=====Church Challenge 2016===== From Common Christian Faith: Wiki **Church Challenge Doctrines 2016** Christianity consists of categories to be entered into and not so much rules to be followed - i.e. living, dead, saved, unsaved, family, non-family, priest, prophet, king, evangelist, pastor, servant, worker, etc. 1. The Apostolic Age began and ended with the actual original Disciples of Jesus Christ - the current Church Age is the Common Christian Church Era where all Christians are equal in status 2. Jesus is the Christian High Priest after the eternal Order of Melchizedek 3. Mt. Sinai is located outside of Egypt 4. The Final Judgment is Spiritual not physical 5. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament Prophets and died before the beginning of the Christian Church era 6. The current and ongoing Christian Church era began on the day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 7. Sin unto eternal death is singular and is unbelief 8. The plural sins are a missing of the mark and are not sins unto eternal death 9. The Spiritual realm and our physical realm are currently divided and temporarily separated i.e. there is absolutely no legitimate communion between the living and the departed souls of humans 10. The legitimate communication and interaction or discernment for humans into the Spiritual Realm is strictly via the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost Person in KJV) - any concept of the spiritual realm or i.e. departed souls would be from the agency of the Holy Spirit or it would not be legitimate 11. The Four Primary Church Leadership Errors The rebellious false leadership Error of Korah, the greedy Error of Balaam, the sexually immoral stumbling blocks Error of Balak and the user-oppressive leadership Error of the Nicolaitanes.
But these [false teachers] speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. ~ Jude 1:10-11
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ~ 2 Peter 2:15
But I have a few things against you [Christians], because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. ~ Revelation 2:14
So have you [Church] also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. ~ Revelation 2:15
Conclusion:
Let us not therefore judge [excessively supervise] one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. ~ Romans 14:13
12. The Four Primary Church Member (layperson) Errors The self-disenfranchised Way of Cain, failure to make personal requests directly to God in Heaven, lack of Spiritual discernment (Signs of the Times), lack of a personal relationship with Jesus.
But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him. ~ Genesis 4:5-7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and all of you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If all of you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him? Therefore all things whatsoever all of you would that men should do to you, do all of you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. ~ Matthew 7:7-12
He [Jesus] answered and said unto them, When it is evening, all of you say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O all of you hypocrites, all of you can discern the face of the sky; but can all of you not discern the Signs of the Times? ~ Mattew 16:2-3
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. ~ Hebrews 11:4-6
Conclusion:
Behold, I [Jesus] stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. ~ Revelation 3:20
13. Satan is a disobedient fallen Angel whose rebellion against God includes actively seeking the downfall of all mankind 14. The original New Testament Bible scrolls were written in Greek miniscule (all small letters aka minuscule) text on leather scrolls [currently the traditional modern KJV texts] – the papyrus manuscripts are later editions while the even later modern Greek uncial (all capital letters) texts are modern day forgeries - the four forged uncial codices: Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus and Ephraemi [currently the non traditional modern NIV, ESV, ect.] - Greek uncial text was primarily used for government purposes usually on public monuments that still exist today while Greek miniscule text was used primarily for private correspondence - the Greek NT scripture documents that Jerome used in his Latin translation [the Vulgate translated 390-405 AD] were of the Greek miniscule text - "In the second edition (1519 [AD]) Erasmus also used Minuscule 3 (entire NT except Revelation; 12th century [Latin Vulgate]) [and a later revision was made with Minuscule 1]." source: wikipedia.com - Sinaiticus (discovered in the Mt. Sinai Monastery in 1859 by Dr. **Constantin Von Tischendorf**), Vaticanus (Vatican catalog of 1475), Alexandrinus (England 1627), Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France - The manuscript was bound in 1602) **Note:** possibly what happened in regarding the bigger picture of the four Greek uncial codices is that the four documents a variation of one document were known forgeries at the time and Constantin von Tischendorf [a Protestant] was simply used as an agent to locate, examine or discover the previously deposited documents. All of Tischendorf’s financing and activities i.e. examining Vatican documents and having an audience with the Pope, going to Saint Catherine's Monastery, "deciphering" Codex Ephraemi, working under the patronage of Czar Alexander II of Russia and publishing his findings that were instantaneously accepted, accredited and heralded as a new scholastic standard were all events that Constantin von Tischendorf was directed into by others. **The Occult Practitioners Dr. Wescott and F. A. Hort** The progenitor of the Society for Psychical Research and the Fabian Society was the Cambridge University Ghost Society, founded in 1851. In 1853, two years after founding said Ghost Society, F.J.A. Hort and B. F. Westcott agreed, upon the suggestion of publisher Daniel Macmillan, **to take part in "an interesting and comprehensive 'New Testament Scheme,'"** that is, to undertake a joint revision of the Greek New Testament. The project was withheld from public knowledge during the twenty years required by Westcott and Hort to complete the New Greek Text and during the subsequent ten years during which an English Revision Committee revised the 1611 Authorized Version. However, during this period of nearly thirty years, Drs. Westcott and Hort maintained their involvement in the Spiritualist pursuits of their various secret societies and political cabals: the Hermes Club, Ghost Society, Company of Apostles, and Eranus. The following entry appears in April, 1853 in The Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort: "One result of our talk I may as well tell you. He (Westcott) and I are going to edit a Greek text of the New Testament some two or three years hence, if possible. Lachmann and **Tischendorf will supply [occult] rich materials**, but not nearly enough; and we hope to do a good deal with Oriental versions. **Our object is to supply clergymen generally, schools, etc.,** with a portable Greek text which shall not be disfigured with Byzantine [KJV 1611] [traditional Christianity] corruptions." Source: [[http://bibleready.org/Westcott_and_Hort.html|bibleready.org/Westcott_and_Hort.html]] **Codex Sinaiticus** Discovered in the Mt. Sinai Monastery in 1859 by Dr. Constantin Von Tischendorf German Biblical scholar **Constantin von Tischendorf** wrote about his visit to the monastery in Reise in den Orient in 1846 (translated as Travels in the East in 1847), **without mentioning the manuscript** [Sinaiticus]. Later, in 1860, in his writings about the Sinaiticus discovery, Tischendorf wrote a narrative about the monastery and the manuscript that spanned from 1844 to 1859. He wrote that in 1844, during his first visit to the Saint Catherine's Monastery, he saw some leaves of parchment in a waste-basket. They were "rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery", although this is firmly denied by the Monastery. After examination he realized that they were part of the [Old Testament] Septuagint, written in an early Greek uncial script. He retrieved from the basket 129 leaves in Greek which he identified as coming from a manuscript of the Septuagint. He asked if he might keep them, but at this point the attitude of the monks changed. They realized how valuable these old leaves were, and Tischendorf was permitted to take only one-third of the whole, i.e. 43 leaves. These leaves contained portions of 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Esther. After his return they were deposited in the Leipzig University Library, where they still remain. In 1846 Tischendorf published their contents, naming them the 'Codex Friderico-Augustanus' (in honor of Frederick Augustus and keeping secret the source of the leaves). Other portions of the same codex remained in the monastery, containing all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees. In 1853, Tischendorf revisited the Saint Catherine's Monastery to get the remaining 86 folios, but without success. Returning in 1859, this time under the patronage of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, he was shown the Codex Sinaiticus. He would later claim to have found it discarded in a rubbish bin. (This story may have been a fabrication, or the manuscripts in question may have been unrelated to Codex Sinaiticus: Rev. J. Silvester Davies in 1863 quoted "a monk of Sinai who... stated that according to the librarian of the monastery the whole of Codex Sinaiticus had been in the library for many years and was marked in the ancient catalogues... Is it likely... that a manuscript known in the library catalogue would have been jettisoned in the rubbish basket." Indeed, it has been noted that the leaves were in "suspiciously good condition" for something found in the trash.[n 6]) Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's Tsar Alexander II, who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery. The text of this part of the codex [Sinaiticus] **was published by Tischendorf in 1862**: - Source: Wikipedia.com **Codex Vaticanus** The manuscript is believed to have been housed in Caesarea in the 6th century, together with the Codex Sinaiticus, as they have the same unique divisions of chapters in the [Book of] Acts. It came to Italy – probably from Constantinople – after the Council of Florence (1438–1445). The manuscript has been housed in the Vatican Library (founded by Pope Nicholas V in 1448) for as long as it has been known, appearing in the library's earliest catalog of 1475 (with shelf number 1209), and in the 1481 catalog. In a catalog from 1481 it was described as a "Biblia in tribus columnis ex memb" (three-column vellum Bible). ... Before the 19th century, no scholar was allowed to study or edit the Codex Vaticanus, and scholars did not ascribe any value to it; in fact it was suspected to have been interpolated by the Latin textual tradition. John Mill wrote in his Prolegomena (1707): "in Occidentalium gratiam a Latino scriba exaratum" (written by a Latin scribe for the western world). He did not believe there was value to having a collation for the manuscript. Wettstein would have liked to know the readings of the codex, but not because he thought that they could have been of any help to him for difficult textual decisions. According to him, this codex had no authority whatsoever (sed ut vel hoc constaret, Codicem nullus esse auctoris). ... Griesbach produced a list of nine manuscripts which were to be assigned to the Alexandrian text: C, L, K, 1, 13, 33, 69, 106, and 118. Codex Vaticanus was not in this list. In the second (1796) edition of his Greek NT, Griesbach added Codex Vaticanus as a witness to the Alexandrian text in Mark, Luke, and John. He still believed the first half of Matthew represented the Western text-type. ... **According to Tischendorf** the [Vaticanus] manuscript was written by three scribes (A, B, C), two of whom appear to have written the Old Testament and one the entire New Testament. Tischendorf's view was accepted by Frederic G. Kenyon, but contested by T. C. Skeat, who examined the codex more thoroughly. Skeat and other paleographers contested Tischendorf's theory of a third (C) scribe, instead asserting that two scribes worked on the Old Testament (A and B) and one of them (B) wrote the New Testament. ... **In 1843 Tischendorf was permitted to make a facsimile of a few verses**,[n 4] in 1844 Eduard de Muralt saw it, and in 1845 S. P. Tregelles was allowed to observe several points which Muralt had overlooked. He [**Tischendorf**] often saw the Codex [Vaticanus], but "it was under such restrictions that it was impossible to do more than examine particular readings." It was used by Westcott and Hort in their edition, The New Testament in the Original Greek (1881), and it was the basis for their text. All critical editions of the New Testament published after Westcott and Hort were closer in the Gospels to the Codex Vaticanus text than to the Sinaiticus, with only the exception of Hermann von Soden's editions which are closer to Sinaiticus. All editions of Nestle-Aland remain close in textual character to the text of Westcott-Hort, which means Vaticanus was the basis for the translation. - Source: Wikipedia.com **Codex Alexandrinus** How did the Codex Alexandrinus come to the British Library? This manuscript is named after the capital of Greek Egypt, Alexandria. ... The first we know of the Codex Alexandrinus was when it formed part of the patriarchal library at the beginning of the 14th century, although its whereabouts before that are unknown. Since then it has a tradition of regal ownership: in 1627 Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople and a former Patriarch of Alexandria, presented it to King Charles I of England. As part of the Royal Library it made its way into the British Museum, and then the British Library. It had a narrow escape in 1731 when Ashburnam House caught fire: it survived, thanks to the quick thinking of Dr Bentley of the Cotton Library, who took it to safety. Source: [[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/codexalex.html|bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/codexalex.html]] **Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus** The manuscript is called Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus because (a) it is a codex, i.e., a handmade book; (b) its parchment has been recycled; originally inscribed with Scriptural texts, the pages were washed (removing most of the ink) and reused for another text {a common practice in currency forgery}, and (c) the text that was written on the recycled pages, in the 12th century, consisted of Greek translations of 38 treatises composed by Ephrem the Syrian, a prominent bishop of the mid-4th century. Manuscripts of this sort, consisting of recycled pages, are known as palimpsests. The later (or, "upper") text was written in the 12th century. **The lower text of the palimpsest was deciphered by biblical scholar and palaeographer [Constantin Von] Tischendorf in 1840–1843, and was edited by him in 1843–1845.** Currently it is housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Grec 9) in Paris. - Source: Wikipedia.com 15. Mount Zion near Jerusalem is the location of the cross, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ it is where Christians go to meet God as opposed to the now spiritually empty Mount Sinai where the Laws of Moses were given and the Mount of Olives where Jesus will return in the future to the Jews 16. Jesus Christ as a Jewish person His 1,000 Millennial Kingdom reign on earth will be centered in Jerusalem, Israel having restored the ancient throne of the Jewish King David 17. The term "Expiate" is Biblically more correct and accurate than the currently used term of "Propitiation" Expiate (make obsolete) is to put an end to another's dilemma i.e "to extinguish the guilt incurred" by another or "to make amends" on behalf of another. - Source: Merriam-Webster.com "Propitiation is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution." - Source: Wikipedia.com
[Sinners] Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has set forth to be a (Expiate) propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time His Righteousness: that He might be Just [i.e. not guilty], and the Justifier [i.e. the One to Expiate] of him (Sinner) which believes in Jesus. ~ Romans 3:24-26
18. The original crucifixion of Jesus Christ actually took place on a Thursday
But we [Disciples] trusted that it had been He [Jesus Christ] which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, (Sunday) today [Greek lit. after three completed days - i.e. Thursday, Friday and Saturday] is the third day since these things [betrayal/judgment/crucifixion] were done. ~ Luke 24:21
19. Abigail is an Old Testament type and foreshadowing of the New Testament Christian Church
And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your audience, and hear the words of your handmaid. ... I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil has not been found in you all your days. Yet a man has risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall He sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you ruler over Israel; ~ 1 Samuel 25:23-30
And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil: for the LORD has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. ~ 1 Samuel 25:39
20. Esther is an Old Testament type and foreshadowing of the New Testament Christian Saint
All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or women, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. And they told to Mordecai Esther's words. ~ Esther 4:11-12
Now it came to pass on the Third Day [Resurrection Day], that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, opposite to the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite to the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. Then said the king unto her, What will you, Queen Esther? ... ~ Esther 5:1-3
But unto the Son (Jesus Christ) He (Father God) says, Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your Kingdom. ~ Hebrews 1:8
Note: the sceptre that Jesus Christ is holding and making available to all humanity is His cross. Additional Resources: [[http://www.the-jesus-realm.com/The-Pierre-Statement.html|The Pierre Statement on Biblical Doctrines by Confessing Christians]] God bless everyone,\\ David Anson Brown