The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

the word is used pertain strictly to the Lord Jesus Christ, when an actual shepherd in the field (such as those who were told about the Christ-child) is not meant. In the Old Testament, the word pastor appears prominently as those who tend the flock of God only in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The majority of those cases have the prophets rebuking Israel’s shepherds for their mistreatment of God’s people. The other times, in this context, pastoral mentions prophesy the coming of Christ as the true Shepherd of the flock, a theme the Lord Jesus picks up on in John 10. Most of the times the Old Testament prophets speak of shepherds negatively. Jeremiah in 17:16 discusses himself as a pastor although he is clearly called to be a prophet. (See Shepherding Prophet and Jeremiah 2:8, 3:15, 10:21, 12:10, 22:22–23). In the book of Genesis, Joseph was equated to a pastor even though he too was clearly established as a prophet in a Gentile nation under an Egyptian Pharaoh. All in all, considering the controversial stronghold held by pastors over the Lord’s church the world over in contrast to the number of times they are mentioned or alluded to is less than fifty times perhaps. Prophets and prophetics in comparison are referred to more than ten times that number. It seems by these facts that more pastors today are prophets or apostles than know it or are willing to admit. The word used for pastor in the Greek is poimen. Its meaning is so expansive one wonders how the church ended up with its narrow view of the pastor’s work so popular today. In a strictly natural sense, from which the spiritual application of the term comes, poimen defines “a herdsman who shepherds.” The pastor in this vein is one who cares for and controls the flock entrusted to him. The pastor manages, governs, and nourishes the flock with the precepts, doctrine, and dispensations of Jesus Christ. Positionally, the pastor is the president of the flock and as its presiding officer, directs the affairs, conduct, and activities of the assembly. Spiritually, the Lord’s invisible creation sees His pastors as priestly kings and/or princes over the spherical region in which the church resides before the Lord God. Typical pastoral tasks included watching out for enemies attempting to stalk, invade, and endanger the flock. They are to defend the sheep from predators and threats from nature and creatures. Pastors are to heal Christ’s wounded sheep, tend to and nurse back to health the sick ones, and seek and restore the kidnapped or wandering ones. They are to free those trapped in carnality, idolatry, or immaturity. As the daily companion to the flock, pastors are to love their flocks, share their members’ lives, and earn their trust and respect by transforming them. That transformation is to affect the sheeps’