Shepherds and Wolves

I have been reading with interest the various statements from churches and ministries apologising for their slowness in providing a public warning about the errors and abuses committed by men whom they supported and promoted.

Their apologies to the victims seem to be sincere and heartfelt. They declare that they will protect their people by not using the fallen person in their services and conferences. This is good, but one thing seems to be missing from all the statements.

None of these contrite Christians leaders seems to be asking how it was that they were able to work with the problematic prophetic minister in various places over many years and not realise that something serious was wrong with them.

This is not just prioritising gift over character, as is often said. It is failure to discern a gift that is flawed and an abusive personality.

The Christian leaders who raised the problem person up and supported the expansion of their ministry claim to be spiritually-anointed prophetic leaders. Many of them call themselves prophets. They all claim to be experts on the gifts of the Spirit and leaders of the move of the Holy Spirit in our time. They all claim to be able to hear the voice of the Spirit better than the average bear. I presume that they all know how to move in the gift of discernment.

Given these claims, how could they not discern that a person ministering alongside them was operating fraudulently? How could they not discern that there was something perverted about the person’s sexual behaviour? This is not just an issue of slowness to give a public warning. It is a failure to discern the problem in the first place.

When Elisha’s servant cheated and demanded money from Naaman after he had been healed, the prophet knew what his servant had done before he got home (2 Num 4:19-27). If an Old Testament prophet could discern a problem so effectively, why can a New Testament prophet not do it.

A shepherd had three main roles.

• Ensuring the sheep are sufficiently fed to grow and survive
• Healing sheep that are sick or get injured.
• Protecting the sheep from thieves and predators.

Protecting sheep from external threats is a core part of an elder’s role. Allowing a thief or a wild dog into the fold where sheep should be safe is the worst thing that a shepherd can do.

When Paul was getting near the end of his ministry, he gave a warning to the elders of the church in Ephesus.

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! (Acts 20:28-31).

Paul warns the elders and shepherds that abusive people would come into their church. He warned that people whom they trusted would begin to harm the disciples they were caring for. Protecting their sheep from abusers is an essential part of the role of an elder.

Paul did not say “Maybe”. He was certain that spiritual wolves would come and try to harm the flock. All elders and shepherds should be prepared for dealing with this problem.

Claiming ignorance does not work. It is not satisfactory for an elder or pastor to say that they did not know how to identify a threatening animal, or what to do if they encountered one. David was just a shepherd boy and he knew how to deal with a lion and a bear that threatened his sheep. It was the essence of his job as a shepherd.

The failure of leaders to discern problems with people whose ministries they were platforming is a serious failure. They have failed one of the main tasks of every elder. They should be asking themselves if they are capable of continuing in this task of being a shepherd, given the seriousness of their failure.

Christian Ministries

A feature of the modern church that is quite unique is that most Christian activity is dominated by big ministries. There are various types of ministry, and they are often associated with the name of a person.

• speaking/teaching ministries
• healing ministries
• evangelistic ministries
• podcast ministries
• television/radio ministries
• social media ministries
• Some mega-churches are closely associated with the ministry of a big leader.

The future of the church seems to depend on these ministries.

The most effective Christians who want to serve God seriously are expected to establish a ministry organisation. Unfortunately, if big ministries do everything that is important, there is not much left for ordinary followers of Jesus to do.

Christian ministries provide employment for many serious Christians, as they need staff to:

• write and edit products
• preparing training material and courses
• editing videos
• ghost writing books
• organising speaking itineraries
• developing and producing promotional material
• organising advertising.
• shipping products and collecting revenue.

Employing staff to do all these tasks can be quite expensive. The result is a big monthly budget.

Serving on the staff of a Christian ministry can be a demanding role.

• The staff see the leader of the ministry at their worst and bear the brunt of their ego when they are frustrated.

• The staff are often the last to be paid when funding is tight.

