Ted Haggard Part 1
A letter written by my brothers in the Lord Sandy Simpson and Mike Oppenheimer to the NAE 3 years ago.
3/29/03
Dear National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Member and other concerned Christians,
We want to thank the NAE for being a blessing to many people in years past, and we hope it will continue to cause the gospel to reach the ends of the earth in the future. As the world changes we are also watching the Church change. There is a special concern and we would like to bring to your attention at this time, specifically a concern that affects your organization--the recent election of Ted Haggard to the Presidency of the NAE.
Your organization or church may not be aware of Ted Haggard and the things he has been promoting for many years. It is not our goal to simply criticize with this letter, but rather to inform you about an agenda Ted Haggard and his associates, including C. Peter Wagner, are implementing. This is so you will be able to make an informed decision on his new leadership for the NAE.
Ted Haggard has been promoting the agenda of C. Peter Wagner and his "New Apostolic Reformation" (NAR) and International Coalition of Apostles (ICA). It is the goal of this letter to point out that Ted Haggard holds to a Latter Rain construct and practice for his Christianity rather than evangelical methods and doctrine. If these words or terms are foreign to you, links are provided to help you understand the new language and practices they are introducing.
The NAR espouses all but one of the tenets of the original New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) doctrines, which were rejected as heresy by the Assembly of God denomination in 1949. Haggard and his associates teach that there are foundational apostles and prophets today in the Church, that there is a transferable impartation from one person to another that imparts the Holy Spirit and gifts by the laying on of hands, and that personal prophesy from prophets are practiced as spiritual guidance equal in authority to the written Word. Please read this article for information on the original NOLR to see how its doctrines are now being taught and practiced by the Third Wave/NAR.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/brown.htm
The new Latter Rain/NAR promoters are associated with C. Peter Wagner who is the head apostle over the new foundational "apostles" and "prophets" and thousands of others in what C. Peter Wagner termed the "Third Wave" movement. They have added many unbiblical doctrines and practices by new revelation. They also use unbiblical methods of prayer, employing spiritual mapping, territorial spiritual warfare, and binding of demons. They speak of all kinds of "anointings" when there is only one Anointing. Many of these practices also depart from the core doctrinal teachings of biblical Christianity.
Please consider the following points with regard to Ted Haggard:
(1) As stated above, he is a leader of the NAR under C. Peter Wagner, who claims they are foundational apostles for the 21st Century Church.
In the January 1999 conference held in the World Prayer Centre where Peter Wagner, the moderator of the conference, spoke on the necessity of Apostles and Prophets to "change the world" and proposed centralised, all-inclusive Church Government with Apostles as the covering network and Prophets as the doctrinal input. Amongst those present at the meeting were: Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, John and Paula Sandford, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Mike Bickle, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, Bobby Byerly and Ted Haggard. (Tricia Tillin, Doctrines Of Demons, http://www.banner.org.uk/res/theglory8.html)
In the brochure that I received, advertising C. Peter Wagner's conference in Brisbane, the following was written: "The New Apostolic Reformation is an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit that is changing the shape of Christianity globally. It is truly a new day! The Church is changing. New names! New methods! New worship expressions! The Lord is establishing the foundations of the Church for the new millennium. This foundation is built upon apostles and prophets. Apostles execute and establish God's plan on the earth. The time to convene a conference of the different apostolic prophetic streams across this nation is now! This conference will cause the Body to understand God's 'new' order for this coming era. We look forward to having you with us in Brisbane in Feb 2000." It was signed by Peter Wagner and Ben Gray. (Brochure For Brisbane 2000, as cited in Jumping On The Bandwagon - Australian Christian Churches Seduced by the Beat of a Different Drummer?, Hughie Seaborn, 1999, http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rseaborn/bandwagon.html)
Please go to the following article of quotes to see what C. Peter Wagner and those in the NAR have been teaching and continue to promote. Among other things, they teach that the Church today requires foundational apostles to succeed in the Great Commission. The goal of the NAR adherents is to bring all churches under the control of one central apostolic leadership, and they claim they are that leadership.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/wagnerquotes.html#nar
(2) Ted Haggard recently made a false prophecy.
Last week the Spirit of the Lord woke me in the middle of the night and powerfully spoke to me. He told me that if we could mobilize 1,000,000 intercessors to pray for Saddam Hussein, that he would leave Iraq, thus avoiding the need for a war. (The World Prayer Center/Pastor Ted Haggard and The World Prayer Team - Colorado Springs, CO, 12/20/02, http://www.pnk.org.uk/prayer/1.html)
And then the Lord spoke into my heart that if we could mobilize one million to pray consistently here until the beginning of the year, then the Spirit of the Lord would stir in Saddam Hussein and he would simply get on a plane in the middle of the night and fly out of the country. ... (Ted Haggard, 700 Club, http://cbn.org/spirituallife/intercession/haggard0301.asp)
It is our understanding that the World Prayer Center has access to the Mission America member list--a reported “8,000 churches and one million Lighthouses”, among the many others who would participate. We believe the call of the World Prayer Center was certainly heard by over a million people, and still Saddam did not leave Iraq as prophesied by Ted Haggard.
Haggard did what he believed the Lord asked him to do, but the prophecy was not fulfilled because this prayer was not biblical. We see from many biblical examples that God does not need millions of people to get together in order to answer prayer, if it is according to His will. Oftentimes the NAR members claim they need a certain number of people for a goal to be accomplished, for there to be a “critical mass”. The word of God says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (Jas. 5:16b)
(3) Ted Haggard called Christians together to pray at the same time as New Agers, using humanistic and superstitious reasons as the basis for gathering to pray, instead of biblical truth.
