Twenty-first Century, An Apostolic Century
The Twenty-first Century will be a century of unprecedented challenge and opportunity. Like the First Century, which in spite ferocious and beastly adversaries saw the establishment of Christ's Kingdom and His Church, the Twenty-first Century will be an Apostolic Century! All nations will be brought under the government of God's Anointed King.
Beginning with the great outpouring of the Spirit at the turn of the Twentieth Century and continuing to the present, the Lord has been progressively restoring the foundations, apostles and prophets, reviving and reforming His Church as One Holy Apostolic Church in the earth, so that just as the prophets of Israel envisioned, the nations might come to the light of the Church's rising. Jesus is pouring out His Spirit so that the Church might ultimately succeed in its mission to light the nations and fill the earth with His glory.
At Caesarea Philippi Jesus boldly prophesied, “Upon this rock I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” that rock being Peter's revelation that Jesus is the Christ, God's anointed King. Jesus of Nazareth is building His Church upon the foundation of His Messianic Kingdom, and because of His absolute authority and power, the gates of hell, the principalities and spiritual powers of darkness over the cities and nations of the world, will not be able to withstand the march of His Church in its conquest of Satan's kingdom. The Church will ultimately succeed in its Kingdom mission to defeat the principalities and powers of the Kingdom of darkness and disciple the cities and nations of the world! (Matthew 16:16-18)
After His triumphant resurrection, boldly proclaiming His Kingly authority, Jesus commissioned the apostles, “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Apostles are Christ's ambassadors, His governmental men, sent to the governments, cities, and nations of the world to represent His Kingdom and offer to them His covenant of peace, and upon the basis of that new covenant establish His dominion throughout the earth. (Matthew 28:19-29)
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed the good news that the oath made to David to seat David's Son on David's throne had been fulfilled in the resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus of Nazareth. According to the apostle, the proof of this was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit his fellow Israelites had just witnessed (Acts 2:30-34). The heart of Peter's Gospel was the good news that God's promise to David had in fact already been fulfilled in Christ's resurrection, not postponed until the second coming. Amazingly Peter doesn't even mention the second coming in his entire message. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised David's throne, the seat of government of David's Kingdom, and moved and firmly established it at His own right hand in heaven. He then installed Jesus of Nazareth on David's throne at His own right hand as Lord and Christ (Psalm 110:1,2 and Psalm 2:6, 7)! The right hand of God is the place of all authority and power.
Contrary to so many popular preachers today, who postpone Christ's Kingdom until the Second Coming, Peter proclaimed Jesus is already seated on the throne of David! This was the Word of the Kingdom preached by all the apostles of the first century and the foundation of the Church that Jesus declared He would build! This is the message that must be rediscovered and proclaimed by apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers today! It is the foundation of faith that must be restored to Christ's Church in the apostolic reformation of the twenty-first century.
On the basis of the New Covenant in Christ's blood, God the Father has established the throne of the Son at His own right hand where it can never be defeated or fail. The Father has given all authority, power, dominion, and rule to the Son in the present age, so that as King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus of Nazareth might destroy the works of the Devil, discipline the nations, bring many sons into the Kingdom of God, build His Church, and guarantee the ultimate victory of Messiah's Church over Satan's Kingdom.
Paul preached this same Gospel, “And we preach to you the good news of the promise …that God has fulfilled this promise…in that He has raised up Jesus…” (Acts 13:32, 33). The great apostle announces to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch the promise God made to David and the fathers of Israel regarding the Messianic Kingdom has already been fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. Paul calls this particular message, “the good news of the promise…” and he cites Psalm 2:7, David's great prophetic announcement of Messiah's resurrection, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.”
It is crucial to note in verse 6 of this same Psalm, God the Father proclaims, “I have installed My King upon Zion, My Holy Mountain,” prophetically declaring centuries before the time of fulfillment the installation of His Son on David's throne at His own right hand in heaven. And in verse 8 the Heavenly Father encourages His Son, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.”
Like Peter, Paul preached Jesus has already been installed on the throne of David as Lord and Christ. Throughout the Book of Acts, Paul proclaims Jesus is King! All nations have been given to the Lord; they belong to Christ and to His Church as an inheritance. In Romans, Paul explicitly affirmed that the purpose of his apostleship was to bring about the obedience of the nations to the King! (Romans 1:5)
To the Corinthians he confidently proclaims the purpose of Christ's present administration of the Kingdom of heaven is to abolish, “all rule and all authority and power.” (I Cor. 15:24) According to Paul, Jesus is reigning now as King, and He must continue to reign until all His enemies have been subjugated and made the footstool of His feet. At Christ's final appearing on the last day of history the last enemy (death) will finally be abolished, and the Lord Jesus Christ will hand a perfected Kingdom to His Heavenly Father and God will be all in all. (I Corinthians 15:24-28)
It is worth noting that according to Paul, God's apostle to the nations, before our Lord's final appearing on the last day to abolish death and hand a perfected Kingdom to His Father, all the powers of the darkness of this present world must be abolished and subdued under Christ's feet. Before Jesus returns in His final appearing, the cities and nations of the earth must be delivered from the oppression of evil and brought to the obedience of the faith.
