The Next Great Awakening. . .

The quotation above came in the midst of this summer’s Next Great Awakening Tour, which was hosted by Pastor Jim Garlow and David Barton, to visit the tourist sights of the First and Second Great Awakenings in America. This quote was from a “quick report” by Garlow, who announced the tour “is going awesome!”[2] The tour included Speaker Newt Gingrich, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Bob McEwen, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, along with other notables.[3] Most significantly, the tour featured Lance Wallnau, chief promoter of the controversial New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) doctrine, the 7 Mountain strategy of taking Dominion.

This fact gains considerable significance with the news this week, as both Jim Garlow and David Barton are undergoing controversy after partnering in a political/spiritual rally with conservative radio host, Glenn Beck, a Mormon.

This event with Beck, and this tour over the summer, are indicative of a new way that the evangelical Right is conducting itself. Why were these high-profile evangelical and political leaders openly fraternizing with Lance Wallnau?! Do they agree with his mandate to “possess and occupy,” take “territory,” “take the high places,” and “conquer”?[4] And how can they possibly call this agenda of aggressive Dominion-mongering a “Great Awakening”? That is the question that we will be addressing in a series of posts in the days to come.

The open association of David Barton and Jim Garlow with the New Apostolic Reformation leaders goes back several years at least. Cindy Jacobs, one of the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation and her organization, Generals International, featured a “Raise Up An Army Convergence ’09” conference[5] in which Barton and Garlow were keynote speakers along with Chuck Pierce and Dutch Sheets, key “apostles” under C. Peter Wagner in the NAR. This conference was promoted on The Elijah List,[6] which is the chief media organ for the leaders, doctrines and events of the NAR. The event’s purpose was described by Cindy Jacobs: “to raise up a prayer army to both awaken and reform this nation,” and used all of the strident military rhetoric of the NAR’s prayer warfare agenda.[7] The Convergence ’09 appeared to have the full trapping of the extreme “worship” style that characterizes the leaders of the NAR.[8]

At the May Day event at the Lincoln Memorial several months ago, which also advocated the “Seven Mountains of Culture“ strategy, both David Barton and Jim Garlow again publicly associated with the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation. Their names were listed on the committee along with NAR leaders Cindy Jacobs, Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce. Other high profile evangelical political leaders included Dr. James Dobson, who promoted the event, and Tim Wildman.[9]

Garlow and Barton are no small potatoes when it comes to widespread influence and name recognition. Jim Garlow heads up Newt Gingrich’s Renewing American Leadership (ReAL)[10] group and is a well-known activist opposing California’s Proposition 8. And Barton of WallBuilders was ranked by TIME magazine as one of “25 Most Influential EVANGELICALS in America” in 2005.[11] So what are these men doing hanging out with the likes of Lance Wallnau?

They aren’t the only ones, however. The very reputable and mainstream National Day of Prayer this year included prayers for the 7 Mountains, a sobering fact which illustrates how far and wide the leaven of this Dominion mandate has spread. One observer described it as a “National Day of Dominion”:

The official Task Force for the National Day of Prayer was chaired by Shirley (Mrs. James) Dobson. A who’s who of American evangelicals, from Billy and Franklin Graham to Rick Warren, served on the leadership committee. But the Mission Statement of the Task Force is nearly identical to the Dominionists’ 7-M Mandate:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force’s mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

The seven centers of power are exactly the same as the 7 Mountains of Influence invented by Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright (whose widow, Vonette, is the Task Force co-chair), except that “Military” has been swapped in for “Arts & Entertainment”.

Given the Dominionist fervor to create Joel’s Army, the demonic horde described in Joel chapter 2, that’s kind of creepy.

Farther down the list of leaders on the National Day of Prayer Task Force one finds C. Peter Wagner. He coined the term New Apostolic Reformation to describe his teaching that a second age of capital-A Apostles began in 2001. Wagner is also the leading proponent of the 7-M Mandate, the heretical belief that Christians are on a mission from God to reclaim the planet and set up His kingdom on Earth….

