The Higher Liberty
Order the book The Higher Liberty
The Higher Liberty
by Gregory HHC, d
Minister of His Holy Church
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The Apostolic Church
A most controversial subject to
address is the offices of the Church, the separation of Church clergy
and laity – and whether there is an Apostolic body of the
Church. There is not enough room in this book to cover these topics
fairly but a glimpse at the early church will reveal differences from
modern Churches.
Scholars, in their bias zeal,
have stated that “presbyter and bishop, are identical in
meaning.” That would be like saying son and brother are the same, since I am
both. I am a father, son, husband, and brother. I am not all these
things to all men. All bishops may be presbyters or elders, but not
all elders are bishops or overseers.
“[T]he government of the
Church was by presbyters” who were the elder of each family unit. All power of government comes
from the people and the people come from families. The family,
retains all right to choose over their possessions.
All ministers or servants of God
are ordained by God. How do we know who is a minister of God? Is it
by laying on of hands, proclamations and decrees, by diplomas and
letters of investiture? Does flesh and blood reveal it? The natural
man cannot know because they are spiritually discerned.
By their fruits ye shall know
them which labor among you and you should establish who you know to
be the ministers of God by two or more witnesses. This is the way the
elders chose their ministers and the way the ministers chose their
ministers.
A minister of ten ministers was
an elder of his family, a minister or deacon to the minister he
served, and the overseer to the congregations that minister served.
The daily or ongoing election of
your personal minister was based on your voluntary support. What you
gave according to his service.
When an offering was given to a
minister of the Church for the purposes of Christ it was entirely
given. The one who received it had all power over that offering
because it was freely and completely given. If a minister did not do
well with what was given the giver had the option of not giving
again, and could choose another minister instead. In this way liberty
remains with the people and the right vested by God within the family
never diminishes.
It has been said “The
‘pastors’ or ‘shepherds’, with the two-fold
function of oversight and of teaching”. That reasoning is the result of subtracting the Kingdom at hand from
the “Gospel of the Kingdom”. The early church clearly had
the mission of feeding the sheep, caring for the needy, and offering
an alternative to praying to those men who called themselves
benefactors but exercised authority one over the other, and
snared, trapped and entangled the people into the bondage of the
world.
The Kingdom of God is at hand in
spirit and in truth. Since each family is autonomous and in
possession of all their rights they cannot be a corpus except in
spirit. The evidence of their union is their love. The world may
require more visible proof and Jesus provided it.
The visible body of the kingdom
was the “called out” men to whom he appointed “a
kingdom”. Unlike other governments they could not exercise
authority over men but only over what they freely gave. This
representative Church is to serve God’s purposes by serving
those who seek God and His kingdom of righteousness.
They must belong to God owning
all things in common as a body in one accord. They are a
representative government that exercises no authority over the
people. They make no new laws, they force no contributions; they take
away no rights; they make no treaties; they have no central treasury;
maintain no standing armies; they depend on the Holy Spirit and the
free will offerings of the people.
This body is composed of men and
their families who conform to Christ in a common brotherhood. They
are the ambassadors of Christ, the Apostolic Church appointed by
Christ. They are dependent upon your witness and the leading of the
Holy Spirit.
Footnotes:
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Return to the Table of Contents, Alphabetical Index or purchase the book The Higher Liberty
Related Articles and Audio:
Romans 13 part 1
http://www.hisholychurch.org/media/audio/rm/Romans131.ram
ROMANS 13 verse 1 the higher liberty
Does God want us to be subject or to be free?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/romans13.php
Romans 13 and I Peter 2,13-14
Is the Bible consistent about setting men free or does it contradict itself?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/romanspeter.php
Romans 13, NN Video Series:7-10 4:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEMYx6affo
Footnotes:
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