posted
I have studied eldership for several years and conclude it is false, ministers of Satan that degrade both Israel and any church group that tolerate it. Eldership exists in the Bible but God never authorized or approved of it so it is there as a lesson for us to avoid. I'll freely email my long Bible study on it to anyone who asks.
The home church I prayed into being eventually chose elders after 13 years of meeting without the position (showing it could have remained pure indefinitely). Then I realized a pattern -- new churches may start with a pure heart for God but as they tire of their new wine and dig into Paul's epistles to try to immitate the 1st century church, they receive the demon called "elder," (Nicolaitanism which Jesus hates) and start serving mammon (contrary to Jesus' direct command). While I do not say Paul is all wrong, Paul's epistles have corrupted many previously pure church movements in history, making them the scriptural foundation for Babylon and Paul fulfill his self-evaluation as less than the least of all (i.e. less than all) saints.
The demon of eldership actually perverts the spirit of the elder. (I saw this as a child when my dad was elected to eldership in a Presbyterian church but saw it again in the elders that arose in my church.) I can detail these experiences if you want. Among the depths of Satan regarding eldership is using law to rule the church instead of SPIRIT via Prayer. That makes the legal system of the world a very educational type of the legal system in churches. The following contrasts that law and grace: Why do I relate church to government? The reason is shocking you into seeing how awfully bad your church is – compared to the revelation in scripture of God's intended church. The government is a politically correct pound of rotwielers holding each other's leashes ready to drag unwary citizens into legal processing which appears a shining lamp of justice on a firm foundation of law but is really oozing slide mud causing damage to people and property as interpreted by mood and whim, subject to influence by confident lies of omission and invention using poorly spent time.
Jesus clearly doesn't want human government in His true church – do you really want that system in your church? If you have elders, you have that system until you leave or they throw down their crowns at Jesus' feet. You don't understand how evil it is until you fall in that mud. Jesus said people who lift up and believe in him will do greater miracles than He. I love that kind of church but many don't believe it can be.
Here's an example in downtown Clatskanie, OR. The Pixie Pot tavern attracted patrons to evil spirits of booze, not the Holy Spirit of God. So I prayed against it silently yet so strongly that others in my acquaintance were also inspired to pray the same way – until we obtained the victory and the Pixie Pot went out of business. The next tenant was a law office. That represented the residual flavor of our prayers, laying down the law on the Pixie Pot. That wasn't a good testimony so I prayed again and over time a mortgage office moved in. Hierarchy and money are the two great sins in church so they both must be prayed out by applying the power of the Holy Spirit. I kept praying for a good Christian testimony and now it is present in the form of a Christian school. Under the present system there is no better use of that space and the Christian school is hereby blessed and commended for answering so many prayers. This took years, not the instant miracles given by Jesus. But it's better than many performed by the faith of the apostles and prophets. These events reveal stages in traditional church. You start out attracting people with worldly pleasure getting converts addicted to social stimulants. You then apply law teaching scriptural formalities. Eventually you instruct them in the use of money to do the work of the organization. Finally you let them participate in teaching Christ.
Why not start with Christ and do Christ ever after? To accomplish that, put your whole church through the same process as the Pixie Pot until there is nothing left but expressing and magnifying Christ. If more people agree to live the Jesus oriented church life instead of the traditional governmental substitute, there'll be more and faster miracles. Who so ever will, enjoy the Spirit of life freely! I'd like to see Christians everywhere taught how to read the Bible correctly! Many faithful read through it completely once a year yet afterward still believe some scriptures in a wrong light.
The best way to read the Bible is to read and pray the Words of Jesus, (aka the Words in Red) say a hundered times for each time you read the whole Bible. That way you get more acquianted with Jesus Christ himself, let His words grow in your heart so you think like He did, and lift Him up in prayer developing a better personal relationship with Him. From that foundation it is easier to interpret and understand the rest of scripture the way God intends.
Imagine, a lot of folks doing this could lead to true unity among believers, fulfillment of prophecy, more miracles, and rapture!
Kirk W. Fraser Clatskanie, OR USA
Link Hudson
posted
Kirk, I disagree with you that eldership is bad. Tribal systems often have elders. In some cultures, in an extended family, older men in the family make decisions. If you have a clan or tribe- groups of extended families, then it shouldn't be surprising if older men- elders- are given responsibility for making decisions. There is nothing evil about this.
We see this system among the Israelites in the OT. Old Testament elders were even included in God's Laws that He gave about atonement- for example what to do if someone dies in the vicinity of a city. In the New Testament, we see that Christ gave authority to the apostles. At first, the apostles took a lot of administrative authority in the church, but later allowed the church to choose certain servants.
Later, we see that elders were also responsible for caring for the flock of God. Peter also exhorted elders to tend the flock of God, not for money- to serve as examples to the flock, not as lords over the flock.It should be no surprise that there were also elders in the Pauline churches, mature men who had experience with life and raising children- men who knew the truth and had good character. There is nothing evil about the word 'elder.' It means 'old man' or 'senior man' literally.
The Bible is very positive about eldership. It says that if a man desires to be a bishop, he desires a good thing. The noble wife described at the end of Proverbs is a good support to her family, and her husband takes his place among the elders. This shows a positive attitude about elders, and is similar to the western notion that 'behind every great man, there is a great woman.' There may be elders who work for money, who draw sheep away after themselves, and lord over them. that does not make true Christian eldership a bad thing.
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