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This is a very long, pedantic, barely coherent presentation almost completely absent scriptural documentation. This is in keeping with the author's prior M.O..
We will be deleting several large sections from this as we slog through endless vagaries, non sequiturs, and random threads of thought. It will be exceedingly difficult, but we think we're up to the job.
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And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.-- Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
https://burton.tv/2013/04/13/the-coming-shift-in-the-church-away-from-senior-pastoral-leadership-the-coming-church/
(...)
(Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.
"In the Western church, the pastoral office is the natural office to lead a church that's fueled by people's need for nurture. After all, it's presumed that pastors, by design, are the ones to meet the expectations of the people. They have the heart to do so. Therefore, pastoral leadership is widely embraced by those who are more inclined to receive than to give. Does that sound like American culture? Does a consumer mentality have its touch on most every area of our lives? Absolutely, and, it has nearly overtaken the church, and we as leaders have left that problem largely unresolved. What happens now is that pastors are overwhelmed with connecting with people, feeding them what they prefer and ensuring they are attended to--and that has compromised the strength and outward mission of the church." -- John Burton
In the Western Church? What is he talking about? (The Western Church, that is, the particular expression of church process, structure, and ministry in our cultural context as compared to other cultural contexts, or as compared to the biblical model.)
The Timothy and Titus letters are called the pastoral letters for a reason! (Indeed. But it's not correct to call them this.)
Paul was writing to his young and upcoming pastors and teaching them how to operate their churches! (No. No. No. Neither Timothy or Titus were pastors. Nowhere are they called pastors They were not pastors by title, position, or endowment. The Bible is very clear; they were fellow workers of Paul, sent on temporary assignments to various churches.
Regarding Titus:
However, the author needs Titus and Timothy to be pastors because the evidence for pastor-led churches is completely absent from the Bible. He needs them to be pastors in order bolster his case against John Burton. He needs them to be pastors because his own position as a pastor is imperiled if he ever acknowledged the truth about what the Bible teaches.)
We can then hopscotch throughout church history and the same paradigm exists! (Appeal to History, not the Bible.
The first century church was not organized with a singular authority at the top of the pyramid. That is very clear from the Bible testimony. For example, elders were appointed, not pastors.
That is, until the church of Rome began presiding over a group of churches, eventually evolving into the Roman Catholic church. Our present church structure is Catholic in origin, a corruption of the biblical model.)
Why? Because it is how the bible says the church is to organized. (Please Rev. Wade! Please tell us where this in the Bible! Will you quote us a verse, ever? Is it because you can't point to any place in the NT where the chief pastor model is presented?)
Burton is trying to pin thousands of years of biblical church organization on American laziness. (Another Appeal to History.
In addition, Burton never uses the word "laziness" or implies that that is the reason for the present state of the church.)
Jesus is called the great Shepherd! Was He just selling a consumer mentality? The reason why He uses the shepherd analogy is because that is how the church was to be organized. (Again we long for scriptural documentation.)
He calls His followers sheep for a reason! There is no outward mission of the church! This is straight up NAR dominionism. Pastors are not overwhelmed from shepherding. They are overwhelmed trying to do God's job of horizontally growing their church! (Not a single documented assertion in this paragraph. Therefore, we will simply dismiss these claims without comment.)
"Now, of course, helping people is absolutely appropriate and necessary, and pastors are the ones best equipped by God to do that, but this ministry was never meant to be the primary function of the church! -- John Burton
What???? What bible are you reading??? Read Paul's letters where he outlines church service. Is there any mention of an outward mission? (Where? Which letters? Name a verse! We would be satisfied with just one, please!)
Of course the shepherding of the sheep is the primary function of the church! (Which Burton does not deny. But the author misses the point. Burton says the pastor's ministry was never meant to be the primary function of the church. The author twists Burton's words.
As we noted, a singular CEO pastor is not the biblical model of leadership. A pastor doing his proper work of shepherding is not the same thing as him presiding over the church. And shepherding must include raising the Body to maturity and ministry. They cannot remain sheep, they must become shepherds themselves!)
Read the key verses today. Why did God give the church all of these great gifts? (Finally an appeal to an actual Scripture. So we should notice the author acknowledges the very Scripture which contains reference to multiple offices of a plurality of leadership: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers.
But he's only really interested in pastors.)
To equip the saints! For what? The work of ministry! What is the work of ministry? Building up the body of Christ! Is this a short-term endeavor followed by some outward mission? No! (We wonder where evangelism fits in this unfortunate declaration.)
"Jonas Clark:
The current structure or model of church ministry revolves around the pastoral paradigm (model) of ministry. A paradigm is a structure of ministry that serves as a model or pattern. It's astonishing but the word pastor, Greek poimen is only mentioned once in the entire New Testament. From one occurrence in scripture we have built thousands of pastoral churches. Yet there were no churches ever built in the New Testament by pastors. Even the one started at Antioch soon received Barnabas as an apostolic leader. Barnabas was a sent-one (apostolic gift) from the church in Jerusalem." -- John Burton
Now, I do not know who Jonas Clark is but quoting others who are just as wrong as you are does not make you right. His argument here is so disingenuous. We use words all the time that do not appear in the text. (So it's a problem that "apostolic ministry" doesn't appear in the Bible [see above], but it's not a problem that "pastor" only appears once? It's a problem that the idea that "prophets" announce the governmental order of the church" is not in the Bible, but his idea of pastors, not found in the Bible, should be the proper governmental order of churches?)
