When I moved back to Nanaimo from Ontario I went to a new charismatic church just down the street from me. On the second visit it became clear to me that the congregation was more excited about their new building than what the Lord was doing in their midst. I have come to notice that, a lot, with different congregations, where the building has become something of an idol and takes on far more importance than it is due. I do think it is wonderful to have nice, comfortable places to assemble, but I don't get all that excited about a pile of wood and stone. Which brings me to a point, when did the structure made by mans hand become the church? My understanding is that the Holy Spirit dwells in temples not made by the hand of man, and that temple is called the church, which is the body of Christ. Indeed, as scripture says, "where is the house you will build for me".

Until two years ago I have probably attended a dozen services and to me there was always something missing. It seemed that if the singing was free, then you could feel yourself draw closer to God, only to be told "you may take your seats now". It seemed the Lord wanted to do something else and we were interrupting Him because we had this 'service' to attend to. It seemed that the program was so important that if we did not adhere strictly to it something terrible would happen.

Before I ever attended a service, I told the Pastor that I suspected we would sing songs, hear announcements, take an offering and listen to a sermon, all in time to get to McDonalds in time for lunch. I was not off one little bit! That is exactly how things are done in this and most churches I know. Where did this format come from anyway? It doesn't seem to matter what type of church you attend, the singing may be different, the preaching may be different, but the format is more or less exactly the same.

I have felt that if we feel all of these ingredients are necessary for our services to be complete that we should turn them upside down. I would suggest we have the sermon, take the offering, hear announcements and then begin our singing. That way, if the Holy Spirit rides on our praises, He would be free to come and do as He wishes without having to 'shut down' so that we could get on with our program. Better still, rather than adhering to a program at all, why not just invite the Holy Spirit to take over the meeting, and see where He would lead us. This should have several benefits for all involved. Firstly, our Pastors may not have to prepare a new sermon each week (last weeks may still be useable). Secondly, and most important is the fact we would be doing what the HOLY GHOST wants to do and we would be hearing what He has to say, which would be infinitely more fruitful for all of us.

The early church seemed to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and was not bound by any program if you consider 1Cor. 14:26 ...

How is it brethren? when you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

It does not say, when you come together, you must hope that the Pastor has had some divine revelation this week, or you are sunk. No, it says every one of you is to contribute to the edifying of each other, not just one or two anointed souls. Don't misunderstand, I am not suggesting that we abolish leadership and kick out the Pastor, they still have their place. However, I am suggesting that more participation on everyone's part is more in line with Biblical instruction than the format we seem to persistently hang onto. Of course it does depend on all of us being led by the Holy Spirit and operating in at least some of the gifts. Perhaps that is where the real problem lies! The people wanted Moses to go see what God wanted and then come and tell them. It probably is not much different today in our services! It is much easier to come out for one or two hours weekly and get our Godly fix, rather than spending enough time daily getting to know the Holy Spirit and His still small voice.

I offer my own speculation as to why services follow the format they presently do: people are really too busy with their own lives to spend enough time with God to get to know Him. Consider how well you would know members of your own family if you spent as much time with them as you do with God. Pastors probably enjoy the position as 'spiritual leaders' bestowed upon them by their congregations. After all, having a whole group of people looking to you for spiritual guidance and counsel simply has got to be good for the ego. It must be difficult for some Pastors, they are trying to be something God never intended them to be. The congregation and they themselves, impose an unrealistic expectation as to what it is they can do. It seems to me, that if the Pastors lead the sheep to green pastures they would be fed all by themselves and not be depending on the shepherd to regurgitate what they have been chewing on all week long, in the form of a sermon.

I have often wondered if the flock gets the shepherd they deserve or if the shepherd gets the flock he/she deserves. Either way, I think you have to agree the whole thing has lots of room for improvement.

The system of church government is another area where room for improvement seems to exist. I can only speak from my personal experience but I doubt very much if my experience is unique. For two years I attended a United Church of Canada assembly which was made up of a board of directors consisting primarily of the 'old guard' who like most people are none too fond of change. It was also made up of some new members who wanted some change but nothing too radical. As is the case when more than one person is involved you seem to have a continuous struggle for control. Each faction thinking that their view of things will be best for the church in the long run. Since neither faction has the power to actually impose their will on the other, nothing is ever really accomplished. The net result is an underlying tension between the different groups.

I doubt if similar difficulties don't also exist in newer more charismatic churches, perhaps not over the same issues, but there will be power struggles also. I think that is inevitable when you have flesh and blood trying to run things.

So where does the Pastor fit in this whole mix? Well, in the United Church if the flock does not like the message they can simply vote him or her out, it is that simple. Pastors should be accountable, but the whole thing falls apart when we are not ALL being led by the Holy Spirit. It is obvious that if ALL are led by the Spirit there would be no disunity, only peace and harmony. By the process of elimination it stands to reason that if there is disunity, we are not being led by the Spirit. This may not sound like a resounding revelation but if you examine your own church government you might just find it applies to your congregation. When we operate out of the flesh rather than the Spirit, nothing good is likely to happen.

Let us consider scripture, which may shed some light, of how the early church conducted itself:

How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 1 Cor. 14:26.

It would seem from this single scripture that the early church was not so 'pastor oriented' as the church of today has become. The early believers individually took an active role in their assembly with everyone contributing something for the edification of the entire body. This is a far cry from the 'service' we have come to call church.

Today we come to church where we expect our worship leaders to inspire us and lead us into the presence of the Lord in the more charismatic assemblies. In the older churches perhaps we expect the music director and choir to march us into the presence of the Lord. In either case, we as the body of believers assume a passive role in our contribution to the assembly. We then expect our pastor to reveal some great truth about God to us that he/she has learned this past week. After this we leave our pews and go on about our lives much the same as everyone else in this world. So then, what do you suppose the problem could be? Could it be that WE, that is YOU and ME are the real problem?

It would seem that the body of believers is not really encouraged to participate in the assembly in an active fashion. They are expected to stand when told, clap when told and sit when told. But they are certainly not encouraged to do anything, which might disrupt our well-orchestrated meetings. Some leaders might be concerned about the chaos that could erupt if the general assembly were given permission to fully participate as the Holy Spirit leads. I would agree that all things are to be done orderly, but what if the Holy Spirit has a different order than we have? The fact is, most of our services are not orderly, but they are stifled and have all of the life sucked right out of them, in the name of keeping things orderly.

