7. Communicating with God in prayer & tongues.

Prayer, both vocally or silently expressed, is the obvious means that we use talk to our invisible God. Prayer is a very huge subject about which many gifted Christians have written in other websites. Much about prayer is beyond the scope that I believe God is giving me to write about in this blog.

So, I believe that the Lord would have me refer the reader to other websites such as allaboutprayer.org, wikipedia-prayer, wikipedia-prayer-in-Christianity, the-God-kind-prayer and spirit-home-intercessory prayer wherein this entire subject is very thoroughly covered.
Please take some time on these websites and study them carefully because their Biblical teachings are fundamental to carrying on communications with the Lord.

Isaiah 8:20 - To the teaching and to the testimony! If the teachings are not in accord with (God's) Word, it is surely because there is no dawn and no morning in them.

I believe that God would have me to only write teachings and testimonies here that give light to my readers about the unique, powerful things that He has done thru my prayers and thru the prayers of those of whom I know.

Romans 15 - 19 - For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me... in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit...

Hopefully, my testimonies and teachings here will create a brand new spiritual morning for those of you who hunger and thirst for miraculous things from God to also occur in your lives.

Romans 15:20 - 21 - And thus I aspired to preach (about my apostleship today, reliably communicating with God, miracle faith, the correct Biblical church structuring and practices, etc., all of which I have experienced)

so that I would not build on another man's foundation...

There are many other Christians whom I believe that God has employed to give correct teachings on many, many Biblical subjects on the Internet. So I believe that their writings instead of mine are best perused by my readers to learn about those particular subjects and I will provide links to some of them, just as I did above.

I believe that God wants me to limit my writing to teachings on those subjects that I have not yet (April 2008), found to have been put forth anywhere else or taught correctly anywhere else.

If any readers have other good websites on any of the entries on this blog, please make a comment about them on each entry or please e-mail me about them.

So, let me proceed here with my discussion about my own prayers by first testifying that the Lord many times answers my prayer requests by intuitively popping pertinent verses right into my mind, just as I amwas petitioning Him! Sometimes He even puts them there before I mentally formulate my prayer.

Psalm 139:4 - Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

This to me is mentally conversing with God I believe and the conversation between us takes place right within the thoughts of my mind.

Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today), and let us reason together (with our minds)," says the Lord...

It is by faith that a back and forth of reasoning occurs between us. I make mental inquiries of Him and I believe that He responds to me or beats me to the punch by placing the remembrance of a Scripture passage about my petition, immediately within my mind.

John 14:26b - ...the Holy Spirit...will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance my Words..(which are all of the Scriptures)...

When I'm praying while traveling He sometimes answers my inquiry with a message on a billboard or a truck body or a license plate or by some event that coincidentally happens within my proximity.

Habakkuk 2:2 - ...Write my answer plainly on a billboard...

Here I would route the reader back to April 2008 entry #3 wherein I thoroughly discuss this subject. But again, these kinds of messages within our minds must be believed as having come to us from God.

Proverbs 3:32b - He is intimate with the upright.

I have found that it merely takes a humble and repentant heart on my part (as much as I can consciously achieve considering my heart's desperate deceitfulness) to purify me before God so that He will begin revealing to me His wonderful answers.

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

I believe that God will give revelations to speak directly to us in answer to our prayers when we are spiritually clean in our walk before Him.

Ephesians 3:3a - by revelation there was made known to me (by God) the mystery...of...(my requests...

I believe that personal revelations from God to us of the divinity of Jesus save us from damnation but I also believe that they are one of the means used by God to try to guide us in many of our affairs.

Matthew 16:17 - 18 - Jesus replied, “You are blessed...because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you! You did not learn this from any human being... and upon this rock (of Divine revelation) I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.


Tongues

Speaking in tongues is a very controversial issue because it is often subjective to each believer. There is an excellent article on the subject in Wikipedia. I personally believe in this gift in all of its Biblically correct manifestations and I practice it, but in a rather unique way.

In my case the the Lord led me to have to "learn" how to speak in tongues! I never had the experience of a tongue of visible fire over my head when I first spoke in an unknown tongue nor did I get a falling down of the Holy Spirit of God upon me in order to receive it.

