A Passionate People, Prophetic in Nature, Preparing Disciples, to Proclaim the Gospel
A Passionate People, Prophetic in Nature, Preparing Disciples, to Proclaim the Gospel
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Excerpt from Prophets and the Prophetic Movement, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1999. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.
The
Nature of a Prophet
How
Does Someone Become a Prophet?
Consider
two examples from scripture
One
Calling or Many?
My
Personal Experience
An
Apostolic-Prophet
Prophets
and the Written Word
Logos
Word vs. Prophet's Rhema Word
Does
the Holy Spirit Replace the Prophet?
The
Fivefold Ministers Are Still Needed
Prophets
Are Perpetual
When,
Where and to Whom Personal Prophecy May Be Ministered
The
Situation Is the Same As With Earlier Movements
Ministerial
Ethics Must be the Same for All Ministers
Charismatics
Were Baptized Outside of Their Churches
Prophets,
Prophecy and Doctrine
The
Church Council at Jerusalem
One
Person Cannot Dictate Doctrine
Five
Principles for Establishing Doctrine
No
Popes
Exclusivism
Leads to Cults
No
One Man or Group has it All
The
Relationship of the Prophet to the Other Fivefold Ministers
We
Have Not Passed This Way Before
One
Ministry Restored Each Decade
The
First Shall Be Last and the Last, First
God's
First Order of Establishing the Fivefold
No
Perfect Structure Until Apostles Restored
There
will be much Reshuffling
The
Reshuffling Has Already Begun
As we look forward to the full blossoming of the Prophetic Movement in the years to come, we need an understanding of the restored role of the prophet in the Church to help us avoid misunderstandings and extremes. In particular, we need insight into the nature of the prophet, the necessity of prophets today, the appropriate place of personal prophecy, the relation of prophets to doctrine and the relationship of the prophet to the other fivefold ministers.
First of all, who is a prophet and what is his or her ministry? A prophet is just a person who has been divinely gifted with the nature and ability of Christ the Prophet. Jesus was able to receive the mind and purposes of God His Father and know what was in the heart of human beings through His office of the prophet. His ability to know the counsels and purposes of God for and individual life, such as He revealed to Peter (Jn. 21: 15-23), was an ability that came from His ministry as a prophet.
When Christ Jesus calls and gifts a man or woman with that part of His ability, attributes, and divine nature, then that person has been commissioned to the office of a prophet. Prophets will always have an ability to prophesy. They will vary in their gifts of the Holy Spirit, but hey primarily move in the gifts of prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits and sometimes healing. The typical prophet moves more in prophecy, word of knowledge and word of wisdom.
Ministers and other saints who are not called to the office of a prophet may manifest one or more of these gifts, but here is a difference in their anointing, authority and level of function. A saint manifesting the gift of prophecy to a congregation is limited to the general activity of that gift, which is edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14: 3).
The prophet, when ministering with his or her gifted office and prophetic anointing, has the same authority for reproving, correcting, directing and instructing in the rhema word of the Lord as the other four ministers have in their teaching, counseling, and preaching with the Logos Word.
How Does Someone Become a Prophet?
A person does not call or appoint him or herself to any or the ascension gift ministries. This is strictly the personal prerogative and gift of Christ Himself. Each minister needs to know what his or her ascension gift office is in the Body of Christ.
After years of research, life experience, scriptural study and personal involvement in the ministry, I have concluded that a person is only called and gifted to one of the five administrative offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. Some other ministers believe that you graduate from one fivefold ministry to another and I grant allowance for that possibility. That person may be required to do the work and fill the position of any of the other four at one time or another in his or her life. These other ministerial activities will be used by the Lord to mature that person in his or her specific calling.
Consider two examples from scripture. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet from his mother's womb (Jer. 1:5). In the case of Paul, numerous scriptures state that he was "called to be an apostle" ten of his epistles begin with a statement acknowledging his call to be an apostle (for example, Eph. 1: 1; Col. 1: 1). He exhibited the fruit of an apostle; yet he also held evangelistic campaigns and itinerated from church to church. He pastured for several years some of the churches that were established out of his ministry. He taught the Word of God better than most, and even wrote fourteen divinely inspired letters that became books of the New Testament. Despite these ministries, however, he never states that he was ever called to be a pastor, teacher, evangelist, or prophet. He does declare that he was ordained as an apostle to be a preacher and a teacher of the Gentiles (1 Tim. 2: 7; 2 Tim. 1: 11).
