Alright, so please turn with me in your Bibles, if you will, to Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. As I said, I have a long overdue message today, to begin a series of maybe two or three messages, which I want to sound a warning about an insidious and a pervasive and an all too popular heretical movement that has risen over the past couple of decades in modern Christianity, or should I say in pop Christianity or in pseudo-Christianity, That is among those who call themselves Christian, in this day of apostasy, where far too many that call themselves Christians have actually never been truly born again, and where many that are truly saved are being led astray by false teachers into deception and to delusion, by false apostles and by deceitful workers, as Paul calls them, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I have touched on this movement before, especially in a message I preached last year about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, whose father is heavily actually involved in this movement, and apparently so is Ted. But I really need to expose this movement in much more detail as it seems to be exploding in its influence, not only in churches but in politics as well. And the heretical movement that I'm referring to is known as the New Apostolic Reformation. which is a movement that has manifested within Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, referred to by some as the third wave of the Holy Spirit, and which includes one of the doctrines that we've exposed before as Dominion Theology. And while the movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation, the doctrines being promoted by this movement are neither new, nor are they apostolic, nor are they Christian, biblical, or from the Holy Spirit of God. They're, in fact, idolatrous doctrines of demons that the Bible warns us against. I believe, in fact, that this movement actually is a major breeding ground and power base for the great falling away and the strong delusion that Paul warns us of in this chapter, in this passage of Scripture in 2 Thessalonians, and that the very doctrines that this movement promotes actually will cause many false Christians, false Christians and make-believers to throw their political support and their allegiance behind the very Antichrist and man of sin that this passage warns against. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1. It says, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Paul says, let no man deceive you by any means. A lot of Christians today are letting men deceive them. Paul says, let no man deceive you by any means for that day, what day? That's verse 2, the day of Christ. And verse 1, the coming of Jesus, our gathering together unto Him, that day. That day shall not come except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, or claiming to be God, of course. Down to verse 9. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth. that they might be saved. God's people ought to have a love of the truth, amen? And those in this movement, characteristically, do not have a love of the truth, not of God's Word. Verse 11, And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but that pleasure and unrighteousness. That says God will send them strong delusion. that they might be damned, who had not love of the truth, but they had pleasure in unrighteousness. Paul wrote these 12 verses here in this chapter to correct and actually to comfort those in the church at Thessalonica who had been drawn aside by a false doctrine that some were passing around, that the resurrection had already passed, that Christ had already returned actually and that they had somehow missed the big event. Paul also wrote to Timothy of that same early heresy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 16, where he said, But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat atheth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. He says, verse 18, Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already. Same heresy. He says, And overthrow the faith of some. So Paul is writing here in 2 Thessalonians to some whose faith may have been otherwise overthrown by this cancerous heresy. And Paul says here in verses 1 to 3, as we've covered many times in dealing with eschatology, that we, or those saints who are alive on the earth at Christ's coming, will not be gathered together with Christ until after a great falling away and that man of sin, the Antichrist, is revealed. In other words, there will be no pre-trib rapture resurrection that many have pinned their hopes on. First we see here a great falling away. And by the way, that says falling away, not rising up, as I pointed out before. And it says falling away, not flying away, like the song, I Will Fly Away, Oh Glory. And so again, as covered before, that phrase falling away is translated by the faithful King James translators from the Greek word apostasia, which of course we transliterate as apostasy, meaning to fall away from the faith that was once professed. Paul says what we are to look for in the days before Christ's return to gather his elect is not a great revival or a kingdom now era ushered in by the church that these false prophets are promoting today. And as those in this movement, the ecumenical and charismaniac New Apostolic Reformation are looking for today. But instead we are to see a great falling away from the faith, an apostasy among those who call themselves Christian, which these false apostles are leading their way in. And while the groundwork for that apostasy has been laid over the past couple of centuries actually by attacks on the text of the