1ST VISIT? PLEASE START AT IST ENTRY - MARCH 2008.

Further entries to be created within this blog after #20. will be on the following subjects...

21. The cost of a close walk with Jesus in spiritual warfare.

22. Faith to obtain miracles from God.

23. The tremendous spiritual power that comes forth from pure, relativity faith.

24. The actuality of Jesus Christ dwelling within us!

25. The church, as it should be - from Jesus Christ's ascension until He comes back for it.

5. What are the powers given by God to His apostles and prophets today?

The subject of apostolic and prophetic powers is very important because there are so many supernatural things that God says in His Word that He wants to do for His Christians thru these 2 high church offices. However, in His great mercy towards those Christians who don't believe in these offices for today, God might still elect to send any of His supernatural powers thru evangelists, healers, miracle workers, teachers and pastors in whose ministry they do believe so that they won't miss out entirely on these blessings. He might also send them thru church helpers or administrators or thru any faithful Christian at all for that matter for the same reason.

But God seems to have established in the Scriptures that He will make all of His supernatural powers accessible first thru the faith of His appointed apostles and prophets. He seems to have ordained this pecking order for the distribution of His supernatural powers in order to certify His supernatural appointment of particular men to these 2 offices.

But before we embark on this discussion of their powers let's just assume that the apostles and prophets spoken of here are truly from God. Let's not take up a discussion about false prophets here in order to not confuse the issue and for the sake of brevity. The subject of dealing with false apostles and false prophets has already been discussed in March 2008's 1st and 2nd blog entries.


1. The greatest and most wonderful power that Jesus gives to His believers is that which comes forth as they (by the movement of the Holy Spirit) preach the gospel.

Romans 1:16 - ...for it (the gospel) is the power of God for salvation...

The magnificent, Holy Spirit given conviction power which will lead sinners who hear the gospel into repentance and salvation, can accompany any believer's preaching of it so this power is not put thru God's apostles only,.But it is the most important power that God does put thru them and they are constrained to bring it forth.

I Corinthians 9:16 - For if I (the apostle) preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel for...I have a stewardship (from God) entrusted to me!

The dictionary tells us that the word apostle means one who is sent. Therefore, any true apostle of God is by definition, one who is supernaturally sent to preach the gospel to various individuals whom God has chosen.

Romans 10:14b -15 - How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear (about Him) without a preacher? (and) how will they preach unless they are sent (by God)?

Once in these people's presence, the apostle's first and foremost supernatural power will come forth mightily upon them when he preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ to save them from God's righteous wrath upon their sin.

Acts 4:33 - And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all!

During the preaching of the gospel, God the Father will give people a supernatural revelation (via His Holy Spirit) directly into the spirit of their minds that Jesus Christ is His unique, only begotten Son.

Matthew 16:15 - 18 (Jesus) said to (His disciples), "But who do you say that I am?"

...Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"

...And Jesus said unto him, "Blessed are you...because......flesh and blood did not reveal this to you...

...but MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN (REVEALED IT TO YOU)!

(Kenneth Wuest Expanded New Testament Translation with my comments added)

When sinners believe in their hearts the revelation that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's unique, only begotten Son and that as such, He is the only One qualified by God to save them from eternal death and damnation at God's holy, righteously wrathful hands, they are saved from it and born-again in their spirits.

John 3:6 - That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

So, with salvation from God's wrath being the most important thing that can happen to anyone, the preaching of the gospel is the first and foremost power that He gives to His apostles (or any believer for that matter).

I Corinthians 4:20 - For the kingdom of heaven does not consist in (mere) words but in power!



2. God uniquely empowers His apostles to form new churches and to use their supernatural apostolic authority to protect those churches (and also any other existing churches whose members desire to place themselves under their ministry).

The apostle is to gather and bring newly born-again-of-the-Holy-Spirit, infant believers into their new family of God within either a new or an existing Scripturally structured church fellowship. This is the God ordained family within which for these new believers to continue to be fathered by Holy Spirit thru the apostle, so as to grow up in all aspects in the Lord.

I Corinthians 4:15b - ...For in Christ Jesus, I (the apostolic preacher) became your (spiritual) father through the gospel.

Within these church fellowships, these new believers are to be taught the Word of God and about the things of God in order to be built up in Christ. Here their fathering apostles are to exercise all of their unique apostolic supernatural powers to train them (and everyone else within the fellowship) in all of the things of God.

Ephesians 4:11- 12a - ...He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service...

As the individual believers grow within a Scripturally structured church under the auspices of apostles and all of the other church officers, they will gain more and more knowledge and grace and strength in their faith. Then eventually, they will mature into having Holy Spirit imbued power of their own by which to promote God's heavenly kingdom among men.

Zechariah 4:6b - Not by might nor by power but by my Holy Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts!

Now, it stands to reason that the most spiritually knowledgeable, wisest and most powerful church groups will grow their members in such a way as to become fully equipped to wage very effective spiritual warfare against Satan's kingdom. The best equipped groups will be those church fellowships that have the purest beliefs, as is suggested in the principle of the following verse...

James 3:17 - The wisdom from above (from God) is FIRST - PURE...

Therefore these wise, spiritually powerful churches of God will garrison their brethren who are in various stages of growth and maturity under the pure, Scripturally sound, ministerial structure listed in the Scripture below

I Corinthians 12:28 - 31 - And God has appointed in the church - FIRST APOSTLES, SECOND PROPHETS, THIRD TEACHERS, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.......but earnestly desire the greater gifts.

