[UntoHim]

My Post from 9/23/2019:

Originally Posted by UntoHim

2) "Through fellowship with the apostles". WHO ARE TODAY'S APOSTLES? NAME THEM. The apostle Paul named himself as an apostle: (1 Timothy 1:1) The apostle Peter named himself as an apostle: (1 Peter 1:1) The Acts of the apostles names the apostles. Presumably, some or all of the Blended Brothers consider themselves as today's apostles. Hard to say since they are constantly exercising, enforcing and reinforcing apostolic authority WITHOUT IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES BY PERSONAL NAMES.
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Apparent response from "The Co-Workers in the Lord's recovery in North America":
"Some have misguidedly demanded a list of apostles in the Lord’s recovery. The notion is unbiblical and absurd. There is no precedent in the Bible, and it is clear from the New Testament that leadership in the church is not a fixed office, as it would be in a hierarchy."

No one is demanding a list. What we are doing is asking that those who exercise apostolic authority among the churches do what all the apostles in the New Testament did - They named themselves. Paul named himself as an apostle. Peter named himself as an apostle. Many apostles were identified by name in Acts. (The Acts the Apostles) The notion that men who exercise apostolic authority be known by name is neither unbiblical nor absurd. As far as leadership not being a "fixed office", well that is an invention of Witness Lee, pure and simple. (A rather ironic concept, since Lee's position among the Local Churches was about as fixed as a leader in a movement could possibly be!)

From these new batch of articles, we can see that the authors claim that not all workers and co-workers are equal. Some function as senior co-workers and others are under their authority and function as junior co-workers. Sounds reasonable. But it still leaves one in the dark about who is who. Again, the biblical, New Testament way is for those who take the position of leadership be known by name. How else can the members of the Body discern and test the qualifications of these men?

Many of you out there may be familiar with the "cessationism versus continuationism" debate, which has been raging in the Christian church for nearly 2,000 years. Basically, one side posits that the function or office of an apostle ceased to exist after the first generation of apostles passed away. The other side contends that the function or office of an apostle has remained down throughout church history, and continues to this present day. Apparently the Co-Workers in the Lord's Recovery movement are continuationists. That's fine - many noted and reputable Christian teachers, scholars and apologists fall into this camp. But the issue of being personally identified remains. There is still a need for the Body to be able to discern and test such a one.
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