Matthias was selected as the apostle to replace Judas, so where does that leave Paul?

Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet

Acts 1:15-26    And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)  Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.  For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 

And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. 

(Peter says they must select a man to take Judas' place with the apostles and Peter sets the requirement for the selection of that man who will be an apostle.) 

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,  Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that HE (Jesus) was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection. 

And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,  That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 

And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

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After Jesus arose, HE gave "gifts" to the church.

Ephesians 4:11-15    And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

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After Jesus arose, HE gave these ministry gifts to the church:  apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher.

After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Saul (later called Paul) was hunting those of "this way" to put them in bonds and take them to the Pharisees.

Acts 9:1-16    And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? 

And the Lord said, I am Jesus (The Word) whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? 

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 


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And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. 

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10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. 

And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,  And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

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Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on Thy name.

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto ME, to bear MY name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for MY name's sake.

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Paul was one of the first of those NT apostles which Jesus gave to the church after Jesus arose.

Ephesians 4 ...  8   When HE (Jesus) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

11-12    And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

(Notice the word "apostle" is plural, "apostles" ... Jesus gave more than one apostle to the church after HE arose.)

The apostles have a very strong anointing by God in dealing with doctrine taught in the churches.

Paul was certain the doctrine of Christ, The Word from God, would be twisted by men in the church after he departed from them.

Acts 20, Paul says to the church group ... 

29-30    For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

perverse:  twisted

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People in the churches would fall away from scripture before the return of Jesus.

II Thessalonians 2:3-4    Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The falling away from scripture removes the restraint against antichrist so he (a spirit of lawlessness) can rule in the churches through men before the return of Jesus.

That is what we are seeing in today's church groups ... the removal of portions of scripture to approve adultery, divorce/remarriage, homosexuals in the church itself and a setting up of another doctrine implying there is no need for repentance from sin for "God loves you."

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Jesus said to the woman taken in adultery:  "Go ... and sin no more."  (John 8)

Jesus did not approve a continuation in sin.  We, who are born again, do not continue in the sins we once did.  

But it is the end-times and churches are rampant in putting forth twisted doctrine which poisons the church who hear them.

God showed me this in 1979 in a dream.

Destruction was everywhere.  (It turned out this means destruction was in church groups all over.)

In the dream, I went into a room where a man was speaking to a group of people.  I sat down and began to listen.

A second man rushed into the room and said, "Stop ... wait ... Can't you see?  It's too late.  It's already begun."

The first man resumed speaking.

I looked out the window to see what had already begun.

I saw a tall pole with a yellow civil defense speaker on top of the pole.  Out of the speaker was coming a poisonous gas.  It was coming directly toward our group!

The shocking thing was this:  The speaker that was set there to warn us was being used to distribute the gas that would poison us!

I looked at the man sitting next to me.  He was looking directly at the man who was speaking to the group.  This man had a big smile on his face and seemed to be very attentive to the man speaking.  Then I saw this man was a corpse.  He was dead.

I looked about the room at the other people.  They were all dead.

And as I sat among them, listening to the man who was speaking, I began to feel drowsy and I knew it, the gas coming from the man speaking, was killing me too as I sat among them.

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Even in the early church, in the days of Paul, Peter, John ... there were men just waiting to take over and bring perverted (twisted) doctrine.  (Acts 20:29-30)

The Catholic church started up bringing many doctrines opposite to Bible.

The Protestant churches also brought many doctrines opposite to Bible which men added to the church gathering.  We see these false doctrines everywhere, in Baptist, in Church of Christ, in Pentecostal type church groups.

While some true doctrines were held even in the Catholic church, these true doctrines began to be replaced by other doctrines opposite to Bible.  (divorce remarriage as one example of falling away from doctrines of Bible.)

And it has grown worse in the churches as the apostle Paul told us it would do toward the end.

We cannot cling to the church group.  We must cling to the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, spoken by the Spirit of God.

We cannot continue to sit in the apostate church group where portions of scripture are removed and doctrine changed away from what we see in the Bible.

We cannot make the church group return to the Bible which they have removed in part.

To sit among them will be to "fall asleep" with them as in the poison gas dream.

It just won't work.

We must love the scripture enough to leave those groups who have set up other doctrines.

Otherwise we will be destroyed with them.

II Thessalonians 2:10-12    because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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I was a new Christian in 1975.  I first attended a church which was somewhere between Baptist and Church of Christ in their doctrine.

The preacher was teaching a series of teachings where he was professing tongues to be of the devil.

One day I was reading Bible and saw the following scripture.  

The apostle Paul said to the church concerning the gathering of the church, Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.   (I Corinthians 14:39)

That church group I was attending was being taught exactly opposite to the scripture in the Bible.

When I saw that, I had to choose between that church group and the Bible.

I chose the Bible and left that church group.

That is all we can do when we see them teaching something opposite to Bible.

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