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Questions & Answers

The Lord's supper

First posted: February 20, 2005

 

Question

What is the deeper meaning behind meeting in homes and remembering Our Lord Jesus Christ in breaking bread, remembering His Body that was broken for us and His Blood that was shed for us?


Answer

It's a meal

The act of breaking bread to remember the Lord's death is known in many places as "holy communion" or "the Lord's supper". Traditionally, most congregations around the world perform this act during a Sunday service once a month; some congregations do it more frequently, others less. In the ceremony, small cups of juice along with bread that has been sliced into tiny pieces are passed around the congregation, and each member is to take a tiny piece of bread and one of the small cups of wine (or grape juice). Then, some distinguished member of the congregation proceeds to read a portion of 1 Corinthians 11:23-30, and every one waits for the instruction to place the tiny piece of bread in their mouths and for the instruction to quickly drink down the wine or grape juice. Everything is done in a solemn tone, and everyone feels more spiritual after the act.

 

The problem with all of this is that the Lord's supper has been turned into a rigid ceremony in which most believers fail to understand God's intended meaning behind the supper. For starters, Scripture never portrays the Lord's supper as the eating of tiny pieces of bread and the drinking of a small cup of wine or juice. In Scripture, it is portrayed as an actual supper, i.e.- an actual meal where people would eat actual food and drink actual wine. The very verses before and after the ones that are traditionally read clearly bear this out:

 

"20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)


"33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come." (
1 Corinthians 11:33-34)

 

Notice that verse 21 speaks of some believers being left hungry and others getting drunk. If the Lord's supper was celebrated by the Primitive Church as it is now, why would Paul speak of people being left "hungry"? No one today goes to church on "Lord's supper Sunday" expecting to satiate his or her hunger. Why? Because everyone knows that all they are going to eat is a tiny piece of bread. The reference to believers "getting drunk" shows that more than a tiny cup of grape juice was being passed around during the Lord's supper. It was a moment when believers "came together" (v33) to eat a formal meal.

 

The Gospels also show that Jesus and His disciples were eating a formal meal the night that Jesus broke bread prior to His crucifixion:

 

"Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon." (John 13:26)

[Notice that the Lord "dipped" a morsel of food and gave it to Judas Iscariot. This shows that they were eating a formal meal.]

 

"20Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. 21And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." (Matthew 26:20-21)

[Notice that verse 21 says, "As they did eat", meaning that the Lord's supper was not a one-minute intake of a bread fragment but rather a regular meal that took the amount of time that a regular meal would take]

 

Some might say, "Well, I know this, but it would be impractical nowadays to celebrate the Lord's supper as a formal meal, especially in large congregations". The problem with saying that is fourfold:

  1. Very small congregations also celebrate the Lord's supper with bread fragments and small cups of juice, meaning that they are not doing it out of "practical" concerns.

     

  2. The "practicality" argument fails to understand the historical roots behind the way the Lord's supper is celebrated today. This way of celebrating communion is derived from the Medieval catholic church's methodologies, and the catholic church is known for its rigid ceremoniousness. Today's way of celebrating communion, therefore, was not inspired by believers who were attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit but rather by a religious hierarchy that believed in turning everything into a "ceremony". Why? Because orchestrated ceremonies are more "orderly" and look more "pious and reverent" to the natural eye.

     

  3. The "practicality" argument fails to understand the spiritual reason why the Lord's supper was celebrated as a formal meal during the days of the Primitive Church. This reason is related to the very essence of why the Lord called us to celebrate the Lord's supper in the first place. When the Lord's supper is turned into the brief and rigid ceremony it is today, much of the essence behind the act is lost. The essence behind the Lord's supper can be understood as we carefully study 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.

     

  4. The practicality issue can be easily solved by making a small modification to the way the Lord's supper is celebrated today. However, the reason why this small modification is never implemented is related to deep roots of iniquity inside the Church.

 

In order to understand the spiritual essence behind the Lord's supper, we must first understand two important characteristics in the Primitive Church.