Any church group today that is fellowshipping outside of the purity of this church structure in this pecking order, inherently forfeits God's supernaturally offered, top-level spiritual gifts! He has ordained them to come forth thru each church officer's faith and they are absolutely necessary in order to fully defeat all of Satan's foils against their members.

Ephesians 6:11 - Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil!

Unfortunately, most Christian denominations do not put on the full spiritual armor of God because, along with many other supernatural things described in the Scriptures, they do not believe in the validity of the first 2 church offices of apostles and prophets for today. Therefore, because of their own and their spiritual fathers' traditional unbelief, they do not and have not encouraged nor allowed apostles and prophets to operate within their churches.

Matthew 15:6b - ...you make the word of God of no effect because of your traditions.

Consequently, their impurity of faith (in denying the validity of these first 2 church offices for today), causes them to be without the full power needed for completely effective spiritual warfare today. Total spiritual power over Satan's forces requires all of the glorious, supernatural gifts that God wants to send to His Christians. And His very most important gifts He will normally only send forth thru these first 2 denied church offices of apostles and prophets.

Only recognized, appreciated and properly functioning apostles and prophets today can bring forth the special supernatural gifts and unique powers necessary to fully protect and guide individuals within church groups. They are also necessary to lead their members into total victory over all of Satan's activities within their bailiwick. Churches without the first 2 God-ordained ministries of apostles and prophets pierce themselves with many unnecessary pangs, since they wander from faith in these ministries for today.

I Timothy 6:10b - for some... have wandered away from the faith (in the truth of some Scriptures), (and have) pierced themselves with many a pang (for so doing). (the principle of this verse)

As a result, they don't have the God-given, top-drawer powers necessary within their churches to fully empower their brethren's overall efforts to defeat Satan's war machine. So they don't get enlightening and comforting personal prophecies from God, encouraging miraculous healings, deliverances from demons and the problems that they maliciously propagate, miraculous events and signs or wonders. All of the apostolic and prophetic powers being active within a church, along with those of the other officers in the church, help to strengthen all of their brethren's faith and fulfill their growth into mature Christians.

Ephesians 4:11 - 13 - And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

So, those without these powers are forced to settle for merely the powers of teachers and evangelists, administrators and helpers by which to battle Satan and grow in the Lord. Thus, they have no apostolic authority protecting them from Satanic personal attacks within their church ranks such as misguided brethren who rail against their teacher-pastors. Neither will they have any prophets by which for God to warn and guide and comfort each of their members in their individual lives. And they will not have all of the miracles, healings and signs and wonders that God wishes to give them thru the apostles and prophets to better their lives.

These deficiencies utterly hamstring such churches' brethren from ever maturing enough to win many of the major battles against Satan's forces. This is one reason why so many Christians feel so frustratingly powerless in their church homes.

The upshot of all of this is that only the apostles' God-given powers to establish correctly structured churches (according to the Scriptures) and to protect and nurture their brethren, will lead to the development over time of truly mature, spiritually powerful members. These are the needed brethren who can successfully fight off all of Satan's evil attacks while they effectively promote God's kingdom to more and more people!


3. The third power which apostles are given (which is also the first power that prophets are given) is the power to bring forth prophecies from God thru the Holy Spirit to edify, influence, comfort, caution and / or direct the various believers in their churches.

Christians who believe in apostles and prophets as being valid for today, experience and benefit from many God-given prophecies.

I Corinthians 14:1 - 3 - ...desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy...(for) the one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

Of course Christians who believe in apostles and prophets all love to receive every positive prophecy that God will send to them thru either of these offices. So, what else needs to be said about positive prophecies? If one believes in their validity, one will easily accept, believe and benefit from them.

But most Christians hate to get negative prophecies (at least they hate them when they first hear them), because of their inherently sinful nature which is always at work within them to defy God. Apostles and prophets are really challenged to love the brethren to whom they are called upon by God to bring a negative message. Why? Because most recipients of negative messages do not usually wish to hear them and consequently will often cop an attitude towards the apostle or prophet giving it.

However, mature recipients of negative prophecies will immediately do internal battle within themselves and with Satan to humble and soften themselves so as to be able to respond well to the truths coming forth in a negative prophetic message. But recipients who stubbornly resist any negative message sent to them from God, automatically fall from grace and thus into Satan's power, becoming demonically hardened. Eventually, in one way or another, this hardening will be evilly expressed to the apostle or the prophet and that then becomes a personally painful experience for them.

An evil reaction to a negative message can result in the prophesier becoming bitter and thus lose his or her brotherly love for that message's resister. Prophesiers may also get bitter towards and lose their love for any other brethren who might join up with the resister.

Hebrew 12:15 - See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness, springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.

Negative messages from God are therefore given as a test both for the recipient and for the prophesier and for those who do or don't side with a resister.


4. Apostolic and prophetic authority to bind Satan and loose blessings.

God provides those appointed to these 2 callings with great power to bind all evil Satanic forces that they are gifted by the Holy Spirit to perceive.

Luke 9:1 - And He called...(His apostles)...and gave them power and authority over all the demons...!

They are also empowered by God to loose offsetting blessings that they perceive will be forthcoming from God, upon individual members of their church fellowship. They do both binding and loosing by revelation from by God of the heavenly decrees for these bindings and loosings upon the earth.

Matthew 16:19 - ...(Jesus said to the first apostles) ...whatsoever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Whenever any brethren willingly place themselves under the apostolic and prophetic authorities within a church fellowship, they will automatically obtain God's great protection from evil for themselves thru their offices, for their church group and for those who are under their own spiritual authority.

For much further information on this subject, the reader might like to view this great 1 hour teaching on apostolic and prophetic authority.


