MANIFEST SONS OF GOD/ NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION

 

The “Manifest Sons of God” was a teaching that appeared in the 1940’s and 50’s within the Pentecostal church. It developed out of a movement called the “New Order of the Latter Rain” and the titles are often used interchangeably (see https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/new-latter-rain-movement/).  The New Order of the Latter Rain movement was soundly repudiated by the leading Pentecostal denominations at that time for its aberrant teachings and practices and, losing momentum, it was restricted to fringe elements. The Manifest Sons of God teaching resurfaced amongst independent Charismatics* in the 1990’s and is now identified with the “Third Wave” or the “New Apostolic Reformation”. It is central to the Vineyard Churches (John Wimber), the Kansas City Prophets (specifically Bob Jones, John Paul Jackson, and Paul Cain – also Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner and Francis Frangipane), and the Toronto (Rodney Howard-Browne and John Arnott) and Lakeland (Todd Bentley) ‘revivals’ (see also Alpha Course  ). It is claimed by leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation to have gained significant worldwide influence over the last three decades.

*As generally defined now, a denominational Charismatic church (be they Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist etc.) is distinguished from a Pentecostal church as holding to denominational beliefs while permitting the exercise of ‘spiritual gifts’. (Historically, Pentecostals being Protestant in doctrine and practice stood firmly opposed to the Catholic Church and held the then conventional view that a person could not be a true Christian believer and a Catholic.) An independent Charismatic church also is characterised by ‘spiritual gifts’ but is not affiliated with a denomination whilst typically acknowledging orthodox creeds. In general, Charismatics now do not believe in the essential Pentecostal doctrine that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to salvation and evident by speaking in tongues. The ‘spiritual gifts’ exercised by Charismatics are not necessarily identifiable and judged according to the scriptures, as in (historic) Pentecostal churches.  See below “Testing the Spirits”.

 

The Manifest Sons of God teaching has at its core the following beliefs:

  1. God is bringing a select group of people to perfection (also referred to as “Joel’s Army” or “Man-child”);
  2. Jesus Christ will manifest himself to the world through this group (they will perform signs and wonders, be able to teleport, confer spiritual gifts upon whomever they lay their hands and possess the power to heal people indiscriminately);
  3. they will take on immortality (and eventually rule and reign on earth at Christ’s second coming);
  4. church denominations would dissolve, and the true church would unite into citywide churches under the leadership of newly restored offices of apostles (these offices had been lost to the church since the time of the original apostles in the first century, and the teachings of these modern apostles were to be accepted on par with the Bible, not to be questioned nor challenged); and
  5. only once these “sons of God” were manifest and had completed their work overcoming the world and Satan – effectively taking dominion of the earth – was Christ then to return.

 

These ideas were built upon extra-biblical prophetic revelations and heterodox interpretations of select Biblical concepts – with a heavy reliance upon interpreting symbolism, typology and allegory according to the overarching scheme of how the church would evolve in the context of world events leading up to the return of Christ (e.g. the “Tabernacle of David” and the “Feasts of Israel”).

All of the elements to the Manifest Sons of God teaching can be refuted from the scriptures. It is sufficient to show the distortion of scripture employed to invent the key concept i.e. the manifestation of the sons of God in the world prior to Christ’s return. The foundation verse that the title “Manifest Sons of God” comes from is Romans 8:19-24:

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed [the King James Version: the manifestation of the sons of God]. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

 

From the Genesis account, we understand that God created the universe and all life in a perfect world without disease, decay and death, in a 6 day period some 6000 years ago; that Adam and Eve were the very first persons; and, that the temptation, fall and curse were real events.

This curse affected the whole of creation – and so “the whole creation has been groaning” under the weight of disease, decay and death. And it will only be annulled at the return of Christ when all things will eventually (at the end of the millennium, see Revelation 20 – 21:1) be restored, as they were in the beginning.

