GOD'S
SCHOOL OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT
By
Sam
Fife
Miami
1974 - Elder's Teaching
This
is a teaching I have felt led of tile Lord to give during the
last
several months on just about every body farm that I've been to
and
many of the local bodies that I've been to-only to elders. It is
a
teaching
that simply draws together all of the principles of God's Di-
vine
Order for the Body of Christ that have been brought forth not
just
from myself or my own ministry but all the ministry during the
past
several years in tile move of God --tile principles of God's divine
order
in God's divine government, and this teaching simply draws
them
together into one comprehensive teaching on God's divine, or-
er
so that all of the ministry can begin to see a pattern of God's
divine
order government for the Body of' Christ and have guidelines
to
follow so that we can conic into a greater oneness and ability to
move
as one--as God's Divine Government.
Now
the scriptural basis or foundation for this teaching is, of
course,
the scripture in Hebrews 7:21, which says "Christ is God's
priest
forever after the order of Melchisedec," for that's the scrip-
ture
that has to do with tile divine order of God that God is bringing
forth
in His people in His body, which will be the governmental or-
der
under which the Spirit of God shall govern His body and the
world
during the millennium which is soon to come.
The
first thing that we want to say is that we must realize what
God
is doing with us in this move of God. He is bringing forth a di-
vine
order government to govern the world, after the order of Melchi-
sedec.
We're not building a church, we're not playing church, we're
not
a bunch of preachers that are looking for a ministry, this is not
an
evangelistic move of God, it's not a full gospel move of God, it's
not
a healing move of God, it's the move of God in which God is
bringing
forth a many-membered manchild to govern the world,
through
whom Christ will govern the world during the millennium
that
is to come. Therefore, we are in God's school
of Divine
Govern-
ment,
and God is training us as one many-membered man, teaching
us,
training us, preparing us to be the government through whom the
Spirit
of Christ will govern the world. The way that He is teaching
and
training us is by letting us practice on one another, by teaching
us
to
govern one another and to be governed by one another after the
order
of Melchisedec, which is a theocratic spirit government order.
Most
of you have heard us teach again and again the definition of
that
term "order" that is used when the Bible says "Christ
is a priest
forever
after the order of Melchisedec." An order is simply a system
of
government or a governmental system. Thus, we say that here in
the
U.S. we're governed
by what is called the democratic order of
government,
in Canada they have
a parliamentary governmental
order
or system of government, England
has a monarchal govern-
mental
order, and so we have illustration after illustration of what a
governmental
order is.
1.
Since
the order, or the system of government by which we are
to
govern the world is a new governmental order, since there is no
precedent,
no example of this governmental system that
has ever
been
seen or heard of before in the world, and therefore no prece-
dent
or example to go by of times past: The principles of this govern-
mental
order has to be revealed by revelation from heaven, line
upon
line
, precept upon precept.
Now
I'd like to establish in your hearts the authority of this
governmental
order. You see, every system of government that
has
ever
been brought forth in this world before was brought forth and
established
by the principles of that government being brought forth
out
of the belly of whatever ministry that was used to establish that
system
of government in the earth by revelation arid by inspiration,
whether
it was from the negative spirit of the devil or the positive
spirit
of God.
Long
ago when the devil through Nimrod brought forth and es-
tablished
in the world organized government, he did it by the spirit
of
revelation and inspiration and through Nimrod the devil brought
forth
and established in the world all the principles of organizational
government
that Babylon is ruled
by today. Two hundred years ago.
or
a little more, when the Democratic order of government
by which
the
U.S. is governed was
brought into being in the earth, the way it
was
brought into being was the laws upon which that
government
was
established were brought forth by inspiration and revelation out
of
the belly of the ministers that God called to bring forth arid esta-
blish
that government in the world. Some men named George Wash-
ington,
Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin and the fathers of our
country
who attended our country's first constitutional
convention,
where
the spirit of revelation brought out of their belly the principles
of
the Constitution upon which the government of the
U.S. is based.
Therefore,
don’t ever question the right of the five fold plural spirit
ministry
to be the source of divine order government
for the body of
Christ.
We
are now in an hour when because all the governments
of this
world
that have ever been brought forth have turned themselves over
to
the spirit of' the anti-Christ and are going to submit themselves
to
becoming
a part of' that one world beast, therefore God has called
out
a people to bring forth and manifest in this world a new govern-
mental
order, a theocratic spirit governmental order by which the
world
will be governed after God judges all the other governmental
systems
of this world arid removes them from off the face of the
earth.
We are that people that God has called and anointed to bring
forth
Out of their bellies through the spirit of revelation the princi-
ples
of that governmental order, preach them to a people so they be-
gin
to catch the vision and gain all understanding of that government-
al
order and establish it in their midst, just the way the government
of
the U.S. was established.
It didn't happen in a day. It took many
many
years for it to be finally ratified by all the states. That is the
way
the principles of any governmental order come into being, by
2.
revelation
and inspiration out of the belly
of whatever ministry that's
called
to establish that order in the world, whether it be a negative
governmental
order or a positive governmental order.
Now
that governmental order, at this point, is a five fold spirit
ministry
governmental order consisting of apostles, prophets, evan-
gelists,
elders or pastors (those two terms are synonymous) and
teachers.
The spirit has called forth those spirit ministries not only to
reveal
that governmental order in the earth but to establish it in
God's
people and through God's people in the earth. Let's cut out all
the
fooling around, all the ballyhoo, all the questioning, all the argu-
ing-for
to anybody who's been in this move of God any time, it is
very
clear that God has called out a five fold plural spirit anointed
ministry
to bring forth out of their bellies and establish in the people
of
God a new governmental order. That ministry, according to I Cor-
inthians
12, consists of first apostles, then prophets, and after that
teachers
which consist of a three-fold teaching ministry of elders,
evangelists,
and teachers.
