# Apostles In the New Testament, the apostles are the inner circle of disciples Jesus designates and sends out — most often referring to the Twelve (with Judas Iscariot replaced by Matthias after the Crucifixion in Acts 1) but expanded by Paul's self-designation as "apostle to the Gentiles" and by various other figures variously included in the category. The word *apostle* (Greek *apostolos*) means "one sent out, an emissary, a delegate with authority"; the role combines *commissioned witness* (to the resurrection), *foundational authority* (over churches), and *bearer of original revelation*. The vault entry treats this as a Concept rather than Terminology because the analytical interest is the *institution* of apostolic authority — its claims, its succession, and its political revival in the [[New Apostolic Reformation]] — rather than the rhetorical work the word *apostles* does in language. ## The Original Twelve The synoptic gospels (Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6) list the Twelve with minor variation: Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus / Jude, Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot. Acts 1 narrates the post-Crucifixion replacement of Judas with Matthias, restoring the symbolic count of twelve (matching the twelve tribes of Israel). The category is then enlarged by Paul's self-claim (1 Corinthians 9:1, Galatians 1) and arguably by James (the Lord's brother), Barnabas, and Junia (Romans 16:7 — a contested case, often argued to be the one named female apostle). The functional definition the gospels and Acts offer requires: 1. Personal commission by the resurrected Jesus 2. Eyewitness of the resurrection 3. Authority to teach and govern in the founding generation of the church By those criteria, the canonical apostolic generation closes with the death of John (traditionally late first century). Subsequent figures who claimed apostolic-equivalent authority (Mani, Joseph Smith, various others) have generally been treated by mainstream Christianity as making founder-of-new-religion claims rather than continuing-apostle claims. ## Apostolic Succession The major Christian traditions diverge sharply on whether apostolic authority was transmitted institutionally: - **Catholic and Eastern Orthodox** — apostolic authority is transmitted through unbroken episcopal succession (laying-on of hands from bishop to bishop, traceable to the apostles); this is the doctrinal underpinning of papal authority and Orthodox autocephalous structures - **Anglican and Lutheran** — qualified versions of episcopal succession - **Reformed and Presbyterian** — apostolic authority resides in the apostolic writings (Scripture) rather than in a successor office; *cessationist* (the apostolic gifts, including miraculous ones, ceased with the close of the apostolic age) - **Most evangelical / non-denominational** — broadly cessationist; no current office of apostle - **Pentecostal / charismatic** — *continuationist*; the apostolic gifts continue into the present - **New Apostolic Reformation** (since the 1990s) — argues there is a *restored apostolic office* operating today, with named, recognized apostles exercising governing authority over networks of churches This last position is the analytically important one for right-wing-political tracking, because the NAR's claim that there are *contemporary apostles* with governing spiritual authority feeds directly into political organizing. ## The New Apostolic Reformation Application [[C. Peter Wagner]] (Fuller Theological Seminary, d. 2016) coined "New Apostolic Reformation" in the 1990s to name a movement re-establishing the apostolic and prophetic offices as currently active. Under the NAR framework: - Recognized **apostles** govern networks of churches and ministries (the structure is sometimes compared to an alternative episcopate) - Recognized **prophets** deliver real-time prophetic words for individuals, nations, and political situations - Together apostles and prophets are positioned as the "foundation" of the contemporary church (Ephesians 2:20 read as currently active rather than historical) - Apostles and prophets jointly authorize the [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] — the program of taking dominion over the seven cultural spheres (government, business, education, media, arts/entertainment, family, religion) In the political application, the apostolic structure provides: - **Hierarchical legitimacy** — political-religious figures like [[Lance Wallnau]], [[Cindy Jacobs]], [[Dutch Sheets]], and [[Paula White]] operate as recognized apostles or prophets with claimed governing authority over networks - **Direct revelation channels** — prophetic declarations about elections, judicial appointments, foreign policy, and political enemies are framed as direct divine communication, not as opinion - **Mobilization architecture** — apostolic networks function as parallel political organizing structures, with the [[Pour It Out]] / [[Reawaken America]] / [[POTUS Shield]] networks mobilizing voters, prayers, and political action across state lines ## The Cyrus / Anointing Frame The apostolic framework supplied the theological license for the [[Cyrus Prophecy]] — the claim that [[Donald Trump]] is divinely anointed in the tradition of the Persian king Cyrus (Isaiah 45), who was used by God despite not being a believer. The Cyrus framing was issued by NAR-aligned prophets (Lance Wallnau being the most public) and treated within the apostolic networks as authoritative prophetic revelation. This converts ordinary political endorsement into a religious obligation — to vote for Trump becomes obedience to a prophesied divine plan; to oppose him becomes opposition to God's anointing. The same apostolic-prophetic structure produced the failed prophecies of Trump's 2020 victory, which created a [[Cognitive Dissonance]] crisis inside the NAR networks: the prophets had spoken, the prophecies had failed, and the institutional response was to *deepen* commitment rather than disconfirm. The 2020 election-fraud frame (eventually [[Stop the Steal]]) was substantially shaped by this dissonance — for the apostolic networks the prophecies were correct and the election therefore must have been stolen. ## Reformed Counter The Reformed-Christian-Nationalist cluster around [[Douglas Wilson]] is generally hostile to the NAR's apostolic claims — Wilson's cessationism rejects the existence of contemporary apostles and prophets, and his Moscow ecosystem regards the charismatic movement as theologically suspect. This is one of the few sharp doctrinal divides inside the broader CN coalition. Politically, however, both wings tend to converge: Reformed CN treats the *original apostles* and their *writings* as still authoritative for civic life ([[Theonomy]] application), while charismatic CN treats *contemporary apostles and prophets* as authoritative — different mechanisms producing similar political outcomes. ## See Also - [[New Apostolic Reformation]] — The institutional framework that revived the apostolic office - [[Apostolic-Prophetic Movement]] — The broader charismatic phenomenon - [[Seven Mountain Mandate]] — The political-cultural program apostolic authority underwrites - [[Cyrus Prophecy]] — The Trump-specific application - [[Christian Nationalism]] — The ideological context - [[Acolytes]] — The vocabulary of the apostle-and-followers structure - [[Apostates]] — The boundary-policing matched term