 

A time of fellowship in apostolic judgment

The Primitive Church possessed a very "interesting" trait, as shown by the following verses:

 

"42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." (Acts 2:42-43)

 

The word "doctrine" in verse 42 is a poor translation of the Greek word didache, which literally means "teaching". The word "doctrine" is a loaded term, because it has the connotation of being a rigid set of rules and regulations found in a book or manual that tells people all they cannot do, whereas "teaching" (the original word in the Greek) speaks of a person sharing with others and training them so that they may be perfected and may fulfill all of their potential. The "person" who teaches us is, in essence, the Holy Spirit of God through the Anointing in us:

 

"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" (1 John 2:27)

 

As we have said on many occasions, the apostolic ministry is the ministry most related with the making of judgments. Therefore, the "apostles' doctrine" that verse 42 refers to speaks of teaching rooted in judgments and justice. This explains why "fear came upon every soul" (v43). Another time when "fear came upon every believer" is right after God killed Ananias and Sapphira (for telling a half-truth) through the judgments of the apostle Peter:

 

"8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 11And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch." (Acts 5:8-12)

 

The Primitive Church was a Church filled with God's apostolic judgments. As we have said before, when we set a foundation of judgments, we allow for extraordinary manifestations of God's dynamis power. This explains why the references to "fear" in Acts 2:43 and Acts 5:11 (quoted above) are both followed by references to the many "signs and wonders" that were manifested in the Primitive Church.

 

Instead of having a Canaanite, judgment-hating environment where the soul dominated over the Spirit, the Primitive Church had an environment where God's judgments thrived and where the soul remained under the covering of the Spirit (Acts 2:43).

 

According to Acts 2:42 quoted above, the Primitive Church continued steadfastly in the "apostles' doctrine and fellowship". From all of the above, we can conclude that the "fellowship" that the Primitive Church practiced was in the context of God's apostolic judgments. In other words, their communion was "immune to spiritual contagion" because it was done in the context of God's righteousness and holiness (Hebrews 12:14). The Primitive Church believers did not love fellowship so much that they would be willing to sacrifice righteousness and judgments in order to preserve that fellowship.

 

As we briefly shared before when studying Luke 2:41-50 in the context of Mark 5:42, the Feast of Passover (which is equivalent to the Lord's supper -- John 13:1) is enveloped in the context of sanctification and separation from unrighteousness (2 Corinthians 6:17-18), which obviously implies judgments, since it is through judgments that the good is separated from the bad:

 

"7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

[In this passage, the Spirit is calling the Corinthians to end their fellowship with a sinful believer (1 Corinthians 5:1-6). This shows how righteousness is more important than fellowship, and how we must never sacrifice righteousness and judgments for the sake of preserving fellowship with another person, even if that person is a "believer".

 

Fellow believer, if you have to be "all by your lonesome" in order to preserve your zeal for righteousness, so be it. If your heart seeks His Righteousness, God will never leave you nor forsake you, as declared by the Lord Himself in John 15:18-26, John 16:32-33 and John 14:27. Interestingly enough, the Lord spoke the words of comfort for loneliness and tribulation in these 3 passages during the Lord's supper. Why? Because those who truly understand the Lord's supper know that righteousness is more important than fellowship, which often leads to very lonely moments. Why else would the Lord speak of loneliness and tribulation in the context of the Lord's supper?

 

Why didn't Jesus speak of the importance of "friendship" and of the benefits of "hanging out" with the brothers and sisters on the night of the supper? Someone might say, "Well, because He was about to die". I would then respond, "Well, isn't the Lord's death by betrayal precisely what we are called to remember during the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:26, 23)? Let him who has ears hear the powerful truth that the Spirit is trying to say to us here.]

 

Therefore, we can conclude that the "breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42) is a time of fellowship that is enveloped in the context of righteousness and spiritual judgments. This is why the apostle Paul speaks of "judgment", "chastisement", and "condemnation" when speaking of the Lord's supper:

 

"31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come." (1 Corinthians 11:31-34)

 

All of the above means that a congregation where believers are indoctrinated into abhorring judgments can never celebrate the Lord's supper in the Spirit, regardless of whether or not they celebrate it as a formal meal. In such congregations, the "Lord's supper" is nothing but an empty ceremony.

