THE CHURCH BUILDING
GOD IS A TENT DWELLER
ABRAHAM DWELT IN TENTS
Our Patriarch Abraham was an extremely rich man who was constantly on the move, pitching his tent, building altars, and worshipping God by offering sacrifices. He claimed the entire area from the Euphrates in Iraq to the Nile in Egypt, which God had promised to give to his descendants. He was looking forward to the city whose builder and maker is God (Gen.15:18; Heb.11:8-10).
YESHUA CAME TO REBUILD THE FALLEN TENT OF DAVID
Jews celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles around Fall, when they erect and live in booths made with leafy branches, to remind them of their sojourn of forty years in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land (Lev. 23:33-36, 39-43). The Hebrew word “sukkah” means tent, tabernacle, cottage, shelter, booth, shed and hut, anything of a temporary nature. Many believe that Yeshua was born during this Feast in a sukkah that the Innkeeper had built, to fulfil the prophecy that God would tabernacle with men. He came to demolish the stone temple of Solomon and to rebuild the fallen tent of David. This does not mean literal rebuilding of the temporary Tent of David but restoring the kingdom of David.
He now dwells in the hearts and huts of the poor, His pilgrim people, turning them into houses of prayer for all nations. The message should be clear to those who build Solomon’s ornate temples. We are “sojourners and exiles” in this world (1 Pet 2:11), and “our citizenship is in heaven.” Like Abraham, we are looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Acts 15:16-17; Amos 9:11, 12; Phil 3:20; Heb. 11:10).
GOD DOES NOT LIVE IN HOUSES MADE WITH HUMAN HANDS
Yeshua announced the demolition of the temple at Jerusalem saying, “Not a stone will be left unturned” (Matt. 24:1-2). By AD 70, the temple would be demolished by Roman General Titus. At the transfiguration of Yeshua, Moses and Elijah appeared. Peter’s great idea of building three tabernacles was rejected by Yeshua (Mark 9:1-8) who had been accused of wanting to destroy Solomon’s stone temple and to build His temple without hands (Mark 14:58).
When Stephen spoke against the temple saying, “The Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands” (Acts 7:48-49), he was stoned to death. The Jews were temple people, but not godly people. The death of Stephen launched the Jerusalem Ekklesia into Judea, Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth. Soon, hundreds of villages and towns of Palestine and Mediterranean countries were dotted with Ekklesias, but not a single Ekklesia building was built. Sacred buildings represent an egocentric, empire-building mania that kills Kingdom building.
There seems to be a major disconnect between the Book of Acts culture of building the Kingdom and the modern-day church culture of building brick and mortar edifices. Paul did such a good job of training local Jews and Gentiles that the Gospel spread from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Croatia) and he worked himself out of his job. He had no more places left to preach the Gospel. The mission head office was located in his tent making shop in the marketplace. This is the model that is taking place in many parts of world today that will plant the Kingdom of God in every human habitation (Acts 19:8-10; Rom. 15:19,20; 23).
THE MONUMENTAL MISSIONARY MISTAKE
It is a well-known fact that as long as pioneer missionaries operated from their tents, the church grew exponentially. But as soon as they copied the British colonial model by building massive mission bungalows for themselves and mud houses for the natives, the movement began to decline. The missionary movement effectively changed from an outgoing, centrifugal force to an inward-looking “mission station planting” activity. The missionary bungalow became the center of a foreign controlling power structure.
There were thousands of orphans in Christian orphanages, who were provided with food, water, even love and affection, but were not given opportunity to become leaders in the secular world. Naturally, the mission compound became the habitation of cooks, cleaners, babysitters, gardeners, drivers, sycophants, and other dependents, to serve the powers that be. A few became evangelists, pastors, teachers, nurses, and clerks to serve the institutional church. If missionaries had the right vision, then thousands of these orphans could have become doctors, engineers, business managers, administrators, judges, businessmen and politicians, resulting in Christians ruling the nation.
Many modern-day Indian missionaries have not learnt the lesson either. They run some of the best schools in the country but children of poor Christians and especially of new converts cannot afford to get admission in these schools. They educate the children of the well-off of other faiths, who later turn against Christians and persecute them. Besides, there is hardly anything Christian about these schools except tokenism. The general excuse is that the Government rules do not allow them to be overtly Christian. However, they have never sat down to discuss a strategy that while obeying the rules, how they can act as leaven and bring Kingdom values.
