Bobbie Houston is the wife of Brian Houston, and calls herself the “co-senior pastor of Hillsong church.” Hillsong is the Australia-based global phenomenon that has been growing throughout the world through its Arian Snare pop-music, Word-Faith theology, and celebrity endorsements. With satellite churches in New York, Los Angeles, and the Americas, Hillsong is the point of the spear of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a charismatic movement that is seeking to unite the charismatic world – Protestant and Catholic – under its two main doctrinal distinctives, continuationism and the prosperity gospel. Along with the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, Bethel Church in Redding, California, and other charismatic mega-movements, Hillsong is helping to advance the Second and Third-Wave Pentecostal notion that God is bringing a “latter rain” (a perverted interpretation of Joel 2) movement upon the church that includes the divine implementation of new Apostles.
In no uncertain terms, this charismatic movement is claiming a return of the Apostolate, including Apostolic authority and new revelation.
Bobbie Houston is the latest to claim Apostolic anointing for her husband, Brian, a standard claim for NAR leaders. Houston claimed from her Twitter account…
When the Apostle Paul wrote his epistles, he repeatedly reinforced his Apostolic anointing in a similar fashion, so that the recipients of his letters might submit to them as authoritative, inscripturated Sacred Writ, writing in places like…
1 Corinthians 1:1, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”
2 Corinthians 2:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth”
Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches in Galatia”
Ephesians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus”
Colossians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s holy people in Colossae”
1 Timothy 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith”
2 Timothy 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus”
In like manner, NAR leaders claim for themselves similar Apostolic credentials. Houston wrote in more detail on her Instagram account…
In true Apostolic anointing … he delivered what I believe was the heart of God, and a crucial “milestone” message to the soul of our church. A milestone is a marker in the journey. It reminds us of where we have come from, and more imptly, where we are headed. Every person (around the world) who believes they are in the fabric of the heart and soul of our “Hillsong church family”, HAS to hear this message. As Revelation declares – “he who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”
When Bobbie Houston cited Revelation 2:29, “he who has ears…” she is citing Jesus’ words to John the Revelator, as he was giving personally inscripturated letters to the churches of Asia Minor. One can only deduce that when applying the words to her husband, Brian, while claiming for him “true Apostolic anointing” that what he spoke was at least as authoritative as Holy Scripture.
