Whom Do We Listen To? Part 20

Whom Do We Listen To? Part 20
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Apostasy / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

Do we listen to Scripture? Do we follow Scripture or ignore it? Do we adhere to its clear meaning, do we place ourselves underneath Scripture and let it inform us? Or, do we take it and mold it according to our desired interpretations and beliefs?

It is crucial that we take Scripture at face value, in context, and let it inform us. God often uses it to tell us things we’d rather not hear or need to deal with. Through it, we often become aware of our need to change and can then take active steps to live differently.

Hebrews 4:12 (NAU): “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

As it says elsewhere in Hebrews, being disciplined is not fun, but painful. Yet through it, we grow and mature. As we submit ourselves to Scripture, the Holy Spirit works through it to change us, to make us, as believers, more like Jesus Christ.

In contrast, as we’ve seen, the NAR tends to bend Scripture to fit their own agenda and interpretations. One more example, from C. Peter Wagner’s book, “The Great Transfer of Wealth” (pages 88–89 in the edition that I have):

In Revelation chapter two, in the letter to Smyrna, Wagner says that Smyrna is guilty of being under a spirit of parsimony, of living in poverty when they were financially wealthy. How does he know that? Wagner is certain because regarding Smyrna, God says, Revelation 2:9a (NAU), “I know your tribulation and poverty (but you are rich).”

Does that make biblical sense in the context of the suffering, tribulation, and death the church at Smyrna is about to endure? No! Biblically, we also find Smyrna is one of only two of the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three that God has nothing against. The other is the church at Philadelphia, a church that has “a little power” (Revelation 3:8), not the level of wealth, authority, or influence the NAR typically prophesies.

Do we find any of this in Scripture? No. Wagner’s opinion stands in direct contradiction to Scripture. I keep thinking about the church in Nigeria, a contemporary biblical “Smyrna” in every sense of the word. That church is under severe persecution, where Muslim “extremists” are slaughtering Christians on an ongoing basis. How does Wagner’s take fit with that situation? It doesn’t!

Worse, based on a couple isolated Scripture verses, Wagner declares he is an open theist. Thus, NAR beliefs and practices are based on open theism, that God doesn’t know everything that will happen. That is central to their belief of why the timing of Christ’s return is based on the obedience and actions of the church, rather than on a time set by the Father.

Wagner even goes so far as to state that Jesus’s coming to earth to die for our sins was God’s “plan B.” God’s initial plan was for Adam to choose obedience rather than choosing to sin (C. Peter Wagner, “Dominion,” Shippensburg: Destiny Image Publishers, 2022, page 82). God didn’t know if Adam would obey or not, and when Adam chose to sin, God had to come up with a new plan. The key aspect of Jesus’s death on the cross wasn’t for our salvation, though that is important, but to restore man’s dominion over the earth. Such a view—that Jesus is God’s “plan B”—is nowhere to be found in Scripture, and if anything, diminishes what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Sometimes, the ways in which Scripture is twisted can be quite subtle. In the next post, we will look at one more example of the way the NAR twists Scripture.

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