Such dilapidated mission monuments stand today as symbols of a monumental mistake, as they effectively closed the door on development of local leadership of the church, setting the stage for future property disputes, litigation, and power struggles. They also divided the White elite from the poor natives, turning potential future leaders into rice Christians. Mobility was sacrificed at the altar of creature comfort, consolidation, organization, and stability of the church. This is not a condemnation of all missionaries, for many identified with the people, living among them as equals. Mobility continues to be crucial for the spontaneous, rapid expansion of the Ekklesia, as modeled by our Lord Yeshua. (Mark 1:38; Luke 4:43)
THE TABERNACLE WAS BUILT WITH LOCAL RESOURCES
The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, but God humbled Himself to meet with His people, in a portable tent (2 Sam 7:6; Exo. 25:22) that was built with local resources from the freewill offerings of every single family, not from a donor agency. All the materials, including goat’s hair, ram’s skin, and Shittim (acacia wood), were available there in the wilderness. Gold, silver and brass were in abundance, having been plundered from the Egyptians while departing from Egypt. On the other hand, Solomon’s extravagant temple was built with imported materials and slave labor (1 Kings 8:27; Exo. 3:22; 2 Chron. 2:12-18).
EKKLESIA IS A SPIRITUAL HOUSEHOLD, BUILT WITH LIVING SOULS
True Ekklesia is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Yeshua as the chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:20; 3:5-6). Sacred buildings are not built by apostolic and prophetic founding fathers, but in memory of dead-and-gone, funding fathers. “Sacred” describes places where a saint or a martyr is buried. St Peter’s Basilica in Rome was built around AD 330 on the site of the municipal Necropolis (city of the dead), today called Vatican Hill. Inside, a painted vault depicts the Messiah as the Sun on a horse drawn chariot. Sadly, this ornate “coffin” that contains a dead church has become all too common, the world over. In the United States alone, over 330,000 such shrines (church buildings) erected with dead stones are worth some 500 billion dollars.
True Ekklesias are “a spiritual Household, built with precious living stones (souls), a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah”. In this spiritual Household, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, you are the Ekklesia (church), you are the living sacrifice and you are the priest that offers other living stones as sacrifice. (1 Pet. 2:4-5)
THE EKKLESIA IS PEOPLE AND NEVER A BUILDING
If church is such an important thing, then why did Yeshua refer to it only twice (Matt. 16:18; 18:18-20)? And more importantly why did He not command us to go and plant churches? This is because when He said, “I will build my Ekklesia” He was not thinking about some brick-and-mortar structure out there, but that He will build believers as his Ekklesia (church) who will go and demolish the gates of Hades. This He said in Caesarea of Philippi, the most demonized city in Palestine which had temples dedicated to Caesar, to Greek God Zeus, to Pan, a brutal god of lust, half man, half goat, and of course a cave with a deep stream of water welling out, which is still known as the Gates of Hades, being the entry and exit gate of Baal.
In all the 114 references to Ekklesia in the NT, it refers to an assembly of God’s people, never to a building (1 Cor. 3:16; Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:20-22; Heb. 3:5; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet.2:5; 4:17). In the OT, there was a sanctuary for the people, but in the NT, people are the sanctuary. The English Church, the Scottish Kirk and the German Kirche are named after a European forest goddess that seduced men, turning them into monkeys. The Greek word kuriakon, means “belonging to the Lord”. The early English Bible translator, William Tyndale (1494-1536) replaced the word church with “congregation,” which displeased the Catholic Church. The word “church” should be replaced with House of Prayer, Gathering, Assembly, Ekklesia, Kehillat, or a Household of God, but we should never refer to a building as the Church.
THE APOSTOLIC INVASION
In God’s economy, in the countries of the 10/40 Window, including China, India and many others, there is now a great move of the Holy Spirit, and large numbers of grass-root level apostles and prophets, especially women, are planting Households of God, by the thousands. God’s work of keeping His Body healthy, pure, on track, and proliferating, lies largely with the apostles and the prophets. Wherever they are not recognized, it does not matter how mega your church becomes, or how wonderful the worship is, without these attributes, overtime it will dwindle.