"You might presume that intercession is to be reserved for the mature, for those who have graduated from the equipping process. No! No! No! The best equipping center is the prayer room! If an 18 year old pimple faced young person fresh out of high school with no experience, no knowledge, no wisdom can join the Marines and fight for our country, he can do the same in the prayer room! Again, there is a place for pastors to nurture people like this, and, in fact, we need pastors not as senior leaders, but as smaller group leaders who can invest time into individuals. They need to prepare them quickly to respond to the coming instructions from the apostles and prophets. It would make sense to have serving with an apostle maybe ten to twenty pastors for every one hundred people in a church. Islamic prayer: The second pillar of Islam is salat, the requirement to pray five times a day at fixed times. Children are often required to fulfill this daily requirement by the age of 7. If a mosque can be jam packed full of people praying early in the morning on a weekday as happens in our area, and if children as young as 7 are praying five times a day in that system, certainly an all consuming, Holy Spirit fueled life of prayer for a Christian is not hard to imagine at all!" -- John Burton
What a bad analogy. The 18-year-old still has to go to training before being sent to war. (The author jumps all over the analogy without even bothering with what Burton wrote. We, however, read it: The best equipping center is the prayer room! If an 18 year old pimple faced young person ... can join the Marines... "Equipping" is "training."
You are a priest, and that means that you have a job to do. You are a priestly intercessor before God and the call is to pray individually and corporately continually! In the coming church, under apostles and prophets, we all will show up and pray! That is church! Church services will be prayer meetings again! Personal expectations will be replaced by assignments to serve, give, pray and lay down our lives! We won't show up with our prayer lists or our own issues but rather we will represent the nations as we invest into them in prayer. We are all priests and we all carry extreme authority! This is church at its best!" -- John Burton
While the bible does say we are a royal priesthood; nowhere does it say therefore we are all priestly intercessors.
"The Lost
The shift: Seeker churches will quickly fade away as the fire of the Holy Spirit rages in the houses of prayer. The lost won't be relationally converted as much as they will be converted by fire. We will trust God's wisdom as in Acts 2 and allow the fire of God impact a region. The prayer room will become the place of choice to bring the lost.
The difficulty: Everybody will have to drop most everything and tend to the fire in the house of prayer. To ensure the atmosphere is supernaturally charged, everybody in the church will be spending hours a day in the prayer room together. False salvations will drop to near zero as they won't be based on a simple prayer but rather on an encounter with the God of fire." -- John Burton
You just do not get it. Read Romans John. (How about a reference, Rev. Wade?)
We have now arrived at the actual topic contained in the title. It finally arrives after thousands of words devoted to arcane and tangential things.
So how does the NAR destroy the role of pastors leading the church? He never really answers this. But in actual fact, we find ourselves agreeing with the "NAR," if their intent is to reform church structure to reflect the biblical model [1Pe. 5:1]. The current role of pastors as sole presiders over the local church is unbiblical and often toxic.
So how does the NAR destroy the role of pastors leading the church? He never really answers this. But in actual fact, we find ourselves agreeing with the "NAR," if their intent is to reform church structure to reflect the biblical model [1Pe. 5:1]. The current role of pastors as sole presiders over the local church is unbiblical and often toxic.
"In the Western church, the pastoral office is the natural office to lead a church that's fueled by people's need for nurture. After all, it's presumed that pastors, by design, are the ones to meet the expectations of the people. They have the heart to do so. Therefore, pastoral leadership is widely embraced by those who are more inclined to receive than to give. Does that sound like American culture? Does a consumer mentality have its touch on most every area of our lives? Absolutely, and, it has nearly overtaken the church, and we as leaders have left that problem largely unresolved. What happens now is that pastors are overwhelmed with connecting with people, feeding them what they prefer and ensuring they are attended to--and that has compromised the strength and outward mission of the church." -- John Burton
In the Western Church? What is he talking about? (The Western Church, that is, the particular expression of church process, structure, and ministry in our cultural context as compared to other cultural contexts, or as compared to the biblical model.)
The Timothy and Titus letters are called the pastoral letters for a reason! (Indeed. But it's not correct to call them this.)
Paul was writing to his young and upcoming pastors and teaching them how to operate their churches! (No. No. No. Neither Timothy or Titus were pastors. Nowhere are they called pastors They were not pastors by title, position, or endowment. The Bible is very clear; they were fellow workers of Paul, sent on temporary assignments to various churches.
Regarding Titus:
2Co. 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ.
Ga. 2:1 Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
Tit. 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Tit. 3:12 As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.Regarding Timothy:
Ro. 16:21 Timothy, my fellow-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
1Co. 4:17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.
2Co. 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God...
Ph. 2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon...
1Th. 3:2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith...
1Ti. 1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus...This is a crucial understanding. Titus and Timothy were not pastors!
However, the author needs Titus and Timothy to be pastors because the evidence for pastor-led churches is completely absent from the Bible. He needs them to be pastors in order bolster his case against John Burton. He needs them to be pastors because his own position as a pastor is imperiled if he ever acknowledged the truth about what the Bible teaches.)
We can then hopscotch throughout church history and the same paradigm exists! (Appeal to History, not the Bible.
The first century church was not organized with a singular authority at the top of the pyramid. That is very clear from the Bible testimony. For example, elders were appointed, not pastors.
Ac. 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Tit. 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint [Or ordain] elders in every town, as I directed you.1Pe. 5:1 tells us the correct structure of church leadership:
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow-elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 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.An overseer is a shepherd is an elder. There is no difference. The elders shepherd the church. This is the biblical model.
That is, until the church of Rome began presiding over a group of churches, eventually evolving into the Roman Catholic church. Our present church structure is Catholic in origin, a corruption of the biblical model.)
Why? Because it is how the bible says the church is to organized. (Please Rev. Wade! Please tell us where this in the Bible! Will you quote us a verse, ever? Is it because you can't point to any place in the NT where the chief pastor model is presented?)
Burton is trying to pin thousands of years of biblical church organization on American laziness. (Another Appeal to History.
In addition, Burton never uses the word "laziness" or implies that that is the reason for the present state of the church.)
Jesus is called the great Shepherd! Was He just selling a consumer mentality? The reason why He uses the shepherd analogy is because that is how the church was to be organized. (Again we long for scriptural documentation.)
He calls His followers sheep for a reason! There is no outward mission of the church! This is straight up NAR dominionism. Pastors are not overwhelmed from shepherding. They are overwhelmed trying to do God's job of horizontally growing their church! (Not a single documented assertion in this paragraph. Therefore, we will simply dismiss these claims without comment.)
