Disclaimer: Some postings contain other author's material. All such material is used here for fair use and discussion purposes.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Rebuking the NAR Experiential Counterfeit Christianity and Revival Chasing - Rev. Anthony Wade

Found here. Our comments in bold.
--------------------

The incendiary ministry of Rev. Wade consists of nothing more than bomb-throwing. We have yet to read anything he has written that consists of Bible-teaching or expository truth. 

Invariably he opens his screeds with a Scripture that rarely gets mentioned again, let alone explained or applied. Typically he then embarks on a series of unsubstantiated assertions, unreferenced accusations. He then concludes with a flourish as if he has laid out a devastating case against his theological foes.

This is the nature of his "devotionals," and the below screed follows exactly the same pattern. It's truly a wonder that he is republished on various "discernment ministry" sites, since offers exactly zero discernment.
------------------

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. - John 6:63 (ESV)

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/81789-why-the-religious-spirit-is-the-no-1-enemy-of-revival

As the end times deepen we see more and more voices arising for the apostate church. The ranks of the NAR swell larger and larger every week as more continue to follow their zeal for faux revival because they love this country more than the God they claim to follow. I have pointed out the similarity before but when Jesus walked the earth the folks with all of the power were the Pharisees and teachers of law. They held all of the positions of power and respect. Thus the Gospel was perceived correctly as a threat to their way of life. Fast forward to today and we see the NAR, purpose driven, seeker friendly, mega church folks are the ones with that power and as past is prologue, the true Gospel still represents a threat to that power. (This pointless, rambling accusation contains no substance, reference, or explanation.)

The true Gospel reveals that what they preach is false. It exposes them as charlatans and hirelings. This is why we see so much hostility towards those that dare to insist on biblical accuracy. (No, this hostility is based on the egregious things people like Rev. Wade put in print. For example:
Our country already dabbles in its fair share of socialism with positive results.
Is it realistic to think that God wants us to intercede for wolves who are devouring His sheep? ...I think the context itself reveals that we are not. 
Bill Johnson is not my brother in Christ.
That is the simple fact that false teachers are wolves and are not our brethren. They are not saved. Not only that, but they will not be saved.
I take no issue with snarkiness or disdain.
It isn't because Rev. Wade is telling the truth as a discernment minister that people criticize him. In fact, he rarely gets around to telling the truth. Rather, it's because he writes things that are spectacularly false, glaringly unbiblical, and simply insulting. And all of it is covered with a veneer of the Bible, a Bible that's rarely opened and never explained.)

People who insist on biblical discernment are labeled as legalistic or possessed somehow by a "religious spirit." Make no mistake though. When you hear the whining about religious spirits they are really just upset at what God has said in His word. (There has been a lot said and written about a "religious spirit." It has been explained at length by various thoughtful people. In short, a "religious spirit" is when the rituals and forms of church, churchy behavior, pious displays of false righteousness, and lifeless Christianity replace or crowd out a living, powerful faith. 

Rev. Wade's attempt to redefine the plain meaning of this phrase is a typical obfuscating technique he employs.)

In wading through the Charisma News cesspool this morning I came across the short article linked about from someone named Jamie Morgan. (Finally he gets to the point...)

It seems Ms. Morgan is a pastor at an AG church in New Jersey, so she is already in outright rebellion to the word of God. So I do not expect much moving forward to review her article above that posits that the religious spirit is the number one enemy of revival. We must realize that allegorically this is correct. (How so? Maybe we would agree, but Rev. Wade never explains.)

Revival is a concept that is simply unsupported biblically for the end times. The bible instead promises a great end times apostasy, which we see alive and well underway. (Again and again Rev. Wade has appealed to what the Bible says. All his articles do this. Yet he never gets around to explaining what this unopened Bible contains.

A superficial examination of the Bible reveals he is incorrect. 

1) Apostasy does not exclude revival.

2) We have been in the last days ever since Peter quoted Joel in Acts chapter two. And we have had many revivals, including
  • The Great Awakening, 1734-43. Jonathan Edwards
  • The Second Great Awakening, 1800-1840, James McGready, Charles Finney
  • The Businessmen’s Revival of 1857-1858, Jeremiah Lanphier
  • The Civil War Revival, 1861-1865
  • The Urban Revivals, 1875-1885, Dwight L. Moody
  • Welsh Revival of 1904-1905, Billy Sunday
How could there be revivals like these in the last days but there not be revival in the last days during our time?

3) Suppose Rev. Wade was a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, or John Wesley. Would his argument hold water? 

4)Rev. 7:9-10:
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."  
There's going to be a great multitude in heaven. Salvation is not going to be rare, and thus we are not only justified in praying for revival, we ought to be passionate for the kingdom of God coming "on earth as is in heaven.")

