There is a grievous error creeping into Pentecostal thinking. It is that Christ has given to His disciples the wisdom and authority to administrate the ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of the prophet indeed is subject to the prophet, but it is not true that to man has been given the administration of the ministries and gifts of the Spirit of God.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives the gifts.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the administrator of the ministries and gifts. It is the Lord Jesus who alone decides when, how, where God is to be served. He, not, man organizes the ministries of His Body (I Corinthians 12:5).

It is God the Father who gives the power to operate the gifts, to perform the miracles.

It is not up to us to organize the Body of Christ. Those who attempt to do so will bring confusion into the Kingdom of God.

It is Jesus who is Lord and Administrator. The historical error of Christendom is to put a human being (ultimately Antichrist) in the role of administrator. The error is more dangerous today than in time past because of the spiritual enablements available now.

Let us flee from all who are attempting to organize the Body of Christ. Only Jesus is authorized to do this. Let us wait on Him and receive His directions through the Holy Spirit.

And then we come to the other side of the coin.

The Lord Jesus gives various administrations through men. There are God-given elders whose responsibility is to oversee the Christian assemblies.

It is never proper for a meeting of Christians to engage in manifestations of the Spirit of God apart from the diligent supervision of godly elders. Sometimes there are a great number of manifestations of the Spirit in a given service. As soon as this occurs Satan will stir up the fleshly nature of immature believers. Then there will be a mixture of true manifestations of the Spirit and manifestations of the flesh.

The elders will perceive beneficial things taking place but also be uncomfortable with other aspects. They will be reluctant to step in because they do not wish to offend the Holy Spirit.

The elders must step in and stop those actions with which they are uncomfortable. All manifestations of the Spirit are to be under the control of the saints. The Spirit is God. The manifestations are separate from Himself.

If the elders do not prevent Satan-inspired flesh from expressing itself the meeting itself will "take over." Pretty soon the people will "sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play" as they did when Aaron made the golden calf.

Whenever those in authority of an assembly become uncomfortable with what is taking place they should stop the proceedings until they are certain the Lord is present. They may have to tell one brother to proceed and another to sit down and be quiet. This is perfectly proper. We are commanded to test the spirits. If we do not, things soon will get out of control and bring reproach on the Gospel.

To be continued.