the apostolic

The Apostolic Voice Jan - Mar 2009

a The Apostolic Voice

Volume 02 January - March 2009 Number 04

Ephesians 4:12-13 (KJV)12 For the perfecting of the

saints, for the work of the minis-try, for the edifying of the body of

Christ:13 Till we all come in the unity ofthe faith, and of the knowledge

of the Son of God, unto a perfectman, unto the measure of the

stature of the fulness of Christ:


Spiritual Leadership

The word translated as pastor inEnglish comes from the Greek root word‘poimen’. The actual meaning of this wordis ‘shepherd’. In Psalms 23, the Psalmistproclaims that the Lord is his Shepherd. In1Pet. 5:4 the Lord is addressed as the ‘thechief Shepherd’. The allegory of shepherd,denotes a person who is incharge of agroup of people and is responsible for thewell being of the group interms fo theirspititual, moral and ethical aspects.

In the same line of thought, Pastorsare under shepherds, under the arch Shep-herd, even our Lord Jesus Christ. It is themind of Christ We need to have, and moreso every ‘Pastor’, as the writer to the Phillip-pians puts in 2nd chapter 5th verse. Follow-ing the foot steps of the ‘Good Shepherd’,every Pastor must have a ‘Shepherd’s heart’to shepherd the local body of Christ.

A shepherd’s heart is a loving heart.It is heart filled with ‘agape’ love, and dedi-cated to loving the sheep as he over seestheir souls. There will be no disparity in hisheart and would love all the sheep equally,with respect, care and concern. It would bea spontaneous flow of love from his heartto the flock.

A shepherd’s heart is a courageous heart.

Knowing fully well that the Lord has prom-ised His presence always,, and in the lightof the word of God and the empowermentfrom above, even the Spiritual gifts, theshepherd would discern and take deci-sions and implement them courageouslyand lovingly to keep himself and the flockin the center of God’s will. He will be coura-geous enough to tear apart the spiritual‘Bears and Lions’ as King David did with hisbare hands to protect the flock. As our Lordsays in Luke 10:18-19 :

the shepherd’s should be courageous to dothe necessary spiritual warfare.

When Moses was called to lead Hispeople Israel, he had to give-up his flam-boyant, high and mighty life in the Pharospalace which he lived for forty years, to anext forty years of life as a shepherd in theplains of Median, taking care of his fatherin-law’s cattle, where he acquired a‘shepherd’s heart’, which prepared him forthe completion of the assignment given tohim by God, which made him the greatestleader of all times, only second to JesusChrist our Lord. When one is commissionedby the Lord and set in motion in the visiongiven to him, nothing but a ‘sacrificial heart’would see him through.


Self is the biggest enemy and a hurdlein the life of a believer, more so in the life ofa shepherd.. In 1 Cor 9 :17 the Paul teachesa simple method to bring the self undercontrol:

It is conscious but spirit controlled exerciseof the will to bring the self under control.

Secondly, when one starts to esteem othersmore than oneself, the self will be destroyedor at least take the back-stage, as theApostle Paul teaches in Philliapians 2 chapter:

1 Cor 9:27 teaches the exercise, whilst Phill2:2-4 teaches the application, with which ashepherd can achieve a victorious selflessChristian life.

Nothing could be said as destructiveas a discouraging person. A shepherd

should have an encouraging heart, to en-courage the proper righteous things. Thisespecially would come very handy in devel-oping new believers in to leadership rolesfor the work of service. When Barnabas was in Antioch takingcare of the Church , and felt the need forhelp to cope-up with the growing demandsof the Church ministry , stepped out of hiscircle and encouraged Paul, a new convertat that point to come to Antioch to help himin the ministry. And we see that the Lordblessed their work and increased the num-ber in that Church.

Having a encouraging heart will blessus and bless others., more so in the life of ashepherd.

Obedience to the voice of the Lord isbetter than the sacrifices and rebellion isequivalent to witchcraft, the Bible says in : 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV)

A obedient heart of the shepherd will pre-vent the destruction and chaos in thechurch, when he is obedient to the voice ofthe Lord and to His holy word in the Scrip-tures. When a shepherds ears become insen-sitive to the voice of the Lord and become

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sensitive to other voices, a trend of disobedi-ence will start in small way leading to catas-trophe. Obedience at all levels to the Lord’swill is the success of the ministry andchurch. The above quotation in 1Samuelrefers to King Saul when he disobeyed theprophetic instruction , given by the prophetSamuel. That is why gifts of the Spirit andadherence to the word of God would lead ashepherd to greater obedience to the will ofGod, and would make him a mouth of Godin bringing the mind and word of God inministry to the Church.

