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Know the Truth and Spot the Deception
Cold Open: Someone Walks Up and Says They're an Apostle
Somebody approaches you saying that they are an apostle or a prophet. How do you know if they are telling the truth? That's the question on the table. The show is called No Apology, and the meaning is simple. As Christians who take the Bible seriously, who understand it is Sola Scriptura — the Bible alone is our final authority and it is sufficient — we don't have to apologize. We are here to proclaim with joy, with hope, with happiness as we walk out our faith.
And when you have prophets and apostles in the Bible, you don't need to diminish them. The problem is when modern people claim those titles. You hear things like, "I'm an apostle. I'm going to cover you and send you out. Watch out for the shifting and the shaking that's going on. Touch not God's anointed. There will be rebuking." And a lot of rebuking going on. That kind of talk makes the prophets and the apostles of the Bible fallible and non-authoritative. Almost meaningless. It takes the scriptures and twists them into whatever the speaker wants them to be.
So the teaching today is going back to the source. Today's show is not a variety talk show. It is a class. Silence your cell phones. No chewing gum. Focus now. You can chew gum. I don't care. Let's go.
Three Keys Before You Open the Bible
Before a single verse gets read, three principles need to be in place. They are basic. They are foundational. The kind of foundational that comes before hermeneutics and homiletics in seminary, and the kind of foundational that we forget somewhere between first grade and college.
Here's what happens. We start in kindergarten learning to read and do math. We learn two plus two is four, and we can count on that for the rest of our lives. But by the time people get into college, we have professors convincing grown adults that the chair they are sitting on isn't real. Like, are we really here? Oh, like, it's nonsense. The more educated we get, the smarter we get, but it depends on what you are educating yourself with. So let's go back to the basics. Two plus two is four.
Key 1: Descriptive and Prescriptive
There are two kinds of scripture, and every single verse falls into one of those two categories. It either describes a thing or an event, or it actually tells us to do something. Think of it like a prescription. A prescription to get better. You have to take it. Take two and call me in the morning.
Not every verse is prescriptive, and not every verse is descriptive. The vast majority of them are descriptive. This is human history from beginning to end. It is written to us about Jesus, so we can see the history of mankind, the fallen nature, the need of a savior, the fact you can't save yourself, and then the incredible grace that is Jesus. Everything is to promote Jesus as being the supreme being in all of the world.
Key 2: Context
The way you get context is by reading extensively around whatever passage you are studying. Verses surrounding it, chapters before, chapters after. Or other passages throughout scripture that deal with the same word or phrase. Compare and contrast. How is it used? Is it consistent throughout scripture?
Key 3: How Would the Original Hearers Have Understood It?
If the interpretation would not have been intelligible to the first audience, the interpretation is wrong.
A simple illustration. He pulled up to the pump and filled up. They would have been able to translate the words "pulled." What would that mean? "Pump" — what would that mean? "Up" is one of the wildest words in the English language. We understand that as somebody fueling a transportation vehicle. Would the original audience have been able to understand the same thing?
Same with new wine and old wineskins. When you hear wineskins, you are thinking about a little teardrop Spanish wine bottle. That is not what it was. It was two goat skins tied together, holding gallons and gallons of wine. You had to put new wine into new wineskins because the elasticity would ferment and expand, and then you'd have the batches of wine. If you put it into old wineskins, the elasticity is already gone. It would burst. That is understanding the concept, understanding the context, and then understanding how it applies. If you are a female over 40, you know exactly what that means.
So two kinds of scripture, descriptive and prescriptive. We're going to practice those today. Getting the context, we are also going to practice that today. And then, how would the original hearers have understood it? Those are three really important things to keep in mind as you open God's word and begin reading.
The End Has an Itch
Second Timothy, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4:
"For a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths."
This is a reality of the end times. Are you willing to accept that, because that is what is going to happen. Look around. Are you seeing people changing what Christianity has always maintained throughout human history into something new and special they are just going to create? That is exactly what is going on.
A lot of times you will hear everybody quote that verse. And everyone else has itching ears. We have the truth. Exactly. You really have to ask yourself, what is the descriptive and prescriptive nature of the overall theology being portrayed? Walk the narrow road. If there is anything peripheral, get rid of it.
