COMING SOON: NO MORE NEED FOR CHURCH MINISTERS
There is a time, and it refers to a state of higher maturity, when GOD HIMSELF WILL TEACH HIS CHILDREN, NEEDING NO MORE TUTORS OR HUMAN TEACHERS!
I do not dismiss the importance of human guides, be it parents or church ministers. The fact that God the Father has appointed a human father and mother to each and every child cannot be questioned in its necessity. Can we then question His love and wisdom? We can even say, without blaspheming or insulting Him, that to do otherwise, that is, to do away with parents when they are needed according to God’s wise order, is tantamount to insulting or mocking God’s wisdom and love. It is like saying, “God and Father, your putting and appointing human parents is not a wise nor a loving thing that you do. I think that by doing this, You have become less wise and less loving!”
Can we tell God that? Nay, I would rather say this: That it is less effective for Him to personally tend His children, that is, in their physical state. His invisibility is a great fact that can hinder our growth here on earth. I also doubt that to be physically present everywhere, in each and every home and family, is not too easy nor possible for the Spirit Father. Imagine Him in a many different physical body! That will make Him many beings! Many Fathers! I do not think this will include his definition of omnipresence. Omnipresence means He is present everywhere and in everything through His essence of love which is an element present in all created beings anywhere in the universe. It is revealed that the force that makes something intact, preventing its disintegration, is LOVE itself. That force of attraction. Including that power in electricity that pulls or attracts in contrast to the opposite power that repulse. Also the warmth or that which gives life is LOVE in essence. Love is really everywhere.
That explains God’s omnipresence. Another is His presence in the human heart through His Holy Spirit which is nothing but LOVE substance with its wisdom, patience, earnest and other qualities, but the main quality is LOVE.
The Father’s presence in the heart of every human father and mother in the form of Love-Holy Spirit in their hearts is the better method than for Him to create billions of physical bodies and enter into them Himself! I think that is not possible, despite His omnipotence and great wisdom, for God’s full Self including all of His Mind and essence to be inside one body and at the same time to be in another billions of physical bodies, where each body contains the fullness of God or the complete God! That’s unthinkable! For how can a complete being which is placed in one container be able to be placed in another container, especially billions, if in the first place ALL OF HIM IS ALREADY PLACED IN THE FIRST CONTAINER? HOW CAN IT BE DONE WITHOUT DIVIDING HIM?
That makes God divisible! Many! Not One God! I THINK THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD, DESPITE HIS STATEMENT THAT “NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD” which needs to be qualified in this case. I qualify that “Nothing is impossible with God” really as long as such thing is wise and loving and good! There are exception to the general rule. And I think this one is an exception.
So, the present Order of having human parents to feed the small children physical food among other tasks, and to have human ministers to feed the infant souls of church members is necessary.
There is a time when human parents are necessary – very necessary, to be exact. In the parable in Matthew 24 about a certain master of the Household who went to a far country for some important purpose. And he told his steward, Feed my household in season.
I believe the steward stands for human parents and human spiritual teachers. Of course, human parents are our first spiritual teachers. IT IS IN THIS STAGE that I do not find it useful or wise to do away with our pastors and priest as it is absolutely unwise to remove, if I may use such cruel term, human parents and leave young children orphans. Jehovah does not do that. He is angry at men who kill parents. This makes the children orphans. Jehovah only take old parents by death to bring them to the spirit realm once their mission on earth as parents was finished. If He allows cases where young parents die, that is an exception to His rule and by that He has a more loving and wiser purpose not yet known to us. In that case, we shall trust His love and wisdom as greater than ours.
The right time for children to need less their parents or to use a cruel term, for parents to become obsolete as far as parenting tasks is concerned is WHEN THE CHILDREN WILL HAVE ALL GROWN UP POSSESSING THE NECESSARY STRENGTHS AND ABILITIES THAT THEIR PARENTS AND OTHERS HAVE EQUIPPED THEM WITH!
In that stage, the parents are in a sense irrelevant – obsolete. Does that mean they are no longer important? Nay, ask your heart. I do not mean less or no-longer important. Our heart’s love makes our parents important – read: dear to us. In some portion there “parenthood” is no longer necessary to us, thus, obsolete, such as the breastfeeding or even earning a living for us. That is no longer necessary for grown up children. That is what I mean for parents becoming obsolete. But to be totally obsolete or useless, no, that cannot be possible. Parents, even if they be ‘useless’ by old age and physical disability will always be useful – needed – cherished by our heart – as one of its important irreplaceable content! Take the parent away, and your heart will be painfully empty!