"Now, of course, helping people is absolutely appropriate and necessary, and pastors are the ones best equipped by God to do that, but this ministry was never meant to be the primary function of the church! -- John Burton
What???? What bible are you reading??? Read Paul's letters where he outlines church service. Is there any mention of an outward mission? (Where? Which letters? Name a verse! We would be satisfied with just one, please!)
Of course the shepherding of the sheep is the primary function of the church! (Which Burton does not deny. But the author misses the point. Burton says the pastor's ministry was never meant to be the primary function of the church. The author twists Burton's words.
As we noted, a singular CEO pastor is not the biblical model of leadership. A pastor doing his proper work of shepherding is not the same thing as him presiding over the church. And shepherding must include raising the Body to maturity and ministry. They cannot remain sheep, they must become shepherds themselves!)
Read the key verses today. Why did God give the church all of these great gifts? (Finally an appeal to an actual Scripture. So we should notice the author acknowledges the very Scripture which contains reference to multiple offices of a plurality of leadership: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers.
But he's only really interested in pastors.)
To equip the saints! For what? The work of ministry! What is the work of ministry? Building up the body of Christ! Is this a short-term endeavor followed by some outward mission? No! (We wonder where evangelism fits in this unfortunate declaration.)
It continues until the unity of the faith is achieved as well as the knowledge of the Son of God. So the sheep can mature and reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we will no longer be tossed to and fro by false doctrine, human cunning, and the craftiness of deceitful schemes. This is how the body of Christ is grown and built up in love. (Let's requote the passage:
The author thinks the saints do the work of the building of the body, when it's actually the five offices.
Why is this important? Because the author thinks the sheep are incapable of doing ministry. They must remain subservient and docile. Pastors by contrast are special and unique. So if he can reduce down the sheep into barely functional, easily deceived morons, his position as pastor is safer.
Later the author will complain about self-described apostles wanting to have power. We note that he as a pastor seems to want this same power.)
"Today, churches act much like hospitals. Their key function is to deal with the wounded. In reality, they should look more like MASH units! Soldiers who are wounded in the mission are quickly stitched up so they can get back to the war!-- John Burton
God is raising up people who want to get challenged, not fed. ~Isaiah Saldivar"
God is doing no such thing sir. If He were He would be violating His own word. Stop acting like being fed the word of God is a bad thing. Stop acting like saints desiring to move from milk to meat is a bad thing. It is far more challenging to work on our own lives and our own sin then to focus on the sins of others in your fake war. It is far more challenging to pick up our own cross and deny ourselves than to go into the mission field bleeding and armed with a pop gun. The church is neither a hospital or a MASH unit. Stop using carnal war analogies while you are at it. We are not Joel's end time army. (What a mess. Very little can say about this, since it is so full of tedious misdirection. It's this kind of thing we find so frustrating, and so common with the author, as these multiple unrelated statements are cobbled together into a "paragraph" of sorts. But these statements have no bearing on the narrative, do not connect to each other, do not address what Mr. Burton is quoted as saying, aren't documented or referenced, and therefore add no information to the conversation.)
"Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
The nurturing, equipping process is important, but it is not the goal! Notice that the equipping is for a reason! To work! Additionally, we have every opportunity and responsibility to feed ourselves instead of relying fully on the church. Today there are countless teachings online, in books, on CD's and more. There is no excuse for any of us to rely on anybody else for our nourishment. We should not be showing up to the church empty waiting to be fed. We should arrive full and overflowing with the richness of the Word that we have fed ourselves with that week!" - John Burton
First of all, he left out the full context of this beautiful set of verses which I have already addressed. (He addressed this? When did this happen? We must have missed it...)
Secondly, he is right that equipping is not the goal; it is the means. The goal however is not some outward war. The work of ministry is the building up of the saints and even when fully built up it is not go out to some imaginary war but rather to attain unity in doctrine! That is the goal! (Um, no. Paul does not say this. Paul's stated goal is to raise up the people to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The only mention of doctrine is regarding a mature person being able to resist the allure of false doctrine.)
Will some rise up to teach? Yes! will some raise up to pastor? Yes! will some rise up to do the apostolic work of missions and evangelism? Yes! But that is not everyone! Read the passage again! (We shall read it indeed: ...until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ... What does we all mean, Rev. Wade? So how many is "not everyone?" Please, give us some information!!! Just a little bit is all we ask!)
These people are the gifts God gives the church to mature it in doctrine. (Nowhere in Scripture are these people referred to as gifts to the church.)
The bulk of the people are still sheep and they need a shepherd by definition. (This is quite false, of course. We all means we all. The author is desperate to keep his little flock in their place, writing their tithe checks, with him being admired by his sheep for every clever turn of phrase in his sermons. This the sheep's lot in life for Rev. Wade's church. Forever dependent, forever fawning, forever on the sidelines.
As an aside, we are forced to wonder who shepherds the shepherds? Or don't they need shepherding? If not, why not?)
"As an prophetic apostle, my focus is over the horizon. It's on just a few narrow topics. I need everybody on their face praying, and I'll do everything I can to teach them how. I want everybody going after regional revival, and I'll teach week after week on how they can do that. I prophetically have a pulse on the church and I'll constantly relay that information to the church so they can respond. But, they will have to take it upon themselves to learn most everything else. Of course, I'm not the only teacher in my context either. Others can and do impart knowledge and revelation, but it is still limited and it's still required that we devour the Word ourselves." -- John Burton
With all due respect, John Burton is not a prophetic apostle, if such a thing even exists. He fails the most basic test in that he clearly cannot properly handle the word of God. (Irony alert.)
What he is however, is a pastor in churchianity for the past 22 years. He is a leader in the apostate church. He is purpose driven, seeker friendly, and NAR. He is part of the complex and as such, he thinks sheep should feed themselves. (We feel sorry for those whom Rev. Wade pastors. They can't even feed themselves after years or even decades spent under Rev. Wade's teaching.
Being condescended to can't be very pleasant.)
That is not however what God has said and as such he is disqualified from even being the thing he seems to loathe, a pastor.
