Charismatic Captivation

Examining Biblical Authority

2009-08-25T10:15:00.004-04:00

There is no matter more central and critical to spiritual knowledge and understanding than the matter of authority. That fact becomes even more apparent when one considers that the very term “Kingdom of God” actually connotes the Domain, Authority, or Government of God (cf., Rev. 12:10). The word, “kingdom,” in fact, is a compound word composed of two derivatives, king and domain, thus it connotes the domain of a king—in this case, the Kingdom of God or Christ. One cannot even begin to have a proper understanding of the realm of the Kingdom of God as well as the genuine Gospel of the Kingdom, which the Gospel writers expressly indicated Jesus preached during His fleshly ministry, without having an understanding of the matter of authority.

Moreover, all true knowledge and understanding concerning authority begins with the most vital and fundamental Truth that God Himself IS Authority—the ultimate authority—and the essence and embodiment of authority, and therefore that all legitimate authority emanates from Him and Him alone. Hence, all authority truly established by God, that is to say, legitimate authority, is authorized by God, and therefore is to be respected and observed.

We live today in an age of virtually ubiquitous iconoclasm. Increasingly, cultures and subcultures of the world are predicated on concepts and attitudes of “dissing” or disrespecting all that is decent, all that is honorable, all that has been traditionally held in high regard, whether it be precepts, principles, or people. Rendering “honor to whom (and what) honor is due” is not only a less and less practiced concept but one that is frequently ridiculed and scorned today. From the interpersonal and societal degradation of the “gangsta” and gang cultures to the personal degradation and mutilation of the tattoo and body-piercings culture, iconoclasm is the new “sport” of the times.

If this wholesale disrespect for the respect-worthy were restricted to the secular world, perhaps this vogue would not be quite so disturbing, but the current vogue practiced by those claiming to be part of Jesus’ Church is that whatever the world is doing, they emulate, in the name of being “relevant” and “reaching out” evangelistically to those of the world. Never mind that the Word of God clearly indicates that the strategy and methodology inspired and approved by the Holy Spirit is precisely the opposite and nowhere advocates an evangelistic strategy predicated on “becoming like ‘em to win ‘em.”

The fact is that the genuine Gospel is still the one modeled by Jesus, who commenced His evangelistic outreach by saying to His first follower, “Come, and follow Me.” He did not say, “I’ll come, and follow you.” When He said, “Come, and follow Me,” He meant, “Come, and become like Me.” As He later explained to the disciples, He came actually to show us the Way to the Father, because, He said, “He who has seen Me, has seen the Father.” In fact, He said, “I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me!” It doesn’t take much extrapolation to see that Jesus and the Word of God is advocating calling people into the “Kingdom Culture”—and there is a culture of the Kingdom of God—out of the cultures or “ways” of the world. That is part of what God is saying wherein He says, “My WAYS are not your ways…as high as the Heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts and My WAYS above your ways.” He means your “ways” of living, that is, your “life-styles” or “cultures.”

In so many of these cultures of the world, a virtually complete absence of self-control and self-discipline prevails, which produces an essentially hedonistic life-style. And, without question that void of self-governance is due primarily to the lack of parental authority that prevails in secular societies today. The unfortunate fact is that the vast majority of those of reproductive age today no next to nothing about this topic we are examining here—authority. And people simply cannot comport with something they know nothing about.

Yet, at the opposite end of the spectrum we have had in the ecclesiastical realm essentially as long as it has existed a leadership paradigm rooted in ascendency, ambition, and aggrandizement that seeks to subjugate, dominate, and control its adherents. Four decades ago, a movement emerged that propagated seeds of error of this genus that were infused into the fabric, foundation, and functions of the Post-Pentecostal church realm in particular. The genus of these seeds was hyper-authoritarianism, the fruit of which was a leadership model that employed mechanisms of psychological enslavement of followers. These erroneous concepts that are still espoused and employed in many Neo-Pentecostal churches today result from a combination of ignorance, misconception, misinformation, disinformation, misapplication, distortion, and in some cases outright perversion of Divine Truth.