 

Prophetic communism

Besides the atmosphere of God's judgments, the Primitive Church had another interesting "trait": 

 

"44And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:44-46)

 

This means that the Primitive Church believers were very much aware of each other. This means that, when they gathered together, they did not gather to get blessings from God but to bless and strengthen each other!!! As believers, we all have access to a direct, prophetic communion with God that does not begin when we walk through a church door on Sunday morning. If we are really living under the Anointing, God will be walking in with us through that door instead of God meeting us at the door. This begs the following question, "If we don't need to go to church to meet God, what is the point of us gathering together?" The answer can be found by revisiting 1 Corinthians chapter 11:

 

"21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." (1 Corinthians 11:21-22)

 

When Paul asks, "don't you have houses to eat and drink in?" (v22), the Spirit is asking, 

"Don't you have a personal relationship with Me at home? Can't you experience My Presence in the privacy of your prayer closet? Can't you feel My presence in your innermost being anywhere you may be?"

 

As we have said before, "prayer" is by nature a prophetic endeavor, and prayer is also by nature a private action. In other words, no one can do your praying for you. Obviously, this does not mean that you cannot pray in a public place. You can be at a public place like the supermarket, the mall, or the office without losing your 24/7 prayerful contact with God. Why? Because prayer flows from within the innermost part of your being, and that part of you is untouchable by the outside world (unless you allow the world to touch it).

 

Therefore, the "main course" of our spiritual feeding should happen before we set one foot inside the church building. We should therefore gather to share with each other from the spiritual abundance that God gave us at "home". We should gather together with the attitude, "Is anyone around me hungry for (i.e.- lacking in) something I already have?". We should gather together with our "hunger radars" activated, searching to detect what the brethren around us need (Acts 2:45) in the Lord.

 

As we have said before, the prophetic ministry is the one most directly related with the fullness of God's shamah presence. When you allow God's prophetic anointing to operate through you, you become very aware of the fullness of His Presence, which automatically makes you aware of His non-presence as well. In other words, you become very sensitive to Hittite emptiness and purposelessness. A believer full of the prophetic anointing can perceive when the believers around him or her are not fulfilling their prophetic purpose in life. Such a believer can in no way feel comfortable while singing and dancing during praise and worship if he or she perceives that something in the air is not right. This "discomfort" will lead to his or her constant libation in prophetic intercession in order to see the purpose of God fulfilled in others.

 

"For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body" (1 Corinthians 11:29)

 

Most believers seem to think that, when Paul speaks of "discerning the Lord's body", he is referring to the piece of bread eaten during communion. It is as if everyone believes that the piece of bread in their hands suddenly "transfigures" into the physical body of Christ. However, that is not what God was referring to. We are the Lord's body, not the piece of bread in our hands!!!

 

"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27)

 

"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." (1 Corinthians 12:12)

 

It is pointless to hold the piece of bread in our hands with "religious reverence" if we are not spiritually aware of the brother or sister sitting next to us!!! It is pointless to reverently chew that piece of bread if you are not aware that the iniquity in the brothers and sisters sitting around you is your business because we all belong to one body!!! Imagine how silly it would be for your right hand to say, "Hey, I am not going to help in rubbing the knee with alcohol! If the knee is scraped and might get infected, that is the knee's problem, not mine!!" Imagine how silly it would be for your eyes to say, "Hey, I am not going to help in finding the shoes; if the feet need the shoes to walk, that is their problem, not mine!!" Therefore, to "discern the Body" is to discern the spiritual needs of the brothers and sisters around us. It means being aware that the fulfillment of my brethren's prophetic calling is my problem, even if I may not know those brethren by name. When believers go to church to get a "spiritual" filling for the three most important people in their lives ("me", "myself", and "I"), they are acting like the selfish Corinthians of 1 Corinthians 11:29. They might reverently hold and chew down the piece of bread during the Lord's supper, but they are not discerning the Lord's Body in the eyes of God.