"Today, pastor led churches nurture and feed as the goal so much of the time without casting the vision that they are about to call everybody to pick up their weaponry and move out to battle! The coming shift will result in less feeding and a higher bar of committed and focused response. The problem? Pastors are not the ones best gifted or called to lead this transition. The pastor led church is functionally compromised. Simply stated, the church is out of biblical order." -- John Burton
I would laugh out loud if this was not so profoundly sad because this is the coming strategy of the NAR. God has cast the vision John and it is called the bible. We do not need the under-shepherds to override the vision provided by the Great Shepherd. Realize beloved that this coming shift he speaks of may very well be coming to your church too because this is the strategy of the enemy. This is where the apostate church is heading and has been heading for two decades now. Less feeding of the sheep and higher level of outward commitment from people who are simply not prepared to do so. Notice he is laying the groundwork for a shift to the NAR false leadership paradigm by saying pastors are not called to lead this transition, no. It will be the false apostles that rose up 20 years ago through the NAR. The only reason why the pastoral led church is functionally compromised is because they no longer preach the Gospel. Realize this is not all churches either but it is the growing majority. I know local pastors who refuse to compromise. They may have only 200 sheep but those folks are headed for heaven so the shepherd will hear well done my good and faithful servant. Their church is not out of biblical order John -- you are. (What a disaster of a paragraph. And this man fancies himself a teacher?
So he envisions a church with 200 sheep where the pastor will get commended by God. Now it's our turn to say that nowhere in the Bible do we find this. In fact, just the opposite. In Matthew 25 Jesus is describing what the Kingdom of Heaven is like:
*****
Part 2
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(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.-- Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)We need to diagram the logic of the passage at this point.
- God gave the five offices.
- He gave the five offices for
- Equipping the saints for ministry
- Building up the body into the fullness of Christ, joined together with the Head
- so it functions as a properly constructed Body, built up in love
The author thinks the saints do the work of the building of the body, when it's actually the five offices.
Why is this important? Because the author thinks the sheep are incapable of doing ministry. They must remain subservient and docile. Pastors by contrast are special and unique. So if he can reduce down the sheep into barely functional, easily deceived morons, his position as pastor is safer.
Later the author will complain about self-described apostles wanting to have power. We note that he as a pastor seems to want this same power.)
"Today, churches act much like hospitals. Their key function is to deal with the wounded. In reality, they should look more like MASH units! Soldiers who are wounded in the mission are quickly stitched up so they can get back to the war!-- John Burton
God is raising up people who want to get challenged, not fed. ~Isaiah Saldivar"
God is doing no such thing sir. If He were He would be violating His own word. Stop acting like being fed the word of God is a bad thing. Stop acting like saints desiring to move from milk to meat is a bad thing. It is far more challenging to work on our own lives and our own sin then to focus on the sins of others in your fake war. It is far more challenging to pick up our own cross and deny ourselves than to go into the mission field bleeding and armed with a pop gun. The church is neither a hospital or a MASH unit. Stop using carnal war analogies while you are at it. We are not Joel's end time army. (What a mess. Very little can say about this, since it is so full of tedious misdirection. It's this kind of thing we find so frustrating, and so common with the author, as these multiple unrelated statements are cobbled together into a "paragraph" of sorts. But these statements have no bearing on the narrative, do not connect to each other, do not address what Mr. Burton is quoted as saying, aren't documented or referenced, and therefore add no information to the conversation.)
"Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
The nurturing, equipping process is important, but it is not the goal! Notice that the equipping is for a reason! To work! Additionally, we have every opportunity and responsibility to feed ourselves instead of relying fully on the church. Today there are countless teachings online, in books, on CD's and more. There is no excuse for any of us to rely on anybody else for our nourishment. We should not be showing up to the church empty waiting to be fed. We should arrive full and overflowing with the richness of the Word that we have fed ourselves with that week!" - John Burton
First of all, he left out the full context of this beautiful set of verses which I have already addressed. (He addressed this? When did this happen? We must have missed it...)
Secondly, he is right that equipping is not the goal; it is the means. The goal however is not some outward war. The work of ministry is the building up of the saints and even when fully built up it is not go out to some imaginary war but rather to attain unity in doctrine! That is the goal! (Um, no. Paul does not say this. Paul's stated goal is to raise up the people to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The only mention of doctrine is regarding a mature person being able to resist the allure of false doctrine.)
Will some rise up to teach? Yes! will some raise up to pastor? Yes! will some rise up to do the apostolic work of missions and evangelism? Yes! But that is not everyone! Read the passage again! (We shall read it indeed: ...until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ... What does we all mean, Rev. Wade? So how many is "not everyone?" Please, give us some information!!! Just a little bit is all we ask!)
These people are the gifts God gives the church to mature it in doctrine. (Nowhere in Scripture are these people referred to as gifts to the church.)
The bulk of the people are still sheep and they need a shepherd by definition. (This is quite false, of course. We all means we all. The author is desperate to keep his little flock in their place, writing their tithe checks, with him being admired by his sheep for every clever turn of phrase in his sermons. This the sheep's lot in life for Rev. Wade's church. Forever dependent, forever fawning, forever on the sidelines.
As an aside, we are forced to wonder who shepherds the shepherds? Or don't they need shepherding? If not, why not?)
"As an prophetic apostle, my focus is over the horizon. It's on just a few narrow topics. I need everybody on their face praying, and I'll do everything I can to teach them how. I want everybody going after regional revival, and I'll teach week after week on how they can do that. I prophetically have a pulse on the church and I'll constantly relay that information to the church so they can respond. But, they will have to take it upon themselves to learn most everything else. Of course, I'm not the only teacher in my context either. Others can and do impart knowledge and revelation, but it is still limited and it's still required that we devour the Word ourselves." -- John Burton
With all due respect, John Burton is not a prophetic apostle, if such a thing even exists. He fails the most basic test in that he clearly cannot properly handle the word of God. (Irony alert.)
