LOVE PROMOTED THE EARLY CHURCH
I COR. 16:1-2 ; Rom. 16:24-26
jazubuike904@gmail.com;
josevangelseven@hotmail.com
INTRODUCTION:
There was a daily distribution of foods and food items in the
early Church at Jerusalem. Such things do not exist not in today’s Church/s or
not exactly as in the early church. Those who are practicing such things today,
some of them have gone cultic in style. It is now a system of drawing people into
serious cult, instead of what it stood for in the early Church.
SHARING IN COMMON
(koinonia) MADE LOVE EASY TO FLOW
Not only that, there was sharing of amenities among them, but
none of them over estimated his or her need. Those who had lands sold them and
brought the money at the Apostles feet and sharing were made. This made the
early Church peculiar. Such things are
not seen again today, as individuals now own Churches.
But at that time the
Churches were established by Apostles who appoint Pastors to take charge at
certain Churches and pastor them. The
Church of Jesus Christ has only five fold ministry namely 1. Apostles, and 2.
Prophets, 3 Evangelists, 4 Pastors and 5. Teachers. This is the way it was
written in the Bible. These were the offices created by Jesus.
WHAT ABOUT BISHOPS?
The issue of Bishops in the Bible is a different case. The
etymology of the word is the Greek “episcopos” meaning “Elder” in a local Church.
Also in Latin it means “episcopus” also meaning nothing but “Elder” of a Church.
Many people do not know how this office was established, including those who
aspire to be ordained as Bishops and those already ordained. It was not among
the five fold ministry but was founded by the Apostles.
Bishops were appointed
by the Apostles to Churches where there was no Pastor to Pastor the Church. For
example, Paul instructed Titus his son in the Lord to look inside his Church, because
Titus was the Pastor at the Cretian Church Titus 1:1-7.
He told him to checkout for men of unquestionable character
in his Church and ordains them as Bishops or Elders of the Church. That’s the
meaning of Bishop, just Elders. In a Church
where there was no Pastor, Bishops were ordained to oversee the affairs of the
Church. Then where there is a Pastor, Bishops were still ordained, but this
ordination of Bishops in a local Church was to make the work easy for Pastors. They
were ordained as a group, not just one man.
They did not intend to establish a superior office above the
Apostles, how much more the Pastors. Also Pastor Timothy was given the same
instructions by Paul.
He said “if anyone desires the office of a Bishop, he desired a good
one, but that a Bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife. A Bishop
must be able to teach and having his children under him with all gravity” I
tim.3. He said a Bishop must not be “a novice” and “Must marry one wife”.
Today
Rome’s Bishops do not marry and it is contrary to Biblical instructions for
Bishops. In that order even the Pastors are involved in marrying one wife. And
the so called Pentecostal Bishops are pursuing Rome bomber to bomber in titles,
but go ahead to marry their wives.
WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT
THEIR LORDSHIP TO THE CHURCH?
The problem that brought Bishops to limelight above the
Apostles of the Church of Christ today; is traceable to the Roman invasion of
the Church and martyrdom of the early Apostles and disciples. Because of this
invasion, the Bishops no longer obey the Apostles how much more the Pastors.
And Apostle Peter clearly warned the Elders or the Bishops not to lord over the
inheritance of God I Pt. 5:3.
What is happening today, are they not called “my
lord Bishop”? In this regard even the Pentecostal Bishops do not respect
Apostles of the Church, like the Roman Catholic Bishops, whose office/s have
their domain in the sky. No Bishop both Pentecostal and Roman Catholic has the
time to listen to a Pastor at any time.
We may ask, “Does it mean that Bishops are now above the
Pastors in the Church of Jesus”? The
answer is “By no means”. They are still where the Apostles kept them. They are
nothing but Elders of the Church, not even Pastors. Don’t mind their ego,
Pentecostal Bishops are following Rome’s setup, but they are nothing but Elders
of the Church who are still under the Pastors in God’s settings.
I’m talking
about Pentecostal Bishops who are following the Roman’s standard, because the
Bible Bishops are still Elders till tomorrow. We just want to highlight this
very well. We have digressed much let’s continue with the daily distribution in
the early Church.
IN
THOSE CHURCHES:
There was serious love flowing for each other, both at the
headquarters at Jerusalem and at the Gentiles Churches. Love flowed much among
them contrary to what we are seeing today.
In the early Church the daily distribution however was evil spoken of by
the Grecians who turned to Christ, that their women were neglected Acts. 6:1.
This
made the early Church to select men of unquestionable characters to manage that
office, among whom was Brother and Evang. Stephen, who was martyred by the Jews
Acts. 7. But his death did not stop the early church from their daily
ministration, they continued. It came to the time when Paul gave his life to
Christ.