RE: URGENT CALL FOR 03-03-03 TO BE A "WORLDWIDE DAY OF PRAYER"
Dear World Prayer Team Member,
The World Prayer Center is calling all Christians worldwide to a Worldwide Day of Prayer on Monday, March 3, 2003. Ted Haggard, President of The World Prayer Team, says his office has been flooded with messages from people all over the world saying that God is impressing upon them to prepare to pray on 03-03-03. "These believers do not know one another, nor are they connected to one another. They do not know that the others are saying the same thing. Clearly, the Holy Spirit is speaking to His church, and He is calling His people to pray," says Haggard. "As these reports began to come in, we sensed in our hearts that God wants us to promote a huge outpouring of prayer on this special date. Many believe there is significance to this date because of its numerical sequence (03-03-03), which reminds many Christians of the Trinity. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has highlighted Jeremiah 33:3 (again, three 3's) as our call to action, 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,'" says Haggard. The magnitude of this date is not lost on the non-Christian world as well. The Global Consciousness movement (New Age) has for years been planning a worldwide "Largest ever experiment into global consciousness" to take place on 03-03-03. Their effort is slated to begin at 3:33 am (Figi local time), on the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the 3rd millennium. It has gained widespread notoriety in New Age circles. Should this not be enough to cause Christians to pray, the significance of 03-03-03 becomes even more pressing as America could launch a war with Iraq at about that very hour, against a leader, Saddam Hussein, who has only recently embraced Islam as a way of gaining support from the Islamic world. Such was not the case with the first Gulf War. According to the Islamic calendar, March 3, 2003 is the eve of the Islamic New Year (Islamic year 1424 begins March 4, 2003). The World Prayer Team therefore calls on all Christian churches and individuals to set aside at least 3 minutes to pray at 3:33 PM in their time zone on 03/03/03.
This plea used spiritual numerology and superstition instead of biblical models of prayer. This type of method is commonplace in accomplishing the goals of the NAR.
PRAYER FOCUS:Pray that the armies of heaven will push back the powers of darkness in the Middle East. Pray that Saddam Hussein will leave the country before war is required to remove him from power. Pray that a spiritual shield will contain hostilities within the Iraqi borders (if war cannot be avoided), such that it doesn't spill over to the entire Islamic world. … Pray that this date, rather than being a focal point of darkness, will be overwhelmed by the Light of God through the worldwide prayers of His people. (THE WORLD PRAYER TEAM, http://www.worldprayerteam.org/)
While Ted Haggard may have had good intentions, he attributed this prayer guidance to a direct communication with the Lord, yet these prayers came to nothing. What was accomplished was a unity with New Agers in "prayer" under a misguided apostolic leadership.
(4) Ted Haggard was instrumental in reconciling John Wimber and the Vineyard with the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (original church of the "Toronto "Blessing" that brought Latter Rain doctrines into the mainstream) because “felt and urgent impression from the Lord” to do it.
On the evening of December 2nd, Ted Haggard, pastor of a 5,000 member church in Colorado and a leader of the AD 2000 prayer movement, felt an urgent impression of the Lord to visit immediately what was then known as the Toronto Airport Vineyard. In obedience, he arrived Tuesday, December 5th, at his own expense, but questioned the Lord, wondering what his purpose was in being there. He learned the following day that the Airport Vineyard had been disengaged from the Association of Vineyard Churches and immediately realized that God had brought him at a strategic time to mediate reconciliation efforts. (1995, Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship web site, http://www.tacf.org/revival/revivalnews/archives/haggard.html)
Haggard has continued to work with the Toronto “Blessing” TACF church in seminars.
http://www.tacf.org/livetv/schedule/2002/intercession/
This illustrates the long-standing ties between C. Peter Wagner/John Wimber and associates and the Latter Rain/Toronto "Blessing" movement. Wimber had apparently disassociated with the Toronto Airport Vineyard because of some extremes, yet Ted Haggard wanted to bring them back together despite the unbiblical practices.
Ted Haggard and his associates have promoted the unbiblical manifestations of the Latter Rain, Third Wave, NAR movement brought on by the transferable “anointing” for many years. Read this story about Ted Haggard promoting David Hogan, who claims to have raised 200 people from the dead. Haggard joked about Hogan being “drunk in the spirit” after Hogan spoke in his New Life Church (http://www.christianissues.com/hogan.html). "Drunk in the spirit" is also supported and promoted by the NAR movement. C. Peter Wagner is said by Jim Laffoon to have been "drunk in the spirit" for fourteen years at the National School of the Prophets meeting in 2000 in Colorado.
"I mean people say, "How can Dr. Wagner at his age be with all these weird people. He's been on a fourteen year drunk. It's the only way to explain it. He's not been sober for years. ... when you sober up and all of a sudden you're not cross-eyed, your pastor doesn't look what you thought, man that person you've been praying with irritates you and you don't like their personality, you've got one choice. Get drunk again! And let me tell you (cheers) if we're going to make it in this hour, if we're going to make it in this hour, we have got to stay filled with the spirit." (Jim Laffoon, NSOP, 5/00)
(5) Ted Haggard and his associates like George Otis, Jr. have claimed whole cities have been saved due to unbiblical spiritual mapping and spiritual warfare techniques, including his home church city of Colorado Springs, CO. The fact is that Colorado Springs still has major problems and is nowhere near regenerate.
Colorado Springs has become a haven for several major ministries. But it wasn’t that long ago when the area was a Mecca for blatant occult activity. Then Rev. Ted Haggard and his congregation discovered the raw power of prayer when then committed themselves to praying for their city’s transformation. Their plan, "spiritual mapping" lead to an amazing spiritual revival of the Colorado Springs area, and it is a method of prayer that is changing cities and countries around the globe. (Interview with Rev. Ted Haggard, "Spiritual Mapping", http://www.tln.com/program/timeline/tl2024.html)
This new unbiblical concept is replacing traditional evangelism where people are equipped with answers to witness. Fantastic yet unproven results are often claimed from these new methodologies.