Bible, by the higher criticism movement and its publication of the Westcott and Hort Greek text and its plethora of watered-down, diluted, and corrupted perversions of the Bible that line the shelves of every so-called Christian bookstore today. Aided and abetted also, actually, by the Schofield Reference Bible and its attack on the Gospel, on New Testament doctrine, and on the message and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe we're seeing that great apostasy come to full blossom in our day. And at the forefront of those that are leading and spearheading that apostasy are those same false apostles and false prophets and ecumenical and charismaniac New Apostolic Reformation proponents. So what is the New Apostolic Reformation? As stated, the New Apostolic Reformation, some refer to it as NAR movement, that has manifested within Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, referred to by some as the third wave of the Holy Spirit. The first wave being Pentecost itself, when the church was empowered by the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2. The second wave allegedly being the so-called and alleged Charismatic renewal of the 20th century. This movement is actually Pentecostal Charismania on steroids. The movement was initiated by one heretic in particular named C. Peter Wagner. Although not to be outdone, of course, many or most of the big names in charismania today have also latched onto this so-called third wave, including Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Jack Hayford, Rod Parsley, the once-proclaimed apostle and revivalist, but shortly thereafter publicly defamed and tattooed brawler, liar, adulterer, and drunkard, Todd Bentley, along with Rick Joyner, Bill Johnson, John P. Kelly, and Mike Bickle. Among this wretched crowd of heretics also we find, of course, Donald Trump's alleged spiritual advisor, adulteress Paula White, who one writer says changes husbands like some change dirty diapers. And who, by the way, denies the Trinity, denies that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, and says that Jesus died to break our curse of poverty and to make us rich, as many of these false apostles also teach. As for C. Peter Wagner, a guy who, until he died last year, actually looked very much like KFC's Colonel Sanders and actually would have made a better pick for their TV commercials than the guy they have in makeup now. Wagner, in fact, actually coined the phrase New Apostolic Reformation, which many refer to simply as the NAR. And he was a highly influential leader in the NAR movement. In fact, he's the guy that got up on stage in Lakeland Revival and proclaimed Todd Bentley to be an apostle. That's C. Peter Wagner. As with all Pentecostalism and Charismania in general, there are many heresies associated with the movement. But the primary and the fundamental error that leads to all others in this movement, actually, is its emphasis on the so-called fivefold ministries in the church, which result from an aberrant view and a misinterpretation of Ephesians 4 Verse 11, where Paul says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Paul says, for the perfecting of the saints and for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And so this movement claims to restore the offices of apostle and prophet to the church, complete with the apostolic authority to receive new divine revelation and to declare new dogma and doctrine for the church. And therein, actually, is the great spiritual poison of this heretical movement, the result of which is to put the Bible on the shelf as they do, and to follow the teachings of its new apostles and prophets instead of, and to the exclusion of, God's Word and the Bible, which is exactly what they do. And so, in that sense, this movement actually goes hand in hand with the The emergent church movement that's doing the same thing basically puts the Bible on the shelf and says that we're to get our doctrine from experience. We're to look to sensual experience for spiritual truth instead of God's written word because they say you can't trust the word God. Wagner taught that God began restoring the office of prophet to the church in the 1980s and the office of the apostle in the 1990s. But he says that 2001 AD marked the beginning of the second apostolic age. when proper church government headed by living apostles and prophets was finally restored. He allegedly came up with that conclusion by divine revelation, as many of his other heresies as well. Just by coincidence, by the way, that was the same year that the federal government actually allowed, as you know, the 9-11 attacks in New York City and the Pentagon. It began its war on terror, passed the Patriot Act, set up its Gestapo Office of Homeland Security, which may just be a coincidence, of course, but what's not a coincidence is the extent to which this very dangerous N.A.R. movement seeks to dominate every sphere of human existence, including government and military. I'll come back to that point soon. The primary role of the apostles, as taught in the N.A.R. movement, is to govern the church. And that means the universal church, of course, in their view, which we don't believe in as Baptists. They are seen as filling the highest office in church government above prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and are referred to as the movement's generals, which they have several self-proclaimed generals, and they charge admission to be a general, by the way. They often, of course, also demand financial support from all local churches, these apostles do, from all local churches under their direct apostleship. According to them, the