~ This may be the last article on this subject but it is certainly not the final chapter in God’s plan for this amazing office of the church. The world is about to shake, rattle and roll as Heaven makes its presence known and the systems of this world and the church will be brought to attention. “Every thing that can be shaken will be shaken.” Prepare yourself, prepare yourself. He comes as a thief.~

“Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance,

in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” 2Cor.12:12

Let’s begin this article with two extremely important observations and they won’t cost you a dime (hey free is a good price). Firstly, It should go without saying that Jesus and the New Testament apostles had, by far, the clearest understanding of what it meant to be an apostle. They were there right? They were the first ones. Jesus himself not only originated the office but trained and taught the future apostles throughout His ministry. The apostle Peter and especially Paul also wrote on the matter in their epistles. So their writings, the scriptures, are clearly the most important source we have on this subject. So why oh why are we so confused on it today and why are there so many imposters and “wanna be’s” masquerading as such?? This is not only extremely disturbing but is an ABSOLUTE JOKE! Further, why these imposters are not only accepted but celebrated by so many is just another disturbing example of the whole problem in all of this ie. the manipulation of biblical truth to promote our love affair with apostasy- “our way or the highway” thinking. While the scriptures that deal with the subject should be plain to the reader, we have convoluted them with all sorts of personal, private, self-serving interpretations justifying our passion to be right in our own eyes. There has been so much theological revisionism applied to scripture on this subject the scalpel is dull from all the efforts. It’s no longer about nice neat deceptive cutting and pasting but obvious fraying and ripping. The assertions and alterations forced upon the original text and context of scripture have become so brazen it’s amazing more people don’t see it, but they don’t; having become partial to it themselves.

Second extremely important observation. Since the end of the New Testament era there have been major efforts across all parts of the Christian church to delegitimize the biblical definition and importance of “the Body of Christ”, privatizing power and relevance within four walls and marginalizing the need for true apostolic ministry. Kind of little private monopolies of the kingdom of God. {This is very, very important. Please follow me on this} The body of Christ was never meant to function as separate entities or divisions of the church scattered across a city in the form of different (competing) denominations, each one portraying itself as “a body of Christ”. Individually (biblically) they are not “a body of Christ”. They are separate parts (or members) of “THE” one body of Christ in that city; whether they are willing to acknowledge it and work together or not. That is how they are viewed from heaven and that is how they are constituted. Paul’s statement to the Corinthians is very apropos here “Is Christ divided” 1Cor.1:13 . The gifts, callings and offices from God are distributed throughout that one “body of Christ” and to that one “body of Christ” across a city and sometimes a region. They are not, I repeat, they are not all given to one part of that body. They can not be privatized excluding the need for the rest of the Body of Christ!! Those who think otherwise and assume they can “have it all” so to speak within their walls, are sadly mistaken and at best will come up with cheap, worthless counterfeits which the church is full of already.

The churches of Paul’’s day were city churches. They were one throughout the city. They didn’t have all the divisions brought in by the post-apostolic Protestant movement of 1517 and on. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church saying, “Now you are Christ’s body and individually members of it” (1Cor.12:27), he was speaking to the entire church in the city of Corinth. Please understand this. All together, not apart, they represented the fullness of the blessings and giftings of Christ in that city and/or region.

Let me share a story here. I was talking to a pastor once about the interconnectedness that was supposed to exist between the various churches in a city and how no one part of it could have it all. He said, “If I’m somehow dependent on other churches to get it right and work together, I might as well give up.” I thought to myself, “no, you might as well pray for the unity of the church.” Listen people, God’s plan for the church doesn’t change just because we’ve departed from it and it no longer fits with our program or where we have gotten ourselves. He is not going to retrofit His plan to us. We are going to have to fit in with His no matter how many centuries or millenniums that may take. The church today is extremely weak because we have departed from this plan; incapable of walking in the power and revelation we were meant to have as one body. Until we are willing to come to grips with all our divisions and work together as one we are never going to walk in the power and health we have been called too in Christ!! All the “charlatan” theologies that try to take exception to that are nothing more than a bunch of Theo-baloney. Repeat that with me- THEO-BALONEY! It doesn’t make a good sandwich and it doesn’t make a good church.

Now that said, it’s into the one church that apostles have been called and authorized to minister power and giftings, not apart from that one church. The apostolic ministry is not a four-wall ministry and no four-wall movement can duplicate what they have to offer. Various parts of the one church will have varying manifestations of that power but no single part of it will have it all, regardless of what they think. I hope that’s clear. Please keep these two opening observations in mind as we go on. As long as we think scripture can mean whatever we want it to mean and that an individual church can have it all, there is no way we will ever understand true biblical apostolic ministry and the need for it.

