The following is an excerpt from Brannon's new hardcover book Religious Trojan Horse, to order the hardcover book (488 pages) or to download the Ebook now from which this article originated click this link. Spiritual evolution is a common belief within Fabian socialism, the Emergent Church, the communitarian church growth movement, and the New Age movement. It will play a major role in bringing many of the world’s religions together as one. The New Apostolic Reformation is one of the fast growing movements within evangelicalism today and this movement teaches that certain individuals are becoming new spiritual beings. This NAR teaching is consistent with the New Age Movement or cosmic humanism, declaring that man needs to tap into his “Christ consciousness.” Cosmic humanism, (also known as the New Age Movement or pagan spirituality) is a major foundation of the NAR. Jewel Grewe has been researching the Latter Rain Movement, Kansas City Prophet Movement and the NAR since the early 1980s. Jewel’s husband was an Assemblies of God pastor, who like many within the AOG, became concerned when this heresy began to rise within more and more churches. In 1991, Jewel released a report—even more relevant today than when it was released—entitled “Joel’s Army” in which she correctly identifies four aspects of the “Manifested Sons of God” heresy: 1.        The claim to perfection through progressive revelations beyond Scriptures;2.        The written Word of God is held in low esteem and experiential knowledge              very high;3.        The Word of God is perceived as a symbolic book;4.        The claim that the “god-man” dwells in every member and is waiting to be discovered and manifest by the believers.[1] When the NAR speaks of the “Day of the Lord,” it is not referring to the biblical, literal second coming of Jesus Christ when he puts His foot on the earth. Those that embrace the heresy of the “Manifested Sons of God” have allegorized such scripture as Joel 2 to mean that the “Day of the Lord” is not when Christ comes for His church but when He comes in His church. Jewel Grewe offers this example: References in the book of Joel pertaining to Israel and the “Day of the Lord” are spiritualized to apply to the Church. Literal Israel becomes “the Church” and the “Day of the Lord” is seen as the manifestation or “incarnation of God” in this Joel’s Army.[2] So if you read the doctrinal statement of a NAR proponent or the “Manifested Sons of God,” and it states that they believe God’s Kingdom is not established on earth until after the second coming of Jesus Christ, you would believe the doctrine is sound—unless you know what these folks really mean by “the second coming of Christ” or the “Day of the Lord.” It seems that uniformed evangelicals and New Religious Right leaders are easily duped when they tell you IHOP, C. Peter Wagner, and the NAR have solid doctrinal statements. Almost all theological cults like the Mormons, New Apostolic Reformation, and Word of Faith proponents have different definitions of “Christian” terms. A man named Paul Cain was one of the original “prophets” of the New Apostolic Reformation. When he was popular, it was called the Kansas City Prophet movement. After his rise to prominence, Cain was discovered to be both an alcoholic and a homosexual—facts readily admitted by the NAR. On his website in 2004, Rick Joyner explained: In February 2004, we were made aware that Paul had become an alcoholic. In April 2004, we confronted Paul with evidence that he had been recently involved in homosexual activity. Paul admitted to these sinful practices and was placed under discipline, agreeing to a process of restoration…[3] Bob Jones (no connection to Bob Jones University), also a major leader in the Kansas City Prophet movement of the 1980s proclaimed: And the Church that is raising up the government will be the head and the covering for them… There is a ministry after the five-fold called the ministry of perfection—the Melchizedek Priesthood . . . your children will be moving into the ministries of Perfection . . . coming into that Divine Nature of Jesus Christ . . . they themselves will be that generation that’s raised up to put death itself underneath their feet . . . because the Lord Jesus is worthy to be lifted up by a church that has reached the full maturity of the GOD-MAN![4] NAR proponent Bill Hamon has similarly declared: Jesus will come back to earth and be given the Kingdom that has been won for Him by this “manchild company.” The Manifested Sons of God doctrine teaches that these sons will be equal to Jesus Christ: immortal, sinless, perfected sons who have partaken of the divine nature. They will have every right to be called gods and will be called gods.