Instead, one day when I was off-handedly discussing the fact that I did not have this gift with a charismatic brother, he felt led to prophesy to me, "Oh yes you do! Only in your case you will have to receive it by faith. You need to start doing that by just speaking forth some mindless anything, even if it sounds like baby talk because the gift of tongues bypasses the mind! You need to learn that some gifts of the Holy Spirit are often received and then exercised by blind faith! That's how I believe that God is telling me to tell you that you are to move into speaking in tongues."

Hebrews 13:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (and His ways, such as speaking in tongues).

So I thought about this for a while and soon began to see the logic to it. It seems that it's when I am alone, by myself, that I'm led by God to move into having faith for things. This has been the case ever since my rebirth in Christ alone in my bed one evening.

So once again, when I was alone, I began to move into this gift by making some childish, one syllable utterances like da-da-goo-la-bo-rah-sta-fa, etc. Well, my mind utterly rebelled against this activity because it was so foolish and utterly mindless to me. Yet I had to admit that I did have peace with it.

I Corinthians 14:14 - For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

So I prayed to God asking Him to confirm this silly tongue's validity to me. He responded by giving me a desire to, by faith, just keep practicing it mindlessly. So I did. Then, the way in which He confirmed to me that it was truly a gift from Him was to one night send me to a Bible study at a church whose members did not believe in the gift at all!

Well, once I was there, He led the study leader to inquire if any of us felt that we had the gift of tongues! At this question there was a protracted silence amongst the 20 or so people that were there, during which no one answered and during which I kept feeling that I should not avoid this question but speak out and admit my own gift of tongues (of which I was still not totally certain).

I Corinthians 3:18 - Be God's fool—that's the path to true wisdom. (the Message Bible)

So finally, I realized that I would have no peace if I left there without confessing to it so I threw caution to the wind and declared to him that I felt that I had this gift! The leader looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and replied, "You do? Then would you mind speaking in your tongue for us? We'd all like to hear it, wouldn't we?" All of the brothers there voiced their agreement with him and now I was really on the spot!

To my mind, my tongue talking sounded like baby talk, which I didn't mind speaking in private to God and to the walls. But to bring it forth in front of a group of 20 or so intelligent people was a totally different story! What if it really wasn't a true tongue from the Holy Spirit? What if when they heard it, they all discerned that it was just baby talk type gibberish, the way I felt that it might be? Then I'd be considered a complete fool by all of them!

So, there I was, garroted within the hangman's noose of my admission of the gift and the trap door beneath me of actually speaking in it! What if that trap door of speaking in it, when sprung, might show it up as being a phony gift! And even if it really was from God, how could it possibly be proven to be a true gift of the Holy Spirit to this pack of spiritual curiosity seekers? I felt utterly trapped and possibly doomed! So, unable to find any other course open to me, I took the leap of faith, commending my potentially doomed soul to God as I let loose with my infantile tongue chatter!

Well, I only spoke for a few seconds and then I stopped because my courage ran out rather quickly. Then I sat there in emotional agony, awaiting my ignominious end with this group, which was probably about to now come. There was a long, pregnant pause! Then, entirely unexpectedly, the leader announced that he felt that God had given him an interpretation of my tongue! Next, the group shifted their focus to him and asked him to give it. So, he proceeded to speak it forth and it was a totally encouraging blessing from the Lord to everyone who was there.

I Corinthians 14:3 - But one who prophesies (by interpreting a tongue) strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.

Hallelujah! This totally unexpected interpretation totally exonerated me! My gift was proven to be true to me and to all of them in a way that I would never in a million years have guessed it would be done!

Isaiah 55:8 - 9 - "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

And, though nerve wracking, it was such a wonderful way in which God confirmed it for me! He proved the validity of both the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues to me and to all of this group, all in one fell swoop, by interpreting my tongue thru their study leader!


More to come on this subject...

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.