primary role of prophets as taught in this movement is to receive new divine revelation. And so prophets are seen as fulfilling the second highest office, actually, in church government, second only to the apostles and superior to pastors and deacons, elders and deacons. So that's the major fundamental error of this movement that leads directly to many others. It's just a plethora of heresies associated with this movement that we really need to know about. First, I'm going to give a quick numbered list of some of this movement's more dangerous heresies. And then we'll come back and soundly refute some of them in more detail throughout the series of messages. One, as I've gone over already, is the restoration of the offices of apostle and prophet. We covered that. The second major heresy is what's known as dominionism, or kingdom now doctrine. Darby and Schofield, as we know, taught a heretical version of Christ's gospel of the kingdom. was the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two different kingdoms, we've talked about that, where the kingdom of God being the heavenly home of the church, according to Schofield, and the kingdom of heaven being an earthly millennial kingdom for Israel that follows Christ's return to the earth. The NAR, however, or the New Apostolic Reformation, has a new gospel of the kingdom based on post-millennial reconstructionism. which is the false eschatology of R.J. Rush, Dooney, and others, which teaches and emphasizes that Christ's death and resurrection on the cross has made the way for Christians to actually take dominion of the earth, and that Christians will do so before Christ's return and in order to make his return possible. This is what they teach. This is in addition to the N.A.R.' 's false gospel of prosperity, that Christ died on the cross to free us from poverty so we could get rich. This is, of course, obviously false gospel and direct opposition to the gospel of salvation from sin that we are supposed to preach. Repentance and remission of sin is the gospel that we're supposed to preach, Jesus said. According to NAR teaching, God originally gave humanity dominion of the earth, a dominion that was lost at the fall. And since that time, they say God has been seeking a people to reclaim that lost dominion. And that is the task of the church, they say, under the leadership of apostles and prophets, to take dominion of the earth in order to usher in this wonderful kingdom age, after which Christ then will return. Or some actually don't believe he's going to return bodily to the earth. He'll simply reign through his church. And by the way, this boldly underscores the great importance, the extreme importance, and actually The relevance to daily life of having a proper view of eschatology. Some people think eschatology doesn't matter. It's, you know, it's just, who cares? This is why it matters. It affects your entire worldview, your entire worldview. So a correct interpretation of Bible prophecy is related to Christ's kingdom age is extremely important, which is exactly why we devoted so many sermons and studies to that very topic. after I was personally exposed to the post-millennial scheme heresy first hand many years ago. The third heresy promoted by the N.A.R. movement is the strategy within this movement of taking the earth, taking dominion through what they call the seven mountain mandate, that's how they're going to take dominion, through their seven mountain mandate Many NAR apostles and prophets claim that God has revealed a new strategy for taking dominion of the nations that they call the Seven Mountain Mandate. According to this supposed revelation that they got, the way to take dominion is by taking control of the seven most influential societal institutions, which they call mountains. They identify these as government, which includes the military, media, family, business and finance, education, church and religion, and arts and entertainment. These last two heresies, the Dominion Theology and the Seven Mountain Mandate, are actually just as insidious and dangerous as the Apostle-Prophet heresy, especially as we see leaders in this movement being given enormous influence in the White House today. So this is very important. Another heresy they teach, number four, is they teach that there's going to be a great end-time transfer of wealth. We'll cover that when we're talking about Ted Cruz. Many leaders in the N.A.R. movement teach that before Christ returns, God will transfer control of the world's wealth from the hands of the wicked to the hands of N.A.R. apostles. You know, the Bible says the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just, and they really capitalize on that particular verse. And the purpose, they say, of this wealth transfer is so that the church will have the financial resources it needs to establish God's earthly kingdom. This is what they're teaching, folks. And this teaching is often referred to as the great end-time transfer of wealth. And they're all teaching this garbage. Ted Cruz's father, pastor of the church, and he teaches this very blatantly. The fifth heresy that they teach is of a great end-time harvest. A great revival, they all talk about. It's going to be a great revival, right? Prior to Christ's return, they say a worldwide revival will occur in which an unprecedented number of people will convert to belief in Christ. They teach that these conversions will be the greatest spiritual harvest of souls in church history and will occur largely as a result of people seeking miracles performed by the N.A.R. apostles and their followers, and none of them, of course, have actually worked on the actual