# New Apostolic Reformation The most politically consequential charismatic Christian movement of the 21st century. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a decentralized network of self-appointed "apostles" and "prophets" who believe God is restoring the original offices of church leadership described in Ephesians 4:11 — and that these restored apostles have divine authority to take dominion over every sphere of society. It's the theological engine behind the [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] and the spiritual warfare rhetoric that permeated the Trump presidency. ## What It Is The NAR emerged in the 1990s from the work of C. Peter Wagner, a Fuller Theological Seminary professor who identified a "Third Wave" of the Holy Spirit creating a new form of church governance. Wagner argued that God was raising up modern-day apostles and prophets with the same authority as biblical figures — not metaphorically, but literally. These leaders claim to receive direct revelations from God, prophesy future events, perform miracles, and exercise "apostolic authority" over networks of churches, businesses, and governments. The movement is deliberately non-denominational and structurally invisible. There's no NAR headquarters, no membership roll, no formal doctrine. It operates through overlapping networks of charismatic leaders, conferences, worship movements, prayer networks, and media operations. This makes it extremely difficult to study, measure, or counter — which is part of the point. ## The Dominionist Core The NAR's political significance comes from its fusion of charismatic Christianity with dominion theology. The movement teaches that Christians are called to take authority over the "Seven Mountains" of culture: government, education, media, arts/entertainment, business, family, and religion. This isn't a metaphor for "being a good Christian influence" — it's a literal mandate to place Spirit-filled Christians in positions of control over every institution. This is where the NAR converges with [[Christian Reconstructionism]], despite coming from opposite ends of the Protestant spectrum. Reconstructionism is Reformed, intellectual, and focused on biblical law. The NAR is charismatic, experiential, and focused on spiritual authority. But both arrive at the same destination: Christians must rule. ## The Trump Prophecy The NAR's political explosion came through the "Trump prophecy" phenomenon. Starting in 2007 — before Trump's political career — self-proclaimed prophets began declaring that God had chosen Trump as a "Cyrus figure" (referencing the Persian king who freed the Israelites despite not being a believer). When Trump ran in 2016, these prophecies went viral in charismatic networks. This is the theological framework through which millions of charismatic Christians understand Trump. He doesn't need to be personally righteous because he's God's instrument. Criticizing Trump isn't political disagreement — it's opposing God's plan. This made the NAR's Trump support essentially unfalsifiable: failures are spiritual attacks, successes are divine confirmation. After the 2020 election, NAR prophets who had "prophesied" Trump's reelection faced a crisis. Rather than admit error, most doubled down — declaring the election had been stolen through demonic interference and that spiritual warfare was needed to restore God's chosen leader. The language of [[Stop the Steal]] was saturated with NAR spiritual warfare terminology. The January 6 rally featured explicit NAR-style prayer and declarations of spiritual authority. ## The Organizational Architecture Key NAR networks and figures include: **The International House of Prayer (IHOP-KC)**: Founded by Mike Bickle in Kansas City, a 24/7 prayer operation that became a major NAR hub before Bickle's 2023 fall over sexual abuse allegations. **Bethel Church (Redding, CA)**: Bill Johnson's megachurch and the base for Bethel Music, one of the most popular worship music brands in the world. Bethel's music operates as a cultural delivery system for NAR theology — millions of Christians sing Bethel songs in churches that wouldn't identify as NAR. **The Send / Let Us Worship**: Sean Feucht's worship events that fuse concert-style worship with political messaging, particularly prominent during COVID lockdown protests and post-2020 election rallies. **Dutch Sheets / Give Him 15**: A daily prayer broadcast with enormous reach in evangelical networks, consistently framing political events in prophetic/spiritual warfare terms. ## The Analytical Framework The NAR matters for the KB because it's the **mass mobilization theology** of Christian nationalism. [[Christian Reconstructionism]] is too intellectual for mass appeal. The [[Prosperity Gospel]] is transactional but not explicitly political in its theology. The NAR provides the emotional, experiential, supernatural framework that makes millions of Christians feel they are personally participating in a cosmic spiritual battle — and that political action is spiritual warfare. It's also the hardest piece of the Christian nationalist ecosystem to document because it's deliberately structureless. There's no board of directors to investigate, no 990 forms to file, no membership list to FOIA. It operates through relationships, conferences, worship music, social media, and prophecy — making it simultaneously one of the most influential and least visible movements in American religion. ## Connection to January 6 The January 6 rally and Capitol breach were saturated with NAR symbolism: shofar horns, prayer declarations, spiritual warfare language, the [[QAnon]] Shaman's syncretic Christianity. Multiple participants described their actions in terms of spiritual warfare against demonic forces controlling the government. The "Jericho March" events in December 2020, which preceded January 6, were explicitly modeled on the biblical story of marching around Jericho until the walls fell — organized by NAR-adjacent figures and framed as spiritual warfare to overturn the election.