Introduction

Taken from the book The Hidden Mysteries of The Lord’s Table by Mark. G. Nolan

Dear reader,

I believe that many Christians are sick and dying today as a result of not discerning the Lord’s body and blood at the Lord’s Communion Table, and that the true teaching of The Lord’s supper has been eroded and lost for centuries. I have seen many saints become sick and die at a young age. The Lord has taken them home before their time, which has troubled me deeply, and perhaps some may have fallen into condemnation and damnation as a direct result of not discerning the Lord’s body, (1 Cor 11:29.) I must stress that this does not apply to every Christian who departs this world through sickness.

Some time ago I sought the Lord’s face over this issue and prayed, hoping to receive an answer straight away, but it came in a way I didn’t expect. When my wife Ruth, and I got saved in 2001, we attended our first Church in Burnley, Lancashire. it was so exciting to be part of something and we began to study the Bible with the elders of the Church. I couldn’t help but notice that almost everyone in the congregation had some form of sickness or depression or had passed away at a very young age.

I am in no way suggesting that every Christian who is sick or that may have died is guilty of the body and blood of Jesus. No, not at all. But, at the same time I know that there are some Christians, as in the Apostle Paul’s day, that through ignorance or wrong teaching are indeed eating at the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner. Some without even realising it.

As a new-born Christian in 2001, I was so thirsty for God’s truth, and still am, always asking the elders questions. Then one day after taking the Lord’s Supper I became troubled in my spirit. You see, as a child I was brought up as a Catholic and was told by the Catholic priests that the bread and wine were the literal physical body and blood of Jesus.

I didn’t know any better at that time, but this was different. I was troubled by what I heard one of the elders say when at the Lord’s Table. He had referred to the bread and wine as being merely symbolic, and not the actual body and blood of Jesus as I had been led to believe in childhood. I had long ago dismissed the Catholic heresy of transubstantiation, literally meaning the transformation of a substance, the substance being the bread and the wine which they believe transforms into the actual physical body and blood of Christ. This is known as the Eucharist to the Catholics and other denominations, but transubstantiation has been dismissed a long time ago by Christians born of the Holy Spirit.

I talked to the one of the elders after the meeting, and he told me that the bread and wine were just symbols of the body and blood of The Lord Jesus, and there was nothing supernatural in the “emblems” as he called them. He added that the Communion Table was a memorial to remember the Lord’s death until He came back. This explanation that I regard now as partial truth, didn’t sit right with me in my spirit, and I was deeply disturbed because I knew that there was something supernatural happening when we took the bread and wine by faith.

But being a young Christian at the time, I dismissed the discomfort I felt every time the word symbol was used when referring to the bread and wine at the Lord’s Table. After all, who was I to question the very people who had been leading the Church for many years and who had so much knowledge of the Bible? Who was I to challenge anything that they had taught us? I had only been saved at that time about a month if I remember correctly.

I believe now, after many years of study, that the revelation I had received through the Holy Spirit was correct and that sadly some elders hadn’t received the same revelation. What we had been taught was truth, but only a partial truth. The full revelation wasn’t being taught throughout many Churches. 

I am talking about the spiritual presence of Christ Jesus in the bread and wine, which is contrary to modern teaching, sadly for some in the body of Christ. I am referring to those who have the indwelling Holy Spirit and are born-again, not the ones who are spiritually dead.

Please don’t misunderstand, my wife and I are deeply grateful for the Bible teachings we received through dedicated men and women of God in grounding us in the Word. In the early days of our conversion the Lord sent us to a messianic congregation to receive teaching on the Jewish roots of our faith, and we began to receive a different perspective and teaching.

But to my dismay, when the Pastor blessed the bread and wine, he too referred to them as symbols. Again, this grieved me to my stomach, and eventually I realised that I wasn’t the only one being grieved. I believe the Holy Spirit was grieved within me every time I heard the word symbol being used when referring to the Lord’s Table.

I had many head, heart, and spirit battles in those days, and again enquired of the Pastor, who gave me a similar explanation. I sought the Lord for answers. Then the Lord moved Ruth and I on to another Church in a different city.

I often wondered why we were being moved from one fellowship to another. I believe now that the Lord wanted us to get the bigger perspective as to what was being taught in different born-again Spirit-filled Churches.

The grieving in my spirit just grew more intense. I realise now that the Lord was revealing the truth to me, but I was resisting it. The problem was that I respected my elders too much and thought that they couldn’t possibly be wrong as they were teachers of the Word. The inner tug of war just became more and more confusing.

One day in answer to prayer whilst reading John 6, I found an overwhelming peace, and a fresh revelation of understanding of the truth came over me. All this time I had been struggling with conflicting teachings, but I now knew that the truth had finally been revealed to me and was cemented to my understanding.

At last I had found the answer, and it was liberating to say the least. I knew at that point that I had been resisting the truth because I didn’t want to be controversial, or to “rock the boat” as it were. I know now that this was the burden of the Lord, and that He would not let me dismiss what He had revealed to me any longer.

At long last, the truth has set me free, but what about the Church?

Taken from the book The Hidden Mysteries of The Lord’s Table by Mark. G. Nolan