When Paul was itinerating from church to church on his second journey, we would have introduced hi in modern church terminology as "our visiting evangelist" or "Evangelist Paul." When he stayed in one church and taught them daily for several months, we would have referred to him as "our teacher." While he was taking the oversight of one of the churches for several months we would have referred to him as "Pastor Paul."
The fact remains, however, that though he did the ministerial work of evangelizing, teaching, pasturing - and even at times he functioned like a prophet - he had one Christ-gifted calling, that of the apostle. Each minister has one specific gifted calling but may perform many of the fivefold ministerial functions.
Probably one of the reasons for this conclusion is that my personal experience bears this principle out. I pastured for six years, then traveled for three years in full-time evangelism, then taught in a Bible College for five years, then founded and established the Christian International School of Theology during the mid-1960s.
I have received personal prophecies from many other people over the last thirty-eight years. Those which were recorded total over seven hundred pages of typewritten prophecies containing over a hundred and seventy-five thousand words - enough to fill three volumes the size of this book.
These prophecies have not been from just one place or people. They have been received while ministering on almost every continent of the world. These words were prophesied by ministers representing all fivefold ascension gift ministries; by new converts, and by ministers who have been ordained for over fifty years; by male and female; by old and young.
The prophecies have come from Christians in the historic denominational churches, classical Pentecostal churches, and different "camps" and fellowships including those called by the names "Restoration," "Charismatic," "Faith," and "Kingdom." They have come from Christian men's and women's organizations such as the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International and Ladies' Aglow. And they have come from special ministry groups such as Teen challenge and Maranatha Ministries.
The amazing thing is that in all of these thousands of prophetic words through hundreds of people from all over the world during four decades, there has been no statement to contradict my office and calling of prophet as God sovereignly declared it in the beginning. It is true that just within this last decade I have received about fifteen prophecies concerning an "Apostolic anointing" and my doing "the work of an apostle." But none have mentioned the calling of an apostle.
But the Holy Spirit prophetically stated that this apostolic anointing was being granted for two reasons. The first reason was that I had been faithful in multiplying the prophet anointing that had been giving, so now that anointing was being doubled by the addition of the apostolic anointing (Mt. 25: 28, 29). The second reason was that the apostolic anointing had been given for the purpose of pioneering, establishing and taking a fatherhood responsibility for the restoration and propagation of the office of the prophet. That is one reason why the term apostolic-prophet is used to describe my present ministerial position in the Body of Christ, specifically as it relates to my position of oversight of the CI-NPM.
Once we understand the nature of the prophet, we must consider the basic issue of the need for prophets in the Church today. Some theologians question whether or not there is even a place in the modern Church for prophets. They believe that we have no use for prophets today because we now have the Bible. The Bible, they say, reveals all of God's principles, ways, wisdom, word, direction and revealed will for every person.
Logos Word vs. Prophet's Rhema Word
To respond we need only ask a question: If a divinely inspired book of instruction eliminates the need for the prophet, then why didn't God do away with the office and ministry of the prophet after Moses wrote the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)?
The Pentateuch contains the Law of God with detailed instructions for every area of human life. Yet even though Israel had the Law, God still continued to raise up prophets to give specific messages to leaders, nations and individuals. The priests and Levites taught the written Word of God, but the prophets did more than read and teach the written Word - the Logos. They spoke God's present rhema word to specific situations and needs.
In fact, the prophets were more numerous and ministered more during the fifteen centuries of the Law than during any other time in biblical history. Yet for that period, the Law of Moses was the complete revealed will of God, even down to the very details of humankind's relationship to each other and to God. It was the complete written Word, the Logos for the children of Israel during the dispensation of the Law just as the New Testament is for the dispensation of the church. In both dispensations, God's prophets are needed.
Does the Holy Spirit Replace the Prophet?
Some theologians imply that the church does not need the ministry of the prophet today because the Holy Spirit has been seen. Each Christian now has the Holy Spirit within, they insist, and He illuminates them with a rhema when needed. Consequently, the prophet with a rhema is no longer needed, except as an inspired preacher expounding upon the already-revealed and written Word of God.