In Ted Haggard’s book, "Primary Purpose", published in 1995, it is said that the spiritual climate in your city can be changed to such an extent that it will be "hard for people to go to hell from your city ... It happened in Colorado Springs, and it can happen in your city too. (Ted Haggard, Primary Purpose, Charisma Book Warehouse, http://cbw.strang.com/c.cgi?ProdID=3810&Source=INTNET)
The Bible clearly states that people have to hear the Gospel to be saved. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) It does no good to do prayer theatrics over a city to clear the air of territorial spirits (which cannot be done in any case) when it is the individual who must believe from hearing the gospel presented to them. Though Satan has his hold over territories, we are not told to find out what territorial demons are doing and to fight them in prayer. We are to pray to the Lord for protection from the evil one, stand against and resist the devil personally, and preach the Gospel wherein there is victory over the enemy. This demonstrates the NAR shift in outreach methodology and how they claim the Great Commission is to be accomplished. Despite the extravagant claims by Ted Haggard, a local Colorado newspaper reported a very different picture of El Paso County where Colordo Springs is located:
"El Paso County youths have a higher pregnancy rate, use more drugs and die more often from suicide than teens nationwide." (The Gazette, "Life" section, 5/5/02).
In 2001 there were a total of 42,621 crimes committed in Colorado Springs (City of Colorado Springs web page, http://www.springsgov.com/Page.asp?NavID=2503). The national crime average for 100,000 people in 2001 was 5056.31 crimes. Colorado Springs was above the national average at 5254.13, specifically in the crimes of rape and theft. (Colorado Springs Colorado Crime Statistics and Data Resources, http://coloradosprings.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm). We do not use deceptive means to achieve an end as evangelical Christians.
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:2)
(6) Ted Haggard has claimed that the World Prayer Center is the "Pentagon of Christianity", which is consistent with their view that the new apostles and their methods are foundational to the Church.
The World Prayer Center (WPC) is headed by C. Peter Wagner, Ted Haggard and Chuck Pierce (whom Charisma magazine calls "God's Generals"). It is touted as the "Pentagon of modern Christianity," "God's Air Command," and other militaristic nomenclatures. ... The World Prayer Center was built largely through the contributions of Pastor Ted Haggard's New Life Church, which neighbors the Center. (http://www.banner.org.uk/globalism/WCM4.html)
(7) Ted Haggard claims that to evangelize the Muslims "the primary goal is not to win new Christian converts but to "serve the Islamic people."
The Rev. Ted Haggard, pastor of the 8,700-member New Life Church along with Fred Markert, executive director of Youth With a Mission, are going to reach the Muslims without the gospel, but by showing their good works. Haggard said "the primary goal is not to win new Christian converts but to "serve the Islamic people. We believe it is the role of Christians to befriend people in the Islamic community to ensure their peace and safety." Haggard said he wants people to "become aware of the Islamic community and locate their needs. That includes leaving them alone if that's what they want. Markert said the goal is to give people a choice of religions, not force Christianity on them. He said missionaries would provide blankets, food and other short-term relief as well as help with long-term projects such as installing clean water systems." (Quotes from The Gazette -Pastors issue call for missionaries to Islam 9/29/01, http://ww2.moriel.org:8004/notice/where_were_you.htm)
This brings into question whether Ted Haggard really understands biblical evangelism. Can an organization that has upheld true evangelical methods embrace these new unbiblical ideas? This letter illustrates our great concern over these new concepts influencing the Church. Our primary goal should always be to preach the gospel and disciple all nations. Certainly we must be available to help people in many ways. But our goal as evangelicals is to win people to Christ that they might be saved from hell. Salvation must always take precedence over every other goal. Is not a person's eternal destiny the highest priority?
(8) Ted Haggard (a) endorsed the book "God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney, a Oneness Pentecostal in a long line of anti Trinitarians, (b) is a member with Tenney of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA) and (c) was also instrumental in bridging the gap between traditional Pentecostals, the UPC and Word-Faith.
Here is Ted Haggard’s endorsement of God Chasers by Tommy Tenney:
This is a marvelous book on the wonderful dangers of knowing God. The God Chasers is exciting, intense, unsettling and challenging. Tommy holds no punches, as he pleads with us to become desperate and determined in our pursuit of God. (Ted Haggard endorsement, God Chasers)
Tommy Tenney, along with Ted Haggard, are members of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA), the C. Peter Wagner apostolic group of Third Wavers who claim to be foundational apostles. Their stated goal is the installation of their apostolic/prophet leadership in every part of Christendom including prayer networks, missions, churches, and evangelistic outreach. Haggard who is part of this movement has the same goals.
Curiously, there is no doctrinal statement on Ted Haggard’s New Life Church web site. The closest they come to making a statement on the nature of God is in their “sound doctrine” statement:
New Life is a Bible-believing church. We believe God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are to be taught using sound, orthodox doctrine. We emphasize every portion of Scripture, including God's work through the people of Israel, the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the mission of the body of believers, and the ministering work of the Holy Spirit in the world today. (New Life Church, What We Believe, Sound Doctrine, http://www.newlifechurch.org/whatwebelieve/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=soundDoctrine)
We were unable to find a statement that upholds the Triune nature of One God in three Persons that we would find in orthodox statements of Faith. We can only assume Ted Haggard agreed to the NAE doctrinal statement, but wonder why there is no clear statement on his church site. The reason we are uneasy is because Ted Haggard has also been involved in spearheading unity between orthodox Pentecostals, charismatics, Word-Faith and Oneness Pentecostals. Just to remind the reader, the United Pentecostal Church (UPC), the denomination with which Tommy Tenney and his relatives have a long and well documented association, has been considered a cult of Christianity by biblical denominations. This is based on the fact that the UPC denies two of the core doctrines of the Faith—namely the Trinity (UPC teaches Oneness, Jesus Only) and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (UPC teaches baptismal regeneration and adds legalistic mandates on their adherents).
