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

Insights from Modern Church History (A.D. 1830-1980)

for you have one Father, Who is in heaven. And you must not be called masters (leaders), for you have one Master (Leader), the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself [with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low); and who ever humbles himself-who has a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly-shall be raised to honor." Matthew 23:8-12, Amplified There is no question that the Church needs apostles (Ephesians 4:11), and various renewal groups have attempted to meet this need in various ways. The emerging Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC) believed that the unity of their church centered in the "college of the twelve apostles," men who gradually were appointed to that office. Since the CAC saw itself as a model more than a missionary organization, it displayed a virtual dis regard for expanding or perpetuating itself as a body. 24 Accordingly the twelve apostles were not to be replaced, and neither were the priests they ordained. Gradually those apostles and priests died off and the church dwindled to insignificance. Surely in the light of the development of the CAC, it would be well for us to consider the purpose of apostolic and prophetic ministries and how these ministries can be perpetuated and expanded. The evangelistic func tion of the CAC was apparently lost in the glory of a restored, sedate apos tolate. They fulfilled divine destiny, they felt, by pursuing their course, so they had no regrets. As the CAC matured, there was a noticeable moderation of the spiri tual gifts. By 1847 John Cardale, one of the leading apostles, shared his concern about a "crisis of apathy" in the movement. This challenge ini tiated a renewed seeking of God and a crystallization of theology about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term that became formalized in the CAC was sealing with the Holy Spirit, 25 and this was to be received by the laying on of the apostles' hands. The age-old problem of religious "cooling off" that has challenged every religious movement gradually came, it appears, to the Catholic Apos tolic Church. As the movement became institutionalized, a gradual soft pedaling of the charismatic manifestations took place. I pointed out in chapter 15 that the prophetic voice goes silent from neglect. The body was left without its dynamic life force, the Holy Spirit. In view of historical developments, it seems apparent that God was indeed restoring spiritual gifts to the Church, but immaturity and reti cence in both people and leadership, plus the harping and criticism of the media, caused the developing spirituality to be thwarted, even derailed. It was a tragic loss to the restoration process of the Church, yet an amaz ing "morning star" contribution to Church history. When the morning

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