If we accepted that idea as proper theology, then it would be more realistic to say that we do not need teachers to teach the Word of God, because each Church Age saint has the Holy Spirit and a Bible. The Bible is self-explanatory and there are numerous scriptures which state that the Holy Spirit shall teach you all things, lead you into all truth, take the things of Christ and show them to you, and be your illuminator, director, counselor and enabler (Jn. 16: 7-15).
1 John 2: 27 states, "But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you." It would be much easier to make a theological argument for doing away with the office of the teacher in the Body of Christ than that of the prophet.
If prophets are not needed in Christ's Church because we now have the revealed will of God written for all to read, and the Holy Spirit to personalize that Word when needed, then the same reasoning would have to eliminate from the Church not only the teacher, but eventually also all the other fivefold ministers. They could say we do not need the evangelist; we can just give everyone a Bible and let the Holy Spirit do the work of convicting and converting. Likewise, the church would not need apostles to do their founding and establishing ministry, because the Church has already been established by the original twelve apostles. Nor would the Church need pastors, for the Holy Spirit and the Bible will give direction, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd to every one of His sheep.
The Fivefold Ministers Are Still Needed
Nevertheless, the biblical fact is that the Word of God emphatically states that the resurrected Christ gifted individuals to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. There is not one scriptural indication anywhere that any of the five have been recalled, dispensationally depleted, or removed from their Christ-appointed ministry to the Church throughout her existence on earth. Ephesians 4: 12 declares that the fivefold representation, manifestation and personified ministry of Christ in mortal bodies will continue until every member in the Body of Christ is fully matured and equipped in their ministries so that the whole body is edified, built up, and matured (Eph. 4: 11-13).
Only as all five of the ascension gift ministers equally and fully function in the Church will she enter her predestined purpose of coming into the "unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…[and] by speaking the truth in love [she] may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (vv. 13, 15).
Each age, dispensation and covenant of God has added and dropped terminology concerning certain ministries. There was first the time of the patriarchs. Then the Law defined priests, Levites, scribes and kings. In the New Testament we have mention of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, bishops, and saints.
We should note here that the only ministry which can be found consistently functioning in every age and dispensation from Genesis to Revelation is that of the prophet. The prophet is the one ministry that has never been limited to any particular dispensation, age, or covenant of God. The man or woman who becomes the pure expression of the mind of God to humankind is the ministry mentioned and manifest more consistently throughout the whole Bible. And that ministry is the prophet.
When, Where and to Whom Personal Prophecy May Be Ministered
Not long ago someone suggested to me that neither prophets nor prophetic ministers nor prophetic presbyteries should prophesy over anyone unless they had a letter of authorization from their pastor. He insisted that on one should receive ministry from anyone unless his or her pastor is present or gives authorization.
In such a requirement were a biblical divine order - if God required that church members have a letter from the pastor for approval for members to go to a conference or seminar of another person or ministry - then that would apply to all church members in all churches including all Catholics, Fundamentalists, Pentecostals, and Charismatics. That would mean that Billy Graham should make sure each person attending his evangelistic crusade has a letter of authorization from his or her pastor before he allows his workers to minister to that person and lead him or her into a new spiritual experience of being born-again, an experience of which many priests and pastors do not approve because it is not a part of their church doctrine or practice.
The same would be true of a Baptist church member attending a charismatic conference of an FGBMFI chapter meeting or conference. How many of the present Charismatic Christians who were in Catholic, Historic Protestant and Evangelical churches would have been exposed to and received the gift of the Holy Spirit with speaking in other tongues if they had to obtain a letter of approval from their pastor or priest?
The Situation Is the Same As With Earlier Movements
Some Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors would say, "But participating in the prophetic movement is different from participating in our movement." Some insist that ministering personal prophecy to other pastors' church members brings confusion to them and disrupts their faithfulness and contentment to be a church member in their home church. But if a Charismatic pastor thinks that ministering the born-again experience to a Catholic or baptism of the Holy Spirit to a Fundamentalist doesn't bring confusion and disrupt a person's contentment to be in their home church, that pastor has only to ask the Catholic priest or Evangelical pastor of those members who received a born-again experience at a Billy Graham meeting or speaking in tongues at a Charismatic conference.
Some pastors who believe in personal prophecy have stated that since they themselves provide prophetic presbytery for their people, then it is out of order for them to receive personal prophecy from someone who is not their spiritual covering and authority in their lives. They have stated that it would be wrong for them to receive prophetic presbytery or a word from a prophet if the pastor has not authorized it.
