Too Many Chiefs ........and not enough indians. 1 Corinthians 12:28-31. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN........ After reading the most recent edition of a magazine called..........Vanguard.........issue 16 / June 2003, I found it a necessity to throw my ten cents worth in regarding an article in the mag titled........."Pastors". This article was written by a man named Siam Bhayro who calls himself..............."doctor" In it he attacks the title of pastor as being blasphemous when used by an individual or the leader of a local church and says that it is set aside for ( the good shepherd ) Jesus. Along with that he then told a particular pastor that he had no authority to impose any view on the congregation. Furthermore he goes on to say that....to call a leader of a church pastor, you are actually preserving the office of ....priest...and you have not broken away from Rome. Mr Bhayro even says that ( according to his view ) there should be many pastors and many teachers in a local assembly. I find that after all Mr Bhayro said he really needs to first take a real good look in his own back yard or is that front yard wherever.........."Pastor".....Bill Randles may be. Yes dear reader, Mr Bhayro has himself a mixed bag of bedfellows surrounding him, which speaks for itself........... Amos 3:3. 1......Dave Hunt Once saved always saved / herescy. 2......Phil Powell Once saved always saved / yet undercover and not prepared to say one way or the other. 3......Ray Comfort once saved always saved / also undercover and not prepared to say one way or another. CAN A PERSON FORFEIT THEIR SALVATION OR NOT? onced saved cannot be lost a delusion sent by God Almighty- the good shepherd. 2 Thessalonians 2 : 10,11. Mr Bhayro says in his summary that..........he believes that it's time for us to reform the structure of the church. Who the us are I know not but this I do know if the roots of the reform have wriiten on them.........once saved can not be lost, let's follow the Brethren and the Charismatics, unconditional grace and fantasy faith / faith without obedience to the oracles of God / Jesus the Christ, well I believe he and those with him best leave it well alone lest they make even a bigger mess than what there is already.......................Matthew 16 : 18B Mr Bhayro, the title......"Doctor"........does it not mean rabbi, teacher and even master?.....is this also blasphemous?......is this title also reserved exclusively for the Christ?..............where in the new testament do we find any minister calling themselves doctor other than Luke who was a literal doctor / physician? And again did not St James say let not many of you become teachers!......James 3 :1A........Ref / your many pastors and teachers in a local assembly and saying all members possess 5 fold ministry gifts. I have no doubt Mr Bhayro that you and your bedfellows have put much time into the studying of the scriptures however, I fear that you are not letting the paraclete, the spirit of truth have his way...........this of course has always been the leading problem of the group called.............the Brethren and the group called the Charismatics..............whom you admire so much...................John 16 : 13. It is my understanding that you are the one who is imposing views and if a person doesn't accept the doctrine of a particular church or fellowship they should have an open door to go anytime they want. The pastor is not accountable to the congregation but to God for the congregation..................Ecclesiastes 5 : 1, John 6 : 67. A..........CLICK HERE NOW!...........................Connect to ( elders in the church ) B..........CLICK HERE NOW!...........................Connect to ( Trading on Grace ) These words were taken from the........Vanguard..........16th issue, June 2003 and Siam Bhayro says and actually believes it............................page 18. In order to maintain this true fellowship, however, the community of believers needs to function properly. In order to help this community function properly, Christ has furnished every believer wit a special gift-v7: "But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." There are two important points to note here. Firstly, these special gifts have been given to "every one of us!" They have not been given to a special class of people who are set apart from the rest of the community. They are the possession of the whole community of believers and something in which every believer is intended to partake. Secondly, note how these gifts are described: grace ( verse 7 ); gift ( verses 7 & 8 ). In other words, these things are not earned, but given freely by the Lord Jesus Christ to us all. So there is nothing special about the person who possesses one of these gifts - the One who gave the gift is special. So what are these gifts given to every believer in order to maintain the fellowship of true believers? Paul lists them in verse 11: apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. Note the syntax here- among the entir community of believers, every individual believer has been given at least one of the following gifts for the edification of the whole community. Some will be apostles. Others will be prophets. Others will be evangelists. Others will be teacher / shepherds. But the point is that every believer will be will be gifted by Christ in one of these ministries for the edification of the body. This statement of Mr Bhayro is nothing but ludicrous and could never carry even a close resemblance to the true interpretation of................................Ephesians 4 : 7. Which says: BUT TO EACH ONE OF US IS GIVEN GRACE ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE GIFT OF CHRIST. Meaning...........each and every member of the body of Christ has been given a sufficient amount of grace to allow them to carry out their call.....................1Thessalonians 5 : 24. The grace is given by God according to what that member has been called to do, measure meaning.........great or small. St Paul says that each gift is measured, has its limitations, extent and God provides us all with sufficient grace to carry out our job, call, ministry..............2Corinthians 12 : 7-10. St Paul was referring to the gifting of all members but not saying or implying for one minute, that the five fold ministry was to be for all members. Otherwise the scripture would read..............in Ephesians 4 : 11, he gave all his saints to be either apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. So if all the members are one of the five ministries and if the five fold ministry is going to equip, who are they going to equip?............each other and who are the saints? and how come these saints need to be equipped if they too are gifted and all members possess the five fold ministry gifts?.........hello? Mr Bhayro, the gifted ones, the five fold ministry officers equip the saints, the members, the church, the congregations, the christians, to do the work of the ministry of the Christ. Are not the saints members of the body of the Christ?.............well what do they need to be equipped for if they are gifted? and as you say..........possess these five fold gifts. And what happened to the gifts of helps, administrations etc? The gifts of the spirit are written in .......................1Corinthians 12 : 1-11. The gifts of the officers of the church are wriiten in............................Ephesians 4 : 11 St Paul says, to each of us was given grace not an office. Grace to do our part whatever it is...........making tea or making trouble. 1Kings 18 : 17 Mark 15 : 40, 41. A gifted officer who stands by grace Pastor Paul Sheehan Galatians 1 : 10 23.06.2003