Historic Gathering Bridges Pentecostal and Charismatic Divides Joint ministry effort could follow from groundbreaking meeting Leaders of America's major Pentecostal and charismatic movements have met secretly in a historic meeting intended to build bridges between different groups (see my comments below) that have been at odds or a distance for years. Almost 30 senior figures representing Word of Faith, charismatic, traditional Pentecostal and Oneness Pentecostals met for three days at a Washington, D.C.-area hotel to talk and pray in an unprecedented move toward unity. The diverse group plans to cement the groundbreaking gathering, held at the end of April, with some sort of united ministry effort in the months to come, possibly a combined church-planting effort in a major city. Among the participants were TV preachers Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, International Foursquare President Paul Risser, Assemblies of God General Superintendent Thomas Trask, International Pentecostal Holiness Church General Superintendent James Leggett, and United Pentecostal Church (UPC) International General Superintendent Kenneth Haney. …and Ted Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. (CHARISMA NEWS SERVICE Wed, Jun 05, 2002 Vol. 4 No. 68, LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher, http://www.banner.org.uk/news/Flash-archive12.html)
"…for the first time ever, top leaders from all the streams of Pentecost-classical, charismatic, Oneness, Word of Faith, Third Wave-came together in a spirit of unity, not to discuss doctrinal differences, but to rejoice in their common spiritual heritage." (CHARISMA NEWS SERVICE Wed, Jun 05, 2002 Vol. 4 No. 68, LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher, http://www.charismanews.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=6121)
The ICA membership is by invitation only and their web site is now protected by password access. Tommy Tenney was invited to a recent meeting of the ICA and Haggard and Tenney are mentioned as being part of the Wagner Leadership Institute. (http://www.wagnerleadership.org/) This ICA apostolic group is open to a select few who are invited to become charter members of their coalition. (C. Peter Wagner, GI Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2000, Joining Forces, Blazing Trails: An Interview with Peter Wagner, http://www.harvestnet.org/reports/aboutWagnerapostles.htm). The new apostles of the NAR are considered to be foundational to the Church. But the Bible shows clearly that the Church is built on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the original Apostles and prophets and no one today can meet the biblical criteria to be a foundational apostle or prophet.
What is an apostle? Here is the ICA definition of apostle: An apostle is a Christian leader gifted, taught, commissioned, and sent by God with the authority to establish the foundational government of the church within an assigned sphere of ministry by hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches and by setting things in order accordingly for the growth and maturity of the church. (C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries, http://www.globalharvest.org/index.asp?action=icafaq)
The three-day conference, to be held at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, will focus on the role of modern-day apostles. "The church is changing," Wagner says. "Apostles execute and establish God's plan on earth. This meeting will cause the body of Christ to understand God's 'new' order for this coming era." (C. Peter Wagner To Host Summit On 'Apostolic Reformation', April conference will explore trends in church planting for the 21st century, Matt Jackson, Charisma News Service, March 17, 1999, http://www.charismanews.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=2324)
(9) Ted Haggard is also a member of the National School of Prophets (NSP) under Wagner.
Please reference this article for a list of those involved in the NSP conferences.
http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain22.htm
Haggard also believes that a prophet's prophetic accuracy is affected by their feelings and attitudes:
“…so, if your spirit gets polluted, hurt, or angry, bitter or whatever, then, whenever you prophesy it's not going to be as clear a stream as it would be as if you have a clean heart” (Mobilizing the Prophetic Office, 13 May, 2000).
(10) Ted Haggard and others of the ICA have claimed they are able to teach people to be prophets, and have charged $175 to do so.
There is even a “National School of the Prophets Conference,” where for $175 you can be trained in the art of “propheteering.” C. Peter Wagner, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Mike Bickle, Ted Haggard and others can train us to be “prophets” (Charisma Magazine, Dec. 1998, as quoted in http://www.pfo.org/fortune.htm)
In Conclusion
There is much that could be said about Ted Haggard and his involvement in the movement that was coined the "New Apostolic Reformation" by C. Peter Wagner. In the interest of keeping this letter as brief as possible, we recommend that you continue your research into this subject at the following Internet locations:
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/newapostolic.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel3.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel8.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel9.html
http://letusreason.org/Latrain20.htm
http://letusreason.org/Latrain21.htm
http://letusreason.org/Latrain22.htm
http://www.agetwoage.org/ApostolicJustFacts1.htm
To sum up, we are writing this letter out of a heartfelt concern for the future of the NAE. We hope that this letter has cleared up some misconceptions about Ted Haggard and spotlighted the agenda of the NAR in which Haggard is a leading figure. His statements and practices are clearly contrary to orthodox evangelical beliefs and methods. Ted Haggard's efforts to unify Oneness and Word-Faith prosperity teachers with traditional biblical denominations is not promoting unity in the Faith. His promotion of the unbiblical extremes of the Toronto “Blessing” and the false doctrines of the Latter Rain should disqualify him for any leadership position within the confines of "evangelical" Christianity. We do not believe his election to the leadership will benefit the NAE or retain its stated goals of evangelism.
We welcome your comments to this open letter. Address any email comments to ditc@hotmail.com.
