[aron]

If you look at the RecV, the word used in Acts 12:26 and 6:1,2 is translated 'dispensing', and the footnote says it's the same as in the gospel passage where angels 'ministered' to Jesus (Mark 1:13; Matt 4:11). Evidently it means 'to care for' in some overt way. Oftentimes we use the word 'care' as in emotional attachment, but this is a series of actions flowing out from an emotional connection. It might also be translated, 'tend to' or 'look after'.

So Saul and Barnabas were 'dispensing'... contrast to how the word is used in the LC. There I was trained in what they called 'PSRP' - pray-reading, studying, reciting and prophesying. They would take "words of ministry", i.e. Witness Lee's writings, and speak them to one another, repeatedly. "Amen, processed! Praise the Lord, processed! Hallelujah processed!" That, in the LC, was the 'dispensing', and it was supposed to effect an inward metabolic transformation ("Amen, metabolic! Hallelujah, metabolic!") from humanity to divinity. Quite different from the dispensing done by Saul and Barnabas in Acts 12.

Now, look at Jesus' words.

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

When Jesus said he "needed food" or "needed clothes" he's probably referencing the same situation Saul and Barnabas were addressing in Acts 12. And I doubt it's coincidental.

So I'm looking at two quite distinct ways of 'dispensing': one is gathering in 'meeting halls' and shouting at glassy-eyed acolytes of a certain Bible expositor who ran his own publishing firm and was called the Deputy God and Today's Moses; the other is what is suggested by the patterns of actions in the NT that line up with Jesus' teachings, and example.

Jesus talks of "the least of these" as the focus of the divine economy, but Paul Hon in Anaheim pulled up a strapping young American college student who looked like LA Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser, and said, "this is what we want". There were many people there with me, who can attest to my memory. Paul Hon was speaking for his bosses: they wanted Caucasian Americans with earning potential. That was their focus.