Legitimate Authority vs. Illegitimate Authority
As I have already indicated, the Kingdom of God is all about authority—the Authority of God (cf., Rev. 12:10). Therefore, if the Kingdom of God is all about authority, and the Church Jesus is building is all about the Gospel of the Kingdom, then it is unequivocal that the seminal and foundational issue of the Church is—authority.

So, as we move forward in this discussion, the first thing I want to make abundantly clear is that in no way am I saying that there is no valid or effectual authority operable in the Body of Christ and by believers. On the contrary, there is a valid and effectual authority that has been given by God for government in the Church, but the problem is that people misconstrue, distort, pervert, and misapply the principles of authority established by God, and thereby exceed the intents and purposes of valid authority. No other spiritual matter has been so contorted and misapplied as has this matter of authority. Under the auspices of the doctrines that were disseminated during the Discipleship Movement, both leaders and laymen alike have been duped into contravention of the intents of true God‑established authority, and consequently have been both propagators of and participants in various kinds and degrees of perversion of authority, which, due to that perversion, produce—whether deliberately or inadvertently—various forms of “illegitimate authority.”

Some of the most vital and instructive statements contained in the Word of God with regard to legitimate authority juxtaposed to illegitimate authority are found in the Thirteenth Chapter of the Book of Romans. The second part of the first verse states: “...For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1b). Implicit in this one statement is four important instructive declarations regarding authority: 1) that there are legitimate governing authorities and authority structures in existence that have been established by God; 2) that the only legitimate authority is the governing bodies and authority structures that have been established by God; 3) that all the legitimate authority structures that do exist are those that have been established by God; and, 4) any governing authorities or authority structures that have been appointed solely by man without a mandate or sanction from God are illegitimate.

Based on this Scripture, it is important, I believe, to identify the different types and levels of authority that exist. Though I don’t purport to be an expert on the matter, and certainly don’t want to come off as if I believe I have the “definitive word” on the matter, after years of study and meditation concerning this vital issue, including of the commentaries of others on the subject, I’ve concluded, and I believe it’s a reasonable conclusion, that there are essentially twelve types and levels of authority that have been established by God. While I would shun dogmatism about this particular conclusion, especially in regard to the number of types of authority, it is, however, interesting that the number twelve is emblematic of government or authority in Scripture. The following is a list of these twelve types and levels of authority established by God, along with a brief explanation of each. These levels of authority are ascendingly transcendent, that is to say, they rank in preeminence in ascending order. This means that the higher levels outrank and supersede the lower levels. I’ve listed them in the order of their rank of preeminence. Bear in mind it is not my intent to elaborate on each of them here in this context, but rather only to describe each of them sufficiently to be recognizable in application. Neither do I provide Biblical support for each one in this context, though an abundance of Scripture could be cited validating each one.

1. Sovereign Authority.
The absolute supremacy and sovereignty of the God‑Head over the entire universe; “the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth” (Eph. 1:10); the sovereignty of the Creator over the Creation, inherent in every set and inviolable law and principle in the Creation; e.g., the law of gravity, the law of specie‑after‑specie procreation, the law of sowing and reaping, the law of reciprocity (Gen. 1, Jn. 1).

2. Veracious Authority.
The absolute authority of The Truth—The Word of God—codified, contained, canonized, and explicitly expressed in Holy Writ (Scripture) [eg., Jn. 1; 17:17; 1 Tim. 3:16].

3. Volitional Authority.
The human will; the free moral agency of every human; given by God to every human‑being, inherent with the sovereign and inviolable right to self‑government (the right to rule one’s own life), inviolable, that is, as long as the free personal choices of one person do not violate or infringe upon those of another person. God has created every person as an individual, a free moral agent,and given them the right to sovereignty over their own life; i.e., a free will. God Himself will not violate a person’s will or volition (right to choose); thus, He certainly has not consigned such a right to any mere mortal human over another, save in the case of lawlessness.

This type of authority could also be called “personal authority.” It is the inherent authority of every person to govern himself, especially with regard to one’s personal affairs and (lawful) choices according to his own conscience. (It must be understood, however, that in the case of a person who has been Born Again, that person enters into a process of sanctification in which he voluntarily and gradually surrenders His own will unto the Lordship of Christ over every aspect of his life, subjecting his will and life unto the Will and Life of the Lord. The believer’s will is by no means taken away or usurped, but rather, on the contrary, the believer exercises his free will in willingly subjecting himself unto the sovereignty of God and the Lordship of Christ.)

