Covid 19 and lockdown have opened up an incredible opportunity not only for the Church to explore new ways of operating using new media, but to examine its foundations.
As early as 2005, God gave me Jeremiah 6:16
‘This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”‘(NIV)
I sensed this meant return to the Biblical model of Church. He also gave me the word ‘re-alignment,’ which He said was going to be the biggest transformation of the church since the Reformation! It was to be His final move in preparing the Bride of Christ for His Second Coming, bringing the true Church and Messianic Jews together as the ‘one new man.’(Ephesians 2:15) In order to become one with the Jews, the church needs to repent of replacement theology and anti-Semitism, reject the pagan practices and idolatry of the Romans and Greek philosophy of the Church Fathers, which has morphed into humanism. We need to return to our Hebraic, biblical roots as expressed in the Early Church of Acts 2, which had a simple, dynamic faith led by the Holy Spirit and was not dependant on structures and religious traditions controlled by man.
We need to realign with God’s Calendar and prophetic time clock by recognising God’s appointed times or ‘moedim’, abandoning pagan church traditions of celebrating Christmas and Easter and recognising the seasons in which He operates. The biblical feasts of Leviticus 23 give us a yearly, cyclical pattern when we remember God’s miraculous intervention in history, such as the Passover, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, a picture of redemption through the cross and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given, which was at the exact time of Shavuot, when the Law (Torah) was given to Moses on Mount Sinai! The final three, Trumpets (Yom Teruah), Atonement (Yom Kippur) and Tabernacles (Succot) reveal the End Time agenda.
It is paramount for the Church to understand the immanence of Christ’s return and the need for repentance and holiness, to be set apart and prepared like the wise virgins of Matthew 25: 1-13.
Mary Kelsey
Leamington Spa
Recommended reading
Kelsey M. ‘The Spirit and the bride say “Come” ’: Preparing for the Second Coming of Christ. (A study guide). Second edition 2020, available from Amazon.
Heidler R.D. ‘Messianic Church arising: restoring the Church to our covenant roots.’ Glory of Zion Ministries. Denton. Texas, USA.2006
Silver D. ‘A slow train coming: God’s redemptive plan for Israel and the Church’. Out of Zion Ministries, Mt Carmel. 2003.
Booker R. ‘Jesus in the feasts of Israel: restoring the spiritual realities of the Feasts to the Church’.Destiny Image, Shippenburg PA, USA. 1998
Maltz S. ‘Flock down: Is the Church out for the count or ready for rebirth?’ Saffron Planet 2020, available from www.saltshakers.com
Lennox J C. ’Where is God in a coronavirus world?’ The Good Book Company. 2020.
Articles from ‘Prophecy Today’:
Helen Belton. ‘How to do church at home.’ 3 April 2020
Dr. Clifford Hill. ‘Preparing the way of the Lord.’ 8 May 2020
Dr Clifford Hill. ‘The post-pandemic Church.’ 21 August 2020