5-fold/4-fold Response

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

April 14, 2012


 *2012-04-14 - RESPONSE TO “FIVE-FOLD - or - FOUR-FOLD?”*


 A professor friend of mine read my article response - “Five-fold - or -
Four-fold?” He has sent me the following response, which I much appreciate.
As he inferred - there are many other 5-fold connections in the human body
that likewise confirm the Ephesians 4:11 five-fold. One is the 5 lumbar
vertebrae. They are the power and lifting vertebrae. Just as they are as it
were the fulcrum for the body's 33 vertebrae to protect the spinal cord -
which sends messages from the brain to every organ and cell of the human
body - so the 5-fold ministries give support, adjustment and equipping to
every member of Christ's spiritual body.


 Here is my friend's most interesting response:


 On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 3:33 PM,  wrote:

 *Dear Bro Jim:

I have followed you for years online and am on your mailing list. I agree
with your answer to the brother that I just accessed today. Although it is
not an essential concerning our salvation, I do believe it is an essential
to our perfection. Let me give you several illustrations, some you may have
already known, some you may not. I just leave them here for your
consideration.

For years I taught in a Canadian Christian College writing and teaching
from the present truth revelation God was giving as I studied the Word.
Before I began there in 1991, my heart had been being exercised concerning
the term used by Paul, "the Body of Christ". The Lord kept drawing my
thinking to doing a study on this subject from the perspective of the
natural body being a type and shadow.

Although I have a number of Doctoral letters behind my name, medical doctor
is not one of them. I did not want to venture into that arena not having
the medical authority to do so. Then Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancy wrote
their initial book "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made". Dr Brand providing the
medical expertise and a basis of spiritual insight through his years and a
leprosy surgeon in India, and Philip Yancy his superb writing skills.

Because of your walk with God and spiritual birth in the move of 1948, you
will understand when I speak of knowing things by revelation that you were
unable you are unable to prove, because of lack of the availability of
natural knowledge. Because of that level of revelation, I was able to take
Dr. Brand's applications into further depth. I would particularly like to
apply some of that the understanding of what we have always called, "the
five-fold ministry".  Please be patient with me in this. (I am going to
block and paste from different portions of my courses "Spiritual Parallels
to the Natural Body,  & from Spiritual Parallels to The Natural Body, The
Head") Different quotes have a double space between them.

**"In every portion of the body we have those cells, bones, body members,
and organ functions that speak of the five ministry gifts. As we come to
them, we will deal with each expression that shows a portion of the
function. It is these cells that are able to continue to multiply, that are
a type of the five ministry gifts. They do the repair needed to those
portions of the Body that need it. "** (Spiritual Parallels to the Natural
Body)

**"The White Blood Cells: These patrol the blood, these FIVE DISTINCT TYPES
of cells form the initial assault forces against infection and invaders."*

 *There are some arresting similarities between the operation of the white
cells and the functioning of the five ministry gifts. The primary function
of the white cells is to fight invaders and is a defensive position. In the
following paraphrase from Dr. Brand's book, we set the stage for that
understanding. *

 *"Very appropriate to describing what happens within our bodies is
language and imagery used for war. Our bodies simply declare war on
invaders." (This next section is rather long but foundational to
understanding the parallels)

Often God's ministries go on the attack when something threatens them from
outside the Body of Christ. i.e., legislation, community actions, etc. The
white blood cells do not become mobilized until there is an invasion into
the body. These white blood cells are to keep the blood pure and free from
foreign matter. The white blood cells form the initial assault forces. They
have very distinctive functions. This, then, sets the context for our
understanding of the function of ministry within the Body of Christ.

In describing the action of the white cells, we will first give an overview
of their action and then delineate why we feel each, in their function, is
like certain ministry. I am going to place a footnote with each one that
will describe the spiritual ministry parallel, as well as say what the
reference source was.

There is a group of white cells that serve as the initial assault troops,
who are armed with crude chemicals; these try to overwhelm the invaders by
force of numbers, alone. There are others that come in with heavier
chemicals as ammunition equivalent to battle tanks. Another group of white
cells float freely in the bloodstream, taking out stray invaders. There is
also a group that try to herd the invaders into the lymph glands, like
taking captives back to a fortress for execution. Then there is the
sanitary corps, who stay around and clean up after all the fighting is
done."

Because some of the white cells are programmed for only one disease, there
needs to be a vast number of them. ..... Most white cells live only 10
hours, but a few live for sixty or seventy years and are the memory bank
that preserve that battle strategy against the invaders. These cells check
into their assigned lymph glands every few minutes. Dr. Brand calls them
the master cells.

Before we deal with "master cells", I want to talk about the majority cells
that last only 10 hours. This refers to the majority of the ministries
working within the Body at large, not having a major effect on the whole.
Their influence is basically local or temporary, though.

There is an interesting application when the spiritual equivalent is
examined. There is a scripture in the book of Eccl. that seems to fit the
description. ECC 12:11  The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails
fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
In our study it would seem that the lymph nodes represent local assemblies.
This being true, it would validate that all ministry, whether Apostle or
any of the others, should be based from a local assembly. They may travel
throughout the Body, but there must be a "checking in" at their local bases
from time to time. In the words of our verse, these representatives of the
Apostolic ministry are the "masters of assemblies" They are given to
oversee the local assemblies.