 

The prophetic anointing is by its nature a "unifier", and it constantly seeks to unify others unto God. To the anointed believer, uniting others unto God is more important than uniting us to each other. Why? Because, if we are all united unto God, we achieve a level of spiritual unity amongst ourselves that is far superior to any unity forged through pandering and mushy love; such unity is useless and worthless to Almighty God, and it does nothing to truly edify others in the Spirit.

 

Human unity is "implosive" because it seeks to suck people in by forcing them to give up the freedom of their eternal, prophetic calling for the sake of unity. On the other hand, God's unity is "expansive" because it causes believers to constantly see the eternal potential of others from God's perspective, leading them to sacrifice temporal things so that that potential may be fulfilled. While human unity selfishly fights to preserve the temporary life of its unity, God's unity selflessly dies and is even willing to lose temporal unity with others so that those others may eventually be One with God. When Jesus was arrested, He forced a separation between Himself and the disciples so that the disciples might live. He did not selfishly cling to unity with them at the expense of their prophetic calling. It was Jesus' prophetic calling (not the disciples') to die on a cross at Golgotha some hours later. The disciples' prophetic calling was to die in a different way, and Jesus was not about to sacrifice the fulfillment of their calling just to have them by their side:

 

"4Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 5They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. 10Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 12Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him," (John 18:4-12)

[Jesus did not allow His disciples to fight for Him. He was not about to sacrifice their prophetic calling just to preserve His temporal existence and His unity with them.

 

As we said above, we are called to remember the Lord's betrayal and death when we eat the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:26, 23), meaning that we must forge the same type of unity that Jesus was forging when He died.]

 

In conclusion, the Scriptures call us to practice "prophetic communism". We are to move under the prophetic anointing that makes us aware that we all belong to one common body. When one of us is not fulfilling his or her God-given potential, we all suffer, and we are to battle in the Spirit so that the still-rescueable potential may be fulfilled. We are to grieve and sob in the innermost part of our beings when we see human structures and paradigms that eat away at the potential of others. Their loss is my loss. Their victory is my victory. That is what God meant by the phrase "discerning the Lord's body". It was not a phrase to promote an empty reverence over a piece of bread or a cup of grape juice.

 

Bring it to the table

From 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we can infer that the Primitive Church's version of the "Lord's supper" was a gathering where everyone would bring food and wine for themselves and to share with others. This differs from the version of today's Church, where the believer takes no food or wine to church, expecting the church staff to serve up some symbolic bread and wine. According to the Lord Himself, the "Lord's supper" is a way to remember His death, which was an act of sacrificial service. Since the act of "remembering" is intimately related to "learning", this means that the Lord's supper is a gathering where we should be learning to serve others instead of learning to be served:

 

"12So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." (John 13:12-15)

[Once again, the word "Master" in verse 14 is a mistranslation of the Greek word didaskalos, which literally means "teacher". Therefore, verse 14 should really say "Lord and Teacher". In other words, the Lord was trying to teach us how we must behave during the Lord's supper. The washing of feet mentioned in this passage happened just before they ate the supper.]

 

I long for the days when the Church will once again practice the Lord's supper the way it was intended (and I know that I shall see those days). Instead of the distribution of tiny pieces of bread and tiny cups of grape juice or wine, each believer will bring food to share with others in the measure of his or her financial capability. Those who have more will bring more to the table so that those who have less will not leave the gathering hungry.

 

"26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)

 

Jesus brought food and wine to the table on the night of the Lord's supper, and that food and wine was Himself. We are to go and do the same for each other (Luke 10:37).

 

Bringing it home

As we said at the beginning, one of the reasons raised against having "full-blown meals" during the Lord's supper is because of the "logistical" problems this would pose in large congregations. However, the logistical problems can be solved by making a "minor adjustment" in the way we practice the Lord's supper:

 

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart," (Acts 2:46)

 

Notice that they were "with one accord" in the temple, but the breaking of bread was done "from house to house". In other words, they did not break bread when they were all together at or near the temple; they broke it in the believers' homes. In other words, the Lord's supper was a "home gathering" --- believers who lived close to each other would agree to meet at one of the believers' homes and eat there.

