Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
In the victory at Jericho, one of the Israelites took "an accursed thing" and brought it into his tent and hid the accursed thing, and as a result the children of Israel could not stand against their enemies and they suffered defeat at Ai.
When Joshua sought God, he was shown by God, that the reason for the defeat at Ai was the accursed thing. And God said to Joshua, Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (Joshua 7:12)
God told them: Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. (Joshua 7:13)
Joshua took immediate steps to discover who among them had done this.
Achan confessed: He had coveted and had taken a Babylonish garment, and silver and gold, and had hid them in his tent.
Achan was destroyed, executed by the people of Israel. And all that Achan had was destroyed. By doing this evil, Achan cursed his whole house, and even the nation of Israel.
This had to be dealt with before the children of Israel could go forward.
I can see the same thing applies to our lives today. If there is any form of deception or wrong dealing, we must straighten this up, in as much as possible, before we try to continue. I believe we can "curse ourselves" if we deal falsely or incorrectly with another person.
The apostle Peter told us to live as follows as we wait for the return of Jesus.
II Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.
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New Testament church: Dealing with sin inside the church group
The apostle Paul says:
I Corinthians 5:1-13 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
This may be the only thing you can do with such a "brother", for after we have knowledge of the act being a sin, to commit that sin again, places us in a very difficult position, for there is one sacrifice paid for our sin and if we have sinned again, repeating that sin, there is no more sacrifice for that sin when we sin again.
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.
(If a "brother" ... if that person, male or female, who has been born again and continues to sit in church while committing sins such as, drunkenness, fornication, railing, wrong dealing with others ... then they pollute the entire congregation, according to the apostle Paul.
Some church groups would try to counsel that person. That seems reasonable to today's mind. And it makes us seem fair.
But we must do what the apostle Paul said to do ... put away from ourselves that "wicked person" ... and that brother or sister is a wicked person for he is born again and doing these evil things. He knows it is wrong and he hides among the church while knowing that which he is doing is wrong.
It won't work to counsel him. We must put him out of the church group, turning him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
(If a "brother" ... if that person, male or female, who has been born again and continues to sit in church while committing sins such as, drunkenness, fornication, railing, wrong dealing with others ... then they pollute the entire congregation, according to the apostle Paul.
Some church groups would try to counsel that person. That seems reasonable to today's mind. And it makes us seem fair.
But we must do what the apostle Paul said to do ... put away from ourselves that "wicked person" ... and that brother or sister is a wicked person for he is born again and doing these evil things. He knows it is wrong and he hides among the church while knowing that which he is doing is wrong.
It won't work to counsel him. We must put him out of the church group, turning him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
We can't crucify Christ again, for that sin that has once been paid for, therefore the destruction of the flesh of the repeated offender may be the only way for the spirit, at that point, to be saved in the day of the Lord ... thus turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh by putting him out of the church. By taking that action, we save the offender and the church.
Paul says: I Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
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.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? (without the church) do not ye judge them that are within?
We do not judge them that are without the church, the world. God will judge the world. But we must judge those that are within; we must judge if there is sin in the congregation.
But them that are without God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
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If the church will not deal with such sin in the congregation, I can't see that we can do anything other than to come out of that church group, for we cannot eat the Lord's supper, the Word of God, in a place where the word of God has been cast aside and another doctrine set up.
When the church will not do what Paul says in I Corinthians 5, then that word has been set aside in that church group and evil reigns in that church. We cannot be a part of the evil. To try to do so will curse ourselves and our own household as in the sin of Achan. (Joshua 7)
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Those of us watching saw this sin in the New Testament church with the TV preacher, Jimmy Swaggart, who was caught with a prostitute.
During that time, I visited a small Assembly of God church in Clovis, New Mexico (USA), and the preacher was speaking of Swaggart and he said, "We should pray for brother Swaggart."
I was shocked when I heard pastor say that.
Out of my mouth came these words: "He should be put out of the church."
The woman seated in front of me turned and glared at me.
What I said was I Corinthians 5.
Swaggart made a tearful plea on his TV show saying, "I have sinned."