What he is however, is a pastor in churchianity for the past 22 years. He is a leader in the apostate church. He is purpose driven, seeker friendly, and NAR. He is part of the complex and as such, he thinks sheep should feed themselves. (We feel sorry for those whom Rev. Wade pastors. They can't even feed themselves after years or even decades spent under Rev. Wade's teaching.
Being condescended to can't be very pleasant.)
That is not however what God has said and as such he is disqualified from even being the thing he seems to loathe, a pastor.
"Today, pastor led churches nurture and feed as the goal so much of the time without casting the vision that they are about to call everybody to pick up their weaponry and move out to battle! The coming shift will result in less feeding and a higher bar of committed and focused response. The problem? Pastors are not the ones best gifted or called to lead this transition. The pastor led church is functionally compromised. Simply stated, the church is out of biblical order." -- John Burton
I would laugh out loud if this was not so profoundly sad because this is the coming strategy of the NAR. God has cast the vision John and it is called the bible. We do not need the under-shepherds to override the vision provided by the Great Shepherd. Realize beloved that this coming shift he speaks of may very well be coming to your church too because this is the strategy of the enemy. This is where the apostate church is heading and has been heading for two decades now. Less feeding of the sheep and higher level of outward commitment from people who are simply not prepared to do so. Notice he is laying the groundwork for a shift to the NAR false leadership paradigm by saying pastors are not called to lead this transition, no. It will be the false apostles that rose up 20 years ago through the NAR. The only reason why the pastoral led church is functionally compromised is because they no longer preach the Gospel. Realize this is not all churches either but it is the growing majority. I know local pastors who refuse to compromise. They may have only 200 sheep but those folks are headed for heaven so the shepherd will hear well done my good and faithful servant. Their church is not out of biblical order John -- you are. (What a disaster of a paragraph. And this man fancies himself a teacher?
So he envisions a church with 200 sheep where the pastor will get commended by God. Now it's our turn to say that nowhere in the Bible do we find this. In fact, just the opposite. In Matthew 25 Jesus is describing what the Kingdom of Heaven is like:
Mt. 25:14-15 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.One of the Master's servants did nothing with the money:
Mt. 25:24-25 Then the man who had received the one talent came. "Master,’"he said, "I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’"So the servant gave back only [200 church members] that which belonged to Him. Did the Master commend him as a "good and faithful servant?" Nope.
Mt. 25:26-27 His master replied, "You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest."The Master's investment should have born fruit. It should have increased! The Master punished the servant:
Mt. 25:30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.It appears the author is severely deluded about not only his ministry, but his church. We would speculate that the author simply wants excuses for his dead church.)
*****
Part 2
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(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
"Apostles and Prophets are Coming. Prophets announce, among other things, the coming governmental order and apostles bring the order.
1 Corinthians 12:27-28 (ESV) 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
These offices are listed in order of importance and function in the church."
(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
Likewise, we have different levels of authority in the different ministry gifts. Here is where the apostle's authority is truly needed. At times, a pastor is confronted with different types of spiritual attacks. Without the spiritual covering of an apostle, he can be battling against powers and rulers that he is not actually anointed, or prepared to battle against. With the apostolic covering, he is able to draw upon the apostle's anointing, understanding, and experience in these battles. Instead of fighting alone, he has the spiritual support he needs." -- John Burton
Here comes the big push for apostles being in charge. We need to recognize things that are simply made up by the carnal wickedness of John Burton even if they sound spiritual. Nowhere in the bible does it say that prophets announce the governmental order of the church (Nowhere?
1 Corinthians 12:27-28 (ESV) 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
These offices are listed in order of importance and function in the church."
(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
Likewise, we have different levels of authority in the different ministry gifts. Here is where the apostle's authority is truly needed. At times, a pastor is confronted with different types of spiritual attacks. Without the spiritual covering of an apostle, he can be battling against powers and rulers that he is not actually anointed, or prepared to battle against. With the apostolic covering, he is able to draw upon the apostle's anointing, understanding, and experience in these battles. Instead of fighting alone, he has the spiritual support he needs." -- John Burton
Here comes the big push for apostles being in charge. We need to recognize things that are simply made up by the carnal wickedness of John Burton even if they sound spiritual. Nowhere in the bible does it say that prophets announce the governmental order of the church (Nowhere?
Ro. 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
1Co. 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...
Ep. 3:4-5 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
My guess is that the author has no idea what it means to be prophetic. He probably doesn't understand what Ep. 2:20 means for the church to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.)
and that apostles bring that order. NOWHERE. (What is 1 Timothy chapter 3 about if it's not about an apostle bringing order? In fact, that's much of what Paul's ministry was, bringing order to the church.
1Co. 3:9-10 For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
The author clearly hasn't read his Bible. Apostles bringing order is all over the NT.)
Why then is Burton teaching this? Well, he has already tipped his hand by claiming he is a "prophetic apostle." Qui bono? Who benefits? (And who benefits by retaining the pastor led model, hmmm?)
He then cobbles together sources to stake the claim that the apostles are first because they were named first but in his zeal to list as much corroboration as possible he failed to properly understand what he was citing. Let's take a closer look at the ESV study bible he cited:
ESV Study Bible: First (There will be no "second' point.)
ESV Study Bible: First (There will be no "second' point.)
"second" third" then seems to be a ranking of importance or benefit to the church, with apostles being primary and then prophecy and teaching also contributing greatly to building others up.
Even if I concede that these are listed in order it is only in relation to the context. God is relying upon Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers to build up the church! To ensure proper doctrine until the full measure of unity! This does not mean the apostles are meant to take over leadership of the local church, Sorry John. (Again we note that the author simply asserts the contrary as if that is enough. He doesn't reference anything, he offers no link or documentation. He simply says, "you're wrong.")
Even if I concede that these are listed in order it is only in relation to the context. God is relying upon Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers to build up the church! To ensure proper doctrine until the full measure of unity! This does not mean the apostles are meant to take over leadership of the local church, Sorry John. (Again we note that the author simply asserts the contrary as if that is enough. He doesn't reference anything, he offers no link or documentation. He simply says, "you're wrong.")
