The Torch and Testimony was the bi-monthly magazine of the Geftakys ministry. The subtitle of the magazine was "...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," Revelation 19:10. Notice in the statement the references to prophecy and to the apostles. George Geftakys applies these to his ministry, a very convenient justification for control. After all, who would want to contradict the Lord's anointed mouthpiece. Note that the first purpose of the magazine is to awaken the "heavenly vision", which was the centerpiece of the Geftakys teaching, spinning off from language used by Watchman Nee, T. Austin-Sparks and the Plymouth Brethren.
The purpose of this publication is to communicate in this hour of His people's great need an awakening of the heavenly vision and a reaching out and a raising up and a passing on of the Torch of the Testimony. Through this means may God's city be built up, the wounds of the afflicted be bound up and His witnesses be stirred up as men awaiting, occupying and ready for their Lord's return. Through this means may the catalog of the deeds of His mighty men increase in the Atlas of His apostles.
Comments from readers....
August 31, 2007, Tom Maddux: In one of the early worker's meetings GG told us of a dream he had had the night before. He said that he had seen an bearded old man wearing a robe. He holding out a book towards George. The title of the book was The Atlas of His Apostles. He explained that this was a record of the deeds of the faithful servants of the past. At this point I commented, "An atlas is a book of maps." GG's annoyed reply was something like, "An atlas can contain records of accomplishments as well."
Looking back on this event from today's perspective I would make the following comments:
1. It is possible that GG never had the dream at all. We know that his commitment to telling the truth was tenuous, to say the least. He could have been working on building a case for his status as a specially anointed and enlightened person. We know that he used claims of dream experiences in his stratagems to draw young women under his influence. The bearded old man sounds a lot like Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel. Narcissistic men of the past, such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Douglas MacArthur, are known to have made up "facts" about themselves which they later genuinely seem to have believed.
2. I firmly believe that GG lived much of his life within a self-created delusion. Once when he had made some claim to me about the significance of the ministry I asked him how he knew this was the case. He answered me by turning to Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants the prophets". It is pretty clear from this that he regarded himself as a prophet. He could well have seen his dream as an apostolic commission from God.
3. Everyone has vivid dreams at times. We remember much about them when we awaken. I have had a few that I can remember over 30 years later. However, having the dream is one thing. Correctly interpreting it is quite another. GG could have had a dream and then added details and an interpretation that fit his intense longing to be special and to occupy a central place in the purposes of God.
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