Apostolic-Prophetic Movement

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The Apostolic-Prophetic Movement in millennial-era Charismatic Christianity is seen by its participants as a restoration of the neglected elements of the Five-Fold Ministry described in the New Testament book of Ephesians, "some apostles, and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ". Because of the deeply held and culturally distinct shared idiolect of this movement, it is often ill-understood by critics and observers who have not invested sufficient study to master its vocabulary and world-view, which is throughout a culturally contextualized interpretation of the Apostolic Christian world-view expressed in the canon of the New Testament -- as seen through the lens of the late 20th and early 21st century Third Wave Charismatic or Pentecostal experience.

This movement is Primitivist, in that it defers more to the authority of original documents and doctrines than to the later developments and elaborations transmitted by the authorities of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It may also be associated with primitivism in as much as outsiders interpret prophetic interpretation. Prophecy has been a part of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian practice and more notably during times of revival in the Body of Christ. That world-wide, not merely a local phenomenon of the United States, as witness for example the Kimbanguist Church in Belgian Congo which began with vigor in the 1920s and flourished through 40 years of rigorous, often violent, suppression by the colonial rulers. But in the U.S., the practice gained new impetus in the 1990s, taking on the form of a distinct movement of the Spirit. A notable early forerunner of this movement is David Wilkerson whose book The Vision which made dramatic and incredible predictions in the 1970s which arguably have been borne out, as well as subsequent books such as America's Last Call, and Set the Trumpet to Your Mouth have defined prophecy for a large audience, although he eschews the title of Prophet, for which he does not believe himself qualified.

[edit] The Kansas City Prophets

In the United States, some of the original kernel of influential leaders who shaped the recent movement were Bill Hamon, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, Bob Jones, Mike Bickle, James Goll, John Paul Jackson, and Lou Engle. Cain and Jones were the elder statesmen - Cain had participated in the Voice of Healing Revival initiated by William Branham during the 1950s. A number of these notables, and several less notable leaders and their associates and hangers-on operated frequently out of Kansas City, Missouri during the 1990s -- many still do -- and came to be known to their detractors and supporters alike as the Kansas City Prophets. Of the aforementioned leaders, Paul Cain, in particular, fell into disgrace on moral grounds, leading to a public apology to the "body of Christ" (meaning, Christians at large) by Rick Joyner for promoting Cain's service in the Prophetic office, while overlooking the flaws of his character as judged by Christian standards. Cain has now completed a Restoration process and has returned to ministry supervised by his overseers.

The various so called Prophetic ministers named above continue to be active throughout North America and are widely-sought as Conference speakers by charismatic and some Pentecostal groups. Various "Prophetic" words given years ago are claimed to have actually happened e.g., Bob Jones publicly spoke in a Church (?) in Florida about a "Burning Bush from Texas" who was God's choice as the next president.

The influence of the movement was, and remains, both controversial and pervasive in Charismatic Christianity It increased the influence and frequency of the practice of prophecy as a Charism, and changed the norms of prophecy in charismatic churches to include not merely pronouncements in the name of God expressing biblical principles and language, but also more directly addressed utterances, directed to individuals or specific groups of individuals, which are notable for evoking credence by demonstrating, either explicitly or through penetrating symbolic language, a detailed knowledge of the private thoughts and circumstances of the addressees. Many see this as little more than Cold reading, or as an inimical Psychic clairvoyance, while followers see it as a work of divine love, inspiring and directly addressing the spiritual needs of the recipient of the message. Even the supporters of the practice are deeply opposed to False prophecy, and emphasize the need to exercise "spiritual discernment" in dealing with the phenomenon.

The movement was satirized and criticized in the LSU album, "The Grape Prophet."