I am not trying to “reinvent the wheel”, so I have used part of the introduction from Leo Harris’s book, “Church Government – Biblical or Babylonian” in my introduction.

Pastor Leo Harris 1920-1977 was the founder and President of the Christian Revival Crusade in Australia.

In the introduction of Leo Harris’ book Church Government – Babylonian or Biblical[1] he makes these profound statements.

“In these momentous, age-ending days we witness the grim fulfilment of the prophetic statement: : “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens”. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are (or may be) shaken, as things that are made (i.e. Man-made) that those things which cannot be shaken remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27). Thus all human systems are being cast into the crucible of divine judgement and only that which is ordained of God will prove unshakable, and will remain. We see this shaking process in every phase of human activity; it is the only explanation for the anarchy prevailing in the political, industrial, economic and social life of our nation and, indeed the entire world.

Is there a way out of this chaos and confusion? Yes; thank God there is! Not only has the Bible foretold these conditions, but it has also revealed the remedy and the way into the better order – which will be nothing less than the Kingdom of God on earth. The tragedy of the hour is, however, that the organised church is unable to give the leadership required of it, for the simple reason that our religious systems are, themselves, being thrown into the melting pot, being shaken and judged, and confusion prevails in the ecclesiastical life of our nations as well.

It is for this reason that we give forth the clarion call, BACK TO THE BIBLE!” the church as well as well as the nation must return to the Bible-pattern. The Word of God is the measuring-rod; it is our only guide.

Students of Bible prophecy are aware that we witness today the winding up of the great Babylonian succession foretold in Daniel and the Revelation. This Babylonian principle operates in every phase of life, and the church is no exception. It is characterised by centralisation, dictatorship, totalitarianism and confusion. Babylon is being judged, is falling, that upon its ruin may be raised the glorious structure of Christ’s millennial Kingdom.

In these pages we desire to draw a comparison between the various human systems that have been introduced into church government and fellowship and the divine pattern as set out for us in the New Testament. Particularly in the Pentecostal circles has church government become a much-debated subject during recent years. There are those who believe in the oversight of a church by a central body, while others advocate the democratic, congregational control of churches. Between these two extremes of totalitarianism and democracy there are many different systems, methods and shades of opinion. It is not our purpose in this booklet to introduce a new system of government, or to choose which out of the existing methods is the best, rather do we plan to make a direct, if somewhat unique, approach to the Word of God itself. While the message of this booklet applies to all branches of the Christian church, it is published primarily for the perusal of members of those Full Gospel (or Pentecostal) movements in our land.” By Pastor Leo Harris

We could not go past this introduction and reiterate its sentiments and relevance for today’s Church. It was relevant in his day and it is fair to say it is more relevant today. Pastor Leo Harris’, primarily focus was for the members of the Full Gospel (or Pentecostal) movements in Australia prior to his death in 1977. This prophet of God was warning the Church about the extremes of governance that could come into a movement of churches or the Church in general and I would go as far to say it still applies in the traditionalism of Pentecostal churches today.

Pastor Leo Harris started with this point, “In these momentous, age-ending days we witness the grim fulfilment of the prophetic statement: “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens”. It is clear that this is taking place right now but God is not finished with His Church and that a refreshing is coming upon the Church. It will not be a new thing from God, but a development of our understanding of what God has done.

In the Pentecostal churches today, we stress a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit which is great on many fronts, but on the other hand it can have some negative effects. Some claim that they hear from the Holy Spirit but are led to do things which are not Biblical. My answer to this is, “Where do you find this in the Bible?” If they cannot find it in the Bible, then their claim to be Spirit-led can be dangerous and deceitful.

In this book we will look at the Church governance structure as laid out in Scripture and finally view an Ecclesiastical approach to having church meetings. We will not hold back on pointing out what is not Biblical. We hope that Babylon will fall as many walk away from the Babylonian structure and into a Biblical structure. We will also give forth the clarion call, BACK TO THE BIBLE!

Dr. Ian Traill

From our new book “Babylon must fall!: “The New Testament Ecclesiastical Management Structure for Successful Growth”

Buy the ebook here https://books.google.com/books?id=d3YkDwAAQBAJ&dq=babylon+must+fall!+by+dr+ian+traill&source=gbs_navlinks_s

[1] Leo Harris – Church Government – Babylonian or Biblical. Page 1&2 – but on the Pdf of this book page 7&8. https://traillblazer.com/about/enrolment/leadership-training/certificate-of-leadership-training/