Saturday 30 May was the date set for the 1998 Global March for Jesus (GMFJ). This annual event was set up by British Charismatic leaders, Gerald Coates, Roger Forster, Lynn Green and Graham Kendrick and has spread all over the world. It involves marching through the streets, singing songs and 'prayer walking' in a public display of Christian unity.

This year, for the first time, missionary organisation Open Doors with Brother Andrew have linked up with March for Jesus (MFJ). They are "supporting this prayer effort strongly" < http://www.gmfj.org/ > A recent article in Christian Research Network (CRN) Journal (Spring 1998; see <http://web.ukonline.co.uk/crn/ > said the following:

In a letter to their supporters Open Doors UK Director, Peter Cowell, could not contain his 'excitement' that his organisation had been asked to 'provide the prayer focus for the Prayer Assemblies on Global March for Jesus day- 30th May'. The letter encouraged its membership to join the MFJ and 'encourage other believers to join you'. This will be music to the ears of the MFJ leadership.

A number of Open Doors supporters have expressed their disquiet to Open Doors (and to CRN) concerning this unfortunate move. CRN is concerned that missionary and other large Christian organisations lacking theological understanding in their leadership will become increasingly embroiled in the many errant but popular experiential movements.

I wrote identical letters to Open Doors UK and USA expressing the following concerns about GMFJ:

1. Gerald Coates' denial of the infallibility or sufficiency of Scripture and his view that "it is no more the primary purpose of the church to teach the scriptures than it is for British Rail to promote timetables".

2. All 4 founders' view that the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola Outpouring are great 'moves of God' as part of a global outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

3. Coates' and Forster's endorsement of heretics such as Clark Pinnock (their 'theologian for revival' who has spoken at Coates' Westminster revival meetings), who denies the omnipotence and omniscience of God, and believes that it is possible that evil may triumph in the end.

4. Coates' view that the infilling of the Holy Spirit can come before conversion, as demonstrated by many self-confessed non-Christians 'going under the power' at his meetings.

 

5. Coates' false prophecies- he prophesied a major revival at Westminster Chapel (people left) and that there would be an earthquake at Lake Taupo in NZ in 1991 (it didn't happen). He also supported the false prophecies of revival in 1990 of Kansas City Prophet heretic Paul Cain.

6. Coates' student movement, Fusion, espouses Pelagianism and Celtic spirituality which denies the sufficiency of Scripture, original sin (and therefore the atonement) and the Reformation.

7. Roger Forster believes that a time is coming in which the world will be 'restored' to Christian leadership in which "the structures of the satanic strongholds will be refurbished with a whole new personnel. I believe with all my heart that the rediscovery of territorial spirits is part of God's desire and design to get his people into the full knowledge of the sons of God so we can grow in stature geographically and territorially as well as powerfully that this will enable us to fulfil the world mission of the church" (Introduction to Territorial Spirits).

This is basically a watered-down rehash of the Manifested Sons of God/ Latter Rain/ Restorationist/ Dominion/ Kingdom theology of William Branham and Earl Paulk, blended in with the 'Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare' ground-claiming, spirit-binding theology of Peter Wagner (of Fuller Theological Seminary). It boils down to believing that by physically walking over ground one can change the 'spiritual atmosphere' of a place. This is the philosophy of Operation A-Z, an organisation linked with GMFJ and run by Forster's son, Chris, where the plan is to 'cover' every street in Britain, vanquishing evil spirits through declaring the name of Jesus in the localities. There is an excellent book just published by OMF/Mentor called "Territorial Spirits and World Evangelisation?" by Chuck Lowe
which explains just exactly how unbiblical this view is, and what a substitute for real evangelism and prayer it is. Dominion Theology is also a major denial of the deity of Christ, as it argues that the church is the 'ongoing incarnation of God' needed by God to sort out the planet in time for Jesus' return (somewhere around 2000??).

8. Lynn Green, YWAM, Peter Wagner and AD2000 have been conducting various 'Reconciliation Walks' around the Middle East. These involve 'identificational repentance' in order to purge the corporate sin of Christians during the Crusades. Lynn Green says, "It is my hope and prayer that this proposed project will result in substantial reconciliation between the major monotheistic faiths". Unfortunately, this is entirely in keeping with the Pope's current 'Reconciliation and Repentance' drive. Essentially it is a syncretistic move designed to try and corral Muslims and Jews into the church of Rome. A year 2000 'monotheistic faiths celebration' is planned, to be celebrated in Jerusalem led by, you guessed it, John Paul II. Green is all for this, and Coates said to me personally that he was "quite happy to see a worldwide revival led by the Pope" as long as it was like Toronto and Pensacola in flavour.

