Stephen R Crosby

Authority, Accountability and the Apostolic Movement Stephen R Crosby

This book examines different authority teachings and practices common in the so-called New Apostolic Reformation Movement and in many independent Evangelical churches. Topics often heard within that movement deal with issues such as: church government and order, ruling over, honor/culture of honor, authority and submission, loyalty, spiritual fathering and sonship, spiritual covering/apostolic covering" and others. This book critiques these themes and finds them to be biblically without merit as typically presented and toxic in their harmful effects in those who have had the misfortune to be exposed to them. Many who may ask an honest question of leadership are often accused of being disloyal, being "wounded," having a problem with submission to authority, or having a "Jezebel spirit," the so-called "set-man," and other controlling canards. This book will equip readers with the ability to resist the forceful presentation of the distorted doctrines. It will help those who have experienced these things recover from the damage that they have endured, and it will inoculate others who have not been exposed to the abusive doctrines. This book provides antidotes and solutions for healthy relationships in a new covenant community of grace that does not capitulate to the anarchic spirit of our times under the guise of spiritual liberty.