Discipleship or Apostasy

My name is Gene Aptaker. I am a 55-year-old American man currently living in Viet Nam, but seriously considering a return to Knoxville, TN.

Having gotten that out of the way, I want to state clearly and distinctly the purpose of my putting up this web log:

The purpose is to call attention, as loudly and clearly as possible, to the one desperate, crying issue within the Body of Christ, the Church, throughout the world.

What is that one desperate, crying issue? It is this: The Body of Christ as a whole, including its individual members, is not functioning according to its biblical calling and mandate.

There are many issues facing the Church, and they may all have an important place, but if the Body is not walking according to its God-given calling and purpose, then these other issues don’t particularly matter.

Yes, there are a lot of false and perverse teachings and practices, as well as needs within the Body, and it is important to see these matters for what they are, but, if the Church at large is missing its purpose and calling, then what does it accomplish to point these things out and be aware of them? It will only lead to pride and self-righteousness.

What is the calling and mandate of the Body of Christ? It can be stated, basically, in two parts:

1. The Body is called to be the heralds, the forerunners, of the resurrected, ascended King of kings and Lord of Lords, and I will state clearly that I am not talking about Dominionism, a heresy which is growing by leaps and bounds within the Church today.

As the heralds of the King and coming eternal Kingdom, they are to demonstrate, not just talk about, the reality that Jesus is now enthroned in the heavens, far above all principality, power, dominion, and every name that is named; and by demonstrate, I mean to prove by deed that Jesus, the head of the Body, now has all power and authority.

Yes, there are words involved in being His heralds, but it goes way beyond just words; beyond being one voice among many in the spiritual marketplace.

The Church is also to call men; in fact command them (Acts 17:30), to come in now, voluntarily, to this eternal Kingdom, and to come under the King’s rule.

2. The body is called to show and demonstrate that a new race of man has been created, with a resurrected, ascended and glorified King as its head. This new race is to show forth and manifest the life, nature and ways of its head, King Jesus; and be radically different, in all observable ways, than the old, corrupt race that has Adam as its head. This new race shows it is fit for the coming Kingdom of righteousness.

If you read your Bible, and think about it, these two things are clearly what the apostolic Church was all about. They were demonstrating that there was a resurrected King enthroned above, and they were calling people to join them in the Kingdom, under the Lordship of the King.  This is also what true disciples have done down through the Church age.

I will state again, also, that I am not talking about the Church taking this world for Christ, as Dominionism puts forth, but calling people out of every people-group as the world gets progressively more corrupt.  The believers will not usher in or establish the Kingdom; they will only be subjects of the King, demonstrate His nature, ways and authority, and call others into that same relationship.

Is what I described the reality of what we see in the Church today?

With all its “nice”, pleasant programs and projects, or even the supposedly “mighty” ones we see in the Charismatic/Pentecostal realm, we must answer, “No; this is not what we see in the Churches today, nor in the lives of individual believers.”

If you have found your way to this site, and you have genuine care for the Lord; His agenda; His honor and glory… then read on. There are a lot of words, concepts and issues presented here, and frankly, only sincere, committed followers of Jesus are gonna want to spend their limited time or energy fooling with this.

It boils down to this: We have some massive, ugly problems within the Church, the body of Christ. There are also solutions, but they are costly and will be painful. Are you willing to seriously consider these matters, and invest yourself in being a part of the solution?

Before I go into detail concerning the problems and solutions, I feel a little personal testimony is in order.

I’m fairly certain that many people who have known me over the years have seriously wondered if I have lost my sanity. I have wondered this myself at times.

Why in the world am I doing all this? Why am I spending great amounts of my time, energy and any other meager resources I may have on writing, blogging, debating, convincing, praying, running around the world, losing “friends” and family, and striving (rather unsuccessfully) to experience what I call “the real thing” with other Christians?

There are three reasons. Maybe more; but I can think of three.

First, the Lord has been showing me these issues regarding the condition of the Church for over twenty years now. Early on, I tried avoiding them and sweeping them under the rug, but He wouldn’t let me. Then I began tentatively “sharing” my ideas and perspectives with other believers. This didn’t go over too well. Then I started sharing more persistently.

I discovered some interesting (to me, anyway) things. The majority of Church-goers, and other believers, really don’t wanna hear this stuff; but there are a surprising number who can and will hear, and they know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. Problem is, the majority of them don’t wanna do anything about it.

It’s fine to have interesting, stimulating discussions about these issues, but basically, people have their lives and agendas to work through, and they’re not too thrilled about “rockin the boat”, goin’ against the grain, being looked at funny, etc.  I’ve even had a Pastor and an elder of a Church I was part of “agree” with everything I had to say, but, I didn’t find any willingness on their part to pro actively work together to bring any changes.

So, I believe now that it’s a numbers game. Sounds kinda weird, but I think the Lord may be showing me this. Or else, maybe I am crazy.

Gotta get the word out far and wide, challenge as many people as possible, get under their skin like a tick, keep pressing, be a real pain.  What’s the alternative? Give up? Quit? Frankly, I’ve wanted to, but I can’t. Stupid, maybe.

The second reason I’m doing all this perhaps explains why I’m not willing to give up.

In the mid-nineties, I was involved in some missionary work in the Republic of Georgia (former Soviet Union) for two years. During that time, I got some real “tastes” of… guess what? You’re right! The real thing; divine appointments, healings, transformed lives, almost-daily adventures with God.  I was forever “ruined” as far as “doin’ Church” ever again was concerned.

There was more life, power, excitement and wonder in those two years than in all my previous Church-life combined, and the main reason was that I was being part of the body with other parts of the body, not “going to Church”.

I believe also that we were only scratching the surface.

The third reason is that I want the Lord to be praised, honored and glorified, and I don’t want to stand before Him and hear, “With all I opened up to you; with all I enabled you to see of reality; why did you do so little with that?”

Consider this: Jesus and the apostles had serious, major problems with the existing religious establishment. True disciples since the time of the apostles have had similar major problems. Do we really believe it will be different in the times in which we live?

Established religion, including the true franchise (Israel, “Church”), has always been the greatest enemy of God’s highest and best purposes.  In fact, the Church fell from its highest and best when Constantine, a Roman Emperor, “converted” and married the Church to the State and the world.  It was then that the Church became the religion we see today, with some notable exceptions.

If you’re still interested, please read the second part of this writing, where I’ll go into the actual problems and solutions.

go to part 2 of article at: Discipleship/Apostasy 2