6. Are You Allowed To Preach Your Own Sermons?

Only sermons preached by Elijah Thomas Chacko may be regularly used. Local pastors and elders are not to prepare their own sermons, but to ‘convey’ Elijah’s sermons. Missionaries are observed even more strictly and often prepped before leaving HQ (wherever Elijah is), on which of his sermons they should convey. 

What is ‘conveying’? It’s certainly not reading: hardly any of Elijah’s sermons have been typed out and it is forbidden to make notes when he preaches. Those who convey well are those who catch the main themes and doctrines of a message and (whilst remaining faithful to the contents of the sermon) apply it in the local context. The person who is conveying must always acknowledge Elijah Chacko by name as the source of his doctrines. See the following extract from ‘Mission Updates’ 1st Nov AD 2009: 

“…like certain in our midst you too have a propensity to steal words from me and parrot them without acknowledging me nor the sermons or sources that you have taken them from… when you borrow my phrases, proses and particular doctrines, it’s pretty obvious. The point is that you ought to acknowledge the source and my person when you do so… many brethren who spend much time reading my preaching notes, borrow my concepts and contents and even the forms thereof, yet when they fail to identify the reference they are bent on making the wicked and shameful impression as though the doctrines and forms originated from them and they had devised them from their own experiences and meditations… The blatant travesty is that these very people do not have spiritual capacity nor character to generate spiritual views, let alone the depth and wisdom thereof… with their covetousness and arrogance simmering within them, they bide their time to part asunder the messages of the servant of the Lord God, just like they parted asunder our Lord Yeshua Christ’s garments when they crucified Him. These are thieves and robbers; they come to steal and plunder, to ransack the vineyard of the owner… It’s about time you learn to write briefly… without trying to be a Puritan at times, or a David Brainerd or a Reformer or an Elijah Thomas Chacko.”

Sometimes conveyances of sermons are third or even fourth-hand. Though the sermon might have become altered beyond recognition, one thing stays constant: frequent references to Elijah Chacko. It has long been standard practice for the churches affiliated with The Westminster Tradition to send delegates to attend international conferences at which Elijah will be the sole preacher. The delegates make their own notes and ‘convey’ those sermons when they return to their churches (whether they are pastors, elders, women or even children makes little difference). The most important thing is whether they can accurately remember what Elijah said. You may wonder why they don’t simply record the sermons and post them on the internet? That would be far too dangerous for Elijah! It’s much safer for him to encourage people to ‘convey’ his messages so that they are forced to study his sermons and can also be denounced as bad repositories and broken cisterns if there are any negative sequelae. If the message is a flop, it’s certainly not because anything is inherently wrong with the message. The problem must lie with the messenger! When preacher’s stores of sermons by Elijah Chacko are depleted, they are encouraged to use the ministry’s daily newsletter as fodder instead. Or they could preach from one of Elijah’s tracts. But what they are not to do is to preach their own message direct from the Word of God.

I have long been interested to know if there is any historic precedent for this. There is barely any precedent within the Reformed churches. Preachers historically prepared their own sermons. The only clear exception I can find is that of archbishop Cranmer. He printed two ‘Books of Homilies’ in the mid-16th Century. These were appointed to be read in the churches because the Church of England pulpits were often occupied by ministers who were ill qualified to preach. Some were papists who had converted to Protestantism in name only. Therefore, in the times of Edward VI and the earlier reign of Elizabeth I, Cranmer wrote 33 sermons or ‘homilies’ which covered a broad spectrum of doctrine and might be expected to ground the hearers in the Reformed faith. Other than that example, I have found nothing. William Perkins’ book ‘The Art of Prophesying’ is endorsed by The Westminster Tradition. This book certainly has nothing about the art of conveying, but teaches the student to draw their sermons from the Word of God. In its first chapter entitled ‘The Art of Prophesy’, Perkins wrote, “Preaching the Word is prophesying in the name and on behalf of Christ.” The second chapter (‘The Word of God’) begins, “The Word of God alone is to be preached, in its perfection and inner consistency. Scripture is the exclusive subject of preaching, the only field in which the preacher is to labour.” Often, Elijah Chacko’s messages e.g. his ‘state of the world addresses’ have very little of God’s Word but are string necklaces, beaded with lots of political commentary and current affairs. The art of conveying is done in the name and on behalf of Elijah, not Christ.