Some churches would be truly horrified if someone in the assembly were to bring a tongue, which someone else interpreted. What would happen if someone simply broke out into song and brought a new psalm to the assembly? What would happen if some mere member of the congregation brought some new revelation or doctrine to the assembly? I would suspect that some assemblies might allow it and perhaps even embrace it. However, some pastors might feel a bit uncomfortable when they realize that God will, and wants to use mere members of the congregation and is not the least bit interested in everyone sitting in awe, as the pastor brings another one of their rousing sermons. Sermons, which for the most part are not revelation from God, but are the result of hours and hours of pouring over reference books and commentaries trying to fashion something that will sound good to the flock this week. It is indeed a sad state of affairs, but is no surprise when you understand the thrust of Paul's writings to the early church.

Time and time again Paul addresses the problem of perverse teachings creeping into the church even during its infancy. It is little wonder that today the church is full of false teaching which has been passed from one generation of leaders to another. It has gone so far from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus and the gospel of Christ!

Some ministers are no more than social workers with a Christian diploma on their wall. I feel sorry for some whose lives are in no better shape than the people they are supposed to be advising. They have the form of godliness, but they deny the power! Perhaps that is why things are in the present state in church today.

Some of this may sound harsh, but understand that I truly want to see the Church of Jesus Christ rise up and take it's proper place in the world, and I feel it simply will not happen if we are content to accept the status quo. We are to be a light in the dark, we are to be salt in the earth, and we are to witness the gospel of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. However, it is painfully obvious that we are falling far short of the mark. People are not exactly beating the doors down to get into church to get what we Christians have to offer. Our government does not seek Godly counsel to help them govern. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that the Christian community is distrusted by the general population and that simply should not be.

Let's consider the early church and it's structure again to see if they had something we have lost along the way. As pointed out earlier they seemed to participate in the process far more than we do in this day and age. Perhaps that is one of the key points we fail to see. Consider the following scripture:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. 1Cor. 12: 12-14.

We are all members of the body of Christ, that includes the lay people, the elders, the clergy and worship leaders. There is only one head and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the elders and pastors and other leaders, it is Jesus and Jesus alone! All the rest including the leaders are only members of the body and should recognize the need for one another. Indeed, I feel it is all part of the process of 'discerning the Lord's body'. Until we have a revelation of this simple truth we are going to struggle with our worship program regardless of how different it is from the one down the street. The pastors need the contribution of the lay people as much as the lay people need the contribution of the pastor. We are all members of the body and are completely dependent upon one another, just as the baby toe and the eye are dependent and in need of each other, so are we in the body of Christ.

So when did the Pastors and other leaders begin to assume the role of 'head' over the church anyway? Personally, I think the first example of this was when Moses was asked to go up the mountain to see what God had to say. Today we are asking Pastors to do the same thing. We seem more comfortable when the pastor can tell us God's opinion, rather than seeking His face for ourselves. Perhaps, that is just the way we flesh and blood creatures are, we would sooner trust the flesh we can see (pastors) than the Spirit we can not see.

Consider the following scripture:

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 1John 2:20

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1John 2:27

I am certain that some theologian somewhere can explain away the simple truth of these scriptures. But to this simple lay person it means exactly what it says. The anointing we have received will teach us all things and that we need that no man should teach us! It is plain and simple, and if you have a quarrel with it, then take it up with the author and not with me. Does that mean we have no need of teachers? Of course it doesn't, but it does mean the Holy Spirit will witness the truth in our spirits when we hear it from any source. It does also insure that we will not be led astray with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Eph. 4:14

The place we come into trouble is when we have believers not led by the Holy Spirit and we have Pastors not led by the Holy Spirit either. Then we have flesh teaching flesh and no good thing can come from that formula. Hence, we have the present state of affairs, where the church is neither salt nor light to the world. Lest we be tempted to take the present state of affairs too lightly, we should remember what the Lord said about salt, which had lost its savour, it was good for nothing except to be thrown out!

Consider the following scripture:

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Rev. 3: 14-19.

The basis for their knowledge seems to be taught by scholars, who may or may not be true Christians. It is sadly apparent there is precious little revealed knowledge being shared in today's churches. There is also no real maturity evident either in the pulpit or in the pews. Early on, I realized it is not possible to lead anyone to a level of maturity you have not attained yourself. It is also not possible for any of us to live in anyone else's revelation. It is only a revelation when the Holy Spirit Himself makes it so, and no amount of applied intellect can bring it about.

In order to test our maturity we should examine scripture, Hebrews 6:1-3 outlines the basics of our faith and indicates that if our knowledge is limited to the points outlined in this text we are indeed not attaining unto any level of maturity. The scripture I refer to follows:

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. Heb. 6:1-3

These three short verses should challenge pastors and flocks alike. If our faith is based only on the above points referred to as the principles of the doctrine of Christ they by no means should be considered as some level of maturity. Indeed, Paul says we are to leave these principles and go on unto perfection. When he says to leave these principles, he is not suggesting that we forget these principles but rather that we are not to stay with these principles only, if we are to go on unto perfection. Consider the following scripture:

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. Heb. 5: 12,13.

Paul is not talking to unbelievers, nor is he talking to new Christians, he is speaking to people who have been taught the first principles of the oracles of God. These people are seen as still being in need of milk and not of strong meat. How, anyone can look at church teaching today and suggest it is strong meat, is a mystery to me. In fact much of what passes, as teaching today is not even as nutritious to the spirit as babe's milk would be. We seem to gauge our maturity on the number of years we have occupied pews rather than using the word of God as our guidepost and standard. Indeed it is sad when we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are being fed strong meat, when in fact we are not even receiving babes milk. So, then what are we being fed? Consider:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Eph. 4: 11-14

This passage of scripture makes the purpose of all ministry very clear and that is to perfect the saints, to build up the body until we come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Then we are told, we will not be tossed about and carried with every wind of doctrine. Where does this doctrine come from? It comes by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Does this seem harsh? Well, perhaps it is meant to, in any case you can't argue with the author. It would seem that many that occupy the position of Pastor and teacher do indeed need to be taught. While the deception may not be deliberate or diabolical, there is nevertheless much deception in this area of pastors and teachers. Since many pastors and teachers have not attained any real level of maturity and whose knowledge is limited to the 'principles' as outlined in Heb. 6: 1-3, they do end up crafting doctrines and teaching and passing them off every week as some Divine revelation. Indeed, they are not even feeding the flock the true milk of the gospel but rather are teaching polluted garbage and passing it off as good teaching. Use the test of Heb. 6: 1-3 to determine the strength of what you hear in church week in and week out. I think you will find that what is passing for sound teaching simply does not measure up.

