Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Isaiah 56 ... 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant,
It would be very foolish to appoint a blind man to be a watchman.
Watchmen are supposed to sound an alarm to warn the church.
Isaiah speaks of watchmen who are like dogs who cannot bark. A dog who could not sound an alarm would be inappropriate to warn us.
Isaiah also speaks of watchmen who are lazy, loving to slumber. Won't do church any good if the watchman is asleep.
And another problem with the watchman is "they look to their own way" not really caring for the church ... caring only about themselves and what seems to benefit themselves...thinking of themselves continually ... "self-absorbed" (so much sin today is being absorbed with self)
Isaiah 56 ...
they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;
sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough,
and they are shepherds that cannot understand:
they all look to their own way,
every one for his gain, from his quarter.
We must not be this way ... We must watch over the church and stay awake and resist falling asleep.
This is an exceedingly evil time. Church people often fall asleep, becoming involved with this world and the cares of this life, seeking gain for themselves but not from God from seeking with their own minds things of this world. When doing this, the church becomes as dead as the world. The church becomes "without understanding" as they seek their own full bellies, thinking of flesh and fleshly things, putting their flesh first in their lives.
It is easy to see how those who do this will not profit the church.
Instead we are told to do the following:
Heb. 10 ... 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Assemble together: We do this by email, by telephone ... sharing things of God with one another, exhorting one another in ways of God. There is so much evil in the world that the way of evil can begin to seem normal to us unless we emerse ourselves in the Word of God and share that word with those around us. We, who are of God, are the light. You put light on a stand in the house where it can give light to the whole house. We who are light cannot sit in the darkness of our own homes. We must let light shine as the occasion arises where darkness floods the room.
And we must share with our church friends.
Not being lazy and self-absorbed, but rather being absorbed with the care of the church. If you don't know how to care for the church, pray, ask God to give you wisdom and to help you to understand how to provoke the church to love and good works.
Several years ago, I was given this dream. I was traveling with a group of people and we landed on an island. It was hot, dirty. Children were running about unattended. All of a sudden I realized they were going to leave me there to care for those children. I said, "I won't stay here. I won't do this." (Then I realized it might be God's will for me to stay.) I said, "Unless YOU want me to do this." God did want me to do this. They left me there to care for those children. There was a pastor and his wife on the island but they wouldn't come out of their house. (Reminds me of Isaiah 56:11 ... "they all look to their own way,
every one for his gain")
We must not be as these evil pastors.