miracles. One N.A.R. false apostle named Mike Bickle, who is of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, estimates that one to two billion people will convert to Christ during this time. All this, of course, ignores the clear teaching of the Bible. that before Christ comes there, there will be no revival. Instead, there will be a great apostasy. Things are going to proceed worse and worse. Evil men and seducers will go back to worse and worse, Paul says. And there's going to be a great apostasy, of which, of course, this movement is a big part. They also teach that their followers will develop vast supernatural powers, will perform miracles that will surpass those performed by the biblical apostles and prophets, and even those performed by Jesus during his earthly ministry. They also teach what's called the Manifest Sons of God heresy, the Manifest Sons of God. And this is one of the actually more radical teachings in this movement. According to this teaching, the people who continue to receive new revelation given by NAR apostles and prophets will gain more and more supernatural powers until they eventually become manifest or unveiled as Sons of God. And of course, these manifested Sons of God will overcome sickness and death and execute God's judgments on the earth. They arrive at from a false, a perverted view of Romans 8, 19, which we know says, for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. This is where they get that doctrine. Yes, indeed. This is how they pervert the Bible. These carried maniacs. This manifest sons of God teaching was originally promoted by leaders of post-World War II, the Latin Reign Movement, William Branham and George Warnock. More contemporary promoters of this teaching include US prophets, so-called prophets, Paul Kane, Rick Joyner, and Bill Harnon. Other associated heresies. There's many I could go through here, just real quick. They teach a strategic level spiritual warfare. It's a strategy for spiritual warfare that involves the attempt to cast out powerful evil spirits called territorial spirits, they call them. that are believed to rule over geographical regions of the earth and societal institutions. They take power over these territorial spirits. And this strategy is based on their belief that territorial spirits must be cast out before the gospel of the kingdom can go forth successfully and the church can take dominion. This is what these people believe. Nowhere in the Bible is this what they believe. They teach spiritual mapping. This is their practice of conducting research into the history of a specific city or nation to discover the identity of the territorial spirit that rules over that particular region. Once the identity of that territorial spirit is determined, other practices of strategic level spiritual warfare are used to carry it out. Warfare prayer, warfare worship, they teach. Prayer walking, here's one. It's a practice of forming a team of people to walk through a neighborhood or city and engage in warfare prayer against a territorial spirit ruling over that particular geographical region. That's witchcraft! That's right, Brother Josh. They teach Identificational Repentance. Identificational Repentance, which is the N.A.R. practice of repenting of corporate sins that are believed to have polluted the land. That's to say that these leaders believe that corporate sins such as slavery, genocide, or abortion have given territorial spirits entry points by which they have gained control over cities and nations. So they have to repent for that. There are many other heresies that they promote, including false Christology and all kinds of things. But I just want to tell you that the entire tree of this New Apostolic Reformation, so-called, from the root, to the trunk, to the branches, to the leaves, the entire tree is poisonous idolatry and abominable heresy, abominable apostasy. And as stated, I believe that a thorough expose, really from this Pope, is long overdue. I'm actually thankful for a phone call I got about a week and a half ago from one of our listeners asking when we're going to refute this nonsense. I think it is time to do that. Turn please to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This is obviously a huge topic and for today, this got too long as it was, I'm going to only attack the presumed authority behind the movement, which is the authority of the movement's alleged apostles and prophets. Refuting any system of false belief, of course, you have to start with the authority for what one believes, for their belief system. As in sharing the gospel with folks, the first thing we have to cover sometimes is the authority of the Bible. And so, what's the authority for what you believe? And while many adherents of this movement actually give lip service to their watered-down perversions of the Bible, and while some actually give lip service to the King James Bible, actually. The authority for their false doctrines, which are doctrines of demons, is not the Bible. Because this movement relegates the Bible to a point of insignificance and only occasional honorable mention behind their true authority, which is their so-called alleged apostles and prophets. So I want to talk a little bit about what are the true qualifications for a true New Testament apostle. I'm going to start by saying, point blank, that there are no true New Testament apostles alive in the earth today. The doctrine that we are to have apostles today is a very dangerous heresy. The Bible teaches that the office of the apostle was a foundational office that was only to function during the early formative days of the church. A true New Testament