For more in the Basic Training series, click here.
When I was a little girl, I remember one of my Sunday School teachers saying, “Prayer is just talking to God.” With all the complex, confusing, convoluted, and even conflicting resources out there today on prayer, that sounds rather simplistic to our adult ears, but it’s still the best definition of prayer I’ve ever heard. Prayer is, indeed, simply talking to God.
And, along with studying God’s word and being a faithful member of a local church, it’s one of the three legs of the stool we call sanctification, or growth in Christ. Yet prayer is the leg that tends to be most neglected in our churches, our families, and our personal walk with the Lord.
Why is that? Why don’t we want to sit down and just talk – no frills, no weird machinations, just talk – to the most interesting, powerful, loving, and kind Being in the universe? If you received an invitation to sit down and chat with the President, your favorite celebrity, or a long lost loved one, you’d jump at the chance, right? I would, too. So what is it about our broken brains and hardened hearts that causes us to say, “Nah, not today,” to a simple monologue with our King? Those broken brains have learned some unbiblical things about prayer, and those hardened hearts have some ungodly attitudes toward prayer.
1. We don’t NEED God enough Western Christians are pretty prosperous and self-sufficient people. We don’t have to cry out to God to provide food so we don’t starve. We have jobs and grocery stores. We don’t have to pray that we won’t be arrested for reading our Bibles or going to church, because that’s not happening where we live (yet). Except in the most dire of circumstances, we don’t have to plead with God to heal. We have doctors, hospitals, and medicine. Don’t get me wrong, those are all tremendous blessings, but one of the pitfalls of being blessed is that we start trusting in the blessing rather than trusting in the Blesser. And when that happens, we tend to pray less often and more superficially. Daily prayer is part of our battle to be dependent on God.
2. We’re idolaters My husband’s uncle used to say, “You do what you want to do.” In other words, you spend your time and resources on the things you value most. I’m a Type A personality: workaholic, git ‘er done, ain’t got time to die. One of the reasons I neglect my own prayer time is that I don’t want to take time out of my busy schedule to stop and do nothing but pray. When I operate that way, I’m demonstrating that I don’t want to pray- that I love something else more than I love obeying God and spending time with Him. That’s idolatry.
3. We don’t trust God and His prescribed methods When we’re in need, when we want to commune with God, when we want to grow in holiness, God’s way is for us to pray. Not climb the highest mountain or offer some amazing sacrifice or fulfill a bunch of items on a checklist- pray. But, to our fleshly hearts, this just doesn’t compute. It’s not enough. We’ve got to conjure up our own efforts and do something worthy of God acting on our behalf. Our hearts don’t trust God enough to simply take Him at His word, bring all of our requests to Him, and believe that He will take care of us. We don’t pray because we don’t trust God to follow through on His Word.
4. “Fervency” in prayer is qualitative, not quantitative Sometimes we get it into our heads that being “fervent” in prayer means we have to constantly voice that prayer over and over in order to get God to give in and do what we want Him to do. But God’s provision isn’t dependent on our prayers. He truly doesknow what we need before we ask. In other words, you could stop praying right this minute for that thing you desperately want, and never pray about it again, and God is not going to forget that that’s what you want, or move it to a lower priority level on His prayer-answering list, or punish you by denying your request simply because you stopped praying about it. There are things God blesses us with that we’ve never spent a moment praying for. There are things we stop praying for that God finally gives us years later. And there are things we pray constantly for that God says “no” about. God is going to do what is best for you and what brings Him the most glory, and that doesn’t hinge on whether you pray about that specific thing every day or not. “Fervency” doesn’t mean repetition. It means an intense trust and dependence on God to do what is right in His eyes in response to your prayer. Sometimes it helps to examine a few good translations side by side:
5. Prayer isn’t a letter to Santa Claus Back in the stone age of my childhood there used to be this thing called the Sears catalog. It was kind of like Amazon, but on paper. Every year, a few months before Christmas, they would publish their “Wish Book” edition that had all the toys in it. My sister and I would go through that catalog and circle all the things we wanted for Christmas and then hand it back to my parents, hoping that, this year, we’d get everything we asked for (and we asked for practically everything).
If this is how you approach prayer, you’re doing it wrong. God is not looking for you to provide Him with a list of stuff your greedy little heart desires so He can wrap it up in a bow and leave it under your tree. He’s not a wish-fulfillment center.
6. Weird stuff and unbiblical beliefs- knock it off ♦ Prayer is not a two-way conversation. We talk to God through prayer. He talks to us through His all-sufficient Word. Yes, while you’re praying, the Holy Spirit may remind you of Scripture that’s relevant to what you’re praying about, or bring to mind someone you should pray for, or you might think of a way you can help or bless someone, but prayer is not a dialogue. You don’t say your piece and then sit there and wait for God to say something back. That’s often called listening prayer or contemplative prayer, and it’s unbiblical. Likewise soaking prayer, sozo prayer, etc. In fact, if you see the word “prayer” preceded by an adjective not found in Scripture, it’s most likely not biblical.
♦ Prayer doesn’t require any special accessories. You don’t need to draw a circle to stand in, build a “war room,” blow a shofar, stroke a prayer cloth, or lay your hands on a prayer list, picture, object, etc. Scripture doesn’t tell us to do any of these things, and many of them are patently unbiblical.
♦ Prayer is not about you doing something, it’s about humbly beseeching God to do something. Nowhere in Scripture does God say that the purpose of prayer is for us to assert any power over anything through our words. He does not give us the authority to “bind” Satan, demons, or anything else, or “decree” or “declare” anything as though we could make something happen by doing so. These are false and unbiblical teachings of the heretical Word of Faith and New Apostolic Reformation movements.
7. Watch your language ♦ Having a “private prayer language” (speaking in “tongues”) as it is practiced today has zero basis in Scripture. None. When the disciples point blank asked Jesus to teach them to pray, there wasn’t a single “honda shonda” in His instructions, and nothing in Scripture says your prayers will be more meaningful to you or more likely to be heard by God if they’re in gibberish than if they’re in your native, real language.
♦ If you grew up fundie or old school, you might feel like you have to use “King James” lingo when you pray. You don’t. If you want to use “thee’s” and “thou’s” when you pray, you can, but you don’t have to. You can use the same vocabulary – respectful and pure speech, of course – you’d use when talking to a friend or loved one.
♦ If you’re tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on to your decreeing and declaring and binding and rebuking as some sort of way to harness the power of God into making your words a reality, you’re taking God’s name in vain because you’re doing the same thing witches and pagans do when they use incantations and cast spells. “In Jesus’ name” isn’t the Christian version of “abracadabra.” To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray that what God wants – not what we want – will be done.