1. Are there any God-given apostles today?

To answer this question, let's first define an apostle as one who is supernaturally called, prepared, empowered armed and then sent by Jesus Christ's Holy Spirit upon a mission to certain places and certain people whom God has especially selected for him. This is a matter that initially is completely subjective to the man who senses that he has the Lord's call upon him to be an apostle and then when he goes forth it also becomes apparent to all of those who encounter him in his ministry leading them to believe that God has truly sent him to them.

The calling of individuals into apostleship by Jesus Christ Himself after His resurrection is testified to in the book of Acts and described and discussed within the letters of the New Testament. So, is the spiritual gift of apostleship that Jesus gave in those first early years of Christianity to those who started His churches also being given to chosen believers today or was it just a church office gift to establish the Christian church and then it was no longer necessary as the majority of today's Christians believe?

If you reach or have already reached the faith conviction that there truly are modern-day apostles (just as I have), then let's see just what the Scriptures say for you to do in order to ascertain that this is true!

Even if you do not believe in the existence of modern day apostles being truly sent by Jesus today, further reading here might still be edifying to you, if you are open to the possibility of them.

This teaching is about apostolic ascertainment - it teaches you how to prove the authenticity of anyone's ministry as an apostle. But before we begin this discussion it is good to remember that the real focus of everyone's faith should always be kept upon the original and greatest apostle of all, the Lord Jesus Christ, not upon any of His subordinate apostles or even the miraculous events that He manifests thru their faith.

I Corinthians 3:5 - What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? They are but (apostolic) servants who gave you the good news as God gave it to them.

Apostles should always be viewed as merely being servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and no more! They should never be exalted by those who believe in their ministry nor should they ever exalt themselves over anyone! All glory for any of the good works done in this world by God thru their faith should always go only to Him because they will eventually get their own acclaim and a very big payoff in the next world!

All so-called apostles should be tested for authenticity to be certain that they truly are sent by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev 2:2 - ...put to the test those who call themselves apostles...

Legitimate apostles may be self-proclaimed but they are never self-appointed nor to be self-promoted. They are chosen and sent by Jesus and and they will eventually be testified to as being His true apostles thru signs and wonders that come through them and by the God inspired testimony of other believing brethren who accept their authority in their lives.

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

Any true apostle of the Lord will come humbly to the brethren to whom God sends him, bringing with him substantiating signs and wonders and miracles from God and the peace of the Holy Spirit.

Collosians 3:15a - 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] (such as an apostle's authenticity - my addendum)...

Apostle testing should always be done by at least 2 and preferably more Christians to see if eventually they can all reach the conclusion that he is truly a God-sent apostle.

II Cor 13:1b - ...every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If Satan sends a false apostle with signs and wonders to the brethren, he will not be able to confirm him thru with 2 or more Christian witnesses because the Lord will not give 2 or more of them any peace about the phony.

Today, the only people that will be able to discern and then believe in a true apostle's ministry to them are...

(1) those who are open to that possibility.

(2) those who already have the belief that Jesus still sends apostles today.

Stubborn Christian unbelievers and those who are not really stubborn but just will not allow themselves to believe in the apostolic gift as being viable for today, will not be able to receive any person as being a true apostle sent to them by God even if he does come with miraculous substantiating signs and wonders. Their fixations preclude this and will force them to reject an apostle. They will invariably claim and it's true that Satan can send false apostles but they will not acknowledge that God can do so also and that He will be faithful to expose any phonies to the brethren during the testing process.

II Corinthians 11:13 -15 - For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness...

A true apostle today is ordained into his apostolic ministry by Jesus and then sent by Him with adequate supernatural substantiations and His peace to authenticate him to those to whom he is sent.

I Cor 9:2 - If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

All of today's apostles' supernaturally invested miracle powers are brought forth by God thru their faith in order to help the rest of God's people to improve and strengthen their own faith in God, not to give them faith in the apostle. However, supernatural substantiations are many times necessary to authenticate the apostle's authoritative ministry from God to them.

John 4:48 - Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders...you will never believe.

The signs and wonders authenticate God's usage of a particular apostle and glorify God, but they are not sent to exalt the apostle in any way. Any so-called apostle who rides the glory of his accompanying signs and wonders into self-exaltation and / or overbearing dominance are not true apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ at all.