Father’s heart is the key to success-ful overseeing of the souls in the body ofChrist. Father’s heart is a giving heart andthere is no shadow of turning there asJames puts it in first chapter 17th verse:

Father is a giver of good gifts and inhim there is no change or variation. Suchtrait of stability is a strength needed in us,more so in a shepherd to reflect the light ofthe Father in all He wants us to be, aspartakers of His divine nature..

Pastor E. H. Williams was an Apostol-ic missionary to Africa in the 1957.

“Apostolic”in West Africa

“I have been asked to record someof my experiences as a missionary in WestAfrica. Until now, I have avoided doing so,because I have a genuine fear that peopleshould get the wrong idea regarding TheApostolic Church there. It was not what I did,but what the Lord did, and I believe is stillable and willing to do.

It was in 1957 that we (my wife, twochildren and myself) first arrived in EasternNigeria. We were located in what we thenknew as the Calabar Area, covering the Efikand Ibibio speaking peoples. We lived inthe village of Obot Idim Nsit, and had noparticular local Church responsibility, buttravelled constantly ministering to themany small Apostolic churches – preachingoften as many as 15 times in a week todifferent congregations.

Here I must emphasise, the policyand principle under which we missionariesin West Africa operated. We saw ourselvesas facilitators supervising and training indig-enous Pastors who certainly had greaterimpact on the churches and public thanever a foreign missionary could have.During the three years we were locatedthere, with only three missionary families,an average of 100 new churches wereopened each year. A testimony to the zealof the indigenous pastors. At times, blindeyes were opened, the deaf healed, anddemons cast out; although we did not major

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on such ministry but rather on evangelizingand establishing churches. It is true thatit was a time of spiritual revival, but thesefacts clearly show that 'It was the Lord'sdoing' and that He used mainly the indige-nous Pastors, although we obviously madeour own contribution.

We then took six months homeleave during which time the Missions Boarddirected us to move to the Cameroons.Cameroons is adjacent to Eastern Nigeria,and the Apostolic Church there had beenstarted by Apostolic converts who had forsecular reasons visited and migrated acrossthe borders. Their custom – find a Churchin your new location, or if a suitable one isnot available, witness to others and openone is typically West African. But theyneeded help, support and guidance, and theBoard thought we could supply that need.So, in obedience we went.

We quickly found that our new post-ing was very different from the previous one.Not only was there a mix of nationalities,and the danger of the Church becoming

“Nigerian” because the founders naturallyattracted their fiends. Also there was amultitude of different Cameroonian tribesand languages. Ours was the first Pentecos-tal group in the Country; and non-christianswere largely slow to respond being cautiousand often taking many months of nursingbefore becoming really committed to Chris-tian life and Church attendance.

Our first job was to tackle the lan-guage problem. At that time, West Camer-oon had about 80 languages and dialectsin a population of three quarters of millionpeople. Often languages changed fromvillage to village !! To communicate atmarkets and in general commerce theyused either rudimentary English or moreoften Pidgin English – even GovernmentMinisters were often happier in Pidgin. Wetherefore established that the only permit-ted language in Church was Pidgin, exceptoccasionally in isolated villages which wereobviously monoglot. This kept the Churchopen to all nationalities and tribes. Ofcourse, individuals could pray publicly intheir own language ( I have heard ninedifferent languages in one prayer meeting)but preaching, prophesying etc had to be inPidgin which was sufficiently developed tocover doctrine.

During the six years spent in WestCameroon, we saw the establishment of 100congregations and did many teaching tourswhen local leaders gathered in centres to betaught basic doctrine and practice. Todaythey have more than 500 churches andhave spread to the East (French) Cameroun;they also have a good Bible College, and athriving Church hospital.

After 40 years, memories start to fade.However, some outstanding of the way theLord moved still remain quite vivid. Abrother who had just received the Baptismof the Holy Spirit was praising God inFrench, and when challenged declared he

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knew no French !! A young girl prophesyingin perfect English, and when challengedabout the words used protested she wasuneducated and did not speak 'proper' Eng-lish. Another such case was that of a younglad (I never asked his name) when we wereholding a teaching session on the Baptismof the Holy Spirit. He was about 10 years ofage, and when the Holy Spirit came uponhim, he spoke for about 15 minutes in theHausa language of Nigeria, although he wasCameroonian and had no background inthat language.

