Stewardship of the mystery 3

Continued . . . page 3, Open letter STEWARDSHIP OF THE MYSTERY When Jesus said, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches” He was speaking to those men whom He first identified as apostles. He told them that He had “called and appointed them” that they should “go and bring forth fruit.” These men were of the “first water” of apostolic ministry. Paul (not one of the twelve, though contemporary with them) was later saved and Jesus, in a conversation with Ananias, said that Paul was a chosen vessel and that He (Jesus) would show Paul what great things he must suffer for His namesake. Paul was emphatic that his apostleship was not of or through man. Paul, in the clearest possible voice, wrote that the gospel he preached was not of man, he did not receive it of man, neither was he taught it by man, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul, like the twelve, was taught by Christ. The twelve were taught by Christ before His death. Paul was taught by Christ after His death, resurrection and ascension. Apostles today can and should be taught by the resurrected and ascended Christ. This privilege is not limited to apostles only. Apostles today, just like Paul, should know what their personal relationship with Jesus Christ has wrought. What Christ says has the eternal “Go!” in it and no man has anything to say about it. Paul confirmed that there is “one faith.” Paul must have been speaking of faith in principle, since denominational doctrine/teaching/belief is the precise cause of disunity. “One body?” Please! Jesus taught Peter, James and John; and Jesus taught Paul. Who teaches the denominational ministers of today? Who knows? Thus there is Disunity spelled with a capital “D.” Divisions are synonymous with being infants. Infant Christians are being blown and carried around by every wind of doctrine (false teaching). There is a ministry that employs “the same craft that gamblers use” (Greek for “sleight of men”) and who, by well-meaning but mistaken planning, waylay literally thousands into numberless systems of error called churches. Paul saw divisions and lies as enemies of God. Picture a branch and all along its full length, like birds on an electric wire, there are “churches,” so called, of every size, shape and description, each one hawking its own denominational name. Is this the fruit that Jesus sends His apostles to bring forth? Have you ever seen all different kinds of birds flocked together on the same wire? Birds are smarter than that. Denominationalism may be a religious zoo, but it cannot be a valid representation of “one body.” Does anyone care what Jesus wants? It takes a valid “branch ministry” to bring forth a valid manifestation of one body, the precious fruit of the earth which the husbandman waits for. Is this not hypocrisy when a prophet (or preacher) has to become part of an “association” of prophets or go to school to find out and say what Jesus is saying? You cannot be a John the Baptist and let an association or school of prophets (or denomination or any man) control or edit your words. Equal to that is when apostles are not being personally taught by Jesus. The reason Jesus ascended on high was so that He could fill all things, i.e. so that He could teach and speak to His own ministers. How can there ever be sheep that hear His voice until there is a branch ministry that hears His voice? The branch ministry is the conduit through which everything in the vine flows to the fruit. Most churches today are not the result of a pruned branch but of a branch that has cut itself off because they esteem denominational opinion more than the voice of Jesus. The primary function of branch ministry is to let Jesus, the Vine, the “all in one,” flow so that everything that is in the Vine becomes visible in the church. All the fullness of God was in Jesus Christ when He tabernacled here in the flesh. The branch is even now being called and sent into all the earth to make Christ, the fullness of God, visible through the church in all the earth. The Body of Christ, being brought to perfection, will one day become the full and only focus of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. In that day the branch of the Lord will be glorious . . . to be continued Thought: Is denominationalism the wilderness that keeps the bride from entering the promise land? Selah.