Nevertheless, when children are grown up, many parental functions become unnecessary because the children have themselves have learned to do them for themselves. Like earning a living. Cooking their own food. Washing their own clothes. And it is also unkind for the children to let aging parents continue doing those tasks. Well, we are already beside the point.
The main point is: there is a time when parents and pastors are needed and there is a time when this kind of role or function is no longer necessary. The main reason for this is: they have already done that functions effectively I guess and their children or students have already made the most of it, that is, have learned from them and acquired their strengths. And so, the children and students are now ready for a higher stage.
While we are infants or youth, we need parents. While we are infants and youth in the spirit, we need priests or pastors. But as we advance to the next level of spiritual maturity, their importance diminish until we no longer need them.
As soon as we are through in this pastor or priest-guided stage, what is the next level?
That is the level where GOD THE FATHER HIMSELF IS OUR TEACHER. There is enough Scriptures about this. In the gospel book of the apostle John, it is stated, “And they shall all be taught by God.”[1] That is a quotation from an earlier prophecy in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah where it says, “And they shall all be taught by Jehovah [the Eternal Father] and the great will be the children’s peace.”[2]
That the teacher is relevant in a certain phase of the growth of a child of God and then become irrelevant as soon as his student is through in that stage of training is made clear by Jesus Christ who said, “The Word that comes [direct] from My mouth is more powerful and more active than when it is spoken out by the prophets [teachers], but the prophets’ words [which are less powerful] can be strengthened in every person to the same degree power through action [or application] which impresses deeply these Word in the mind and heart of the person.
“My Word is Life and when it passes DIRECTLY to a person with a willing heart, IT MAKES HIM ALIVE.
“In contrast, the word of the prophet [teacher] is only a trustful SIGNPOST and shows man how he can come to the LIVING WORD out of My mouth to be ALIVE.
“I say to you all: ULTIMATELY, [THERE IS A TIME OR STAGE WHEN] everyone will have to be instructed by God in his heart…”[3]
That should not offend the servants of God. Because that prophecy also concerns them. The ministers shall themselves take off their teacher’s robe and join in the class to listen to Great Teacher and Shepherd. That is – this is the time for many – to come listen to the Great Teacher – for the prophecy to get fully fulfilled, to wit: “Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.”[4]
Today, this Scripture is in the process of being fully fulfilled! It is the same to the prophecy in John 10 where hired pastors shall be no more, them becoming among the sheep, to hail and welcome the True Shepherd, so that there will be ONE FLOCK AND ONE SHEPHERD![5]
Faithful hired shepherds should act in humility and gladness of heart like John the Baptist and say, “He shall increase, I must decrease”!
He should announce the Second Coming of the Lord. And he must include the diminishment of all human pastors to the level of students. All of us shall become students before the presence of the One Teacher.
Shall you leave your outer church (group where you are a member)?
Then, if you will, then, where will you go? To another more or less equally immature group? It is better to stay and just ask them about their explanation or understanding about this or that doctrine or Scripture. That will benefit you the more, without the trouble of becoming confused some times! But I’ve done it. I listened to as many explanations from as many churches or ministers as possible and then, I allow myself time, not to remain confused, but to think things through without stress, and the result is greater understanding, the doubtful aspects I file in my mind in a different place from what I label as “correct explanations”. But then, I always refer to the Bible if this is so and so and let the Bible become the judge. Where the Bible is not clear also, I advice that you refer it to the Living Being who is ready to hear and listen and give you answer. He has at least three ways to fulfill the prophecy “And they shall all be directly taught by God”, namely: 1) an influx of Love feeling direct to your heart; 2) an influx of Wise thought direct to your mind; and 3) His written DIRECT DICTATION through a human scribe which contains full explanations about any topic or subject or question you may have in your mind and heart.
To all three, I can attest that it is happening to me and to some others already all over the world! We are directly being taught BY God the Father!
This is not a boast. Nor an expression of evil pride. It is the truth that can happen to anyone of you as well. And it will.
For the statement of Christ saying, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”[6]
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth…he will tell you of what is yet to come.”[7]
Take note that there are two things that the Holy Spirit will do. First, he will remind us of what Jesus had already spoken or taught to us or to our predecessors during His earthly ministry. Second, ‘he will teach you all things…’, that is, ‘he will guide you into all the [remaining unknown] truths…and will tell you of what is yet to come.”
Hence, past teachings and future teachings! That there were and are so many other things still hidden – a vast volume of knowledge yet to be revealed - is proved in Jesus’ own statement when He said with both desperation and hope, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Holy Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”[8] Not a human pastor or minister or priest, but the Holy Spirit!