5. Apostolic and prophetic healings and deliverance from demons.

God can do supernatural healings thru a variety of means such as thru the anointing of the sick with oil and the laying of hands upon the sick by church elders or by any of the brethren when the healing is being faithfully requested. Faithful prayers and fastings can also move God to send healings and deliverances.

Mark 9:29 - (Jesus explained that)...This kind (of demon) cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting

But occasionally, especially when God wants to substantiate one of His apostles or prophets, the only way the desired supernatural healing will come forth (after all else may have been tried), is by that apostle or prophet calling for it under his authority from Jesus!

The same can be true of some deliverances from demonic possession. Demons are sometimes given authority by God to occupy someone until an apostle or prophet demands that the demon come out of that person and in the process uses an invocation of their apostolic or prophetic authority vested in them by the Lord Jesus Christ. In this kind of possession the demon is authorized by Jesus to stay in its target person even if the name of Jesus is invoked by a non-apostle or a non-prophet! Only by the apostle or prophet himself invoking both the name of Jesus and the apostolic or prophetic authority vested in him, will that demon depart! This is another means that the Lord uses to elicit respect from members of the flock for a particular apostle or prophet.

6. Bringing forth Miracles

Any Christian that Jesus selects and empowers can bring forth miracles if that Christian has the faith for them. But again, in some circumstances Jesus may decide that a particular desired miracle will not be allowed to occur unless a person's faith plus the authority of an apostle or a prophet is invoked by that apostle or prophet in the request to God for the miracle. This spiritual mechanism again is what is sometimes used by the Lord to substantiate that apostle or that prophet to those to whom he is ministering.

Sometimes apostles are given power which can attach healings to articles of clothing like handkerchiefs or aprons or anything else which can be taken to the sick.

Acts 19:11 - 12 - God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of...(the apostle)...so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried to the sick and the diseases left them.

The following is a testimony of this kind of a miraculous healing...

I ran into a woman one day who told me that her mother was very sick and that she was worried that she was about to die! Then she started crying and my heart went out to her. She said that she was a Catholic believer and that she was looking to find a healing priest to heal her mother but had not been able to find one. God had done a number of healings thru my prayers as an apostle and as she spoke I felt moved to tell her that I had a healing priest friend (I was thinking of Jesus but I didn't tell her that) and that he had given me a handkerchief which he had blessed.

Then I pulled out my brand new hanky and I told her that he had told me to keep it on me and give it to anyone whom I might encounter who might be seriously sick. So she looked at me rather funny-like and said, "Really?" in a not-so-sure-but-desperate-to-try-anything tone of voice. To this I responded by telling her that I didn't really know if it would heal her mother or not but it might at least be worth a try because it wouldn't hurt anything to do so. She thought about it for a moment and then agreed to give it a try. So she took the hanky and left.

About a week later I ran into her again and she came right up to me and thanked me profusely for the handkerchief because she said that right after she laid it on her mother's blankets, she began to feel better immediately! And she said that now her mother was up and about and cooking again! Then she asked me how she might find that priest to thank him? So I told her to just thank Jesus because He was the source of the healing and that my friend the priest wanted to remain anonymous. She accepted that excuse and went off, still rejoicing.

Even an apostle's shadow can bring forth healings.

Acts 5:15 - 16 - ...they even carried the sick out...so that when...(the apostle)...came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them...and they were all being healed!

So, as the Scriptures depict, apostles and prophets are vested with very unique powers and authority to do great things by God! This is just one of the reasons that they are so necessary today to every church group!

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

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4. What are the functions & duties of apostles today?

Luke 12:48c - Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities! (The Message Bible)

There are obviously many duties that accompany the high spiritual office gift of apostleship. Yet, no Scriptural list of just what those duties are has been given. So in order to compile one, all of the Scriptures about the functions and activities of the Biblical apostles need to be consulted.

II Timothy 3:16 -17 - All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching...for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be...equipped for every good work (including the duties of apostleship).

Therefore, the list being set forth here of an apostle's many duties comes from all of the pertinent Scriptures which I have so far found which describe how the first apostles functioned. To best bring forth this teaching, these Scriptures have been combined with my own many personal experiences as an apostle.

Romans 15:18 - For [of course] I will not venture (presume) to speak...of any work except what Christ has actually done through me [as an instrument in His hands]...

Please review all of this information carefully for yourselves to see if the Holy Spirit confirms its correctness to you.

Acts 7:11 - ...(being) noble-minded...they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures (for themselves)... to see whether these things were so.

If you find errors, inconsistencies, missed functionings or any distortions of Scripture within my list, please feel free to constructively comment below or send me an e-mail at anonymousapostle@gmail.com, so that it may be corrected.

Ministering unto the Lord

To start, it seems to be the case that the foremost duty of apostles is for them to at first minister exclusively unto the Lord Himself until He is ready to send them out into service with apostolic powers. This is shown when Jesus told his apostles after He was resurrected that they were to stay in Jerusalem and wait there until they were clothed with apostolic powers by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:49b - (Jesus said)..."You (speaking to his apostles) are to stay in the city (Jerusalem) until you are clothed with power from on high."

Also, Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted and ministered unto the Lord before they were sent out by the Holy Spirit with all of their great apostolic powers.

Acts 13:2 - While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

So, it seems that apostles are to first minister unto the Lord before they will be qualified and empowered by Him to go out and minister unto men for Him.

Ministering to people

Once apostles have been chosen, prepared and then sent out into their ministry by God unto those whom He has selected, it appears that their most important duty is to proclaim the Word of God from the Bible.

