Pure Lineage

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	May I enter this discussion?  First of all, I would like to make a comment
on priesthood.  It was the Roman Catholic church that gave us the concept
of a "clerical priesthood"--that is, the idea that ministers are priests.
This idea departed radically from the clear teaching of scripture that
shows that, in the church, we are all priests.
 	"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up, a spiritual house, an holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ." I Peter 2:5
	The Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament was a symbolic figure of the
Melchisedec priesthood, of which Jesus Christ is the high priest: "...Thou
art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec...For such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners...." (Hew. 7: 21, 26--only relevant parts quoted).
	John, in Revelation 1:5 and 6, states the following: "...Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us
kings and priests unto our God and his Father..."
	We are all priests, because we all offer up sacrifices to God and are
care-takers of his temple (our bodies being the temple of the Holy Ghost).
There is simply no scripture for the notion that the New Testament ministry
constitutes a priesthood exclusive of the rest of the church. The job of
the priests was to minister to God for the people.
	The job of the prophets, however, was the opposite.  It was their job to
minister to the people for God.  They spoke/wrote God's word as they were
inspired with it.  Therefore, New Testament ministry is more closely
analogous to that of the Old Testament prophets.
	God said he would pour out his spirit upon ALL FLESH and "your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy".  This was the outpouring of the Holy Ghost,
which any repentant believer is to receive.  After we recieve the Holy
Ghost, Jesus said He would lead us into all truth.  Jesus living inside of
us, shall teach [us] all things, according to Jesus's teaching in John 14.
He said "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."
	My point is not that human "vehicles" for God's word are unnecessary, but
merely to show that God, himself, could inspire people and open their
understanding of scripture (regarding such things as the new birth, the
oneness of God, etc.) without having to use some "unbroken chain of
priestly succession".  There may have been such a chain...but has anyone
ever discovered it?  Really?
	I'm not diminishing the role of ministry or of the obligation of the
church to disseminate truth.  But if a group of trinitarians--people who
already believed in Jesus, by the way--became zealous for holiness and for
the Holy Ghost, then it is quite conceivable to me that Jesus could guide
them "into all truth", "teach [them] all things", and out of their own
Bibles "bring all things to [their] remembrance, whatsoever [He] ha[s]
said unto [them]." (from John 16:13 and John 14:26)


Troy