1 Corinthians 15

1 Cor. 15:1-4 "Moreover,brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

Paul is talking to people who are doing what Christ said and trusting in the good news and righteous ways he taught. The first thing he did was talk to the people about Christ telling them to repent which we see him telling Agrippa in Acts 26:20. These people were told by Paul to "do works meet for repentance". The word meet is the word worthy or in other words showed their faith in the nature, way and character or name of Christ by their works.

This is no different than we see Paul preaching in Acts 17:30 "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" But the Modern Christians think he does not have to repent from these ways that the early Christians turned away from.

If people do not want to do what these early Christians were doing then they have not really repented and have not been converted. These early Christians were actually converted to this new way of caring for one another by faith, hope and charity and the perfect law of liberty and were not coveting their neighbor's goods by applying to men who exercise authority one over the other.

These people actually believed Christ and did what he said. They repented. They changed their ways. This is what has been the message of God to us from the beginning and we see it given us by other prophets.

Ezekiel 18:25-32 Which talks about people who go away from his righteousness, and commit iniquity and die. When Adam rejected God's way he was told that he would die but Satan came and told him that he would not die. This is the message of the Modern Christian. They say all you have to do is believe and you will be saved but that is not what Jesus said nor the prophets from the beginning. They said Repent!

Ezekiel 18:25-32 is laying this out for us when it says "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Because God takes "no pleasure in the death of him that dieth". He does not want you to die but live. The devil wants you to die so he will tell you that you do not have to repent.

The Modern Christians try to use some of the words of Paul to insinuate that all you have to do is believe that Christ died and has saved you and what you do does not matter. They are picking little quotes of Paul out of context so that they do not have to Repent, Seek, strive and do the will of the Father even though Christ said we do. They tell people they are saved because they believe Jesus is the Christ and he died for us.

The Modern Christians do not follow the ways or words of Christ but cling to a no works personal philosophy and their sin remains.

We do agree with Ezekiel 18:25-32 and God's way is equal because it contains mercy. God does not require we pay back for all the evil we have done but he does require that we repent, forgive and seek to do the will of the Father.

The prodigal son would not have been forgiven by his Father if he did not change his ways and return with full intent to do the will of his Father and neither will the Modern Christians. They have accepted a false do nothing gospel and when they are shown how they have sought unrighteous iniquitous ways that Christ said made the word of God to none effect they refuse to repent.

The gospel tells us the kingdom of heaven and the right to be ruled by God instead of the gods many of the [world] is within our reach if we will repent, forgive and seek to live by the righteous ways of Christ.

• Part 9: Gods Many video ~10 min

Jesus' kingdom was not a part of the world. And our religion should not be a spotted by that world.

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Part 6: This World video

The devil believes in who Christ is but he does not want to do what Christ said to do that you might be saved. He certainly does not want you to repent. He wants you to think there is nothing you have to do to be saved. These people, these brothers, Paul is writing have already repented and are seeking the kingdom. Many Modern Christians have not repented and even think they do not have to change.

They do not really live in the world but of it. They do not know why Jesus said His kingdom was not of the world not do they know why they were told that their religion to be pure was not supposed to be spotted by the world.

Not sent to Baptize

Why do you think Paul said "Christ did not send me to baptize..." and is Baptism only for those who want to follow Christ in his ministry...?

We know Paul Baptized some people like Stephanas. What we do not know is what baptism meant to the people and the repentance which was wrought in their lives..

Baptism was to mark a point in time where a change in the way you live your life as an individual in a society and community. The Baptism of Christ was to mark an individuals intent to live as a part of a community according to the ways of Christ and the Perfect law of liberty. Understanding the purpose of Baptism and what it meant at that time is essential to following the path of Christ and His Holy Gospel.

Christian Baptism put you on a social path where your welfare was to be the result of Freewill offerings. This meant a network of ministers operating as the Body_of_Christto maintain connected Congregations that were donating the funds to provide the Daily_ministration. If you got baptized by John or one of his ministers you were in his network. The same was true if you were in the network of Peter. Paul or Apollos as we see in 1 Corinthians 1:12 "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas(another name for Peter); and I of Christ."

Paul had brought Stephanas and his whole house to Christ's network. We know that Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus provided important aid to the network in Corinth when there was a shortage and need.

Because these networks were often able to sustain themselves as difficult times they could be independent and create divisions but Paul is saying if we come in the "name of our Lord Jesus Christ" there should be no divisions among youand we all speak the same thing, being "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment".

There were those who were causing division among Christians an the ways or wisdom of the World was proving to be foolishness. There was one Christ, one faith, one network...

Christians were Doers of the Word. Both congregant and ministers were baptized and had duties to perform by tending to Weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith which include caring for the needs of our neighbors and the widows and orphans of our society through Pure Religion in matters of health, education, and welfare. We are NOT to provide for the needy of society through the Covetous Practices and the men who call themselves benefactors but who exercise authority one over the other like the socialists do.