Acts 13:4 -5 - So, being sent by the Holy Spirit they went...and began to proclaim the Word of God...

When they go forth to so preach God's Word after His empowerment of them, the Lord then works with them supernaturally. He does this by confirming their preaching with substantiating signs and wonders which are designed by Him to convince the people to whom his apostle is sent that he has truly sent to them by God.

Mark 16:20 - And they (the apostles) went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the Word by the signs that followed.

Apostles will be given many wondrous powers by the Holy Spirit, especially those which He knows will be needed as time goes by to further confirm their apostolic ministries.

II Corinthians 12:12 - The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.

So, after first ministering unto the Lord. the apostles' next major duty seems to be to preach the Word of God, especially the word of the gospel, to anyone to whom they are sent.

I Corinthians 9:16 - For if I (the apostle) preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel for...I have a stewardship (from God) entrusted to me!

As people truly receive and believe their preaching of the gospel, an apostle's next duty seems to be to quickly water-baptize them in order to declare to all present, their immediate renunciation of sin and their cleansing from it by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:33 - ...immediately(!) he (a brand new believer) was baptized (by an apostle)...

The apostle Paul, after being blinded by the Lord and not eating for 3 days, had his sight restored to him. Immediately Jesus had him baptized, even before he ate anything!

Acts 9:9, 17 -19 - And he was 3 days without sight, and neither ate nor drank...So Ananias...entered the house (where he was staying) and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus...has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately...he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized, and (after that) he took food and was strengthened.

After a 3 day fast and considering the ravenous hunger that Paul must have had, being first baptized before eating illustrates just how important to God it seems to be for his newly born-again believers to be immediately baptized! Urgency of baptism is later recounted when Paul quotes Ananias comment to him during this healing event...

Acts 22:16 - "Now (that you are healed from blindness) why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name."

The immediate baptismal duty of even the evangelist is illustrated in the Biblical account of the believing response of an Ethiopian eunuch to Phillip's preaching to him of the gospel.

Acts 8:36 - 39 - ...they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"...and...(Phillip) baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Phillip away and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went rejoicing on his way.

Notice that God did not finish ministering the gospel to this eunuch thru Phillip until, at just the right moment, they just happened (!?!) to find a miraculous water supply right there in the dry, arid desert by which for Phillip to immediately baptize him. Then, once the baptism was finished, the Lord instantly removed Phillip from ministering to him any further. (As an aside, this testimony builds a case that we are not always called to minister discipleship to a newly saved person.)

Another duty of apostles seems to be for them to lay hands upon and call for the the Holy Spirit to fall upon any brethren who, after being baptized, have not yet perceived His power as being manifested in some way, upon or within them.

Acts 8:15 -17 - (the apostles) came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon them; they had simply been baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

So gospel preaching immediately followed by water baptism for converts are 2 major duties of all apostles everywhere. They should also lay hands on them to bring forth the spiritual baptism upon them of the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Establishing Churches

Apostles also seem to be duty bound to establish local fellowships of and for believing brethren or they are to place them into an existing church. Then, if they minister within that church, they appear to be duty bound to carry on the ministry of God's Word to build up their faith.

Acts 16:5 - So, (by the presence and preaching of the Word of God from the apostles) the churches were being strengthened in the faith...

Apostles seem to be duty bound to exercise all of the gifts of which the Holy Spirit empowers them, bringing forth supernatural signs and wonders, miracles and healings which will help their brethren to perceive and believe that God is truly present among them.

Acts 22:42 - Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place thru the apostles.

Apostles (and the church's prophets) seem to also be duty bound by God to bring forth pertinent prophecies from God to guide that particular assembly's brethren.

I Corinthians 14:3 - ...one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

As well as bringing forth prophesies, apostles should also be giving teachings and describing their revelations from God to their brethren in order to increase their knowledge of the Lord.

I Corinthians 14:6b - ...what will I (the apostle) profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophesy.

As apostles form churches, they seem to have the duty to initially pastor their brethren and give them various kinds of helps while also conducting any needed administrations. But in so doing, they are not to neglect their ministry of prayer and the Word of God.

Acts 6:2b - 4 - ..."It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore brethren, select from among you...men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

As time goes by, founding apostles seem to have the duty of confirming newly God-appointed junior apostles, prophets and teachers in these groups as God raises them up. They seem to also have the duty of selecting elders and deacons to pastor their brethren and to continue to teach them the Word of God.

Acts 14:23 - When they had appointed elders for them in every church (in various cities), having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord (who is the Word!)...

It seems to be an apostle's duty to teach the brethren over whom God has established their authority, to conduct their church worship meetings in an orderly, Holy Spirit led fashion according to I Corinthians 10:15 thru 14:40. In these meetings, worshiping brethren can speak forth making requests of God and giving their revelations, teachings and prophecies. They can also pray and sing hymns in their native language and also speak and sing in tongues with interpretations.

I Corinthians 14:25b - ...When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all be done for (mutual) edification.

Apostles should encourage Bible study in a fellowship and they should also to teach the brethren how to exercise and control all of their God-given supernatural gifts within the privacy of the home fellowship.

I Corinthians 14:40 - ...all things (taking place in a fellowship meeting) must be done properly and in an orderly fashion.

Apostles seem to also be have authority from God to establish their protective and teaching authority over any existing fellowships, to which they might be invited to do so.

Conclusion

As God's Holy Spirit moves thru the apostle's ministry, brethren to whom they are sent will eventually be raised up as new apostles and prophets, evangelists and teachers, healers and miracle workers, pastors and elders to nurture and shepherd and perpetuate each church of the brethren.

