Modern Day Apostles?

(This is the outline for a presentation I did for our ministry staff on June 23, 2026.)

Introduction

• The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is sweeping through American Christianity.

  • It is showing up in...

    • The Seven Mountains Mandate

      • Christian dominion of seven arenas of life...

    • Trump being presented as Cyrus the Great...

      • Cyrus was the Persian king who conquered Babylon and permitted displaced peoples, including the Jews, to return to their homelands.

      • Isaiah 45.1 | The Lord says this to Cyrus, his anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and disarm kings, to open doors before him, and even city gates will not be shut: (CSB)

        • Trump was the 45th president (first time).

    • Many of the January 6 Protestors...

    • Trump's Blood Anointing in Butler

      • Leviticus 8.23–24, 14.14–17

    • Operation Ice Castle

      • Not the Disney movie...

      • 1997...

        • The woman was Ana Méndez Ferrell, a Mexican charismatic intercessor closely associated with C. Peter Wagner and his spiritual-warfare networks.

        • She led an expedition to fight the demon identified as the Queen of Heaven who lived in an ice castle on Mt Everest.

      • Jeremiah 7.18 | The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. (CSB)

    • Central Personalities...

      • C. Peter Wagner

      • Lance Wallnau

      • Paula White-Cain

      • Bill Johnson (Bethel)

    • Adjacent Personalities

      • Franklin Graham

      • Robert Jeffress

      • Donald Trump

    • In Churches...

      • Restored prophets and apostles...

      • Strategic warfare...

      • Generational curses...

      • Political calls for action...

      • Prophetic decrees...

        • God gave me a word for you...

        • God says you should do this or that...

• The question as it comes down to us...

  • Are there people today who have apostolic authority to bring a new and authoritative word from the Lord?
    Biblical Evidence for No Apostolic Authority Today
    I. The Apostles Had Unique Qualifications.

• Argument...

  • An apostle of Christ had to be personally selected or commissioned by Christ.

  • He had to be an authorized witness to the risen Christ.

  • No living person meets those historical qualifications.

  • Therefore, no living person possesses the original apostles’ authority.
    II. The Apostles Only Laid the Foundation.

• Ephesians 2.20 | built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (CSB)

• Revelation 21.14 | The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations. (CSB)
  III. The New Testament Does Not Tell Church How to Appoint New Apostles.

• Only pastor-elders-overseers and deacons...

• After James the son of Zebedee was killed in Acts 12, the church did not appoint someone to replace him among the Twelve. 

  • The replacement of Judas appears to have been a unique event associated with his betrayal and the restoration of the symbolic Twelve before Pentecost.
    IV. The Apostles Govern Later Prophets.

• 1 Corinthians 14.37 | If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord’s command. (CSB)
  V. The Faith Has Been Delivered Once for All.

• Jude 3 | Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. (CSB)
  What about the various uses of "apostle" in Scripture?

• Big "A" apostle...

  • The Twelve...

  • Paul...

  • Maybe James...

• Little "a" apostle...

  • Missionaries

  • Church planters

  • Pioneers
    Ongoing Concerns

• Claiming That God Spoke When He Did Not Is a Serious Sin. 

  • Jeremiah 23.16 | This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord’s mouth. (CSB)

  • Jeremiah 23.21 | I did not send out these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. (CSB)

• The Person Hearing the Claim Is Commanded to Test It.

  • 1 Thessalonians 5.20 | Don’t despise prophecies, (CSB)

    • 1 Thessalonians 5.21 | but test all things. Hold on to what is good. (CSB)

    • 1 Thessalonians 5.22 | Stay away from every kind of evil. (CSB)

• Scripture Is the Controlling Standard.

  • Deuteronomy 13.1 | “If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, (CSB)

    • Deuteronomy 13.2 | and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let’s follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let’s worship them,’ (CSB)

    • Deuteronomy 13.3 | do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. (CSB)

    • Deuteronomy 13.4 | You must follow the Lord your God and fear him. You must keep his commands and listen to him; you must worship him and remain faithful to him. (CSB)

    • Deuteronomy 13.5 | That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has urged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the place of slavery, to turn you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from you. (CSB)

  • Galatians 1.8 | But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! (CSB)

• The Bible Normally Give Boundaries Not Specifics on Decisions.

  • 1 Corinthians 7.39 | A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord. (CSB)

  • Not even Agabus commanded Paul...

    • Acts 21.10 | After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (CSB)

      • Acts 21.11 | He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’ ” (CSB)

      • Acts 21.12 | When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. (CSB)

      • Acts 21.13 | Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (CSB)

      • Acts 21.14 | Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.” (CSB)

• A Person’s Emotional Certainty Does Not Prove Divine Revelation.

  • "I know in my spirit that God said this..."

  • Proverbs 15.22 | Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (CSB)

• No One May Bind the Christian Conscience Where Scripture Has Not Bound It.

  • Romans 14