The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2018 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 43

Shepherds, Not Pastors

We have seen that Yahweh first ruled Israel personally, without a pharaoh or emperor or king. We have seen that Christ rules His flock personally, without a pope or archbishop or chief apostle. Peter was the apostle to the Jews, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and James had as much respect as anyone. Christ, not a church government, told each individual where to go and what to do. Since there was no human king in charge of the church, the apostles and elders all had to work together under and in the spirit of the King of kings.

What about the local assemblies then? Did they have a local mini-king, one man ruling over a congregation?

Earlier we quoted Ephesians 4:11 in two different translations, the King James and the World English Bible, an update of the American Standard Version.

KJV Eph 4
11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

This one verse in the King James is the whole basis of having local church pastors, pastor meaning one man ruling a congregation. However, this chapter of Ephesians is about people working together in the spirit. Remember humans use monarchical type power to control people who can’t otherwise be controlled. With the spirit of God drawing people together, they don’t need someone else controlling them. They don’t need human monarchs.

WEB Eph 4
2) with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
3) being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6) one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.11) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

12) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

The point is unity in the spirit. Given human nature, this does not come easily. Paul’s letters are full of admonitions about problems among those earliest Christianos. They were taking each other to court, squabbling with each other, and James asked them where the wars between them came from. Even Paul and Barnabus had a minor disagreement. Neither Paul nor Barnabus had the church authority to tell the other what he had to do in serving, so they parted. Unity in the spirit requires overcoming human nature with Christ’s nature — the challenge of a lifetime!

But that is the way, chaotic as it may seem. Replacing God’s guidance with human rulers seems to bring harmony for a while, just as socialist Germany and the socialist Soviet Union seemed to be unified and energized for a time, until the burden of human tyranny came tumbling down on their heads. Monarchical unity is always a forced unity and will always at some point erupt into revolution and more chaos. This is true of political and religious governments.

When Paul is talking about unity in the spirit in Ephesians 4, he wouldn’t include the opposite of that in verse 11, the opposite being a Roman type pastor/ruler over local congregations.

We have mentioned how King James ordered his translators to retain ecclesiastical language, as is evident in these two verses.

KJV Eph 4
11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

King James includes two church authority words there, pastors and ministry. Neither are correct translations. We already pointed out how ministry in verse 12 should be translated as serving, as the World English Bible does.

The Greek word translated as pastors in verse 11 is “poimen… a shepherd,” from Mickelson’s Enhanced Strong’s Dictionaries. Poimen is translated as shepherd in these verses.

KJV Luke 2
8) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

KJV Matt 25
31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32) And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

KJV John 10
11) I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12) But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13) The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14) I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Notice that all those verses are quoted from the King James, where they translated “poimen” as “shepherd.” In fact, the King James always translates “poimen” as “shepherd” — except for Ephesians 4:11! Many other translations then followed that established tradition of putting the word “pastors” in verse 11. A few choose to translate it correctly, despite religious tradition.

WEB Eph 4
11) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

English Standard Version 2011 Eph 4:11
11) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible Eph 4:11
11) And, he, gave––some, indeed, to be apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, shepherds and teachers,––

Young’s Literal Translation Eph 4:11
11) and He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as proclaimers of good news, and some as shepherds and teachers,

Reading through the New Testament shows they did not have monocratic church pastors. They had shepherds and elders working together caring for congregations, but there was no one man rule.

Notice these passages.

WEB Acts 14
21) When they had preached the Good News to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22) confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of God.
23) When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

WEB Titus 1
5) I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;

WEB Jas 5
14) Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

Notice that each assembly had elders — plural. No assemblies ever had pastors appointed. When someone was sick, he called for the elders — plural — of the local congregation to pray for him.

When Paul told Titus to appoint elders, why didn’t he instruct him to ordain a pastor over each assembly? When Peter wrote “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder,” 1 Peter 5:1, why didn’t he exhort the pastors, too? When James said for the sick to call for the elders, why didn’t he have them call for a pastor?

