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>From Brother Randy Muse
This letter is partly in response to Pastor Ruiter's latest reply in our
discussion.
Heb 3:1
1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your
thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confess. (NIV)
I just want to take a small excerpt of the above written Scripture as a
foundation for this edition of our discussion of the Apostle. "...fix your
thoughts on Jesus, the apostle..."! This, my Brothers and Sisters is an issued
decree from the Holy Word of God itself, that we are to consider or fix our
thoughts on Jesus, not only as our High Priest, but also as our Apostle.
Many of us clearly understand how to relate to Jesus as our Savior, Jesus as
our Lord, Jesus the Prophet proclaiming the words of God and accurately
telling of future events, etc., but few of us understand how to fix our
thoughts on Jesus the Apostle. How do we relate to Jesus as an Apostle?
Dear Pastor Ruiter:
I want to thank you personally for not being offended by the way I write, and
I want to commend you for allowing such a controversial topic to be discussed
on your mailing list. I have not been able to do so on other mailing lists as
freely as you have allowed us here to discuss such an issue. The Bible says
that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:7). Before I
go on to describe Jesus' Apostleship or rather, His current Apostolic
Missionary assignment, I would like to say that I believe that we are gaining
ground in achieving GREATER unity in our doctrine and faith, and especially in
our understanding of what each of us believe. I must say that I think that I
do write passionately about my beliefs, and I hope it is as full of passion as
the passion I have for serving the Lord Jesus Christ. For those who don't
understand why I write the way I do, please forgive me for seeming rude or
"argumentative" (as I have been told). My intentions are to make known
what I understand in the clearest way I know possible. I am sure that there
are many ways I communicate that are not as skilled as they could be.
I want you to know that I think that our definitions of an apostle are for the
most part functionally the same (with some shades of difference), but I
believe that my definition lends to a broader definition of what the Lord
intends for an Apostle to be. I am convinced that 5-Fold ministers are not
only functionally established, but are established ministerial gifts
governmentally as well.
In our Country we have a President, a Vice Present, etc., and many different
commanders and officers of our different branches of military service. Some
refer to this as a chain of command. While a President in our Country is
considered a U. S. citizen, as I am also a U. S. citizen, he is given a
position of honor greater than my own (both socially and governmentally). This
does not make him more of a man or more important than me, but it does make
him more than just a mere citizen. He holds certain rights and privileges that
I do not currently possess. He is part of our judiciary system, and has a
great influence on the laws of our Country and its welfare as well. This gives
him the authority to sign and pass bills that can change the laws of our
Country, for our good or for our bad.
In the same light, I believe that there is clearly a distinction between
laymen of the ministry and those who serve as Governmental Officers of the
Army of the Lord. We are in a war with the Kingdom of Darkness, on this we
both agree, but what kind of military threat would we be to the enemy without
officers and no chain of command? Indeed, if we do not have commanders of
God's Army on Earth, how can we have any military strategy at all? And how can
any military strategies be worked out if there is no chain of command? Imagine
an Army in war, and everybody is ignoring the army's officers and fighting
and attacking in whatever way they see fit without any corporate effort
involved, other than the fact that they are all fighting with weapons. I am
not trying to say that the Body of Christ is so grossly without leadership,
but I do believe that we have lacked at least to some degree because we do not
clearly understand the governmental gifts that God has given us, or we do not
recognize them as officers at all.
Moses, as a Prophet, was very governmental in his relationship to God's
people, and I believe it is the lack of governmental leadership that has
hindered our evangelical efforts in the Body of Christ the most. God sent
Moses as a governmentally functioning Prophet to lead His people into the
Promise Land. Since we are over the issue of false apostles, I want to here
inject that sincere godly men will rule over the Body of Christ with
astounding effects, if the children of God would willingly submit to the
Government that God has established. In fact, almost all of Israel was not
allowed to enter into the Promised Land predominantly because of two things:
they rejected their Governor (Moses the Prophet), and they rejected the
commandments he was given by God (his government)(Heb. 12:20-26). Jesus said
that if someone rejects you, they are actually rejecting the one who sent you
or the one you are obeying. Then comes Jesus, the Apostle, sent to Earth to
die for and redeem mankind. He then begins to expose the false ministerial
practices and the hypocrisy of the religious Jews, in order to establish the
governmental structure of those who will worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
The Jews were terribly misrepresenting God by inaccurately enforcing the Laws
that were given to them by God, creating their own governmental religious
system that had no mercy or grace, and especially...NO LOVE. So, one function
of an Apostle which we can see from observing the Apostle Jesus' life is that
false government is exposed for the purpose of restoring the Anointing to the
Saints of God through proper observances of religious practices.