My father in the Gospel, Ern Baxter, often proclaimed, “Every demonic prince must bow the knee to King Jesus!”
In spite of the sub-normality of the Church, with its many theological disagreements and aberrations and innumerable ecclesiastical divisions and schisms, the 20th century witnessed the collapse of Colonialism and the failure of Communism. The twenty-first century will witness the moral and spiritual defeat of the demonic prince behind Islamic fundamentalism and the liberation and conversion of the cities and nations presently under its oppression.
Bob Mumford perceptively proclaims Christ's Kingdom as, “the Kingdom that keeps on coming!”
Before Jesus comes in His final appearing on the last day for the resurrection of the body and the last judgment (See John 6:39-54, 11:24 and 12:48), all nations shall be brought to the obedience of the Christ, and come to the light of the Church's rising! However, this will not happen without the restoration of ascension-gift apostles, the revelation of Christ and His Kingdom entrusted by the risen Jesus to His apostles in the first century, and the reformation of the Church on the basis of this revelation, so that we can all function together as one, holy, apostolic Church in the earth.
Recovering the foundational revelation entrusted by the Lord Jesus to the first apostles and contained in the Canon of the New Testament is the primary mission of the Apostles Theological Seminary.The second mission is to work with emerging apostles and apostolic companies around the globe to train a new generation of fivefold ministers and Kingdom leaders for the Twenty-first Century.
A Truly Apostolic Seminary
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines a seminary, first as “an environment in which something originates and from which it is propagated,” and secondly as “an institution for the training of candidates for the priesthood, ministry or rabbinate.”
The English word comes from Middle English for “a seedbed, nursery, seminary,” deriving from the Latin word “semen or seed.”
In the parable of the sower Jesus explained to His disciples that the seed sown is “the word of the Kingdom,” (Matthew 13:17) He was speaking of the Gospel of the Kingdom , which these apostles would proclaim throughout the Roman Empire. Some years later Peter wrote a letter to the sons and daughters of the Kingdom who had been born of the Spirit and the Word of the Kingdom that Peter and the others had faithfully proclaimed throughout the Roman world boldly declaring, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is through the living and abiding word of God.” (I Peter 1:23)
Ern Baxter taught, “There are two kinds of Kingdom seed. First, there is the Word of the Kingdom , the Gospel preached by the apostles in the First Century. This is the seed or DNA of the Kingdom. Second, there are the sons of the Kingdom; those begotten by the Spirit of God through the Word or Gospel of the Kingdom.”
Ern often declared, “If we preach the Kingdom we will get the Church, the community of the sons of the Kingdom.”
Therefore an “apostles seminary” must by definition and of necessity be a “seedbed, an environment, or an institution” where the “word” or “seed of the Kingdom” entrusted to and proclaimed by the original apostles is not only accurately studied and taught, but also where those called to fivefold ministry are trained to faithfully propagate that Word.
The original “apostles seminary” was actually the mobile seminary headed by the Jesus Himself. For three and a half years Jesus taught the twelve the mysteries and secrets of His Messianic Kingdom and prepared them to proclaim the message of His Kingdom, gather the sons and daughters of His Kingdom and build His Church.
After Christ's ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost the twelve apostles of the Lamb together with numerous ascension-gift apostles like Barnabas and Paul proclaimed the Word of the Kingdom, gathered the sons and built Christ's Church throughout the Roman Empire. As they went about their labors throughout the Roman world they also continued Christ's mobile seminary training fivefold ministers in the Word they themselves received and also ordaining ruling pastors, bishops or elders in every place.
Throughout the Church's long history many seminaries have been established to serve the various movements and sects that have arisen: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Presbyterian, Anabaptist, Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic. While these seminaries have much to commend them and do some good, it must be remembered that ultimately they exist for the purpose of training ministers in the particular theological viewpoint (seed) of a particular sect or denomination, thus equipping them to propagate that particular viewpoint and perpetuate that sect, ultimately undermining the unity and the effectiveness of the Church of Jesus Christ.
The mandate of the Apostles Theological Seminary is first to recover and fully understand the actual seed, the Word of the Kingdom, entrusted by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit to those original apostles of the First Century, and second, in partnership with others of like faith and passion, to train a new generation of ministers to propagate that Word. Hence the name, the Apostles Theological Seminary.