However, there were also times whendifficult matters had to be handled. 'Anya'was a local leader or Church Elder at a placecalled Bachuo Antai. It was reported that hehad become involved in voodoo. I travelledto interview him, and before the interviewcould be arranged a messenger came to mylodgings to say “Anya is dead”. Knowingthe confusion that can come through lan-guage, I asked “Is he dead finish?” - theysometimes say 'dead' when the person isjust near the point of death. It appeared hewas not quite dead. So I immediately wentto the house concerned. Some people weredigging the grave, his wife was outside thehouse wailing and throwing dust on herhead lamenting his death, while the housewas full of the Village Elders gatheredaround the 'body' - most of them wouldhave been involved in voodoo or 'juju' asthey called it.

A lady from the Church and a youngpastor - the late Pastor John Kwo who laterbecame President of the Church – was alsoin the room; while Anya lay on the floor

having been vomiting a black fluid all night.Pastor John had some medical training andtold me this. It was obvious this had somevoodoo connection, so I challenged all pres-ent as to who was responsible. No answer.I then told them that, whereas no medicalhelp could meet the need, Jesus Christcould; and if anyone who did not knowChrist remained in the room while weprayed it would be worse for him. Immedi-ately they all hurried out. Anya lay therewith his eyes wide open , either dead or insome kind of coma, and I bent down andtouched his eyeball but there was noresponse. We three then prayed for abouttwo minutes, and immediately I realised theLord had answered, and commanded “Anyaarise” and he did so immediately. PraiseGod

That's a little of what the Lord did. Mynext appointment was to Ghana, but that'sanother story.”

History of the Christian Church.(100 - 325 AD)

The condition and manners of theChristians in this age are most beautifullydescribed by the unknown author of the"Epistola ad Diognetum" in the early part ofthe second century.

" The Christians," he says, "are notdistinguished from other men by country,by language, nor by civil institutions. For

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they neither dwell in cities by themselves,nor use a peculiar tongue, nor lead a singu-lar mode of life. They dwell in the Grecian orbarbarian cities, as the case may be; theyfollow the usage of the country in dress,food, and the other affairs of life. Yet theypresent a wonderful and confessedly para-doxical conduct. They dwell in their ownnative lands, but as strangers.

They take part in all things as citizens;and they suffer all things, as foreigners.Every foreign country is a fatherland to them,and every native land is foreign. They marry,like all others; they have children; but theydo not cast away their offspring. They havethe table in common, but not wives. They arein the flesh, but do not live after the flesh.They live upon the earth, but are citizens ofheaven. They obey the existing laws, andexcel the laws by their lives. They love all,and are persecuted by all.

They are unknown, and yet they arecondemned. They are killed and are madealive. They are poor and make many rich.They lack all things, and in all things abound.They are reproached, and glory in theirreproaches. They are calumniated, and arejustified. They are cursed, and they bless.They receive scorn, and they give honor.They do good, and are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice, as beingmade alive. By the Jews they are attacked asaliens, and by the Greeks persecuted; andthe cause of the enmity their enemies can-not tell. In short, what the soul is in the body,the Christians are in the world. The soul isdiffused through all the members of thebody, and the Christians are spread throughthe cities of the world. The soul dwells in thebody, but it is not of the body; so the

Christians dwell in the world, but are not ofthe world.

The soul, invisible, keeps watch in thevisible body; so also the Christians are seento live in the world, but their piety is invisible.The flesh hates and wars against the soul,suffering no wrong from it, but because itresists fleshly pleasures; and the world hatesthe Christians with no reason, but that theyresist its pleasures. The soul loves the fleshand members, by which it is hated; so theChristians love their haters. The soul is in-closed in the body, but holds the bodytogether; so the Christians are detained inthe world as in a prison; but they contain theworld. Immortal, the soul dwells in the mortalbody; so the Christians dwell in the corrupt-ible, but look for incorruption in heaven. Thesoul is the better for restriction in food anddrink; and the Christians increase, thoughdaily punished. This lot God has assigned tothe Christians in the world; and it cannot betaken from them."

Psalm 118:24 (KJV)

Many times We come across believersusing this verse in their conversations andas well in their praise songs. We are atliberty to use any Bible words to bring praiseto the Lord. Just like prayer and preaching,songs are also a discipline of worship inwhich We use music to converse with theLord. At any given time be it prayer, preach-

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ing or worship in songs and music, one mustget the true and accurate meaning of theverses one uses to bring about worship ofany form and kind. In Psalms 118 where 24th verse oc-curs the paragraph begins with verse 19 andends with verse 29, having exactly five vers-es above and below 24th verse, as we seebe;ow:

Don’t We get the whole picture now,it is the prophetical utterance of King Davidof the coming of the Messiah, the promisedredeemer and Savior. In that whole context24th verse points to not just 24hr time of theday but whole salvation plan executed in Histime., “the day of salvation”. Secondly no-body can quote this verse or sing it as asong unless they have appropriated this

provision in their lives by repenting for theirsins, and accepting Jesus Christ as theirpersonal Savior and Lord. Then any one whois saved look back to that day of atonement,a propitiation for our sins, with joy in theirhearts sing “ this is the day which the Lordhath made and we will rejoice and be glad init.