Heb 9:1
1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and
the earthly sanctuary.
Ps 133:1-3
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!
2 It is like the precious oil (the Anointing) upon the head, running down on
the beard, the beard of Aaron (the High Priest), running down on the edge of
his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for
there the LORD commanded the blessing-- life forevermore.
I agree with you Pastor Ruiter, that there is a danger present with those who
call themselves apostles for the sake of a title, but there is no danger at
all in accepting that true apostles exist today (and on this I am sure we both
agree). It is not the ministry gift that should be examined, but the one
claiming to stand in that office, as we should righteously judge all who claim
even to be a Christian, because Jesus said you will know what kind of tree it
is by what it produces. Does the person who claims to be an apostle promote
peace and unity, or does he cause division and confusion to the Body of
Christ?
In one part of your letter you wrote that you found no "edifying nature" in
the way I applied your argument to the name of Jesus. You said, "Jesus is of
course His personal name and must remain outside this discussion." But the
reason why I used His name is because His name represents WHO He is. So part
of the meaning of that name is the institution of Apostolic Ministry because
who He is and what He does define what He means to us as the person of Jesus.
And so, if we change the definition of an Apostle into something other than
what Scripture intends for an Apostle to be, then you will find that we have
changed the very expression of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is
presently an Apostle governing His body. So if we change the definition of an
Apostle, then we change the definition of Who we THINK Jesus is, which in turn
determines how we relate to Him. Of course Jesus will not change even if some
called Him Beelzebub, but "what we think of Him as", does radically affect our
relationship with Him. Some called Him just a Prophet and a good teacher, but
never received Him as the Mighty redeeming Savior and Lord!!! So, what we
think of the Office of what He is currently operating in, will Ultimately not
only effect our relationship with Him, but will also be part of Who we
determine He is and what He means to ourselves. (continued in Part 2)
Apostle, He is still ruling over it governmentally. In fact, His Apostleship is
more defined by Who He is NOW and what He is doing in Heaven more than the
little time He spent on Earth (compare 2000 years in Heaven to His 3 1/2 years
on Earth). So the most dynamic aspect of the Apostle Jesus' ministry, is not
so much that He founded a Church, but that He is nurturing it until it is full
grown and fully matured. A mother only spends a short time being pregnant and
giving birth to a child, but her whole life is spent loving the child who is
her very own. As an Apostle, Jesus is appointing officers to rule under Him in
His Church. He's giving gifts to men, distributing gifts of healings to one,
discerning of spirits to another, teaching people how to lay hands on the sick
and believe they will be healed!!!
In Revelation 19 He is the Apostle on the white horse, He is called Faithful
and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war...He is clothed with a
robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.
AND THE ARMIES WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, CLOTHED IN FINE LINEN, WHITE AND
CLEAN, WERE FOLLOWING HIM ON WHITE HORSES. AND FROM HIS MOUTH
COMES A SHARP SWORD.....AND ON HIS ROBE AND ON HIS THIGH HE HAS A NAME
WRITTEN, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
This chapter of Revelation not only describes an Apostle's nature, but the
nature of an Apostolic People as well. First of all, the Apostle is mounted on
his beast of choice and ready to wage war. He is focused and has already made
the decision to execute his judgment. But in the midst of being about to enter
in battle, the nature of His being is being reflected upon. The Apostle must
be faithful and true and must judge and wage war in righteousness in order to
be effective against the Kingdom of Darkness. He is clothed with a robe dipped
in blood. This signifies that He has on a garment that cries out for vengeance
and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, even His very own name, is His
Weapon of Choice. then we see Him as a military commander leading "the armies
which are in Heaven." And so, Hebrews 3:1 is not intending so much to describe
Who Jesus was when sent to Earth, but even more so, it is being used to
describe His Ministerial Office and Function as an Apostle at the right hand
of the Father.
