-”Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by these dangerous men who attempt to empower themselves in these end times. “

Praise God for watchmen!

Here is a great comment about the FALSE apostolic movement/reformation

by Gregory P. Garwood

 

You may wonder if there are actual Apostles today and the answer is a resounding NO, at least not in the sense of the 12 foundational Apostles commissioned by Jesus Christ at the inception of the New Covenant. 

There are several definitions of the word apostle. The one that is applicable today is “sent one” meaning it can be applied to a person who is sent into a new mission field for example. As a “sent one” the apostle, if he is serving in the Holy Spirit, is to be subservient as Jesus was. They are to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ the Messiah and that’s it. They are foot washers, nothing more. They hold a position of subservience, not authority. They have no real authority because the ones with the real authority have sent them. They are simply serving in obedience to the orders they were given, as any “sent one” should.

There is another definition of the word “Apostle” which is impossible to be applied today. (Note the capitol A which I use to distinguish the difference between the original, foundational Apostles chosen by Jesus Christ, and the false apostles of today who are attempting to usurp the authority of the foundational Apostles.) This Apostle is defined as one of the 12 foundational (original) disciples, called, anointed and inspired by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel and write the majority of the New Testament.

They were: Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.

The true foundational Apostles had specific, unique criteria which had to be met in order for them to qualify as the true, genuine, foundational Apostles of Jesus Christ. First, any foundational Apostle had to be chosen by Jesus Christ Himself, physically, not by some self serving dream, vision or hallucination. The foundational Apostle also had to have walked with Jesus, physically, in His earthly human body. They witnessed His physical life with His miracles, teachings, and admonitions. They actually touched Him, ate with Him, and laughed with Him. They knew Him and He knew them intimately. One of the most important prerequisites of the true foundational Apostles of Jesus Christ is that they had to witness, with their eyes, Jesus Christ resurrected and His ascension as the Son of God to the right hand of the Father.

 

The criteria to qualify as a foundational Apostle is found in Acts 1:20 – 22; 20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms,” ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and,” ‘May another take his place of leadership.’ 21Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

 

Now, I want you to think about something; if the number of foundational Apostles was not to be fixed at 12, why did the Apostles so diligently scrutinize the candidates when they replaced Judas Iscariot? Why didn’t they just keep the number of foundational Apostles at 11? I mean. . . life happens right? And again, if the number of foundational Apostles was insignificant, why didn’t the original Apostles select both Barsabbas AND Mathias? After all, an extra Apostle might just come in handy for all of the work that had to be done as the gospel was first preached at the beginning of the New Covenant. They didn’t select both because they couldn’t! There were to be only 12 original foundational Apostles to establish the New Covenant church and write the majority of the New Testament. The number 12 is always significant with God as it most certainly was when Jesus chose the 12 original, foundational Apostles. The foundational Apostles were the ones chosen to witness and testify that Jesus Christ was and is the one and only Messiah, the promised Savior, sent to reconcile man to God. The genuine, foundational Apostles were also given divine wisdom, guidance and inspiration to write the majority of the New Testament. They truly were unique, anointed and inspired in a special way just as every other author of the Bible had been.

 

As you see, not just anybody qualifies as an author of the inspired Word of God, so, not just anybody qualifies as a foundational Apostle. There were only ever 12 foundational Apostles in the history of mankind and there will never be another human with the authority of the foundational Apostles. If the authenticity of foundational Apostleship is relative and insignificant, as the “restored apostles” of today would like you to believe, and the foundational Apostles wrote the New Testament, than that would mean the whole New Testament is just as relative and insignificant and can be changed or added to any time any self proclaimed “restored apostle” sees fit. That would mean that the inerrant Word of God would also be relative and null! That would mean that C. Peter Wagner, Lester Zimmerman, Curt Malizzi, Bill Yount, Dutch Sheets and any one of the International Coalition of apostles would have the authority to rewrite the New Testament or change it in any way they see fit in defiance of the Word of God.

