Is your local apostle equipping or empowering you to manifest God himself as a ‘New Breed’? Is your local apostle trying to get your church to manifest the God-man? The ‘One New Man’? If so, your local apostle is fulfilling the ‘Apostolic Commission’.
Who Is Rick Joyner?
Rick Joyner was recognized as a prophet but is, to this day, treated and regarded as an Apostle. Joyner is most famous for his book series ‘The Call’ and ‘The Final Quest’. In this series, he claims to have received greater visions and revelations than prophets and apostles of the scriptures, bringing new teaching of God’s end-times church. Because of his claims, many Christians literally take his work to be scripture. (We’ve personally noted this in a number of friendships, churches and denominations.)
Due to the nature of his divine visions, he is regarded as a powerful voice in the Charismatic and New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movements. He is also endorsed by NAR Apostle Dr. Michael Brown.
The Apostolic Commission?
Rick Joyner is responsible for coining the term “Apostolic Commission’ to identify the mission of modern day NARpostles. Although the term ‘Apostolic Commission’ is not popular or well-recognized in evangelicalism, it is a term many will use.
This is because Joyner accurately identifies a specific agenda that many NARpostles promote in their churches. Because NARpostles claim the church has changed to embrace the new apostolic paradigm of the five-fold ministry, they believe they are now commissioned by God to ‘maturing the body’ as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11.
Rick Joyner teaches on this ‘Apostolic Commission’ in his book ‘The Apostolic Ministry’ (2006). 
Before looking at what Joyner teaches, we need to look at the scriptural passage Joyner and other NARpostles twist to realise the absurdity of their teachings and practices:
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Ephesians 4:11-14
Christianity has taught that the Apostles and Prophets gave us the scriptures and that Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers today are growing and discipling Christians to grow up as mature believers in Christ. The objective and result of this maturity is that we are not deceived by schemers and not tossed to and fro by their innovative doctrines.
Wagner observed that the church was going through a ‘paradigm shift’ in embracing the ‘5-fold ministry’ of Ephesians 4:11. This meant the offices of modern Apostles and Prophets were being restored. The objective and result of this maturity is to manifest the fullness of Christ’s divine person in not just an individual (‘New Breed’) but the church (‘One New Man’). While NAR Apostles and NAR Prophets have taught this, they didn’t specifically name this objective.
As we are about to see, Joyner extracts the ‘Apostolic Commission’ from Ephesians 4:11. Being faithful to the origins of the five-fold heresy (then called ‘ascension gifts’) from the New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) cult, Joyner sees it as the role of a NARpostle to fully manifest or mature the body of Christ to become Christ (the Godman) Himself.
Thus Rick Joyner claims in his book that, as the church, “Our words must become His words, and our works His Works,” (pg 78). (This is the sonship heresy many NARpostles espouse to convince their followers they are to manifest as gods here on earth, the same way Jesus Christ manifested his power through the Holy Spirit on earth.)
Rick Joyner than goes on to make this claim (emphasis added),
“This is the apostolic commission, and it is far beyond human genius or ability.”
He then fleshes out this Apostolic Commission and what it means to be ‘Apostolic’:
“If we are going to be apostolic, our labor will not be finished until Christ is formed in His people. We must not let any other emphasis eclipse this basic work. We are looking for far more than the manifestation of the sons of God; we are looking for the manifestation of the Son of God in His people. Jesus must always be the focus of our ministry if we are every to be truly apostolic.”
Source: Rick Joyner, The Apostolic Ministry, US: MorningStar Publications, 2006, pg 79. (Emphasis ours.)
To justify the above statement he uses Ephesians 4:11. A few pages later in order to bolster the idea of the Apostolic Commission objectives, Joyner talks about the unique nature of ‘Apostolic Ministry’ (emphasis added):
“The apostolic ministry will be restored to the church before the end comes. The apostolic message is not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit of power. This demonstration will be a church that fully reveals the nature and power of the Lord…
The apostolic ministry requires a commission from God and it requires the substance of spiritual authority. True apostles will not come with theories, forms, recipes, and formulas, but with an impartation of the true life and power of the Lord.”
Source: Rick Joyner, The Apostolic Ministry, US: MorningStar Publications, 2006, pg 91. (Emphasis ours.)
Understanding the spiritual nature and divine office of the ‘apostolic’ is disturbing.
How does the apostolic ministry fulfil their apostolic commission through their ‘apostolic message’? By moving “not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit of Power.”
If an apostolic ministry requires a commission from God that requires the “substance of spiritual authority,” how are they meant to fulfil their commission in the church? Through the impartation of the “true life and power of the Lord.”
Again, these disturbing ideas are rooted deeply in the origins of the New Order of the Latter Rain heresies and their hunger for power and dominion is still being felt in the teachings of modern day NAR Apostles and Prophets. There is no teaching in the Christian faith or God’s Word that even remotely implies that the church in the last days will manifest God Himself and move in powerful signs and wonders.
NAR Apostles and Prophets who are raising Christians to believe such demonic doctrines are those Ephesians 4 calls ‘wicked’. These are the ones tossing believers to and fro with every wind and wave of doctrine.
Email all comments and questions to c3churchwatch@hotmail.com
Categories: Morning Star Ministries, New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)