The Prophetic and Apostolic Movement

As we discussed in another study of this modern apostolic and prophetic movement now going to comment that this movement has emerged from the confusion of the interpretation of Ephesians 4:11 which says: "And He gave some as apostles, some prophets , some evangelists, some pastors and teachers "The question to ask is: do you really exist in this day apostles and prophets?, As we shall see are these two ministries on emerging denials and doubts, but it is also important to note that the ministries are not questioned of an evangelist, pastor and teacher.But giving a look to see today's evangelical world who have risen groups and individuals who call themselves apostles and prophets, but besides this, they claim one way or another, for his teachings and comments to be "heads or authorities apostolic "church. This leads to talk of a special kind of spiritual covering in each particular city or region where they occur, churches that believe they claim to be united under the "apostolic authority" and what has happened to these churches is that they have diluted the history and the foundations of Christianity, in other words this satanic movement is diluting the historical identities of Christianity endemic in some churches that are carried by every wind of doctrine, but not the sheep that are the direct perpetrators, but their pastors who have not able to discern the steps of the enemy in these teachings and this has led to wrecked as to the faith.This wreck is mainly because when you ignore the history of Christianity, shown first in Scripture and then continued by the fathers of the church divorces continuity of God's action, for example in one of the strings "Christian "TV one of the proponents of this movement expressed the following:"I think the church government has finally reached the place that the Scriptures say in Ephesians 2 where he speaks of the foundation of the church are the apostles and prophets, before the decade of the 80s and 90s they were virtually ignored but now have recognized this is a major reason why we are entering a new level of prayer, spiritual warfare, healing, miracles and deliverance. This is a new era, I do not know if it's coincidental as we enter a new millennium "That statement is loaded with deceit and intent very evil because it implies that the church was stagnant until the 80s and 90s, as if waiting for the re-discovery and re-launch of the apostolic and prophetic ministry. But the story of the last 20 centuries of existence the church has shown us that God in His sovereignty and His eternal plan has always worked and will continue to work their will and nothing has been indifferent, in the end, just the work of God is not dependent on men. There is no doubt that during all those centuries were periods of darkness but also times of great light, time of evangelization, conversion and genuine revivals in many places. Remember that it was the Lord Jesus himself who said "I will establish my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"That single statement is so clear and forceful as it was God Himself in the person of Jesus who said I will build my Church, it is God who builds the Church, then it may be that more than 20 centuries have passed and he would not have fulfilled His Word or His church building did not receive from God.Then we can see that when these modern apostles say: "The Church has finally reached the place that the Scriptures say in Ephesians 2" meant consciously or unconsciously that the church has been without foundation in these 2,000 years of existence, or that the plan God to his church has not been carried out, if so, then the gospel would be the biggest failure ever to exist in two thousand years. The truth is that the modern apostolic movement has been twisted and misinterpreted Ephesians 2:19-20 Cap which literally says: "So you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with the chief cornerstone Jesus Christ himself "Note that these verses speak of our position in Christ as believers and when talking about the foundation of apostles and prophets are talking about a kind of hierarchical ecclesiastical authority, but rather are talking about growth or maturity achieved when the believer is instructed (built) in the doctrine of the apostles and prophets is the doctrine of these men, the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament who received divine inspiration to write the Scriptures which today is the revelation of God to his Church.That inspiration is that Jesus spoke in John 15 when he said "I have many things to say but still they can not carry but when He, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, take what is mine and declare it to you" so Judas when calls us to "contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints" notice that clearly states "once" is a foundation and when he says, contending for the faith refers to the set of doctrines was given once, but often not one. That faith or doctrine, is the foundation of the apostles and prophets Ephesians 2:20 which speaksAs we see the term foundation of apostles and prophets does not refer to the ministerial hierarchy that may exist within the church but the doctrinal foundation that was brought by direct revelation to the prophets of the Old Testament office and the apostles who received the inspiration of Holy Spirit to bring us the Bible as we know now, which is the Word of God.This means that everything that God understood that the church needed to live by faith awaiting the glorious return of the Lord Jesus and is revealed in the Bible and should be interpreted and