He was on his way to arrest and
to imprison the saints both men and women Acts. 9. But after his conversion then
Apostle Paul was appointed an Apostle to the Gentiles by Jesus Rom. 11:13 etc.
Paul from that idea that happened in Acts 6 instructed the
Church at Corinth to make provision for the saints at Jerusalem on the first
day, so that when he came, there would be no collection again I Cor. 16:1-2.
He
would just collect the collections from them and move to the headquarters at
Jerusalem. This is where some people are teaching that it is the reference of
Sabbath change by Paul. What Paul did was in agreement with what the headquarters
were doing at that time.
The Sabbath day was not changed instead the first day
(SUNDAY) was used for “breaking of Bread” by the early Church Acts 20:7. On
this day (Sunday) was the Holy Communion taken and he was allowed to preach to
them. Even at this time Paul was in his second missionary journey, so he was fully
aware of what the headquarters were doing and he was doing the same.
But Paul as an Apostle could not change the Sabbath doctrine
of God. The Sabbath day worship “is a doctrine” which
even Jesus did not change but amended it, how? In the Law of Moses, there was no work done on
the day of Sabbath, that’s where Jesus made an amendment.
After teaching in the
Temple on the Sabbath day, he worked and healed many people on the Sabbath day,
which made the people to question his ministry as one who came from heaven, see
Jon 5; 8; and 9. The Corinthian Church was not the only Church which Paul
instructed to provide the things for the Jerusalem Church. He also instructed
the Spanish Church to do the same Rom.15:24-29.
The Church at Macedonia and at Achaia desired to send their
gifts to Jerusalem through Paul. This collection would be done on the first
day, not on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath
day was exclusively for God’s worship. But the Apostles designated the first
day for Holy Communion, but they did not change the day of Sabbath.
COULD PAUL CONTRADICT
HIMSELF?
No is the answer. Yet I discovered that the writings of Paul
have been misunderstood badly by the Christian Community. In the book of
Rapture I described this misunderstanding as the “three misses” in chapter 24.
This misunderstanding however was not from him, but from the interpreters of
his letter.
When he commanded the Corinthian Church to provide their contribution
to the saints at Jerusalem on the first day, they said he has changed the
Sabbath day with that first day instruction I Cor.16:2. Paul in all his days was worshipping on the
Sabbath days. From his first missionary journey with Apostle Barnabas Acts.
13:42-44 he was invited to come back on the next Sabbath to explain more of the
word of God.
The tone of the invitation
indicated that the day was a Sabbath day.
This was his first missionary journey. Even the day the Holy Ghost commanded
that Paul and Barnabas should be separated to do the work he had called them was
on the Sabbath day Acts.13. It was the day known to every Dick, Tom and Harry
in Jerusalem where the Church started.
Even the day of Jesus’ resurrection was
the first day and it could not cause the effect of the change of Sabbath. Even
if the day was on the fourth; fifth and sixth day or the second day, Jesus
would rise in it. But there was no commandment from either God; Jesus or the
Apostles on that day for the change. The Apostles on their own called it “The day
of the Lord” and that was correct for the rise Rev.1:10.
Yes after giving him
that day of his resurrection, they continued with the Sabbath commandment of
God. Neither did the Holy Spirit command anywhere to change it for any reason
whatsoever. And this change would not to be done with a suggestion or an
assumption, but it must be a definite command from God, Jesus or his Apostles.
Paul during his first missionary
journey entered into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day Acts. 13:5. Even the day
the Holy Spirit commanded to separate Paul and Barnabas was a Sabbath day. In
his second missionary journey, he did not deviate in any way. And during his
second missionary journey the Bible said he reasoned on very Sabbath, according
to Acts. 18:1-4.
In fact, I can’t see where the so called Pentecostal Revds; Bishops
and Drs saw the Sabbath change in the Bible. If the Apostles used the first day
to honour Jesus for rising on it, does it mean a change of Sabbath? They said
Paul changed it. Paul could not on his own change the Sabbath day.
Do you know
that Paul was even on check during his ministry to the Gentiles? He encountered the “Judaizers” at Antioch and
was sent to Jerusalem for settlement; you can read about it in Acts. 15. Why
couldn’t he settle that problem on his own at the Church at Antioch?
You may be confused of the word “Judaizers”. The religion
which was on even before the birth of Christ in Israel or nay with the Jews was
Judaism. Jesus also met it but did not use it during his time. Of cause he
started calling his own disciples one after the other. Actually he operated in
the Temple but did not make use of Judaism as way of life. So at the time Paul
became a Christian Apostle to the Gentiles, he met them in his ministry.
