# New Apostolic Reformation Ecosystem The **mass-mobilization wing of Christian nationalism** — and the most politically consequential religious movement most Americans have never heard of. Where [[Christian Reconstructionism]] supplies the intellectual blueprint (biblical law governing civil society) and the [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] supplies the strategic doctrine (take the seven spheres of culture), the NAR supplies the **emotional operating system**: a global, decentralized network of self-appointed "apostles" and "prophets" who frame every political event as literal spiritual warfare against demonic forces, and who have convinced millions of charismatic Christians that [[Donald Trump]] is God's anointed instrument for retaking America. **Core thesis:** You cannot understand post-2016 Christian-nationalist political behavior — the Cyrus prophecy, the Jericho March, the shofar horns at January 6, the prayer-warfare framing of election denial — without the NAR. It is the theological substrate that converts ordinary evangelical voting behavior into *spiritual militancy*. And it is the hardest piece of the Christian-right ecosystem to document precisely because it was *designed* to be structurally invisible: no denomination, no membership roll, no 990 forms, no central doctrine. It operates through overlapping conference circuits, worship-music catalogs, prophecy broadcasts, prayer networks, and apostolic "alignments" — all knit together by relationship rather than hierarchy. → For the foundational concept, see [[New Apostolic Reformation]] → For the strategic framework, see [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] → For the Reformed theological cousin, see [[Christian Reconstructionism]] → For the transactional theology layer, see [[Prosperity Gospel]] → For the master concept, see [[The Unholy Alliance]] → For the elite coordinating body, see [[Council for National Policy Ecosystem]] --- ## Origins: Wagner and the "Third Wave" The NAR as a named movement traces to **[[C. Peter Wagner]]** (1930–2016), a Fuller Theological Seminary missiologist who coined the term in the mid-1990s. Wagner's thesis, elaborated across dozens of books, had three claims: 1. **The Third Wave**: After Pentecostalism (first wave, early 1900s) and the Charismatic Renewal (second wave, 1960s–70s), a "third wave" of the Holy Spirit was restoring the *governmental* offices of the early church — specifically the offices of **apostle** and **prophet** (Ephesians 4:11). 2. **Apostolic Authority**: Today's apostles have the same supernatural authority as the biblical apostles — to issue binding prophecies, plant and govern churches, and exercise "strategic-level spiritual warfare" against **territorial demons** ruling cities, nations, and institutions. 3. **Dominion**: These restored apostles would lead the Body of Christ to take "dominion" over the Seven Mountains of culture before Christ returns. Wagner's Global Spheres Inc. and the International Coalition of [[Apostles]] (ICA, founded 2001) served as the movement's earliest organizing vehicle. But by design, the NAR never had a "headquarters" — apostolic networks multiplied like franchises, each with its own apostle, prophets, armor-bearers, and territorial assignments. --- ## The Network Architecture The NAR is best understood not as an organization but as a **loose federation of apostolic networks** — each anchored by a senior apostle, each with its own prophetic voices, worship brand, conference circuit, and geographic or thematic "mountain" of focus. The major nodes: ``` [ No central headquarters ] │ ┌────────────────┬────────┴────────┬────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ [ Wagner lineage ] [ IHOP / KC ] [ Bethel / Redding ] [ Dutch Sheets line ] │ │ │ │ C. Peter Wagner Mike Bickle Bill Johnson Dutch Sheets Chuck Pierce Lou Engle Kris Vallotton Chuck Pierce (crossover) Cindy Jacobs (IHOPKC scandal Bethel Music Appeal to Heaven flag Global Spheres Inc. 2023+) Jesus Culture Give Him 15 broadcast Sean Feucht Jericho March (2020) (BSSM alumnus) │ │ │ │ └────────┬───────┴─────────┬───────┴────────────────┘ │ │ [ HRock / Harvest ] [ The Send / Political Worship ] │ │ Che Ahn Sean Feucht (Let Us Worship) HAPN Lou Engle (The Call) Pasadena, CA Political worship tours │ │ └────────┬────────┘ │ [ Prophecy Broadcast Layer ] Hank Kunneman (Lord of Hosts) Kat Kerr, Robin Bullock, Julie Green "Elijah Streams" / "Flashpoint" / "The Victory Channel" (TBN) │ [ Political Operations Layer ] ReAwaken America Tour (Clay Clark + Michael Flynn) Trump Evangelical Advisory Board (Paula White) Faith and Freedom Coalition partnerships Intercessors for America ``` **Key structural insight:** The same person often appears on multiple layers. [[Sean Feucht]] is a Bethel Music alum, runs his own political worship brand (Let Us Worship), broadcasts prophecy, and does direct political organizing. [[Dutch Sheets]] is simultaneously a prophet, a best-selling author, and a political