The confusion that reigns regarding apostolic ministry is an outcome of the condition of the church. It is not just an outcome of ignorance. The condition of the church drives the ignorance. We can try to get rid of the ignorance but the condition of the current church system will nullify it. Honestly, trying to restore biblical apostolic ministry to the church in its current condition is absolutely impossible. Everything drives against it. Reformation is going to have to come first. We have become our own greatest enemy church, and that’s just the way the devil wants it. He has so entangled us in a web of deception and vanity that the harder we try to get out of it, the more entangled we become. Our only chance at this point is the intervention of God, but don’t feel hopeless dear pilgrim, help from heaven is on its way. There will be a lot of crying as people are forced to give up their idolatries covered with Christian looking trappings.

How far so much of the current Christian church system has drifted from biblical truth is shocking and this subject is just another sterling example of it. We will never get beyond this fiasco until people are willing to think independently, outside the box or in this case “outside the walls,” far from what’s popular with the crowds. We’ve created a vacuum full of ignorance today and into it has flowed loads of opportunists and religious hucksters willing to sell their souls for the prize of a title and a following; oh yes, and a lot of money. “Follow the money trail” invariably leads to so much of what the church has become and what so many of these indemnifying charlatans are about. “Just a spoon full of sugar” or so they think, makes the medicine go down and the “amen” crowd continue to expand; but this stuff is a corrupting tonic. So much of the church today has become the proverbial “yes men” and women who love the sensational far more than they love the truth. Paul warned, “they shall turn away their ears from hearing the truth”- the era we have entered. 2Tim.4:4

While this article’s opening quote should easily demonstrate that there are certain “signs” that define the apostolic office, we are adrift today making it up as we go and trying to convince the masses otherwise. Surrounded by “yes people”, money, favorable stats and a fair amount of online popularity- the sky is seemingly the limit. The God of heaven sees this mania and always gives us enough rope to hang ourselves, which we have been very adept at doing. The history of the church since the end of the New Testament is strewn with gallows and a whole lot of people willing to ascend the steps. So while the noose gets tighter around the neck of the current church system, let’s see if we can save a fair amount of people from the gallows this time around.

Again the beginning quote, “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds” 2Cor.12:12. Let’s look closer at the first part of this statement “the signs of an apostle.”

The apostolic office was never meant be adrift without clear, indisputable, identifying credentials as established in scripture, not popular consent. Again the phrase, “The signs of an apostle” has to mean something, right? C’mon people let’s get hold of this. Shake your head a bit, pull out of the fog and catch the implications of this phrase. What do we do with it and why is it so ignored by the “wanna be’s” today? Let’s ask a further question. Why is it so ignored by the “wanna be’s” followers?? As was said earlier opportunists, who never seem to have enough room to hide their bloated ego’s and burgeoning bank accounts, have been quick to redefine the office of an apostle around themselves. Salted with a few scriptures here and there, commendations from like-minded apostates, the accolades of loyal followers, and seemingly just enough sordid justifications to impress the ignorant; they strut their way into the limelight of apostolic greatness- and everyone said AMEN or should we say, OH MY!! The apostle Paul’s statement of “I die daily” just somehow seems to escape their attention! Am I being sarcastic? OH YES!, it is completely intentional!! Perhaps such individuals should spend some “quality” time far away from the next convention or meeting repeating to themselves “I am nothing”, “I am nothing” about a thousand times and just maybe a few syllables of it will actually get in! No matter how hard these individuals try, every definition they come up with for the apostolic office is a dumbing down from scripture and tainted with “SELF.” Scripture just seems to require too much of what they are willing to give. So please understand the point being made here-THERE ARE DEFINITE SIGNS THAT ATTEST TO THE BIBLICAL OFFICE OF AN APOSTLE, THEY ARE UNMISTAKEABLE IN POWER AND EFFECT and they have nothing to do with the conventional definitions of today or the applause of man. Unless such signs are evident among those who claim apostolic status their claims are false. I said their claims are FALSE! Needless to say there are other things that go with it involving biblical integrity, revelation, servanthood etc. Things that will be left for another article.

So one of the most definitive elements of the ministry of the Biblical apostle (I say “biblical” because again there are so many imposters) is their God given ability to demonstrate the reality of God and the Gospel of the Kingdom in power. Apostles carried environment changing power and they carried it on a level that was bewildering. We’re not talking about a few giftings to touch some people here and there but the ability to shift the spiritual environment in towns and regions. You’ve got to move the equation up ten times or more to understand the kind of “dunamis” (New Testament Grk. word for “power”) apostles carried. It is practically beyond comprehension in today’s churchy, self-serving, wall friendly environment. The Apostle Paul highlighted this in a few of his comments to the Corinthians. In one of them he said,

“I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.” 1Cor.4:19

Here’s that word “dunamis” again. Please get hold of this. He is not talking about a few giftings seen here and there as in the body of Christ today. He is talking about a degree of “power” that is unique, exclusive to the apostolic office. Others may have such things off and on but with apostles it is always resident. Only in that context this scripture takes on meaning. Up your thinking dear reader as we rescue more scriptures from all the bias foolishness they have been subjected too today and recover the biblical definition of the apostolic office.