While the NDOP Task Force’s mission statement stresses the need for personal repentance and prayer, which is scriptural, the Seven Mountains Mandate is pure Wagner, and pure Dominionism. The fact that the seven mountains of Wagner, Cunningham, and Bright have been grafted into the mission statement for the National Day of Prayer, an event chaired and directed by some of the most well-known and respected evangelicals in America, indicates that the influence of the Dominionists is spreading, being mainstreamed by its tacit approval from prominent, respected Christian leaders.[12]

David Barton’s associations with the Latter Rain cult, which gave birth to the New Apostolic Reformation, go back a few more years. One notable example is on November 29, 2003, David Barton and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback showed up at a TheCall event in Dallas at The Cotton Bowl to participate in a “cleansing, 30 years after Roe V. Wade (originated in Dallas) and 40 years after the death of JFK,” which included “breaking curses off the nation for abuses to Native Americans.” It was reported that this event utilized one of the New Apostolic Reformation’s newly concocted doctrines, Identificational Repentance, which repents for the sins of one’s ancestors or other people:

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, representing the US Government repented for broken treaties and abused people. He announced that a bill has been introduced in Congress asking official forgiveness for these sins. President Bush says he will sign it. Negeil Bigpond spoke prophetically. He said on the day this bill is signed, look to the eastern sky for a sign for God. It would indicate that the curse of abortion was broken….[13]

The list of attendees was a veritable “who’s who” in leadership of the New Apostolic Reformation and Latter Rain:

Some of those who spoke: Mike Bickle, Negeil Bigpond, Jay Swallow, John Benefiel, Billy Joe & Sharon Daugherty, Bishop Harry Jackson, James Robison, Senator Sam Brownback, Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Jim Goll, Chuck Pierce, Mike Hays, David Barton, Shawn Boltz, Paul Cain, Rocket Ishmael, Todd Bentley, Jill Austin, Michael Brown, Ron Luce, David Shibley, Lou Engle and Che Ahn.[14]

Lou Engle, along with the apostle appointed to oversee his TheCall operation, Che’ Ahn,[15] reportedly invoked the Latter Rain concept of a New Breed, a Joel’s Army of youthful warriors to build the kingdom of God on earth:

Finally, out of the dissipating darkness came a vital commissioning for the youth. Everyone born since 1973 is part of a “chosen generation,” whose parents had the choice to legally kill them before they were born. They will be an army of warriors fighting to bring this nation back to its original calling as a place of unity in diversity. All streams flowing together to advance the Kingdom of God.[16]

The open schmoozing between the Tea Party and the New Apostolic Reformation “apostles” and “prophets” has continued unabated throughout the summer. But things have escalated with the entry of Glenn Beck, an influential Mormon, into the eclectic Tea Party/NAR mixture, especially with his “Divine Destiny” event tonight and his “Restore Honor” event tomorrow at the Lincoln Memorial. Everything suddenly seemed to switch gears from a purely Tea Party political event to a NAR-styled spiritual event. Note Beck’s description:

I think this is an opportunity to gather God’s people together and wake people up. And I just have this feeling that this is the beginning of something gigantic in this country, that it is spiritual awakening….

This is Divine Providence. This is the Lord’s hand at work. This is a miracle.[17]

David Barton, who was interviewing Beck on his radio show during this conversation, responded by agreeing that it is “an intervention of God.”[18] Beck then replied with a curious statement that he believed that his rally would be held on a “sacred space” and that he felt that “the Spirit of the Lord” would be “unleashed”:

You can feel the presence of the Lord. I mean, the Spirit is so strong. When you two hundred, three hundred, five hundred thousand people on the Mall in that space right there between Washington and Lincoln with the Reflecting Poll – a spiritual space in our nation – the Spirit of the Lord is going to be unleashed like I think you’ve never felt it before.[19]

