The Post-Modern Apostolic - Cars Speeding to the Hospital - A Late 20th Century Retrospective

The Post Modern Apostolic - Cars Speeding to the Hospital - A Late 20th Century Retrospective

Folks, before we go much further, perhaps we should pause and look back. Humility requires learning from past mistakes.

The late 1960s into the mid-1970s was the era of the Charismatic Movement. Also during this time was The Jesus Movement. The two over-lapped. The Charismatic Movement, largely launched by an Episcopalian, Dennis Bennett, brought the renewal of the Charismatic experience to churches across the spectrum. In almost every mainstream denomination there was a small subset of "tongue-talkers and praise people." This was especially true in Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran circles. And while there were Spirit-filled Baptists most of them were shown the door by their denomination so they formed what they called the Third Wave Movement, and some called the Fullness Movement. Through the Jesus Movement during this same period came a revolution in music. Keith Green, Barry McQuire, and other born-again Hippies revolutionized praise and worship.

In the 1970s and 80s the most popular denomination in America was the Assemblies of God. The Faith Movement churches were exploding, too, and there was growth in the Foursquare denomination, but it was the Assemblies of God, led by Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, that raced to the fruit. While rooted in considerable legalism and control inherited from its old Pentecostal roots, the Assemblies incorporated just enough modern worship and focus on charismatic gifts to make themselves marketable to the public. Unfortunately, like all "movements," they strayed into hubris. In the late 1980s they launched an aggressive campaign called "The Decade of Harvest" where they ambitiously set goals for the 1990s that they'd never reach.

Various factors derailed the Assembly of God Express, notable among them, of course, were the "falls" of Bakker and Swaggart, but just as significant was the rise of the Prophetic Movement. Like most Pentecostal denominations, the Assemblies had put a focus on spiritual gifts. It was common in AG churches for someone to speak in tongues during the service and someone else to interpret. In this regard, the Assemblies were far more progressive than the Foursquare Churches, who seem embarrassed by "ecstatic utterance" and the Faith Churches who were myopic in their focus on "health and prosperity."

The Incredible 80s - The Birth of the Modern Prophetic Movement

For many of us, this period seems like yesterday. It is hard to believe that the Prophetic Movement is now almost 30 years old. The genesis of the movement can probably be accredited to two men. John Sandford and Bill Hamon. Though coming from different spiritual schools, each brought a new revelation of the prophetic office to the Body of Christ. What they brought wasn't new in nature, of course, there had been prophets for centuries, but it was new in its packaging and timing. The Office of the Prophet was openly taught during the Latter Rain Movement of the late 1940s and that discussion was forward into the Charismatic era by men like Bill Britton. But Sandford and Hamon were men for their times. Sandford's book, The Elijah Task, became almost a revolutionary manifesto.

The Prophetic Movement never set well with the Assemblies of God, and truthfully, still doesn't today. This anti-Prophet sentiment was true of all "Pentecostal/Charismatic" denominations and actually helped birth the last of the contemporary denominations, The Vineyard movement. Vineyard Churches, however, were not established on the present truth of the Prophetic Office. They were established on John Wimber's revelations that incorporated signs, wonders, and freer expressions of worship. In a way, they were Church Lite in style but Heavy with wonders. Their atmospheres were more relaxed. The Assemblies of God were in love with suits. Jackets and ties and a CEO-business approach was their norm. The Vineyard Churches more resembled Spirit-filled Beach Boys gathering near the shores to sing, surf, and do miracles. Their emphasis, again, was music.

The Prophetic Movement turned the old wineskin inside out. The Religious Church System had removed all five of the offices of Ephesians 4:11 during its Roman period. Pastors, evangelists, and teachers had slowly been returned to the Body only since The Reformation.

No one in the Pentecostal/Charismatic realm could deny that there were modern expressions of prophetic gifts -- truly, their denominations were based on that fact. But, the "office" of the prophet simply was not recognized and it certainly was not well-received when it came in a contemporary form in the 1980s.

As almost all of you know, the modern prophetic movement really got some wheels under its chassis in the early 1980s during the "Kansas City Prophets" era. The young and amazingly driven Mike Bickle changed all the rules when his growing Kansas City church embraced three prophets: Bob Jones, Paul Cain, and John Paul Jackson. For better and for worse, the Church has not been the same since.

At the same time much of the ministry focus of John and Paula Sandford turned to the heretical truth of "inner healing." Agnes Sanford, John and Paula's main mentor, as well as Ruth Carter Stapleton, President Jimmy Carter's sister, had been the early pioneers of "inner healing," a concept well-established now but was thoroughly heretical in the 70s and 80s. Bill Hamon, meanwhile, got wheels under his ministry with the technique of "activations." With a well-principled but simple formula, Hamon unleashed a pack of prophetic teachers who went about the country "activating" Christians into the spiritual gifts.