UNBELIEF IS THE ONE AND ONLY REASON that Christians don't have true apostles in their fellowships today.

Unfortunately, because of wide spread unbelief about there being even the possibility of a current day ministry of apostles (or prophets for that matter) which is so prevalent amongst today's evangelical and even many charismatic Christians, none are being sent to them by God. Why should He? He knows that the spiritual powers that He would love to send to those Christians thru His apostles (and prophets) will just be disbelieved because of their lack of faith in the modern day manifestation of these high church offices. So He doesn't bother to send them.

Heb 11:6 - ...without faith its impossible to please God...

I believe that this particular unbelief originates in evangelical and main stream Christians' pervasive fear of any kind of supernatural things today as having true authenticity from God. Most of today's Christians are just plain afraid that the devil is going to deceive them in anything that involves the supernatural, so they won't let themselves believe in such things at all!

One of the brethren whom I know had a dream wherein He saw angels stacking beautifully wrapped packages on shelves in a huge, sparkling new warehouse in heaven. In the dream he asked one of the angels why they were doing this and what was in the packages. The angel replied that the beautifully wrapped gifts were those that Christians would not accept from God and that they were being stored away for the Judgment so that their loss could plainly be seen by them then!

By trying to avoid Satan's deceptions themselves instead of listening to the Holy Spirit and following Him on this issue, Christians end up being deceived anyways! Satan first beats them by enticing them into a fear of being deceived by him thru anything supernatural. Then he uses this embedded fear to rob them of the faith which they must have in order to receive any of God's supernaturally given gifts and powers. This is why the Lord warns us in Scripture to fear only Him!

Deuteronomy 6:13 - " You shall fear ONLY the Lord your God....

When we fear anything else, other than the Lord, we leave grace and give the devil opportunity to deceive us because he can use each of our fears to rob us of many elements of our Biblical faith in God. Our fears then lead us to suffer the loss of the benefits from God that can only come to us thru our faith in those particular Biblical elements (but for which we have no faith because of our fears)!

I Cor 3:15 - If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as thru fire.

Satan may not be able to beat Christians out of their salvation faith, but he's quite willing to settle for crippling them in their ministry to people in this world, which then robs them of some of their eternal rewards. In this manner he gets them coming and going!

So, Satan tempts Christians into fear of the inauthenticity from God of things supernatural and when they buy into that, he can then use that fear to generate their unbelief in 5 of the very important, but obviously supernatural gifts which are described in the following major verse on the subject....

I Cor 12:28 - 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.

Fear of inauthenticity from God for today of the 5 obviously supernatural gifts (apostles, prophets, miracles, healings and tongues) mentioned in this verse, precludes evangelical and main stream Christians today from having faith in them as being valid and therefore present in modern times. So for these fearful and unbelieving Christians, these gifts are not present today and until they begin to believe in them, they never will manifest for them. Actually, their unbelief in these gifts could be termed as devilish faith since it is belief in a wrong doctrine.


Why do charismatic Christian fellowships have only 3 of the 5 obviously supernatural gifts manifesting (those of miracles, healings and tongues but not apostles and prophets)?

The answer to this question is that because they accept and believe in the 3 supernatural gifts of miracles, healings and tongues for today, they get them. Charismatic Christians have faith in a few more of the words of I Cor 12:28 than do evangelicals and other main stream Christians so they get the blessings of those particular words.

Luke 1:37 - For no word of God lacks power!

So God blesses these believing charismatics with these 3 gifts and all of their benefits in their lives and in their church fellowships. But they fail to get all of the blessings of I Cor 12:28 because they too do not believe in all of the words that are there. They don't believe those words that say that God appoints apostles and prophets to His church as being relevant for today. So they don't have any apostles and prophets in their fellowships.


Where can one find fellowship with Christians that do believe in all 5 obviously supernatural gifts?