This idea about sacred spaces comes out of the occult world, and these weird remarks may pertain to the distinctive Masonic grid of Washington, D.C. streets.[20] But take note that the “sacred space” heresy is also promoted by leaders of the NAR.[21]

All of this complicates matters for David Barton, who has been working very closely with Glenn Beck recently.[22] Critics from all sides of the spectrum have begun to raise serious questions in the past few weeks.[23] Barton’s fervor for saving America has seemed to blind him to the questionable doctrines of those with whom he associates.[24] Sadly, many sincere patriotic Americans who are Christian believers have followed him like a pied piper, straight into these strange associations. Barton, by exhibiting such a profound lack of discernment, has tragically given great credibility to these many false apostles and prophets.[25]

Jim Garlow, David Barton, and the other evangelical leaders who are lending their high-profile names to the New Apostolic Reformation Dominionists, are leading many astray. Today’s post is just one illustration of the rapidly developing crisis.[26]

Their fervor is increasing. Jim Garlow wrote a letter to a broader group of people on August 24, 2010, calling them to “become part of the massive prayer army” that engages in a “40-day prayer and fast period — from September 20 to October 30,” and to watch “four webcasts.” He also called upon everyone to sign The Manhattan Declaration,[27] which appears to be gaining in significance as a key “covenant” document for Dominionism.

The Truth:

In defending his recent activities with Glenn Beck, David Barton wrote “By Their Fruits,” in which he explained his belief that “no one has yet been to point to any instance where Glenn has attacked or undermined Christ or Christianity on any of his programs.” He then suggests that Beck is a Christian, by asking “Is God using Glenn to help recover our national strength and health, both politically and spiritually? If so, why would God be using him?” Apparently Barton doesn’t consider Glenn’s denial of Jesus Christ as the ONLY way to heaven (salvation) as bad fruit.

If this is Barton’s attitude about working with Glenn Beck, then it is no wonder that he has no moral, ethical or spiritual cognitive dissonance when working with Lance Wallnau, who is also openly promoting another gospel.

These leaders of Dominionism who are fervidly patriotic seem to have gone into as much error as those Emergent leaders who are embracing the contemplatives. Each group is going back to the faulty foundations of historical traditions and human wisdom to build their new doctrinal structures. Like the Emergent/Contemplatives who direct us back to the Desert Fathers instead of the original Apostles, these patriotic Dominionists point back to the Founding Fathers rather than honoring the Creator, God Almighty, through repentance, and by delivering the true Gospel.

For example, David Barton wrote the other day that according to Thomas Jefferson,

the only “firm basis” of our national liberties is a “conviction in the minds of the people” that our liberties are from God and that government cannot intrude into those liberties without incurring God’s wrath.[28]

We beg to differ with Barton. Scripture tells us our individual liberty is in Christ, and states it very clearly and concisely: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty” (Galatians 5:13a). No man, and no nation under God — or not — can take this away from us. This is a liberty from the covenant of the law and the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13s, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law”); and from sin (Romans 6:7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin”).[29] Scripture also tells us that we are individually free in Christ, no matter our circumstances, no matter what country we live in: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). There is nothing that can take that liberty away from us that we have in Christ Jesus:

