I ran across this publication when I was looking at some of the teachings that have influenced Antioch's leadership. The focus on growth, revival, and "intimacy with Jesus" are not new. I have come across several Internet articles regarding the Latter Rain Movement. It appears that this movement founded in the 1940s and 1950s heavily influenced many of the teachings that formed ACC's "theology." The Toronto Blessing (attended by ACC leadership), Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, John Wimber, and many more ascribe to these teachings that the works of man are central to Christ's return. If you have the time, this is worth looking through. I will paste a few interesting sections below. Antioch is steeped in these teachings. The training schools used to teach this and I assume to some extent still do. While not all of these people are on the reading lists, the ideas are so ingrained by now that no one really remembers where they came from. If you do some research on the names and organizations below, you can see how some of these very strange teachings lay at the foundation of Antioch's worldview.
We are supposedly the ones who are to evolve into a “great end times army that will put God’s enemies under our feet,” we are supposedly the ones to whom God said, “Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance.” In short, the church either replaces Christ or “is THE Christ.” Whether the movement calls itself the Latter Rain Movement, the Manifested Sons, Kingdom Now, Dominion Theology, Restorationism, The Faith Movement, or the Third Wave, all have either come to or been based on this erroneous conclusion. The Latter Rain believes that the work of restoration is not over yet.
They hold that Davidic worship, teaching, ministry, evangelists, and prophets and even apostles in all of their authority are currently being restored. According to a commonly held misunderstanding of Acts 3:21, they teach that Jesus can’t come back even though He wants to because WE haven’t fully “restored all things.”
Thus, the “Latter Rain” Revival centered around the following themes: Restoration of fivefold ministry (Eph 4) (especially apostles and prophets.) This teaching is crucial because it is this ministry that is supposedly going to unite the church, and perfect the Body of Christ; the restoration of personal prophecy, the impartation of spiritual gifts through laying on of hands; deliverance, healing and baptism of the Spirit through laying on of hands, and the complete unity of the Body of Christ. Denominationalism was seen as “Babylonian Captivity” and subsequently a host of churches affected by the “Latter Rain” broke away from their denominations and became independent churches, many being “set into the body” by the newly discovered apostles. This “revival” which started in Canada, was primarily about Christians “coming into their own fullness,” and not necessarily the conversion of sinners.
The evolution concept of the church fosters pride and arrogance. Both Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle have said, in effect, that the apostles of the Book of Acts will want to wait in line to interview the superapostles of our day.
In another more extensive (224 pages) prophecy, Rick Joyner can see the day coming when, "The feet of the body of Christ will carry the credentials for all of those who have gone before them. They will be joined to each other like no other body of people have ever been joined, but they will be also joined to the true believers of all ages who lived and prophesied of this day. As Jesus promised, the things that He did and even greater things will be done in His name, because He went to the Father. His faithful will soon walk in unprecedented power and authority. In the near future, the church will not be looking back at the first century church with envy because of the great exploits of those days, but all will be saying that He certainly did save His best wine for last. The most glorious days in all of history have now come upon us. You who have dreamed of one day being able to talk to Peter, John and Paul are going to be surprised to find that they have been waiting to talk to you!" Do you notice the emphasis on greatness? But who, according to this scenario, is going to be great in those days? Not necessarily Jesus.
I'm a baylor freshman and have been going to antioch since about this past september. I started out as just going to my lifegroup but now also attend the wednesday service frequently. I actually just got back from the training day for the awaken trip...that's why I'm commenting. I wanted to know what your experience has been with the trip.
You can tell from my posts that I am not the biggest fan of ACC-style missions. I think you will go, have a good time, meet fun people, and see a little bit of Mexico. I don't think you will make a lasting impact on the community in terms of church growth or economic development. If it is like past Juarez trips, I think a lot of the conversions and healings have more to do with miscommunication due to language barriers, and I think ACC spends little time on work projects.
Here is a scenario for why I think the fruit of these types of trips are overhyped: There are a bunch of poor people hanging around the neighborhood on a lazy Sunday afternoon. A group of energetic college kids who are dressed really well show up to play soccer and put on some skits. They have nothing else to do so a crowd gathers. They see that people that respond to the message are getting a lot of attention from these young, attractive Baylor students. More and more people respond. They are told that Jesus is all powerful and can fix their life. If they believe hard enough and let these nice college girls pray for them, then their life will be better. They think, "why not?, got nothing else to do today."
