Template:Synagogue

"Feed my sheep!"
Pastors should be like shepherds who tend to all the welfare needs of the people in a daily ministration of faith, hope, and charity, so that none of the sheep of Christ have to eat at the tables of legal charity provided by the exercising authority of the Fathers of the earth.
Before Jesus was able to provide the people with loaves and fishes in Mark 6:39 He "commanded" His disciples to "make" the people sit down in Tens. And then those groups were to organize in companies upon companies in divisions and "ranks" of "fifties and hundreds".
Christ also told His disciples not to be like the rulers and princes of the Gentiles who provided benefits by exercising authority one over the other.
Everyone who got the Baptism of Christ was "put out" by the ordinance of the Pharisees of the Jewish synagogue system which was also composed of ten families through which they provided welfare with the "Corban" of the people.
Christ appointed a kingdom to His "called out" group He called His "little flock" to be ministers or servants to the people in "free assemblies" not rulers like the "benefactors" of the "world" who "exercise authority". Every man should be led by the Holy Spirit to gather in order to love one another. The minister is supposed to be serving by making or requiring the people voluntarily organize themselves in Companies of tens, fifties and hundreds, and thousands so that people may love one another through daily ministration in the practice of Pure Religion as we see the early Church doing in history for centuries.
If all the people who say they are Christians were actually doing what Christ commanded, socialism would be obsolete and no one could be or would be exploited. Socialism is the religion you get when you refuse to do what Christ commanded and have no Pure Religion.

Synagogue

Synagogue is the English word representing the Hebrew word for the congregation of ten families. A common Hebrew word for a gathering Kanas appears almost a dozen times.

Even when the word is translated into the Greek word sunagoge which is from the verb sunago meaning "to gather together, to gather". Sunagoge is translated congregation and assembly and means a bringing together, gathering (as of fruits).

Jesus commanded that His Disciples to make the people organize themselves into symposia which was a Greek word for a group of ten men and would include their families.

"The symposium (or symposion) was an important part of ancient Greek culture from the 7th century BCE." And like the Jewish synagogue it was an intricate part of the distribution to those in need forming the social bonds of a free society and the rallying of "company" upon "company" of men in time of emergencies or dearths.

This division of 'tens' was so common in all cultures it continued for a thousand years and more. The Orders of Knights or Equestrians. "Each knight had to have supporting personnel, usually at a ratio of ten men-at-arms per knight."

We find forms of the word synagogue in the Bible, like archisunagogos, meaning the ruler of the synagogue. He is not really ruling over people, but over a place or the orderliness of the assembly. The people who enter the place of assembly must remain orderly while in that place, according to what the archisunagogos dictates, but all they have to do is leave the place and they are free to do as they wish and are not subject to the archisunagogos.

The Greek word synagogue does not mean a place like a building, but it can mean an assembly that gave you a place in society.

So, a "synagogue" was not a building any more than a Church was a building. When someone was kicked out or put out of a synagogue they were actually put out not only their own group or congregation but they were put out of an assembly of tens, hundreds and thousands.

Here we can see the real importance of the roll of the archisunagogos because he is to make sure that the people in the assemblies of Tens are connected with the other groups in the ranks of hundreds and thousands. Buildings are incidental to the gatherings and their purposes.

In the case of the Church it was actually a called out assembly and never used to identify a building in the Bible. Even the "Church in the wilderness" is used to identify the Levites as the called out assembly of Moses.

Jesus called out a group of people to be separate from the world. He called them His Little flock and they were to receive the appointment of a kingdom for the purposes of servicing the people according to the perfect law of liberty. Jesus also "commanded" that the ministers "make" the people organize themselves in congregations of Tens to facilitate the daily ministration to the needy.

These called out ministers were a form of government but not like the governments of the world of the gentiles. They were to provide the righteous benefits to a communion and fellowship of the Christian society but without exercising authority one over the other. The benefits provided by the princes of the world were call the "wages of unrighteousness".

Early Israel like the early Church gathered in congregations of ten families, often choosing Levites as their ministers. These were free assemblies because there was no means by which to bind the people together according to the Law of Moses and certainly according to the words of Jesus except by love and charity.

At other times in history, membership in a synagogue or congregation became the result of a contract with kings like Herod the Great who offered a socialist system of welfare like that of Nimrod, which made the word of God to none effect because it included a forced sacrifice.

The chief ruler of the synagogue could kick you out of the welfare system operated through the synagogues like we see in John 9:22 But those were not truly Free Assemblies since the days of Herod the Great and his own version of Baptism.

Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and Jesus and the early Church advocated a Daily ministration for the needy of the Christian community that was dependent on Charity only and it was not like the system of Corban of the Pharisees nor the free bread of Rome. It was their Pure Religion that brought them into a Christian conflict with Public religion and the Covetous Practices of the World.

