Abner 

Abner was chief of John the Baptist's loyal supporters, and as such, led the Engedi colony. He was a Nazarite of lifelong consecration and later became a follower of Jesus.

Sometime prior to October of 27 CE, Abner urged John the Baptist to designate twelve of his followers to be trained as apostles, following the precedent of Jesus. John did as Abner requested and soon thereafter, Abner and other apostles of John the Baptist had a chance encounter with Jesus’ apostles while purchasing food in a village near Mount Gilboa. This chance encounter led to a three-week conference of both groups of apostles at the Gilboa camp, primarily organized by Abner.

Andrew and Abner took turns leading the joint meetings with the goal of harmonizing the teachings and practices of both groups. The most challenging issue was baptism. John’s apostles preached, “Repent and be baptized.” Jesus’ apostles proclaimed, “Believe and be baptized.” They agreed that, while John lived, only his apostles would baptize, and Jesus' apostles would instruct new disciples.

Jesus made it clear that his primary role was to address personal and religious concerns on an individual basis. He didn't involve himself in group decisions, especially those related to coordinating human interpretations of religious matters or socializing religion. He encouraged the two groups to solve these nonspiritual issues through their own decisions, offering his support and approval when they reached a consensus.

As a devout believer in Jesus, Abner was made the head of a group of seventy teachers, whom the Master commissioned to preach the gospel, eventually including the women's evangelistic corps. In September 29 CE, Abner moved his base of operations from Hebron to Bethlehem, where Jesus gave much instruction to Abner and the other former apostles of John. And it was this intimate contact that finally led them to believe in him. Ever after, the two groups labored as one organization up until his crucifixion.

Since Abner remained most faithful to Jesus' teachings after the ascension, there arose a rift between him and Peter and later Paul; staying in Philadelphia, where he became the head of the church there, and preached the original message of Jesus until his death, on the 21st of November, CE 74, at the age of 89 years. This estrangement with Jerusalem explains why nothing is heard of Abner and his work in the Gospel records of the New Testament.

During the later years of Abner and for some time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more strictly to the religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than any other group on earth.

The most important lesson to know about Abner is that he stayed true to the original teachings of Jesus, having "sat at his feet" several times, both with the other former followers of John the Baptist, as well as for individual instruction with Jesus. Unfortunately, due to the disagreement with the apostle Peter and even James, the biological brother of Jesus, who both wanted to promote the resurrection as the main thrust of Jesus' life, Abner left Jerusalem, and preached in Philadelphia until he died.

Because of the fracture between the burgeoning “gospel” of Jesus and his relatively faithful adherence to Jesus; Abner was compelled to live a life of isolation. He was head of a church which was without standing at Jerusalem. He had dared to defy James the Lord’s brother, who was subsequently supported by Peter. Such conduct effectively separated him from all his former associates. Then he dared to withstand Paul. Although he was wholly sympathetic with Paul in his mission to the gentiles, and though he supported him in his contentions with the church at Jerusalem, he bitterly opposed the version of Jesus’ teachings which Paul elected to preach. In his last years Abner denounced Paul as the “clever corrupter of the life teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God.”

Afterwards, the missionaries of the Abnerian version of the kingdom of heaven spread throughout Mesopotamia and Arabia until the later times when these uncompromising emissaries of the teachings of Jesus were overwhelmed by the sudden rise of Islam.

Abner lived to be 89 years old, dying at Philadelphia on the 21st day of November, 74 CE. To the very end, he was a faithful believer in, and teacher of, the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.