Only some non-aligned, home fellowshipping Christians (of which I have been led to be one) and Apostolic Christian fellowships believe in all of the words of this verse as being for all churches for all time. So these believing Christians do get all 5 of them from God! But sad to say, these believing Christians are very few in number compared to the vast majority of deceived Christians who have so much unbelief in so many of the words of I Cor 12:28.
And on top of that, some of them are notorious for having self-exalting and member-dominating apostles and prophets that in my opinion, falsely occuppy those offices!
So, in order to find fellowship with other like minded believers on this issue, just pray and wait upon the Lord and in His time He will direct you into a church where these things are properly practiced. He did this for me when I sincerely sought for fellowship with others of like mind with me on this issue and I've been blessed ever since.


What explains all of the unbelief in these gifts of so many of today's Christians?

II Thessalonians 2:10 - 11 - ...because they did not receive the love of the truth...for this reason - God will send upon them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false...

In my experience I have perceived that Evangelicals, charismatics and main stream Christians don't love the truth that all of the words of I Cor 12:28 are for the ongoing church even though when Paul was led by God to write this book, he said that it was for all Christians in every place (I Cor 1:2). So, using the principle of the II Thessalonians 2:10 - 11 quoted above, God sends upon them this delusion! He has allowed them to be fooled into attributing the supernaturally given gifts from God of apostles and prophets to only having been necessary to the establishment of the early church and into believeing that they are no longer necessary today because they gave us the whole canon of Scripture.
However, God in His great love and His immense mercy, is faithful to also send them the offsetting testimony of people who have seen or experienced these supernaturally given gifts and powers just to show them that they are caught up in that falsehood. Unfortunately, most of these erroneous Christians, because they really do not love all of the truth, are not open to correction in this regard. So they disregard these testimonies and attribute their designations of these manifested gifts as being merely the deceitful works of the devil!

Ironically, in all Christian churches worldwide today, the supernaturally given gift of Bible teachers is universally accepted and believed in as an ongoing ministry for the church. So are the supernaturally given gifts of helps and administrations. Evangelical and main stream Christians today don't view and shy away from these 3 (not obviously supernatural) gifts, only the other 5 (obviously supernatural) gifts.
This explains why their churches universally have only teacher-pastors, administrators and helps ministries and why they lack the presence and powers of the 5 other extremely powerful, obviously supernaturally given gifts. If they didn't believe in and thus have these 3 lower level gifts, they wouldn't even be churches at all! But with faith in these 3 gifts, at least they manifest the power of God for salvation as being present in their fellowships and occassionally people walk forward at their meetings to repent of their sins and to recieve Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Romans 1:16 - For .... the gospel .... is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes

So in effect, other than the power of their salvation ministry, they are crippled and innefective in the rest of their potential ministry because of wrong doctrine and unbelief, in just the way that Satan delights in having them crippled!
Therefore, they operate within only these 3 lower level offices to engage in full spiritual warfare with Satan for the salvation of souls and for their own growth in the Lord. They try to do battle without their God ordained, spiritually powerful, apostolic and prophetic leaders and without the ministries of miracles, healings and tongues!
This means that they fight their spiritual battles at a huge disadvantage and they are therefore virtually powerless against the devil's tactics and strategies to keep them from achieving maturity (which is God's ultimate goal for each of them). Eventually, this crippling of their powers will even lead, one way or another, to the death of their entire assembly because so many of their congregation's needs will be unresolved.

Most of the Christians in the evangelical and main stream churches believe that the God appointed ministries of teaching and administrating are not supernaturally given at all and that they can be learned and performed naturally. That's why they rely upon schooling and not upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the accreditation of their teachers and administrators. They also view helps ministries as merely coming from each brother's or sister's inherent generosity.

Yet, if they would really analyze it, I Cor 12:28 implies that the 3 gifts of teachers, administrations and helps are actually just as supernaturally given by God as are the other 5 gifts! Pondering this matter a little deeper, they would also realize that people operating within these 3 gifts wouldn't be even able to do so without God's supernatural enabling power and without Christian's belief in the modern day validity of their ministries.

So these 3 gifts of teachers, administrations and helps go unheralded as being supernaturally ordained and empowered and, because of this kind of worldly thinking the other 5 obviously supernatural gifts from God of apostles, prophets, miracles, healings and tongues are totally shunned. If these deceived Christians believed that the 3 gifts that they do accept as being viable ministries for today were supernaturally given by God, then they'd have no excuse at all to not also accept the other 5 gifts as being viable for them today as well!

