Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The Philistines captured the ark of the covenant of God and took it and placed it in the house where they have placed the god of the Philistines, Dagon.
Serious consequences follow for Dagon.
I Samuel 5:1- And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. (Dagon is the god of the Philistines.)
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
Instead of turning from their helpless god, they want to rid themselves of the ark of God which ruled over Dagon.
Amazing isn't it!
Why not get rid of that helpless god, of that god that is without power?
Who wants a god that has no power?
Yet people today cling to all types of gods without power who are set up as superstitions in today's church groups.
***
Many people in churches today fail to have a love of the truth. Because the truth does not matter to them, they do not prove the issue by searching the scriptures.
Because of their lack of a love of the truth, they follow their own thinking or wisdom of men or tradition of men without seeking truth or searching for truth in the Bible.
This is what will happen to those persons who do not love the truth.
***
There is a woman who has shown me multiple times that she does not care about the truth. She just makes up her own mind in her own thinking and speaks what she thinks, as if she is some type of god.
I had put up with her in her way for years.
Then one day a secular matter came up and she showed clearly she didn't care about the truth of the issue. She just spoke what seemed good to her own mind without searching for information from people who know something about the matter.
That was enough to break her away from my thinking, for if a person doesn't care about truth, I see no real hope for that person. Why would I want to be around such a person.
They will go down but I do not want to be in the midst of the situation when that happens, for if I was there, the ground that falls in under them might also fall in under me.
I see many examples in the Bible where people put themselves around shallow evil people and when the destruction came it also came upon them because they had put themselves in the sure path of destruction.
Balaam is one of those who did this and when Joshua attacked the enemy of God Balaam was in the camp of the enemy and he, too, was slain by the sword.
Numbers 31:8 And they (Joshua) slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
Balaam is one of those who did this and when Joshua attacked the enemy of God Balaam was in the camp of the enemy and he, too, was slain by the sword.
Numbers 31:8 And they (Joshua) slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose up against Moses.
Numbers 16:2-3 with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?
This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: (And they said to Moses) Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? (But it was God they fought against for it was God who made Moses a deliverer to them.) Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the Lord, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the Lord every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.
And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.
And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
Think about the people you are choosing to associate with.
***
The apostle Paul says,
I Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Is the Bible just a history book telling us about God? Or does the Bible have a power of God contained in the scripture for those who can believe?
I once had a very big test whereby I proved the Bible to my own satisfaction. This happened when I was a newly born-again Christian in approximately 1976.
At that time, I owned a small business in American Indian Arts in Dallas, Texas.
During that period of time, a significant amount of money could be made in Indian jewelry in USA. There were many salesmen who came to the cities and rented motel rooms and sold cheap and fake Indian jewelry from their motels at a discount of 50 to 75 per cent.
The Better Business Bureau along with the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas-Fort Worth dealers in American Indian Arts were trying to present guidelines for the purchase of Indian jewelry.
A man whom I did not know, having never met, came to Dallas and filed a law suit against the Indian arts dealers and the Better Business Bureaus charging us with conspiring to keep him from doing business in Dallas.
It was such a ridiculous charge that I had trouble taking it seriously until I realized if I failed to respond, this man could attach all my merchandise to the law suit, and I would be left with nothing.
So I hired a lawyer to represent me.
The pending case drug on for about a year. Every month or so I would receive a billing from my lawyer. I became very disturbed, for at the rate of the legal fees, it would not be long before I would be in debt.
I came across a scripture in the Bible saying the following:
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of ME, saith the Lord.
I once had a very big test whereby I proved the Bible to my own satisfaction. This happened when I was a newly born-again Christian in approximately 1976.
At that time, I owned a small business in American Indian Arts in Dallas, Texas.
During that period of time, a significant amount of money could be made in Indian jewelry in USA. There were many salesmen who came to the cities and rented motel rooms and sold cheap and fake Indian jewelry from their motels at a discount of 50 to 75 per cent.
The Better Business Bureau along with the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas-Fort Worth dealers in American Indian Arts were trying to present guidelines for the purchase of Indian jewelry.
A man whom I did not know, having never met, came to Dallas and filed a law suit against the Indian arts dealers and the Better Business Bureaus charging us with conspiring to keep him from doing business in Dallas.
It was such a ridiculous charge that I had trouble taking it seriously until I realized if I failed to respond, this man could attach all my merchandise to the law suit, and I would be left with nothing.
So I hired a lawyer to represent me.
The pending case drug on for about a year. Every month or so I would receive a billing from my lawyer. I became very disturbed, for at the rate of the legal fees, it would not be long before I would be in debt.