operator (the Appeal to Heaven flag he popularized flew at January 6). This is not an accident — it is the movement's operating model. The apostle/prophet/political-activist stack is collapsed into the same individual. --- ## The Independent Network Charismatic (INC) Umbrella Scholars Brad Christerson and Richard Flory (USC) coined the broader term **Independent Network Charismatic (INC) Christianity** to describe the movement the NAR is part of — the fastest-growing segment of American Christianity in the 21st century, while denominational Christianity shrinks. INC/NAR networks share several structural features: - **No denomination**: Churches are autonomous but "aligned" under apostolic covering - **Celebrity apostolate**: A single charismatic leader is the brand, theology, and final authority - **Digital-first**: Streaming, [[YouTube]], podcasts, prophecy TV, social media reach vastly exceed in-person congregations - **Worship as theology**: Songs from Bethel, Hillsong, Elevation, and Jesus Culture deliver NAR doctrine into mainline evangelical churches that would never identify as NAR - **Prophecy economy**: Daily prophetic broadcasts, "words" for current events, and monetized prophecy ministries This is why the NAR's reach vastly exceeds its formal membership. Tens of millions of Christians consume NAR-produced worship music, prophetic content, and conference teachings — often without realizing they are absorbing a specific theological framework distinct from traditional Pentecostalism, Reformed Christianity, or mainline evangelicalism. --- ## The Cyrus Moment: Trump Enters the Story The NAR's political detonation came through the **[[Cyrus Prophecy]]** — the claim, first voiced in 2007 by prophet Kim Clement (years before Trump declared candidacy) and elaborated most influentially by [[Lance Wallnau]] in 2015–2016, that Donald Trump was a modern "King Cyrus": a non-believing ruler divinely raised up to liberate God's people, just as the Persian king Cyrus freed Israel from Babylonian captivity. **Why this framing was so strategically powerful:** - **It pre-immunized Trump against moral critique.** Cyrus wasn't personally righteous. He didn't have to be. God used him anyway. Trump's affairs, crude speech, and business scandals were rendered *theologically irrelevant*. - **It converted political opposition into spiritual warfare.** Opposing Trump wasn't disagreement — it was opposing God's plan, which meant the opposition was demonic. - **It was unfalsifiable.** If Trump won, God had delivered. If he lost, the election was stolen by demonic forces and required more spiritual warfare to reverse. By 2020, the Cyrus framing had been adopted across vast swaths of charismatic Christianity — including by pastors and churches that would not consciously identify as NAR. It had, in effect, become the dominant theological lens through which ~30–40 million American charismatic Christians understood the Trump presidency. --- ## From Cyrus to January 6 The post-2020 trajectory reveals how the NAR's spiritual-warfare framework became an *operational* political force rather than a merely rhetorical one: **November 2020 — Election Denial as Prophecy Crisis.** Virtually every major NAR prophet had "prophesied" Trump's reelection. When Biden was declared the winner, the movement faced a choice: admit prophetic error (which would collapse the apostolic-authority claim) or double down. Nearly all doubled down, declaring the election had been "stolen" by demonic forces and that intercessory prayer + political action could reverse it. A handful — most prominently Jeremiah Johnson — publicly repented; he received death threats and withdrew from ministry. **December 12, 2020 — The Jericho March.** Named for the biblical march around Jericho that preceded the walls falling, organizers circled the Supreme Court and D.C. monuments seven times, blowing shofars and declaring spiritual warfare to overturn the election. Key speakers included [[Dutch Sheets]], [[Eric Metaxas]], [[Alex Jones]], and [[Michael Flynn]]. The event fused NAR theology, [[QAnon]], and [[Stop the Steal]]. **January 6, 2021.** The iconography at the Ellipse rally and Capitol was saturated with NAR symbolism: **shofars** (Jewish ceremonial horns appropriated by charismatic Christianity as instruments of spiritual warfare), the **Appeal to Heaven flag** (popularized by Dutch Sheets), declarations of spiritual authority, anointing oil, the "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley offering NAR-style prayer on the Senate floor. Researchers [Matthew D. Taylor](https://www.npr.org/2023/08/02/1192006738/the-role-of-new-apostolic-reformation-in-politics) and others have documented that NAR apostles and prophets were not bystanders — they were organizers, recruiters, and theological architects of what happened that day. **2021–present — The Prophecy Broadcast Economy.