8. It isn’t about getting what we want. It’s about God getting what He wants. We tend to think of prayer as a means to an end that centers around us. It’s a time to tell God what we want and need and for Him to fulfill those wants and needs, and that’s that. But is that how God thinks about prayer? God tells us to come to Him, to present our requests to Him, ask Him for daily bread, forgiveness, give thanks to Him, and a number of other things. But we also know that He is sovereign. He already knows what we need and what’s best for us, and He does what He pleases. So if God knows better than we do what we need, and if He’s going to do whatever He wants anyway, why bother praying, right?
We say things like that because we think the point of prayer is to get God to do what we want Him to do. But it’s not. The point of prayer is for God to get us to do what He wants us to do. He wants us to pray, not because He needs a “honey do” list, but because coming back to Him time and time again in prayer teaches us to depend on Him and trust Him. It strengthens our understanding of His power and sovereignty. It grows us in humility and submission. It conforms our will and our wants to His. It reminds us of our sin and the cross. It keeps us from taking God’s blessings for granted as we thank and praise Him. It helps us to want what God wants more than what we want.
Ultimately, prayer is not about what we want God to do for us. It’s about what He wants to do in us. So bow your head and close your eyes and make that daily time communing with the Lord your highest priority. God working through prayer to conform you to the image of Christ? That’s not something you want to say, “Nah, not today,” to.
If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com,
and let’s chat about it.
Yesterday, I published a new discernment article which included Wellspring Group. I did not find enough information online to be able to make a recommendation on whether or not this ministry is doctrinally sound. I subsequently heard from a reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) who has had some personal experience with this organization and agreed to share her thoughts. Though I have no reason to doubt her word, neither can I vouch for her as I do not know her personally. This information is provided for your consideration, and to give you some things to watch for, should your church decide to take part in this program.
Objections to the Wellspring Process and Theology
Questionable interpretation of Scripture to fit the Wellspring model and process.
Proverbs 4:23 is the key verse for the Wellspring process of living wholeheartedly. The NIV translation is used, which says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The whole Wellspring “process” focuses on needing to understand our heart, that God is found in the deepest desires of our heart. This concept is not found anywhere in Scripture.
The Bible doesn’t describe God as being at the depth of our desires (in fact Jeremiah (17:9) said the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things, and beyond cure, and who can understand it?)
We are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Luke 10:27), which indicates our whole being, not four different levels of our heart.
The NASB reads, “Watch over your hearts with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.” When reading over Proverbs 4 in context we see that wisdom is the focus, not the desires of our heart. Wisdom is the thing we need to guard because from wisdom comes [abundant] life.
Verse 23 has to be pulled out of context to fit the Wellspring concept. The heart becomes the focus (and then an entire “process” is built from that assumption) when wisdom is real the focus of the passage. The Bible indicates that wisdom is what will provide the abundant life for us, not a deep and exhaustive understanding of our heart and its desires.
The manual says, “Follow your desires deep enough and you will find God and the image of God in you.” Where is this found in Scripture?
Hebrews 12:1 describes the “cloud of witnesses” and is understood by participants as people who have died who are watching us, as well as our “domain” – the community of people we are in contact with in our life. Biblically, the cloud of witnesses is not a group of people in Heaven watching us, they are believers who have passed on who witnessed the truths of Scripture and Jesus. Hebrews 11:39-40 describes who these people are. (How this plays out in the Wellspring process is described below under the Fellowship concept.
The cloud of witnesses is the group of people listed in Hebrews 11, “the great Hall of Faith”. The author of Hebrews ends chapter 11 with his main point for listing them, “they gained approval through their faith and didn’t receive what was promised because God provided something better.”
Chapter 12 begins with “Therefore”, i.e. because God provided something better than fulfilling the promises He made to these people during their lifetime, we “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race set before us.”
The point of 12:1 is not that the cloud of witnesses will protect us and whisper to us and propel us into God’s story. The manual includes, “Praying the Four Realities” citing, “I see the Communion of Saints surrounding me and cheering me on to persevere all the way to the final Consummation.” Biblically they are not a group of people cheering us on, their lives left us a legacy to be followed.
The “Fellowship” concept.
The Fellowship is described as consisting of the Trinity, the Body of Christ, the Word of God in Scripture and the Communion of Saints (the cloud of witnesses). A circular drawing in the manual indicates that all four parts of the Fellowship are equal. Supposedly this “Fellowship desires to protect you.”
The communion of saints, whether defined as Wellspring does or as the Bible does, ARE NOT equal with the Trinity.
The Battle for Your Heart manual describes this Fellowship as one entity, having characteristics of personality:
“The Fellowship is pursuing you.”
It is suggested that we interact with this “entity”, “Above all else, do whatever it takes to cooperate with the Fellowship that desires to protect you.”
This entity supposedly motivates us, “The Fellowship not only desires to protect you but also to propel you into your part of the Story as an intimate ally.”
This entity supposedly talks to us – members are asked after viewing a clip from the movie Bagger Vance, “What do you hear the Fellowship whispering to you through this scene?” Later in the manual the same question is asked after viewing a clip from Good will Hunting. (If by “whisper” they merely means “teach” then why doesn’t he use the word teach? Why make it creepy?)
The Fellowship supposedly “walks with us” – on the website under a description of the Women’s program it says this, “It’s a rigorous, demanding experience that opens up your whole hearts, gives you clear path to change and connects you to The Fellowship that will walk with you into your part of God’s Larger Story.”
Participants are told that The Fellowship through God’s voice will give you a new name – this is a misconstruing of Revelation 2:17. Jesus will give us a new name after He returns. This indicates that we can receive personal revelation from Jesus, which is not Scriptural.
The manual states “The only way you can win that Battle (for your heart) and live in your part of the Story that is yours and yours alone is through intimately engaging with the Fellowship that desires to protect you and propel you into that Story.”
Again, this is not Scriptural. That statement follows this one, “only through your heart can you discover and live in your part of God’s Story.” Wellspring has missed the emphasis of the Bible – that we are to understand God by studying Scripture (not our heart) and then to think and behave by following Jesus’ example and the illustrations presented by the lives of people who did what pleased God.
Exclusivity – which is bound to cause division among people, between the Wellspringers and the nonWellspringers who don’t understand the lingo and are not “living out of their whole heart”.
They indicate that the deeper life is only found through Wellspring. The creator of Wellspringclaims that rarely do people learn to live out of their “whole heart” without the Wellspring process. This quote is found on the website under the Process for Women, “There is something in the life of every woman that fuels her deepest desires – for relationship, for value, for connecting with her destiny. The Bible calls this hidden source of life a wellspring. Few find it. But for those who do, a world of change is possible. The Battle for the Heart process helps you discover this wellspring in your own life.”