Prayerfully,
Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination Team (ACT)
http://op.50megs.com/act/
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/
Mike Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries
http://www.letusreason.org/
3/29/03
Dear National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Member and other concerned Christians,
We want to thank the NAE for being a blessing to many people in years past, and we hope it will continue to cause the gospel to reach the ends of the earth in the future. As the world changes we are also watching the Church change. There is a special concern and we would like to bring to your attention at this time, specifically a concern that affects your organization--the recent election of Ted Haggard to the Presidency of the NAE.
Your organization or church may not be aware of Ted Haggard and the things he has been promoting for many years. It is not our goal to simply criticize with this letter, but rather to inform you about an agenda Ted Haggard and his associates, including C. Peter Wagner, are implementing. This is so you will be able to make an informed decision on his new leadership for the NAE.
Ted Haggard has been promoting the agenda of C. Peter Wagner and his "New Apostolic Reformation" (NAR) and International Coalition of Apostles (ICA). It is the goal of this letter to point out that Ted Haggard holds to a Latter Rain construct and practice for his Christianity rather than evangelical methods and doctrine. If these words or terms are foreign to you, links are provided to help you understand the new language and practices they are introducing.
The NAR espouses all but one of the tenets of the original New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) doctrines, which were rejected as heresy by the Assembly of God denomination in 1949. Haggard and his associates teach that there are foundational apostles and prophets today in the Church, that there is a transferable impartation from one person to another that imparts the Holy Spirit and gifts by the laying on of hands, and that personal prophesy from prophets are practiced as spiritual guidance equal in authority to the written Word. Please read this article for information on the original NOLR to see how its doctrines are now being taught and practiced by the Third Wave/NAR.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/brown.htm
The new Latter Rain/NAR promoters are associated with C. Peter Wagner who is the head apostle over the new foundational "apostles" and "prophets" and thousands of others in what C. Peter Wagner termed the "Third Wave" movement. They have added many unbiblical doctrines and practices by new revelation. They also use unbiblical methods of prayer, employing spiritual mapping, territorial spiritual warfare, and binding of demons. They speak of all kinds of "anointings" when there is only one Anointing. Many of these practices also depart from the core doctrinal teachings of biblical Christianity.
Please consider the following points with regard to Ted Haggard:
(1) As stated above, he is a leader of the NAR under C. Peter Wagner, who claims they are foundational apostles for the 21st Century Church.
In the January 1999 conference held in the World Prayer Centre where Peter Wagner, the moderator of the conference, spoke on the necessity of Apostles and Prophets to "change the world" and proposed centralised, all-inclusive Church Government with Apostles as the covering network and Prophets as the doctrinal input. Amongst those present at the meeting were: Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, John and Paula Sandford, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Mike Bickle, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, Bobby Byerly and Ted Haggard. (Tricia Tillin, Doctrines Of Demons, http://www.banner.org.uk/res/theglory8.html)
In the brochure that I received, advertising C. Peter Wagner's conference in Brisbane, the following was written: "The New Apostolic Reformation is an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit that is changing the shape of Christianity globally. It is truly a new day! The Church is changing. New names! New methods! New worship expressions! The Lord is establishing the foundations of the Church for the new millennium. This foundation is built upon apostles and prophets. Apostles execute and establish God's plan on the earth. The time to convene a conference of the different apostolic prophetic streams across this nation is now! This conference will cause the Body to understand God's 'new' order for this coming era. We look forward to having you with us in Brisbane in Feb 2000." It was signed by Peter Wagner and Ben Gray. (Brochure For Brisbane 2000, as cited in Jumping On The Bandwagon - Australian Christian Churches Seduced by the Beat of a Different Drummer?, Hughie Seaborn, 1999, http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rseaborn/bandwagon.html)
Please go to the following article of quotes to see what C. Peter Wagner and those in the NAR have been teaching and continue to promote. Among other things, they teach that the Church today requires foundational apostles to succeed in the Great Commission. The goal of the NAR adherents is to bring all churches under the control of one central apostolic leadership, and they claim they are that leadership.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/wagnerquotes.html#nar
(2) Ted Haggard recently made a false prophecy.
Last week the Spirit of the Lord woke me in the middle of the night and powerfully spoke to me. He told me that if we could mobilize 1,000,000 intercessors to pray for Saddam Hussein, that he would leave Iraq, thus avoiding the need for a war. (The World Prayer Center/Pastor Ted Haggard and The World Prayer Team - Colorado Springs, CO, 12/20/02, http://www.pnk.org.uk/prayer/1.html)
And then the Lord spoke into my heart that if we could mobilize one million to pray consistently here until the beginning of the year, then the Spirit of the Lord would stir in Saddam Hussein and he would simply get on a plane in the middle of the night and fly out of the country. ... (Ted Haggard, 700 Club, http://cbn.org/spirituallife/intercession/haggard0301.asp)
It is our understanding that the World Prayer Center has access to the Mission America member list--a reported “8,000 churches and one million Lighthouses”, among the many others who would participate. We believe the call of the World Prayer Center was certainly heard by over a million people, and still Saddam did not leave Iraq as prophesied by Ted Haggard.
Haggard did what he believed the Lord asked him to do, but the prophecy was not fulfilled because this prayer was not biblical. We see from many biblical examples that God does not need millions of people to get together in order to answer prayer, if it is according to His will. Oftentimes the NAR members claim they need a certain number of people for a goal to be accomplished, for there to be a “critical mass”. The word of God says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (Jas. 5:16b)
(3) Ted Haggard called Christians together to pray at the same time as New Agers, using humanistic and superstitious reasons as the basis for gathering to pray, instead of biblical truth.
