<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"] And you know an apostle how? By scripture? Does the scripture tell us how to recognize an apostle? </font><hr></blockquote><p><br><br>Yes in fact it does. When an apostolic replacement was sought for Judas the following critera were imposed:<br><br> 21 "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 "beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection." (Acts 1:21-22).<br><br>This idea of witness is inexorably linked to the apostolic commission. This is not merely in the softened way that we use the term today, but they were literal witnesses of his entire ministry, and most particularly, of His resurrection. The only "exception" to these guidelines is the Apostle Paul, who was "born out of due time":<br><br> 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:8-9).<br><br>Though Paul did not accompany Jesus during His entire ministry, he did receive his training personally from Christ and was still a witness of Christ's resurrection. Paul defends his apostleship based upon the fact that he did not receive it from men, but from Jesus Christ directly (1 Cor. 9:1, Gal. 1:1; 12-19, also Acts 9:27). It is this personal witness of the resurrected Christ that serves as one of the essential qualifications for the office. In fact, the great wonders were to testify to this personal witness of the resurrection:<br><br> But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)<br><br>Acts 4:33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. <br><br>So unless you know someone who accompanied Jesus during the entire time of His ministry and has been a witness of His resurrection or has seen Him face to face and received direct revelation from Him, I would say it is easy to rule out the claims of any self-professed apostle today. [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile[/img]<br><br>But hey, I'm willing to reconsider my exegesis if someone wants to stand up to the plate and work the real signs of an apostle before me ... just as long as they are also willing to accept the biblical penatly for being shown to be a false prophet! [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/takethat.gif" alt="takethat" title="takethat[/img]<br><br>[img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/wink.gif" alt="wink" title="wink[/img]<br><br>Sincerely in Christ,<br><br>~Jason<br>