Wellspring alone. People are encouraged not to do any other small groups besides Wellspring – on the website under FAQs there is a question, “Can I participate in this process and another small group at the same time?” The answer says that’s up to them but “many find that they need to back off of another group for a year in order to fully engage in the Battle for the Heart process.” So does that mean no other Bible study is needed? That should send up warning flags. It has been observed that many of the participants drop out of Bible studies in order devote all their time to studying the Wellspring concepts, which is NOT a Bible study.
Wellspring has the secret. (Very gnostic) The manual states that “unless you understand the context of this Story (God’s Larger Story) and where you are in it, you will be confused, disoriented, effectively taken out of the battle.” The booklet doesn’t describe what this Larger Story is, so obviously you have to attend the retreat to gain this information if you don’t want to be confused, disoriented, etc. The Larger Story is described in the workbook as something you can only find by living “wholeheartedly” out of the four levels of your heart. And unless you learn the Wellspring process you won’t be able to do that.
The manual states, “We can only be fully human as we experience the redemptive love of Christ at all four levels of our hearts and then express that love from all four levels of our hearts.” Unless you take the WS courses you won’t know what the four levels are because they are not taught in the Bible.
Completely new vocabulary. This can cause two groups at church – those who understand the vocabulary and those who do not. Throughout the entire booklet there is new vocabulary that no one will understand unless they go to the retreat. There isn’t enough information in the booklet to define this vocabulary and it is used very differently from biblical language.
God’s Larger Story. What is larger than the story of redemption through Jesus and learning to live according to His commands and by His example? You have to attend the retreat to find out what this larger story is and how you fit into it.
Implication that a church is insufficient without the inculcation Wellspring process.
People are encouraged on the website to get their churches involved as partners with Wellspring after they attend all four retreats.
Under the FAQs the question is asked, “Why consider the Battle for the Heart Community Process?” The answer shows the reader their absolute need for this process (that can’t be found anywhere else but Wellspring), “When leaders are not living from their whole hearts (defined biblically as their thoughts feelings, desires and choices), their lives suffer, their relationships suffer, and their service in the body of Christ is hindered.” Then several examples are listed of what this looks like:
“People will talk about the love of God, but don’t experience that love in a way that results in significant, sustained change.”
“Achieve objectives, but often with significant collateral relational damage.”
“Unconsciously seek approval from God through performance instead of
performance flowing out of love for God and being loved by God.”
“Live in marriages where they are committed to their spouses, but there is little true intimacy, and they become “roommates on the way to heaven.”
“Become unable to effectively experience and express their own emotions and desires or effectively experience the desires and emotions of those they love the most.”
While some of those statements may be true in some people’s lives, Wellspring is not the only place to find healing in these areas, yet the website indicates that “few find it” aside from learning and following the Wellspring concepts. The Word of God is what changes us, “For the Word of God is living and active…” Hebrews 4:12a ESV.
Implied insufficiency of Scripture.
Film clips are used during the courses to illustrate the four levels of the heart and the elevator model of the heart. The manual states, “To assist you in getting in touch with all four levels of your heart we will ask questions after film clips and in your team meetings designed to help you go down the elevator.”
This is a huge red flag – The films they show clips of are made by Hollywood and rarely based on Scriptural principles. While they can have good illustrations about life, they should not be substituted for the Word of God when we are trying to grow closer to God.
The manual states that connecting on all four levels is really only possible with other Wellspring attendants, as implied in the manual, “Knowing your own heart at all four levels is the foundation for effectively connecting with others at all four levels of their heart.”
Again, this is secret knowledge that only those that attend Wellspring will gain, implying that the Bible alone is not sufficient for learning how to effectively connect with others.
The Bible is not the only source of Wellspring ideas, the manual states that “The Battle for the Heart draws upon ancient spiritual disciplines, such as reflective reading of Scripture, contemplative prayer and the power of intimate fellowship, and places them in an organic structure.”
The website at one time recommended reading books by John Eldridge’s and David Benner, who are both followers of “mystic” Christianity.
Overall, the Wellspring program encourages an unhealthy focus on self. Supposedly we find God from intense introspection, understanding an unbliblical concept of our heart and its four levels, searching within our deepest desires and through watching movie clips to gain insight. All of that is NOT what Scripture teaches.
If you’re listening or watching (or even if you’re reading, I guess!), here’s the accompanying handout if you’d like to take notes.
Have you ever heard the term “New Apostolic Reformation” or “NAR” and have some idea of what it is?
If not, I’m so glad the Lord led you here, because, over the last 20 years or so, the New Apostolic Reformation has become the predominant form of false doctrine in Protestant American evangelicalism, and you’ve probably encountered it in some way, even if you’re just now learning what it’s called.
In my opinion, the NAR is the most dangerous form of false doctrine in the United States today because so many people think it is biblical Christianity and unknowingly import it into reasonably doctrinally sound churches. I mean, I’ve never heard of Anytown Baptist Church teaching (as Christianity) that Mohammed was a prophet or that God lives next door to the planet Kolob, but you’ll certainly see NAR beliefs and practices like dominionism, unbiblical manifestations of the “Holy Spirit” and NAR prayer practices gradually creeping into many average evangelical churches.
And, to our shame, America has so diligently exported this false doctrine to other countries under the banner of “missions,” that in many areas of the world – particularly Africa – the New Apostolic Reformation is the primary representation of so-called “Christianity”.
It is pervasive, it is heretical, it is blasphemous, and it is sending people to hell at an alarming rate.
Because this is an article (albeit a long one) rather than a book, I want to give you an overview of a few of the major points of New Apostolic Reformation doctrine, and then I want to focus in on unbiblical NAR practices and experiences so you’ll be able to more easily spot an NAR church*, recognize when a loved one is straying into NAR false doctrine, and keep NAR false doctrine from creeping into your own church.
*New Apostolic Reformation organizations are heretical, which means their organizations are not “churches” and their adherents are not “Christians”. Typically, when I write about the NAR, I use “scare quotes” when referring to NAR “churches” and other Christian terminology the NAR has co-opted. However, because of the volume of this terminology in an article of this length, I felt that attempting to do so would be distracting to the reader and burdensome to the writing process. I have, therefore, left most of them out. But please understand, NAR “churches” are no more real churches than a Mormon “church” or a Jehovah’s Witness “church”.
Because that’s the immediate danger here. You’re not going to go to an NAR “church’s” website, go read their statement of faith page, and see – clearly spelled out for you – the doctrines explained below. But you probably will notice the outward signs and practices. So I do want to give those unbiblical practices and experiences some emphasis.
So let’s start by taking a look at…
Major NAR Doctrines
The first thing you need to understand is that one thing the NAR has in common with the rest of the evangelical world is that there are variations in beliefs and practices from church to church and individual to individual. I mean, I’m Baptist. You ask ten random Baptists what they believe, and you’re going to get ten different answers, even though there will be a lot of similarities.
