"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face." -- 1Cor. 13:12 The Hand of God (Five-Fold Ministry) Beheld in the Mirror sundaycreek@midrivers.com March 28, 2000: Eighteen months ago, while driving a visiting prophet to the airport, the Lord gave me a quick open vision that I perceived as a new wave of evangelism that would sweep the Earth during the final Great Harvest. "This is the Five-Fold office of the evangelist," I heard the Lord say. And I knew in an instant that much of what I understood about the dispensations of the Five-Fold ministry was incorrect. It was merely a type and shadow. Recently the Lord began impressing on me the image of a photograph I took years ago for a college photography class. The photograph was of a mirror with the images of sky and corrals on its surface. The image appeared correct, but it was not only a representation. It was also in reverse. "What is the perceived order of the Five-Fold dispensations?" the Lord asked me. That's easy, I thought: 1950s - The Evangelist (Oral Roberts and others following the Latter Rain Movement) 1960s - The Pastor (Discipling and Shepherding Movement) 1970s - The Teacher (Charismatic movement and cassette tapes and television shows) 1980s - The Prophet (Kansas City prophets and others established) 1990s - The Apostle (conferences and books on the Apostolic) "What's wrong with this?" the Lord asked. It's backward, I thought. The foundation, not the capstone, was to be apostles and prophets. They were to be first, not last. "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual." 1 Cor. 15:46. Entering Third Day power means turning and looking away from the mirror and toward reality. In the mirror the Apostle is shown last, which is true according to 1 Cor. 4:9 : "For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death." But these Second Day movements were birthed out of a Babylonian system. In most cases the system rejected them and spew them out of its mouth, but its origin was still Babylon. That is not to say the movements or the leaders were ungodly. They were Godly, but their foundation was the worldly church system. As we press into the Third Day the Apostles will not be men and women who call themselves apostles and have transformed themselves according to 2 Cor. 11:13-14, but they will be called by God and transformed by the Spirit. They will lay down a new work and persevere until it is finished. When this foundation is laid, the prophets will be embraced and released to speak without restriction. They will not fear man nor will they promote themselves. They will openly declare that which is "revealed by the Spirit of His holy apostles and prophets." (Ephesians 3:5) The proclamations issued by the prophets will be a clear heralding to Teachers and these will search the Word and lead others to truth. Both the prophet and the teacher will carry a new imprint of the apostolic on their office and life. Under the old system, Paul noted: "For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers.: (1 Cor. 4:15) The new teachers will carry the seed of the Father. They will not provoke their children to wrath, nor will they spend their children's inheritance. Instead, they will mentor the son into maturity. After teachers have laid down the foundation of the Word, the new pastor will be released to shepherd the sheep to green pastures. Sheep cannot be force-fed, they can only be guided to where the Lord's provision is established. The hireling mentality will be purged. The fathering, apostolic spirit will not allow shepherds to seek their own, but will incite them to lay down their lives for the sheep. Lastly, the heralders of Good News will be birthed and they will go forth as laborers into the fields. These new evangelists will be unlike anything the world has ever seen. Most will be very young in the natural, but they will carry the wisdom of age and they will display that "... the Kingdom. Like oil dripping down from the head, all the other anointings (apostolic, prophetic, teaching and pastoring) will be upon them. Signs and wonders will follow; fire will come from their mouths; the Word will be revealed in their words; and the lost shall be searched for and found as they dedicate their lives to doing "the work of an evangelist." (2 Timothy 4:5) Life and Death is being set before us as a doorway has opened in the heavens. We are in a period of painful transition. We can be like Alice and enter the looking glass in search of a Wonderland, or we can turn and receive the reality that has been prepared for us. "Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the Way, walk in it.'" John L. Moore sundaycreek@midrivers.com http://www.johnlmoore.com