TDQ - thediscernerquarterly

The Axe of

The Apostles

-3-

dominionism by directive

we began this series of articles in 2018. parts 3 - 5 were not written. until now.

In the good old biblical days, one was born into The Levitical Priesthood & into The Royal Household. Not so with The Prophets though. The Lord’s ways of calling His chosen vessels was as diverse as the vessels themselves. No man takes this honour to himself, or at least, they’re not meant to. Paul says, ‘Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:8-13). In my brief time within The Church, I don’t know that I’ve ever met a genuine, bonafide Apostle or Prophet. I’ve only known a handful of real Pastors, four Evangelists & a small number of actual Bible Teachers. Beyond that, there have been any number of individuals who have swung these titles about their shoulders like a cape, based on the popularised teachings of the day. As a Pentecostal, I know that there was rarely any teaching concerning what actually constituted the roles of the ministries listed in Ephesians 4. Perhaps the blind, sycophantic striving of Pentecostalism to be recognised by Rome caused them to casually miss the gathering waters of restorationism that were swelling around their ankles. But whatever they missed was swiftly picked up by others. More than a little pride dripped from the brows of its preachers though, with Penties swift to recount their own particular history of revivals. With isolation & insulation like that, who needed to keep up with anyone else? Pentecostals were still busy basking in the glories & stories of Azusa Street. There wasn’t room for anything else.

Little did they know that a mere forty or so years after its inception, Azusa would be viewed by proponents of The Latter Rain & its theology in the same light that Pentecostals viewed nominal Christianity. Dry. As The Latter Rain grew, stark doctrinal differences became apparent between the two movements & in late 1949 the Assemblies of God denomination in The United States disavowed them completely. Ouch.

In 1981, when I first came to Christ, the Restoration Movement was already in full swing & had been since some point during the multiplied branching out of Charismatic fellowships in the 1960s. Believers that I came to know beyond the embers of Pentecostalism, were meeting in small groups in homes for prayer & Bible study. This group had come to be known as The House Church Movement for this very reason, but their mandate was Restorationism, as a means to attain Dominion. In the United States however, the pattern was slightly different, broadly speaking. Although fellowships were started in homes, once these groups outgrew house settings, they abandoned the home model & went to what they thought of as the next level.

The home model granted a tentative biblical lineage to the movement, because it could be claimed that they were following a scriptural pattern from Acts 2. Of course, this was a convenient set up for the introduction of a fundamental facet of the movement’s mandate; apostolic leadership & prophetic guidance.

In 1985, a small book came into my hands, on loan from a friend. This book was called The Coming Restoration, by Kenneth. E. Hagin. It’s a small but significant book within the context of our discussion, especially given the movement & activity during the 1980s & the state of the restoration movement within The Church at large. I suggest that you read it for yourself. Don’t buy it! Download it for free in PDF. Hagin, who was consolidated within the Charismatic movement as a New Testament Prophet, wrote the following:

‘..In Ephesians 4:11, you’ll find that when Christ ascended on High, He gave gifts to men: some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting—or maturing—of the Body of Christ. Our mistake has been that we’ve only recognized three of these ministry gifts: the pastor, the evangelist, and the teacher. For the Church to ever be what She ought to be, and for us to have the ministry and do the work God intended, we must have the manifestation of the fivefold ministry. We must recognize the ministry gifts, honour them, and permit them to function in the way God wants them to function..’.

Conveniently, dear old brother Hagin tells us that we can have an in depth look at these things in his publication The Ministry Gifts. Aww, shucks. Cheers Ken. We’re left to come to our own conclusion here & fill in the blanks. Without stating anything explicitly, Hagin says that it’s the fault of The Church for neglecting Apostles & Prophets, but good old God has prepared the way for their dramatic return to the scene. Hagin wasn’t the first to plant these prophetic seeds though & as a matter of fact, he had been present during the high points of the ministry of the aforementioned William Marrion Branham, even predicting his death. Apparently. Nevertheless, Branham’s tenure oversaw the laying of false foundations by & for false apostles. The World Religions & Spirituality Project made the following keen observations:

‘Much Latter Rain teaching is central in numerous contemporary movements, such as the Vineyard Churches, The Kansas City Prophets, and the Toronto and Lakeland Revivals, as well as hundreds of independent neo-Pentecostal churches. Of particular contemporary interest are two teachings of the movement that can be traced back to William Branham, teachings that are still widely held, despite not being prominent in the early life of the movement. The first is a powerful sense of a restoration of the attributes of the early church in preparation for the end times, including the ‘Five-fold gifts of the Spirit’: prophets, apostles, elders, preachers, and teachers (as outlined in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians). Prophets and apostles, it is understood, hold authority directly from God. The second is also an end-times prophecy, that the most devoted members will become ‘The Manifest Sons of God,’ forming an undefeatable and immortal army that is able to overcome all obstacles to bring all people into geographically organized single churches in preparation for the reign of the Lord. This prophecy is the basis for the Joel’s Army (or Overcomers), a phenomenon that has become prominent in recent years.’.