1CO 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Concealed in this passage is another responsibility of the Apostle. Again,
using the language of scripture and of Dr. Brand, we find the master
builder, in the body, builds an immune system, or army. In this master
white cell are hidden all the plans for war, and the formula used to raise
the armies of resistance to invasion. These "walking libraries" hold within
them the blueprint for battle and building.

The Apostolic Ministry are ordained of God to found local assemblies. God
places within them the blueprint, or vision, for the expression of the
local assemblies they found. It is important in our understanding of this
that we do not expect all Apostles to act and react the same. Each one is
to be distinctive in his/her expression and work.

In the natural, without these senior white cells, the body would loose all
ability to protect itself. You will note, as you read the writings of the
Apostles, that each one had a distinctive expression. There were certain
errors that each one fought and others that they all rose up against. They
are the ministry that keep the consistency in the Body of Christ. It is
their call to keep the Body free from the invasion of error. It is
important to notice the following statement and apply it to the Body of
Christ.

"In order to win the bodies, antibodies must kill 100 percent of the
invaders." The purpose of God, in the midst of all of the type and shadow,
is to be able to express His desire for His Body through them. His desire
is that His Body be fully free from error of infection, virus, and disease.
Dr. Brand says that is as difficult a task as killing all mosquitoes in a
given city.

Without the ministry that God has provided, it is impossible to be able to
keep His Body error free. There are those who will not acknowledge certain
of the ministry. This means that their portion of the Body has an immune
deficiency. The Body of Christ is weak and sickly because the Body of
Christ  refuses to allow the ministry to function as God ordained. The
restrictions placed upon the ministry are like drugs used to suppress
immunity. It is the purpose of God that the ministry function as directed
by the Head.

Our Creator has placed within the white cells certain capabilities. Some
have the ability to pick up or build a certain antibody. That white cell's
whole life will be dedicated to that one purpose. Some He has programmed to
flow throughout the body, dealing with stray microbes that may have escaped
from the initial fight. .....

"Although there are five white blood cells, there are three that are more
alike than others. There is a relationship between the three and the
others, the three could be called virus or microbe eaters." These three
could be said to be the equivalent of the three governmental ministries. **1CO
12:28**  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps, governments, diversities of tongues."...

 * *"In the foot God places five toes that are indicative of His care for
our walk, both naturally and spiritually.  There spiritual counterparts are:

    1.    Grace to keep our walk in balance.
    2.    Ministry to help balance out our walk with Him and our walk with
one another.*

*"The Blasts, who produce the fibers, are likened by Dr. Paul Brand to the
ministry of prophets and teachers.  They interpret the unchangeable
principles in the light of the peculiar conditions of their day.  They
teach the word and the Spirit of it, thereby helping the Bones of the Body
adapt to the stresses of the time. I would like to suggest another
possibility to Dr. Brand’s description, what he feels is the application of
the Blasts that lay the fibres.  In what we have read in the text
describing the work of these spiritual Blasts, he uses the word
“interpret.”  In the use of this, he suggests to me a scripture in Job."
*

 *All expressions of the ministry are covered with skin.  Clearly God wants
to bring the ministry to a place where they are willing to be hidden from
sight, yet fully functional.*


*[from the section on the ear]

In the INNER EAR are three canals , that although they are filled with the
same fluid as the other portions of the inner ear, their function is
totally different than the other. These three canals govern our balance. If
these are faulty it is impossible for us to maintain our balance. These
canals are collectively called the Corti. Two stand basically upright and
the other is horizontal. These aptly detect movement of the head and send
appropriate messages to the brain. If there is a problem in these, we will
not be able to tell which way is up. Again these are coordinated in the
brain, not in the ear. This means that we must be sensitive to those
commands that come from the brain that interpret our circumstances or our
posture according to the norms of God. (Norms are the absolutes of God.
Many today do not realize that that there are absolutes. These are only
known in the brain) ...

An interesting factor in the understanding of balance is, that men and
women can balance without sight, but cannot balance if the inner ear is
dysfunctional. One of the reasons for this is that there are five nerves
that come into these three canals. These three five nerves of these canals
represent the positions of the five fold ministry in checking out the
balance in the word that we hear in the Spirit. God has placed them there
in type and shadow that we might learn to walk in balance. It is
interesting that they are not seen, in type, in the outer ear or the middle
ear. It is the inner ear that is governed by these ministry. It is not the
surface levels of hearing that God is speaking of when these are looked
at.(from The Head)

.....................................................................................

There are a number of other quotes I could use, but I just wanted to
communicate that in the natural body, the type and shadow that God Himself
made, the 5-fold ministry is typed both in multiple ways and in varied
expressions throughout the whole of the Body.

I hope I have not wasted your time, but I really felt to send this to you.

Your friend
* <http://http//www.theinstituteforstrategicchristianleadership.com/>


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