5 Smooth Stones

through John, spoke to the church in Ephesus and commended them for having discerned false apostles, discerned that they were liars, and did not follow their doctrines. He also reminded them that they had lost their fi rst love in the process of dealing with those false ministers. However, He also commended them for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans which Jesus also hated. The church in Ephesus had been equipped by the apostle Paul. The elders had been trained and commissioned by him, and prophetically warned by him of the test which would come from among them - of men coming against the people (Acts 20:17-31). They were commended for not allowing false apostles to replace the true apostles, and false leaders to raise up above the others taking preeminence, thereby grieving the Holy Spirit. Christianity is the only major world philosophy whose founder is still alive and can - and desires to - in fl uence the daily activities of His people. A major deception amongst the leaders of Christianity is that Jesus is alive in name only, but not in function. Jesus really is alive and wants to be the functioning head of His church, raising His people up as disciples through His leaders, those gifts which He has given from His ascended position. This spirit of Diotrephes, often using the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is far too preeminent in His church, allowing hell to prevail. It’s incumbent upon those leaders who truly hunger for Jesus in their lives and ministries to allow Him preeminence, fi rst in their lives by restoring Him as their fi rst love. But then also, to discern false systems of leadership which have crept in and replaced those forms which Jesus left through His disciples which He truly can bless. When we have returned to that system which Jesus gave us, allowing the Holy Spirit to have preeminence, we will again have a church in which the gates of hell can never prevail, but we rather will have preeminence over all the forces of darkness, and the people of God will truly know their Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ma tt hew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who

humbles himself will be exalted.”

ENDNOTES: 54 The doctrine of Balaam may be summed up as, going after the gold the girls and the glory. This could also be equated to greed, sexual immorality and taking glory, which is not due you, which is injustice. These three things can destroy a church or a ministry once they are allowed. These also happen to be the three things our founders warned us could destroy our nation.

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