Clergy/laity disaster
Posted by appolus on May 6, 2020
One the clergy/laity distinction is removed the concept of ministry changes. It ceases to be the proprietary right of the few and becomes the privilege of all. ( Arthur Wallis.)
This point made by Wallis is the beating heart of religion. The clergy/laity system is a perpetuation of the ancient religions and is a death blow to a royal priesthood. Imagine a system where is everyone is a priest in a spiritual priesthood set up by Jesus Himself. It is a shame that for the most part we have to imagine that. One thing is for sure, where this clergy/laity system exists, there is no functioning priesthood. One may say there is and fool oneself, but where the clergy/laity exists then the royal priesthood has been reduced to a mere mental assent to an abstract truth.
It is one or the other for it cannot be both. Men want to lead or be led, most want to be led. They want a mediator between them and God and there are plenty of men willing to play that role. The rewards of the role is status and power. There is hierarchy and talk of authority and submission. Yet the leadership model of the priesthood is a bottom up servant leadership where one washes the feet of the others.
Diotrephes rejected the Apostle John. Think about that. The Apostle that Jesus loved was rejected by a “leader,” and why? He loved the preeminence. He wanted to be the leader, he was jealous of any other voice. This is absolute evidence that Jesus was not preeminent in the church that Diotrephes “ran.” How often we ask the question “who runs your church.” If the answer is anything other than Jesus, if 95% of the time only one man speaks, you can be sure the spirit of Diotrephes roams the corridors of power in that place. Jesus has been dethroned and is now as unwanted as the Apostle John was. The question is, how welcome would the Apostle John be in your gathering?
A Call To The Remnant 
Larry said
In early church history, the ones who claimed to hear from God, outside of the clergy establishment, were killed off. See the book “The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries”, by Thomas Lindsay, 4th ed. 1910.
Lisa said
This is a great post. I was thinking and mourning over this nation just this morning. I ive in the state of NC and as I watch the news I see that there are many Pastors who want to get back in the pulpits and so are going as far as to try to sue the governor. They say that the stay at home violates the first amendment. To me this is just blatant disobedience. Our real persecution is on the way. As people of God shouldn’t we be the most obedient people when it comes to authority except when it goes against the word of God.
I heard one person ask the question: what is the “church” built on, is it money or Christ? In other words will your place of worship shut down if no one is coming and paying money or will it continue. What is the foundation MONEY OR CHRIST.
May God have mercy on us.