Apostolic Perception
The camel in the header image above was selected as a symbol of an Apostle who is gifted to see and perceive disorder. In fact, an Apostle is created to destroy disorder as easily as a camel can devour cactus!
See the link “Apostles Abolish Disorder” for more details.
The header image of the camel above is also selected because this camel appears to be in somewhat of a “meditative-mood” or looks somewhat “perceptive” as if his mind is in a faraway place. If it could be possible for a camel to have “deep-thoughts” then this camel could be used to represent the Apostle who does not see things as other people see them. It is by the operations of the “Revelation Gifts” that the Apostle can see and perceive inward heart motives of humans which can be much different than the image they are trying to convey to the people in public.
See the link “Spiritual Gifts” for more details.
My Own Experience with Revelation Gifts
My own experience with operation of “Spiritual Gifts” began in 1986 while I was attending a large church in Tulsa Oklahoma. I had just graduated from missions’ school and was looking forward to the time I could begin my work as an international missionary and it was at this time that “Spiritual Gifts” began to operate in me. I must confess that I was a young adolescent spiritually and did not yet have the spiritual maturity that I needed so rather than flowing with these gifts I got angry instead!
What happened was that I was born to be an Apostle/Teacher and as such I was given the “Revelation Gifts” particularly those gifts of “Discerning of spirits” to know human heart motives and “Word of Knowledge” to know things in the present time frame and the “Word of Wisdom” to know things yet future. This later gift operated in me to know future things when I later avoided numerous disasters as a missionary in the Philippines by being in the right place at the right time.
See the link “Idolatry-Curse of a Nation” for more details.
But when I was still in Tulsa, I would have the operation of the gifts of “Discerning of spirits” and “Word of Knowledge” operate in me constantly! Whenever I would attend church services I would suddenly “know” and “perceive” things about anyone who was standing in the pulpit before the congregation. I would have these “perceptions” about visiting preachers or someone giving announcements and even those who gave testimony or musicians or those who sang in the choir. I would know if they had a good and pure heart but also I would know when they were corrupted by evil motives or if they were engaging in secret sins or immorality. I would also know when someone was intruding into the holy office as a laymen intruder who was not called into the Fivefold Ministry.
Again, at that time I was just an adolescent and immature spiritually and I had absolutely no idea why God was showing me all of these things. Most of the things I perceived were bad and I only knew of a few of these people who had good hearts before God (like the senior pastor of this church). So, I had a problem with the bad things that I knew about people and I even knew things about the then “famous” guest-ministers who stood before the congregation. But I was in no position of authority to do anything about it and the good-hearted pastor who ran the church even invited these charlatans into his pulpit to speak to his people so I could not kick them out or expose them or do anything about it.
It was not until years later when I received knowledge of the operation of the “Gifts of the Spirit” and I learned of the operation of the Fivefold Ministry Gift of “Apostle/Teacher” that I finally understand what God was doing.
See the link “Fivefold Ministry Gifts” for more details.
What was happening was that God was teaching me about the operation of these gifts so I would know how to flow in them. But God did not reveal these things about others to me just for me to expose them or become angry about it or even to confront them. He revealed these things to me and then later all of these things were confirmed to be true when various people who were exposed publicly for what they were engaging in secretly. This confirmed that what I had perceived about them was right and it was by the operation of these “Spiritual Gifts” that worked within me that I was able to know these things in supernatural manner. This helped me to learn how to flow in these gifts and gave me increased confidence every time I was later proven right about the things which I had already perceived about others in advance.
Often God will use a Prophet to expose sin and I know of a man with a dual-gift of Prophet/Teacher who would even write detailed prophecies exposing the secret sins of ministers and then circulate these prophecies among other ministers. The effect of this was to create a fear of the Lord that if these men did not repent of secret sins then God would also expose them publicly to their own great shame!
The Apostle and Prophet operate in such similar manner that they are nearly identical in many ways however the Apostle will typically have more focus on those things that are disorder. He does at times know and expose unrepentant and secret sin but that is primarily the role of the Prophet who exposes and rebukes sin and calls people to repentance. An Apostle however will have his primary focus on exposing and rebuking disorder (which is also a sin) but he is not exactly like a Prophet who will rebuke both corporate sins of a congregation and individual sins of specific people. The Apostle will often define and rebuke “disorder” both corporately and individually so he is a bit different than the Prophet who has his ministry focus on sin.
Discerning of spirits
The gift of “Discerning of spirits” is often confused to mean that someone can discern evil spirits or demons. But this is not the primary use of this gift which is to discern human spirits to know if they have good heart-motives or not.