RE: URGENT CALL FOR 03-03-03 TO BE A "WORLDWIDE DAY OF PRAYER"
Dear World Prayer Team Member,
The World Prayer Center is calling all Christians worldwide to a Worldwide Day of Prayer on Monday, March 3, 2003. Ted Haggard, President of The World Prayer Team, says his office has been flooded with messages from people all over the world saying that God is impressing upon them to prepare to pray on 03-03-03. "These believers do not know one another, nor are they connected to one another. They do not know that the others are saying the same thing. Clearly, the Holy Spirit is speaking to His church, and He is calling His people to pray," says Haggard. "As these reports began to come in, we sensed in our hearts that God wants us to promote a huge outpouring of prayer on this special date. Many believe there is significance to this date because of its numerical sequence (03-03-03), which reminds many Christians of the Trinity. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has highlighted Jeremiah 33:3 (again, three 3's) as our call to action, 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,'" says Haggard. The magnitude of this date is not lost on the non-Christian world as well. The Global Consciousness movement (New Age) has for years been planning a worldwide "Largest ever experiment into global consciousness" to take place on 03-03-03. Their effort is slated to begin at 3:33 am (Figi local time), on the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the 3rd millennium. It has gained widespread notoriety in New Age circles. Should this not be enough to cause Christians to pray, the significance of 03-03-03 becomes even more pressing as America could launch a war with Iraq at about that very hour, against a leader, Saddam Hussein, who has only recently embraced Islam as a way of gaining support from the Islamic world. Such was not the case with the first Gulf War. According to the Islamic calendar, March 3, 2003 is the eve of the Islamic New Year (Islamic year 1424 begins March 4, 2003). The World Prayer Team therefore calls on all Christian churches and individuals to set aside at least 3 minutes to pray at 3:33 PM in their time zone on 03/03/03.
This plea used spiritual numerology and superstition instead of biblical models of prayer. This type of method is commonplace in accomplishing the goals of the NAR.
PRAYER FOCUS:Pray that the armies of heaven will push back the powers of darkness in the Middle East. Pray that Saddam Hussein will leave the country before war is required to remove him from power. Pray that a spiritual shield will contain hostilities within the Iraqi borders (if war cannot be avoided), such that it doesn't spill over to the entire Islamic world. … Pray that this date, rather than being a focal point of darkness, will be overwhelmed by the Light of God through the worldwide prayers of His people. (THE WORLD PRAYER TEAM, http://www.worldprayerteam.org/)
While Ted Haggard may have had good intentions, he attributed this prayer guidance to a direct communication with the Lord, yet these prayers came to nothing. What was accomplished was a unity with New Agers in "prayer" under a misguided apostolic leadership.
(4) Ted Haggard was instrumental in reconciling John Wimber and the Vineyard with the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (original church of the "Toronto "Blessing" that brought Latter Rain doctrines into the mainstream) because “felt and urgent impression from the Lord” to do it.
On the evening of December 2nd, Ted Haggard, pastor of a 5,000 member church in Colorado and a leader of the AD 2000 prayer movement, felt an urgent impression of the Lord to visit immediately what was then known as the Toronto Airport Vineyard. In obedience, he arrived Tuesday, December 5th, at his own expense, but questioned the Lord, wondering what his purpose was in being there. He learned the following day that the Airport Vineyard had been disengaged from the Association of Vineyard Churches and immediately realized that God had brought him at a strategic time to mediate reconciliation efforts. (1995, Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship web site, http://www.tacf.org/revival/revivalnews/archives/haggard.html)
Haggard has continued to work with the Toronto “Blessing” TACF church in seminars.
http://www.tacf.org/livetv/schedule/2002/intercession/
This illustrates the long-standing ties between C. Peter Wagner/John Wimber and associates and the Latter Rain/Toronto "Blessing" movement. Wimber had apparently disassociated with the Toronto Airport Vineyard because of some extremes, yet Ted Haggard wanted to bring them back together despite the unbiblical practices.
Ted Haggard and his associates have promoted the unbiblical manifestations of the Latter Rain, Third Wave, NAR movement brought on by the transferable “anointing” for many years. Read this story about Ted Haggard promoting David Hogan, who claims to have raised 200 people from the dead. Haggard joked about Hogan being “drunk in the spirit” after Hogan spoke in his New Life Church (http://www.christianissues.com/hogan.html). "Drunk in the spirit" is also supported and promoted by the NAR movement. C. Peter Wagner is said by Jim Laffoon to have been "drunk in the spirit" for fourteen years at the National School of the Prophets meeting in 2000 in Colorado.
"I mean people say, "How can Dr. Wagner at his age be with all these weird people. He's been on a fourteen year drunk. It's the only way to explain it. He's not been sober for years. ... when you sober up and all of a sudden you're not cross-eyed, your pastor doesn't look what you thought, man that person you've been praying with irritates you and you don't like their personality, you've got one choice. Get drunk again! And let me tell you (cheers) if we're going to make it in this hour, if we're going to make it in this hour, we have got to stay filled with the spirit." (Jim Laffoon, NSOP, 5/00)
(5) Ted Haggard and his associates like George Otis, Jr. have claimed whole cities have been saved due to unbiblical spiritual mapping and spiritual warfare techniques, including his home church city of Colorado Springs, CO. The fact is that Colorado Springs still has major problems and is nowhere near regenerate.
Colorado Springs has become a haven for several major ministries. But it wasn’t that long ago when the area was a Mecca for blatant occult activity. Then Rev. Ted Haggard and his congregation discovered the raw power of prayer when then committed themselves to praying for their city’s transformation. Their plan, "spiritual mapping" lead to an amazing spiritual revival of the Colorado Springs area, and it is a method of prayer that is changing cities and countries around the globe. (Interview with Rev. Ted Haggard, "Spiritual Mapping", http://www.tln.com/program/timeline/tl2024.html)
This new unbiblical concept is replacing traditional evangelism where people are equipped with answers to witness. Fantastic yet unproven results are often claimed from these new methodologies.
