A self declared prophet of the NAR reveals the blueprint for how we get to the Revelation one-world church.

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And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly--not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor. -- 1Peter 5: 1-4 (NLT)

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/79056-7-sad-signs-of-a-dead-end-church

John Burton is a NAR dominionist who focuses on the false apostolic authority paradigm as well as chasing faux revival. The false apostolic authority paradigm was actually one of the founding tenets of the NAR way back in the 1990s by C Peter Wagner. It has grown and spread like cancer in the body of Christ over the past few decades and now people like Burton are not even shy about preaching that he should be in charge because of course, he is an apostle. A recent article revealed the true next steps in this agenda and that is the takeover of the pastoral position in the church by such false apostles. They would no longer act as shepherds but would rather beat the sheep into submission to the new vision of never-ending purpose driven growth. Of course it is always presented as doing all they can for Jesus, wink wink. It is important to note there that these plans of seven mountains domination are part of the devil's scheme to bring the church into the one world religion prophesied about in Revelation. John Burton may not be conscious of these schemes but his motivation is irrelevant. Most like him are only seeking to consolidate power and prestige while others just do it for the money. They want to sit at the places of honor at the table as Jesus spoke about. They chase this false sense of revival. That America has somehow backslidden out of covenant with God and if the church can ever convince the unsaved goats in the world to behave better, then maybe God will spare America His judgment. Spoiler alert! He will not. Keep these themes in mind as we reason through the above linked article from Burton that outlines signs of what he calls dead-end churches, cul de sac churches and kingdom churches. He starts with seven signs of a dead-end church.

"1. The pastor/leader doesn't connect and regularly collaborate with other churches and ministries in the region. Their energies are given almost entirely to their local church, misunderstanding the importance of their local expression of the city church. They don't realize that the church in Scripture has a regional designation attached to it. The church defined is the regional body of believers who function under regional apostolic authority. Within that context, there are smaller, local churches that are never to be self-identified, but rather are to strategically connect and often yield to the regional expression. This is why it was so important for me to give leadership to two prayer movements, one in Colorado Springs and one in Detroit. We would visit a new church every Friday night and pray in the Spirit from 10 p.m. until midnight. We visited over 100 churches in Colorado and over 70 in Detroit. That regional connection was invaluable." -- John Burton

A pastor concentrating on the flock God has entrusted to him? Perish the thought! Seriously, right off the bat we see the warped mindset of the false apostolic authority paradigm which seeks to supplant pastors. A pastor should be focused on their church. While collaboration is nice, it does not need to be exalted above tending to your own sheep. Burton simply makes up the NAR talking points here about the church being defined as a regional body of believers functioning under regional apostolic authority. Nowhere does the bible suggest that there needs to be churches that are really not churches but instead serve regional expression. The entire idea is debunked by reading the Pauline letters. Paul goes into excruciating detail about the form and function of the church and NOWHERE is this garbage talked about.

"2. The pastor doesn't encourage people in his church to connect with other churches and ministries on a regular basis. When I was leading churches I realized the immense value of other churches and ministries in our area. I'd let my folks know that they should definitely consider becoming faithful to other churches throughout the week, as we were but a single department of the city church. Other departments, other local churches, were important in the grand scheme and they would benefit from joining with them. In Detroit, I canceled most everything in my church for a month as I led the people out of our church and into another about 45 minutes away that was experiencing a powerful move of God. We were there every single night for 28 days (I actually missed one night, reluctantly). My passion was not the growth of my local church, but rather, in fanning the flames of revival in my city." -- John Burton

While I applaud not being focused on the purpose driven church growth obsession; replacing it with an equally unbiblical pursuit is not the answer. Pastors need to be concerned with what they endorse and lead people to. I would venture that 80% of the American church is already apostate and many would say that is being optimistic. I take no issue with a church finding another church that preaches the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ and collaborating with them but that is not what Burton is preaching here. He wants to expand his footprint as an "apostolic" leader. As the end times deepen the remnant will get thinner, not thicker. There is also this sick sense of what a move of God is. Charismania still believes the Toronto and Brownsville demonic outpourings were great moves of God. Some will still stand by the original Todd Bentley, kick you in the face, revival. I have watched local pastors be so envious of bigger churches that were far sicker than theirs. It is the mega church mentality we must overcome.