It’s the same with the NAR. And on top of that, because this is a doctrine of demons, and its leaders disguise themselves as angels of light, some of them will flat out deny right to your face that they believe, teach, and practice some of these things, when you’ve read in their books, and heard in their sermons, and watched in videos of their worship services that they do.
Another thing that leads to variations in beliefs is that the NAR is not an organized denomination like the PCA or the ELCA. There’s no defined structure of leadership or governance. There’s no headquarters building, no national president, no official creed, confession, or statement of beliefs that all its churches hold to, no membership criteria for admitting or dismissing churches, or, indeed, even the concept of “membership” itself, because there’s no denomination for churches to be a member of.
So just keep that in mind. If you walk up to your friend NAR Nancy and say, “I heard your church believes X, Y, and Z,” she’s very likely to say either, “No, it doesn’t,” or “I never heard of that,” because NAR “churches” really minimize teaching and doctrine and maximize feelings and experiences.
But let’s look at some of those doctrines that most NAR churches and those in leadership in the NAR hold in common:
False Doctrine 1: Restoration of the offices of Apostle and Prophet
Probably the most definitive, stake your claim doctrine of the NAR that separates them from typical, Bible believing Protestant churches, is that they believe God has restored the offices of Apostle and Prophet. “Capital A” Apostle, as in Peter and Paul. “Capital P” Prophet, as in Isaiah and Jeremiah.
NAR doctrine holds that the offices of Apostle and Prophet have been restored to the church, and that God places people in those offices today to rule and run the church. The prophets (supposedly) receive new revelations from God and the apostles take that revelation and apply it to govern the church.
Here’s why that’s unbiblical: Acts 1:21-26 clearly spells out the normative requirements for the office of Apostle:
1. He had to have followed Jesus during His entire earthly ministry, from his baptism by John the Baptist to His ascension. And/or (in the case of Paul)…
2. He had to have been an eyewitness to the resurrected Christ.
3. He had to have been personally appointed to the office by Christ Himself.
Now, NAR apostles will skirt around numbers 2 and 3 by telling you that Jesus appeared to them and personally appointed them in a dream or a vision. But even if you give them that, not a single one of them followed Jesus during His earthly ministry, the very first requirement of an Apostle.
Furthermore, if God wanted Apostles and Prophets running the church today, why doesn’t He say in the New Testament that He wants Apostles and Prophets running the church? There is no mention whatsoever of the office of Prophet in the New Testament, or any qualifications a man must meet if he wants to hold the office of Prophet in the church. And none of the original Apostles in Acts were replaced when they died.
We have the pastoral epistles – 1&2 Timothy and Titus. These are the policy and procedure manuals for the church. You’ve read them (and if you haven’t you can stop right now and read all three of them in 30-40 minutes). Do they say anything about Apostles and Prophets running the church? No, they don’t.
The Apostle Paul, an actual Apostle – under the divine, theopneustos inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes these words to Titus, who’s getting a bunch of new churches up and running…
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
Titus 1:5
Not Apostles. Not Prophets. Elders. And then he goes on in verses 6-9 (and in 1 Timothy 3:1-7) to list the qualifications of elders, or overseers, or pastors, not Prophets and Apostles. If God wanted Prophets and Apostles running the church He would have said so right here. And He doesn’t.
False Doctrine 2: Dominionism and the 7 Mountain Mandate
The NAR believes that the biblical gospel isn’t good enough. You know the gospel, right? If not, or if you’re not sure, click here. That’s the gospel. That is the complete gospel. We don’t add to it or take away from it.
But the NAR says that’s not the complete gospel. They have what they call the Kingdom Gospel, which is the gospel plus the idea that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection made it possible for NAR “Christians” to take dominion of the earth, and gave them a mandate to do so.
Now, this is not your Genesis 1:28 dominion where God tells Adam to take dominion over the fish and the birds and every living creature. This is also not the idea of sharing the gospel and being salt and light – being a godly influence on the world – like Scripture tells us to.
This is the idea of the NAR taking over every institution and government of every nation, and eventually, literally ruling the world in order to usher in the second coming of Christ. That’s dominionism.
They even have a plan for doing this called the 7 Mountain Mandate, which basically breaks society down into seven different categories or “mountains” to move – government, media, family, business & finance, education, church & religion, and arts & entertainment.
The NAR twists two main Scriptures to teach this.
The Great Commission- Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”. What does that mean? It means “as you go,” as you walk through life each day, share the gospel with people and disciple them if they become Believers. Send out missionaries. That’s what the Great Commission means.
The NAR teaches that “make disciples of all the nations,” means make every nation disciples. Infiltrate every corner of every nation and make that nation NAR.
The other Scripture they twist is in the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Does that mean we’re supposed to literally take over the world and establish God’s kingdom on earth by force or by stealth? Of course not. But that’s what the NAR believes and teaches.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What does that mean? It’s similar to “Maranatha: come Lord Jesus”. It is our prayer that Christ will come soon to rule and reign over all the earth.
This is not the biblical spiritual warfare we find in Ephesians 6 with the full armor of God – standing firm in Christ with prayer, study of the Word, righteousness, truth, and so on.
This is more like something out of a scary Hollywood movie. The NAR believes that there are powerful, high ranking demons and evil spirits that control various geographical regions or territories as well as those 7 mountains in the 7 Mountain Mandate. These evil spirits have to be driven out before the NAR can take dominion of all of the seven mountains, and, thus, each nation.
You’ve read your New Testament. Does the Bible teach this? Of course not. Say it loud. Say it convictionally. Say it fearlessly and without shame:
THE BIBLE DOESN’T TEACH THAT.
That is spiritual warfare. Stand firm against the schemes of the devil -like the false teaching of the New Apostolic Reformation- by girding your loins with truth and taking up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. That is spiritual warfare.
False Doctrine 4: Signs and Wonders
This is probably the best known doctrine of the NAR because it’s the most visible and publicized. The NAR teaches that you can do all the same miracles you saw Jesus do during his earthly ministry.
For many, the reason they believe this is that they believe a twisted version of Philippians 2:6-7. They think when that passage says Jesus “emptied Himself,” that He gave up His deity. That when He came to earth, He was not God. This is called Kenoticism, or the Kenotic heresy.
Bethel Church in Redding, California, is basically ground zero for the NAR in the United States- and that’s what they believe. That’s why you’ll hear discerning Christians say that Bethel and the NAR are heretical. Because they are. They literally deny the deity of Christ. You can’t get more heretical than that.
Both Bethel and most of the NAR believe Jesus was just a regular human being like you and me who was so faithful to God and so filled with the Spirit that He was able to work miracles. So, of course, if you’re able to be that faithful to God and filled with the Spirit, you can do those miracles, too.