Endnotes:
1. http://www.skylinechurch.org/skyline/?p=2201
2. Ibid.
3. “The Next Great Awakening Tour: An Historical Tour of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, including Harvard, Yale & Princeton featuring Leaders of ReAL (Renewing American Leadership),” June 25-July 4, 2010conference brochure posted here: http://www.skylinechurch.org/images/NGAtourWebReAL.pdf
4. “Patricia King and Lance Wallnau,” video by Bruce Wilson, posted here: http://vimeo.com/1786357?pg=embed&sec=1786357
5. “Raise Up An Army Convergence ’09,” April 16-18, Dallas, TX sponsored by Generals International, conference promotional brochure posted http://www.generals.org/events/upcoming-events/convergence-09/speaker-bios/
6. See http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/7404
7. Generals International e-newsletter promoting Convergenge ’09, cached here: http://www.generals.org/newsletters/e-newsletters/urgent-gathering-for-the-believers-of-america/ emphasis in original.
8. Photos of this event, illustrating Cindy Jacobs engaged in some sort of fervor, and documenting the attendance of David Barton, have been posted on this webpage (scroll down): http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-barton-six-degrees-and-seven-mountains. Note at the top of the webpage you can see a photo of Barton, Garlow, Glenn Beck, Robert George and John Hagee, among others, on Beck’s TV show of July 2, 1020, transcript here: http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,595806,00.html.
9. See these Herescope posts where this entire situation was documented in detail:
April 8: The Coalescing of the Christian Right with Apostolic Dominionism
April 22: R&R Revival and Revolt: The Tea Party’s Strange Bedfellows and What They Believe
April 27: May Day Prayers: What Repentance?
May 18: Mainstreaming Dominionism
10. See press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newt-gingrich-names-dr-jim-garlow-to-chair-renewing-american-leadership-87906477.html. David Barton is also very connected with Gingrich, and is listed under Who We Are at the ReAL website: http://www.torenewamerica.com/who-we-are
11. “TIME Names the 25 Most Influential EVANGELICALS in America,” Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005, http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1022576,00.html
12. “National Day of Dominion,” by Derek Gilbert, May 10, 2010, http://hearkenthewatchmen.com/article.asp?id=188. In this article, he cites several webpages, http://nationaldayofprayer.org/about/our-mission/, which he quotes directly from. And the other webpage http://nationaldayofprayer.org/about/leadership/ is a list of leaders that includes such evangelical mainstream leaders as Dr. James Dobson, David Barton, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Ravi Zacharias, Chuck Swindoll, Chuck Stanley, Kay Arthur, David Barton, Max Lucado, Chuck Colson, Tony Dungy, Joni Eareckson Tada, and many others.
13. NewsPage for Monday, December 1, 2003,”The Last Call,” cached at http://www.talktosteve.com/email/2003_12_01/ For an explanation of these heresies and how they came about, see the book Idolatry in Their Hearts by Sandy Simpson and Mike Oppenheimer, available here: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/idolatrybook.html
14. Ibid. To find out more about who many of these folks are, use the handy search feature to look through this website: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/
15. C. Peter Wagner has written that Che Ahn is the apostle appointed to oversee Lou Engle’s The Call. Che Ahn has a long history as a key leader of the New Apostolic Reformation. In his book Spheres of Authority: Apostles in Today’s Church (Wagner Publications, 2002), where he lays out his doctrine that apostles are in charge of “spheres” (later called “mountains” by Lance Wallnau), Wagner uses Che Ahn as an illustration of a “Functional Apostle” (a concocted term) who presides over an organization, writing: “…of Che’ Ahn over TheCall, arguably the most dynamic youth movement of our day…” (p. 91). Interestingly, Jim Garlow is connected with Che’ Ahn as leaders of the Pastors’ Rapid Response Team: http://www.saltandlightcouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133&Itemid=215
16. “The Last Call,” Ibid.
17. This conversation between Glenn Beck and David Barton can be heard, and it is transcribed, at: “Glenn Beck Is On A Mission From God,” by Kyle Mantyla, 8/16/10, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-mission-god“
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. See map posted at Cutting Edge, “MASONIC SYMBOLS OF POWER IN THEIR SEAT OF POWER — WASHINGTON, D.C.,” http://www.cuttingedge.org/n1040.html
