The
Apostles Who Don't Do Anything
Matthew
10:1; Mark 3:14; Luke 6:13; Acts 1:2; Acts 1:22; Acts 2:43; Acts 5:12; Acts
10:41; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 1 Corinthians15:7–8; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians
1:1; Hebrews 2:3–4
by
Cameron Buettel and Jeremiah Johnson
It is not new,
it is not apostolic, and it is not a reformation. – John
MacArthur on the New Apostolic Reformation
What should we
think of self-styled apostles who meet none of the biblical standards for
apostleship? They make much of the gift of prophecy but lack the prophetic
ability to identify charlatans and phonies in their own midst. They can’t
perform apostolic-quality miracles and healings, and their message sounds
nothing like what the original apostles preached. The truth is that they don’t
do anything that would qualify as “apostolic” by any biblical standard.
Who are these
apostles?
The New
Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a movement pioneered by C. Peter Wagner. This is
what charismatic and continuationist doctrine looks like when taken to its
logical conclusion. The NAR claims that not only the gifts, but also the office
of apostleship still continues today. And as apostles, they pretend to speak
for God and wield His divine authority—but it is all merely a pretense.
What is the
rationale behind this movement? According to Wagner, God’s people can only ever
return to pure Christianity, as seen in the early church, if they “recognize,
accept, receive, and minister in all the spiritual gifts, including the gift of
apostle.” [1](David Cannistraci Apostles and the Emerging
Apostolic Movement (Ventura, CA: Renew Books, 1996], p. 12.).
Why do we
suggest their apostleship is a sham? According to the New Testament, an apostle
had to be:
- A
physical eyewitness of the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:22; 1 Corinthians
9:1; 15:7–8).
- Appointed
by the Lord (Mark 3:14; Luke 6:13; Acts 1:2; 10:41; Galatians 1:1).
- Able
to authenticate his apostleship with miraculous signs (Matthew 10:1; Acts
2:43; 5:12; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:3–4).
Undaunted by
those biblical requirements, Wagner’s own apostleship was confirmed under
somewhat different circumstances. In 1995 two women prophesied that he had
received an apostolic anointing. A second prophecy was given in Dallas in 1998
during a bizarre ceremony that Wagner now considers his ordination. [2](John
MacArthur, Strange Fire [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2013], p. 86–87)
But the “proof”
of Wagner’s apostleship came in 2001, in the form of an apostolic decree that
God supposedly gave him to pronounce the end of mad cow disease in Europe. [3](C.
Peter Wagner, Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets, and Theologians [Ventura,
CA: Regal Books, 2010], p. 243) Never mind that nearly ten years later, doctors
and veterinarians were still diagnosing the disease in people and animals
throughout Europe.
Wagner is
unperturbed by those failures and shortcomings. Instead, he sees his ordination
as the dawning of a new apostolic age. In the foreword of Ted Haggard’s The
Life-Giving Church, Wagner wrote:
The New
Apostolic Reformation is an extraordinary work of God that began at the close
of the twentieth century and continues on. It is, to a significant extent,
changing the shape of the Protestant world. [4](Ted Haggard, The
Life-Giving Church [Ventura CA: Regal Books, 2001], p. 14).
Wagner even
goes so far as to describe this era as “The Second Apostolic Age.” His “studies
indicate that it began around the year 2001,” although he doesn’t bother
to explain or define what those studies were. [5](C. Peter
Wagner, Apostles Today [Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2006], p. 6).
In this new age
of apostles, several apostolic networks have been established. Wagner’s is
called the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA). Its website contains a
global map to help locate the apostles in your part of the world. According to
the network, there are more than 150 apostles in the U.S. alone.
ICA claims the
NAR is “heralding the most radical change in the way church is done since the
Protestant Reformation.” On the same webpage, Wagner defines an apostle as a:
“Christian leader who is gifted,
taught, and commissioned by God with the authority to establish the
foundational government of the Church within an assigned sphere of ministry by
hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches and by setting things in
order accordingly for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.”
But who
determines when God has commissioned someone? How does one become an apostle?
Actually, it’s
not too different from joining a country club. According to the ICA website, the
aspiring apostle must be nominated by two existing apostles who can show that
he meets the ICA’s criteria. There are some fees, too.
The pricing
table for apostleship is curious. The ICA charges an annual $450 fee to be an
apostle. However, Native Americans receive a $100 discount. There’s also a
couple’s rate of $650, just in case your wife also happens to be an apostle.
And you want to stay on top of your dues, because failure to renew your
membership on time results in a “deactivated” apostleship—it’s not clear if
that includes the deactivation of any spiritual gifts as well. All is not lost,
however—a deactivated apostle can be reactivated for an extra $50.
Put simply,
becoming an apostle with the ICA is only slightly more difficult (and
expensive) than purchasing a season pass to Disneyland.
That’s a
staggeringly low bar for apostolic authority—particularly when that authority
includes speaking on behalf of Almighty God. People believe in Wagner’s
apostleship simply because he had the temerity to claim it. But you
won’t find delusions of grandeur and audacious whimsy in the list of biblical
requirements for apostles.
What is truly
frightening is that Wagner is not an anomaly. The charismatic movement is
overrun with modern apostles like Wagner. Some of its most influential leaders
have claimed similar apostolic authority for themselves, dismissing the
biblical standards and usurping authority the Lord exclusively bestowed on the
founders of the church. Just a simple reading of the book of Acts is enough to
illustrate how impotent and unfit these modern apostles are, and how their
fanciful assertions have perverted and distorted the office of apostle beyond
recognition.
And they are
impotent. As we’ll see next time, these modern apostles fall far short of the
ministries of the New Testament apostles. Forget signs and wonders—these guys
aren’t even capable of basic discernment.
Available
online at: http://www.gty.org/resources/Blog/B131118
COPYRIGHT ©2016 Grace to You
(Used with permission).