“I feel as if the Lord is saying we’re moving into global warfare. We’re moving into governments clashing. We’re moving into the war of resources and communication and media, where [the enemy is] trying to cultivate evil.”
–Jill Austin, “Warfare is Coming,” Charisma, e-newsletter Streams of Revival, April 3, 2007
Networking the global church for the Dominionist ideal of “kingdom-building,” as described in the recent series of Herescope posts, requires a veritable arsenal of the most modern psycho-social tools of marketing and the media. This “Joel’s Army” is going to require a massive public relations campaign, a legion of spin-doctors who use state-of-the-art tactics of deception.
A recent post (April 10, 2007) on the Elijah List from Jill Austin of Master Potter Ministries, entitled “God’s Media Army: Global Changers and A Holy Mafia,” proclaims:
“We need to wake up to the power of communications and the media! They are going to be powerfully used by the Lord to harvest whole nations. Dreamer God is on the move!“
Austin’s explains:
“. . . [W]e’ve lost control of one of the most influential avenues of evangelism in the 21st century! We really need to repent, take back the territory we’ve lost, and infiltrate all of these ranks…for Jesus! Let’s redeem the arts together! . . .
“God needs to capture these influential avenues of communication again!. . .
“God’s Dream Team: A Holy Mafia
“High adventures await us as we become culturally relevant to impact the world with first class, top-notch, extraordinary performances in all of these avenues! . . .
“Today, Jesus “produces” movies by influencing others in these areas. He also challenges and inspires financiers, marketplace advertisers, and entrepreneurs to help bring Biblical truths to humanity. . . .
“I feel that God wants to give dreams, visions, and fresh revelation from Heaven for these forms of media, the arts, and communication. . . . This is a call for action! Let’s storm the gates and take the world by storm!! We must put “shoe leather” to our visions and dreams because they will be strategic to awaken peoples’ destinies and callings. . .
“God is raising up men and women who are like a dream team, ones who move in hearing the voice of God and creating world trends.” [all bold in original]
Charisma magazine (1/9/07) listed “Media outreaches” as one of the “12 Prophetic Sign Posts for 2007” by Matt Sorger:
“1. Media outreaches will continue to grow in both the Christian and the secular arenas. New media outreaches will be birthed this year. … God’s power will be displayed [even] over the secular networks. Radio, TV and the Internet will be important media tools for spreading the gospel around the world.” [bold in original]
To put this in the perspective of the networking of Joel’s Army, note these other prophecies on Sorger’s list:
“7. New leaders will continue to emerge and come to a place of influence in the body of Christ . . . . Key associations and relationships will emerge and be formed by the Spirit releasing a new generation of leaders. The apostolic will continue to mature and come into a greater manifestation. God is forming a new wineskin to hold the new wine. There will also be the emerging of young apostolic leaders who will be regionally minded in building the kingdom of God.
“8. God is not looking for carbon copies. He wants originals. He is raising up a new breed, a new model and a new ‘container for the time.’” [emphasis and link added]
Jill Austin of Master Potter Ministries is a regular contributor to Charisma‘s e-newsletter Streams of Revival. Jill Austin is downline in C. Peter Wagner’s New Apostolic Reformation networks, often connected with Chuck Pierce. She came out of the original “Kansas City Prophets,” and was quite active in the 1990s in the “signs and wonders” movement. Along with Wagner, she serves on Harvest International Ministry’s (H.I.M.) Apostolic Team. H.I.M is described as “an apostolic network of churches, ministries, missions organizations, church networks and marketplace ministers committed to loving and helping each other fulfill the Great Commission.”
Austin’s “prophecy” about a Media Army and Holy Mafia mentions a key networking strategy: using the Internet:
“I love the internet! We live in the 21st century and the electronic age where almost anything is possible and limitations are no longer an excuse. It is amazing because the internet brings an instant platform that touches the world. Computers are in most homes and schools. The world is connecting in internet coffee shops, Muslim and Communist nations, as well as remote third world nations. With the internet, you are not limited by your education, gender, nationality, age, or finances because almost everyone has access to it. Boundless opportunities for learning are at our finger tips!
“Not only is the Lord raising up people in entrepreneurial areas, but He is also moving creatively through stay-at-home parents, retired folks, internet bloggers, savvy yuppies, bed-ridden people who have access to computers, the techie twenty-somethings, and even little children who can travel through electronic windows and electronic highways of the world.”
Previously, Herescope has pointed out that these so-called prophecies by the New Apostolic Reformation leaders have the effect of introducing their next new tactic. It is a way of communicating military strategy to the troops under the guise of claiming that God has given them a vision or “word.” These words are meant to communicate that marketing, media and networking are the next phase of global operations.
The underlying assumption for all of this hyped up (and offensive) rhetoric is that the Church is in a new age in which it can use any mechanism at its disposal to “build the kingdom of God on Earth.” The ethics of using such sophisticated techniques of propaganda and manipulation is never discussed. The ends justify the means. Whatever it takes.
Lord willing, in the next series of posts, these tactics will be explained in some depth.
The Truth:
“Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” (Nahum 3:4)