Ministry to the saints/Judgment of a “fallen
servant of God”/Revelation of “a prophet”
A succourer of the saints!
In
his epistle to Romans, in Chapter 16, Paul commended to the saints in Rome "Phebe our sister, which is a
servant of the church which is at Cenchrea" and exhorted them to
receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and to
assist her in whatsoever business she had need of them because she had been a
succourer of many including himself (Vs.1-2).
How Paul cared for a dear sister who was his co-worker and who ministered to
him! Paul remembered every person who ministered to him in one way or the
other.
Phebe was a servant of the church at Cenchrea. She was not described as a pastor or an elder of
the church. We need today in our local churches servants who serve the sheep
and not masters who want to be ministered to by the sheep by way of tithes or
otherwise. A pastor of a local church calls himself/herself a shepherd. But
he/she does not serve the sheep as a shepherd but acts as a master.
My real sister's son, Ebenezer Sahayaraj, is
pasturing a small church in Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
We need many servants of the churches like Phebe who
are succourers of the needy and poor in the House of
God.
Ministry to
the saints
Paul in his epistle to Romans, in Chapter 15, spoke about his ministry to the saints ."But now I go unto
There is no greater ministry in the Body of Christ than ministering to the poor
saints. Paul not only preached the gospel in places where Christ was not named
but also took upon himself the ministry unto the saints. He collected a certain
contribution from the churches at
It is very easier for us to pray for God to bless the poor
saints financially or to pray for financial miracles than to minister to them.
How many of us share our good things with the poor saints in our towns or in
our churches?
Dearly beloved in Christ, God has blessed you materially so that you may
minister to the poor saints. These days, we find many preachers of the
prosperity gospel preach how God would bless them who have donated towards
their ministries by sowing "seeds". They also preach that poverty is
a curse of God. These preachers themselves lead luxurious lives. Do they take
upon themselves the ministry to the poor saints who attend their gospel/church
meetings?
The churches in
Dearly beloved, if you have been partakers of certain blessings through the
ministry of some servant of God, it is also your duty to minister to the
servant of God concerned in carnal things. You need not await an appeal from
the servant of God concerned. If you love the Body of Christ, your desire to
help the Body of Christ should spring from your heart spontaneously. At times, you may worship the Lord through hymns/psalms and shout
at the top of your voice, "Jesus, I love you". But if you do
not love the saints of His Body, you are a hypocrite. Do not separate His Body
from the Head!
Paul, the great apostle, personally collected some contributions from the
churches in
In this Chapter, we find that though Paul wanted to go to
Paul in his epistle to Corinthians, in II Cor.
Chapter 9, wrote about "the ministering to the saints". Here, he did
not refer to the poor saints. He exhorted the Corinthians to take upon
themselves the ministry of the saints by citing the examples of the churches in
When a few people of God sent us their sacrificial offerings for our ministry,
while acknowledging their "precious gifts" I used to tell them that
their ministry is very precious and greater than any other ministry in the Body
of Christ. For me, their ministry is greater than my ministry. If we read all
the epistles of the New Testament, we may generally find the word
"ministry" as a ministry to the saints and the poor saints. It is a
ministry, and not an act of charity. If you throw away some dollars as an act
of charity towards the Body of Christ, it is not at all a ministry to the Body
of Christ.
Judgment against a "fallen"
prophet!
"..Let him first cast
a stone at her..."
During
October, 2004, I
received emails from some people of God in the
It appears that though the co-workers of the "fallen" prophet tried
their best to bring him to repentance, the latter had not repented and that
they were left with no alternative but to inform the church or the people of
God concerned in accordance with the Scriptures quoted above.
I also find that the co-workers had acclaimed the servant of God as "a
major prophetic voice of the world..."
I do not want to go into the doctrines of this servant of God to judge his
doctrines. Neither do I want to pry into his private life to judge him. It is
for his Master to judge him because he had reportedly "fallen" before
Him.
I now question his accusers who had arraigned him before the judgment seat of
Christ quoting the Scriptures. It is like the judgment of the adulterous woman
by the Pharisees who sat in the Moses' seat, quoting the Law of Moses in the
8th Chapter of John. There was nothing wrong with the Law of Moses. The
accusations of the Pharisees were correct and based on the testimony of
witnesses who saw the woman commit the act of adultery. As such, there was
nothing amiss with the charges framed by the Pharisees. The Pharisees brought
the woman to the right Person only for judgment. What was wrong in this case?
It was the self-righteousness and the prideful heart of the Pharisees that
Jesus looked at. The Pharisees left the place, when Jesus told them, "He
that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her " (Vs.6).