It is only at Christ’s return that all Christians (dead and living) will be changed from mortal to immortal thus fulfilling “the redemption of our bodies” of Romans 8:24, and the liberation of the world from “its bondage to decay”:

1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—  in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet . For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever…

 

It is only at the physical return of Christ that the “sons of God” are revealed, therefore, and not before as claimed in the Manifest Sons of God teaching; c.f. the parable of good seed and weeds, when only at “the harvest” which “is the end of the age” are “the sons of the kingdom” distinguished and separated from “the sons of the evil one” (Matthew 13:24-33). Manifest Sons of God teachers counter this obvious  interpretation of scripture by deviously claiming/prophesying that Christ will come first spiritually in the church before he comes physically to the world. Thus, he will be ‘incarnated’ in the church and achieve control of the world through the church, before he physically appears to the world. This is clearly a twisting of scripture, an extra-biblical idea or hidden knowledge that must be read into the scripture.

 

New Apostolic Reformation

“New Apostolic Reformation” (NAR) is a term invented by its foremost spokesperson and leader C. Peter Wagner. He claimed that from around the year 2000 a new ‘Second Apostolic Age’ began which would have an even greater impact and influence than the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago, or even the events recorded in the book of Acts at the time of the first apostles. It is an astonishing and radical conception of the role of the ‘church’ to erect the Kingdom of God upon the earth, altering the rule and structure of the nations of the world bringing them under Christ’s dominion, and preparing the earth for His return.

The NAR is not a denomination or organisation. It is a group of ministers/churches that see themselves broadly in agreement with basic tenets and practices (codified by Wagner and other NAR leaders) of this new and final move of God before Christ returns.

The NAR embraces all of the essential beliefs of the Manifest Sons of God teaching and expands upon them in the following ways:

  • Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare (SLSW): In order to defeat and overpower Satan’s control of towns, cities, regions and nations, and permit the kingdom of God to come into effect, “strategic level spiritual warfare” had to be engaged in. This spiritual warfare involved (a) identifying the particular types of satanic strongholds over people groups, (b) diagnosing the resistance to revival and God’s kingdom through “spiritual mapping”, and (c) overpowering the resident high-ranking demonic powers by “binding territorial spirits”.

Also, other complementary methods were devised to assist the breaking of Satan’s power and release the authority of God’s kingdom, including “identification repentance”, “reconciliation walk” and “prayer journeys”. (See https://www.lausanne.org/content/territorial-spirits)

These methods were a new “spiritual technology” not founded in scripture but now revealed by God through the apostles and prophets of the NAR. Using SLSW techniques and tactics, the church would be enabled to take whole cities and nations for God. And eventually, having waged this spiritual war, the church will have achieved something that had never occurred in the history of the world since Adam’s fall, it would take control of the heavenlies where Satan ruled from; and will have finally overthrown him and cast him down.

SLSW was first taught by Wagner and other NAR leaders (e.g. John Dawson and Cindy Jacobs) in the late 1980s. Therefore, SLSW has been engaged in for over 30 years, yet the stated claims of revival and social revolution have not been achieved.  George Otis, Jr. (Sentinel Group) in his Transformations 1 and 2 videos (released in 1999 and 2001), claimed that SLSW had worked in particular localities, however, his evidence when examined proved to contain gross exaggeration and misleading information (see for example http://www.truegospel.co/articles/english/transformations/224-otis-wagner-and-the-transformations-revival   https://religioninfo.org/transformations1.html  https://religioninfo.org/transformations2.html ).