Ministerial Ethics Must be the same for All Ministers
If that is proper ministerial ethics, divine order and biblical principle, then does that mean that a Pentecostal pastor is justified in saying that no minister at an FGBMFI meeting or a Charismatic pastor has any right to minister the Holy Spirit with speaking in other tongues to one of his or her church members? Can the Pentecostal pastor rightfully call the Charismatic pastor or FGBMFI president and rebuke him or her for being unethical and out of divine order by ministering the Holy Spirit to someone that way?
He could say, "We have special services in our own church where we minister the Holy Spirit gift to our people. I do not want other ministers laying hands on my members and ministering to them. I do not want them instructing my members on how to receive the Holy Spirit and how to minister it to others." The Pentecostal pastor could say that because these ministers had ministered spiritual things to his or her people without a pastor's letter of authorization, then the other ministry should be branded and put off limits because they were not operating in divine order, proper church structure, or ministerial ethics.
Must Oral Roberts have local pastoral approval to lay hands on local church members and minister divine healing to them? If this is a divine biblical principle, then Oral Roberts has broken it a million times, for he has laid hands on over a million people, most of whom were not his own church members.
Charismatics Were Baptized Outside of Their Churches
Most present-day Charismatics that received the gift of the Holy Spirit in the 60s and 70s did not receive it in their own local denominational church. Most received it while attending an FGBMFI meeting n a hotel ballroom or at a Charismatic conference. If this idea of having local pastor approval before members can visit another ministry or receive ministry had been strictly followed in the Charismatic movement, then a great majority of those who became "tongues talkers" would not be Charismatics today.
Each church member and minister will have to determine whether this idea is a divine biblical principle or a fear and control tactic of past movement leaders to keep their people from being exposed to a new restorational truth movement which they do not understand. There are only three options for our response to new truth: We can persecute it, be passive about it, or participate and propagate it.
Prophets, Prophecy and Doctrine
Those who have been involved in prophetic ministry for decades have discovered several guidelines with regard to prophets and doctrine.
First of all, fivefold ministers are the headship directors for establishing biblical principles, teachings and Church doctrine. New Testament doctrine was established by proper revelation and applications of the Logos Scriptures. Church order, doctrine and practices were not established by prophecy, visions, dreams, or personal spiritual experiences of a private individual (2 Pet. 1: 20). No doubt these may be biblical ministries and experiences that the Holy Spirit can use to gain our attention, enlighten our understanding, or prepare us to receive a doctrine that God is about to reveal. But such personal spiritual experiences should not be the basis for formulating a doctrine.
The Church Council at Jerusalem
Consider the example of the first Church council in Jerusalem, which met to resolve the doctrinal issue concerning whether Gentile Christians should be required to follow the Abrahamic covenant and Mosaic law of circumcision. God's process for the acceptance and establishment of this doctrine was as follows: First, Peter received a vision while praying that adjusted his attitude and opened up his spirit to do something different. Then he went to Cornelius' Gentile household in obedience to the vision and personal rhema word of God and the coinciding invitation of the two men sent by Cornelius who had been instructed by an angel to do so (Acts 10 - 11: 18).
The sovereign spiritual experience of Cornelius' household - receiving the forgiveness of sins and the gift of te Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in unknown tongues just as the Jewish Christians had - convinced Peter they should also be baptized in water in the name of their new-found Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then Paul and Barnabas started traveling together in ministry. Many more Gentiles began to receive salvation, the gift of Holy Spirit, healing and miracles without becoming proselyte Jews first.
At the council in Jerusalem, Peter gave his testimony of his vision and angelic visitation and the sovereign move of God at Cornelius' house. Barnabas and Paul gave their testimony of the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestowing on the Gentiles all the benefits of Christianity apart from the Mosaic law. These testimonies, visions and supernatural experiences were eye-openers and served as a witness and confirming evidence. But it was not until James received a revelation and application of the Logos that the issue was settled and written into established doctrine for the New Testament Church (Acts 15: 1-35).
One Person Cannot Dictate Doctrine
No one man or ministry should establish a doctrine as essential belief and practice for all Christians. Paul declared that he received his revelation on this matter directly from God in the Arabian Desert and was not given this truth from the original apostles. But he did not preach it as Church doctrine and send letters to establish it until he had met with the apostles and other fivefold ministers. None of us should ever think ourselves so great or sovereign in the Body of Christ that we believe there is no need to submit our teachings and beliefs to other key present-truth apostles, prophets and other fivefold ministries (Gal. 1: 11-18).