One of the things that is peripheral is our great understanding. Anybody seeking, claiming, jonesing for special revelation — red flag. Red flag. Run for your life. Danger, Will Robinson. Danger.
Even If an Angel Preaches
Galatians 1:8:
"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed."
The bottom line is this: if an angel preaches to you and it does not line up with the gospel laid out in scripture, you are supposed to run for your life. Even an angel. Because we can have incorrect interpretations, but then when somebody says "Jesus spoke to me" or "an angel appeared to me" or "Isaiah came to my bedroom," we tend to think — gasps — oh, really, that must be really real. No. No. You cannot trust your experiences. Experiences can be very deceiving.
When you look at the near-death experience people, the ones who have spent time in heaven, there is a new kid out there named Gabe and his whole thing has so many holes in it. We had the unique privilege of having Don Piper on the show for 30 minutes back in the day when his book was number one. The 90 Kid came on our show. Whatever that one was. And here is what we found out in doing a little bit of extra research, standing on the shoulders of others who have done research. Many of these people have been in comas or in drug-induced states, and so they see and hear things out of their subconscious that most likely is not coming from God.
If you have an experience where you get to go to heaven and get a glimpse for 10 or 15 minutes, it has to line up 100% with the scriptures. And one other thing would absolutely happen. You wouldn't try to make money on it. Heaven would be so glorious that you would want to share the testimony, but you would want to point people aggressively to the scriptures. The problem is when people build a brand on it. Christianity does not need your help. It does not need my help. The Bible is all the help God gave all of us.
What a Prophet Actually Is
A prophet is a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. You are speaking for the Lord.
Any prophet who does not have 100% accuracy is not a prophet. They are delusional. They are deceived. They think they are something they are not. Anybody that deals with Bethel Church out in Redding, California, you need to understand you are practicing something that is not biblical, nor is it anything from the actual Creator God.
The familiar dodge: "God's word is pure and perfect, but when it comes down it goes through a rusty pipe, which is our sin nature, so that is why we get things wrong once in a while." Nice excuse, homeboy. It just doesn't fly. It makes God completely insufficient. If God speaks to you to speak, it is 100% accurate all of the time. In the Old Testament, they would take people who claimed a word from God that turned out to be false, and they would drag them into the streets and stone them to death. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways. I joke. I'm sorry.
The Word Became Flesh
John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 14. This is a long passage, but it sets everything up for where we are going.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
These are descriptive verses. It is telling us about an event. John is writing about the fact that Jesus is God. He has come to earth. We have borne witness to him. That is the truth.
So what was at the very beginning? The Word. Who was with the Word? God. Who is the Word? God. God and the Word cannot be separated. Either God said it or he didn't. There is no wiggle room there.
Verses 6 through 8 are about John the Baptist, who is not the light. He is just bearing witness to the light. Verse 14 is the verse that does the heavy lifting. The Word became flesh. Eyewitnesses beheld his glory, this perfection. This passage, along with a lot of other passages, points to the supremacy of Christ, the all-sufficient Christ. It is complete. It is made full. There is nothing in addition to Christ himself, the Word made flesh to eyewitnesses, that needs to be done or said or experienced. Nothing but believed. That's it. It is complete. Jesus was the completion of God's revelation.
Prophets Were Long Ago
Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4:
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."
We live to make his name great. It is so disturbing, depressing, off-putting when people try to claim the same level of Jesus when they have their significance as being an apostle or being a prophet. It is like, do you not understand how humble you really need to be? You deserve God's wrath to be poured on you. I'm going to go all pastor from the pulpit right now for just like 30 seconds.
You deserve God's wrath. You do. I do. Emilee does. Emilee very much so. And Jesus took that wrath upon himself for us as our substitute. Why is he worthy to do that? What does he get out of all this? The whole Bible is about God preparing a bride for his Son. We get redeemed. We get plucked off the salvage pile. We get made new. New creations. We just want to try to live out faithfully. And part of living out faithfully is being a good Berean of the scriptures, being into the word of God and understanding — oh, I might have been wrong here. I might have been wrong there. You start washing it all away and it comes down to: Jesus is great. He is awesome. He is everything, and we ain't much. That is a different perspective than what the false prophets and the false apostles lead to, which is — it's all about you.