Rich Murphy's conclusions are borderline silly. Jesus was not establishing an "apostolic ministry" as some form of governmental order for the church when He picked His disciples. How do I know this? Because the bible doesn't say He did! (Sigh. Again we note that the author simply asserts the contrary as if that is enough. He doesn't reference anything, he offers no link or documentation. He simply says, "you're wrong."
We offer Ep. 2:20 ...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.)
Stop making nonsense up! Many believe the office of apostle is not even active today! I am willing to convey an apostolic view upon those who do missionary and church planting work because they are "sent ones." (Whoops. He now walks it back. Apostles do establish a governmental order in new churches...)
We see at the end of this defense what Burton is really after here and that is power. The apostolic authority paradigm was false when C Peter Wagner rolled it out at the start of the NAR and it is just as false today. The notion of "coverings" and "anointings" is pure NAR teaching that places our reliance up men instead of God. Draw upon the apostle's anointing? Do they just sit around all day making this stuff up? (Another irrelevant tangent.)
"Jonas Clark:
The current structure or model of church ministry revolves around the pastoral paradigm (model) of ministry. A paradigm is a structure of ministry that serves as a model or pattern. It's astonishing but the word pastor, Greek poimen is only mentioned once in the entire New Testament. From one occurrence in scripture we have built thousands of pastoral churches. Yet there were no churches ever built in the New Testament by pastors. Even the one started at Antioch soon received Barnabas as an apostolic leader. Barnabas was a sent-one (apostolic gift) from the church in Jerusalem." -- John Burton
Now, I do not know who Jonas Clark is but quoting others who are just as wrong as you are does not make you right. His argument here is so disingenuous. We use words all the time that do not appear in the text. (So it's a problem that "apostolic ministry" doesn't appear in the Bible [see above], but it's not a problem that "pastor" only appears once? It's a problem that the idea that "prophets" announce the governmental order of the church" is not in the Bible, but his idea of pastors, not found in the Bible, should be the proper governmental order of churches?)
Rapture does not appear once. There were comparable words to pastor however, such as shepherd, which is what pastor actually means. Clark is technically right that pastors did not build churches. That was considered apostolic work because it was primarily Paul who was doing it. That is why apostles were called sent ones. Pastors were however sent to lead those churches once established and Clark just ignores that fact. (We shall use the author's technique: The Bible does not say that.
And that's all we have to do, if we emulate the author's presentation.)
Timothy for example did not build the church at Ephesus but was certainly sent to lead it. (As we noted above, Timothy was not pastor of this church.)
Clark continues:
"In reality we have created a structure of church services that is designed to bless, nurture and comfort attendees. After all, that is the dominate grace on the pastoral ascension gift to comfort, bless, nurture, protect and lead to still waters. There is nothing wrong with being a pastor. What we are discussing is the transition into an apostolic model of ministry that enables us to be more effective in establishing and advancing the Kingdom of God. There will always be a set man over a congregation. Scripture says, "Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:16). Apostolic ministry models may have a plurality of leadership gifts working together to equip believers known as a presbytery but there will always be one set man that is ultimately responsible before God to apostle a church." -- Jonas Clark
No Jonas, God created the structure that way. (Please, please, please. Just once will you give us the Scriptural case for this, Rev. Wade? Please?)
"In reality we have created a structure of church services that is designed to bless, nurture and comfort attendees. After all, that is the dominate grace on the pastoral ascension gift to comfort, bless, nurture, protect and lead to still waters. There is nothing wrong with being a pastor. What we are discussing is the transition into an apostolic model of ministry that enables us to be more effective in establishing and advancing the Kingdom of God. There will always be a set man over a congregation. Scripture says, "Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:16). Apostolic ministry models may have a plurality of leadership gifts working together to equip believers known as a presbytery but there will always be one set man that is ultimately responsible before God to apostle a church." -- Jonas Clark
No Jonas, God created the structure that way. (Please, please, please. Just once will you give us the Scriptural case for this, Rev. Wade? Please?)
This model however is anathema to NAR dominionists because it focuses on the sheep instead of the world. What Clark, Burton and the NAR want is power. Sure, they will let someone with a pastoral calling still work but they will no longer be in control. (This is just silly. Pastors are in control right now. Why wouldn't these men simply call themselves pastors and then actually be in control rather be ambitious for control?
Ironically, the position the author currently occupies is pastor.)
The focus of the church will become even less focused on the Gospel. Here after ten pages of set up, Burton admits through the writings off Jonas Clark that he wants to be in charge. It is a devious scheme of the enemy to create churches not led by shepherds. To be led by people who are enamored with this world. People who think sheep should fend for themselves and feed themselves.
"The Holy Spirit is going to restore an effective structure of ministry that will empower you to raise-up strong sons and daughters in the Lord that will take the battle out of the church and into the city. Apostolic ministry gifts are spiritual master builders that carry the revelation of Christ governing Church. As Paul said, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon" (1 Corinthians 3:10). -- Jonas Clark
This will come to a shock for Christian-culture warriors but there is no battle we are supposed to be engaged in outside the church. We are a shining city on a hill, not an army taking territory. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. (The author finally alludes to a Scripture, Eph 6:12. But unfortunately it does not say what he wants it to say. The weapons Paul describes are clearly for warfare outside the church. Read them. There is no way that these weapons are designed for wielding solely inside the church.)
"The Holy Spirit is going to restore an effective structure of ministry that will empower you to raise-up strong sons and daughters in the Lord that will take the battle out of the church and into the city. Apostolic ministry gifts are spiritual master builders that carry the revelation of Christ governing Church. As Paul said, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon" (1 Corinthians 3:10). -- Jonas Clark
This will come to a shock for Christian-culture warriors but there is no battle we are supposed to be engaged in outside the church. We are a shining city on a hill, not an army taking territory. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. (The author finally alludes to a Scripture, Eph 6:12. But unfortunately it does not say what he wants it to say. The weapons Paul describes are clearly for warfare outside the church. Read them. There is no way that these weapons are designed for wielding solely inside the church.)