In Ted Haggard’s book, "Primary Purpose", published in 1995, it is said that the spiritual climate in your city can be changed to such an extent that it will be "hard for people to go to hell from your city ... It happened in Colorado Springs, and it can happen in your city too. (Ted Haggard, Primary Purpose, Charisma Book Warehouse, http://cbw.strang.com/c.cgi?ProdID=3810&Source=INTNET)
The Bible clearly states that people have to hear the Gospel to be saved. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14) It does no good to do prayer theatrics over a city to clear the air of territorial spirits (which cannot be done in any case) when it is the individual who must believe from hearing the gospel presented to them. Though Satan has his hold over territories, we are not told to find out what territorial demons are doing and to fight them in prayer. We are to pray to the Lord for protection from the evil one, stand against and resist the devil personally, and preach the Gospel wherein there is victory over the enemy. This demonstrates the NAR shift in outreach methodology and how they claim the Great Commission is to be accomplished. Despite the extravagant claims by Ted Haggard, a local Colorado newspaper reported a very different picture of El Paso County where Colordo Springs is located:
"El Paso County youths have a higher pregnancy rate, use more drugs and die more often from suicide than teens nationwide." (The Gazette, "Life" section, 5/5/02).
In 2001 there were a total of 42,621 crimes committed in Colorado Springs (City of Colorado Springs web page, http://www.springsgov.com/Page.asp?NavID=2503). The national crime average for 100,000 people in 2001 was 5056.31 crimes. Colorado Springs was above the national average at 5254.13, specifically in the crimes of rape and theft. (Colorado Springs Colorado Crime Statistics and Data Resources, http://coloradosprings.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm). We do not use deceptive means to achieve an end as evangelical Christians.
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Cor. 4:2)
(6) Ted Haggard has claimed that the World Prayer Center is the "Pentagon of Christianity", which is consistent with their view that the new apostles and their methods are foundational to the Church.
The World Prayer Center (WPC) is headed by C. Peter Wagner, Ted Haggard and Chuck Pierce (whom Charisma magazine calls "God's Generals"). It is touted as the "Pentagon of modern Christianity," "God's Air Command," and other militaristic nomenclatures. ... The World Prayer Center was built largely through the contributions of Pastor Ted Haggard's New Life Church, which neighbors the Center. (http://www.banner.org.uk/globalism/WCM4.html)
(7) Ted Haggard claims that to evangelize the Muslims "the primary goal is not to win new Christian converts but to "serve the Islamic people."
The Rev. Ted Haggard, pastor of the 8,700-member New Life Church along with Fred Markert, executive director of Youth With a Mission, are going to reach the Muslims without the gospel, but by showing their good works. Haggard said "the primary goal is not to win new Christian converts but to "serve the Islamic people. We believe it is the role of Christians to befriend people in the Islamic community to ensure their peace and safety." Haggard said he wants people to "become aware of the Islamic community and locate their needs. That includes leaving them alone if that's what they want. Markert said the goal is to give people a choice of religions, not force Christianity on them. He said missionaries would provide blankets, food and other short-term relief as well as help with long-term projects such as installing clean water systems." (Quotes from The Gazette -Pastors issue call for missionaries to Islam 9/29/01, http://ww2.moriel.org:8004/notice/where_were_you.htm)
This brings into question whether Ted Haggard really understands biblical evangelism. Can an organization that has upheld true evangelical methods embrace these new unbiblical ideas? This letter illustrates our great concern over these new concepts influencing the Church. Our primary goal should always be to preach the gospel and disciple all nations. Certainly we must be available to help people in many ways. But our goal as evangelicals is to win people to Christ that they might be saved from hell. Salvation must always take precedence over every other goal. Is not a person's eternal destiny the highest priority?
(8) Ted Haggard (a) endorsed the book "God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney, a Oneness Pentecostal in a long line of anti Trinitarians, (b) is a member with Tenney of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA) and (c) was also instrumental in bridging the gap between traditional Pentecostals, the UPC and Word-Faith.
Here is Ted Haggard’s endorsement of God Chasers by Tommy Tenney:
This is a marvelous book on the wonderful dangers of knowing God. The God Chasers is exciting, intense, unsettling and challenging. Tommy holds no punches, as he pleads with us to become desperate and determined in our pursuit of God. (Ted Haggard endorsement, God Chasers)
Tommy Tenney, along with Ted Haggard, are members of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA), the C. Peter Wagner apostolic group of Third Wavers who claim to be foundational apostles. Their stated goal is the installation of their apostolic/prophet leadership in every part of Christendom including prayer networks, missions, churches, and evangelistic outreach. Haggard who is part of this movement has the same goals.
Curiously, there is no doctrinal statement on Ted Haggard’s New Life Church web site. The closest they come to making a statement on the nature of God is in their “sound doctrine” statement:
New Life is a Bible-believing church. We believe God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are to be taught using sound, orthodox doctrine. We emphasize every portion of Scripture, including God's work through the people of Israel, the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the mission of the body of believers, and the ministering work of the Holy Spirit in the world today. (New Life Church, What We Believe, Sound Doctrine, http://www.newlifechurch.org/whatwebelieve/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=soundDoctrine)
We were unable to find a statement that upholds the Triune nature of One God in three Persons that we would find in orthodox statements of Faith. We can only assume Ted Haggard agreed to the NAE doctrinal statement, but wonder why there is no clear statement on his church site. The reason we are uneasy is because Ted Haggard has also been involved in spearheading unity between orthodox Pentecostals, charismatics, Word-Faith and Oneness Pentecostals. Just to remind the reader, the United Pentecostal Church (UPC), the denomination with which Tommy Tenney and his relatives have a long and well documented association, has been considered a cult of Christianity by biblical denominations. This is based on the fact that the UPC denies two of the core doctrines of the Faith—namely the Trinity (UPC teaches Oneness, Jesus Only) and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (UPC teaches baptismal regeneration and adds legalistic mandates on their adherents).