These are descriptive verses. There is nothing here telling us to do anything. It is telling us what has happened and what God has done already. The very first sentence: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets." He talked to their fathers long ago. So when people say "we are supposed to still have prophets and apostles," that does not mean new ones. In fact, Jesus in the New Testament somewhere says the prophets ended with John the Baptist.
The Prophet Line Ended at John
Luke 16:16:
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it."
The prophets were only until the time of John. Of course you are going to read about prophets a little bit into the New Testament, but then eventually they die out. There are no new prophets. If there were prophets, the New Testament epistles would have completely spelled out how the church is supposed to function under their authority. They don't. They explain how the church functions under elders, deacons, pastors, and teachers. The silence is the answer.
This is a descriptive verse and we see a transition from the prophets to the proclamation of the gospel. Teachers. Preachers. Evangelists. Things like that. Some people want to twist the word prophet and mean preacher. Why don't you just use the word preacher? What's wrong with that? Because prophet makes me feel better. I'm more important when I do my rebuking and sifting and shaking.
And that is exactly what is happening in the hypercharismatic Pentecostal movement. They are taking on the role or the title of apostle or prophet, and they are placing themselves between you and God. I got this little authoritative title position here, that you are under me now. Including pastors. Pastors are supposed to be under the apostles and the prophets. Wrong. Jesus did away with that. Remember the veil was torn. We have access. Not just the prophets and apostles of old, not just the pastors and the teachers of today, but you and me through Christ Jesus — we have direct access to our heavenly Father. That is the good news. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
When false teachers claim to be an apostle, you ask them what proof they have. God told me. Right. Oh, happy day. That is not proof of anything. Look, I'm Batman. God told me I'm Batman. Yeah, so you can call me Bruce. You can call me Bruce Wayne if you'd like. But yeah, that is how ridiculous it really is at its core. When they are talking to people, when they are teaching that they are apostles and they have authority, it literally sounds really good to the untrained ear. So the plea is to get trained. Understand descriptive and prescriptive Bible verses. Understand passages of the Bible. Understand that Jesus is fully sufficient by himself, and you have direct access to him, and the Bible is sufficient in all matters of faith and trust in the Lord.
The prophets of old had a criteria. If they proclaimed something and it didn't happen, you are a false prophet. If they proclaimed something and it didn't line up with the Torah, you are a false prophet. The criteria had to bear itself out. It had to prove itself out. When it comes to the apostles, how were they proven? Eyewitnesses to what Jesus handpicked. He handpicked the apostles and sent them out. I am an eyewitness to that. That is how I know it is true. So when somebody today says, "Well, God told me and so you have to believe me because God told me" — that is like saying, "Well, I'm telling you the truth." "How do I know you are telling me the truth?" "Because I am telling you that I am telling you the truth." It is redonkulous on the surface of it.
The Word Shift: Prophet to Teacher
Second Peter 2:1:
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction."
Look at the grammar. False prophets also arose among the people. Past tense. He is talking about false prophets. There were false prophets among the people. Just as there will be — now we are talking about future tense — false teachers. Because there are no more prophets. They were until the time of John.
The remainder of that verse is also very key. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master. The word "even" is doing the work. Denying the Master is the epitome of the heresies they bring in. Denying that Christ is the Christ. Denying that Jesus is God. But there are lots of other heresies that build up to that. They proclaim Jesus's name, but a whole bunch of heresies come in with it. That is just the epitome. So heresy — you are soaking in it. Hopefully you can understand why the change in verbiage, from prophets to teachers, preachers.
Scripture Is Sufficient
Second Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17:
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
Every good work. In other words, the Scripture is complete. The Scripture is sufficient. The Scripture is everything we need to know about God. There is no new revelation. There is no new "God told me to tell the church." There is no new "I went to heaven and God gave me an assignment to come back and tell all you." No. Already done. Jesus did it. John did it. Paul did it — and didn't even talk about it. So, who are you to say that you are going to speak in that manner?