John 14:6 (KJV) 6

In John’s gospel third chapter and verses1 to 13, Jesus our Lord reveals the truth toNicodemus step by step. Though Nicodemuswas highly esteemed ruler of Israel he didnot have a slightest clue as to what our Lordwas referring to. So our Lord explained andsaid that one ‘must be born again’ other wiseit is impossible for any one to enter into thekingdom of God and what it is to be born ofthe flesh and born of the Spirit. That is whatmy fiends, is the truth that any human beingwants to enter into the kingdom of God‘must be born from above’.

In the next step our Lord explains theway to be born again. One may find the wayin the verses from John 3, 14th and John 12,32nd. In John 3:14 our Lord said to Nicode-mus like this

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In the first verse quoted our Lord tells usall that the sin stricken world is dying, theonly ‘way’ they can live is to look unto Jesuswhen he is lifted up on the cross, as thevenom stricken Israelites dying in the wilder-ness had only hope of looking at the brazenserpent Moses lifted up , and lived. It isevident that there is no other way of salva-tion except the only way, ‘the way’ JesusChrist.

In John 3 : 15 &16 We read like this :

Long before the fiery serpents bit theIsraelites in the Wilderness, there was asymbolic biting and infusion of the venom ofsin into humanity in and through Adam andEve in the garden of Eden. This venom of sinbrought death in to humanity. This death weare looking into is the eternal separationfrom God almighty, and not the physicalcessation of life. That means human beingswho are born are separated from God, be-cause of the venom of sin, and they are‘spiritually’ dead, but life is only possiblewhen a human being knows that he or sheis sinful and needs a savior who would givelife eternal to those who look to him forsalvation. This is because when Jesus Christ

was crucified on the cross ( lifted up), hedestroyed death as we see in 2 Timothy1:10

So the ‘way’ here, for the sinful dyingworld, to ‘life’ is to look to the Savior JesusChrist, and believe that in His shed blood onthe cross, when He was lifted up, is forgive-ness of sin and entrance to eternal life. ThisHe made it clear to us when He said it inJohn 10:10,11:”

truly Jesus is the Way, the‘Truth, and the ‘Life’.

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Missionary pioneer J. Hudson Taylor of Chinawas working and worrying so frantically that hishealth was about to break. Just when his friendsfeared he was near a breakdown, Taylor receiveda letter from fellow missionary John McCarthy thattold of a discovery McCarthy had made from John15—the joy of abiding in Christ. McCarthy’s lettersaid in part:

As Hudson Taylor read this letter at his missionstation in Chin-kiang on Saturday, September 4,1869, his own eyes were opened. “As I read,” herecalled, “I saw it all. I looked to Jesus, and when Isaw, oh how the joy flowed!” Writing to his sisterin England, he said:

The Tenets1. The Unity of the Godhead and the Trini-

ty of the Persons therein.

2. The utter depravity of human nature, thenecessity for Repentance and Regenera-tion and the eternal doom of the finallyimpenitent.

3. The Virgin Birth, Sinless Life, AtoningDeath.Triumphant Resurrection, AscensionandAbiding Intercession of our Lord JesusChrist;His Second Coming and Millenial Reignuponearth.

4. Justification and Sanctification of the Believe is through the finished work of Christ.

5. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost for be-lievers with signs of following.

6. The Nine Gifts of the Holy Ghost for theedification, exhortation and comfort ofthe Church, which is the Body of Christ.

7. The sacraments of Baptism by immer-sion, and of the Lord’s Supper.

8. The Divine Inspiration and Authority ofthe Holy Scriptures.

9. Church Goverment by Apostles, Phoph-ets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers, El-ders and Deacons.

10. The possibility of falling from grace.

11. The obligatory nature of Tithes and Of-ferings.

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The Apostolic Voice is written, edited andPublished by

Bro.Samuel S William,6850 Eastside Av, Woodridge, IL 60517.

Tel: 1-630-322-8685EMail: [email protected]

the apostolic

Documents

good shepherd

wordis shepherd

allegory of shepherd

thechief shepherd

life ofa shepherd

courageous heart

loving heart

lord jesus christ