The transition of the church to the new covenant terms and stewardship is now taking place. It is a time of challenge for all believers. One of the deciding battles to restore Jesus as the Head of the Body of Christ is the question of apostolic stewardship.

True apostles point to the living anointing – Jesus Christ – as the living Word of God, while those who tear the stewardship from Jesus to themselves point to the Bible as the Word of God.

The written word points to the eternal living Word of God – Jesus Christ (Jn 1:1). The Bible points to Jesus, but does not replace Jesus. The Bible is the letter, or ink on paper. The Bible did not shed its blood on the cross, Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the remission of sins. The Bible does not mediate the new covenant, Jesus does that. We cannot use the Bible to mediate for ourselves.

The blood of the Lamb bought a new covenant for us to obtain His life. When Jesus rose from the dead He sent the promise of the Father – the baptism of the Holy Spirit to seal the covenant in His name. The Bible did not baptize any in the fire of God’s Spirit.

When apostolic leadership is absent from a person’s faith then the confession of scripture replaces the priesthood sacrifices of prophecy. The end time church has this sign: God has restored Jesus as our confession of charity, rather than a selection of scripture.

1 Corinthians 2:5
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

In this verse Apostle Paul compares the wisdom of man (fruitless traditions born of the text) to the power of the living God. Your faith is NOT justified by the imagination working with the text, or with the aspiration working with the record of man. Faith is justified only in the anointing whereby charity gives life to the soul.

Unrighteous ministers use the text to navigate their imagination – that’s the wisdom of man. These resist government and overshadow truth with their own philosophy, which they call the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the barren soul is a testimony against them.

The Bible is not your authority, stewardship is your authority. What do I mean by this? I mean that God will never empower your aspiration no matter how many scriptures you tack onto them. But God does empower the true steward of the covenant who build faith in the likeness of Christ. The anointing is with the stewardship.

When Saul ripped Samuel’s garment it is symbolic of the state of the church today. This act of Saul to tear the garments of God’s appointed stewardship was a sign that the anointing was removed from Saul.

1 Samuel 15:27-28
²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

The Roman soldiers also did the same to Jesus. They parted His garment, which is a sign against the church today, as ministers tear the stewardship from Christ to themselves.

Matthew 27:35
“And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.”

The false religious system, despising the true stewardship, took ownership of the gospel, taking for themselves. Throwing dice is symbolic of making gain for self, which is what God is addressing for correction.

In Ezekiel 17:1-10 the Lord puts forth a riddle and a parable against the industrious works of the leaders of His people.

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

³ And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

⁴ He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.

⁵ He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

⁶ And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

⁷ There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.

⁸ It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

⁹ Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

¹⁰ Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

Highlight the words “riddle” and “parable” in verse one. That means that there is something that is evident before your eyes that has to be interpreted in the proper way.  God uses a steward to set before the people His mind, to help them interpret what they see. God’s  not really talking about an eagle and a vine is He? He’s using the parable to bring to light the condition of His people.

So let’s look at the vine. The vine that was planted “became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him” (vs 6), meaning that the branches turned inward to bear fruit for self.

It’s the anointing that joins all scripture to the Godhead, but the aspiration severs it from the Godhead to take to himself. Know this, when you take the scripture to yourself it dies.

The parable goes on, “so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.” (vs 6) God teaches that the vine planted by the aspiration of man DOES grow.  It DOES look promising.

The aspiration seems to work wonders, whereas different worship styles offer a cultural identity to believers who reject the true culture of God’s new covenant, which Jesus mediates.

The aspiration seems to work as leaders try to teach believers how to operate in prophecy, which is turned inward to prophesy about the psychology of the natural man. People love it when faith is turned inward to reflect their own heart. This is mere psycho-phecy, which is a word God gave me to describe what is happening in all prophetic circles.

But the aspiration “being planted, shall it prosper?” (vs 9-10)

Unrighteous ministers take the scriptures of the Bible and turn it towards themselves, which means they severe it to the aspiration. Just because you quote the scriptures, does that make you a believer? Shall God prosper the aspiration?

“Shall it not utterly wither?” (vs 10)

God is saying that anyone who takes the knowledge of Christ to themselves will not prosper in the things of God. The scriptures are being isolated from the covenant and are used for self gain: to dominate the circumstances of life for the purpose of control, to tear down perceived barriers.

Ministers use the scriptures to remove the barrier of sickness.

Ministers us the scriptures to remove the barriers of poverty.

But it’s the anointing that binds us to God (Is 61:1-2). It’s the anointing that brings grace full cycle, for now that Jesus has come we have received of His fulness. We daily receive grace, which comes full cycle for its multiplication. Grace upon grace is multiplied through the stewardship and by your functioning priesthood. These are the links of His joy in us, which completes us in Christ, and we enter into His rest.

Isaiah 61: 1-2
¹  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

False knowledge is a false refuge. It holds faith prisoner to false promises. The blessing of the anointing is manifested in God’s selected apostolic stewardship.

The anointing is not of the letter (scripture and verse/text), but is of the Spirit, and therefore the refuge of the Spirit is the true refuge. The letter blinds the eyes because the person hearing can take to themselves, as Saul.

The true apostolic stewardship proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord, or the new season of His work. And by proclaiming this, it is also the day of vengeance of our God.

God is making distinction. God is bringing division. God is putting the yoke of derision upon the rebellious (as Saul), and God is pouring the blessing of His knowledge into the hearts of the righteous, which is for the true healing of the soul, bearing fruit to God. Not as the dry branches, which sows fruit to itself.