Similarly, the accusers of the "fallen" prophet have quoted the Word
of God and followed the procedure laid down in the Word of God. But what
strikes my mind is that the servant of God had committed "trespasses"
against God and not against his brethren. As such, the word of God in the 18th
chapter of Mathew is not relevant.
The accusers of the servant of God concerned were his co-workers who had
ministered alongwith him. They must have had
fellowship with him. They had even glorified his ministry as "a major
prophetic voice". When God used him mightily, they were with him and
enjoyed his fellowship and ministry. The moment he "fell", they began
to judge him. No doubt, they warned him after his "fall". But what
were they doing when he was used of God mightily? This dear servant of God
would not have "fallen" overnight. There would have been a
progressive descent in his spiritual life, either due to some false doctrine or
due to some secret sin overshadowing him. Since some of his co-workers also
called themselves prophets, the Lord would have definitely revealed to them if
they were prophets. Assuming that they were not prophets, if they had sincerely
loved the "fallen" servant of God from the depth of their hearts, the
Lord would have definitely revealed to them the imminent "fall" of
this dear servant of God.
I do not understand as to why his co-workers published their reports in
emails/web-site and informed the whole world about the "fall" of a
prophet of the Lord. In their reports, I could not find the versions given by
the accused servant of God. Did they give an opportunity to the accused servant
of God to explain his conduct? If they had given him such an opportunity, what
explanation/reply was given by the accused servant of God? According to the
principles of natural justice, nobody should be condemned unheard; the accusers
should not sit in the judgment seat.
I am surprised to note as to how the accusers had fallen into the hands of the
Devil, the accuser of the brethren. The Devil is the first person who rejoices
over the "fall" of a servant of God. He will see that a wide publicity
is given throughout the world about the "fall" of a servant of God.
If the co-workers of the "fallen" servant of God
were so perfect that there was no "sin" in their lives, they could
have judged their brother who had "fallen"; they could have thrown
"the first stone" at him.
There is a word of prophecy about the ministry of our Lord in Isaiah 11:3 that "He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears". Even the Lord who can
see every hidden thing through His eyes and hear every secret word spoken in
closets "shall not judge after the sight of His eyes neither reprove after the hearing of His ears". But, we arrogate
ourselves to the function of judgment based even on "hearsay"
evidence. If you bring an accusation against any person, either someone or you
should be a witness – a witness is one who has witnessed through his eyes or
through his ears. When the Judge of the earth "shall
not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His
ears", where shall the accusers of this "fallen" servant of
God stand today?
A dear sister in the
”I am hearing this. KJV and 1611 related!!!
Hi there. I am a prophet of the Lord out of
I am hearing this. KJV and 1611 related!!!
I was at a chair meditating on the Word a few minutes ago and then a few things
were brought to my attention. Brethren, I believe I am hearing a sound...it's
not a very common sound. In fact many may dismiss this or tend to but I know
the way God works with me and I am not just at any place any time....that makes
the events around me usually more significant than for someone who goes where
their fancy leads.
I am hearing this:
THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS SUBTLY REVEALING THAT ONE MAJOR REASON WHY WE
HAVE INCREASED DECEPTION/DILUTION AND COUNTERFEITNESS IS BECAUSE OF A
TURNING AWAY FROM THE KJV(KING JAMES VERSION) VERSION OF 1611.
As I sat a few meters away on that chair and the Spirit of God began to connect
the puzzle pieces more and more, I was the more convinced! I have different
versions of the bible...Amplified, Message, New King James, Good News..name it. but
I am really hearing that there has been a great deviation.
Listen to me please.. This is not the first time this
issue has come up anywhere. There have been apologetics who have strongly
viewed and declared the other bible versions as poison and let me tell you
while I investigated the issue a while back on the internet and agreed with
many of these arguments, it still did not stop me from reading the other
versions.
I am telling you this to show you that for me to get up from that chair and
come up here to the computer to type about the KJV version means that I really
got a strong impression especially PROPHETICALLY from the Lord. This is quite
interesting to me”.
In response to the above "word of prophecy", I sent the following
reply to the dear sister who had sought my opinion:
I read the message received from someone claiming to be a
prophet of the Lord. When a person comes to us, introducing himself/herself,
saying, "I am a prophet.....", we should be very careful. First of
all, a true prophet does not introduce himself/herself. When people asked John
the Baptist, "Are you that prophet?". He
simply denied it but said, "I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness".
Of course, the King James Version is an authenticated version. There are some
versions that have changed the original meaning of His Word.
