Why would Miriam claim to be a spokesperson of God when she did not seem credible enough to lay claim to it? Of course, we all know that at one point in time, Miriam led the women’s group in Israel’s journey out of Egypt to Canaan, to sing a powerful song of praise to God. This was when the children of Israel crossed the Red sea safely, while the horse-men of Pharaoh drowned by the mighty hand of God (Exodus 15: 20-21).

This was the only occasion that Miriam came into contact with the Spirit of God. The euphoric feeling that she gained in this one-off contact with the Holy Spirit, might have carried her aloft and above all Israelite women for a long time. This spiritually uplifting experience, must have led her to think and believe that she was a messenger of God, who was spiritually at par with her two siblings (Aaron and Moses), and that she was chosen to run errands for Him by speaking forth His word to Israel.

After we heard Miriam sing a song of praise to God when the children of Israel crossed the Red sea, we next hear her criticise Moses for taking an Ethiopian woman to wife. How sad. This prophetess used her tongue to criticise the true man of God, instead of praising Him for mightily using him (her own brother) in the manner He was doing! Of course, her punishment for this sin, in being hit with leprosy, was deserved (Numbers12:1-16).

I am sure that her experiences of later years would have led her to reconsider her stand and, in sober-mind, rid herself of the delusion she had that God spoke through her. She, no-doubt, must have come to repent of her sin of envy and jealousy of her younger sibling (Moses), which must have caused her to speak presumptuously.

The third and last mention of Miriam in the Bible was one which announced her death and burial (cf. Numbers 20: 1). Miriam therefore, went the way of all flesh with only one good service to God to her credit! And yet she was considered a prophetess! This means that it was in her singing of praises to God, under the power of the Holy Spirit, in only one known occasion, that she was labeled: prophetess.

To sing under the power of the Holy Spirit therefore, means to prophesy. And it was not only Miriam who sung to earn the appellation, prophet, or in her case, prophetess.

The first king of Israel, Saul the son of Kish, was also a prophet by appellation because he sung praises to God when the Spirit of God first came upon him. In his case too, it is in this one known occasion that he was called a prophet.

Saul joined a company of prophets who, in function, were singers and instrumentalists under the unction of the Holy Spirit (cf. First Samuel 10: 5-13). Saul became known as a prophet because, on the day that he had the Holy Spirit of God come upon him, he joined this musical band of prophets and became as one with them in what they were doing – singing praises to God.

Note that, after Saul’s prophesying in singing, God never used him in even one instance, to carry His message to Israel his nation. And yet his name has entered the history of God’s dealings with mankind as a prophet, at one time in his life.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that singing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, can also be termed: prophesying. From the Old Testament days unto the early days of the New Testament church, inspired singing of praises to God, either in clear understandable words or babbling tongues, remained the commonest manifestations of a person’s contact with the Spirit of God.

It was obviously so, for as many as seventy leaders of the house of Israel during the Old Testament days (cf. Numbers 11: 25-27). What could these seventy elders of Israel be doing with their vocal cords on end, prophesying without ceasing? What these elders did was the same thing Saul the son of Kish and a company of known prophets also did with their vocal cords – prophesying without ceasing.

It is not possible that on both occasions, these groups of men were delivering some message from God, without ceasing; could it? What-with all these many people using their vocal cords (and as such, all said in the Bible to be prophesying) at the same time?

What message could they be delivering and never ending or ceasing from that task? If at all they were delivering a special message from God, to who was it directed? The only thing they were doing was singing and making music in praise and worship of God.

May it therefore, be firmly established from the foregoing that, to prophesy also means, to sing under the unction of the Holy Spirit: thereby, not limiting prophesying to the delivering of messages from God.

In Acts 21: 9, we read of Philip the evangelist having in his home, four virgin-daughters who did (or could) prophesy. That is not to tell us that these virgins ever had a mission from God, to send His Word to any people of the world, either in times past or present then.

Of course, the work of sending the gospel message to the world was what their father was doing in all diligence, at the time we were told of their virginity and prophesying prowess (a feat usually exhibited together as a quartet?).

I am sure these virgins, pure and holy as they were, could never think of entering into any competition with their father in evangelizing the world. These virgins were singers who were always under the power of the Holy Spirit whenever they sang.

They, like Miriam, who is revealed to us in God’s Word as a prophetess; the seventy elders of the house of Israel in the Book of Numbers; king-elect Saul and his company of prophets; and the family and friends of Cornelius (Acts 10: 46), all ministered in songs of praises to God under the unction of the Holy Spirit immediately they had their first contact with the Holy Spirit. Women singers, singing under the unction of the Holy Spirit are considered to prophesy, and hence the reason why they are called prophetesses.

What about the mention in the Book of Judges in the Bible about a woman by the name Deborah, who is also referred to as a prophetess, someone might ask? Of course, many Bible readers know about this woman, who is also said to have been a judge of Israel. But many people do not know about her in much detail.

Prophetess Deborah was like prophetess Miriam: a songstress. The whole chapter five of the Book of Judges is devoted to her song of praise to God, of herself, and of people she considered to be of valour. She is the only prophetess I have heard of who praised herself when she sung under the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Judges 5: 7, 12, KJV).

Prophetess Deborah emerged on the national scene of Israel during a time of political and spiritual turmoil. There was at the time, no clear-cut political or spiritual leadership in Israel. At her time, Joshua, the successor of Moses had died and all the elders of Israel who saw the power of God during their wilderness journey had also passed away (Judges 2: 7-10).

At the time of Deborah, Israel was living in one of his habitual periods of disobedience. These bouts of disobedience normally caused him to suffer punishment at the hands of his enemies. But because of the promise of God to bless Abraham and his seed forever, anytime he cried out to God for help, He always sent them men-leaders to deliver them from their enemies.