EQUIPPING MISSIONARIES FOR THE GUTTER
It is easier to love God than to love your neighbor. It is easier to pray than to make disciples. It is easier to send missionaries to the uttermost parts of the earth than to send church members to the gutter-most parts of their own city. The early Ekklesia focused on equipping disciples and on building up the city Ekklesia (Acts 4:1-4; Jer. 29:7). Disciple-making can be done anywhere. You can anoint your house, office, factory, workshop, coffeehouse, beauty parlor, your kitchen etc. and dedicate it for God’s purposes. Almost every Messianic Jewish home or workplace was a disciple-making hub. So, not surprisingly, there was exponential growth in Jerusalem city (Acts 6:7).
Many of Paul’s disciples included women like Priscilla, Lydia, and Phoebe who were all businesspeople from the marketplace while others were self-employed. It is time we seriously start equipping our people to serve as a special breed of missionaries to their neighborhoods, communities, offices, marketplaces, and the ghettos, because that is where most believers as well as all the lost people dwell. In this way the Ekklesia will be in action daily (Acts 2:46-47; 17:17).
SAUL PERSECUTED THE HOUSE EKKLESIA
As soon as Jerusalem was saturated with Assemblies, such a great persecution took place that the believers were scattered abroad (Acts 8:1). Saul was going from house to house, (not church buildings), because he knew the houses where the Ekklesia gathered (Acts 8:3). Believers who were scattered abroad went and planted new Assemblies but erected no buildings for worship anywhere (Acts 8:4). If you do not obey Acts 1:8, (“you shall be my witnesses”) then Acts 8:1 (“a great persecution”) will follow.
SALVATION HAPPENS OUTSIDE OF CHURCH BUILDINGS
Just as health happens outside of hospital and education aside from school, so salvation happens outside of institutional church. The single-point charter of the Ekklesia is to make disciples of the nations. For this, we do not need grand buildings, celebrity preachers or megabucks. The issue is that it is impossible to build a new edifice based on biblical principles without first demolishing the existing, extra-biblical structures. Time has come to do just that, for the nations must become disciples, at their convenience, in their facilities, within their own cultural context (Gal. 2:2).
THE OLD COVENANT IS OUT AND THE NEW COVENANT IS IN
When Yeshua died, the veil in the Qodesh Ha-qadashim, also called Devir (Holy of Holies), separating man from God was torn asunder. As Yeshua had prophesied 37 years earlier (in AD 33), the Roman general and later emperor, Titus came in AD 70 and physically destroyed the temple, stone by stone, the symbol of the old covenant. The old covenant that decreed an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life, had been abrogated and replaced by the new covenant based on love, grace and truth (Rom. 13:8-10). The ceremonial, ritualistic “temple model” became obsolete, after the new model, written on hearts, simple enough to reach the Gentiles, became operational.
PENTECOST WAS A GAME CHANGER: NEW PARADIGMS
- Pentecost is the Birthday of the Ekklesia.
- Harvest of grain changed into Harvest of souls with 3000 souls baptized, (Acts 2:41).
- The old covenant written on dead stones superseded by the new covenant written on the living hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
- The Law (Ten Commandments) replaced by loving your neighbor (Rom. 13:8-10).
- God’s Spirit left the stone Temple and now we are His temples (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16).
- The Levitical priesthood became defunct and all believers became royal priests (1 Peter 2:9).
- Worship changed from offering dead animal to offering repentant souls (Rom. 12:1; 15:16).
- John the Baptist declared the greatest Old Testament prophet, (The Law and the prophets were until John). Others prophesied about the future coming of Messiah, John announced “Behold the Lamb of God” (Matt. 11:11-13; John 1:29).
- However, the least in the Kingdom of God are greater than John (Matt.11:11-13).
- Weekly celebration of the Sabbath in synagogues was replaced by daily gatherings in homes (Acts 2:46-47; Heb. 3:13; Mal. 1:11).
- Tithes eaten in Jerusalem gave way to the breaking of bread from house to house (Deut. 14:22-29; Acts 2:46; Acts 4:32-34; 2Cor. 9:6-7).