If you ask God to give you eyes to see and ears to hear, because you have surrendered your life to him and accepted Jesus as the substitute, taking the wrath you were supposed to get, you will be able to see things so clearly. It will just pop off the page when people are talking. Even this show. Even any other preacher, myself included. You will hear where they might be going off the rails. Nobody is infallible. Everybody can have moments where they put themselves into the text. That is called eisogesis. We are supposed to exegete the text. That is where coming along and being teachers, just knowing what is for our salvation.
Contend for the Faith
Jude, verse 3:
"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints."
Is this prescriptive or descriptive? It is prescriptive. It is a prescription telling us to do something. We get to do something. What does it tell us to do? Contend for the faith. That is our instruction. But there is a really interesting phrase in there. Once for all. Contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. In all — what does "all" mean? It kind of means like "all." "Once" means one. The faith has been delivered. It is done. It is complete. This is it.
The Apostle Paul was just one of the apostles that went out sharing their eyewitness of Jesus, and it could be verified.
The Worst Words in Scripture
Matthew 7:22–23:
"On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I profess to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"
Worst words in all of Scripture. To me, you might find others that come close, but this is the worst moment in all of history. You think you have a faith. You are deceived. The enemy has deceived you into thinking. This screams the Pentecostals who are so full of themselves and full of their special revelation. It breaks my heart. I just want them to see the true gospel. When we try to preach that we ain't much and Jesus is everything, that doesn't fill chairs at the church. You've got bonafide incredible teachers that have a hundred thousand subscribers and they get fifty thousand views on their YouTubes. And then you have these false teachers that have a couple million subscribers and they get eight hundred thousand views in the first four days of posting something. It breaks my heart because it is people looking for the juice. They want the juice. And it is like, you have the juice when you have Jesus. It just doesn't look like what you think it is supposed to look like because you have bought a counterfeit.
When we used to do standup comedy shows and do a devotional, I did two scriptures. I did Titus 3:3–7 and I did this one. Go home and check this out. If this doesn't sober you up to make sure you test yourself to see that you are in the faith, examine yourself, says the scriptures. "Lord, didn't I say the prayer? Didn't I do the thing?" And it is like, now we are making it so hard that like, who can possibly be saved? Exactly. Who can? Nobody. Nobody can be saved except for by the grace of Jesus. So you go all in on faith in Christ and his perfect life, his sacrificial death as our substitute, and his victory over death, hell, and the grave at the resurrection.
So take a breath. Many, many on that day will say, "Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these things in your name?" He is going to say, "I don't know you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers." Strong language. But first, look at the kind of verse this is. Descriptive. It is describing an event that is going to come. This is going to happen. What can we glean from this event he has graciously let us in on?
Look at what they are claiming. "I did this. I did that. Didn't I do this? And didn't I do that?" That is a very works-orientated faith. Faith in self. You can tell a lot about people not just from what they do say, but also from what they don't say. They didn't say, "Lord, Lord, didn't we trust you for the forgiveness of our sins? Lord, Lord, didn't we believe on your name? Lord, Lord, didn't you die in our place, believe on the cross for our atonement." No, no, no. They didn't say any of it. It is all about what they do.
Go back to the fall of Satan. "I will become like God. I will do the things that God does. I will lift myself up. I, I, I, me, myself, and I." The pronouns are the tell. The whole passage is really very telling. He calls them lawbreakers. That is harsh. This is a prime example of someone who, in the verse we read earlier, denies the master who bought them. They are not talking about the master. They are talking about me, myself, and I. And I will do this and I will do that, and I did these great things. It is focused on signs, wonders, miracles. It is a false gospel.
Every book in the New Testament except one warns of false teachers and false gospels. They wandered away from the gospel that was originally taught. That is the apostate church. When someone is committing heresy, to call them a heretic is considered rude. When somebody is doing apostate-church type stuff, to call them apostate is considered off-putting and not loving the way Jesus would love the sinner. I don't understand that. Read Matthew 23. Jesus goes Mussolini from the balcony on all of the Pharisees. It is a real thing to stand up and say, "No, no, no." Especially if you love people.