There is only one true teacher in the whole church, and that teacher is the third Person of the Godhead, and He is the Holy Spirit. He alone is our Comforter, our Teacher and our Counsellor. Until pastors and teachers realize this, they will be doomed to grope about as a blind man, having to invent things to say to simply keep their jobs. For many pastors this is just the way things are and they will not be able to hear one word of this writing, however, there are others who are sincere about being a pastor and will realize that this speaks directly to their hearts. They will know that their teaching comes only with the wisdom of man and is void of the Power of God. Consider the following scripture:

And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Cor. 2:4-5

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Col. 2:2-4.

How much preaching in your church can stand the test of 1 Cor. 2:4? Where is the demonstration of the Spirit and of power? There are many enticing words of man's wisdom because for the most part what is preached comes from the abundance of man's brains, rather than by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Oh, sure it is dressed up and made to sound intellectual and perhaps even spiritual. It is however, bankrupt of any Power and if it lacks the power of God, how will Christians be able to stand in the face of great opposition unless their faith is grounded in the power of God?

We are told in Col. 2: 2-3 that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. If that is the case how can Pastors and the like confess wisdom unless they are so in Christ that this wisdom is made known to them. Since it is obvious that this wisdom and knowledge is not manifest among church leaders, it begs the question " what exactly do they talk about week after week ?". Try to remember the most profound thing that you have heard from a church leader in the years that you have attended church. I am certain there were many Sundays you went home thinking you had heard a good sermon. Now try to remember what made all those sermons so wonderful. If you can't remember them, chances are they were the concoction of someone's intellect and were not wisdom revealed by God.

I make the following suggestion to Pastors in all honesty and sincerity; if you honestly want to see something different in your church services .... Sit down and shut up ...and wait for the Holy Ghost to lead your meetings! You are choking the life out of the flock with your endless sermons, contrived with your own and others wisdom. And to the flock everywhere ...Let your pastors sit down and shut up and wait for the Holy Ghost with them and don't keep expecting them to have to produce some grand teaching week after week. You can hear from God just as loudly as the person standing in the pulpit. So wake up and do your part. Understand this; you are just as much a part of the body of Christ as the person you pay to lead and guide you. If you are truly born again, the same Holy Spirit lives within you as lives within your leaders. You are to take an active role in your assemblies and are not to come into your church, expecting your leader to be your link with God. You already have your link with God and His name is the Holy Spirit. It is He who will teach you all things and lead you into all truth. Consider:

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things 1John 2:20

These [things] have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1John 2: 26,27

These two scriptures make it very clear who is the teacher and who reveals all things to us. 1John 2:26 makes it clear that John is showing how we are to be protected from receiving lies from those who would seduce us. How are we seduced? We are seduced when we follow after cunningly devised fables which take us away from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. As soon as we begin adding anything to the simplicity of abiding in Christ we are polluting the Gospel and making Jesus of no effect in our lives. Consider:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion [cometh] not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Gal. 5: 1-9

In this scripture the Apostle Paul is addressing the idea that you still must be circumcised in order to please God. However, the same truth applies to anything you would add to the gospel of Jesus. For example if in your church you say the women are to wear their dresses to the ankles, you have just created your own version of circumcision. If you say you must study your Bible for at least one hour daily, you have just created another form of circumcision. Anything that you add to abiding in Christ becomes a form of circumcision. Galatians 5:5 makes it very clear that we wait for the righteousness which comes by faith, not the righteousness which comes by rules and regulations. Your early warning signal should immediately kick in when you hear anyone giving you a list of things you must do in order to be right with God. Unfortunately sometimes more than a little leaven manages to get into the weekly sermon, when the Holy Spirit is not leading your Pastor.

There are two very strong warnings in these scriptures, firstly that Christ becomes of no effect when we seek our justification in some form of the law, and secondly that only a very little leaven will leaven the whole lump. When we allow even the tiniest bit of the law to creep into our thinking it will eventually contaminate our whole relationship with the Lord. You will also note that verse 8 states that this whole idea does not come from him that calls us. So how come we will listen to leaders who have wrong teaching and believe them, rather than believing what Christ is saying to us? We simply are listening more to our leaders than we are abiding in Christ and listening to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It is easier to come to church and put our feet up and wait for the Pastor to feed us than it is to spend time with the Lord hearing from Him directly. Consider the following:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15: 4,5.

For Leaders!

BISHOP

This [is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 1Tim. 3: 1-7

DEACON

Likewise [must] the deacons [be] grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being [found] blameless. Even so [must their] wives [be] grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 1Tim. 3: 8-13

ELDER

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Titus 1:5-9

How many occupying various offices within your church meet the preceding qualifications? If you are not completely honest with your appraisal, whether you occupy the pulpit or the pew, you will be deceiving yourself. If that is your choice then so be it. However, if you really think you would like to see revival break out in your meetings and actually receive a genuine, fresh, healing, liberating and edifying touch from the Living God; then you must agree that some things have to change. Church leadership is an excellent place to start since they ARE responsible for what happens in the assembly they are leading.

However, the minister at this church did seem to genuinely give freedom for the Spirit to move and to this novice things seemed to be ripe for the Holy Spirit to bloom . The resident minister was being aided by a retired pastor who was mentoring him, if you will. My understanding is that the minister up until two years previous, had been your typical United Church minister. Then he went to the 'Toronto Blessing' and had a real encounter with the Lord. He seemed hungry for something out of the usual and there seemed to be no end of 'words' and 'visions' to confirm the fact that the Lord indeed had something special in mind for St. Andrew's United.