There is a very natural group excitement that I think has little to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. I do think God works through it because the Word of God is powerful. However, I think a lot of what happens can be explained as natural rather than supernatural. But since you were told all morning long during the 3 hour worship and teaching session to see everything through eyes of faith, then you as the messenger see it all through a supernatural prism. You are not there long enough to know these peoples prior stories or what happens to them next week. God knows - sure - and hopefully they seek him. I am just saying that the returning stories from these trips don't reflect reality because you don't know the reality.
I am not sure short-term missions aren't worth the cost. (I made that last post as something to think about.) I know several missionaries that I respect that were introduced to missions on short-term trips. I do however think it is good to know that when you go on a short-term trip, it is really about you. It is about introducing people to missions or a specific country or people group. There is little lasting impact, especially given the cost. I don't know a good solution to that problem. I think going somewhere and spending a significant amount of time building something or serving an existing ministry like an orphanage or clinic is more worthwhile.
Antioch uses these trips to hype signs and wonders, easy conversions, and push commitments from college students to become cogs in a machine as church planters. There is little reality to what it takes to make a lasting impact as a missionary.
Interesting article. I always found that mission trips focused more on the team than on doing anything lasting in the location. I remember in Juarez attending worship/exhortation sessions for 3 hours and going to a work site for 45 minutes, where in the end, most of the team goofed around. That was contrasted to the Mexican believers who labored to make our meals and coordinated our visit who worked all-out for the entire week.
I found this post on another website, BaylorFans, and thought it was relevant to this blog. Unfortunately, I could not contact the original author. Hope you find it as interesting as I did.
Background
I attended ACC from its inception until a couple of years ago. Before that, I attended Highland for many years. I was about as involved as humanly possible--and I loved Jesus passionately with all my heart for a long, long time there. Loved worshiping, spent time with Jesus daily, and sought the Lord about almost everything. I've held personal relationships with so many at ACC and to this day love them very much, though they have for the most part cut off communication with me (and I don't know why that is, honestly). My Experience
Something about the hundreds of discipleship/mentoring meetings and the psychological layers behind most teachings eventually left me in a hole. This happened very gradually, after many years of involvement. It's as if you feel you can't disagree with what is said, because it is very much Biblical and seems as though the Holy Spirit enfuels it. Even so, you find yourself losing your identity for some reason and feel overwhelmed by everything about your relationship with God. You feel so loved and connected to everyone because of the community, yet you aren't fulfilled. It's a double bind.
Reading this you will think of things like--'it's all about Jesus'. 'He is enough.' 'Churches don't hurt you, people do.' 'When all else gets confusing and overwhelming, turn to Jesus.' Right. All of these statements are reinforced in you over and over through sermons. They're true, too. Jesus is enough. But this is what I have found, after moving away and starting my life over: You are a person of many components--body, mind, spirit, soul. Jesus is everywhere. Of course, if you are an ACC member, you believe that in theory, but are very dependent on the friendships and discipleship relationships you've developed at ACC and therefore feel sort of lost apart from ACC.
I believe that the way of following Jesus taught at ACC and other places similar (i.e. Metro Christian Fellowship in KC) is toxic. I was extremely screwed up emotionally, mentally, and psychologically because of my extreme involvement with the two churches. Yes, you can hear the Lord and follow what He says. Yes, that pleases Him. But you must also know that you are a person with a will, and that is also holy. He gave it to you, and you are in fact an individual. A nameless faceless generation is not what he intended at all. He intended you to be you. God loves you for you, not for what you give to him in the way of time spent with him, prayer, or fasting, or anything.
If you, like me, one day find yourself feeling depressed and overwhelmed and eventually find it necessary to leave ACC, please feel free to contact me. It's a hard process of re-wiring your brain to think independently and is very painful. I don't suggest going it alone. Find a friend who will listen. You will need all the support you can get.
Peace.
ResplendentPrism
ps...this may not make sense to you now. It takes years of immersion sometimes for one to get to the point I got to, and I know many other former leaders that have had similar experiences. I hope you don't have to go through what we did.
