My literal attention has been drawn to Pastor John Hagee's priceless quote about "The Church & the People".

It's a big pity that most modern Churches have gotten it wrong in one way or the other, most especially, in their failure to sustain the faith of the early Apostles and also failing to steadfastly walk in their paths.

In reference to the book of the Acts of The Apostles 2:42;
"And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".


To start with, let me clarify what the church really means by using the theory of the content and the container as a single entity.


Literally, we all know that the word "Church" can be referred to as the exotic cathedrals and big buildings to accommodate worshipers, nevertheless, the church spiritually depicts the worshipers therein.


In other words, the worshipers can be referred to as the content, therefore the Sanctuary itself is the container. Both the Worshipers & The Sanctuary are mutually important in order to carry out the 4 spiritual activities itemized in the book of Acts 2:42, which are;


1. To continue steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrines; which implies the Pastor admonishing the worshipers by periodically preaching the Gospel of faith to them.


2. Fellowship: in order to obey God's commandment in Exodus 20:8; that we should: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy". The Church (big buildings) is therefore very crucial, more so, Solomon built for the Lord and God delighted in him. So, our God also deserves the best Church buildings, there is no iota of doubt about that!


3. Breaking of Bread: The direct spiritual interpretation of breaking of bread depicts the Lord's Supper also known as Christian communion. In reference to the Last Supper, described in 1Corinthians 11:23-39, Jesus took a loaf of bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”. So the Church building itself is very crucial to perform the commanded duty of breaking of bread by housing the worshipers.

Furthermore, in reference to Urban Dictionary, to break bread literally means: "to share ones belongings or assets with another person". This is an act of brotherly love that existed in the early Church (sanctuary), and the Apostles obeyed the commandments to an extent that there was a record in the book of Acts 4:34a, that; "that there were no needy persons among them..." Simply because they constantly break bread in the Sanctuary.


There's a point to note here; there was a record in the previous Chapter, i.e. Acts 4:33, that; "With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all".


This depicts that God gave the Apostles power to perform various recorded miracles because of boundless love that existed between them with respect to their fervent fellowship, admonishing themselves in the Apostles' doctrine, constant breaking of bread and in prayers.


At this point, I'm beginning to discern the reason why miracles, signs and wonders are now scarce in modern Churches, it is simply because the "weightier matters" have been neglected and there's now a primary focus on carnal things of this world than the core spiritual activities coupled with the fact that there is so much wide disparity between the cadres of modern Apostles of these days. Take for instance, Modern Apostle "A" (Church Leader) is well fed and doing fine, while Modern Apostle "B" & "C" (Church members) are in poverty and lack, and you expect those type of classic sign and wonders recorded in the book of Acts to just happen like that. No! No!! No!!!, there are procedures, let the Church start doing the right things, then the signs and wonders men seek after Church Leaders will easily happen. (Note: I'm not against Pastors doing fine than the Church members, don't get me wrong, afterall, fulltime Pastors can be likened to the Levites, whose heritage is the House of God, and they are to fed from PART of the tithes and offering brought to the sanctuary, as stated in the book of Malachi's chapter 3).


Nevertheless, Church Leaders should take note of the biblical record in Acts 4:36, "And Joses, who by the Apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is being interpreted, The son of consolation) a Levite, and of the country of Cyrus". Take note that Barnabas was a Levite, who can also be likened to our present full time Pastors of these days was also not left out of breaking his bread with other Apostles. Take an important note of Acts 4:37. I think this ingredient is missing in most modern Churches. Acts 4:36-37 shows that even the Levites (I.e Full-Time Pastors) should not be excluded in laying their belongings are the Apostles' feet in order to enhance the breaking of bread! But what do we have today? There's such a huge disparity between the Pastor and their members in terms of possessions, I don't want to go into details, in order to avoid being too quick to judge!


Let's just take a flashback, we can remember that there were no differences between the early Apostles, you cannot easily point to the rich as rich or point to the poor as poor, they were all one-minded, to an extent of bringing their belongings to the sanctuary just to perfom the "breaking of bread" i.e. Share and cheer in love, just to erase the huge disparity between them. That's humility and sacrificially an act of self-denial. Such ingredient is missing in the modern Churches, to an extent that there are now Caucuses in some Churches, the rich makes friend with the rich, you can easily recognize the Average members' Zone while the section for the needy "o La shimo".

