We join the press conference in progress, at Jerusalem.
Aristarchus: Thank You…It has been several years since you have been the leader of your church and yet I notice that among the 12, all are still from the tribe of Judah, Jewish by culture, and most of them are Galileans, when can we expect to see some diversity among the church leadership?
Peter: Thank You Mr. Aristarchus. I guess the best way to answer your question is to help you expand your perspective to see this issue as it really is. Notwithstanding his death, resurrection and accession into heaven, this Church, which Jesus Christ founded, is still direct by Him. Some of you covered the ordination of the first apostle called after the death of Jesus, and know that Matthias was selected not because of his race or culture, but rather by direct revelation from God, who made his will known to us. (Peter turns and looks at Mathias who smiles and nods in understanding)
Peter: It is true that all but one of Jesus’ original apostles were Galileans, but that fact had no bearing on why or how they were selected. Jesus spent the night in the mountain praying and pondering to know the will of God and when Jesus descended from the mount, he called the 12 men His father had told him to call, without any regard to their race or nationality. Similarly, our Brother Paul, who could not be with us today since he is on another mission, was called directly by Jesus Christ from a body of the fiercest enemies of the Church. There is not a disciple among us who would have ever even considered it a possibility that God would choose one such as Paul, to be an apostle, but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, men’s thoughts and considerations in such maters must always give way to God’s will, as revealed by His Holy Spirit. So, to answer your question, you will see more diversity in the leadership of the church when God’s directions tend to that end, and when you do see men from diverse cultures, nations, races, etc. serving among the 12, it will have had nothing to do with their culture, nationality or race, and everything to do with their hearts. (Peter pauses looks to his brethren, and then smiles and adds)
Peter: By the way, from my human perspective, to call a man to be an apostle based upon his race or culture, would be just as racist as to not call him to serve for those same reasons…..(Peter looks over the crowd)
Peter: Mr. Julius.
Mr. Julius: Yes, I am Mr. Julius, from the Pompey Free Press. We have heard some harsh words from among your leaders toward the LGBTQ community. What are you doing to make the Gospel more inclusive of, more accommodating to, that community?
Peter: Thank you Mr. Julius, that is an important question. I think that most of you, as a press corps, are familiar with my experience in Joppa, were I received a memorable and instructive vision that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was indeed intended for all of God Children. In fact it was after that vision that I first expressed the eternal truth that “God is no respecter of persons”. (Some in the press corps nod their heads in agreement)
Peter: Sadly, some among your ranks have taken that declaration out of context, so I will supply the true context for you now. When I beheld the sheet filled with all manner of unclean animals, I refused the command of the voice to kill and eat,. How could I violate my faith and eat something known to be common? It was then that the voice spoke again and chastened me saying… and this is pivotal…. “What God has CLEANSED that call not thou common!” God was not instructing me to accept all manner of uncleanness into his Kingdom AS IS, the truth is that He was teaching me that through the Grace of His Son, all things can be cleansed, and once cleansed, are fully acceptable to God. So, Mr. Julius. as we stand here today every living soul, every member of the LGBTQ community, every person of whatever race or nation, is welcome and desired within the kingdom of our God and His Christ, but first they, like us, must be cleansed. When it comes to the eternal verities of righteousness and sin, God remains, and always will, a respecter of persons. The cleansed are his forever, and tragically, those who refuse to be cleansed, will remain separate from God forever, not by His will, but by their own. (Peter looks back over the group and points to a Young woman)
Peter: Yes Ms. Salome.
Ms. Salome: Thank you, I work for the Sidonian News Service. I get that Judas Iscariot and Paul, represent a bit of diversity among Church Leadership, but they were/are still men. What are you doing to promote gender equality within the church leadership?
Peter: Thank You Ms. Salome, as with Mr. Aristarchus’s question yours is based on a faulty premise. I will try to answer your question with some redirection and personal experience. The night before Jesus was betrayed and killed, He met with us of the 12 in an upper room. At one-point Jesus stood, girded himself in a towel and attempted to wash the feet of each of us. He began with me and as he attempted it, I forbade him. (Peter pauses to regain his composure, tears in his eyes)
Peter: You see I was caught up in the worldly perspective of governance and power. I could not let my leader, my God, stoop down from his leadership role, and engage in such a demeaning and menial task. Yet with His perfect love, and classic tenderness, Jesus tried again to teach me, and those of us assembled, the lesson that since that day has never left me. In His kingdom, which this church represents, governance is but a small, administrative necessity. What the core of His Gospel is really about is service. Serving others with unconditional, childlike, love, which has very little to do with governance, and everything to do with love. So, Ms. Salome, I want to answer your question from the perspective of that central pillar of this Church, that core doctrine and true purpose of this organization of which I am a part.
First: The first recorded miracle, performed by Jesus was at the request of a woman, and was performed as an act of service to others.
Second: While we as a quorum were still caught up in our Jewishness, and the importance of governance. Jesus was extending the Gospel blessings to women who were not even not of our nation, to the Phoenician women, whose daughter he healed, and the Samaritan women, though whom a whole village was blessed with the knowledge of the truth.
Third: While I myself was caught up in the human fascination with money and questioning whether the Son of God had to pay the temple tribute money, Jesus was teaching us the deeper matters of love, faith and sacrifice through the example of a powerful woman, a widow, who cast her entire living into the treasury.
Again, on the sacred day of his glorious resurrection from the grave, Jesus first appeared not to his church government, but to his faithful ministers of love, powerful certain women whose testimonies of that visitation and the seeing of angels we unwisely doubted, until He later manifested himself to us. (Peter Pauses again and gets composure, then with tenderness proceeds)
Peter: Some of you covered the passing of Jesus mortal mother, Mary, last year. I wish she were her with us today to demonstrate once and for all that the difference between governance and ministry is based in roles and gifts and has nothing to do with levels of equality. One could not sit in the presence of Mary without being in awe of her power, faith, strength and wisdom. Her very being radiated the reason why the Angel had said of her : “Blessed art thou among women” and more importantly, her leadership example was potently summed up in her humble response; “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word” (Peter pauses again ….. then sighs)
Peter: These and many other examples have taught us that women within this kingdom are in fact leading the way in the area of its central purpose, which is the ministry to all humankind. To forget or devalue all that power, simply because it does not fit the worlds definition of governance, is to miss the entire meaning of the Gospel……..Mr. Annoplois
Mr. Annopolis: Thank you, I’m from the Greek News Network (GNN) It is reported widely that the widows in Greece have been receiving a lessor portion of the ministrations to the poor within your church, simply because they are Greek and not of Jewish decent……..