Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

CHURCH OF JESUS
The Holy Spirit performed an abrupt name change and abandoned the synagogue name. He shifted to the Greek word of “eklesia,” which means “a group of people.” In English it is known as “church.”

Jesus selected twelve men for full-time ministry. They are called “apostles,” which means “sent out.” Over time the word became synonymous with “missionary.”

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” (Matthew 10:1)

Dissention eventually arose within the church at Jerusalem and the apostles created another office called “servants.” The Greek word is “diakonos,” which translates to “deacon” in English.

“And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” (Acts 6:1-3)

The apostle Paul set forth the additional church offices with the introduction of prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” (Ephesians 4:11)

The apostle James introduced the term “elder,” and churches would eventually be ruled by a pastor and assisted by elders and deacons.

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:14)

Paul also introduced the office “bishop,” which means “overseer.” There were no early church buildings as believers in cities met in home groups. All the different home groups of Ephesus would have been considered the church of Ephesus.

“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.” (1 Timothy 3:1-2)

SUPERIORITY OF THE CHURCH
Some thirty years after the resurrection of Jesus, the church had emerged as a powerful force within the Roman Empire. Scores of cities featured large Christian populations; each presided over by a bishop. Under him were the home groups run by pastors who had elders, deacons, evangelists, prophets and teachers.

The leadership was baptized in the Holy Spirit and the third person of the Godhead sovereignly activated the nine gifts among them. Traversing the different parts of the Roman Empire were apostles like Paul who displayed great spiritual power.

The Jewish leadership with their synagogues spread throughout the Roman Empire and started a united campaign against the Christians. The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit made it so that the unsaved Jews stuck in Judaism could not compete.

In an effort to halt the Christians operating with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, the Jewish leadership used their political connections to stir up the Roman government against them. It became decidedly unhealthy to be a Christian as many were arrested and executed. For the next 300 years, Christians were fed to the lions, beaten, whipped, sawed in half, put to death by sword, burned in the fire, and chained in prisons.

Augustine of Hippo said:

“The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints’”¹

Christians were murdered and the unsaved saw their great faith. The Holy Spirit moved in their lives and the harvest of souls continued. The church kept growing despite the persecution. The new converts were baptized in the Holy Spirit, started to move in the nine gifts, and the spiritual fire kept spreading.

LOSS OF POWER
Emperor Constantine made peace with the Christians in A.D. 325 when he invited bishops to form a state church with him at the head. The majority of the bishops accepted the proposal since the emperor promised an end to persecution.

All churches were forced to surrender their independence and accept a supreme leader in Rome as the head of the church. The heathen title of “pontifex maximus” (the greatest priest) was later exchanged for “papa” (father – “pope” in English) with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, when the bishops of Rome grew in prominence and began to exert religious and political influence. Nevertheless, scores of bishops refused to surrender their autonomy to Rome and a systematic purge began until the resistors were killed.

The new political church leadership in Rome instituted the following:

• They abandoned the teaching that a person must become born again.

• Water baptism through immersion was replaced with sprinkling of water on babies.

• Bibles were removed from the people in the churches.

• Prayers to dead “saints” were introduced.

• Mary, the mother of Jesus, was elevated as a deity; people were directed to pray to Mary instead of to Jesus.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was no longer taught; instead, people were told the nine gifts were only for the early church and ceased once the New Testament was written. Given the church was still in its early phase during the first three centuries, this heretical doctrine was ironic because the modern church holds the same view some 1,700 years later. The Devil had done his homework and the once powerful church was effectively neutered; it transformed from a living body into a tomb full of dead bones.

RESTORING THE GIFTS
The following is a short summary how the Holy Spirit restored the sacraments, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the nine gifts which had been lost over time.

• The Moravian church, founded in 1457, reintroduced the need to be born again along with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but it did not have the traction to form a worldwide missionary movement until the 1700s.

• The Holy Spirit moved upon Martin Luther to break away from the Roman Catholic Church around 1517. The church had been largely dead for nearly 1,200 years and Luther was used to restore the teaching that people must be born again to obtain eternal life in heaven. However, Luther kept the practice of infant baptism.

• John Smyth founded the first English speaking church in 1609 and water baptism by immersion came back in use again.

• The Azusa Street Revival started in Los Angeles in 1906 and the baptism of the Holy Spirit was reintroduced. Within a short time, people from the other states, Canada, and Europe came to the meetings and received the baptism. The nine gifts were once again in operation on a large scale as Pentecostal churches sprang up on every continent.

The Holy Spirit has restored what had been lost in the fourth century with the rise of the Roman state church. Because there is no longer a unified and centralized state church, the power of the Holy Spirit can no longer be sidelined as He was prior to the reformation. Without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, there would not have been a renewal of the nine gifts.

MY TESTIMONY
The gifts that have been and are operating in my personal life are faith, healing, prophecy, discerning of spirits, and praying in tongues. The Holy Spirit controls the impartation and activates the gifts as needed.

“But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)

I have encountered many demon possessed people and cast out demons since 1969. In that time, I have learned that it is necessary to ask for the gifts of faith, discernment, knowledge, and wisdom. It is God’s will to cast out the demons, and the Holy Spirit will activate His gifts, so the person seeking help, can be set free.

I can help my body by eating nutritiously and exercising to strengthen my muscles. In like manner, reading the Bible for six hours and praying for five hours is certainly helpful in building up my spirit man, but that won’t bring a gift of the Holy Spirit to me.

The only thing I can do is to live a holy life and be available. The Holy Spirit will activate gifts on His timing; I cannot force Him into anything.

A Christian who is baptized in the Holy Spirit does not actually control the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are controlled sovereignly by the third person of the Godhead.

What can you do? Submit to the Holy Spirit. When He bestows a gift on you, be relaxed and let Him do His sovereign work in you. Let Him take the lead and be obedient to His directives.

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)