 

Now THAT is dangerous! For these men to even attempt to claim such power and authority is arrogance in the worst possible degree. That is how far fetched these fakes are. Mark my words, God WILL deal with them. Jesus Himself tells us in His inerrant, unchanging Word; Marc 13:31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. And in Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 11: 12 – 15 12; “And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

 

Those aren’t my words folks, those are GOD’S words and here Paul clearly tells us that anyone who attempts to claim equal authority with the foundational Apostles are themselves false apostles and not to be respected or feared. That’s the word of God! Fret not! These fakes will answer to almighty God one day! Some of them, in supreme arrogance, are now claiming a “greater end time authority” than that of the foundational Apostles which is as false as it gets. My question now is just when are they going to rewrite the bible?

 

So you see, the only way to write the bible is to be chosen by Jesus, authorized, inspired and empowered. Today there are many self proclaimed “apostles,” men who are attempting to re-establish the office of foundational Apostle and grant themselves all of the authority the foundational Apostles were given by Christ Jesus in direct violation of 2 Corinthians 11: 12 – 15. This includes C. Peter Wagner, Bill Yount, Dutch Sheets, Lester Zimmerman, Curt Malizzi and the whole of the International Coalition of apostles.

 

Now that we know the prerequisite of a true foundational Apostle, show me just one of the “restored” apostles of today who have ever seen the physical Jesus Christ before and after the crucifixion? Which of them actually ate real food with Him? Which of them actually talked with Him? Which of them ever witnessed one of His miracles? Which of them witnessed, with their eyes, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ? None of them! True God given authority isn’t usurped by wild dreams, unsubstantiated visions, trances or hallucinations as people like Rick Joyner would have you believe any more than payment of annual dues does. Wagner and company claim that those who do not submit to their self proclaimed “authority” are out of the will of God and damned to hell. Well. . . I’ll go to hell before I ever answer to one of these men.

 

The foundational Apostles were given one time, divine authority, inspiration and power to establish the new covenant church, the foundation on which the present day church has been built and will remain until the return of Jesus Christ at the end of this age. There was, at one time, a need for such men and that time of need has passed! The original 12 were the ONLY foundational Apostles that will ever be. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by these dangerous men who attempt to empower themselves in these end times.

 

Remember, nowhere in the bible are we told that the office of foundational Apostle with the authority of the foundational Apostle will ever be restored. Oh. . . And tell me if you can just what the annual dues were for the foundational Apostles? And what happens to the “anointing” of the “restored apostle” if he fails to pay his yearly dues? Does the “anointing suddenly fall away at 12:00 December 31? And, if a “restored apostle” should fall behind in his yearly dues and then pay them, when is his “anointing” restored, at the time he writes the check, or when the International Coalition of apostles is sure the check has cleared and the funds are credited to his account? I laugh at these fakes!

 

As the true, chosen, foundational Apostles of Jesus Christ, the foundational Apostles commanded genuine God given authority; they operated in such authority because the authority under which they served was given by Jesus Christ Himself as we read in Matthew 10:1 1, He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. If Jesus Christ the risen Son of God is the only One who possesses all authority and if He is the only One with the authority to bestow that authority, who has given any of these “restored apostles” any authority? They have none! They have no more authority over man than a jackass in the field. I have yet to see ANY of the “Restored apostles” of today drive out any evil spirit, heal any disease or cure any sickness, not once; if they had it would be national news! Never before Jesus and never again will any human man be granted authority as a foundational Apostle no matter how many hallucinations these false teachers may have.

 

 

 

Jesus is the only One Who may bestow such power and authority. Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Did you see that? ALL authority has been given to JESUS alone! Not some self proclaimed apostle or “prophet” suffering from delusions of grandeur and godhood! These men are very dangerous because they are teaching a false, unbiblical doctrine. These men believe that there must be an end times, One World Church to usher in the return of Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus can’t return until they have dominated the world in preparation for Christ’s return. This belief is contrary to the word of God because Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 24 that in the end times there will be a great falling away, not a great unification. In fact, the only unification written of in the bible is the one world system which will usher in the Anti – Christ and bring persecution to the body of Christ as John tells us in the book of Revelation.

 

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