I think that there are some very important dynamics missing from your
definition of an Apostle. Correct me if I am wrong in interpreting what a
missionary is, but traditionally missionaries have been viewed as those who
start a church and then promote someone else to leadership who has (generally)
a 5-Fold Pastoral Gift, and then they primarily move on to start another
Church. But Apostles, while continuing to plant new churches, still continue
as a governmental force in the local assemblies they have established and
those who willingly submit their ministries to an apostle, and they have a
sense of responsibility to nurture the church and appoint men to assist them
in Overseeing it in order for it to become fully matured. So Apostles spend
more time nurturing and guiding Churches they've established than they do
planting more.
It is evident that the Apostle Paul kept close and personal contact with the
ministries he founded, and even remained a main governmental overseer of them,
even having them enforce his decision to excommunicate those whose sins might
taint the Church.
1 Cor 5:3-5
3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have
already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in
spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and
his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. (NIV)
1 Cor 5:9-13
9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people--
10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy
and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls
himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a
slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not
to judge those inside?
13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." (NIV)
I believe that God has placed within each and every member of the Body of
Christ various levels and degrees of Anointing, according to the Spirit's
distribution as He wills. I believe that not only is this distribution or
equipping necessary for the building up of one another, but also, each person
has been given a specific function in their individual and specific anointing
for a specific purpose in strategically attacking the enemy in a specific area
of his kingdom. He gives gifts of healing to combat demons who inflict
sickness and disease (1 Cor. 12:9), Teachers to combat doctrines of demons (1
Tim. 4:1), true Prophets to combat the spirits of false Prophets, and Pastors
to protect the sheep from wolves who come into the Kingdom disguised as sheep
to devour God's lambs with their impure motives. Ephesians 6:12 says that our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers (archas),
against the powers (exousias-literally authorities), against the world forces
(kosmokrator- literally world rulers) of this darkness, against the spiritual
(pneumatica) forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. The word pneumatica
is also used in 1 Corinthians 12:1 where the Apostle Paul says, "Now
concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." These
spirits are literally wicked spirits exercising Satanic spiritual gifts to
advance the kingdom of darkness! This is why it is so critical for us to
properly understand and use every Spiritual gift available to us in the Body
of Christ. If there is a gift that is not fully functioning properly in the
Body, then there will also be an area of weakness for Satan to plan his
attack. In Ephesians 6:11, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to put on the FULL
Armor of God so that we may be able to stand firmly against the schemes of the
devil. Satan is scheming and militarily strategizing his military commanders,
his rulers, his authorities, and his world ruling spirits against the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said that He will build His Church upon the
Rock of revelation, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But the
Word of God also says that My People are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
It has been said that world ruling spirits are spirits that hold even a whole
nation in bondage. In third world countries, world ruling spirits are
exercising their spiritual authority and power to keep nations in bondage to
poverty, sickness and disease, and starvation. Here in the U. S., we have
world ruling spirits of violence and drug abuse abounding in every strata of society,
from the lower class all the way up to government officials who are addicted
to illegal chemical substances. I also heard one person teach that people like
Germany's Hitler were influenced by a world ruling spirit to give him his
ability to achieve as much evil as he caused. The 'authority spirits' in this
case would be those who enforce the commands of the world ruling
spirits.
I am just making a point that many Christians have fallen into the trap of
denying the very things that God has clearly established in Scripture:
e.g. speaking in tongues; they deny that healings and miracles are for today; some
do not even believe that the enemy is a personal being, but rather a force or
an evil law in the hearts and minds of mankind. May we all use this MAILING
LIST to stay as informed as possible, so that we can all be as victorious as
Christ has enabled us and given us authority to be, In Jesus' Mighty Name,
AMEN.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Randy Muse Go to Part 2 by Randy Muse
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