4. Domestic Authority.
Authority within the home; i.e., the husband is the surrogate governmental head under the Headship of Christ over the family. This means the husband is responsible to God for providing spiritual leadership in respect to all familial affairs; he is to provide spiritual leadership unto the wife; and, the parents (husband and wife) together as a unit are responsible for the government (plus, the care and training) of the children.

5. Ecclesiastical Governmental Authority.
Authority delegated by Christ to certain individual believers He has anointed and appointed as Fivefold Ministers, who have the responsibility of providing intermediary government (pilotage, steerage) in local churches and ad hoc judicature with regard to matters universally affecting the Church‑At‑Large.

6. Spiritual Ministerial Authority.
Delegated spiritual authority from Christ to minister His supernatural power in His stead and on His behalf. This authority could also be called “surrogate spiritual power.” This is God‑given authority of believers over Satan and his temptations and devices: sickness, disease, temptation, malevolence, disorder, lawlessness, sin, etc. It is the authority (“exousia”) given by God to believers to operate the gifts of the Spirit. It is also the enablement and sanction of God to function in a God‑anointed and God‑appointed spiritual calling or spiritual function.

This also is the “power” (“dunamis”) that Jesus said would inure to the Spirit‑baptized believer after that the Holy Ghost came upon him, by which to operate works of power that give witness of a risen and living Savior (Ac. 1:8), the same power that Jesus Himself had demonstrated in works of power during His fleshly ministry, which He said would be delegated to believers: “he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (Jn. 14:12). Having triumphed over sin, death, Hell, and the grave, all power and authority over all things was given unto Jesus; which power, prior to ascending into Heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the Father, He in turn delegated to believers:

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Mat. 28:18);
…therefore, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation....And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will cast off (lit.) serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mk. 16: 15‑18).

7. Civil Authority.
Civil authorities; i.e., secular governments, to include all laws and agencies of same; e.g.: civil laws, courts, Heads‑of‑State, government agencies and officials, law enforcement agencies and officers (eg., Rom. 12).

8. Stipulative Authority.
Authority established by means of legally binding contracts and agreements into which separate parties have voluntarily entered, wherein they have agreed to abide by certain specific stipulations governing their relationship.

9. Entrepreneurial Authority.
Authority of entrepreneurs (business owners) to govern the affairs of the business of which they are the owner, or in which they have a vested, majoritive interest; also includes the spectrum of employer‑employee authority.

10. Delegated Authority.
Authority that has been delegated by one person with legitimate authority to another person, with the effect that the latter represents the former. This is a kind of surrogate authority in which one person in authority invests his authority in a subordinate to authorize the latter to effect (operate) the authority of his superior. This kind of authority is usually parochial, or limited to a certain scope and parameters, and ad hoc, in the respect that its jurisdiction is limited to a specified purpose and realm of function. This kind of authority is operable and found in virtually every realm of human endeavor.

11. Functional or Motivational Authority.
Authority inuring to a person by virtue of a particular ability, sphere of function, or talent, whether God‑given (Motivation or Function Gifts [Rom. 12:6‑8]), or acquired through education or training. At times, this type of authority is impromptu and situational, coming into play to meet an arisen need of the moment (e.g., functional authority of a physician happening upon the scene of an auto accident).

12. Customarial Authority.
Customs; societal traditions; cultural ways, methods, manners, practices. This is the lowest level of authority, and is to be honored when it is not contravening of dictates of the preeminent levels of authority.

Narrowing the Focus
As I indicated previously, it is not within the scope of this article to elaborate on each of these twelve types of authority, however, we will direct our focus on three of these types of authority, directly—Delegated Authority, Spiritual Ministerial Authority, and Ecclesiastical Governmental Authority—as well as one other type of authority, tangentially—Civil Authority.

To reiterate something I expressed earlier, all true knowledge and understanding concerning authority begins with the most vital and fundamental Truth that God Himself is Authority, that He is the ultimate authority, and the essence and embodiment of authority, and therefore that all legitimate authority emanates from Him and Him alone. Hence, all authority truly established by God, that is to say, legitimate authority, is sanctioned by God, and therefore is to be honored and observed.

