The WCG hierarchy ‘files away’ the church, ignoring them. This is a demonstration of the callousness of WCG leaders, who think nothing of lording it over their flocks, claiming they are acting for God, when clearly they are exhibiting a primary wrong ‘fruit’ – one of spiritual control or oppressive domination.

The Church Leadership Should Consider the Members

It is seldom appreciated in hierarchic 'church' structures that the church (from the Greek ekklesia) is numerically comprised more of the 'members' or 'laity' than the so-called 'clergy' or leadership, and therefore members should take precedence in such a system. (More on this later.) If there should ever be a dispute as to what the church says or promotes, it should never be decided by the leadership without prior consultation with the laity. Why? Because the leadership in a human structure, like the Worldwide Church of God, are mere men with human ideas, human reasoning, and human aspirations. They are not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them.

The proof of that is in to be seen in the structure of the church. Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad and its fruit will be bad (Matt 12:33). The structure of the WCG is bad! (This fact is proven in God's Church – Whose Authority?) Therefore its fruit cannot be any better. This is why there is so little ‘anointing’ from God, so little supernatural manifestation, so little divine evidence of His presence in the WCG.

Oh, I don't dispute that there is the occasional healing, the occasional miracle. But they are the exception, not the rule. And they occur for individuals who are genuinely seeking God and submitting themselves as much as they are able to the Holy Spirit in their own lives. It is unfortunate that they are submitting themselves also, to varying degrees, to the men who lead them, to the leaders of the church. Such submission compromises their spirituality, and restricts their growth.

Ideally, leaders should be leading in the right direction. They should be following the lead of the Spirit of God. If they are, there will be evident ‘fruits’ demonstrating His presence, inspiration and guidance, such as spiritual manifestations and dreams and visions. If there are not, then the rest of the church should beware of believing and following such men. There have been, and are, many charlatans in the WCG, making a living from others by promoting themselves using God's Word as their springboard to prominence. But if you want to see the Spirit of God moving, the best place to look is not in comfortable church structures, but in the ‘wilderness’ outside. That's where the apostles and prophets operate.

The Proper Arrangement in the True Church

In the church (ekklesia), God has placed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (‘shepherds’) and teachers (Eph 4:11). Their function (notice that word, it is critical in understanding how God operates through His human instruments) is to build up the body in spiritual knowledge, understanding, discernment, revelation and direction. It is their FUNCTION which is important, not their POSITION! This is where hierarchic ecclesiastical structures, such as the WCG, miss the mark. They replace function by position. Or, to put it another way, they make position more important than function.

God is not interested in position. But men who control churches are. They want leadership roles. They want dominance, influence, power. The true ministries, however, are not interested in such carnal aspirations; they seek to fulfil their function, not lording it over others.

Function is seen when God's presence is manifested. Paul was an apostle. How would you have known he was an apostle if you lived in his day? There were miraculous signs and wonders which accompanied his ministry (2 Cor 12:12). It is the same with prophets. True prophets receive revelation from God via dreams, visions, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, etc. – via supernaturally given communication from God.

In these pages I am passing on some of these divine communications to you. What you do with them is up to you. These are the evidences of my function as a prophet to the church. The fact that I am a prophet doesn't make me any more important than you. As a person, I may be far less clever, far less talented in some ways than you. Being a prophet doesn't make me better than you. It doesn't give me a 'higher position' than you in terms of a human pecking order. But it does give me greater responsibility than you, if you are not a prophet. And you would do well to consider carefully what I say (or write) as a result of the inspiration God has sent my way for you as a part of the Church.

The various ministry functions which Paul listed in Ephesians 4:11 are listed in order of importance of spiritual FUNCTION, not in order of human importance. I hope you can see the significant difference.

This is where hierarchy in churches misses the point. God doesn't work through hierarchies. That is man's system, and man's system is derived originally from Babylon. It is the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9; 3:9), where Satan can achieve his greatest influence through false ministers and apostasy. You won't find much of God's inspiration in hierarchic systems. There may be a small amount, but it is only enough for God to achieve His purposes with His children still caught up in those situations, who have yet to come out (Rev 18:4).

Much more revelation is given to individuals OUTSIDE human-dominated churches. God has always worked throughout history, doing His most spectacular feats, through individuals who submitted themselves to the Holy Spirit and were willing to follow God's spiritual lead. Some examples: Moses, Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter and the other apostles, Philip the evangelist, etc. All of these were independent of human leadership. They acted as they were led by the Holy Spirit. That is why they became leaders in their respective places – because they were listening to and following the Spirit of God. That made them the leaders.

It ought to be the same in the Church today. The ekklesia should be hearing from the apostles, prophets and other ministries who are Spirit-directed and Spirit-submissive, but most aren't. Their places have been usurped by church leaders who present themselves as benefactors while they are actually beneficiaries of the set-up. Things have been reversed. They have made themselves important. They have put themselves in the place of God by acting as overlords and as teachers (they claim they speak for God when they don't, oftentimes). They claim to be your spiritual administrators. They have taken the place of the Holy Spirit's function as He/it influences the five-fold ministry.

You don't get to hear about the Spirit-directed appointments. These men make sure you don't! To give credit to the true prophets and apostles, and other true ministries operating in the power of the Spirit would detract from the WCG leaders' control over your mind. But the true leaders are the ones guided by the Spirit, frequently outside organised churches, not recognised by them, and often persecuted and maligned by them. They may even appear very ordinary.

All the apostles, except Paul, were 'nobodies'. They came from the 'rank and file'. If they lived today, and if you didn't know beforehand who they were, you would not have told them apart from any other person walking into a church meeting. They would be dressed in an ordinary way; their manners would be ordinary; there would be no airs and graces to set them apart from everyone else. They would not have made sure they dressed or behaved more impressively.

The only things which would have made them stand out from the crowd would be the things that come from God – their miraculous testimony (see Acts 15:12) and the Spirit-imbued teaching, replete also (where appropriate) with proof of divine revelation and authenticity. Otherwise, they were just ordinary folks, like you and me.

So, you see, members are important. They are more important than the leaders. The members SUPPORT the leaders. If there were no members, there would be no income, no church, and no need for leaders. But leaders have reversed the importance of such matters. They have made themselves more important than members. They impose their decisions on the rest of the church. And they leave her in a filing cabinet drawer, as the dream conveyed!