 

Why is such a simple solution rejected by most "leaders"? Because it deprives them of centralized control. I know of congregations where the leadership literally prohibits disciplers from celebrating the Lord's supper at their home discipling meetings because they fear that the Lord's supper will serve as a way for the discipler to slowly "win over" the loyalty of the disciples and eventually break away and form his own church. Since the Church is plagued with pastors who see "their" congregations in terms of "market share" and not God's purposes, they do everything possible to emphasize their leadership and suppress the possible rise of leadership in others. By having the whole congregation celebrate the Lord's supper under his direction, the pastor makes sure that everyone sees him as the provider of the bread and the wine, thereby turning the "supper" into a moment where he asserts his control and leadership over the flock. In a sense, the Lord's supper becomes "crowing time" for the "rooster pastors" (cursed be they) that plague the Church.

 

These pastors forget that, after distributing the literal bread and wine, Jesus proceeded to literally give His own body and blood in sacrifice for those who ate with Him that night. The pastors may be good at organizing the handout of the bread and the wine, but they rarely, if ever, are willing to lay down their lives in prophetic sacrifice for the believers under their care. In God's eyes, leadership is defined by selfless sacrifice, not by visibility and praise from others (Matthew 20:25-29).

 

"11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till 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: 14That 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; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From 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." (Ephesians 4:11-16)

[The Lord's supper should be allowed to act as a moment that drives believers to edify others in the Body of Christ (v12) and where believers become preoccupied with seeing their brethren mature and grow up in the Spirit (v14,16). By having all believers sit at their chairs or pews, waiting for the bread and juice to be served to them, man sucked away the spiritual essence of the supper. God's intention is for all of us to serve each other. Notice that verse 16 speaks of the whole body supplying for each other.]

 

"18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:18-19)

[The reference to not being "drunk with wine" correlates with those who were getting drunk during the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:29).

 

A more correct translation for the phrase "speaking to yourselves" in verse 19 is "speaking to each other". Notice, therefore, that this verse speaks of many "subtle" ways in which we can bless each other during our meetings. Even if you don't officially sing in the church choir, you can spiritually impact the lives of the people around you through your singing during praise and worship. If you go to church with a deep desire to serve as an instrument to restore others, your very singing (good or bad as it may be, loud or soft as it may sound) will serve as a vessel through which God will touch the lives of all the believers standing around you. They might not know what hit them. They might not realize that it was through your singing that their lives were impacted, but the impact will be made nonetheless, and there is a God who will reward you in public for the work you have done in secret (Matthew 6:4,6,17-20), for the measure of your work is not determined by the amount of people who know about it but by the eternal impact it produces in others.]

 

"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

 

Supper and betrayal

As you may have noticed from the passages we have studied so far, the Lord's supper is very much associated with the concept of betrayal. Judas Iscariot went out to betray Jesus during the very moment of the supper, not before, not after (John 13:21-30). When Paul speaks about the Lord's supper in 1 Corinthians 11, he begins by making an explicit reference to the betrayal (1 Corinthians 11:23). Why? There are several reasons for this.

 

As we said at the beginning, the Lord's supper (when done in the Spirit) produces an atmosphere of judgments that separate the "good" from the "bad". Judas Iscariot was unable to comfortably fellowship within that environment of judgments and was forced to eventually decide whether or not he would follow Jesus forever. Judgments set in motion a process where the wheat and the tares begin to grow so that they can eventually be separated (Matthew 13:24-30). Many believers think that judgment comes only until the tares are finally burned, but the fact is that the judgment begins at the very moment that the wheat and the tares begin to grow together, in much the same way that a defendant's judgment (or "trial") begins as the prosecutor and the defense begin to expose the evidence for and against the defendant. The sentencing is the end of the judgment, not the beginning.

