There is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant. You are either ‘Born again’ or you’re not. If a New Testament prophet makes a mistake, is he suddenly unborn again and under the Old Testament law to be stoned as a false prophet, or is their forgiveness, grace and restoration found in the New Testament for such a prophet? 1 Corinthians 13:9 says "For we know in part, and we prophecy in part." No one is perfect.The same grace and restoration for the act of committing adultery is the same grace and restoration extended to the prophet for making a prophetic mistake unless of course you believe in limited atonement for the forgiveness of sins.
Mormon theology excludes the sin of murder from the atonement but the true church of Jesus Christ preaches that in Christ we have complete forgiveness of all sin. If we as Christians believe the gospel we preach, we must include forgiveness for any and every sin. All of our sins are washed away.
In Ephesians 4:11 God has given five ministry callings. All five are under the same atoning blood of Christ. I cannot think of even one evangelist, pastor or teacher that does not make an occasional mistake. Does that disqualify them from the office that God has called them to? Of course not; they humbly repent and continue. The same is true for the apostle or prophet.
When it comes to the office of apostle or prophet the majority of teaching in Christian circles places them during what they call the ‘apostolic age’ and for prophets, during the ‘period of the prophets’. Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest of the prophets and yet his ministry did not occur until many years after the period of the prophets.
Concerning apostles - the office began with the original twelve apostles of the lamb and no one can add to them or take away from them. Judas lost his place of apostleship and God replaced him, but there will always only be twelve original apostles of the lamb.
The problem with limiting the office of apostle to only the twelve during the apostolic age is that the Bible mentions other apostles that were not among the number of the original twelve. When you have additional apostles in the New Testament that are outside the original number of the twelve apostles, what do you do with them? You can’t very well call them apostles of the apostolic age because they were not identified in scripture until after the ascension of Christ and the birth of his church. It wasn’t until Jesus ascended into heaven that Ephesians 4:8 says he gave gifts unto men. Ephesians 4:11 "And he (Jesus) gave some, apostles, and prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers." This was quite some time after the life and ministry of Christ and his apostles. What was Jesus doing from heaven in giving men the office of apostle if there were only the twelve he had already made apostles?
Pastor Tilson
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In addition to calling Jesus Christ an Apostle, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb, the New Testament calls several others apostles:Barnabas and Paul Acts 14:14
James the Lord's brother Gal 1:19
Andronicus and Junia Rom 16:7
Silvanus and Timotheus 1Thess 1:1; 2:6
Apollos 1 Cor 4:4-9
Two unnamed brethren 2 Cor 8:23
Epaphroditus Phil 2:25
The word translated "Messenger" in these verses is the same Greek word translated "apostle" elsewhere.
