The Kingdom of God, Q and A.

Question: What is the Kingdom of God?

Answer: The Kingdom of God is a unique government form taught by Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus the Christ that is in accordance with the way of God the Father. It is a different type of self government which sets men free rather than bringing them into bondage.

Question: How does the Kingdom of God differ from other governments?

Answer: The Kingdom of God does not exercise authority one over the other, but depends on the perfect law of liberty. It consists of people who seek the justice and mercy, forgiveness and thanksgiving of God for others as much as they do for themselves.

Question: What rights do I have in the Kingdom of God?

Answer: All the rights given you by God. You give up no rights, but remain free souls under God.

Question: What responsibilities do I have in the Kingdom of God?

Answer: All responsibilities of dominion on earth as given you by God, dress it and keep it, have no other gods, honor your Fathers and Mothers, love your neighbor and his rights as much as your own...

Question: Wasn’t the Kingdom of God postponed because the Jews did not accept Christ?

Answer: The power was not restored for another ten days after the ascension. The apostles who had been called out and appointed the kingdom which Jesus had already received were told to go back and wait in Jerusalem. At Pentecost thousands of Judean citizens and others accepted Christ as king and were cast out from the unfruitful government system of the Pharisees. Jesus had already taken their rights in the kingdom away from them and they had agreed they had no king but Caesar.

Question: Doesn’t Romans 13 tell us to obey government?

Answer: Jesus preached a government that operated under the perfect law of liberty, by faith, hope and charity and Paul said to let every soul remain subject to the higher “liberty” because all liberty is of God, there is not liberty but of God and anyone who opposes liberty opposes God. The word he used means “right” or “power to choose”. God gave men freewill. The word ‘exousia’ is even translated liberty in 1 Corinthians 8:9 and is the strongest word in the Greek language for “the right to choose”.

Question: Is the kingdom for everyone?

Answer: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 [Mt 5:20, 18:3, 19:23, 24, 23:13, Mk 10:15-25, Lk 18:17-25, Jn 3:5, Acts 14:22]

Question: How is the government supported in the Kingdom of God?

Answer: Freewill offerings of the people, through a network of ministers chosen by the people, for the people. These ministers are the public servants of the people who seek the kingdom and His righteousness.

Question: What was wrong with Christians? Why were they persecuted?

Answer: Christians would not apply for the benefits of authoritarian benefactors. They remained within each family structure in free association with only titular leaders who served their needs through a community bound only by faith, hope and charity. Most governments increase their power by offering benefits financed at the expense of your neighbor.

Question: What was the doctrine or error of the “Nicolaitans”?

Answer: The Nicolaitan or error of Balaam is when the people eat of the tables or altars of benefactors who exercise authority. The people do not remain under the higher liberty or right to choose but are snared or trapped in a state where others choose for them. Ruling elite obtain the authority to decide what they will contribute and what they will receive. The people are no longer free souls under God the Father but are literally the “conquered people”, nikaw laov, under men who would be god or ruling judges over them.

Question: “Are men the property of the state?”1

Answer: In most national government in these modern times the people are property of the state. They are subjects of the state called human resources or as Peter said they are merchandise. God does not want this but he allows it if we do not follow his ways.

Question: How may we become free souls under God?

Answer: We must repent and seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must forgive so that we may be forgiven and we must give of ourselves so that we may be given unto. It is a process of repentance and striving to follow the ways of God that will set you free by His grace.

Question: What is His righteousness?

Answer: The Greek word translated into righteousness dikaiosune from the word dikaios righteous or just. The word dikaiosune is defined as the “state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God”.

His Church and His Congregations Q and A

Question: How does that kingdom relate to His Holy Church?

The Church in its most general sense is the Kingdom of God on earth. It consists of every man and women in their respective Families, freely congregating. And it includes several kinds of Minister and their families in a network of service. Each family and family member is an altar of clay serving the community while the ministers are living stones that minister to the whole community including widows and orphans and families and communities with special needs. The Ordained Ministers act as a representative body for the people in free congregations.

Question: What was the role or purpose of the Church?

Answer: The Church has many duties and function including proclaiming the kingdom. They are to maintain an entrance to the kingdom and facilitate the choice of seeking the kingdom as free souls under God. If the Church does its job the people will have an alternative to going under authoritarian benefactors like Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Caesar and more modern rulers who exercise authority but call themselves benefactors.

Question: How does Church relate to us in our lives and in God’s plan for us?

Answer: God has always wanted us to be free souls under Him alone. He took us out of Egypt and told us to never go back. He provided us a redeeming King who appointed men to keep us free in the world but not of it. This plan has not changed. To be free under God we must be responsible, charitable and active souls according to His ways.

Question: What is thing called the Church?

Answer: “In its most general sense it is the religious society founded and established by Jesus Christ, to receive, preserve, and propagate His doctrines and ordinances.”

Question: Is the Church incorporated?

