Great Wall – BT1:  “The Great Wall” foundational problem quenching the Holy Spirit in today’s church

 

 

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The foundation of “The Great Wall” that is quenching the Holy Spirit underlying so much of Christian ministry is that many self-proclaimed “ministers” really don’t understand nor have they fully surrendered control to Zechariah 4:6’s prophecy about the completely-different-in-kind New (a) Covenant Ways that were to REPLACE and END the old covenant ways:  “Absolutely-in-fact-NOT or in-possibility-NOT by-the-means-of might NOR by-the-means-of power but-instead by-the-means-of My Spirit, say Yahweh of hosts (ruler of all).”  This is all explained more fully in the “Might & Power and Promised Spirit” pages, but for now “might and power” essentially means “all of man’s external resources and internal abilities such as buildings, equipment, knowledge, skill, and self-mastery.”  <Notes> a) chadash, kainos: fresh, completely different-in-kind, unprecedented, sharing nothing with its predecessors, unique, and superior.

 

Many Christians and musicians simply have not grasped the complete difference between the old covenant conditional “way” of obedience FOR God to get His blessings, which puts our trusting-relying-faith in the flesh’s own “might and power” that is completely different-in-kind from the unconditional New Covenant “Living Way” that instead puts our trusting-relying-faith in God’s Spirit.  But if they do grasp this, they haven’t fully surrendered control to it!

 

However, I’ve found in most cases that they simply haven’t read or fully understood the Old Testament (OT) prophesies about the New Everlasting Covenant completely REPLACING and ENDING the old covenant’s Torah Law of conditional-favor and thus 97.4% of graphe scripture – see Logos Word of God – BT5a and the New Covenant Ways page to understand this fully.  When they “borrow” from this old foundation to build their ministry under the New Covenant, they have started to build “The Great Wall” that quenches the Holy Spirit.

 

For example, the idea of “clergy and laity” was “borrowed” for the OT, which is a faulty foundation for the New Testament (NT) Church.  The term “clergy” means “a group ordained to perform pastoral or sacerdotal functions in a Christian church.” It was first used in the 13^th c. by the Catholic Church, but they “borrowed” the idea from the Greek klerikos which means “an inheritance, in reference to the fact that the OT Levitical priests had no inheritance except the Lord.  They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.”  A tenth of the tithe given to the Levite tribe went to the Levitical priests.

 

A back-sliding Catholic church reinstated OT tithing of agricultural produce in 567 and 585 AD, obligatory by 779 AD, and as wages in 1200 AD, which they also “borrowed” from the OT.  Sure we have plenty written in the NT about liberal, cheerful, and even sacrificial GIVING but NOT tithing (a).  Catholic priests are not Levitical priests that have their portion or inheritance in the Lord, nor should they be receiving a tithe or any form of payment – see Ministry Finances.  Francis Chan’s video The Truth About Tithing is excellent.  Dr. Russell Earl Kelly’s book Should the CHURCH TEACH Tithing is great!  Is scholarly article Teaching is NOT a Christian Doctrine is fantastic. <Notes> a) Acts 2:43–47, 4:32–37, 11:27–30; Galatians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8:1–9:15

 

The Catholic Church had to come up with a term for the “non-clergy, or common people” so they invented the Latin word “laity” in the 15^th c., which again is “borrowed” from the Greek laikos, which simply means “of the people, the people at large.”  So you can see the impetus from “clergy and laity” all comes from the OT, but using terms from pagan cultures.

 

“Ordination” of clergy is entirely an OT practice – you won’t find the word used once in the NT!  However, the NT does speak 25 times about “sanctification, consecration, or dedication to make separate for God’s hagiazo sacred purposes,” and the result is that these ceremonially “uncommon and clean vessels of honor” are now hagios holy.  This is the same Greek word for “saint” used 213 times in the NT of ALL Christians, and certainly NOT the practice of sainthood that the Catholic Church started in 993 AD for a select few ‘special Christians.’

 

The completely-different-in-kind New Covenant says that ALL Christians are part of a royal priesthood (a), priests belonging to the King of kings, “making us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father” (b).  EVERY one of us is been made “special, uncommon, or a vessel of honor” (c).  There is now only One High Priest, the Lord Jesus, and we are ALL priests, “all just brethren” (d) of the Family of God.  <Notes> a) 1 Peter 2:9, b) Revelation 1:6 5:10, 20:6, c) Romans 9:21; 2 Timothy 2:21-21, d) Matthew 23:8 – see Teach One Another – BT10.

 

There are no OT “chief priests” in Christ’s kingdom.  Jesus warned often about “having authority over others like the Gentiles – it shall absolutely-in-fact-NOT and in-possibility-NOT be so among you” (a).  If the OT was only a “fuzzy-shadow/outline of things to come” (b), why are churches “borrowing” from it?  The Protestant Church is absolutely no better!  They may not use the same terms, but they are using the same ideas that there is a ‘special class’ of Christians, the “ordained professionals,” and then the rest of the congregation are “commoners.”  This divisiveness is still straight from the pit of hell!  <Notes> a) Matthew 20:26; Mark 10:43, b) Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5, 10:1.

 

The Lord has clearly showed me that a major part of the faulty foundation of The Great Wall quenching the Holy Spirit is this division between those “in front” and the congregation facing them, a division that was started in the Catholic Church that has mostly been unreformed in the Protestant Church.  Because of this, I’ve dedicated the Equippers – Coaches and Facilitators page to this.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Education, Foundation of Great Wall Quenching the Spirit is BORROWING from the Old Covenant, You can’t mix oil and water, You can’t mix New Covenant Wine-Christ’s Blood-Spirit with Law’s commandments rituals sacrifices, You can’t mix Zechariah 4:6 might & power with Holy Spirit, You can’t mix old-time religion of work FOR God with Spirit Work IN us in relationship WITH God, Catholic Church started the borrowing, Protestant Church continued the borrowing, clergy versus laity, church division created by clergy versus laity definitions, tithing, priests, ordination of priests