 

When God's judgments are not pronounced, the wheat's growth is stifled while the tares continue growing, and they grow until they eventually choke off the wheat and the wheat harvest is completely lost. Why? Because, according to Scripture, weed (i.e.- the tares) can grow automatically in the world's corrupted environment, where bad things easily grow unaided (Genesis 3:18). Wheat, however, only grows through deliberate, "non-automatic" exposition to God's logos (Hebrews 5:10-14, Hebrews 4:12). This is where our spirit-man, made in God's image (Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24), comes in. When our spirit-man works, judgments are made and the wheat grows; when our spirit-man lays dormant, the wheat stops growing, the tares grow, and even new tare seeds are sown into the field until the whole field is taken over by the tares. When we are spiritually awake and making judgments, we are "working" in the Spirit.

 

"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." (Matthew 13:25)

 

"6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:6-9)

[The reference to "soberness" in verse 6 speaks of a sober, judgment-making mind. The reference to "drunkenness" in verse 7 correlates with the drunkenness of 1 Corinthians 11:29. The reference to "salvation" in verse 9 points to the "working out of our salvation" (Philippians 2:12), which speaks of the conscious and deliberate restoration process of our own souls and the souls of others.]

 

"17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:17-19)

[Verse 17 speaks of how Elijah prayed for a judgment of drought on the people of Israel, and it is spoken in the context of the "conversion" of others (v19, 20). If judgments belong to the "Old Testament" only, as some believers stubbornly argue, why would brother James mention a prayer of judgment in the context of restoring others --- in the New Testament? To quote a Canaanite publication, "enquiring minds want to know!"

 

When we pronounce God's judgments, we "save souls" from death. This "soul salvation" applies to the souls of both believers and unbelievers. Why? Because Elijah prayed for judgment on the people of Israel (i.e.- the people of God), not on a Gentile, heathen nation. As we have said before, salvation is a process that all must undergo. A person can be saved from going to hell but still be "unsaved" in the sense that he or she has stunted his or her salvation process.]

 

All of the above, explains why Judas Iscariot was forced to separate himself from the disciples and betray Jesus during the Lord's supper (the judgment atmosphere that night sent him away). However, there is another reason why betrayal and the Lord's supper are "intertwined", as shown by what another Judas wrote under the anointing of the Spirit:

 

"11Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots" (Judas 1:11-12)

 

In three recent articles, we studied how the three persons mentioned in verse 11 (Cain, Balaam, and Korah) represent the three types of leaders that have dominated the Church ever since the Primitive Church days, but whom God is beginning to overthrow in these latter days. Notice how verse 12 declares that these leaders "feed themselves without fear", which points to the following passage:

 

"1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock." (Ezekiel 34:1-3)

[As we have said many times, the words "shepherd" and "pastor" are the same in Hebrew. Therefore, this passage is a prophetic word against the Church's pastors. This reaffirms the fact that Jude 1:11-12 is speaking about the Church's leaders.]

 

As we said above, the Church's pastoral leadership has turned the "Lord's supper" (i.e.- the call to "unity" and "communion") into an excuse to perpetuate their control over believers in the Church. Just as Judas Iscariot sold Jesus out for the price of a female slave (30 pieces of silver), the "matriarchal" pastors have sold out God's prophetic remnant for the sake of some measly religious glory and adulation; they love being the "kings of the hill", the "top of the food chain" in the Christian world. Instead of having spiritual "Lord's suppers" that edify others, these pastors have turned the Church into their personal, spiritual banquet. Therefore, those of you whose remnant spirit is working to restore an atmosphere where all believers are edified (instead of "eaten") will be sold out by the Judas Iscariot pastoral spirit.

 

Those who want to practice the true Lord's supper can expect to be betrayed.