Now
this is not five ministries, but it is the ministry of one spi-
rit
of God through five channels. Not all channels are the same. Any
fleshly
foolishness about everybody in the move of God being the
same
is a bunch of foolishness. There is one spirit who ministers through
all,
that's
true, but all five of these ministries are not on the same level
of
union
with that Spirit and that's why I Corinthians says God hath set
some
in the church first apostles, then prophets, and after that the
three-fold
teacher ministries. Therefore, I want you to understand
that
they are the government of God. We're not playing church,
we're
not trying to build another church on the comer. The thing
that
God is doing in us is far greater, far more consequential than
anything
that's ever been done in this world before. We ought to get
serious
about it, we ought to mature, we ought to cut out all the
foolishness,
get all our doubts out of our mind, deal humbly and
gently
with all God's children who challenge our authority in the Spi-
rit
but don't put up with any foolishness. This is a mighty and a seri-
ous
and an eternally consequential thing that God is doing.
This
teaching consists of drawing together the principles of
God's
Divine order government that God has brought forth over the
past
several years into one comprehensive teaching. These principles
deal
with elders relationship to elders, God's divine order for elders
disagreeing
with elders and being one another's check and balance
and
confirmations, elders’ relationship to body member, body mem-
bers'
relationship to elders, elders’ relationship to apostolic ministries,
body
members relationship to elders and apostolic ministries, God's
divine
order for elders disagreeing with apostolic ministries and the
whole
ascending and descending scale of God's divine order for us
dealing
with one another in our various ministries, whatever they
may
be. Of course, the first principle that should be taught is that
God
wants you to deal with your brother in the Spirit of Christ.
This
is a theocratic spirit government and these principles only apply
when
you're in free Spirit and when you're not in the Spirit they
3.
don’t
apply to you at all- you forfeit your right to even participate
in
this divine government if you are not in the Spirit of Christ when
you
participate. If you're in your flesh, if you're irritated, aggravat-
ed,
upset , emotionally disturbed, all of which is flesh- you ought
to
just
sit down and let somebody else govern the Body of Christ. This
is
a theocratic spirit government founded upon not laws, as the gov-
ernment
of the U.S. , but upon
eternal spiritual principles and the
first
principle is that You must be in the Spirit of Christ in the divine
order
that God has established for us dealing with one another as
God's
government. It’s a plural government -- that's nothing new
the
democratic government of the U.S.
is it plural government, but the
difference
between us and it is that their government is based upon
laws
and our government is based upon eternal spiritual principles.
They
are governed by a constitution, but we don't have any consti-
tution
for we're governed by a living spirit. Their government is
founded
upon a constitution, but our government is founded upon a
living
spirit, the Spirit of God.
The
next principle that we need to learn and understand is what
God
wants is not a group of elders (and when I use the term elder
now
I'm including apostles, because in the spiritual sense apostles
are
part of the elders too: Peter, I think it was, wrote to the elders
and
said I, Peter who am also an elder) who are always agreeing with
one
another on every issue, especially in elder's meetings, and there-
by
becoming a bunch of “yes men” for one another. What he wants
is
a group of elders to be His government that can disagree with one
another,
but in the right spirit, the humble sweet gracious Spirit of
Christ
and in the divine order that God has established for disagree-
ing
with one another and thereby be one another's perfect check and
balance.
You would be amazed if you realized that about 90 percent
of
the elders in the move of God across the country don't know that.
They
think it's completely the other way. They think that what God
wants
is a bunch of elders that agree with one another all the time
and
if there's any disagreement, particularly in an elders' meeting,
then
that's division, and there's division in the camp and that the
Kingdom’s
falling apart. I'll say it again, that's exactly contrary to
what
God wants. he doesn't want elders that agree with one another
all
the time on every issue, but a group of elders who can come to-
gether
and disagree with one another in the right spirit, the spirit of
Christ,
and such a spirit of love that your brother feels your love
even
when you're disagreeing with him, and therefore is not offend-
ed,
and you should reach the point where though you have disagreed
with
him, and take your stand, you would rather he be right, if he
can
prove to You that he's right, thereby being one another's check
and
balance. That doesn't mean that some day God doesn't want us
to
agree all the time on all issues. He does, for His word says His
watchmen
shall see eye to eye when He brings again the captivity of
Zion
, but that day is not now. They can't be yet
and therefore the
instrument
by which He wants to bring us to that day is ail eldership
that
can disagree with one another in the Spirit of Christ and in that
4.
Divine
order God has for disagreeing with one another, and thereby
be
used to check one another, to purge one another, so that He can
bring
forth that perfect ministry, a perfect government who do see
eye
to eye on all things.
Therefore,
here is the next principle for you-disagreement
on is-
sues
is not division in spirit. I can disagree with you on issues all
day
long
and dig in my heels and take my stand against you on issues all
day
long and never be divided from you in my spirit, if I stay in the
spirit
of Christ when I do it. And even if you get divided from me in
your
spirit and resent the fact that I disagree with you on the issue
and
get upset, uptight, just plain (town right mad with me, bitter,
I
still
don't have to be divided from you in my spirit. The old saying
"It
takes two to tango" is absolutely true. You can get divided
from
me
in your spirit but if I stay in the Spirit of Christ, a spirit of
love
toward
you and don't get divided from you in my spirit, then we're
not
tangoing. That's your key principle you want to bind on your
eyes
for frontlets, mount it on your door post that you see it coming
in
and going out--disagreement over issues is not division in the
spirit.