"3. The pastor has a competitive spirit. We need to kill that nasty spirit once and for all. I propose one way to do that is to invite other pastors and leaders to recruit anybody from our church that they would like. I'd let other leaders in the city know they could freely connect with my best leaders, my worship team, my staff and anybody in the church, and see if they might be interested in leaving us to serve with them. That eliminates competition and any threats of sheep stealing. They can't steal what I don't own and what I freely make available to them." -- John Burton

Yeah, that's a horribly unbiblical idea. What is this? The new swinger's theology? Read the key verses carefully. Care for the flock entrusted to you. What part of that does John Burton not get? Care for the flock! Burton thinks that giving all pastors access to steal his sheep will eliminate the competitive spirit? You see he does not really care because in his grand vision, he is the apostle over all the regional churches so who cares where the sheep are? Once again however -- the Lord entrusted to the pastor a flock of sheep. Burton got this uncaring view of the sheep from the Rick Warren Purpose Driven Church concept of blessed subtraction.

"4. The church has contagious and aggressive vision for local church growth, yet they rarely talk about regional revival. They emphasize the goals, the strategies and the determination to grow their church, to develop their ministries, to increase in number, to outgrow their building, to attract visitors or to focus on what benefits them on a local level." -- John Burton

Well, I would agree that focusing on the purpose driven growth strategies are not good it is worse to expand that heresy to the entire region. Burton's vision is so dark. What he is describing is the end result of 20 years of purpose driven teaching. Churches are singularly focused on carnal growth, outgrowing their buildings, attracting more and more goats and increasing their overall numbers. Burton however does not seek to correct this but to cash in on it. As the Grand Apostle-Guy over the region, Burton stands to benefit from churches focusing on the same sense of faux-revival and sheep-swapping.

"5. If they have a prayer emphasis at all, it's almost entirely directed toward their own local endeavors. They pray for all of the stuff I mentioned in the point above while having little zeal for an outpouring in the city. They don't understand that the revival may not even launch in their own local church, so they focus on a move of God happening in their own body while forsaking the call to intercede for regional transformation. Instead of groaning and crying out for God to move in their city, for wickedness to be exposed, for other churches to come alive, for an earth-shaking outpouring, they are praying for internal ministries, for their own tent pegs to expand and for local increase." -- John Burton

The only one making the call for regional intercession are heretics like John Burton. Once again he is chasing a myth. The bible does not say there will be a great end times revival but rather a great end times apostasy, which John Burton is complicit with. His talking points here are all straight up NAR. God moves in the lives of people, not in some vague notion of a city or region. The wickedness that needs exposure is in the hearts of those in church, not the unsaved. The unsaved have their wickedness exposed when they are drawn by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. His bad-mouthing of local growth reveals much within the wickedness of his own heart. That you would have such disdain for individual souls saved at the local level and instead prefer the grotesque false salvations of mega-churchdom is quite revealing of who John Burton is.

"6. Money isn't sowed into their region. They use finances internally to grow their own local church. While they may have earmarked funds for missions and benevolence, the idea of sowing into regional revival is foreign to them. Further, when dead-end churches do give to outside ministries, it's almost always churches within their own denomination." -- John Burton

Oops, your ecumenicalism is showing sir. Did you catch it? Obviously money is always a big deal within a false authority paradigm because it has to flow from the bottom up to the leadership. This is the traditional pyramid scam. So to John Burton, your church is a dead end church if it does not give its money away to this bogus "region" that of course is led by apostolic authority. Even worse however, you are vilified and mocked if you do not give your money to other denominations! Think hard why this is important to the NAR dominionist and to Satan. As long as churches adhere to denominational politics then it frustrates the efforts to grow the one world church. The "region" Burton truly visualizes but will not talk about is the entire world, where there are no denominational demarcations. Where doctrine is sacrificed on the altar of unity. Now the reality to God is that a church that preaches the Gospel and protects the sheep from false doctrines is the vehicle for actual kingdom growth. The kingdom the NAR seeks to build is on this earth.

"7. They rarely if ever bring in guest speakers who are leaders in other local churches in their region. They want to control the narrative and they don't want people to be influenced by a more dynamic speaker or someone who might connect better with people in their church. They fear losing those people. They fear their nice, tidy, local family being disrupted. They also fear another leader behind their pulpit who carries a more potent vision for the region than they do. With all humility I can say that as a visiting guest minister in regions I've never previously been to, I've often had more vision for that city than the pastor of the church. It's crazy. I've also boldly coached pastors not to undo what God is about to do in the meetings. When God calls me to speak in a church, a lot will be confronted and exposed and a firestorm of God's loving reformation will be in the room. Pastors, have the guts to embrace someone who won't simply affirm what has been built, but will call the people higher." -- John Burton

