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PRAYERS. For the sake of true worship I am now writing with reference to prayers. Only conceited men rebelling against the arrangement of God develop the presumptuous habit of praying publicly on behalf of others. It would be wise for you to seriously consider why you would allow such ones, or indeed anyone at all, to pray publicly on your behalf. (Matt 6:5). Why do such men need others to hear their prayerful utterances offered to God? There can only be one reason for this, and Paul The Christ's apostle to the nations gave us the answer: That by acting as a mediator between you and God they may sit in the temple of God and be a god themselves. (2 Thess 2:4). By consenting to this, you are permitting them to exercise authority over you and act as a mediator in place of The Christ, for they stand in the congregation publicly offering prayers to be glorified by men. How and where we should pray to God is clearly set out in Matthew 6:6-8.
Those who have committed this
offence in ignorance may be forgiven. But those who deliberately offer prayers
publicly to God in order to be considered as mediators, and know of their
offence, or who act as mediators by receiving the personal confessions of the
sins of others, cut themselves off from eternal life. Only The Christ may
exercise his prerogative to offer up prayers and spirit sacrifices acceptable to
Jehovah on our behalf. (1 Tim 2:3 Therefore, with all the holy ones, make your spirit readjustment as to this part of the length and breadth of the knowledge of God as described on Page (9/12/85). (Eph 3:14-19).
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