Therefore I can love brother so and so and stand and say I dis-
agree
with you on this issue and this is my reason and so forth and
still
be perfectly one with you in spirit. I can disagree with you on
every
issue and still never lose my oneness with you in spirit if I
simply
understand and have a clear revelation that disagreement on
issues
is not division in spirit. Teach God's people then that when
they
go around seeing their elders disagreeing on issues they won't go
around
thinking their elders are divided and there's division in the
camp.
There
are principles of God's divine order necessary for you to
understand
before you accomplish this. The first one is that the only
way
that you can disagree with your brother on issues and not get
divided
from him in spirit is that you recognize his right to his con-
viction
even though lie may be wrong. If you don't have that vision
and
that revelation then you can't stay one in spirit with him and
still
disagree with him on the issue. Every elder in this move of God
should
come to the point where he recognizes his brother's right be-
fore
God to his conviction even though he may be wrong. The se-
cond
one that is necessary is to recognize that he is sincere in his
con-
viction
even though he may be wrong. When I was a young Baptist
preacher
I couldn't see that at all. Anybody who didn't see it the way
I
did, I was absolutely sure they just didn't love the Lord the way
I
did,
and they weren't all sincere as I was. Besides, they were proba-
bly
stupid if they didn't see it the way I did.
God
had to show me how wrong I could be dozens of times and
let
me go through a lot of experiences before I recognized that be-
fore
God every man has his right to his conviction even though he's
wrong
and that a person could he wrong and just as sincere in their
love
for Jesus, and just as sincere in their conviction as I am. The
rea-
son
this can be so is that not only are there two sides to every ques-
tion,
I've found there are at least half a dozen sides to every question,
5.
and
it all depends on what side you're standing on Whether you're
seeing
it aright or not.
I'm
sure we've all heard the story about the three blind men that
were
taken to the zoo to see the elephant and see what an elephant
was
like. One of them approached the elephant and began to feel up
his
leg and said "I know what an elephant is like, he's like a
tele-
phone
pole". Another one began to feel around his belly and he said,
"You're
wrong, an elephant's not like that, he's like a barrel." The
other
one began to feel its trunk and he said "You're both a bunch
of
nuts, he's like a snake." Now all three were right, but all
three
were
seeing the elephant from different sides. When we understand
this
we will all lose some of our dogmatism, become more humble,
recognize
our fallibility more, and above all, recognize our brother's
right
to his conviction, and that he can be sincere in it even though
he's
sincerely wrong. These two areas must be in order to be divided
from
your brother on issues, and yet not be divided from him in
spirit.
What
God wants is elders who can disagree with one another, be
one
another's check and balance in the right spirit, and in the divine
order
that God has given us to disagree with one another. If you
leave
those last two out, you're out of order. You can be right on the
issue,
but wrong in your spirit, and you're out of order.
On
the other hand, that doesn't mean that just because you've
heard
a revelation that what God wants is elders who can disagree
with
one another, that that means that you have a special calling to
disagree
all the time and that you're more spiritual than anybody else
because
you're the one who's always disagreeing with your brother,
neither
that we should disagree just to fulfill the revelation or dis-
agree
just to be disagreeable which brings us to the next principle.
This
principle, which we should really get settled on, is that we
should
never disagree with our brother ministry unless we feet sure in
our
heart that we have wisdom from the Lord and a good reason for
disagreeing
with him, from the Spirit of God. If we don't, then we
should
simply be quiet, speak not a word, and if he's wrong, let
someone
else be used of the Spirit of God to be his check and bal-
ance.
Above all we should never do what one brother did once in an
elders'
meeting: one elder had presented what he felt was wisdom of
God
on the issue and this brother spoke up and said "I disagree
with
that."
When the other brother gently asked him to tell him the rea-
son
why, he said "I don't have to give a good reason, I just don't
wit-
ness
to it." Well, that might be all right for him, but it's not
all right
for
me. If you disagree with me on what I feel is the wisdom of God
that
I heard from the Spirit, you better be ready to give me a reason
or
we're going to have a spiritual confrontation because the principle
is
that we shouldn't speak unless we believe we have wisdom from
God,
and I'm sure you try to keep that principle as I do, and there-
fore,
when I do speak and present what I feel is wisdom from God,
I'm
not interested in what you feel because I know there are several
sources
feelings can come from. I'm only interested in the scriptural
6.
reason
you can give for disagreeing with me. Or perhaps if you know
some
facts about the issue that I don't know, or if perhaps you're
standing
on another side of the issue where you can see another side
of
it that I can't see from where I'm standing that shows you right
and
me wrong and of course then I'm perfectly willing to listen.
Therefore,
if we are going to dare to get in the way of God and dis-
agree
with any wisdom our brother elder has brought forth which he
feels
is the voice of God speaking, then we should be prepared to give
a
good reason for doing so, either something he doesn't know on the
issue
scripturally or facts about tile issue, or just what we know that
we're
standing on from another side and can see from
another side
and
therefore be a good check and balance.
The
next principle is when we disagree with a fellow elder or
apostle,
there is a divine order for our presenting our disagreement to
one
another. The first principle in that divine order is that when el-
ders
come together to seek the wisdom of God for God's people, and
the
issue is brought forth, whoever feels they have wisdom from God
on
the issue should speak and present it. If not, they shouldn't speak
at
all.