The Self-Serving Faith
The fall of Satan is the original template. "I will become like God. I will do the things that God does. I will lift myself up." I, I, me, myself, and I.
The same pronouns show up in the modern self-styled prophet. "God told me." "I have a word for you." "I have authority over this region." "I will rebuke. I will bind. I will sift. I will shake." The whole vocabulary is a personal pronoun. The faith is being centered on the speaker.
The biblical faith is centered on the Savior. He is the radiance of God's glory. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. He made purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The pronouns in the Bible are he, him, his. The pronouns in the false teaching are I, me, my.
Some really dear folks who I absolutely adore are sucked into this Pentecostal nonsense, and they are easily in their testimony giving way to me, me, I, I, instead of Jesus and what he has done. We have also seen many people, or known many people, who have come out of it. They testify, "I was deceived."
When the 72 Came Back Excited
Luke, chapter 10. Jesus sends out the 72 with supernatural abilities to heal and cast out demons. When they came back, they were jacked. They were so excited that they were able to cast out demons. They were thrilled over it. And when Jesus spoke to them, what did he say? Stop it. Do not rejoice over being able to cast out demons. Rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
What is that about? It is about the work of Christ, salvation, his complete work. It has nothing to do with you.
What else is not in Luke 10? The disciples coming back and saying, "Yeah, but I want to do a lot of rebuking. I want to do a lot of binding. What about the shaking and the sifting that is coming? Isn't there a word for the month, 33 AD? I don't know. Yeah, I have a word for July. No, we are in June. One. It would actually be 1 BC, wouldn't it?"
Hold Fast to the Spoken Word and the Letter
Second Thessalonians 2:15:
"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter."
That is not very many options there. It does not say by our YouTube channel or by our whatever. Here is the thing. You have two options. You get to hold to the traditions that were either taught directly to you or letters that they wrote. Those are your two options to hold fast to. That is it. Pretty plain. Pretty simple. This is a prescriptive verse. This is telling us to do something. What are we supposed to do? Hold fast. Hold fast to what they said and what they wrote. Who? The apostles. The apostles that Jesus handpicked.
What are we holding on to? What are we being told to do? Stand firm. Hold to the traditions. To what was taught — by the prophets, the apostles, and most importantly the gospel. Four gospels. Jesus is teaching is paramount. Either what we said, we — and there is a "we," not just whatever Christians say. Hold fast to that. No, no, no, no. Hold fast to what we said and wrote. Those two things. It is really that simple.
The Five-Fold Ministry Question
Ephesians 4:11:
"And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ."
This is the proof text for the five-fold ministry heresy being taught. You have got to ask yourself, is this prescriptive or descriptive? This one is descriptive. It is not telling us to do anything. It is telling us what God has already done. The LSB translation has a very key word. He himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists. There are some hypercharismatic Pentecostals who will say, "We all have these gifts to do all these things." Not true. Not true at all. He decides who is given what roles, what purposes, and what gifts.
He is talking about all of human history. He first gave the prophets to the Jews. Then he gave the apostles to the early church. And now he has pastors, teachers, preachers for us today. The church age. The age of grace. We still have the words of the prophets, the words of the apostles, because Jesus, being so sufficient in everything he does, has recorded and preserved it. This is a testimony to the preservation of God's word. It is still building up the saints. From the saints of the Old Testament in the very beginning to the saints of today, all these things are useful for the building up of the saints as a whole.
He himself gave those positions and those places. Today, "Oh, my pastor gave me the role of apostle." Well, whoop-de-doo. It doesn't matter. It doesn't count. Jesus isn't walking the earth today, so you are not an apostle because you didn't get handpicked. Sorry. I'll triple stamp. No backies. You can't triple stamp a double stamp. You can't triple stamp a double stamp.
The Two Prophets Who Actually Are Coming
There is one caveat. God is going to send two prophets. He has told us when, where, and there is even discussion about who these prophets are going to be. I believe you have got the Enoch and Elijah camp, and you have got the Moses and Elijah camp. And the reason for both. We are talking about Revelation 11, when the two prophets come. During the tribulation, those two prophets are coming.
