Why are people too critical of the Lords 5 fold ministries?

Question

In Eph.4:11+, And Jesus gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the mnistry, for the edifying the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith & knowledge of the Son of the God unto a perfect man & the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we arent anymore children tossed to & fro & carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men & cunning craftiness wereby they lie in wait to deceive...

Too often people criticize the Lords evengelists by adding tele... or the office of prophet saying there isn't the office of the prophet anymore.

Why be critical when the 5 fold ministry is to be until the... fulness of the body of Christ?

Answer 1

Friend, I don't know you personally, But I can say AMEN to what you said, Myself as a Christian for over 37 yrs, I Knew God had a 5-fold ministry, See also Isa. 52:8 Thy watchmen(the ministry of Men) shall see eye to eye. I have been on this site for a year now & God only knows how many times I quoted Eph 4:11-17 This 5-fold ministry will see eye to eye on all their teachings, They have to in order to perfect a Bride, & be in UNITY. In Revelation it says The BRIDE HATH made herself ready, hath is a pass tense word & it lets me know it took a process of time to do this, I believe there is True Apostles today & Prophets as I do the other 3 parts of the ministry, & their job is to bring the BRide together in unity & PERFECTION so that Christ will have a bride ready. You thought is good & correct. Now even though many will disagree, at least there is one that sees this 5-fold ministry & their purpose besides myself. Thank you for a good question.

Answer 2

Hi,
the matter,to my mind lies exactly in the verses narrated by you from the Epistle to the Ephesians. With these Holy Spirit gifts the church(the true Christ followers) is trained, edified and walks in the power of The Holy Spirit, thus destroying the works of the devil and displaying the LORD's Glory to the lost world bringing freedom and deliverance to it. Without these genuine gifts and fruit of The Holy Spirit the church in a certain place or worldwide is having to be weak & an easy prey to the devil & his agents. Yes, the powers of darkness do sleep & dream about that to happen.
So, it may be that the believers go to a certain assembly every Sunday and are present at every such service. But if they see NO such gifts' manifestations and see no fruit of The Spirit, then to my mind they're just wasting away there, and the best way for them is to rise up and flee from such dead congregations never to return there again!!! The power of God isn't manifested there, just a mere bla-bla show! Instead, the LORD will lead them to such a place where the gifts and fruit DOES operate in full.
As for those who do criticize, oppose or resist the genuine gifts and the 5-fold ministry whether willingly or not, they are the category that try to please God and work for Him by means of their own efforts and neglect the power of The Holy Spirit nor do they know Him, walking under Whom demands FULL obedience to Him and dependence on Him. Self-effort walking before God is called "religion" and this people's category is related to as "religious".Yes, even history and The Holy Scriptures do testify, such people almost always resist The Holy Spirit!!! They were who gave Christ to be crucified, ran the Inquisition and they stand behind the problem of terrorism nowadays!
It's probably no wonder that it happens the way you are describing here!

Answer 3

The Bible never called it the 5-fold ministry. The reason why people are critical of it is because of what it has become. Are today's self-proclaimed prophets the source of our wisdom, or is God? Do not confuse the two. The Word of God is the will of God for our lives. Not what some stranger tells us. God will speak to us, because His Spirit is within us. We need not look to any other source but His Spirit and His Word. Prophets of old never said they were prophets. Other people said it. Tooting your own horn is a very good sign you are not a prophet. Apostles are not just people who start churches. They are people who have SEEN the risen Christ. Paul is the only apostle who saw Christ, but did not walk with Him during His earthly ministry. No one else dared to call themselves an apostle.

Answer 4

Well, most people will not understand what you are talking about. The 5 fold ministry is active in many churches-especially Baptist. Presbyterian, and maybe Calvary Chapels. Pentecostals and Charismatics have a misguided view on the "prophets" part. Black churches have a poor idea of the apostles and prophets part. Methodist, and Episcopals have a poor vier of the pastor-teacher part. The bottom line here is that most of our churches or denominations are really screwed up. No wonder the world is in a mess.

Answer 5

I think people are critical of the prophet ministry because these days, everyone and anyone can claim to be a prophet, and it leaves us with a lot of false teachers. The bible says that in the end times there will be a lot of false prophets and teachers. We should be wary of them, and I think that is why the full 5 fold ministry isn't accepted anymore.

Answer 6

I didn't know calling someone a "televangelist" was being critical. All the word means is an evangelist who appears on TV. I think the fact that many (though not all) have been in trouble, etc. has been detrimental to them. But that's the way it is. I don't equate "televangelist" with "con-artist", but I'm also well aware that there are plenty of them out there that are.

Answer 7

I'm with you on that score.

They still exist and we still need them.

As to the office of prophet, anyone who passes on the word of God is a prophet. Sounds like some of us. A prophet is not only one who can tell what God says about the future.

grace2u

Answer 8

Prophecy is still with us, the only difference is today no one receives a prophecy that adds to or contradicts what is already written in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 14:3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

My only criticism of "the Lords 5 fold ministries" is that it's like the "9 fruits of the Spirit".

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

People take one verse from the Bible and forget about the rest of God's Word and come up with what are essentially un-Biblical doctrines. Are there only 5 areas of service one can do for the Lord? Can the Holy Spirit only impart 9 areas of character change to a regenerated person? Of course not. That's just plain wrong interpretation that leads to man made doctrines instead of Biblical truth.

Romans 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Answer 9

Most folk are critical of such because it is out of the mouth of
Paul and not the Lord or the Lord' prophet Jesus.
As the fullness of Christ has not evidenced itself folk
rightly or wrongly will naturally doubt.

Answer 10

they are scared of it or do not want to accept it we have truble in our church some deacons do not suport evangelism??