 

Evangelistic suppers

So far, we have seen that the true Lord's supper implies

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A time of fellowship under apostolic judgment

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A spirit of "prophetic communism"

 

When the apostolic and prophetic foundation is laid, the Lord's supper develops a powerful evangelistic anointing, as shown by the following passages:

 

"Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2:47)

[This verse appears after the reference to the "breaking of bread" and communion mentioned in Acts 2:42-46]

 

"And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." (Acts 5:14)

[This verse appears after Acts 5:8-12 which, as we saw above, is related to the Lord's supper]

 

As we have said before, the apostolic and prophetic anointings operate like a two-person "tag team" that works together to set the foundation for the manifestation of a mighty evangelistic anointing (Ephesians 2:20, Luke 10:1). Therefore, the restoration of apostolic judgments and prophetic self-sacrifice in the literal and spiritual "Lord's supper" will lead to the release of a powerful evangelistic anointing in these latter days.

 

As we have said before, "joy" is strongly related to the evangelistic anointing in Scripture. This explains why the following passage associates the Lord's supper with "gladness":

 

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:44-46)

 

We shall rejoice as we fight in the Spirit and see the victory of God in the lives of both believers and unbelievers in these latter days.

 

Restoration of the Lord's supper

During the Lord's supper, Jesus prophesied the following:

 

"But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom" (Matthew 26:29)

 

The word "vine" was translated from the Greek word ampelos, which only appears 8 times in the New Testament. The last time it appears is in the following passage:

 

"19And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." (Revelation 14:19-20)

 

As we have said before, the wrath of God in verse 19 speaks of the manifestation of the red horse in these latter days. Based on what we have studied before, we can infer that the "horses" of verse 20 refer to the current leaders of the Church who command the natural admiration of others, i.e.- who look majestic and authoritative on the exterior, but who on the inside possess no true spiritual authority. The "bridles" of verse 20 mean that God will in these latter days rein in these horses which have been triumphantly galloping over God's people for centuries. God is already sending out the horses of the Apocalypse against these majestic horses in order to overthrow them.

 

As we briefly shared before, the number "16" represents the pastoral attempt to usher in the latter-day revival while relegating the true prophetic anointing to a minor role. Therefore, the "1600 furlongs" mentioned in verse 20 speak of God's wrath being kindled against the pastors' attempt to reap the "benefits" of the latter-day harvest without yielding control to the prophetic spirit of God. Just as God's wrath was kindled against Uzzah, who thought he could humanly "manipulate" and "control" God's Shekinah Glory (2 Samuel 6:6-7), His wrath is being kindled in these latter days against the pastors who refuse to allow the manifestation of the true prophetic spirit in God's people. This is why the "marriage supper of the Lamb" is mentioned right before the "spirit of prophecy" in the following passage:

 

"9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 10And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:9-10)

 

In these latter days, God is raising up "angels" (i.e.- "messengers") whose sole interest is to edify others, not to be worshipped by them. When this happens (and it is happening now), you will know that the Lord's supper is being restored and that God's judgment against the "Type-16" pastors (Revelation 14:20) will pave the way for the manifestation of an entire nation of God's people that freely moves in the "spirit of prophecy".

 

Even though I know that I may get criticized for saying this, the "marriage supper of the Lamb" in Revelation 19:9 above is not some formal event that will happen up in Heaven after the so-called "rapture" that leaves all the "bad people" down here on Earth. As we have said before, the "left behind" theory that Girgashite eschatologists love to espouse has some serious problems when compared to Scripture. From Matthew 26:29, Revelation 14:19-20, and Revelation 19:9-10, it becomes evident that the "marriage supper of the Lamb" refers to the spiritual restoration of the Lord's supper in the latter-day Church.

 

The word "fruit" in the phrase "this fruit of the vine" of Matthew 26:29 was translated from the Greek word gennema, which literally means "offspring" or "generation". Therefore, the phrase "this fruit of the vine" is better translated as "this generation of vine". The Lord knew that, a few decades after His departure, the literal and spiritual "Lord's supper" inside the Church would degenerate into a "communion" used by pastors to manipulate and control His people. He knew that the "generation" or "genetic type" of vine He was drinking that night would soon disappear, but He also prophesied that this "genetic type" of vine would reappear in the latter days. My eyes shall surely see the fulfillment of the Lord's words.