• The staff are expected to be personally loyal to their leader. They cannot criticise the leader of the ministry, even if they see things that are seriously wrong, as this would jeopardise their employment. An employee who is critical can be publicly ostracised by being labelled as disloyal. If they are blacklisted by their leader, it could be difficult for them to gain employment elsewhere.

• The setup of the ministry means that the only people who get close enough to the leader to know them well are the senior staff. However, none of these senior staff can criticise their leader as they could lose their employment and income. This means that the leader of the ministry has no real accountability and is effectively uncorrectable.

• People resigning from ministries are often expected to sign “non-disclosure agreements” (NDAs). This ensures that they cannot reveal bad things that happened in the church.

Funding a ministry is very expensive. Thousands of dollars will have to be raised each month to pay salaries. Most ministries will rent or buy a building, so rent or interest on the mortgage will have to be paid each month. Vehicle costs and air fares will need to be paid. The big budget means that the ministry will need a constant stream of revenue just to remain viable.

• Most of the revenue will be raised through donations and sales of merchandise. This brings huge temptation to ministry leaders. To keep donations flowing and merchandise selling, the leader has to keep their ministry before the public. If publicity dies off, revenue from donations and merchandise sales can fall off.

• Ministry leaders can be tempted to exaggerate their achievements by embellishing their description of healings that have occurred or embroidering accounts of important people they have prophesied to. They can be tempted to spice up their words of knowledge and prophecies with information obtained from the internet or other people. In the age of social media, people have short attention spans, so constant hype is needed to keep a ministry in the public eye so that the revenue keeps flowing in. The temptations are huge.

• To keep the revenue from donations and merchandise sales flowing, big ministries need endorsements from other big ministries. Big-name endorsements of their books and teaching materials boost sales. Invitations to speak at conferences organised by big-name ministries are opportunities to sell merchandise. Invitations to speak at their churches helps in to bring in donations.

• A network of ministries has emerged where they all provide endorsements and speaking opportunities for each other. These opportunities are critical for keeping the revenue flowing. A culture of mutual support between ministries has developed where support is received in return for support given.

• This dependence on endorsements and speaking opportunities is one reason why these ministries are unwilling to acknowledge sins and failures. If something negative gets associated with a ministry, the flow of revenue will slow. Christian ministries are often reluctant call out problems in other ministries because they need them to support their own ministry.

• Many ministries tithe on their income. This is an opportunity to do good, but it gives the ministry great power. It can build up other ministries by giving donations, but it can also weaken them by stopping them. Fear of losing financial support can create a reluctance to criticise serous faults.

• Ministries are run like businesses. Business practices often overwhelm gospel standards. These practices have flowed over from ministries into churches.

Most Christian ministries have limited accountability and oversight. They will often have a board of some kind, but the members of the board have limited authority.

• Some will be friends of the leader, who will be unwilling to challenge them.

• Others will be wealthy donors who have a big investment in the ministry. They will be reluctant to damage their investment by rocking the boat.

I realise that not all Christian ministries succumb to the temptations above, but the fact that so many big-name leaders are falling from grace due to sexual immorality and fraudulent behaviour suggests that few are strong enough to resist them. This suggests that there is something desperately wrong with this approach to ministry.

The dominance of “ministries” in the modern church does not fit with the teaching of the New Testament.

• Peter and James did not set up a ministry organisation in Jerusalem. In fact, they created problems when they stayed in Jerusalem (contrary to Jesus’ command) and became too big. I explain the problems in Governmental Apostles and Centralised Finances. They were pulling followers of Jesus into Jerusalem, rather than sending them out into the world.

• Paul did not establish an organisation called “Paul and Silas Ministries”. Paul kept moving out to new places so that he would not become too big in the places that he had planted churches. I presume that this is why he wanted to go to Spain. Unfortunately, he got waylaid, and it damaged his ministry. I explain this in Paul and James in Jerusalem.

