Is There a Better Pattern to Follow?

Is The Order of Melchizedek a better pattern to follow?

Note, this post is a continuation of the Dec 18th. post…”Whose Pattern Do You Follow?”

How many of you who have been connected to our modern religious system for decades still feel displaced? If your answer is yes, then I would submit that this is evidence that you are in a system of perpetual spiritual poverty and not living in the reality of the wellspring of life.

Our quest is to reclaim and behold the restoration of the community for which Jesus gave his life. We must find and inhabit this life. I have tackled this subject in my book, My Father's House. But today, I want to shift gears a little bit and discuss it from another perspective.

In Scripture, Jesus is said to be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, not a priest in the order of Levi, Hebrew 7:17. In our modern congregations, we Gentile believers often overlook this statement, not realizing the implications. This is mostly due to the fact that forces within the Second, Third, and Fourth centuries worked hard to divide the Body of Christ, separating Jewish believers from Gentiles. Because of this, we have spent centuries separated from the core understanding that would make much of the Old Testament come alive before our eyes.

There were two main historical factors pulling us apart. On the gentile side, we have Caesar (saint) Constantine, who did everything he could to rip the Jews out of the picture. And on the Jewish side, we have the lesser-known but just as evil Rabbi Akiva, whose hatred of the people of God and the Apostle Paul was so wild he altered scripture. Akiva had infiltrated the Jewish world to destroy it from within. Now, it should be noted that Akiva was not even Jewish by birth, but his family line came from Babylon, and his followers today make up the largest Jewish denomination and carry seats in the modern Israeli government.

Special Side Note;

Today, when you hear people scream about the evil of the Jews, the first question I think that should be asked is, “Which ones?” Like any people group on earth, Jews have their extremists like the rest of us. Most of the evils that have historically floated to the surface have come from Akiva’s followers, not the regular Jewish citizens. There are serious followers of Jesus in the Jewish community, and they know what kind of people they are being governed by.

Melchizedek is at the Heart of the Issue.

In a previous post, I addressed the issue of Akiva’s followers altering scripture to hide the truth about Melchizedek’s connection to Jesus. (You can click here to read more.) But for now, I would like to move on to other aspects.

In our modern congregations, we enforce much of the order of Levi in the way we function, do business, and such things. And to be honest, the order of Levi does lend itself better to the corporation mindset. The order of Melchizedek, however, has a very non-corporation mindset, and it is that order that our Messiah is a part of.

The old mindset is to bring everything into the storehouse for the priesthood to control. This helps to enforce the power structure of the priesthood as ALL resources are tied up in the “storehouse.”

In the new way, the power structure is dissolved, and everyone is a priest, so you are now the storehouse, not the system. Now go forth and bless the world.

The old way of bringing everything into the storehouse is how so many in modern ministry quietly grow their wealth, as was reported not that long ago by Julie Roys. Many names like Hillsong, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Chris Oyakhilome, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, and Christine Caine have been using Australia as a way of protecting large sums of money for personal gain.

Melchizedek's example was to give the food away, but Jesus went a step further. He not only gave it away to the poor but even multiplied it to fill the need. Then he told them crazy things like, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.” Obviously, this demonstrates that God can not only supply your basic needs, but if your hunger is for the things of God, he can fill that as well.

The old way focused everyone's attention on a system. The New focus is Jesus in you to the hurting world. The old way builds mental bonds of servitude between the “priest” and the laity, inforcing rulership over decisions. The new way accepts that everyone is anointed via the blood Jesus gave for you. Because of His actions, we are now all moving forward toward spiritual maturity in a common community.

The old grows in mental instability, resulting in competition and the craving to be known by men. The new confronts the heart and causes you to question your own actions.

Old actions remain fear-based while the new becomes rooted in faith-based motives. This builds confidence as we ask the right questions, not questions of “May I if it is your will,” but questions of “Can I, or does this sound right to you, Lord?” This is a shifting of the heart from fear to faith.

The order of Levi draws everything inward, awaiting the approval of the priest. While the order of Melchizedek is outward in motivation, not seeking permission but the wisdom of another. Not much is written about Melchizedek in scripture, so we, therefore, must draw on the examples of Jesus, who is a priest in this order. The problem we have had for centuries is that we have been interpreting Jesus's actions using Levitical rules and thinking. These things provide a seedbed for flawed results and corrupt motives to grow in, becoming the strongest weeds in your mental garden.

