In 1848, Antonio Rosmini, an Italian priest and theologian wrote the book The Five Wounds of the Church in hopes of triggering a reform in the Roman Catholic Church. The five evils were;

1. The social remoteness of the clergy from the people

2. The insufficient education of the priests;

3. Disunity and acrimony among the bishops

4. The nomination of bishops by secular authorities.

5. Church ownership of property and enslavement of wealth.

For offending the church with truth, the book was condemned, banned and Rosmini was stripped of his cardinal hat. 175 years since the book, and the 21st century church is still struggling with healing these wounds that the church of the 18th century chose to ignore.

Wanting to understand why these wounds have relentlessly persisted in the church the Holy Spirit explained that while the temple had a template, it did not have sufficient defence system guarding the work to the temple against inside and outside threats. Let’s look at the template through the eyes of the apostle Paul.

Ephesians 4:11-13:-And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belong to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed her and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheme but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects of Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes growth to the body for the building up of itself in love.

Following the template is not just a threat to the kingdom of darkness, it spells complete ruin for its ruler and his rules.

Mobilizing the body of Christ to meet the threats of the 21st century that have exponentially increased with the global event of Covid19 followed closely with the war between Russia and the Ukraine has become increasingly difficult. That the majority of the church was caught off guard by the pandemic, they were not prepared for the knock on effect that would follow. Sadly most are still woefully unaware and unprepared to handled the new normal pushing new policies into play and new people in power that will concentrate strategic attacks against the church from multiple directions all at once.

Foreseeing all this the Lord is now releasing an unusual task force that will destabilise ongoing attacks and neutralize incoming threats to the body. To help me get my head around it the Lord prompted me to research on the function of cornerstone, oilstone, capstone and keystone.

Cornerstone: is considered the most important stone and the first stone laid in constructing a building foundation. All other stones are laid in reference to it as it orients the whole building. Isaiah 28:16:-Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be hurried] This verse carries several meanings the most popular being that Jesus was the cornerstone who would be rejected but then accepted as the Son of God and king of the Jews. [Psalm 118:22 and Matthew 21:42] However, it is also in reference to the believers who themselves are living stones [1 Peter 2:5] who will undergo a process that graduates them from being (1) a stone [Hebrew ‘eben’- a common stone (in its natural state] into a (2) tested stone [Hebrew ’bohan]—proven, tried, trained, trial— ’eben’stone] till alas the become (3) the costly [valuable, prized, weighty, precious, rare, of the church who at first would splendid] cornerstone [Hebrew‘pinna’ - corner (of square objects) or figuratively “corner (of ruler or chief). Simply put, as the path of the master so is the path of His servants.

Zechariah [the prophetic winter book for 2023] pointed out chapter 10:4 gives up a prophetic word part of which says3- “...the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah and will make them like His majestic horse in battle. From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together.” In words. those that are foundation layers, those that anchor, those that fight [intercessors] and those that rule [most likely in the market place.]

Keystone: A keystone is a wedge-shaped stone at the centre of a masonry arch to evenly distribute the weight of the masonry down the sides of the arch and locks the other stones in place. It is also a uniquely carved stone that adds a decorative touch to the archway. This decorative stone is typically more significant than the other stones to increase the aesthetics of an arch. This signifies the ministries that will cater to beauty and balance alongside form and function in the church collective.

Together these four stone will mobilize to create a wall of defence to protect the sovereignty, sanity and identity of the body of Christ against the brutal aggression coming from the mobilizing force of the kingdom of darkness. One could consider these ministries as the lethal combat shadow warriors of the Lord who have been hewed and honed outside of the church. Wilderness trained they know how to fight with bears and lions in the spiritand take the heads of giants. They are not offended easily but they will offend carnal minds as they deliver battle winning strategies with ruthless precision. They are a weapon the Lord has forged for Himself to snuff out the wick of the wicked.