Remember Jesus not only raised the dead, cleansed lepers, healed all manner of sickness and disease, cast out spirits with a word, but He also calmed the winds and the waves after which He told His future apostles, “these things shall you do and greater because …” This is what we’re talking about. Now let’s include a little caveat here to rescue some of the scriptures we will be looking at from all the theo-babble that has convoluted their meaning. These so-called biblical “interpretations” today are clearly “revisions” undermining the text; the zeitgeist of denominationalism.
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~Caveat– Scripture interprets scripture!! Did you get that? Repeat again after me, “scripture interprets scripture.” Please memorize that statement. We don’t interpret scripture as is popularly thought. We search for scripture’s interpretation of itself (Welcome to the need to understand the whole bible, yes theology actually is a science! It used to be called the “queen of the sciences”, now isn’t that amazing!) God knew that the fickleness and sinfulness of man would make him incapable of interpreting scripture properly so He built its interpretation into itself. Scripture is not denominationally interpreted. It is not personal, private, subjective or relative to our personal opinion. It demands agreement, why? Because truth demands agreement. It is absolute, not relative. It is a standard for all to follow. It doesn’t bow to our whims and fancies. It is the measure by which all concepts are judged. It doesn’t contradict itself because truth can not contradict itself and still be truth. It can not mean one thing to one person and something different to someone else. Please understand this even though it is completely contrary to what the current church system has done with it. “That’s your interpretation not mine” and “you may believe that but I don’t” has no place when it comes to the truths of scripture or to truth in general. We’ve made it up ladies and gentleman to accommodate our walls. Truth is objective; cuts through all differences and demands obedience. If two or more people or churches disagree on an interpretation of scripture then one of them or all of them are wrong!! It doesn’t matter how sincere or well intentioned they are. Truth and specifically biblical truth is not subject to personal bias and again it doesn’t contradict itself. It is the authority over all areas of faith and practice. When most pastors and Christian people today say they believe in the authority of scripture, they don’t. They believe in the authority of their interpretation of scripture- thus all our walls! That’s what it has come to today people. Confusion reigns. End of Caveat~
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Now with that backdrop in mind let’s look at a few more scriptures highlighting the focus on the apostolic office.

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen..” Acts1:1-2

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them..” Acts1:4

“Therefore when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them..” Acts1:6-7

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me….” Acts1:8

So let’s get away from the crowd a bit here: the common consensus of opinion especially in charismatic circles, and ask the question- who is Jesus talking to here? This is a very simple question but it highlights so much of what we need to look at. Note the beginning of His statement, “But you shall receive…”. The pronoun “you” is repeated three times in that verse. Again who is He talking to?? He is talking to the apostles! This is where the above caveat comes in. If we let scripture speak for itself outside of the revisionism of our walls and our personal opinions, very important truths come into view. One of those important truths is that this promise was given to the apostles. Context, context, context; do we honor it or do we preempt it with our bias. If we honor it, not only does the apostolic office become more important and defined, but the power that highlights it. Let’s clarify this with more scriptures from Acts.Over and over this section of scripture emphasizes that these words were spoken to the 12 apostles. The “power” was given to them and it was demonstrated by them throughout the rest of the book of Acts. The unfortunate teaching, mostly in Charismatic/ Pentecostal circles today, that this power is for all believers is not only bogus but a failure in practice. So many scratch their heads wondering where this power is. Well it’s not there for most Christians because it was never meant to be there for most Christians. It is primarily given to apostles and evangelists for the work of evangelism and the edification of the church. Can we handle that or is it just too hard on our “Protestantized” theology? Yes our God works through us at times in marked ways to help people but it is never with the consistency of an apostle. Moving on- Please understand the following point-

~ Our divisions or denominations are the result of our interpretations of scripture and our interpretations of scripture are the result of our divisions. That is called circular reasoning folks. The culprit that haunts so much of the church’s thinking. We are captives to it and it keeps us going around and around in an endless self-justifying circle. We’re not open to truth because we are too busy trying to defend what we want to believe. Like a squirrel in a roller cage we put so much effort into going nowhere, but it supports what we want to believe and we believe what we want to support, right? So we have accepted the deception and all the endless rationals that bring us right back to where we want to be, which is always right back where we started, Hmm. You would think that sooner or later someone would jump out of the loop and travel the right direction: that maybe someone would say, “Hey haven’t we been here before” and start going forward again. But very, very few do. It’s just to easy for this generation of the church to “go with the flow.” So get out of the squirrel cage dear reader. Lay aside defensiveness and self-justifying thinking regardless of the cost. We’ve got a lot more to say here. Moving forward.~

Over and over again throughout the book of Acts the apostles are highlighted as the carriers of the power promised by Jesus. Note the following scriptures.