Let
me just digress here for a moment and deal with a very im-
portant
point, and, solve what may be a very important problem if
you
ever get on an endtime body farm. I was at an endtime body
farm
where the problem was that there were about 24 elders on that
farm
and they'd come together in an elders' meeting and each one
wanted
to give his opinion, so it took about four hours to deal with
each
issue and the elders' meeting was lasting all night long. Final-
ly,
the elders all got so sleepy they all had to go home, and nothing
could
be settled, simply because every elder would start giving his
opinion.
The solution to that problem is keep quiet unless you know,
as
much as Your heart understands, that you have wisdom from God,
and
if that is taught everywhere, that will solve that problem. And
if
you
don't know if you have wisdom from God, for God's
sake, don't
give
Your opinion. Don't muddy up the water or anything else, just
sit
quiet and wait and see who does.
That's
the first step. Whoever has what they feel is wisdom from
God
on the issue should speak and then if there's someone who dis-
agrees
with him in the Spirit of Christ, present to him the reasons
why
you disagree and present them
clearly, as precisely as you can,
back
them up with all the evidence that you can and then if you feel
it'll
help and you can come up with a good illustration to make it a
little
clearer, then illustrate it. When you've finished that, then give
your
brother time for a rebuttal. If you still
haven't convinced him
that
your view is right and his is not the correct wisdom of the Lord
and
he says "Well brother, I can’t receive this. I still feel I
have the
right
wisdom, than give him time to make his rebuttal, and then
when
he’s done that if either one of you says one more
word beyond
that,
you've gotten into to an argumentative spirit and
you're no longer
moving
in God’s divine order, You're arguing.
7.
You
see, you should have presented all you've got the
first time.
If,
that can't convince him then there's no use for you to say any
more.
Therefore, after he has presented his rebuttal, you've given all
you've
got to convince him the first time and you have
no more to
say,
Amen. If you say anything beyond that you're just repeating
yourself
and that's argument. That’s not government, that's not di-
vine
order. Take your time. He should listen, everybody should listen
humbly
and shouldn't interrupt one another. That's how I tell if
someone's
in a demon spirit. After I've listened to them, hearing
everything
they've wanted to say, when I start talking, if they inter-
rupt
me after I start talking I know they're in a demon spirit because
that's
what spirits do. They don't want to ever give you a chance to
get
your say out. The Spirit of God, after he's said all lie has to
say,
isn't
going to speak again.
So,
there are just three parts to the divine order: (1) Let your
brother
present his view, (2) present your disagreement, (3) give him
his
time for his rebuttal, and then if you haven't convinced him,
don't
say another word, either party. Then it's time to go the next
step
higher in God's divine order with the question. It doesn't have
to
be left in confusion, God has another step up in God's divine
order.
That
step is that if the issue has been brought forth and there is
disagreement
among two elders or two segments of elders and the
one
has presented his disagreement, and the other his rebuttal, and
still
the question isn't resolved, they can't convince one another, the
next
step is for the elders to call God's apostolic ministry in on the
issue,
and to present the issue to the apostolic ministry who are sup-
posed
to have a higher wisdom than elders. If they don't, they
shouldn't
be apostolic ministry-shouldn't be considered apostle
ministry.
In having the issue presented to them, they may see some
sides
of the issue that the elders don't see, and by presenting the
issue
to them can bring the elders together and make them one in the
issue,
and solve the matter. When the apostolic ministry presents
their
wisdom and the issue is still unresolved, the elders still aren't
convinced,
they're still divided, maybe one segment is standing with
the
apostle ministry, and the other segment still says I don't receive
it,
the next step up in God's divine order is to take the issue to Jesus,
the
head, through the prophet ministry. Get two or three good solid
seeing
prophets, and we've got them in this move of God, never any
further
away than the telephone and if there's time, a letter written,
to
inquire of the Lord to speak in visions as He always does to see
whether
he confirms the one side or the other side on the issue.
Whichever
one He confirms the Head has spoken and then every-
body's
responsible to submit and in the right spirit and in a spirit of
oneness,
everyone can be one over what the Head says. If they can't
they
forfeit their right to participate in this divine government.
There
is one point here that is necessary to make and that is if
the
issue is a pressing issue and needs a decision fight now and there
is
no time to contact the apostle ministry (and the way God's got
8.
them
running cross the world today sometimes it does take a little
time,
even with the telephone, just to track them down), then it is
valid
for the elders to bypass the apostolic ministry and go straight
to
the
head asking the prophets to ask the Lord for a word from God to
see
if He confirms one side of the elders or the other segment. Now,
since
this is valid under this circumstance, one might ask the question
"Well,
why don't we get smart and save time and bypass the apos-
tolic
ministry all the time?" 'Me reason this is not in God's divine
or-
der
is that the purpose of God ultimately is not to bring forth a body
of
elders in government that has to go to the head all the time, but
on
the lower levels apostles ministries, elders ministries and so forth
can
solve the matter through good spirit led judgment and wisdom. If
not
the elders, then the apostles ministry. The prophet ministry is
a
crutch
that God has provided for us for a period of time until we
have
come to that growth in the Spirit and wisdom where one day
the
prophet ministry of confirmations can be done away with and
when
the apostolic ministry speaks as the wisdom of God it'll be the
wisdom
of God. And then some day all the elders will come
to the
point
where all the apostolic ministry can be done away with and the
question
can be settled through the spirit led wisdom of what were
elders,
but have just become sons of God. Then some day the elders
ministry
can be done away with and every body member will have a
walk
in the Spirit that can settle the issue through the spirit-led wis-
dom.
So you see, if you bypass the apostolic ministry all the time, it
wouldn't
be fulfilling the purpose that God has and that's why it's
not
God's order to do so, except in necessary circumstances.
