Modern Apostles?
by Terry Wane Benton
We know the names, power, and testimony of Jesus’s twelve eye-witnessing apostles. We read their names and powers here:
"Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him" (Matthew 10:1-4).
After Judas hung himself in guilt, Jesus chose Matthias as his replacement (Acts 1), and later personally selected Saul/Paul, whom He revealed Himself to so that Paul too could have the proper eyewitness credentials, empowering him with the proper “signs of an apostle” (II Corinthians 12:12). Paul did not merely make a claim of having powers from God but he demonstrated those powers so that none could deny he had the wide variety of miraculous powers that the other apostles demonstrated (I Corinthians 2:1-4).
The Signs of an Apostle
"Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing" (II Corinthians 12:11-12).
The signs of an apostle are seen throughout the book of Acts. They were empowered to heal all illnesses, raise the dead, and lay hands on disciples to impart Holy Spirit powers to them. Signs, wonders, and mighty deeds were demonstrated and documented. Today, all who claim to be apostles of Jesus are fakes. They never saw Jesus, had no new revelations to add to the Bible, and could not demonstrate miraculous powers at all, much less of the same variety as Jesus’s real eye-witnessing apostles.
We are not seeking signs to believe in Jesus. His signs more than proved He came from God; we believe because of all that proof. We are not seeking signs for the eyewitness apostles of Jesus. They more than adequately demonstrated their credentials. We will indeed demand signs for any that claim to be apostles of Jesus today. We are to test all things (I John 4:1-4; I Thessalonians 5:17). We will not be gullible and accept just any empty claims of being an apostle of Jesus.
We don’t need to believe in any apostles today. The testimony of the original apostles of Jesus is all that we need to be saved. If someone claims that we must believe these modern apostles, they have to prove that the Bible is not enough, the personal witnesses of Jesus, the original apostles were not enough, and I have seen no proof. They don’t pass the credentials test, so I have no obligation to believe them. I do have an obligation to believe Jesus’s original eye-witness apostles. To fail to believe them is to fail to believe in Jesus and God who sent them, but I have no similar obligation to believe any so-called modern apostles. They are all self-deceived false apostles. I must demand the same proof from them that Jesus gave the original apostles. None are delivering today!