Church Councils to Come in the 90s
I personally believe that in the 1990s, as prophets and apostles are being restored back to proper order and function within the church, many of these Church councils of leading present-truth ministers will be necessary. One particular apostle or prophet or camp will never receive the whole revelation for the establishing of prophets and apostles back into the Church.
Many will have visions (even of Jesus), dreams, rhemas, angelic visitations and supernatural personal experiences and sovereign moves of the Holy Spirit in their meetings. But doctrines that claim to be binding on all Christians must not be established by any one apostles, prophet, or camp. There must be meetings of a Church council with other leaders of past and present restorational streams of truth.
Five Principles for Establishing Doctrine
When the fivefold ministers come together to consider doctrines and practices this way, they will need to keep in mind several areas of insight: (1) the claimed revelation from God; (2) the fruit of the ministry among those who have received the doctrine of practice; (3) the supernatural working of God accompanying it; (4) the Logos and rhema word of God application and authority for the doctrine or practice; and (5) the witness of the Spirit and the unified consent of those present.
In the meantime, we may say, "As for me and my house" - declaring what our own fellowship or family will believe and practice. But we must not present it in such a way to imply that those who do not believe and worship the same way are out of order or in error. This is not the prerogative of one person - neither the Catholic Pope nor a Charismatic, Kingdom, Faith, or Prophetic Pope.
Each person and fellowship has a responsibility to follow their own revelations, convictions and practices, but not to impose them upon the corporate Body of Christ. Such presumptuous declarations, teachings and actions cause divisions in the Body of Christ. Every erroneous Christian religious group has established certain doctrines and practices that are unique with themselves. This then makes them an exclusive, seclusive, "elected" group that sees itself as superior to all others.
The manifestations of this attitude are seen in the extreme groups that arose during the time of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements: Mormonism, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses. But sad to say, there are also some on the extreme right that are still counted as "mainline" Christian denominations who believe they are the only true people of God. They base this conviction on certain baptism formulas, ways of worship, church order, or some other unique doctrine or practice.
No One Man or Group has it All
The New Testament Scriptures emphatically and repeatedly declare that Christ has only one Church here on planet earth. Not any denomination, fellowship, or restoration camp make up the entirety of that Church. Every truly born-again, blood-washed, sanctified child of God is a member of Christ's Church. They may be Charismatic Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals or Present-truth Prophetic People. We are only parts of the whole and members in particular of the corporate Body of Christ.
All truth and life is found in the whole, not in any one particular part or member. We need each other and will never come to maturity and fullness of truth without each other. The new wine is in the cluster - not just in one individual grape (Is. 65: 8).
The Relationship of the Prophet to the Other Fivefold Ministers
The Lord revealed to me in the mid-1980s that many extremes would come in the swing of the pendulum of restoration truth concerning prophets and apostles. So I have been making an intensified study throughout Scripture, Church history and present-day writing, joined with much prayer for illumination and even revelation from Christ concerning His proper order for the function and interrelationship of His fivefold ministers.
Most of the writings and teachings of this century are based only on the knowledge and experience of our present limited status - that is, with the church only recognizing three of the five offices: pastor, evangelist and teacher. All present ministerial church order, structure and relationship has been determined by that perspective. Now, however, sufficient room and proper structure must be made for the function and ministry of the apostles and prophets.
We Have Not Passed This Way Before
All present-day ministers, and especially those who will be moving in present-truth revelation, must be open, teachable and adjustable to the Holy Spirit's educating us more perfectly in this way. We must follow the admonition of Joshua to the leaders and people of Israel when they were about to enter their promised Canaan Land. They were to sanctify themselves and watch for the moving of the ark of God by the priest. Then, when they saw it begin to move, they were to "go after it!" (Josh. 3: 1-3).
Joshua emphasized that they had to follow the leadership who was following the Lord so that they might know the way that they must go, "for ye have not passed this way heretofore" (v. 4). In the same way, we the present-day Church have never passed this way in the history of the restoration of the Church. We have never functioned with the full restoration of all five offices - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
One Ministry Restored Each Decade
We said in an earlier chapter that the Holy Spirit had been commissioned to bring all five of Christ's ascension gift ministries to proper order, authority, position and ministry. We also noted that the last fifty years of the twentieth century was designated as the time for that to be accomplished, with each ten-year period being used to restore one of the five.
