Formless: You cannot defeat an enemy that you cannot see...

People are always surprised (and often, aggressively defensive) when I ask them if they know that the current system of “Church” is not what Jesus left behind. Then they want to club me to death with blunt instruments and machetes when I tell them that much of the practices in their church systems, from the building, to the head pastor, to the order of services, to their altars and robes, dedicated days of worship, etc, actually come from idol worship and pagan origins. Then confusion embraces their eyeballs when I say that the altar in the New Testament is the meal table, but that quickly dives into further angst at my ‘devilish’ grin when I see and read stats on how ‘Churches’ are dying in many parts of the world like Europe, and how Church buildings are being auctioned and converted to barns or a place for raising chickens.

Which, sometimes, seems to be a more productive use of space…

If you are reading what I have written above in shock or anger, there is a slight possibility, that while you may say you know what the Church is, you do not really know or have never meditated enough for it to sink into your mind what the Church, that powerful subset of God’s kingdom, really is. And if that is how you feel, then you may want to stop reading now because reading further will roil you even more.

I am told that Tithe payment is going down across board. More people are giving less Tithes and First fruits in ‘Church’. I was actually on a team that was commissioned by a popular denomination to build an e-payment system that would automatically deduct tithe from ‘Church’ members account and log that in the database of the church. Tithe payment and service attendance were to be logged and used as a basis for promoting workers. The challenge for me was that it put me in a very difficult place because I had never learnt how to vomit and feel amused at the same time. 

Jesus left an extremely powerful model that could not be destroyed, one that was birthed in the midst of persecution and by its very nature, was resistant to adversity. He left a functional organism behind, but somewhere along the line, men came along as they always tend to, and substituted the organism for an energy-sapping, God-replacing, program-driven, money-consuming organisation. So when I see ‘churches’ writhing in their death throes, I am not exactly unhappy – because I understand with perfect clarity that the True Church cannot be killed. 

It is formless like water, cannot be grasped like the wind, replicates quickly like a virus and produces pulsing, pulsating, rich, energy-giving life while accomplishing the following: 

1. The elimination of lack
2. The improvement of family ties and relationships
3. Staying resistant to persecution, like it has done from its inception
4. Increasing godly influence by strategic networks
5. Creates and replicates ambassadors that are loyal to The Kingdom
6. Advances The Kingdom in mental, spiritual and physical spheres

 

How do you defeat an enemy that is formless?

Simple.

Force your enemy to fit into a structured predictable pattern – and then you can defeat him.

(To be continued)