A traditional Christian is a passive listener and not a passionate doer.
Instead of standing in the gap for the lost nations, he is standing in a
corner. He has foolishly built his house upon the quicksand of rituals and
traditions- the rains descend, the floods come, the winds blow and his house
is washed away. (John 14:24; Matt. 15:9)
A Great Commission Christian resonates with the will of God and obeys the
commandments of Jesus, to love each other and to go and make disciples.
He has wisely built his house upon The Rock (Jesus) - with gold and silver
and precious stones and not with wood, hay and straw and the fires descend
but his house does not burn but stands firm.
(John 13: 34, 35; 14: 21, 23; 1 Cor. 3:11-17)
You shall know them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:16, 20; 24-27)
THE BIG
IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE
GOD’S VISION: All tongues and tribes will stand before His throne and worship Him (Rev.
7:9,10). Jesus changed His heavenly life-style to fulfill His Father’s vision. He trained
disciples and commissioned them to make disciples of all nations. He commanded them
to be His witnesses (Greek=martyrs) to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES: Systems and structures are set up to accomplish a specific
purpose. If the primary purpose of a church is worship, then a special worship building, a
special day for worship such as Sunday, professionals especially trained to lead worship,
financial structures (tithing) to maintain the system, and finally a church government to
administer. None of these is to be found in the NT!
MANAGING CHANGE: If the real purpose of the Ekklesia is to fulfill the Great Commission
of our Lord, which is to go and make disciples of all nations, then specific systems and
structures have to be set up to accomplish that task. For this, we need large numbers of
especially skilled in disciple making, church planting, lucid communication, team
building, networking and empowering common people, to make the strategy actionable.
Ultimately, success depends on the quality and the quantity of the ordinary believers. We
need to develop different financial (sharing material blessings with the needy) and
administrative structures (bivocational elders) and constant evaluation to monitor
progress. This requires radical restructuring of the church.
CHANGE OR PERISH: The traditional church might be too old to tango with the NT Bride,
but she must change from the conventional to the covenant church and from playing
church to planting churches. The existing system cannot be put through the scanner by
those who are inside the structure. This would be like asking a drug addict to be the drug
controller. Outsiders can identify strengths, weaknesses, processes, train talent and induct
crisis management teams. Change is resisted because of the threat of losing control and
power. But change is a sign of growth and therefore, inevitable. It is wise to identify the
engines of change, otherwise the modern church is heading for the back seat of the bus.
The church should be exploding into the world but if it does not change, there is always
the danger of implosion from within.
CHANGE HAS A PRICE TAG: When a Jew became a Messianic Jew, he gave up the temple,
the synagogue, the Sabbath, the circumcision and the sacrifices. He started fellowships in
homes, saturated the city with the gospel, suffered persecution and often became a
refugee. When a person of another faith becomes a Christian, he not only gives up the
focal points of his religion, but also often loses his family, the community, and sometimes
even his life. (Gal. 2:20)
THE MEGASHIFT: A wide-angle snapshot shows that in spite of many weaknesses and
inadequacies, an awesome global spiritual megashift is quietly taking place from the
visible traditional church to the largely invisible but vigorously performing newly
emerging house Ekklesias. There are three sets of major game players in this
metamorphosis. Firstly, the Intercessors are fasting, praying and marching on their
knees. Secondly, the Prayer Walkers are bulldozing the bastions of the Devil.
Thirdly,
the Apostolics who believe that the saturation church planting of the planet earth is
doable and are going among unheard of people in unimaginable places. Many are
illiterate, faceless, nobodies, with amazing flexibility, creativity and entrepreneurship.
The rest of us, who are involved in this exciting movement are mere appendages.
THE CHURCH NEEDS OVERHAULING: Another kaleidoscopic snapshot shows the
malfunctioning flaccid traditional church with an atavistic mind set, needing to change
from a defensive, protectionist and isolationist position, into a ready, willing, able and
united to take the world by storm. Non-playing captains, who have never sullied their
hands and feet in the mud and slush of the harvest fields, have coached the game players
who are already psyched out. They do not have game plans for expanding the global or
local frontiers of the Kingdom. Global evangelism requires global minded people. For
this, the church has to give up egos, logos, titles and change from event, celebrity and
dignitary orientation to a process and purpose driven church. The process includes,
humbly learning from godly men and women in the harvest fields, who genuinely and
spontaneously resonate a faith, character, commitment and tenacity, necessary for
changing the world.
THE CHALLENGE: The blueprint for the NT Ekklesia is radically different from the
traditional model. It is not just semantics and terminology but a complete change in form
and function. Proper mentoring and true priesthood of all believers cannot be practiced in
a large congregation, but only in a small group dynamic.
This book is especially writtenfor the pundits (priests) and devotees, obsessed with the temple and its dogmas. Some
will find it amusing, others informative, yet others will be infuriated, but hopefully some
will find it disturbing enough to change their religious thinking and practices. It is not
written to criticize pastors or the leaders. There are many godly men, who genuinely love
and “zealously serve the Lord, according to the traditions, but not according to
knowledge” (Rom. 10:2; Prov. 19:2). It is the office and the role of the biblical pastor in
the Scriptures and history, which is being put through the scanner.
CHURCH OR EKKLESIA? The word “church” is badly mired in confusion and immediately
conjures up in the mind, a building, Sunday service, reverends, traditions, tithes, pulpit,
pews, programs etc. All these are idols, founded on the quicksand of human ingenuity and
not on The Rock, or the Scriptures. The modern church is so consumed with idolatry that
it cannot worship without these idols. However, the Ekklesia of Jesus is just a gathering
of God’s people, who do not need any of those paraphernalia to function. There are many
children of Issachar in the traditional churches today, who understand the times and know
that the church needs to claw its way back to the original NT values (1 Chron. 12:32).
This book is written to encourage such people to catch the vision and run with it. (Hab.
2:1-3)
Whatever you are today is the product of your vision. Get vision and run
with it or else perish. A vision that cannot be implemented is hallucination.
The face of Christendom is changing rapidly from a structured monolith to
more and more apostolic, like the Book of Acts.
Jesus likes His “oikos” or the dwelling place to be full. He wants us to go
out quickly into the highways and byways of the city and bring in the poor,
the maimed, the lame and the blind, the disabled, the handicapped, the
infirm, the hurting, the sick, the mutilated and the mangled and the rejects
of the society.
Jesus likes to make our homes His house of prayer, where “all nations” can
be discipled.
The modern church is a barrier and a black hole for the 99% of the
disadvantaged of this world. (Luke 14:21-23; Mark 11:17)
THE AIM
DO NOT INVENT - JUST DISCOVER THE VISION: The church suffers from severe amnesia
when it comes to fulfilling her mission to complete the task of the Great Commission.
The delinquent church thinks that the people out there need to “come” to be churched.
But, Jesus commanded His Ekklesia to “go” and make disciples of all nations, and send
them to the ends of the earth. Jesus called us to follow Him and become “fishers of
men.” Going and making disciples must supersede all the other activities of the Church.
While the demand for disciples is open ended and limitless, the evangelization of the
world is bottlenecked because of severe shortfall of disciple makers. Tragically, this is not
due to lack of resources but because the church is sitting on a colossal gold mine of
untapped resources decaying in the pews. We do not have to reinvent the vision, just
discover it and act.
PAUL FOUGHT THE TRADITIONALISTS: As Paul went on his missionary journeys, his enemies
followed him everywhere and pressurized the emerging Ekklesias to adopt the Jewish
traditions. Paul spent much time and effort, including writing to the Ekklesias, fighting
against traditions. It is said that Paul’s famous “thorn in the flesh” were these
traditionalists who had vowed to kill him. Beelzebub means “the lord of the flies”, who
goes around dividing the house of God. It is time we went around with fly swatters,
systematically swatting the demons of tradition, which cause division in the church (Luke
17:21; Matt. 12:24,25; 1 Tim. 4:1). The main obstacle to world evangelization is the
multiplicity of extra-biblical traditions, which “make the gospel of no effect”. Jesus said,
“Why do you transgress the commandments of God with your traditions ... and make the
commandments of God of no effect by your traditions...teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men” (Matt. 15:3-9). It is time to sweep out the rubbish of traditions
into a trashcan and foil the plans of the enemy who keeps derailing the process of world
evangelization.
CULTURAL OBSTACLES TO CHANGE: 200 years ago, William Carey came to North India;
however, less than 1% accepted Christianity. The West is programmed and organized to
death. The Western life-style has been adopted in education, administration and business
but the church subculture is diametrically opposed to the oriental religious laissez-faire
culture and failed to impact 99% of the people. This church/community culture gap must
be bridged through an alternative indigenous church culture. Non-Christians have great
regard for Jesus, but they have rejected the modern church, a symbol of Western culture,
colonialism and slavery. We can remain embedded in the Western system and be
permanently impaired in changing the destiny of this nation. India is now politically
independent. This could be India’s finest defining moment, if she moved into spiritual
independence from the Western “spiritual colonizers”. Jesus promised liberty to the
captives, which is one step further: to stand in ones God-given destiny and mission and
be interdependent with other nations (ethne), doing likewise. We must develop simple,
unambiguous strategy for communicating in the local language and cultural symbols that
resonate with the target audience.
SWADESHI (INDIGENOUS) EKKLESIA IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR: There is an urgent need to
push through the reform process in the church. Instead of the Western or the South
Korean models, we should be looking at the Chinese model, which has surged past all the
others. The churches should cobble a common vision statement, to act as a spring board
and craft an effective delivery system that takes the gospel to the masses in their own
cultural context. Culture is a major stumbling block. Any attempt to indigenize is dubbed
as syncretistic. Actually, it is the other way around - we have syncretized with the
Western suburban and self-centered individualistic culture, whereas Christianity is a
community and a shared-life culture. The goal of the church is to establish faith
communities. Eastern culture of clans and ethnic groups, lends beautifully to impact the
entire “ta ethne” or the communities. Christianity went from the East to the West and
there is no valid reason why the winds of reform should not blow from here to there.
JESUS WAS A MASTER STORY TELLER: TheWest has a ‘book culture’, whereas in the East, vast
majority are illiterate with an “oral culture.” Fortunately 75% of the Bible consists of
stories and with poetry and Proverbs added, only 10% of the Bible is abstract intellectual
stuff. Most of the people that Jesus dealt, were either illiterate or semiliterate. He took 12
of them and turned the world upside down. Paul took the semiliterate Jews from the
synagogues and used them as a bridge to plant churches among the illiterate Gentiles. The
Western communication model can cater only to 10% of the elite, while Jesus taught all
the foundational as well as the profound theological principles through stories,
testimonies and parables. (Matt. 13:34)
THE EKKLESIA GLORIFIES GOD THROUGH DISCIPLING THE NATIONS: The Hindu
fundamentalists have 75,000 shakhas or training centers, where they make disciples by
the thousands. The Muslims have 300,000 schools called Madrasas, to indoctrinate the
young about Jihad or the holy war. From their perspective, they are victimized and the
West is decadent and immoral, ready to be vivisected and purified by Islam.
Fundamentalist Hindus, Muslims and even Buddhists, are breeding a huge army of
militants, in the East and especially in the liberal West, ready to die to reap the harvest of
hate. The moden church, however, suffers from profound amnesia that making disciples
is, her mission and mandate. It is the raison d’ etre or the reason for her existence.
WHAT IS AN OFFENCE? An obstacle or an offence in the Bible means digging a trench and
setting a trap for someone to fall in, just as hunters trap an animal. The punishment for
this deliberate act of being an offence is so awesome that it would be better to have a
millstone hung around the neck and be drowned in the deep sea. Jesus came “to save that
which was lost.” Our most urgent task is to remove all obstacles that are preventing a fast
and free flow of lost people into the kingdom. The local Ekklesia should have a caring
and sharing image that anyone hurting should head straight for her, just like the sick
people who head for the hospital and find both, solace and also salvation. (Matt. 18:6-11)
IN SEARCH OF HOLY GRAILS: Emperor Constantine’s mother, Queen Helena in circa 325,
went to Jerusalem in search of the Grail from which Jesus and His disciples drank the
wine during the last supper. Fortunately, she did not find it as she was hoping to make it
an iconic object of worship. In this book, we search the origins of sacred grails like the
buildings, the Sunday worship, the authority to baptize, to serve the Holy Communion,
the role of women, the place of hierarchy, a one-man show or fivefold ministry gifts,
speaking in tongues, Christian festivals and many other controversial subjects. All the
statements in this book either have Biblical basis or gleaned from known history.
DISMANTLE THE EXISTING STRUCTURES TO MOVE FORWARD: Moses met God face to face in a
portable tent called the Tabernacle of Meeting (Exod. 33:7-11), which was dismantled
and pitched again as they moved from place to place. A paradigm shift or radical
restructuring is traumatic. If it changes from the top by consensus, then the transition is
smooth but if it starts from the bottom, then it is coercive and revolutionary, which can
lead to bitterness and violence. Changes, which are sweeping the planet, require
maximizing transitioning process for dismantling the existing structures and pitch our
tents in unreached regions so that the Great Commission will not remain a great
omission. A Messianic Jew went through agonizing transition. He had to abandon the
temple, the Sabbath, circumcision, sacrifices, the feasts, the Levitical priesthood, kosher
meat and even his hairstyle. Worse still, he had to stop hating the Gentiles, stoning
sinners to death and instead loving them. For this, he was persecuted by a very hostile
community.
RETURN TO THE SIMPLICITY OF THE NT EKKLESIA: Our sacred buildings, need to be
converted into debating halls of Tyrannus where seekers can reason all day long, so that
all the world can hear the gospel. (Luke 18:22; Acts 19:9,10). Secondly, we need to
release the professional clergy to be tent makers and empower them to become truly royal
priests. The Sunday religious cacophony must be replaced with daily informal Gatherings
for rapid discipling of the nations.
THE STAKES ARE HIGH: The spiritual epicenter is rapidly shifting from the traditional
visible church to the exploding house Ekklesia movements, where the process of massive
nuclear fission has already gone critical, beyond the point of no return. Jesus is pouring
out His Spirit on all flesh, as never before by daily adding nuclear fuel to the fire. The
church does not need sporadic tame renewal or revival but transition from “sounding
brass” to radical restructuring. The stakes are high with no other soft options for world
evangelization. The open agenda of the church should be to dismantle existing
unscriptural structures and replace them with new wineskins for the new wine. (Jer. 1:10;
Matt. 9:17)
RELOCATING THE EKKLESIA: The golden lampstand provided light in the Holy of Holies.
Everything in the room was fashioned according to the pattern God had given to Moses
(Exo. 25:31-40; 40:24). Gold is precious and speaks of value. We are now the precious
possession of God (1Pet.2:9). The oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Without oil, there will
be no fire in the lamp. Without the Holy Spirit, the Ekklesia will have no fire and no
light. The six branches coming out, all equal in height, represent the unity in plurality.
The Ekklesia has multiple charismata, all of which must be allowed to function as equals.
The almond blossom on the rod of Aaron represents the priestly authority and the
fruitfulness of the Ekklesia. Jesus called the Ekklesia, the lampstand and us, the light of
the world (Rev. 1:20; Matt. 5:14-16). He took the lampstand ( Ekklesia) out from the
sanctum sanctorum and relocated it in the homes of the people (1 Thess. 5:5). We, the
little lights, have the potential not only to light a home but also light thousands of
lampstands in the homes of the people.
YOU SAY IT IS FOUR MONTHS, BUT I SAY THE HARVEST READY NOW: The Lord commands,
“this gospel of the kingdom be preached throughout the whole world, as a witness to all
the nations.” This requires the whole church to go with the whole gospel to the whole
world resulting in the earth getting filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. Praise
God that it is already happening! (John 4:35)
The word “church” is corrupted beyond redemption. It means a building
with its infrastructure of reverends, pulpit, pews, tithes, traditions, rituals,
programs, professional music and sermons. All of these are idols and
therefore, sinful.
The New Testament Ekklesia or the “called out people” require none of the
above paraphernalia to worship.
The pulpit is divisive as it stands between the shepherd and the flock.
The pulpit is a den of thieves as it steals the right of the believers and the
unbelievers to participate. (Mark 11:17; 1 Cor. 14:23-26, 29-31)
The gap between the pulpit and the pew needs to be abolished by removing
the pulpit. (Eze. 22:30, 31)
The pulpit/pew dichotomy has done more damage to the church than any
other heresy.
THE NEWTESTAMENT EKKLESIA
THE NEW TESTAMENT EKKLESIA IS THE ORIGINAL MODEL: This book brings out many
principles of the New Testament (NT) model of Ekklesia with a brief history of her form
and function. It then goes on to tell how the Ekklesia was systematically corrupted over
the centuries. No one “went to church”, because they knew that they were the Ekklesia.
They met almost daily in the simplicity and intimacy of homes. The network of
Congregations in a region functioned as a living organism. The temple, the priests, the
Sabbath and all the religious rituals of Jewish and Gentile faiths were gone. The net result
was that, even in the face of persecution, the Ekklesia grew and multiplied exponentially.
VISITOR FROM THE JERUSALEM EKKLESIA: Over the centuries, the temple, the priests and the
Sabbath have all crept back. If a first century Christian visited us today, he would have
difficulty in recognizing this mutant ogre as an Ekklesia. The ornate buildings, the
Sunday worship, the sermon, the loud music, institutionalization, tithing to sustain the
above structures, fund raising drives for projects, would give an epileptic fit to a visitor
from the outer space. Unfortunately, these are now the pillars of the modern church. The
visitor will have to go to a 1 Corinthian 14:26 version of a house Ekklesia, to feel
comfortable.
LOVE FOR ‘EACH OTHER’ IS THE BENCHMARK: Many people believe that the NT Ekklesia
did not have buildings, because they were poor, but that is not the case. Cornelius the
centurion, Lydia the seller of purple and the treasurer of Ethiopia, were well off and could
have easily built buildings. Even persecution could not stop them from constructing,
because persecution was only periodic. The real reason was that the Lord Jesus had given
them a new commandment to “Love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all
people know that you are My disciples because you have love for one another.” (John
13:34,35). The glue of love bonded them, gave them a new identity, set them apart and
characterized their whole new way of life.
EXAMPLES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HOUSES IN THE NT:
1. Jesus taught at Mary and Martha’s house. (Luke 10:38-42)
2. Jesus healed a paralytic in a house. (Mark 2:1-12)
3. A 12-year-old dead girl was raised in Jairus’ house. (Matt. 9:23-26)
4. Jesus attended a wedding in Cana in a house. (John 2:1-12)
5. Jesus ate in the house of Zacchaeus the tax collector, resulting in his repentance.
(Luke 19:1-10)
6. Jesus was anointed with perfume by Mary in the house of Lazarus. (John 12:1-8)
7. The Ekklesia prayed all night in the house of Mary for the release of Peter from jail.
(Acts 12:5, 12)
8. Peter went to the house of Cornelius for his first ever meeting in the house of a
Gentile. (Acts 10:24)
9. Saul created havoc in the Ekklesia, entering every house and dragging men and
women into prison. (Acts 8:3)
njew from india educates the west :GOD’S CONCEPT PLANS
GOD’S CONCEPT - PLAN A: in God’s “end vision”, all nations, tribes, languages and people
groups will be standing before His throne (Rev. 7:9,10). To accomplish this, firstly He
chose Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exo. 19:6). Secondly, He
commanded them to spread abroad all over the world, penetrating everywhere, just like
the dust storms of the desert (Gen. 28:14). Thirdly, He commanded them to possess the
gates of the enemy (Gen. 22:17). Fourthly, He blessed them to be a blessing to all the
families of the earth. (Gen. 12:3)
ISRAEL CHOSE OTHERWISE: Israel chose the temple, the professional priesthood and the
Sabbath to bless themselves - all very biblical, but not exactly what God wanted them to
do. Further, instead of being a blessing to the heathen, they despised them, and instead of
spreading abroad, they stayed put in Canaan. But God’s purposes cannot be defeated, so
He scattered them abroad, where they spent the better part of their history as slaves in
Diaspora. Even there they lived in Jewish ghettos, built synagogues and appointed
professional rabbis to teach traditions, which God never intended. God then rejected them
as His priests and allowed them to be destroyed. (Hosea 4:6-10)
JESUS’ACTION PLAN: Plan A having failed, God put Plan B into action by sending Jesus to
accomplish the same task. First, Jesus affirmed the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:9;
Rev. 1:6; 5:10). Second, He gave a mandate to His Ekklesia to make disciples of all
nations so that they would be a blessing to all the families of the nations (Luke 10:5,6;
Matt. 28:19). Then He gave the simple but very effective goal-driven strategy to achieve
this objective, by commanding them to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. (Acts
1:8)
THE CHURCH FOLLOWS ISRAEL: Jesus died on the cross to replace the hereditary priesthood
with the priesthood of all believers. His death, desecrated the temple by tearing the
curtain of separation, and replaced the Sabbath with daily worship. Sadly, just like Israel,
the church chose the temple, the professional priesthood and Sunday as the Sabbath, in
order to bless herself, and forgot the mandate to bless other nations.
THE CHURCH BECOMES A CANNIBAL: Worse still, the organized church turned on its own
faithful who dared to worship God in truth and spirit in their homes. The established
church declared them heretics and murdered them by the millions, all in the name of
religion. It started seminaries to train priests to perpetuate the evil system of clergydomination
and the exploitation of ordinary believers.
THE CHURCH OR A DEN OF THIEVES? The church is not just a happy clappy worshipful
company of born-again Christians singing beautiful choruses and having a wonderful
time among themselves, but she has a task to do. The ignorance of the church regarding
her task of discipling the nations is not just tragic but pathetic. She has effectively
slammed shut the door of salvation on millions of lost people who should be discipled
into the kingdom. Jesus chased the Jews out of the temple and declared, “My house shall
be a house of prayer for all nations.” Those of other faiths should be so moved by what
happens in the church that “falling down they will say that God is truly among you.”
Without nations being discipled, the church is a den of thieves. (Mark 11:17; 1 Cor.
14:24,25)
NEW WINE IN NEW WINESKINS: Having patiently waited for 2000 years, and seeing the
atrocities the harlot church committed, the Lord is now putting Plan C into action. He is
now preparing new wineskins (House Gatherings) for the new wine of the Gentiles that is
coming in. In the last decade, millions in third world countries have entered the kingdom
through these humble houses. (Mark 2:22; Matt. 9:17)
AN AWESOME PARADIGM SHIFT IS TAKING PLACE: Already there is a significant shift from
ornate buildings to humble houses, from professional clergy to the priesthood of all
believers and from a Sunday service to believers gathering informally everyday. This shift
has resulted in an astronomical increase in the number of believers all over the world.
With huge networks of intercessors being formed, the chances are that there will be an
exponential growth of the Ekklesia in the near future.
Going to a church makes you no more a Christian than going to a repair
shop makes you a mechanic.
Sermons are multipoint discourses, therefore difficult to remember.
Stories are interesting events and easy to remember.
Good news is not systematic theology or a set of doctrinal statements.
The good news is the story of Jesus.
Christianity is not going to church every Sunday but inviting Jesus into
your house every day when He knocks on the door to have a meal with you.
Christianity is loving God and loving each other. It is sharing a meal and
the story of Jesus with the lost.
On the basis of accumulated evidence, the institutional church stands
convicted of manslaughter of millions of Christians and for depriving
salvation to billions of non-Christians.
Jesus was not born in a holy place but in a dirty cowshed.
Jesus was not a priest of the sanctuary but a priest of the street.
Jesus was not buried in a church cemetery but hung on a cross outside the
city.
Jesus did not proclaim from the holy of holies in Jerusalem but from
Caesarea an idolatrous city that He would build His Ekklesia.
(Matt. 16:13-18)
Jesus did not come to give placebo sermons to sedate the righteous but to
call the sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)
Jesus has not chosen you to be a Sunday worshipper but to be a daily
discipler.
THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
THE APOSTOLIC LEADERSHIP REPLACED BY EVIL MEN: The Ekklesia started with a big bang
on the day of Pentecost. On day one, she consisted of 500 men and women, who had seen
the risen Lord, 120 men and women, who were bathed in the Holy Spirit, including the
twelve apostles and 3000 multinational believers. Soon 5000 families would be joining.
There would be no deacons, elders, bishops or pastors, office, structure or organization,
but believers would increase daily and new Ekklesias will be planted everyday. Soon the
temple precincts will be out of bounds and the discipling venue will shift into homes,
resulting in city saturation with multitudes of believers in hundreds of house Ekklesias.
Persecution will follow with thousands fleeing, resulting in exponential growth of the
Ekklesia. Christianity will go global in the first few months of the launch as the
international Pentecostal pilgrims return to their respective countries and plant Ekklesias
all over the world. The golden era will last as long as it has apostolic leadership (1
Cor.15:6; Acts 1:13-15; 2:5, 41; 4:4; 16:5). Jesus had forewarned that false Christs and
prophets would arise (Matt. 24:24), who would scatter and destroy the sheep. Paul, Peter
and James, also warned about such ungodly, impious men, false teachers and even cursed
them (Gal. 1:8-10; I Pet. 2:1,2; Jude :4-19). The church history eminently proves that in
the last two millennia, evil men, misled the Bride and made her a compromised harlot.
(Acts 20:29,30; Rev. 17:1-6). Nevertheless the true church survived, not through the
structured church but through the blood of the martyrs.
DENOMINATIONALISM - THE SEED OF DIVISION: The Greek word for the Devil is Diabolos,
which means deceiver, accuser, one causing division, etc. (Rev. 12:9). Devil’s strategy is
to destroy the Ekklesia by driving a wedge between the people of God (Matt. 13:25).
Today, there are about 33,000 denominations. Every denomination has problems of
doctrine and practices. Satan has sown such a fruitful bitter seed of division, which has
corrupted nearly all the churches. The Ekklesia is one Body, “joined and knit together for
effective working, with every part doing its share, leading to its numerical and spiritual
growth” (Eph 4:16). If the church is serious about reaching the ends of the earth, then it is
incumbent upon her to partner with others and define her strategy and communicate it to
others in unambiguous terms. This is necessary to win the global war against Diabolos.
Marketing the divisive sectarian values of “us versus them” to the already fragmented
cultures and communities, should be banned. The Hydra-headed serpent of
denominationalism has been a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions causing religious
fundamentalism and doctrinal division in the Body of Christ. The churches have a choice:
either synergize all our efforts today and swim together or loose the opportunity for
generations and drown separately.
JESUS HATES THE CLERGY/LAYMEN DIVIDE: The first false teaching came into the Ekklesia
through Nicolas, mentioned in the Assemblies of Ephesus and Pergamos of the seven
Assemblies of the Book of Revelation. Perhaps he was a contemporary of Stephen and
Philip (Acts 6:5). Significantly, Nicolas means, “conquering the laos or the ordinary
people.” In contrast, Jesus called the “laos” or the ordinary people His brothers and sisters
(Mark 3:31-35). It was Nicolas who started the division between “listening brothers” and
“speaking brothers” where the speakers claimed a higher status. Jesus condemned this
division and compared it to idolatry and fornication (Rev. 2:6, 14,15). Yet the
clergy/laymen division continues in our churches even today. According to the Scriptures,
every believer is a royal priest and never just a layperson. (I Pet. 2:9; 1 Cor. 14:26-31)
THE EARLY EKKLESIA GOES THROUGH PERSECUTION: For the first 300 years, the Ekklesia
flourished in the simplicity and intimacy of people’s homes. During this time the house
Congregations suffered much persecution. Jews, Gentiles and Roman Emperors took
particular pleasure in persecuting Christians. They were fed to hungry wild animals for
the entertainment of the crowds, even sawn in pieces and persecuted in many other
ghastly ways. However this was only a foretaste of what the established church was going
to do later on.
CONSTANTINE SEES A VISION OF JESUS: Constantine (280-337 A.D.) was born in England
into a Christian family. His father Constantius was a virtuous man who encouraged
Christianity. He died in A.D. 306 and was buried in York, England. His son, Constantine,
went to defeat the tyrant emperor Maxentius of Rome, but was afraid of him because the
latter was a sorcerer. However, Constantine saw the cross of Jesus in a vision, went forth,
and defeated Maxentius in A.D. 312.
IT WAS THE BRICKS AND MORTAR THAT KILLED THE EKKLESIA: Constantine became the
Roman emperor and brought much relief and happiness to the Christians. But, with the
best intentions, he permanently damaged the Ekklesia. In A.D. 313 through an Imperial
edict, Christianity became a state religion. He gave many facilities to the Christians
including tax-free salary to the priests. Constantine proclaimed himself the Head of the
Church. He built the first grand cathedral (313-320 A.D.) modeled on pagan temples. All
the people who used to gather in the houses of the believers now started meeting in
religious buildings designed on pagan architecture. The intimate environment of the
house Congregations came to an end. The mandate to disciple the nations in the homes of
believers, was permanently lost. Jesus is building His temple with living stones and not
with the man-made mass-produced dead bricks.
CHRISTIANITY BECOMES A STATE OWNED RELIGION: When Constantine left Rome to settle
down in the newly built city of Constantinople (A.D. 330) in Turkey, he bequeathed his
palace to the Bishop of Rome who began to live like a lord. The priests gradually took
over the governance of the church all over the world and wherever their diktat was
questioned, the believers were persecuted and even killed. The state governments began
to keep control over the people by financially supporting the priests. All over Europe,
even today, with few exceptions, the government pays the salaries of the priests. Power
intoxicated, the churches strayed far out, and instead of worshipping their Lord, they
started serving their benefactors. Constantine’s own son Julian (A.D. 361) became an
idolater and the grand cathedral, built by Justinian (527-567 A.D.) with pale pink domes
called Hagia-Sophia in Istanbul, straddling Asia and Europe, became a mosque.
HOUSE EKKLESIAS BANNED BY LAW: In their battle against the Arians who did not believe in
the divinity of Christ, Catholic Emperor Theodosius made church membership
compulsory for all citizens. Thus churches were filled with unredeemed worldly people.
As they did not have enough priests, pagan priests were hurriedly ordained and
appointed. The Roman empire became officially Christian but in reality entered into the
Dark Ages, which lasted for over 1000 years. The house Ekklesias were banned by law in
A.D. 380. Those who disobeyed were put in prison or killed. Even today, the little house
Ekklesias are persecuted by their big brothers. As recently as 1997, the Orthodox Church
pressurized the Russian government to declare house Ekklesias as unlawful. The church
was led by principalities, powers and rulers of darkness and the golden era of the early
Ekklesia, led by the apostles, prophets, elders and brethren came to an end.
CHILD BAPTISM INTRODUCED: In 416 A.D., child baptism was declared compulsory in order
to increase the membership of the churches. The parents were threatened that, unless their
children were baptized, they would go to hell. This way, the number of people in church
membership was raised through manipulation and deception.
MARY WORSHIP BEGINS: Promoting Mary and demoting Jesus is not new. In 431 A.D., the
council of Ephesus declared Mary to be worshipped as the mother of God. In 1997,
millions of Roman Catholics petitioned the Pope to make Mary a Co-Redeemer with
Christ. Even Mother Teresa was a cosignatory, who believed that Mary is equal to the
Lord. When John Paul II was elected Pope, he went to Poland and prostrated himself
before the Black Madonna. Later he was buried with a big “M” (for Mary) on the casket.
The Scriptures clearly teach, “everyone has sinned and come short of the glory of God”
and needs washing with the sinless blood of the lamb. (Rom. 3:23)
ELDERS REPLACED BY WINE BIBBERS AND SEX OFFENDERS: Peter, James and other apostles
set a good model by taking their wives with them when they traveled for ministry (1 Cor.
9: 5; Matt. 8:14). The early Ekklesias were led by married elders. In circa 325 A.D.,
following the example of the pagan priests, Pope Leo I (440 A.D.) made it compulsory
for priests to remain celibate all their lives. This led to sex scandals, which permanently
afflicted the church. To cover these sins, by 500 A.D., the priests were asked to wear
white gowns. Thus, the biblical leadership of “an elder who is blameless, not given to
wine and husband of one wife,” came to an end. (Titus 1:5-7)
POPE DECLARES HIMSELF THE BRIDGE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN: After the downfall of the
Roman Empire in 607 A.D., Boniface III, the Bishop of Rome, declared himself as
Pontifax Maximus or Pope, meaning “builder of big bridges.” This was the title of the
Roman emperor who was considered the high priest and god of the Roman Empire. The
Pope is now supposed to be a bridge between God and man, and can make no mistakes,
though history tells us otherwise. It is the Popes who persecuted the innocent believers,
preyed on them like wolves and had millions killed mercilessly. (Acts 20:29,30)
IDOLATRY ENTERS THE CHURCH THROUGH THE BACK DOOR: The worship of the holy relics of
the saints as well as idols began in 709 A.D. Idols of Mary, Jesus and the saints were
installed in churches, and every day of the calendar is now dedicated to the worship of
some saint or the other. In the process, Jesus was completely forgotten.
THE CRUSADERS BECOME LOOTERS: For a thousand years, the church forgot to pray and
instead believed in “might is right.” For the last 13 centuries, the unsheathed sword of
Islam also had a free run and reached almost the ends of the earth. To stem the growing
tide of Muslim invaders, in 1096 A.D. the Crusaders (soldiers of the cross) killed, looted
and raped thousands of Muslims and Jews. As a result, they hated Christians. Belatedly
some intercessors are taking the same route as the crusaders and going from country to
country asking for forgiveness. This identificational repentance is already bearing fruit.
THE CHURCH MURDERS BY THE MILLIONS: From 1184 A.D., if anybody dared to question
the ordinances of the church, he was immediately declared a heretic and burnt at the
stake. This caused much terror among the people. It is said that the church killed about 25
million people who dared to take a stand against it. At a press conference in Rome on
22nd January 1998, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, said that there
are 4,500 volumes of old archives, in Rome, in which the names of these martyrs are
written. He believes that they contain the names of only about one third of the martyrs.
Most of these martyrs were from small house Ekklesias. The unrepentant church has
never expressed collective remorse, not even shed a few tears of anguish. More people
were killed by the church than in all the wars in the human history, put together. It is
sobering to think that the millions of martyrs are now rejoicing in heaven while the
murderous religious Mafia is in hell. (Rev. 6:9-11; 14:13)
EUROPE POLLUTED BY BLOOD: Europeans think they are a highly civilized, but dig
anywhere in the city center and you will find the land soaked with the blood of martyrs.
Successive governments, the church, the Crusaders and Hitler, are all in the long list of
murderers who polluted the land. This has brought a curse on the land, which needs to be
broken by repentance. The Reformation was not started by Martin Luther, but millions
died, to keep the Bride pure and faithful. (Eph. 5:27)
COMPELLE ENTRARE PRECIPITATES SECULARISM: In the parable of the wedding feast, “Go
and ‘compel’ them to come in” (Luke 14:23; Matt. 22: 6-9), the first Bible translation by
Girolamo in circa 405, the Vulgata, implied “compelle entrare” meaning “entry by
force”. This mistranslation gave license to the church to kill, burn, conduct murderous
crusades and whole scale genocide etc. to force conversion. All those who dared to differ
from the ecclesiastical potentates prevailing at the time, paid dearly. Fortunately,
Protestantism gave birth to “Secularism”, which gave freedom to people to choose their
own faith. Now the word “compel” means an “invitation”. However, God never gives an
invitation because it implies an option to make a wrong choice. God always commands
and rejecting God’s command has consequences. The Scriptures imply persuasion rather
than coercion.
THE CHURCH REFUSES TO FORGIVE: John Wycliffe was disenchanted with the church
because the gospel of Jesus was so badly defiled by the monks, friars, bishops and the
Pope, that he started calling them agents of Lucifer. Pope Gregory sent a message to
silence the man, but Wycliffe survived because of many influential friends. Later he died
and was buried in Lutterworth in 1384. However, the church never forgave him. In 1415,
they decided that he should not rest in peace, dug up his bones, burnt them to ashes and
scattered them.
ERASMUS INTRODUCES THE GREAT COMMISSION: In 1515 A.D., a religious reformer named
Erasmus translated the Bible from old Latin into the simple German language. In his
introduction, he explained that until the Great Commission is accomplished, the kingdom
of heaven cannot come to earth. It had such an impact on all the religious leaders of that
time that it sowed the seeds of reformation in the churches. Martin Luther always had a
copy of it on his desk.
MARTIN LUTHER’S ENCOUNTER WITH REALITY: Luther was a devout Catholic priest. When
he visited the holy city of Rome, he crawled the last 20 miles on his knees. But seeing the
Pope, his concubine and his child born out of wedlock, he was so disgusted and
complained that all the sins enumerated in Rom.13:13, like fornication and drunkenness
etc., were being openly committed by the Pope and the priests.