 

  • The New Apostles: The lack of results of SLSW did not go unnoticed by Wagner (he wrote in 2006 “…we cannot point to a single city in America that has been transformed in all of those 15 years!”, The Church in the Workplace, p40) and he attributed it now to the need to re-establish the office of apostles. Apostles who not only would be recognised as supreme authorities over churches but also a new breed of “apostles” who would assume control of the “workplace” and enforce a new “government”:

“See, the problem is, is that Satan has had too much of his way in our society because he has a government! And the only way to overthrow a government is with a government. It won’t happen otherwise. So therefore the government of the church has to get into place in the extended church just like we do have it very well in place, we haven’t reached our goal yet, but it’s very well established in the nuclear church. … when we understand about the church in the workplace, that the church has a government, that it takes a government to overthrow a government, and when we understand this, if we renew our minds, if we embrace this paradigm shift, if we see, if we hear what the spirit is saying to the churches, if we recognize ministry in the extended church and government in the extended church, the revival we’ve been praying for is just around the corner. We will see it. …And now I pray for every individual here, before you, who is in the workplace, who tomorrow and in the days to come will be going out to their ministries in the workplace, and I impart to them an anointing, I impart to them an anointing for not seeing a job, but seeing a ministry in the workplace. And I impart an anointing to them and to this whole community to recognize and raise up apostles who will set the church in the workplace in order so that our cities, our communities, our states, and our nations will be transformed…”

Arise Prophetic Conference, Gateway Church, San Jose, 2004

 

In 1999, the International Coalition of Apostles was formed by NAR advocates with Wagner filling the office of “Presiding Apostle”. Wagner heralded many new types of “apostles” who could be members:

  • “Vertical Apostles” – which included “Ecclesiastical, Functional, Apostolic team members and Congregational apostles”
  • “Horizontal Apostles” – which included “Convening, Ambassadorial, Mobilizing and Territorial apostles”
  • “Marketplace Apostles”
  • “Calling Apostles” – who brought Christians together in unity

This is once again extra-biblical. Historically, Pentecostals have recognised the continuation of the function of apostles in the work of missionaries. The NAR version is entirely novel and alarmingly establishes a new ‘priesthood’ – i.e. the NAR ‘apostles’ – potentially ruling over every facet of people’s lives. (See Apostolic Practice by Vince Synan    https://www.regent.edu/acad/schdiv/docs/faculty/synan/Apostolic_practice_Synan.pdf )

And again, like the impotence of SLSW, some 20 years after the establishment of the International Coalition of Apostles (and some 80 years since the idea first presented itself in the Manifest Sons of God teaching) there is absolutely no evidence that the new breed of apostles are rising to positions of power and transforming the world into the kingdom of God, in preparation for the return of Christ (though NAR preachers might believe and fraudulently claim otherwise).

 

  • Dominionism – the Seven Mountains Mandate

The belief that Christ will return only after the church has established God’s kingdom on the earth by Christians taking control of the world is a variation of “Dominion” theology also known as “Dominionism”. This belief is again rooted in Manifest Sons of God theology. The NAR has morphed this idea into the Seven Mountains Mandate. The seven mountains that must be captured and ruled by Christians, in order to transform society into the kingdom of God, include religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business. The last five are domains that “work-place” apostles are to move into and assume control. And it is believed that there will be an enormous “wealth transfer” providing them with the finance to achieve their objectives.

The idea that God has chosen a particular group to rule the world (and you can rise from obscurity to be a member of that group) is a powerful and seductive drug. In general, both religious and humanist/atheist world-views, contain the beguiling promise that their adherents will rise to power and control the world (e.g. Islam and Catholicism, Communism and Nazism.)

In contrast, the Bible demonstrates the error of NAR Dominionism in the following:

