Teaching

(this is the outline for the webcast "The ABC's of apostolic reformation - Part 3". To hear the audio, click here.)
On this date in 1415 Jan Huss was burned to the stake. The council of Constance urged Hus to recant in order to save his life, but to the majority of its members he was a dangerous heretic fit only for death. When he refused to recant, he was solemnly sentenced on July 6, 1415, and burned at the stake.

Huss was a follower of John Wycliffe - English theologian, philosopher, church reformer, and promoter of the first complete translation of the Bible into English. He was one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. The politico-ecclesiastical theories that he developed required the church to give up its worldly possessions, and in 1378 he began a systematic attack on the beliefs and practices of the church.

These reformers demanded from the Catholic Church to deny the practice of selling indulgences, among many other changes.

Apostolic reformation is the process of bringing the Church of Jesus Christ back to its original purpose, form and substance. The book of Acts provides us with some insight into what the Church needs to look and feel like, but it’s not the full picture.

What does this mean to the average person, what would it mean to society?

Keep in mind, if a spiritual process is legitimate, i.e. if it’s truly from Heaven, it’s not abstract. It’s very real and it impacts the lives of people - both those in the church and in our world.

1) Understanding the basics

Jesus brought the first great Reformation on the Earth. We say First Great Reformation because there were reformers before Jesus, but they operated in the realm of the Mosaic tradition.

Jesus changed the rules of the game completely. He didn’t just come to remind us one more time of what the rules of the game are.

Jesus of Nazareth made the Mosaic order of worship obsolete and that’s why what he did qualifies as the First Great Reformation.

The impact of this Reformation was the de-centralization of spirituality.

The Second Great Reformation was in the Middle Ages. It began with the group called the Parisian theologians in the 13th century. John Wycliffe and Jan Huss continued the movement and the culmination came in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.

The Second Great Reformation was yet another form of decentralization of spirituality. Theologically it cleared the way for believers to be able to serve God again without having to become part of the clergy.

2) What about today?

In its core this last, Third Great Reformation will have the same impact both the Church and the world. It will release believers to be able to serve God in Kingdom awareness.

However, this release will begin by first the five-fold ministry being established as the authority of God in the earth.

Today there are way too many people behind pulpits who are not called to preach. Churches are built as social clubs and the power of God is lacking. As a result, people do not recognize the Church as representative of the person of Jesus Christ.

The reason we call this reformation “apostolic” is because God restores the office and the ministry of the apostles first, who then restores all the other five gifts.

The fivefold gifts then release the believers to flow in their God given gifts and callings.

This is what will impact our world, not abstract theological arguments.
George P. Bakalov