Historic Gathering Bridges Pentecostal and Charismatic Divides Joint ministry effort could follow from groundbreaking meeting Leaders of America's major Pentecostal and charismatic movements have met secretly in a historic meeting intended to build bridges between different groups (see my comments below) that have been at odds or a distance for years. Almost 30 senior figures representing Word of Faith, charismatic, traditional Pentecostal and Oneness Pentecostals met for three days at a Washington, D.C.-area hotel to talk and pray in an unprecedented move toward unity. The diverse group plans to cement the groundbreaking gathering, held at the end of April, with some sort of united ministry effort in the months to come, possibly a combined church-planting effort in a major city. Among the participants were TV preachers Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, International Foursquare President Paul Risser, Assemblies of God General Superintendent Thomas Trask, International Pentecostal Holiness Church General Superintendent James Leggett, and United Pentecostal Church (UPC) International General Superintendent Kenneth Haney. …and Ted Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. (CHARISMA NEWS SERVICE Wed, Jun 05, 2002 Vol. 4 No. 68, LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher, http://www.banner.org.uk/news/Flash-archive12.html)
"…for the first time ever, top leaders from all the streams of Pentecost-classical, charismatic, Oneness, Word of Faith, Third Wave-came together in a spirit of unity, not to discuss doctrinal differences, but to rejoice in their common spiritual heritage." (CHARISMA NEWS SERVICE Wed, Jun 05, 2002 Vol. 4 No. 68, LEAD STORY: by Andy Butcher, http://www.charismanews.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=6121)
The ICA membership is by invitation only and their web site is now protected by password access. Tommy Tenney was invited to a recent meeting of the ICA and Haggard and Tenney are mentioned as being part of the Wagner Leadership Institute. (http://www.wagnerleadership.org/) This ICA apostolic group is open to a select few who are invited to become charter members of their coalition. (C. Peter Wagner, GI Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2000, Joining Forces, Blazing Trails: An Interview with Peter Wagner, http://www.harvestnet.org/reports/aboutWagnerapostles.htm). The new apostles of the NAR are considered to be foundational to the Church. But the Bible shows clearly that the Church is built on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the original Apostles and prophets and no one today can meet the biblical criteria to be a foundational apostle or prophet.
What is an apostle? Here is the ICA definition of apostle: An apostle is a Christian leader gifted, taught, commissioned, and sent by God with the authority to establish the foundational government of the church within an assigned sphere of ministry by hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches and by setting things in order accordingly for the growth and maturity of the church. (C. Peter Wagner, Global Harvest Ministries, http://www.globalharvest.org/index.asp?action=icafaq)
The three-day conference, to be held at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, will focus on the role of modern-day apostles. "The church is changing," Wagner says. "Apostles execute and establish God's plan on earth. This meeting will cause the body of Christ to understand God's 'new' order for this coming era." (C. Peter Wagner To Host Summit On 'Apostolic Reformation', April conference will explore trends in church planting for the 21st century, Matt Jackson, Charisma News Service, March 17, 1999, http://www.charismanews.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=2324)
(9) Ted Haggard is also a member of the National School of Prophets (NSP) under Wagner.
Please reference this article for a list of those involved in the NSP conferences.
http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain22.htm
Haggard also believes that a prophet's prophetic accuracy is affected by their feelings and attitudes:
“…so, if your spirit gets polluted, hurt, or angry, bitter or whatever, then, whenever you prophesy it's not going to be as clear a stream as it would be as if you have a clean heart” (Mobilizing the Prophetic Office, 13 May, 2000).
(10) Ted Haggard and others of the ICA have claimed they are able to teach people to be prophets, and have charged $175 to do so.
There is even a “National School of the Prophets Conference,” where for $175 you can be trained in the art of “propheteering.” C. Peter Wagner, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Mike Bickle, Ted Haggard and others can train us to be “prophets” (Charisma Magazine, Dec. 1998, as quoted in http://www.pfo.org/fortune.htm)
In Conclusion
There is much that could be said about Ted Haggard and his involvement in the movement that was coined the "New Apostolic Reformation" by C. Peter Wagner. In the interest of keeping this letter as brief as possible, we recommend that you continue your research into this subject at the following Internet locations:
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/newapostolic.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel3.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel8.html
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel9.html
http://letusreason.org/Latrain20.htm
http://letusreason.org/Latrain21.htm
http://letusreason.org/Latrain22.htm
http://www.agetwoage.org/ApostolicJustFacts1.htm
To sum up, we are writing this letter out of a heartfelt concern for the future of the NAE. We hope that this letter has cleared up some misconceptions about Ted Haggard and spotlighted the agenda of the NAR in which Haggard is a leading figure. His statements and practices are clearly contrary to orthodox evangelical beliefs and methods. Ted Haggard's efforts to unify Oneness and Word-Faith prosperity teachers with traditional biblical denominations is not promoting unity in the Faith. His promotion of the unbiblical extremes of the Toronto “Blessing” and the false doctrines of the Latter Rain should disqualify him for any leadership position within the confines of "evangelical" Christianity. We do not believe his election to the leadership will benefit the NAE or retain its stated goals of evangelism.
We welcome your comments to this open letter. Address any email comments to ditc@hotmail.com.
Prayerfully,
Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination Team (ACT)
http://op.50megs.com/act/
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/
Mike Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries
http://www.letusreason.org/
posted by Tim Wirth | 11:34 AM
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