Begun a number of years ago in Oklahoma City as Christ College, the Apostles Theological Seminary has been established to serve the fellowship of apostles, apostolic companies, and apostolic networks and jurisdictions of ministers and churches worldwide by providing an authentic and comprehensive online curriculum in apostolic and prophetic studies to help train a radical new generation of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the spirit and heart, vision and revelation, message and teaching, ministry and methods, governmental patterns and structures, mission and purposes of those first Apostles of the Lamb and Ascension-gift Apostles as recorded in the Canon of the New Testament.
The mission of the Apostles Theological Seminary is not to train Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal or even Charismatic ministers, but rather it is to help prepare a new generation of five-fold ministers and Christian leaders from many walks of life to serve the Lord's ever-increasing Kingdom and His Holy Apostolic Church worldwide.
An Apostolic Reformation
Since the beginning of the Twentieth Century the Lord has been pouring out His Spirit mightily to revive the work of His Kingdom and to restore the foundations of His Church. The Modern Church has seen the pentecostal movement, the latter rain movement, the healing movement, the charismatic movement, the discipleship movement, the word of faith movement, the worship movement, the prophetic movement, the prayer and spiritual warfare movement, and even the convergence movement. Today the Lord is raising up a radical new generation of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to work together in the power of the Holy Spirit and with each other to extend His Kingdom, restore the foundations, and reform His Church as one holy apostolic church throughout the earth, so that the Church might ultimately succeed in its mission to disciple the nations and fill the earth with the glory of God!
An Apostolic and Prophetic Curriculum
The leadership and faculty of the Apostles Theological Seminary are dedicated to the recovery and restoration of the Church's foundation, the revelation of the mysteries of Christ entrusted to the original apostles of the Lamb and ascension-gift apostles of the first century! Luke called this knowledge, “the teaching of the apostles” (Acts 2:42). Paul calls it, “the standard or pattern of sound words” (II Timothy 1:13). The revelation entrusted by Jesus to those first apostles is the measure of true Christianity; it is both foundational and essential. It has been carefully preserved for us in the preaching and teaching of the original apostles in the Canon of the New Testament.
Christianity has precise revelatory content! That content has to do with Messiah's Kingdom and its divinely ordained purposes, the covenant promises made to David and the fathers of Israel, the God-inspired visions of the Old Testament prophets, and the fulfillment of those promises and visions in Christ and His Church as recorded for us in the New Testament Scriptures.
Thus the Apostles Theological Seminary's core curriculum is built around the study and mastery not only of “the covenants of the promise” that were made to the fathers of Israel and the visions of “Messiah's Day” revealed by the Spirit to the prophets of Israel and recorded for us in the Canon of the Old Testament, but also the study and mastery of their fulfillment in Christ and His Church as understood and interpreted by Jesus Himself, the Apostles of the Lamb, and the Ascension-gift Apostles of the first century and recorded in the Canon of the New Testament.
An in-depth study of Old and New Testaments through the interpretive grid of Christ and His apostles comprises the core curriculum of apostolic and prophetic studies and is required for all ATS degrees. Special attention is given throughout the core curriculum not only to the apostles' preaching and teaching, but also to their practical strategies and methods, their mission and goal, and architectural paradigms and patterns.
In addition to the core curriculum offered primarily through The Ern Baxter School of The Apostles Doctrine, Church History And Theology and The School of Biblical Studies, ATS also offers many dynamic and practical courses in The School of Ministry And Applied Theology designed to enable each theological and ministerial student to specialize in or emphasize the development of a particular grace-gifting and calling, whether that of apostle, prophet, evangelist, or pastor-teacher.
Finally to provide spiritual balance and prepare our students to minister effectively in the twenty-first century, the ATS curriculum offers a wide range of courses dealing with two-thousand years of Church history, the study of diverse theological systems and schools of thought, major sects and movements within the Church, the history of missions and evangelism, philosophies and techniques of ministry, and the study of world religions and the clash of civilizations. These diverse courses and disciplines of study are carefully developed and approached in light of the definitive revelation of Christ, His Kingdom, and His Church entrusted by the Lord Himself to those first apostles in the first century and recorded in the New Testament with a view to raising a radical new generation of Christian leaders
equipped to impact and transform the Church and the world for the sake
of Christ's Kingdom.
Accreditation
The Apostles Theological Seminary is authorized to grant degrees in theology and Christian ministry in accordance with the State of Florida statute granting religious exemption from State control to churches and non-profit institutions for theological and ministerial training.
In keeping with the religious exemption from the Florida State Regents for Higher Education, the leadership of ATS has chosen not to seek traditional academic accreditation to validate our theological and ministerial degrees. Together with a number of widely recognized leaders of what has been called an apostolic reformation, we are prayerfully rethinking the way ministers are trained seeking instead to recover patterns and methods established by the Lord Jesus and His apostles.
