ONE LAST THING ABOUT THAT FIVE-FOLD THING

I believe that major problem with the Five-Fold Ministry term is with the word 'fold.'  It implies layers.

People assume the five ministries listed in Ephesians represent layers created by folding, and each later added to the first is created by one fold. So, the second layer is created by the first fold, the third layer is created by the second layer, etc.  Well, this works if you are creating pleats or a fanfold, but if you are folding a flat item in half with each fold.  In that case, you cannot create five layers, because each fold doubles the number of layers.

Try it yourself.  Take a flat item, such as a sheet of paper, or a washcloth, or a bandana, and fold it in half three times.  You have created six layers.

Now, if you used a cloth item, you can flatten it out and use it again.  Take one side and fold it over one third of the way to the other side.  Then take the unfolded side and fold it over to align with the first fold.  You now have three layers.

If you wanted five layers, you would have to measure one fifth of the way from one side to the other to make the first fold. From there, you can go one of two ways.  You can alternate folding under and over for each fold, working from the first side across the cloth.

No matter what manner of folding you use, it is a poor analogy for the ministries listed in Ephesians 4.  The passage does not mention any folding, layers, or structure of any kind.  And the larger context doesn't imply any of those either.  Nowhere does the Bible state that those ministries are offices either.

From what I see in that passage is that Jesus equipped men for those ministries according to what they would need to serve His people.

This is the easiest way to determine true ministers from the false.  True ministers will serve you by bringing you truth.  False ministers will decieve you into serving them by twisting the Bible.

CESSATIONISM / CONTUATIONISM, OR SOMETHING ELSE.

I guess I am now something else.  That is not to brag, just stating that my view has changed.

I was once a cessationist.  Back in junior high, I had joined a Southern Baptist congregation, and the pastor there taught us from the old Scofield Study Bible that speaking in tongues was not for today, that it had passed away, so if anyone is speaking in tongues today, they are doing so by the power of the devil!

Then I got involved in a coffeehouse ministry.  I was now in high school.  I loved Jesus, and I was happy to find a place where I could hang out with other kids who loved Jesus, and we wanted to tell other kids about Him.  One of those kids said something that made me take another at tongues.  After some study, I discovered a connection between tongues and Jesus!  So, I became a Charismatic and started speaking in tongues.

Back in those days, the pro-tongues position was called "restorationism," that is, that God was restoring tongues and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit.  But, non-Pentcostals / Charismatics also believed in a form of restorationism that started with the Protestant Reformation. In recent years, the term "continuationsm" has taken over, as Pentecostals and Charismatics now say the gifts have always been available.

One factor that confounds the issue is the use of the phrase, "move of God" to refer to a new push or surge of activity in Pentecostal / Charismatic circles.  Are they truly moves of God, or something else?

I can't say for sure about this, I can only give my view based on what I have learned.  And I like to look at things from different angles than everyone else.

A while back, I began to wonder about reform movements before Luther.  I knew his was not the first, just the first to have a major impact that lasted.

I learned of the Waldensians, the Lollards, and the Hussites.  These were definite precursors to Luther because they sought to bring understanding of the Bible directly to the people.

Were they moves of God?  That is, did He start those movements?  Or, did a hunger for God spark them?

I believe that people had seen that Christianity had changed from a vibrant faith in it's earliest centuries into an institution that was riddled with superstition, ritualism, and corruption.  They wanted to recover what was lost.

Considering those movements along with those that followed, I would now call myself a recoverist.  That is, I believe the Body of Christ has been trying to recover what has been lost since it's early days.

Of course, Satan does not like this.  When God's people seek Him, Satan wants to derail those efforts.  He tries to draw our attention away from God and His Word to our own emotions, our own experiences, to his lies, to 'hidden knowledge,' all under the guise of spiritual growth.  Men without honorable intentions will also seek to exploit the good intentions of believers for their own greed.  That is why we see so much false doctrine, so many false prophetic words and faked healings and miracles, ministers falling into sin, and their followers trapped in abusive cults.

But all is not lost.  The posers are being exposed.  People are escaping cults, and recovering from the emotional damage.