This is the stage or time where HUMAN SERVANTS ARE NOT NECESSARY. Our priests and ministers, if they are as humble as John the Baptist, should announce and make this clear to their members, namely: that their role is temporary and not lasting – that they are here only as truthful signposts to point members to the Living Christ and Father – and then, when they have come face to face with Him, that is, have a personal relationship with Him, where He teaches them directly from Mind to minds and from Heart to hearts, and personally via His OWN WORDS (and not via the writings of His prophets or apostles as those found in the Old and New Testaments).
When the Christ came to earth the first time, it was one person by the name John the Baptist who announced and told the people: “Welcome Him! He must increase, I must diminish. He must enter in, I must give way!”
In John 10, we find the world full of many flocks of differing conditions and led by different human shepherds, hired or not. This is the state of the world that the returning Lord will find in His SECOND COMING.
There are many Johns the Baptists, so to speak. And so, you, Johns the Baptist, say to your flocks in all gladness and humility: “Welcome Him! He must increase, I must diminish. He must enter in, I must give way!”
For all flocks shall be gathered, and “they too will listen to My voice, and THEN THERE SHALL BE ONE FLOCK AND ONE SHEPHERD”![9]
That is the best of good news!
Therefore, I do not advice that you leave your outer church where you now belong and derive many benefits as well as have the opportunity to give many benefits to your brethren, THUS PRACTICE THE LAW “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR [BROTHERS] AS YOUR SELF, unless you are not loved there or your growth is truly hampered, but where this is not the case, I would advice you rather, and I say, GO NOT TO A PHYSICAL PLACE OR BUILDING NOR TO A HUMAN ORGANIZATION NOR TRANSFER TO ANOTHER CHURCH DENOMINATION, but to the spiritual church instead which takes place in your heart! There, perform the real inner transformation from being ignorant to BEING WISE AS A SERPENT AS WE ARE ALREADY TO SOME EXTENT GENTLE AS A DOVE!
Instead of going shopping for a new outer church, go instead to God via your HEART and ask for the truths, seek for them and knock at His heart’s door. Then, as He promised, it shall be given you, and what you seek will be found, and he who knocks shall be opened to him or her the door of God’s heart.
Where shall you go physically? What better place or outer church are you to go? We are already in known Christian church. Most of us are in the Catholic church. A number are in the different protestant churches. Some are in evangelical churches. I do not know how many of the total of over 2,200 christian churches in the world have made their presence in the Philippines. But I am sure quite a number has membership in the country.
Are you sure that the next denomination or church you will transfer to is better than the one you are in? I have seen and gone to almost all of them – yes, these churches! My extent of entry included study of their writings of course comparing them to the Scriptures, up to being almost baptized. When their pastor or representative made the attempt or reached the point to urge me (sorry to say, to trap me) to getting baptized, that was the end of my attendance, although in some ways I still study or review their writings and teachings. Compared to those of you who have not even bothered looking at their church building, I certainly am more familiar to the beliefs and teachings of these churches in some cases up to 70% depth.
Now what is my gain for this, as what my father described, time-consuming laborious and potentially mind-confusing activity of delving the teachings of these churches?
Nay, I did not consider it tiresome. I was so hungry of the truth that I was happy to spend as much necessary effort and time to know a church by its teachings. I did not feel weary. But limited as I am, yet, I was able to gauge their maturity or degree of correctness, not against myself, but against the Holy Bible, which every body accepts as the gauge. Confusion? Insanity? No, I was able to create two spacious ‘warehouses’ inside my mind named “To be proven” and “Proven” which enable me to avoid confusion and moreover, I was taking my time; I was not hurrying. I studied and proved everything in my own pace. So I did not fall into the pit of insanity or imbalance into which many too-hastening seekers fell.
My net gain is: greater mastery of the Word of God, to use it as a two-edged sword.
Where others end up in endless quarrel with other faith defenders, I let them kept quiet. For my argument is often clear and it cuts deep, not arousing pride in them but convicting them to accept the Word of God, for their own good. I also was and am also surprised at my ‘mastery’ of the Word of God, as it often accidentally tested without me intending it. But I made it a rule never to use the Word of God an instrument of personal pride, e.g., to be well known as a master faith defender. I disagree at them who have made a profession or obsession at brandishing others, putting them to shame before the public.
The Word of God is too sublime to use it to shame others. You can’t lead people to love the Word of God by exemplifying pride which is the main enemy of the Holy Scriptures. Those who use the Word of God as a sword should use it in HUMILITY. In the classic battle of Christ and Satan in the beginning of His ministry after His 40-day fast, Jesus never acted with or out of pride.
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