The Assembly of God church chose to pray for Swaggart and counsel Swaggart instead of doing that which the apostle Paul said to do in I Corinthians 5: 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 ... Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
A few months after this, Swaggart was caught again with another prostitute. Swaggart's statement was, "It's flat out none of your business." (Wikipedia)
At that point, the Assembly of God church did defrock Swaggart. But Swaggart continued with his TV show and as far as I know he continues to this day with many church followers.
The only thing we can do in any situation is the word of God as set forth by the inspiration of God in the Holy Bible.
To do that which is right in our own mind is death.
And what did the scripture tell us in Hebrews 6? ... For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.
We must not reason away the Word of God. We simply do that Word.
And if another person or church group reasons away the Word of God, then we withdraw from them, for they have become hereticks.
Titus 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
An heretick is one who refuses to submit to the power of truth and is turned away from the truth of the Holy Scriptures.
Entire church groups today have fallen away from the Word of God and are therefore anti-Christ, opposite to Christ.
II Thessalonians 2:3-4 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the return of Jesus) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
(Churches would fall away from scriptures allowing antichrist to reign in the group. The scriptures were the restraint against antichrist. So when scriptures were removed, lawlessness against the Word of God came into the church group.)
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Antichrist comes through the church group and is reigning today in church groups which have eliminated entire portions of scripture.
Paul said this had to happen before the return of Jesus and it has happened. It has been going on since Paul's day in the early church as men set up their own doctrines as Paul said they would do.
Acts 20:29-30 Paul says: 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.
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After Joshua and the children of Israel dealt with the sin of Achan and removed the "accursed thing" from the camp, God told them to destroy the city of Ai and their people.
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. (army of 30,000)
They sat an ambush against Ai as God said to do. Some of the army went behind the city and waited. The other part of the army came directly toward Ai and set there with a valley between themselves and Ai where the king of Ai could see them. When the king and the men of Ai came at the army of Israel to fight them, the army pretended to withdraw, leading the king's army away from the city. Then the reserve army of Israel which had camped behind the city of Ai, came into Ai and burned the city. When the king of Ai saw the burning in the background, all the armies of Israel attacked and destroyed the king's army. (Joshua 8)
Joshua 8:5-9 Joshua said: And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.
Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do.
See, I have commanded you. (says God)
Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do.
See, I have commanded you. (says God)
Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
12 And he (Joshua) took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
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You can't allow any of the enemy to remain. For us, the New Testament church, our enemies are thoughts which cause us to be fearful, or sad, or depressed or beaten.
So we catch that thought when it hits us ... we take that thought to God in prayer ... when God gives us a thought to destroy that negative thought, we focus on that Word that God has given us ... we do not allow ourselves to think otherwise ... we do not turn to the right or the left, but we go straight forward toward that which God has brought to our mind by HIS Spirit. And when we do this, we will slay the evil thoughts and win and overcome through God!
II Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
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Joshua 8 23-29 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
(Don't draw back from that Word God has given you. See the matter through to the end doing what God has said to you. Do not let yourself become weak and fleshly and emotional. Hold fast to that Word given you by God.)
Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which HE commanded Joshua.
And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
And the king of Ai he (Joshua) hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
The children of Israel followed the Lord God and wrought a great victory upon Ai.
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And Joshua built an alter to God on mount Ebal and sacrificed burnt offering and peace offerings to God.
32 And he (Joshua) wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
34-35 And afterward he (Joshua) read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
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.
Psalm 23:1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. HE maketh me to lie down in green pastures: HE leadeth me beside the still waters. HE restoreth my soul: HE leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for THOU art with me; THY rod and THY staff they comfort me.
THOU preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: THOU anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
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Today in the New Testament church we do not go by the law of Moses but rather by the rules and laws set forth for us by God in the New Testament Bible.
For example: We no longer shed the blood of animals in sacrifice for our sins. Jesus shed HIS blood for our sins in the New Testament church and we believe, by faith in that which we read in the NEW Testament Bible, that Jesus' blood paid for our sins and we come to God by that which Jesus did in shedding HIS blood.
The promises of God for HIS people in the Old Testament are still valid for us today.
We have many promises of God in the Old Testament which we can believe. Promises such as the following:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for THOU art with me; THY rod and THY staff they comfort me.
THOU preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: THOU anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
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