The Way of Christ was like neither the way of the world of Rome nor the governments of the gentiles who depend on those fathers of the earth through force, fear and fealty who deliver the people back in bondage again like they were in Egypt. Christ's ministers and true Christians do not depend upon systems of social welfare that force the contributions of the people like the corban of the Pharisees which made the word of God to none effect. Many people have been deceived to go the way of Balaam and the Nicolaitan and out of The Way of Christ and have become workers of iniquity.

The Christian conflict with Rome in the first century Church appointed by Christ was because they would not apply to the fathers of the earth for their free bread but instead relied upon a voluntary network providing a daily ministration to the needy of society through Faith, Hope, and Charity by way of freewill offerings of the people, for the people, and by the people through the perfect law of liberty in Free Assemblies according to the ancient pattern of Tuns or Tens as He commanded.

The modern Christians are in need of repentance.

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"Follow me!" —Jesus the Christ.

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"According to rabbinical teachings, which dominated even during the existence of the Temple (Pes. viii. 8), Baptism, next to circumcision and sacrifice, was an absolutely necessary condition to be fulfilled by a proselyte to Judaism (Yeb. 46b, 47b; Ker. 9a; 'Ab. Zarah 57a; Shab. 135a; Yer. Kid. iii. 14, 64d). "

"Baptism was practised in ancient (Ḥasidic or Essene) Judaism, first as a means of penitence, as is learned from the story of Adam and Eve, who, in order to atone for their sin, stood up to the neck in the water, fasting and doing penance—Adam in the Jordan for forty days, Eve in the Tigris for thirty-seven days (Vita Adæ et Evæ, i. 5-8)."

"The Baptism of the proselyte has for its purpose his cleansing from the impurity of idolatry, and the restoration to the purity of a new-born man. This may be learned from the Talmud (Soṭah 12b) in regard to Pharaoh's daughter, whose bathing in the Nile is explained by Simon b. Yoḥai to have been for that purpose. The bathing in the water is to constitute a rebirth, wherefore "the ger is like a child just born" (Yeb. 48b); and he must bathe "in the name of God"—"leshem shamayim"—that is, assume the yoke of Gcd's kingdom imposed upon him by the one who leads him to Baptism ("maṭbil"), or else he is not admitted into Judaism (Gerim. vii. 8). For this very reason the Israelites before the acceptance of the Law had, according to" 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Philo on the Decalogue ("De Decalogo," ii., xi.), as well as according to rabbinical tradition, to undergo the rite of baptismal purification (compare I Cor. x. 2, "They were baptized unto Moses [the Law] in the clouds and in the sea").

The Jewish religion requires that male and female conversion candidates to immerse themselves in a ritual bath called a mikveh. Jewish baptism by immersion in ancient times was to be performed in the presence of witnesses (Yebam. 47b). The person being baptized made special preparations includiong a fresh profession of his faith before the designated "fathers of the baptism" (Kethub. 11a; Erub 15a).

"Baptism did not start with John the Baptist. It was the practice of the Jews to baptise converts as much as five centuries before John the Baptist was born. John was simply building on what was already established. ... Some time between 200 to 500 years before the birth of Jesus and John, baptism became a part of the traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism." R. J. GrigaitisJewish Baptism 2007-06-08 http://grigaitis.net/home/rjgrigaitis_resume.html

"Josephus tells us that even during the years of war (66-73 A.D.) the laws of ritual immersion were strictly adhered to (Jos. Wars, 4:205). Herod's Temple itself contained immersion baths in various places for the priests to use, even in the vaults beneath the court (Commentary to Tam. 26b; Tam. 1:1)." Mystical Mikveh Immersion, The Jewish Background of Christian Baptism by Ron Moseley, Ph. D.

Seeing Through the Eyes of Jesus: His Revolutionary View of Reality and His Transcendent Significance for Faith was written by Rev. Dr. John F. Baggett who is a graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College and Vanderbilt Divinity School. He holds a Masters in the Anthropology of Religion and a Ph.D. in Psychiatric Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He writes:

“Once again, it is important to understand the intent of the law. The commandment to honor fathers and mothers was not simply intended to ensure the right relationships between parents and children while the children were growing up. It was also intended as the social welfare system of the day which assured that the aging and elderly parents received compassionate care and support.”

“In religious zeal, some Pharisees were allowed to circumvent their responsibility to provide for their parents by declaring the resources that would have gone to that purpose as “dedicated to God.” By seeking their own personal holiness at the expense of the welfare of their parents through the declaration of Corban, they in fact made the commandment meaningless for they had avoided its purpose. Social responsibility for those in need was the intent of the Law. Some Pharisees violated that intent by placing their own desires for personal righteousness above social responsibility.”

Acts 6:1 "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration."

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