R. Douglas GeivettA New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement

Main questions to ask yourself: Are there aposles today? If so, what do they do? What do they teach? How do they justify their existence, Biblically? Geivett and Pivec do not shy away from giving their views on the NAR. They do it by making statements based on the words of the NAR leadership and based on the Bible. They do not come across as mean-spirited, bitter or negative.There are 567 footnotes in this book-most are annotated and many are live links to websites, to articles on the internet. Very thorough and easy to understand research. I would say to buy the book just for the footnotes and bibliography.What this book did for me is move me to do my own research. And exegesis of the three major Bible passages studied: Ephesians 4:11-13; Ephesians 2:20; and 1 Corinthians 12:28. Having been in NAR churches, I just went along with the crowd and accepted teachings without being objective and yes, was deceived. What caused me to leave a decade ago were practices, not teachings that were extreme and out of order, IMO. In reading Geivett and Pivec, I have felt and needed my mind to be cleansed with the truth. I am thankful for their hard work in pulling so many writings together and comparing and contrasting them.One tremendous find was another resource-a dissertation written by an Anglican priest (U.K.) on apostles:'Apostles Today: Making Sense of Contemporary Charismatic Apostolates: A Historical and Theological Appraisal"by Benjamin McNair Scott. Amazon kindle book. Talk about research-this book is gold! It has well over 800 footnotes (I love them all) and extensive bibliography. He interacts with Wagner and others and arrives at conclusions very hard not to accept. In line with Geivett & Pivec.

I doubt there is a more informative, nor helpful book on the subject. You will not be dissatisfied with this work that will stand the test of time, and expose the NAR movement for what it really is. They do name names, and give evidence to these claims, keeping it rather objective, and it’s biblically thorough on the subject. I highly recommend it!

The subtitle says it all: “a Biblical response to a worldwide movement.” R. Douglas Geivett, well respected author and professor of philosophy, and Holly Pivec, former editor of Biola Magazine, have done their homework. A New Apostolic Reformation carefully researches the practices and beliefs of the new “apostolic” movement, evaluating them in the light of Scripture, and what the Christian church has historically believed. Even-handed in its treatment, thoughtful in its analysis, but firm in its conclusion that this is a spiritually dangerous movement, A New Apostolic Reformation will strengthen your resolve to base your faith and practice firmly on God’s Word. Geivett and Pivec do not argue for or against the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or genuine moves of God. They do, however, warn against specific teachings and practices in this global movement which do not line up with the Word of God, whether you are a Baptist or a Pentecostal. You have never heard of the new apostolic reformation (NAR)? Read the book – this movement has grown so rapidly, it is probably in your town, and may be headed for your church. Has your church started to talk about being a part of God’s “end-time army,” “spiritual mapping,” “becoming “manifest sons of God,” or “restoring lost truths” through the “revelation of the apostles and prophets?” Read the book – it may help you think through the theology and practices behind this new movement in the light of Scripture before you jump headlong into “the river.” Extensive notes and documentation, with lists of prominent NAR networks, organizations, and leaders; highly recommended.

