Received Instead of Dispersed

When I was in the Philippines (as a missionary) there was a false cult going around doing street preaching on the streets and even on public buses and other places. But when they preached they would take up offerings of money from the unbelievers they had just preached to. I challenged them and asked what scripture that they were using to justify taking up offerings of money from unbelievers. They then quoted the scripture below that the Lord received gifts from among men – even from the rebellious. So they stood on this mistranslation of the scripture to justify their action in taking up money from unbelievers outside of the church. This is an example of how a false translation can alter the behavior of people as they base their actions upon a mistranslation of the scripture. However, this scripture is not referring to taking offerings from unbelievers but the word “gifts” speaks of the fivefold ministry gifts of Apostle and Prophet and Evangelist and Pastor and Teacher.

See the link “Fivefold Ministry Gifts” for more details.

So this false doctrine used by this cult group was based upon an error in scripture translation as they confused “gifts” from unbelievers as receiving money from unsaved people rather than the “ministry gifts” of the fivefold ministry. These ministry gifts were given by God to even formerly rebellious people like Apostle Paul before he was saved.

The end-result of this false doctrine was that street preaching in the Philippines was entirely ruined by these false cult people. I have Christian friends who previously would engage in real street preaching of the gospel but this false cult group would attack them and drive them off as if these “cult people” were behaving like “gang bangers” fighting for their own territory and defending their right to fleece people of their money. The gospel preaching was entirely cancelled in the Philippines as the unbelievers became “hardened” in heart by the actions of these false cult people collecting money. So the unbelievers said that these so-called “Christians” are only after their money. So real street preaching was discredited and cancelled by the actions of a greedy cult group collecting money from unbelievers and thus hardening their hearts to the real gospel. This is another example of how a mistranslation of the scripture can create a false doctrine and a false doctrine can affect the actions and behavior of those misled by these same false ideas. Satan really used this deception to harden the hearts of the unbelievers against the gospel by using these false cult members who had a false gospel and supposed that gospel preaching was a means of gain.

Godliness of the Gospel Transformed into a Means of Gain

1 Timothy 6:3–5 (NASB95)
3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,
4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,
5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

The scriptures above speak of those who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. This concept is directly fulfilled by these reprobate false cult people in the Philippines who thought that preaching the gospel was a means of gain (to collect money from unbelievers) and to drive off and shut down any real Christians who sought to do real street preaching.

Below are some examples of the mistranslation of this scripture which has been used as a basis for collecting money as “offerings” from unbelievers (and thus hardened the hearts of unbelievers. Thus they confirmed the false suspicions of the unbelievers that Christians are only preaching to get money.

Receiving Gifts from the Rebellious?

Psalm 68:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.

Psalm 68:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.

Psalm 68:18 (AMP)

¹⁸ You have ascended on high. You have led away captive a train of vanquished foes; You have received gifts of men, yes, of the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell there with them.

Psalm 68:18 (CJB)

¹⁸ After you went up into the heights, you led captivity captive, you took gifts among mankind, yes, even among the rebels, so that Yah, God, might live there.

Psalm 68:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious– that you, O LORD God, might dwell there.

Psalm 68:18 (NIV2011)

¹⁸ When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious— that you, LORD God, might dwell there.

Psalm 68:18 (NLT2)

¹⁸ When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the LORD God will live among us there.

Psalm 68:18 (HCSB)

¹⁸ You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; You received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the LORD God might live ⌊there⌋.

All eight translations above speak of the Lord “receiving” gifts from the rebellious rather than “giving” or “dispersing” gifts among the rebellious. This is referring to the Fivefold Ministry Gifts of Apostle, Prophet, Teacher, Pastor and Evangelist and these gifts were dispersed or given among men (including Saul who was formerly a religious zealot who persecuted the church)! The NT companion scripture is:

Ephesians 4:8-11 (NKJV)

⁸ Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this, “He ascended”–what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰ He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

This speaks of Jesus preaching to the spirits of the righteous Old Testament men who were in custody in a place called Abraham’s bosom and Jesus preached the gospel to them and got them saved and then led them forth in procession as “first-fruits” to enter heaven. At this time Jesus also dispersed or gave the Fivefold Ministry gifts to men on earth.

See the lesson “Levites Naturally Gifted” for more details.

The Old Testament Psalm 68:18 is fulfilled by the New Testament Ephesians 4:8-11 and both refer to giving Fivefold Ministry Gifts to men. But translators could not understand why the Lord would give gifts to rebellious people so they assumed it must mean that the Lord received gifts from the rebellious (just like a king receiving tribute from defeated and rebellious foes).

Psalm 68:18 (NKJV)-M

¹⁸ You have ascended on high [into heaven], leading the righteous captives into eternal freedom. You have given [dispersed] ministry gifts among men, even among the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.

Above is a modified (NKJV) that is clarified better to show that the Lord gave or “dispersed” ministry gifts even among the rebellious (like Saul before he was saved). Saul realized he was born with the gift of Apostle after he got saved and so this formerly rebellious man was a recipient of the gift of Apostle to do the work of the ministry.

See the link “7K-Bible” for more details.

See also the link “7K-Bible Translation Mistakes” for more details.