LET ME TELL YOU WHERE I'M COMING FROM

[donadams]

Don, give me something I can chew on - some kind of substance related to my post.

If one refuses to obey the authentic ministerial priesthood appointed by Christ teaching His revealed truth, then are they submitting to the king? Or are they rejecting Him for their own private judgement?

Thanks

 

[donadams]

Don, God is not the author of denominations/religious parties. The Corinthians were divided into denominations/religious parties. Paul opposed them. See 1 Cor. 1:10-13.​

Scripture and Christ have one church / one new covenant
Only Christ has authority to build not the sects that are full of the errors of the tradition of men!
Matt 16:18-19 acts 9:4 eph 5:32

Thanks

 

[donadams]

Don, every believer is a priest. "You yourselves [all of the believers Peter wrote to] like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" [I Peter 2:4-5]. Jesus, of course, is our High Priest.

Under the Old Covenant, only certain ones could be priests. Under the New Covenant, every child of God is a priest.​

The new covenant has two priesthood’s the of Christ (high priest) and the apostles (low priests) of the same ministerial order, and the royal priesthood of those who are united to Christ in the covenant by faith and baptism but it is not a ministerial order accomplishing “worship” but only praise!

Thanks

There are two new covenant priesthoods: priesthood in scripture is plural.

“Jesus Christ is high priest of the (ministerial) order of melchisedec”.
acts 10:14
heb 5:1
heb 8:1
heb 8:3


Ministerial priesthood: “apostles & their successors, and those they ordain” “low priests” under the authority of Christ the “high priest”!

With priestly ministry:
Mk 3:14 “ordained”
Matt 22:14 Jn 15:16 “chosen” “ordained”
Jn 20:21 “sent by Christ with His authority”
Jn 20:23 “power to forgive sins”
Acts 1:8 “anointing with power”
acts 1:15-26 “ministry / bishop”
Acts 2:38-39 “administered sacraments”
acts 14:23 “ordained”
Acts 16:4 “ordained “
Rom 15:16 “minister / sanctify”
1 cor 9:14 “ordained”
1 Tim 2:7 “ordained”
1 Tim 3:1-2 “bishop”
1 Tim 4:14 “priest” “priestly ministry”
Phil 1:1 “bishops deacons”
James 5:14 “anointing with oil”

The ministerial priesthood acts in “the person of Christ” so it is Christ who acts thru them vicariously.
2 cor 2:10 Jn 15:5 eph 5:24

And accomplishes “true worship” by offering the eternal sacrifice of Christ!

Thanks

 

[Buff Scott Jr.]

Let Me Tell You Where I'm
Coming From

[Part 2 - finale]​

Outspoken But Sincere And Kind

We must not, however, be rude or ugly in our approach to reach those still enslaved and caught up in the sectarianism web inherited from our forefathers of yesteryear. I suspect that if some of us had lived in the days of John the Immerser, we would have frowned upon his tone, for he was far more outspoken than most reformers today.

And if we had been in the presence of Jesus when he opposed the religious leaders and sectarian systems of His time, we probably would have objected to His demeanor. Both Jesus and John were reformers in that they opted for change. Both men were outspoken, outgoing, and bold, but lovingly kind to those with receptive hearts.

The Professional Clergy
I do not endorse or support the professional clergy in today’s churches. As one good brother expressed it:

“If pulpiteering, as is done in most churches today (one man speaks while all others listen without comment), is regarded by communication experts as one of the least effective means of communication, and small-group dialoguing is regarded as one of the most effective means, why do we choose to do repeatedly what doesn't work instead of doing what works?”—Bill Pile.

Most pulpit clerics are honest and sincere. They’re convinced their ministry has God’s blessings. They, like most of us, are victims of what our schismatic forefathers passed down to us. That doesn’t make it right. Jesus opposed the status quo of his time. It, like ours, had been passed down by divisive forefathers. I love all of my brothers and sisters, whether they stand behind or sit in front of the pulpit.

Embracing One Another
We must accept one another, just as Jesus accepted us—warts and all (Rom. 15:7). I love all of those who are caught up in the web of organized religion. When permitted, I will happily work with them in areas that do not violate my conscience. I will try not to be inconsiderate, ugly, or rude. I will speak from my heart out, not from my teeth out. If you can accept me on that level, we’ll embrace each other and serve the Lord together.

I Stand Where I Stand
This is my story, and this is my song. This is where I stand. I cannot stand elsewhere and live with my conscience. If I’m to grow and produce in my ministry of reformation, which the good Lord has placed upon my heart, I must be free to function as a reformer. If you can tolerate me as I pour out my plea for change, I will in turn tolerate you as you cling to the bosom of religious orthodoxy—should that be your walk and decision. We’ll be brothers, not enemies. And we’ll lend a helping hand to each other along the way.​

 

[Buff Scott Jr.]

