Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Handling of the Word of God can cause great harm when done incorrectly.
There is a very graphic illustration of this in the Old Testament as follows:
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The Philistines took the ark of the covenant and moved it into their midst. They thought this would be a good thing to do for they were aware of great victories given to the nation of Israel and they attributed some of those victories with the Israelites having the ark in their camp.
So they moved the ark of the covenant to their city Ashdod and set the ark up with their god Dagon.
But Dagon fell on its face and they found Dagon lying on the ground before the ark.
They tried setting Dagon up again. But the next day they found the head and hands of Dagon cut off and only the stump sitting there.
And another great problem occurred.
I Samuel 5:6-10 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and HE destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for HIS hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and HE smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
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I have always known we must handle scripture very carefully. I believe the Lord's supper is the eating and drinking of the Word given to us by God. And if we partake wrongly of scriptures, we "eat and drink damnation to ourselves," as Paul said in I Corinthians 11.
27-30 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself (by the scriptures), and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (examining yourselves as you read Bible, correcting as needed)
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
But let a man examine himself (by the scriptures), and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (examining yourselves as you read Bible, correcting as needed)
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).
Hebrews 10:25-31 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.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know HIM that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto ME, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge HIS people.
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II Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
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For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know HIM that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto ME, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge HIS people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
I Corinthians 7:10-11 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
I Corinthains 6:15-20 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith HE, shall be one flesh.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
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Today we are seriously lacking "The Fear of the Lord" in our church groups.
People in churches often demonstrate a lack of respect for scriptures as they violate such and do their own will, though they know the scriptures in many cases. This is especially true concerning subjects of divorce and remarriage ... and fornication.
Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith HE, shall be one flesh.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
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A woman came among our church group and remained for 39-years.
I once asked her, "Don't you have a fear of God? Haven't you ever been afraid of God? Have you not been afraid of scripture?"
She replied, "No."
I was amazed!
She showed bitterness over a pastor in her past. She was divorced and wanted to remarry. She and the man she wanted to marry went to a pastor to see if they could marry. This pastor said they could.
She felt this pastor misled her. And she expressed to me bitterness against this pastor as she told me this story.
But God would not let her get by with this. God called her hand.
As she told this story, the Holy Spirit said to me, "But weren't she and this man committing fornication at the time they went to pastor?"
I said to her, "But weren't you and this man committing fornication at the time you went to pastor?"
She replied, "Yes."
(She did not express to me grief nor shock.)
This same woman had been raised from childhood in Baptist church. She told me she signed a "vow" at church, along with other teenagers, that she pledged not to have sex until after she was married.
When she was 17, she had sex and became pregnant. Then married. Had a second child. Divorced. Became a drunkard. Married a second time and committed abortion when second husband did not want a child.
There was never, by her testimony, a fear of God or even a fear of scripture, although while she was among us she seemed to want to follow scripture.
She ended up striking out against me and she is no longer with us.
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I believe there is something very seriously wrong when a person has been in a Christian type church and willingly commits adultery or fornication.
When I attended Word of Faith church, the man who taught our Sunday school was committing fornication.
When I learned this, I said to this man, "You know the Bible as well as I do. I can't have any more association with you."
He agreed with me ... but he didn't care.
I Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
At this church, they also called this same man, "an elder." But this man was a divorced man who had only one child.
The Bible says:
Titus 1:5-9 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
By the instructions in the New Testament, an elder (bishop) must be the husband of one wife having faithful children ... more than one child.
I was very shocked when a woman who owned a coffee shop told me this man, who taught our singles class, was a "bad influence" upon her boyfriend. This was just a worldly woman who said this about our Bible teacher.
What a terrible reputation this Bible teacher had among people of the world.
No fear of God and no respect for the Bible.
Later this man married a divorced woman and after a few weeks, they divorced.
I do not believe any of these things will go unpunished for God does not deny HIMSELF and God will not allow the Bible to be trod underfoot of the church goers.
One thing reading examples in the Old Testament should do is teach us to have a fear of God and a respect for God.
These things are very sadly missing in the churches of today.
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