Simple. Because the one man rule position of pastor did not exist in the local congregation, any more than one man rule existed in the church as a whole.

In fact, there’s not even a word for a pastor-ruler. When the King James inserted pastor that one time, the word is shepherd not pastor/ruler, so there’s no one word that designates a pastor-ruler. Other words for a religious server, like episkope — office, or presbuteros — elder, also do not mean a monocratic ruler.

If the position of pastor-ruler had existed in the earliest ekklesia, there would have been an example of somebody appointed as pastor-ruler. There are none.

In addition, in all the letters that Paul wrote, he included big hellos and goodbyes, as in the end of his letter to the Romans.

Warning — this is a long goodbye. He hardly left anyone in Rome out!

WEB Rom 16
1) I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,
2) that you receive her in the Lord, in a way worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.
3) Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
4) who for my life, laid down their own necks; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles.
5) Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.
6) Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
7) Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
8) Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
9) Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.
10) Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
11) Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
12) Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
13) Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
14) Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.
15) Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
16) Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ greet you.
17) Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them.
18) For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
19) For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.
20) And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21) Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives.
22) I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord.
23) Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother.
24) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen.

Look at all the people Paul greeted there. But you will quickly see a couple of things. One — Paul did not salute some archbishop in Rome with a big ring, a tall hat and a funny robe. Second, there’s not even a church pastor there ruling over that congregation. The only emperor in Rome was the Roman emperor. That position exists nowhere in Christ’s flock.

In all the New Testament letters written to the congregations, there is never a salutation to any pastor-ruler over a congregation, just as we saw in the end of the letter to the Romans.

Also, when Paul left Ephesus for the last time — never to see them again — that was an extremely emotional parting. He called all the elders in Ephesus together for that serious, important gathering. However, he forgot to call the Ephesus church pastor!

WEB Acts 20
16) For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
17) From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
18) When they had come to him, he said to them, You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,
19) serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;
20) how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21) testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.
22) Now, behold, I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there;
23) except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
24) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
25) Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more.
26) Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men,
27) for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
28) Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
29) For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30) Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31) Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
32) Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33) I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.
34) You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.
35) In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
36) When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
37) They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
38) sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Yes, they wept a lot, and one reason was because their church pastor had not been invited to that meeting!

Well, maybe not.

Ephesus didn’t have a church pastor, one man ruling over the whole congregation. They had elders and shepherds, and they worked together in Ephesus, and they were all there to say that sad goodbye to Paul.

Also notice Paul’s warning to them.

Acts 20
28) Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
29) For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30) Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

A man draws followers after himself when he rules by himself.

Yahweh in the Old Testament, who was Yeshua acting in that name and spirit, did not originally set up a king over His people. Yeshua in the New Testament did not set up a pope over His people. And that pattern prevailed, all the way down to the local assemblies. They did not have one man ruling over them, like a Roman emperorette.

Isn’t it comforting to see how God is so consistent?

If the position of pastor/one man ruler is not in the Bible, how did it come to be almost universally adopted in Protestant churches?

Martin Luther’s German translation of the New Testament in 1522, very early in the Reformation, rendered Ephesians 4:11 as “hirten”, shepherd or herdsman. English Bible translations before the Geneva Bible of 1560 — Wycliffe, Coverdale, Tyndale, Great Bible, Matthew Bible — rendered Ephesians 4:11 as shepherds. The Geneva Bible translated poimen as shepherds, too, except for that one verse. Protestants in Switzerland had transferred the position of the Roman Catholic priests to their Protestant pastors, which was one man over a congregation and the English language Geneva Bible, produced by English and Scottish exiles in Switzerland, reinforced that practice with their rendering of that one word in that one verse.

The Wikipedia article “pastor” says, “The use of the term pastor to refer to the common Protestant title of modern times dates to the days of John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli. Both men, and other Reformers, seem to have revived the term to replace the Roman Catholic priest in the minds of their followers.” (Accessed 3/27/18.)