[5] Hamon has also written: The Earth and all of creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, the time when they will come into their maturity and immortalization. . . . When the Church receives its full inheritance and redemption then creation will be redeemed from its cursed condition of decay, change and death. . . the Church has a responsibility and ministry to the rest of creation. Earth and its natural creation is anxiously waiting for the Church to reach full maturity and come to full sonship. When the Church realizes its full sonship, its bodily redemption will cause a redemptive chain reaction throughout all of creation.[6] The NAR teaches that Joel’s Army will be doing the same things Christ did while here on earth and that this “army” will establish God’s Kingdom here on earth. In an interview with the Voice Magazine Bill Hamon declared: We are at the prophetic-apostolic. The prophetic movement of the 80s brought in the prophet. And in the 90s it was the apostle. Now we have all five ascension gifts fully restored. Now we can get busy, working, training, equipping, and activating the saints to demonstrate the Kingdom of God...Now it’s the whole Body of Christ arising and demonstrating the supernatural. We will see the Body of Christ coming forth in the Saints Movement. We’ve crossed over the Jordan. The moment you cross over Jordan you’re going into warfare. As fanatical as it may sound to fundamental evangelical Christians, the Church is destined to subdue all things and put all things under Christ’s feet before He actually literally returns from heaven...The Church is being prepared now for the next moves of God. After the Saints Movement will be the Army of the Lord Movement. The next movement after that will be the Kingdom Establishment Movement.[7] Word of Faither Benny Hinn has long been teaching his own version of the “manifested sons of God” heresy. He believes Jesus Christ was not God incarnate but came to earth as a man and then become divine while here on earth. Hinn and other Word of Faith false teachers like Kenneth Copeland teach that Jesus set the pattern for man to follow and that we will become like Jesus through a special type of spiritual evolution. Consider the blasphemy of Hinn in these statements of his: When Jesus was on earth, the Bible says that first He disrobed Himself of the divine form. He, the limitless God, became man, that we men, may become as He is.[8] The new creation is created after God in righteousness and true holiness. The new man is after God, like God, godlike, complete in Christ Jesus. The new creation is just like God. May I say it like this, “You are a little god on earth running around”?[9] Word of Faith preacher Kenneth Copeland echoes Hinn’s false teaching:If we ever wake up and realize who we are, we’ll start doing the work that we’re supposed to do. Because the church hasn’t realized yet that they are Christ. That’s who they are. They are Christ.[10]A popular belief among Word of Faith and NAR heretics is that Jesus did not come to earth as God but as man. They teach that Jesus was somewhere between human and divine, and after the Spirit fell on Jesus at His baptism, He began to do great signs and wonders and become divine. Copeland says, “Why didn’t Jesus openly proclaim Himself as God during his 33 years on earth? For one single reason. He hadn’t come to earth as God, He’d come as a man.”[11]The belief that Jesus was not God incarnate but came to earth as a man is known as Arianism. (Not to be confused with the Aryanism of Adolf Hitler, the heresy is named after a church leader named Arius who died in 336 AD.) The belief that Jesus emptied Himself of His deity when He came to earth is known as Kenotic Theology. This false teaching is derived from a misinterpretation of Philippians 2:6-7 which reads: “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”By examining the Greek meaning of the word “emptied,” John MacArthur explains what these verses actually mean:Jesus Christ emptied Himself completely of every vestige of advantage and privilege, refusing to assert any divine right on his own behalf. He who created and owned everything forsook everything. It must also be kept in mind that Jesus emptied Himself only of certain aspects of is prerogatives of deity, not of deity itself. He was never anything, and never will be anything, but fully and eternally God, as Paul was careful to state in the previoius verse [v. 6 “being in the form of God]. All four gospels make it clear that He did not forsake His divine power to perform miracles, to forgive sins, or to know the minds and hearts of people. Had he stopped being God (an impossibility), He could not have died for the sins of the world. He would have perished on the cross and remained in the grave, with no power to conquer sin or death.