Excommunicated!

April 2002
By a former Assembly member of 17 years

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine, which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16:17-18

Warning! The following might be considered by Assembly leaders to be "smooth words and flattering speech." If you are simple, don't read it, as you may be "deceived!"

I am the author of several articles, which have been posted at this website such as What it is Like to be Fully Committed to the Geftakys Group, and Crisis Brewing in Central California Assemblies.

These articles, though apparently a source of some irritation to the Geftakys ministry, are 100% accurate and truthful. Please understand that I would publicly recant and correct anything, if it is proven to be untrue by the leadership. I have pledged this repeatedly to Assembly leaders.

My articles have been attacked as "one sided," and/or "half-true," but to date, I have not been informed of anything in the articles that is specifically proven to be untrue. With the possible exception of the reported salary of one of the full-time workers, who is paid by the Geftakys family for his services. This worker insists that he does not receive $60,000.00 per year, but "much less." However, the fact remains that at least one of the full-time workers did receive about $60,000.00 per year. This information could be verified or proven false by officially filed tax returns.

See the article, What Happens to the Money? The point is the total lack of meaningful accountability regarding Assembly finances. Perhaps full-time workers make less than $60,000.00. Let's say they make about $20,000.00 per year. That would mean instead of $900,000.00 in tax-free cash surplus, that there would be more than $1 million left after expenses.

Now I am being "excommunicated." This is when someone has "a letter read about them," which is read within the Assembly. That is Geftakys-speak for excommunication.

On an average, in my old Assembly days, there was one person excommunicated every other year. This was in a very close-knit congregation of around seventy adults, at its zenith. Keep in mind that only one to three new members join per year on an average, so that excommunication rate is actually extraordinarily high when compared with other churches. The net result is the attrition rate of members is substantial. The current membership of my old Assembly is now lower than it has been in 15 years, somewhere around 35 adults, and this is despite the fact that they have imported "saints" from other gatherings.

Virtually every person, who is excommunicated, is supposedly so marked being "divisive," or a "railer." What this means is, they have said something about The Assembly, or one of its functionaries, that is negative. Even if the negative speech is true, it is still considered "divisive" if it raises any doubts about The Assembly in the minds of its current members.

The Assembly will justify this process by claiming it reflects a passage in the bible quoted from Romans 16: 17-18. In this passage, Paul admonishes us to "avoid those who cause divisions."

However, an accurate and honest reading of the above passage, reveals that those who cause divisions are specifically those who bring a "contrary doctrine." This means that if someone is teaching false doctrine, such as denying the deity of Christ, teaching salvation by works, or some other heresy, they are to be noted, exposed and avoided.

Historically, Romans 16:17-20 was written regarding the sect known as the Gnostics, who promulgated all sorts of heresies, according to Orthodox Christians.

Within the fifth chapter of the book of Galatians, verse 20 is the only other place where the word "divisions" occurs in the same context as Romans 16. Again, in this case, it is not referring to those who say bad things about the church, but to those who teach heresy and abuse their authority. In the case of Galatia, it was those who were legalistic that were divisive and to be avoided according to the Apostle Paul. As a side note, many people consider Assembly theology to be legalistic, but that's another story.

I certainly have not taught heresy. Nor am I teaching it at present. Therefore I am not a teacher of "contrary doctrine."

I do remember when David Geftakys taught a heresy. Before 20 saints he taught that God did not become a man, in clear contradiction to the most basic tenet of Orthodox Christianity. This "mistake" was later cleared up. The Assembly does not teach that Christ was not human. I think this incident, which should be remembered by many. Ironically, this is exactly the kind of divisive doctrine, which is specifically referred to in Romans 16:17-18.

There is absolutely no way that this passage can be twisted to mean that someone who "blows the whistle," by exposing bad behavior of a group's leaders or some false teaching should be excommunicated. Nevertheless, this is exactly what The Assembly leadership does anyway.

The Assembly has added some "special effects" to further enhance their doctrine of excommunication, which are rather extreme. According to Geftakys theology, the leadership in The Assembly is appointed by God Himself, and as such are His representative government on earth.