Example of a Cross-Carrying Man
There was a man who would pass through Tulsa frequently and he would carry a wooden cross and witness to people on the streets. He was hugely popular at the time I was in that place and the most common response of the people was that “so and so” is the closest person to being like Jesus that we have ever met! But the operation of “Discerning of spirits” within me revealed that this man was in fact cultivating this image by the things he would say and do. He would speak humble sounding words of self-abasement and cultivate his own image of being a totally submissive servant before the Lord. When people spoke of this man however they were not thinking about “Jesus” but rather about how “this crossing carrying man” was so much like Jesus. There is a subtle difference here because it was not “Jesus” who was actually being glorified but rather “this man” who talked about how he himself is serving Jesus! When he left it was “this man” that the people were thinking about (not Jesus) who was on the outer fringe of what “this man” was doing. This man would constantly speak of serving Jesus and having Jesus as number one but in fact he was carefully cultivating an image of himself as the “servant” of Jesus.
There is deception involved here and if not for the operation of gift of “Discerning of spirits” I would not have seen what everyone else was missing. This man loved the praises of humans and craved it like a drug. He would do anything and everything to garner human praises and get them to remark that he was so close to Jesus. But in fact, this was an outward show and this man was only using the Name of Jesus to bolster his own self-worth and build his own self-invented ministry of carrying around a wooden cross.
Later I was invited to speak to the young people who gathered at his home from the church and here I was told by his wife that she does not know how to serve as a helpmeet to her husband but was just doing her best to follow him around sometimes as he carried the cross in different nations of the world. As it turned out later, this man was neglecting his wife and children and he would stay out on the road by himself for months at a time. He was as if trying to reach the whole world for Jesus while at the same time neglecting his own wife and children at home. He was in effect abandoning his family by his rare appearances at home and it was taking a toll on his marriage and upon his “orphaned” children whom he was neglecting. In fact, he would have been better off remaining single than to marry and then neglect this family in this manner.
What I perceived (as an Apostle) was not that this man was sacrificing his family for the sake of the gospel to witness for Jesus but in fact, the real reason he was abandoning his family was because he was addicted to the drug of human praise and would do anything to get this praise. This self-invented idea to carry a wooden cross around the world was not God’s idea but rather something of his own invention. Once he got married, he should have stopped doing this thing and spent his time putting his own family in order.
1 Timothy 3:4-5 (NLT2)
4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him.
5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?
The requirement for elders and everyone in the Fivefold Ministry (and even those who serve as deacons) is that they all must have their households in order with their wife in submission and their children obedient. If a man does not know how to manage his own household then how can he take care of God’s church? This is the standard set by God for all leaders in the church (including the deacons). This means that a man is not qualified to even sweep the floor (natural service as a deacon) in the church if his own household is out of order.
1 Peter 5:2-3 (NIV)
2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve;
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Those who are in the Fivefold Ministry (and also deacons) are all required to serve as examples to the congregation. If their own households are out of order then it is as if they are like babies still wearing spiritual diapers and using a baby-bottle and having to be carried around everywhere. No two-year-old “diaper baby” is qualified to give anyone any counsel or provide leadership for others when their own life is still in a mess!
In the same way those called into the ministry must have their own households in order with their marriage in good condition and their children obedient. The wife is to be a helpmeet to her husband but if he is still behaving like a single man and doing his own thing by himself out on the road then his wife has been denied the opportunity to become one-person together with him.
The cross-carrying man in my example was abandoning his family and staying on the road constantly like a full-time “vacationary” (one who uses the mission field to stay on a perpetual “vacation” serving only himself or just to escape the boredom of a secular job or to garner human praises).
This man in my example had a sterling reputation with everyone outside of the home and everyone spoke about how much “this man” loves Jesus. But again, it was all focusing on “this man” not upon Jesus. If I had not had the operation of the gift of “Discerning of spirits” as an Apostle then I would have never seen what is wrong with this picture. I was perceiving something that others were not seeing (who were singing his praises) and saying he is the closest person to being like “Jesus” that they have ever met!
But if someone would talk to his wife and children left at home, they would get a different story. This thing of speaking “self-abasing” words of false humility about his love for Jesus had little effect upon his wife and children who can see right through his farce. Again, this man was not carrying the cross to win souls or glorify Jesus but to only glorify himself and garner human praises for himself. People were always left with a good impression about “this man” but not actually about Jesus himself. Whenever someone is garnering human praises under pretense of serving the Lord then this is in fact an idol!
See the link “Idols of the Heart” for more details.
No one is going to praise such a man for staying at home and taking care of his wife and children because that is expected of every married man. But he was abandoning his family to carry a wooden cross all over the world in order to garner all of the human praises it could bring to himself for being so self-sacrificial. He was carefully cultivating this own image of being a completely “sold-out” servant of Jesus. But this was all focusing him as being a “servant” rather than focusing on Jesus himself. He in fact made an “idol” out of garnering human praises for serving Jesus.