The schedule of activities was pretty intense for a United Church, Sun. morning there was of course 'church', Tues. night was prayer and praise, Thurs. morning was a prayer meeting and usually one other night there would be a Bible study. Tues. night and Thursday morning seemed to be the most 'spiritual' if you will forgive the expression. It usually went something like this:

Everyone would be invited to give thanks or a testimony at the beginning of the meeting. Then we would either begin singing right away, or sometimes we would pray and wait on the Lord. Either way, sooner or later either the minister in charge or his mentoring pastor would have some sort of vision with regards to the coming move of the Holy Spirit. This would include such things as giant waves hitting the city, great volcanoes pouring out lava which went up and down the island, giant roosters waking up the other churches in town, people coming from all over the world to see what was happening at this church, etc. etc. Whether any of these visions were truly of the Holy Spirit, I can not say, as visions has not been one of the Lords' methods of talking to me. However, since these two leaders seemed to have much experience between them, it seemed acceptable to me, since I was as green as grass and still dripping behind the ears. After these 'visions' we would usually move into a time of prayer, which consisted of each person taking a chair in the middle of the room and everyone else laying hands on them and praying for them. During these sessions, there always seemed to be spirits needing binding and most often encouraging words spoken by at least one of the leading ministers. Others in the meeting were encouraged to speak out if they felt lead by the Lord. All in all, this was more or less the way the meetings went for the first year and a half.

The number of people in attendance during the first year would be 12 - 18 on the average night with sometimes less and sometimes more. In my mind there is no doubt that during most meetings we would experience a touch from the Lord which was more than we usually experienced in Sun. church services. Over time the meetings seemed to gain momentum as more and more people began to attend, until during the last six months or so sometimes upwards of fifty people would attend. Most in attendance I would add were not members of the United Church and in fact very few attended the Sunday services at this church. You see, Sunday church at this church was the same as it was at any other United church. The only time things out of the ordinary happened was on Tues. night and Thursday morning, but never it seemed on Sunday.

During this time the Lord would bring people from far and away who seemed to be sent to encourage our little group that the Lord did have something special available for St. Andrew's. As time went on the momentum did indeed increase until finally one Thursday morning the Holy Spirit took up residence in our little prayer room. The minister wound up on the floor for about two hours this day, and it was felt this indeed was the beginning of something being fulfilled. Someone said they felt that the Holy Spirit was in fact 'moving in' and that His Presence would always be in this little room. The next morning I remember excitedly hurrying to the church at 8:30 to see if it was really true. Sure enough, as soon as you went into the prayer room, you knew you were in His Presence. It was Glorious.

Soon after this the Lord instructed someone who had been attending St. Andrew's for some time to hold an independent meeting in his home to further prepare us for what was to come. This indeed, was the start of a truly precious time with our gracious Lord. The first night when we arrived at John's home the minister from the church was literally flattened by the Holy Spirit and he wound up on the floor for some four hours. The next to go was his mentor, who also hit the deck for much of the night. From the beginning, the Lord let us know that this was a special move of His and that it was His and His alone. He never did things the same way twice and actually did things before we had a chance to sing or do any other such thing. The degree of anointing experienced during these meetings was said to be greater than what had been experienced at the Toronto Blessing. Some nights the anointing would just fall and 'all' of us would simply check out for an hour or more as the Lord did whatever the Lord had to do.

These meetings were held everyday in the beginning and then changed over to every evening. In all of the time we had regular meetings (every night for five months) the Holy Spirit never failed to show up and do something different with each and every one of us. This was truly Holy Ghost University and there is only ONE person qualified to give the course. So don't bother trying to duplicate it, it won't work as soon as man puts his foul paws on it.

Now, back to the United church and what was going on there. The mid-week meetings were very well attended because it does not take long for people to hear that something REAL is happening. Some Tuesday evenings there simply wasn't any more floor space for anyone as the Holy Spirit showed up and 'did His thing". During all this time almost no one from the 'regular' United church congregation were involved with anything that was happening. Yet people were coming for miles to be in attendance.

Now forgive me, if I have to back up a little bit to explain the congregational 'groups' involved with this church. I do not intend to be unkind and feel that my assessment of the situation is fair. Others may choose to disagree. I would assume that St. Andrew's was not unique when it comes to old mainline churches. There were several different groups all trying to get along as we know all good Christians are supposed to. One group consisted of the old guard, who had been in attendance for the past forty or fifty years ( God bless them ). This group seemed to consist of some people who obviously do not know the Lord and are not born again, by any stretch. In the same group there were many dear old ladies who had baked and cleaned and rummaged sales for years, keeping the old girl afloat. There was also more than one or two well to do types who seemed to think the size of their tithes gave them ownership some how. There was no doubt that they wanted to run the show and that was that. At the same time they also seemed to want to pass the torch to someone else, but no one seemed to fit the bill. Then there was us 'Spirit-filled, born again types' who definitely wanted to see a new move of God and felt new music and a freer service would be the answer. At the same time, everyone did try to get along with everyone else, but relations were always clearly strained. The older members just not understanding why the new guys didn't want to maintain the status quo. And the newer types recognizing the need for change if anything fresh were ever to happen. The truth of the matter is, St. Andrew's was the perfect picture of just what happens when we sheep don't have a real shepherd and keep settling for the best that money can buy, Unfortunately this repeats itself time and time again in churches all across this fair land.

I hope this gives a fair background understanding to the 'political' structure that was in place trying to run the affairs of this church. To accommodate the 'new' types and hopefully refill the empty pews, the old guard agreed to an early contemporary service on Sunday morning. This would be followed by a traditional service after the early service finished. This went on for several years and the two groups seemed able to share the same building reasonably well. However, no one from the old guard was ever involved with any of the mid-week prayer meetings or Bible studies. A great many of the 'regulars' from the early service were not involved with the mid-week activities either. I say this to point out that only a handful of the early service members were involved with what the Holy Spirit was doing during the mid-week meetings. This included influential members of the governing board. This would become of some significance later as we would find out.

After two years of praying for a move of the Holy Spirit that would shake our city I was not prepared for what happened when He actually showed up in Sunday morning church. It happened on Mar. 21/99, the first day of Spring, the perfect day for something completely new to be birthed in a tired old church. The first part of the service was pretty much as usual with no real opportunity for the Holy Spirit to actually do anything. Then during the last fifteen minutes of the service the Holy Spirit fell in the sanctuary and the five of us who were present just welcomed Him and rejoiced in His presence. It is interesting to note, that the minister had vacated the sanctuary to take care of some other urgent business. Some of us 'fell out' under the power, some danced and interceeded and I just personally rejoiced. This continued for many minutes and finally the people from the 'traditional' service started to drift into the sanctuary. Needless to say they didn't know what to think. After all, the Holy Spirit had probably not shown up in this church for many, many years. At this point I had to leave to drive my son to work but felt certain things would still be rolling along when I got back. I was wrong!