applied in a whole, not by individuals or dogmatic interpretations of certain religious leaders , using biblical texts out of their contexts or worse they ignore that the Bible is a whole and that is above the rules or ideas of men.As an example of what we read one of the lessons of these deceivers:"They (apostles and prophets) are often the first to preach certain revelations that God is giving to the Church (Apostolic Movement Book, page 45)" An Apostle can come and establish a new revelation "(p. 46)As we can see what is here is pointing out is that the new "apostles and prophets" has such authority to know who knows whom they can establish doctrinal principles on alleged revelations, these teachings are the entry door to the doctrines of demons because leaves wide open the potential for conflict even as established by the word of God, which is the Bible. As the Bible says this is a sleight of men, corrupt, reprobate concerning the faith.The statements made by these new apostles and prophets, subtle intend granted authority conferred by God to establish new revelations and doctrines thus they are interested in promoting to get followers and followers who are captives to be a source very substantial income with this action jettisoned principles of interpretation are well established in the Word of God. So the question is very valid: Currently even taking the Bible as the revelation of God for the life of faith of their children can now establish a new revelation?In order to gain a full understanding of what the Bible teaches we can see that the revelation is always God's initiative, for example in the OT God told Moses: "And I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but in my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them "(Ex. 6:3). Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, "Surely your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you could reveal this mystery" (Dan. 2:47). In that sense the prophetic activity is the result of a direct revelation from God to a human being. It is said of Samuel, when he was young, "not yet know the LORD, nor the word of Jehovah been revealed" (1 Samuel 3:7). And after his first personal experience with God, says: "And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed [unveiled] to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord" (1 Samuel 3:21).In the NT the Greek noun and verb apokaluptö apokalupsis translated as revelation and release, respectively. It confirms that knowledge of God is only possible if he starts the process ("... and no one knows the Son except the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" [ Mt 11:27]). When Peter said to the Lord, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord replied, "... not revealed to you flesh and blood, but my Father in heaven" (Matt. 16:17) .That's why we say or claim that one has received a revelation from God is very serious, is not in vain the emphasis that the Bible shows this fact: It is God who reveals himself. Human reason is by its own effort to get to know God. We need to remember that any revelation from God has its origin in God himself.The "instrument" that God uses for His revelation is the Holy Spirit. For as we know of ourselves tells us our own spirit, whatever you want to know God should be revealed by the Spirit of God, so the Bible says: "Who among men knows the things of man but the spirit of man which is in him? So no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God "[1 Cor 2:11]). Therefore the Lord Jesus told his disciples: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things" (John 14:26). As can be seen pretending to have received a revelation from God is a very sensitive issue and that God himself has said:(Heb 1:1) God spoke long ago, on many occasions and in many ways to the fathers by the prophets,(Heb 1:2) in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the universe.When men say they have received a revelation contradicts these scriptures and what they are doing is taking God's name in vain. Remember that all revelation regarding Christian life and experience and are embodied in the Scriptures, there is nothing to put on and there is nothing to remove.On the subject of inspiration, The prophets were sure that God spoke through them, and that their messages were the "Word of God." Phrases like "God spoke to Moses ..." are constantly through the books of Exodus through Deuteronomy. "It was me word of the Lord ..." Ezekiel says to enter the oracles of the Lord, we also find similar phrases in Jeremiah: "Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah was ..." (Ezekiel 12:1, Jer. 46:1 .) David also describes how the word of the Lord came to him in 2 Samuel 23:2 and 3.We see also Apostles, chosen by God to proclaim with authority the Christian doctrine, also appealed constantly to the prophecies and other Old Testament writings, and taught that the authors were inspired by God (1 Peter 1:10 - 12, 2 Peter 1:19-21). So divine inspiration and authority of the Old Testament part of the "Faith that was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).Oral inspirational messages of the prophets were written by order and providence of God, so that the documents are also inspired, and it is these that the Lord and the apostles before them to make statements that are recorded in the New Testament. There is a clear description of how the messages were written in Jeremiah 36:1-2 and 32.With regard to the inspiration of the New Testament that says that the source of all authority and all truth is in the Incarnate Word. He commissioned the apostles and made them guardians