In Ephesians 4:10-16 we find the Apostle Paul, who received his Gospel directly from Jesus Christ by revelation (Gal. 1:12), writing to the church about the Lord’s activities prior His return to heaven following His resurrection from the dead. Because it has life and death implications for the church, it is important that we understand what Christ did at that time. Paul emphasized that what Christ did for the church at that time would remain in effect until His return. His eternal works for His people is stated beginning with verse 11.

Christ decreed that He would, in every generation, assign to His church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Why has He continued to appoint such leaders instead of allowing each congregation to choose them? Because He knows that man will choose those leaders who will tell them what they want to hear. Sound familiar? It should, for that is exactly how the counterfeit Catholic/Protestant Religious System, aka “the church,” has chosen its pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc. for the past 1800 years or more. This explains why billions of church members ministers, having chosen thousands of leaders, have been in an apostasy free-fall over hundreds of years. Though this Satanic trend shows no indication of slowing down, all is not lost.

God has always had a remnant of true believers who have not followed the religious crowd (Rom. 9:27; 11:5). Today they number only a few thousand world-wide. It is because of these few true saints that the Lord assigns His chosen apostles and prophets to lead His tiny, mustard seed-sized church today. As one of those few, I am eternally grateful for His love and grace.

The other reason Christ continues to assign leadership roles for His tiny church is stated in verses 12-16. Here he tells us that Christ and Christ alone makes those vital appointments so as to bring about “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (the true church) until we all come into a unified (single) faith and a singular knowledge of His teachings which will produce spiritually perfected saints who manifest “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Only in this way can His remnant avoid becoming “children who are deceived into believing the various church doctrines concocted by false prophets” whom men have chosen to lead their various religious systems (churches, denominations, faiths, etc.) Some religious groups actually hold “try outs” in order to see which preacher toes the particular denominational line the best. The chosen ones are the “hirelings” Jesus warns us about in John 10:12,13.

Jesus places men in leadership positions who will “speak the Truth in love so that the church will grow up INTO HIM (to be like Him) in every way” (see vs 12). The Lord’s appointed leaders all teach the same Gospel so that all local congregations, regardless of their location or size, are all one in the Lord Jesus so that He is truly THE ONE AND ONLY HEAD OF THE ONE AND ONLY BODY OF CHRIST. During the days of the original apostles they met periodically to make certain that the churches they ministered to were all being taught the same Gospel. As Galatians 1:6-9 reveals, some in those churches were not on board with the one, singular Truth of God, which Jesus said was God’s Word (Jn. 17:17). The apostles’ letters to those churches often carried warning messages concerning some of their members falling away from the Lord (apostasy).

Since the deaths of the original apostles and the rise of Catholicism and Protestantism, the vast majority of salvation seekers have chosen to follow men who, though claiming to be called and sent by God, are in reality Satan’s false prophets. In Second Corinthians 11:13-15 the self-proclaimed “angel of light” rules the church through his self-designated “ministers of righteousness.” These men, and now women, provide a variety of theologies, doctrines, truths, etc. designed to appeal to the religious appetites of salvation seekers of all persuasions. Today there are hundreds of organizations from which to choose, each with its own version of God’s Gospel. If one cannot find a church, denomination, faith, congregation, etc. that scratches his/her religious ears (2 Tim. 4:3), one can simply create a church, faith, etc. that does. Satan, through religious man, has the right scratch for every itch. One needs only to find that man, or woman, who “tells it like it is”–“is” being whatever each seeker has determined “it” to be. He or she is out there somewhere. If not, he or she can become that man or woman, gather a following and declare the creation of a church. The key lies in the ear-scratching part of religious leadership (2 Tim. 4:3).

One world-famous evangelist knew exactly how to scratch the itching ears of those he supposedly “led to salvation” during his highly successful meetings where thousands were supposedly “saved” and “born again.” I read an estimate of 50,000 souls he supposedly led to the Lord. Having heard his “headline” filled message, masses of people would perform a specified ritual, at the end of which they were declared instantaneously “saved.” He would then give them written verification of their supposed born again status. With proof of their salvation and rebirth in hand, they were instructed to”… join the church of your choice.” In other words, they were sent out to shop around for the “church” whose doctrines aligned with their preconceptions of what characterized the “Christian life.” The variations of that life number in the hundreds. One man claims to have found over 700 varieties (denominations) of “the church.” This in spite of God’s declaration that there is only ONE. Read Ephesians 4:5 and the series titled Born Again. Key word–Born.

The reason for the false church’s continuous apostasy is because the men who founded the various churches were not appointed by God, nor are those who have led those organizations over the centuries. He makes this clear in Isaiah 23:21,32 where He declared relative to the religious leaders of His chosen people: “I have not sent them.” Neither did He appoint their religious descendants who fill the pulpits and podiums of the modern Laodicean church. As a result, professing Christendom is led by men, not God. God’s true messengers point to the Lord and His Word. Man’s hirelings point to man-formulated church doctrine, which is nothing more than the founder’s interpretation of God’s Word. This in spite of His command not to interpret His Word (2 Pet. 1:20,21). The Bible interprets itself for those who have the will to search for His “fine print” which explains His “headlines.” Read about this church problem using the key word–Fine. L.J.