They’ll also take you to John 14:12, where Jesus said: “…he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do…”
Now, if you’re a good student of your Bible, you will read this verse in context and you will quickly see that it is not promising or commanding Christians today to go out and work miracles.
But the NAR twists this verse to mean that they are to do all the same miracles Jesus did. Mostly healing the sick and raising the dead. And then you’ve also got speaking in tongues, and prophecy, and extra-biblical revelation.
But they don’t even get their own Bible twisting right, because Jesus didn’t just say they would do the same works He did. Jesus said those of us who believe on Him would do greater works than He did. What’s greater than healing the sick, or raising the dead?
There’s only one thing greater than that- it’s the miracle that takes place when God raises the spiritually dead to newness of life in Christ. We have the privilege and the honor of being entrusted by Christ to take the gospel – the true gospel – to those who are dead in their sins so that Jesus can give them life.
That’s the greater work. Jesus could not do that work during His earthly ministry the way we can, because He had not yet died and risen from the grave. And another thing – Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was spent in that little tiny area of Israel. It wasn’t God’s plan for Him to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth like we’ve been able to do. So it’s a greater work in that sense, too.
But the NAR not only gets it wrong in that they don’t understand what the greater work is, they don’t even do the same works Jesus did. They have never genuinely healed one person. They have never genuinely raised one person from the dead. They’ve never multiplied food for thousands or calmed a storm or caused a fig tree to wither instantaneously. Never. If they had, there would be evidence of it.
Now, as I said, your average NAR churchgoer who just shows up for the worship experience on Sunday morning is likely not to even be aware of these doctrines or that her church subscribes to them, because, while some of these things might be hinted at, implied, or assumed on Sunday morning, generally speaking, NAR churches don’t usually sit their members down and formally teach and explain these doctrines to them.
They don’t have a church covenant you sign, or a creed you recite, or a statement of faith, confession, or catechism that says these things. In fact it’s often the opposite – they try to hide these things because they know it’s weird and unbiblical and it’s going to turn people away. And they don’t want to do that, they want to draw people in so they can deceive them.
So, if NAR false doctrine starts creeping into your church, it’s not going to look like your pastor standing up in the pulpit and saying, “Please turn to Philippians 2 and let us learn the Kenotic heresy.” And if your brother and sister-in-law start going to an NAR church, she’s not going to tell you over coffee that they learned all about strategic level spiritual warfare in Sunday School last week.
What you will see and hear is the NAR’s unbiblical practices, experiences, and street level Bible twisting.
Unbiblical NAR Practices and Experiences
I opened this article by asking if you were familiar with the NAR. If not, you might be familiar with the Word of Faith or prosperity gospel:
Name it and claim it / blab it and grab it
It’s never God’s will for you to suffer, be poor, or be sick.
It’s always God’s will for you to be healthy, wealthy, and successful.
To live your best life now, as Joel Osteen would have us believe.
Because the NAR and the Word of Faith movement both have their roots in charismatic Pentecostalism, there is a great deal of overlap between the two as far as what they look like to most people. In fact, the way I usually explain it is that the NAR takes the Word of Faith and kicks it up a notch with outlandish “supernatural” manifestations and signs and wonders, and blasphemously attributes these to the Holy Spirit.
So let’s take a look at some of the NAR’s unbiblical practices and experiences. Some of these will be common to Word of Faith/prosperity gospel churches as well.
Street Level Bible Twisting
Health, Wealth, and Prosperity
Like the Word of Faith, the NAR teaches followers that it is never God’s will for Christians to be poor, unsuccessful, or sick. It’s always God’s will for you to be healthy, wealthy, and successful. The Word of Faith tends to place a little more emphasis on the “wealthy and successful” part. The NAR tends to place a little more emphasis on the “healthy” part.
There are a couple of Scriptures they twist for this. One is John 10:34, where Jesus, in order to demonstrate to the Pharisees that they were being hypocritical and inconsistent, quoted Psalm 82:6: “Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?”.
Now, obviously, Jesus was not saying that you and I possess any level of deity whatsoever, because the entirety of the Bible clearly teaches against that. Take the time to read those verses in context and you’ll plainly see that. But both the NAR and the Word of Faith rip these verses out of context so they can say that we are “little gods” – we are divine.
Now, think about it: God can’t get sick. God can’t be poor. So if we’re little gods, we can’t be sick or poor either.
They will also take you to Isaiah 53:5, which, speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion, says, in part, “by His [stripes or] wounds we are healed.” Now, we understand, just by reading the rest of that verse, that what’s being said there is that Jesus’ death on the cross paid for our sins. We are “healed” from our sinful state of spiritual unwellness by the physical unwellness -the wounds- Jesus suffered on the cross that led to His death for us.
And we can even go so far as to say that Jesus’ wounds did ultimately pay for our physical healing, because those of us who are in Christ will all be completely, totally healed the moment we step into eternal life with Jesus.
But the NAR and Word of Faith will tell you that Isaiah 53:5 means that Jesus’ death on the cross purchased your healing in this life on earth. And that’s demonstrably not true. Any pagan can look around and see that even the most godly person he can think of gets sick, gets injured, and eventually dies.
I mean, just take a look at the Johnson family. They have plenty of health issues. Bill Johnson, the leader of Bethel, wears glasses. He had a serious intestinal blockage several years ago that required surgery. I would guess that, at 73 years old, he takes just as many medications for high blood pressure, or diabetes, or cholesterol, or whatever, as most 73 year olds take. Bill’s wife, Beni, who literally wrote the book on health, called Healthy and Free, tragically died of cancer in 2022.
Their own theology doesn’t even work for them.
Love Bombing, Ego Boosting, and Environmental Manipulation
Just the general air and experience of attending an NAR worship service is also Bible twisting. Everything is centered around and focused on you rather than on Christ, even though the whole time they’re saying the focus is on Christ.
But their view of Jesus is that He’s a life enhancement accessory. Jesus is there to serve me, to make my life better, to give me all the stuff my greedy little heart desires. Remember John 6:26? After He fed the 5000, Jesus said to the crowd of people following Him, “you seek Me, because you ate of the loaves and were filled”.
In other words, they weren’t following Jesus because they wanted Jesus. They were following Him to get something out of Him: food, healing, miracles. Something to make their earthly lives easier and better. That’s what the NAR is. They don’t want Jesus, they want a genie.
So even when an NAR church is supposedly focusing on Jesus – singing about Jesus, preaching and teaching about Jesus, praying to Jesus – they’re really still focused on you, because their false Jesus is just a means to an end to get you what you want.
So you walk in the front door, and you’re immediately love bombed – especially if you’re new. You get a million hugs, and everyone’s so thrilled to see you: “Can I help you with that?” “Here’s a coffee and a swag bag for first time visitors.” “Why don’t you come out to lunch with us after?”. You’re made to feel like a queen. Like you’re the most important person in the building.