of the truth as to His Person, work and teaching, so that his apostolic authority is derived from the Lord Himself.Jesus said that the revelation had to be completed and promised the Spirit to guide them into all truth. So, in advance, guaranteed the inspiration of the New Testament. The apostles knew that God spoke through them, and hoped that believers obey His commands (1 Cor 2:13, 1 Peter 1:12, 2 Thes. 3:14, Jn. 14:26, 16:12 and 13, etc.).. In this sense, the inspiration is not mechanical, so to type up, but vital, like a conductor of an orchestra that produces the effects you want from the whole of it, respecting the special talents of each musician. Thus, in the Scriptures, the human author's personality is not annihilated, and the Spirit takes the character and knowledge of each, as well as the circumstances in which the writings were produced, it is very important to remember not to twist the scriptures .To see how these modern apostles and prophets ignore these great truths read the article "The New Apostles and Prophets who will lead the Church published by Let Us Reason Ministries" in which he says something that is scary, this article argues that some leaders of this movement have said, "the church of the 21st century will be unrecognizable compared to today's church, the apostles and prophets of the last days that are alive today took the church through the transition from dispensing grace to the dispensation of the kingdom, the church dispensation of the church mortal immortal. (Transcript of Bill Hamon Titled Battle of the bride, Nov. 1997)All such statements and assertions are merely demonstrating the doctrinal ignorance that these assumptions have apostles and prophets as they have the audacity to teach that God's plan has changed and worst of all is that by ignoring the Word of God - the Bible, are putting their doctrines over the infallible authority of God which has already been revealed in the Bible.Let's look a little more because it is not possible the emergence of apostles with the authority and revelation that if they had the apostles of Jesus and that after the death of John the Apostle around the year 100 after Christ, Christ himself did not establish new apostles.In the Book of Acts chapter 1 verse 21 we read:"It is therefore necessary that these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day of us was taken up, one is made witness with us of his resurrection "This passage establishes the criteria and requirements for the apostolate, which were to have been an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry since he was baptized in the Jordan River to its transfer to the sky, beyond that needed to be an eyewitness to his death and resurrection, a clear application of the requirement and compliance with these requirements we can see in the life of the apostle Paul defended his apostleship always bearing witness to have seen Jesus personally and not only that but having learned the gospel instruction (revelation) direct from the Lord Jesus:1 Corinthians 9:1 "Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Am I not ye my work in the Lord?Galatians 1:11 "But I certify you brethren, the gospel I preached is not after man, for I neither received nor learned man, but by revelation of Jesus Christ"Today no one can say that what he learned of the gospel I preach or teach directly what the Lord Jesus. But the apostles of the Lord, had a direct learning, those who sat at the feet of Jesus for 3 years and then Paul who could not learn in the Lord's earthly ministry, however, he had direct instruction of the gospel as other.But to leave nothing to doubt a very valid question is: Why is James the brother of the Lord is called an apostle in Galatians 1:19 and Barnabas and others?Here we need to make an important distinction between the apostles of the Lord Jesus and the apostles, and that in general an apostle (gr. apostolos) is one sent as a representative with authority and responsible to the sender. In this regard the 12 apostles of N.T. were chosen and sent by Christ to a specific mission and with his authority (Mt 10:1-14, 16:19, 28:18-20, John 15:16, 20:21-23, Acts 1:8, 9: 1-22; 10:41-42). Their mission was primarily to evangelize, disciple converts, train leaders and to establish and manage local churches (cf. Acts 2:14-28:31). And in the case of the other apostles the word apostle is used in a general sense as "messenger" (2 Corinthians 8:23, Philippians 2:25).No wonder then that the ability to establish doctrine, was given only once to those who received the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to communicate the infallible truth of God, the Scriptures say. This commission to establish the doctrinal foundation was limited only to the apostles that Jesus chose or were chosen directly under the stringent requirements that we discussed.The new dictionary of theology Fegurson read the following:"Since the apostles (except in the sense of the delegates of the churches) were witnesses to the resurrection and made the foundation of the church, is that your post was a phenomenon of the first generation that could not be repeated, had no successors and in principle can not be any. However, the church can and must be still apostolic in the sense that has to live up to his teaching contained in the Scriptures of the New Testament, and it must follow suit to suffer with their Lord. John Wesley declared .... "Some groups of bishops have leaders who are appointed apostles themselves, but they do not fail to recognize that the apostolate is associated with original witness of the resurrection" (Fegurson, Wright, Packer. New Dictionary