THIS MESSAGE WAS WRITTEN IN 1998
ED PROJECT
O.INTRODUCTION
“ED” is the name of the project, chosen from the bible the night God talked to me clearly about my vocation. “ED” means: “a witness between us that the Lord is God” (Joshua 22:34) and it was in Johannesburg in 1996. Our goal is to lift up Jesus so that He would draw all men to him self (John 12:32) and to die so that Christ may live throughout us (Galatians 2:20) The Home Affairs Ministry suggested to explain ED as “Entraide pour le Developpement” (in French ) after they heard about our plan.
I.THE VISION
A. The tabernacle
In the book of Exodus 26, God said to Moses: Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted lined and blue…All the curtains are to be the same size…God told him about everything for building the tabernacle.
B. The tabernacle’s comparison
We compare the tabernacle with the Christian community which can also means the CHURCH of Christ. We have realized that the Church does no longer exist or it has never existed in our country. One day, Jesus said to his disciples: I give you a new commandment :Love each other and the world will know that you belong to me (John 13:34-35) He has also shown the greatest commandment: To love God and one’s neighbor as one self (Mark 12:30-31)
The main barrier to the Holy Spirit is the lack of love in churches. Jesus is always preached but not seen. The bible says that we are Jesus’ambassadors but the world does not see in Church the Jesus told from the bible. It is actually reported that there is hatred among christians, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans. We must not forget that the identity of Jesus is LOVE, which is not found among spiritual leaders who are fighting each other every day. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23:The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.
The eye means leaders, the body means Church, light means Jesus and darkness means Satan. What shall we say? As long as the eye is bad, the whole body is still in darkness. In other words, as long as the spiritual leaders are divided, Jesus the light does not exist in Church. That is why in our days, the Church exists as if it does not. We no longer see wonders and miracles like it used to be in the time of apostles, yet the bible declares that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. One of the secrets of the first Church, is the fact that they were like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose (Philippians 2:2) Many people do not come to Jesus because they see nothing different in christians, and those who come do not remain in church because there is nobody to follow and feed them as babies in spirit. Beside the lack of love, starting from the head, love of money is a big trap in Church. Setting up a church has become a kind of business. That is why Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there, he also overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves (Mat 21:12-13)
C. How to build the tabernacle.
In the book of Exodus 40:22, it is said that Moses placed everything in the tabernacle as the Lord commanded him. As we have said it above, the tabernacle represents our project “ED”, which means the Church of Christ or the Christian community. According to the vision the Lord has given me, the project must start in BURUNDI and will extend in the whole Africa through five countries (Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Uganda and Tanzania). Our vision includes many points, but we can give the main ones:
1.To intercede (to pray)
It is written in Ezekiel 22:30: I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. The prophet Isaiah said: He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene (Isaiah 59:16)
The apostle Paul also says in Philippians 6:18-20: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests .With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. In our plan, prayer is the KEY of the whole vision’s realization: We have 116 sectors (communes) in our country and each one must possess it’s own team of prayer. It will be our responsibility to build and support all the teams of prayer, to provide all the material needs, to establish leaders and special intercessors working with our enterprise “Ed”. We shall also establish a special group of prayer devoted entirely to God for the realization of the vision, praying without cease in turn (24hours).We have an adequate system to put it into practice.
2.To preach the gospel
BY DEEDS: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep one self from being polluted by the world (James1:27)
Charity is the best and powerful way to preach Jesus-Christ by showing his real face to the world. We shall assist orphans, widows, refugees, prisoners, sick persons,… In our vision, the world must see Jesus (by deeds), and after seeing him, it can hear about him.
BY WORD: We shall organize crusades, but our main way to preach and teach the word of God is by radio
3.To support the whole community
God has given us enough wisdom and knowledge to support and identify everyone who belongs to the community. We will be able to know the number of those who are really born again, those who are weak, who are in need…and all these in the whole country. We shall also visit and support all the new comers to Christ.
II.THE REALISATION (the building)
The Holy-Spirit has shown me that the work will be too heavy for me and I cannot handle it alone. That is why I have already selected capable and trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain. They will make the load lighter, because they will share it with me.
Conclusion : The word of God says: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ-Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) The MAIN actor is the Holy-Spirit and the vision I have is not my own. It comes from Him who sent me. If anyone choose to do God’s will, he will find out whether the vision comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
My the Lord bless His work
Chris NDIKUMANA
