In 2001 was a new church age, a new apostolic age. But you see, NEW itself is a deception. There is nothing new about this movement!

NAR wants the Kingdom of Christ to be in full bloom before Christ returns. (That’s Dominion or “Kingdom Now” theology). The NAR is connected to the prosperity Gospel and is expecting a huge transfer of secular wealth to the church.

NAR teaches that 1-2 billion souls will come to the Lord in the last great revival, headed up by “Joel’s army,” a fictitious rendering of a prophecy of the prophet Joel.

Let's look at Joel. 1:15, a day of destruction from the Lord, as all the prophets talk about. The day of judgment. Nothing there.

How about 2? 2:2, A great and strong people. Fire devours before them. They appear as horses. People in battle array. They march. Run on walls. Climb into houses. Sun and moon grow dark. Creatures like this appear in Revelation 9. Locusts. Like horses. Faces like men. Their king is Apollyon/Abaddon. Some say this is Satan, or at least one of his fiercest angels. Does this remind you even remotely of the people of God?

Joel does speak of the people of God, though, in chapter 2. End times, yes and no. Peter quotes it as end times but we haven’t seen the final end of this passage. It’s the propmise of the coming Spirit, when anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We see how that worked out in Acts 2 ff. Yes. that’s us. Not destroyers. Not used in God’s judgment until thrones are set up and we rule and reign with Christ. But military men?

Once more in chapter 3, an army to prepare for war. This is clearly the nations of the world and world war three, the final conflict. Strike 3, NAR. Your “Joel’s army” fantasy is not in any chapter of Joel.

NAR says they will produce greater miracles than Jesus. They are the long-awaited "manifest sons of God." More and more supernatural power will abound. And that’s not all.

Starting with Edward Irving and continuing through E W Kenyon and to Bill Johnson of our day, the clue to all heresy is a DIFFERENT JESUS.

Samples of the false teaching:

JESUS BORN AGAIN!

But, Was Jesus born again in Hell (or as some say, at the resurrection)? Was Jesus born only naturally at His birth from Mary? Was Jesus fully God at birth and during His growth and ministry? Could Jesus have sinned? Did He have sinful flesh?

The Father of all the modern heretics was EW Kenyon… I quote from BIBLE TRUTH by T. Spurgeon (no relation) online:

The theological deviations of E.W. Kenyon from orthodox Christianity were initially minor when compared to those later on in his ministry. With each of Kenyon's disciples who succeeded him, the errors became more and more pronounced.

Kenyon taught that Jesus was imputed with Satan's nature on the cross, died spiritually, and went to hell to suffer in our place. [E.W. Kenyon, Identification: A Romance in Redemption (Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 1968), p. 15.]

In a thesis submitted by D.R. McConnell to theological faculty, Oral Roberts University, McConnell summarizes Kenyon's reasoning to the physical death of Jesus insufficient to atone, citing:

For Christ to defeat his enemies, He had to: (1) die spiritually and become one with Satan in order to provide salvation from sin and healing for sickness, (2) die physically and fulfill the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenant, (3) be dragged to Hell by Satan where He suffered the torments for the damned for three days and nights, (4) be recreated in Hell and , thus, become the first born again man, (5) defeat Satan and the Demonic host in open combat, (6) rise from the dead as vindication of His victory in Hell, and (7) ascend to the Father where He was enthroned and now serves as the priestly mediator of the new covenant. [D.R. McConnell, The Kenyon Connection: A Theological and Historical Analysis of the Cultic Origins of the Faith Movement (Thesis submitted to the theological faculty, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 1982), 32-33. Also see Kenyon, Identification, 8, 15, 18.]

Kenyon had also this to quote. "Since sin and sickness are purely spiritual, mere physical death could never atone, nor could it deal with the source of sin and sickness: Satan." [E.W. Kenyon, Jesus the Healer, p. 17.]

The popular advocates of the positive confession movement teaching this doctrine are Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Fred Price, Robert Tilton, and Jerry Savelle. [Michael G. Moriarty, The New Charismatics (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan), p. 80.]

Kenneth E Hagin (Sr): "He became like we were. He tasted death for every man. So He went to Hell at His death."

Benny Hinn: "If Jesus had not been reborn, we could not have been reborn."

Bill Johnson:"He had to be born again. He became sin, so He was born again at the resurrection."

Kenneth Copeland. "He became sin, He went to Hell."

KENOSIS

What is Kenosis? Philippians 2. He emptied Himself, did not change Himself. Deity cannot become less Deity or it is no Deity. It can veil itself. As at Mt Sinai. Transfiguration. Take a glass of water and empty MOST of it out. What is left is still water.

