Getting Rid of the Old Order - Religious
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| As we have also pointed out before, in Latter Rain thinking there is no personal Antichrist figure on the horizon. Rather, those their critics are the "antichrists"--those whom they deem to be the "religious", the ones who can't accept these wonderful changes, and must be purged from the earth by the "new paradigm" people. I have personally never felt very comfortable when people carelessly throw around the term "religious". I say that partly because the Bible speaks favorably of the term (Ja 1:27), and partly because "religiosity" in the slang sense can mean any direction away from true spirituality, whether towards legalism or license. And which is us is ever free from either of those ditches? Nevertheless, it seems to me that it's within the Word of Faith and Latter Rain circles where this term is used in the most promiscuous of ways. Thus, anyone who questions any of this is accused of being "the religious", the "anti-anointing people", the "Book people"--so bound by the Bible that they can't get into the "things of the Spirit". One recent good example can be found in the reaction of Richard Riss, the Latter Rain historian who is involved with the Toronto movement. According to an Internet version of a Christianity Today article, Riss, upon first hearing of the Vineyard decision to separate with the Toronto Airport Vineyard, sent a letter to friends saying that Vineyard head John Wimber was "putting himself in the position of [King] Saul", characterizing his decision as being a "precipitous separation of the sheep from the goats." [6] Riss later on apologized but his reaction shows how deep this mentality runs in these circles. One of the most confused people I have read in Dominion circles would have to be Earl Paulk, Bishop of the Atlanta area Harvester Church, and one of the founding board members of Oral Roberts' Charismatic Bible Ministries. Paulk has written, "By the turn of the century, denominations as we know them will no longer exist." Why? Because, "God will transcend denominations in the renewal of the apostolic and prophetic ministries to the Church." Thus, "When the ministries of the apostle and prophet return throughout the decade of the 90's, so will the anointed power to judge the Church supernaturally...We may experience more judgments like that of Ananias and Sapphira." [7] Another book by Paulk, That The World May Know, is devoted entirely to a feeble attempt to refute the claims of Dave Hunt's The Seduction of Christianity, wherein Hunt claimed that the Charismatic movement is awash in New Age teachings and theological heresies (which it clearly is). Paulk asks, "Who dares accuse Father Bertolucci of heresy because he honors the Virgin Mary with a reverence which is uncomfortable to many other Christians? [Probably those who think it's idolatry.] Who has been given the right to judge his views of spiritual authority? [None, I take it, but those as discerning as Paulk.]...I contend that religious systems are the harlot church." [8] Here Paulk, indignant against people like Hunt for accusing the Roman Catholic Church--arguably the most "religious" institution in the world bar none--of heresy, is claiming that the real harlot is theologically conservative groups like the Dispensationalists! I don't think you can get any more muddled than that! When Jesus came up against the Pharisees in His day, one of the main issues He raised was that they had promulgated so many traditions--"teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mk 7:7)--that they had both obscured the spirit of the Law of Moses in which they so gloried (Jn 5:45), as well as rejected everything about the New Covenant of grace through faith He had come to bring. Considering the fact that the role this Roman Catholic hierarchy took in opposing the Reformers amounted to an almost exact parallel to this, one would think that such people would be more careful who they label the "religious" opposing the "new thing". Paulk's claim here that, "By the turn of the century, denominations as we know them will no longer exist," may be more than just an idle threat. In part 2 I mentioned the "Gathering of Eagles" conference at Whistler Mountain last year where intercessors and others were ostensibly called to seek God and "find out what the next step is" in this Latter Rain drama. Just as this went to press, I heard of a conference for pastors and Church leaders in California, I believe, just this past month (May, 1996). The conference, organized by C. Peter Wagner was entitled, "The Post Denominational Church". At the same time, parachurch organizations are increasingly viewed to have more credibility, to be "more fresh" than the denominations. Since I am not God and therefore do not know completely the mentality or heart of people, I cannot say with certainty if Promise Keepers has a deliberate agenda to do away with the denominational system. I do know they include Catholicism as just another Christian denomination, in spite of its history of persecution of the true Church and her claim to not just be another sister church, but the Mother Church. Bill McCartney was part of the Catholic "Word of God" Community and its radical "Shepherding" practices in Ann Arbor until he left the University of Michigan to coach for Colorado.. A long article in the Detroit Free Press Magazine a few years ago about this community is a study of how a group can start out well yet end up all-but a cult in its practice, and manipulated by the Vatican at the same time. [9] McCartney, in a recent interview, stated that the two most important people in his life at present are James Ryle (his pastor), and a man named Bertolucci (not Father John), who is right under Steve Clark in what is left in the demise of the Word of God community. Promise Keepers is on record for having stated that they probably will disband by the year 2,000, having accomplished their mission. But to what purpose are they "forming an army"? As has been said, many see this to be "Joel's Army" which will destroy the "Old Order" of denominationalism. While they present themselves as supporters of the local churches, the fact is their vertical structure of "national headquarters / ambassadors / point men / 4 to 5 family groups" is a chain-of-command system networked from outside the churches and headquartering back to Colorado Springs. In this way, despite protests to the contrary, it is running cross-current to the vision and purpose of the local church, and of the local pastor's oversight and emphasis on doctrine. Only time will tell, perhaps too late, if Promise Keepers will ultimately swallow up men's ministries, first in the local church, then within regional structures, then ultimately on a national level. Whatever form the scenario takes, the outcome of all this will be similar to what is happening in the secular world. For just as the globalists are lying to the nations, telling them that world government will not destroy national sovereignties, so too will the denominations be lied to, slated to be swallowed up ultimately back into amalgamation with Rome. This is not an accusation that PK or Mr. McCartney are deliberately deceiving the churches or are in a conspiracy with Rome. Quite the contrary, I'm sure they believe they are doing only the most noble of things in all this. Nevertheless, they most likely are and will be used to Rome's purposes. This, and not the themes of fatherhood, racial reconciliation and the like, will be their ultimate significance. And it will be their ultimate irony as well, for if there is any institution during the Church age which has followed the pattern of the Pharisees by "making the Word of God of none effect by your traditions", it would have to be the Roman Catholic system, which to this hour fights tooth and nail against the authority of sola scriptura.
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