  • Two spiritual kingdoms presently coexist – the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan, and the kingdom of light ruled by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:2, Colossians 1:13). These spiritual kingdoms interact with the physical world. Christians have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, but must maintain a personal and active stance of resistance to Satan (Colossians 1: 13-14, James 4:7, Ephesians 6:11-18, 1John 5:18-19). The kingdom of darkness will be subdued by Jesus Christ Himself, as an influence in the world, only upon His physical return to the earth, and it will be finally overthrown forever only after the Millennium (Revelation 20:2, 10).
  • Nations and kingdoms or empires are established by God (Acts 17:26, Romans 13:1). A nation can submit to God or rebel against God (Proverbs 13:34, Leviticus 18:28). A nation that rejects the knowledge of God will become increasingly corrupt, unless it repents, and its final fallen state is characterised by the acceptance and promotion of homosexuality (Romans 1). Clearly, most nations of the Western World have entered into this ultimate apostate state.
  • God’s judgement falls upon a nation/empire when it becomes irredeemably corrupt i.e. given over to sin and the control of Satan (e.g. Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, “the sin of the Amorites” (Genesis 15:16), the rise and fall of the succession of world empires prophesied in Daniel – Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman which evolved into the Roman Catholic Church).
  • The time just prior to Christ’s return will be one of general rebellion against God, there will be great turmoil and the nations throughout the world will be living in great perplexity and fear, except for a remnant of Christians (Luke 21:25-28).

 

  • NAR promotes the New Spirituality

Key architects of the NAR promote the spiritual disciplines of the Roman Catholic mystics. Both C. Peter Wagner and John Wimber provided endorsements for the tenth anniversary publication of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, declaring the spiritual disciplines to be integral and fundamental to their movement:

 “Most books recognized as classic were good books written at the right time. Richard Foster wrote Celebration of Discipline at the right time, and many have indeed been calling it a classic. The time was the late 1970s when God was just beginning to move the church in America and in other parts of the world into a new era of heightened spirituality…. Richard Foster was one of the first to hear what the Spirit was saying to the churches and to let the rest of the world know what he was hearing through Celebration of Discipline. The book was the central hinge on the door to God’s new era. Its message has gone far and wide and helped Christians of all walks of life to establish deeper intimacy with their heavenly Father.”

Peter Wagner, professor, Fuller Theological Seminary

 

“In 1978 Richard Foster’s first book, Celebration of Discipline, was published with little fanfare. Its initial sales were sluggish at best. Few marketing experts thought that a book calling for discipline and piety would sell to a self-indulgent, self-absorbed, post-sixties generation. After all, this was the advent of yuppies who drove BMW’s while sipping Perrier, not cloistered monks in caves on two week fasts. Well, the experts were wrong. Those first few readers of Celebration of Discipline began spreading the word; the true door to liberation in Christ is the spiritual disciplines. Foster, reflecting his Quaker heritage, writes about an inner life of piety and self-restraint that is both obtainable and desirable. It can even be fulfilling! Since 1978 hundreds of thousands of people around the world have read and re-read Celebration of Discipline. I am numbered among them, and my prayer life has been greatly aided because of it. As the book enters its second decade, [the] hope is that a new generation will discover Celebration of Discipline’s central message: that cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is truly the path to spiritual growth.”

John Wimber, founder, Association of Vineyard Churches

(See Richard Foster  Spiritual Disciplines  )

   

Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (and former pastor of the Kansas City Prophets during the 1980s and 1990s), promotes Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and the Gospel-On Prayer by Thomas Dubay (a Marist Roman Catholic priest), saying:

“I want this book to be the manual for IHOPKC.” 

(https://store.ihopkc.org/products/fire-within)

 

Fire Within is a ‘manual’ on Catholic contemplative mysticism which synthesises the ideas and practices of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross*. Spirituality Today (a Dominican journal on spiritually) from the back-cover endorsement says of the book “Dubay’s striking work is a much-needed challenge that gives us the encouragement to know that God wants us to enjoy mystical prayer more than we had ever hoped or envisioned.”

 

*John of the Cross was a 17th century Carmelite friar. He was a principal figure in the (Spanish) Counter-Reformation, a mystic, one of thirty-six Doctors of the Catholic Church and a canonized saint.  He was tutored by an older Carmelite nun, Teresa of Avila (who practised rigid asceticism, severe mortification including self-flagellation and experienced ecstatic visions while in a trance during which she was observed by others to have levitated). He is most noted for his description of the journey of the soul into union with God, through the process he called “the dark night”; using the preliminary steps as prescribed by Thomas à Kempis of purgation and illumination. Teresa of Avilia and John of the Cross, are principal figures in defining contemplative prayer to be the essential practice to experience union with God.

