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WHAT? God has changed? He says, "I change NOT."
Moses was the one who was later born as Jesus Christ!
same, yesterday, today, and forever!
The God of
And He is the
God tells us in the New Testament (I Corinthians 1:10), those
Old Testament examples wer=e-for our admonition, in the END-time!
But let's look at how Christ led the New Testament Church.
He chose Peter as leading apostle, and Paul as leader in the
Work to the Gentiles. Paul writes: "...when they (at Jerusalem)
saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was corrunitted unto me, as the
the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter ... " (Gal. 2:7).
Yet Peter took precedence over Paul, as shown at the Jerusalem
conference (Acts 15). Paul had been at Antioch. Severe conten
tions arose in the church there. In this case, Paul did not then and
there settle it in Antioch, but went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and
certain others -- BECAUSE PETER WAS THERE.
"And the apostles and elders came together for to consider thiS"
matter. And when there had been much disputin9:, PETER ROSE UP..•"
and gave the DECISION (Verse 6-7). Then James, because he was Pastor
of the Headquarter's Church, as a matter of protocol, made PETER'S
DECISION official (verses 13-29).
In this case Peter had pre-eminence over Paul, and all apostles.
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In I Corinthians 5 is the account of a fornicator in the church.
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Paul reproved the whole church, and showed his authority saying, "For
I verily,·
as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already,
as though I were present••." (verse 3).
To the Corinthian church Paul said, "What will ye? Shall I come
unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? (I
Cor. 4:21) •
The one who accused of "yes-men," also needs updating on a number
of other observations he made. He-says, "Obviously you will not find
democracy in Exodus.... The government God set up then was the best
form of government that could be set up for that day and age, not a
master blueprint for eternity•.•"
He thinks members' viewpoints ought to make the decisions for
today -- and we should have democracy in the church -- every person
doing what seems right in his own eyes. That is precisely what
ancient Israel did. In the days of the judges, "every man did that
which was right in his own eyes." And this was constantly leading
Israel into the captivity of surrounding kingdoms.
What is the actual DIFFERENCE between GOD'S GOVERNMENT, which is
GOVERNMENT FROM THE TOP DOWN, and democracy? Under what we call
democracy, if I drive to an intersection with a STOP sign, I am not
free to go on through if it is right in my own eyes. We are not free
to do whatever seems right in every invididual's eyes. We still have
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