For the amount that "reaching the nations" is discussed and prayed about and pushed at Antioch, there aren't that many missionaries overseas. There are lots of people who have been on mission trips. There are lots of people that sign up for a church planting team. There are thousands of young people who pledge to go (at the height of World Mandate weekend). However, there are few committed missionaries in the nations.
It is indisputable that Antioch sends more missionaries than the average church. I am just saying that in relationship to how much it is emphasized, and how many people pledge to go, it is small. Yet the judgment towards other missions organizations including ones very similar to their own such as YWAM or Vineyard is very biased, yet subtle.
When I was there, going to the 10/40 window was the only acceptable place to plant a church. It wasn't the case that if you felt the Lord calling you to plant a church somewhere else that they discouraged it (because they wanted as many as possible.) It was just that going to the hardest places in the world was talked about more, the missionaries that were planning to go there were revered, and missionaries that went there were talked about as super-Christians.
I already discussed the flaws of many of the processes in my previous post "A Better Way To Do Missions," so I won't cover it again.
What I think is interesting is that most of the senior leadership has never served long-term overseas.** Many of the hardcore college leadership didn't go overseas like they intended in the early years. They planted churches in the U.S. Why? Because it is the most dangerous, most unreached, most unchurched? No, because it is a lot easier to go to Wheaton (for example) and reproduce the ministry experience they had at Baylor than it is to do it the Middle East.
I am amazed at the number of churches that are in the U.S., near university campuses, that are doing what ACC in Waco did. They have an endless supply of impressionable college students to feed a machine called cell groups. They like the idea of "reaching the nations." They like large, emotional worship sessions. They like thinking about being influential in worldwide revival. They go to other places in the U.S. and tell other college kids that they should go to the nations, but don't do it themselves.
They like the idea of mission trips, because who doesn't want to have a cool trip to a foreign country paid for by supporters. They go the country for a few weeks, do some prayer walking at the most famous tourist sites, witness to their taxi drivers, have worship and devotion time, and call it a success.
If you look at the most recent World Mandate video, you will see that the idea of missions is a lot more fun that the reality. How much time is spent giving a cup of cold water? How much time is spent talking about it? Many people are trying to do the right thing. It is just that the system is setup to fail them by getting them all excited for something, yet not providing the tools to do it right.
**I will be generous and say long-term is 5 years, but in reality it takes much more than 5 years to see something worthwhile to leave behind as a church plant. It is amazing how few missionaries from Antioch aren't overseas for even 5 years.
One of the goals of this blog is to look critically at some of the theology and processes at ACC and AMI that cause damage to believers. I believe one of the most important ones is the leadership's buy-in to the belief that church authority should not be questioned. This foundation of authoritarian rule comes from the teaching of Watchman Nee's book, Spiritual Authority. It is required reading for any student going through the training school, and I often heard Jimmy Seibert talk about how important this book was in shaping new students.
If you are a church member attending a lifegroup, you might never realize that this is important. However, if you are a lifegroup leader for a little while or go on to the training schools or staff training it becomes more and more clear.
Covering theology is gaining popularity in lots of charismatic-evangelical churches and has many dangers. It trains believers that all leaders above you (Christian and secular) are appointed by God so if you rebel against them you are rebelling against God. This opens up people's hearts minds to undue manipulation because who wants to rebel against God!!!
The problem comes when this authority is given to new or unwise believers which is often the case in cell churches focused on fast growth (see previous posts). If you are lucky and you are a pretty healthy person with a good understanding of the Bible and the character of God AND your leaders are also, then this theology only slightly screws with your understanding of the God. However, if you or your leader don't fall in that category - huge messes happen.
One example when I was attending Highland Baptist Church was of a rising star of a lifegroup leader named James Stalnaker. He always gave great testimonies during leadership meetings about people being saved and healed (later learned through friends that many of these stories were lies). He had a charismatic personality and people liked him. He got so much attention for the "fruit" that was borne in his cell groups, that he was one of the first college students to be selected by Jimmy and Jeff Abshire to work in their office as an administrative assistant. Several months later about six college guys revealed to church leadership that he had used his position as lifegroup leader to sexually abuse them, usually after long periods of using spiritual influence to get them to drop their guard.