When he was at Antioch, those people who formally worshipped
that religion of Judaism left it and joined the Church. And they still held
that concept and they were called Judaizers. They repented and joined the
Church at Jerusalem and they came on a visit to Antioch, and taught the people
in the presence of Paul and Barnabas saying “except they go through the Law of
Moses, that they could not be saved” Acts. 15.
On hearing this kind of teaching
from those who were supposed to teach the truth, Paul and his companion
Barnabas opposed that teaching immediately and there was much disputations or
argument in the Church. And because of this argument, the Church sent Paul to
the headquarters in Jerusalem for clearance and settlement.
The Jerusalem Church
therefore organized the Church council for this question, and after much
deliberations by the Church council, the Pastor at that time ruled and said “My
sentence is” Acts. 15. 19-22. It is important that we cite these passages for
you to read.
Paul was there when the overall Pastor (James) ruled over the
issue and he was satisfied. Even all the Apostles including Peter, and the rest
of the Church council and elders were present. Do these people who preach and believe that
Paul changed the Sabbath read the Bible at all? How could Paul who was sent to
the Gentiles change what the headquarters were doing?
If he had done so, they
would have called him to order, and we shall see the records today in the Bible.
He was subject to authorities even though he was an Apostle.
He was not standing alone and couldn’t give any negative
commandment to the Church. Of course Jesus was with him and he always received
instructions from him. On his arrest and
persecution, he was going to Rome to defend himself and Jesus appeared to him
and encouraged him, saying “as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so
shall you testify about me at Rome” Acts. 23:11. So Paul was very careful in
his days.
What Paul commanded the Church to do at Corinth was to
collect their gifts on the first day, so that when he comes, there would be no
more collections on his presence. He was desirous to minister to the poor
saints at Jerusalem; so he liked to go with the collections from the Gentile
Churches, which in turn opened their way back home and prospered them.
This is why we ask you to always come to this
blog site where the truth is displayed for all to read. And we can tell you that up till now the
Sabbath day has not been changed. But Daniel prophesied that “the horn shall
think to change times and law” Dan. 7:25. The horn is the same as the Beast or
the Antichrist, which must come from Europe.
And they have done according to the prophecy. They have changed the
Sabbath day to Sun-day.
THE CHANGE CAME FROM
ROME:
Everyone have been following Rome and their programs
believing that they are the people which God had ordained to lead the Church,
but we tell you that it is not true.
Some people have come to this knowledge but they ask “where are we going
to start from to change it again”?
Well,
the answer is “do your own work or what you are supposed to do and leave the
rest to God”. Since it was under prophecy, it is not by
power nor by might. You can do nothing to change it but you could teach to
sensitize the Church on the truth and God would cause your work to germinate
and increase. We are assuring you that the Sabbath change has not been
commanded by God and would not be commanded even in the future. Do you want to
know why we say this? Read on
Jesus was teaching his disciples about his second coming and
he said “But pray ye that your flight be not on the winter, neither on the
Sabbath day” Matt. 24:20. What does this
statement mean? It means 1. That the Sabbath day has not been changed and that
it would be on till the day of our flight. What
does the day of our flight mean? 2. It
means the day the Antichrist will command to kill all Christians from Israel to
the whole world, just for failure to worship him Rev. 13:15. 3. Jesus said we
should pray that this day should not be on the winter, why?
If we should run into
the bush on the winter, cold would take hold on us badly and it may cause some
people to denounce their faith in Christ. This goes ahead to tell us that God has not changed
the Sabbath day till tomorrow. If there
has been any change, the scriptures would tell us and not hide it. So Sabbath
day has not been changed and Paul did not use I Cor. 16:2 to change the Sabbath
day. It remains on the same seventh day.
So the assumption that Apostle Paul used his instruction to
the Corinthian Church to change the Sabbath day is erroneous and not the truth
in any way. These people that say these things are not teachable. If you
confront them this way, they change to the other way.
When I confronted one about this question and when he could
not defend himself further, do you know what he said? He said “Paul as an
Apostle was sent to the Gentle world, not to Israel, so he was not taking
instructions from Jerusalem”. You see it?
But did you see what at Antioch, a Gentle Church? How the
Church sent Paul to Jerusalem for settlement? That problem and question was settled there at
Jerusalem and the Church at Antioch was at rest. But because these people have
no idea on what happened to the Sabbath day, they teach like Rome from where
most of them came from. But we have the whole idea and what the prophecy is. Rome
has actually fulfilled what the Bible said concerning her. She has changed the
Sabbath as Daniel prophesied in Dan. 7:25.
Yet God, Jesus and his Apostles have not changed the Sabbath
before, today and even till tomorrow. The daily ministration in the early
Church was not used to change the seventh day.
God bless.
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