I’m a Christian but I’m open to the possibility of post-biblical revelation. I’m sorry, but nothing in the Scripture precludes this so if we are honest we need to be open to the possibility. However, we also need strong verification of such revelation, whether it be presented as equal to Scripture or not. (I don’t believe any NAR--New Apostolic Reformation--teachers or prophets ever claim that their teachings or prophecies are equal to Scriptural revelation.) It needs the strong verification of Deuteronomy 18 (the fulfillment test) and 13 (the non-contradiction or orthodoxy test) (see ch.14 in the book). What the book should have added is a list of fulfilled and failed NAR prophecies. Many of us would like to test the prophets. And that means we need more than just fulfilled prophecies which have some feasible probability of occurring without divine intervention.I think the strongest argument against contemporary apostles is the fact that the NT (New Testament) apostles never anointed apostles to follow them. If anyone would have known that there should continue to be apostles throughout the Church age, it would have been they. I would think that the only possible way the NAR teachers could respond to this problem would be to say that God intended the Church to be in this perfect place with apostolic leaders only at the beginning and end of the age. Thus the need for a future apostolically led Church was kept from the first apostles. This is not a completely unreasonable argument but it does seem a bit forced. But even if we accept this argument, the big question remains, Will the new apostles and prophets pass the tests the Bible has for them? Will prophets pass the fulfillment, orthodoxy, and life-style tests mentioned in ch 14? And true apostles must pass even harder tests, test which surely must include working miraculous signs along with confirmation by verified prophets.I am ambivalent about how dangerous a movement this is. On the one hand there is the very great danger that some people would unconditionally submit themselves to these apostles and prophets. This is one of the greatest dangers of many of the cults. Even the NT apostles did not require obedience over that which is stated in the Bible. They could not order any believer to do anything which the individual knew was not given in Scripture (such as they had at the time) or in any given apostolic teaching. (E.g., Paul could not order Apollos to go to Corinth though he wanted him to do so, 1 Cor 16.12.) Obedience to any spiritual leader, elder, pastor, apostle, etc. must never go beyond this limit. Their biblical authority is only to reprimand those in sin and to admonish and encourage believers to follow biblical teaching, to endure temptation, to grow in the faith, and to do the work God has given them. (Spiritual leaders today and in the past also have or have had the authority to dictate the working of the Church—Acts 6.1-7—whether that be a local church or an extended church such as a denomination. Spiritual leaders today might include presbyters or members of the congregations. Notice that there were never any NT churches which had only one local leader, there was always a plurality of elders. This does not mean that there may not be single leaders over more than one church.)The big danger is in obeying or submitting to ANY spiritual leader beyond the limits I’ve mentioned, whatever such leaders call themselves. This also includes believing what they teach if their teaching goes beyond clear biblical teaching. If someone claims to have apostolic authority to dictate new spiritual truth, they need to fulfill the strong tests Geivett and Pivic bring up which I mentioned in the first paragraph. Otherwise, each believer must test any given teaching by one’s own examination of Scripture and by seeking the leading of God’s Holy Spirit.On the other hand, if one is not in danger of submitting to any such claimed apostle or prophet, one might profit from their teaching and ministry. As one reviewer (Mike Horn) has pointed out, many people have indeed profited from their ministry. There are many spiritually gifted individuals associated with NAR who do not accept their authoritarian and other dubious teachings and practices who have been greatly used of God in the NAR ministry. Also, the book points out that many NAR leaders reject some of the more questionable teachings that other NAR teachers advocate. If we start with a discerning and critical mind and spirit, there may be much good that we can glean from the NAR ministries and (some) NAR teaching.I do find it interesting that some NAR critics (such as in some of these reviews) consider this a heresy which cannot be considered just another Christian opinion. They think this is not a view with which one may agree to disagree. But think about a similar issue. We are finally reaching a stage in Christian history in which Protestant evangelical Christians are accepting Roman Catholics (RC) as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of us feel that this acceptance is far too late in coming. Yet have you noticed that the NAR view is not that different from the traditional RC view? I reject both for their authoritarianism, yet I will never say that their views should keep me from having fellowship with them or keep me from considering them to be biblically acceptable. As much as we may disagree with NAR teachings (and RC teachings) we do need to accept each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord when our theological differences are this close.Some reviewers in this thread appear to have been deeply hurt by church splits caused by NAR followers. It is one thing to simply evaluate NAR teachings; it is quite another when NAR followers seek to take over a church. For those who have been hurt, this book should be seen as a valuable resource for refuting bad NAR teaching. Nevertheless, the book does sometimes offer very bad or at least weak arguments or claims. I’ll just mention two or three.(1) Their argument that “new revelation is to be anticipated in earlier revelation” (91) and the claim that prophecy has ceased (app A) are both very weak. The early Church had prophets like Agabus, most of whose words never made it to the NT. They did not provide revelation that all believers need to know. Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth indicates that prophecy should be a normal part of the Church praxis and he gave no indication that it would ever end before Christ’s second coming.(2) “Soaking music,” the use of worship music privately or in groups to wait on God and to enter deep worship, is very valuable for deepening Christian devotions. Yet the book’s association of this practice with NAR will drive many to associate the two and to miss out on a valuable resource for Christian devotions (22n12). Most of my other criticisms of the book are very minor, so I’ll end here.A good book, probably the best currently available for exposing errors in the NAR movement, with only minor errors and shortcomings.