The Deception of Kenneth and his kind
Hi Friends! It’s been a little while since I’ve written a post here. I have a good reason! With One Eight Catalyst, there has been a lot of new content being produced, and that has kept me busy! As one example, if you haven’t checked out the new OEC Podcast called The Catalytic Podcast, I would recommend it to you! Great interviews and occasionally, an episode with me doing teaching on certain topics. You can also subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever else you may listen to podcasts.
With this blog post, I’d like to open up a new category of posts for this site, and it’s actually a topic that I’ve had on my heart for a while now. There is almost nothing in Christianity that bothers me more than the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) branch of Christianity. If you’re not familiar with the NAR label, it’s a counterfeit, unbiblical movement that has been gaining worldwide momentum. Driven by celebrity ‘pastors’ like Kenneth Copeland, Todd White and Jesse Duplantis, it is an abomination against the Gospel and God’s word. NAR Church doctrine may be the most blasphemous doctrine to ever appear on the earth. Of course, there’s not enough space in this post to delineate that statement, but that’s the nice thing about having a blog…. I have as many posts as I want to flesh that out, and it is a topic that I wouldn’t mind writing a book about someday.
For now, let me go through the basics:
What is the NAR?
It is an unbiblical religious movement that emphasizes modern-day ‘apostles’ over the teaching of the Bible. They also emphasize the power and role of spiritual leaders to receive ‘new’ revelations from God and the seeking of signs and wonders. This over-emphasis on ‘apostles’ elevate them as the highest of all spiritual leaders, being specially empowered by God
What makes these churches so insidious is that to the untrained eye, it may look like a Christian church and it’s leaders use the Bible as an authoritative text, but in reality, they use God and the Bible for their own selfish desires where God exists to serve the personal will. There will be much more from me about their theology but for those that would like to do more reading on what the NAR is and what they believe, I would recommend this article.
Why does the NAR bother me so much?
Again, much to be said here, but in short, as someone who has the Spiritual Gift of Discernment (or as the ESV terms it, Distinguishing against Spirits), the way they twist Scripture to meet their own needs drives me crazy. I’ll be able to delve into a lot of examples in future posts, but it’s clear that men like Kenneth Copeland believe that they can tell God what to do and when to do it. Biblically however, we know that God’s authority on our world and on our lives has no end. Within a Biblical worldview, original authority and ultimate authority belong to God and God alone. No one gave it to Him, He did not inherit it from anyone. God inherently embodies authority because He is ‘I AM WHO I AM.’[1] God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, He owns the earth and all that it contains and those who dwell in it.[2] To understand the fact of God’s authority is as simple as accepting the fact of God Himself. The apostle Paul says it best in Romans 13 when he states, ‘For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.’[3] Without question, God’s authority reigns supreme in this world. For Copeland or any of the other NAR ‘apostles’ to think they can tell God what to do and when do it is horrible. Here’s one example of Copeland’s attitude on this:
On March 30th, Copeland posted a video on YouTube where he declared that “the COVID pandemic is over!” And yet, from March 29th to April 22nd, there were over 885,000 new cases of COVID just in the United States, so clearly the ‘proclamation’ that Copeland thought he had to claim it over was wrong. We see this pattern over and over again. Men like Copeland are charlatans, and I hope to do what I can to expose them for the 2 Timothy 3:2-9 men that they are…… Stay Tuned!
[1] Exodus 3:14
[2] Psalm 24:1
[3] Romans 13:1