I sent a prophetic word of the Lord to this man and warned him that he was neglecting his wife and family and that he should seek God for the ministry God has for him as a married man rather than behaving like a single guy living on the road constantly (chasing this false image of himself as a “servant” engaging in this fake ministry). But this counsel was not received and the last time I checked this man was divorced and remarried and continues to engage in garnering human praises by “cross-carrying” just as he did prior to his divorce and remarriage.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
God looks on the heart and considers the secret motives and does not consider the outward appearance. In the case of the “Wooden-Cross-Carrying-Guy” this man had all of the outward appearances of being the most “sacrificial” and “Christ-like” person that ever lived! At least this was the image which he was working to carefully cultivate among the minds of the people in public. But when it came down to his own family, he was completely disqualified from the ministry by living a “lifestyle” of a single-man by abandoning his wife and children.
It is by the operation of “Discerning of spirits” that an Apostle can see what is wrong with things which for all outward appearances seem like a good thing but are not. The “Discerning of spirits” can expose things that are hidden within the motives of the human heart by people trying to present a different picture of themselves to the public than what is actually happening with them in private and which is not in touch with reality.
If not for the perception of Apostles and Prophets who operate by the “Revelation Gifts” no one would typically see what is wrong with things that for all outward appearances seem like something good or beneficial.
Levite Woman Pushing Sons into Ministry
I know of a Levite woman who married a layman and because of this she found no outlet for her ministry. Therefore, in her particular case she pushed her laymen sons into the ministry so that she could gain an avenue of ministry or a “ministry outlet” through them.
See the link “Levite Woman” for more details.
This woman was similar to the wooden “Cross-Carrying” man because she was carefully cultivating an image of herself as a wonderful mother who insisted on her sons serving in the ministry. But this is the worst thing she could have done because her sons do not show any evidence of the fruit of a Fivefold Ministry Gift and as such, they could eventually endanger their own lives by intruding into the ministry for which they have not been called.
But what God did was to reveal to me what was happening in this family. This Levite woman was in fact running the household through her weak and passive layman husband. She influenced him to sell their home and move to a southern state to be near her son who was working down there. Nothing went well for them and among some of the unusual things that occurred was that her own daughter dropped dead suddenly while conversing with her mother and this woman herself later contracted a terminal disease. This sort of thing is evidence that the door has been opened to the adversary by some sort of disobedience in her life. This confirmed what the Lord told me that this woman had been feeding this “idol” of her heart for decades without repentance. She was carefully cultivating an image of being this “supermom” who garnered human praises for having her sons in the ministry.
One of her sons was running a gas station and sold fuel at cost to bring in a lot of people just so he could witness to them. This is typical behavior of those laymen who have no Fivefold Ministry Gift and will often resort to providing social benefits or other incentives to buy people to join their so-called ministry.
See the link “Endorsing Laymen Intruders” for more details.
The mother of this man however was willfully stubborn for decades by clinging to this idol of her heart and she displayed great arrogance about this thing and no one could ever correct her or help her see this sin. The Lord once told me to visit that family and this woman poured out her great spiritual arrogance before me in the things that she said. I could say nothing to her about this but remained silent. It was decades later that I heard of the series of disasters that came upon this woman. Other believers who told me of these things happening were perplexed that such a good and dedicated Christian could have so many demonic and evil things come upon them. But I had encountered this woman’s arrogance in this area decades before and I knew immediately the cause for her various misfortunes! It was her judgment that was delayed which finally caught up to her because of her long-term refusal to repent.
This woman was a Levite woman who was running the household and making the decisions for her family rather than submitting to her own husband. She was pushing her laymen sons into the ministry for which they were not called and she was carefully cultivating an image of herself in the minds of others as being the “supermom” who was so spiritual and who drew her identify from what her boys were doing in serving the Lord. But all of this was a farce and she was only doing everything she did to garner praises from humans (just like the wooden “cross-carrying” guy also did).
God revealed this to me in the early 1980’s before I became a missionary and it was not until over three decades later, I heard about the unusual misfortunes of this Christian woman. The Lord is patient and kind and often gives unrepentant sinners a long time to return to him but this woman refused to change and held onto her position of self-deception with great arrogance and no one could teach her anything or correct her in the least bit. So finally, she crossed that line of perdition and opened the door to the adversary because of her unrepentant sin and this is how she became open to destruction.
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
It should be noted that the enemy Satan cannot just devour any Christian in haphazard manner but he must have some sort of open door before he can attack them. The open door is sin and if a believer has stubbornly refused to repent of some “idol” of their heart for many decades then eventually they will come to the time of their own judgment and will open the door to the adversary to devour them like an lion!