Now
that's God's divine order for elders disagreeing with elders
and
thereby being one another's check and balance. The qualifying
principle
that you must always keep inserted here is that it must be
done
in the right spirit, in the spirit of Christ, in love, with no emo-
tionalism
and no overcharging of the air. There's the case of the
young
elder who was mad with the fellow he was disagreeing with
ever
since he opened his mouth and the other guy hadn't even decid-
ed
whether he was going to receive it or not. He was all upset and
his
attitude
was all fighty and he didn't know, his brother might have re-
ceived
what he was saying if he finally gets it said. But out of his in-
security
he's gotten all emotional about it. He's quite sure his bro-
ther's
going to disagree with him before he starts and
he's on the de-
fense.
Don't you ever doubt it beloved, anytime that, in any disagree-
ment
with our brother ministry, we are emotionally disturbed, upset,
the
air is charged in anyway whatsoever, it's our own immaturity and
insecurity
showing up. When you are secure in your stand in
Christ,
in
your walk in the spirit, confident in it and in your conviction,
you
can
calmly quietly present your disagreement with your brother el-
der
and especially if you recognize deep down inside you that you
just
might be wrong after all, no matter how the evidence looks as
though
you've got it. Therefore, if you are depending upon your
brother's
disagreement and your brethren's disagreement to be your
check
and balance, then you won't ever get upset. The air won't ever
9.
be
emotionally charged, you'll simply quietly calmly say, "Dear
bro-
ther,
I disagree with you on the issue and here's the
reason why- 1,
2,
3, 4, 5," and you'll calmly, quietly wait to see how
lie receives it
and
if he says, "I disagree with you and here's why," then
you'll say
"Well,
then, let's take the next step in God's divine order,"
I
passed over one little point that should be inserted here, when
there's
disagreement between two elders, before going to an apostolic
ministry,
if there's time, it is perfectly valid to say, "Let's table
this
and
pray on it for a week, come back together again and see if we
can
come to oneness without even going to the apostolic ministry. If
everybody
goes off really open to the Lord saying, "If' I'm wrong,
show
me ," then it's possible when you come together
the next time
to
come to oneness upon it.
The
next thing that I'd like to point out in this category of elders
disagreeing
with elders is that if we're right on the issue and
if we do
have
the true wisdom on the issue of the Lord then we
don't have to
go
around during that week or any time politicking, talking about it
outside
the elders meeting trying to line up a clique on our side so
that
when we come together again the vote will be on our side, like
we
used to do in the old order, like they still do in the old order
and
like
everyone of us has done in the old order. You see , in
this move
of
God it's a futile waste of time, because if you line
tip a vote and a
clique
on your side when you come back in the elders meeting
you'll
just
be wasting your time because there isn't any voting in this move
of
God; in this move of God the majority rules is not the rule. That's
only
in the democratic order of the U.S.
The majority does not rule
in
this move of God. You come into an elders meeting and you've 25
elders
and 24 of them all agree that it ought to be this
way and one
feels
that it ought to be the other way, then he has the right to re-
quest
that the matter be taken to the apostolic ministry and If the
apostle
ministry and all 24 elders agree that it ought to be the other
way
and he still doesn't witness to it he his the right to request that
the
matter be taken to the head Jesus through the prophet ministry
and
therefore, you see, it's no use lining up a clique in this move
of
God
because there isn't any voting in this order. I've seen some
places
where there's a great need for this teaching because some of
the
elders still think that the majority rules. And if all the majority
agree
and one little old elder disagrees, he's scared to death to dis-
agree,
afraid he'll be thought a fool or something.
But,
of course, we all know that old Elijah on Mount
Carmel had
the
majority against him. Four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal
against
him, but God vindicated him In the end. And that's the point.
The
one thing the Spirit of God burned in my soul when he first
brought
me into this move of God is that if you're Only one
and
there's
400 against you, if you do have the true wisdom
of the Lord
you
don't have to politic, you don't have to line up a clique, you just
have
to state your conviction and stand on it - in the end. God will
vindicate
you . If we all really believe that, if we all
really learn that,
you’ll
find a great peace suddenly descending upon this move of
10.
God,
because a thing called politicking will be done away with for-
ever.
There's still some of it that goes on in this move of God because
everybody
doesn't know this. It hasn't been taught too much that
the
majority doesn't rule. Of course, this divine order that I'm teach-
ing
today hasn't been fully established yet, in this move of God. Can
you
see the beauty of order? Can you see that when it is fully esta-
blished
and when it is accepted by every ministry in this move of
God
and when they all have committed themselves to it there will
never
be any room for a spirit of division to come in and divide up
elders.
The order just doesn't leave any room for it. No opening
whatever
for any spirit of division to come in and divide up the min-
istry
in this move of God. The only thing that leaves room for evil
spirits
of division to cause division after having this revelation is the
human
factor, that is if some one person decides they're not going to
walk
in the order, they're not going to submit to it, they're going to
try
to push their own view through, bypassing the order, bypassing
going
onto the next step, and we have a little bit of that sometimes.
Somebody
asked me a question one time, "What do you do in an
elders
meeting when a brother starts trying to ram his view down
everybody
else's throat and he gets out of the spirit and he gets to
hollering,
he gets his temper up and he gets emotional; how do you
deal
with it?" The way to deal with it is for everybody else to,
get
very
quiet, so quiet and in the spirit themselves that before very long
the
brother will look around and he himself can see what a fool he's
been.