The church that Jesus established operated in a totally different way from the modern Christian ministries. They should be led by a team of elders with different giftings that complement each other ie balanced leadership. I have explained how this works in my book called Being Church Where We Live.

Spiritual protection comes through elders who are working together and submitting to each other, not through endorsement by distant big names. Submission to other elders is the key to spiritual protection. If one elder makes a mistake, the others will bring correction. If an elder is under spiritual attack, the others will stand against the attack in spiritual warfare. Submission is the key to protection.

Word of Knowledge as a Power Gift

The modern use of “words of knowledge” turns it into a sign gift, which is harmful.

Analysis of the spiritual gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12 often groups them into three broad categories: revelation gifts, speaking gifts, and power gifts.

Power gifts (in this context) are gifts that demonstrate God’s power in action. They are about action and impact, not information or persuasion.

• They change situations directly

• They are externally observable (even by non-believers)

• They point attention to God’s power, not human skill

There are two main power gifts:

1. Working of Miracles (1 Cor 12:10)

• When Jesus fed the four thousand, everyone saw the miracle, even those who were still assessing him to decide if they would follow him.

• When Paul shook off a viper that bit his hand and was not harmed, the people of Malta could see the miracle worked by God (Acts 28:3-6).

2. Gifts of Healing (1 Cor 12:9)

• When Jesus healed the sick people that he encountered, the power and grace of God was visible to everyone, even the Jewish leaders who opposed him.

• When Peter and John healed the crippled man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, everyone could see him walking around. They were filled with amazement at what God had done (Acts 3:1-10).

These two gifts are very important for evangelism as they demonstrate the power and grace of God to people who don’t know him. If you have been healed of a sickness, it is hard to argue that God does not love you.

The Word of Knowledge is a Revelation Gift

These spiritual gifts reveal information from God that a person could not know by natural means. A Word of Knowledge is revelation (not a permanent ability) where God discloses information about the past or present that explains what is going on in a tricky situation.

• Jesus knew by a Word of Knowledge what the Teachers of the Law were thinking when the paralysed man was lowered through the roof for him to be healed (Mark 2:8).

• Ananias was given Saul’s exact street address in Damascus and told what Saul was currently doing (Acts 9:10–12).

• When Peter was on the rooftop, the Spirit informed him that three men were downstairs looking for him before he saw them (Acts 10:19–20).

These words of knowledge were given to help the apostles minister to people in need.

Modern Use

The main use of the Word of Knowledge in the modern church is to identify people in a church meeting to be called forward to receive prayer for healing or a prophetic word. The speaker gives out some titbits of information about the person they want to minister to. If the person is sick, they might say something about the sickness. When they come forward, the speaker will pray for them. If the speaker wants to give a prophetic word to the person, they say something about the person that will identify them. When the person comes forward, the speaker will give them a prophecy of some kind.

There are several problems with this shift in use of the word of knowledge gift

• Lack of Biblical Precedent:
  I have searched the New Testament for an example of a word of knowledge to identify people at a meeting who will receive prayer for healing or a prophetic word, and I could not find one. Jesus and the apostles did not use the Word of Knowledge in that way. I am uncomfortable about using a spiritual gift in a way that it is not used in the New Testament.

• Turning Revelation into a "Sign":
  The modern use of the words of knowledge turns it into a sign gift, which it is not. Its purpose seems to be to demonstrate that the person speaking has God’s anointing and blessing.

• Human Focus:
  Power gifts are supposed to demonstrate the power of God for everyone to see. Using the word of knowledge to call out people at a meeting for prayer or a prophecy points to human skill more than to God’s power. It builds up the status of the person speaking.

• Difficulty in Testing:
  Testing words of knowledge given in this way is almost impossible. The fact that someone comes forward indicating that the word fits them does not prove it came from God. It could just be coincidence that someone fitting the description is present. The inability to test these words means that there is very little accountability. The modern church just assumes that these words of knowledge are correct, even if no one comes forward. Since these words are rarely tested, there is potential for cheating using information from social media or from other sources.

