apostles &

profits

prosperity mythology & the systematic robbery of the saints

 

 

-1-

 

 

It’s extremely easy to thumb through The Bible & find passages, where the Prophet of God is flame-throwing everyone with nuclear rebukes. Isaiah says, ‘All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, everyone for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant (Isaiah 56:9-12). It’s very tasty reading for those who, like me, often have a proverbial bee in their bonnet. However, there is an extremely serious issue bearing down upon The Church right now. The Lord still has His Prophets. They still have their flame throwers. Despite that though brethren, you & I must go back to The Bible. The bulk of Charismatic & neo Pentecostal understanding concerning modern ministry within The Church at large, comes from word of faith teachers such as Kenneth E. Hagin. His literature on The Ministry Gifts & in particular his book He Gave Gifts Unto Men, as well as much of his other preaching & teaching, have become staples for multiplied thousands of Churches & pseudo Bible schools throughout the world. It is Kenneth Hagin who has popularised some of what we see & much of what is taught & believed in The Charismatic neo Pentecostal parts of The Church today. I’ve never understood why believers are charged stupid sums of money to study subject matter that any Pastor worth his salt ought to teach his congregation for free. But then again, given the nature of our discussion here & the quality of the teaching in question, it’s clear that it’s the production, packaging & propaganda that folk being charged for, because the content is largely worthless. 

In Paul’s day, he had to contend with the so called super apostles & the false doctrine they peddled. He also had to deal with believers who had subscribed to their erroneous mythologies & so it remains to this day. The vagueness of modern teaching has left huge scope for error within The Church & these gaps have been filled by opportunists who have taken it upon themselves to claim everything from old apostolic succession to new apostolic reformation. 

Hagin claimed that The Lord had appeared to him in 1987 & had taught him concerning the ministry gifts He had set in The Church. He wrote, ‘In the 1987 visitation, Jesus began talking about the office of the apostle. He said, "There are four classes or ranks of apostles. And within these different classes or ranks, apostles can have different degrees or measures of anointing." Jesus continued, "There are not only different classes of apostles, but there are also different classes of prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And there are different degrees of anointings within these different classes." I think we have all seen people in these various offices, ministering under varying degrees of anointing. Even in the pastoral office, some pastors carry a different type or measure of anointing than others. And we see evangelists, prophets, and teachers with different degrees of anointing upon them. The same thing is true in the apostolic office.’.

Kenneth E. Hagin ‘He Gave Gifts Unto Men’ Copyright © 1992 RHEMA Bible Church.

Huh? Is that it? Right there in those paragraphs you will find the licence that some have used to build their own type of ministry, claiming that they’re chosen to be anything from Prophetic Pastors to Apostolic Teachers. How easily an ego is substituted for a calling & how seldom anyone notices the difference. 

Somehow apostolic ministry is the place to be, but in reality, this trend is nothing more or less than a glorified pyramid scheme. There is always one person at the top enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else below them & exercising an authority that does not belong to them in an office of ministry to which they aren’t called. These charlatans consolidate their position with a blatant misuse of Scripture & a flagrant misappropriation of & substantial claims to the use of the gifts of The Holy Spirit. The claim to apostleship is very fashionable right now, but I’m not quite sure whether those who are making their claims are being clever, or those who believe & follow them are being stupid. Sadly, the age of the super apostle is upon us once again.

This is where things become both a little sticky & unglued at the same time. Some have hung their hats on the job title, but have paid little or no attention to the actual job description. We can all agree that an apostle is one who is sent, but some have taken that very broad definition & have run away down the street with it, before looking any further. This has caused one or two wee problems historically & alarmingly those same problems are on the rise within The Church once again. 

From a plain reading of my Bible, I see that an apostle is not simply one who is sent. Anyone can pop up & claim to be sent to do this, that, or the other, which they often do! An Apostle is one who is sent specifically, by someone specific, to accomplish & complete something in specificity that only they can do, according to the will of God. This is true of all service in ministry. This is seen throughout Scripture. There is a calling to. Then there is a sending forth. This is why Paul specifically identifies himself as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, not of men, neither by the will of man, because there are those who claim to be Apostles & they are not. They are liars (Revelation 2:2). They are false & they are deceitful workers (2^nd Corinthians 11:14). So, we have to ask the question, from where do the super apostles take their lead? 