I Corinthians 12:4 - 11 - Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same.

And there are distinctive varieties of service and ministration, but it is the same Lord [Who is served].

And there are distinctive varieties of operation [of working to accomplish things], but it is the same God Who inspires and energizes them all in all.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the [Holy] Spirit [the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit] for good and profit.

To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same [Holy] Spirit;

To another wonder-working] faith by the same [Holy] Spirit, to another the extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit;

To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret [such] tongues.

All these [gifts, achievements, abilities] are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually [exactly] as He chooses.

The apostle will be given the ability from God to discern who these gifted brethren are and what gifts they've been given. Apostles then seem to be duty bound to encourage each of them in their gifts and also to encourage the flock to acknowledge them as being so gifted. In time the apostle can train the new apostles within a fellowship to remain with it to protect and guide it if he is called to permanently leave it or to go out from it for a time to minister to others at the Lord's leading.

Matthew 18:12 - "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

There are some excellent further teachings on the authority and the role of apostles amongst the brethren today. They can be found at Peace Apostolic Ministries, a website that I highly recommend. It has been established by a senior apostle whom I believe to now be an apostolic father from God, even though God has not yet let me meet him personally!

So, just as all Christians regard Biblical apostles and just as you regard me and I regard you, he and I have not yet met and we may never meet until we get to glory! But having reviewed his teachings within his website, I have recognized the grace which has been given to him by God to teach me personally much about the fatherly love, authority, power and functioning of apostleship within the church and therefore to apostolically father my own ministry.

This elder apostle has a great grasp of this entire subject which (it is obvious to me) God has given him over his many years of apostolic ministry. So recognizing his seniority as it was revealed to me by God thru his teachings, I felt led by God to place myself under his apostolic fathering authority and his teaching ministry. I believe that God revealed to me that this is now necessary in order to protect the flock that I lead and myself from evils which, in my prior ignorance of this man's particular apostolic teachings, God Himself protected us.

You the reader, may also reach that same conclusion about his ministry as I have after your own review of everything on his website.

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

3. What are the signs & wonders that substantiate a God-given apostle?

Because of God's infinite diversity, His substantiating signs and wonders can come in any number of forms. Like the differences in snow flakes or fingerprints or iris scans or DNA, every one will be uniquely designed by God for each individual circumstance. Consequently, there is no exact criteria that can be given as to what the forms of signs or wonders from God will take.

I can only give you my own testimonies of the signs and wonders that I believe that God has sent to me and / or to others. Remember however, a Christian's major attention should always be on the Lord and His Word, not on the signs and wonders that He sends forth thru and for His believing children. They are only meant to be substantiations from God, not things to be sought after.

So here are my testimonies of some of the events that have occurred in my life that I believe are signs and wonders truly sent from God to substantiate my own apostolic ministry from Him and to speak to and / or guide me or others whom I know...


Proof from Jesus to me of my own appointment by Him as His Apostle!

One warm fall afternoon, while I was first struggling with what I felt might be the Lord's call within my spirit to become a modern day apostle, I was sitting at a bandstand in a park near my home. I was meditating upon the beginning verses in James Chapter 1 that are about the testing of our faith. Because of my mental discomfort from these thoughts that kept plaguing me about this huge matter and because of the severe trials then in my personal life, I felt that I was being so tested.

Well, there I sat struggling with whether the thoughts in my mind about apostleship were truly coming from God or from myself to self-exalt me or from some demon who was trying to tempt me to exalt myself. I wanted to step forward and embrace this office if it was truly God's will for me to do so yet I didn't want to be in any way presumptuous if it wasn't. Fully engrossed in this decision making, I didn't notice some people from a band that were active in the core of the park's bandstand, setting up for the evening's entertainment.

Isaiah 8:11 - ...the LORD spoke to me with mighty power...

All of a sudden one of the band setup guys loudly hollers into a microphone, "James! Testing! Testing 1 - 2! James! Testing! Testing 1 - 2!" Well, the band's huge speakers must have been set at their highest volume so that booming voice shouting out from them, using that name (which is also my first name) and declaring a testing with those numbers (which coincided exactly with the Scriptures from James upon which I was meditating) sounded to me just like the voice of Almighty God!

Deuteronomy 4:11 -12 - You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain (this high calling of God to become an apostle)

and the mountain burned with fire (severe, painful testings) to the very heart of the heavens (symbolizing the topmost church office of apostleship);

darkness, cloud and thick gloom (my certainty of much loss in this pursuit and my uncertainty on how to proceed in it and where it would all lead).

Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form - only a voice!

I literally jumped out of my seat in fear at the immensity of the sound of that voice and in the huge coincidence of the setup guy's use of those words. As a result of that booming voice and what it said, I immediately perceived that this was a substantiating sign to me from God that He was the one who was actually bringing these thoughts to me, not myself alone or some clever Satanic tempter. I felt right then and there that these thoughts were truly a test from God of my faith about the validity of apostleship for today and at the same time they were a specific test of my willingness to become one.

Deuteronomy 4:36 - Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you...

After I heard that fearsome, booming voice I felt that this was God's way of telling me that He was testing me to see if I would believe in and move on into apostleship. So if it was, I did want to proceed into the gift and please God. But the thought of so doing was also fearsome and that created a temptation to disbelieve in the voice and shrink away from the whole idea!

Hebrews 3:7 -8 - ...just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, do not harden your hearts...(and) provoke Me!

So just to be sure that this sign was truly from God, I prayed and asked Him to further substantiate my apostolic ministry by sending me some other Christians who would also believe that my apostleship was truly His calling and not some Satanic deception.