STOCK MARKET PRICE OF HEAVEN PRECIPITATES REFORMATION: In 1517 A.D., Martin Luther
ignited the Reformation by nailing his 95 Theses or doctrines to the door of Wittenberg
Cathedral. This rocked the Catholic Church. He reminded the people that the NT
teaches“we are saved through faith, by grace that is a free gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Until
that point, salvation could be bought for a price. They also believed the Pope to be
infallible and unable to make mistakes. The situation was so bad that certificates signed
by the Pope called “Indulgences” for pardoning sins, were being sold by the priests for
money. However, the deal was a fraud because it did not guarantee heaven but only a
reduction in the time spent in Dante’s Purgatory.
LUTHER PLAYS DING DONG: In 1526 A.D., Martin Luther called the members of the house
Ekklesias the true followers. He encouraged them to gather for prayers, Bible study,
baptism, the Lord’s Supper and other Christian activities in their homes (W.A.1944). Just
four years later in 1530 A.D, the same Martin Luther, under political pressure, retracted
this statement and declared that any believer who is not a priest, and yet preaches, even
though his preaching may be right, should be put to death (W.A 10, 11). Because of this
statement, Martin Luther was responsible for the deaths of thousands of believers.
ADULT BAPTISM SUFFERS DEATH FROM DROWNING: On January 21, 1525, Felix Manz
baptized Blourock who baptized fifteen others. They rejected infant baptism and opted for
believer’s baptism. This is the birthday of the truly baptized believer’s Ekklesia after 1000
years of apostasy. All were martyred within ten years. Blourock, a fiery speaker, was
burnt alive. Manz, who was in the habit of questioning every tradition of the church, was
drowned as a joke by ridiculing baptism by immersion. Michael Sattler (1527) another
reformer, who suggested adult baptism, had his tongue cut off, his flesh torn with hot
tongs, dragged behind a carriage and slowly roasted alive. His wife, along with thousands
of other women, was also killed by the church.
PAEDO-BAPTISM A POLITICAL DECISION: In 1525, the Municipal Committee of Geneva
ordered baptism within eight days of birth; otherwise, the children would be confiscated.
While baptizing, chants were used by the priest to remove evil spirits, and the sign of the
cross was made on them with spit and oil. Melanchthon, a comrade of Martin Luther,
asked Fredrick, the Prince of Germany, permission for a public debate on the practice of
child baptism. The Prince rejected his request saying that it would cause riots, and in
1526 A.D., declared that there should be no change in the practice of the church regarding
infant baptism.
THE ANABAPTISTS AND SITZRECHT (1525): In defiance against this political decision,
thousands took “believer’s baptism”, in spite of sprinkling in childhood. They were called
“Anabaptists”, which means “second baptism.” They also believed and practiced 1 Cor.
14: 26, “sitzrecht” i.e. the “sitter’s right” in the church to lead singing, teaching, breaking
bread and baptizing etc. They also questioned the magisterial right of the church to kill
people on the basis of their religious beliefs. Anabaptists who practiced biblical
Christianity were condemned to death by Luther, Protestants and the Catholics alike.
Mennonites (Menno Simons 1496-1561) are descendents of the Anabaptists but many of
them no longer practice Sitzrecht or believers’ baptism.
OPEN PARTICIPATORY EKKLESIA SUFFERS PREMATURE ABORTION: In 1660 A.D., Labadi
organized small house fellowships called “conventicles” in France. Until then, worship
was conducted according to the Gregorian order of service, which consisted of chants,
Scripture lessons, sermon, and dismissal. Labadi advocated that everyone had an equal
right to participate (1 Cor. 14:26-30). The Catholic church hounded out Labadi and the
clandestine meetings of the Covenanters for participatory worship came to an end.
MARTIN LUTHER’S INCOMPLETE REFORMATION: The reformers did a lot of good but their
goal was only a theological shift related to doctrine of “salvation by grace through faith”
and not a structural shift related to practice. Luther actually forbade structural changes.
He preached priesthood of all believers but advocated the primacy of the hierarchical
priesthood. Preaching by laymen in the church was to be punishable by death. He forbade
the destruction of idols (Catholics call them images) in the church. He believed in a
modified form of transubstantiation, called consubstantiation that the wine turns into
actual blood, when a priest prays over it.
The priest ate the bread and drank the cup by
himself believing the communion too holy to share with the common people. Andreas
Karlstad (1527) created history, when he first shared the communion with the laity, which
was continued by Luther.
Luther brought the pulpit to the center of the church building and raised it high up to promote sermons. In doing so, he further dichotomized the clergy/laymen divide. He was a brilliant musician, wrote hymns and introduced congregational singing, but unfortunately manipulated it as a build up for his sermons.
Many churches and celebrity preachers follow his example. Finally he had a very low
image of women and did not encourage their participation in the church. The NT house
Ekklesias bring about a megashift in the theological as well as structural paradigms of the
church.
ABILITY TO QUESTION IS KEY TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH: The one key difference between the modern church and the NT Ekklesia is “no lecturing but questioning”. Jesus was pelted
with questions every day on every issue, even His authority was questioned. There were times when He Himself countered them with questions (Luke 20:2; Matt. 21:23).
The early Ekklesia searched the scriptures to verify whether Paul’s statements were correct (Acts 17:11).
The NT prophets are not spared either “the spirits of the prophets are subjects to the prophets” (1 Cor.14:32). Reasoning, dialogue, questioning, are key to spiritual growth. The Ekklesia revolved around free and frank dialogue while the modern church expects mute submission. The church needs a speech therapist as only one tongue functions while the rest suffer from tongue tie.
Speak india !!!!!