[12]On the other hand, Copeland reveals his belief in Kenotic Theology when he writes:[Most Christians] mistakenly think Jesus was able to work wonders, perform miracles and live above sin because He had divine powers that we don’t have. Thus, they’ve never really aspired to live like He lived…They don’t realize that when Jesus came to earth, He voluntarily gave up that advantage, living His life here not as God but as a man. He had no innate supernatural powers. He had no ability to perform miracles until after He was anointed by the Holy Spirit (see Luke 3:22).[13]New Ager and author Barbara Marx Hubbard founded the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. Her group teaches spiritual evolution, and so do the New Age Movement, the Word of Faith, New Apostolic Reformation, Mormons, Hindus, Budhists, and the Emergent Church. Note the similarity between the Manifested Sons of God teaching and Hubbard’s paganism: Finally, you start the transition. . . During the transition, millions of members of the body awaken to their power to be natural Christs, full humans in the model of the first person to manifest the next stage in the development of humanity. . .[14] Like the New Apostolic Reformation belief that Christ must come “in the church” before He comes “for the church,” Hubbard teaches that the second coming will be when man realizes that: the divisions of the religions would be over…We would each know that God is within us…If all who feel we are connected to each other, to nature and to God join in a planetary Pentecost, we shall be transformed in this lifetime. I believe in the peaceful second Coming.[15] Ms. Hubbard wrote a book entitled Emergence, and as we will learn in another chapter, the heresy of the Emergent Church, too, holds that man is beginning to realize his Christconsciousness and that he is one with the universe. It is little wonder that the New Age Movement, Mormons, New Apostolic Reformation, Emergent Church proponents, the Word of Faith Movement, Hindus, and Buddhists will come together and form the one world religion described in Revelation 17. The NAR and Word of Faith proponents teach that man can become a god. Mormonism teach that man can become a god. Hinduism and New Agers believe that man can tap into his god consciousness. And the Church of Rome teaches that man can be as god. The Catholic Catechism, item #460, declares: The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature.” “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”  “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”   Are you starting to see how many of the world’s religions can and will unite as one as described in Revelation 17? The religious Trojan horse is already inside the Church. The New Apostolic Reformation and its dominion theology is not about preaching the Gospel but is about the things of this world such as arrogance, humanism, and occultism. Beware!

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[1]Jewel Grewe, “Joel’s Army,” Discernment Ministries, 1991.   White Paper Posted here: http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=7345 [2]Jewel Grewe, “Joel’s Army,” Discernment Ministries, 1991.   White Paper Posted here: http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=7345[3]Rick Joyner, “Paul Cain, Part 1, 2004 Special Bulletin #6,” posted at: http://www.morningstarministries.org/resources/special-bulletins/2004/paul-cain-part-1[4]Bob Jones, cited in Al Dager, Vengeance Is Ours (1990), 146.   Al Dager, Vengeance Is Ours: The Church In Dominion (Sword Pub., 1990), p. 87. This book is a historical “encyclopedia” of the history of modern dominionism, clearly demarking the various sects. Dager approaches the subject from a Christian perspective. His book is available through http://www.discernment-ministries.org. [5]Bill Hamon, Prophets and the Prophetic Movement (1990). Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.[6]Bill Hamon, The Eternal Church (Christian International Publishers, 1981), 385. [7]“Dr. Bill Hamon Answers Your Questions about the Eternal Church,” Posted at: http://www.thevoicemagazine.com/ApoMoments_BillHamon.htm[8]Benny Hinn, Our Position in Christ, Orlando Christian Center, Tape #A031190-1[9]"Praise-a-thon" TBN, recorded November 12, 1990.[10]Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory Magazine, August 8, 1988, 8.[11]Ibid.[12]John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary for Philippians(Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2001), 126.[13]Ibid.[14]Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Book of Co-Creation: The Revelation - Our Crisis Is a Birth, "The Christ" Comments on Rev. 10:8-11 (Novato, CA: Nataraj Publishing, 1993), 158.[15]Barbara Marx Hubbard the Armageddon Alternative,” p.49 quoted by Brooks Alexander, Vol. 19:2/3, 1995).