The new covenant has two priesthood’s the of Christ (high priest) and the apostles (low priests) of the same ministerial order, and the royal priesthood of those who are united to Christ in the covenant by faith and baptism but it is not a ministerial order accomplishing “worship” but only praise!

Thanks

There are two new covenant priesthoods: priesthood in scripture is plural.

“Jesus Christ is high priest of the (ministerial) order of melchisedec”.
acts 10:14
heb 5:1
heb 8:1
heb 8:3


Ministerial priesthood: “apostles & their successors, and those they ordain” “low priests” under the authority of Christ the “high priest”!

With priestly ministry:
Mk 3:14 “ordained”
Matt 22:14 Jn 15:16 “chosen” “ordained”
Jn 20:21 “sent by Christ with His authority”
Jn 20:23 “power to forgive sins”
Acts 1:8 “anointing with power”
acts 1:15-26 “ministry / bishop”
Acts 2:38-39 “administered sacraments”
acts 14:23 “ordained”
Acts 16:4 “ordained “
Rom 15:16 “minister / sanctify”
1 cor 9:14 “ordained”
1 Tim 2:7 “ordained”
1 Tim 3:1-2 “bishop”
1 Tim 4:14 “priest” “priestly ministry”
Phil 1:1 “bishops deacons”
James 5:14 “anointing with oil”

The ministerial priesthood acts in “the person of Christ” so it is Christ who acts thru them vicariously.
2 cor 2:10 Jn 15:5 eph 5:24

And accomplishes “true worship” by offering the eternal sacrifice of Christ!

Thanks

Don: "The new covenant has two priesthood’s the of Christ (high priest) and the apostles (low priests) of the same ministerial order..."​

This 100 percent non-biblical.

 

[donadams]

Don: "The new covenant has two priesthood’s the of Christ (high priest) and the apostles (low priests) of the same ministerial order..."​

This 100 percent non-biblical.

Can one enter the new covenant on your own? Jn 3:5

 

[ChristB4us]

ChristB4us, a committed believer is one who has pledged or promised to follow God through His Son. Or, as you stated it, "We either look to ourselves in doing the best we can in keeping that commitment..." Thanks for answering your own question.

Which is having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof that we have been warned about by the apostle Paul.

2 Timothy 3:1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Jesus said not to make any oath, not even to swear at all which is the custom for oath makers to show sincerity in finishing that oath but Jesus says why... because you cannot make your hair white or black; meaning you cannot do God's work in you or through you either.

Matthew 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

That is the evil of the oath is in doing something you are supposed to trust Jesus Christ to do and by making that commitment, you are telling Him no.. I will do it. God cannot help you keep your commitment or promise for by His words. you have to do it all.

Numbers 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

How can a believer claim this verse below if they pledged themselves with a bond?

Galatians 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.... 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

They can't. It is akin to saying that you through the keeping of your commitment, is your hope to make yourself righteous by and to do righteousness by. Therefore that is departing from faith and resorting to your own power to do God's work in you by keeping that commitment.

Jesus Christ can set you free to rest in Him and to help you to trust Him to help you to follow Him by faith in Jesus Christ alone. It is His glory also.

 

[Buff Scott Jr.]

Which is having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof that we have been warned about by the apostle Paul.

2 Timothy 3:1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Jesus said not to make any oath, not even to swear at all which is the custom for oath makers to show sincerity in finishing that oath but Jesus says why... because you cannot make your hair white or black; meaning you cannot do God's work in you or through you either.

Matthew 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

That is the evil of the oath is in doing something you are supposed to trust Jesus Christ to do and by making that commitment, you are telling Him no.. I will do it. God cannot help you keep your commitment or promise for by His words. you have to do it all.

Numbers 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

How can a believer claim this verse below if they pledged themselves with a bond?

Galatians 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.... 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

They can't. It is akin to saying that you through the keeping of your commitment, is your hope to make yourself righteous by and to do righteousness by. Therefore that is departing from faith and resorting to your own power to do God's work in you by keeping that commitment.

Jesus Christ can set you free to rest in Him and to help you to trust Him to help you to follow Him by faith in Jesus Christ alone. It is His glory also.

Your reply has little or nothing to do what we were talking about. Convey your sermon to someone who needs it. But nonetheless, thanks for trying to reply.

 

[ChristB4us]

Your reply has little or nothing to do what we were talking about. Convey your sermon to someone who needs it. But nonetheless, thanks for trying to reply.

Are you sure?

Liberated From The Partisan Pier!
A few decades ago, I was set free from partisan religion.

What is the difference between that and personal religion if your are not following Him by faith in Jesus Christ as your Good Shepherd?

