2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
I have recently stumbled across the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), and was alarmed to learn how widespread this heretical teaching has become. In my mind, it aligns with Christian Nationalism, which I soundly reject. Following are the tenets of NAR and dangers of these teachings.
Postmillennialism: Christ will establish a kind of rulership on the earth over time through increasing success of the gospel. This is the least supported of the three eschatological views (the others being premillennialism and amillennialism). Premillennialism is arguably the most biblically defensible position. The NAR variety is a radical, man-centered type called dominionism, the belief that “the kingdom of God must be established by peoples’ hard work and commitment, not by Christ through the Holy Spirit.” With dominionism, “the church has a responsibility to Christianize the world before Christ’s coming.”
Restorationism: NAR believes that the office of apostle was lost and in need of being restored. However, that office primarily ceased, as the New Testament apostles did not appoint successors for themselves. The early church established elder/bishop positions because once the church was established, the need for the office of apostles was minimized. However, Ephesians 4:11-13 states: “ 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” A trusted pastor friend said there currently are apostles and prophets, and a good way to discern their authenticity is whether they take pride in the title. In other words, do they have humility. And question what they have actually accomplished. Prophets must have 100% accuracy to be authentic, which is a good warning before calling yourself a prophet.
Manufactured Continuationism: The belief that all charismatic or “sign gifts” are still in operation today, in contrast to cessationism. I personally believe that sign gifts are still in operation today. However, there are many abuses and false proclamations, in healings for example.
Reconstructionism: Power and wealth must be redistributed. It must be taken from the world and given to the church. Heresy.
Experientialism: Putting experience over the written Word of God. One of the things that set me on the course of researching NAR was the testimony of a member of a well know charismatic church who was asked to put something like gold dust in the circulation system. This is called “a glory cloud” and is to be a sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence as it falls on the congregation. Apparently, this has been noted in some NAR churches as far back as 2008, according to one of my resources.
Pragmatism: The philosophy that whatever works is right, justifying questionable evangelism methodology. In reality, “Whatever is biblical works, but not everything that works is biblical.”
To summarize: The church in the end days will have many who turn away from sound doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
I would ask you to be a Berean and research this topic for yourself. My main sources have been “Six Big Problems With The New Apostolic Reformation” by Shawn Nelson, July 2018; and a well-resourced article on Wikipedia. That article warns against “The Passion Translation” which was slanted to support NAR beliefs. BibleGateway’s website provides access to 232 versions of the Bible in 74 languages, and in February 2022, The Passion Translation was removed from their site.