Do We Still Have Apostles?

Todd Bentley a Prophet? An apostle? Not according to Scripture.

The New Apostolic Reformation, a term manufactured by C. Peter Wager, a very influential person who rules over the International Coalition of Apostles, is a term that has been thrown around and getting much attention in recent weeks since Todd Bentley has been on the scene in Lakeland performing his 'miraculous stunts.' Other 'prophets' and 'apostles' names that have been popping up in the public spot light along with Todd Bentley include William Braham [now deceased- December 1965], Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, the Kansas City Prophets, and the list of names goes on and on likened to the who's who in today's prophets and apostles; and these same individuals are all a part of another term you have been hearing so much about in recent weeks called the Latter Rain Revival Movement.

These counterfeit prophets and apostles have twisted and perverted and have actually rewritten the Scriptures to fit into their preconceived ideas, and think that they are the chosen prophets and apostles of God, are superior to Christ's church, and His original chosen Apostles, and are the elites whom God has chosen to reveal His Will and last days prophecies and revelations through, even though Jesus Christ and His original Apostles and Hebrew Prophets have already given us the prophetic Word, and these self appointed prophets and apostles actually believe that God's Holy Spirit can be transferred or 'imparted' from one of these 'elite 'apostles' who has the 'anointing' by the laying on of hands through "their own will". Certainly no where in Scripture can any of this be substantiated.

The Christian faith is and always has been a faith that has its roots in and from the Old Testament, the Israelites and Hebrew Prophets, Jesus Christ the Messiah Himself being a Jew, His original chosen Apostles being Israelites, all of the prophets from Abraham being a Hebrew, Genesis 14:13 and the Bible itself being a Jewish Book, written by Hebrews inspired by God's Holy Spirit, and reveals God's plan of salvation and redemption to the human race through the the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Mark clearly tells us whom Jesus chose as His twelve Jewish Apostles. "And he goeth  up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would and they came unto him.  And he ordained twelve, that should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.  And to have power to heal sickness, and cast out devils:  And Simon he surnamed Peter; and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Bo-an-er-ges, which is, he sons of thunder: And Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Al-phae-us, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Ca-naan-ite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him; and they went into an house". 5:13-19  Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot Acts 1:23-26. 

The Jewish Apostle Paul was also directly chosen by Jesus Christ on the Road to Damascus and after the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

The Lord Jesus Christ commanded the disciple Ananias in a vision to put his hands on Paul to restor Paul's sight after Paul's dramatic conversion saying "Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and children of Israel.  First I will shew him how great he must suffer for my name's sake.  Acts 9:11-16. The Apostle Paul refers to himself as the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church of God. - 1 Corinthians 15:9 

James, the Lord's brother, as it is written by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:18, 19 is called an apostle.

The choice of the twelve was Christ's alone, according to Mark's Gospel. His twelve Apostles were crucial to the foundation of the early Christian Church and the writing of the New Testament. Jesus made no mistakes over His choice of Apostles to set the foundation for His church for all generations. This is verified in the words of Jesus himself where He says such things to His Apostles as "Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil?"  John 6:70- "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should bring forth fruit." John 15:16, "but I have chosen you out of the world." John 15:19.

Concerning the twelve Apostles, Strong's Greek-Hebrew Concordance gives us the definition of what it means to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

G652ἀπόστολοςapostolosap-os'-tol-osFrom G649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”), (with miraculous powers): - apostle, messenger, he that is sent.

Thus, we see that an apostle  was a messenger or ambassador sent out by Christ with miraculous powers to establish the foundation for the early Christian church, as Mark's text shows us:

"And he ordained twelve that they should be with him, that he might send them for to preach., And to have power to heal sickness, and to cast out devils."  This is again established and confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles, or Acts.

Jesus' Apostles were a very special group of men with a very special and unique calling upon their lives.  If you read Luke's Gospel Chapter 6, you will find that Jesus prayed all night before He chose his apostles, from his many disciples.  12, 13.  Jesus had many other disciples the Gospels tell us, but Jesus only chose twelve; others were never called to be Apostles.

The Bible also gives us the special criteria or qualifications to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ in Acts Chapter 1, which does not include the Lord's Apostle Paul, whom the Lord chose after His Resurrection according to Acts 1:21,22

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus Christ went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto the same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.  Acts 1:21,22

This means that whomever was called to be an Apostle by Jesus Christ Himself, he must have been  with Jesus Himself and been ordained of Him and an eye witness to His Resurrection.

 This means Todd Bentley and his associates, who call themselves an apostle, are frauds and impostors. The Apostle Paul established the claims of apostleship in 2 Corinthians 12:12 when he wrote to the church at Corinth. "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders and mighty deeds," and warned the hurch at Corinth of many false prophets and apostles entering the church then in 2 Corinthians 11:2-5, just as we see Todd Bentley and friends doing likewise today.

In 2 Corinthians 11:13, the Apostle Paul writes "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ."

 A true and genuine apostle of Christ in the Apostle Paul's day had all the signs and  power given to them by the Holy Spirit in actual cloven tongues like fire described in the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 2 so the people would know who they were and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christs to establish the foundation of the early New Testament Church of Jesus Christ.

According to the Scriptures, the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles of Jesus Christ did many, many miraculous signs and wonders, and this was done to confirm their special calling upon their lives, and who they were.  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. I Corinthians 1:22 

The true and genuine chosen Apostles of Jesus Christ, unlike Todd Bentley and associates, represented God on earth in a very special way by remitting sins or retaining them according to John 20:22,23. They could bind or loose on earth and that would be bound or loosed in heaven it is written in Matthew 18:18. Whenever they spoke the Word of God, they confirmed it with signs and wonders following.

Todd Bentley and company does not meet any of the Scriptural criteria and qualifications set forth as a prophet or apostle of God, is in fact a fraud and must be avoided at all costs. Folks just need to read the Bible because everything has already been written down for us by the Israelites and Hebrew prophets divinely inspired by God's Holy Spirit so that we will be able to discern the truth from the lies.

Many scriptural verses within the New Testament itself give testimony and evidence that there are no more apostles since the biblical apostles have passed away. One of my favorites and a very good example of this is from Jude Chapter 1:3 where he writes  "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needed for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Jude then goes on to write about how certain men have crept into the church 'unaware', calling them ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ in vs. 4.  Then in verse 17 of Jude, he writes "But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."

We need to remember that the teachings of our Lord and His chosen Apostles is the authorative Word of the New Testament, and these verses from Jude, who is Thaddaeus and one of the Lord's twelve chosen apostles,  alone establishes that they were given once and for all, for all generations, as the foundation for the Church of Jesus Christ and we are not to accept the words of anyone who calls themselves an apostle or prophet.