What happened next was totally unpredictable and the most unbelievable thing I could have ever imagined. But I am certain this has repeated itself time and time again in many different churches everywhere. The following Tuesday night was the regular mid-week meeting night which started at 7:30 p.m. We were informed there would be a 'meeting' prior to the regular meeting to discuss what had happened the previous Sunday. In attendance were the 'famous five', those of us who had welcomed the Holy Spirit, and several other members from the early service. The minister was in attendance also. The people with the 'political influence' included the property chairman, praise and worship team and the staffing chairman and his wife and also the chairman of the board. All of these people were not involved with the regular mid-week meetings, but rather only attended the Sunday services. The five 'trouble makers' while having very little 'political' clout were all regulars at the mid-week meetings as well as the regular house meetings where the Holy Ghost conducted school.

To make a long and troubling story short. Those with influence felt uncomfortable with the disruptive activities of we trouble makers. After all, we were completely upsetting the apple cart and who knows what might happen. Especially if all the old guard left church and took their cheque books with them! This did not really surprise me, but what the minister did, nearly blew my socks off! He tried to work out a compromise that would keep every one happy which primarily meant that we trouble makers were to tame it down, and that was that. I could not believe what was happening, we had prayed for this moment for two years, and when it finally happened, the minister wasn't behind it. I hasten to say that what I am expressing is my opinion but in all fairness I think that time has proven me out on what happened. However, I realize that the minister may have a different understanding of what happened.

Basically that night, two days after the Holy Ghost fell, things were over at this church. It took many months for things to finally come to an end and it really wasn't pretty. The minister wound up being fired by a church splitting vote. The early service just disappeared and went away. I really don't know what is happening with the remaining old guard United Church congregation but I doubt if it is growing or prospering. The whole situation did teach me something I could never have learned from reading of other churches experiences and I don't know how beneficial this little writing might be to someone. I hope it will perhaps shed some light if a similar thing should happen in your church.

If you think that 'revival' is going to be a smooth, gentle event, you are dreaming. The Holy Ghost will not show up to maintain the 'status quo' and He is neither tame nor is He predictable. There are very few of us who are mature enough (and I include the professional clergy) to truly know when the Holy Ghost is on the scene and what it is He really wants to do. I know He is not the least bit interested in our agendas and programs. I also believe He will not interrupt us while "we" are having church. He will politely sit quietly in the corner, and will not impose Himself but will only involve Himself when invited. I know we are far more convinced of the devils ability to deceive us than we trust the Lords ability to bless us. Hence, whenever something unusual does happen we begin immediately to think the devil must be behind it. This is a very dangerous stance, and leaders should pay particular attention. When the Holy Ghost does do something and you think it's the devil, you are treading very closely on blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Don't do it!

I have learned that very few people really know the Holy Ghost. In my own experience I have seen several ministers/pastors get together trying to decide if something truly is the Holy Ghost and then deciding against Him. How do I know? I know, that I know that I know. These are the same people that imagine themselves as being the 'gate keepers' and other such lofty dignitaries in the kingdom of God. The truth is, most of them wouldn't know the Holy Ghost if He bit them on the nose. Sad but true.

Many reading this may choose to disagree, and frankly, I am not the least bit concerned with engaging them in dialogue. If you can look at the present condition of the church and honestly say 'nothing is wrong' then you are indeed part of the problem and not part of the solution. If you expect to greet a genuine, true move of the Holy Spirit in your church, it is absolutely critical that you KNOW HIM ! If you don't, the only way to change that is to ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Don't assume that because you are born again that you know the Holy Ghost. That is a snare to many! I was a born again, tongue talker for over nine years before I came to know the Holy Ghost as the Third PERSON of the trinity. To this day, I do not know Him nearly as well as I would like too. Perhaps if I stopped talking a little longer at a time it would go better for me.

These are all 'right' sounding things to confess in our services, but is it really what we mean? Or is it what we think 'sounds' right and therefore has become our mantra.

I have had the opportunity to witness first hand what happens when the Holy Spirit does try to come into our meetings and really do something different. You would think we would fall on our faces and welcome Him with open arms wouldn't you? Sad to say that has not been my experience at all. In fact, quite the opposite seems to be the case. Let me explain some of my own experiences when the Spirit of the Lord actually does show up.

The biggest sign that the Holy Spirit is actually moving is the fact things really do happen. For far too long we have faked what was really happening in our meetings, perhaps in some way trying to ignore our own pitiful state. We have settled for some questionable 'words', have half - heartedly cast out demons (only to have them come back next week), have experienced a few goose bumps and have said what a wonderful spiritual time we are having. How deceived can we be? Satan, whom we boast is beneath our feet, must be laughing his head off.

I will come back to this point later, but it should be established from the beginning, I believe the real issue in our meetings is CONTROL. We say, you are welcome Holy Spirit, come and have your way. But as soon as He takes us at our word and something unusual happens we immediately wonder "is that the devil?". We don't seem to be in control anymore, and that is troublesome for us stiff-necked mortals.

Some of the things I have observed first hand, when the Holy Spirit is allowed to move are as follows:

People Fall Down, I don't know why we find this so difficult to understand. When we, mere mortals are touched by the One Who holds the universe in the palm of His hand, are unable to stand before Him. If He says the Word, all of creation will simply roll up like a finished scroll. So why oh why are we surprised when we 'fall out' under His power? The answer I would put forward is Control, WE want to be in control, and falling down does not demonstrate being in control.

I have seen people 'fall out' several different ways, some people simply get weak in the legs and have no choice but to fall down. Others seen to go completely stiff and almost pass out and do fall over forward or backwards. I have seen other people who look as if the Lord had smacked them with a 2x4 the way they are lifted off of their feet and are thrown backwards. Others simply drop their head and collapse, forward, or backwards like a sack of potatoes.

