William P Goff
2/25/2012
Revised: 2/18/2025
Scriptures from the KJV
In today’s message I’d like to address the overall condition of the church of God, and how the church is lacking; yes lacking in spiritual power in these latter days in which we are living.
I ask where are the miracles that our Lord assured would follow those who believe?The signs that He would perform to confirm where He is working. The casting out of devils, the speaking with new tongues, the total, immediate and miraculous recovery of those who are ill after being anointed by the elder’s?
Being that these signs, those powerful signs that were promised to those who believe, are absent, one can only conclude that there is a belief problem in the church of God today.
Yes, there appears to be a lack of faith, an epidemic (if you will) of unbelief that abides today in the members of the body of Christ.
Unbelief is nothing new to God’s people; even the original disciples were guilty of it. In (Matthew 17:14-20) we read: “And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15: Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16: And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17: Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18: And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19: Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20: And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Is there not even one among us today brethren, in the church of God, who is in possession of even a mustard seed of faith?
It’s no wonder why nearly 2,000 years ago our Lord questioned whether He would find faith on this earth at His return.
(Isaiah 58:5-8) says: “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised, bruised beyond recognition, for our iniquities”. Isaiah prophesied that our Lord and Savior’s appearance would be so disfigured, beyond that of any man, and His form marred, beyond human likeness. Our Lord and Savior went through all of that suffering. Those prophecies were fulfilled.
The chastisement (the punishment) that was to bring us peace, was upon Him, Isaiah said; and with His stripes, we were to be healed.
Brethren, did our Lord and Savior receive those stripes in vain? Has His Word lost its authority, has His arm weakened? Has the Immeasurable Power of the Almighty God, dwindled, in these latter days?
Or is the problem not with God, but with us, His church? Is the lack of these signs, due to a chronic case of doubt, unbelief and unfaithfulness?
We need to move a mountain today brethren, we need to cast the mountain of unbelief and unfaithfulness that has been running rampant in the church of God these days into the sea. We need to know why the church is in this condition and most importantly how to get back to “the faith which was once delivered to the Saints” when those “signs following” were present.
I have much to say today concerning getting back to the faith like it was in early New Testament times. I also want to address something that the New Testament church was keeping back then called the “Love Feast” or “Feast of Charity” that is not only no longer kept in the church of God, but has been totally forgotten about, and virtually unheard of. So I ask, please hear me out.
Some of what I have to say will be considered by some to be heresy. But let us realize that “heresy” is not necessarily a bad thing. Heresy is just the opinion or doctrine at variance with what is normally taught and believed. Paul was accused of preaching heresy, and he was proud of it. (Acts 24:14)
Now there is another kind of heresy that is bad, it’s called “damnable heresy” But I warn you not to get your heresies mixed up, because we live at a time when good is called bad and bad is called good, and the way of Truth is evil spoken of.
Now the disciples had trouble casting the devil out of that Lunatic back then because of their unbelief, but that was before the Holy Spirit was given. That was before Christ returned to the Father’s Throne.
Remember, He said: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12).Brethren, after the Holy Spirit was given to them on Pentecost, the miracles began flowing – Spiritual Power was in their possession, and God was confirming where He was working with signs following. (Mark 16:20).
Now those signs have been absent in the church of God for a long time, and we don’t have to go far to understand why?
In (Mark 16:20) we can see why those “signs following” were present in the early church, but lacking in the “church” today.
(Mark 16:20) says: “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the “Word”(the Truth that they were preaching and teaching) with signs following.”
We have to be preaching and teaching Truth for those “signs” to follow. Our Lord will not confirm fables.
Good News Translation says it like this:
“The disciples went and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and proved that their preaching was truth by the miracles that were performed.”
Our Lord is not going to confirm the preaching, unless the preaching consists of Truth. He will not confirm fables. He will only confirm the word that is being preached if it is “Truth” (Correct Doctrine.)
Don’t be fooled by man, man is our biggest obstacle to learning and walking in Truth. Remember what our Lord said concerning men: “Take heed that no man deceive you, for many men will come in my name and deceive many.”
In (2 Peter 2:1-2) Peter gives us the overall condition of the church today, and it’s quite sobering. But he wrote this a long time ago in the “future” tense. Now to drive Peter’s words home (which is extremely important for us to do right now) let us read Peter’s words in the proper “present” tense:
“There were false prophets among the people even as there are false teachers among you, who privily have brought in damnable heresies. Even denying the Lord that brought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many (listen to what is being said here) and Many are following their pernicious ways; (Pernicious Strong’s #G684 ruin or loss, destruction, die, perdition). by reason of whom the way of truth is evil spoken of.”
Jude also warns us about men, where he says: For there are certain men crept in unawares, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Note the word “denying” here, used by both Peter and Jude. Denying here is Strong’s #G720 meaning – to assert the contrary or opposite of, disavow.
We can clearly see some “denying” preached by men concerning the “Love Feast” that was implemented by our Lord Himself, and spoken of in Scripture by both Peter and Jude.
But before we move on, let us turn to (2 Timothy 3:16) and understand something very important concerning the Holy Scriptures.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That word “reproof” is Strong’s #G1650 and means evidence.
We need to have Scriptural evidence supporting all of our beliefs.
Now back to what we were saying, we can clearly see some “denying” (contradicting our Lord) by many pulpits in God’s “church” today, concerning the “Love Feast” that our Lord Himself implemented. (We will see them as we move on.) Funny thing here, both Peter and Jude speak about the Love Feast. And both Peter and Jude warn us about those men (pulpits) who are denying our Lord’s instructions concerning the love feast.)