And it will be evident even to him that he's out of the spirit
without
anybody saying a word and he'll get back in and then you
can
move on in the Spirit of God and in God's divine order.
Therefore,
these are the principles in God's divine order for el-
ders
settling every issue in the body of Christ and in the move of
God.
Just one more point, not only inside elders meetings but out-
side
elders meetings. If you have an issue with your brother, I don't
mean
a personal issue, I mean an issue over the work of God, your
personal
issues settle with him personally, because elders meetings
aren't
courthouse trials to settle your personal issues with your bro-
ther.
They are forums of issues of how elders should take God's body
on
to perfection, and how they should do the work of God. But if
you
feel on an end time farm that you ought to plant beans on this
piece
of ground instead of potatoes and your brother elder feels you
ought
to plant potatoes- an issue comes up outside the elders meet-
ing
and you can't convince your brother elder, then it's very valid
to
request
an elder's meeting, and bring the issue before the whole of
the
elders and then take the ascending scale of God's divine order for
settling
it. So you see, this order works either inside or outside the
elders
meeting if we will all get a true vision and revelation on it and
walk
in it.
In
interpreting visions, if there is a disagreement, the elders
should
meet together and seek together the interpretation of the
vision.
If they can't agree on the interpretation, then they must as-
cend
up the scale again and take it before the apostolic ministry to
11.
get
the interpretation and. Of' Course, the apostolic ministry in that
area
of interpreting the visions settles the matter, because , of course,
you
can’t go and seek more visions to see if God confirms the inter-
pretation
of the visions of the apostolic visions. However, If you per-
sonally
don't receive the interpretation of one apostolic ministry,
you
do have the right to go to two or three other apostolic ministries
if
you so desire. The right of appeal is always a part of God's divine
order.
The
next category is God's divine order for body members dis-
agreeing
with elders. The first principle we need to learn here is that
we
do not teach blind submission in the move of God, We teach sub-
mission,
but we do not teach blind submission. Blind submission is a
teaching
that a member of the Body of Christ is responsible to sub-
mit
to an elder or an apostle just because they are an elder or an
apostle
whether their spirit witnesses that they're moving in the
Spirit
or not. That's the doctrine of blind submission and this we do
not
teach. And again you'd be amazed to discover how many elders
in
the move of God across this country think we do. I was amazed at
how
I discovered many think that we do, and I have been quoted as
teaching
blind submission even though many have heard me preach
again
and again and again as elders were set in that this doesn't give
you
any official authority and that no one is responsible to submit
to
any
ministry in the move of God unless their spirit witnesses that
that
ministry is moving in the Spirit of Christ.
I
was amazed to discover once, in a certain body house situation
down
in Miami where a group
of people had been living in a body
house
for a couple of years, that an elder there had been teaching
blind
submission and teaching the people that I was teaching blind
submission
and sincerely believed it. The people for two years had
been
submitting to it and there was such a beautiful order in that
body
house all the time. The only thing is the poor people's shoul-
ders
were getting lower and lower. The way I discovered that this el-
der
was teaching that brother Sam says, "You've got to submit,
you
need
to submit," was that I was out to dinner one time with that
el-
der.
Something came up and she told about how this body member
tried
to tell her that we didn't teach blind submission in the move of
God,
and she said, "And I let them know we do." Then I said,
"Well,
you
had better go back and let them know we don't." The principle
that
she was teaching them was that you should submit every time to
any
elder whether he's right or wrong because it'll do a good work in
you,
it'll work the cross in you. And of course that's true, it'll work
the
cross in you all right. And it's true that in small matters that
aren't
of serious consequence, we should submit right or wrong. But
that's
not only true of elders, that's true of any one of our brethren
in
small matters that aren't of serious consequence, and it'll do a
good
work in us to prevent strife, if it's going to be a matter of strife.
But
in serious matters, God's people can get hurt that way. They can
get
killed spiritually that way. And, of course, they were also teach-
ing
that if you submit, you're not responsible if that elder is wrong
12.
and
the elder is not responsible but in the end the apostle ministry
is
responsible.
That's the doctrine that the Catholic church teaches;
submit
to the priest and the priest isn't responsible and it goes up the
ladder
and the Pope is the only one who's responsible, he's the one
who
gets all the trouble if things go wrong.
I
said to that person, "I don't want that responsibility, and
if you
see
the wisdom in that, then you won't want to teach blind submis-
sion
either." We teach that you're only responsible to submit if
the
Spirit
of Christ witnesses to you that that elder or apostle is moving
in
the Spirit of Christ, and you're not submitting to them, you're
submitting
to Christ. But, as Brother Buddy Cobb so clearly teaches,
we're
not responsible to submit in the sense of obeying what they
say
but we are responsible to keep a submissive attitude. Whether we
think
they are wrong or not, whether we witness to what they've
asked
us t-o do or not, we're not responsible to do what they say, but
we
are responsible to keep a submissive attitude. As Brother Buddy
so
widely teaches, submission is not an act, it is an attitude. Obedi-
ence
is an act. Submission is an attitude. Any body member is free to
disagree
at any time, with any direction, and counsel, any revelation
that
an elder or an apostle or anyone gives them, if they don't wit-
ness
to it in their own spirit as long as they do it in the Spirit of
Christ
and in the divine order that God has for body members dis-
agreeing
with their ministry. And that divine order is this: if a body
member
disagrees with an elder's counsel, wisdom, revelation, guid-
ance,
the first step in God's divine order for him disagreeing is that
he
has the divine right to go to whoever he feels to be a more mature
elder
in that local body, if he feels there is one, and counsel with him
on
the issue and see what wisdom he gives. It's his right to choose
the
one
whom he feels is the more mature elder. Then if he does not wit-
ness
to the counsel that elder gives him, he has the right, if he
chooses,
to come before the whole eldership and seek counsel. If he
doesn't
witness to that, then he has the right to go to an apostolic
ministry
to seek counsel and wisdom on the issue, and if he doesn't
witness
to what the apostolic ministry gives him, then he has the di-
vine
right to ask that the whole matter be taken to Jesus, the Head
through
the prophets to see if God confirms through the prophets
what
has been given through the elders . I have seen elders immature
enough
to bitterly resent it if a body member did this, if he didn't
witness
to their wisdom and went over their heads to an apostolic
ministry.
