First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

MOSHIACH'S LETTER THROUGH THE SHLIACH SHA'UL TO TIMOTIYOS (I)

One of the worst heresies of all time is called clericalism, the

lie that only paid clergy behind professional pulpits can preach.

This book says there will be a great apostasy

(with many clergy possibly involved in it).

The Biblical prophet Yoel (Joel) said that in the end-times your

ordinary sons and daughters would preach and prophecy (Yoel

(Joel) 2:28). However, another (and wholly opposite) heresy is

anticlericalism, the opposition to clerical authority, the total

revolt of the laity or the secular spokespeople that says, in

effect, there is no valid authority invested in ordained

minsters. The Epistles (I and II Timothy and Titus) are a

canonical handbook to guard against various expressions of

anticlericalism and other heresies. Shliach Sha'ul wrote these

letters to strengthen the authority of those who must preserve

the purity of the teaching of the Shluchim as it is committed to

"faithful men who can teach others also" (II Tim. 2:2). There

must be an ordained ministry and the I-II Tim-Tit Epistles lets

us make no mistake about that.

However, liberal scholars have used a circular argument to try to

prove that these letters aren't genuine and that Shliach Sha'ul

didn't write them. Their argument goes in this circle: the real

Shliach Sha'ul wrote Romans and Galatians and a few other

letters; the I-II Tim-Tit Epistles don't sound like Romans and

Galatians; the author of the I-II Tim-Tit Epistles can't be the

real Shliach Sha'ul.

There is close agreement of wording between Acts 20:17-38 and II

Timothy 4:6-8 and 3:11. So Shliach Sha'ul, as Luke records him,

can in fact sound like he sounds in the I-II Tim-Tit Epistles.

The notes on Acts already have made the points for dating the

book of Acts extremely close to the time II Timothy was written,

if not the same time. Shliach Sha'ul might have said in II Tim.

4:11, "Only Luke is with me (writing the book of Acts)." The

notes on Acts show that Acts is an expansion of Rav Sha'ul's

legal brief built around the legal precedents of Rav Sha'ul's

encounters with Roman officials throughout the Empire. Acts

attempts to make the case (while it fleshes out the story of the

acts of the Ruach Hakodesh in fulfilling the Great Comminion)

that Rav Sha'ul's faith was not a calculated attempt to undermine

or threaten the government of Rome. Rather, what Shliach Sha'ul

taught from Jerusalem to Rome is the true, legal (according to

Roman law) religion of the Jews embracing the whole world, and

unbelieving Jews should not be listened to by the Romans judging

Shliach Sha'ul. So there is ample proof in Acts and the epistles

themselves to prove that Shliach Sha'ul is the author or the I-II

Tim-Tit Epistles.

The difference in Rav Sha'ul's vocabulary in the I-II Tim-Tit

Epistles is due to the fact the Shliach Sha'ul is now an old man.

He is not babying carnal new believers with a mother's gentleness

but rather, with time running out on his ministry, Shliach Sha'ul

is giving blunt orders to those who will have to continue

preaching "the Besuras Hageulah that was entrusted" to this man

marked for martyrdom, Shliach Sha'ul (1:11). The year is probably

about 63 C.E. Shliach Sha'ul has just been released from his

first Roman imprisonment. Timothy is a man in his middle thirties

and Shliach Sha'ul is in his sixties. In the letter to the

Philippians (Phil. 1:26), a letter Shliach Sha'ul wrote during

his first Roman imprisonment, Shliach Sha'ul indicated he would

visit the Philippian congregation again if he were released. This

is apparently the vicinity where he is now, in Macedonia (modern

nothern Greece), and has sent this letter called I Timothy to

Timothy in Ephesus. Timothy is to be Rav Sha'ul's senior emissary

of Moshiach's shlichut on the field of Asia Minor (what is today

modern Turkey) and Shliach Sha'ul has delegated to him the

responsibility of overseeing the planting of new congregations

and the appointing of new congregational leaders in the area.