However, conversely, any supposed or purported authority that does not emanate from and has not been established by God is illegitimate authority, and as such has no jurisdiction in regards to bearing the sanctioning of God, is not binding, and bears neither the requirement from God to be observed and honored, nor the punitive sword of retribution for violators. Furthermore, any particular body of even God‑appointed authority that specifically contravenes the Law of God, that is, the Word of God, has in so doing exceeded its God‑ordained jurisdiction, and has thereby effectively unsanctioned itself and rendered itself ILLEGITIMATE, thus forfeiting any authority to compel observance and obedience as well as any right to preservation. Such is the case with proponents and practitioners of the hyper-authoritarian Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines which are the focus of this series of articles.

During the many years I spent researching and preparing to write this book, in addition to the thousands of hours I spent in reading the various writings (books, papers, notes, handouts, pamphlets, etc.) of many of the leading proponents and practitioners of the pertinent teachings, I also travelled to and visited scores of churches the Lord led me to in order to hear and witness firsthand the teaching coming from their pulpits and the effect those teachings had upon the listeners. One thing I noted as being quite ironic was that one of the passages of Scripture most frequently cited by the Discipleship teaching proponents as a proof-text for their assertions and theories concerning the ilk of authority they purport is delegated to church leaders is the very text I quoted from earlier—the Thirteenth Chapter of Romans. This text—by their interpretation—has become their “Magna Carta,” of sorts, granting them license to subjugate, predominate, and control other believers who they consider subordinate to them. But, what they fail to understand (or choose to ignore, whichever may be the case) when they so adamantly and vehemently postulate their hypotheses is that the realm of authority specifically alluded to in this chapter, without equivocation, is CIVIL authorities and governing bodies, not ecclesiastical governing authority. This is such a vital distinction that it bears restating in slightly different words for emphasis. While there are indeed certain elements of truth regarding authority in general indirectly reflected in these verses, the realm of authority specifically addressed in the Thirteenth Chapter of Romans is that of SECULAR government, NOT authority within the Church (ecclesiastical authority). Though this undeniable fact is perhaps not explicit in the initial verses of the King James Version, most all of the modern versions do explicitly indicate that it is the CIVIL governing authorities being referenced in this chapter; e.g.:

Everyone ought to obey the CIVIL authorities... (v. 1, PME);

Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (CIVIL) authorities... (v. 1, A.B.);

Everyone must obey the STATE authorities... (TEV).

However, incontrovertible proof that civil authority, not ecclesiastical authority, is being alluded to in this text is found in the sixth verse, which, regardless of what version you read, echoes in so many words essentially what the Amplified Bible says: “For this same reason you pay TAXES, for the [civil authorities] are official servants under God, devoting themselves to attending to this very service.” In case you didn’t catch it, the vital word in this sentence is—TAXES! We pay “taxes” to civil governments to remunerate them for their service on our behalf and to fund the programs and benefits governments provide, not to churches. We pay “tithes” to our church for the support of our ministers, not “taxes.” Thus, we know that it is secular government that is being alluded to in these verses, not any supposed authority of ministers over those “under” them as purported by the Discipleship proponents.

Notwithstanding, as I indicated, there are inherent within this very Roman text a number of crucial truths regarding “legitimate authority” as well. Foremostly, there is an implied distinction between legitimate and illegitimate authority in this passage. The Phillips Modern English version especially highlights this differentiation made in the passage:

Everyone ought to obey the civil authorities, for all LEGITIMATE authority is derived from God’s authority, and the existing authority is appointed under God. To oppose [legitimate] authority then is to oppose God, and such opposition is bound to be punished. (Rom. 13:1,2; brackets added)

Indeed, the overriding issue inherent with the heretical Discipleship teachings and practices we are examining is not whether there is authority in the Body of Christ and among believers, for we have already established that there is, but rather the nature and scope of that authority, and the distinguishing of legitimate authority from illegitimate authority.