The radio program Fighting for the Faith has a cute slogan; "Blue Sleeps Faster Than Tuesday." It is a perfectly fine sentence. It is grammatically correct and has all the necessary components of a sentence. It just doesn't mean anything. We see this here in this beauty:
Apostolic ministry gifts are spiritual master builders that carry the revelation of Christ governing Church
This sentence means nothing. Clark or Burton dreamt this up in their wickedly deceitful hearts. To break down the arrogance however -- John Burton and Jonas Clark believe and teach that God has given them a prophetic revelation that they should lead the church as super-duper apostles. They call this a revelation of church governance and the only people who carry this vision and can attest to it are the very same mega apostles that benefit from it! Read the entire section of 1Corinthians 3 and you will see that while Paul does say that he was a master builder, nowhere does it say that only apostles and prophets or apostle prophets can build on top. (Does Burton assert this? Nope.)
Apostolic ministry gifts are spiritual master builders that carry the revelation of Christ governing Church
This sentence means nothing. Clark or Burton dreamt this up in their wickedly deceitful hearts. To break down the arrogance however -- John Burton and Jonas Clark believe and teach that God has given them a prophetic revelation that they should lead the church as super-duper apostles. They call this a revelation of church governance and the only people who carry this vision and can attest to it are the very same mega apostles that benefit from it! Read the entire section of 1Corinthians 3 and you will see that while Paul does say that he was a master builder, nowhere does it say that only apostles and prophets or apostle prophets can build on top. (Does Burton assert this? Nope.)
The larger point Paul was making was that his was the foundation upon which anyone can build -- not just a special group of super spirituals like the Prophetic Apostle Burton.
"The Purpose of the Church
The church is not a house of teaching or a house of evangelism or a house of friendships. The very purpose of the church is prayer! It is a house of prayer for all nations! If someone in the church is resistant to the call to pray corporately, they can't consider themselves to be a functional part of the church. This is a huge problem! In today's church very few live a lifestyle of prayer. In fact, most pastors don't either! Leonard Ravenhill said: Pastors who don't pray two hours a day aren't worth a dime a dozen!" -- John Burton
Burton is correct that we should be a praying church although Acts and the Pauline letters reveal that it should certainly be a house of biblical teaching. He is also correct to say that most churches today are simply not. Even "Prayer Meetings" are often just mini-versions of the Sunday service. The comical thing here is that Burton fails to see where he is responsible. He supports and embodies the three movements that have led the church to become apostate to being with! (We wonder what this sentence is supposed to mean.)
"The Purpose of the Church
The church is not a house of teaching or a house of evangelism or a house of friendships. The very purpose of the church is prayer! It is a house of prayer for all nations! If someone in the church is resistant to the call to pray corporately, they can't consider themselves to be a functional part of the church. This is a huge problem! In today's church very few live a lifestyle of prayer. In fact, most pastors don't either! Leonard Ravenhill said: Pastors who don't pray two hours a day aren't worth a dime a dozen!" -- John Burton
Burton is correct that we should be a praying church although Acts and the Pauline letters reveal that it should certainly be a house of biblical teaching. He is also correct to say that most churches today are simply not. Even "Prayer Meetings" are often just mini-versions of the Sunday service. The comical thing here is that Burton fails to see where he is responsible. He supports and embodies the three movements that have led the church to become apostate to being with! (We wonder what this sentence is supposed to mean.)
The purpose driven church has turned prayer into a mockery where we petition the Lord for everything we think we deserve without appreciating anything He has done. The seeker friendly church growth schemes stay away from prayer so as to not over-spiritualize the service and scare away the goats we are trying to recruit. The NAR has embraced word faith and other heresies that reduce prayer to an exercise in usurping the power of God. (An endless spew of undocumented assertions.)
"Mark 11:15-18 (ESV) 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
We are in a Mark 11:15-18 season in our nation. In that situation, the people were using the church for personal gain. They had expectations of personal benefit. They entered the church with the expectation of leeching off of it, of using it, and leaving with more than they entered with. This is a defilement of the church! The call is to go into the church with the expectation of leaving with less than we enter with! We bring an offering, a sacrifice! We minister to God! This is critical! Pastor led churches more easily seek to give people what they expect out of the church. Now, please understand me. Pastors are God ordained! But, when they function outside of their appropriate governmental position, it brings disorder. The same would be true of any of the offices. You probably don't want a prophet trying to nurture people! Thank God for pastors!" -- John Burton
What absolute garbage. Do you see what he is selling here? That pastors who run their own churches are functioning outside of their governmental positions. Mind you he pointed to no scriptures to support this notion as he has just made it up. (Wow. This is astounding. After 10,000 words with nary a mention of Scripture, the author has the unmitigated gall to demand Burton provide Scripture!)
"Mark 11:15-18 (ESV) 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
We are in a Mark 11:15-18 season in our nation. In that situation, the people were using the church for personal gain. They had expectations of personal benefit. They entered the church with the expectation of leeching off of it, of using it, and leaving with more than they entered with. This is a defilement of the church! The call is to go into the church with the expectation of leaving with less than we enter with! We bring an offering, a sacrifice! We minister to God! This is critical! Pastor led churches more easily seek to give people what they expect out of the church. Now, please understand me. Pastors are God ordained! But, when they function outside of their appropriate governmental position, it brings disorder. The same would be true of any of the offices. You probably don't want a prophet trying to nurture people! Thank God for pastors!" -- John Burton
What absolute garbage. Do you see what he is selling here? That pastors who run their own churches are functioning outside of their governmental positions. Mind you he pointed to no scriptures to support this notion as he has just made it up. (Wow. This is astounding. After 10,000 words with nary a mention of Scripture, the author has the unmitigated gall to demand Burton provide Scripture!)
He is right that the church mentality these days is what can the church do for me or give me but he again cannot see where he is to blame! This blessing mentality is at the heart of the perfect heretical storm we have been talking about. That aside, he also goes far off the rails here in insisting that expecting God to show up at church is somehow a defilement. Yes we worship God but we do not minister to Him. He ministers to us. I agree we should not operate within this blessing mentality the apostate church sells but Burton's notion seems to be an overcorrection.
