The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

that is, spirit, soul, and body. Consequently when He wants to get important truths across to them, He aims for the spirit to allow it to process and transmit the insight to the other parts of the human being. See Soul. All of these are the reasons for parabolic communications. The first part of the human being that came into existence was the spirit. That says the real site of human wisdom and genuine knowledge is in the spirit of man. See 1 Corinthians 2:11. To assure the Almighty’s truths reach their desired destination and accomplish what He pleased, the Creator started with people’s spirits. Refer to John 6:63; Isaiah 26:9; John 4:23–24. These all explain the predominate place the spirit holds in the composition of man. 992. Parabolic Prophecy—An aspect of prophetic transmission whereby God challenges the prophet to explain a parable in order to comprehend a prophecy he or she is to deliver. Amos’ repeated task of interpreting divine imagery in order to grasp the prophetic word he was to deliver is a great example. Isaiah too, received prophecy from God in this manner. In particular, is the Lord’s parable of vineyard and Himself as the vinedresser (Isaiah 5:3). Jesus employed parabolic prophecy constantly in His earthly ministry. One such use was His question to Peter about their having to pay temple tax, before He sent the apostle to get the money from the fish’s mouth. Matthew 17:24–26. See Parable. 993. Parameter—A fixed constant or limit that sets bounds, marks a condition, and establishes a measure. 994. Pastor—One who shepherds a flock of sheep, symbolically, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pastors and prophets, by virtue of their assignments, are usually team ministers of the flock of God in the local church. Historically, it was believed that pastors were the dominant force in the flock and that prophets were their subordinate. Closer study of the Scriptures proves that was never the will of the Lord concerning leadership and government of His purchased possession. Another contention is that prophets are done away with in the New Testament for which there is no biblical basis. It is commonly taught that there is no place for the prophet’s ministry in the Christian churches since the Lord gives every believer the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide, and to tell them what to do directly. The New Testament however does not bear this out. The word pastor as used in English is only in the New Testament once. In its plural form, pastor appears in Ephesians 4:11 exclusively. The allegorical term for pastor, shepherd, appears in the New Testament about twenty times. Of those times, it refers to congregational pastors three times. The majority of the cases