I Tim. 1:3 warns Timothy, as Rav Sha'ul's associate, to stay in

Ephesus and insist that the Brit Chadasha kehillah leaders not

teach any strange or different doctrine. Today there are those

who teach all manner of novel doctrines virtually unknown in the

history of Brit Chadasha kehillah dogma or in sound exegesis

(partial-rapture theory, secret coming of Moshiach theory, etc)

and demand that everyone agree with them (despite I Thes

4:16-17 etc.) or be branded as heterodox or liberal. Shliach

Sha'ul warned Timothy not to tolerate this kind of thing. All

teaching must be exegetically controlled by the inerrant Bible.

Sound teachers are to scrupluously avoid empty speculations and

theories (1:4,6) of this kind and to stick to the sober Word of

G-d and not go beyond what is written (I Cor. 4:6). The Besuras

Hageulah must be preserved in its Biblical purity and without the

accumulated oral tradition (Mark 7:9) that denominations tend to

generate more profusely the older they get.

The law was never intended for those who are led by the Ruach

Hakodesh in the age of the Ruach Hakodesh at the time of the

Moshiach's inauguration of the Brit Chadasha (Gal. 5:18; Titus

1:15; Heb. 8:13). The law was intended for those who live

according to the old sinful nature, and need to be convicted of

sin and brought to the Moshiach to receive a new nature and the

gift of the Ruach Hakodesh. But the ignorant, who presume to be

doctors of the law but don't know whet they are talking about,

don't understand this and put people under all kinds of legalisms

instead of teaching them about the new birth (see I Tim. 1:6-11

and Galatians 4 and Romans 7 and 8).

Shliach Sha'ul knows that his life as a Brit Chadasha

kehillah-murdering blasphemer (made into a world-famous Shliach

and prophet) shows the grace of G-d in Moshiach Yehoshua the

Moshiach "exceedingly" (1:14). Yet Shliach Sha'ul also knows that

he did these things in ignorance (see I Tim. 1:13 and Luke

23:34), and not as a knowing Esau (who knew what he was denying

but thought incorrectly that he could get it back in easier times

--Hebrews 12:16-17) or a knowing Judas (who actually shared the

L-rd's ministry--Acts 1:17). The Scripture warns that if anyone

tastes of the knowledge of heaven and yet knowingly becomes an

apostate, for such a person it is impossible to lead him or her

to be renewed a second time (Hebrews 6:4-8). Let this be a

warning to any in the faith who think they can do what Judas did

in bringing the police against the brethren and yet be forgiven

like Shliach Sha'ul, who also brought the police against the

brethren. There very definitely is something called apostasy.

This doctrine of apostasy must be taught to all who claim to be

believers. The cowardly apostates who try to gain their lives

instead of enduring to the end will lose their lives and not

inherit the Kingdom of G-d (Rev. 21:8; Mark 8:35; Mat. 24:13).

Shliach Kefa was tempted in this area but repented. Apostasy is a

dangerous possibility not to be dismissed by any antinomian

doctrine of eternal security, though warnings about apostasy (see

Heb. 6:4-12) should not exclude the doctrine of assurance (see

I Yochanan 5:13). Note: the doctrine of assurance should not be

contaminated with any Pelagian notion that man, by his own sheer

will power and without the help of G-d, can save himself from

apostasy or Gehinnom or anything else.

Chapter 2 (see also 4:13) tells Timothy how to conduct public

services. Shliach Sha'ul of course intends the missions

congregational leaders to study this and not just Timothy. Notice

public prayer meeting, proper attire, and proper order between

the sexes with the husband being respected by his wife are all

emphasized. Shliach Sha'ul knew that prayerlessness, scorn,

disrepect, and Edenic revolt were always shimmering just below

the surface, ready to erupt in human hearts.

Ch. 2:5 is very important. Only the Word of G-d mediates

salvation, and the Word of G-d incarnated himself only once and

only in one man, Moshiach Yehoshua. There is absolutely no other

man or no other name or no other way to G-d but by him.

I Tim. 4:1 speaks of the apostasy Shliach Sha'ul earlier alluded

to in II Thes. 2:3. This is the great repudiation of the inerrant

Bible both inside and outside the Brit Chadasha kehillah at the

end of the age to set the stage for the appearing of the

Anti-Moshiach.

