Template:Clergy of Christ

Christ appointed His ministers to do a job and provide the services of Pure Religion through charitable practices, freely giving what was freely received like the Levites who were the Church in the Wilderness. They were public servants of a free government of, for, and by the virtue of the people and the ministries of His Church. Providing welfare through the state where men may call themselves benefactors creates a social compact with a corporate body that exercises authority which makes the word of God to none effect and snares the people as surety for debt. They gave up personal wealth being "called out" and relied upon charity. They were not mendicant which would be contrary to the early Church. They were to be in one accord, One Body, as the true Church. 1000 years later in the days of Lady Godiva the Church would look to the Benefactors who exercise authority and the Fathers of the earth becoming entangled in the elements of the world. It is time to repent!

Clergy of Christ

It is very clear that Jesus called out individuals, trained them to perform certain duties in the practice of Pure Religion rightly dividing the free bread of Christ from house to house.

In order to have a daily ministration that provided social welfare in the form of benefits like their daily bread through charity alone, e. g. "unspotted by the world", instead of the free bread offered by Caesar or the Pharisees through their systems of Corban which depended upon men who called themselves "benefactors" but "exercise authority" one over the other. It was this use of forced offerings which "made the word of God to none effect".

Jesus made direct requirements of His appointed Ekklesia about not being of that world which at that time often practiced public religion like the Corban of the Pharisees had become with the ][Baptism]] of Herod and it's registration with his temples.

If a clergy is "the body of all people ordained for religious duties" then the clergy of Christ would be the body of ministers ordained by Jesus's appointment of a kingdom.

More people than the Apostles were called out by Jesus to form this body but they are the ones who remained with him and were appointed a kingdom.

Jesus also appointed 70 who were his Sanhedrin.

Jews commonly gathered in groups of Tens forming congregations or synagogues connected by ministers and the early Christians were Jews. The Essene community also organized itself in a similar way with ministers forming religious orders because they provided welfare for their people through charity and shunned the welfare often offered by pagan emperors or even the Pharisees who set up new types of systems to care for the needy through Herod.

Couple these customs with the fact that Christ had commanded that his disciples to make the people organize themselves in the same groups of tens and you can see the pattern of the early Church. The ten heads of families were connected in a social network of charity by the ministers they chose in each group. Each group of ten ministers formed a congregation of ministers so the highest among them were the servants of all.

That would make the first Apostles and their successors part of an ordained body of servant ministers or clergy. Even the 120 in the upper room represented twelve groups of ten who were in one accord. These were the early clergy of Christ. As thousands repented of the old system that made the word of God to none effect and were baptized. As those numbers grew among the people the number of clergy also grew among those who were fulfilling the "duties of religion". So we need to know what was religion and what Pure Religion would be and the instructions to the apostles given by Jesus to know what those duties were.

Jesus clearly called out His little flock to serve the people without exercising authority one over the other. They were to be separate from the world with no personal estate owning all things common like the Levites before them. The oversaw a daily ministration that served the needs of their society rightly dividing bread and supplies from house to house and across borders of nations during economic dearths and famines.

Elders of the early Church were first of the laity and functioned as free souls according to the Perfect law of liberty. They could become a part of the clergy of Christ who like Christ only came to serve, not rule over the people.

Is the modern Church doing what the early Church did?

Without the Church in general which we may call the laity gathering in free assemblies or congregations of Tens and the Church specific which consists of the offices of Deacon, Bishop and Priest, There will be the temptations of Balaam and the Nicolaitan.

Both the Minister of the world and the Minister of Christ are forms of clergy when it comes to practice of providing for the needy of society. But the systems they may use to fulfill their duties of providing for the needy may be decidedly different. Providing for the needy was clearly a duty of the early Church and their daily ministration was considered a religious duty but they, like the Church in the wilderness, were limited to freewill offerings or what the New Testament calls charity.

Many modern Christians and especially the Modern Church are heavily reliant upon the ministers of the world and their public religion which is the welfare state systems that often make the word of God to none effect. Until they repent of their desire for the wages of unrighteousness served at the table of rulers who exercise authority one over the other they may need to put a knife to their throat if they are people of a wantonness appetite until they may earnestly seek the Kingdom of God in order to set the table of righteousness so they may eat with the Lord in that kingdom. Until they are doers of the word they may have need of repentance.

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