9. March for Jesus is an ecumenical venture that seeks to break down 'denominational divisions'. Unfortunately, this means breaking down the wall between true Christian teaching and apostate Catholic dogma. GMFJ is a powerful force in England and Ireland, where "Protestants and Catholics...will join together and declare that they are 'One in Christ' with Global March for Jesus on 30 May."

Bill Roy, the organiser for MFJ Belfast, stressed the importance of prayers [for healing and reconciliation]: 'I welcome any opportunity to pray together and consider some issues of repentance. March for Jesus is all about taking the walls off the Church and getting Christians mobilised together. My vision is for 7,000 Christians from Catholic and Protestant traditions to be on the streets of Belfast, praying together for breakthrough. Prayer is needed here more than ever and I want to include more of my Catholic brothers and sisters in this" (New Christian Herald, 16 May 1998).

The terrible tragedy of this is that the reconciliation and repentance talked of are not with GOD (2 Corinthians 5:18) but with people of other faiths. The situation in Northern Ireland has become so desperate that people have reached the point that they would rather jettison their faith in Christ alone, grace alone, the Scriptures alone than to be at odds with their neighbour. Says Presbyterian minister Ken Newell, "Paisley is on the wane. People have had 400 years of negativity- they are nauseated by negativity. He belongs to the past. We say, 'You can't be right with God and wrong with your neighbour." Sadly, the Roman Catholic propaganda machine is so effective that it has brought professing evangelicals to the point where they think that all that the Reformation did was bring 'negativity' and 'division' away from the one true big friendly Mother Church. It seems that hatred of evil and error and love of God and of His truth are the biggest crimes of all today.
2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

Given all these insurmountable concerns, and the enormous weight of evidence which points to there being an apostate agenda behind GMFJ, what was Brother Andrew's reply? I'm most grateful for the fullness of the response.

In view of the serious implications of the ecumenical drift and in the interests of openness, we have decided to publish Brother Andrew's response in full, notwithstanding our continuing respect for him as a person and for the work he has done,

We leave you to decide the truth of this issue. Please pray and search the Scriptures to find if these things are so, and if so- avoid GMFJ and warn others.

BROTHER ANDREW'S REPLY

Your long and concerned letter, for which I am grateful, gave me as a first reaction "I could have written all this, if I had a negative ministry." You see, I so much agree with almost everything that was written in your letter. I share your concerns and I have been teaching on those subjects. I have often expressed my concerns that the spiritual warfare theology or vision or concept, may be or is a true one, but that it cannot be handled by uninformed, immature and especially young Christians. It is too dangerous to play with!

Furthermore I myself have never taken part in any demonstration. That does not mean I am against it, but I do not see it as true spiritual warfare. There is so much entertainment in it, or misguided direction from people in leadership, who themselves probably do not know what they are saying or doing. We are in such a mess as a Body of Christ, and I am sometimes very pessimistic and very sad about the way things are going and then especially when all the excesses go under the name of Revival or Deeper Spiritual Life. Therefore, so far I agree with almost everything you wrote.

Yet, I would never say this, because our ministry as Open Doors, and therefore mine personally, is to the Suffering Church. The Suffering Church under materialistic, capitalistic or other pressure that saps away the life of the true Christians and does not exalt Jesus and endangers the future life of the church, which means the Body of Christ. To find wrongs in every form of theology or even denomination or even expressed evangelicalism and Christianity in different cultures is not hard at all, but it is not my task to expose that.

It is my task to help where there is still life, and to bring them closer to God and to provide them with Scriptures and consequently as much teaching as I can give them. But then, again, I am not a theologian.

Personally I have never been to Toronto, except to visit the Open Doors base and last Sunday night I preached in the People's Church there. I believe that our calling of Jesus is not another form of triumphalism, but accepting the cross and it is my firm belief that the life of the church on earth, will end as the physical life of Jesus did, on a cross, in utter shame, seeming defeat, in pain, blood and tears. However, I do not ask you to agree with me. Let's be led by the Spirit.

Open Doors has not, and does not intend, to form any kind of structural relationship with March for Jesus. We are cooperating in providing urgent prayer material on the Suffering Church for the prayer assemblies on 30 May and that is all. This is not a "merger"; we focus our vision on highlighting to all the needs of the suffering Body of Christ in our world today. Providing prayer information for a particular event does not translate into a unquestioning endorsement of some of the doctrinal stances.

Once again, thanks for sharing your concern. I really appreciate hearing from you. Keep praying for us and for those we are called to serve.

PS Open Doors as an organisation does not have a standpoint on doctrinal issues, however, we all adhere to the Apostolic Creed. We are interdenominational, our individual members belong to different churches and may have very different opinions on certain issues.

The above article was written by Neil Richardson a VANGUARD writer.

Appeared in Volume 4.2 June/July/August 1998