The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) claims to have a mandate to conquer and rule society in the name of Christ. Coupled with the promise of wealth and influence, it is unsurprising that the NAR has become wildly popular. Power, influence, money – are these not the things that people love? According to some estimates, the NAR has 32 million adherents globally, and is growing at a rate of nine million members per year.1 Some estimates place its influence as much larger, especially in the United States.2

Popularity, however, is no determiner of righteousness, or truth. Rather, Christ stated that the gate was wide that leads to destruction, and many go in thereat – Matthew 7:13.

How then is a perplexed person to know which is the right way? We are to go to the Scriptures for the answer. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them – Isaiah 8:20.

The Scriptures record that following His baptism, Christ fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. When He was weak and emaciated and near the point of death, Satan personally approached Christ to tempt Him. It was Satan’s purpose to make the Savior doubt His divinity, and turn Him from a life of self-denial and sacrifice if possible.

The book of Matthew records the moment when Satan offered the world to Christ:

Matthew 4:8-11 Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him. [emphasis added]

Satan claims this world as his own. The Bible calls him, the “god of this world” – 2 Corinthians 4:4, and “the prince of this world” – John 14:30. He is the thief and liar who stole it from Adam and Eve at the fall. And Luke records that Satan bargained with Christ on the mountaintop: “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it” – Luke 4:6.

Satan still offers earthly power and wealth today. As Hollywood and the music industry well know,3 the stated prerequisite for obtaining fortune and power on this earth is the same as it was on the mountaintop two thousand years ago: “fall down and worship me”.

Though Christ rejected the devil’s temptations on the mountaintop and rebuked him, Christian Dominionism claims to know better. Lance Wallnau, one of the New Apostolic Reformation’s “apostles”, and promoter of the claim that Jesus gave the NAR the “seven mountain mandate” to conquer and rule society, asserts that things are different today. Christ now wants His church to take earthly power. He asserts that now Christ wants His church to rule the nations.

According to Wallnau,

…when Satan offered Him [Christ] all the kings of the world in a moment of time, he said “all this is yours if you’ll bow down and worship me.” He [Jesus] said, get behind me Satan for Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and Him only shall thou serve. He rejected Nations when they were offered. But now the Father says, “I’m offering them this time. Ask.” Here’s the challenge I’ve got right now: the Father is looking for a church that will give Jesus what belongs to Him, which is Nations.4

Wallnau’s claims appeal mightily to the carnal heart but the Lord Jesus does not need His followers to take earthly power for Him. Jesus Christ is already “heir of all things” – Hebrews 1:2. He has already “overcome the world” – John 16:33. The Father said to Christ – “sit Thou on My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” – Psalms 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Luke 20:42; Acts 2:34.  [emphasis added]

The Rock that hits the statue of the successive nations from Babylon until the end of the world in Daniel 2 is a symbol of Christ, and it is “cut out without hands” – Daniel 2:34. No human assistance is required to establish the Lord’s kingdom. The work is His. The glory is His. The Rock strikes the statute in its feet and breaks “in pieces and consumes all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” – Daniel 2:44.

Christ’s instructions to his disciples have nothing to do with taking control of governments and ruling the world. He has instructed His followers to “go into all the world and preach to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – Matthew 28:19, 20. He said to His disciples, “take up your cross, and follow Me.”

The temptation to Christianity from Lance Wallnau and the other NAR “apostles” is as subversive of this mission as was Satan’s temptation to Christ. “This life of self-denial, tribulation and persecution is not for you. Oh no. You are meant to rule. You are meant to have dominion over the nations.”

“Christian dominionism”, however, is a contradiction in terms. There’s no such thing.

The word “dominion” comes from the Latin, “dominium”, from “dominus”, which means “lord, master”. The new apostles of NAR claim that they are meant to be lords and masters. Is that what Jesus said?

The Bible records the story of the mother of two of Jesus’ disciples coming to Him with an unusual request.

Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him. 21 And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in Thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.

…

24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Jesus says it is the princes of the Gentiles which exercise authority over their fellow human beings. Dominance is what the pagans aspire to. Christ informed his followers “ but it shall  not be so among you.”  This is a standing rebuke from Christ to any who will come after Him who want to make an earthly kingdom where they rule in the name of Jesus.

It is a rebuke to the papacy, and its constant meddling in political matters. It is a rebuke to the “new apostles” of the NAR.

The Bible says that Satan is the one who covets dominion:

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? – Isaiah 14:12-16.

The carnal human heart is in harmony with Satan, not God. It is the fallen human heart that says, “I will ascend”, not the converted heart of the new birth spoken of by Jesus. The New Apostolic Reformation’s lust for temporal power and dominion is the fruit of the unconverted heart

The thing Satan wants is power. His children want the same thing.

But God says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” – Psalms 51:17.

Jesus says it is the meek who will inherit the earth – Matthew 5:5.

We will conclude with these short clips of Paula White, NAR apostle and spiritual advisor to the President-elect.

We will conclude with these short clips of Paula White, NAR apostle and spiritual advisor to the President-elect.

Can you imagine Moses claiming that everywhere Moses walks is holy ground? Us neither.

…

In the next article on the Seven Mountain Mandate, we will more closely examine the New Apostolic Reformation and its connections with the Roman Papacy, and begin to consider the implications in light of Bible prophecy.

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  1.  https://www.rutlandherald.com/opinion/perspective/on-faith-new-apostolic-reformation/article_c9d37e4b-b7af-593a-8443-515b2dcda749.html
  2.  https://www.texasobserver.org/new-apostolic-reformation-texas-leaders/ – some estimates place the number of Christians in America influenced by NAR teachings as high as 33 million.
  3.  See for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vOJ-UoZ7uo
  4.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9InAiJYH5I, “The 7 Mountains of Culture 3”
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