What was Jesus’ own teaching about being born again? Did He not say that we MUST be born again to see the Kingdom, and enter it? Isn’t the implication that if you are not born again you are lost and not one of His? Could this be said of Jesus, all the years before His resurrection or even His baptism by John (different heretics put His born-again experience at different places). Was He lost? Unable to see the Kingdom? Just flesh? He said that which is born of flesh is just flesh, that which is born of Spirit is Spirit.

Note in John 3, "WE speak what WE have seen. You do not receive OUR witness!" Notice later… "He who came down from heaven… even the Son of man who IS IN HEAVEN."

To be BORN AGAIN is to be born of the Spirit. Jesus was already born of the Spirit. Matthew 1:18, Mary was with child of the Holy Spirit. Natural seed produces natural man. Spiritual seed produces the GOD-MAN. No need for Jesus to be born again!

Conception and birth are two ends of the same process. Life begins at conception. To be conceived of the Spirit and born of the Spirit is the same thing. Jesus was BORN OF THE SPIRIT. Did not need to be born again.

JESUS in HELL? “Jesus tasted death for every man.” He died. That’s all that means. Hell, as humans will experience, and as Christians WOULD have experienced, must be experienced in a body. Jesus talked about a resurrection of life and DAMNATION. Bodies to be punished in, in Hell. Jesus’ BODY never left the grave for those 3 days. All agree to that! As to His Spirit, that activity is described, if not fully understood, in 1 Peter 3:19. Jesus preached to spirit beings in “prison”, holding place awaiting judgment. Or demon spirits, announcing His victory. No suffering in Hell by Jesus is mentioned in the Bible!

JESUS MADE A CURSE. BECAME SIN?

Galatians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21. At the cross, not in His life, He became the focal point of God’s wrath. As an INNOCENT Isaac was (nearly) offered. As INNOCENT lambs were offered all through Jewish history. He was CHARGED with our sins, but there was no sin found in His person. How could God be sin? He was IMPUTED our guilt as we were IMPUTED His righteousness. Not INFUSION. He was holy throughout! A PERFECT sacrifice! But treated AS THOUGH a SINNER.

Isaiah 53:5-6. The Lord laid on Him the Iniquity of us ALL.

JESUS’ FLESH SINFUL? Romans 8:3. God sent His own son in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering. THAT IS, in a BODY like ours. See Him on the street. He’s a man. He’s human. Perfect, but human. If Jesus were not a perfect sinless body, how could he have been offered as a perfect sacrifice that God demanded.

Can humans be perfect? Generally no. All have sinned. Two exceptions in the Bible: Adam and Eve before the fall. Jesus. And this 2^nd Adam was born of the Spirit of God from a virgin. In the likeness of sinful flesh (looked like). But sinless.

DID JESUS GIVE UP BEING GOD AT HIS BIRTH? Philippians 2:6. In the FORM of God. He did not claim all the privileges that the Son of God should have. Did not take advantage of his God-ness. He veiled it, and became like us, even to the point of being baptized in water, having a manifestation of the Spirit on Him, then being rejected and killed. Absolute humility. Not any less God!

WHAT ABOUT PSALM 2? This is where the heretics love to camp out. I’m telling them now to pull up their stakes and get off that Psalm because there is no room for them there.

1. The King is standing on a hill. ZION. When did this ever happen in the Gospel story? At Calvary? Wasn’t standing there. And that is not Zion. Hill of transfiguration? No, that is not Mt Zion either. His ascension and return? No that is the Mt of Olives.
2. ZION Is the mountain from which Jesus will rule the world. This is a Millennial passage. The entire chapter is about Messiah’s coming kingdom. Not His baptism, resurrection of transfiguration.
3. So why mention His “begetting” here? How, “today”? Do any of the heretics say that His “born again” status begins at His return? And no Rebirth is mentioned here. Only a conception/birth.

Verses 1-5, the Psalmist is speaking. Verse 6, God is speaking. Verse 7, Jesus is speaking, quoting the Father.

Jesus says, I have something to announce. The Lord told Me (oh how we hate to hear everyone saying this today) “You are My Son. Today I am bringing you into the world [speaking to the Spirit man of Jesus in the womb of Mary. Remember how John leaped in the presence of God inside Mary. The Word was alive! ]

Now, Son, just ask Me, and I’ll give you all the nations!” [That’s why Satan’s promise was such an empty one. The nations were already Jesus’ by Royal decree.] He goes on to describe what the Kingdom will look like.