apostle must have been chosen and appointed by the Lord Jesus himself. He must have seen the risen Lord in order to be a witness of the resurrection. And he must have exhibited true miraculous signs and wonders that none of the false apostles of Pentecostal charismania can exhibit today as much as they try to fake them, which they've been caught over and over doing, Benny Hinn and others have been caught trying to fake these miracles alleged, staging them. But unfortunately, the false apostles of the NAR movement don't compare or judge their doctrines or their selves by the Bible. Instead, they judge their doctrine and themselves by other men and by other men's doctrine, by each other, so they can get on the same gravy train and enjoy the same prosperity. But Paul, the true apostle, says this, For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. That's in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12. But then in chapter 11, he says this in regard to some who were attacking his own apostleship and leading the church astray. He says, verse 3, 2 Corinthians 11, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached. For if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." Paul says, I'm afraid for you that you might actually give an ear to someone that comes in preaching another Jesus, to deceive you. Then he says in verse 13, For such, these men preaching another Jesus, are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, as these heretics today are doing as well. Paul says, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Verse 15, therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. Then Paul says, whose end shall be according to their works. They're going to get their reward. It's not going to be what they think. So what are the qualifications of a true New Testament apostle? The office of apostle was a foundational office that was only to function during the early formative days of the church. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul uses the same figurative language that Peter uses to describe the church, describing the church as a building, as the household of God. He says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." He then says, "...and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." Those are really the prophets in the church and apostles. Jesus himself, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone, "...in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builted together for the habitation of God through the Spirit." So he calls the apostles their foundation to the church. Similarly, in describing the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, John says in Revelation 21, verse 14, And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them, the foundations, the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So the ministry of the apostles was foundational to the church. And once that foundation is laid, by the way, it stays underground, right? The foundation stays below the frost line. In Florida, that means 12 inches below grade. In Iowa where I was raised, it means 48 inches, four feet below grade. But once that foundation is laid, you don't keep building foundation on top of that. The building goes up on top of that. You don't keep building the foundation. The office of the foundation was to be, the office of apostle was to be a foundation for the church. Turn to Luke chapter six. The office of apostle was a foundational office to function during the early formative days of the church. Number two, A true New Testament apostle must have been chosen and appointed by the Lord Jesus Himself. We read in Luke 6, verse 12, And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Why did he do that? Because he wanted to be sure he was in his Father's will when he chose his twelve apostles. Verse 13, And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, And of them, he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles. Verse 14, Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes. Verse 16, and Judas, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. Those are the twelve apostles that Jesus chose, that he prayed about before he chose them. Turn to Acts chapter 1, please. We read in Luke 22 also that it was only the 12 chosen apostles that were with the Lord at His Last Supper, where He instituted the Lord's Supper for the Church. In Acts chapter 1, verse 1, we read, the former treatise of Immanuel Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, verse 2, until the day in which He was taken up. After that, He, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen. to the apostles whom he had chosen, verse 3, to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." So we see here that a true New Testament apostle must have been chosen and appointed specifically by the Lord Jesus. That's what we read later in the same chapter, in the selection of a replacement for Judas, beginning in verse 21. We read, Wherefore, of these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. That's a qualification there. Beginning from the baptism of John into the same day that he was taken up from us. Must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. That's what an apostle is supposed to do. And they appointed to Joseph called Barsabbas, which was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. Verse 24, And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen." They wanted a man who was chosen by the Lord, that he may take part in this ministry, part of this ministry and apostleship, by which Judas from transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Several things we see in this account. First of all, we see here that there had to be a replacement for Judas. He had to be replaced. Second, we see here that an apostle had to be a man who had witnessed the resurrection. A man chosen to be an apostle had to have witnessed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We see that in verse 22. Third, we also see that an apostle had to be one that the Lord Jesus himself had chosen and appointed. They wanted a man that the Lord Jesus had chosen. Thou, Lord, knowest the hearts of men. So whether of these two thou hast chosen, they may take part in this ministry in apostleship. So first, an apostle had to have been chosen and appointed as such by the Lord Jesus himself. Secondly, then, he had to have seen the risen Lord in order to testify as a witness to his resurrection. We see that here. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. In declaring and defending his own apostleship, the last apostle to have been chosen, Apostle Paul, explained in more detail, in actually more than one of his letters, how he was also qualified in the same way the same manner as the other apostles. He says here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, lest ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried. And that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. And that he was seen of Cephas, none of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. Verse 7. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. Now look what he says in verse 8. Last of all he was seen of me also, as one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, than the other apostles. 11 Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 12 Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believe. Here he defends his apostleship. Paul says here, though he was called out of due time, he was called to be an apostle by the grace of God. And states here that he had seen the risen Lord also. So he could testify to the resurrection right along with the other apostles. Paul spends actually much of 2 Corinthians as well actually defending his apostleship and comparing his own ministry to some false apostles who had invaded the Corinthian church. He opened actually the book of 2 Corinthians with this Familiar greeting that emphasizes where he received his apostolic calling and authority from. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus, by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 1.1. Very similar greeting in the other epistles. 1 Corinthians starts out, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He emphasizes he was called by the will of God. He was chosen by God, appointed by Jesus. Very similar greetings in Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, and 2 Timothy 1.1. The clear testimony of Paul's writing and his epistles is that he was an apostle because he had been chosen for that role by God himself. So the qualifications here of an apostle. Number one, the office was foundational to the church. Number two, a true apostle must have been chosen by the Lord and appointed by the Lord Jesus himself. Three, a true New Testament apostle must have been a witness of the resurrection. He had to have seen the risen Lord. And then number four, is a true New Testament apostle must have exhibited true miraculous signs and wonders. In Acts chapter 2 we read verse 42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. We read in Acts chapter 5, verse 12, By the hands of the apostles where many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord on Solomon's porch. So then again in 2 Corinthians, in defending his own apostleship, which actually much of that book was written to do just that, to defend his own apostleship. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 11. He says, I become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled me, you're forcing me to do this, he says. Defend myself and tell you why I'm an apostle. You have compelled me, he says, for I ought to have been commended of you. For nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, Paul says, though I be nothing. He says, verse 12, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. So Paul says, as the other apostles, I exhibited among you miraculous signs and wonders to prove my apostleship. So a true New Testament apostle must have exhibited true miraculous signs and wonders. I may take some time in the next message, actually, to point out all the many false prophecies and the alleged miracles that have been faked by many of these modern false apostles and false prophets of the NAR movement. I have no time in today's message to do that. It's going to be too long as it is. I should also point out, however, that number five, I guess I would add, is that a true New Testament apostle must have been a man. It couldn't be a woman. The Lord Jesus Christ in His infinite wisdom chose no women to be apostles. Furthermore, Paul is very clear, actually, in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that elders and deacons were both required to be men, to be the husband of only one wife, which, back in those days, a woman could not be the husband of one wife. Now, the Supreme Court's trying to change that today, of course, but only in 21st century apostate America can that happen. But even then, it's not lawful. whether the Supreme Court says so or not. It's also not lawful, by the way, for abortion males to murder unborn children, whether or not the Supreme Court says it's OK. So a true New Testament apostle must have been a man. Elders and deacons were to be men, surely, of course, the same for apostles. And that's true whether Paula White