Charismatic Revival Fury, Ep 2: Modern-Day Apostles and the Spiritual Oligarchy
Ché Ahn may be C. Peter Wagner's most dedicated student- and his most successful heir. He leads a network of 25,000 churches and an international superstar known to many simply as Pape Ché. A Korean immigrant raised in Maryland, he has operated from Pasadena, Ca for the last three decades. But he's much more than a pastor. He is an apostle. Or so he says.
The story of Ché Ahn is, in many ways, emblematic of the whole Independent Charismatic sphere and what has emerged from it in the past 40 years. If we can come to understand who Ché Ahn is – his long and deep relationship to C. Peter Wagner, his theology, how he got to that stage on January 5th, and how he was thinking about himself in that moment – we’ll be a lot closer to understanding what the “New Apostolic Reformation” is all about.
The views expressed by Matthew D. Taylor are his own and do not represent the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies.
Subscribe for $5.99 a month to get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, access to the entire 500-episode archive, Discord access, and more: https://axismundi.supercast.com/
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/StraightWhiteJC
Order Brad's book: https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-War-Extremist-Christian-Nationalism/dp/1506482163
SWAJ Apparel is here! https://straight-white-american-jesus.creator-spring.com/listing/not-today-uncle-ron
To Donate:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/BradleyOnishi
Venmo: @straightwhitejc
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Axis Mundy On the afternoon before the Capitol insurrection, January 5th, 2021, there's a pro-Trump rally in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.
This was seen as the last chance at riling and stirring up the crowd before the main event on the next morning.
You had many of the January 6th headliners speaking there that day.
Alex Jones of Infowars, disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, MyPillow CEO and conspiracy funder Mike Lindell, and political dirty trickster and schemer Roger Stone.
But most of the speakers at that rally were not name-brand right-wing activists and Trump insiders.
In fact, for the first half of the eight-hour rally, most of the speakers were pastors.
Hence the title that was sometimes advertised for the event, The Rally for Revival.
and sometimes, interspersed throughout the speakers, was a worship band leading the crowd in praise music.
One of those pastors to speak
that day was named Cha-An, a Korean-American pastor from Pasadena, California.
Wow what an incredible day this is a historic day and how many know this is the most important week in America's history.
It's the most consequential week and I believe that this week we're going to throw Jezebel out and Jehu's going to rise up and we're going to rule and reign through President Trump and under the Lordship of Jesus Christ Because I'm telling you the consequences are severe if Biden and Harris become president.
And so we are here to change history.
I believe we're going to shift this nation, this election that's been stolen from Donald Trump and from the United States of America.
This is why it's so important that we gather tomorrow and pray and show up and just take a stand to show the world that this is the most egregious fraud that's happened and scandalous that's happened in U.S.
history and we are saying we're not going to take it.
We're going to take a stand until justice prevails because the foundation of God's throne is justice and righteousness and we're going to say yes to justice this week and we're going to see President Trump Be our president for the next four years?
In perpetuity, we're going to be, I believe, a red nation.
Can I hear an amen on that?
In perpetuity.
So I want us to pray.
I believe one would put a thousand to fly to ten thousand.
I believe that he's given us the keys of the kingdom, Matthew 16, 19.
Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
Whatever we loose on earth will be loose in heaven.
Would you join me in binding the spirit of Jezebel off of this election?
We're talking about Jezebel, you know.
Welcome to Charismatic Revival Fury, the New Apostolic Reformation, a special series by Straight White American Jesus, created and written by Dr. Matthew Taylor and produced by me, Bradley Onishi.
energy.
Our sound engineer is Scott Okamoto.
If you enjoy the series, please think about giving us a review on Apple Podcast, hitting subscribe in your podcast player, and checking out all that we do at Straight White American Jesus on our website and on our Patreon.
Thanks for being here.
Here's the show.
But I want to remind you that the New Apostolic Reformation is the most radical change in the way of doing church since the Protestant Reformation.
That's what we're springing off into the 21st century.
And see who's going to rise up and we're going to rule and reign through President Trump and under the worship of Jesus Christ.