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry (1^st Timothy 1:12). 

Interestingly enough, Paul begins his discourse to Timothy by saying that he was an Apostle, by the commandment of God (vs 1). He continues his exhortation, reminding Timothy, his son in the faith (vs 2) that he had beseeched him to stay in Ephesus for doctrinal reasons. Ephesus is significant to this discussion. Modern ministers enjoy citing Paul’s writings to buttress their claims to Apostolic Ministry, but they have none of the qualifications, none of the love of The Gospel, none of the burden for The Church & none of the necessary chutzpah, even though their propaganda paints them as men of God. The Ephesian Church tried those who claimed Apostleship & found them to be liars (Revelation 2:2). We must do the same & we will find many who are liars today. 

In 1985 I attended a meeting in Birmingham, England. Buddy Harrison was speaking. Harrison was owner of Harrison House, publishers of Kenneth Hagin’s Faith Library materials & perhaps coincidentally happened to Hagin’s be son-in-law. Anyway, it was at this meeting that I first caught a glimpse of what was later to be misconstrued as Apostolic Ministry. 

Mr. Harrison wasn’t the first to do what I’m about to describe, but with the popular messages of faith, healing & prosperity in hand, his connections & closeness to Rhema Bible Training Centre & his access to popular word of faith speakers, he launched his brand of church. This was Faith Christian Fellowship. Like an eager little Beaver, I joined the queue to speak to Pastor Buddy after the service & I asked him whether he had any churches in England. He did. He even had a fellowship in my native Leicester. This fellowship is now defunct. 

Apostolic Ministry goes a little something like this. If you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin. 

According to popularised Charismatic dogma, one never starts out in ministry as an Apostle. This may very well be the case, but it may equally be the case that individuals aren’t called to be Apostles at all. However, this small technicality is easily circumnavigated thus; you don’t have to be an Apostle to have an Apostolic Ministry. Given the vagueness of the definitions Kenneth Hagin received in his 1987 visitation, there has been scope for many to invent & reinvent themselves, insinuating their particular ministries into whatever class they choose. 

For instance, a man may graduate from a certain Bible school, having successfully circled the correct answers on his multiple choice exams. He begins a fellowship or Bible study group in his home. For the sake of argument, let’s call it gimme your money & blindly believe me ministries. As he teaches his popular messages of faith, healing & prosperity learned faithfully by rote in said Bible school, the group grows. They lease premises. They continue to grow. Soon, the headcount is in the hundreds, including those who have left other fellowships & jumped on the bandwagon, so the spiritual experiment is taken to another location & reproduced. It works. The experiment is multiplied. They buy property. It works again & again & again. There are high-fives echoing across the nation as this chain of fellowships grows in number & influence. Things go so well that not even sexual & financial scandals can stop them. 

At best, you have a man made denomination, even though all concerned will describe themselves as non-denominational. Sadly the worst case scenario & the one that is closer to reality than some will care to admit, is that you have a brand, a franchise & a trend. These things have to be properly managed, packaged, marketed & sold to consumers, at a profit. Don’t take my word for it though, Buddy explains it better than I. 

‘Faith Christian Fellowship International began as a local church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In November 1977, the Lord spoke to Co-Founders Buddy and Pat Harrison: “Go back to Tulsa, start a family church, a Bible teaching center, and a world outreach.” They obeyed God and started the church in January 1978. The church grew rapidly and by the end of its second year was averaging more than 1,900 members. FCF of Tulsa was one of the first Word of Faith churches in the area. During this time, the Word of Faith movement exploded through men and women of God in Tulsa. The Lord used the Harrisons to start a great revival of God’s Word and the Supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit. From FCF of Tulsa, men and women went throughout the nation and around the world starting churches and Bible schools, and they looked to the Harrisons for leadership. In 1981, while the Harrisons were in Jerusalem with Dr. Lester Sumrall, the Lord told them that they were to “pastor pastors and minister to ministers.” This led Buddy and Pat to begin the International Office that today helps more than 500 churches and 1,000 ministers worldwide. FCF has resident ministry in 41 nations. In addition to churches around the world, FCF family members also have Bible schools, orphanages and various humanitarian outreaches. When Buddy Harrison went home to be with the Lord on November 28, 1998, Pat Harrison assumed full responsibility for leading the FCF family. Men and women who have many years of ministerial experience assist her in fulfilling the vision and mission of FCF.’. 