Hey! I need to clarify this point at this junction, I will not deny the fact that there are fraudulent & Lazy members in the Church, they should please wake up and work. My attention is also drawn to the fact that some "half-baked bread" worshipers, who always target the rich just to exploit them in the name of pretending to be jobless and helpless, No! No!! No!!! The early Apostles were not Lazy, infact, the bible clearly gave an account of some of them as Business Tycoons; they own possessions, lands and other properties which logically depicts that the early Apostles were very hardworking.

But the bottom-line is for the modern Churches to trace back their steps into Faith of our fathers and consider the weightier matters before the lighter ones are being handled.
Remember what Jesus Christ said in the book of Matthew: 23:23b, "...You tithe mint, dill and cummin, and every kind of garden herb, yet you have neglected the weightier matters such as justice, mercy, faith, and the love of God. These things you should have done without neglecting the others."


Now, I'm clarified about Pastor John Hagee's quote, that; "...The Church without Mercy is Fraud". Also, Jesus Christ relatively said those words in the above bible reference, due to the fact that some modern Churches are so much concerned about the budgets, Financials, buildings than the People itself. How and why should a church build a school that the church members (who out of pain contributed for its success) cannot averagely afford to send their sons and daughters to? Let's all leave these kinds of questions for God to judge, its not for men to judge.
More so!!! why should a brother or a sister who diligently obeyed Malachi 3:10 and consistently pays their tithe and offering into their respective Church for several years, just one day, could not afford their usual daily needs; please if I may ask! where should such worshipers run to? If not the Church!
"MODERN CHURCHES" do you think there shouldn't be a well planned administrative structure in the Church to control and handle how to help such Tithe and offering payers out in such a situation in form of breaking of bread? Rather than leaving them helpless with second thought of; "where's even all my financial contributions going into?" Or with a thought like: "hmmmm, when I had it all, I paid diligently, when I was down Church never rescued me, I'm up again now, why should I even pay again since I'm only left with the word that my reward is from God and also in heaven?" These are various rhetorical questions asked by such victims. And such might be committing a sin by not obeying the payment of Tithes and offering, whereas, its not all their fault, but due to the surrounding circumstances.


If I may even ask these modern Churches; what do you think Jesus meant in the book of Matthew 25:35, when He said; "when I was hungry, you game me food to eat..." ? This is just passing a message to the Church to revive the commandment of "breaking of bread" and to show mercy to the worshipers, just as Pastor Hagee explicitly quoted.


4. Prayers: the Church also serves as a place of prayer during the fellowship of the brethren. So I'm not against building a Solomonic cathedral for God, but it is still considered as the lighter matters. The "weightier matters" is focusing on the welfare and well-being of the worshipers.


In conclusion, these four points show the importance of both the content and the container, but I don't know why modern Churches now focus on the container and not the content. In reference to Pastor Hagee; "they focus on budgets and the buildings than the people".


Lastly, I remember one of the orin isoji (revival song) back-then, in Yoruba language: "Olorun hun se bebe bii ta tijo, awa la o sin baba bii ta tijo".
I.e. "God is still performing wonders like in the olden days, it's we, the worshipers that are not serving father like the olden days".


Yes! Modern preachers seek to perform Miracles like the early Apostles, some can even be so desperate about it! Chill Sir, It is not by Muscle or by Hustle! Wait and hear me clearly! There are procedures! Take your time to read through the first Five Chapters of the book of Acts of the Apostles even if you can't read all, revive your church by doing what the Apostles did, let love exist among your Church members without any disparity between the cadres of worshipers, adopt the habit of breaking the bread and stay fervent in prayer, and see if the manifestation of God's Power, signs and wonders as in Acts 4:33 will not also happen in your Ministries!



(Note: I'm only authoring this writing as a mere article, so don't even think I'm that "Churchy" enough to do a doctrinal writing as some might later infer; I don't mean to step on toes, so please, randomly accept my candid and extended apologies if this Gospel truth seems too bitter for some Nepotic Christians to digest".


Stay Blessed.


Written By: Jawolusi Oluwaseun Solomon (PediakAuthor)