You must also welcome traveling believers in your home because they went for the sake of the Name.
False apostles and prophets
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. – Ephesians 4:11
You must have proven apostles, meaning the teachers who do the job of Paul and Barnabas among you. Jesus Christ inspires people for this work even nowadays. You need them to teach the church, refute false teachings and practices and expose the false prophets among you. Sound teaching has a high importance. New converts can easily lose their salvation if, once baptized, church leaders will lead them astray with their false teachings:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. – Matthew 23:15
You must not be confused with the original twelve apostles whom Jesus personally appointed while He walked the earth in a physical body. This is the definition of the word ”apostle”:
An apostle (/d'ppsdl/), in its most literal sense, is an emissary, from Greek anooToAoq (apostolos), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb anooTsAAsiv (apostellein), "to send off". The purpose of such sending off is usually to convey a message, and thus "messenger" is a common alternative translation; other common translations include "ambassador" and "envoy". – Wikipedia
So, who are the apostles in our time? These are the well- known teachers who influence believers around the world. If you ignore their sound teaching, then you ignore the voice of God for every apostle speaks on God’s behalf. You have the Scriptures to check if the words they speak are from God, the same way as Bereans used to examine the Scriptures:
Now these Jews [Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. – Acts 17:11
This is important because even a well-known and reputed teachers might go astray and teach falsely, leading you away from the sound doctrine of Christ.
Speaking to the church leaders
Majority of the believers who receive the revelations from the Lord, instead of teaching the church directly, go to church leaders, pastors or priests to deliver their revelation to them alone. You must never do this. When Paul used to write letters to churches, he addressed all the disciples of Jesus Christ, not elders alone. Paul never communicated with the elders alone trying to solve an issue of entire church. In fact, the names of the elders are not even mentioned in the Scriptures! Even when he wrote the letters to Timothy and Titus addressing some church issues, they were his fellow workers and not the elders of the church. The below Scriptures clearly show whom Paul addressed in his letters:
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus… – 1 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus… – Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia… – Galatians 1:1
As you can see from above letters, Paul addressed churches, not the elders. So with you, if you want to prophesy, then you must teach the church publicly. Don't fear the Antichrist: church leaders, pastors and priests but fear God instead.
Pastor pushes the opponent
True apostles or teachers will never advocate the use of physical force against their opponents. They must destroy the arguments of their opponents, for the war of believers is not against the flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of eviclass="underline"
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12
It is a common practice for church leaders, pastors and priests to request ushers or building security staff to drag people out from the meeting place for opposing them. By doing so, they reveal their love for violence. They also call police and charge person with trespassing the private territory of their religious organization.
Exposing false apostle Dr John Oakes
One of the false apostles which I have encountered in my life is Dr John Oakes. Dr John Oakes is a well-known teacher, author of books on apologetics, who runs a website: www.evidenceofchristianity.org. Dr John Oakes advocates the use of physical force against disciples of Christ, forbids reproving church leaders and teaches to support church leaders even when they are wrong.
When I opposed some church leaders for lording over believers, Dr John Oakes, being a friend to some of them, requested to physically remove me:
You have been asked to leave. That is exactly what you should do. If you refuse to do so, then you give the group there no choice but to physically remove you. What else can they do? That would be on you, not on them. I am sure they will not use any more force than is required if you physically resist leaving. Let me suggest a better option: Move on to another group which is closer to what you believe and practice. – Dr John Oakes
Few weeks later, he wrote an article making this statement:
My role is to support what the leaders are doing, even when I do not completely agree with what they are doing. – Dr John Oakes (What Should I Do To Become a Christian Teacher? by John Oakes | Douglas Jacoby, 2020)
Being a “restorationist” himself (Wikipedia: John Oakes (apologist)), Dr John Oakes follows the following teaching:
Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.
The truth is that the scripture is never silent, for the word of God is living and active:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12
John Oakes also forbids reproving elders in the church.
Below is Dr John Oakes’s response to me via emaiclass="underline"
The Bible tells us to not publicly challenge an elder (1 Timothy 5:17-21). It is right there in the Bible, so you might want to consider this teaching. I believe, however, that all members ought to be able to challenge their elder in private. The advice in 1 Timothy 5 is that you do this in the presence of one or two others, not alone, but I am not sure that this is an exact formula we ought to follow for every situation. – Dr John Oakes