Nicolaitan No Priest No Pastor
Words of God:
Mt 23:
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
No one should be called < Father> in the church except the Father in Heaven but RCC call their priests father.
1 Peter 2
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light
All Born-Again Believers are the priests! They offer the Sacrifice to God by believing what Jesus had done on the Cross.
Apostle Paul
Acts 14:
23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Apostle Paul preached the gospel to the towns and established a church and ordained plural elders for the church, neither pastor nor priest was ordained.
Acts 20
Paul sent the messengers from Miletus to Ephesus and called the elders of the church ( Acts 20:17)
and told them that the Holy Spirit made them the Overseers ( Episkopus) of the Church of God ( 20:28)
Paul called the plural Elders of a singular church and told them that HS appointed them as the Overseers.
This means that Elders were also called Overseers ( Episkopus)
Paul warned that there will rise the leaders who will gather the people to follow themselves after his departure( Acts 20:30). In other words, the clergy system would be formed very quickly after Paul departed.
There was neither Pastor nor Priest, nor Pope, No Archbishop, No Bishop. Only the Elder was called Overseer ( Episkope).
Philippians 1:
1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Paul doesn’t mention the Pastors or Priests. Overseers here means the Episkopous plural of Episkope and they are also called Elders according to Acts 20:17-28
Paul mentions 2 offices of the church in 1 Tim 3:1-13 and Elders in Titus 1:5-9, which means Episkope is the same as the Elder. Elder is the term for the Status while Episkope is for Functioning and Role
1 Tim 3
1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 An Overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;4 One that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Are the Pastors selected according to these criteria among the Church brothers?
Are the Priest selected according to these criteria?
They are all ordained only if they graduate from the college of Theology even if they cannot meet the standards of the Bible!
Titus 1:5-9 explains the same qualification for the Elders for each church as the Overseers in 1 Tim 3:1-7. So, we can believe both Elders and Episkope are the same titles of the church
James 5
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Why doesn’t Jacob ( James) teach we should call Pastors or Priests or Bishops for healing? Because there was no title or office like that in the church!
1 Peter 5
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
Doesn’t this say, Peter was also an Elder? Was Peter under any Pastor or under any Priest or any Bishop?
No!
Did Peter say he was the Pope? No!
2 John 1
1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
Apostle John calls himself is the Elder! Under which Pastor was he? Under which Priest or Bishop was he? Never!
Ephesians 4
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Pastor here is the translation from Poimen and Poimen used to be translated into Shepherd.
But many translations translated this Poimen in order to create a job title < Pastor >
But the actual meaning here is not the office or title of the church, but the gifts or talents of the people in the church. So, this is not the proof for the job title for Pastor or Priest or Bishop etc.
Revelation 2: Nicolaitans
6 But this thou hast, that thou hates the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
Who are the Nicolaitans? Clergy, Pastors, Priest, Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal, Pope, Ministers,
Why? Nicolaitan is the word by combination of Nicao ( Conquer, Rule ) + Laos ( Lay people)
They are the rulers over the lay people.
Jesus hates works and doctrines of Nicolaitans!
Nicolaitans wear the costumes to distinguish themselves from the lay people and their robes are very similar to the robes of Chemarims ( Zephaniah 1:4)
Chemarims were the priests for Baal.
They say < we are different from you guys! > They are hypocrites !
Catholic Priests wear the costumes of the Baal Priests.
The triple hat of Pope is in the shape of Fish Mouth because they pay the reverence to the Dagon god, the Fish god.
Do you think Jesus and Apostles wore these kinds of costumes?