We don’t wish to make extreme statements regarding where the New Apostolic Reformation and its ‘mother’, the New Order of the Latter Rain get their theology from. However, time and again these global cults make the link themselves. The concept being that of Joel’s Army, ‘taking over the world’, raising up youth for ‘the cause’, ‘rallying’ the church as a ‘movement’ to ‘make the kingdoms of this world ‘the kingdom of God’, establishing God’s Kingdom through a ‘purified race of New Breeds’, unlocking heaven’s prosperity. These ideologies and beliefs mirror some of the most dangerous minds of the last century.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer exposing the dangerous tactics of visionary leaders.
Unfortunately Ben Fitzgerald appears to have no problem linking Hitler and his Hitler Youth of Nuremberg to his ‘infallible apostolic visionary leadership’ to these same youth at Nuremberg.
Furthermore, in the NAR, Todd White is heralded as a god, a New Breed. Bethel and Fitzgerald also hold to this belief and dooms-day eschatology, believing they are part of the end-times Joel’s Army made up of uberman/newbreeds/gods to take all of Europe. This is eerily similar to Hitler’s Uberman = Visionary Leaders’ ‘Godman/New Breed’
Bethel, Todd White and Ben Fitzgerald sincerely believe they have divine natures or ‘Gods DNA’. This is why we see Fitzgerald expecting that “every Christian would manifest Christ,” at his event, with “real people meeting the real Jesus… having a face to face, personal encounter with God.” This corporate manifestation of Christ’s Church as Jesus Christ Himself is called the ‘One New Man’ in the NAR.
The NAR cult believes that although Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, he emptied himself of divinity and became a man filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is known as the kenotic heresy. This is why Bill Johnson says ‘Jesus is perfect theology‘. If Jesus embodies perfect theology for us to follow, then we can do the same things Jesus did – as a man. If Jesus as just a man can walk on water or walk through walls with the Spirit’s power – so can we. (Bethel actually teaches this from their pulpit).
And if it doesn’t work for us, pray until the ‘miracle’ happens? Ben Fitzgerald is guilty of this kenotic and sonship narrative, reducing Jesus Christ to just a man who is an example for us to follow in the ‘supernatural’. Ben completely ignores the fact that Jesus did all his miracles to prove He was fully God in human flesh, (a doctrine called the ‘Hypostatic Union’ ).
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14
Here we read Fitzgerald espousing the kenotic “Jesus is perfect theology” phrase in the context of us being Christ.
“If everybody lived like Jesus, if you lived like Jesus – which you can, that’s the beautiful thing, Europe’s going to be different.”
“So I encourage you, if the sickness comes back, maybe it’s time to command the spirit to leave. And pray again. And if it doesn’t work, pray again. And if it doesn’t work, pray again. But we can never build a theology around why some did or why some didn’t. Jesus is perfect theology. So we always have to go for that mark, which is pray again and pray again.”
Source: Ben Fitzgerald, David Hogan, Mattie Montgomery, Ben Fitzgerald & Daniel Hagen Q&A Empowered 2016 , YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wClIqFG4XJo, Published on Mar 29, 2017. (Accessed Oct 14, 2018.) [00:55]
In the dangerous philosophies and ideals of Nazi Germany, the manipulated church of the day was pivotal in establishing with the German ‘volk’ a prosperous ‘third kingdom/realm’ (Third Reich). The similarities of Hitler’s church (German Church) to the NAR, establishing itself as the ‘true church’ without any regard to the actual historical Christian faith or the bible is frightening – something Fitzgerald fails to see.
A godly pastor would never go there or even draw this parallel. The fact that Fitzgerald actually compares his youth-driven and army-like ideology to Hitler’s youth-driven and army-like ideology should encourage believers around the world to biblically analyze Ben Fitzgerald and his apostolic connections to one of the most dangerous cults on the planet (the NAR). People may wonder how on earth the German people allowed Hitler to exterminate Jews or anyone who opposed their vision. By simply analysing the pro-war NAR movement and their ongoing propaganda in promoting a ‘blood-thirsty war’ on those that oppose them (Part 1, Part 2), again, it is not hard to see how people are roped into holding dangerous views.
To understand this mindset requires us to study the Germany’s corrupted ideology in Hitler’s day. In similar fashion, governments and churches around the world need to consider regarding NAR doctrine not as theology per se, but as propaganda, an ideology to justify the lawless leadership of their ‘visionaries’.