“And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”
Acts 2:43

“Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none; But such as I have give I Thee: In the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.’” Acts 3:6-7

“And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
Acts 4:33

“And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.” Acts 5:12

“And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” Acts 5:14-15

“Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the disease left them and evil spirits went
out of them.” Acts 19:11-12

Can we handle the implications of what I am saying? Can we allow the Body of Christ to function as the Body of Christ again. Apostles bring power and giftings to the church which can not be duplicated by any other office or people in the church. As the apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth,

“If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body
be.” 1Cor.12:17-1

We have robbed the body of Christ of the giftings and power granted to the church to help and save, because we have either generalized such giftings around other people or relegated them to the past. Shame, shame, shame people of God. We have become dupes to the devil’s ploys to rob us of the glories of Christ and bring untold suffering to millions. Yes church, we have done this!!

Ok one more facet of biblical apostolic power. There tucked away in the first chapter of the book of Romans is a very intriguing scripture. It has been past over for centuries by our wall-driven, control driven church systems that can’t see the jewels that are right in front of our eyes. Blinded by our carnal appetites for significance, all we see is what we have; and we call it enough. The apostle Paul writes,

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are lost..” 2Cor.4:3

Such is the case with the whole subject we are on. It is not rocket science. It is revelation. The concepts are not complex, they are spiritual. They require a seeing eye and an open heart; much of what is missing in the church today. So in Ro.1:11 Paul writes,

“For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established.”

This is an amazing scripture and underscores profound implications across the body of Christ today in relation to biblical apostles. God never framed any one part of the church to go it alone. All of our separations or divisions have kept us from the fullness of the power and blessings of Christ we have been called to walk in. We pride ourselves in the very thing that is destroying us ie. our walls. Again the apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians,

“So that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ..” 1Cor.1:7

Do we see the implications of this statement? Please let it sink in and begin to erode away all our wall-driven divisive bias. The Corinthians were to come short in no gift. They were to have it all! Again we are talking about the whole church across the city of Corinth. Jesus didn’t pay the incredible price He paid to give us the scanty little bit so much of the church walks in today. He paid the price for the full package. It is we who have distanced ourselves from the grace He has called us to experience.

We have been robbed people. We have been ripped off by the devil. We have settled for pennies on the dollar of what we ought to be experiencing. But because we have bowed the knee to this cheapened version of grace we find ourselves in rags spiritually. As Ro.1:11 implies the apostles had the ability to analyze the areas of weakness and short-comings in the citywide body of Christ and impart giftings to make up the difference that they be “established.” These were impartations that remained and continued to operate within the citywide church even after the apostle moved on. We not only lack such impartations today, we lack those who carry that kind of power and we don’t even ask why!! Our blindness is staggering and the consequences of it our damning. Please understand it is not God’s will that we lack in anything Christ has provided. The church has bought into the lie that it has to be the way it is and what we believe we get. We are marked by centuries of concessions to impotence. Originally God made provision through Christ via His apostles to bring His people into the fullness of the blessing of the cross. What ever happened to “my cup runneth over” church? Anyway let’s develop this a bit more. In 1Thes.3:9-10 we read,

“For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before God, night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what Is lacking in your faith?”

Now what is that supposed to mean and where do we hear that kind of talk today? “Perfect what is lacking in your faith.” Let’s think about this a bit. How do you do that with what the current church system has to offer? How far do we have to dumb down statements like this to make them amenable to our anemic gospel. A long ways, a long ways! Are you with me dear reader? Have I lost you with the implications of what I am saying? Do you have eyes to see outside the barriers of what we have become? Apostles had the ability to move the faith and therefore the experience of the church into a new place, a much higher and glorious place. Please understand this. Again we don’t even consider things like this today. Faith is so individualized and dumbed down across congregations. Christians are doomed to live and die far beneath the standard of the Cross. The apostle Paul spelled out his understanding of the gospel and its implications for believers with these words,

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2Cor.3:18.

The experience of God’s people is supposed to be from “glory to glory.” Allow me to quote a previous scripture again.

“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him, in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ..” 1Cor.1:4-8

Note the highlighted words, “enriched in everything”, “all utterance and all knowledge”, “come short in no gift”, “that you may be blameless.” This is what happens when a biblical apostle “completes what is lacking.” The pastor dominated Protestant church and the prelate dominated Catholic Church systems of today can’t even touch what we are talking about. Nor will they ever be able to rise to such a standard until biblical apostolic ministry is restored with a Kingdom minded people, and may it be restored soon.

Luther Canon
Sola Scripture