Rome had their pyramid of power — the Pope, the archbishops, and the local parish priests. That type of government had worked well — humanly speaking — for the Roman Empire for five centuries, until it fell in on itself. It had worked for the Roman Church for over a thousand years, until the protesting Protestants erupted. So the Protestants adopted the function of church pastors, which was a governmental counterpart to the Roman Church local priests.

That was ironic because the Protestants had just rejected monocratic rule when they rejected the Pope. Then they proceeded to reestablish it on a local basis, instead of following the New Testament example of shepherds with unity in the spirit.

Did relying on a government system instead of letting Christ lead directly keep the Protestant hordes in check?

Not exactly. Recent estimates of the number of Protestant denominations run from 33,000 (World Christian Encyclopedia) to 45,000 (Center for Global Christianity). Rome uses this disunity as a sign that they are the one true church. Of course, these Protestants exist only because the Roman Catholic Church was not able to kill enough of them to begin with, as they certainly tried to do.

There were no church pastor-rulers in the ekklesia. There were elders, shepherds, or overseers, largely from the local congregation, who had to work together in serving the local Christians. No one man could rule.

This does not mean that church pastors are bad people. Some do draw people after themselves, selfishly accruing glory and filthy lucre. Most are not that way, and are trying to serve well in their pastor positions. However, that is not Christ’s design for a local assembly.

The pastor job has one of the highest burnout rates of any job. Little wonder. All the local problems fall on one pair of shoulders. The job is unstable with pastor families always on the move. Pastors move on to bigger churches or congregations simply get tired of their pastor. The job is wracked with constant problems, because there will always be people in any one area who do not care for that one pastor. The pastor job tends to be a back patting position, with more coaxing than exhorting. After all, keeping the job depends on not offending the congregation, which means seldom correcting and continually cajoling.

Most people, though, are so used to this system of government that they can’t imagine functioning without it. Almost all local churches follow this pattern of government.

A church without a pastor? Come on!

The idea of having multiple shepherds or elders working together instead of just one man ruling does not even occur to them.

There are a few congregations today that do have multiple pastors, as they call them, which means they are not one man rule at all, but more in line with the pattern of the original ekklesia. This would seem to avoid the major problems of pastoring. Congregational problems would be shared among the elders, and there would be less moving because the congregation wouldn’t get tired of being led by only one man. These congregations, though, are a very small minority.

Under the Roman type government, the one man ruler can create the appearance of unity without real unity. He simply commands and the people usually obey, regardless of what they really feel. For Christ’s government to work, there has to be real unity — spiritual unity. Since there was no human king in charge of the church, the apostles and elders all had to work together under and in the spirit of the King of kings. The elders in the local congregations had to do the same. No one man was over the others so they had to work together. That’s what Paul was talking about when he urged unity in the spirit.

WEB Eph 4
11) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;

All those different positions had to work together, both overall and locally. If they did not work together, if they did not have unity in the spirit, then the problem was not with Christ’s spirit or Christ’s government. The problem was and is with human nature not yielding to Christ’s spirit.

Many think that obeying a leader even if you disagree with him is noble. What is really noble is not disagreeing at all, but having the same mind — the mind of Christ — because you’re led by the same spirit — the spirit of Christ. Given human nature, this requires a miracle. Yet that is what Christ expects in his government. Not one man commanding, but different people communicating and communing with each other. Christ expects this miracle in His flock.

The fact is that Yeshua did not set up a Roman government in His flock. There is no one man in charge anywhere. Christ is in charge everywhere, even in the local assembly.

The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2018 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 42

No Pyramid

Cameroon in central Africa is not a large nation but is still very divided. Its main religions are Muslim, spiritism, and Christian. The Christians are further divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants. A Muslim leader in Cameroon had a unique religious requirement. Any woman who entered his palace – religious leaders often live like kings – had to do so with her breasts uncovered. Whether she was coming to him for religious reasons or just to deliver food and supplies, she had to be bare breasted.

When he counseled with those women, what did they talk about?

Undoubtedly, the Muslim imam has what he considers a good spiritual reason for this fleshly requirement. He can personally set his requirements because that religion rules with a pyramid of power, a chain of religious rulers who control the people.

