The New Apostolic Reformation, A Threat Within The Church?

This is a guest post by my friend and colleague, Douglas Geivett, and his co-author, Holly Pivec.

Holly Pivec and Doug Geivett are the authors of Counterfeit Kingdom, from B&H Publishing (2022). Pivec is a blogger, author, and speaker, as well as a pastor’s wife and homeschooling mom. She has a master’s degree in apologetics from Biola University, where she also served as university editor for nearly a decade.

Geivett is a husband, father to two grown children, professor, author, and speaker. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Southern California and is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Biola University and Talbot School of Theology. Pivec and Geivett have co-authored two previous books about the New Apostolic Reformation: A New Apostolic Reformation? and God’s Super-Apostles. 

A New Danger to The Church?

A dangerous set of teachings is shaping America’s worship songs, ministries, and political engagement. This new movement is influencing many churches and individual Christians, often without their realization. 

The New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR) is a popular, fast-growing movement of Christians who claim God is giving new revelation through new apostles and prophets. They say they are giving strategies the church requires for all Christians to learn to work miracles—such as prophesying, healing the sick, and raising the dead—and “bring heaven to earth.” This movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation because its leaders teach that a new reformation—much like the Protestant Reformation but even more significant—is underway. This reformation is bringing authoritative, governing apostles back to the church. All other church leaders, including pastors and elders, must “align” with them (a euphemism meaning they must submit to them). Those who follow the apostles will play a pivotal role in the unfolding of God’s end-time plans for the world. Those who don’t will sit on the sidelines as mere spectators. 

These teachings—which we explain and document in our new book Counterfeit Kingdom—are inherently divisive. We’ve received letters from readers of our previous books, people from around the world, describing the fallout—split families and churches, disillusionment with Christianity and loss of faith. 

Harmful Teachings

An additional area of concern is the harmful NAR teaching that it is always God’s will to heal every sick person. Also, New Age practices are promoted by NAR organizations like Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and are entering many churches, examples being “prophetic activation exercises” and the use of Christianized versions of tarot cards. NAR leaders claim New Agers have stolen practices from Christians and now they must be redeemed and reclaimed by Christians because they are important tools for advancing God’s kingdom. And then there’s the Passion Translation of the Bible (produced by a NAR apostle without expertise in the original languages who publicly claims that “secrets of the Hebrew language” were “downloaded” and “breathed” into him by Jesus directly), which adds NAR teachings to the Bible. This so-called translation is promoted by NAR leaders and is used widely among their followers, despite numerous criticisms by a swath of reputable Bible scholars.

We want to be clear: NAR does not reflect classical Pentecostal or historic charismatic teaching, which is why the movement’s critics include Pentecostals and charismatics. We acknowledge the cessionationist/continuationist debate in our books and point out that our critique of NAR is compatible with both positions. The core NAR teaching—which separates NAR from all others—is that present-day apostles and prophets must govern the church. And influential NAR leaders have made it clear that—when it comes to church governance—apostles are first in God’s “order of priority.” In contrast, mainstream Pentecostals and charismatics—though emphasizing the miraculous gifts—have not seen any governing role for present-day apostles and prophets.

How Far Does It Go?

Just how far afield NAR goes can be seen in Bethel Church’s six-day campaign, in December 2019, to raise two-year-old Olive Heiligenthal from the dead when the hashtag #WakeUpOlive went viral. National media coverage of their failed “prayer declarations”—along with their failed presidential election prophecies—damaged the witness of the church at large.

In response to growing criticisms about NAR, influential apostles, prophets, and their associates have mounted a defense. They’ve accused their critics of creating unnecessary division in the church. They’ve made videos, such as a six-part series on YouTube, addressing “misconceptions” about their teachings, and they’ve published statements denying any affiliation with NAR. They’ve also accused all their critics of being cessationists, which is false. And they’ve said people have misunderstood their teachings about apostles, and that they are not claiming any extraordinary authority in the church but are merely leaders of networks and movements. 

But in these depictions, they neglect to mention that NAR apostles and prophets also claim to receive face-to-face visits from Jesus and angels, to make trips to the courtroom of heaven, and to receive revelations for the global church. So their depictions will not convince those who have studied the teachings of the apostles and prophets, nor will they convince those who have left NAR and know that there is much more going on. Many who have been hurt by NAR, and who have experienced spiritual abuse under the leadership of present-day apostles, feel like they are further victimized when they are told NAR doesn’t exist.

Not Everyone Is NAR, But NAR Is Real and So Is The Threat

To be sure, not all people who speak of their concerns about NAR have been careful to define it. Unfortunately, some leaders have been inaccurately labeled NAR. But other critics have been much more cautious and careful in their assessment of NAR. And they have not been guilty of creating needless division. We think it will be obvious to the readers of our books that we are not being theologically nitpicky. The errors in NAR are not minor but significant. They have distorted the Christian message and caused real harm. On close examination, NAR theology and practice do not survive biblical and rational scrutiny. It is perilous to fall into the grip of a spiritual movement that is headed in the wrong direction.