[UntoHim]

Sons to Glory!, let me assure you, that if we could wave a magic wand and "poof!"...and every Christian church would change "church" to "gathering", "assembly" or "congregation", these words will inevitably lend themselves to the very same misunderstanding and twisting. I'm afraid the same goes for "ekklesia".

As a matter of fact, there was a aberrational group that sprung up in Southern California the 1970s, lead by a man by the name of George Geftakys, that used the term "Assembly in Fullerton" or "Fullerton Assembly". Geftakys was influenced by the Brethren, Watchman Nee and T. Austin Sparks. They called the men who lead each local assembly "leading brothers". Geftakys was known simply as "Brother George" or "Brother Geftakys". (sound familiar?) All the younger/single members were directed to live in a "brothers house" or "sisters house", usually lead by a married couple.

To make a long story short, "The Assembly" turned into a personality cult of sorts, and George and his sons turned out to be power-tripping sexual abusers and predators. Many of the "sisters" who volunteered in "the work" were taken advantage of and sexually abused. Thankfully, some of the "co-workers" in the Assembly movement finally excommunicated George Geftakys and the whole thing blew up and disbanded.

There is a website run by some former Assembly members:
geftakysassembly.com

If we fast forward to the end of Revelation we don't see the word church or assembly. There is no temple. There will be no need for a church or an assembly, or even a temple. These are all temporal things that God instituted for his temporary time of dwelling on the earth. "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb". (Rev 21:22)

Maybe we all would do well to try our best to look past the temporal names and conventions of men, and turn our eyes to the real prize - "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God". (Rev 21:4)
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