So, out of the pecking order of I Cor 12:28 they pluck the 3rd gift of teachers and the 6th and 7th gifts of helps and administrations as being all that are valid and acceptable in their churches today. And because they do believe in the validity these 3 gifts, they get them from God and they are blessed by them. And because they consider the rest of this verse's 5 listed gifts as being irrelevant for today, God doesn't send any of them and consequently, these Christians do without their accompanying powers, blessings and benefits.

I Cor 12:31 - ...earnestly desire the greater gifts (as listed in verse 28).

God offers and encourages Christians everywhere to desire these 5 (obviously supernatural) gifts as well as the other 3, and especially the first 2 gifts of apostles and prophets. But He will not send them without His Christians having the faith to reach out to receive them from Him as gifts that He will give them today.
James 4:2b - .... You do not have because you do not ask.


Belief in any of the gifts of I Cor 12:28 brings their manifestation.

Because charismatic Christians do believe in the validity for today of 3 more of the 8 supernaturally given gifts, those of miracles, tongues and healings, they get them and they are blessed by them. Furthermore, Apostolics and non-aligned Christians who believe for them get the same gifts of miracles, tongues and healings from God and also, because they believe in all of these gifts as being valid for today, they get the 2 gifts of prophets and apostles that the charismatics do not get.
The fact that both groups have the faith for, and then get and practice the obviously supernatural gifts in which they believe should prove to all Christians everywhere that all of the gifts in I Cor 12:28 are true and valid gifts from God for all of today's churches.

What do the Scriptures say about these gifts validity for today?

Should not all Christians believe that God put this list of gifts to the church into the particular pecking order that He did and then so stated it within I Corinthians 12:28, perhaps just to preclude the false arguments and consequent false doctrine that some harbor about their non-validity for today? I Corinthians 12:28 says that the gifts of miracles and healings come after the gift of teachers but before the gifts of helps and administrations. So how can evangelicals and main stream Christians who believe in teachers, be so presumptuous as to ignore this fact by leaving miracles and healings out of their mix?

And should not Christians believe what I Corinthians 1:2 says about the entire book of I Corinthians (obviously including I Corinthians 12:28) being written to ALL PEOPLE IN EVERY PLACE who call upon the name of the Lord? Does this verse just mean that I Corinthians is only for all people in every place -way back then - and not for all time? If it does, then why do those with charismatic or apostolic faith today experience the manifestation of these gifts today? Can they all be written off as being merely victims of devilish deception?
I Cor 12:31 - But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
If the correct interpretation of I Cor 1:2 is that this particular book is for all generations of Christians, then should not all Christians today earnestly desire to be given all of the gifts of I Corinthians 12:28 as they are exhorted to do in I Corinthians 12:31, especially the greater gifts of apostles and prophets?

Heb 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
According to John 1:14, the Jesus Christ mentioned in the verse above is the Word of God made flesh. So the Word of God, which contains I Cor 1:2's pronouncement about that particular book being written to all Christians everywhere, is therefore the same yesterday, today and forever.

Do not the verses I Cor 1:2 and Heb 13:8 shown above apply to every Christian everywhere, not just to those involved in the past early church formation? Do these verses not include those Christians from then on thru now and into the future, a truth which would utterly decimate the false doctrine that these gifts were only for the early church? If these verses were only for the early church, what about the rest of the verses in I Corinthians? Were they only for the early church too? And what about the rest of the New Testament? Is it only for the early church too?
When a Christian starts down the path of unbelief in any part of God's Word as being valid in some way for them today, where do they draw the line and how are they to justfy that line? Especially how will they do it at the judgement? Will they not be those who suffer loss but who are referred to as being saved but as through fire?



The physical proof of these spirtual gifts being present in today's Christian world.

