and warnings from those who watch the trends coming into the modern church, mysticism and New Age prayer practices are increasingly appealing. 

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Leaving the NAR Church: Dean's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Dean's story

“My leader whom I love and respect called me critical, judgmental, and condemning. He said I was too young and inexperienced, and that I was seeing only through my bias and biblical grid that I'd received at Bible school.”

If you've ever been masterfully manipulated by narcissistic leaders, this story will upset you. Dean had become a victim of the most vile manipulation of truth. His leadership convinced him that he was disobedient to God Almighty and needed to repent for raising concerns about false teaching.

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Leaving the NAR Church: Chrissy's story

Leaving the NAR Church: Chrissy's story

“I would always look up to these people getting "words from God" and wished that I could have this special relationship with Him as they did. I desired it - so why wasn't God speaking to me the way He spoke to them?”

Chrissy has allowed me to include her story in this series about a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR for short. In this series, I want to take readers beyond the textbook What is the New Apostolic Reformation Movement explanation, into the personal experiences from those who have been there, and what happened when God opened their eyes to the truth.

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