After more than thirty years of teaching in a major evangelical theological seminary, Dr. C. Peter Wagner, head of the Wagner Leadership Institute declared in an interview for Ministries Today, “One of my first goals in designing WLI was to free it of many of the built-in, burdensome restrictions of traditional academia as possible. As a result we are not fettered by required courses, resident students, resident faculty, theological party lines, denominational control, faculty tenure, library facilities, academic restrictions, institutional self-centeredness, financial endowments, academic accreditation or geographical limitations.”
In the same article, speaking of the aversion to accreditation on the part of the many new schools being raised up by apostolic leaders around the globe, Wagner goes on to say, “It is interesting that these schools serving the New Apostolic Reformation are not seeking accreditation.”
Then he added, “Many apostolic leaders have concluded that accredited institutions with which they are the most familiar are, by and large, old wineskins, either unwilling or unable to adapt to the new realities of the Holy Spirit.”
Wagner concludes, “I have found, however, that the leaders of these apostolic schools do have a deep desire for mutual accountability with peer institutions.”
With a deep longing for "mutual accountability" the senior leadership and faculty of the Apostles Theological Seminary have chosen to look to the Lord and to our peers for accountability. Like the Lord Jesus and the first apostolic movement our validation is from heaven itself, not State Boards of Regents or self-congratulating, often skeptical, academic agencies that currently provide accreditation for many denominational seminaries. Just as Peter Wagner and others in the emerging apostolic reformation, we have learned from years of painful experience that accrediting agencies tend to support the "status quo", or the existing state of affairs in Christendom, rather than Christ's Kingdom and the restoration of the foundations laid by Christ and His apostles and the radical reformation of the Church. Therefore, as responsible Christian leaders, and understanding very well that over the centuries Christ's Kingdom has been high-jacked by religion and His Church divided into denominations, we have made the decision to obey our King and to be accountable to the emerging fellowship or communion of apostles and their networks or jurisdictions of ministers and churches, as well as to other apostolic and prophetic schools that, like us, are committed to training a new generation of Kingdom leaders and fivefold ministers for the reformation of the King's Church and of society.
Online Directed Study And Correspondence Courses
The Apostles Theological Seminary offers two distinct kinds of courses. First, ATS offers online directed-studies courses overseen by anointed and proven apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Because these courses are available online a student is able to work at his or her own pace from the comfort and convenience of their own home or office.
Course notes, including audio and
video files in down loadable formats, are made available free of charge whenever
possible. Course materials and text books are also available for purchase in the online bookstore to allow the ATS student to work comfortably at
home while still under the online supervision and direction of the
course's faculty overseer.
The faculty overseer for each course will make online reading assignments in required texts either on the course's blog or by e-mail. The faculty overseer will also require the student to upload written summaries of reading assignments. The student is also encouraged to develop his or her student notebook for each directed-study course. Practical fieldwork may also be required depending upon the course and the student's degree level.
Second, ATS is in the process of developing correspondence courses for all of our core courses. These courses will be made available where internet service is unreliable or too expensive making it difficult for students to participate online.
Correspondence courses may also require the completion of writing
assignments or participation in approved field projects in order to
assure mastery of course material.
Intensives and Seminar Courses
In addition to the online directed-studies and correspondence courses described above, the Apostles Theological Seminary offers intensives for Masters and Doctorate level students. These three to five day intensive study opportunities are highly customized events that are offered in a variety of geographic locations as deemed strategic and needful by the Academic Dean and the faculty overseer throughout the graduate students program. The purpose of these intensives is to provide special opportunities for graduate students to meet with senior faculty members, specially selected guest professors, and other graduate students to review and discuss graduate papers and projects as well as to engage in dialogue about strategically important subjects. Special certified events and conferences may also be recognized for credit.
Also in partnership with the Ern Baxter Institute the Apostles Theological Seminary offers seminars dealing with Christ's Kingdom, the restoration and apostolic reformation of the Lord's Church, and other strategic subjects. These seminars are offered in various cities and regions throughout the world, are posted on the seminary web page, and made available to ATS students in those locations.
Affordable
ATS is an apostolic mission. In March of 2003 the Lord instructed us to build Him a leadership training engine to train Kingdom leaders for the 21st Century. As a result of this mandate from the Lord, all of our courses are offered free of charge to anyone who desires to serve Christ. This is made possible through the generous support of partnering churches and individuals who long to see a new generation of five fold ministers raised up around the world.
However, there are two one-time charges required of all students wishing to receive course credit towards one of our ATS degrees.
First, there is a one-time registration fee of $50.00 to cover costs of paying a registrar to evaluate and create transcripts.
Second, there is a $300.00 Life Learning Portfollio Fee for students who wish to have their life learning or work experience evaluated for credit towards an ATS degree.
(Please note that ATS reserves the right to waive these requirements for worthy students who are unable to pay either the Registration or the Life-Learning fees. In order for these fees to be waived the prospective student must contact the ATS Registrar at gekouri@mac.com.)