Shliach Sha'ul tells Timothy to watch both what he preaches and

how he practices it (4:16).

Ch. 5:19 should be taken (along with Matthew 18:15-18) as an

important guide for Brit Chadasha kehillah discipline. If someone

aspires to have authority over believers to build them up in the

faith, that person should be accountable for his teaching and be

subject to Scripturally defined discipline for way wardness in

the faith (5:19). The gift of prophecy is needed in the Brit

Chadasha kehillah. This entails recognizing G-d's appointment

(s'micha) to ordained ministry of certain persons (see 4:14).

The warnings (3:6 and 5:22) about giving too much authority too

quickly to novices are well taken in Brit Chadasha kehillah

planting. Because novices are so inexperienced and spiritually

immature, it is unwise for them to allow themselves to be thrust

forward so much. There are plenty of warnings in the Scripture

about laying hands too suddenly on youthful and ambitious men who

are prone to be pushy, double-tongued, and clique-creating

politicians. The more mature men must walk a line between

discouraging them and keeping them in check. However, many

plodding emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut err in the opposite

direction, taking far too long to end their paternalism.

If this letter is read again carefully, it is very obvious that

the strident and unspiritual kind of irreverent "intellectualism"

in many religious colleges and seminaries is forbidden and sinful

in ministry formation and causes people to err concerning the

faith (6:21). This is also true of those empty babblers who pride

themselves in their "gnosis" (knowledge) about law and oral

tradition and various merely human teachings and speculations.

G-d wills that all men should be saved (I Tim. 1:16, 2:4; II Tim.

2:25-26; 4:17). Having said all this about the ordained ministry,

something more needs to be said about the ministry of all

believers. Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:6; I Shliach Kefa 2:5; Rev.

1:6; 20:6 proclaim that we are all ministers and II Cor.5:10 says

we will all be quickly called to account for our ministries. Col.

4:17 says. "See to it that you fulfill your ministry." There is a

functional distinction in the Bible between laity and ordained

leadership, but nothing like the elitist Protestant and

sacerdotal Roman Catholic views. The overseer is "G-d's

inspector" and such a person is himself subject to inspection,

which means Brit Chadasha kehillah-recognized appointment

(s'micha). However, it should be remembered that the ministry of

Moshiach Yehoshua began at his tevilah. So, in the kehunah of all

believers, at least some pre-tevilah Bible instruction before

Moshiach's tevilah is as essential for the believer as some sort

of Bible training is for overseers.

Concerning the place of women in the L-rd's house, let the

following apply to men and women equally. Beware of mixing any

male-female sensuality in your service to the Holy One, for such

indulgence is in reality a syncretistic Baalish cult inveighed

against in II Shliach Kefa and Yehuda in the Brit Chadasha

Scriptures and in Hosea and elsewhere in the Tanakh. This means

you can't serve G-d and the sex g-d Baal. You may be able to

excuse yourself with an easy conscience but G-d won't.

Therefore, never "minister" to a person of the opposite sex

alone, unless you want a sterile ministry with no one coming to

salvation, the reproach of the brethren and outsiders, and the

pangs of inevitable divine retribution (if you want to think up

evil to do, G-d can and will out-think you and bring it back on

your head--see Micah 2:2-3). Yehoshua sent people out 2 by 2, and

Shliach Sha'ul wanted spiritually mature women to minister to

women--see Titus 2:3-4. He would not permit a female individual

to teach or have authority over a male individual (I Tim. 2:12),

or a single man to teach a single woman alone, and in the name of

the L-rd he demanded that a man and a woman avoid the appearance

of evil (I Thes. 5:22), which means not being alone together, and

men treating women like sisters in absolute purity (I Tim. 5:2).

We are to watch our life and doctrine closely (I Tim. 4:16) if we

desire to save ourselves and others. We are to walk carefully

with our G-d (Micah 6:8).