Don't anybody get bitter about anybody going over your
head
in this move of God. In the world, they do it, the secular world,
the
business world they -et bitterly resentful about it. But we teach
in
this move of God that everybody has somebody over his head.
Amen.
Everybody has a covering. That's why the right of appeal
right
up to Jesus, the Head, is the absolute right of every member of
the
body of Christ. Therefore, elders should not resent it if any body
member
doesn't witness to their counsel and feels to go to the next
higher
step of order. Apostle ministry should not resent it if a body
member
or elder disagrees with him in God's divine order and asks
13.
that
the matter be taken to the Head for confirmation through the
prophets,
because our purpose in the end is to get the word from the
Lord,
the true word from the Lord, and that's what everybody
should
want.
Now
the next question that comes when this is realized is "If a
body
member does disagree with an elder's counsel to him and comes
to
another elder in that same local body and presents the issue and
the
other elder feels the first elder gave him the wrong counsel and
has
to tell him so, how does the second elder do this without feeling
he's
coming against his fellow elder or that he's hurting the ministry
of
his fellow elder in the eyes of the body member. At the very first,
at
the beginning of this move of God, God gave us his divine order
for
doing this. If I'm an elder, the second eider, and a body member
comes
to me and says, "Brother so and so gave me this counsel and
I
can't
witness to it in my spirit and I'd like to present the issue to
you
or
confirmation or to see if it's wrong," God's order for doing
it is
to
say to that body member, "I can't witness that this is the
true wis-
dom
of God, or I can't witness that this revelation is the true wisdom
of
God and if you don't receive it either, let's pray for brother so
and
so,
that God’ll give him a little deeper wisdom in this area but at
the
same
time, let's submit to and receive everything that he ministers to
us
that is the leadership of the spirit." In doing this, you have
been
faithful
to that body member and have been faithful to your fellow
elder.
Simply tell him that I can't receive it either, therefore, let's
you
and I pray for him in this area that God'll give him a little higher
wisdom,
but at the same time don't get the idea that everything he
ministers
is wrong. Let's receive and submit to everything lie mini-
sters
to us that is the true leadership from the spirit. In doing so
you've
been faithful to the body member and at the same time
you've
lifted up the ministry of your fellow elder, not torn it down. I
was
teaching this in a certain place and one elder said, "I just
can't
see
that, I can't understand that. It seems to me that if you don't
take
a stand with your fellow elder no matter what, you're tearing
down
the ministry and the elder in the sight of the body."
And
I said, "No brother, if you do take a stand with him and
he's
wrong, you're tearing down the ministry in the eyes of the body.
Because
it only takes the body members about three times of this to
get
the revelation that their ministry is a clique that's going to stand
with
one another whether they're right or wrong and therefore minis-
ter
death to the body. Then you've destroyed the body's confidence
in
their eldership." Do you see what I mean?
Therefore,
when you do this you're not tearing it down, when
your
body gets the revelation that their ministry has an order by
which
they are going to be faithful to them, and that they are not a
clique,
brother, you're going to have them putting confidence in
their
ministry, and nothing needs, to be torn down.
The
next question is , "Should you then turn and say 'Let's go
to
the other elder? You should not do this unless you know that
you
know the Sprit is leading you to do it. He may be dealing with a
14.
young
elder that just can't take it before that body member and just
cause
a breach and division and so forth. You're far better, to leave
it
unless
you know that you know that the spirit is leading
you to do
it.
The
next question is "After you have dealt with the body
member
should you then go to the other elder and straighten him
out
and show him where his wisdom was wrong?" And once again,
it's
all in the leadership of the Spirit, only if you know that you
know
that the spirit is leading you and that your brother could re-
ceive
it from you and that it wouldn't cause a breach. If not, you
should
leave it alone. The body member has been delivered, he's not
under
bondage, lie doesn't get death, he's had life ministered to him,
no
harm has been done and you wait until the day perhaps the Lord
Shows
you that your brother elder could receive it.
Sometimes
the first elder the body member has gone to is a
mature
elder and not liking what they have heard from that one they
have
chosen to ,o to a less mature elder to get a word that is more
conducive
to What they want to hear. In that case, You have obvious-
ly
got a body member that is out of the Spirit or he would have re-
ceived
the counsel of the first elder and you probably have what we
call
an elder hopper. And whatever he gets he deserves it.
and if he
gets
death ministered to him (I'm perfectly serious), God
will say he
deserves
it, and if he gets death ministered to him after a while
he'll
learn
not to do this. The fact is you have elder hoppers that don't
want
to hear the real truth, and they'll go from one elder to another,
but
this doesn't deny that this is God's absolute truth. God's prin-
ciple
of order and truth is beautiful and perfect just the same.
This
same order applies if an elder doesn't witness to an apostolic
ministry's
counsel, lie has the divine right to go to what he feels is a
more
mature apostolic ministry and there are apostles,
the
Bible reveals this. The difference between Peter and
Paul
as apostles was not quite the difference between day and night,
but
almost. He has the divine right to go to an apostolic ministry if
he
doesn't witness to his counsel, he has the right to request that
the
matter
be taken again to the head through the prophets for the first
appeal
and the final word and when that word comes forth, everyone
is
responsible to submit.
Once
again, you can see the beauty of God's perfect order, that if
all
God's ministry and all God's body would receive this order and
commit
themselves to it there would be no room for any spirit of
division
to cause division in the body of Christ on any level.
And,
of course, for all of us who are the ministry, our responsi-
bility
is to recognize the plurality of Christ. It is our only protection.
The
total wisdom of Christ is in a many-membered corporate minis-
try.
The total wisdom of Christ is never going to be in any one minis-
try.
There are questions of wisdom, pertaining to life, that it is not
possible
for any one ministry, especially brother Sam, to have all the
answers.
Simply because God will not allow it, otherwise God would
not
be a corporate being. He would have instilled His fulness in a
15.
Peter,
as the Catholic Church teaches. God will not allow it, it is not
possible,
it is absolutely impossible, and that's why we need the plur-
ality
of the ministry to be our covering. Your scripture for this is the
fact
that when Jesus at the communion supper in the upper room
broke
the bread which is the whole Body of truth concerning Him,
He
didn't give any one of the 1 2 apostles the whole loaf. Otherwise
he
would have said, "I'm the head of the church," as the
Catholic
Church
says of Peter, but he gave each one a piece of the bread,
which
is a type. of all the spiritual bread, so that in the end they
would
all have to come and submit themselves to one another to
receive
the piece of bread that the other had before anybody's ever
going
to have the full bread of God that will take us all to eternal
life.
One
last question concerning how to recognize apostolic minis-
try:
In reply to your question, no true apostolic ministry
will tell
you
who is apostolic ministry. No true apostolic ministry will ever
tell
you they are an apostolic ministry and claim the name-they'll
walk
in what God's called them and let the Spirit show you what
they
are, just as Jesus didn't come into the world telling everyone He
was
the Messiah. He said to Peter and others, "Who do you say that
I
am?"
and when they got the revelation He said "Praise the Lord."
And
anyone who ever comes telling you they are an apostolic minis-
try
then they are a false apostle or at least a very immature exalted
one.
There might be some like that around. Any other ministry, pro-
phetic
or whatever, anyone that runs around trying to claim the
name,
they've just been taken by a spirit of exaltation. The best
thing
I can do for you is tell you the qualifications for recognizing
an
apostolic
ministry and then everyone can judge for themselves.
There
are several qualifications revealed in the scripture for an
apostolic
ministry, but the greatest sign by which you can recognize
an
apostolic ministry is that lie is one who births new works. If one
is
manifestly,
though simply doing it, has the wisdom, the patience, the
love,
the faith, the courage (believe me it takes all those things) the
maturity
to draw a group of people together in any one of the feasts
and
births them into a body of people, a local body that holds and
finally
stands, that's all the sign anyone needs to have that that per-
son
has an apostolic ministry. It could have been in the first feast
level,
the salvation truth or the second feast level or the third feast
level
that we're now on. That's your great sign.
On
the other hand, it's not pre-requisite that one is not an apos-
tolic
ministry unless they've birthed new works. There were apostolic
ministries
in the scripture that had an instructor's ministry and not a
foundation-laying
ministry. And that's a sure sign.
The
qualifications: the first qualification for an apostolic minis-
try
is he must be supernaturally called by Jesus, given his message
by
Jesus
and supported by Jesus, which means he must live by faith, no
set
salary dealt by some organization or something. The second quail-
fication
is he must have ministered in the other four ministries, else
he
couldn't be used to call out and train the other four ministries;
of
16.
course
any apostle who births a new work has to minister the other
four
ministries until he brings it into being, fie has to evangelize
them
in
that message, elderize them, prophetize them and everything else.
until
the other four ministries are brought forth. The third qualifica-
tion
is he must be willing to go anywhere, anytime, to fulfill the
ministry
God his given him. He's a "sent one." The word in the
orig-
inal
language in the scripture means "sent one." Apostle mean,
spe-
cial
messenger. The fourth qualification is he must be willing to have
no
certain dwelling place, he’s always on the go, it's his calling,
his
ministry,
he never can settle down. The Apostle Paul said, "We, the
apostles,
have no certain dwelling, place." The fifth qualification is
that
lie must be willing to be the offscouring of the earth, he must
be
willing
to take all the blame for everything. Paul said "I think that
God
has set forth us, the apostles, last to be a spectacle unto the
world"
(I Cor. 4:9-1 3) When you're called to preach truth to people
that
they're already established in, nobody will ever hate you very
much,
but when you're called to bring forth that next message (and
that’s
what apostolic ministry's calling is, to establish new truth in
the
earth) then you always get it in the neck from the established.
Those
are the five main qualifications, so each one must just take
those
and discern for themselves what the Spirit says.
These
are God's eternal principles that we at last have come to
see
in this move of God. If the old order ministry in the church
today
ever sees, it, they'll come join us or better yet, they'll let us
come
join them because we don't require anybody to join us. But
when
all of us see it, the division will be done away with forever.
When
this order is fully understood and at last established and
walked
in by all God's people, division will be done away with for-
ever.
It is absolutely perfect. The only room for imperfection is the
human
factor, when a body member, an elder or an apostle just wants
his
way and refuses to submit the question to the next step until
finally
it gets to the Head, and we have seen some of that. But it
doesn't
leave room for error or division if we walk in it.
Amen.
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