II Cor 13:1b - ...every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Within a week I had met and begun to fellowship with 10 new people (one or two every day) besides the couple of brothers with whom I had been confiding all along. This was a dozen people seeking to disciple with Christ with me! And it wasn't very long after that that just as I had felt would happen, I suffered the loss of all of the worldly things that had been the mainstays my worldly life.

Philippians 3:8b - 9 - ...I (the apostle) have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him...having...the the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith!

But while those losses of mine were unfolding, these newly found brethren all agreed to meet with me one evening and our discussion turned to the subject of baptism.

For myself, I had recently come to believe that baptism should be performed immediately upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as one's Savior. So I explained to all of them about how, in the book of Acts, all of the baptisms described were done immediately and in the name of Jesus and also how, at the end of the book of Matthew we are told to do them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So, since I had just been baptized myself in this manner, I proposed that they all might want to do the same.

We discussed this for a while and then reached agreement that technically Biblically, immediate baptism both in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit is what should be done. None of these Christians had yet been so baptized, therefore they then agreed to all do so together and quickly.

However, the cool fall weather prevented us from going right down to a nearby river to do it. The Lord used that cold weather to instead lead us into another setting that He had prepared for the baptisms. He guided us there by having us soon discover that we could rent a small beginner's swimming pool at the YMCA in town for only $25 per hour (1980's pricing).

We felt that this would be a fine place to do the baptisms in warmth (our faith was not yet strong enough for cold water baptisms!). So we all pitched in a few bucks and rented the pool for one hour which would be plenty of time in which to do them all (of course not realizing that God had a surprise waiting for us there).

So, when we paid the pool rental fee, the YMCA manager insisted that they provide us with a lifeguard. We accepted this, thinking that a lifeguard was not really necessary for what we would be doing in the pool and not realizing this was the Lord's doing. So, the next night while the lifeguard was watching, I performed each baptism under this young man's gaze. I felt the Lord leading me to preach a strong fire and brimstone gospel message as a part of the baptisms in hopes that the lifeguard might be touched by the message.

Sure enough he was and when we were done baptizing the last person he asked excitedly, "Hey, before you go, can I get baptized too? I don't want to go to hell!" So we told him to repent of his sins to God and truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart for his salvation. When he said that he just did that, I then baptized him also, to the glory of God. This was God's surprise first fruit of our small apostolic church fellowship!

To me all of these events were signs from the Lord that He had truly selected me to function as a modern day apostle and that He was the One bringing everyone together as He built this small church fellowship.

The following is a testimony of how God shortly thereafter supported my apostolic appointment during a major testing.

I was staying with a lovely married couple and their three children at their invitation in a suburban town near Chicago. This couple had great gospel musical abilities and they were becoming known in some Christian circles in the area. They had joined up with our fellowship and offered us their home as a place in which for our group to meet. They looked to me as an apostle sent to them by God to help them to grow in the Lord. Together, we had many Holy Spirit led sessions of Bible teachings with many, many signs and wonders occurring.

Mark 16:20 - ...the Lord worked with them and confirmed the Word by the signs that followed.

One day the leader of a larger, more established home fellowship in the town came to visit with them when I was not there and in the course of their discussion suggested that they join his group. They sensed that he craved to use their music ministry to expand his own fellowship. So they balked at that idea and told him that they believed that I was a God-given apostle sent to them to help them and they felt that they should stay with me and our small group. So disappointed, he left and said that he'd come back when I was there so that he could meet with me, which he soon did.

Meanwhile, when I heard of his visit and what he proposed, I began praying for guidance to see whether or not The Lord was leading us to merge our group in with his. When he arrived, we all sat down and engaged in some small talk for a while. But the conversation soon became stilted, and he left.

Later he called the man of the house and told him that he had met many apostles in his day and that he was certain that I was not an apostle!

Luke 22:53 - ...this is your hour, and your delegated authority and the power of the darkness...

He then counseled my friend to send me away and join up with him and bring the rest of the fellowship along too. This rattled the man of the house and he responded that he would take this recommendation into advisement and pray about it.

Luke 22:31 - Satan, by asking, obtained you...for himself...that he may shake you in a sieve, as grain is sifted, by an inward agitation, trying your faith to the verge of overthrow! (Kenneth Wuest's expanded translation of the New Testament)

So he prayed for God to reveal to him just what he should do because he was quite upset about the matter. This established minister's denouncement of my apostleship was severely shaking his faith, making him become quite uncertain about it.

A couple of days later this minister came by to inform him that the person who was providing him and his large family with a big, free house there in town had just unexpectedly notified him that he needed him to move out immediately. His landlord told the minister that he needed the house back right away for his own use. This minister then mentioned that the donations in his fellowship had been down and because of this he was now reduced in income and the only place that he could think of to move his large family into on such short notice was 800 miles away, as a guest of his family in a home on their farm.

Then this minister confided to him that he had never before in his life felt so powerless from God for this kind of a situation and he couldn't understand why the Lord was letting this happen to him. He went on to say that even though he did not want to do so, this event was forcing him to send his church fellowship to another minister and move away immediately.

Proverbs 26:27 - Whoso diggeth a pit (for another) shall fall therein.

A phone call from him a few days later, telling us that he was safely there, was the last any of us heard or saw of him. So in this manner the Lord settled with finality the matter that I had been praying about of whether or not to merge the 2 fellowships.

God went on to use this event to also restore firm faith within the man of the house in my apostolic ministry to him and his family. He soon told me that he viewed this minister's removal from the area as an answer from God to his prayer about my true apostleship.

