The Jerusalem Strategy, an Apostolic Strategy for the 21st Century…
An Apostolic Father to Nations
In 1995 Bishop Mark Chirona prophesied that I would write numerous books and training manuals, which I have done, with even more books in work as I write this post. But at the same time he also prophesied, “You are an apostolic father and your sons will call to you from the East and even from the Far East.” To God’s glory, I can humbly testify that what Mark prophesied in that Kingdom conference years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma has in fact come to pass, at least partially. Just as the Lord has worked in my life by His apostolic grace to enable me to write a number of books and training manuals, including The Sign of The Kingdom and God's Agenda For The 21st Century, He has also worked in and through my life and ministry over these many years to truly make me an apostolic father with many, many spiritual sons and daughters in India and in Southeast Asia or the East. And while it is true that I do not have spiritual sons calling to me from the Far-East at this present time, I believe that this will happen just the Lord has said it would happen in Mark Chirona’s prophecy.
Truly, just as the Lord Jesus spoke to me “audibly” in the hallway of the little Baptist parsonage in Costa Mesa, California many, many years ago, so the Lord Jesus has been patiently and faithfully working over many, many years of ministry to make me like Abraham, a spiritual father to many nations through the Word or Seed of the Kingdom that He has entrusted to me and to those with whom I labor. (For more about these matters see my Personal Testimony on our ATS posts or on the George Kouri Institute site.)
The Word of the Lord About “Back to Jerusalem” and an “Apostolic Vision” for Jerusalem in the 21st Century.
In 1996 Pastor Richard Hogue, my oldest son Mark Kouri, and I visited Jerusalem. At the time Israel was celebrating “Jerusalem 3000” (i.e. 3000 years since David founded the City). We went to Jerusalem for the purpose of seeking the Lord for a word from Him concerning His will or direction for Jerusalem and the Middle East in our day. Among all of the many sights that we enjoyed in Israel and in Jerusalem during the week we were there, the highlight for me was visiting the Mount of Olives. The place where the Lord Jesus had sat overlooking the Temple as He carefully answered His apostles’ questions about the “coming of the Son of Man in power and glory” and “the end of the age” (i.e. the end of the age of Moses). The Mount of Olives was also the very spot from whence Jesus ascended into heaven to receive His promised Messianic Kingdom after 40 days of Resurrection appearances in which He showed Himself alive to His apostles and during which He explained the Old Testament Scriptures to them. So, as you can imagine, it was very moving for Richard, Mark, and I to look down from the Mount of Olives upon the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic Mosque, that has replaced the Temple of the Jews. (For an exposition of the teaching Jesus gave His apostles about the end of the age of Moses and the dawn of Messiah’s Day read The Sign of the Kingdom.) A couple of days later, I was alone in my hotel room in prayer on Pentecost Sunday. As I prayed with the Spirit and sought the Lord Jesus for a word of direction about the City of Jerusalem, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Now you are in the East.”
These probably seem like very “strange” words to you, but I knew in my spirit the Lord was referring to the prophetic word He had spoken to me through Mark Chirona in Tulsa, Oklahoma the previous year, “You are an apostolic father and your sons will call to you from the East and even from the Far East.” At the time the Lord spoke these words to me, I remember thinking to myself, “Yes, this is an accurate prophetic word” because at that particular time I had a number of apostolic, prophetic, and pastoral leaders on the East Coast of the USA who were reaching to me for spiritual fatherhood and apostolic oversight. So I just assumed that this was what the Lord was referring to in Mark’s prophecy. But now here I was in Jerusalem and I knew the Lord was correcting my misunderstanding of His prophetic word by telling me directly, “Now that you are in the City of Jerusalem, you are truly in the East.” But what He said next stunned me, “And your destiny is here.”
That afternoon Pastor Hogue, Mark, and I went to the Mount of Olives to look at the City of Jerusalem from that strategic vantage point. Remember, the Mount of Olives is the historic mount from which our Lord rode a donkey into the City of David amidst shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Also, remember that the Mount of Olives is the very place from which Jesus ascended into heaven, sat down on the throne of David at the right hand of His Father, and received His promised Messianic Kingdom. That day, as we looked down from the Mt. of Olives upon the City of Jerusalem below us, the Lord began to speak to me in a fresh way about modern Jerusalem. The Lord began to give me an “apostolic strategy” of how the present apostolic and prophetic movement can impact, not only the modern Church, but all the nations of the world—today—from the modern City of Jerusalem. I believe this is the Lord’s vision and strategy for this historic city in our day.