But, there was one major problem with the Hamon technique. Where were the suddenly "activated" prophets to go? Their training gave them a certain credibility and gravitas, but they were still neophytes. Activation techniques basically turned loose a flood of students with learner's permits. Like a 14-year-old kid behind the wheel of a 70's era muscle car, they often rammed three or four vehicles before they ever got settled in the church parking lot. Because of this, an Eleventh Commandment was established by most Charismatic churches: There shall be no parking lot prophecies.

What a wild and crazy time.

The re-establishment of the prophetic office brought increased attention to the verse in Ephesians 4:11. The "hand" revelation -- widely accredited to Bob Jones -- then circulated widely. You remember it: The Prophet is the index finger pointing the way, The Evangelist is the middle finger taking the lead, the Pastor is the ring finger married to the church, the Teacher is the little finger, cleaning the ear of the church, and the Apostle is the thumb, the least of all yet the greatest. People were literally running around announcing to one another what finger they were and if you wanted to listen, they'd tell you what finger you were! What a zoo! We are all fortunate that the Lord didn't release angels with butterfly nets to sweep us up and take us to a Heavenly Funny Farm.

The 90s - The Decade of Dreaded Doom, Delusional Dreams and the Unexpected in Toronto

If the 80s were crazy the 90s were simply off-the-charts.

During this decade, the Assemblies of God, which had been the rising star of old Pentecostalism, began careening into the ditch. The "falls" of Bakker, Swaggart, and other AG leaders had flattened its tires, but the main demise of the AG Movement can be traced to its own presumption. All through the 80s they had heralded "The Decade of Harvest" and like zealots at a Tupperware convention had listed actual goals for growth in church membership and church plantings worldwide. With the exceptions of some radical growth in South America and the Pacific Rim, notably Australia, the AG predictions simply did not come true.

The other Pentecostal denominations were suffering as well. The Foursquare folk had been carried on the broad shoulders of Jack Hayford, but one man can carry an old tradition, noble as it once was, only so far. The Faith Movement, unwilling to deal with its own excesses in selfishness, began to wane as well.

The Prophetic Movement, like a sprinter, was leaning toward the finish line and leaning always leads to problems, like stumbling.

Looming ahead of everyone during the 1990s was the dreaded Y2K. The year 2000 was coming! The masses were in a scramble mode. The Pre-Tribbers were convinced Jesus would return (no doubt riding the crystal ball down at Times Square as the clock struck midnight) while the Post-Tribbers were buying generators, storing food, and stocking up on .22 ammunition -- they weren't militant enough to stock up on .223 or .308 ammo, they only wanted to waste squirrels and rabbits, not foreign invaders. Of course, Y2K came and went and nobody really noticed. The clocks changed from 11:59 to 12:00 and computers didn't crash, Jesus didn't return, and a lot of people owned extra generators that could be bought for pennies on the dollar at local garage sales.

The 90s were significant, good and bad, for two other things: the unexpected outbreak of the Holy Spirit at the Toronto Airport Fellowship and the announcement by some that the "apostolic" had come.

Most of you are familiar with the Toronto outpouring so I will not go into detail. Its effects, though, were worldwide and will be felt for decades to come. In its own way, it slammed the door on the Charismatic/Pentecostal era. No matter how far you tried to stretch your paradigms, you simply could not fit the Toronto manifestations into the old Charismatic/Pentecostal wineskin -- Brownsville, blessed as it was, not being an exception -- to even attempt to do so, as many thousands of churches did, was worse than futility.

From a "reaping-and-sowing" standpoint, more important to the long-term health of the Church was the declaration by some that the decades of the 90s was the decade of "the office of the Apostle." Quite simply, leaders in the Prophetic Movement failed to learn from their brothers in the Assemblies of God and the disaster they reaped with their Decade of Harvest. Almost like using the "hand" revelation as a template, church leaders attempted again to not only put God in a box, but the anti-dispensation crowd embraced their own dispensationalism. Simply put, they announced this: The 1950s had been The Decade of the Pastor with its symbol being the Shepherding Movement; the 1960s was the Decade of the Evangelist, represented by the Jesus Movement; the 1970s was The Decade of the Teacher, represented by the Faith Movement and technology (cassette tapes!!!!); the 1980s was obviously The Prophetic Movement decade, and so, by logic, the 1990s was The Decade of the Apostle.

Like all movements, there was good and bad in this. Wheat and tares. The good seed was a focus on a basic question: "Exactly what is a modern-day apostle?"

