Edition Eight

In Edition Seven, we talked about the five fold ministry and its place in the church. Everyone today wants to hear a Word of Prophecy about the days ahead and how the church is going to survive. In order to explain what God has given prophets around the world, I feel I must explain why a prophet is the only office that can speak with authority on prophecy and should be the final word to the Church today.

Unfortunately, it seems that too few members of Generation X understand the importance of this lost leadership group and its role in the preservation of the church body. Over centuries history has proven that any army is subject to failure without leadership, and this is so true with the Church. I find it strange that the leadership in the church world today is so easily offended when you talk about the Five Fold Ministry. They immediately start debating whether the apostle is greater than the pastor and whether the teacher is greater than the evangelist.

In the military, the only debate about authority is not between privates and generals. They know their place and accept it. In real life, it’s the politicians and individuals that hold self-appointed offices that argue over whether they are getting any authority recognition, and if so, how much greater will they be over others.
If an army argued over leadership authority like the Church, they would be defeated before they ever took the field. Coming from a military family I learned at an early age that you never argued with the officer over you and that there was a chain of command. The Church today no longer respects the scriptures about “obeying those that have the rule over you and allowing the man with the higher ring to have the seat of honor.” To preserve the last day Remnant Seed, the God-appointed Five Fold Ministry must be in full force.

God called offices:

• Apostles: Those who establish doctrine and governed the church leaders.
• Prophets: The voice of God about things yet to come.
• Pastors: The keepers of the church.
• Evangelist: Revivalist and itinerant ministries.
• Teachers: Teachers of scriptures and rightly dividing the Word of Truth in the body of Christ.

Man appointed offices:

• Bishops: Men of wisdom, Church leadership and peace makers.
• Elders: Those who assist in taking care of the church and less fortunate members.

Because there is a lack of understanding between the God-called offices and the man-appointed offices, there seems to be a drought of true prophecy in the Church today. Many times any “vocal outbreak” in a spiritual gathering, whether it is the Word of Wisdom, a Word of Knowledge or an interpretation of a Word of Tongues, is declared a “Word of Prophecy” and the person who delivered it is declared a “Prophet”. Some would say there is no fault in that, but actually it is just the opposite. Taking the stand that any word spoken under the anointing is prophecy is ludicrous and is totally contrary to Scripture.

I think some misunderstanding is fostered by fear. There are some individuals that feel they could lose their place of authority in the Body of Christ when, in fact, the Five Fold Ministry only solidifies their God-called office in God’s divine plan. For example, when a neurosurgeon has a tooth ache, without hesitation he goes to a dentist, and when a dentist has a brain tumor he, without hesitation, goes to a neurosurgeon.

Why is it in the Church world that pastors, apostles or others think they don’t need prophets and that anyone can prophecy? God so stated in His Word that in the last days He would do nothing until first He told His prophets. He also said, “To touch not His anointed and do His prophets no harm.”

If you are going to follow us into the prophecy of the last days and the understanding as to who the Remnant Seed really is and their place in the body of Christ in the last days, you will have to accept that prophets are God’s chosen way to lead His people into the future and that His word out of their mouth is final.

As we move forward I will show you scriptural instruction on how you separate the false prophet from the true prophet, so get ready for the ride of your life.