(click here for more on the difference between old and new)

This is where the real fight is, the fight to deconstruct the Babylonian walls of religious servitude in your mind and find Jesus in you, the hope of glory. This is part of the Ancient Path, and it requires a shift of the heart and spirit, not just the mind. For if it only required a shift of the mind, any person memorizing scripture could do it. But Jesus ain’t looking for a relationship with a computer, nor is he looking to marry a cyborg at the end of the age.

Why are You Feeling Disconnected?

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10: 27-28. You are in Him, and He is in you. The truth is if you have any part of Him, you have all of Him, and he has all of you. All fullness, all Joy, and all wonder have been deposited within you just as much as Holy Fear, Justice, and Righteousness. This is why so many right now are willing to risk everything to bring the pretenders down and see the House of the Lord made clean.

But why are you feeling disconnected? Is there something more, something not being said or taught or is it deeper than that? Could it be something at the very core that a veil has obscured our view from?

Historically, we were first originally a Jewish sect as followers of The Way, but in time (Acts 11), we became known as Christians. As time progressed, bad teaching and false leaders came in, and the truth started to get watered down in various places. So many communities throughout Europe, North Africa, and parts of the British Isles worked to preserve what they knew of the Apostolic faith. A faith that many of these communities could point to and say, this or that Apostle taught us that.

Then, in time, the “newcomers,” AKA Catholics as the communities called them, came to power after their “saint” Augustine claimed a conversion. Many of the hidden Apostolic communities refused to accept the Catholic claims of authority on the basis of testing the fruit of their actions, as well as the blatant disregard for scripture. This bit of history is part of the hidden seedbed for your feeling disconnected.

Spiritual Prostitution

Here is a quote from my book, My Fathers House.

When Christianity started in the Middle East, it started as a Fellowship

When it moved to Greece it became a Philosophy

Moving to Italy it became an Institution

Later in Europe, it transitioned into a Culture

But then, in America, it became an Enterprise

An Enterprise is another word for a for-profit making business or company. In other words, its purpose is to make money. So think about this, Christ’s bride is being used to make money. Yes, that’s prostitution.

It’s no wonder so many of us in “church” feel disconnected or used spiritually, a relationship with a prostitute is artificial and only exists as long as we continue putting dollar bills in her hand.

Thereby creating a mindset within the body that the relationship is based on what we give the church/god. And not based on the reality of adoption into a family. Spiritual prostitution is always based on performance and turns you and your relationship with God and the church into a commodity. As a commodity, all your outward stuff like dress, speech, and actions are measured closely to see if your outward “appeal” is pleasing to the system that demands your performance.

Adoption is a family, lover, and friend mindset that can grow in natural ways and will always focus our thoughts towards inward issues. Things like character, integrity, and honesty become less of a “badge of honor” and more of a personal foundation as the Holy Spirit builds the tapestry of your life with Faith, Hope, and Love.

Unfortunately, much of our modeling of how the Body of Christ is to be run has been distorted by the yeast of the Babylonian church systems that have filtered in during the early centuries. The precious few Apostolic communities of the Celtic and Waldensian have long faded in their effectiveness, leaving us with only shadows of a life that once existed.“

Chapter 4, p. 75-76

Think about this for a moment. The Messiah’s Bride is to be Holy and set apart by his blood as a member of a Royal household. But the pretenders in the pulpits have programmed her into believing she is lower than the dirt and deserves to be treated like filth. I could use rough wording like rape and other things to describe what has happened historically, but I suspect you get my point. How will the Lord treat these pretenders when he comes? How would you treat such a caregiver and teacher if they treated your daughter or wife this way?

The reality is that ministry should NEVER be higher than the Bride. The purpose of ministry is to help the congregation become the Bride and reach out to find others who are supposed to be a part of this. Once we abuse the bride for the sake of ministry, I dare say we are now disqualified from the Bride. This is, if not higher, the level of respect we need to have.

I feel that all this should be motivated by the core of who we are in Jesus. We can not do it if we are still living in the system (Egypt). Really, is it not our time to leave for the desert to find our freedom?

Once we begin to perceive the whispers of freedom, what do we do? Do we allow our lack of understanding of the next step to be our fear of taking the journey? And what happens when we choose to endure and linger in the system longer than we should? Does the heart grow cold or angry?

Perhaps it should be our hunger, our hunger for more, that should drive us forward.