That’s Apostolic Ministry in a nutshell. I can hear some of you rolling your eyes & asking the logical question, what’s wrong with that?. Well, as you’ve asked me so politely, I’ll tell you. It isn’t what I see that bothers me; it’s what I don’t see. 

A huge part of the problem is the vagueness there is within modern teaching concerning the offices of ministerial service given to The Church by Jesus Christ. Please note, I said the vagueness within the teaching, not the vagueness within The Scriptures. This ambiguity has produced any number of variations on a theme & herein lies the clear & present danger. Certain individuals claim to have an Apostolic Ministry, or have that designation conferred upon them by others, but they are not Apostles. To all intents & purposes they are like security guards who would never make the grade as Police officers, but want to pretend that they’re coppers. 

Every new fellowship that our hypothetical minister at gimme your money & blindly believe me ministries opens, is owned by him, but operated by someone else. He can’t be in more than one location at a time, to be fair. Not unless he installs huge screens at each new location, or pays for television airtime, which allows him to scam his viewers with some of the worst manipulation techniques known to mankind. Anyway, I digress. This hypothetical someone else, pays an annual fee to have their credentials issued by gimme your money & blindly believe me ministries & in return for their money & loyalty, they receive permission to use the organisation’s branding & logo. Oh, I almost forgot that typically they have to give gimme your money & blindly believe me ministries a wee kickback every week or month. Now let me see, what’s it called? Ah yes, a tithe. 

So, the guy who sits pretty at the top of the ponsy scheme starts other churches & gets a cut of their profits every month. He then provides an apostolic covering for his fellowships, even though he’s not an Apostle & settles into his role as if he had just walked out of the pages of one of Hagin’s books. He’s a success in terms of his theology, but I have a teeny weeny problem with this. 

Brethren, I don’t care what Hagin said Jesus told him in his 1987 vision. I have to ask, why did the lord wait for one thousand nine hundred & eighty seven years in order to tell hagin what He supposedly told him in an extra biblical revelation? If Jesus is speaking, it counts as Scripture. I care what Scripture says & it says nothing about a bloke starting a franchise & calling it a church or ministry. However, Scripture has a lot to say about a man being called to serve The Church sacrificially, for Christ’s Name & for the sake of The Gospel. Unfortunately, our dear friends at the hypothetical gimme your money & blindly believe me ministries are alive & well & some of us have been, or are, caught up in their schemes. 

The Ephesian Church was commended by The Lord for trying those who claimed apostleship, saying to them, ‘.. thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars (Revelation 2:2). Evidently, the elders of The Church had taken Paul’s admonition in Acts 20 seriously enough to act on it. We ought to too. 

In Acts 20, Paul called the elders at Ephesus together & he clearly demonstrated an Apostolic quality that does not exist among those claiming apostleship today. Read the account for yourself in Acts 20:17-38. He poured his heart & life out to them then as he had done for three years. If you blink, you may miss it. For me personally, this is easily one of the most moving portions of Scripture that I have ever read & I continue to read regularly. 

Why have we swung so wide of the mark when God’s Word lays these things out for us so plainly? Why have men claimed that The Lord has told them things which He clearly has not? Men have engineered powerful positions for themselves, made a lot of money out of & exercised great influence over the flock of God. Where is their humility of mind? Where are their tears? Where is their burden for The Church? Where is their passion for The Gospel? Instead of these things being present in their lives & ministries we see nothing more or less than an exploited opportunity for self-aggrandisement. They have their reward. 

Paul loved the Ephesian brethren. They knew him & observed the way he lived. He warned them. He wrote to them concerning many doctrinal truths & instructed them about the necessity of recognising these offices of service in ministry. Ephesians chapter 4 is not about hierarchy. Could it possibly be the case that Paul gave The Church at Ephesus & us by extension the criteria by which they & us by extension could try those claiming to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers? I’m simply asking a question. By the way, Ephesians 4 begins at verse 1, not verse 11. Just saying. 