As we looked at the Dome of the Rock, the Lord began to remind me that if the nations are ever going to be discipled and the whole earth filled with the glory of God, then today’s sub-normal, denominationally, and doctrinally-divided Church must first “go back to Jerusalem”—I am not talking about physically, but spiritually. In other words, a modern denominationally, and doctrinally-divided Church needs to go back and rediscover the true beginnings or foundations of authentic Apostolic Christianity, foundations that have been preserved for us by the Holy Spirit and by the providence of God in the Canon of the New Testament. We must go back spiritually, doctrinally, and experientially to Jerusalem, i.e. back to the upper room on the night before our Lord's crucifixion and to the institution by the Lord Jesus of the New Covenant meal. And we must also go back to the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh that followed soon after our Lord's resurrection, His ascension, and His enthronement on the throne of David at the right hand of God in heave. In other words, we must go back to the very beginning of Messiah's Day and the New Covenant age, and we must rediscover the foundations of authentic apostolic Christianity, i.e. the Christianity established by Jesus and His original apostles.
Then upon the basis of this foundation we must reform, i.e. reorganize, and restructure ourselves, so that we can function throughout the earth—today—as One Holy Nation, the Israel of the New Covenant administration of the Kingdom of heaven. I am talking about One Church made-up of many churches, connected or joined together throughout the earth by authentic apostles and ruling pastors or elders (the true spiritual fathers of the allotments of the Israel of the Spirit) in the fellowship or communion of the apostles that Jesus Himself established as the foundation of the unity of the Church that He is building today—One Holy Apostolic Church, full God’s apostolic grace, full of God’s truth, and full of God’s glory.
In order to fulfill the Lord’s apostolic mandate, as the Chief Apostle, for the doctrinal, architectural, and governmental unity of His Church in our day and simultaneously impact and fulfill His apostolic or Kingdom mandate to disciple the nations—the Lord Jesus began to put it in my heart that Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem, Israel, as I stood on the Mount of Olives—that the Communion of Apostolic Churches (the CAC), together with others of like faith and calling, should begin to convene World Congresses of Apostles and Elders in the City of Jerusalem to bring together senior apostolic, prophetic, and pastoral leaders from all nations to address or confront the major problems facing our world today. I am talking about "World Congresses on The Kingdom of God and World Peace,” “The Kingdom of God and Liberty and Justice For All” (i.e. Political, Social, and Economic Justice), “The Kingdom of God and Human Sexuality” (Being Single, Marriage and Family), “The Kingdom of God and the Global Environment,” “The Kingdom of God and Economics,” and the Kingdom of God and all the other global problems facing the nations of the world today.
According to the scriptures, the “New Covenant reality” of Christ’s Messianic Kingdom is that the cities and nations of the world belong— redemptively speaking—to King Jesus and His Holy Apostolic Church. Because of this, the Lord’s Global Church should have real answers or solutions from God for the world’s problems today. I repeat, the purpose of these World Congresses on the Kingdom would be to gather together the Lord’s apostles and elders in General Council similar to the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 in order to seek the Lord Jesus (the Ruler of the nations) for answers to the world’s problems, and also to publish His answers, and proclaim His Kingship to the nations of the world.
Of course, what I am envisioning is a big vision, much too big for a single megachurch, no matter how large, or a single denomination no matter how great, or even a single apostle and his particular network of ministers and churches. But it is Christ’s apostolic vision.
For the natural man, what I am proposing is absolutely impossible. But I believe that what I am proposing is really God’s vision and His strategy for the City of Jerusalem, the Church, and the nations today, and nothing is too big or impossible for God. I repeat for emphasis that the vision and strategy that the Lord began to put in my heart as I stood on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on that Pentecost Sunday is actually the Lord’s vision and it is His apostolic strategy to facilitate an authentic apostolic reformation of His Church, advance His Kingdom throughout the whole world, and accelerate the fulfillment of the Church’s apostolic mandate to disciple the nations.
Because of my heartfelt conviction in this regard, I am personally seeking the Lord in this new season of my life about how He would have me proceed, as the presiding apostle of the Communion of Apostolic Churches, and whether or not I should propose that our Executive Council convene the CAC’s General Apostolic Council to seek the Lord together in a general council about convening a World Congress on “Christ’s Messianic Kingdom and Authentic Apostolic Reformation” in Jerusalem three years from now, i.e. in January of 2023. If the Lord confirms through other apostolic and prophetic leaders that what I am considering is indeed His will, and if the CAC’s General Council agrees that we should do this, I believe that it will be the first of many World Congresses of Apostles and Elders to come.
Please join me in praying about such a vast undertaking.
Note: The CAC is not a new denomination. Instead, it is a global fellowship or communion of apostles and churches working together with each other, and with other groups of ministers and churches, to restore the foundations of authentic Christianity that Jesus and His original apostles laid and in the beginning, and reform ourselves into One Holy Apostolic Church in order to light the nations and fill the earth with the glory of the Kingdom of God.
You can access the CAC’s Constitution (our constituting or founding articles) at www.communionofapostolicchurches.com. If you are interested in partnering in accomplishing the Jerusalem Vision or becoming part of the CAC, you may contact me at gekouri@mac.com.
Plan to join us in Jerusalem at the World Congress on Christ’s Messianic Kingdom & World Peace — October 2023
