I'm hanging out with Wolfgang Simson this week in Long Beach. Actually, he's sharing and I'm listening. In case you're not familiar with him, he wrote Houses That Change the World.
He's a very forthright speaking German. He doesn't mince words, and he has some very strong opinions about church structure. These are not exact quotes, but probably close enough:
The root cause of everything going wrong is disobedience to the revealed will of God...
This is where the church has gone wrong (building disobedient structures) and this is why the church is now, in essence, in captivity in Babylon...
God has given a pattern for the church... a blueprint... not a model but principles and guidelines that are to be built with. The church is built out of organic material: living stones, precious individuals, not mass produced bricks (man-made structures) that can be copied and easily reproduced. Because the church has broken these rules, God has placed it in captivity.
Most people, at some level, know that there's something wrong with church. But they live schizophrenic lives because they don't do anything about it.
It's necessary to break covenant with the false systems, and die to self, in order to enter the promised land of what church is meant to be. The leaving process requires a spiritual de-toxification to get the old out of our system. This will put you into a wilderness season... a desert, seemingly alone and without direction, until you begin to allow God to show you His pattern and blueprint for church and kingdom living...
God is restoring HIS pattern for HIS church so that the Holy Spirit can come and REMAIN (as when the temple and tabernacle were built according to HIS pattern).
That's just a start... More to come.
