Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Benhadad, king of Syria, comes to take away the possessions of Ahab, king of Israel.
And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.
And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.
And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.
And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.
***
A prophet comes to Ahab with a message from God:
13-14 And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
And Ahab said, By whom? And he (the prophet) said, Thus saith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he (Ahab) said, Who shall order the battle? And he (the prophet) answered, Thou.
***
In the days of the Old Testament, the prophets had the Holy Spirit whereby they could inquire of God. But the Holy Spirit, in those days, was not given to all the people. So the kings and people often came to the prophet to enquire of God.
In the New Testament all who belong to God have the Holy Spirit of God so we can go directly to God and we can hear the will of God by that which the Holy Spirit searches out and tells us by bringing it directly to our minds.
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by HIS Son, whom HE hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also HE made the worlds;
God speaks to each person who is born again by HIS Spirit, by the Spirit of Jesus the Holy Spirit. Thoughts are brought to our minds which are from the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in the ways of God.
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.
The Holy Spirit of Jesus searches the heart of God to reveal to us the will of God in the matters at hand so we can know the way God wants us to go as we make decisions of this present life.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
***
God does continue to use HIS prophets in the church today even though each born again person has HIS Spirit.
We know this by the following:
After Jesus arose from the crucifixion and was taken into Heaven, Jesus gave ministries to the church to help the church.
Ephesians 4:11-14 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:
After Jesus arose from the crucifixion and was taken into Heaven, Jesus gave ministries to the church to help the church.
Ephesians 4:11-14 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;
Many churches today are teaching that Paul was the last apostle. This cannot be right. In Acts 1:26, Matthias replaced Judas and became the 12th apostle.
So where does the apostle Paul fit?
Paul never saw Jesus when Jesus walked on this present earth, though Paul fought strongly against the disciples of Jesus.
After Jesus arose, HE appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus as Paul was trying to find disciples of Jesus to put them in bonds and take them back to Jerusalem to be judged by the Jews.
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 (Paul) said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus 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.
***
Paul is not the last apostle but is one of the first of those apostles given to the church after the resurrection of Jesus.
And in Ephesian 4:11, we read, "And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;"
Jesus gave "some" apostles ... more than one apostle ...
and "some" prophets ... and "some" evangelists ... and "some" pastors and teachers ...
It should be very clear by this verse of scripture that after Jesus was taken into heaven, HE gave these ministry offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher ... to the New Testament church ... to help the church to grow in ways of God.
Man tried to eliminate apostles and prophets but God did not remove them.
And even if man says there are no apostles or prophets today, the apostles and prophets today do the work of God as apostles and prophets just as God ordained them to do.
Some today deny Jesus, but that does not remove Jesus. Neither does it remove apostles and prophets if man says there are no apostles or prophets. Ephesians 4:11 says there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers given by Jesus for the work of the ministry in the New Testament church today, and that Word is true and is happening today among us.
***
So after we pray asking God for wisdom, God might send that wisdom by a prophet or by another person or by an angel or directly by sending HIS word directly to our minds by the Holy Spirit. Or God might show us what to do by giving us a dream.
We judge the wisdom that is from God by the following:
If the plan brought to us is complicated, expensive, hard to do, I know I do not have the wisdom that is from God.
In such cases, I pray and wait and stay alert to other ideas which fit the wisdom that is from God, primarily ... pure, simple, easy to do.
Examples:
* When I was building the house in Lubbock, Texas, my contractor and his accountant parted ways and unknown to me the house went over budget. When I learned of the extra expense I told contractor there was no way I could pay that amount and we would just have to put the house up for-sale and let the buyer finish the house.
But God gave me a dream: In the dream, I was standing at the kitchen window of the house I was building. An object that seemed like a meteor was directly outside that window, hovering there. Then it lifted and went over the house. I was expecting it to explode and blow up the house but nothing happened at all.
After I awoke, I was reminded of the following scripture:
Isaiah 65:21-23 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
I did not ask anyone for money but a woman in our church group did know of the problem and she loaned me the money to pay for the finishing of the house. I repaid her within six months.
***
Another example: I purchased a new television. It turned out to be defective with a very distorted picture. The dealer promised to calibrate the unit. But he didn't. And I tried to live with the TV. But I was always trying to tune the set with the remote and make it a little better.
One day when I was trying to tune the picture, I heard: "You don't have to put up with this."
I stopped what I was doing and thought about what I had just heard.
I didn't have to put up with that TV. I had the money saved so I could just replace the TV.
And that is what I did, even though the other TV was less than a year old at that time.
