Excerpt #2 from book: Open Letter to His Majesty and Excellency Christ-Jesus
The Church and Spiritual Growth (Open Letter p.45-53)
3 Points and Facts concerning THE CHURCH – Part 1 (Open Letter pages 45-53)
From the beginning, we were a Bible study group, a home cell, a prayer group, a praise and worship group or whatever other group. But You are not building any groups! You are not even building any congregations or communities. You are building only one thing – Your Body, Your Living Body.
Your Body is Your True Church without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish. Christian communities, congregations, home groups and any other gatherings are, as it were, “vehicles”, the means through which You are achieving Your purposes, even Your final goal – YOUR BODY.
Most of Your people walking on the broad way can at best have a mental concept of Your Body. They can have noble concepts based on the Scriptures but still only mental, intellectual concepts. They can have an appreciation for Your Body … but they cannot possibly see the spiritual Reality of Your Body and certainly not the Beauty of It.
Your people must be put on the narrow road and thus be transformed into living members of Your Body. Then, and only then, can they begin to witness how Your Living Body is formed. Only then can they begin to observe Its Reality and, later on, Its Beauty. There is simply no other way.
And so, our own group, being dead in the beginning, has been and is being transformed into a living body through the transformation of each willing member from the dead one into a living one! It is not a group any more – it is a body. It is being built into something we had no previous perception of, we had no true idea about. And this transformation process does not stop. It may take on a different dimension, a different quality, different depth and width … but it never stops. I dare to say, Lord, I am beginning to catch the first glimpses of the marvellous Reality and Beauty of Your True Body. It is beyond description! It is FAR, FAR beyond our imaginations as well as our most sincere and most theological concepts.
What shall we say then about congregations, communities, various fellowships and home groups? Are they not various parts of Your Body?
I believe the truth is simple and I would express it as follows. Any person who believes in You in his/her heart and so confesses, becomes a member of Your Body, Your Church. He/she is saved from the eternal damnation and receives the seed of a new spiritual man “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph.4:24). Furthermore, this seed lives by Your Spirit which takes up His dwelling in every such new member of Your Body. He/she becomes the temple of Your Spirit (1Cor.6:19) and He seals him/her for the day of redemption (Eph.4:30).
Three most important facts are to be elaborated on at this point. The first one is as follows:
(A) Every member of Your Body without exception starts from being dead, blind, deaf, corrupt throughout, sinful, foolish … a bundle of vanity taken from the road that leads to eternal damnation and eternal death. This is the starting line for EVERY ONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION!
Let me now enlarge this point by repeating the aforementioned truth that at the conversion = salvation of any such above described pitiful creature, as we all were in Your sight, only the spirit is renewed – reborn (Jn.3:6), and nothing else. Only the first stage of Your Salvation takes place in us. But what does this mean? This simply means that immediately after our being saved, we still remained dead, blind, deaf, corrupt throughout, sinful and foolish … a bundle of vanity taken from the road that leads to eternal damnation … BUT with the stamp and the seed of Eternal Life within!!! THAT is the ONLY difference between a pagan and a newly born Christian! And unless that Christian begins to grow in that new man and later on mature through that transformation process, he will never be different from a newly born one. That also means, he will never be much distinguishable from a pagan. Furthermore, such a Christian has the shortest possible way back, the easiest conditions to backslide onto the road that leads to eternal damnation.
How many of Your people are in this danger? Only You know, Lord. And how many grow and mature, how many are in the aforementioned second and third group? Only You know, Lord.
But this is it, only our growth and maturing of that new spiritual man in us determines in what group we are, on which road we walk, how living or how paralysed we are (at least in Your eyes), with whom we associate and with whom we do not associate. Is it not so, Lord?
