This article explores the idea of apostles in the church throughout church
history. In it I will show that the restoration/Latter Rain idea that fuels the
New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is unbiblical and dangerous to the well-being of
Christians who become part of it. First we will review how the early church
understood apostles in church history. Then we will examine the Roman Catholic
Church’s teaching about apostolic authority. From there we will examine the
ideas of a 17th-century mystic given new life in the Latter Rain movement, and
now the NAR.
At a 1996 Fuller Seminary conference hosted by C. Peter Wagner, a movement
that Wagner previously labeled “post-denominational” became the New Apostolic
Reformation.1 Besides Wagner himself is another person prominent in
the movement—Bill Hamon—who is strongly endorsed by Wagner. Hamon is important,
as we will see, because his ministry goes all the way back to the early 1950’s
and began on the heels of the Latter Rain Movement.