So who else rely upon their illuminated leaders for all their teaching? Cults do. In meetings at the Jehovah’s Witness ‘Kingdom Halls’, a half-hour ‘Bible discourse’ is followed by a one-hour “Watchtower” study. It is clear that in public worship, the “Watchtower” has greater prominence than the Bible. The Christian Scientists or ‘Church of Christian Science’ do likewise. This is a quotation from their website: “The Bible is at the heart of Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, took to the Bible instinctively as a child and studied it intensively as an adult. Through this study she discovered the healing power of God and experienced it firsthand. This inspired her to delve even deeper into the Scriptures, finding their spiritual meaning, which ultimately led to her writing the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Together the Bible and Science and Health are the pastor of the Christian Science Church, from which a weekly Bible Lesson is read.” Within The Westminster Tradition, you have to draw from Elijah’s material. It would be considered very presumptuous to go straight to the Bible and think you could hope to understand it! Conveyances are the order of the day; not Bible studies!

There are several passages I’ve heard Elijah quote to support his methods. One is Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to ‘hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me… (2 Tim 1:13a).’ But where are the sound words which Timothy was to hold fast to? Undoubtedly Paul’s words. We know them to be preserved for us in his fourteen epistles (Romans to Hebrews). They are inspired, inerrant and infallible. But Elijah doesn’t say, “Hold fast the form of Paul’s sound words,” but appropriates the verse to himself as though his own words are the sound words which Paul was alluding to. Elijah will also quote from 2 Tim 3v14: ‘But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them…’ Timothy learned them from an Apostle. Elijah is not an Apostle. But again, Paul is not drawing Timothy to himself so much as to the Scripture, for he continues ‘…and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ The man of God may be perfect not by virtue of an Elijah Chacko, but by virtue of the profitability of inspired Scripture for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. Certainly God raises up preachers, but His true servants don’t glory in themselves. What arrogance and pride for Elijah to say, “These are thieves and robbers; they come to steal and plunder, to ransack the vineyard of the owner…” Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) and He will not suffer a charlatan like Elijah to put his own name to even the smallest of HIs doctrines! ‘What hast thou that thou didst not receive? (1 Cor 4:7)’ Paul exhorted the Corinthians to keep in memory what he preached to them, but he was very clear that he delivered unto them not that which he had by himself discovered, but that which he also received – how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:1-3; see also 1 Cor 11:23). Paul doesn’t charge Timothy to ‘preach my word’, but to ‘preach the Word’ (2 Tim 4:1-2).

I conclude with a few comments about my own experience. I have never been happy teaching something that I didn’t myself believe. I sometimes wondered to myself how others could do this. Some of Elijah’s teachings are so bizarre, it would be aberrant to convey them e.g. his assertion that modern Rome is built on the site of ancient Babylon (the plains of Shinar). Or that there are trillions of demons on the earth. I remember one of Elijah’s longest-standing missionaries said to me, “Why don’t you just convey his sermons? You don’t have to tell anybody if there’s something in it that you don’t believe!” For many years I had teaching responsibilities in the UK congregation. I used to tailor Elijah’s messages so that I could preach them in good conscience. As I grew more and more uncomfortable with his heresies, I had to butcher his messages and preach only what was left over. People started to murmur. My conveyances didn’t sound like authentic Chacko. So I switched to reading or re-preaching sermons gleaned from Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Henry or Murray McCheyne etc. These were not well received either. I could never understand why that was. I remember being perplexed at how angry certain people became and how bitterly they complained that I should only be conveying Elijah Chacko’s messages. Eventually, I went directly to the Bible and prepared my own sermons. It was the best thing I did! But I had committed the unpardonable. Who did I think I was? Was I greater than Elijah Thomas Chacko? It was chiefly for this reason that I was demoted and preaching responsibilities were passed to another. But at least she was a faithful conveyor and not treacherous like me.

So Elijah, if you’re there, I should like to apologise. I should never have plagiarised and stolen your doctrines. From this day forward I shall go to the Scriptures for my doctrines instead. I will use faithful men of old as my assistants and guides. Men who cared little for reputation or fame, but having received freely, they also gave freely (Matt 10:8; 1 Cor 2:12). By the grace of God I shall never ransack your vineyard and rob you of your wild grapes again.