 

On Bickle’s own website (mikebickle.org) there is posted a 4 part sermon series he presented on contemplative prayer. The series was based around the writings of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Thomas Dubay. Other Catholic mystics he discussed included Madame Guyon and Bernard of Clairvaux.

In the series, Bickle claimed that the Holy Spirit was making contemplative prayer the most urgent need for the church world-wide:

“There’s a strange thing going on in the land today….The Protestant wing of the Western church is nearly 98 percent unaware that the Holy Spirit is restoring contemplative prayer, bringing it center stage to the Church….”

“Where are the leaders? Where are the evangelical leaders who are calling the Church? We have Richard Foster; he’s been doing it for years. You have a few here and there. You have Dallas Willard. There are a few. I said, “Lord, let’s go for this.” My prayer is that you would get clear in your soul that this is a now word. This is a kairos hour. We’re in a time frame where God is speaking the call to contemplative prayer, and to lives of contemplative prayer. I don’t mean that you leave your jobs to do it. Some of you will do that. God is calling everyone. Everyone in the Body of Christ is called to live in the contemplative lifestyle—everyone.”

 

Bickle acknowledged the methodology of contemplative prayer to be sourced from the Catholic mystics:

“… history has given the contemplatives throughout history the name of mystics. I shy away from that term because of so many other things that are associated with it. Throughout history there have been contemplatives; most of them were Catholic. Not that many of them—not millions, but hundreds—came forth as shining examples. Their teachings are invaluable to give us inspiration and some practical steps for encountering and beholding. I use the words encountering and beholding synonymously in many ways. It’s encountering the God who lives within us, the indwelling God. I find it very hard to find Protestant writers who discuss this. Even those who talk on the deeper life in prayer rarely mention the idea of encountering God within us.”

 

And he described his own personal meditative technique:

“I start with the phrases, “Consuming Fire, seal me with love.”… I speak the phrase, then pause for a moment or two. After a few minutes, I throw away all the phrases and I just say, “Consuming.” I reduce the title or the name to just “Fire.” Wait one, two, three. It isn’t like I’m counting, but I’m giving you the idea. It isn’t rushed. I have the whole sentence planted deeply in my being. I say, “Fire,” talking to Him as a person… It becomes wordless in a really short amount of time. There are no words. I’m gazing at the fire. I pray in the Spirit quietly. When I get distracted, I use these words. When my mind gets distracted, and my mind gets easily distracted, I’ll go back to words. When I say the words, even gently, out loud, it makes my mind obedient. I really use the words because of the weakness of my mind, to bring it back into order. I don’t know how to say it theologically, but there’s a lock-in point when I don’t say the words. Then a minute, two, three, four, five, ten minutes goes by.”

 

In the altered state of consciousness Bickle achieves – “the lock-in point” as he describes it – by employing a typical mantric method, he is not communing with the “God within us” but rather with a deceiving spirit. This is the defining practice of Hinduism, Buddhism, mysticism, shamanism and witchcraft, by which the demonic realm is encountered. The mind/will is disengaged to grant access to demonic spirits. And this is why Protestant writers have never embraced it. Tragically, the multitude of people who follow Bickle’s teaching are being led directly into the dark arts of contemplative mysticism and the falsehoods of ecumenism, to demons and doctrines taught by demons, and away from the truth and the Spirit of truth. Contrary to Bickle’s claim, the Holy Spirit is warning his people of the dangers of contemplative prayer and not “speaking the call to contemplative prayer”. The spirit Bickle is listening to is a lying, deceiving spirit, enticing believers to leave the narrow path and enter the wide gate that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

 

(See     Catholic Mystics  Contemplative Prayer )      

 

 Testing the Spirits

Manifestations of the spiritual or supernatural kind must always be tested against scripture. To deviate from this principle by promoting experience above doctrine is to open the door wide to demonic deception. The written Word of God will always be confirmed in and through the manifest works of the Holy Spirit, and the manifest works of the Holy Spirit will always be confirmed in and through the Word of God (Mark 16:20).  Jesus warned:

Matthew 22:29

… “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”

 

The word “power” is translated from the Greek word dunamis. Jesus explained that this dunamis power would be the result of the baptism in the Holy Spirit:

Acts 1:4-5, 8

…he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…you will receive power [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit comes on you”.

