Question was – How could we know if a Minister or Ministry have been appointed by God, what evidences will there be if God is backing them. It is answered in the form of a letter, followed by other letters that are similar in subject to the title of the page
That is such a good question, and very relevant in this time of great religious confusion. Jesus never went to Seminary, neither did any of His disciples. It is both odd and funny that all modern clergy is produced exclusively under the auspices of religious colleges and seminaries which themselves are based entirely on the european academic model. Which is secular and not even slightly Biblical, making it completely powerless. There are some Spirit filled Bible Schools, but not a single seminary has the anointing of the Holy Spirit on it.
Hmmmm. I wonder why the secular church is so worldly and full of academics. With no power of the Holy Spirit, and none of the authority which that power comes from. I wonder why. Could it be that none of the church today gets any of the results that Jesus got because they do not preach the gospel that He preached. They refuse to, they would rather preach their own. In this little club, they get to decide who stays and who’s kicked out, and most importantly – who’s in charge. They are their own Lord. Some of them might have allowed Jesus to Save them, but He is not their King. They are their own king, and they like it that way.
Sadly for them, but rightly for all – Self appointed is not God anointed. Nor will it ever be. A true leader is not someone who comes in and takes charge, or takes classes on learning how to take charge. A real leader is someone who is followed. Jesus was and is followed. Why. Because He did everything God told Him, and nothing God did not tell Him. Including going to another man, and for just a moment, getting under him and his God ordained authority with anointing. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the only way to acces the power of God in your life, and it holds true for every man. Including Jesus. He did not absorb it into Himself from the atmosphere, or think it into Himself through some sort or transcendental osmosis. He went to the highest Spiritual authority on the planet who represented God and His Kingdom. The same way an ambassador represents a president and his government. He had to go to this man to get it because this man had it.
It was not a priest or even the highest priest that year called the High Priest. They are not part of the Kingdom of God. They were solely a religious idea of the rulers in Israel, to continue something that had ended centuries earlier with the death of the last prophet. Israel trying to govern and guide themselves religiously, since God had quit speaking to them. This was the span of time between the old and new covenants. A deafening silence lasted for 400 years, because God wasn’t doing the same ole thing they wanted anymore. He was doing a new thing. He was bringing in His Messiah.
When Jesus was ready to begin His Ministry, He had to go to get some juice, or it would not work. He needed the juice, the power of the Holy Spirit, and He could only get it from someone who had it. God set it up that way. Because it was never just about Jesus, but about all those who would come after He did, and how they would come in too. Come into the Power. They had to get up under someone who had it to get it. Jesus went to the highest Spiritual Authority in the land who had nothing to do with the national religious establishment, or the academics.
In fact they despised this guys, they hated him. He was eventually murdered by the head of government. A drunken lecherous king who made a foolish promise at a party, made to his own stepdaughter who he was lusting after deeply. He made the promise to her in his continuing bid to bed her, and cut off the head of the highest Spiritual Authority in the land. His name was John the Baptist. Lust was the great destroyer of Love, for a moment. But One was coming, and by now had come – who through Love would destroy Lust forever. Along with every other wrong way of doing and being. But only for those who wanted to join the side of Love.
This murder and martyring of John happened after Jesus was baptized by him, so that He too could have the Anointing. And through Him many sons and daughters. If the Authority is from God the anointing will be there to back it up. If there is no anointing, the authority they claim is not from God – it came from themselves. With true anointing comes the confirming signs miracles and wonders from the Holy Spirit, as He wills. Meaning what miracles happen and where they happen is decided by God. But the happening of the miracles itself is from God, and they are His seal of approval on the man or woman of God who is in authority. An absence of these miracles in any church or ministry is a clear indication of no anointing.
God Bless you Brother, keep up the good work
Brother Greg
Now miss Lynnette you are our dear sister and we count you as family around here, as you have been with us for years now. But this spiritual warfare is fought with words and we have to keep our words right. Words are spiritual. God chooses the words for the people that belong to Him, there is a whole Book filled with them. Those who don’t belong to Him use someone else’s words or they use their own, but only His words matter. They contain the power of life and death.
One of the things the Bible is completely void of is constructive criticism, it is filled with commandments. Hundreds of them. The church is a part of the world and the world likes to change the words of the Bible, they think them too harsh. They find God and His authority too severe too serious. His truth threatens their Flesh and violates their very large comfort zone. You cannot change the Word at all, ever, for any reason. It actually carries a curse for any who do.
The church does not make disciples, so some have introduced mentoring by mentors who were never discipled. Discipleship is being disciplined with the Word by someone who has authority over you in it. Who themselves have been discipled. It’s not a matter of opinion, this is the only example we have throughout the entire Bible. There is no mentoring, nor did Jesus command the making of mentors. He commanded the making of disciples just as He commanded Correction, which He did daily.
He did this during the entire time of His ministry on earth, and He did it whether people liked Him and the discipline and correction, or not. He was here to please the Father not to please men. In fact there are 4 different kinds of correction named in the Bible: correction, instruction, reproof and rebuke. All of them are authorized by anyone in Ministry for any who are not. Which at the time never seems pleasant, as the Scripture says about all discipline. What there is not is constructive criticism, or criticism of any kind. Be sure to line up with that so The Lord can continue to Bless you on the level your Faith is at now. Peace holy woman.
Brother Greg
I hear you Stephen, and Bless you for the godly life you do live. We are all earning position and reward for eternity right now. Jesus said so, many times. But saying it the way you said it my dear brother is nothing more than a good intention, and certainly did not improve on the Truth that was posted. Which very much applies to you also. Good intentions without corresponding actions are worthless. Just as Faith without works is dead.
Grace is not given for us to do whatever we want, it is given only to do what God said. Part of which is to pick up our cross daily and crucify our Flesh. I can tell you as someone who has been Ministry for 33 years that most believers don’t do that. They just leave it to this mysterious grace, which is a figment of their Imagination. As it is nowhere in the Bible.
What is in the Bible is that Grace is God’s part. That Faith is our part. And that what is given by Grace must be received by Faith. God has a part and we have a part. God will not do our part and we cannot do His part. Yet believers by the millions do His part for Him all the time. The entire church is both weak and foggy on exactly what Grace and Faith are. So they just make up what they think they are and go by that.
Spirit and Life 