This is not biblical hospitality – because this place isn’t biblical – this is Satanic manipulation and deception. It’s the same kind of thing cults do to draw people in.
You go in and find your seat, and the house lights go down, and the band comes out, and you get an hour long concert that you can sing along with if you want. It’s music that’s written specifically to get a hold of your emotions. It stirs you and makes you feel good.
The music is often very repetitive and literally mind numbing, because that puts you in a suggestive state, very much like hypnosis. Sometimes they will even tell you something like, “Just empty your mind and sing with your heart and let the spirit move.”
Then someone they call a pastor will come out on the stage, and he or she will give you a word salad with a few Bible verses for croutons, some general truisms and tips you could get from Dr. Phil or Oprah, and tell you a bunch of emotionally manipulative stories.
It’s all about how much God loves you, how great He thinks you are, and how wonderful He wants your life to be. And so quickly that you can’t even catch it, they’re weaving in unbiblical ideas here and nuggets of false doctrine there.
And you’ll get out of there high as a kite, feeling like you can conquer the world and God just thinks you’re awesome… until about 6 a.m. on Monday when the alarm goes off and real life sets in. And you still have all the same problems. And you still have all the same bills you’re struggling to pay. And you’re still taking all the same medications you were taking yesterday.
It’s cotton candy Christianity. It’s fake. They’re not teaching you what the Bible really teaches, and they’re teaching you to worship yourself instead of Christ.
Unbiblical Signs and Wonders
This is what really has marked the NAR in recent years because it’s so obvious and attention grabbing, and in most cases, so clearly fake and unbiblical.
Some of these things are rooted in the NAR’s misunderstanding and twisting of the events surrounding Pentecost. For example…
Speaking in Tongues, etc.
If you will sit down with your Bible and carefully read Acts 2, you will see two things about the phrase “speaking in other tongues”.
The first thing you will see is that “tongues,” in this passage, means known, legitimate, foreign languages. Verse 5 says, “there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.”
In verse 8, those devout men from every nation under heaven said of the apostles, “We each hear them in our own language in which we were born.”
And verse 11 bookends the whole thing by saying, “We hear them in our own tongues [languages] speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”
Why were the apostles speaking in all these different languages? To preach the gospel to all these people who spoke different languages. They didn’t have Google Translate. And this purpose is borne out by the rest of the chapter where you can read Peter’s sermon on the gospel.
That’s not how speaking in tongues is practiced in NAR churches. It’s not a legitimate tool for explaining the gospel to someone who doesn’t speak your language. Again, it’s all about you, and how you can have this supposedly supernatural experience of speaking meaningless syllables that makes you feel good and supposedly brings you closer to God as you worship Him. That’s not what the Bible teaches about speaking in tongues.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 says that in the church setting, a maximum of three people can speak in a tongue and someone must interpret it from the foreign language being spoken into the common language spoken by the church. And you will rarely, if ever, see those two commands being obeyed in NAR churches.
Did any true prophet in the Bible ever say, “Thus says the Lord…” and then get it wrong? Of course not. One reason for this was that the punishment for false prophets was execution.
If a prophet’s prophecy comes true, but he leads you astray to false gods (like the false god of the NAR) or
If a prophet speaks something God has not commanded him to speak (like the “prophets” of the NAR do) or
If a prophet speaks in the name of a false god (like the false god of the NAR)
…that prophet is to be put to death.
Am I advocating for the death penalty for false prophets today? No, I am not. All I’m saying is, in the Old Testament, all of the NAR prophets would be dead three times over.
The God these people teach isn’t the God of the Bible. The things these people tell you aren’t prophecies. They’re much more like the false prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah warned about who just tell you what you want to hear to make you feel good.
And from the prophet even to the priest everyone practices lying. They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.
Jeremiah 6: 13-14
And listen to what God says about His people who prefer the message of false prophets over true prophets:
For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who are not willing to listen to the law of Yahweh, Who say to the seers [the true prophets of God], “You must not see,” And to those who have visions [the true prophets of God], “You must not behold visions for us of what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, behold visions of illusions. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Cease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 30:9-11
In other words, God’s people are telling the true prophets, like Isaiah, “Stop telling us the hard truths of God’s Word. Be nice! Tell us nice things that make us feel good! Scratch our itching ears!”.
NAR prophecies, extra-biblical revelation, words of knowledge – these supposed revelations from God that are found nowhere in the Bible – are the vain imaginings of their own minds. Case in point, the 2020 Presidential election.
Anybody on the planet had a 50-50 chance of correctly guessing who would be the next President, Trump or Biden. Every single NAR prophet who gave a public prophecy got it wrong. Every single one of them. They all said Trump would win the election and occupy the White House, serving as president.
There’s no New Testament special dispensation for prophets to get things wrong. They don’t have the gift of prophecy. They aren’t prophets.
You’ve probably seen videos of Benny Hinn and other fake faith healers calling people up on stage and pretending to heal them.
Maybe you’ve even seen the man on the street videos of Todd White going up to random people and pretending to lengthen their one leg that’s shorter than the other.
You might have even heard of Todd Bentley who has been known to try to heal people by kicking or punching them, such as the man with stomach cancer whom he kicked in the gut.
None of these so-called miracle healings are real. Benny Hinn only allows people into his healing lines who have invisible or fake illnesses, so you can’t tell whether they’re really healed or not. Todd White’s leg lengthening has been demonstrated to be a parlor trick. Todd Bentley has injured more people than he’s healed.
If you still think these things are real, ask yourself, “Where are the doctors and hospitals publicly coming forward and saying, ‘Yes, this person was genuinely, medically healed,’ and why wasn’t it splashed all over the news?”.
Why don’t these fake healers ever heal someone medically documented to be paralyzed, or brain injured, or with cerebral palsy?
Why don’t they walk into hospitals and heal everyone there?
How come there’s not one video of a fake healer instantly growing back an amputee’s arm or leg, or healing someone’s badly disfigured face, or making the skin of a burn victim like new?
God still heals people all the time. He heals people in answer to our prayers, usually through modern medicine and the body’s own healing properties, but sometimes miraculously and inexplicably by His own hand. He is not giving people the sign gift of healing today, and even if He were, it certainly wouldn’t be to these rank heretics.
Resurrections
I’m not really sure why, but these people think they can raise the dead. They’ve never done it. There’s never been any medical documentation of it. And in this age of everyone having smart phones, there’s never been photographic or video evidence of it.
And, I mean, if somebody who was certifiably dead was resurrected, where is he? He ought to be up walking around among us and telling his story on every news channel and talk show.
No one raised Bill Johnson’s wife from the dead when she died of cancer a few years ago. Why not?