- Freewill offerings, given for temple service, now go for reaping the harvest. “He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Each one, as he purposes in his heart, …for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6-7).
- Steel sword for slaughtering sacrificial animals became the Word of God, a double-edged sword (Eph. 6:17; Hebrew 4:12).
- Wood fire on the Altar for burning animals ceased after the “Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment” (Acts 2:1-3; John 16:8).
- Atonement by the works of the Law has yielded to being saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8).
- Repeated Bath of Purification replaced with one-time baptism in the name of Yeshua.
- Caste, class, race, gender, black and white, high and low, the ordained and the ordinary, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, men and women, all become one in the Messiah (Gal. 3:27-29).
THE LAW AND PROPHETS Vs THE KINGDOM
Yeshua came preaching and teaching the Kingdom (Matt. 4: 23). Our Lord came to seek and save that which was lost. It does not say “lost people but all that was lost” which includes everything like your health, wealth and spirit as it happened in the Garden of Eden (Luke 19:10). When Israel went off track, they went into slavery and lost their liberty, identity and everything else. Hence salvation means holistic restoration of all things.
According to Scripture, kings and nations will be parading into the Kingdom (Rev. 21:24). If the Lord can use a characterless Samaritan woman to save her village, a corrupt tax collector like Zacchaeus to transform other corrupt tax collectors and the demonized Gadarene to be a powerful witness in Decapolis (ten cities), then there is no earthy reason why he cannot use you to transform your area of influence. All you must do is to orchestrate an encounter with Yeshua. He said, “The Law and the prophets were until John, since then the Kingdom is preached (Matt. 11:11)
If you are practicing the following you are still in the Law and the Prophets and therefore Kingdom inhibiter and need to enter, if necessary, by force into the Kingdom. (Luke 16:16).
- Creating a special priesthood within priesthood of all believers (1Pet. 2:9).
- Disenfranchising a believer to disciple, baptize and serve the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:37-42,46).
- Weekly worshipping in a temple (dedicated building), instead of in a Gentile home without seeking and saving the lost during the week (Mal. 1:11; Luke 15:7,10).
- Not equipping, empowering and launching the saints to be workplace ministers (Eph. 4:12).
- Celebrating the Eucharist only with the believers then you are celebrating Jewish Passover and not the Lord’s Supper which is a communal meal eaten together with everyone present, even with the non-baptized seekers (Acts 2:46,47; 11:1-3; Luke 10:5-8).
- Collecting Tithe for church maintenance rather than for reaping the harvest (2Cor. 9:6,7).
- Practicing caste, color, gender, race discrimination in the Household of God (Gal. 3:27-29).
- Not obeying the Great Commission to disciple, baptize, equip and send (Matt. 28:18-20).
- Not teaching apologetics on how to engage with people of other faiths and become soul winners to have their names written in the Book of Life and become inheritors of the Kingdom (Titus 1:9; Luke 10:19,20; Acts 26:18).
NO CELEBRATION IN THE TEMPLE
The disciples did not meet in the temple courts for celebration, rather they were playing hide-and-seek with the authorities and sometimes ended up in the temple jail. If we like the temple model, then we should go the whole hog and build a jail in our church complex, complete with armed guards (Acts 5:18-25), to incarcerate all those troublemakers in the church.
Because the disciples never thought of building houses of any kind for worship, they met in the most natural of all places, the homes of believers. In these houses, all the believers “continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer” (Act 2:42-46). They went to the temple at prayer time, not so much to pray as to share their newfound faith with those who came to pray (Acts 3:1; 4:1-4). Very soon, they were thrown out, and the entire process of disciple-making was carried out in the homes and workplaces of believers.
EKKLESIAS PLANTED BY ORDINARY PEOPLE
The planting of new groups was not necessarily done by the original apostles, but by ordinary believers who were scattered as migrants, sharing their simple faith. Interestingly, while the people were scattering, the original apostles remained in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Yeshua was imparting fivefold ministry gifts to migrant laborers fleeing from persecution (Acts 11:19-21; 8:1; 15:4).