Bwahahaha. So in all humility you can say as a guest speaker you had more vision than your host? Then you have no humility sir. That has been clear this entire time; once you granted yourself the title of Apostle. Let's get some other things clear. There is only ONE narrative in the church and it does not belong to you. There is only one vision in the church and it does not belong to you. They belong to Christ because it is His church. He is the region. He is the locality. He does not need your Ren and Stimpy routine for global domination. The object is not for you to connect with the people but for you to connect them to Jesus. Paul spoke about how dynamic preaching empties the cross of Christ of its power. People do not need to be called higher like the Tower of Babel. They need to be called by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. Beloved beware. This NAR blueprint is occurring all through this country and will be the vehicle for the one world religion. Those who oppose will be branded as legalistic Pharisees and those pastors who oppose will have their churches and work marginalized as "dead end." Make no mistake. What John Burton is proposing and claiming is pure evil. Now Burton moves into four hallmarks of what he refers to as a Cul-de-sac Church. In part one of this article, Burton defined a cul de sac church as also being dead end but focused on a misguided vision of family, togetherness, and relationships. No beloved, I am not kidding. He went on to say:

"I am more convinced than I've ever been that "family style" churches need to give way to true, apostolic, Spirit-filled movements made up of warriors who are contending for fire. The church is a military, not a vehicle for friend-building. The call is to surrender all, to die to self, to cry out for God to move and to advance with a fervency that will cause the enemy to shudder. It's in the foxhole of kingdom war where true friendships are forged. Simple social gatherings won't cut it. We are under attack and we need warriors to assault the kingdom of darkness with ferocity. This, friend, is the church." -- John Burton

This is how sick and twisted the NAR dominionist mind is. Even churches that focus on family and togetherness, you know -- like the bible says -- must bow down to his apostolic authority. I want to say this as clearly as a I can because some may be shocked. The church is NOT a military. We are NOT called to assault the kingdom of darkness anywhere in scripture. The bible teaches us to resist the enemy. The fellowship described in Acts Two was not merely a "social gathering." This carnal war mongering mindset comes from the enemy and not God. the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Dying to self is in regard to our war against sin. Let's see now what he thinks are four marks of a cul de sac church.

"1. It's all about family. As I said above, I believe the family-style church is a threat. Many of these types of churches could fit into the "seeker sensitive" category of churches. Many others emphasize the grace and love message in excess and, while there may be praying in tongues and dancing in the aisles, it all comes back to relationships. The thoughts of a vertical experience where people lock in with God and contend for Him to move is something they would struggle with if it interferes with their desire for horizontal connections. It can be both vertical and horizontal, but in a cul-de-sac church, preference is given to personal, human relationships instead of aggressively advancing in the Spirit." -- John Burton

The family style church is a threat. Let that sink in for a moment. Marinate in the utter demonic stupidity of that statement. In the fictional world of John Burton, families are a threat to the church and the spirit cannot aggressively advance amidst loving Christian relationships. Wow. Realize that he is not speaking about a threat to the cause of Christ but rather the cause of Burton. Families that attend good bible based, gospel-preaching churches are generally more aware biblically when they hear such a train wreck as John Burton tries to sell here. They are more discerning and can see through the NAR dominionist haze to see the only true beneficiaries of Burton's family-less, regional mess is the self-appointed apostles who would sit in authority over it.

"2. Their definition of revival is off. They see a growing number of people who are enjoying God and one another as the prime goal. While nobody can argue that growing in intimacy with God and that developing kingdom relationships is wrong, it's the focus and the priorities that send cul-de-sac churches into the wrong direction. Instead of a supernatural war they value a growing, happy family of people who are enjoying God together. They would call that revival, and it's a far cry from it. They misunderstand the severity of the battle and don't regularly engage at the required level." -- John Burton

What absolute garbage. Revival has nothing to do with Burton's imaginary spiritual war. It simply means an increase in salvations due to a renewed interest in religion or the church. Can it cover a territory? Sure but that is no more important to God than if it happens in a singular church. Valuing a happy and more importantly -- GROWING family of believers is God's definition of and plan for the church. Sheep are not foot soldiers. They are not an army. Burton's war-like visions are not revival beloved. It is simply seven mountains, NAR, Dominionist heresy.