 

However, the Bible also warns about receiving a spirit which is not the Holy Spirit:

2 Corinthians 11:4

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted…

1 John 4:1-2

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

 

A spirit other than the Holy Spirit is identified with false prophets, a false Jesus, and a false gospel. We can therefore assess whether spiritual manifestations are from God or not, by examining the doctrines and prophecies of those who are the instigators of those manifestations.

The strength of the Pentecostal movement – in its identification of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a subsequent experience to salvation and its initial evidence being a supernatural manifestation of speaking in an unknown tongue – was that it was firmly rooted in the scriptures (see  The Baptism in the Holy Spirit ).  The very first instance for which most historians trace the modern Pentecostal movement origins was in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901 (although there are instances of the gifts of the Spirit being manifest throughout the centuries prior). It was at a Bible College in Spokane run by Charles Parham who left to engage in a ministry trip out of town and gave the students the instruction to find out scripturally what the evidence was for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They came to the conclusion that speaking in tongues was the identifier. And they dutifully prayed for one of the group and she was then and there baptised in the Holy Spirit and spoke in an unknown tongue. (Unfortunately, these early Pentecostals themselves went outside of scripture and thought the gift of tongues was the ability to preach to foreign peoples and failed miserably when they tried – see Corinthians 14:2-4.)

The Pentecostal movement saw all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1Corinthians 12:7-11 evident as they submitted themselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Genuine healings and miracles were wrought. And revivals occurred on every continent of the world with a multitude of peoples repenting and turning to God. Tragically, many false apostles/prophets/teachers arose amongst the people taking believers away from Biblical truth, and the NAR is a current iteration of this phenomenon. The Holy Spirit has been grieved and genuine manifestations of the Spirit are now absent from these churches.

When we examine the NAR in what is said and what is done against the measure of Biblical evidence, the NAR fails on both counts. NAR teaching is founded upon extra-Biblical revelation that is a distortion of Biblical truth. And the characteristic ‘spiritual’ manifestations – including shaking, writhing, comatose states, hysterical laughter and animal sounds – are well beyond those recorded in the Bible (see for example https://www.themessedupchurch.com/blog/the-charismatic-day-of-infamy-june-28th-2008-at8gl).

Indeed, these manifestations would have been identified by historic Pentecostals as demonic  – c.f. the loss of self-control during these manifestations while a fruit of the Holy Spirit is specifically “self-control” and regarding the exercise of the gifts of tongues, interpretation and prophesy in a church gathering, order and self-control are mandatory (1Corinthians 14:26-40).

These types of manifestations are known in Hinduism and recognised as being sourced from Kundalini power:

“Swami Baba Muktanada would transfer what was called “guru’s grace” to his followers through Shaktipat (physical touch). This “grace” triggered the gradual awakening of the Kundalini which in turn produced various physical and emotional manifestations. Manifestations included uncontrollable laughing, roaring, barking, hissing, crying, shaking, etc. Some devotees became mute or unconscious. Many felt themselves being infused with feelings of great joy and peace and love.”

(https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=11935)

This is most concerning because it potentially represents the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit – calling the works of Satan the works of God is the converse of Jesus’ accusation against the Pharisees who attributed the work of God to Satan (Matthew 12:24-32). And Jesus’ dire warning of Matthew 7:21-23 could well describe the NAR:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord ,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’