GOD RESIDES IN HUMAN HEARTS
Millions of buildings have been erected in the name of the Lord, in rebellion to the clear statement that “God does not live in houses made with human hands” (Acts 7:48-49). Idols need temples to be housed, and clergy need pulpits to show their exclusivity, but we do not need stone temples, for we are living temples of the Holy God. Buildings bring glory to man, whereas God is glorified when you bring abundant fruit. (John 15:8; 1 Cor. 1:29; Isa. 42:8).
DEMONS ALSO LIKE TO RESIDE IN HUMAN HEARTS
When a demon is cast out, it wanders in the wilderness and later returns to the same person with seven other deadly Hell’s angels (Matt. 12:43-45). Hence, it is crucial to immediately disciple a delivered person into the Kingdom, lest he suffer worst attack. The first sign of a believer is that he can cast out demons (Mark 16:17). We can cast out demons because Yeshua has given us power over all the power of the enemy and because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (Luke 10:19; 1John 4:4).” The Scripture says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (Matt. 12:28-29; 1 John 3:8).
CHRISTINITY IS NOT ACADEMIC BUT RELATIONAL AND EXPERIENCIAL
Akademeia was a place near Athens, where Plato (427-347 B.C.) taught abstract philosophy to his disciples, making philosophers of them. Academic now means learning theoretical knowledge rather than practical skills (Col. 2:8). We are told that without expensive, time-consuming higher education, one cannot succeed in the world. Yet 2000 years ago, Yeshua showed how you can change ordinary people into world changers by training them on the street and in the homes of believers and non-believers. He then sent them to change the world (John 15:16; 17:4, 18).
MODELS
Yeshua modeled a leadership style that was radically different from the core values of the religious Pharisees. Yeshua was not a top-down CEO of a multinational company. He modeled a relational leadership style that works best in small groups (Mark 3:13- 15). In large groups, it becomes amorphous. He preached and lived the kingdom, modeling a transparent, shared lifestyle that resulted in a caring, sharing kingdom community.
RELATIONSHIP
Yeshua set the bar that He will be known by the chemistry between his disciples, “By this all men shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another” (John 13:34,35). He did not come to start a religion of rituals and dogmas. Instead, He came to restore relationship with the Father. While others pray to known and unknown gods, Christians pray to ‘Our Father’. As His children, we may ask Him for anything. Equally as a good Father, He can say no, to anything that does not resonate with His will (Luke 11:1-2, 13; 1 John 5:14).
God is relational, existing eternally in Trinity. Yeshua provided a transformational leadership to His disciples by calling them His friends, thereby demolishing caste, color, class and culture, exclusivity, making them inclusive.
Yeshua was relational. He said that whoever does the will of the Father is My brother, My sister, and My mother (Mark 3:35). He shared His vision and purpose with them as partners, not as subordinates. He asked them to love one another, a pillar of Christianity (John 15:9-17). He taught humility by example by washing their feet. Because fellowship remains important, He prayed to the Father that His disciples should always be with Him. They experienced the kingdom while with Him (John 17:24).
EXPERIENCE
He taught them spiritual warfare by hands-on experience of healing diseases, casting out demons and raising the dead (Luke 10:17). He did not teach with lectures but coached them through apprenticeship. Yeshua asked us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, and then asked us to prove it by loving our neighbor (Deut. 6:4-5; Lev. 19:18). Christianity is not academia, rather it is modeling, relational and experiential. Yeshua said, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:40).
TSUNAMI, A DISASTER OR TARGET SHOOTING?
“Sunami” in Hindi language means “of good reputation”. The seven deacons chosen to lead the Ekklesia with aggressive evangelism in the Greek-speaking, Gentile world were called Sunamis (Acts 6:3).
The first Sunami to be martyred was Stephen. The great underwater earthquake that happened on Christmas Sunday, 2004, sent huge waves across the sea to several countries, causing death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. For many, gods were angry whilst for others it was mindless destruction by nature. However, God does not move tectonic plates haphazardly, and a careful analysis indicates selective targeting. It was God’s megaphone to wake up the deaf world.