Today in the modern era apostolic ministry is simply about the ability to propagate a popular message. This leads to fellowships being started & built upon the message being preached. In the good old days it was about Christ & His Gospel but now it is not. The man preaching the message is the draw. They’re the hub. Sooner or later these folks become bored & begin believing their own press. One minute they’re a Pastor, the next they’re a super apostle. With all the aggression of a fast food chain’s marketing campaign & a budget to match, McDoctrine & Kentucky Fried Christianity have spread like a wasting disease through The Church. Anything goes. Anyone follows. 

Paul told the Ephesian elders, ‘Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.’ (Acts 20:18-19). He told the Corinthians, ‘I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.’ (1^st Corinthians 4:14-16). He also besought them, by the ‘..meekness and gentleness of Christ..’ (2^nd Corinthians 10:1). 

To The Church in Thessalonica the Apostle Paul wrote, ‘For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness: nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory (1^st Thessalonians 2:5-12). 

Where is the humility of mind that Paul displayed? Where is the meekness & gentleness of Christ? Where is the fatherly concern? Where is the willingness to work so that The Church isn’t burdened? Today, in modern ministerial trends these qualities are nowhere to be seen in those who lay claim to apostleship & to apostolic ministry. Men are simply creating a brand & starting businesses that they call churches. 

So, let’s do the maths here for a second. According to the commonly & popularly accepted dogma, if you’re called to be an apostle you don’t start out as one. You progress from another office of ministry. However, you’ll be an apostle in the 4^th class. Jesus is an Apostle in the 1^st class. The 12 were Apostles of The Lamb in the 2^nd class. Paul & other Apostles who weren’t part of the original 12, but who laid foundations & also did a couple of other minor things like write Scripture & determine Doctrine, are apostles in the 3^rd class. Church planting missionaries who carry The Gospel to the ends of the Earth today, or as far as their funding allows, are Apostles in the 4^th class. Got that? 

If we continue with our equation, we’ll see that there are gaping holes in what Jesus is supposed to have told Mr. Hagin. However, we’ll come to these questions as we move through our subject matter. 

Beyond this, there are those who don’t claim to be apostles but rather say that their ministry is apostolic in its bent. So, they’re like an Apostle but they’re not an Apostle. They do apostolic stuff but they’re not Apostles. Confused? Me too. Either you’re an Apostle or you’re not. As for the other nonsense of claiming to have an Apostolic Ministry without being an actual Apostle is like saying, I’m not  complete idiot, I just have idiotic tendencies. Give me a break. It all comes down to certain men making a platform themselves, making a name for themselves & making a handsome living. Apostles & profits are still very much the order of the day.

copyright Ó by david Samuel Parkins mmxvii all rights reserved.

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

Virtual Realities

the rise & fall of the roaming empire

(based on conversations I have had with professing Christians)

 

The deluge of Christian programming, proliferated via the world wide web is not a bad thing. However, in order to exploit the freedom of access to the resources that we enjoy, we have to accept that there are elements opposed to us who will exercise their right to do the very same thing. All of our action & interaction takes place on this global playing field & it is up to us to choose who & what we view & listen to. For the believer in Christ & indeed for anyone who uses the internet, it goes without saying that there are definite things to avoid online. Yet the assumption is made that these warnings are mainly concerned with pornography, violence or coarseness & profanity. As unsavoury as these things are, I see an equally dangerous & corrosive trait being promoted & even defended in the Christian community; this trend is virtual fellowship. This is a serious issue. I don’t see a problem with The Church at large having an online presence. I don’t even have a problem with the use of online Christian resources as supplemental to teaching or as an aid to study or research. I do however have a huge problem with The Church promoting an online presence as a replacement or substitute for actual fellowship. I have an even bigger problem with ministries who aren’t even Churches, but put themselves forward as such, offering anything from personal prophecies to dream interpretation & all at a cash price that the sometimes desperate & deceived are all too willing to pay. This is a serious issue. This is a very serious issue. 

There are believers who are unable to physically attend Church services. They may be disabled. They may be seriously ill. They may live in isolated areas or countries where there aren’t the same liberties that many of us take for granted. They cannot skip out of their front door, hop into their car & roll down to the Church of their choice. These are not the Christians I’m addressing here. However, while we’re on the subject, I have to tell you that I believe The Lord can & will provide fellowship for those who cannot get to an assembly. He is The Good Shepherd & no one cares for the sheep like He does. 