Luke 22:32 - But as for myself, I made petition for you that your faith should not be totally eclipsed. And as for you, when you have returned to your original position with respect to your faith, stabilize your brethren. (Kenneth Wuest's expanded translation of the New Testament)

He soon shared this whole testimony with all of our church brethren and that also helped to stabilize their faith in my ministry.

Luke 23:34 - ..."Father, forgive them, they know not what they do"

I was still new at apostleship then so unfortunately I didn't pray whole heartedly for this misguided minister's well-being as I should have. This was because his opposition and ankle-bitting hurt me personally and deep down I felt that he got what he deserved from God. But today I'm more experienced and confident in my ordained position as an apostle and I'm more loving towards my enemies, so whenever he now comes to mind, I pray for God's best for him and his family.

As I said in my first entry in this blog, the devil loves to stir up strife by using misguided Christians to attack other Christians who are on a good track. But God forgives the ones at fault and works to correct them and He can be counted upon to eventually help any Christian who is truly seeking Him and His wisdom to find the truth for any matter.

Hebrews 11:6b - ...He rewards those who seek Him.

God will show them how to get past any devilish assaults that are being perpetrated by Satan upon them thru erroneous brethren.

Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Manifestation Prophecy

I Corinthians 9:1b - ...have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

I had been praying for years for guidance from God about finding the truth of His will in so many issues that were pertinent to my life. Yet I believed that Jesus couldn't come to visit me to instruct me because His next appearance on earth is reserved for His 2nd coming. But, because of the many doctrinal errors that I felt that I was perceiving in every Bible teacher's teachings which I had been encountering, I felt all alone and up against all of them. So I just wished that somehow He would come and instruct me Himself. I wanted to really know the truth of His Word about the many doctrines around today that seemed to me to be contradicting it. Well, did God have a surprise for me!

Matthew 19:26b - with God all things are possible

One beautiful spring morning He did an entirely unexpected and totally thrilling thing for me that had never entered my mind as being possible. He led me to drive out to a local park in my van with one of the young sisters in our fellowship. Here we were going to pray for a while. I was in the driver's seat and she was sitting on the couch in the back when we each started to pray silently to the Lord.

All of a sudden I heard her call my name! But her voice was different? It was somehow very commanding! So I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. Well, there she was sitting in the center of the couch and she had an extremely noble quality to her posture! So, unsure of what was happening, I asked her, "Did you call me?" to which she responded, "Jim, I the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, have called the two of you to come out here this morning so that I could talk with you and answer your questions!"

I John 4:2 - This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God...

Instantly I knew that this was not her speaking but that it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself somehow possessing her and speaking thru her mouth! Her voice had somehow become the most regal voice imaginable and her demeanor was utterly majestic.

John 7:46 - ...No man speaks as this man speaks!

This was definitely not her voice or manner! So tears began flying from my eyes like machine gun bullets! I knew that somehow thru her, right there in my van in that park, I was being addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! For Him to converse with me is what I had hoped to happen for so long but it was being done in a fashion of which I had never heard or read anywhere.

So thru my tears I timidly asked, "Is that you Lord?" to which He responded, "Yes it is I. I've been sent here today in response to your many prayers to My Father asking for Me to help you find the truths for which you are longing." Well at this statement I was struck speechless because she didn't know anything about this desire of mine! So, in awe, I just kept looking at Him (in her) but He kept her eyes shut while He patiently sat there, waiting for me to recover from my initial shock over all of this.

It took a while but eventually I stopped crying enough to lamely ask Him where she was? He then explained that He had her spirit in a pleasant place while both she and I were experiencing this gift from God which He called Manifestation Prophecy. He explained that this is a supernatural gift wherein His Holy Spirit possesses a willing person and uses that person as a vessel to converse in human form with the brethren.

He then said that He came in this manner to me because He knew that I had enough faith to believe that it was really Him so doing. He said that when we were done conversing, I was to go back to my brethren in the fellowship and help them to also believe in it. He said that I was to tell them that if they could have the faith for it, He would come thru her again that evening to converse with them also!

Needless to say I was thrilled beyond belief at His appearance but there was of course a tiny doubt within me about the genuineness of such a manifestation since I had never heard nor read about such a thing. Could she be faking it for some reason or could Satan be possessing her and tricking me? After all, the Scriptures say that the devil can come as an angel of light! So I proceeded to ask Him in her a few questions that I felt that she, in her newly embraced but still uneducated faith, could not possibly know herself.

One question I asked was about the greatness of His original disciples / apostles compared to other Christians. He surprised me by telling me how those men saw Him and walked with Him and experienced all that He had to say and all of His miracles for years and they still had trouble really believing in Him. Yet thereafter, all Christians have just read a book of words or heard preaching and testimonies of Him and thru that alone they have been able to firmly believe in Him. So why would God consider the original apostles any greater than those who never saw Him and yet still believed?

J0hn 20:29 - ... Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

This answer and this verse have been food for thought for me ever since it was given to me, especially because I believe that I also am now one of those whom He refers to as having seen Him. But technically, the truth is that I didn't really see Him in His own flesh. My encounter with Him manifesting in her is still a matter of my own personal faith that it was truly from God.

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him!

That is the brilliance of God in rewarding me with this Manifestation Prophecy gift because it is an encounter with God that must still be accepted by faith, even after testing it (but not God) with pointed questions (which I made of the Spirit within the person)!

Another question which I asked of Him manifesting in her was where the original autographs of the Scriptures are now? She could not have possibly known the answer to this question since she probably never even heard of the term Biblical autographs. So I felt that it was a good test of the validity of the Manifestation. He in her blew me away and proved that she was not the one giving me the answer by saying very matter of factly, "In Heaven."