I came across a scripture in the Bible saying the following:
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of ME, saith the Lord.
I began to reason:
* Now that I am a Christian, this scripture should pertain to me.
* No weapon formed against me will prosper. Therefore this law suit against me cannot prosper.
So why am I paying lawyers to fight my case?
I could just go to court without any human legal counsel. And stop the legal fees.
As a new Christian, I made an appointment with my pastor to receive his counsel on my plan.
Enroute to the appointment, I asked God to give the pastor wisdom in this matter.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
After I explained the situation to pastor, he said: "Joan ... I perceive that you have faith to do this this way."
When I dismissed my attorney, and told him the reason, he replied, "Joan ... you can't do this. You have no idea how evil these courts are. We're willing to work with you. It will only take $10,000 more to try this case."
When I heard that, I cried out ... "Gordon, stop. Don't do anything else!"
$10,000 more ... I had worked very hard to get out of debt as I believed God instructed. I didn't want to be back in debt to lawyers.
Also I told Gordon the following:
I am a Christian. The Bible says no weapon formed against me will prosper. This law suit is a weapon against me. If the Bible is true, it will not prosper. If the Bible is only some kind of History book just telling about God, I want no more to do with the Bible. This is a good time to find out about the Bible. It should have power for us.
I was very frightened at what might happen to me but I did dismiss the lawyers and planned to go to court without any human legal counsel.
A week or so later Gordon returned to my shop. He said: "At the law firm, we have decided to try your case without any further cost to you."
I was shocked! The previous week I was told by Gordon that it would cost another $10,000 to try my case ... and now it is free?
What is going on here? I didn't hear Gordon mention anything about God being involved in this free legal representation.
I told Gordon that I would have to let him know and I would get back with him soon on this.
I prayed, asking God what HE wanted me to do.
The following scripture was brought to my mind.
The king of Sodom offered to give something to Abraham and Abraham replied: I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Genesis 14:22-23
The king of Sodom offered to give something to Abraham and Abraham replied: I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Genesis 14:22-23
I knew God was showing me to turn down the free legal service, which I did.
I was very frightened.
God kept giving me scripture to give me strength and courage. I wrote down each scripture as I was reminded of scripture by the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit:
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
I recorded these scriptures over and over on a cassette tape. At night when I went to bed, I played the tape. When I awoke in the night I would start the tape again.
Six days before trial was scheduled in US District Court the man dropped all charges against everyone.
Later my lawyer came to see me and said, "We have talked about this case for weeks at the law firm and we believe what you said would happen happened."
No weapon formed against me would prosper.
This was my first test as a Christian concerning proving the Word of God. Since that time I've proven the Word of God many times and the Word of God has never failed.
Saul tried to dress David in his suit of armor when David was going out to fight Goliath. David said to Saul: I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. I Samuel 17:39
So David chose that which he had used before and had proven to be successful.
David picked out 5 smooth stones to use with his slingshot.
We should not go to battle with weapons that are unproven to us.
The ark of God becomes a problem to the Philistines:
I Samuel 5:6-12 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.
I Samuel 6:1-15 And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months.
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why HIS hand is not removed from you.
Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?
Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure HE will lighten HIS hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when HE had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then HE hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.
And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.
And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord.
I Samuel 6:16-21 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.
And HE smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even HE smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men (50,070): and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
We see in the above scripture that which Paul spoke of when he said: Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; II Corinthians 5:11
20-21 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
So David chose that which he had used before and had proven to be successful.
David picked out 5 smooth stones to use with his slingshot.
We should not go to battle with weapons that are unproven to us.
***
The ark of God becomes a problem to the Philistines:
I Samuel 5:6-12 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.
***
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why HIS hand is not removed from you.
Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?
They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure HE will lighten HIS hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when HE had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then HE hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.
And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.
And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord.
And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord.
The Levites were appointed by God to deal with the ark of God. If anyone else tried to do this there would be severe penalty, even though they were of the 12 tribes of Israel.
New Testament church:
Ephesians 4:8;11-14 When HE ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men... And HE 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;
You must be appointed by God to do the ministry work of God in the NT church.
***
I Samuel 6:16-21 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.
And HE smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even HE smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men (50,070): and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
We see in the above scripture that which Paul spoke of when he said: Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; II Corinthians 5:11
God is far more righteous than we are therefore HE sees in a stronger way than we do. But from this example we should see that we must have a healthy respect for God and a reverential fear of the Lord.
20-21 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.
*****