Unfortunately, the internet is a natural go to for believers who may be in the aforementioned circumstances, desiring fellowship, teaching or the company of other Christians & unless they’re part of a Church with leadership that provides Pastoral visitation & a membership that demonstrates care (1^st Corinthians 12:25), even though they may not have forsaken assembly, the assembly may very well have forsaken them. I have known very dear brothers & sisters in Christ who have become systematically discouraged because no one could be bothered to make the effort &   …anyway, you know what I’m saying. This is a very serious issue. This is a very serious issue indeed. 

The Church has had one or two failures with certain types of people, while it has heartily embraced others. This has to change. We must become deeply burdened for those who don’t have fellowship & I believe that burden in some very small way reflect Christ’s burden for them. If you know someone who has no Church family & cannot physically attend services, seek them out, visit them, pray with them, share in the Scriptures and break bread with them. I believe this will please The Lord. Iron cannot sharpen itself (Proverbs 27:17). 

Do you remember Jesus’ preparedness to go to the house of the Centurion after He had healed a leper? (Matthew 8:5-7). Do you remember His readiness to go to Jairus’ house after the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, even though news arrived that the girl had died? (Luke 8:50-56). Do you remember The Lord’s willingness to go to heal Lazarus? (John 11:11). As we read through the Gospels, we see Jesus going to people who cannot get to Him. He deliberately goes out of His way for people. We must go out of ours. 

As well as those who cannot physically make it to Church, there are also those who will not. Specifically, there are some who have stopped attending for reasons which fall anywhere between significant doctrinal deviation & the abuses that we are all too familiar with. Negative experiences, false brethren, pastoral abuses of authority, their moral failings & bad Church traditions are among serious arguments put forth to me for non-assembly. However, some make blanket statements about The Church which, upon investigation, hold less water than an old, broken sieve. 

Personally, I believe that there are very few valid reasons for leaving a Church fellowship. Beyond these whys & wherefores, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to remain out of fellowship. Yet on an all too regular basis, I speak to person after person after person who will justify their lack of assembly, whist doing an impression of Han Solo; it’s not their fault. I then begin waving my arms & growling like Chewbacca. Again, the internet becomes their go to. 

This issue has become so utterly entrenched in the thinking of so many believers that I’m convinced it’s an epidemic within The Church. 

Disliking a minister’s style or delivery & disagreeing with his sermons, is not tantamount to him being in doctrinal error. Falling out with members of a congregation does not make them false brethren. Being admonished from Scripture concerning personal sin & discipleship is not legalism & so what if you don’t like the music, no one is worshipping you! These are not valid reasons, these are excuses. 

These & other sad pretexts are often exaggerated beyond all recognition. Why go to Church when we can simply log on & tune in from the comfort of our beds or sofas? With electronic fellowship, we can choose what we want to hear, when we want to hear it & if we don’t like it, we can simply find someone else. Furthermore, non-attendees slowly but surely become armchair critics of The Church, its laity, its leaders & ultimately its Lord. Party spirit begins its route in order to take root. One is of Osteen, another of Hagin, some of Kenyon, another of Copeland & another of Hinn. God help them. 

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2^nd Timothy 4:1-4). 

This demographic is deceived into thinking that the actual Church can be adequately replaced by a virtual one. This is impossible. 

If we cannot endure sound doctrine, if we won’t get along with our brethren & if we find it impossible to receive instruction or correction, we not only have a problem, but eventually become a problem. Leaving fellowship doesn’t solve issues. Without other members of the flock around us & a faithful Shepherd over us, we’re open prey. However, pride propels those who believe that they can survive on nothing but YouTube clips & Facebook friendships. It is entirely unbiblical. They have made an enormous error & have failed to recognise the role of The Church in Christian life. 

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom (Proverbs 18:1). 

Fellowship brings comfort & edification. It also generates trust in pastoral oversight. When we’re out there on our own, there is no fellowship, there is no comfort, there is no edification; we’re nothing but fodder. You don’t know those you are following online & they do not know you. No Apostolic writing is ever addressed to individuals who have voluntarily forsaken assembly & removed themselves from pastoral authority. Viewing a service online is not the same as being in an actual service, or indeed, being of service, much in the same way that watching a film is not the same as being in an actual film. It isn’t even the ‘next best thing’ as some have put it. Christ has prescribed that we fellowship together under the leadership of a Shepherd. 