Now I must blow a trumpet and issue a strong warning. Everything You are doing, Lord, can be, and indeed, is faked by the powers of darkness! Even the gifts of Your Spirit can be, and indeed, are faked! This is the power of their deception. What does it mean? It means that there may be numerous groups, fellowships, home cells, communities, gatherings … who consider themselves the most spiritual, in fact, “holier than thou”. They are the “pinnacles of Christianity”, or they are on the “cutting edge” of spiritual happenings, and many of them are glad they left those “poor and blind and unthankful and unappreciative sheep” in their former congregations, fellowships, home cells, communities.
But these are mostly the proud and rebellious individuals whose OWN ambitions were never realized in their respective former congregations, fellowships or communities. Whose OWN plans and dreams never came true, whose OWN problems were never solved, in fact, they grew larger, whose OWN hot zeal was never quenched. No wonder, Lord, that such are always the prime candidates to be caught in the net of any dubious sect or group or fellowship, by any dubious doctrine, no matter how unscriptural, no matter how idiotic!
This is by no means limited only to “pew-sitters”, there is no respect of persons when it comes to unfulfilled ambitions or dreams! How many pastors change flocks for their OWN reasons and not because Your Spirit leads them? Only You know, Lord.
There are also people in every congregation who may not have great ambitions, who may not be seeking recognition or position or glory, but are plainly frustrated by many things. They do not see any corrective actions taken against certain evils, they do not see any solutions to their various problems, the “atmosphere” may be changing into an unbearable one, the leadership may be so busy that one has to be on a death bed to get a pastoral visit, and so on.
These people may also elect to change from one to another congregation, fellowship, community, or simply stay home or join a group. They also are in great danger of falling into the wrong hands, embracing wrong doctrines, wrong practises. They are in danger of hardening their hearts against the truth which so far they may not have heard nor seen nor understood. A root of bitterness may spring up in their hearts that could choke any spiritual progress they may have made, and many shall be defiled (Heb.12:15). In such cases, it would be better for such individuals to stay, if at all possible.
And then, there are individuals who are taken out and placed elsewhere by Your own hand. Why is that? They simply grow and grow and grow until they outgrow the environment. The congregation, community, fellowship cannot supply them with the new spiritual nutritional and oxygen demands. Should they stay too long, they would suffocate and their growth would be stifled. I did not know it before, but today I know it, since I am one of them.
First, I was taken out of the Catholic system into a Pentecostal system to be delivered from “bad” flesh. Then, I was taken out of the Pentecostal system into a home system to be delivered from “good” flesh, religious flesh and from the filthiness of spirit.
Now, this alone would not be any proof that I belong to this third group of individuals. The real proof is that my coarse pride, jealousy, fears, doubts, color dreams and ambitions were destroyed by You while serving in the Pentecostal congregation! Being destroyed, they could not have become unsatisfied and thus the reason for my departure. Furthermore, I have not left with bitterness against anybody. I did not stop loving the people that I loved for years before my departure. Today, I love my former pastors and deacons and elders and the others MORE than before! O yes, should I be accepted by them in my new man and could serve them in the newness of Your Spirit and the fulness of Your calling upon me, I would be TRULY delighted to go back. Unfortunately, my experiences are to the contrary, as You know, Lord.
To conclude this point, I must describe yet one more aspect of the individual spiritual growth or stagnation and its ramifications.
There never was a congregation, community, home group or any other fellowship where there were no problems, no dissatisfactions, no frustrations, no dilemmas, no evil. I sincerely doubt that there is one today, and I sincerely doubt there will be one in the future before Your Kingdom comes. If, therefore, these are the only things that bother us, we should be able to face them and stay put being strengthened by You! We are doing it daily in our marriages, workplaces, outings, schools, everywhere, are we not? Furthermore, these things are found in carnal congregations as well as in spiritual ones and we will never weed them out completely nor get rid of them. At least, not the way we always tried. What are we after, then?
