tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28988815.post116539507904366253..comments2023-08-15T06:44:05.705-05:00Comments on Pure Church: What a Good Pastor Is To Do – Part 1FellowElderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08590139703839397873noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28988815.post-38114699116002019392007-09-11T14:58:00.000-05:002007-09-11T14:58:00.000-05:00The pastoral system is idolatrous, that's the prob...The pastoral system is idolatrous, that's the problem.<BR/>God is above, the church members are below, and in between are the ministers or pastors. The pastors have become the intermediaries who do all spiritual things for the believers. It is the duty of the minister or pastor to distribute communion, to baptize people, and to preach sermons. They manage everything for their church members; they become the medium between God and men. So that from Judaism up through Roman Catholicism to the present-day variety of denominations in Protestantism, the same system requiring an intermediary class prevails. <BR/>What, though, does the New Testament say about this? “Ye are…a royal priesthood,” says Peter (1 Peter 2.9). “He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father,” says John (Rev. 1.6). We therefore do not need anyone to be a substitute for us believers by standing as mediator between ourselves and God, because we all are priests who can approach Him directly: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way” (Heb. 10.19,20a). It is not through the intermediary characteristic found in Judaism, Catholicism or Protestantism that we draw near to God. Neither are we like the high priest of old who once every year entered the tabernacle or temple’s holiest place of all to meet Jehovah God. No, we today come to Him daily through the Lord Jesus’ blood. All of us are priests, and we may communicate with God boldly at any time. <BR/>Hence, what is Christianity under the New Testament? It abrogates the aforementioned intermediary class system. Every believer is directly responsible for himself towards God. Do not make the workers in our midst the intermediary in local churches. There is no such thing among us. We all may go to God. The workers have no special position in the church. For God maintains a direct relationship with the individual believers in the church.Brother Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645401412444899487noreply@blogger.com