Keys To The Apostolic And Prophetic: Embracing the Authentic Avoiding the Bizarre
Joseph S. Girdler and Carolyn Tennant, Keys To The Apostolic And Prophetic: Embracing the Authentic Avoiding the Bizarre (Crestwood, KY: Meadow Stream Publishing, 2019), 228 pages, ISBN 9781733795241.
The authors of this book are both ordained ministers with the Assemblies of God. Joseph Girdler has served in pastoral ministry and is currently the Superintendent of the AG in Kentucky. Carolyn Tennant is professor emerita of North Central University and is an adjunct professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Both have doctoral degrees and both have written books prior to this one. This volume focuses on the controversial ministries of the apostle and the prophet. Girdler and Tennant are very qualified to write this book. Girdler wrote his doctoral dissertation on the topic of “apostolicity” and Tennant has taught and ministered in the prophetic in a number of places around the world.
The book consists of a foreword, an introduction, and twelve chapters. Some of the chapter titles are: “Work Details for Apostolicity,” “Apostolicity and Relationships,” “The Prophetic Core,” and “God Uses Creative Prophetic Roles.” One thing that you might notice in this brief sampling of chapter titles is that the authors do not use the words “apostle” or “prophet.” This is a practice that they maintain throughout the book. They refer to biblical individuals who are identified as apostles and prophets by those terms but they do not use them for the contemporary expressions of these ministries. They explain their reasons for this. The authors feel it is best to refrain from using the words “apostle” and “prophet” when referring to ministry in the contemporary church because of the increased number of false apostles and prophets in our day. They prefer to focus on the functions of these ministries rather than the titles.
Girdler and Tennant believe that there is a great lack of knowledge about these two ministries in the modern-day church. They say that most people who attend church do not have a clear picture of what these ministries are. They also say that there are church leaders who do not know what to say about these ministries. The book was written to correct how the lack of knowledge about these ministries, coupled with the abuses that have taken place, have contributed to the neglect or exclusion of the genuine expression of these ministries in some places in the church today. Girdler and Tennant say that this has left a vacuum that Satan has filled with false apostles and prophets. As the authors point out, this results in the church being cut off from two genuine ministries that Jesus gave to it for its good.
The subtitle of the book is Embracing the Authentic Avoiding the Bizarre. The writers help the reader to do this by setting forth both the positive qualities that characterize the life of a genuine apostolic or prophetic person as well as calling attention to signs that indicate that a person is not a genuine minister in these areas. For example, they say that people who genuinely function in the apostolic and prophetic are humble servants, who have been called by the Lord, and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. False apostles and prophets generally lack these qualities, they are more self-absorbed. This is evidenced by their desire for titles and attention.
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