Answer: The Church is the “body” or “corpus” of Christ by his appointment only. It is “A body or community of Christians, united under one form of government by the profession of one faith, and the observance of the same rituals and ceremonies.”2

Question: What does observance of the same rituals and ceremonies mean?

Answer: All governments have rituals and ceremonies. The Church is no different except in a few important distinctions. As an example, in the recording of marriage the governments of the ‘world’ also establishes an exercising authority over the married couple. The Church also recognizes and records marriages but only to establish that no one has an exercising authority over the Family unit. In order to notice this difference the Church uses outward signs, consistent rituals and ceremonies, to mark a distinction from those who wish to live in the world but not of it and those who want to live of the world coveting its benefits and going under its authority. [See Article 7 of the Polity.]

Question: What is a congregation?

Answer: A congregation is an non incorporated fellowship of men both free and bond that look to the servant Church appointed by Christ to assist them in their search for the kingdom and its righteousness as an alternative to the authoritarian and subjugating systems of the world.

Question: How many people are needed to make a congregation?

Answer: A congregation is at least two or more people or families and one representative minister. The ideal size of a congregation is ten families.

Question: What does a congregation do?

Answer: The people in congregation are the government and the ministers are their public servants. The homes or tabernacles of the congregation rely on the good and freewill charity of their congregation to supply them with all the social assurance. In thanksgiving they are there for for each other to fulfill the needs and relieve the afflictions that life often brings. This is pure religion.

Question: What do the Ministers do?

Answer: They, like any other public servant of other governments, are in charge of the health, education, and welfare of the people in community. They are the titular and representative government of Christ teaching and facilitating His ways of righteousness. They also manage the assets, freely receiving and freely distributing to “feed” the people, and they manage the reserve assets in the form of tangible properties, both real and personal, held in trust, both for the long term and immediate needs of the congregation.

Question: How do we live in the “world” but not of it?

Answer: By learning not to depend upon the subjugating systems of the world, but instead we must look to the freewill offerings of our neighbors in faith, hope and charity in obedience to Christ in free congregations under God’s perfect law of liberty.

Question: What form of government is the Church?

Answer: The Church is not like other nations which “exercise authority” but remains in service “of the people, for the people and by the people”3 by the appointed authority of the Messiah and the faith of the people in Him. The Kingdom of God is a pure republic under God the Father with His ministers as its titular leaders.

Question: Who is a member of the Church?

Answer: There is the Church in general and specific. There are those individuals and families assembled in free congregations who are the Church general and members of the Church ministries and orders. Those ministries may be licensed by the people or commissioned by the ministers of the Church.

Question: What must I do to become a part of a congregation?

Answer: Repent and be baptized. Water baptism is a ceremony where we express our intent, prayer, or vow, to seek the Kingdom of God in all things and the righteousness of God in an ongoing spiritual baptism of forgiving and thanksgiving. A congregation is a free assembly seeking the kingdom as a community of believers.

Question: Is the Church a trust?

Answer: The ministry of the Church is appointed by Christ with an obligation to serve His kingdom and it may also receive contributions of the people for His purpose in a sacred trust.

What is a Religious Order? Q and A

Question: What must I do to become a member of the ministry of the Church?

Answer: You must become an ordained, licensed or commissioned minister. Ordained members should be member of a religious order, which is a congregation of ministers.

Question: What must I do to become a licensed minister?

Answer: A licensed minister is elected by a congregation and appointed by an ordained minister to act ex officio on behalf of the Church.

Question: What must I do to become a commissioned minister?

Answer: A commissioned minister is someone appointed by an ordained minister to act ex officio on behalf of the Church on matters that he cannot or may not do himself. He is a minister with a mission, a missionary.

Question: What must an individual do to become an ordained minister?

Answer: They must obey the requirements of Jesus Christ according to His calling and be recognized by an ordained minister of the Church. This usually involves the laying on of hands, anointing with oils or some form of recording of the event by witnesses or documentation within a congregations of ordained ministers called an Order.

Question: What is an Order?

Answer: An order is a congregation of ordained ministers. It usually is not much larger than 10 ordained ministers, and their Family members.

Question: What is the purpose of an Order?

Answer: Like a congregation it serves the needs of the ministers and their Families and is a part of an over all network of the kingdom binding the people in faith, hope, and charity in practical ways.

Question: Are only Ministers members of Orders?

Answer: Orders consist of Ministers and Members and their Families and ministerial servants if any.

Question: Who are Members of an Order?

Answer: Members of an order are either those seeking to be full time Ministers, are retired from active ministry of congregations or support the order with special skills, piety or devotion. An Order is a small group of men or families, ideally ten to twelve, that have chosen to become a brotherhood or body with all things in common as a part of His Holy Church and the appointed kingdom of the Messiah, who is called Jesus Christ.

Questions: How does an Order differ from a congregation?