• Private vs. Public:
  A true word of knowledge is usually directed towards a person who needs help. They are the only one who needs to hear it. This means that the Holy Spirit will usually prefer to give the gift in private, rather than in big meetings. Using the gift for a different purpose takes it into an environment where it does not fit easily.

• Performance:
  The modern use of the word of knowledge turns it into a performance before spectators, but the Holy Spirit does not like operating this way. He likes to work in public places, but only when he can clearly manifest the power of God.

The word of knowledge is a wonderful gift. We need it more than ever to deal with numerous problems and situations that never seem to be resolved. However, I believe that we have devalued the gift by using it as a tool to identify people to come forward for ministry in church meetings. This has probably grieved the Holy Spirit, which has prevented us from receiving the gift in situations where we really do need it to help people.

When Jesus was being tempted by Satan, he encouraged to jump off the highest point of the temple. Performing this dazzling sign would cause people to worship and honour him (Luke 4:9-12). Jesus responded by warning against testing God. He faced a temptation to build up his ministry by manipulating signs. Turning a revelation gift into a sign gift that will glorify the ministry of the person up the front is a similar temptation. Followers of Jesus should avoid this practice.

Healing Techniques

While reading the gospels recently, I have noticed that Jesus mostly healed people whom he encountered on the roadways and marketplaces as he was travelling around.

The Modern Church has changed that model.

• Most prayer for healing is done by itinerant ministers and pastors.
• Most prayer for the sick is done in public meetings and church services.
• Healing ministries identify people to pray for by using words of knowledge.
• The person identified is called to the front of the meeting and receives prayer for healing.

I cannot find an example of this kind of ministry in the New Testament. Almost everyone healed came to Jesus or his disciples in public places during the activities of everyday life. None were identified by a word of knowledge.

There are several problems with the modern model for healing via word of knowledge.

• The modern method turns the “word of knowledge” into a sign gift, which is harmful (I will explain this in a future post).

• The gift of healing only reaches believers and people who come to church meetings. In the gospels, many of the people healed were outsiders who experienced the grace and power of God when they were healed.

• Under the modern method, the gift of healing is limited to a few experts.

• Using the word of knowledge in the modern way tends to diminish and devalue it. It is easy for a person with a healing ministry to get a few useful words of knowledge.

  • Person with a sore back
  • Person with pain in their leg
  • Person on the left side of the room
  All these have been heard before, so they are easy to get without much prayer or long waiting on the Lord. Those who do it frequently will quickly learn what works and what does not.

• These words of knowledge are incapable of being tested. In any meeting of 200 people, there will be many sick people, especially if it is a “healing meeting”. It would usually be possible to find a person with pain in any part of the body that could be mentioned. I notice that the people in these ministries rarely admit that their word of knowledge is wrong. Instead, they do one of two things.

  • Admonish the unidentified person who does not come forward for rejecting God’s grace.
  • Widen the description given in the word of knowledge to make it easier for someone present to fit it.

• Testing these types of word of knowledge is almost impossible. The fact that someone comes forward indicating that the word fits them does not prove it came from God. If the meeting is full of people carrying sickness, it is highly likely that someone with the nominated problem is present. Some people will be tempted to make their sickness fit with the word of knowledge so they are selected to receive prayer.

• The inability to test these words of knowledge means that there is very little accountability. The people operating in this way mostly assume that their words of knowledge were mostly correct. This is risky. Since these words are rarely tested, there is potential for cheating using information from social media, etc.

• Dozens of people are usually prayed for during each meeting, so the prayer for healing has to be done quite quickly: Wham, bam and move on! Sickness can be hard to deal with and often takes time, so a quick prayer does not deal with many problems.