These are just some of the things I have observed, but there is one constant, and that is I have never seen anyone hurt during these times. I have heard people hit the floor with such force, you would be certain they would be hurt, but they have felt nothing. A curious footnote, quite often Pastors and other leaders, seem to fall forward, far more than us mere sheep. Don't know why and I don't need to know, it is just an observation.

One of my own experiences was during a house meeting. This was the first time I experienced the power of God come on me and while I knew what it was, I definitely resisted in my own strength.. fool that I was. My legs began to shake from the knees down and I fought the urge to simply kneel down with all my might until finally my legs were like a shaking mass of jelly and I had no choice but to simply fall on my knees and then my face. And I can say from personal experience that my own pride and wanting to be in control was central to what was going on. I can make up some lame excuse about not knowing what was happening, but the bottom line is: I wanted to be in control and that is all there was to it. Falling down does not fit into my definition of being in control.

Another thing I believe comes into this is the degree to which we are familiar with the Lords Presence and His Power and the degree to which we truly trust Him. I believe we can actually stop God through the power of our own wills. That is not to say that God can't do as He pleases but rather that He chooses to have our co-operation and is pleased when we surrender our wills to Him.

People Laugh Uncontrollably. I have seen people literally rolling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter as the Lord ministered to their needs. To the 'natural' mind this certainly does seem 'un-natural' but remember that God is SUPERnatural. I personally have been moved to laughter (which is totally out of character for me) and I can't honestly say why. It is not as if God told me a joke or something, but I simply have been overcome with laughter. We sing about the oil of Joy, and say that Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit, we say that the Joy of the Lord is our strength. So why are we surprised when that joy is demonstrated by laughter? I have had a believer say to me " that Holy laughter bugged the H_ _ _ out of me". Imagine, we can actually be offended by laughing in the Presence of the Lord. Methinks that some religious spirits get all stirred up when we don't always act 'churchy'. And laughing certainly isn't 'churchy'.

People bend over and make weird noises I have seen people bend over and make some very peculiar noises as the Power of God comes on them. Sometimes they walk backwards in circles and do all manner of strange things. I have come to believe that this is usually an unholy spirit getting disturbed when his house is being invaded by the Power of God and they simply cannot sit still. We can either co-operate with God and get the devils out of us or we can resist God, listen to the lying devils and keep them. The choice is ours. Any one who says that Christians can't have devils obviously have one, and they are listening to one of his little lies when they say such a thing. I repeat, we can let God get rid of them or we can keep them, it is our choice.

People Go on Fire We ask the Lord to baptize us with His fire, and we say send you fire Lord. Why should we be surprised to discover that Fire is actually HOT. Funny as it sounds but some people are really surprised to learn that the fire of the Holy Spirit really is HOT. I have seen people rub their hands on the floor in an effort to put the fire out. I have seen people take off their socks to cool down. I have seen people use the clothes like a fan to cool off and so on. When the FIRE does fall.... it does GET HOT. It really, actually to your flesh gets down right uncomfortable! At the same time myself and others have felt the wind of the Holy Spirit and guess what, it DOES feel like wind! Imagine that! Wind and fire are not just empty words void of meaning when the Holy Spirit is allowed to move in our meetings. However, we have experienced nothing for so long it is normal, so when something does happen we don't know how to react. We are not as bright as we would like to think we are sometimes. And when it comes to the things of God we can be down right foolish sometimes.

Who is in Control? This really is the point at issue in all of these cases. I have seen other things happen but the previous descriptions gives you some idea of what to expect when the Holy Ghost does show up in Power. Since we are not familiar with His Presence and Power in our meetings we are not certain whether it is the Holy Ghost or the devil, when people begin to act peculiarly. If our leadership and the people present are true to their word when they invite the Holy Spirit to come and have His way, why can't we simply trust Him to do just that? If we do, we need not concern ourselves with whether or not things are of Satan. I read in a book relating to other moves of God in the last century and the early part of the 20th century that people always seem to give Satan more credit for being able to deceive us, than we give God credit for being able to bless us. Sadly, if we adopt that way of thinking we will have another of those self-fulfilling prophecies.

To stiff-necked Pastors etc. The only people Jesus had trouble with were leadership, and there is nothing new under the sun. These 'leaders' who sadly don't know the Holy Spirit from the unholy spirit will immediately want to see in scripture where the exact same thing happened so they will know whether it is of God or not. How sad can it get, when we truly don't know the Holy Spirit from devils? I would ask these people the following : "what do you think that signs and wonders look like anyway?". They do not look like the ordinary or they would neither be a sign or a wonder. What do mighty miracles look like? Do they look normal? I hope I have made my point. If you search scripture you will find many things recorded that certainly don't fall into the category of normal. Talking donkeys for example. The sun standing still. The Red Sea parting. Need I go on? So why are we all bent out of shape when someone falls down or laughs or cries? Perhaps it is because we have been doing 'church' for so long we don't know the Lord when He really does show up, and that is sad indeed!

What Really Happens! Earlier I have listed some of the outward signs I have seen when the Holy Spirit is given freedom to minister. Now let me relate some of the things that really happen when He is free to minister. People are completely healed, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Yokes are broken, eyes are opened, hearts are changed, lives are transformed. Does this happen all at once, in one two hour meeting? It could, but that is not my experience. Consider how many years it has taken us to get into our pitiful condition. Why do we think that our Lord is simply going to completely overhaul us in one evening? If He did, neither we or our family would know us. No I believe it is a gradual, ongoing process and that is how it should be. It keeps us coming back to our Lord again and again. I fear many of us want 'drive-thru' healing. We would like to pull into our nearest fast service church, get what we need and then get on with our lives. I don't think that is the kind of relationship the Lord wants us to develop.

The controversy surrounding these different manifestations of the Holy Spirit are not unlike the battle which has gone on for years regarding speaking in tongues. Those who did not ask for it, nor experience it, don't think we need it. The same things applies with some of these other manifestations, those who have not experienced it, don't want anything to do with it. The problem in both cases is that people are cutting themselves off from a blessing God wants them to have. I believe during these times He is changing us so that we will be better prepared to receive what else He has in store.

I had been a born again, tongue talker for at least nine years, perhaps longer, before I actually knew the Holy Spirit as a real Person and not just some mystical Third Person of the Trinity. During a prayer meeting a friend of mine, who is more familiar with the Holy Ghost than anyone I know, told us that we had offended the Holy Spirit! It really struck me at that moment that I did not know this Holy Spirit who could be offended like any other person.

Within a few days of my becoming aware of my ignorance of the Holy Spirit I came across an old Benny Hinn tape on which he was teaching about the Person of the Holy Spirit.I don't remember all that he taught about Him but I do remember watching the tape a couple of times. During this last time I believe Pastor Benny gave the equivalent of an altar call to know the Holy Ghost. I don't really remember what was going on on the tape, I do remember what I was experiencing in my living room! I remember extending my hand and inviting the Holy Spirit to make Himself known to me. I know He embraced me and I laughed and cried and laughed and cried again. My impresssion was that this was far more intense than I remember when I was born again.

It was at that moment that I realized how I had mistreated this wonderful Person and how I had ignored Him for so many years. I thought about how I would behave if my absolute, very best friend whom I hadn't seen for a long time, were to stop by my house for a visit. I thought about how excited I would be, how I would offer them the very best food and beverage I had available, offer them the best chair in the house etc. etc. I realized that I had never treated the Holy Spirit anything like that at all. My focus was always on Jesus (and that is how it should be, in fact the Holy Spirit does not testify of Himself, but He testifies about Jesus), who in fact is sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on High. It is God the Holy Spirit who is in the earth and I had been ignoring Him for years due to my ignorance and misunderstanding.

You see, I had always been able to identify with Jesus my Lord for although He is God, He became a flesh and blood man just like me. God, my Father although a bit more distant was still a person I could identify with. However, God the Holy Ghost was someone I just couldn't wrap my little brain around somehow. So rather than try to learn what I could, I simply ignored Him except for the few times when I included Him in some song I would sing. I just really had no terms of reference whatsoever when it came to relating to the Holy Ghost as a Person. It still is my understanding that He does testify and show us Jesus and He does not speak of Himself. But what I never really understood until I started to study the Bible is that He is the Manifest Presence and Power of God Almighty, Who holds everything together with the Power of His Word. It is the same Holy Ghost who knocks me over Who is holding the entire universe together!!!! To me, that is far beyond my ability to comprehend, but I know it to be true.

How you come to know the Holy Ghost is strictly between you and Him; my experience may not even remotely resemble yours and that is how it should be. After all, it is up to Him, how He will reveal Himself to you. The one thing I am reasonably certain of is that you have to ask Him to make Himself known to you and like most things of the Kingdom we do have to ask in order to receive! There will be no mistaking when He does make Himself known and from then on it is a continual discipline and growing situation like other things of the kingdom. How well we get to know Him will depend on how much time we spend with Him. I still have great difficulty in hearing what the Holy Ghost is saying. I have heard some say, that He speaks softly so that we will have to take the time to listen and pay attention. Although I don't always know what He is saying, I am never in doubt when He makes Himself known. I certainly don't wonder if that's a devil or not.

I think that each of us will have a unique experience with the Holy Ghost and we will get to know Him in different ways and that He will communicate with each of us differently. I believe our relationships with Him are meant to be very personal and because of their very nature we will not share them with anyone else regardless of how good friends we are. I will however, express some of the things I have come to know about Him and how I relate to Him from my own experience.

Firstly, once I came to know Him as a PERSON I began to think about Him completely differently, I still need to grow miles and miles in this area and I don't profess anything approaching perfection yet. One day as I was going about my business, perhaps reading a newspaper, or watching T.V. or maybe I was doing something really 'spiritual', I realized how ignorant I was being to the Holy Ghost! Here I am carrying on about my important business completely ignoring the Holy Spirit! If any mere mortal person had been in my presence I would have been giving them my undivided attention and would be engaging them in conversation, however, I was not extending the same basic courtesy to the Holy Spirit! How He puts up with me is far beyond me, I would have left long ago if someone treated me as I have treated Him. I am saying this about my behaviour since I came to know Him, not when I did not know Him. If someone I could see and touch came into my house, I would immediately stop everything and give them my undivided attention. I shudder to think how many times the Holy Spirit probably was trying to get my attention and I simply ignored Him. I know Him to be a true gentleman and have never had Him interrupt me...ever. I have had strong unctions to pray, which I recognize and respond to, however, I know there have been times when perhaps the Holy Ghost was simply whispering "come aside and fellowship with Me", and I ignored Him. Imagine!!!!

I have come to know He won't disturb me if I would sooner read the newspaper, watch television or engage in a host of other meaningful activities. I also know He will not disturb us if we insist on doing church our way! We may say 'come Holy Spirit' and yet not be familiar enough with Him to know Him when He does come. Perhaps He comes by making someone laugh or cry...... do we know it is Him for sure? When we invite Him to come do we insist that He show up between the singing and the reading of the announcements? I could go on and on but I hope by now I am making a point here. That point is this.... we must give our churches and our church services and everything within us back to the Holy Ghost, if we ever hope to see the Glory of God in the church in our time. The starting point for all of this is getting to know Him as the wonderful Third Person of the Trinity.

To this point, this little book relates my church experience up until about thirty months ago. In reviewing it in an effort to 'update' some of the content, I found that it is just as valid today as it was three years ago. Simply put, there have been very little outward changes in what I have seen in the assemblies I have observed.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Ecc. 5:1-2

If there is any one thing in common in every assembly I have attended it is the apparent inability to simply sit in silence and wait for the Holy Spirit to take over our meeting. This is just as valid in the Sunday morning service or the mid-week prayer meetings I have attended. We seem to be so intent on getting on with OUR program that the Holy Spirit has little if any opportunity to move in our midst. Sadly, it seems that we are content with things just as they are, if we were not, then we would not continue to follow the same old format week after week after week. Since this format is producing the same results over and over again, you might think we would stop and ask ourselves if we aren't doing something wrong.

Possibly a good thing to explore is our objective for having a church service in the first place. Honestly, why do you think we go to church week after week after week with little or no results to show for our time? Is it because we enjoy the company of the people who attend our church? Is it to have a caring person with which to share our burdens? Is it to improve our understanding of God and His ways? Be honest, why do you really think we hold church services?

Maybe the problem with the previous list of motives for going to church is the fact that they are all WE centered. You will notice that none of the suggestions have God at the center of the purpose for holding church. Do you not think that perhaps He really is the only reason for attending an assembly of believers? If the purpose were not that we might draw closer to God and learn more of Him then I would suggest our purposes are suspicious to say the least.

To my understanding the only real purpose for assembling in what we call 'church' is to prepare the Church to assume its place as the Bride of Christ and if we have missed that basic point we have missed the whole purpose of the exercise. Somehow the only focus of the church seems to be to 'save the lost' and fulfil the great commission as it is called. The act of growing up and becoming mature ourselves until we come to the full measure and stature of Jesus is seemingly being completely overlooked. For some reason we have equated being 'born again' and speaking in tongues with some measure of maturity. If you were to compare the church to the natural order of things I think it is safe to say that the church is full of people who are stuck in the 'terrible twos' who somehow think they have arrived and are all grown up. We don't realize how far short of the mark we fall and when we compare ourselves among ourselves we do err. The standard for the Bride is much higher than we are presently achieving. Above all, She is to be HOLY------SET ASIDE for Her LORD. Do we really meet that standard? Be honest.

Another possible problem to consider is the maturity and variety in 'leadership'. Perhaps a great many people in leadership genuinely have a 'call' on their lives and maybe that call is to be in leadership, however, a number that I have met have obviously jumped into the pulpit prematurely and are simply not prepared for the undertaking. They may have more insight than most, they may have been ordained by an institution of man, they may have more personality than most of us, they may have no problem addressing a large number of people, they may have the communication skills to excite and motivate, however, none of these qualities enables them to lead God's people into the promised land. They indeed, are qualified to lead God's people around and around the mountain, which is where most of us have been for the last good long while.

For the most part little of their 'teaching' is by revelation, rather, it is usually by regurgitation. I mean they are merely repeating or rehashing someone else's sermons or teachings with predictable results. A great deal of 'sermons' use the Bible as a source of history and the sermons are no more than history lessons which have little or no bearing on how we relate to God. How many times have you heard a well-known Bible story used as the topic for this week's teaching and then is used as a launch pad for a speech straight from the mind of a man or woman? Any reasonably intelligent person with some charisma can use the Bible for a source of stories from which to draw many 'life lessons' that may or may not be true. These interesting and sometimes amusing talks should not be confused with the inspired teachings of men and women truly led of the Holy Spirit. For the later you see, will cause you to grow up in God and come to a greater level of maturity. While the former will simply 'tickle your ears' and give the illusion of actually teaching something of benefit. Unfortunately these 'ear ticklers' are sometimes more popular and seem to gather a greater crowd. Sad but true.

Have you ever wondered why there only seems to be 'talkers' in the pulpits these days? Considering there is the fivefold offices, Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and teacher. We are also told in 1Cor. 12:28- "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. So why do we only have men and women in the pulpit that seem to be able to talk and talk and talk and talk? As I have pointed out earlier, the people in the pulpit are not supposed to be the only expression of God's moving in our services. There are many other parts to the body, which are completely missing from any of the churches I have attended. Since God has ordained all these parts as necessary to our health and spiritual growth, it is little wonder we are stuck in a state of perpetual infancy.

Perhaps our biggest sin in the church today is UNBELIEF. Which should come as no surprise since we have been snared by it since the garden. However, lest we grow too complacent consider the following:

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Rev. 21:8

Did you catch that? The unbelieving are listed before murderers or whoremongers….it should not be taken lightly!

You may say "Well I am not an unbeliever, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ". Ask yourself this simple question: " am I lowering the standard set out in the Bible to match my experience, or am I challenged as to why my experience does not meet the Bible standard?" Do your elders routinely pray for the sick and see them recover? Do you lay hands on the sick and see them recover? Do you speak in tongues and welcome all the gifts of the Holy Spirit? There are some very high profile 'ministers' who are guilty of this sin. They explain away the lack of Holy Ghost power by saying things such as 'miracles are not needed now, they were only for the first Apostles'. Rather than humbling themselves before God and asking forgiveness for cheapening the Word of God, they make excuses to make up for their lack of knowledge or faith (or both) and we dumb sheep keep bleating and following right along into the ditch with them. It is absolutely amazing when you look at some of the ministries past, where God has been able to break through. The amazement is this: whenever a ministry is raised up that comes closer to the standard set out in the Bible, it is other members of the 'church' that conspire to quench the blessed ministry instead of rejoicing in it. A simple example is that of Andrew Murray and his Divine healing of preacher's throat. After the medical community had given up he went to a church where he received Diving healing. He wrote a book about Divine healing and it was distributed throughout the Dutch Reform Church in Africa of which he was a respected Pastor. Upon reading his book, members of the congregations began to ask their Pastors for prayer for healing. Since the Pastors did not have the faith to pray for healing and as a consequence saw no results, they successfully had the book removed from the Dutch Reform Church rather than admit their own shortcomings.

This is just one example of many, where the Gifts and Blessings of God are being refused by an unbelieving church and are actively being quenched by questionable 'leadership'. Why do we believe that the God who can save our eternal souls will not or can not save our physical bodies in the here and now? Why do we do everything within our power to deny His power to save in the here and now, to the extent we willfully become blind to the ministries He is able to work through?

We may say we believe, but ask yourself what exactly is it that you really believe? Since our leadership has such great difficulty in believing for the simple matter of healing how can we ever expect to believe for the promise held out in Ephesians 4: -

11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

If we cannot believe for our physical healing, but rather believe only for the future salvation of our souls, how in the world can we ever believe that God wants to grow us up into the image of His Son Jesus? So, when we say we are believers, ask yourself, what is it exactly that you believe? Do you really believe that we are to be healed and set free from sin in the here and now, or are all of those promises for the sweet bye and bye, in the sky, when we die? Outlined in this little writing are possible reasons why we are not seeing a genuine move of the Holy Spirit in our meetings. I don't feel any one of them is more important, but there is one final reason that I think could become a problem and that is idolatry. If we are not really, really careful, revival itself can begin to take the place of God and become the focus of our worship instead of the Lord. Signs and wonders and manifestations can also take our eyes off of the Lord and direct our attention to them rather than our Lord.

We should not be afraid or concerned over signs and wonders, neither should they become the focus of our worship. They are simply a proof that God is in our midst and is confirming His Word. We do however, seem to become enthralled with the gifts sometimes instead of the Giver.

May only what the Lord would say remain, and all else simply be blown away.