"The House of Prayer
In the coming church, everybody will pray as their primary ministry! Yes, everybody! This means a great offense is coming as suddenly those focused on their own expectations and who are resistant to the call to prayer will have nowhere to go! The governmental order in the church will require a mass exodus of uncommitted, unwilling hearts as intercession takes first place again. This type of dramatic shift requires the skills of an apostle to pull off." -- John Burton
The skills of an apostle, really? So it takes an apostle to ensure a mass exodus of sheep from the church. (Um, no. ...uncommitted, unwilling hearts are not sheep.)
"The House of Prayer
In the coming church, everybody will pray as their primary ministry! Yes, everybody! This means a great offense is coming as suddenly those focused on their own expectations and who are resistant to the call to prayer will have nowhere to go! The governmental order in the church will require a mass exodus of uncommitted, unwilling hearts as intercession takes first place again. This type of dramatic shift requires the skills of an apostle to pull off." -- John Burton
The skills of an apostle, really? So it takes an apostle to ensure a mass exodus of sheep from the church. (Um, no. ...uncommitted, unwilling hearts are not sheep.)
Even if they are deemed wrong somehow they are only reflecting what they were taught. Burton seems positively giddy about getting rid of so many sheep. (Hmm. Wasn't it the author who wrote about being commended for maintaining 200 sheep?)
That is the training of the purpose driven church that embraces blessed subtraction. I am also leery of the zeal here as it seems misguided. I agree that prayer needs to be more focused and a spiritual discipline that should be taught but Burton sounds like ("Sounds like?" Is this the best he can do is offer speculation as criticism?)
he wants every church to mimic the IHOP model, which we was extremely unbiblical. The bible says to not pray in demonstrative ways. Because IHOP got so enraptured by 24-7 prayer they delved into eastern mysticism and soaking nonsense. With the NAR mindset guiding Burton, I would stay clear of this notion he has here.
"You might presume that intercession is to be reserved for the mature, for those who have graduated from the equipping process. No! No! No! The best equipping center is the prayer room! If an 18 year old pimple faced young person fresh out of high school with no experience, no knowledge, no wisdom can join the Marines and fight for our country, he can do the same in the prayer room! Again, there is a place for pastors to nurture people like this, and, in fact, we need pastors not as senior leaders, but as smaller group leaders who can invest time into individuals. They need to prepare them quickly to respond to the coming instructions from the apostles and prophets. It would make sense to have serving with an apostle maybe ten to twenty pastors for every one hundred people in a church. Islamic prayer: The second pillar of Islam is salat, the requirement to pray five times a day at fixed times. Children are often required to fulfill this daily requirement by the age of 7. If a mosque can be jam packed full of people praying early in the morning on a weekday as happens in our area, and if children as young as 7 are praying five times a day in that system, certainly an all consuming, Holy Spirit fueled life of prayer for a Christian is not hard to imagine at all!" -- John Burton
What a bad analogy. The 18-year-old still has to go to training before being sent to war. (The author jumps all over the analogy without even bothering with what Burton wrote. We, however, read it: The best equipping center is the prayer room! If an 18 year old pimple faced young person ... can join the Marines... "Equipping" is "training."
This constant twisting employed by the author is getting tiring.)
(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
You are a priest, and that means that you have a job to do. You are a priestly intercessor before God and the call is to pray individually and corporately continually! In the coming church, under apostles and prophets, we all will show up and pray! That is church! Church services will be prayer meetings again! Personal expectations will be replaced by assignments to serve, give, pray and lay down our lives! We won't show up with our prayer lists or our own issues but rather we will represent the nations as we invest into them in prayer. We are all priests and we all carry extreme authority! This is church at its best!" -- John Burton
While the bible does say we are a royal priesthood; nowhere does it say therefore we are all priestly intercessors.
(Ep. 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Col. 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
1Ti. 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone —
Jude 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.)
(...) (Long, irrelevant sections containing nothing at all except the author's summary denials have been deleted.)
"The Lost
The shift: Seeker churches will quickly fade away as the fire of the Holy Spirit rages in the houses of prayer. The lost won't be relationally converted as much as they will be converted by fire. We will trust God's wisdom as in Acts 2 and allow the fire of God impact a region. The prayer room will become the place of choice to bring the lost.
The difficulty: Everybody will have to drop most everything and tend to the fire in the house of prayer. To ensure the atmosphere is supernaturally charged, everybody in the church will be spending hours a day in the prayer room together. False salvations will drop to near zero as they won't be based on a simple prayer but rather on an encounter with the God of fire." -- John Burton
You just do not get it. Read Romans John. (How about a reference, Rev. Wade?)
There cannot be any Holy Ghost fire without the Gospel. There can be no salvation without the Gospel. There can be no maturation of the saints without the Gospel. (Does Burton deny these things? Where?)
You quote Acts 2??? Read the conclusion of that chapter and see how the church is supposed to be organized! The only reason why the spirit fell and 3000 were converted was that Peter preached the Gospel! They were not sitting around chanting mantras and "ministering to God." Why bring the lost to the prayer room? The things of God are foolishness to them and without the Gospel they cannot be saved. It sounds an awful lot like Burton is advocating for the debunked and disgraced IHOP model. No one gets saved by watching people roll around on the ground screaming "fire!" This is just awful. (Another unfocused, spewing, irrelevant rant. What any of this has to do with anything is a mystery. We are seriously questioning the author's ability to express a coherent thought, let alone teach anything at all regarding the faith.
Further, it is simple intellectual dishonesty to read into someone's presentation a completely different meaning that is derived from one's own prejudices.
Lastly, we note the complete absence of Bible exposition by the author. He doesn't even quote the Bible. He clearly doesn't know the Bible. He doesn't even understand what his interlocutor is presenting.
Thankfully, his verbal diarrhea has ended.)
(...) (Deleted a long, irrelevant rant. Go to the link at the top of the page if you wish to read it.)
I'm surprised he went all the way back to 2013 to find the article.
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