One reason why single men and women are not sent alone to the

foreign mission field by many foreign mission boards is precisely

this problem, for loneliness in a strange land and romantic

temptations with the nationals can destroy ministry and invite

scandal. Single foreign emissaries of Moshiach's shlichut need

the gift of celibacy which includes the emotional strength to

cope with loneliness and the wisdom to minister to people in

appropriate settings (that is, with the help of additional

disciples and married couples, etc).

One thing we are seeing a lot of in this wicked world is engaged

couples taking many appearance liberties because they are almost

married. This also is very dangerous and can throw a stain on a

marriage even before it begins. Flee (run for your life) from the

lusts of youth (II Tim. 2:22)! Expressing physical affection for

the opposite sex (even your spouse) in the house of G-d is not

appropriate.

ON THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN

Read II Chron. 34:22. Shliach Sha'ul would not contradict the

Tanakh and must not be interpreted in such a way that makes him

do so. I Tim. 2:12 can not be interpreted in such a way as to

contradict II Chr. 34:22. Neither should be the case with I Tim.

3 and Titus 1. A piece of paper is worthless if the person, male

or female, doesn't have the gift that Huldah was given by G-d;

and their must be some way to authorize and de-authorize or

defrock those who prove unworthy of messianic ministry.

Satan has more than half (there are more women than men and women

live longer) of the L-rd's work force lolling on Brit Chadasha

kehillah pews because of the twin lies that only professionals

(clericalism) and men (male chauvinism) can preach and all

preaching must supposedly be done (by men) in the sacred shrine

called the Brit Chadasha kehillah building. The Brit Chadasha

Scriptures knows nothing about any such thing as a Brit Chadasha

kehillah building and women are some of the most effective

workers in the Brit Chadasha Scriptures.

Why are not the Huldahs, the prophetesses (look at Yoel 2:28

"your sons and daughters will prophesy"), the lady preachers

preaching everywhere? Everywhere there are people waiting to hear

a preacher: the hospital rooms where the dying are going to

Gehinnom without a witness, the nursing homes, the school yards

(with young girls and others loitering with the devil), the

business world. Lady, why are you not preaching? Why are you

yourself loitering when you could be prophesying? Do you think

Moshiach Yehoshua will accept your excuse that you listened to

men and not to G-d when he tells you to preach and they tell you

not to?

Why are you not preaching to the conscience with one goal for all

the people that you preach to: a permanent g-dly turn-around in

their lives!

ON THE DUTIES OF A MASHGIACH RUCHANI

In summary, leading a congregation is done by many types of

mesharetim (messianic ministers). Some are more

administrator-teachers, some are more outreach

minister-counsellors, etc. G-d can use any combination of

gift-mix in the congregational leader he calls.

A local congregational leader must never see calling on

first-time visitors as so much busy work to be farmed out to

somebody else. He may have others help him but if the visitor

cards are a drag on his time, then we can expect paper shuffling

and pulpiteering from such a man, but not a growing Brit Chadasha

kehillah. This is true in the same way that the following example

is true. A preacher who brings in people to help him serve the

preaching needs of the Brit Chadasha kehillah is one thing;

someone who thinks preaching is a drag on his time and hires out

the pulpit speakers because he would rather be doing something

else than preaching is no congregational leader. Likewise a man

who doesn't go after sheep and potential sheep is no

congregational leader. This sheep-searching heart-occupation of a

congregational leader cannot be hired out. Also the one who does

it is the one who receives a congregational leader's salary,

though laymen may assist him.

Shliach Sha'ul told congregational leader Timothy, "Do the work

of an kiruv outreach minister." Moshiach Yehoshua told

congregational leader Shliach Kefa to go and seek his sheep and

feed them. Congregational leading is not standing on a stage and

giving a homily and shuffling paper in one's office. The work of

going after the sheep is the thing the congregational leader must

lead the flock in and this means taking them and doing it, not

merely exhorting them. Laymen know when the congregational

leader's heart is not in something, and you cannot get anyone to

do what you do not want to do as a congregational leader.

G-d calls congregational leaders and they feed his sheep and go

and find the lost sheep and the L-rd provides their salaries

through the sheep. Their work cannot be hired out or farmed out.