Go to visit any of the many, many, many Apostolic and charismatic fellowships and see for yourself what the incorporation of belief in these supernatural gifts brings forth. You'll see each of these supernaturally given gifts that each of these fellowships believe in, manifested in their meetings and amongst their leaders. They do not always follow all of I Corinthians 11 thru 14 in their meetings and they lose blessings and powers for those failures, but God still manifests these gifts of His among them.

Tune into any of the charismatic religious TV shows and watch the healings occurring on their programs and listen to the testimonies given there of all of the modern day miracles that occur for their viewers. All of these Bible believing, God praising charismatic fellowships and TV shows can't just be agents of the devil out to deceive you and lead you astray as so many evangelical and main stream Christians have been led to believe by their leaders.
These misguided leaders condemn sincere, true, apostolic and charismatic Christians as being those who are deceived by Satan, when in truth they are the ones who are being deceived as they continue to justify their own false doctrine of unbelief in so many of the words of I Cor 12:28! These evangelicals and mainstream Christians have been rooted in this unbelief for hundreds of years so it is now entrenched in traditionalism, which makes it even worse than a simple lack of faith.

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

Are there eternal consequences for embracing the false doctrine of unbelief in these gifts being valid for today!

I Corinthians 3:13b - 14 - The fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work (this includes a person's doctrines) which he has built upon (his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ) remains, he will receive a reward. (But) if any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss (my own parenthetical comments).

It takes a belief in all that the Word of God actually says about these supernatural gifts from God to reach a correct doctrine about them. Embracing and upholding any wrong doctrines about them will ultimately result in a Christian's shame before God and his or her loss of rewards. Do you want those consequences for yourself? I sure don't!

II Tim 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.

How do people appropriate these gifts for themselves?

Judges 6:13 - ...where are all of God's miracles which our fathers told us about?

For any of today's Christians to once again receive these blessed gifts which He has always been offering to them, it takes firm faith in the correct interpretation of the Word of God before they will be given to them.

Rom 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.

To get any supernatural gifts or powers from God, a person's faith must be strong in the correct interpretation of the Scriptures on the subject. Especially when considering the pressure against these things coming from the vast majority of misguided Christians who do not believe in them as being valid for today. Once Christians have firm faith for these gifts to manifest today, then God will empower them and their fellowships with them for full blown spiritual warfare. But this will only happen when Christians believe the truth of all of the words of I Cor 12:28.


My testimony about my own apostleship from the Lord.

Romans 15:18 - For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished thru me...

I know first hand about modern day apostleship because when I first felt called upon by Jesus into believing that I was being appointed as an apostle for today, I struggled to believe it. And since finding the truth about this gift's validity for today, I have been forced to battle long and hard against the evil pressures that Satan sends against this belief of mine. Satan delights in bringing forth this pressure thru the incorrect opinions of so many well-meaning but very satanically misguided Christian brethren and their leaders.

The Lord began to substantiate my apostolic call to me by sending me a huge sign (described in march 2008's entry 3). Right after that, every day for a week, He sent a couple of His beautiful sheep to join with me in a new home fellowship. Because of my Baptist background, I still struggled with the idea about being a modern day apostle because I was not sure if I was not being tempted into self-exaltation. But immediately we began to experience many signs and wonders in our meetings and in our personal lives that confirmed to all the validity of my apostolic appointment.

Acts 5:12 - At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people...

Here's one of the ways that God worked to confirm my apostolic ministry to others...

After the group had been established for a while, in spite of all the exciting things that were constantly occurring amongst us, the devil used a popular radio minister to deceive one of our more studious brothers. That minister's radio sermon taught that there was no such thing as a true modern day apostle because apostles were only sent by God to start up the early churches and to establish the New Testament Scriptures. Therefore, he concluded that they were no longer needed after that.
After hearing this preacher's message, this dear brother came to me. He told me that as a result of that radio minister's worldwide evangelical acclaim and his powerful teaching against the current day presence of the apostolic gift since all Christians everywhere now have the original apostles' New Testament writings and don't need them anymore, that he could no longer have faith in my apostleship over him or over the other brethren.

