Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Wanting to help people is the wrong reason to go into a ministry.
Going into ministry is a call of God. That is the only valid reason to go into ministry. If God has "called" you to be a minister, then go into that ministry for which you are called.
Mt. 4 ... 18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea:for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
The call of God must be on your life. You can't just decide on your own that you want to be a minister. It is a call of God.
One time a woman at the church I was attended came to me and said, "I want to be just like you."
I was very shocked. I replied, "You do?" It never occurred to me that anyone would want to be a minister. But many want to be ministers. But are not called to be ministers.
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NT ministries: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher
Eph. 4 ... When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that HE (Jesus) ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
After HE ascended ... after Jesus was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven ... HE gave these ministry gifts to the church ... apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher ...
Paul is not the last apostle. Paul is the first of the NT apostles given to the church after Jesus arose. Agabus (Acts 11 & Acts 20) is an example of a NT prophet given to the church after Jesus arose.
But all who are real ministers of God are called by God and set into the ministry by the will of God and not by their own will, though many today call themselves ministers without being real ministers set in the church by God through HIS Spirit.
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For those who are really called by God to be ministers, we are confirmed by God ...
Many have said to me, "You can't be an apostle / prophet."
I am unaffected by these people. I have many confirmations from God concerning my calling ... God confirmed it to me through taking me into heaven twice and merging me into the body of Jesus twice ... God confirmed my calling to me through dreams ... God taught me what to do in the work by scriptures ... God equipped me for the work by giving me gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable me to do the work (gift of exhortation, word of wisdom, word of knowledge) ... and God sent his messengers in form of people to confirm the call of God on my life. So I have had many confirmations, though also many people doubt. I just keep doing the work God has shown me to do.
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Several years ago, a man came my way quoting more scripture that I've ever heard from anyone. Is this man a pastor? I wondered. Then he began adding his own ideas to scripture and I had to correct him. Over and over I had to correct this man. He didn't seem at all concerned that he was adding wrongly to scripture. It didn't matter to him. This man couldn't be a pastor though he could quote scripture. Those called by God very much care about correct use of scripture and to use scripture incorrectly would be a great grief to a man of God.
I've had people come my way who seemed to be prophets. Later it would be discovered they were prophesying by "a strange spirit", like some kind of "familiar spirit".
One woman came to us and she looked like she did prophet work. She was very upset over pastor who was making sexual overtures to her. She told him it was wrong for him to be doing this. That all sounds right. But she expressed a great desire for a husband. And she had two children by a man to whom she was not married. She was looking for a husband. I had strong impression that she was going to have trouble with fornication. It turned out she was already committing fornication even as she corrected that pastor. This proved this woman. We withdrew from her.
Ministers of God will not do ungodly acts.
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Mt. 24 ... 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I (Jesus) am Christ; and shall deceive many.
One sign of the coming of Jesus will be the rise in false ministers ... They will come saying "Jesus is Lord." (The church would not listen to them otherwise.)
They often have an appearance of godliness.
But they do not uphold the spirit of the scriptures and end up twisting scripture and adding various things to scripture and setting up "perverse" doctrines.
The apostle Paul spoke of these in the following:
Acts 20 ... 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch,
I've seen this many times as I have visited church groups. Pastor would speak incorrectly and misuse scripture, often for his own perceived benefit. Each time I saw this, I went to that pastor. No one ever repented. I believe these men were ministers of Satan, as we read about in the following scripture.
II Cor. 11 ... 12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Jude ... 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers (imitators) in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Some of these ministers want to be great, wanting personal fame. Some want money. Without exception I've heard them bring perverse bits of doctrine into their speaking, removing some scripture, twisting other scripture, changing the doctrine, often to please men.
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The apostle Paul said before the return of Jesus there would be "a falling away". This falling away has to do with church groups falling away from scripture.
Scripture is changed in order to approve sin in the congregation.
A primary example of this falling away is in dealing with the scripture of Mt. 5:32 ... Jesus said ... But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery:and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
- The man who divorces a faithful wife will be the cause of her committing adultery if she remarries after divorce.
- The faithful wife will commit adultery if she remarries after divorce
- The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery
I've never heard any of this scripture spoken in any church group. If the pastor said, "The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery", many in his group would be very upset and angry and some would leave his church group. For this reason, this scripture is eliminated from teaching.
Another scripture I've never heard spoken in any church group is the following.
The apostle Paul said the following to the NT church:
I Cor. 7 ... 10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband:and let not the husband put away his wife.
The falling away from such scripture is a sign of antichrist moving into the church group and setting himself up as god.
We read about this in II Thess. 2 ...
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
What do we do when we see this in church groups? The only thing we can do is come out from that group.
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In 1979, God gave me the following dream, which is very shocking.
In
this dream, I went into a room where a meeting was going on. There was
one vacant seat on the aisle and I sat down and began listening to a
man who was speaking to the group. Another man rushed and went to the front of the room and said, "Stop ... wait ... can't you see ... It's too late! It's already begun."The
first man resumed speaking to the group. I looked out the window and
was shocked at what I saw. There was a tall, civil defense type pole
with a yellow warning speaker on top of the pole. Out of the speaker
was coming a poison gas. I knew it would kill the people and
shockingly the gas was coming from our own speaker which was supposed to
warn us. I looked at the man who was sitting next to me. He was
sitting upright. He had a big smile on his face. He was looking
directly at the speaker in an attentive way. But this man was a corpse. He was dead though he looked alive. Then
I looked at people around the room and they were already dead also.
And as I sat back in my seat, I felt myself falling asleep, dying as I
listened to the speaker.
This was a church gathering. The speaker who should be warning the congregation is speaking a poison that ends up making the congregation think they are alright no matter what they are doing so sin can exist in the congregation without correction or repentance. Thus death comes.
And as I sat among them, I began to fall asleep. It would kill me too.