An Army of Christians ... Or Locusts?

A key teaching of the apostolic-prophetic movement is that God is raising up an end-times army of Christians, led by apostles and prophets, to establish His kingdom on earth. This army is called "Joel's Army." Todd Bentley's "Fresh Fire Ministries," for example, promotes this teaching, and his Web site records many prophecies given about this army. Read them here. Many advocates of this fast-growing movement teach that the current generation of children will be the last generation of the church — and will have a pivotal role in this army. This doctrine is what's behind "Jesus Camp" — a documentary about Becky Fischer's children's camp, which, as I pointed out in an earlier post, is connected to the apostolic-prophetic movement. Visit the documentary's Web site here.

The main biblical support for such an army is Joel 2, where God sends a great army, described as locusts, to punish his wayward people of Israel. But then God destroys the army and restores Israel. Read Joel 2 here.

So, how do the leaders of the apostolic-prophetic movement figure that this army of locusts is an army of Christians? True, the army is described as "God's army" in verse 11 of the passage, but God often refers to pagan kings (like Nebuchadnezzar) and pagan nations (like the Assyrians and Babylonians) as His servants and His armies that He is raising up as instruments of His wrath against Israel (see Isaiah 10:5-7, 13:4 and Jeremiah 25:9, 43:10). But, like the army of locusts in Joel 2, these kings and their nations are, ultimately, judged and destroyed by God.So, how can the leaders of the apostolic-prophetic movement continue basing one of their key teachings on Joel 2? I find it very odd that they identify themselves with this army that attacks God's people and is destroyed by God.