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves (1^st Thessalonians 5:12-13). 

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation (Hebrews 13:7). 

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you (Hebrews 13:17). 

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you (Hebrews 13:24). 

These are not your media ministers. These are your Church Elders. These is not your managers at work. These are your Church leaders. These are not your business partners. These are your Pastors. 

An online ministry cannot oversee you, care for you or give an account for you. It can take your money though & if you’re fortunate you’ll get a reply to your emails, but it is not a Church. It is a faceless & heartless entity. You cannot submit to the authority of a televangelist. You cannot call on them as elders of The Church (James 5:14) & you cannot refer to any of them as your Pastor. A sheep on its own is prey (Ezekiel 34:5) & many are being preyed upon on a daily basis because they’re scattered. They are sheep with no Shepherd. 

At this stage in conversations, I usually receive a handful of counter arguments such as ‘the fact that I don’t go to church doesn’t mean I’m not a Christian’ or ‘the church is the people, not a building’ & my personal favourite, ‘show me scripture that says I have to go to church’. These arguments are all put forward without any biblical thought & are therefore pretexts without precedent. If you have left a Church because of serious doctrinal deviancy, that is what you’ll state. If you left because there was unchecked sin or immorality, that is what you’ll state. If you left because the leadership were wolves, that is what you’ll state. You will have a reason, not an excuse. However, if the circumstances under which you left are spurious, you will raise arguments similar to the non-substantive ones I shared at the beginning of this paragraph. The assembling of ourselves together is not about us, it’s about him. 

There are some who have been crushed, abused & failed miserably by their Churches. I know this. They need to be restored & healed. The Lord wants to do this. The solution isn’t complete withdrawal because as a wounded member you will become prey. You will die. In some respects, your willingness & desire to continue receiving God’s Word via YouTube or some other electronic platform in the short term is commendable, but in the long term it is not advisable. 

There’s no accountability online. There’s no restriction. There’s no oversight. There’s no reproof; no rebuke; no exhortation. No one is watching over you. No one is leading or guiding you. There’s little or no discernment. Yet multiplied thousands will sit in front of their computers & watch their favourite false teacher, instead of making their way to an actual assembly. There’s no challenge. There’s no serving. 

We seem to have bought into the lie that the only thing we attend Church services for, is the teaching of The Word of God & because we can now access that 24-7, we don’t think that we actually have to go to Church at all. Even a cursory reading of Scripture will dispel that myth. Our Church attendance is about Him, not us. We may benefit from His Word & His presence; we may benefit from receiving communion & we may benefit from praying one for another, but ultimately, we gather together because of Jesus. Anyone who separates themselves from assembly, thinks that assembly is ultimately about them. They are wrong. 

As we read through the New Testament & see the internal & external ministry of The Church, any argument for separation is soon put to bed. Those who resist the admonition of Scripture simply do not want to assemble. Whatever they’re learning online makes them more spiritual & knowledgeable than others. They don’t need to go to Church. If they understood The Church in biblical terms & not in the simplistic manner they’ve adopted, they’d see that what they’re actually saying is ‘I don’t have to act as if I’m a part of the body of Christ’. It’s unfaithfulness. Scripture is abundantly clear about the specific circumstances under which believers are to be outside of fellowship. Not wanting to go, is not one of them. 

If you are in the habit of forsaking assembly, please return to full fellowship with a body of believers. There are good Churches led by good Pastors. Find one. This is Christ’s model. He has set Pastors in The Church to oversee & feed His flock (Ephesians 4:11). If you cannot physically make it to an assembly, I pray you’re a part of a fellowship that has visitation & proper Pastoral care. If you’ve been hurt by a Church, I pray that you’re soon healed. If you’re in rebellion because you don’t believe that you have to assemble with other believers, I pray that your internet goes down & someone from a local Church knocks on your door.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright by David Samuel Parkins mmxvi

copyright Ó by david Samuel Parkins mmxvi all rights reserved.

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser