Give Me the OLD Apostolic Reformation (Reflections on Reformation Sunday)

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world…” (John 18:36a)

 This Thursday is Halloween, a spooky and fun time for most Americans, but for Lutherans it’s also that sacred day peculiar to our denomination, Reformation Day. On the Sunday which precedes it Lutherans around the globe will deck their worship spaces out with brilliant red paraments and, more likely than not, bellow out the familiar (if slightly unsingable) anthem “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” We’ll be remembering a day over 500 years ago when a brilliant, spunky, and possibly bi-polar monk challenged the awesome might of the Roman Catholic Church, daring to question the teaching of the most powerful institution in Europe, calling the Church out for its abuse of the poor and uneducated, and forever changing the course of Western Civilization.

Martin Luther dared to suggest that the Christian Church must always be reforming. Unfortunately, in the last five centuries, we’ve been pretty content to keep the status quo. Today, as church attendance is falling like a bowling ball off the Empire State Building and Millennials and Gen-Zs consider themselves “spiritual but not religious,” I’ve often opined it’s about time for a new Reformation.

Apparently, I’m not alone in this wish. There’s a group of American Christians who are determined to start their own new reformation. It’s a reformation of both the Church and the whole of American society. I’m not at all sure I like what they’re proposing. In fact, I’m quite sure I don’t.

Let me quote from Wikipedia what this movement is all about:

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a theological belief and controversial movement that combines elements of Pentecostalism, evangelicalism and the Seven Mountain Mandate to advocate for spiritual warfare to bring about Christian dominion over all aspects of society, and end or weaken the separation of church and state.[i]

I highly recommend that you read Wikipedia’s full article on this movement. If you like feeling scared for Halloween, this will scare the crap out of you. The “Seven Mountain Mandate” refers to the belief held by NAR adherents that it is their Christian duty to exercise their godly influence over seven aspects of society: family, religion, media, arts and entertainment, business, education, and government. To my Lutheran eyes, this sounds like an attempt to take over the country and dominate the culture. I kind of like the First Amendment of the US Constitution, so I find this rather unsettling. I really like the gospel, so I find it nauseating, unbiblical, and heretical.

The nitwits—and be very afraid because there are a LOT of them!—who espouse the NAR philosophy seem to be in love with power and control. It’s no freaking surprise they see the power-mad Donald Trump as some kind of savior sent by God (Again, read the Wikipedia article. I’m not making this up). But earthly power and authority was never Jesus’ goal, nor should it be the goal of Christians. Jesus came to confront tyranny, not impose it.

Deep in our Lutheran heritage is the separation of church and state. Luther was sickened by the corruption of the Church of his day, a Church which was more concerned with establishing control, waging wars, and acquiring territory and riches than with caring for the souls of the poor. The religious hierarchy was content to let people shake in superstitious fear of God. They taught them poverty and suffering were God’s will, their salvation depended on obedience to authority, and any dissent or lack of orthodoxy would be met with crushing punishment in this world and the next. Luther fought back against this with the same weapon Jesus used to combat the devil in the wilderness—the scriptures.

Jesus entered Jerusalem humble and riding on a baby donkey. He never came as a conqueror or a monarch. He told the governor his kingdom did not belong to this world. When his followers asked for positions of authority, Jesus told them:

“You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”[ii]

I could cite more scriptural texts, but you get the idea. It’s my hope that, should you encounter anyone who bleats out, “We need to turn America back into a Christian country!” you’ll lovingly but courageously tell them the Kingdom of God is about love of all God’s children and not about governmental control. The New Apostolic Reformation may be new and an attempt at reform, but it is certainly not apostolic. I’ll stick with Martin Luther’s OLD Apostolic Reformation, thank you very much.

I hope I’m not being naïve about this, but I doubt the NAR numbskulls will ever be able to create anything like a Handmaid’s Tale-style theocracy in the United States. What they are capable of doing, however, is getting voters to concentrate on their petty culture war issues and ignore poverty, climate change, and civil rights. 

No one comes to Christ by force of law, and no law can magically make a sinful humanity become moral and empathetic. Shaming gender or sexual identity, banning books, censoring the media, imposing iconography or prayer in public schools, outlawing abortion, or any other kind of coercion will never lead anyone to Jesus. If American Christians won’t preach the love of Christ though our love of neighbor, our charity, our inclusivity, our piety, and our willingness to express the forgiveness taught us by Jesus, we deserve to be pushed to the margins of society.

Come to think of it, out on the margins—where the poor, the ostracized, the misunderstood, and the hurting are—is exactly where Jesus would want us to be.

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[i] See the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Apostolic_Reformation. I’m not making this shit up.

[ii] Mark 10:42-45