of Theology, CBP, Pp. 86 and 87)Is strong then both the witness and teaching of the Bible as a lot of authors Christian almost all periods of the church has considered the issue and concludes that the original apostles are irreplaceable, which once served his ministry, this has been perpetuated in the church and the church continues today under the authority of the original apostles and prophets.With respect to the prophets of the Old Testament many prophecies have been fulfilled and today are historical, others are in compliance or will be met in the foreseeable future therefore the original prophets are still in force, just as happens with the apostles men in Christ inspired to establish the foundation of the church, his writings inspired not expire because the Word of God is therefore still in force and are irreplaceable.When the New Testament uses the word prophet, do not use it the same way as used in the Old Testament, and we know for several reasons:Luke 16:16 states that the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist, the last figure similar to the Old Testament prophet and was rather a transitional figure.Then we can clearly see that 1 Corinthians 14:29-30 says: "Let two or three prophets speak, and the other judge." But if another sitting is revealed to him something, the first street. " The idea here is that there is no doubt that a New Testament prophet is possible but what he says must be verified by other prophets who are in the congregation or by the same people in the congregation there that says if two or three prophets speak to the other judge, in other words, discern what is revealed, as we see there is no infallibility as the revelation of the prophet of the Old Testament, where it is instructed to judge what was said, but simply to hope that what he says is true or not true, if it was true the Lord had spoken by him, but it was not true was to die, that show us what he said was because it was indisputable Word of God.Deuteronomy 18: 20-22 if a prophet spoke something that is not met, that the rate of false prophet: "But the prophet who speaks presumptuously in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. "And if you say in your heart:" How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken? "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or is true, that's the word that the LORD has not spoken presumptuously spoke the prophet will not be afraid of him. "As this prophetic infallibility did not exist in the New Testament, obviously when a revelation was brought to be judged by others. Hence again the expression "let the others judge", then we can clearly see that the gift of prophecy spoken of in the New Testament is not equivalent to the office infallible prophet of the Old Testament.Today they spend many prophesying things that are never met, but no one gets their attention, no one follows up on his prophecies. All this does not imply that God can not bring a revelation by anyone but that is not a prophet. Obviously this new revelation can not be doctrinal because then the Bible would be updated continuously.In contrast to the true apostolic and prophetic movement of today is not anything other than a well orchestrated to serve the church by taking control of it, as if that were possible and is something demonic because it takes the matter to end extra-biblical.Now let's see Ephesians 4:11 This is one of the verses on the subject is causing controversy "And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers."This verse is used by people in the apostolic and prophetic movement is unbiblical to claim that the function of the 5 ministries in the church today, yet a careful reading of these scriptural passages show us how shod are the claims made in the themselves when they try to force their interpretation in context, see for example Matthew Henry says:"The Apostle tells us what Christ did in His ascension: He gave some as apostles, indeed some had already established before his ascension, Matthew 10:1-5, but one was added, Acts 1:26. And they all were solemnly installed and publicly confirmed in his office, for the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary way about them. Note, that the great gift that Christ gave the church to his ascension was the ministry of peace and reconciliation.The gift of ministry is the fruit of Christ's ascension and the ministers have their different gifts that was given to them by the Lord Jesus. The officers that Christ gave his church were two ports-A special, advanced to a higher office in the church, as were the apostles, prophets and evangelists. The apostles were the leaders. These were immediately called by Christ, envestidos of extraordinary gifts and power to work miracles and infallibility in the delivery of your truth, and they witnessed his miracles and doctrine, He sent them to spread the gospel and to plant and grow churches. The prophets seem to be those of the Old Testament writers, who identified the things that were to come.The evangelists were ordained persons (2 Tm 1:6) whom the apostles took as partners in its (Gal 2:1) and were sent to stay and establish churches and the apostles had planted (Acts 19:22) These were not fixed in any particular place and generally continued until they were reassigned, 2 Tim 4:9. Then secondly, the ordinary ministers are employed in a limited sphere, as pastors and teachers. Some take these two names and assigned to a single office, they are both ordinary and concern to the ministry of the church, pastors are fixed and head particularly in churches, designed to guide, instruct and nurture in the way they have been