Answers: A congregation is merely a fellowship of men and women giving as they see fit and loving one another as much as they love themselves. An order is an autonomous brotherhood with no personal estate. They have chosen to live entirely in the service of Christ’s purposes as bond servants with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, they have mutually pledged their estates and inheritance to live in service to Christ for His purposes alone.

Questions: What do you mean by “with all things in common”?

Answers: Each order is like a commonwealth. A commonwealth is defined as “The people of a nation or state; the body politic. A nation or state governed by the people; a republic.”4 We use the word “order” rather than commonwealth to refer to a self-governing, autonomous subdivision voluntarily associated with His Holy Church established by Jesus Christ. Each member of an order may hold a semblance of a “legal title” in accordance to the rules of that order, but it is the order that holds the beneficial interest in common of his estate.

Questions: How is an order created?

Answers: An order is created by the will of Christ through vows of intent given before witnesses by three or more men who renounce their personal wealth for the purpose of Christ. It has clearly defined articles of governance, excepted creeds, and its words and deeds express those commitments to Christ.

Questions: Who establishes the rules of an order?

Answers: Those who join the order at the time of its edification need to adopt basic forms, precepts and ordinances that will give that order its individual identity within the whole Church. Those guidelines and ordinances must be in compliance with the teachings and ordinances of Christ and agreed upon by the original members and all those who subsequently join.

Questions: What is a vow?

Answers: A “Vow” can be defined as, “Specifically, a promise of fidelity; a pledge of love or affection; as, the marriage vow.” Or is further defined as, “A solemn promise made to God... an act by which one consecrates or devotes himself, absolutely or conditionally, wholly or in part, for a longer or shorter time, to some act, service, or condition; a devotion of one’s possessions; as, a baptismal vow; a vow of poverty.”5 The word vows is used in the sense of the Greek word euche, meaning “to pray to God.”

Questions: Can the rules be changed by a vote of the majority?

Answers: Vote is defined as, “An ardent wish or desire; a vow; a prayer.”6 When a vow is taken the rules of an order may not be changed without the unanimous consent of the order and its leader and overseer, remaining in compliance with the teachings and ordinances of Christ.

Questions: Can I leave the order when I choose?

Answers: Anyone may leave an order at any time, but they may not be able to take any of the corpus with them. If the order so deems it may grant a gratuity according to its ordinances to aid in their establishment outside the order.

Questions: What are the vows that I might have to take?

Answers: Vows of poverty, obedience, loyalty, chastity, etc..

Questions: Does a vow of poverty mean I have to live like a beggar?

Answers: A vow of poverty means that you have no personal estate. Everything you own belongs to Christ and held by the Order where you are either a minister or a member.

Questions: Does a vow of Chastity mean I cannot get married?

Answers: A vow of chastity has to do with remaining pure from involvement outside the order. There is nothing impure about Holy Matrimony. See rules of the order about procedures.

Questions: Does a vow of obedience give an exercising authority to the leaders of the order?

Answers: No. Ministers of God’s kingdom do not exercise authority, but are only servants. They do have authority over the manner of their service according their God given conscience.

Questions: What are novitiate or temporary vows?

Answers: Vows are often taken for a period of time because of their serious nature and long range implications and consequences. Vows are always taken with an intent to renew.

Questions: Is a vow an oath?

Answers: Vows and oaths are not the same thing.7 Vows are made in the heart and mind of the individual in daily communion with God. They may be expressed in word and deed within the Church and written as a matter of record and witness to the world.

Questions: Why do we need all this documentation?

Answers: God does not need it for he sees the heart, but the world needs to see a notice or witness that they may comprehend the identity of the Church, its ministers and members.

Questions: Can I keep my Social Security number or benefits under such a vow?

Answers: Members or ministers of an order must have total faith and allegiance to Christ’s kingdom and are excluded from having or using an SSN.

Questions: May an order file an SS16 with the IRS on behalf of its members?

Answers: No. It would cease being an order of the Church.

Question: Once a member is excluded, as opposed to exempt, can he use such prior SSN to obtain benefits such as a drivers license or identification?

Answers: If you have given up all you no longer have an SSN to use. Under a vow of poverty as described in the Bible a minister is truly a new man in Christ such as we see of men like Joses who became Barnabas after relinquishing his property and giving its value to the Church. Acts 4:36...

Question: What is an Aspirant?

Answers: Any mature individual who is person aspiring to become a member of the Order and apply to at least one order. for entry accepting some duty or mission in order to validate that application.

Question: What is a Presbyters.?

Answers: A presbyter is an elder of a family but may also be an applicant to an order who has experienced a period of work, service, and communion with the Order, and may upon application, be accepted into the Order as a Novitiate.

Question: What is a Novitiate?

Answers: A Novitiate shall take the temporary vows of an order, renewable annually. A novitiate may freely leave the Order at any time during the period of study and training and may, by consensus of the members of the Order, be dismissed. Upon successful completion of a probationary period, and by consensus of the members of the Order, a Novitiate shall be accepted into full membership.

 

Footnotes