Endorsing Laymen Intruders
Ephesians 4:11-12 (KJV)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
In the KJV verses above, the purpose of the Fivefold ministry is given. This Fivefold ministry has a threefold purpose which is the following:
1. To perfect the saints.
2. To do the work of the ministry.
3. To edify the body of Christ.
Below however are listed the modern translations which have altered the emphasis of verse 12 by the use of punctuation and by moving commas. These modern translations alter the meaning of verse 12 to cause the verse to say that the purpose of the Fivefold ministry is only to equip the saints (layman) so that the layman can do the work of the ministry and the layman can edify the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NASB)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
Ephesians 4:11-12 (AMP)
11 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV)
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
Ephesians 4:11-12 (CJB)
11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers.
12 Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah,
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV2011)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
All of these modern translations above have altered these verses to authorize laymen to intrude into the holy office of the Fivefold ministry regardless of the fact that laymen have no gifts or calling or spiritual equipment for fulfilling any of the ministry offices. This is another example of altering the scriptures! Laymen theologians have accomplished this by altering the emphasis through punctuation by moving the commas and also the altering the words themselves. This is like cutting things to fit their own preconceived human ideas rather than taking what God has said at face value. This principle can be seen in building an altar of worship to God out of whole (uncut stones).
Not Cutting God’s Word to Fit Modernist Ideas
Deuteronomy 27:5-6 (NIV)
5 Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool upon them.
6 Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.
This scripture says that no iron tool was supposed to be used to cut the stones to fit a man-made plan for making an altar for the Lord. They were to use natural whole-stones for making God’s altar. This contains a spiritual principle that means humans are not to cut God’s word to fit their own preconceived ideas. They are to use whole-stones or use the unaltered scripture (as it fits into the overall natural principles God has created).
See the link “Cutting Stones to Fit” for more details.
Layman Forbidden to Intrude into the Holy Office
Exodus 29:33 (NASB)
33 “Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy.
The laymen were not allowed to consume sacred offerings given to the Lord because these things were reserved only for the Levites who were called into the ministry by God. This has New Testament (NT) application that no laymen are to intrude into the ministry or consume tithes and offerings that were given to the Lord and are therefore sacred.
Leviticus 22:10 (NASB)
10 ‘No layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift.
A layman was not allowed to eat of the holy gift which was intended by God for the priest and his family only. The priest had no allowance of inheritance as the laymen do because his inheritance was from the tithes and offerings given to the Lord. The people first gave to God then God gave these tithes and offerings to the Levites for the support of their families. It was forbidden that any layman consume the holy things given to the Lord. The tithes and offerings where only for Levites and this has a carryover application into the New Testament era when the NT Levite Fivefold Ministry gifts are to live off the tithes and offerings given to the Lord by the people.
Leviticus 22:11-16 (NASB)
11 ‘But if a priest buys a slave as his property with his money, that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food.
12 ‘If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts.
13 ‘But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food; but no layman shall eat of it.
14 ‘But if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest.
15 ‘They shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they offer to the LORD,
16 and so cause them to bear punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.'”
The members of the priest’s own household could consume holy things but if a priest’s daughter married a layman husband, she was to live off the support of her husband’s income. Only if she lost her husband was, she allowed to return to her father’s house and again eat of the holy things as she did formerly as a maiden. It was not permitted that the laymen could profane holy things by consuming things given to God.
A layman was not permitted to visit the household of a priest and have lunch there because the food in that household had been first given to God and was therefore sacred. If the layman committed the offense of eating something that was holy at the priest’s house, he had to restore it back in full plus add a 20% surcharge as a penalty for his sin to make atonement for himself or he could experience judgment.
This has present day application in that when layman receive donations of tithes and offerings and use these to intrude into the ministry, they are profaning the tithes and offerings (holy things) and will incur guilt before God for this offense.
The layman theologians are doing no one a favor by altering the scriptures to endorse layman to intrude into the Fivefold Ministry and thus cause these laymen intruders to incur guilt before God. If intruding laymen do not repent of this offense (after they are warned) they will experience judgment for it.
Numbers 3:9-10 (NASB)
9 “You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.
10 “So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”
This has present day application that if laymen intrude into the holy office of the NT Levite Fivefold Ministry, they will incur guilt and can even experience death if they persist in this intrusion after being warned. They are not to touch the holy things of the ministry or they will be put to death.
It is therefore an abomination that all modern bible translations sought to alter the scripture to give license to laymen to intrude into the holy ministry. I have personally delivered last warnings of rebuke to laymen who persisted in such intrusion (consuming holy things given to God) and this rebellious behavior had gone on for decades before they were given their last warning. I know of a number of examples where laymen intruders met death after they were warned to detest their intrusion but they hardened their hearts and persisted just as they had done before the rebuke.
The bible clearly says that any laymen intruder who touches the holy things is to be put to death and I have seen this happen on a number of occasions in different countries where I traveled as laymen intruders continued to push themselves into the ministry for which they were not called.
Yet these examples given above of the mistranslation of Ephesians 4:11-12 clearly authorize laymen to intrude into the ministry by falsely stating that the Fivefold Ministry is to prepare the laymen to do the work of the ministry (when nothing could be farther from the truth). This is an example of a false doctrine based on the alteration (or cutting of the scriptures) to fit preconceived human ideas to endorse laymen into the ministry.
Fruit of False Doctrines
If every laymen is taught to leave natural things and intrude into the ministry then this can cause them to quit their jobs or business or other areas of natural service (including government and politics). This could be one factor in why there is a great scarcity of godly men working in politics today. If Christian laymen should abandon politics based on the false translation of the bible verse above then they will forfeit the government of the nation to godless people. This could be a big reason why many official government offices are now occupied by worthless people and fools who bring about the destruction of the nation by their own incompetent leadership decisions.
A false translation of the bible can produce a false doctrine such as teaching laymen to forsake important natural matters and to seek to intrude into the ministry instead. Laymen acting on this false doctrine can result in bringing ruination on any nation which lacks godly leadership within key governmental offices and other critical positions of authority.