 

[EarlyActs]

LET ME TELL YOU WHERE I’M
COMING FROM​

Liberated From The Partisan Pier!
A few decades ago, I was set free from partisan religion. The experience was invigorating! As I sought freedom from spiritual slavery, the Lord operated upon my heart to alter my self-righteous attitude and modify my course. It was a simple but serious procedure. The only prerequisites were that I cast aside my sectarian, partisan shackles and open my mind and heart. In essence, I was deprogrammed.

Closer To Jesus
Did I leave Jesus when I abandoned organized religion or the religious establishment? Goodness, no! He and I are closer now than ever before. As a result of my surrendering institutional religion in favor of freedom in Jesus, I am now a “believer at large,” a free-thinker, and one of God’s instruments for reform. No human being and no partisan group or church does my thinking for me any longer. I arrive at conclusions after careful evaluation, study, and prayer. Simply stated, I have cast aside the chains of religious orthodoxy and deserted the Establishment’s status quo. God has blessed my ministry of reformation abundantly.

Diversity
We’re not all colored with the same paint or dyed in the same tub. We each have our unique personalities and ministries. We must grow and produce where the Lord has planted us. If your ministry’s methods and manners are different from mine, I must not conclude that you possess a closed mind and are coming over too rudely. Nor should you think I’m crude, harsh, and impolite because my ministry’s techniques do not bear the same trademarks as yours.

No Labels For Me
I’m not formally identified with any church or religious party. I’m a free man in Messiah Jesus. With the Spirit’s direction, I think independently and I arrive at my conclusions independently, regardless of what Calvin, Campbell, Wesley, Luther, and all the others taught. There are good teachings in each man’s history, but neither is my polar star. My Polar Star is Jesus—none other. Consequently, no one may preside over my concepts and teachings insofar as dictating my walk with the Lord.

I will gladly absorb and happily accept advice from godly men if it coincides with what I conscientiously believe is truth and understand as heaven’s grace. But I will no longer bow my knees to the “powers that be” of the religious bureaucracy. I’m a free man in Messiah Jesus. Praise His Name! I will no longer be enslaved by the institutional church or organized religion.

Organized religion? Yes, but let me explain. I believe in an organized life. I believe the believer should have his priorities organized. I believe in an organized mind and an organized schedule. Organization, of itself, is pleasant and necessary. But I have a problem with organizational structures and programs and projects within the body of believers that have supplanted the simple, informal but serious life depicted in the lives of early believers. Literally, and in this vein, we have organized ourselves out of practical existence. Overall, our programs, projects, and organizations have deflated our capacity and our enthusiasm to reach the unreached. Jesus said to get out and go, but we have come in to stay.

Wasting Our Dollars And Efforts
In essence, we have permitted our internal organizations and materialistic projects to strangle us. There’s no room, no time, and no money for the resurrection message. Our fancy edifices and polished organizations and programs are symptoms of our pride and digressions. Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on “materialistic evangelism” while millions of the world’s poor go hungry, not only for food but for the message of salvation. Our priorities are abused and misplaced. We have taken the simple arrangement of communicating the Good News to others and developed it into a complicated mess. [More later.]​

Many important points here.

 

[Mr GLee]

Can one enter the new covenant on your own? Jn 3:5

I would think first and foremost terms must be defined .Changing the meaning of one word can change the authorship .I call it spiritual plagiarism violating the first commandment. God protecting the integrity of His living abiding word.

Deuteronomy 4:1-2 King James Version4 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you Ye shall not add unto the word (singular)which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it,(singular ) that ye may keep the commandments (plural) of the Lord your God which I command you.

What does born of water and of the Spirit mean according to the bible alone? Not the oral traditions of dying mankind. .

Remember we are lovingly warned of those who would try and deceive us into believing we need the oral traditions dying mankind to teach us and not our living Holy Father as eternal God not seen. He alone is the source of our powerful new born again faith .

Christ in us. . . . . not Christ is us. , We have the treasure of that faithful power but it is not of us dying mankind, it is of God not seen

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Antichrists', false prophets sent as false apostles

1 John 2:26-27 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Abide In Him the unseen Lord not Peter our brother in the Lord .

Does water represent inspiration of the Spirit coming down from heaven ? . or is inspiration bound in Rome loosed in heaven, inspired earthly of the father of lies, according to James? James 3:15

Satan would deceive others that the first century reformation had not come . .It did come destroying kings (earthly governments of dying mankind) in Israel .

The abomination of desolation. Dying mankind as puffed up venerable men that lord it over the understanding of faith of the non-venerable women and children, the show time watchers.

Those walls (no female or gentile prophets in the priset hood ) They both fell at the time of reformation.

Then our father as promised in Isaiah 62 renamed the bride previously called Israel (remember not all Israel is born again Israel) changed to Christian .