Using Matthew 18:18

"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Please look at the verses immediately preceding verse 18 to understand its actual context correctly.

In the minds of Assembly members, who subscribe to the divine authority of their leaders, the act of excommunication is a very serious and sober business, which has eternal consequences.

Assembly leaders teach that if they excommunicate someone, heaven recognizes this executive action taken by the leading brothers and that person is essentially excommunicated, not only from the local prayer and worship meeting, but also from "The Kingdom." Then they go even further by saying, unless this is "made right" with the leadership, the excommunicated person will supposedly forfeit his or her inheritance in heaven and not realize salvation. They themselves might eventually be saved, but it will be a bare bones, skin-of-the-teeth type of salvation. This of course is in sharp contrast to those faithful Assembly members, who will be richly rewarded.

Given the above, one would think that a potential candidate for excommunication would be forewarned of their impending spiritual death sentence. Surely, the one whose eternal soul is in jeopardy has a right to know when heaven has changed its stance, placing that person within the category of the "disinherited." After all, even the Spanish Inquisition gave people a chance to recant before judgment was handed out.

But often within The Assembly, the last person to find out, is the one being excommunicated. That certainly was true recently in my own case. Someone warned me what was happening, but the leaders never told me. I had to call an Assembly leader to get the straight scoop and he was clearly nervous and immediately began to back pedal. He said, "Yes, we are talking about writing a letter, but we have not said anything in public yet&" I asked, "If you haven't said anything, how come everyone knows about it? Is it true?" He confirmed that it was true, but insisted again that nothing had been said publicly.

Because I spent 17 years in the Assembly, I know that people who are excommunicated are frequently not informed of this action being taken against them. I have been present many times when letters were read at prayer meetings, which instructed members to avoid certain people and not to speak with them. I also know that these people, who are shunned, never receive copies of the letters.

But the leader I called was apparently still being trained, regarding some of the finer points of Assembly procedures and so he told me that I would get a copy of the letter. He even asked for my address. I told him, "It's only right that I should receive a copy, since the salvation of my soul is at stake, right?"

I knew that I would be hearing from him again in only a few minutes, because in my former Assembly life, the moment I received such a call, the first thing I did was call my superiors and inform them. This faithful leader apparently did exactly that and called me back, about 5 minutes later. He then said, "You are not being excommunicated, you are being avoided" and quoted Romans 16:17-18. He added, "I'm not going to title the letter, but it's only for the saints, not for you."

I then asked, "So am I off the hook then? Do I still have my inheritance?"

He didn't answer.

I then asked him if my wife was also to be avoided. He replied somewhat tentatively, "Umm, yes, I think so."

"What about my kids? If they see the saint's kids, will the saint's kids be told to avoid them?" We live in a relatively small community and this will frequently happen. He wasn't too sure about this, but said that he would find out. It seems God was speaking to one of the other leaders about this. Of course it is only a matter of time, after getting input from George Geftakys, that everything becomes clear. Subsequently, The Assembly and its leaders will then stand in unity regarding any excommunication and/or avoidance.

I then asked if I would be receiving a copy of this "avoidance" letter. He replied, "No you are not going to get a copy."

I then asked upon what grounds were they were told to "avoid" me. He said that I had been repeatedly asked not to write things on the Internet, and not to talk to people. But actually no Assembly leaders, with one exception, have ever actually called or talked to me about this. And when that one person called me, I explained that I would gladly recant and correct anything said or written, which was proven false.

It seems to me that a person deserves a little more contact and patient admonishment, as the bible teaches, before his or her inheritance in The Kingdom of Heaven is removed. I suspect that this Geftakys doctrine of excommunication is actually conveniently designed as a tool to keep the sheep locked in the pen, rather than to protect them from "wolves."

Any earnest Christian who is walking with Christ, in fellowship with other believers and a student of the Bible, should recognize that the Assembly has no authority to pull any person's inheritance through some supposed excommunication process. As a former member, who understands the dynamics of this group, it seems to me that being excommunicated is simply a Geftakys technique to prevent group members from hearing the truth. This is not about spiritual health, but rather simply done for the perpetuation and preservation of The Assembly, the status quo and its leaders effective control.