His unexpected denouncement of my ministry led me to quickly make a heart prayer to God for guidance. It came to mind to suggest to him that he should probably remove himself from under my authority since he obviously now viewed me as being a false apostle. He agreed with that statement and sadly, we parted company. Then I prayed for God to bless him wherever he went because perhaps he was right and I was not really an apostle at all or if I truly was, he was meant to not be with me!

A few days later the brother called me on the telephone and said that as a result of some extremely difficult events that began occurring just as soon as we parted, including almost getting killed, he had come to realize that he went out of grace in departing from Jesus ministry to him thru me as his apostle and he wanted to come back under my authority. Of course I was relieved and eagerly welcomed him back and we resumed our mutually beneficial ministry where we had left off. And right away good things began to occur in his life again and signs and wonders continued to occur.

Acts 2:43b - ...many wonders and signs were taking place thru the apostles.

Then he and I and other members of our home fellowship attributed these events as being further substantiating signs and wonders from God of my true apostolic ministry to him and to them. We also saw these events as confirmation of the false teaching on this subject by that otherwise fine Christian radio minister.

Conclusion

As was stated at the beginning of this blog entry, true apostles are not self-appointed and they need to be tested. If they are truly from God, He will testify to their authenticity with His peace about it and He will cause substantiating wonders and signs to take place thru, near and around that apostle. If the so-called apostle is not from God, the testing process will find him out.

Rev 2:2 - I know...that you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false..

So please do not just accept my claim and my testimony here of being an apostle from Jesus. Instead, pray to the Lord to substantiate that fact to you in a way that you can understand. Then you can rely upon Him to testify to you as to whether I have been appointed by Him as a teaching apostle to you here for your betterment. If I am truly being sent by Him to you (using this blog), then He will do what it takes to convince you of that. If I'm not, He won't and in such a case you should write a comment to me here about it and then depart from my influence.

I believe that God has moved events in my life to take me away from most of my previous apostolic work and that He has been preparing me to now work electronically on this blog, and on another networking website to minister almost exclusively to those of you whom He sends to these 2 sites. I believe that He is sending me (in spirit) and my messages (with the power of the Holy Spirit) thru the Internet via these 2 websites to awaken Christians everywhere to the viability of modern day apostleship and prophecy, and to open willing minds to now enter into faith in their reality.

I Cor 12:31 - But earnestly desire the greater gifts.

My job here, as I see it from God, is to begin by bringing you into faith in the truths of the words of the Bible about these great supernatural gifts of apostleship and prophecy. Then, once you grasp and believe them, I believe that I'm to take you on into teachings on many of the other gifts from God and about God's supernatural powers which are available to all believers today.

To prove to you that Jesus wants me to minister apostleship to you, I believe that He will send you His peace about it and accompanying signs and wonders to substantiate each of my teachings as being legitimately from Him and worthwhile to improve your lives.
Again however, let me caution you to not accept my self-proclamation here (or anyone else's for that matter) as being true without first praying to God and asking for Him to validate or repudiate it in a way that you can understand and then patiently waiting for His movement in that regard.

Rom 14:22a - the faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God...

Then, reach your own conclusions and convictions of faith before God about all of this and walk in them. The failure of people to study Scriptures for themselves and then to seek God in prayer asking for Him to validate to them the truth or falsehood of what they think to be some truth that they've just learned, and then to patiently wait for that validation, is what leads people astray. Without doing all of these things people can be misguided by the ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing of false ministers and then they fall into their phony religious activities and cult traps.

II Cor 13:7 - Now I pray to God that you may do no wrong; not that I myself may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though I may appear unapproved.

I may not be approved by God for ministry to every single person who reads this blog, so please seek out the Lord diligently (as just described) to determine whether or not I am to be an apostolic minister to you. Remember, because of the fact that we will be communicating only thru comments on this blog or e-mails, I will not know who you really are and you will not know who I really am. Therefore, even though we will be in communication with one another, because we do not meet in person, we will still remain anonymous to one another.

Therefore, the truth of who each of us really is will not become actually known to us until the Judgment of God when eventually we will meet. So, what goes on here has eternal implications which I take very seriously, as I hope that you will also.

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

I Cor 3:15 - If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss...

Thank you and may God richly bless you!