** The failure of the Trump prophecies did not shrink the movement; it metastasized it. Daily prophetic broadcasts (FlashPoint on [[Kenneth Copeland]]'s Victory Channel, Elijah Streams, Julie Green Ministries) reach millions with ongoing "words" about Trump's restoration, impending judgments on enemies, and spiritual warfare. The [[ReAwaken America Tour]] — a traveling roadshow combining NAR worship, QAnon-adjacent conspiracy, election denial, and MAGA politics — became the movement's most visible political vehicle. --- ## Convergence with the Rest of the Right The NAR does not operate in isolation. It has been progressively absorbed into the broader Christian-nationalist and MAGA ecosystems: **With Christian Reconstructionism:** Despite coming from opposite theological poles (Reformed/intellectual vs. charismatic/experiential), the two movements converge on the *same political project* — Christians must rule. [[Pete Hegseth]] sits inside the CREC (Reconstructionist) church network but leans into NAR-style rhetoric publicly. The two traditions increasingly share conference stages and political strategy. **With the [[Council for National Policy]]:** NAR figures like [[Paula White]] and pastors in the apostolic orbit move through [[Council for National Policy Ecosystem]] circles. The CNP's [[Faith and Freedom Coalition]] partners provide the electoral ground game; NAR networks provide the theological/spiritual mobilization. **With Prosperity Gospel:** The two share figures ([[Paula White]], [[Kenneth Copeland]]) and often the same congregants. Prosperity Gospel provides the *transactional* theology (seed faith → material blessing); NAR provides the *political* theology (apostolic authority → dominion). Together they produce the Trump-era megachurch political machine. **With QAnon:** Though the NAR predates QAnon by two decades, the two fused rapidly in 2020–2021. QAnon provides the conspiracy epistemology (hidden cabal controlling institutions); NAR provides the spiritual-warfare frame (those hidden forces are literal demons). For millions of followers, the two are now indistinguishable. **With defense/tech and [[the New Right]]:** Less visible but emerging — figures like [[Pete Hegseth]] represent a fusion of NAR/Reconstructionist theology with Pentagon power. Christian-nationalist infrastructure is moving up the prestige ladder, and parts of Silicon Valley's post-liberal right (see [[Catholic Post-Liberalism]], [[Christian Network State]]) are building secular parallels to NAR's "take dominion" frame. --- ## Why This Matters for the KB The NAR is the **most underestimated node in the Christian-nationalist ecosystem**. Analysts focused on Reconstructionism, [[Project 2025]], and the [[Federalist Society]] often miss the NAR because it doesn't fit the shape of the institutions they know how to track. But: - It is larger (tens of millions of sympathizers vs. tens of thousands of Reconstructionists). - It is more politically activated (daily prophetic content, traveling rallies, direct Trump-administration access via the Faith Office). - It is more difficult to counter (no institution to investigate; no doctrine to debate; no spokesperson to hold accountable). - It produces most of the **iconography** of Christian nationalism that has entered the broader culture — the Appeal to Heaven flag, shofars at political rallies, "spiritual warfare" political language, anointing oil on doorframes of government buildings. If [[Christian Reconstructionism]] is the *theory* of Christian nationalism, the NAR is its *mass movement*. And in American politics, theories do not win elections — mass movements do. --- ## See Also **Concepts** - [[New Apostolic Reformation]] (foundational concept page) - [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] - [[Cyrus Prophecy]] - [[Third Wave of the Holy Spirit]] - [[Apostolic-Prophetic Movement]] - [[Appeal to Heaven]] **Key Figures** - [[C. Peter Wagner]] — founder - [[Lance Wallnau]] — Cyrus prophecy, Seven Mountains strategist - [[Dutch Sheets]] — Appeal to Heaven, Jericho March, election reversal prophet - [[Cindy Jacobs]] — Generals International, dean of the prophets - [[Mike Bickle]] — IHOP-KC founder (in scandal) - [[Bill Johnson]] — Bethel Church, worship-export engine - [[Sean Feucht]] — political worship, Let Us Worship - [[Che Ahn]] — HRock Church, apostolic alignment - [[Lou Engle]] — The Call, The Send - [[Chuck Pierce]] — Glory of Zion, Wagner successor - [[Hank Kunneman]] — Lord of Hosts Church, prophet broadcast - [[Paula White]] — Trump spiritual advisor, Faith Office - [[Kenneth Copeland]] — Victory Channel / FlashPoint distribution **Organizations** - [[Bethel Church]] (Redding, CA) - [[IHOP-KC]] (International House of Prayer Kansas City) - [[Global Spheres Inc]] (Wagner / Pierce) - [[HRock Church]] (Che Ahn) - [[MorningStar Ministries]] (Rick Joyner) - [[Generals International]] (Cindy Jacobs) - [[ReAwaken America Tour]] (Clay Clark, Michael Flynn) - [[Trump Evangelical Advisory Board]] **Related Ecosystems** - [[Council for National Policy Ecosystem]] - [[Think Tank Ecosystem]] - [[Dark Money Ecosystem]]