With the arrival of John the Baptist and Jesus, some of these heads of synagogues repented These men followed the ways of Christ, repenting of the Corban of the Pharisees which had made the word of God to none effect. These true believers led their synagogues back to the righteous ways of Christ. They were still part of a welfare system in Pure Religion, but they now depended upon Faith, Hope and Charity - rather than force - to provide for their needs. This righteous system of Corban set the people free in many ways, but next they needed a Daily ministration dependent upon the Perfect law of liberty.

Men like Crispus began following the ways of Christ:

Acts 18:8 "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized."

Crispus, and Joses who became Barnabas, became part of an hierarchy that served the people with the Freewill offerings of the people, rather than the Benefits of men who call themselves Benefactors but exercised authority one man over another. They did not rule over the people, but over the offering. If they did a poor job, people picked a minister who did a better job. The right to choose what to give and to whom to give was in the hands of the people in a different form of government that was not like Rome. This was the Christian conflict between Rome and the true Christians. That conlict demonstrates how Modern Christians have more in common with the Pharisees and Pagans than they do with the early Christians.

Their elections were not national but local in a living network of self-organizing Tens.

There were also the politarches which means the ruler of the city like a mayor or governor.

Or there is the word architriklinos which, although it sounds ominous, literally means the ruler of three couches. His job was to arrange things at a feast or big dinner so everything went well.

While the Church in general is an organization, it consists of participants: the laity or people; and the ministers, who conform to Christ for His purposes. Ministers are to be Benefactors of the people, but they are not to exercise authority one over the other. They maintain an absence of hierarchy in the sense of ruling over people but there was a hierarchy over that which was offered by the people.

There is clearly an hierarchy in the Church which we see with Jesus' comment in Matthew 23:11 "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant." So when a minister picks a minister he is picking a servant that will help him connect to the rest of the kingdom of God in a charitable and loving way.

He goes on in Matthew 23:12 to say, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."

So we see in one sense the Ministers of the Church are an hierarchy.

Hierarchy is a late Middle English word via the Old French and medieval Latin from Greek hierarkhia, from hierarkhēs ‘sacred ruler’. The earliest sense was ‘system of orders of angels and heavenly beings’; the other senses date from the 17th century.

And the Greek word hieros has a meaning dedicated, holy, sacred and separate, or the word hiereus meaning Priests, all included the idea of being separate or set aside. They did not rule over the people but over what the people freely gave

The Levites belonged to God and were separate, and they provided a service to the people without ruling over them either. The Apostles were also to be separate living in the world but not of the world.

By understanding what Religion is -- and specifically Pure Religion -- by discovering what it really means and the function priests provided in free societies before they were bound by superstitions, or covenants ... this will help people understand what hierarchy can mean and what services it can provide.

When society contributes to Christ by way of His appointed priest, who has no personal estate, like the Levites and the early Church, then as those Priests gathered in a network of Priests, each one becomes a joint heir of what they all receive. This is important because when such ministers or priests die or step away from their official mission, the funds and resources that they hold for religious purposes, e.g. sacred treasures, pass to the next individual to hold that office of Christ's Priesthood or to the other joint heirs to be used for their intended purpose.

The words joint heirs is from sugkleronomos which is seen in Romans 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together."

The Greek word sugkleronomos is also seen in several other verses.

Again understand that Religion is a system of welfare; whether set up in the Character of God and Christ or in the Character of Cain, Nimrod and Benefactors of the world who exercise authority one over the other. Seeking the Kingdom of God includes seeking Pure Religion so that your welfare is not dependent on nor spotted by the world.

Jesus uses "archon" when He appoints the kingdom to the apostles.

The apostles were rulers and princes, but not over the people, like the governments of the gentiles. They ruled over that which was freely given to them. There is no taxation in the Kingdom of God. If they did not do well with what was given to them for the purposes of Christ, the people could choose to give no more. Any government where the rulers can force the contributions of the people is not following the ways of Christ, nor are the people free or at liberty.

The Latin word from which we get the word religion can mean "rebinding".

There is a reason for this binding, which is to fulfill your natural duty to your fellow man. When you live by faith you are bound by hope. When you lie by charity you are bound by love.

There have always been two religions, in the world and of the world.

One frees the people through the perfect law of liberty and the other binds the people because it allows the people to bite one another.

This is their choice.

Abel and Seth were shepherds. Shepherds lead people to green pastures...

But then there was Cain and Nimrod who plowed mankind and created "civil" powers. They bound man civilly for their own purpose. The way of Cain and Nimrod lead to Babylon. The other way of Christ leads to liberty under the God of Nature.

Abel, Seth, Moses and Jesus came to "set the captive free". What they were doing has been kept from the people.

They did not force the contribution of the people, but they did bind the stuff freely given by the people, for the people and of the people to serve, not rule.

Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Caesar, etc bind the people and force them to contribute in a welfare system that weakens the people. This binding is done by offering them entitlements.