Well, of course they're in heaven! But when I asked that question I never even considered that fact because my evil heart was masking some evil intentions of which I was not consciously aware. I was only conscious of the fact that this question was merely a test of the girl and of the Manifestation. That's why I was referring to the original earthly parchments. I consciously felt that I was merely testing the Manifestation Spirit, but not the Lord Himself and He knew it.

I John 4:1 - ...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

However, in giving me this answer, He revealed to me another evil motive stuck deep down in my deceitful heart for asking this question. That motive was that had He answered me with an earthly place in which to find them I would have become exceedingly proud! After all, would not finding the original autographs of the Scriptures be the greatest discovery ever for mankind! And where would little old phony me have been when I exposed the secret earthly location of these original autographs? Wicked me would have been right in the center of that discovery, grabbing for glory while feigning humility!

Jeremiah 17:10 - I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

His 2 word matter of fact answer, "In Heaven." cut me to the quick causing my heart to burn. So I knew that this could be no other Spirit in her than that of Jesus Christ Himself! Satan encourages this kind of deceitful evil in a man's heart, but Jesus does not!

Luke 24:32a (the brethren) said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He (Jesus) was speaking...?"

Knowing the pain in me from this conviction of my deceitful heart's deep seated proud motive, He then encouraged me to be at peace. He repeatedly exhorted me to be at peace during His manifestation because every question I posed to Him would bring an answer that I did not expect and that would force me to face my own deceitful heart's reasons for asking it! So pretty soon, in reverent fear, I ran out of questions to ask Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God...therefore let your words be few!

But I was so thrilled and excited at this wonderful, supernatural gift of Jesus Christ actually appearing to me to converse with me, that I didn't absorb all of the really deep stuff that was occurring at the time. Most of it came to me much later. That morning I was just out of my mind with joy at this amazing gift from God of the Lord's appearance! I was more excited than I've ever been before in my entire life!

John 15:11 - These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your may be made full.

Yet after a little less than an hour, the Lord in her suggested that we stop and He would leave her, but only until that evening when He promised to manifest back within her, if the brethren wanted Him to so appear to them. He also suggested that we all write out our questions so that when He appeared, we wouldn't be nervous and forget them.

He then instructed me that the girl would need to be told all that had happened thru her because she was not aware of it. So I thanked Him profusely for visiting me, we said our goodbyes and He left her. Immediately, she blinked her eyes a couple of times and asked me what had happened?

So I told her everything about the Lord's use of her to speak with me and she rejoiced exceedingly along with me about His visitation. Even though she was not there for it, she was greatly thankful that He chose her as His vessel thru whom to appear.

Luke 1:35 -38 - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the Holy One within you shall be called the Son of God....For nothing will be impossible with God."

And she said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."

Then we drove back to the fellowship house and burst in excitedly to share our testimony of this wondrous event with all of the brethren. Of course they were skeptical at first, but so were Jesus original disciples when Mary Magdalene announced that Jesus had risen and conversed with her. After we all calmed down and could more quietly discuss the event, they all came around and agreed that they too wanted to talk directly with Jesus in this manner, just as I had.

So we all gathered together that evening and when we prayed for Him to come, He reappeared within her and we all were given answers to our many questions by Him for the next couple of hours. Then, when He left, we dissected everything that was discussed and came to the conclusion that this Manifestation was truly the Lord Jesus Christ! Consequently, many times thereafter we prayed for Him to come back again and He always did.

According to the Lord (speaking thru this girl), the Manifestation Prophecy gift was given to us only after we had done all that we could do in all of our own Bible studies to find the correct answers to our questions. Now, after many times getting such manifestation appearances from Him, we no longer ask for Him to come back in that manner any more because He eventually resolved all of our questions.

He gave most of His answers to our questions by first starting with a question of His own, "What does your faith tell you?" We'd then respond by telling Him where our thinking on that particular issue was and then He would discuss our position with us. But He never redirected us thru the Manifestation to some new position. He'd only encourage us to go on in our present faith and Bible studies while watching and waiting for God to send us new teachings or events or other prophecies by which to redirect us.

Romans 14:22 - The faith which you have (currently), have as your own conviction before God.

Well, after a while we all began to understand that we should just sit, stand and walk in our current faith positions, whatever they were. As long as those positions were the best we could come up with, whether they were ultimately right or wrong, God would be pleased with us. Then, if they were right, God would be faithful to strengthen us in that particular faith position but if they were wrong anfd He wanted to correct us about it, He would somehow send us a correction.

Also, He would also always manifest in her with the greeting , "Peace be with you. Yes, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." and He would always depart with similar words.

Collosians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] - The Amplified Bible

But when He led one of us to find this version of Col 3:15, we knew that we no longer needed for Him to manifest Himself in this manner amongst us anymore to answer our questions, because His peace in us is what proves to us that we already have the answer to that particular question that God wants us to have faith for, at that time.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The gift of manifestation prophecy was given to us initially to answer our questions because God had no earthly teacher with pure enough doctrines that God could send to us to take us further along in our faith. But now that we knew how to interpret God's peace within us as being the umpire and the final decider of all of our doctrinal issues, this gift is only an occasionally manifested, just for those times when we feel the need to rest and comfort ourselves in Jesus Christ's sweet, loving presence!

These are some of the signs and wonders that I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to confirm my own appointment as one of His modern day apostles.

Thank you for allowing me to testify to you about them. I hope that you will now view my teaching ministry here as God given for your edification.