John C. Petersen, The New Latter Rain Movement, 2014 (emphasis added).

Restoration of gifts. Restoration of apostles. Restoration of prophets. Restoration of truths. I’m surprised that no one took it upon themselves to predict that there would be a restoration of restoration itself. The whole thing became even more ridiculous than ever, with multiplied & often conflicting prophecies concerning what The Lord was going to do in the coming move of The Spirit. It was confusing, to say the least. Ultimately, the goal was to lead The Church to revival before the return of Christ. Deer. Headlights. Oops. The question has to be asked; how had we survived for centuries without apostolic & prophetic ministry & what difference will their reconstitution make?

Well, I’m sorry to shatter any illusions that you may have, but the truth is that apostles & prophets don’t need to be restored to The Church; they never left. If only Kenneth Hagin had read his own books. If he had, he would know this.

If we take up his invitation to read The Ministry Gifts, we will see what he claims The Lord Jesus Christ told him personally. Hagin taught, The Lord Jesus is Apostle & High Priest (Hebrews 3:1). No one will ever take His place. Agreed. There were the original Apostles of The Lamb (Revelation 12:14). That group of men were exclusive. Agreed. There were Apostles who laid foundation, Paul being one of them (1^st Corinthians 3:10-11; Ephesians 2:20). The foundation cannot be laid again. Agreed.

‘The Lord said to me in a visitation which took place in July 1987 that there were four classes of apostles and that each class of apostle had a different anointing…There are no apostles today in the three classes listed...There are no foundation laying apostles today…A missionary who is really called of God and sent by the Holy Ghost is an apostle…The New Testament never mentions missionaries, yet it is an important office. It is here in the office of an apostle…The missionary will have the ability of all the ministry gifts.’.

So then if we cut to the chase, the apostolic ministry that is going to be restored to The Church at large, will be that of a super powered missionary? Well, either Hagin’s Jesus is confused, or dear old Ken is lying. Of course, there is a fifth class of Apostle; the false one.

But what about the restoration of the ministry of the Prophet? Afterall, we can’t have The Church limping along as if it were missing a foot, can we? According to Kenneth Hagin, ‘The prophet's ministry is inspirational. He speaks by direct, divine inspiration and revelation…The prophet is to inspire the teacher.’ (Kenneth Hagin, The Ministry Gifts, Copyright © 1992 RHEMA Bible Church aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc. emphasis added). Excuse me while I scratch my head & rub my chin. Ken doesn’t supply any biblical evidence for his statements. Probably because there isn’t any. I thought we had direct, Divine revelation in Scripture. I also thought that God’s Word inspired the teacher. Silly me. Hagin continues:

‘In February 1959, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me and spoke to me one and a half hours about the ministry of a prophet. That vision is told in some detail in my book, I Believe in Visions…A prophet is one who has visions and revelations…What constitutes the office of a prophet? Commenting on what the New Testament Greek says concerning the prophet, an outstanding Greek scholar said, "He speaks from the impulse of a sudden inspiration, from the light of a sudden revelation at the moment. The idea Of speaking from sudden revelation seems here to be fundamental, as relating either to future events, or the mind of the Spirit in general."…There is a similarity between the prophet's ministry of the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, the prophet under the New Testament does not have the same status as the prophet under the Old Testament…’. (Kenneth Hagin, The Ministry Gifts, Copyright © 1992 RHEMA Bible Church aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc. emphasis added).

If this is all true, why do modern dominionists ignore what Jesus is supposed to have said to Kenneth Hagin & insist that the new wave will be led by ruling apostles & prophets? Well, I’ll give you one reason; people became bored. Were we really going to wait for super powered missionaries & demoted diviners? That isn’t very appealing. Taking the working components of word of faith mythology, charismania went back to the drawing board & drafted something else. Maybe Jesus had changed His mind after speaking to Kenneth. Maybe Kenneth wasn’t telling the truth. Either way, dominionism was struggling within its chrysalis, waiting to emerge, spread its wings & fly. The Church at large was soon to see the advent of the New Apostolic Reformation.

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Saturday, 31 January 2026