There is a phenomenon. I have been to Israel five times. Emilee went with me four times. The last time, in 2023, she was not feeling well, so my son Jacob took her spot, because we are working over there, making sure these people know where the bathrooms are. Everybody is counting on the bus. We teach at different sites. It is a wonderful thing. But there is a phenomenon that happens in Jerusalem. I asked my guy, "Are you telling me this happens like once or twice a year?" He said, "No, it is more like once or twice a month lately." People come to the Wailing Wall, the Western Wall, and they think they are one of the prophets of Revelation 11. They get delusional. Some of them it is just like a spell, but others are flat-out delusional. This is what we are talking about. Don't be deceived. Don't allow yourself to think that you are one of the two prophets. The idea behind the two is this. Enoch walked with God and was no more. Elijah went up in a chariot. They have not tasted death. They have been waiting for this moment. They come back down as God's thing. The other, Moses and Elijah, means one represents the law, one represents the prophets. And who was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration? It was Moses and Elijah. So, here is the thing.
I have seen well-meaning Christians lose their stuff and start having arguments. "I am on the Enoch team. I am on the Moses team." Nobody cares. Just roll with it and trust God's sovereignty that he is going to send the two guys he wants. What if it is Shlomo and Hershel? Whoever he chooses. But it is not you or I when we go to the Western Wall. That is for sure. We know that God gave the prophets to the Jews. The Jews were the ones who received the word of the prophets. When he does send two more prophets, where are they going to be? In Jerusalem, talking to the Jews. And who are they? The prophets of old. The prophets of old. Yeah. This is it. They were until John. That is all the prophets there are. That is why he is sending those prophets of old back to Jerusalem, to the Jews, because the prophets are for the Jews. It is not Bill or Shannon. Sorry, it is not.
What an Apostle Actually Is
The definition: an apostle is one of an authoritative New Testament group, sent out to preach the gospel, made up especially of Christ's twelve original disciples and Paul. The thing you have to understand about the word apostle is that Jesus was not the only one who had apostles. Caesar would have apostles. You had to be with the authority to earn the title apostle. Otherwise it was not real. No.
Paul had the Damascus road experience, and spent three years verifying his apostleship, then went to Jerusalem and had it confirmed by the other boys. His call was to the Gentiles. Not a happy call. He was not suffering for Jesus on the sun-drenched beaches of Hawaii.
Let's compare the modern-day apostles and prophets to the ones we read about in the Bible. The people who claim to be apostles and prophets today are often very wealthy. They live in cushy little places and they do horrendous things. But the apostles and the prophets that we read about in the Bible, even the ones that are to come in Revelation, it is not a fun happy camping story. They have a job to do, and it is a difficult one no human could really do without the power of God behind them or in them. They are just not on the same level. They are not the same thing. They are painting two completely different pictures.
This definition of apostle actually just comes out of an online dictionary. I don't know if it was Oxford or Webster or whatever, but this is what it is. Even the world kind of knows that this is what it is. You don't change definitions of things. That is how people are deceived. We see it with leftists. We see it in the political arena. We also see it in the religious realm where if something doesn't fit your idea, you change the definition of what that thing is to fit your idea. That is what the hyper-charismatic Pentecostal people have done over the years. They have just slowly changed and shifted the actual definition of these things.
The Foundation
Ephesians 2:18–20:
"For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone."
The key thing is "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone."
First Corinthians 3:10–11:
"According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Bada bing, bada boom. He said it better than I ever could have, but that is exactly it. One foundation. It is already been laid by the apostles. He said it himself. He claimed that foundation — I did that — and everybody else is building on top of it. When we share the gospel, when we see other people enter into the kingdom, we are building on top of that foundation.
If I want authority over people, I need to try to make myself part of the foundation. There you go. Because then I have special revelation. Then I have authority. Then I am going to release you to do the work that God has called you to do. Which leads to an awful existence when you start putting your faith in somebody who is claiming an authority not given to them by God. Following a false teacher is the worst.
The foundation is laid how many times? Once. There is only one foundation. The foundation does not go to the top. Right before you put the attic on the house, you don't lay another foundation. If you put one foundation on another foundation on another foundation, you are ruining the integrity of it. There is one foundation, and it has been laid by the prophets, the apostles, and Christ Jesus himself. We are just building on top of it. We are completely different materials. We are completely different purpose. We are part of the same house, but we are not the foundation. And we need to make that distinction.
Why This Sounds So Harsh
The doctrine is harsh. Why? Because it hurts people. We have been there to help people pick up the mess this stuff has created in them. So many have walked away from the faith, and when they come back to the faith they come back as damaged goods that need to be healed and restored. And guess what. The human being can't do it. Only the word of God, and the power of the word of God, and only Jesus Christ himself can actually do it.
Worst case scenario. People leave the faith altogether, because they look at what is being taught and they finally realize this is a lie. And they attach all of Christendom to this lie that they have been told.
We have had various audiences, from syndicated shows to morning shows. There was a time in our career where we had an average daily audience of like 250,000 people, 220,000 people. Every walk of life. Every walk of Christianity. From the seeker, from the atheist checking it out, to whatever you want to fill in the blank denomination or religion-wise. And so what we made the mistake of doing is we made the mistake of becoming soft. We shaved the edges off the rough stuff of scripture. "I don't speak in tongues, but I can't condemn somebody who does. I don't practice transubstantiation, but I can't condemn my Catholic friends or my Catholic family because a lot of us have family that is — you get what I am saying." We would be, I don't want to use the word enablers, but we were very soft on the, hey, we are not supposed to judge. As long as Jesus is on the throne, as long as it is about him, it is okay. Well, we have watched so many people get hurt. We have had to counsel so many people through the problem of that, that it made us take a deeper look at the scriptures about 10 years ago. And we said, you know what. We have got to separate from this. The Bible tells us to come out and be separate. How can we do that in a loving, gracious way? We just point back to the Bible. This is what the Bible actually says. This is what it actually means in context. This is how we are supposed to apply it to our life in that journey. You know what you get rid of? "This is what that verse means to me." No. No. How do you apply it to your life? And how does it actually relate to your salvation? And what we have found is, all the scripture, as Scripture interprets Scripture, is pointing to Jesus as being the sole greatest authority, the greatest thing in the human history of all time. And we get to know him. He saves us. He wants us to be part of his journey into eternity. How do you not get excited about that?
Scripture interprets Scripture. You cannot separate God from his word. You cannot separate the two. So if he says something, what is going to determine whether that is from God or not. The other things that God has said. God interprets God. God defends God. God defines God. We don't. That is why Scripture, the Word becoming flesh, interprets Scripture. It is the word of God.
The Sign They Won't Get
Matthew 16:4:
"An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed."
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. What is the sign they are going to have? The sign of Jonah. An Old Testament prophet. Three days. Jesus spoke of it. Then he lived it out. And if you are not going to believe the prophets, you are not going to believe if someone should raise from the dead. And that is exactly what is going on. If you don't believe those prophets of old and what they had said and who they were pointing to, you are not going to believe if someone raises from the dead. So don't believe somebody who says they are a prophet today because it is just idiocracy. Run for your life.
We are not saying that people cannot hear from God and speak truth. God can do anything he wants in his sovereignty. But if God has spoken something to Emily, and she spoke it ahead of time to give God the glory, and it actually came to pass — she is not a prophetess. No. It was a moment in time where God chose to use one of his vessels for some of his purposes. That does not make you a prophet just because you prophesy one time or two times. What we are talking about is these people who get all these things wrong. "And the word of the Lord came to me and said, the month of June is going to be about a sifting and a shaking, and I am rebuking, and I am binding, and I am casting authority here." And that is all garbage to the authentic believer who has accepted the substitute of God's wrath and is living now as a saint in Jesus Christ, waiting for the day we get presented as the bride of Christ for all of eternity.