During that decade a particular ascension gift ministry would be brought forth to be clarified, amplified, and magnified within the Church. That fivefold ministry would be brought forth in one decade. Then each ministry restored would continue to grow and function until it was fully understood, accepted and established in its God-ordained role.
The First Shall Be Last and the Last, First
God revealed to me the reason for choosing the particular order in which He was restoring the fivefold ministers. His divine principle of "the first shall be last and the last, first" has determined the order of restoration (Mt. 19: 30; 20: 16; 1 Cor. 12: 28).
When God first set the fivefold ministers in the Church, His chronological order of establishing them was this: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, fourth pastors, and fifth evangelists. Now during these five decades of reestablishing the fivefold ministries and setting them back in proper order, the Holy Spirit is starting with the last that was established and is step-by-step working His way back to the first: first, the evangelist in the 1950s; second, the pastor in the 1960s; third, the teacher in the 1970s; fourth, the prophet in the 1980s; and finally, the apostle in the 1990s.
God's First Order of Establishing the Fivefold
When Christ originally established the ascension gift ministries in the Church, first came the apostles who followed Jesus for over three years. Second, the New Testament prophets were brought forth, and together, the tow foundational ministries of the apostle and prophet, laid the foundation of the Church with proper structure doctrinally and spiritually. Third, the teachers were set in to ground the saints in these truths until they were fully established as New Testament churches. Apostle and prophet teams then set pastoral elders over the churches to guard, feed and lead the flock of believers like a shepherd (Acts 15: 32; 16: 4, 18, 25; 2 Cor. 1: 19; 2 Th. 1: 1; Acts 20: 28).
After the churches were doctrinally founded and structured into proper church order with a pastor, elders and deacons, then evangelists were sent out from the local church. They were sent forth by the Holy Spirit from the local church in a way similar to how Philip, "the deacon turned into an evangelist," went out from the church in Jerusalem to Samaria and conducted that great evangelistic campaign. The evangelists not only went to unreached areas but they also went to churches to encourage the saints and to keep them renewed in Christ's final commission on world evangelism and making disciples in all nations (Acts 6: 5; 8: 5; Mt. 28: 19).
No Perfect Structure Until Apostles Restored
God's divine order and structure for the functioning, authority and relationship of fivefold ministry will not be fully revealed and established until after that fifty-year period has brought forth the full restoration and unity of all five ministers. The reality of this revelation implies that not one minister alive today sees the whole picture in proper perspective. We each have and demonstrate only different pieces of the puzzle.
The whole will not be fully seen, understood and established until every puzzle piece is placed in the picture. Only Jesus has the box cover with the whole picture on it. We are individual pieces in the ox and on the table. The pastor, evangelist and teacher pieces have been placed in their general area on the table; the prophet pieces have been taken out of the box and are being examined to determine where they go; the apostle pieces are just now beginning to be brought out of the box in the 1990s. So all systems and structures established before the year 2000 will be limited and temporary.
There will be much Reshuffling
In the current situation, it is as if all the ministries were dominoes, and we each have a hand of them that represents our revelation of fivefold ministry structure and function. The Holy Spirit will tell everyone to lay his or her own hand down dos that He can transform them. Then we will all pick up the same hand so that we can then come forth with one revelation for structure rather than five. Consequently, we can expect a great deal of reshuffling and playing out those hands during the 90s.
Many ministers, and especially apostles, will come forth in 90s to declare presumptuously that they have the perfect hand for playing out the role of fivefold ministry. But do not become bound or boxed in by one person's revelation. That person's hand of dominoes will have to be laid down and shuffled again before full and proper revelation comes in the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The Reshuffling Has Already Begun
Some ministers have already begun to establish guidelines and doctrines concerning proper structure and function for fivefold ministers. Many Pentecostal and Charismatic ministers are becoming nervous and concerned about the multitude of prophets that are arising. They do not know what to do with them and when, where and how to let them function, if at all. Some prophets are getting nervous and concerned about the restoration of the apostles and are fearful that they will try to structure them into a restricted realm that God never intended.
This situation is creating the potential for some extreme teaching within the Prophetic and Apostolic Movements. I hope I can offer some understanding and encourage some balance in this area. The following chapter is devoted to bringing clarity to some of these potential controversies and extremes.
