A clear and present threat to Singapore's society.
This is an in-depth article on the Joel's Army (aka Elijah's Army) in Singapore.
The AWARE steeplejackers and their deep connections to Joel's Army and American dominionists
Put very succinctly: These groups feel they have a literal mandate from God to take over the world--including governments and all institutions of society--by any means necessary. The reasons do vary--the groups descended from pentecostal and "charismatic" (more properly termed "neopentecostal") denominations and parachurches tend to couch it in terms of countries or nations being at risk of "losing God's blessing". Some groups go further than this--seeing themselves literally as proxies of God's will.
A third lineage--increasingly associated with Singapore's "religious right"--is that of a "postdenominational" movement linked to C. Peter Wagner and his International Coalition of Apostles. These folks are among the most hardcore of the "Joel's Army" folks; Wagner and fellow NAR promoter Rick Joyner coined the phrase "Joel's Army" (and abandoned it when mainstream and conservative evangelical Christian groups in the US picked up on the phrase and started warning folks about the NAR groups), attempt to convert churches from within even more aggressively than the Assemblies-linked groups and parachurch orgs, and outright see themselves as proxies for the will of God.
Based on a list of megachurches in Singapore that was forwarded via a sympathetic contact, I was able to do some evaluations of these groups--and found (to my horror) that literally every megachurch in Singapore is connected to NAR groups. This is, of course, discounting the "LOVE Singapore" org, which in and of itself is linked to NAR promoter and Wagner "apostle" Ed Silvoso.
Among the Singapore churches identified by the article are:
Church of Singapore
Covenant Evangelical Free Church
Victory Family Centre
Lighthouse Evangelism
City Harvest Church
New Creation Church
Faith Community Baptist Church
(founded in 1986 and not really Baptist in any sense of the word; its actual affiliation is small NAR denomination called G12 that is part of Wagner's network of "postdenominational" churches and whose pastor is listed as a member of Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles)
Trinity Christian Center
Jesus Lives Church
(founded 1986 and whose pastor is in the ICA directory--and who explicitly invokes NAR theology about Singapore being some sort of "spiritual gate" that must be secured, hence the probable reason for the country's targeting)
Many Others
(Reportedly no less than 40 churches in Singapore participated in the "Transformation 2009" conference.)
Makes me wonder why is the PAP Government not doing anything to curb the rise of Christian Dominionism in Singapore. It's going to be a time bomb if allowed to fester any longer.
This is an in-depth article on the Joel's Army (aka Elijah's Army) in Singapore.
The AWARE steeplejackers and their deep connections to Joel's Army and American dominionists
Put very succinctly: These groups feel they have a literal mandate from God to take over the world--including governments and all institutions of society--by any means necessary. The reasons do vary--the groups descended from pentecostal and "charismatic" (more properly termed "neopentecostal") denominations and parachurches tend to couch it in terms of countries or nations being at risk of "losing God's blessing". Some groups go further than this--seeing themselves literally as proxies of God's will.
A third lineage--increasingly associated with Singapore's "religious right"--is that of a "postdenominational" movement linked to C. Peter Wagner and his International Coalition of Apostles. These folks are among the most hardcore of the "Joel's Army" folks; Wagner and fellow NAR promoter Rick Joyner coined the phrase "Joel's Army" (and abandoned it when mainstream and conservative evangelical Christian groups in the US picked up on the phrase and started warning folks about the NAR groups), attempt to convert churches from within even more aggressively than the Assemblies-linked groups and parachurch orgs, and outright see themselves as proxies for the will of God.
Based on a list of megachurches in Singapore that was forwarded via a sympathetic contact, I was able to do some evaluations of these groups--and found (to my horror) that literally every megachurch in Singapore is connected to NAR groups. This is, of course, discounting the "LOVE Singapore" org, which in and of itself is linked to NAR promoter and Wagner "apostle" Ed Silvoso.
Among the Singapore churches identified by the article are:
Church of Singapore
Covenant Evangelical Free Church
Victory Family Centre
Lighthouse Evangelism
City Harvest Church
New Creation Church
Faith Community Baptist Church
(founded in 1986 and not really Baptist in any sense of the word; its actual affiliation is small NAR denomination called G12 that is part of Wagner's network of "postdenominational" churches and whose pastor is listed as a member of Wagner's International Coalition of Apostles)
Trinity Christian Center
Jesus Lives Church
(founded 1986 and whose pastor is in the ICA directory--and who explicitly invokes NAR theology about Singapore being some sort of "spiritual gate" that must be secured, hence the probable reason for the country's targeting)
Many Others
(Reportedly no less than 40 churches in Singapore participated in the "Transformation 2009" conference.)
Makes me wonder why is the PAP Government not doing anything to curb the rise of Christian Dominionism in Singapore. It's going to be a time bomb if allowed to fester any longer.