It didn't fit the wisdom of man, but it certainly did fit the wisdom of God which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
I bought another TV and had the delivery men carry away the defective unit.
And what happened to the dealer who would not fix the TV. A short time after this, he was gone. His business was gone. A home decor business was where he had operated his business. He was just gone.
God deals with both the evil man and the man who tries to follow God.
I have no want as I follow God today.
And what happened to the dealer who would not fix the TV. A short time after this, he was gone. His business was gone. A home decor business was where he had operated his business. He was just gone.
God deals with both the evil man and the man who tries to follow God.
I have no want as I follow God today.
***
Another example: I had been driving along the road and was stopped at a signal light. Beside me was a pickup truck pulling a flat bed trailer which was loaded with fire wood. As I sat there I was thinking how much I wished I had a wood burning fireplace at my house when I heard these words: "You can have that." Before this moment I had never once thought of removing the gas logs in my fireplace and using wood. But I realized I could do that. And I was sure the thought was from the Holy Spirit giving me the approval of God to do such! That is the important thing! The following day, I called the fireplace shop and made arrangements to switch to wood burning. It worked out very well for me.
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What to do?
After prayer, evaluate the ideas that come to you by the following points:
* Do I have the money to pay for the project without being any burden to myself or others?
* Do I feel satisfied that the workers are available to accomplish the project?
* Is this peaceable?
* Is the direction pure, true, without any deception?
* Do I believe the plan is from God?
***
In the case of Ahab, God did exactly what the prophet said God was going to do.
And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
(Later God will destroy evil king Ahab. I Kings 22 But for now, Ahab will win in battle.)
And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
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23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.
God sends a prophet with a message:
And there came a man of God (a prophet), and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
29 ... and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand (100,000) footmen in one day.
And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live.
And he (Ahab) said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.
Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he (Ahab) said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.
Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
When you have read enough of the examples of the working of God in the Old Testament, you just know that Ahab did the wrong thing here in making a covenant with the king of Syria and in allowing that king to live.
God sends a prophet to Ahab with a message:
And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
***
The flesh of man, our own flesh, will often not want to do anything. We allow things to drag on and be a thorn in our flesh when it would be better to yank out that thorn and throw it to the side of the road and go forward in peace.
More and more, I feel I'm led to take swift action removing those who are going to drag their feet and have to be supported by me and end up dragging me down with them.
After I moved to Colorado, my physical therapist put me in contact with a business where a woman came to my house and cut my toenails. It can be very hard to cut your own toenails when you become older and have been injured. So I was delighted to have this service.
But almost immediately there was trouble.
This woman spoke of her Pentecostal parents and how ridged her father was in laws of God ... and this woman began asking me questions about religion and "my opinion".
(She didn't seem to search the Bible to determine answers to her questions ... )
This woman spoke of her Pentecostal parents and how ridged her father was in laws of God ... and this woman began asking me questions about religion and "my opinion".
(She didn't seem to search the Bible to determine answers to her questions ... )
However I could see she was just looking for a way to fight her own father in his doctrine.
I didn't want her to come back into my house. So I just cancelled future appointments and rid myself of this potential trouble.
It was a swift sword with one blow.
There was a time I would have reasoned this action away and tried to make it work when it would bring nothing but trouble.
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in HIS sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of HIM with whom we have to do.
And if we need to know something about the situation, God will reveal it to us by HIS Spirit in word or by dreams or send an angel to tell us. I've had God use all three of these methods to communicate with me.
***
There was a woman who came across my path revealing herself to be a Christian. She told me how her teenaged daughter was trying to persuade a young man to return to the church group of his father, which I think was also their church group.
I told this woman the daughter would not persuade the young man but he would draw her away.
The mother began to fight against what I said, but I knew this was correct information. The mother thinks the daughter is stronger than she really is.
I made arrangements not to be around this woman any further, knowing she would only be trouble to me without results.
***
A young man came across my path. He quoted more scripture than anyone I've ever heard before or since. But he also enlarged the scripture and added emotional thinking to the words he spoke. I just ended this association. He literally begged me to allow him to continue with me. I did not do this. I knew what he was by what he did. HE would not improve for the better for he had not improved for the better. He was what he was.
***
If you are going to allow the disobedient or the unruly among you, they will be thorns in your sides and pricks to your eyes.
You will not improve them, but they will drain you and pull you down.
There was one woman who was like a daughter to me. But she didn't have a love of the truth. Even in secular matters, she just made up her own mind, often with no facts, and she didn't pursue facts. She didn't love truth. After seeing this, I pulled my heart and mind away from her. It just won't work.
