Can I Die If I Try to Stand in a Ministry Office I’m Not Called To?

A well-known faith teacher taught his training center students that trying to stand in an office to which you are not called can cost you your life.  I even have his book at home that says so.  I would agree with that statement the way that I believe he meant it – that if you presumptuously try to stand in an office KNOWING that God has not commissioned you to stand in that office, the results can be dire.  The teacher cited a case of a prophet who tried to stand in the office of teacher simply because he saw other people doing it and wanted in on it – even though it soon became obvious that he couldn’t teach if his life depended on it.  His teaching caused confusion in the Body of Christ.  He had always had notable miracles, yet his atrocious teaching caused serious problems.  He died suddenly and prematurely.  This could have been a real stumbling block for younger Christians.  The wiser Christians would have known that an anointing does not prove proper doctrine.  I once had a lesser-known guest speaker at my church who had prodigious miracles, but never invited him back after he tried to introduce crazy doctrine, in this case, that you are supposed to be physically immortal until Jesus returns.  (Others in prior generations before him had fallen into that same bad teaching before they died!)  I had to rebuke him.

However, the devil loves to twist people’s words as well as God’s words, and some teaching began to circulate among some of the well-known faith teacher’s followers: “You’d better know for sure what you’re called to do before you start standing in a ministry office.  Otherwise, you could DIE because you intruded into the wrong office!”  The irony is that this dire warning contradicted other things that this same faith teacher taught his students!  He taught his students not to get caught up with names and titles, but to go out and preach Christ.  He taught that it would at some point become obvious what your ministry was and which office you stood in without anyone having to announce it.

That is good advice.  The devil would love to keep you out of the ministry (if you’re called to it) by making you think that you have to have your calling and office all figured out before you start, lest you get sick and die by being in the wrong office.  This will lead to trying to figure everything out, even though most if not all of us could not tell people everywhere we’re going to go in ministry at a young age, even when we think we know!  It is better to just get out there and preach and let the Lord lead you where He wants you to go.

Even if you think you’re called to be an apostle, don’t run around when you just graduated from Bible school handing out business cards labeling yourself as an apostle.  (By the way, I can’t think of ANYONE at this writing who has ever handed me a business card with “apostle” on it who truly stands in that office!)  Even the Apostle Paul didn’t start out in that office.  He was either a prophet, a teacher or both (Acts 13:1).  Wouldn’t it have been a shame if a fellow believer named Bar-Bummer (the Son of Discouragement) approached Paul and said, “Paul, you are a teacher.  Don’t intrude into the ministry of apostle or you could DIE!”  People fail to realize that the Lord can shift you from one office to another or have you stand in more than one office at the same time.  As a result, people can run around saying that someone is missing God by doing something new when the person is not missing God at all.  That does not bring any honor to Jesus or benefit to the one doing the criticizing.

The other problem is trying to pigeonhole ministers.  One evangelist might prophesy a lot, while another might also be an accomplished teacher.  No two ministries are alike.  Let people hear from God for themselves, and don’t get involved with prophesying doom to someone who you think is trying to stand in the wrong office!  They may have heard something from God that you haven’t heard and isn’t your business to hear.

I had a well-meaning former pastor beg me not to start the first church I started.  He assured me that I was not called to the office of pastor, and that if I tried to operate in that office, I would soon go broke and lose my health because I would be trying to stand in the wrong office.  I still respect this man, but I had to obey God rather than him, and I’m glad that I did.  My net worth multiplied and I never walked in better health.  We had so many miracles that an internationally-known church spent 15 minutes in one of its services just rattling off the miracles we’d seen to stir up their own congregation!  Now that doesn’t prove that I was in God’s will, as the Lord is gracious.  That’s the next point.  We operate under grace, not under the Law.  I’m quite aware that Uzzah died when he touched something he wasn’t supposed to touch, but that was under the Law.

Be very sure of this – under grace, God is not going to kill or otherwise judge you if you perform the function of a certain office believing that you are supposed to be doing what you’re doing, even if it turns out later that you settle into a different office or even never really belonged in the office that you tried to occupy at first.  Say that you become the umpteenth person who was SURE that he would NEVER pastor a church and you end up pastoring one.  (I can relate to that first-hand!)  But on the way, you led a bunch of people to Christ doing the work of an evangelist.  Will God smite you for “intruding” into the office of evangelist?  Of course not!  As long as you are doing what you honestly believe God wants you to do, God will always support you even if you miss it along the way.  You don’t have to worry about being struck dead for going out and advancing the Kingdom of God the best way you know how!  If God has your heart, He has your back.

If you go out and evangelize, you are obeying the Great Commission even if you are not called to be an evangelist.  If you desire to prophesy, you are agreeing with Scripture even if you are not called to be a prophet.  If you teach others the Word, you are obeying Jesus’ command to teach others even if you are not called to be a teacher.  So don’t let the devil get you into fear about missing your real calling.  God will reveal to you anywhere where you’re missing it (Philippians 3:15) as you get out there and serve Him the best way you know how.