21. See these two Herescope posts: “Geographical Heresies of the New Apostolic Reformation, February 17, 2006, https://herescope.net/2006/02/geographical-heresies-of-new-apostolic.html and “George Otis’s Geographical Heresies,” February 20, 2006, https://herescope.net/2006/02/george-otiss-geographical-heresies.html
22. See for example, “American Revival Tomorrow on the Insider Extreme,” July 15, 2010, where Barton was on tour with Beck in Salt Lake City as part of Beck’s “American Revival Tour”: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/42960/
23. Critics include articles such as these: “Glenn Beck Is On A Mission From God,” by Kyle Mantyla, 8/16/10, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-mission-god“; “Barton: Beck May Be Mormon, But He’s More Christian Than Wallis, Clinton, and Pelosi,” by Kyle Mantyla, 8/19/10, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barton-beck-may-be-mormon-hes-more-christian-wallis-clinton-and-pelosi; “Beck’s Mormon Faith Raising Alarms Among The Religious Right,” by Kyle Mantyla, August 23, 2010, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/david-barton ;“Glenn Beck’s Religious Activism Comes Full Circle,” by Kyle Mantyla, 8/24/10, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-becks-religious-activism-comes-full-circle; “Following Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny or God’s Word,” by Brannon S. Howse, 8/22/10, http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6439; “APPRISING MINISTRIES TO GLENN BECK,” by Ken Silva, 8/19/10, http://apprising.org/2010/08/19/apprising-ministries-to-glenn-beck-2/; “WHY GLENN BECK WANTS TO SAVE AMERICA,” by Ken Silva, 8/23/10, http://apprising.org/2010/08/23/why-glenn-beck-wants-to-save-america/. Note that this last article delves into some of the Dominionist beliefs inherent in Mormonism.
24. See, for example, this 6-part video of David Barton with Kenneth Hagin posted on You Tube. It begins here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uMHe5KxSWs&feature=player_embedded The errors of Kenneth Hagin’s doctrines can be found here: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/geneology.html#Hagin and here: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/quotes.html#Hagin
25. David Barton’s history of America is not without its critics, both from the political Right and political Left. Chris Pinto has begun to publicly name David Barton as a traditional Christian historian who ignores quotes which conflict with the American history he seeks to portray. Pinto wrote a chapter in Tom Horn’s book How to Overcome the Most frightening Issues You will face this Century and has done some interviews on the FutureQuake.com show in which you can hear his criticism of Barton. And from the Left, People for the American Way, have published a report, “David Barton: Propaganda Masquerading as History,” http://www.pfaw.org/print/10847 , and also written “A Devastating Exposé On How David Barton Perpetuates His Pseudo-History,” http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/devastating-exposé-how-david-barton-perpetuates-his-pseudo-history and http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/david-barton
26. This blog has written about this developing crisis since mid-April when we began chronicling the increasing political and religious mainstreaming of the extreme fringes of the evangelical world:
April 8: The Coalescing of the Christian Right with Apostolic Dominionism
April 22: R&R Revival and Revolt: The Tea Party’s Strange Bedfellows and What They Believe
April 27: May Day Prayers: What Repentance?
May 18: Mainstreaming Dominionism
June 1: The Other Side of Emergent: The New Apostolic Reformation
June 5: The Great Confluence: The Emergent New Apostolic Reformation Flowing into the New Age
June 24: Seven Mountains: Set To Go VIRAL
July 19: CHUCK NORRIS: HIS BELIEFS, HIS ASSOCIATIONS, HIS MISSION
July 23: Destiny-Driven Dominionism
August 10: The Great Outpouring of Wealth: PROSPERITY plus POWER
27. See the Herescope post “The Manhattan Declaration: Another Dominionist Covenant,” http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/009/discernment/12-manhattan-declaration.htm, and for background see “A Covenant for Civility: A New Order of the Third Way https://herescope.net/2010/03/covenant-for-civility.html
28. “David Barton: One Nation, Under God,” August 25, 2010, http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44685/?ck=1
29. Believers who have difficulty grasping this point are referred to old Bibles and Bible commentaries. Today’s exhortation was inspired by the commentary on the books of Romans and Galatians done by Matthew Poole in his 1600s Commentary on the Holy Bible (Hendrickson).