Chapter 15 - God's Final Verdict ; Our Manifesto

The final verdict is here. Judgment has been decided.

But it is not I who have elected myself judge and determined myself worthy to dismantle the modern Church by my own understanding and my own righteousness. No one is worthy to judge, except One. Let Him speak concerning the validity of the priesthood of man.

In fact, God did speak, and it's right there in His Word.

In the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God speaks through a prophet, not only to Israel, but to us of the 21st century. Malachi's words fill the last pages of history, the end of an era, before Jesus enters the scene. And God judges the priesthood of man with a final verdict, in the moments before the High Priest of God would come to usher in the New Covenant. It was then, that God said :

“ And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.

Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” Malachi 2 : 1 -3, 8-10

Let me repeat, carefully, what God explicitly says : “I have cursed them already … and one shall take you away … ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi...” The Priesthood of man was rendered void by their own actions, and God declared it so. The Divine High Priest , “the one”, would come to take up the mantle, and fulfill His Office.

When we were gifted the New Covenant from Jesus Christ, we knew it would become the cornerstone for His Church. He also told us, it would make some stumble. Those Israelites who were holding onto the necessity of an elite caste of male priests, would be very challenged to accept such change. Yes, power and authority are not easy things to let go of. In fact, even 2,025 years later, they are still holding on.

Jesus bemoans those who would invent a New Testament priesthood, even repeating the words found in Malachi - “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” Matthew 23 : 9-10 The fallacy and myth of a New Testament priesthood reserved for an elite caste of men not only wrongly perpetuates the curse of Eve upon women, but it also carries on through the generations the vocation of a human priesthood whose covenant has been corrupted.

Katarina and I came to the startling and logical conclusion - that we have to fire ourselves. We can't serve in a vocation that doesn't exist. We are no longer priests because there are no longer priests. We know the backlash will come, but we must follow our conscience, and Jesus, not the man-made Church. "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." Psalm 69 : 7-9

But now our mission is to make everyone know this. We want nothing short of a revolution. We can no longer be priests for others, because that would be taking from you what is rightfully yours ! "Then I restored that which I took not away." Psalm 69 : 4

When Katarina and I were commissioned by the Lord to depart for Europe as missionaries, we were given direct and clear instructions from Him : "Do not launch any fundraiser, do not get involved in your own efforts to provide for yourselves, I will be in charge of your finances." And we were also instructed that as the Lord would provide for all our needs freely, we were also to provide freely all of our ministries. And so we did - whatever our ministry and outreach has been, we have always given it away for free.

Never could we have realized ... that we would have to give away "our priesthood". And how happy we are to do so ! For too long, the Church has hijacked, or denied, one of the greatest treasures of the Church : The Eucharist, aka "the blessing". It's yours to receive, freely, if you want it.

This manifesto is a blessing, but be careful, it is also a warning. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Revelation 1 : 5-7

Jesus' death on the Cross was not a past-tense event ; it is in fact a prophetic illustration of the end times. Just as the rulers of the Temple crucified Christ, those in authority today have crucified this Church, and the women they refused to honor.

Women are the ones being mocked. Left alone in male-dominated religious hierarchies, they hear the taunts of others, "save yourselves". But a male-dominated church that hijacks the Eucharist is the one that will die. The women were faithful to Jesus in His suffering, and were the ones to to meet Jesus on the other side of the grave. The men who, like John, know the role of Mary His mother, and Mary Magdalene, will co-labor with them, not against them. Judgment is here.

So too is your blessing. May you be blessed.