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My blogger buddy and friend Freeatlast and I have been listening to a couple interviews on NPR by Terry Gross on Fresh Air about the NAR - the New Apostolic Reformation led by C. Peter Wagner - its mission and possible effect on American politics. One of the online articles opens with:
A new charismatic Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and Jesus’ return is becoming more of a presence in American politics. The leaders are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for this role. Several apostles affiliated with the movement helped organize or spoke at Rick Perry’s August prayer rally, The Response.Listening gives you even more insight than reading the articles (the articles being only a summary). The first interview is with Rachel Tabachnick, who discusses the growing influence of the NAR in the political world. She has been researching and writing about the apostles for a decade and has her own blog call NARWatch and contributes to another blog called Talk To Action. The second interview is with Peter Wagner himself - his quiet grandfatherly tones leave you wondering how such a nice man came to pick up the idea that he has been appointed by God as Christianity’s modern day Apostle when he actually spent 30 years as a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary so it’s not like he hasn’t studied the scriptures. Somewhere along the line he decided his interpretation of scripture contains new revelation. (hmmm- who does that remind you of? Oh ya, Joseph Smith!) He’s been the mentor and leader to certain special prophets in the NAR such as Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Chuck Pierce and Lou Engle. They have been, and could be still, considered ‘under his authority’. He says they are aligned apostolically. His resume also includes Co-founder of the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs with Ted Haggard. And oh yes, that is part of the discussion in the interview you won’t want to miss.
One more thing - the interview touches on 40 days of light over DC as something these folks are involved in so i looked it up and found this from RightWingWatch.org:
John Benefiel, Cindy Jacobs, and others will be returning to DC this fall for forty days of prayer through something called “DC 40: Forty Days of Light Over D.C” through which they will lay spiritual “seige” to the city and the nation in general -The organizers say this about it:
The purpose of this siege is to change the atmosphere over the city of Washington D.C. through our worship, preparing the way for our legislators to function on a different playing field as we release 40 days of light over the city.