TARGET SHOOTING
In India, that tsunami hit Nagapattinam where thousands had gathered to worship the Naga god (Naga means serpent). Close by is Velankanni, a Catholic shrine called Our Lady of Health, where devotees bring little gold or silver replicas of their diseased body parts like kidney, heart or liver, to make an offering. Thousands who came to worship Velankanni and were sleeping on a nearby beach were buried alive under the sand. In Sri Lanka, another site of devastation, a hotbed of violent Buddhism, had been persecuting its Christians, pressing the government to pass an anti- conversion law. At Kar Nicobar, which was 95 percent Protestant, nearly half the population was wiped out. Many were Christians only once a week, practicing witchcraft and ancestor worship on weekdays.
Banda Aceh in Indonesia, an Islamic stronghold took the full fury of the tsunami, with thousands of casualties. Authorities had ordered Christians to get out of the city and go up to a nearby hill to celebrate Christmas, which providentially saved them. Soon thereafter, Christian aid workers were welcomed (Deut. 30:7). Phuket in Thailand, a mix of Sodom and Gomorrah, the world’s largest tourist center of pedophiles and gays, was badly hit. As for hurricane Katrina which hit the USA, anybody who had visited the French Quarter of New Orleans City wonders why God took so long to act. No one should be deceived because God cannot be mocked (Gal. 6:7). This is only a foretaste of future catastrophes, social, political, economic, ecological and spiritual Katrinas, tsunamis and pandemics.
CATASTROPHES PRECIPITATE TECTONIC SHIFTS IN PARADIGMS
The September 11, 2001 attack on the WTC and the Pentagon in USA was loudly lauded by the Jehadis (Islamic militants), and mourned by the rest of world. Millions of Christians targeted their prayers on behalf of Muslims as never before. Consequently, a trickle of believers has started flowing towards the Lord. Several other catastrophes and now the Corona crisis are turning that trickle into a mighty stream. It is good to show God’s love in tangible ways by continuing to rebuild shattered lives of victims of physical, mental, economic, and spiritual catastrophes. The secular world can give them food, water, shelter, clothing, relief, and rehabilitation, but not love nor the knowledge of salvation, which only Christ-bearers can provide.
Some feel that it is inappropriate for the church to take advantage of the people in crisis, but it is well-known that crisis produces tectonic shifts in paradigms. Providing humanitarian aid, without helping hurting people enter into the kingdom of God, would result in incalculable loss of precious lives. In 1976, a devastating earthquake practically destroyed Guatemala. The Holy Spirit used that catastrophe to bring about a demographic boom. Now, with nearly 40 percent evangelical, it is the most Protestant country in Latin America.
India’s east and Bangladesh’s south are bathed by the Bay of Bengal, an impoverished region of 500 million people that has seen 26 of the deadliest 35 cyclones ever recorded. We know that the Lord turns tragedy into hope and life abundant. More Muslims are now coming to Christ than ever before. It is time to create a Global Prayer Tsunami, to send spiritual shock waves throughout the demonic world, changing the little trickle into a mighty stream of believers. We need to pour in relief materials as well as spiritual gasoline to ignite spiritual bush fires (Isa. 66:1-4, Psalm 51:17; 53:2; 2 Chron. 7:14).
SPATE OF RELIGIOUS BUILDING
The last decade has seen a major epidemic of constructing religious buildings. Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, Buddhist Viharas, Christian churches, centers of witchcraft, animistic worship, yoga and occult practices, and other centers of religious harlotry, have mushroomed all over. It seems that the tsunami will result in major growth spurt for the religious building industry, resulting in increased pervading of darkness and religious bigotry.
Much of relief funds and materials will go into placating gods and goddesses, and for paying the practitioners of the occult. Some will even be used to purchase of church buildings to be converted into pagan temples. Already shrines are being put up all over to placate local deities. Faith healers, gurus, and Christian charlatans will raise money to erect religious buildings and prayer towers like Nimrod’s, to peddle packaged religion. True Christians must share with them the gospel of truth, lest Christ’s suffering go waste.
CHRISTIANS WILL BE JUDGED FOR TREACHERY
First, why has Christianity failed in India, despite Christians ruling it for nearly two centuries, tens of thousands of dedicated missionaries putting all their efforts, and organizations spending billions of rupees into the proselytization project? For millennia, populations have been divided by caste, class and race, which has despised, dominated, and annihilated the dignity of man. Serving the poor and the outcast of the society is the religious ethos of Christianity. The Bible says: “It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).
