God separated the tribe of Levi to minister to God, performing HIS service to the people and the tabernacle.
The New Testament ministers appointed by Jesus:
There are no "priests" in the New Testament Bible or New Testament church.
The ministers of the New Testament Bible and New Testament church are: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers
These ministers are chosen by Jesus and given to the church by Jesus and taught by Jesus.
Ephesians 4:8;11-14 Wherefore HE (Jesus) saith, 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;
The ministers of the New Testament church are never called "Reverend" in the Bible, and these ministers should not be called "Reverend" in the church today. To call them "Reverend" is to add to the Bible and is therefore a form of idolatry for both the minister and the congregation.
In the New Testament Bible, we have examples of Paul identifying himself as an apostle and also as a teacher. Peter identifies himself as an apostle and an elder. Phillip is identified as an evangelist. Agabus and Silas are identified as prophets.
New Testament church ministers properly identify themselves and are identified by the congregations as: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher
This is both significant and critical for the churches today.
There is no such thing in the New Testament Bible as pope, cardinal, arch-bishop, or minister of music. To set up such in today's church is to establish idols in the church and to practice idolatry. Idolatry is to add things to religion which are not specified in the New Testament Bible. To do such additions is to set up an idol in the church.
Paul says idolaters will not enter the kingdom of God.
I Corinthians 6:9-10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (homosexuals), nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
So if you have been doing the idolatrous things, repent and stop doing them immediately.
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The Old Testament: The tribe of Levi
Numbers 3:5-10 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
It is a very serious thing to claim to be a minister in the New Testament church unless you have been appointed by God and ordained to the ministry office by God.
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Shortly after I was born again in 1975, I was transported into heaven in the night. I was with God, and with Christ, and with the Holy Spirit. (no images just in the spirit) At that time I was "merged" into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, God and the Holy Spirit witnessing.
A few nights after this, the exact same thing happened again to me.
I didn't know, at that time, what this meant. But a few years later, I came to believe God ordained me into the two ministry offices in which I would serve HIM: apostle/prophet
From that time forward, God taught me about these two offices through the Bible.
During the years between 1975 and 1980, I went to church continually. I was there for every service, Sunday morning Bible class, Sunday morning and Sunday evening church service, Wednesday church service, Singles classes on Tuesday night, and often special seminars on Thursday-Friday-Saturday. I was also in a neighborhood prayer group on Tuesday morning.
In those church situations, God began training me in the use of the spiritual gift, "word of knowledge". I Corinthians 12
I didn't tell anyone about the two times I had been taken into heaven. But somehow it was obvious to the people that I was called by God to HIS work. They often said to me, "We know the hand of God is upon you." I didn't know what that meant.
Several people said they thought me to be a prophet.
One Sunday morning, the pastor at the church I attended called me forward and before the congregation said: "Joan is not a teacher. She is a prophetess."
I had never told pastor or anyone else that I had any call of God on my life. But all this time God was teaching me and training me both by Bible and also by dealing with events of life.
One day, I was driving along in my car and God said to me: "I have called you and set you in the body of Christ as an apostle."
"Apostle? What's an apostle?" I questioned!
Still I told this to no one.
On January 10, 1980, in the night, a very loud trumpet-like voice spoke three words into my ear: "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS"
I found KWJS to be a radio station.
I said to God: "Are YOU telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that. I'm a writer, not a speaker."
Immediately, this was brought to my mind, "Call the radio station manager."
I called that same morning. I said, "God might be showing me to go on radio. How would you do that?"
The manager told me to send him an audition tape, 29 1/2 minutes long, and if I fit their broadcasts, they would offer me a contract.
I recorded a tape that same day and put it in the mail. Within less than 5 days, I was broadcasting exhortations to the church on KWJS.
Later I realized I had a spiritual gift of exhortation, greatly equipping me to do this work. Romans 12
God has HIS way of preparing HIS ministers for the work to which they are appointed in the ministry.
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Numbers 3:14-15 And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.
Numbers 3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand. (22,000)
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And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:
And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.
And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar.
And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:
And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar: And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:
And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it.
And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
These are very precise instructions and I'm sure there would be severe penalty if anyone changed any part of these directions.
When the tabernacle was ready to move, the children of Israel moved forward, by the commandment of the Lord.
When they stopped, the Levites put the tabernacle back together according to the original instructions from God.
The Old Testament priests also dealt with the sin and trespass offerings which required animal sacrifices. The animals had to be killed and cut in pieces and certain parts washed and the wood prepared for the fire, and parts burned, and some parts burned and then carried without the camp. There are very specific instructions for dealing with the many offerings.
Concerning lepers, people with blood issues, and those people defiled by the dead:
Numbers 5:3-4 God says: Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
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New Testament church: Dealing with certain sins in the church
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
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Judging suspicions of fornication:
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord: And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
(This is the only time "holy water" is mentioned in the Bible and it is for purpose of judging the accused woman. There is no example in Bible of people dipping finger into a water that is called "holy" and crossing themselves as the Catholic church teaches. What they do is setting up something for their church which is not in the Bible, thus creating an idol in their church. And those who do this act are committing idolatry.)
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse: offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar:
And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
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Adultery and fornication in the New Testament church:
After the person is born again and set into the body of Christ by the Spirit of God, if that person turns back to sins of the world, then there is no more sacrifice for sins.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know HIM that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto ME, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge HIS people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 6:4-8 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.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
I Corinthians 5:11-13 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? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
The church groups that I have witnessed today fail to do the above scriptures and the wicked continues to stay in the congregation and work through the congregation as leven.
We should do the Word of God as stated in the New Testament Bible and save the believers.
There is a terrible judgement ordained by God for those churches and their followers when the scriptures are laid aside and they refuse to follow scripture.
II Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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Old Testament: Vow of a Nazarite
(There are no vows in the New Testament Bible.)
(There are no vows in the New Testament Bible.)
Numbers 6:1-11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. 19-20 And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven: And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.
All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. 19-20 And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven: And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.
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New Testament concerning drinking of wine:
The first miracle performed by Jesus was to turn water into wine at the wedding.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
By the following scripture we know Jesus drank wine.
Mark 14:22-25 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Paul told Timothy:
I Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Paul said to the church:
Ephesians 5:18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Being a drunkard is a serious matter:
I Corinthians 6:9-10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (homosexuals), nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
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