Most religions rule like Rome, including the religion based in Rome. In fact they are a near copy of the Roman government, with an overall emperor, then a pyramid of lower rulers down to the local parish ruler. They have different names for their rulers than Rome had, like cardinals, and monsignors and priests, but the overall pattern is the same.

Christ’s flock is not ruled like Rome. No one man can require women to expose themselves and no one man can set right and wrong. There are no religious kings in God’s church, no popes, archbishops or chief apostles, because Christ is the King.

Instead of exalted positions with ostentatious titles and distinctive garments, Christ’s flock only has service positions. The original descriptors of those positions -– before the terms were religiously inflated — showed their humble status.

For instance, deacon from the Greek diakonos, simply meant servant. When Yeshua turned the water into wine at a wedding, “His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it,” John 2:5. The word servants there is diakonos, which in some places is ecclesiastically translated as deacon instead of servant.

In the earliest days of the flock, when they were all still together, seven men were chosen as table waiters.

WEB Acts 6:1-6

1) Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

2) The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the word of God and serve tables.

3) Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

4) But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.”

5) These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;

6) whom they set before the apostles. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

The word serve is translated from diakoneo, and those seven ‘deacons’ made sure the widows got their daily food. Those were jobs, though, and not ranks because Stephen and Philip also found time to do the job of evangelists. Again, evangelist was not a rank but a function. Church denominations later made both jobs of deacons and evangelists into ranks in a pyramid, and a deacon dare not do the job of an evangelist.

The word minister, as used in this verse in the King James, “And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister,” Acts 13:5, meant attendant or helper. The Greek word for that is huperetes, an assistant. Huperetes is derived from a word meaning “to row,” and literally means “an underoarsman.” So that makes the word ‘minister’ pretty humble — a boat rower, and a second class boat rower at that. With the inflation of the religious title of minister, it seems that most ministers would not be willing to go to the back of the boat.

So with time and religious refurbishing, positions of humility and service get reinterpreted into positions of exaltation and being served.

Notice these listings of functions in Christ’s flock, from the World English Bible.

1Cor 12

28) God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.

Eph 4:11

11) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

Apostle is one who was sent forth.

Luke 6:13

13) When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles:

That seems like an exalted position, to be one of the original twelve apostles, along with a few others afterward like Paul. They were not just televangelists who happened to call themselves apostles. They had the signs of an apostle, as Paul said and did.

2Cor 12:12

12) Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty works.

We can deduce then that all apostles had the signs of an apostle, wonders and mighty works. We can further deduce that anyone who does not have those signs of an apostle is not an apostle. Miracle workers also had to have that little qualification — to have some supernatural event happen through them.

Many famous preachers today receive gluttonous salaries, and justify those by saying the pay is comparable to worldly corporations. The original Christians, though, sometimes had to pay just to preach.

Acts 18:2-4

2) He [Paul] found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,

3) and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.

4) He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks.

Paul had to pay his own way while he preached the way of giving to the Corinthians.

The job perks of being an apostle were these.

2Cor 11:24-28

24) Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.

25) Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.

26) I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;

27) in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

28) Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies.

Those were the job perks of being an apostle. The ultimate job perk was giving the ultimate sacrifice. Practically all the apostles were martyred. So when being an apostle would probably cost you your life, although it was kind of an exalted position, that did add a touch of humility to the job.

A prophet or prophetess was not just someone who declared himself or herself to be so. That person received communication directly from God.

Num 12:6

6) He said, “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I Yahweh will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

What the prophet or prophetess said had to come true, or he or she was a lying prophet and was to be ignored. Agabus’ prophecy came true because he was a prophet.

Acts 11:27-28

27) Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28) One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.

Agabus said it would happen and it did. The function of prophet or prophetess is certainly distinctive because it’s so rare, but it carried a high responsibility, which might cost the prophet his life if he or she was presumptuous. That again is a humbling feature.

1Kgs 13

11) Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

12) Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah.

13) He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.

14) He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”

15) Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”

16) He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

17) For it was said to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.’”