God even gave me a dream about her.
She was trying to ignore me while walking over a railway viaduct. As she started going down the other side, she fell. I went to see her condition. In the background a church building was on fire. The fireman was trying to save the church building. Fire was shooting out all the windows and through the roof. There was no way that church building was going to be saved.
This woman faithfully attends her church but didn't show any love of the word of God from the Bible.
I felt God was saying to me: "When she says to you, 'I did this because of the scripture,' pay attention to her." So far, that has not happened.
She was trying to ignore me while walking over a railway viaduct. As she started going down the other side, she fell. I went to see her condition. In the background a church building was on fire. The fireman was trying to save the church building. Fire was shooting out all the windows and through the roof. There was no way that church building was going to be saved.
This woman faithfully attends her church but didn't show any love of the word of God from the Bible.
I felt God was saying to me: "When she says to you, 'I did this because of the scripture,' pay attention to her." So far, that has not happened.
***
By re-reading these examples from the Old Testament, I am greatly strengthened, which I know we need to be for the end times.
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One other subject about prophets in the New Testament church today:
It may be difficult to recognize today's prophets for they might not come performing miracles as the Old Testament prophets often did.
John the Baptist performed no miracle. (John 10:41)
Yet Jesus said this of John the Baptist:
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:
But I believe I've seen individuals who are prophets. Often they are housewives and unknown and behind the scenes. They don't quite fit into their church groups, probably because they are prophets and are seeing the evil being done in their church groups.
For God opens the eyes of HIS prophets to see the evil in the churches.
Years ago, I visited with two Baptist woman. One woman began speaking of another woman in their church group. Alice said to me, "What do you think might be wrong with this woman ... pastor is building a new church building and she is so against what pastor is doing."
Without thinking at all, I replied, "Maybe she's a prophet."
The Baptist women no longer wanted to discuss this other woman.
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The kings and rulers of the synagogues were always afraid of the prophets. Because the prophets saw what they were actually doing. Prophets often see them as God sees them. Except I'm convinced God's anger is much greater than our anger over the evil being done in churches.
The apostle Paul saw and said: "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." II Corinthians 5:11
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For about 30 years I grieved over those things I saw pastors doing in the churches I visited.
Then in approximately 2016, God gave me one word to show me what was going on in those churches.
That word from God was: "Restraint"
(The restraint holding these pastors back was gone from the church group.)
I remembered this being in II Thessalonians NASB ...
3-4 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (the day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
Antichrist was not coming through goverments of men as churches have been teaching for the past decades. Antichrist appears in the church. That is what we are seeing today when the pastors pervert scripture and show no repentance nor any grief for doing so.
6-8 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
"HE" who restrained antichrist was the scripture, the Word, Jesus. When the churches removed portions of the scripture, the restraint against antichrist was removed so the man of lawlessness, antichrist, could move into the church and take over, showing himself to be god. And this is exactly what the pastors have done as they eliminate scriptures and change doctrine from the Bible. They show themselves to be god.
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
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When did antichrist move into the churches?
Paul tells us in the following scripture.
Paul says:
Acts 20:29-30 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.
The Catholic church and all the many perversions of doctrine in the Protestant churches began with the departing of Paul from this present earth.
For after John and Paul died, they were no longer there to stop these men from setting up whatever they wanted in their churches.
And that is what we are seeing today in churches. Antichrist.
The apostle John told us that there were already "many antichrist" in his day. He and the other apostles would not put up with this in those days, so those antichrist people left their church groups.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
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But the day would come when John and Paul would be dead and antichrist could set up whatever he desired to do in the church.
The New Testament Bible shows us that which is supposed to be in the New Testament Church.
What we are seeing today is that which antichrist set up in the churches, departing from New Testament Bible
It really helps me to know this for I know it is all a part of the end time situation which had to happen before Jesus returns and the wrath of God comes to judge the disobedient on this present earth.
They will not repent. We will only grieve ourselves with them by staying among them. All we can do when we see this in the church group, is to depart, leave that group.
Don't be surprised when you cannot find another church group to attend.
The best we can hope for is to find one or two other people who will heed the Word of God and we can associat with them.
Jesus said: For where two or three are gathered together in MY name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
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If you still think crackers & grape juice are the Lord's supper, you will find hundreds of thousands of church groups to attend.
But if you know the Lord's supper is the Word of God that you eat and drink, you will find no church group to attend, so far as I can tell.
But if you do know the Lord's supper is the Word of God, you will have the Word of God to live by and that is all you will need.
*****