The problem with living the 'Jesus lifestyle'

One of my recent posts was inundated with comments from defenders of New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) apostles. Apparently, these fired-up people came over to my site from a link posted on Facebook.The comment that set off the storm was written by someone who identifies himself as Brian Peat and claims he works full time with apostle Randy's Clark's organization, Global Awakening. Peat wrote an impassioned defense of NAR apostles. And, to some, his words may sound compelling. But despite his impassioned defense, his reasoning falls apart.Yet, he makes the same mistakes that many other people in the NAR movement have made. So, I will share his comment below, followed with my thoughts on where his thinking has gone wrong.

Brian Peat's Comment

This will probably get me crucified, but we chose Third Day because our events guy was sitting around and thought, “I wonder if we could get Third Day to lead worship at VOA [Voice of the Apostles] this year?” There was no special plan involved and no specific reason they ended up on the same night as Bill Johnson. As far as “Johnson has convinced many evangelicals that all Christians should perform miracles–such as healing and prophesying–frequently and as part of their daily lives” ... um, yeah, so has Randy Clark, and you know what, it’s what I see the early church doing. God still moves, why they heck can’t normal people do supernatural stuff in the name of Jesus? We live in a hurting world. Imagine a world where all Christians simply ooze the love of Jesus and can pray for healing or give an encouraging word to ANYONE they meet on the street…and they can actually HEAR God’s voice too. That’s the Christianity I want to be a part of. Sure, there are crazies and manipulators out there, but every stream has those. All the people around me are genuine, caring and they simply want to live out Jesus’ lifestyle in their world. What’s so wrong with that?

My Thoughts

Peat asked a good question, and I think it deserves an answer. What could possibly be wrong with people wanting to pray for physical healing, to encourage hurting people, and to "ooze the love of Jesus"? What could be wrong with people wanting to "hear God's voice" and to "live out Jesus' lifestyle in their world"?On the surface, there is nothing wrong with many of these desires --in fact, most of them are wonderful desires. All Christians should be praying for people's physical healing and encouraging them. We should all want to hear God's voice and be like Jesus in the world. So, there is nothing wrong with Peat's statements if you take them at face value.But the problem is that, in the NAR movement--of which Peat is, knowingly or unknowingly, a participant--there is much error that lies beneath the surface of statements like these. So, here are four ways Peat's argument breaks down.Mistake No. 1: Assuming that miracles were normative in the early churchPeat claims that, in the early church, Christians performed miracles frequently and as part of their daily lives. But Scripture does not support this claim.Yes, Jesus worked miracles. Also, his 12 disciples and 72 disciples worked miracles in his name during special missions he sent them on (Matt 10: 1; Luke 10:9). And following his ascension, miracles were regularly worked in his name by his apostles (Acts 5:12) and by some other church leaders, such as Stephen and Barnabas (Acts 6:8; 14:3).But there is no indication that all Christians worked miracles and did so regularly. On the contrary, when the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he identified "the working of miracles" as a spiritual gift that some believers--not all--were given (1 Cor 10:12). And Paul explicitly taught that not everyone has that special gift (1 Cor 12:29). The very fact that "the working of miracles" is enumerated by Paul as a gift given to only some Christians shows that miracle-working should not be viewed as normative for all Christians.Mistake No. 2: Assuming that 'hearing God's voice' comes only through receiving prophetic wordsPeat seems to equate hearing God's voice with receiving prophetic revelation directly from God--as when he writes, "Imagine a world where all Christians ... can actually HEAR God’s voice too." Notice how he writes the word "HEAR" in all capital letters, with the implication being that those Christians who are not receiving prophetic words are not truly hearing God's voice.Yet what about all those Christians who are reading their Bibles? They are hearing God's voice through His written Word. And His written Word never fails in contrast to so many of the prophetic words given by people in the NAR movement that have turned out to be dead wrong.  In the NAR movement, prophets are allowed to err in their prophetic words and still be considered true prophets of God.Consider the soul carnage that is caused by a prophet telling a mother and father that their five-year-old hospitalized son will live only to watch him die a slow, excruciating death. This very thing happened to people I know. And this is just one example.Thus, Peat's version of "hearing God's voice" directly might not be all it's cracked up to be.Mistake No. 3: Assuming that sincere beliefs equal true beliefsIn defense of his NAR beliefs, Peat writes that all the NAR people around him are "genuine" and "caring." But Peat seems to miss the fact that being sincere in one's beliefs does not mean that those beliefs are correct. I've met many sincere Mormons, atheists, and Muslims. Their heartfelt sincerity does not make their worldviews true.Mistake No. 4: Assuming that Jesus' followers can do every thing he didThis is the big one. Peat writes that his associates in the NAR movement are simply seeking to live out Jesus' lifestyle in the world. That sounds good, right? Not so fast.Yes, Christians should seek to live as Jesus did--as much as that is possible for a mere human being to do. But when Scripture says that Jesus' earthly life is an example for his followers, it is referring to his examples of trusting God in the midst of unjust treatment (1 Pet 2:21-22), to his self-sacrifice in obedience to God’s will (Matt 16:24; see also 10:38), and to his humility (Phil 2:5-8).But there are some things that Jesus--as the only God-man to ever walk this earth--did that we simply cannot and should not attempt to do. Those things include receiving worship and forgiving sins--prerogatives that belong to God alone.Yet NAR apostle Bill Johnson--whom Peat is defending--teaches that all Christians should be able to work miracles just like Jesus did. I think Peat would agree that human beings should not receive worship or claim to forgive sins like Jesus did. But he is mistaken in assuming that people can work miracles just like the unique Son of God.-- By Holly Pivec