the priesthood...

Disclaimer: i compiled this little paper as a result of my 'fed-up-ed-ness' of people praying/worshipping WITH unbelievers. i wrote this, printed out like 20 copies, and gave it to a bunch of people that i worked with at a Salvation Army Camp in CO. they didn't like it too much. but i want people to read this, so here you go.


But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2.9-10
Who is Peter speaking to? The Christians in exile. Peter calls them priests (and rightly so). Christians are priests,
just like the Old Testament priests. What do priests do?
15 Then he presented the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one. 16 And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule. 17 And he presented
the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning. 18 Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood,
and he threw it against the sides of the altar. 19 But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— 20 they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar, 21 but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.
22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they
blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Leviticus 9
They make sacrifices on behalf of the people (after they make sacrifices for themselves). God chose to use priests to make it possible for there to be forgiveness of sins. Priests make atonement possible. Priests make reconciliation possible.
What’s so special about priests? They are Holy (1 Peter 1.16; Leviticus 11)
Why are they Holy? Because God is Holy. Priests represent God on earth. God is firstly concerned with
reconciliation (hence the Passion), and the entire purpose of the priesthood is reconciliation. Priests exist so that man can be reconciled to God. God reconciles man to Himself--priests make that possible. But priests must be Holy for reconciliation to be possible. Or else they won’t be priests. They’ll burn (Leviticus 10.1-3)
It was the duty of the priests to protect the Holiness of God in the eyes of the Nations (Numbers 3.5-10). One of the ways the priests protected the Nations’ perception of God was by killing those who were not part of the priesthood. Those who tried to become members of the priesthood, and did not meet the qualifications, were put to death by the priests. Another way is that they made it clear that those who were unclean were not part of the camp, which was supposed to be Holy unto God (Numbers 5.1-4)
So priests are characterized by representing God in the world by making reconciliation, by being Holy, and by protecting the priesthood from defilement.

And yet, instead of protecting the priesthood from defilement, you make a habit of defiling it every day. Whenever you pray with a non-Christian, you are attempting to bring that which is unclean, into the Holy of Holies. Every time you pray with an unbeliever, that’s what you are doing. Every time you sing praises with a non-Christian, that’s what you’re doing.
You are SO willing--ready--to call anyone a Christian, when the opposite should be true. You should be weary and protective against anyone who would come near the priesthood who you do not know is a priest themselves.
What prayer is, is someone who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, entering into the throne-room of the Almighty. Only Christians can do that. God only hears the prayers of those whom He has regenerated.
If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.
--Proverbs 28.9 --Proverbs 15.8 --Proverbs 21.7
“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
--Isaiah 1.12-17
“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”
--Isaiah 66.3-4
So we can see from the text, that God hates when the wicked attempt to worship Him (be that by prayer, or by sacrifices). Their worship is an abomination. Their prayers are an abomination. And yet, you are more than happy to usher wicked people into doing things that God will punish them for if they are not saved eventually. God hates when the wicked people attempt to do the things that are exclusive to God’s people. Even more so, is when those who claim to be God’s people, encourage those who aren’t, to do the things that He hates.
God only accepts the worship of His people, and it is an abomination when people pretend that God hears them, because then, in the world’s eyes, the pretenders really are Christians. Christians are God’s representatives on earth, and God can’t have people mis-representing Him.