The bad seed came with the hasty responses, and much of this typified by the Robert Duvall movie, by the same title, "The Apostle."

The Hasty Responses:

You were an apostle if you oversaw a church of several thousand.

You were an apostle if you had ever performed a miracle.

You were an apostle if you pioneered new spiritual works.

You were an apostle if you had territorial authority (of which we have only a vague understanding, even today)

You were an apostle if your influence extended into other countries, especially overseas.

You were an apostle if you had an unusual amount of determination, perseverance, and patience. (Stubbornness?)

Apostolic Networks began springing up like mushrooms after a big rain. Soon the standards changed, the bar was lowered.

By the late 1990s the New Hasty Responses were:

You were an apostle if you had ever been "sent" anywhere (including to the grocery store for eggs and milk)

You were an apostle if you wanted to perform miracles

You were an apostle if you were a church pastor but wanted to stay "boss," and you thought being an apostle would guarantee your control.

You were an apostle if you published a magazine or newsletter or started a school or training center

You were an apostle if you went to an "Apostolic Conference" and stood in the right prayer line

You were an apostle if your denomination told you so, even if they didn't believe in modern apostles

And finally, you were an apostle if you told yourself you were an apostle.

Now don't get me wrong. The modern apostolic was being birthed in the 1990s, but it was still in the womb. The problem was, every spiritually-ambitious soul on the planet was convinced they were pregnant with the apostolic, that delivery was imminent, and they were all racing to the hospital for the miraculous birth!

It was spiritual NASCAR! Thousands of ministry "vehicles" speeding to the hospital for delivery even though the Church was only three-months pregnant!

In their rush to be the First Baby of the New Year, they sped through red lights, rolled through stop signs, sped the wrong way on one-way streets and ran over more than a few pedestrians. If the police tried to stop them they flashed their Apostolic Badge and raced on their way.

Sadly, their main victims, the poor pedestrians just trying to walk their walk, were shepherds and sheep.

In their rush to establish the Apostolic according to their own timetable, the main casualty though was the emerging Prophetic Church. Suddenly, it wasn't cool to be a "prophetic church." That was an old wineskin. Everyone had to be apostolic. Thousands of pastors raced to Apostolic Breeding Grounds (also known as conferences) so they might return to their flock with a new rod of authority.

This is a true story: At one Apostolic/Prophetic conference -- I was there as a speaker representing the Prophetic -- I visited with a couple of pastors from neighboring towns. They told me: "We are here to become apostles because we have to control the prophetic and we don't want to lose control of our churches."

Where Are We Now - One Decade Post-Y2K?

So what did the 1990s unleash, what was the fruit of this supposedly "apostolic" womb?

First, let's parse between nouns and adjectives. There are many "apostlic" people and "apostolic" works on the planet today. Apostolic is an adjective.

How many actual apostles are there? I don't know. There have always been some because the Lord has always had a Remnant, a seed.

But what are we to learn as our (my) 20/20 vision peers reflectively?

I think there are two things to understand.

First of all, let's stop putting God in our American box. Whenever we reduce something to a slogan or a buzzword, or try to capitalize on it via books, CDs, and conferences, we are already disqualified for actually being a part of the message. You can't serve God and mammon, too.

Just as people foolishly tried to market "the prophetic" and "the apostolic," they are now doing the same with "the Kingdom."

Guess what? The Kingdom is not for sale. I know that's a radical concept, but I think we better begin understanding it. The Kingdom simply is not for sale. It is not a linear progression of our concept of church history. It is not as simple as saying The Pastor begat the Evangelist who begat The Teacher who begat the Prophet who begat the Apostle who Begot the Saints Movement (and I haven't even touched on that) which begot The Kingdom.

That linear concept might even have some truth, but it it does, it is in God's Box, not ours.

Second of all, WE REAP WHAT WE SOW. Imagine the prophetic movement as a toddler in his parents' front yard. Suddenly mom and dad go rushing to the hospital screaming: "We're going to have the Apostolic, we are going to have the Apostolic!" They rush off to the hospital and never return. They leave their toddler for the wolves.

The presumptuous ordaining and commissioning of modern Apostles has released a pack of Haman-like wolves into the Body of Christ. Many thousands of true, if immature, prophets are currently living in their Cave of Adullum because that is the only safe place for them. Some have already perished.

I say this with sadness, but there is a judgment coming because of the presumption of the church. Because God is just, I believe the judgment will come only to those responsible people who fail to repent.

The Good News is this: Jesus.

That's right. Jesus. He's the one who seems to be always forgotten in this wild dash to build Him a church. But He will build and He will rule and the Kingdom and All Authority is His.

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