During the post-Joshua era, the first of these deliverer-leaders was Othniel; a man who was evidently called, anointed and sent by God (Judges 3:9-11, KJV). The next deliverer-leader was also a man raised and sent by God who was named Ehud (Judges 3: 15-30). Next after Ehud, God raised another male-deliverer by the name Shamgar (cf. Judges 3: 31). [—this article is continued in Part Five].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

Every spiritual work of God, in Israel, was done by only the male-line of Levi. The work of cleaning, arranging items of and for worship, offering of sacrifices on the altar, and any work relating to worship of God, were all done by a men-only Levitical priesthood.

If you are blessed to have the spirit of the Bible carry you along, as you meditatively read it, you will see that the house of Levi, and indeed the house of every man in Israel, did not have women being regarded as descending from those houses. Female children were never recorded at birth to have descended from their fathers.

Females were never counted in any population census. They were never eligible for inheriting their fathers. They did not have any portion in the land distribution of Israel.

Every part of the Law of Moses is clear in forbidding women-leadership in spiritual issues. When a woman brought forth a male-child as the first-fruit of her womb, that child was by the Law, to be given up for the service of God, in the company of the Levites.

By that birth, the male-child was ordained to be the priest of God, according to the Levitical order, forever. Therefore, when such children were weaned, they were handed over to the priests, to be taught, trained and groomed, for their God-ordained roles in the Aaronite priesthood, when they came of age for this service, at thirty.

This was how-come a first-born son of Elkanah by his wife Hannah, who was named Samuel, came to be enlisted into the priesthood of Israel, even though Elkanah was an Ephraimite and not a Levite (First Samuel 1: 1 – 2: 11).

When a female-child was similarly begotten, as the first to open the matrix of her mother, she was also by Law to be dedicated to the service of God. The father (and the mother?) did not own such a child, in the eyes of the Law of Moses, the Law of God. God owned such a child.

But unlike the first-born male-child, she could never join or be part of the Levitical priesthood, which God established for His worship. Therefore, any female-child who opened the matrix of every woman in Israel was to be redeemed. The fathers of such children were under obligation to buy-back or redeem them from God, as it were.

Such female-children were taken to the house of God, after being weaned of their mothers, to be given or handed-over to Him through the Levites. At these presentations, a price was placed on them at the discretion of the priests. This price was immediately paid by the fathers to the Levites and the female-child taken back home by the father, to live in submission and service to him forever.

I am sure, from all the foregoing, the choice of man by God to lead women is obvious. In my study of the Bible, the only service that I have come across to have been rendered by women in the company of men, in the worship of God, is singing of psalms and hymns.

It seems to me that, it was only the sons of Asaph who had in their ministration of worship before the Lord, women as singers. It was a rare concession given to the daughters of the house of Levi. It is only Ezra 2: 65 and Nehemiah 7: 67 which show evidence of women participation in singing, in the worship of God.

God has since the establishment of the state of Israel, used men only as prophets to communicate His Will to them. There is abundant evidence that there were never any female counterparts to men-prophets. Throughout Jewish history, God never called and sent a woman with His message to the nation of Israel or his king or any man for that matter.

How about the mention of the word prophetess in God’s Word, one may ask? The word ‘prophet’ is one of the problematic words in Greek-English Bible translation and therefore does not easily or readily reveal itself to our understanding. This is because the word ‘prophet’ is a transliteration of the Greek word ‘prophetes’, since it seems to defy a proper translation.

This transliteration does not help the non-Greek readers of the Bible much. Many forms and variants of the Greek word ‘prophetes’ exist. They are also transliterated variously as ‘prophet’, ‘prophetess’, ‘prophecy’, ‘prophesy’, etc.

Many of today’s users of the English Bible do not understand these words simply because they do not have their roots in English. They were borrowed whole-scale from Greek into English. This transliteration does the English-speaker very little or no good, at all. What is the good in being told for example that the meaning of the Greek word ‘prophetes’ in English is: prophet?

For me this is not helpful. And I wonder how many people are helped to understand this word by such transliteration. To understand the word ‘prophet’ is for one to either learn some Greek grammar and literature or gain its understanding from the spirit of the Bible.

For many people familiar with the Bible, a prophet to them is one who foretells future events. Even though that is true, it is not always the only function of the prophet. The prophet also at times carries the word of God to His people to deal immediately with current crises or any bad situation. Prophets who function in these two ways either hear with their spiritual ears, the Word of God from Him directly or through His angels, or they receive it through their spiritual eyes in dreams and visions.

Another kind of prophet is one who utters information, not foretelling of future events or bringing immediate solutions to current crises or bad situations. This prophet testifies to an event happening or just happened. An example of this kind of prophet was Simeon (Luke 2: 25-32), who was led into the Temple in Jerusalem to testify of the Baby Jesus as being the Messiah of God. Also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, the prophetess of Luke 2: 36-38 fame was such a person who spoke not foretelling the future but testifying of a current event and thanking God for it.

There is yet another kind of a prophet that is hardly known by most bible students: the singing prophet. This is a man (and very rarely a woman), who sings under inspiration of the Holy Spirit when He (Holy Spirit) comes upon that person.

A person might function in this manner only once in his (or her) lifetime, and yet gain recognition as being considered a prophet, forever. It is in only this manner of functioning that women have been known to have participated in the work of God, and therefore called: prophetesses.

The most notable of such women was Miriam, the elder sister of both Moses and Aaron. She was the one, when yet in her girlish-years, who stood on the bank of the Nile, and watched the daughter of Pharaoh take the infant-Moses into her custody (Exodus 2: 4).

