Secondly, I did not hear an audible voice of God calling me to the
pastoral ministry. But I have a good church and ministry. How come those
who are called to be apostles and prophets must directly hear the
audible voice of God?
Now, I have no idea where such a presumptuous view came from. It is
basically unscriptural. Such a teaching can be compared to the view of
those who believe that there are no apostles and prophets today. What is
it? They teach that to be an apostle one must fulfill either of these two
prerequisites: i) a witness of the life of Christ from His baptism
until His death (Acts 1:21-22), or ii) have personally seen the
resurrected Lord Jesus (1 Cor.9:1). Of course, only the second
prerequisite can be fulfilled today. So, to destroy the existence of the
apostolic ministry, they cite Acts 5:15-16 as the qualification needed.
Concerning the ministry, some have heard the voice of God;
others have seen the Lord, in vision or otherwise. So, have I. But do
these mean all are apostles or prophets?
Then again, who was Balaam? Was he not a prophet called of
God but turned bad? Who was Judas Iscariot? Did he not move about with
Christ in His ministry? Was he not sent of Christ to do miracles? And yet
he betrayed Christ. Both had encountered the anointing and the Voice, but
they did not walk in the Light they received.
The Lord knows how to call those whom He had ordained before
the foundation of the earth. He deals with them individually and they know
Him, as the Pillar of Fire moves in their life.
A true apostle points you back to the Word. He sets the Word
in order and the foundation for the saints. He is anointed with the
ability in "rightly dividing the Word of Truth". A true apostle does not force
feed the saints; he does not use the fear tactic. And, an apostle does not
feed the saints or answer questions with quotes of William Branham but he
rightly divides the Word of Truth to them as God gives him the ability. If
he does not know how to use the two-edged Sword (WORD) of the Sacred
Scriptures, then he is not an apostle, he is not even a minister of God.
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