• The modern method allows the person doing the ministering to control the sicknesses that he/she gets to pray for. I have never heard a word of knowledge for a “person in a wheelchair who is paralysed from the waist down” or a “person with stage four cancer that has riddled their body.” I am sure that God often wants to heal these conditions, but the person controlling the ministry will tend to avoid them. Thus, the method works better for the minister than for the sick.

• I presume the reason for calling people out by a word of knowledge is to build up their faith for healing. A person whom God has selected for prayer will trust him more. But this is not necessarily real faith. If the word of knowledge is not real, the faith that is based on it will not be real.

• There is rarely any follow-up if the person who is identified and prayed for is not healed. This is sad.

• Very little thought is given to how a person feels if they are not healed, because the assumption is that people who are called out by word of knowledge will be healed. I never hear a leader identify someone by word of knowledge and say that God wants them to grow in maturity through the pain of their sickness. If they are called out by word of knowledge, the assumption is that God wants them to be healed. If they are not healed, they could feel like they have rejected God’s will.

• Most people who believe that God has selected them for healing by giving a word of knowledge will feel that there is something wrong with them if they are not healed. They failed to get what God wanted them to receive, so they will come under condemnation. I suspect that this condemnation is one reason for the lack of healing in the modern church. People have taken offence against God when they came under condemnation for not receiving a healing that was seemingly offered to them by the person at the front of the meeting with a word of knowledge.

• Itinerant ministries usually move on after the meeting.

  • No checking is done to establish that the people were really healed. When a person is selected by word of knowledge and prayed for at the front of their meeting, there is huge pressure for them find some reduction in their pain. If they say nothing has happened, they will look bad, so they will usually try to find some in improvement just to please the person praying. The proof of the pudding is how they feel the next day, but the itinerant minister will not know because they have gone.
  • No checking is done of people who are not healed. They rarely receive help. They are left to struggle on their own.
  • No checking is done to ensure that the words of knowledge were correct. This leaves the process open to cheating.
  The travelling minister may believe that they have had a successful meeting, but they actually don’t know.

• Jesus operated in the streets and marketplaces, where the people of the world could see. More critical eyes could test that everything was authentic. His opponents were always trying to find something wrong with what he was doing. He was always authentic, so that did not matter. The public scrutiny would also have kept his disciples honest when they were sent out in pairs to heal the sick.

I have seen people healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have seen him open up a situation powerfully by giving an appropriate word of knowledge. But turning the word of knowledge/healing into a standard technique is a mistake.

I love the gift of healing, but I believe that we would see better results, and perhaps have less controversy, if we operated more like Jesus.

Nebs

In an interview with four New York Times Reporters last week, Donald Trump conveyed how emboldened he feels to exercise his power around the globe.

Q. Is there anything that could stop you.

A. Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. And that’s very good.

The last person who spoke like this was our old friend Nebs.... and it did not end well. And Nebs did not claim to be a Christian as Donald Trump has (Dan 4:30).

Personal Relationship With Jesus

A TV preaching that heard recently ended his message by asking for people who did not have a Personal Relationship With Jesus to respond. He then led them in a “sinner’s prayer.”

Modern preachers use the phrase “Personal Relationship With Jesus” so frequently that we have forgotten what it means, and never ponder if it actually makes sense at all. I see several problems with the term.

1. One purpose of the term is to distinguish evangelical Christians from legalistic religion, or ritualistic religion. Yet once the preacher had identified those who wanted a Personal Relationship With Jesus and led them in a sinner’s prayer, he gave them a set of four rules to follow.

   • Pray every day
   • Read the Bible
   • Go to church
   I presume that he assumes that these rules will eventually produce a Personal Relationship with Jesus, but I am not sure if it does. It actually makes our faith seem like a legalistic religion.

2. Why do we need the word “personal” in the phrase? Aren't all relationships personal? A relationship that is not personal is probably not a relationship. So the term “personal” is redundant.

3. Jesus never told people that they needed to have a Personal Relationship With Him. He called them to be disciples and obey his teaching. He commanded them to obey him, because they loved him.

