Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

When Bishops Replace Prophets

been in the apostolic age. The ecclesiastical establishment became much more important. The expectation of the end was reduced to an appeal to each individual to be prepared for his end which can come at any moment. The idea of an end of history was not important in the church after that. (4) The strict discipline of the Montanists was lost, giving way to a grow ing laxity in the church. Here again something happened which has fre quently happened in the history of the church. Small groups arise with a strict discipline; they are regarded with suspicion by the church; they form themselves into larger churches; then they lose their original disciplinary power in themselves. 31 The first three centuries, then, saw the gradual elimination of the prophetic and the accompanying ecclesiastical strengthening of the Church hierarchy. The following chart shows the process that increased ecclesi astical authority and diminished Holy Spirit power.

Becoming an-Institution

With the Following Results: A canon was established, a dogma was assented to and Church office was strengthened. A shift took place from the prophetic to the rational.

The Church Felt the Need to . . 1.Withstand heresies • to preserve the purity of faith. 2. Develop teachers and theologians • to bring accurate and uniform inter pretation of Scripture and creeds. 3. Install ecclesiarchal authority • to safeguard the Church against fan aticism, exclusivism and schism. 4. Ordain minister-priests • to allow recognition of and spiritual endowment on certain pre-qualified, prescribed priests. 5. Perpetuate apostolic authority • to keep the connection with the Church founders. 6.Unify and formalize worship • to lift the responsibility from the con gregation and shift the focus of wor ship to the minister and sacramental objects and actions. 7. Establish tradition and practice

Spiritual gifts became identified with office.

A distinction was made between clergy and laity.

Priest-bishops inherited the apostolic authority.

The Church subtly became more "sophisticated."

A tragic loss of expectant faith took place.

• to assure continuity and longevity and to forestall any excesses or ex tremes that might alienate the Church.

255.