I would think a more befitting name to name the bride of all the nations of the world. Christian as a denomyn .Residents known by location . Literally meaning with no other meaning . .Residents of the city of Christ prepared for his wife the church named after her founder and husband, Christ.

Many say Christian was a derogatory word that some called Bible thumper, as if it was called by Satan making a mockery of God.

Deuteronomy 32King James Version32 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Satan would literalize the parables using the metaphor living waters falling down the work of the Holy Spirit. So that dying mankind might experience getting wet only to evaporate. The doctrine of wondering where did the H20 go? Did I lose my salvation ?

Its not the born again fountain of youth . . We serve the eternal unseen things of God not the tempoal dying. .

The time of1st century reformation came the15th a carbon copy. Sola scriptura restored the government of our unseen Holy Father . taking away dying mankind serving the oral traditions of dying mankind.

There are over 3,500 and rising workers with familiar spirit gods (patron saints ) available.with idol images that can be bought on line The same kind Rachel hid from her father needed pagan worship .

Josiah moved by the Holy Spirit that dwelt in him used sola scriptura as a tool to make thier abomination of desolation. desolate taking away the idea of oral traditons of dying mankind (I heard it through the dying fathers grapevine.


2 Kings 23:23-25King James Version23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem.Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

 

[Buff Scott Jr.]

Many important points here.

Thank you, EarlyActs. Have a good New Year.

 

[donadams]

Jesus Christ founded the new covenant church for the salvation of all men! (Jn 1:16-17) Christ is the truth! (Jn 14:6) Christ and his church are one!
(Acts 9;4 eph 5:32)
The church is the pillar of truth
(1 Tim 3:15) that must teach all men (Matt 28:19) without error guided by the Holy Spirit
(Jn 16:13) Thru the grace of God in the sanctification of souls applied in the seven sacraments.

1 cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (No line rangers here)

Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

[Buff Scott Jr.]

DONADAMS:

The bulk of this essay was composed during the closing hours on earth of Pope John Paul II (April 2, 2005). He died six hours ago this day. Of all the popes who have ruled over the Roman Catholic sect since her development in about A. D. 200, Pope John Paul’s leadership was perhaps the most pleasing. Yet during his tenure, he led a religious regiment that was—and is—fraught with maladjusted ecclesiastics in the likes of pedophiles and homosexuals. What was supposed to have been a “Holy See” under his leadership continued to be, as before, an army of sexual perverts and a haven of rest for sensual Catholic leaders.

This is not to say that all ecclesiastics within the “Unholy See” are or have been morally “impaired.” However, we are obliged to face reality and concede that, overall, the Papacy and her seed have a history of moral decadence.

Although Pope John Paul II seemed to have been a moral leader, the Papacy’s history is riddled with corruption and immorality. Her moral depravity, eccentric doctrines, and idolatrous rituals began at an early age and continue to this day. With all due respect to my Roman Catholic friends and readers, if you will hear me out, I will confirm my charges.

I do not harbor hatred in my heart for those of the Catholic faith—or for those of the Protestant faith. I nurture a strong dislike for the sectarian systems and partisan religious institutions that have brainwashed and enslaved them. Most Catholic and Protestant laypersons are free from pretense and wish only to honor God. The sectarian institutions in which they are caught up have corrupted the way of the Lord and dragged them along with them.

Even our Protestant President, shortly after the Pope’s demise, made a big theological blunder when he said, “Pope John Paul II occupied the throne of St. Peter.” He knew better, for his Protestant upbringing taught him differently, but apparently he wanted to pacify his Catholic audience.

For your information, I am neither Protestant nor Catholic. I’m a free man in Messiah Jesus. No church, sect, cult, denomination, pope, self-proclaimed “Reverend,” priest, preacher, pastor, or minister has one bit of control over my life and my profession as a reformer.

I was brought up in and rigidly indoctrinated by one of the strictest of sects. But years ago, I laid down my sectarian armor and defected the institutional church in favor of freedom in Jesus. Being free, and not tethered to any of the numerous religious institutions, allows me to “speak my piece” about and “shoot straight from the hip” at the sinister blemishes and blotches of the religious establishment—both Protestant and Catholic.​

 

[Arch Stanton]

Of all the popes who have ruled over the Roman Catholic sect since her development in about A. D. 200, Pope John Paul’s leadership was perhaps the most pleasing.

Why only back to AD 200? Starts with Christ giving Peter the keys.

For your information, I am neither Protestant nor Catholic. I’m a free man in Messiah Jesus. No church, sect, cult, denomination, pope, self-proclaimed “Reverend,” priest, preacher, pastor, or minister has one bit of control over my life and my profession as a reformer.

As a reformer? What Catholic/Orthodox laid hands on you as one sent?