I want to turn now to (1 Corinthians 11: 17-34) where Paul addresses the ordinance of the Feast of Charity or Love Feast. (Paul call it the “Lord’s supper”).
This part of chapter 11 is not addressing the Passover. Paul addressed the Passover back in chapter five. Here Paul is addressing what our Lord implemented on the night in which He was betrayed.
If you carefully read (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) it elaborates on why the church today is lacking in Spiritual strength. And it elaborates on how to get its Spiritual strength back.
(1 Corinthians 11:17) Paul admonishes the church in Corinth concerning their coming together for the love feast. because the purpose of this feast was to increase God’s Spirit within us. That’s what the word “better” in that verse is talking about, Spiritually stronger – better – nobler. But the way they were keeping it produced just the opposite.
Keeping this feast concerns examining ourselves more often than just once a year at Passover. The love feast does not replace the Passover. The Passover is to be kept once a year on the fourteenth day of the first Month. That’s the day our Lord was crucified for us. The love feast is to remind us of the Passover, and what our Lord did for us. It looks back at His death, and it looks ahead to His return.When we keep it, we openly proclaim His death until He comes. In (1 Corinthians 11:26) the word “shew” means openly proclaim.
The love feast is separate from Passover, but its there to give us another Spiritual boost, just like we get at Passover. And not keeping it, not discerning the Lord’s body, concerns why many today in God’s church are weak (Spiritually weak) sick (physically sick) and even asleep (have died) due to the lack of examining oneself more often than just once a year. These are not my words; I’m just quoting from the Holy Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)
We need to rightly divide (and believe) the Scriptures. Our faith, our beliefs need to come from the Scriptures, not from men. Remember, faith and belief goes hand- in-hand. But faith comes before belief.
Faith is Strong’s #G4102 meaning: Persuasion. The problem today in God’s church is that too many have gotten their “persuasion” concerning what they believe, from men instead of from the Word of God.
Too many say:”Mr. so and so says this, and Mr. so and so says that. Instead of Scripture such and such says this, and Scripture such and such says that.
Just look at (1 Corinthians 11:26) where it says to partake of the cup and the bread “often”. Many pulpits teach that the phrase “as often as” means once a year. But it does not.
The Greek word HOSAKIS translated “as often as” was used by many writers, including The Greek author Homer, the writings of Lysias (5th to 4th century BC) Plato (4th century BC) and Josephus (1st century AD) as well as various papyri and inscriptions, with the uncontested meaning to be: “As often As” denoting an event of variable yet frequent occurrences.
This Greek word used here, sets no specific time of occurrence, but its meaning does mean frequently or often, and not yearly. This can easily be seen in (Revelation 11:6) where the same exact word is used speaking of God’s two witnesses, we read this:
“These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”
It’s up to their discretion brethren, surely they’re not going to call these plagues down in one-year intervals. Men again have led many astray with their false teaching concerning this matter.
The love feast is a wonderful thing. And its kept in a relaxing atmosphere. That’s why the word “couches” is mentioned in Cannon # 28.(Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself, we’ll get to the cannons shortly.)
We know from keeping the yearly Passover on the 14th that this examining ourselves (this discerning the Lord’s Body) brings us closer to our Creator. But our Lord knew that we needed to be examining ourselves more often that just once a year. Let us remember, He going to present to Himself a Pure and Unblemished church at His return. We’re not going to get to that perfection (That Full Growth) without keeping our mind on what all he went through for us. (Ephesians 5:27).
In (1 Corinthians 11:25) it says to do this often “in remembrance of Him.” Many pulpits say that word “remembrance” means memorial to be kept once a year. But that word “remembrance” is Strong’s #G364 meaning: recollection, to bring to mind. It comes from the word Strong’s #363 meaning to remind, be mindful.
Brethren our Lord wants us to become just like Him, unblemished, unspotted, and pure, like we are told in many places in Scripture like (1 John 3:3). Partaking of the Love Feast will help us to do just that.
It was implemented by our Lord Himself on the night He was betrayed. (Matthew 26:27-28). It was kept often by the early New Testament church. You can see this in many places like (Acts 2:42) (They would not put a common meal in between the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, and prayer.
But after a while, the Love Feast was attacked from within by some ungodly men who had crept into the church. (Jude 1:4) (Jude1:12). It’s also mentioned by Peter in (2 Peter 2:13). Then later, it was forbidden to be kept, and completely done away with by the Council of Laodicea, a regional synod (an Ecclesiastical council) of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor that assembled about 363–364 AD in Laodicea.
The major concerns of the Council involved regulating the conduct of church members. The Council expressed its decrees in the form of written rules or canons. Among the sixty canons decreed, several aimed at: Maintaining order among Bishops, Clerics and Laypeople. Outlawing the keeping of the Sabbath (Saturday) and encouraging rest on “Lord’s Day” Sunday. And also forbade the churches from celebrating the Agape or love feast.
CANON # 28. (Word for Word)
“It is not permitted to hold love feasts, as they are called, in the Lord’s Houses, or Churches, nor to eat and to spread couches in the house of God.”
Brethren, I pray that you study this important matter, and that we get back to “The Faith that was once delivered to the Saints.” A time when Truth was being preached, and our Lord was confirming the Word with those miraculous signs following.
Bill Goff
P.S. I began learning about this from the Scriptures back in 2006. After first speaking on it, someone told me that a long time Minister by the name of “Jim Rector” was teaching this ten years earlier.
Jim does a better job of addressing this issue than I. Links to his message titled: “Lord’s Supper” are below in both audio and transcript.
Jim Rector transcript: https://khofh.com/lords-supper/
Jim Rector Audio: https://khofh.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The_Lords_Supper32-2.mp3