Testimony of Chief Pastor N.Lazar, the Chief Apostle and Founder of the New Jerusalem Church:

New Jerusalem Church: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt 16:17-19).

My name is Lazar. My father's name is Nehemiah and my mother's name is Gnanammal. My father was a man of wisdom, a renowned physician and a siddha. Being a staunch Hindu he learned all the shastras (ancient religious texts), searched for God and found Jesus Christ to be the true God. He accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour and became a true Christian after renouncing the traditions of his elders. He gave me instructions of wisdom at an early age telling me " My son, God is one. He is Lord Jesus Christ. You must get to know Him and worship Him alone. And you must lead a holy life." Further, he brought all the shastras to me and advised me to read them and search for God.

I began searching for God and read various religious books. I longed for a holy life of the highest standard and I decided that I should follow that God or religion that could give me the power to lead a truly holy life. I came to realize finally that Jesus Christ is the true God. One day as I was reading the Bible, I was greatly touched by the verse "Which of you convinceth me of sin?"(John 8:46 ). It became obvious to me from this verse that except Jesus everybody else is a sinner and has lived in sin. I further realized that if Jesus Christ is God, then each and every word uttered by Him is life. I knew now that even if I left out a single word of His, there will certainly be deficiency in my life and my life would not be perfect. Therefore I began to study and research the bible on my knees. I opened my life to Jesus Christ and accepted Him as my personal saviour, took immersion baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and became a true Christian.

I started worshipping God in truth and spirit. After becoming a true Christian in this manner, I began to frequently visit many churches and take part in their services so that I could worship the Lord and learn God's word. My spiritual life continued to grow by leaps and bounds. I took pleasure in long prayers, meditation and fasting. I involved myself in soul winning ministry. God used me as a small tool to save many people. Amidst all this, I could also see the sad state of Christianity. As found in Hinduism, the Christian society too was ridden with caste (hierarchy among Hindus) fanaticism, racism, love of money, lending money for interest, hypocrisy (assuming a false appearance of virtue, goodness and chastity) and abound with false teachers who have neither the knowledge nor the experience of the state of truth. I found every church claiming that it alone was correct, and from the pulpit, thundering down curses on other churches.

But I realized that, they themselves were in a deplorable state. I visited church after church searching for a church as enunciated in the Bible. However I continued to stay in the same church without switching over to different churches. I was searching for the true church and since I could not find the church as portrayed in the Bible, I started going through the church history to obtain further understanding. I learnt that the early church fell during the third century and then began a dark period which lasted for about thirteen centuries. During the sixteenth century, Protestant churches started appearing and they too began to split. Then in the twentieth century Pentecostal churches came into being which also disintegrated into many splinter groups. I could also see that no church had all the seven steps (or foundational doctrines) found in the early church but had only four or five of these steps. I also found that subsequent to the fall of the early church, Lord Jesus Christ neither commanded any man to build a church nor sent any apostle. No one had ever been commanded to build the church, except that some were commanded to do certain ministries for the propagation and preservation of the gospel.

I further discovered that the foundational doctrines have not been handed over to anyone since the fall of the early church and the departure of the apostles ordained by Jesus Christ from this world. I noticed the following general trend in church history: Some people come out of a group or assembly and form their own assembly. Then they assign a name to their assembly, appoint ministers and have doctrines of their own. These trends continue on and on. And sometime later, they change the name of their assembly, and then change their leader/pastor (head) as frequently as a man would change hats. Divisions started increasing among Christians. Today when you meet a Christian and he finds out that you are also a Christian, a great joy, love, happiness and unity ensues. Next a question crops up: "Which church do you belong to? I am a Lutheran." or "I'm a methodist" or "I'm a pentecost". Slowly a curtain falls between them. And with the next question, "What is your caste?", a huge wall now appears between the two. When I saw this disparity among those who profess Christianity, I started asking, 'Where is Christ? Where is His doctrine? Where is the Christian?'.

Since I understood that there is no perfect salvation without a perfect church, I started praying, 'Oh, Lord, raise your true church in the world', and I began working towards that goal. I started analyzing the scriptures, continued to abide by them, and began to teach them. I came to know later (although I was not aware at this time), that God had been preparing me for implementing His divine will.

Concerning my personal experience, it was according to the word of God. All those who know me (for short or long term) cannot find fault with me, blame me or accuse me on any grounds, for I lived strictly in accordance with the Word of God expounded to me by the grace of God. I did not accept the doctrine of Pentecostal people because I found out that they spoke in different tongues inside the church and used foul language outside its four walls. They practised casteism and are fanatics at that. This is evident especially when marriages are arranged. When the time comes for the marriage of their wards, they seek partners among their own caste rather than desire to find out the Lord's will. This is the sad state of Indian Christians today. It appears that there are similar divisions existing in other countries too in various other forms.

While I was being exposed to these circumstances, I found out that there exists something called the anointment of Holy Spirit, and I prayed for nine months that God would anoint me with Holy Spirit. God answered my prayer and anointed me with Holy Spirit, power, tongues, gifts of prophesy and filled me with His abundant grace. God spoke to me the very same day, and commanded me saying: "Son, build my church".