In December of 2019, a precious 2 year old little girl named Olive tragically died in her sleep. As a mother and grandmother, I can only imagine the excruciating heartbreak and agony her family went through.
Olive’s parents were members of Bethel Redding where her mother was also a worship leader. Instead of making funeral arrangements for Olive, they contacted Bethel’s dead raising team.
No, I’m not kidding. Your church has a hospitality committee, Bethel has a dead raising team.
And for – not one, not two, – but five days, they cried out to their god, they sang, they jumped around, they chanted “Wake up Olive! Wake up Olive! Wake up Olive!”. And “there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.” The false god of Bethel did not answer them.
And this story went viral – all over the world. And I remember following this story, and how all I could think about when I saw the pictures and videos of all of this was the 1 Kings 18 story of the prophets of Baal crying out to their false god to answer them with fire and consume their sacrifice. But, verse 29 tells us, “there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.”
On the sixth day the parents announced that they were planning Olive’s funeral. And how do you think that momma and daddy felt, when, at the worst moment of their lives, their false god failed them and didn’t give them back that precious baby?
Bill Johnson, their pastor whom they trusted, failed them. Their church that so believed they could resurrect the dead, that they had a dead raising team, failed them because Bethel believed and taught lies.
Second only to the fact that NAR heresy sends people to Hell, the cruelest of their false teachings is that they can resurrect the dead.
These are just a few of the more notable unbiblical signs and wonders of the NAR. There are so many more.
NAR People and Organizations to Be Aware Of
I’ve covered some of what the NAR believes, teaches, and practices, but I think it might help you to know some of the movers and shakers in this movement, so if your friend comes to you and says, “I’m reading a book by this lady,” or “I started listening to a podcast by that guy,” you’ll immediately be on the alert.
But please understand, the NAR has been the fastest growing version of so-called Christianity over the last 20+ years, so this is by no means anywhere near a comprehensive list.
If you want to avoid false teachers and heretical organizations in the New Apostolic Reformation, mark and avoid:
Anyone who calls him or herself an apostle, prophet, or prophetess
Bill Johnson (Bethel’s pastor), Brian and Jenn Johnson (Bethel’s worship leaders and founders of Bethel Music). Pretty much anybody with the last name of Johnson who’s associated with Bethel.
If you hear one of these names, you’re dealing with someone in the New Apostolic Reformation. (And if you’d like more information on any of those listed above, try the ministries listed here.)
Now you may have just read a name that surprised and offended you because you like that person. I want you to think about something. If I told you that person was a Mormon, or a Muslim, or a Jehovah’s Witness, or a Hindu, and because of that, you shouldn’t listen to him, you wouldn’t have any problem with me saying that.
The New Apostolic Reformation is just as false, and heretical, and blasphemous as any of those other false religions, but because it calls itself “Christian,” and because your church might use music or materials from some of those people, it’s not as obvious.
The NAR in Music and Women’s Ministry
If you listen to contemporary Christian music, you probably recognized the names of some musicians in the list above: Bethel Music, Jesus Culture, Brandon Lake, Cory Asbury, and Phil Wickham. And there are many more.
Two of the main ways NAR false doctrine usually begins infiltrating otherwise healthy churches is through the music ministry and the women’s ministry.
Bethel Music and its production and publication companies practically have a monopoly on the contemporary worship music industry. If your church sings contemporary worship music in the worship service, you’re probably using music from Bethel, Phil Wickham, Hillsong, and/or Elevation. In order, those are the top four most widely used sources for worship music.
When you bring music like that into your church – even the songs with seemingly biblical lyrics – people like it, they start listening to the music outside the church, and that acts like a gateway drug to draw them in to the NAR and its false doctrine.
Bill Johnson has proudly and publicly boasted about doing this – on purpose. That’s why they’ve built up this music empire. It’s by design, to draw people in.
I, and many others who teach against the NAR, have heard the testimonies of hundreds of people who have told us that’s exactly how they got drawn away into a New Apostolic Reformation church.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12
Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?
Proverbs 6:27-28
You don’t know when you’re being deceived. That’s why it’s deception.
I explain things like this when I teach, and I explain all the blasphemies and cruelties the NAR commits against vulnerable people, and I still have Christians come up to me and argue with me that it’s perfectly fine to for them to listen to NAR artists like the ones I just mentioned.
Also, examine the materials your women’s ministry is using and the conferences they’re attending. It’s extremely likely that the authors and teachers your women’s ministry follows are in the NAR themselves, or they’re partnering with and embracing NAR teachers, or they are in some way being influenced by NAR teachers.
Research the authors and teachers your church uses and that you follow. See who they surround themselves with. First Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.” Or if you want the country version: If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Birds of a feather flock together.
This is one of the reasons why Romans 16:17-18, and 2 John 9-11, and 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, and Titus 1:9 and so many other passages of Scripture command us to have nothing to do with false teachers.
If you find NAR false doctrine infiltrating your church, kindly, lovingly, gently, take what you’ve learned today, go to your pastor, and express your concerns.
Why is any of this important?
A lot of well meaning Christians look at NAR “churches” and think, “Well, they may worship a little differently, but it’s no big deal. We all love Jesus!”
No, we do not.
Regardless of what they say, people who believe and teach damnable heresy, by biblical definition, do not love Jesus. And it is harmful to those people and the vulnerable people they’re deceiving, to say – or treat them like – they do.
I told you about baby Olive and her parents. I didn’t mention the thousands of direly ill and disabled people, the parents of children with terminal cancer, or who are horribly disfigured, who give their life savings to these fake healers because that is their last hope. And they’re either turned away, or they’re not healed, and they’re told it’s their fault because they just didn’t have enough faith.
Or how about the young woman who was almost murdered because she believed a false prophecy that it was God’s will for her to marry this certain guy who turned out to be unspeakably abusive.
The NAR is evangelically-sanctioned spiritual abuse. It has destroyed countless lives, ruins everything it touches, and has sent untold millions to Hell for all eternity.
And as unfathomably awful as that is – exponentiallyworse than all of that – New Apostolic Reformation heresy is a slap in the face to our precious Jesus who hung on a cruel Roman cross in agony for your sins and for mine.
It is blasphemy of the highest order against God, our Father. It is lying about, slandering, and maligning the Holy Spirit.
The New Apostolic Reformation is heresy and has no place in a Christian church in any way, shape, or form. Stay far away from it. Protect yourself. Protect your loved ones. Protect your church.
Contemplative prayer, often called centering prayer, (and connected to sozo prayer and soaking prayer) is very much like a “Christianized” transcendental meditation (similar to New Age or Buddhist meditation). You are supposed to sit quietly, empty your mind, and repeat a biblical word or phrase over and over until you begin “hearing from God.”