I will copy some of the more relevant stuff to Antioch, but please spend some time there. It has great stuff.
Covering theology emphasizes the following:
Sin is disobedience to God’s authority
Grace is the power of God to obey him
All authority is instituted by God
God establishes his rule in the church through people he has delegated to be his authority
The 5-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) represents God’s authority on earth
Obedience to the Lord requires obedience to God’s delegated authorities (employers, church leaders, civil authorities)
Rebellion against God’s delegated authority is rebellion against God
Rebellion to authority opens one up to the demonic realm resulting in deception
People should live by the principle of obedience rather than reason
People should always obey authority unless they are clearly instructed to violate scripture
The line of authority extends in the home where the father holds the highest authority
Spiritual authority and blessing flows to those who suffer under authority
God does not judge people on the fruit of their life but on how faithfully they followed authority
Those outside the local church and the covering of its leaders are at serious risk of spiritual attack
Why it is False:
The lynchpin in Covering theology is the interpretation of Romans 13. Does God appoint all authorities in every realm of life? Do these authorities directly represent God? According to almost all Protestants the answer would be no. If human authority and God’s authority exist in two different realms then leadership has to look different. It doesn’t mean there are no leaders, but we give leaders the right and responsibility to lead organizations and guide people as long as they continue to be faithful, loving servants of Christ. We put people in positions of influence, positions of authority based on character and giftedness. We expect those leaders to lead by example, as servants, rightly dividing the word of truth. If it is proven that any leader doesn’t meet the criteria for leadership or begins to use underhanded or manipulative methods we are called to correct them. If that doesn’t work we must reject their leadership. In order to do this we need the body of the church to be active, discerning and think critically.
The challenge in crafting theology is coming up with ideas and concepts that best represent the whole counsel of scripture. To get “Covering Theology” to work requires ignoring significant relevant passages in scripture. It just doesn’t fit with Jesus’ words about leadership. It doesn’t fit with Paul's concept of the church as a body. If submission to church leaders is based on their position is so important why isn’t it clearly laid out in scripture and reinforced by example? Why would Paul go to such great lengths to convince the Corinthians that they should listen to him because of his life and ministry and not the people who had “letters of recommendation” and judge things according to the flesh? How could prophets like Jeremiah and John the Baptist say such negative things about their leaders if we are called to be unconditionally submitted to authority? Why aren’t we warned in the New Testament that we open ourselves up to demonic deception and spiritual disaster if we don’t submit to the authority of church leaders? This would be a really big deal if it were true and yet the entire New Testament is silent on it?
We must also consider the fruit. Have the churches that implemented this teaching ever experienced the revival that is promised will accompany this so called alignment? Why are there continual reports of abuse and spiritual shipwreck in the lives of the people?
I have no doubt there are sincere Christians that have accepted covering theology and a great many others that could rightly be considered wolves in sheep’s clothing. To those who are sincere I ask you:
Do you really want to reject hundreds of years of protestant/evangelical biblical interpretation?
Do you really think that you’ve discovered some hidden structural change to bring about revival? Has it worked so far?
Do you really want to accept a theology that redefines the central concepts in our understanding of salvation such as faith, sin and grace?
Have you ever winced inside when you observed the application of this theology and watched people go in to great distress?
1 Timothy 3 - It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do....and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
James 3 - Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
The problem with Antioch and many other cell-based ministries is that in their constant desire to grow rapidly, they choose inexperienced believers that don't understand the weight of responsibility given to them. The responsibility is talked about, it is preached about, accountability is stressed, but in the end a lot of new Christians or newly-devoted Christians are put in positions of influence over even newer believers.
The Bible stresses the importance of seasoned followers to become the leaders of the church. Many of the hurtful stories I have heard from Antioch usually involve good intentioned lifegroup leaders making stupid decisions. But since they heard these really cool motivational stories from the front about demons being cast out of the afflicted, they channel this new revelation towards their lifegrouper who is clinically depressed. Lots of zeal - little wisdom.
Ultimately, the senior leadership is responsible because they set up a system that gives counseling roles and spiritual authority roles to inexperienced leaders.
