06/09/2025
The Corrupted Holy Communion and "Feet Washing"
The Holy Communion is one of the sacred rituals that Jesus Christ instituted for the church shortly before His crucifixion. It was a solemn holy ritual where Jesus Christ ate with His disciples the unleavened bread (symbolizing His broken and bruised body) and the wine from the fruit of the vine (symbolizing His shed blood).
The church is expected to partake often in the Holy Communion to identify with the Lord's suffering and death on the cross.
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." 1 Corinthians 11:26
The sole aim of the Holy Communion is for believers to remind themselves of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the need for us to be willing to suffer for Him and if need be, die for the Lord. This was what Paul the Apostle referred to as "the fellowship (Greek, koinōnia) of His suffering" in Philippians 3:10.
Something remarkable happened during the ministry of John Graham Lake in South Africa in the early 20th century that describes the power and symbolism of the Holy Communion.
John G. Lake just invited about 125 missionaries who were in different fields as members of his team. There was scarcity of funds to send to these missionaries. They had to manage to gather everyone together in a conference to encourage them and make them see the obvious financial challenge.
Amazingly, the missionaries decided to return to their fields regardless of the hardships.
An elderly missionary named Father Van de Wall, speaking for the group, approached John G. Lake. He said, "Brother Lake, during your absence, we have come to a conclusion; we have made our decision. We want you to serve the Lord's Supper. We are going back to our fields."
He then continued with a declaration that epitomized their radical faith: "We are going back if our wives die. We are going back if our children die. We are going back if we die ourselves. We have but one request. If we die, we want you to come and bury us."
On this note, John G. Lake served them the Holy Communion signifying their fellowship of Jesus' suffering.
John G. Lake recounted the heartbreaking fact that in the following year, he buried 12 men, 16 wives, and 9 children from their mission team, a testament to the reality of the pledge they had made.
THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE HOLY COMMUNION.
But some groups in today's church are attempting to corrupt the Lord's Supper. Instead of emphasising the main essence of the Holy Communion, we have abused the Communion in the following ways:
1. We use the Communion for our breakthrough services
2. We use the Communion for our healing and deliverance services
3. We use the Communion for spiritual warfare where we even sprinkle the wine on people as the blood of Jesus Christ.
Whilst it's true that the Lord can choose to heal, deliver, or bless whoever partakes of the Lord's Supper, that should be at His sovereign discretion.
The attempt by some of us to convert the Holy Communion as a way of addressing our physical needs is a slap on the Lord's face and a slight on His sufferings and death on the cross.
Even in the matter of "feet washing" when Jesus Christ merely demonstrated service and humility, some churches have now converted it to breakthrough services, seed sowing avenues, protection and deliverance services. BUT WHO HAS SO BEWITCHED US? WHO DID THIS TO US?
Let it be on record that at least one lone voice, Chidi Otamiri, spoke loudly against these errors in his lifetime.
May the Lord restore His church.
