In my recent studies I have come across some resources that explain this NAR in depth. One of the best of these is a 2014 book by Douglas Geivett and Holly Pivec entitled A New Apostolic Reformation?. It is in-depth, loving in tone, professional.

But a warning. Though I encourage you to find and buy this book, you need to know that the authors have a certain bent toward the doctrine of the gifts of the Spirit being available in our day. I still want to use their material with you, to make a point.

The point is, if these charismatic leaning authors are sounding the alarm about NAR, the rest of us ought to take notice, for sure. NAR has an agenda. They have been working on it for years. Much of it has been accomplished. Men of God need to call their people to pray against them finishing what they have started.

I suppose, if anything, the book’s tone, which I call loving above, may be a bit too nice. It’s possible, you know. Paul’s tone was not too nice when false apostles appeared.

One other note about charismatics who have serious problems with NAR. People of the tongues persuasion can’t complain about NAR’s unneeded apostles as long as they are willing to help resurrect unneeded tongues, the gift that started this entire run decades ago.

All of that said, let’s take a look at their work, in summary fashion, and therefore at the New Apostolic Reformation, which we will simply call “NAR” from this point.

Chapter One. Some definitions and explanations. The term NAR comes from one of the chief architects of the movement, C. Peter Wagner. He totally believes that since 2001 we have been in the “Second Apostolic Age.”

That says a whole lot already. Stand by. It does not get better.

The leaders of NAR believe they are “restoring the lost office of apostle to the church.” In the process, the way we do church will eventually change. Forever. And usher in the return of Christ.

NAR believes that apostles and prophets were somehow suppressed in the early centuries, thus keeping the work of Christ from being done. We need the apostles back.

The apostles, when they have full reign over the church (that’s your church and mine, and all churches), will be able to raise the end-time army spoken of in Joel [really?]. It will be an invincible army, and combined with the huge transfer of wealth that is coming around the same time, Christians will finally have the resources and people to take over the world. For Jesus.

They also believe that it is Christians who will actually be calling down the plagues of Revelation, before Jesus comes.

Don’t believe all this? You’re being controlled by the “spirit of religion” and better get out of the way soon!

The authors point out that this is not the first movement that has surfaced to restore apostles to the church. The Irvingites of the 1830’s, not to mention the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses who came a little later, did the same. And Rome has had bishops all along that are supposedly successors to the apostles. A very popular doctrine.

The Latter Rain folks came into view just after World War II. William Branham, George Warnock. They taught the “manifested sons of God” doctrine loosely based on some words of Paul in Romans. These people and their successors today have taught that some Christians will reach immortality before the return of the Lord.

But never has there been something of the scope of NAR. It has Latter Rain/Irvingite in its DNA but a lot more. It all resurfaced in the 1980’s. “Prophets” appeared and began their messages to unsuspecting charismatics. Bob Jones. Paul Cain. Both discredited from the ministry on moral grounds, but both hailed by NAR as heroes to this day.

These were the so-called Kansas City Prophets. Add Mike Bickle, John Wimber to the growing list of men associated with the movement.

Just for the record, true apostles never left people unhealed, once they prayed. True apostles never even had healing meetings. They worked clearly identifiable miracles, not as showmen but as God’s men. And they were relentlessly persecuted to the death.

Chapter 2. Unimaginable growth. We must quickly come to the present (2014). Soon, they say, the size of this movement of NAR or Independent churches will overtake the Protestant Church’s numbers.

They have their own music, which your church may be buying and singing, helping to support the movement indirectly. They have their own Bible, the Passion Translation. They connect with denominational churches, sometimes taking them over. My own home church suffered this fate.

Their books are everywhere. A wild but informed guess as to the number of adherents, one way or another, to this movement is 66 million.

This is not a fringe group. They even have begun to have political power, albeit choosing the wrong candidates at times. Men like Charles Colson, James Dobson, and Mike Huckabee have participated in their events.

Chapter 3. Mainstreaming. These people are serious. They want to infiltrate every aspect of society. They’re all over the media. Read about them regularly in Charisma magazine. Publishers grow rich over selling (and you buying) NAR books. Think, Bill Johnson. The Elijah List promotes NAR on the Internet. They have their own educational institutions and have classes in universities already established. They invite well-known non-NAR preachers to speak at their functions. And the preachers agree to do it! Think Francis Chan, Jack Hayford, Josh McDowell. Thousands upon thousands of young people and little children are being taught the ways of NAR.

Chapters 4-9. Apostles.This is the central teaching. The movement rises or falls on this one item. Are there apostles today? These authors divide Biblical apostles into “apostles of Christ” and “apostles of the church.” They clearly prove that there are no apostles of Christ alive on earth today. Those men would have undeniably miraculous powers, they would have seen and been commissioned by Jesus Himself, not voted into office. NAR has nothing of this sort.

And they were foundation-layers. Once the foundation is laid, the apostle and the prophet too are finished. As tongues were first century phenomena, so apostles (of Christ). They’re gone. And we must deal with their replacement!

Gone, did I say? Not really. Their teachings are with us constantly. And their names, do you see them, they are on the foundations of the New Jerusalem. Oh, they live! We will not replace them. Ever.

Apostles of the churches, that is, men unlike the 12 and Paul, who simply were “sent” here and there to do God’s work. We have such men everywhere today, and don’t need another class of them to arise. The church has been sending out apostles/missionaries from its inception and will continue to do so.

These lesser apostles do not lay a new foundation for the church, but they preach the same Jesus, they teach the original apostles’ doctrines. They cause people to have faith in what was already done. Miracles do occur, demons are cast out, all of this by simple faith that anyone can have.

If the NAR apostles are anything, they are of this latter kind. But they will not accept this fact. They believe that they are to have the same authority and respect and obedience that the original twelve had.

They claim not to have Scripture-writing power, that there are no new doctrines coming through them, but it is clear that the entire doctrine of apostles for today, and the various methods of evangelizing that they insist upon, are teachings well beyond Scriptural boundaries.

NAR apostles lack one other quality of the first century breed: persecution, torture, death. These are ordinary men with thousands of “fans” everywhere they go.

As the authors describe the hierarchy of apostles being called for, one can only think of the Papacy of Rome.

My own quick observation on apostles, and the next section, prophets: The argument for their cessation is as clear as the argument for the cessation of tongues, namely, they ceased. They passed their work on to elders/pastors and were not needed any longer. The foundation was laid.