Finally, it is worth pointing out that Fitzgerald claims his ‘army’ is preaching the gospel. But what is this gospel if his army is to ‘manifest Christ’? If it is the dominionist NAR ‘Gospel of Power’, then the nations of Europe are in serious trouble.
Ben Fitzgerald makes the comparison below just a few minutes into this clip:
TRANSCRIPT
2:20 – Host 1: “This is Ben Fitzgerald, how are you feeling?”
Ben Fitzgerald: “I’m feeling really excited as you can hear in the background, the crowd they’re so excited about the gospel in Europe. And that makes me excide. So when I hear people who are full of Jesus and they’re hungry to see God take back Europe, it just makes me revved up. Because that’s why we’re all here. We’re trying to keep this as innocent as possible, all about Jesus.”
Host 2: “Ben can you introduce yourself?”
Ben Fitzgerald: “Sure. I’m a son of God just like you, or a daughter of God. I’m a redeemed person man. I’m an Evangelist from Australia, but I’ve been a Pastor at Bethel Church in Redding California. And I just try and love the hell out of people everyday man. And God lets me travel around the work and preach this glorious gospel and see people get set free and get loved on. And right now, I’m just so excited to see Europe get loved on.”
Host 1: “Tell us more about this, about Awakening Europe. How did it start? Why are we here? Why have you picked this stadium over other places?”
Ben Fitzgerald: “Yeah totally. I really feel that God actually picked Germany. We didn’t really kinda have a choice in that. He put it in to my own heart. Into Todd’s own heart. We were at a field not too far from here. You can kind of throw a few rocks at it. It’s just around the corner. And we saw this vision that all these people would be gathered from all over Europe coming back, shouting out to God, ‘Will you take back Europe?’ And so when we had that vision, I went back to California, just said, ‘God. We can’t make this happen. You’re going to have to do this for us- and so this has been the process. God has showed up every time, confirmed it to us.
And we didn’t know. We thought we’d do it in the field cos we’re like, ‘Dude! We had the vision in the field. We may as well do it in that field’. We tried to get the field twice. We couldn’t get it. And then a guy prophesied over me. He walked into Bethel, prophesied over Bethel, prayed over me. Prayed over my mind and prayed over my head and said, ‘Hey! I feel like God’s going to do a stadium event with you guys’. And so we tried to get the stadium and we got it straight away. They said, ‘You can have it straight away’.
Then we find out Hitler used this stadium to commission a youth army to destroy Europe. And now Jesus Christ is going to use this same stadium exactly seventy years later after the war ended and it ended right here in Nuremberg trials, 1945. Jesus will commission an army all across Europe preaching the gospel.”
5:30 – Host 1: “Ben what would you say to Christians who are watching this who have given up. They’re like, ‘it’s really bad, Jesus is probably coming back soon… what would you say to them just to give them some hope.”
Ben Fitzgerald: “Yeah, totally. I would say that Jesus can into a time in history that wasn’t exactly good either. Jerusalem was under Roman procuration, they didn’t have anything to offer really. It was religious, you know, they weren’t following the way of the Spirit of God. But Jesus came at an opportune time, and I believe He has placed you, He’s placed us in an opportune time in history. Have great hope. See from Heavens perspective. God only see’s two types of people, those who don’t know Jesus and those who already do.
So to me and Todd, it’s not about how bad the governments are, or how bad the economy is, it’s not about that. It’s about real people meeting the real Jesus. And they’re having a face to face, personal encounter with God. And we believe that if every Christian would manifest Christ that way man, Europe will be different for sure. You think about it. If everybody lived like Jesus, if you lived like Jesus – which you can, that’s the beautiful thing, Europe’s going to be different…”
7:04 – Host 2: “What are some of the things the viewers are going to see over the next few days?”
Ben Fitzgerald: “I believe one of the biggest things you will see is this. You will see people broken with hunger from God and for God. You will see in the crowd people broken open where their lives are being set free and that first love flame that first love fire is coming back into people…. I believe many people coming into this stadium, God’s going to mark them. And even the viewers you watching at home, I feel like the Lord’s going to mark you if you would open your heart, let the floodgates open wide, the spirit of God is going to mark you. And that’s what we feel is going to happen in this stadium. Obviously, you will see many miracles if you keep watching. We’re going to release healing, God’s going to heal. There’s going to be all those amazing things that Jesus does. But most of all I feel like it’s going to be spiritually significant with a marking and a hunger to see Europe taken back for Jesus Christ.”
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Categories: Awakening Conferences, Bethel "Church"