Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
When we deliver a godly message to another person and that person hates and despises us because of the message we suffer in the flesh similar to the way Jesus Christ suffered in the flesh because of the sin of man.
I Peter 2:21 ...For even hereunto were ye called:because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
I Peter 3:18 ... For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
When we see the wrong, especially in the church, we attempt to turn the wrong-doer back to God with the truth from God. We often suffer as a result.
James 5 ... 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Recently I was trying to turn a born again Christian away from her wrong-doing. For several days, I gave her scripture hoping she would get understanding from God and see what she had been doing and turn. One day I was very tormented with memories of her actions. The next day, I called her and presented another message. That morning before I called, she had prayed asking God if anything was hidden from her to please show her.
I called and told her what I had been shown about her actions and the reason she kept sinning over and over in this area which had to do with desiring acknowledgement from church people, from me and others, desiring our approval. This desire for our approval was causing her way to be perverted.
I told her when we belong to God, HE gives us HIS approval by giving us the Holy Spirit. When we have the Holy Spirit in us we do not need further approval.
Eph. 1 ...3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein HE hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
We who deliver godly messages go through a type of "cross", suffering in our flesh as a result of the message. This is the identification we have with the suffering of Christ. We are trying to turn man away from sin. Christ went to the cross because of the sin of man, to bring them to God.
I Peter 4:1 ... Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
The apostle Paul said: 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Phil. 3
When we correct those in the church, it is not unusual to have them strike out at us. We suffer greatly when this happens. But we are suffering "for their sins". It is because they are sinning in the church and God shows us what they are doing wrong that we suffer for telling them the message.
Here is one of the most outstanding stories I have ever heard concerning suffering in the church because church members are following direction opposite from that of the Bible.
This happened to Pam Padgett when she was attending a church near Oklahoma City.
Here is Pam's account ... During the last months of college, I rented a room in a house owned by a woman I met in the singles group of the church group I attended at the time. This woman had been divorced twice and had a young daughter. At first she seemed content to remain unmarried and raise her daughter. But then she started looking for another husband. I shared with her scripture that tell us that a divorced woman commits adultery if she remarries:
Matthew 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I (Jesus) 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.
Mark 10:11 And HE (Jesus) saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
After sharing these scriptures, I was shocked when she told me that she didn't care what the Bible says, she said she knew what she believed.
I moved from her house shortly after this.
The place I moved was quite a distance from where this church group met. Although I continued to attend the Sunday services and would sit in the area of the auditorium where the singles group sat, I no longer attended the singles meetings.
I heard this divorced woman was engaged to a man I also knew from the singles group. I went and spoke with him, and I shared scriptures with him such as Matthew 5:31-32 showing that they would commit adultery if he married her since she was divorced. He said he would consider these things, but he did not stop the engagement.
Then I heard that the maid of honor at the wedding was to be a woman I also knew. I went and spoke with her, sharing scripture about the adultery that would be committed by this marriage. She said she knew it was wrong for them to marry but they would get married whether or not she was the maid of honor, so she was going to do it.
(But Bible says: neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. I Tim. 5:22)
About this time, I went to one of the Sunday morning services. I arrived before any of the other singles, and sat in the area where we usually sat. But no other singles came to sit there. Right before the service began, I looked around and saw that the singles were sitting a few pews behind me. I thought this strange, but didn't think a lot about it.
The next Sunday I sat in the "new" singles area, but they sat in the "old" singles area.
The following week, I got there shortly before the service began, and went to where the singles were sitting.
Without saying a word, those I sat next to got up and moved away from me.
It was obvious they wanted nothing to do with me, but I had no idea why. I cried out to God asking what was going on? “Had I done something wrong?”
For a few weeks I didn't hear anything from God, and didn't know why I had become an outcast from the singles.
Then after the service one Sunday morning, a woman I didn't know very well stopped me and said she had a message from God for me. The message she delivered was that God knew how I was being treated by those in the singles group, and that I needed to know it was because of what I had spoken about this divorced woman remarrying and that this was what HE had wanted me to do.
I was so helped by this message, now knowing why I was being shunned and that it was for doing good in the sight of God.