"3. Positivity rules. They are adverse to anything that would be a downer to their block party in the cul-de-sac. They want their people encouraged, happy, stress-free and at ease. Topics such as hell, sin , eternity, repentance, correction, expectations or anything negative are avoided like the plague. They refuse to speak to the national cultural crisis; politics; the end times; wickedness such as abortion and homosexuality; or any other issue that would be divisive, challenging or confrontational. Just as people advise others to avoid the topics of religion and politics around the Thanksgiving table for the sake of civility and keeping the peace, cul-de-sac churches avoid anything that would cause any measure of disturbance." -- John Burton

Let's be clear. If Burton is talking about a church that does not preach the Gospel, then I am on board with saying they need to go but that does not validate his unbiblical vision either. Sin and repentance are central to Gospel preaching. The rest of his complaint here is again directly traceable back to the seven-mountain heresy. The church is NOT supposed to be involved politically. There is no political party, platform or politician that cares one iota for the cause of Jesus Christ. Preaching politics is just another missed opportunity to preach the Gospel. The church has a role and it is not to alter society but rather to see people saved out from it. We are supposed to be pilgrims and sojourners not dual citizens. I get why people like John Burton want to pretend otherwise. In this world he gets to play the role of Apostle and be in charge of regions. In the real kingdom he would just be a slave to Christ and a servant. Bummer.

"4. Connecting with other churches is a no-go. Especially those that are aggressive in the pursuit of revival, holiness and a supernatural manifestation of God. They are happy within the four walls of their family gathering and they don't want any outside influences threatening that." -- John Burton

Hmm, methinks thou dost protest too much. Again if he were merely speaking about silo churches that do not preach the Gospel I would agree although the answer is not his regional authority vision of global domination. Individual churches however have a much better chance of preaching holiness than a mega church. As previously stated, pursuing revival is not the function of the church. We also do not need to pursue supernatural manifestations. Those things are up to God and accompany the proper preaching of His word. Now that Burton has vilified the vast majority of churches today, he moves into describing his hellish vision for what he calls a "kingdom church."

"Marks of a Kingdom Church. Instead of a list of attributes of a kingdom church, I'll draw this article to a close. I believe it's easy to deduce just what makes up a kingdom church by reviewing the opposing views above. The bottom line is that we absolutely must see a massive correction come to what we know as the church today. Regional and national revival is greatly hindered by a lack of true, kingdom churches that are in existence not for themselves, but rather for the advance of, well, the kingdom. Pastors, let your vision die. Let your church die. It's OK. Let the stress of growing your own little spiritual experiment in a tiny little Petri dish fade away. Even more importantly, get on board with what God has planned in your city. Let your personal endeavors go, as great as they seem to be, and contend with others in your region for an outpouring. Just gather together somewhere, anywhere, with governmental, kingdom leaders and other revival-minded people. Press into God's heart and intercede and advance exactly as God reveals to you as a part of the regional, governmental body. That's church. That's a kingdom church. That church will turn the world upside down." -- John Burton

What evil from the bowels of hell. Let your church die? No pastors it is not ok. If you are preaching the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ do not let that vision die! It is not the heart of God to let local churches die in favor of false apostolic authority. The 12 apostles turned the world upside down but I do not recall any ridiculousness such as this. They did not strive for regional authority. The preached the Gospel and encouraged church family fellowship. Do not fall for this nonsense beloved. Read Acts Chapter Two. The role of the pastor is to preach the Gospel. The role of the church is to grow into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. Mercifully, this concludes:

"Grace in the Shift. In closing (for real, this time), I want to encourage you not to get jaded. Don't point fingers at churches or pastors. Understand that they have a mega-burden, and even if they aren't advancing the way reform demands, pray for them. There must be love and grace in the process and in the ultimate shift. Also, understand God is diverse and there are many different types of people giving leadership, and they have varying levels of ability, experience, gifts, offices, prophetic revelation and understanding of the purpose of the church. In fact, many will disagree with this article. That's OK. This doesn't mean we can't contend for transformation in the local church, but it does mean we must have grace in the process." -- John Burton

Yeah, no. I have no grace for wolves seeking to devour my brothers and sister. You must understand beloved. I do not speak to the sincerity of John Burton because I do not know him. His sincerity is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is to evaluate is his doctrine. After spending six pages mocking and belittling any church that will not come under his authority as being dead end or cul de sac, he tries to smooth it over by calling for unity and prayer anyway? No thank you. Read back through his words for I did not edit one of them. Do you see Jesus mentioned at all? What about the Gospel? This is a purely carnal man, with a carnal vision, casting carnal aspersions in pursuit of his carnal apostolic fiefdom. Make no mistake though. This is the future of the NAR and their blueprint for how we advance into a one-world religion. First get rid of the localities that might preach the truth. Soon they will call for the end to regions and it will shift to a more territorial model. Burton won't care because he will remain a false apostle with the authority he desires. From local to regional to territorial to finally a country based and unified world. Everyone then will get along but no one will get saved. That is the end game for the enemy and John Burton, consciously or not, is paving the way. We need to make sure to get off that path.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- December 6, 2019

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.