This unrepentant woman I am referring to had numerous mishaps and experienced tragedy because of this unrepentant idol that she was carrying in her heart which she stubbornly refused to repent of and which she defended in militant manner. Not even God could help her because she was too arrogant to receive any instruction or correction from anyone. When I visited that family in the early 1980’s (and saw her great arrogance) I knew that I could not say a word to her because she was not going to receive correction from anyone. It was later that I heard of all of the unusual disasters that had overtaken this woman and I knew that the adversary had finally gained access to devour her because of this stubborn and unrepentant sin which she harbored in the form of this “idol” for over three-decades.
Often God will not permit an Apostle to say anything at all to certain people because God knows they have no ears to hear and will not receive correction. I was baffled for over three-decades about why God told me to visit this family in the early 1980’s when it appeared to be a total waste of time. I was in fact berated by the arrogance of this Christian woman and was shocked by her behavior. I had been long wondering if I had missed God by even showing up in that place but it was over three-decades later when I heard the news of what happened to this woman. Then God spoke to me and reminded me of the great arrogance this woman had displayed over this issue of her heart-idol of having her own sons in the ministry. Everything she said and did was all designed to feed this “idol” and garner the image of being a “supermom” in the minds of others.
Often God will expose disorder to an Apostle and also reveal the source of this disorder. This woman was introducing disorder into the household of her husband and also for her own children by manipulating everything that they did only to serve her own heart-idol. Her misbehavior caused the disorder but it was the idol of her heart which was the source of this disorder.
Often God uses the Apostles to expose idols and to get to the root of the disorder that exists in families, groups, congregations, companies, and sometimes even nations. In the case of this woman, I was not allowed to expose or rebuke anything but it was only God revealing things to me far in advance (over three decades) before tragedy and judgment came upon this unrepentant Christian woman who was serving this idol most of her married life.
Three Purposes in Exposing Idols
God has three purposes in revealing heart idols and disorder to an Apostle.
1. This is often used to confirm his gifts in the beginning to show him things then later show him confirmation that what he heard from God was correct.
2. Sometimes the Apostle is allowed to expose and rebuke a heart idol and the disorder which is a result and on occasion someone might even repent and be restored after the rebuke.
3. Often the Apostle will give a last warning and rebuke for an idol and the disorder it is causing by defining it in clear manner then turning the guns upon the guilty party and saying “You are the guilty ones!”
2 Samuel 12:7 (NIV)
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! . . .
Nathan the Prophet defined the sin of King David when David took another man’s wife and then Nathan turned the guns upon King David and said, “You are that man!”
2 Samuel 12:13 (NIV)
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
David was unusual because he had a humble and repentant heart and acknowledged his sin before God and so he spared his own life from death. But regardless of his repentance he still paid a price for that sin when violence erupted from within his own household when his own sons committed murder within his family. These were consequences that resulted because of his sin of adultery.
If people have a repentant heart like David, they can repent of their heart idols and stop the resulting disorder which comes from serving these idols. But most often people will instead play tricks and try to find fault with the delivery boy so they will not have to submit to his correction and rebuke. When they do this however, they have made a “willful” choice against God and will go over into perdition at this time. They will not be able to keep playing the same games they did prior to being rebuked by an Apostle. The words given by that Apostle will hang over their heads like a death-sentence and they will remember these words even when their own judgment comes upon them.
People can either repent of their idolatry (which they have practiced for decades) or they can harden their hearts and proceed forward in stubborn manner. But in either case the rebuke can produce repentance or they will be sealed up for destruction after they have willfully rejected their last warning from God.
Again, no one can accuse God of being unjust or unfair because God often gives them decades to repent and change. But if they harden their hearts and proceed forward (even after being rebuked by an Apostle) then they have made a “willful choice” to cling to that idol and so they will go over into eternal destruction with it!
Genesis 6:3 (NKJV)
3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever . . .
This scripture also has application to the fact that the Spirit of God will not strive with humans forever but a time will come when they will cross the perdition line in their stubborn refusal to repent. The Spirit of God is patient and may even convict them of sin for many decades gently dealing with them to draw them toward repentance. But a time will come if they persist in that rebellion that God will allow them to go to hell with their idol. This is true of believers rebuked by Apostles who have refused to repent of their heart idols even after these were clearly exposed!
God often uses the Apostle to deliver that last warning of rebuke by clearly defining and exposing their sin so they cannot deny it and then call them to repent. If they resist and rebel then that is a clear decision to go to hell with that idol. The Apostle provides the last warning like a “Bridge Out Ahead” sign so that they can have one last opportunity to repent and turn around before they cross the line of perdition and plunge to their own deaths.
God uses Apostles to rebuke disorder and set it back in order again or else if the people reject that rebuke then his words will serve as their last warning before they experience destruction. It is a matter of human freewill if they will accept and repent as King David did or if they harden their hearts and go forward in rebellion and stubbornness toward their own destruction.