4. Jesus explained to his disciples that he was going away, so their existing relationship with them, whatever it was, would end. He promised that the Holy Spirit would come and that he would teach them to obey Jesus, but that would be a totally different relationship.

5. A personal relationship is not a political relationship. Jesus is a Messiah/King. His disciples called him “Lord”. So the relationship with Jesus is a political relationship. We relate to him in a servant/master relationship, so it is misleading to describe it as a personal relationship.

6. Paul did not tell the readers of his letters to have a Personal Relationship With Jesus. He talked about fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:14), but we have forgotten what the term “fellowship” means. Friendship is the closest word to the meaning of fellowship, yet I have never heard a preacher telling people that they should become a friend of Jesus.

7. The television preacher told his listeners that they should go to church. I presume to develop their Personal Relationship With Jesus. However, I am not sure that is correct. I don’t develop a relationship with a famous person that I don’t know by:

   • reading a book about the person.
   • listening to people singing songs about the person.
   • listening to a man talking about the person.
   I might learn something from these activities, but there is no guarantee that I will get to know the absent person well.

8. Reading a person’s biography is not the same as getting to know them personally. To do that, I would have to be involved in their life in some way. So reading the bible is not a guarantee that a person will get to know Jesus personally.

9. Prayer is important: a few people enjoy it, but most people find it really hard. Many struggle and fail. So if prayer is the key to developing a Personal Relationship With Jesus, then it is not surprising that many church attendees are not sure if they have one.

10. People can appropriate the rescue that Jesus provided without becoming his best friend. They have done it throughout history.

So maybe a Personal Relationship With Jesus is a nice to have, but it is not the heart of Jesus good news.

My Experience
What has this been like for me?

I have been a follower of Jesus for fifty years. I call myself that because that seems to be the nature of the relationship. He is the leader, and I am the follower. (A follower does not have to be the best friend of their leader).

I think of myself as a friend of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who speaks to me. I get this quiet inner witness that I have learned the way that he speaks. I talk to him and give him permission to do things in my life and in the places where I exercise influence/authority. He is the one who acts, so it makes sense to talk to him directly.

I do not ask Jesus to do things. But I ask him to show me what he wants me to do. But it is usually the Holy Spirit who does that. And I often apologise to Jesus for not doing what he asked me to do.

I do not ask our father to do things very often. He knows better than me what needs to be done. My role is to give him permission to do it.

I love Jesus because of who he is and the wonderful things that he has done. For him to leave his place in the spiritual realms and become a human is amazing. For him to be willing to die on a cross for humans who had rejected him is mind-blowing generosity. So I love Jesus and tell him that he is wonderful.

This is a relationship of awe and wonder. I am not sure if this is the Personal Relationship with Jesus that the preacher was talking about. I love reading the Bible, but that is probably because I have an intellectual bent and a curious mind. I have learned a huge amount about who Jesus is and what he has done, but I also know that this does not automatically translate into a relationship with Jesus (although it can help).

I suspect that many Christians don’t have a Personal Relationship With Jesus like the TV preacher promises, but they pretend to have one, because they are unwilling to admit how tonight it is to be a follower of Jesus.

Challenge
I don’t like the expression Personal Relationship With Jesus. I know what the TV preacher is trying to say, but I don’t think his listeners really understand what he is offering them.

I presume that most of the preacher’s listeners are not sure how to obtain the Personal Relationship With Jesus that they are supposed to have. And I suspect that many preachers do not really know how to teach them about achieving it, either.

Followers of Jesus are called to share his message with a new generation of people who are unchurched. The expression Personal Relationship With Jesus does not mean much to them.

We will need to find more effective ways to communicate the gospel (even word is not very useful now). We will need to find better ways to describe what Jesus has done and how we appropriate it. We will have to find better ways to describe how we can follow him by communicating with his Holy Spirit.

Question
Tell me what it has been like for your in the comments. But be honest, do not pretend to look good.