Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Saul, the king of Israel, did things which troubled the people without need to trouble them and even caused the people to sin.
It reminds me of the way the church is "troubled" needlessly today by fleshly doctrines set up by fleshly men and these doctrines cause a type of faith in the doctrine without availing the church of any real spiritual substance.
First the Old Testament example:
I Samuel 14:1-4 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. vv. 6-7 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
23 So the Lord saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.
***
And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and the people were very faint.
And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
To eat the blood was a sin against God.
43-46 Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and, lo, I must die.
And Saul answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.
And the people said unto Saul,
Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
Then Saul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own place.
I Corinthians 11:25-31 After the same manner also HE took the cup, when HE had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in MY blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of ME (of that which HE has spoken).
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup (of the New Testament), ye do shew the Lord's death till HE come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord (of the Word), unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge ourselves (by the Word of God), we should not be judged.
***
*****
And Saul answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.
And the people said unto Saul,
Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
Then Saul went up from following the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own place.
***
Saul set up a rule which caused the people to sin against God. It also caused people to fear needlessly. And it almost cost the life of Jonathan.
***
***
The New Testament church follows the rules of God which are set up by God in the New Testament of the Bible.
But men who saw, by natural eyes, took scripture and made doctrines by their fleshly eyes and put people in bondages to those fleshly doctrines.
Unless we are born of the Spirit of God and have the Spirit in us we cannot see things of God.
Hundreds of thousands of people today think the partaking of crackers and grape juice to be the Lord's supper.
I witnessed the following at the place where I once played bridge.
A Methodist woman was proudly saying she had taken "communion" at her church that day. She said it as if it were some special thing.
I happened to be playing, as partner, with one of the men in our club. After she spoke this, she actually began talking about the color of her underwear. I almost couldn't believe that which I was actually hearing this "spiritual" woman say. I was greatly embarrassed and couldn't look my partner in his face. This woman was anything but spiritual, though she thought herself spiritual because of the "communion."
"Communion" has nothing to do with crackers and grape juice taken at a church group.
Communion with God, The Lord's Supper, is the partaking of the Word of God, conforming oneself to the Holy scriptures in an appropriate way.
We are to "examine ourselves" as we read Bible and thereby "eat and drink" of that Word properly.
A scripture such as: I Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil would have done a work in this woman had it been applied, keeping her from conjuring lust in the eyes of a man at her bridge table.
But crackers and grape juice taken that morning at her church group had no power at all for this is not the real "supper" of the Lord.
The Word of God is the Lord's supper that has power of God and helps those of us who partake properly of it.
When we see the following scripture by spiritual eyes, we recognize the apostle Paul is speaking here of eating and drinking the Word of God as partaking of the Lord's supper.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup (of the New Testament), ye do shew the Lord's death till HE come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord (of the Word), unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
We examine ourselves each time we read the Word of God.
(You cannot examine yourself by crackers and grape juice, nor by anything other than the Word of God)
(You cannot examine yourself by crackers and grape juice, nor by anything other than the Word of God)
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die). For if we would judge ourselves (by the Word of God), we should not be judged.
***
Countless numbers of churches today are set up with rules which were never authored by God and even cause their followers to think there to be a power of God when there is no power.
In some cases, the people are even worse off than they were before going to that church group.
John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
***
Many ministers today are actually extortioners ... using scripture to extort money from their congregatiions.
These ministers show scripture to cause people to be fearful, saying that if they don't give God will not bless them.
Some promise 100-fold return from the offerings they give. They use that scripture wrongly also for the 100-fold return has nothing to do with giving money at church.
Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for MY name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
I gave offerings out of gratitude to God for HE saved me and caused me to be freed from worldly people and worldly traps! I was so grateful to God for my salvation. I was happy to give offerings. But, to me, this had nothing to do with a desire to get more money. I was just grateful to God for that which HE had done for me.
***
There are many other evil doctrines set up in today's churches which cause followers to hope in something which was not set up by God.
Doctrines which are not in the Bible such as:
* lighting candles to cause you to get prayer answered or increase your faith
* crossing yourself to "bless" yourself
* praying to dead people, such as Mary
* trusting in dead "saints" such as Christopher for protection when travelling
* crossing yourself with "holy water" which does not exist
* infant baptism (baptism is the commitment of the individual who is being baptized per Romans 6)
* falling backward when a preacher prays for you and puts hands on your head in prayer line (this is done in some churches and is a sign of some type of power but it is a learned experience and has no real power)
* calling men "Father" when Jesus says not to do this in Matthew 23:9
* marrying divorced women in opposition to Jesus words in Matthew 5:32
* divorced women remarrying, in opposition to the "commandment of the Lord" in I Corinthians 7:10-11.
* men divorcing faithful wives in opposition to Matthew 5:32
* committing homosexual and lesbian acts as if these are not sins as in Romans 1
* calling their ministers by names other than that set forth in the New Testament which is apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Ephesians 4:11
* setting up hierarchys in ministry, putting one minister above another not prescribed by the New Testament as they are doing this such as pope above arch bishops, neither of which are in Bible
* forbiding ministers from marrying
* forbiding the eating of certain foods on certain times
* setting up graven images of stone figures or of pictures of a long haired man who pretends to symbolize Jesus
(these are just some of today's problems which are abominations in today's church groups)
The people who do these things in these congregations or who approve these things in churches, either do not know what is in the Bible or they do not care what is in the Bible.
They ignore scripture and they think they can do as they please in their church groups.
And they fall under the coming wrath of God whereby they bring damnation upon themselves for casting aside the Word of God and failing to love the truth of the word of God.
II Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; 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.
Doctrines which are not in the Bible such as:
* lighting candles to cause you to get prayer answered or increase your faith
* crossing yourself to "bless" yourself
* praying to dead people, such as Mary
* trusting in dead "saints" such as Christopher for protection when travelling
* crossing yourself with "holy water" which does not exist
* infant baptism (baptism is the commitment of the individual who is being baptized per Romans 6)
* falling backward when a preacher prays for you and puts hands on your head in prayer line (this is done in some churches and is a sign of some type of power but it is a learned experience and has no real power)
* calling men "Father" when Jesus says not to do this in Matthew 23:9
* marrying divorced women in opposition to Jesus words in Matthew 5:32
* divorced women remarrying, in opposition to the "commandment of the Lord" in I Corinthians 7:10-11.
* men divorcing faithful wives in opposition to Matthew 5:32
* committing homosexual and lesbian acts as if these are not sins as in Romans 1
* calling their ministers by names other than that set forth in the New Testament which is apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Ephesians 4:11
* setting up hierarchys in ministry, putting one minister above another not prescribed by the New Testament as they are doing this such as pope above arch bishops, neither of which are in Bible
* forbiding ministers from marrying
* forbiding the eating of certain foods on certain times
* setting up graven images of stone figures or of pictures of a long haired man who pretends to symbolize Jesus
(these are just some of today's problems which are abominations in today's church groups)
The people who do these things in these congregations or who approve these things in churches, either do not know what is in the Bible or they do not care what is in the Bible.
They ignore scripture and they think they can do as they please in their church groups.
And they fall under the coming wrath of God whereby they bring damnation upon themselves for casting aside the Word of God and failing to love the truth of the word of God.
II Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; 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.
*****