 "Pastor" Morgan is part of that apostasy. The term religious spirit is NAR code-speak for being held to the letter of the bible. (Rev. Wade repeats his specious claim, again without documentation or reference.)

So yes, those that demand we adhere to the bible are the number one enemy of those who seek false revival in the pursuit of idolizing this country. Now let us reason once more through the above linked article. (Has the reader identified any process of reason up to this point?)

"The meanest, foulest, most ruthless demonic spirit you will ever confront is the spirit of religion because it attempts to replace the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian or church. While many demonic spirits operate through the occult and witchcraft, this one works boldly and daringly in the church on a daily basis. The spirit of religion is sent to resist godly change in any form, including the moving of the Holy Spirit in revival." - Jamie Morgan

This may as well be the mission statement for the NAR. You have to understand that at the core of NAR theology is dominionism and experiential Christianity. While the revival pursuit is central to the dominionism, this bastardization of the Holy Spirit is central to experiential Christianity. Remember that the notion of a "spirit of religion is just code-speak for the bible. (For yet a third time he repeats his assertion, again without reference.)

When they refer to the "work of the spirit" in the life of a believer or the church they are referring to the dumpster fire that goes on in most Charismaniacal churches. (Again Rev. Wade is disposed to redefine terms to suit his own agenda.)

(...)

(Deleted long, irrelevant screed.)

"When the Holy Spirit pours Himself out upon a church or region, the religious spirit will rise up through the critics of revival to try and stop God from moving." - Jamie Morgan

Yeah, no. Let me translate what she is referring to. (Actually, he again wants to redefine and mischaracterize what Ms. Morgan actually said.)

When a church or region goes apostate and tries to pass off pure carnality as the Holy Spirit moving, there are those with bibles who will correctly point out the heresy. (Another reference to that dust-covered book relegated to the back shelves of Rev. Wade's office.)

It is not about being a critic of revival but rather of faux revival. A revival based purely on the flesh. When you ascribe everything that comes into your wickedly deceitful hearts as being from God you give up any ability to discern, especially if the bible is relegated to second place. An example is the testimony of Kim Walker-Smith, worship leader for Jesus Culture. This heretical "worship" outfit is from where else, Bethel. When you are taught by Bethel in experiential NAR theology you can believe, as Walker does, that Jesus whisked you away to the throne room of God during a waking visitation. There, you think you met the Father face to face as he cut out a piece of his own heart to show you how much he loves you. Seriously, this is her testimony. If she bothered with that religious spirit, I mean the bible, she would know that she cannot meet the Father face to face or else she would have died. Then she would know it was a demonic visitation. This is not about stopping God from moving, which by the way no one could anyway, but rather stopping the devil from moving as an angel of light. (This sad paragraph is what constitutes a refutation...)

'I have firsthand experience with the spirit of religion; it tried to kill revival in my church even before it started. It was a midweek prayer meeting I will never forget. The people of my church were crying out to God for revival; the desperation for revival was palpably heard in the prayers of the people in that room. One of the people in attendance, a gentleman who regularly attended my church, interrupted our revival pleas with a pronouncement. "I hate to be a wet blanket," he loudly proclaimed, "but there will be no revival!" And then he added: "To pray for revival is to pray against the church!" He said a few more things before he ended his attempt to squelch any future revival, and my heart sank. I loved this brother in the Lord, and certainly didn't want to embarrass him, but knew I had to publicly correct this demonic decree which was publicly stated. I stood up in the middle of the prayer meeting, looked the man in the eyes, and respectfully but firmly proclaimed, "You are out of order. There will be revival!"' - Jamie Morgan

How's that going for you Jamie? You declared there will be revival so where is it? (Spoken like a true man of faith...)

It sounds like you had a Bethelesque service where everyone was shouting at God and He answered through this brother (Rev. Wade takes sides with the faithless man.)

only to have you proclaim with authority you do not have that his message was demonic. You only decided that because it went against your pursuit of revival which you will chase until you stand before Jesus. Beloved, it is time to get ourselves prepared. This fight is waged every day. I speak to people every single day who are waging this war. God told us our hearts were deceitfully wicked above all else for a reason! He gave us His final revealed will in the bible for a reason! I rebuke Jamie Morgan, the usurper. She has no authority. (Upon what basis does Rev. Wade think he has authority to rebuke when Ms. Morgan does not have authority to rebuke the faithless man?)

Only God has through His holy word. (Undocumented statement.)

The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth contained in that word. Rely not upon the flesh for it profits nothing according to our key verse today. The words in the bible are spirit! They are life! Amen.

2 comments:

  1. There's this good blog you should look at. It talks about him and Pulpit and Pen. https://c3churchwatchwatch.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the link. I was beginning to wonder how Rev. Wade managed to have such credibility. It's nice to know that someone else is questioning his writings.

    ReplyDelete