Riots and revival actually erupt together.
Why shouldn't we be the ones leading the way in all spheres of society?
There's this illusion of revival coming.
There's a rushing mighty wind on steroids.
I said many years ago that we would even come to a place of civil war if this continues.
Music.
Music.
you Before we go any further, Matt, I think we need to stop and say that we hear a lot these days about white Christian nationalism, but Cheon is obviously not white.
Would you call him a white Christian nationalist in some way, or is he something else?
No, he truly is not.
Cheon is actually a Korean-American immigrant, the pastor of a multi-ethnic, independent charismatic congregation in Pasadena.
He's very proud of his Korean heritage and even brings up his immigration experience in his January 5th speech.
The independent charismatic movement on the whole, and the New Apostolic Reformation segment of it in particular, is actually pretty darn multi-ethnic and international, especially when you compare it to broader American evangelicalism.
In fact, if you look at Trump's evangelical advisory board and the evangelical leaders who really had an inside track with the Trump administration and the two Trump campaigns, 2016 and 2020, the evangelicals of color are mostly coming out of these apostolic and prophetic networks.
Guillermo Maldonado, an apostle from Miami.
Romero Pena, an apostolic pastor from Waco, Texas.
Bishop Harry Jackson, an African-American pastor-prophet from Maryland.
Alberto Delgado, another apostle from Miami.
Mark Gonzales, founder of the Hispanic Prayer Network and Hispanic Action Network.
Mario Bromnic, a pro-Israel Hispanic apostle.
And Samuel Rodriguez, one of the most prominent Latino Christian leaders in the country and an apostle.
If you asked any of these people if they're part of the New Apostolic Reformation, they might say no, because there never was a New Apostolic Reformation organization.
But they all have deep and long-running ties to the apostolic and prophetic networks that Peter Wagner built in the early 2000s.
Go and look them up!
The Christians of color who surrounded Trump were, by and large, apostles and prophets.
Che'on is not a white nationalist or a white Christian nationalist.
So what is he?
The story of Che'on is, in many ways, emblematic of this whole independent charismatic sphere and what has emerged there in the past 40 years.
I think that if we can come to understand who Che'on is, His long and deep relationship to C. Peter Wagner, his theology, how he got to that stage on January 5th, and how he was thinking about himself in that moment, will be a lot closer to understanding what the New Apostolic Reformation is all about.
Well, I guess now we need to back up even further and just say, who is Cheyenne?
Yeah, let's talk about that.
But before we go there, I think we should take a quick detour to a seemingly boring but important question that will really help us make sense of Cheyenne's life.
That question is, how do you govern independent charismatic churches?
You see, to be charismatic, psychologically, sociologically, is about two related desires.
The first is to be personally filled with supernatural power.
Sometimes it goes under the heading of the spiritual gifts.
Charismatics want more than just believing in God or joining a community.
They want to experience the indwelling of God.
They want the Holy Spirit to empower them on a dynamic personal level that allows them to confidently walk through the world.
They want to see the power of God flow through them.
The second desire is to be part of something extraordinary.
This usually gets talked about under the rubric of revival.
Charismatics are always looking for the next big thing, the next move of God.
They want to see an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their world.
Okay, but these two charismatic desires make charismatic churches very unstable.
Everyone wants to be filled with more power.
Everyone wants the new thing.
Everyone is having all these spiritual experiences, dreams, ecstatic worship, speaking in tongues, praying for miracles, and looking to see if that will lead to breakthrough and revival.
Thanks for listening to this free preview of our SWADGE episode.
In order to get access to the full episode and so much more, become a Straight White American Jesus Premium Subscriber by clicking the link in the show notes.
It'll take you like two clicks, I promise.
In addition to getting access to this episode, you'll have access to the entire SWADGE archive, over 550 episodes.
You'll also get an extra episode every month, ad-free listening, Discord access, and so much more.
All that for less than six bucks a month, and it helps us keep our flag up and continue to safeguard democracy from religious nationalism, extremism, and rising authoritarianism.