designated by Christ. These often are called bishops and elders. Teachers are those whose job is to preach the gospel and instructing the people by way of exhortation "This explanation is convincing, but once again carefully read the verse and its context:(Eph 4:11) And He gave some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,(Eph 4:12) in order to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ;(Eph 4:13) until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;(Eph 4:14) to no longer be children, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;(Eph 4:15) but speaking the truth in love, may grow in all aspects into Him who is the head, namely Christ,(Eph 4:16) from whom the whole body (being well adjusted and held together by cohesion, which every joint supplies), as to the proper functioning of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.Verse 11 clearly states that the appointment of apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors; first are direct appointments of the Lord, are specific and unique, I mean that there is no ministerial promotion, meaning that a pastor can be promoted to apostle or that a prophet may be promoted to an evangelist, etc. for example just mentioned above, this under the church of God is not democratic or any other thing but that is theocratic, is governed and directed by God, there are no leadership positions or chiefdoms, all his servants are servants and only head is Christ.In that sense many of the falsely called themselves apostles and prophets were shepherds in the beginning, but with the arrival of this new doctrinal trend were promoted to know God knows who to apostles or prophets, which show that it was the Lord Jesus whom initially appointed as pastors but influenced by this false apostolic and prophetic movement have been seduced by men of corrupt understanding and have demonstrated that change in "position" that were never called by Christ.On the other hand the functions of these appointments are clear and these include the training of believers for the work of the ministry, the goal is to edify the body of Christ does not bring new revelations or new doctrines but that the body of Christ on the foundation laid, no one built up unless it has been the foundation first, understand the true meridian is vital because otherwise we run the risk of doing precisely what these modern apostles and prophets who think they are called to establish the foundation or basis of the Christian movement, when more than 2000 years ago God which is the basis set, ie the basis where the builders must build.The verse that seals like a stone crown the truth shown in the Bible that the foundation is already set as follows:(Eph 2:20) built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone.Not a single verse in the entire Bible that speaks to establish new doctrines or to bring revelations on which to build the Church and the more forceful because it is so that the foundation was set already, so the verses are still read as following:(Eph 2:21) in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,(Eph 2:22) in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.As the evangelist, pastor and teacher of Ephesians 4:11-15 speaking, we can see the instructions that the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy and Titus, on the requirements that had to have servants of the church, only ministries are mentioned as bishops and elders, which shows how these ministries (apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher and pastor) were exactly as such ministries over the passing years of history of the Church were made by the elders or bishops , which implies that they are currently in place but like functions. In fact in 1 Timothy 3 one of the characteristics of the elderly is that they are "apt to teach," they teach the Word of God and in that sense, some would also evangelizing (we understand the gift of evangelism) and others would be grazing and Church teaching.Actually the term in the Greek shepherd, elder, bishop is basically the same word. The word evangelist does not define a function both within the Church, but rather someone who have the gift of evangelism. As for the prophets, unlike what we think today that the prophet is one who predicts the future, the fact is that the primary function of the prophet has been to expose the will of God. Notice how 1 Corinthians 14:3 tells us that he who prophesies does for "exhortation, edification and consolation." Here the word prediction does not appear anywhere, and as the apostle, apostle say only more accurate in the sense that the New Testament given and is to be a man who is sent by a church.As we can see there is a very broad base to firmly reject this movement "apostolic and prophetic art" that has risen in recent years, is unbiblical in the sense of interpretation, as we see by the comments made regarding the verses discussed in Ephesians 2:19-20 that sense where we talk about the church based on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, it is clear that you are referring to the prophetic line coming directly from the Old Testament, whose prophecies are infallible and in the Word of God until today and when it comes to the apostles obviously referred to those men chosen to establish the church of Jesus Christ.In conclusion of the 5 ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, the first two ministerial offices of apostles and prophets were extraordinary trades, limited to a time, ie time especially transferable, which were destined to finish the church had QUAD been established and the Word of God and had been given.