I understood what God was saying. I knew beyond doubt that God was commanding me to build the church that is portrayed in the Bible. I said, "God, there are more than 400 denominations (in 1967), I shall join one of them and serve you." God did not approve my proposal. He commanded me again: "Build the church, my body". With fear I evaluated His command and pleaded, "Lord if I preach the truth as I have understood or refute their wrong opinions, I will end up earning the enmity of all but a few Christians. Satan and the world will oppose me. And I am neither old enough nor learned enough to undertake this task. Most of my kith and kin are not Christians. Please build the church through someone else; I will be an assistant and bring souls to Christ." I added further, " There are many great ministers in the world. If you build the church through them, it will spread faster." But again, God did not agree.

God commanded me saying," I have sent you to the world to build the church. Name it "NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH". I asked, "Isn't New Jerusalem, the city that comes down from heaven in the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:2)?. How can I use the same name for a contemporary church?." The Lord replied, "Whatever you build on earth, will be built in heaven. New Jerusalem will be built on earth and become perfect. The same will come down as the city of New Jerusalem. Further the name of the church in heaven is New Jerusalem. It was first built in Jerusalem, and is again being built now. He commanded me again to name it "NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH". Further He added, "In this world men name their congregations with various names such as: Roman Catholic, Lutheran Mission, Pentecost, Ceylon Pentecost, Zion Pentecost, Siloam, Bethel Assembly, Baptist, Brethren Mission, and many more, but these names were not given to them by me". God again said, "Build my church. This is my body. This is being built in Bombay and will spread throughout the world. I will bring to you people who will stand beside you and help you complete this task and I shall establish this church".

I finally raised my right hand and promised Him, "Oh, Lord, I shall do according to your word". Peace prevailed. I decided to do His will, build His church, and do according to His commands. I knew that the end result whether good or bad would be up to Him; and I made a covenant with Him. Also I made some vows to Him at the same time, and the Lord promised me and encouraged me. The Lord continued to converse with me. I asked many Christian leaders and other Christians whether God talks to man today. Their reply was very negative. They told me that sometimes they got a vision, a dream or a revelation and might even hear a sound occasionally. I referred the Bible and I found out that God talked to Peter, He talked to Paul and continues to talk to His children today and since He is a living God, He does talk to man. In the Bible God has not said, "I have given you the scriptures, therefore I will not talk to you any more". Isn't it more evident today when false doctrines abound, that unless God explains the correct interpretation and the true meaning of the scriptures given by Him, we can never understand it perfectly. God reveals His will to men strictly in accordance with the scripture and never at variance. I found that due to the sin-stains God can not talk to man unless and until he is purified and made holy.

Meanwhile one day Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me. I did not know whether I was in the body or outside the body. He said to me, " My son, I give unto you the commandments and the authorities which I gave to the early apostles. These seven doctrines are seven authorities and these commandments and authorities are seven (Acts 1:1-3)" and thereafter handed over to me the seven foundational doctrines of the church. These are being printed on the second page of the magazine every month. The Lord told me that the church and the doctrines of Christianity stand on these seven pillars (doctrines), and He then authorized me, and blessed me.

This is an important incident that occurred in my life. First, He commanded me to build His church and revealed the name of the church. Second, Lord Jesus Christ manifested Himself to me, handed over the foundational doctrines and authorized me. Now I directed all my efforts in the spirit to build His church. I widely distributed a handbill announcing that, "according to the commandment and the revelation of God, New Jerusalem Church is being built on the earth", and invited all to attend this important event.

In obedience to the Lord's commandment as mentioned, I established New Jerusalem Church on the earth, on 08-Aug-1968, at Kurla, Bombay, India in the presence of some ministers and children of God who were invited to this occasion. The church came into existence with the declaration: " This is New Jerusalem Church. I am establishing it in accordance with the commandment of the Lord. This will spread throughout the earth so that the truths found in the Bible, and as revealed by God, will come into force according to the authority given to me by God".

After the fall and backsliding of the early church, New Jerusalem Church is the only church that has been established as a church from the beginning. I believe that God commanded me alone to build the church after he first commanded the early apostles. I would like to know if God has commanded anybody else to build the church. If He has commanded anybody else to build the church, He would have also handed over to them the foundational doctrines. I place before you the fact that the gospel as preached by me is not after the thoughts of man, nor did I learn it from a man. Jesus Christ revealed it to me (Gal 1:11-12); and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ who has given me the strength and counting me faithful has chosen me for this ministry.

New Jerusalem Church has been established to gather all the Children of God together and prepare them for His coming. God has sent me for this purpose. If you are also faithful, you can pray to God and find out from Him about the truthfulness of this claim of mine. God is spreading the church as He revealed. All the saints chosen by God are joining me in doing this divine work,and they are fulfilling the will of God, preparing themselves for His coming and also are preparing people for His coming. All of God's sheep, whether ministers or believers, who listen to the voice of God are joining in and also bring others as one fold.

Twenty seven years have passed since the founding of the church. It is being built throughout the world, as one body. This is a great wonder of the world. A magazine printed in Tamil and named "Pudhia Yerusalem Cheithi" (Tamil equivalent of New Jerusalem News) is being published for the last 15 years. With God's benediction we are publishing this English magazine named New Jerusalem News. This spiritual magazine is published with the prayer that God may fill the children of God with His grace to attain the knowledge of Him and His will and transform them as a single body (church). We shall meet the Lord at His coming, as the church. May you receive immense blessing through this magazine ! May the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost bless you.

Amen.

May God bless you! Chief Apostle N.LAZAR, New Jerusalem Church