The Emergence of the Third Wave

Religious Dispatches, an on-line source, recently posted two stories about a major new movement in Christianity - termed the "Third Wave" or the "New Apostolic Reformation" - that is receiving little, if any, attention except for religious scholars. This movement is associated with folks like: C. Peter Wagner, Thomas Muthee, Ted Haggard, and Sarah Palin. Of these four, you have probably heard of the last two, though Wagner and Muthee are actually more important in the development and spread of the movement.

In an article entitled, "Fighting Demons, Raising the Dead, Taking Over the World" by Bruce Wilson, which can be found at: http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1273/, Wilson writes,
Erupting within postdenominationalism starting in the 1980s, Third Wave Christianity claimed, by 2000, some 295 million adherents. World Christian Trends calls the Third Wave a “new and disturbingly different kind of Christian renewal.” One very distinctive characteristic of Third Wave Christianity is its emphasis that average Christians can perform the same magnitude of healing miracles described in the New Testament to have been performed by Jesus Christ—including raising the dead.

Another article from RD interviews Bruce Wilson who is one of the more knowledgeable people on this movement. That article is entitled, "The New Christianity: What the Mainstream Media Has Missed" and is written by Bill Berkowitz. It can be found at:
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1275/. Wilson is quoted as saying:
Charismatic manifestations as extreme as raising the dead aren’t what is problematic about Palin’s religious tendencies; Third Wave and NAR theology is militantly anti-pluralistic and anti-democratic, the quintessence of Christian religious supremacy.
In fact, Third Wave and NAR proponents advocate utilizing almost any means to guarantee a theocratic government, read 'Christian run' government, for the United States. In many ways, TW and NAR are akin to the dominionist movements calling for the imposition of Biblical law - remember the stonings and such - for the United States.

Let me encourage you to go to Wilson's website Talk2Action and read about this.