18) He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.

19) So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20) It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back;

21) and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you,

22) but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water;” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”

23) It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24) When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.

A prophet had a special position, but arrogance put that particular prophet in a prone position.

Evangelist is from evaggelistes. Evaggelion which means good news, so evaggelistes is a bringer of good news – kind of a messenger boy. The apostles were also evaggelistes or evangelists who spread the good word. Again, these were jobs to do, not ranks in a pyramid. Apostles were also evangelists. Deacons were also evangelists.

Delivering the truth about the Messiah naturally brought persecution on the messenger. It always does, which is why so many present day “evangelists” water it down until it’s not the Messiah’s good news at all. If there is no persecution, then there is no real evaggelion.

Elder is from the Greek presbuteros, either an adjective meaning old, or a noun meaning an old man. This term was often used of Jews.

Luke 22:66-67

66) As soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the people was gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away into their council, saying,

67) “If you are the Christ, tell us…

And it was used of Christians, which was natural since it just meant an old man.

Acts 14:23

23) When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

These older men were overseers of local groups. Peter was an apostle but he also described himself as an elder. This position was respected, but presumably old men who were ordained as overseers had gained enough wisdom with their age not to be exalted by their position. Again, throughout most of their history true Christians suffered persecution, even old men. Polycarp was in his eighties when he was martyred by Rome. Such an eventuality always has a humbling effect.

Teachers had the most basic function, but that was not an exalted title like rabbi. And shepherd was what elders did, to help guide and protect the flock.

All those were positions of serving. None were positions of being served. All required giving and sacrifice on the part of the server. Christ had personally taught them to be servants.

WEB Matt 20:25-28

25) But Yeshua summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

26) It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

27) Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

28) even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The jobs of Ephesians 4:11 cited earlier were for service. King James, though, insisted on keeping ecclesiastical power language.

KJV Eph 4:11-12

11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

“…for the work of the ministry” sounds churchy. The word translated ministry there is diakonia, related to diakonos discussed earlier, meaning service. World English Bible translates it that way.

Eph 4:11-12

11) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

12) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;

“…to the work of serving” doesn’t sound so churchy, does it?

Even apostles saw themselves as servants, not only of Christ but of Christ’s people.

As Paul wrote —

WEB 1Cor 3:5

5) Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?

WEB 2Cor 4:5

5) For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake;

And Peter.

WEB 1Pet 5:2-3

2) Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;

3) neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

So Christ’s flock had apostles, evangelists, prophets, prophetesses, teachers, shepherds, old men, table waiters and servers. That was not a pyramid. Those were positions of service, different jobs that needed to be done. Apostles were sent forth on the biggest missions. Evangelists spread the word. Prophets received communication directly from God. Teachers, shepherds, old men, table waiters and servers worked directly with the flock, teaching, guiding and helping physically.

There was no instance where one man ruled the flock or any part of the flock like an emperor. All served as servants. Government was from the top down and all around, and that government was Yeshua Himself. Under Him there was no human pyramid, no ladder of power for ambitious self-seekers to climb. All positions were positions of service, without exalting titles or ornamentation or regalia. Some worked without enough reimbursement even for daily living. Many gave their lives in their work. There was no suffocating blanket of human administration. There were no soldiers patrolling to enforce obedience. All Christianos had free choice to control their actions. Everyone in the flock had direct access to the King and everyone was directly responsible to the King, as Ananias and Sapphira were. All servers went directly to God to direct their lives. The deacons or table waiters Stephen and Philip did not have to go to the pope for permission to evangelize. They went directly to Yeshua and He said yes.

Again – there was no pyramid. There was no pope over the whole church, no archbishops under the pope over part of the church, no regional directors under the archbishops, and so on and so forth. Nobody stood between anybody and Christ the King. Nobody kissed anybody’s ring. There was and is only one Lord and Master.

2Cor 1:24

24) Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.

And hard as it is to believe, following that principle that there was no pyramid of power and no emperors, there weren’t even any pastors ruling over the local churches.