We are supposed to be after Your Kingdom! We are commanded that our first priority is to SEEK the Kingdom of heaven (Mt.6:33). This is in due respect for the greatest commandment which is about Love. Now, that Kingdom of heaven is within us (Lk.17:21), that is to say, within our new man, who IS the future king and priest in that Kingdom (Rev.1:6). But if this new man does not grow and then mature, he will remain a babe, a child. And though he be the lord of all or a king, he shall remain a servant under tutors and governors for he is yet in bondage of the old man (Gal.4:1-3). If he, therefore, does not learn how to set up that Kingdom within us and how to rule in it NOW, how can he enter the outward Kingdom and rule in it with You for a thousand years?? (Rev.20:4). Can anyone tell me?
How are we to rule others, even nations with a rod of iron (Rev.2:26,27), if we cannot rule even our own selves?? How are we to judge righteously the world and the angels (1Cor.6:2,3), if we cannot judge or if we refuse to judge righteously even our own selves??
Therefore, I say, Lord of Glory, that he who does not have the Kingdom of heaven set up in himself BEFORE he dies or before You come, shall NOT enter in!! For he has nothing to bring in. The only exceptions will be the little ones (Mt.18:3), and from the adults, those who would die or be found at Your coming in the process of seeking it and setting it up. That is to say, those who would be found on the narrow road no matter how far they have progressed. Everyone else who willfully or in ignorance (1Cor.14:38) stagnates or refuses to grow, to mature, to step on the narrow road, to be changed into Your image, to seek FIRST the Kingdom of heaven in his own heart – shall NOT enter in!!
Is it not written that WE ALL, born-again Christians, should watch and pray? (Mk.13:37). What are we to watch? What are we to pray? We are to watch Your moves, what You are saying, what You are counselling, what You are commanding … what You are doing at this hour, what You are not doing and not speaking and not commanding … we are to watch how we walk with respect to the above and whether we walk at all. “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the ENEMIES of the CROSS of Christ” (Phil.3:18). We are to so walk as to be counted worthy! Worthy of the Kingdom (1Thess.2:12; 2Thess.1:5,11). And then, watching You, we are to pray for ourselves and others that You may enable us to so walk as required by You!! So that we would not only sing about the old rugged cross, but carry it! All of us, for there shall be no respect of persons whether they be prophets, exorcists, miracle workers, or “pew-warmers” (Mt.7:21-27; Lk.12:37). These are the ramifications of the individual growth or stagnation.
I know, Lord, it sounds so strict, so bitter, so un-Christian-like. But the truth, like a coin, has for us two sides: bitter and sweet. If we accept the bitter side, we shall obtain the sweet side, too. If we refuse the bitter side, we are refusing the sweet side, too. Is it not written rather plainly, Lord, that the chastening is not joyous but grievous (bitter), BUT AFTERWARD (on the other side) it does yield the peaceable (sweet) fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby? (Heb.12:11).
I, therefore, appeal to all brothers and sisters who were already granted from You some eyesight, some hearing, some discernment and understanding of the things of the Spirit, not to stifle these precious abilities, not to bury these precious talents in the depth of their hearts, but rather to trade them, share them with the like brothers and sisters and thus make them new talents … keep growing, keep seeking! (Mt.25:16).
Let them not be deceived into believing that there is no way, that they can do nothing or that nothing will be changed. These deceptions do not come from Your Spirit because He says: “For everyone who asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Lk.11:9). Let none of these brothers and sisters remain as a tombstone with precious gifts and abilities from Your Spirit buried underneath! Let none of them hush the voice of their spirit, their conscience. Let them, rather, disregard their emotions and their thoughts and listen to their spirit. Let them overcome their fears, doubts, apprehensions, anxieties, confusions, frustrations, and everything else that, like a mountain, stands in their way to the Kingdom!
I sincerely pray and ask You, Lord of Mercy and Grace, that You would grant us wisdom and boldness to speak, to declare, to testify, to proclaim … and enable us to pay the price for that. I ask it in faith and in Your Mighty and Holy Name! Amen.
Part 2 to be continued next week
brother Hanola