Later on, in her very advanced years, Miriam was called a prophetess; and yet was never known to have carried a message from God to His people. Of course, Miriam is recorded to have claimed that God spoke by and or through her. But was she right in her claim? There is no evidence to the veracity of her claim.

What need was there for God to have another prophet in a woman such as Miriam, when His super-prophet Moses was in-charge of His business? Maybe, because Miriam was older than both Moses and Aaron, she had come to assume a mother-figure (or was it rather a father-personality?) over these octogenarians, which gave her the courage to lay claim to any capacity to prophesy. [—this article is continued in Part Four].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

In the search for the position of the Bible, on the leadership status of men, vis-à-vis their female counterparts, it is very revealing when we look critically at the Ten Commandments of God found in Exodus 20: 1-17. All of them are directed at man: for his personal obedience and also aimed at him ensuring compliance by his family members.

However, let us look at only two of these commandments in some detail. These are the fourth and the tenth. What do they say? Let us quote these commandments in their entirety, from the King James Version of the Bible.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shat thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed I”. (Exodus 20: 8-11, KJV, emphasis mine).

It is very clear to whom this commandment is addressed. It is only to the man and for him to ensure compliance by all in his house. No mention is made of any married woman.

Let us look at the tenth commandment. It is also clearly addressed to the man – the God-ordained head of the home. Let us quote it here:

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s” (Exodus 20: 17, KJV).

Looking closely at this verse, we can see the wisdom and mind of God in crafting it. By His design, this verse can be obeyed by men only. It is only men, within the context of this verse, who possess houses, wives, manservants, maidservants, oxen or asses. The commandments of this verse do not speak to women.

This verse is silent on women. In the way the commandments stand, they seem to give the impression that, all of man’s neighbours are his fellow-men. Women do not seem to even exist in the mind God, so far as the commandments in this verse are concerned.

It seems to me that anytime God wanted a woman, He went looking for her inside of the personality (body and will) of man. The ideal woman is one who abides in the will of her father or husband, at all times. It therefore does not seem that any woman can obey or disobey this tenth of the Ten Commandments of God.

Any person who seeks to compel women to obey this verse, or to be faulted by it, and therefore amends it to read “… thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife (or husband) …” will be seeking an amendment to God’s commandments without His mandate. I have known some teachers (of the Bible?), who find nothing wrong with adding and stressing the words in parenthesis above, during their catechism or Sunday school classes, for the information of their young pupils.

I am scared about this, since God has warned of dire consequences for any people who will add to or subtract from His Word (without His mandate). This warning we find in Revelation 22: 18-19. We must therefore be very careful in this.

On a lighter note, let me draw your attention, my dear reader, to one of God’s favourite words – thou. You may try counting the number of times this word has been used in the King James Version of the Bible, to agree with me that it is one of God’s favourite words; and more so, when He speaks English at His Conservative best.

This word, from even the very few times that God has used it in the Ten Commandments, is strongly suggestive of it being a male-gendered word. It does not seem to have any feminine-gender connotation or trait.

By simply confining ourselves to the use of this word (thou) in the Ten Commandments, we see that, any time God uses this word, He is seen to be addressing a man or men. And so we can safely go beyond the Ten Commandments to understand that both Judaism and Christianity, as instituted by God for His worship, are male-led.

In the Book of Numbers, the chapter thirty, we find a very inspiring revelation about the God-ordained leadership status of man over the woman. My dear reader, please, read this interesting and very revealing chapter, from the King James Version of the Bible, before continuing with the reading of this article.

In this chapter of the Book of Numbers, God has established a statute rendering the man as the perpetual leader of the woman. In whatever relationship that exists between a man and a woman, the man is always the leader. That is how God has ordained things to be, and so they must remain in that manner, forever.

In this chapter, we receive the revelation of God that the father is the leader of the daughter. The husband is also the leader of his woman (wife). The divorced wife is still under obligation to any vow(s) she uttered with the consent of her man (husband) when she was yet married to him! And so is the widowed woman under obligation to make good any vow(s) she made with the knowledge of her man (husband) before his demise.

If you were a woman in Israel, you were to accept and obey this statute to your great gain or ignore it to your doom. And this is what God has taught His people to accept and obey – forever. Whether the man (father or husband) of the woman is alive or dead, the leadership of the man over her remains the Will of God. This reveals God-ordained leadership to be eternal, undying, and therefore spiritual.

If any woman violates this statute of God, she brings upon herself, iniquities, according to the fifteenth verse of the chapter. The man is established by God as the domestic priest of the woman, forever. May, I humbly advice women to read this chapter of Numbers carefully, so they may be blessed by it.

Talking about priests, we see God ordained a men-only priesthood for the spiritual leadership and well-being of the woman. Everywhere in the Bible, this is what God has ordained. In both the Old and New Testaments, God always called men only to be His priests. He uses them to give instruction of His Will and direction in His worship, to people who were considered His own.

The word ‘priestess’ has never been used by God to describe any woman with any role in His service. Priestesses have always been seen in heathen countries in description of their women’s roles as leaders in idol worship.

The Old Testament Aaronite priesthood involved only the sons of Levi. No daughters of the house of Levi ever entered the priesthood of the Old Testament. No woman from the houses of Aaron, Gershom, Kohath and Merari (families that comprised the house of Levi), ever entered the service of God as Levites even though females were, of course, born to men from these houses. [—this article is continued in Part Three].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

Many adherents to the Christian faith believe that, soon and very soon, this current world order and its system of things will come to an end. In this, they have believed rightly. And indeed, as the end of the world approaches, mankind must begin to act in readiness to stand before the judgment seat of God. No doubt, mankind will bNoNo doubt, mankind will be judged

No doubt, mankind will be judged at an opportune time. God has told us this in His Word–the Bible. Mankind will one day stand before God and His Christ, to give an account of his stewardship of how he took care of or mismanaged God’s Creation.

Since Creation, mankind has been living on earth and ruling (or misruling?), with or without God, for many millennia. It shall soon be time for God to judge man’s ways and stewardship. Since Creation, mankind has been living on earth and ruling (or misruling?), with or without God, for many millennia. It shall soon be time for God to judge man’s ways and stewardship.

Today, by the Grace of God, many people are awaking from mankind’s long and deep spiritual slumber, to re-examine most of the doctrines and practices of the Christian faith. A wind of change is blowing across the world, albeit very slowly, seeking to restore Christianity to its First Century character: in purity of doctrine and practice.

You may call those involved in this work, The Restoration Movement, as some are known to be called. You may even call them whatever name you choose. But the fact is that, God is inspiring men to re-teach today’s so-called Christian doctrines, so as to bring them back to the high level of purity and sanctity we find them to be in the Bible.

It is sad that, many of the teachings of Jesus Christ and of his apostles of the First Century are not being taught to our world today. Whenever they are taught, they do not have the potency, inspiration, flavour and fervency of that past.

One of the many corrections, which must be made to today’s doctrines and practices of Christianity, is the leadership role that women have come to assume in the Church. Do women have any God-ordained part or lot, in the leadership of the Church? Do women have a leading role to play in the fulfillment of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ?

Do women have the mandate of God to be pastors, bishops, prophetesses, etc, with the mission to send his message of salvation to mankind? Has God ordained women to be deaconesses and elders in the Church? Why is it that anywhere we have a group of people calling itself church, there are women involved in carrying out leadership roles for and on behalf of men?

The Word of God has answers to these questions; we must therefore, seek them out of the Bible. It is very important we do this, because, if we do find the correct answers, it will help us in the effort to restore today’s Christianity, to its First Century character. It is only when we have made a complete restoration of today’s Christianity to its First Century character that, mankind can then find the true salvation of God for his weary soul.

We all, men and women alike, must know and accept the fact that, since Creation, God has ruled His people through men only. There is yet to come to our world one woman, who was sent by God, with a message to God’s people. A search through the list of messengers God has sent to inform, warn, correct, admonish and direct mankind, will not reveal the name of even one woman on that list.

Please mark my words very well. I said there is yet to come to our world from God, one woman-messenger, to bring information and direction to God’s people. And I mean God’s people. God has not done so yet; and I know he will never do it. This truth I do know, since God gives to all who are genuinely in Christ Jesus, access to His mind (First Corinthians 2: 16).

That is not to say there are no women-leaders to the people who dwell on the earth. Of course, there have been many, and many others are yet to come. Women-leaders have been found throughout all generations of man’s existence on earth.

They have come as people in academia, industry, commerce, politics, and from many other disciplines of human endeavour. But there is yet to come to earth, one woman-leader sent from God to accomplish a spiritual mission for humanity. This God has not yet done, and will never do.

Let us go to the Book of Genesis to see how God in His wisdom and love for mankind, set-up leadership, to direct the affairs of His Creation. Right at Creation, God established the leadership role of the man over the woman. Remember that, Eve came out of the bones and flesh of Adam.

Before she came, God had given His instructions for mankind’s peaceful and joyful life on earth to Adam. When Eve came as the wife of Adam, it was then the responsibility of the man–Adam, to instruct her in what God had earlier-on told him.

If we read Genesis 2: 16-17 and 3: 2-3 critically from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, we will see the obvious God-given leadership skill and teaching prowess of the man–Adam. In his zeal, commitment and dedication to make Eve obey the instruction of God, Adam went beyond what God had told him about the forbidden fruit.

He told Eve that, not only were they not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but they were also not to even touch the tree at all. It was like the father teaching his child. And indeed, a father-child relationship was what had been established by God Himself, to exist forever between Adam and Eve.

Did God not bring forth Eve out of the body of Adam? Yes indeed he did. (cf. Genesis 2: 21-22 and First Timothy 2: 13-14, KJV). Therefore, Eve was forever expected of God to listen to and obey the one who begat her, all the days of her life on earth.

She was never to drift into the absurdities of women usurping the authority of man over them, as we find in our world today–a situation akin to that where the chicken, or even the egg, is able to find a rare kind of wisdom and audacity to teach the hen that brought it into being.

Moving from the Book of Genesis, let us look at other parts of the Bible for evidence of the God-ordained leadership role of men over women in spiritual matters. Of course, we will return to the Book of Genesis, because it is the book of new beginnings, and therefore clearly lays the foundation of the God-ordained men-only leadership, in spiritual issues.

Many of the problems of our earth, which we have been grappling with, have their roots in men allowing themselves to be led (or misled?), into certain crucial decisions. This weakness of men, in allowing themselves to be misled by women, with disastrous consequences, can be traced to the times of Genesis, and we shall in this article be highlighting some of them, to bring elucidation to the main thesis of this short treatise.

Let us first look at the Ten Commandments of God, and indeed all the commandments of the Law of Moses. Every student of the Torah (the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses), which God gave to the nation of Israel, will see that it was meant for men only.

All its statutes from God were always meant for men’s obedience, for and on behalf of their women (wives) and children. Even in those portions of the Law that touched directly on women, it was their men (husbands) who had the responsibility of ensuring their perfect obedience and or compliance. [—this article is continued in Part Two].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

In the mind and wisdom of God, there is no ‘reverend’, archbishop, ladder-climbing pastor, deaconess, et cetera, in His work. Anywhere title-bearing people are found in groupings of salvation-seekers which call themselves “church”, then it is either such title bearers do not have God’s mandate to contribute to the spiritual wellbeing of these groupings, or that, these groupings are not of the Body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier on, there are no title bearers in the True Body of Christ – the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul, an apostle of the Body of Christ, was never referred to as “Apostle Paul”. This was because he functioned as an apostle in the Body of Christ and not as a title-bearer.

He was always referred to as “Paul, an apostle” of Jesus Christ, defining his functional role in the Church (Second Corinthians 1: 1, Galatians 1: 1, Ephesians 1: 1, Colossians 1: 1, First Timothy 1: 1, Second Timothy 1: 1).

If his functional role in the Body of Christ as an apostle was meant to be a title, in which case Paul could be addressed “Apostle Paul”, (which no saint ever did), then he could also be addressed as “Prisoner Paul” as a title of honour to him.

This is because he was not only described as “Paul, an apostle” but also as “Paul, a prisoner” of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1, Philemon 1).

Or would one do well to give Paul the title “Servant”, and seek to honour him by insisting that all people address him as “Servant Paul” because he was described as “Paul, a servant” of God? (cf. Titus 1: 1).

The word ‘apostle’ is not a title: it is a functional description of a man’s work in the Body of Christ. And that is also the case for such words as ‘prophet’, ‘pastor’, ‘evangelist’ and ‘teacher’. None of these words are titles. They are all descriptive of roles or functions played by people in the Church of Jesus Christ.

One of my dear role models is Philip: not the one with apostolic calling, but the one who first served in the pantry and set tables for widows of the Church at Jerusalem. In his later years, while evangelizing for the Kingdom of God, he was never addressed as “Evangelist Philip”, as one must do today, for anybody claiming to be playing Philip’s kind of role in the Body of Christ.

This loyal and dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ was simply referred to as “Philip, the evangelist” (Acts 21: 8) in definition of his functional role in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So why do we have in “church” today, Apostle Aaron, Evangelist Evans, Prophet Philemon, and all manner of weird titles for people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ and doing the work of the Kingdom of God?

Why are today’s so-called men of God so much preoccupied with awarding themselves titles, even when these titles belong to God? Are they seeking equality with God? Are they not disciples of Jesus Christ?

If they are indeed genuine disciples, can they not obey the caution of the Master not to take to themselves titles they do not deserve? Does the warning of the Master that anyone, who exalts himself, would be brought low, not scare these so-called men of God?

When the apostles of Jesus Christ, who walked and talked with him for four good years before his death, burial and resurrection, were in charge of the teaching ministry of the Church after his ascension, they had with them, elders, deacons and bishops in all local congregations.

All congregations were autonomous in the cities the Holy Spirit of God led the apostles to establish the Church of Jesus Christ. The congregations were all however, united as one in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, as were taught by the apostles.

Every local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ had sets of bishops, (not just one bishop, as we are told that, in the one local congregation of Philippi, there were many bishops – Book of Philippians 1: 1), elders, pastors, deacons, etc, involved in the teaching of the flock.

During the days of the apostles, no bishop had a domain or so-called dominion beyond the local congregation in which he functioned. Of course, all bishops, elders, deacons, prophets, teachers, and other Church functionaries, were men filled with the knowledge, wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit of God, and elected for these functions by Jesus Christ himself, could visit and minister the Word of God to other congregations beyond their places of regular worship and or residence.

Today’s so-called bishop who is seen to have a spatial jurisdiction and dominion over a group of “churches” has come as a latter-century personality, who obviously lives beyond the pure Christian traditions of the apostolic era of the First Century. This certainly is a corruption of and deviation from the apostolic faith, teaching, tradition and practice.

The coming of the celibate-bishop into the Church is a further deviation brought by the pagan-Christian faith of Second Century Rome, from the faith of those who physically walked and talked with the Master, Jesus Christ the Lord.

My dear men (of God?), you who want to rub shoulders with God, be careful in your pursuit of titles meant for Him. You cannot call yourselves reverend, The Reverend (SKA?), right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, his grace, my lord or his holiness and get away with it.

Remember God says He is a jealous God who will never share His Glory with any man. So be sure that you will attract to yourselves reprisals from God in due time, if you do not repent of your penchant for titles and drop them forthwith. I believe I have carried God’s warning to you in love.

In recent times, I have grown to fall in love with some words of Sir Winston Churchill: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”. Well, in this, I have done my bit for humanity and for the Kingdom of God. I pray to God that you, my dear reader, will do your bit. Please do yours, so we can both get to live on “Humility Avenue” in Heaven, to spend Eternity with The Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My dear “man of God”, I love you; for the love of God in my heart compels me to love you forever without any inhibitions. This is so, since he who is begotten of Love (God) cannot, but be a love-slave to everybody. This is why I speak to you in love, as I have done in this short article.

Shalom.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DODCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Those who allow themselves to be called laymen, in the service of God’s kingdom-work, are ignorant of the God-given roles of all Christians as priests in His service. To these simple-minded people, a privileged few are regarded as priests while an underprivileged majority are tagged and called laity or laymen.

My dear reader, do you know that there are no titles in the Christian faith? The Kingdom of God does not confer or award titles to its workers. No genuine workers of God’s Kingdom, who have been revealed to mankind in the Word of God, ever bore titles. I shall soon lead you more into this thought.

Where then do titles such as: associate pastor, resident pastor, senior pastor, general overseer, senior bishop, presiding bishop, archbishop, cardinal, general superintendant, deaconess, reverend, right reverend, very reverend, most reverend, the reverend, his grace, my lord, his holiness, etc, comfortably conferred on and borne by mortal-men, come from?

Since they do not come from God, where do they come from? Does anyone know their origin and originator? Of course, they have come as a means of setting up an elaborate organization, with class groupings of its members, an organization mankind has been deceived to call–Church. Class distinctions of God’s children! How sad.

The originators of these lofty man-made titles have without the mandate of God, intentionally fragmented the Body of Christ claiming to have made it easier and effective to minister or rule. The question is “Does God need the wisdom of men in the running of His Church?”

Absolutely not! And so, by and by, those who confer titles on people and those who receive these titles will be seen to be acting not for God, but against Him; and will be judged as such.

Since those in love with such titles are without the humility and simplicity of Jesus Christ, they could not be sent from God. And if God did not send them, who did? Your guess in this is as good as mine. Could it possibly be that they are in league with the one who seeks to exalt himself above God and His Christ?

Though this is actually so, many of these title-lovers do not know they work for this cunning and ruthless power – Satan. He allows these ignorant so-called men of God to hold on to these titles on his behalf, so as to take them back from these men whenever he wills.

Let us consider the title, reverend. This great and powerful title is used only once in the entire Bible and in honour and recognition of God alone. In the King James Version of the Bible, you can find the word ‘reverend’ only in Psalm 111: 9. Let us quote this verse here to aid the smooth flow of this discourse.

“He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.” (Psalm 111: 9, KJV).

My dear “man of God”, do you see the seriousness of your error? You are neither worthy to bring redemption to sinful-mankind nor do you have the capacity to do so. Only God can and has brought redemption through Jesus Christ to mankind.

Dear “man of God”, do you have a covenant which you are able to keep or are keeping with mankind? If you claim you do, are you able to bring limitless blessings to mankind? If yes, then tell the whole world about it so mankind can rush to you for this blessing, and have the world rid of all its horrible suffering and poverty.

Only then would you qualify and deserve to be the co-equal to God and therefore worthy to be called by the title, reverend. Otherwise, be careful in not being accused of blasphemy, judged guilty and sentenced by the Judge of all Flesh.

For delivering to mankind, redemption from the power and dominion of sin, Satan’s power, and the consequences of sin, in and by the work of Jesus Christ, God the Almighty commands all men to revere and reverence His Name.

So-called men of God do not know or understand this? And so they pitch themselves against the Will of God by seeking to usurp His titles? I fear for these so-called men of God in antagonizing themselves against the Might of God, in view of the condemnation of God which awaits them.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, has taught his genuine disciples a great lesson in humility in Matthew 19: 16-17, Mark 10: 17-18 and Luke 18: 18-19. When in these verses a questioner addressed him as “Good Master,” he quickly corrected him of his error. Jesus Christ told his questioner not to call him “Good”, since only God is Good.

Maybe, this questioner should have addressed the Messiah as “reverend Master” instead, so we could get to know if he would have accepted or rejected the appellation of “reverend” as belonging to God his Father alone. Can so-called men of God (disciples of the Master?) not emulate the humility of Jesus Christ in this? How sad.

Let me give you a secret of the Devil. He is preparing to begat and outdoor his counterfeit of God’s Holy and Anointed Messiah, Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World. When he has begotten him, he will be called the anti-Christ. Many people seem to know this open secret. However many are ignorant of the lineage of this soon-to-be-revealed anti-Christ.

Surely, the anti-Christ will descend from the lineage of people who love to take the titles of God. At the time the anti-Christ becomes manifest for the end-time show-down battle between Good and evil, he will be the same as the mortal man who will be holding the highest counterfeited title of God. And then he will crown himself God and demand worship from mankind.

For now, the devil is progressing according to his set-plan: from ‘reverend’ to ‘right reverend’, then to ‘very reverend’, then to ‘most reverend’, then to ‘his holiness’, then to ‘his grace’ and then to what next, I know not. I do not have the mind of the devil. I have God’s, by virtue of my New Birth into Jesus Christ and my faith in First Corinthians 2: 16.

But I do know, from God’s Word, that when the anti-Christ manifests, he will land in a counterfeit church which belongs to one of the numerous and notorious denominational groupings of the world. That counterfeit church will look very much like the genuine Church of God.

Its members will be tares, the devil’s counterfeit wheat. Remember, the look-alikes of wheat are tares. Also remember that wheat and tares are only genuinely distinguishable from one another, at Harvest Time, by which time their destinies would have been sealed, and the destruction of tares in hell-fire, due.

The hierarchical structure of this counterfeit church of the devil is what will give it away as false and of the anti-Christ. By the time peoples’ eyes become opened to the true identity of this anti-Christ in their midst, he would have finished marking almost all of them as his own, ready to carry them into Hell for a life of eternal suffering with him.

Let me give you some revelation about the man-made title, “archbishop”. This title has been in vogue for a long time – over centuries, in fact. It was created and delivered to simple-minded mankind, by the pagan-Christianity of Rome of the immediate post-apostolic era, when her politicians were flirting ingloriously with the Church.

The power brokers of the erstwhile Roman Empire sought to extend their domain and dominion to include the Church of Jesus Christ. When they managed to do these, they then brought into the Church, titles, to show their pomp, power and distinct statuses.

Even though the word “archbishop” seems to have been derived from two bible-words–“archangel” and “bishop”–it does not make it a holy word. The word “archbishop” is alien to the whole bible-revelation and therefore of no relevance to either the Body of Christ or the Work of the Kingdom of God. Not because there is an archangel must we have an archbishop when God’s Word does not give us any revelation on this strange word.

How could we so easily swallow the deception of the devil to tag so-called men of God with this title? I am very sad that so-called men of God are not content with the God-given functional descriptions such as pastor, evangelist, prophet and teacher, established by Him to bring perfection to the knowledge of His Will to His saints. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Four: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

It is very sad to observe that many people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ hardly live up to his expectation in their imitation of his character. In particular, Jesus Christ has told his disciples not to live like the Pharisees of his day in craving for titles and recognition by men. They were not to work in search of vainglory from and of men. They were to imitate his simplicity, selflessness, shyness for publicity, and humility.

In this regard, here is a caution of Jesus Christ to his loyal disciples: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” (Matthew 23: 8-10, King James Version, KJV).

These clear and simple words of Jesus Christ spoken directly to his disciples still stand good for the obedience of all his loyal and dedicated disciples today. But I wonder how many people who claim to be Christians (disciples of Jesus Christ?) do know of these verses of scripture and obey them.

It is shocking to know that some denominations, which profess to be loyal to the Christian faith, have their leaders addressed “father” or “papa” in obvious disregard to this command of the Master. I am at a loss to know whose disciples the members of such denominations truly are.

Jesus Christ has said that, all the doctrines, commandments and instructions which he has taught mankind are not his own, but God’s. Any deviations from, or violations, of Jesus’ teachings therefore, are a direct affront to God in Heaven, who sent him. All true disciples of Jesus Christ must know and be very careful in this.

The reason why Jesus Christ commands his disciples not to seek to award themselves titles, and or desire the praises of men, is to ensure they never exalt themselves. He warns that any one of his disciples who exalts himself shall be brought down; but he who would humble himself would be exalted (cf. Matthew 23: 11-12).

For me, and I am sure for many loyal and dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, the scary nature of his warning is enough to make one comply. But alas, many more people who seem to be very educated in the secular sense, and also claim to be dedicated to the cause of the Master, do not seem to be bothered by this warning and, therefore, disregard it with glee. They seek the praise of men and are excited when men heap upon their heads titles, appellations and accolades.

Let me say, the thing the Devil enjoys most is praise, and worship. In envy therefore, when yet in Heaven under the name Lucifer, he could not stand the sight of thousands of angels worshiping God. He coveted the praise and worship God’s angels gave to Him.

As a result, he staged a mutiny in Heaven, with a large following of angels, in attempt to take praise and worship from God to himself. Mortal man must therefore be wary of the praise, titles, appellations and accolades heaped on him by his fellow-men, since love for them could draw him into the same lust Lucifer had.

Immediately after the devil lost the mutiny he staged in Heaven (when he tried to take-over the ruler-ship of God from Him), and was cast upon the earth, he started his second and now seemingly unending-campaign, toward his diabolical plan to usurp the authority of God over His Creation.

He has been strategizing subtly and stealthily, in diverse ways, to lead man away from obeying God’s commandments and, therefore, into his dominion. While doing this, he has his eyes set on the titles which belong to God and His Christ. The ultimate aim of the Devil is to usurp the status and power of God, whereby all Creation will then praise and worship him as God.

One way by which the devil is subtly and stealthily working his way toward achieving his ambitions, is through attack on the genuine structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. By confusing many people about the true structure of the Church (the Body of Christ), he seems to be gradually achieving his ambitions.

Not many people today know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ. You cannot fully blame today’s generation for this. The fact is, with time, as the Christian faith of the immediate post-ascension era travelled out of the lands of Palestine and Asia Minor, heading toward the West, it gradually began to lose its structure, character, power, purity in doctrine and practice.

Today’s Christian faith is a sorry-state of what it was when it first came into being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The Christian faith today is devoid of much of its glory, power, holiness, pure doctrines, unique influence as the salt and light of the world, and reverential practices which characterized it at its inception.

You may have to read two great books by Richard Rives, entitled, “Too Long in the Sun” and “Time is the Ally of Deceit”, to appreciate this fact.

From the revelation of the Bible, the Body of Christ is synonymous with the Human Body: the Church is a living organism with parts which function like the body-parts of man. It is obvious that all parts of the human body are of equal importance and no part lords (and lauds) itself over the others.

Read the Book of First Corinthians, chapter twelve, from verse one to thirty-one (First Corinthians 12: 1-31) to understand what the Word of God reveals and teaches about how the Body of Christ (the Church) does and must function.

Even though the human brain, together with the central nervous system, coordinates the actions of all the parts of the body, it cannot claim importance or headship over the other parts. In the human body, no part can do without the other and neither can the whole body function properly without any one part. All parts are needed, and perform their individual and unique functions for the common good of the entire body.

The Church – the Body of Christ – must be seen in similar light as the human body. The Church has a very simple structure. Jesus Christ is the Head. All other members are equal parts to this Body and are directly connected to the Head.

All these parts therefore take instructions and directives from the Head directly. They are able to function only in, by and of the Head. Also, all parts of the Body report directly to the Head.

Sadly, many people think of the Church as an organization and not as an organism. They see it as a human institution housed in some Victorian Age masonry building, with people of various statuses occupying special positions. In this organization, wrongly called the Church, every member is made to report to some other(s), higher-up in some hierarchical order.

The notion that the Church is an organization with a powerful hierarchical structure is a teaching of the devil. By this teaching, the devil has succeeded in getting many simple-minded people of the world to live in error of the true structure of the Church.

Over a period close to two millennia, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, many people have become comfortable believing that the Church is an organization with a hierarchical order, and never even think of it as an organism.

This false belief about the structure of the Church has become a stronghold in the minds of mankind. It is this stronghold which the devil is capitalizing and gradually building on, in his bid to take-over the world from God’s influence.

It is sad that many people do not know the true structure of the Church of Jesus Christ, as revealed to mankind in the Word of God. For many people, the Church is made up of clergy and laity; whatever the words clergy and laity mean in or to the Church, since they are not part of God’s vocabulary found in the Bible to teach the Church.

Many people professing to be Christians do not even know that these words (clergy, laity or laymen) are strange and alien to the true Christian faith. Many people are satisfied, instead of being angered, when others call them laity or laymen in description of their roles in the Church. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Many people might be irritated, or even angered, by this headline to my article. Many more may deem it silly to even pose the question – Are “reverend” ministers also disciples of Jesus Christ? It might seem silly to pose this question because to many people, “reverend” ministers are lead-disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let me assure my readers that it is for the love of all the men who are addressed by the title “reverend”, and their many followers, that I ask this question and go on to answer it in the light of the bible-revelation. So, if you are irritated or angered by my title, just stay calm and you will be blessed in reading this article.

Without a shadow of doubt, the greatest man that ever lived on Planet Earth is Jesus Christ. Even though followers of some renowned personalities who once lived on our earth claim that their icons never die, it is only of Jesus Christ that such an assertion is true: since he alone is alive and lives forever.

The main proof to the fact that Jesus Christ is the greatest of all men who ever walked our earth and is alive forevermore, is, he is able to manifest himself today through his genuine disciples. Oh yes, he clearly manifests himself in all his loyal and dedicated disciples, who do the genuine work given to them by him to do, on his behalf, and in his name.

Just before his ascension into Heaven, Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to do two jobs for him, and on his behalf. These jobs, all loyal disciples of the Master must execute throughout all times and seasons of the Grace Dispensation. The proper execution of these jobs by any people is proof of their genuineness, as his disciples.

Any man who does these jobs in loyalty, dedication and dependence upon the words of direction and instruction of Jesus Christ, will have manifested in him, Jesus’ full persona for all to see. In other words, people will see manifested in these loyal disciples, the personality, wisdom, power, success, and glory of Jesus Christ.

The two jobs which Jesus Christ has given to his loyal disciples to do are in a healing and teaching ministry – taking sickness and disease out of the bodies of men, and teaching sinful-mankind the way to be reconciled with God.

When on earth, toward empowering his chosen twelve disciples to do these jobs, Jesus Christ took them through four years of discipleship-training.

He taught and demonstrated to them, how they were to heal the sick of all manner of diseases; give life and strength to impotent-halts, paralytics and cripples; open blind eyes and unplug deaf ears; and also bring the dead back to life.

He taught them how to do these by uttering his Words through faith in his name, without the use of any man-made remedies, and, with their bare, but highly-anointed, hands.

For the task of leading salvation-seekers to be reconciled with God and thereby become eligible to enter the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven, he taught them in very simple and plain words, in the Great Commission statement laid out in Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 15-16 and Luke 24: 46-48, how they were to do this.

Beside the four-year discipleship-training Jesus Christ gave to his disciples, they also needed to be empowered of the Holy Spirit of God, if they were to be able to execute their God-ordained tasks of soul-winning and of healing mankind of sickness and disease.

These are the same tasks Jesus Christ executed for the Kingdom of God while on earth. He was able to execute them because he was always conscious of the fact that God (his Father) resided in him and so drew on the power of His indwelling presence for the execution of any jobs he was sent to do for Him.

As such, if any disciples of Jesus Christ are to be successful in executing their assignments, for and on his behalf, they must have a consciousness that God indwelt them. They must in this consciousness, depend on and be able to tap His power, in execution of their assignments for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ made it plain to his disciples that he was unable to do anything without depending on God. Similarly, no disciple today can do any assignments for the Master, without depending on his word of instruction, wisdom in his actions, and the presence of God residing in them.

The numerous conversions of sinners, to faith in the name of Jesus Christ and into God’s salvation, during the early days of the Church-age, were the result of the disciples of Jesus Christ, doing exactly what they were told to do by the Master in the Great Commission.

We see genuine and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ achieve fantastic feats in the Great Commission, during the early days of the post-Ascension era, because they were cut out for the task, through a four-year period in discipleship-training by the Master himself, and through the power of the Holy Spirit of God who indwelt their spirits.

Today, from his position on the right hand side of the Throne of God in Heaven, Jesus Christ is impacting and changing lives more than he ever did in the four years he was physically present on Planet Earth with the mandate of God to do so.

This is because he ensures from his position in Heaven, beside the Throne of The Father, that whatever promises he has made to his genuine, loyal and dedicated disciples, become fulfilled in their lives when they accept to act in simple faith in his word.

True disciples of Jesus Christ are those who make every effort to obey, imitate and act like him in every way. Just as Jesus Christ said he imitated whatever he saw the Father doing, for success in his earthly ministry, so must his genuine disciples also imitate his ways for success in all their assignments.

The successes of any disciples in doing any work he elects them to do, depend on three things. The first is that one must have knowledge and wisdom of Jesus’ word and ways. The second is for one to be sensitive of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God in one and how to live in dependence on His power within.

The third is for one to have the character trait of the Master. This character trait of the Master is what we see manifest in the rare kind of love, compassion, selflessness, denial of praise of mankind, a life devoid of pride and arrogance, availability, et cetera, he showed the world. The ability of any person to possess and live by all three abilities marks one as a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ.

Any disciples, who do not have these virtues of Jesus’ character, cannot be successful in any assignments given them by the Master. You cannot be a successful disciple of Jesus Christ if, for example, you delight in the praise of men, or are without the compassion of the Master for people, or are not as selfless as he was, or are not gentle, or make it very hard and nearly to being impossible for strangers and the under privileged to get to you.

Also, if for example, one is boisterous, even while preaching on a so-called altar, (running, ranting, raving, shouting, jumping and gyrating as if on a theater stage), one cannot be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. I know in many of today’s denominational groupings, a display of such a wild trait in one’s character is accepted as high-level spirituality or charisma.

Sadly, these wild behaviours by so-called anointed men of God, contradict the portrait painted in the Bible of the Master, as being a gentle and calm character, who never shouted in the street. These behaviours make it impossible for any men to be suitable and relevant for any assignments in the Church of Jesus Christ. [—this article is continued in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].