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From the book:
GREAT TRAGEDY book, pg
36. Written by Rev. E.Frank
The Ministry in the New Testament
The apostles had the privilege to be taught by the Lord and
Master for years, even for
forty days after His resurrection. Paul saw Him after His
ascension in the
supernatural light and heard His voice in his native tongue,
Hebrew, “... for I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of
these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in
which I will appear unto
thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,
unto whom now I send
thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power
of Satan unto God ...” (Acts 26: 12-23). A Divine calling and
commission connected to
the Plan of Salvation is that precise! Paul did not only
address the church, but also
the prophets and those who had spiritual gifts. The emphasis
had been that he did not
spread his own views, but rather what the Lord had commanded
him. “If any man
think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him
acknowledge that the things that I
write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any
man be ignorant, let
him be ignorant.” (1 Cor. 14: 37-38). |
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The entire Bible, the Old and the New Testament, is God’s
inspired Word. Through
His prophets and apostles the Lord spoke Himself. They acted
according to His direct
orders. Paul could write, “For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord ...” (1 Th.
4: 15). Only if we say exactly what God’s men said because of
His direct bidding, we
express what God really said. Only then can the listeners
confirm it, “Now by this I
know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord
in thy mouth is
truth.” (1 Ki. 17: 24). Of whom, in all the many denominations,
can it be said today,
that God’s Word is still the original Truth in the mouth of
those who proclaim it?
Only he, who teaches and baptises as the apostles did, teaches
and baptises correctly.
The order for the New Testament Church was established right
at the beginning. The
true Word of God went forth from Jerusalem to all the world.
Now the teachings and
practices in the true, restored Church must be as they were in
the beginning.
The Apostle Paul made his first trip to Jerusalem three years
after his conversion, to
speak with Peter. During his fifteen-day stay, Paul heard from
Peter all about the
spiritual beginnings. He also met James, the brother of our
Lord. Fourteen years later,
the same Paul, together with Barnabas and Titus, made another
journey to Jerusalem,
due to a Divine order. This time his objective was not to
gather information, but to
determine whether his teaching and preaching was correct, or
if all his work would be
done in vain (Gal. 1: 18 – 2: 2).
Hereby all preachers, evangelists, teachers, prophets, all
ministers are challenged, to
make a trip to Jerusalem in the spirit and to truly and
honestly compare, if what they
teach and practise indeed agrees with the written Word . The
comparison must always
be made with the original. Whatever and however things were in
the beginning, so they
must now be at the end — a total conformity of the Bride
Church with God and His
Word before Jesus Christ comes back. A complete return to
scriptural doctrines and
apostolic practices is the command and the message of the hour.
The falsifications and misinterpretations started early and
resulted in the great falling
away from the true doctrine by the man of sin. They found
their initial climax in the
first organised church, which began in the year 325 with the
Council of Nicea. Other
church councils followed in 381 and 441, and then came the
Middle Ages, also known
as the Dark Ages, wherein the light of the Word was almost
suffocated. Finally, after
one thousand years, a new breakthrough came about through the
Reformation,
followed by various revivals in the past centuries, wherein
the scriptural truths were
more and more restored. Sadly, old traditions continued, even
during the revivals which
began by a mighty moving of the Holy Spirit at the turn of the
20th century. The
enemy even continued to deceive where the Spirit of God was at
work and was
successful with his plan to declare the right to be wrong and
the wrong to be right.
Until today, old leaven has always spoiled the new dough.
Organised churches came
into existence and continued the old tragedy.
What our Lord said to the religious Jews also applies to the
unfaithful Christendom:
“This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me. However in
vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. For laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men ...
And he said unto
them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may
keep your own
tradition.” (Mk. 7: 6-9).
As the Lord said, all worship, even the praise in charismatic
meetings, is in vain, when
men’s teachings and commandments are believed instead of God’s
Word. Jesus, our
Lord, set forth this condition, “Whoever believes in Me as the
scripture says ...” (Jn. 7:
38). The Lord demands the worship of God in Spirit and in
Truth (Jn. 4: 24). The
Word of God is the Truth into which the Holy Ghost leads the
true believers and
sanctifies them therein.
Now, being close to the coming of Jesus Christ, we also need
the prophetic part, as
Peter emphasised in his epistle in the most wonderful way: “
For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2
Pt. 1: 16). The apostle
had been an eyewitness of the glorious experience on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
With final assurance he could write, “We have also a more sure
word of prophecy; unto
which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place , until
the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (v. 19).
Nowadays, who can truthfully say to be in the actual
possession of the prophetic
word, not the interpretation, but the realisation of it? For
only then does it shine as a
bright light. Today so many are busy with their own prophecies
and they always have
something new to offer, so they do not even feel drawn to the
written prophetic word.
No prophecy of the Scriptures permits any private
interpretation and it will never lose
its validity due to any of the self-made prophecies. On the
contrary, the prophecies
produced by men are made null and void by the authority of
God’s Word . The
prophecies of the Scriptures are always connected to the
promises, which receive their
legitimation in their fulfilment.
If we would not follow up with Divine jurisdiction at this
point, the exposition
would defeat its purpose. “Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in
his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the
word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2: 3b). The true Word went forth from
Jerusalem. There the prophets
ministered, and also our Lord and the apostles. There the
foundation of the New
Testament Church had been laid. That is where she was brought
into existence; there
she must return to in teaching and practice.
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