This man says: "THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS SUBTLY REVEALING THAT ONE MAJOR
REASON WHY WE HAVE INCREASED DECEPTION/DILUTION AND COUNTERFEITNESS IS BECAUSE
OF A TURNING AWAY FROM THE KJV( KING JAMES VERSION) VERSION OF 1611"
Dear sister, in those days i.e. New Testament days, how many of the disciples
of Jesus Christ had in their hands full bibles as we have today? Many of them
must have read the scroll that was kept in the synagogues! We do not know
whether all of them had an opportunity to look into the Old Testament book
which was in the form of a scroll. At that time, no gospel accounts in the form
of printed books were available. Luke, Mathew, John and Mark must have taken
some time to record their eye and ear accounts of the life of Jesus. However,
all these disciples of Jesus Christ, who had no written Bibles in their hands,
were wonderful servants of God; many of them died as martyrs.
It is not merely the written word but the Holy Spirit Who
was witnessing to these disciples of Jesus Christ. Whatever they heard through
their ears about the life of Jesus Christ, that was
"the glorious gospel of Christ" for them. At that time, they did not
have a single version of the Bible, not to talk of the many versions that we
have today.
In our Indian mission fields, during 1999, we went to a village in the state of
Rajasthan. The converts were illiterate persons who did not read and write in
their own mother language. But the Holy Spirit was with them, performing mighty
miracles and signs. There was no question of their believing any false
doctrines. Even the apostles of Jesus were not learned people. They were
ordinary folks including fishermen with the exception of Paul, who was a
learned man since his youth.
Today we have many Bible versions. Despite this, we have all kinds of false
doctrines spreading like wild fire in our churches.
Deception does not come just because we do not read a particular version. It
comes from our heart, that is lifted up. It comes from
our heart, that does not love the Body of Christ and
our neighbors. Deception comes when we do not grieve for our sins and
iniquities; deception comes when we do not agonize for lost souls.
Of course, people like Jehovah Witnesses have changed the original version to
suit their doctrines. Here again, it is the witness of the Spirit that reveals
to us the falsehood of the doctrines of Jehovah Witnesses.
It is not the turning away from the KJV but from the Spirit of the truth,
deception takes place.
Just for knowing that there are some inaccuracies in certain versions of the
Bible, the Holy Spirit does not give a word of prophecy like that. The so-called
prophet says that the Holy Spirit "is subtly revealing". The Holy
Spirit does not reveal certain things that are already known to us. The Holy
Spirit need not reveal subtly. He reveals openly and not in a subtle manner.
- Job Anbalagan
- Leonard Ravenhill.
The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected
by men. Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said,
“No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected.” The
prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are
his “brand name.”
The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and
comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but
untested theology, is not likely to vote him “Man of the year” when
he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan! The
prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call
into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he
opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless
politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent
national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function
of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, “has almost always
been that of recovery.”
The prophet is God’s detective seeking for a lost treasure. The
degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of
unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him. He has no price
tags. He is totally “otherworldly.” He is unquestionably controversial
and unpardonably hostile. He marches to another drummer! He
breathes the rarefied air of inspiration. He is a “seer” who comes
to lead the blind. He lives in the heights of God and comes into the
valley with a “thus saith the Lord.” He shares some of the
foreknowledge of God and so is aware of impending judgment.
He lives in “splendid isolation.”
He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
His message is “repent, be reconciled to God or else...!”
His prophecies are parried.
His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with
epitaphs when dead. He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,
but few “make the grade” in his class. He is friendless while living
and famous when dead. He is against the establishment in ministry;
then he is established as a saint by posterity. He eats daily the
bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of Life
to those who listen. He walks before men for days but has walked
before God for years. He is a scourge to the nation before he is
scourged by the nation. He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
He talks to men about God.
He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned
by men. He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide
in the marketplace. He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally
spiritual. He has passion, purpose and pugnacity. He is ordained of
God but disdained by men.
Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its
strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we
find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent
prophet! I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming
shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between
the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that
the “seven years of plenty” are over for us. The “seven years of
famine” are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at
this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE
WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).
Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years.
Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation
every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made
a vital contribution. “Come-outers” have “come out” and settled, too,
without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled
preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations
straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where
are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the
Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our
moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?
GOD’S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING
FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry,
but he is vindicated by history. There is a terrible vacuum in
evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is
the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally
otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men,
because they consider him too austere, too severely committed,
too negative and unsociable. Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern
theology and stagnant “churchianity.” Let him be as selfless as
Paul the apostle. Let him, too, say and live, “This ONE thing I do.”
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors. Let him be self-abasing,
nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself-righteous, nonself-
glorying, nonself-promoting. Let him say nothing that will draw men
to himself but only that which will move men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place
where he has received the order of the day. Let him, under God,
unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of
shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism. Let him cry
with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a
vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses
to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the
rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind
spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon. God have mercy!
Send us PROPHETS!
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