Is this a biblical form of prayer? No, and it is also very dangerous. Many who have come out of this practice and churches or organizations which promote it (the International House of Prayer, or IHOP, and Bethel “Church” in Redding, California, are major proponents) report that contemplative prayer is much like being hypnotized and that it was an open door for demonic opression and even possession.
Our beliefs and worship practices are to be drawn from Scripture, and nowhere in Scripture are we told to pray like this. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He did not tell them to empty their minds and repeat a mantra. He said,
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Matthew 6:7-13
Jesus taught us to talk to God using intelligible words, worshiping Him, repenting and seeking His forgiveness, and asking Him to provide for our needs. It is not His desire that we mimic a pagan form of meditation.
If you have a question about: a well known Christian author/leader, a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com,
and let’s chat about it.
Adult Coloring and Meditation –
What Every Christian Should Know by Jessica Pickowicz
Last February, during our family staycation, I bought my first adult coloring book… And I even colored in it…. Phew… There. I said it. I feel so relieved to get that off my chest!
It seems a bit crazy that I would be even a little ashamed or intimidated to admit that publicly. But here it is. And right now there is an argument peppering Twitter and the blogosphere regarding Christians and the adult coloring fad. Some are mocking; others are getting offended; and still others are sitting back with popcorn in one hand and a stick in the other; poking the bear! Even I have, regretfully, thrown my hat into the ring. I say regretfully because (though hilarious) it seems somewhat petty and snarky and self-righteous to bash adult coloring. After all, as Tim Challies articulates in his recent article on the topic, it is just a hobby – like golfing, knitting, tennis, or painting “happy little trees”. Furthermore, it can very well be exercised all to the glory of God. And I, lover of adult coloring, respond with a hearty, “Amen!”
Challies is right. When it is just a hobby, adult coloring is a perfectly innocent past-time. It’s fun. It’s calming. It’s clean! It’s a great mommy alternative to the My Little Pony and Ninja Turtle coloring books when coloring with the kids. It’s even occupational and physical therapy, bringing vibrancy, joy, and art into the hands of people struggling with dementia, depression, ADHD, Autism, and those with fine-motor and sensory struggles brought on by neurological diseases such as ALS, MS, and Parkinson’s — just to name a few. By itself, adult coloring is a beautiful thing!
Sadly, what many people don’t know is that there is another fad sweeping the nation, and adult coloring books are at the heart of it. The fad is meditative coloring. And it’s infiltrating the prayer lives of Christian women everywhere.
Meditative coloring is the practice of coloring specific patterns while emptying the mind, allowing thoughts to roam free, and achieving spiritual enlightenment. Some of these specific patterns are called mandalas. Mandalas are spiritual symbols and patterns used by Eastern religions for meditation purposes “allowing the individual meditating to become one with the Universe.”¹ And it’s a challenge to find an adult coloring book that isn’t riddled with them.
Gaining popularity, a few laps ahead of meditative coloring, is the practice among Christians of contemplative prayer. I don’t have the space here to go into a detailed explanation of this heresy. But it’s important to educate yourself, and you can read about it here. With the rise of the Word of Faith movement, the Prosperity movement, the increasing popularity of women authors such as Priscilla Shirer and Sarah Young, and movies such as War Room; prayer as defined by and commanded in the Bible has been grossly shirked aside (by women especially) in favor of a more ecstatic, meditative, emotional, new-age, and downright heretical experience.
I conflate meditative coloring and contemplative prayer in this article because I feel that contemplative prayer is a very slippery slope that lends itself too easily to the practice of meditative coloring, especially with the massive output of Christian and Inspirational themed adult coloring books.
A warning to Christian women dabbling in these practices:
My aim is not to be harsh here, but I must be serious for a moment. The Bible teaches us how to pray. Moreover, it commands us to pray and meditate in very specific terms — the only right way according to God. If we are not praying as Scripture commands, we are not obeying God and are therefore in sin.
Please do not use these coloring books in conjunction with prayer and meditation, contemplative or otherwise. Do not empty your mind. Ladies, please do not sit down to color and wait for a word from
God! Please do not chant over and over (as in a mantra) a declarative “life-verse” from a page in your Scripture coloring book. Do not allow yourself to be entranced through the exercise of meditative coloring. These practices are pagan. They are the very thing Scripture warns against.
How the Bible Commands us to pray and meditate:
1. Don’t empty your mind. Fill your mind with the Truth of God’s Holy Word!
Meditation as practiced by Eastern religions is much different than the meditation commanded in the Bible. While Eastern meditation focuses on emptying the mind and a spiritual ascension into enlightenment; Scriptural meditation focuses on setting the mind on a biblical truth and a realized application of that truth.
In Romans 12:1-2, the apostle Paul instructs us not to conform with the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our minds are renewed through the study of His Word. We must store up His word in our hearts, and let it dwell in us richly, so that we don’t sin against Him (Colossians 3:16 and Psalm 119:11).
2. Don’t let your thoughts wander. Take your thoughts captive and put them in obedience to Christ!
When we allow our thoughts to wander, the carnal mind, which is enmity toward God (Romans 8:7) roams to fleshly desires and frightening depths; and the deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9) cannot discern sin on its own. Therefore, we must take our thoughts captive and put them into submission to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5)!
So you see, a deceitful heart and a wandering mind are the perfect ingredients for a false prophetic word from God. Today, in the Church Age, God speaks to us through his Word not meditative prayer!
3. Don’t chant things over and over as a mantra. Memorize his word. Having a controlled mind is a spiritual discipline commanded in Scripture.
In Matthew 6:7, Jesus instructs, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetition as the heathen [Pagans] do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
In 1 Peter 1:13, Peter instructs Christians further to “gird up the loins [the loose fabric] of your mind,
be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (See also Ephesians 6:14); and to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers (1 Peter 4:7).”
4. Do not attempt to manipulate God through positive confession. Instead, ask Him.
We must not assume anything upon God. We must not treat Him like a Genie and demand His blessings according to what is right in our own eyes (Proverbs 21:2). For His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9)!
In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul instructs, “Do not be anxious about anything,but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
5. Finally, Jesus and the faithful heroes/heroines of Scripture provides us with the best models of prayer. Be imitators of them!
John 17:1-26 – Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Luke 11:1-13 – Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray. Luke 1:46-55 – Mary’s prayer, The Magnificat. Ephesians 3:14-21 – Here, the Apostle Paul models prayer, along with many other places in the Bible.
Hebrews 12:1-2 – “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Prayer is powerful when practiced as God commands in His Word. Use it wisely. For the prayer of the righteous accomplishes much (James 5:16).
All this to say, let’s keep our prayers and our coloring hobbies separate.
Jessica is wife to New England pastor Nate Pickowicz. She is a homeschooling mom of two. She is a passionate writer who has a big heart for biblical teaching and women’s ministry.
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