Same as with healing. Does God still heal today in miraculous ways. Absolutely. God is God and he can do whatever he wants and none of those attributes of him have passed away. We don't wield them at our whim. That is the difference. Does God still communicate with his people. Absolutely. He does it through his Holy Spirit. He leads us. He guides us. Primarily through the scriptures. But sometimes he will give us an impression or give us an inclination that we ought to be doing something. He speaks to us through our conscience as well. Does God still heal today. Absolutely. But do we have people running around with the gift of healing and prophesying and casting out demons. No. Those were for a specific purpose and for specific people at a specific time.
I was supernaturally healed. And there is scientific evidence to show that it was absolutely impossible for me to be healed the way I was healed. I know that we have laid hands on people and watched other people get hands laid on them and get healed. That doesn't make any of us healers, or the gift of healing. "Well, didn't you have the gift of healing in that moment. Maybe. You have a healing ministry." No, no. God uses us as vessels for his sovereignty for those who trust him. And so you Romans 8:28 your life and you just keep rolling, my friend.
The Battle of the Flesh
You can be a well-meaning Christian and you can do what I am going to say is the following. You want to serve yourself while you honor God because you are saved. That is not what God wants from you. God wants you to be surrendered to him so he can use you as a vessel for his kingdom any way his sovereignty chooses. Two much different things.
And Emilee and I can testify that we know the difference between the two. And here is a little secret. There are weeks where, on any given day, I am the first. I really want mine. I want to serve myself, but I want to honor God, so that must make it okay. No. The surrendering sovereignty of God. You go where he calls you. You do what he wants you to do and you are a vessel. And all of a sudden boom, somebody is in front of you and you can share the gospel with them, or you can pray for them, or you don't even have to tell people you are praying for them. You can just start praying for folks and God will start using you in a way that supersedes anything this life has to offer, and you get to see God do stuff that the mere mortal doesn't get to do. And the first thing that just slaps you in the face is you know it is not you. You know it is not you. The battle of the flesh. The battle of the flesh.
And so that is what it comes down to. Prophet and apostle, and not understanding descriptive and prescriptive. Not letting the Bible speak to you with what it actually says and what it actually means in context, to make his name great, and for us to get rid of our will and live for him. You surrendered your life to Christ. Colossians 3 says, "You died. You are in Christ now. Your flesh is gone. You are a new creation. New creature. New creation." Say that together. "You are a new creation." "You are a cre—" The proper term is knuckle-dragging loser.
Final Word: The One Foundation, One Faith, One Christ
The doctrine lands on a single point. The sufficiency of Christ. The sufficiency of Scripture. The unity of the two. The Bible is the word of God. Christ is the Word made flesh. The two cannot be separated. The two cannot be added to. The two are the totality of what God has given the church to know him and walk with him.
Modern claimants to apostolic and prophetic office are not adding to that totality. They are competing with it. They are saying that the written word is not enough, that the incarnate Word is not enough, that the church needs a present-day human authority with access to the Father. The Bible says the church does not. The Bible says the foundation is laid. The Bible says the faith is delivered once for all. The Bible says the building is rising. The Bible says Jesus is the cornerstone.
The reader is not asked to take a position. The reader is asked to read the text. The text says what it says. The reader either believes it or does not. The reader either holds to the traditions delivered by the apostles' mouths and pens, or the reader reaches for a third delivery method that the Bible does not authorize.
The third delivery method is the test. The third delivery method is the question. The third delivery method is where the modern prophet and the modern apostle reveal themselves as something other than what they claim. They are not sent by Christ. They are not eyewitnesses. They are not foundation-layers. They are the latest in a long line of claimants who mistake their own voice for the voice of God.
The Bible is sufficient. The Christ is sufficient. The faith is once for all delivered. The cornerstone is laid. The rest is building.
Final Thoughts: Get Into the Word
Thank you so much for getting through this show, because there was a lot here. Hopefully it encouraged you. Hopefully you were able to glean things from the scripture to set you on the straight and narrow path, because so many times in his word, he makes it pretty crystal clear. Easy for you to say. Was your mouth falling down the stairs there? I think that means it is time for us to say goodbye.
The prophets were until the time of John. On behalf of my best friend and bride Emilee, my name is Chris. You get into the word of God today and you go and serve your king.
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