likes it or not, whether Joyce Meyer and Becky Fisher and all the feminist so-called preachers in this land of apostates like it or not. That's the way it is. So those are the biblical qualifications of a true New Testament apostle, and I would repeat emphatically that there are no New Testament apostles alive on the earth today. The doctrine that we are to have apostles today is a very dangerous heresy. Furthermore, Christ's body in the church is not a universal body with central generals or apostles over a group of related branch outlets or franchises. The church is to be a local assembly that is governed entirely locally. Further, there are not to be five offices in the church today. The Bible's clear that there are only to be two offices in the church, elder and deacon, and giving instructions to the churches that he planted, both in 1 Timothy and in Titus chapter one, with additional instructions in other epistles as well. The apostle Paul laid out qualifications, very specific qualifications, for two offices only, elder and deacon. Paul says elders are supposed to rule the church, not apostles, not prophets. Paul says, let the elders that rule well, Paul said, be counted worthy of double honor. There was never an office of prophets in the church, nor was there ever an office of the evangelist in the church. Most men today that call themselves evangelists don't really do much evangelism. Most men that call themselves evangelists basically are former pastors who, for some reason or another, and were not able to continue in that role. And so they traveled from church to church, basically preaching revival meetings, often intended only really to support the local pastor and to revive the offerings coming into the church's building program. As for the spiritual gift of prophesying that did manifest in the early church, Paul warned in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 about that gift of being abused and getting out of hand. In 1 Corinthians 14 verse 29, He says, let the prophets speak two or three, let the others judge. So the prophets had no authority in the church. Whatever they said was to be judged by the church, by the elders and the deacons, et cetera. So the prophets never did have any held office or authority in the churches of the New Testament. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 13, please. As for those that dare to call themselves prophets and who speak lies in the name of the Lord, Even though the false apostles and the false prophets associated with this heretical movement will probably never listen to one of my messages, I do have a word of warning, both for them and also to the many deceived Pentecostals and charismatic folks that may be inclined to give them an ear and to follow them and their apostasy. I personally do hear from the Lord now and then, actually, but I hear from him primarily through his written word, the King James Bible. And this morning, I believe the Lord confirmed to me that, as He often does in my daily scheduled reading every day, which this morning was in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel. I believe the Lord confirmed to me I have to preach this message today. Ezekiel chapter 13, verse 1, says this, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts. Hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God. Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing, as we see today." The prophets are saying they haven't seen anything. Verse 6, they have seen light, they have seen vanity and lying divination, saying the Lord saith and the Lord hath not sent them. And they have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word. Verse 7, have ye not seen of vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it, albeit I have not spoken? For say, Therefore saith the Lord God, because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies. Therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God, and mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be in the writing of the house of Israel. Ye shall they enter into the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Verse 10, Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace. And there was no peace. Saying, there's going to be a revival. There's no revival coming. Peace when there is no peace. And one built up a wall, and no others daubed it with untempered mortar. That's mortar that won't hold the stones together. Say to them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall, their walls gonna fall down, there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstone, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and ye have strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life. Therefore ye shall see no more vanity nor divine divinations, for I will deliver my people. Out of your hand ye shall know that I am the Lord. This is, of course, just one of many, many passages where the Lord God condemns false prophets and says that He is against them. Another, in Jeremiah chapter 5, He says, "...shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" It says, verse 30 of Jeremiah 5, "...a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means." And He says, "...and My people love to have it so." And what will ye do in the end thereof? He says, For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, have lied about him, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword or famine. And the prophets shall become wan, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done unto them. All through the Bible we see many declarations and condemnations against false prophets. Jeremiah 14, here's another one