In India, the most important Christian institutions, the 37,000 English-medium schools and colleges, hardly practiced this. They largely became the hub of social and economic elites of the country. In most of these schools, located in urban areas, poor kids can’t get a peek in.
Just imagine what difference it would have made if thousands of such Christian schools had followed the diktat of the Bible three hundred years ago and taught English to millions of Dalits, Tribals and poor kids. It is the children of the fifteen percent of the elites who sit on top of the Hindu caste pile educated in Christian schools that get the plum jobs. These elite dominate government, administration, media, business, the judiciary and, of course, oppose Christianity. However, in God’s economy, all the rich people educated by Christian schools, like the camels, will find it difficult to enter the narrow gates of heaven. What a criminal waste? There is credible research that suggests that Brahmins have Jewish DNA, so let us pray that they will soon make Aliyah (move to Israel).
According to the Noahic covenant, anyone violating life, liberty, equality and dignity of a fellow human being, the image of God, will be judged. Many Christians are also idolaters who worship their job, money, house, TV, sports, etc. Loving anyone or anything above God is idolatry (Gen. 9:5-6; Exo. 20:4; Ezek. chap 14; 1 Cor. 10:19-21). Yeshua shed His blood for the nirvana (salvation) of all, so that all can become sons of A-Braham and inherit Sanatan Dharma, the eternal faith (Gal. 3:29).
OTHER “ISMS” ARE ALSO ON THE WANE
The fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the demise of Communism in many countries. Similarly, with the invasion and defeat of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have led to the start of democratic election processes in other Islamic countries. This is a positive step, even though Islamization of the world continues at the heart of the fundamentalist agenda. In Eastern faiths, culture, politics and religion are inseparable. Although Islam had been preached for many years, its official start dates from AD 632, when Mohammed became the Khalifa or the ruler of Mecca and Medina. Many Islamic leaders came to power through violence and bloodshed. We must never forget that it was in Ur of Iraq that God blessed Abraham, a former idolater, to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth (Gen. 12:3).
Twenty-two Arab states contain only one-quarter of over one billion Muslims of the world. Most do not have democratic parliamentary elections, yet some like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, the Balkans and Mali, do have. This is a giant leap forward. Many ideologies and ‘isms’, including Marxism, liberalism, syncretism, religious pluralism and fundamentalism and even godless democracies, all conspire to kill Christianity. There has been a hike in global religiosity but all these ‘isms’ are miles behind the runaway growth of the emerging house Ekklesias on the planet earth.
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY IS MADE IN HEAVEN
God had plans for redemption of Babylon (Iraq). So, he took Israel there to pray for it. But false prophets told Israel not to settle down there because God would take them back to Canaan soon. Then Jeremiah told them that they will be there for 70 years, so build houses, get married and have children, plant gardens and prosper because, “God has good plans for you, for a peaceful future; for His thoughts are higher than your thoughts” (Jer. 29:1-11; Isa. 55:8-9).
God did not call us to be successful but to be obedient. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Esther, David, Peter, Paul and others had no plans of their own until God gave to them His world changing strategies, when they obeyed and acted in faith. It matters little how much faith you have in God, what matters is how much faith God has in you. We are mere vessels (2 Cor. 4:7) and the more space we give Him, the more He will fill us up with His plans. Manmade strategies remain naive dreams and assumptions that often fail (Prov. 16:1). But when we obey and take steps of faith, God intervenes, thwarts the plans of the enemy, and heals the nations (Psa. 33:8-12). Beware, if God has not assigned you any plans other than to attend a holy huddle every Sunday.
WE ARE HIS WISE MASTER BUILDERS
When we build a brick building, we may not have much of a church. Buildings are man-made, where as an Ekklesia is the work of the hands of Yeshua (Matt 16:18; Mark 14:58). He is building His temple with living stones like us (1 Peter 2:5; Eph. 2:19-22). His temple is not yet complete, because many nations are yet to join (Eph. 3:6). Our job is to partner with Him to complete the task of building His temple, by plugging the gaps with the remaining Gentile nations (Acts 15:17-18; Rom. 15:9-11). This period of grace may end soon, so, as wise master builders, we must expedite the building of His temple (2 Pet. 3:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:10; 2 Cor. 6:16).
