FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

be recognized on earth by other men, and as the Lord instructs, will be commissioned into the ministry they are called to function in. (see Acts 13:1-3). When Jesus left the earth, He left behind 12 apostles. These 12 apostles, also called the apostles of the Lamb, in turn raised up other ministries including other apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. In the pattern of the first century Church apostles would ordain elders in the Churches, and these leaders were called, interchangeably, elders, overseers, and bishops. Recall that Diotrephes would not receive the apostle John, as this spirit will reject the Holy Spirit and the ministries given by Jesus (3 John 1:9). The word elder came from the Greek word presbuteros, which was commonly used in the Jewish tradition and synagogues to bring attention to the character, respectability and sometimes the age of the individual functioning in that position. The word overseers and bishop came from the Greek word episkope, which was commonly used in the Greek assemblies, which brought attention to the honor of the position the person was functioning in. In the early Church these Greek words, translated into these different English words, spoke of the same position. There was no idea in the Church that one elder was over another elder but that a plurality of elders working together would shepherd and oversee the business of the Church. Eldership spoke of the position whereas various prophets, teachers, evangelists, and shepherds could and were functioning in the positions of overseers in the various Churches. However, already by the end of the early Church age doctrines were being promoted to place some leaders over others. In time the term bishop became synonymous with an elder over other elders, but that was not the case in the early Church. By the time of the Middle Ages this became an actual legal system in the Church consisting of bishops, archbishops, elders, priests and potentates in a hierarchy or pyramid structure. Jesus said that He hates this doctrine. The reason that Jesus hates this doctrine is because it is contrary to, and replaces, His present ascension ministry which functions through those gifts He gave, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. Jesus has order and rank in His

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