I'm going to read. Then the Lord said unto me, Jeremiah 14, verse 14, The prophets prophesy lies in my name, I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not. Yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land. God says, By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. Turn to 2 Peter, New Testament 2 Peter. I'm almost done here. Peter also gives a warning here to false prophets, false teachers. The entire 2nd chapter of this book actually is about false teachers. Peter says in 2 Peter 2, verse 1, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness they want to get rich. Shall they with feigned words, made up words, make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, Peter says, and their damnation slumbereth not. Then he says, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them to change of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, then, under verse 9, the Lord knoweth then how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust into the day of judgment to be punished. Under verse 12, But these, these false teachers, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken in and destroyed, Peter says, speak evil of the things that they understand not. and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to ride in the daytime. Spots are they in blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings, adulteresses, while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children." This describes these false teachers in this movement. Verse 17, these are wells without water. Their prophesying has no meat to it. There's no word of God. They don't preach the Bible, they just preach lies. Wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak, verse 18, great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. Verse 20, I'm going to keep reading here. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at least they claim to. They are again entangled therein in these false teachings, this false doctrine. They get entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. This happened unto them according to true proverb, the dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the cell that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. In other words, the reason these false prophets have no shame or conscience in the way that they blaspheme God and spew their venom of false doctrine and heresy is because they really never possessed true salvation to start with. They're preaching a false gospel and they're going to one day reap the reward of their false gospel. And like the false prophets of old, of ancient Israel, these men and women who are leading this parade of apostates proclaiming and themselves to be apostles and prophets. Peter says that their judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Paul says this, again from 1 Corinthians 11, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Then Paul says, who then shall be according to their works. They're going to get their reward. And their damnation slumbereth not. And so, what are we to do? How are we to apply this message in this church? We're to remember, of course, that we in this church hold steadfast to historic Baptist doctrine, the true apostolic doctrine, actually in the Apostles of the Lamb, And this means that while we do listen for the voice of the Lord, and we do believe that God speaks to us through his written word, and he gives us illumination as to his proper interpretation, we do not believe in any ongoing revelation or evolution of doctrine after the canon of scripture was closed. For us, the King James Bible alone is the sole authority for faith and practice. The Bible over and over declares it to be so. We are commanded not to take away from it and not to add to it. Those that add to it are promised to receive of the plagues written therein. And those that take away from it are promised to have their part taken away from the book of life and out of that holy city. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Paul says through the scriptures alone, we have been provided with all that we need to complete everything that the Lord has called us to do. As James said in the first hour, as God's people we are to have a love for the word of God. The church is not going to usher in a great kingdom era, a kingdom age, prior to the coming and the return of the Lord. That's when he will set up his millennial kingdom himself. There's not going to be any great end-time harvest of souls or a great end-time transfer of wealth to the people of God before that glorious day dawns. To the contrary, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 13, contrary to the lies of the NAR movement, that there's going to be a great end-time revival. Paul says this instead. Verse 13, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Paul says, verse 14, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Then he says, verse 16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Paul says the Word of God is all we need. We'll be coming back to this topic, Lord willing, next week. Let's go ahead and pray. Father in heaven, Lord God, I pray that you'd help us to be on guard against these heresies and against these false workers these false apostles and deceitful workers. Pray, Lord, that you'd help us perhaps to reach out to those that we know that have been caught up in this apostasy and that we would be able to turn them to your truth, the truth of your word. Help us, Lord, to remain steadfast, to hold fast to your word in the days that we're living. As days get darker and darker, help us to hold on to that light of your word. In Jesus' name we do pray, amen.