Commentary1

Until you see it with your own eyes, it is sometimes difficult to explain to other Christians the influence that the New Apostolic Reformation can have on the local church community. When I bring up this issue with friends, we discuss it in vague terms that has no teeth, no bite, except we know that what we read in many of the articles warning us of the dangers, is something that we accept as the truth because of others that have gone before us. The immediate effect on the local believers may not even be noticed at first but slowly, over time, our lack of discernment in matters of the truth in God's word can have severe consequences regarding our spiritual health as Christians.

I was going through some of the sites I visit to keep up on my research and I decided to go back and check out some of the Apostolic and Prophetic sites to see if there was anything new happening that might effect us locally. It had been months since I last looked through the list so I picked the first site that caught my eye, Dutch Sheets Ministries, and upon opening up his itinerary I discovered, to my surprise, he was going to be in the Albany, NY area on Friday night, January 15, 2004.

What is so strange about all this, I have never had any desire to go see any controversial Christian speakers but this caught my interest. Normally, just reading the books for the sake of research is enough, but no, this time I had to go. So just to be sure I bounced it off my wife thinking that she would quickly see the futility of attending another meeting, but...she said, "I think this could be interesting," so of course we went.

We arrived early just to get ahead of any crowd and we picked seats in the balcony trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. That proved to be hopeless seeing that we knew many of the people attending from our former lives in the hyper-charismatic/pentecostal world. So it was assumed by those we talked with that our motives for being there were the same as theirs and we did not discourage them in their beliefs. As we watched the crowd slowly proceed to their respective seats, I could not help but notice a "spiritual check" taking place among those gathering, to keep track of the "who's who" that were there hoping to reach the next spiritual level, hoping to receive some recognition from the local leadership.

We really had a much deeper concern for those attending than even worrying what we might hear from Dutch Sheets or Chuck Pierce in the way of some new revelatory teaching or new prophesies being proclaimed or what was being decreed in the heavenly realm. Most of those people that had made the effort to be here had already been captured by what these men were about to preach and teach but there were a few that were here because of curiosity, or because they were new to the "spiritual warfare" scenario through the prayer ministries of their churches. Forgetting that each of us is responsible to discern, to test the spirits to see if they are of God [1 John 4:1-3], we expose ourselves to heretical teaching, false prophets and the like in an effort to reach new spiritual levels, which in itself is a lie of the enemy.

It is interesting to note that one of the first official duties that was performed as the meeting started was the declaration by one of the leaders of the NY state prayer network stating that the purpose of this assembly was to announce the implementation of the ruling apostolic authority over all of the churches within NY state (I am assuming with little doubt all churches are now under the authority of C. Peter Wagner who has declared that he is the head of all of the currently known apostles in the world.).

As the meeting progressed, much emphasis was made of the need to receive impartation and a term that is new to me, "infusion", and a "new spirit' of revelation. There was all of that and much more, which we noted for further research, and the "performance" was first rate Latter Rain, Dominion, Manifested Sons of God ministry (check out the Latter Rain page to get a better understanding of these ministries and how they impact the church). Still, I could not help but observe with sadness how those that had come with such great expectations waited anxiously to hear the next new revelation from the mouths of Apostle Dutch Sheets and Prophet Chuck Pierce, the implication that their words were as authoritative as the Scriptures. Were there any watchmen there this night, we wondered?

Something rather bizarre took place on the platform that brought back memories of the occult as we watched two Native Americans, each from the opposite corners of the state, come together holding a talisman and form a spiritual portal encouraging the leadership at that meeting to walk through insuring that this would bring them into a higher spiritual realm. I was greatly saddened to watch most of the pastors choose to walk through this portal which was really a form of witchcraft, an initiation into a spiritual realm, but with what spirits? There were a few that seem extremely agitated by what they were witnessing; maybe there were some using discernment after all.

Chuck Pierce gave several prophesies over the next couple of hours, each built up in resonance, to give the impression that the word he was speaking had come from the throne of God. Dutch Sheets preached concerning the authority of the believers [Isaiah 22:22], here to legislate in the heavenly realms to change the direction of the ruling principalities and powers. He spoke about a sword being unleashed [Ps.45] to bring about swift justice in the hands of we, the believers in Albany, NY.

Some good news to report is that we did see some pastors actually leave in the middle of the service. Most of these were Evangelical pastors I recognized from other meetings I had attended in our area. We kept wondering if any others had come to observe and warn the local body concerning these ministries.

We stayed almost to the very end until the place went wild as Dutch Sheets called for the "fire of God" to fall on those who were attending, calling for an "infusion" into the hearts and minds of all those who were there, to receive a new level of spiritual authority that was being released into the Capital District area of New York, to take NY for the Lord as part of a larger plan to take the country for God. For those who want to get an idea of the reason for Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce visiting the Albany, NY area, you can check out their latest newsletters at Dutch Sheets Ministry site, Dutch Sheets Ministries or Chuck Pierce' Ministry site, Glory of Zion International Ministries.

As I stated in the beginning of this brief note, we have much concern and love for the local body of Christian believers and we continue to encourage the body of Christ to grow in their knowledge of the word of God, learning to discern good from evil.

Delaware Strategic Prayer Network - once at this site click on "Sheets and Pierce", a PDF file, for a documented account of the meeting that took place with Apostles Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce in Delaware as part of the 50 state spiritual warfare strategy.