THE MODEL EKKLESIA
On the Day of the Pentecost, the birthday of the Ekklesia, 3000 souls, repented, got baptized and received the gift of the Holy Spirit resulting in transformation of their Households, and through them of others (Acts 2:1-3, 37-39). Transformation means change of attitudes, relationships and priorities – a new creation. Many international pilgrims went back to their countries and did the same. Thus, the Ekklesia age commenced with a bang. So, what was it that these original Pentecostals, the founders of our mother Ekklesia do when they gathered?
• Apostolic teaching: This is quite different from pastoral teaching. Apostles are about “Go and make disciples” whilst pastors are about “Come and be blessed” (Acts 2:42).
• Fellowship: The Greek word Koinonia for fellowship does not mean just “Hi, hello,” in a parking lot. Its purpose is to chalk out a plan of action for further expansion. Businessmen regularly do this kind of fellowship in a coffee house or a club (Acts 2:42).
• Prayer: They prayed intercessory prayers. The Hebrew word Tefilla, prayer, also means self-examination. This means they examined themselves to see that whatever they were doing was within the will of the Father (Acts 2:42; 1John 5:14).
• Signs and miracles: Healing, deliverance and other miracles began to take place, causing awe among the people (Acts 2:43).
• Holistic ministry: At the very onset of His ministry, Yeshua had declared in His Nazarene manifesto that He was anointed to preach the good news to the poor… (Luke 4:18). What could be good news for the poor than food, water, shelter, clothes, healthcare and salvation (Matt. 25:35-36)? The early church practiced holistic ministry. They shared the gospel and broke bread from house to house to which everyone, not just believers, were invited, especially the widows and the orphans, the most vulnerable section of the society. The result was that the church had favor with everyone, the Lord added to numbers of those who were being saved daily, and the church was able to declare that there were no needy among them. (Acts 2:46,47; 4:34)
• Go fishing: Many of the disciples were fishermen who knew when and where to go fishing. There would be large crowds of people at the hour of Prayer in the Temple precincts, so initially they went there, even though they could be hounded and jailed by the temple authorities. Instead of hibernating, they would pray for boldness, asking God to stretch forth his hands and do more signs and wonders (Acts 2:46; 4:29-30).
• Cleaning the fish: They would catch two-legged fresh fish and bring them to their dining tables where they would share the Gospel, bringing them to repentance and baptize them. As a result, “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
• Prophetic Ekklesia: They gathered in homes to which seekers would be invited. They worshipped God by witnessing to each other, “Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10).” Everyone, men and women, shared songs, teachings, revelations, dreams, visions, etc. Prophecy would include not just foretelling but also edification, exhortation, and comfort. Highly interactive dynamics would mature them fast into disciple-multipliers (1 Cor.14:3, 24-32).
MISSIONAL EKKLESIA
Cultural issues would arise. Although the Supreme Council in Jerusalem decided not to impose Judaism on the Gentiles, Paul circumcised Timothy so he could work among Jews. “So, the Ekklesias were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.” The Jewish Ekklesia at Jerusalem remained more “zealous for the Law” than for the Lord and so dwindled. Focus shifted to Antioch, which became the epicenter of the Gentile mission, going viral in all the nearby Mediterranean nations, including Athens, the capital of Greece and of the East, and to Rome, the capital of the empire and of the West (Acts 13:1-3; 15: 20; 16:1-5; 17: 16-34; 21:20; Rom. 16).
GEMS:
- There is some Biblical support for snake charmers, tax collectors and even whores but there is scant Scriptural support for modern-day salaried pastors, and definitely none for the reverends (Mark 1618; Jos. 6:25; Luke 19:8-9; Ps 111:9).
- There is massive diaspora going on, not for religious reasons but for economic ones. Diaspora is a tool of God, for creating encounter with Christ. Christians are a diaspora people looking for a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 13:14).
- A resident pastor and a stable church are a contradiction in terms, for both the shepherd and the flock, by nature, are wanderers (Matt. 18:12).
Copyright © 2023 Dr. Victor Choudhrie
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