Now, as I stated earlier, patently false concepts regarding authority is one of the most fundamental flaws in the heretical Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices that remain the “gold standard” in many Neo-Pentecostal churches. My body of study and research has led me to the conclusion that there are five particular aspects of spiritual authority that are greatly misconstrued and misapplied under the auspices of these erroneous teachings: delegated authority, ministerial authority, church‑governmental authority, “positional authority,” and submission to leaders (this portion was addressed in the article, The False Doctrine of Absolute Submission). In this book, Charismatic Captivation, I examine these twisted and tangled webs of delusion and illusion under the luminous rays of Scripture, separating Truth from lies, fact from fiction, and the legitimate from the illegitimate with regard to these matters relative to authority. (In this article I will address only the matter of delegated authority.)

Delegated Authority
One of the most basic elements of the Discipleship teachings that deviates from Biblical Truth is the matter of "delegated authority." Put another way, error regarding the matter of "delegated authority" is one of the most fundamental elements of error of the Discipleship doctrines. Most assuredly, the principle of the delegated authority of Christ is a valid and vital principle. But, the heart of the issue is: what is the authority that Christ has delegated unto believers? That is to say, what is its nature, composition, scope, and sphere of operation? How is it defined? What is included in this authority, and what is excluded? What are its limitations?

In searching for the answer to these all‑important and pivotal questions, the Word of God, of course, must be our primary and preeminent source. In this regard, as any other, what God says must be the final authority, the definitive statement. "Let God be true, and every man a liar." Neither tradition, nor history, nor the philosophies of men can be our source or guiding light in this regard, but only the Light of perfect and pristine Divine Knowledge and Wisdom.

This matter of authority, the cardinal issue of the ages, because of its profundity, is admittedly a complex matter, not so much perhaps in terms of composition, but rather in explanation and application. As with elucidation of so many other spiritually appraised concepts, words seem to fail the most glib and articulate expositors as they attempt to expound upon the matter of authority. That seems to be the nature of true revelation knowledge from God: it is so profound that in many cases it is nearly impossible to express and explain in human terms, for it is the task of translating the infinite into and unto the finite. Notwithstanding, I have attempted to express as succinctly as possible the essence of the matter as it relates to the focus of this volume, reserving a more comprehensive and detailed exposition of the broader issue of authority and government for another, forthcoming book devoted specifically to that subject.

The issue at hand here is the matter of the authority that Christ has delegated unto believers, its composition and application. Essentially the delegated authority of Christ, according to all that Scripture tells us regarding it, can be distilled down to two forms: one, Spiritual Ministerial Authority, or Spiritual Power, and, two, Ecclesiastical Governmental Authority. Both of these are forms of authority that have indeed been delegated unto the Body of Christ by Christ. However, it is there that the similarities of the two end and their diversities begin. (We will examine these two issues in the next article in this series.)

This article is an excerpt from the book, Charismatic Captivation, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the prevalent problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal churches in particular since the “Shepherding Movement” of the 1970s. The volume spotlights the salient signs and symptoms of authoritarian abuse, dissects the fallacious doctrines behind it, and offers victims clear, concise steps for recovery from the psychological trauma and spiritual damage they experience. It has been praised by scholars, ministers, and layman alike as one of the most convincing as well as comprehensive treatises written to date regarding Neo-Pentecostal authoritarian abuse. The book is available from Amazon.Com, Barnes and Noble, bookstores, or from the publisher, Real Truth Publications on this site.

The False Doctrine of Absolute Submission

2009-05-26T16:43:00.005-04:00

At the zenith of the Charismatic Movement in the 1970s, a pseudo-movement that came to be known as the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement emerged. That purely humanly-devised campaign was led by an alliance of five ministers who employed their influence to rapidly proliferate in the emerging Charismatic Church a collection of doctrines related to authority that were patently hyper-authoritarian. In sum, the unscriptural teachings posited and promoted a multi-tiered, pyramid-shaped system of governance that conveniently positioned these five ministers at the apex of the pyramid. Coincidentally or not, the multi-level paradigm these teachers proposed mirrored the multi-level marketing models that were exploding upon the scene across the nation at the time in the business world.

If the claims of the many pundits and preachers who tersely dismiss the whole matter as being a mere relic of the past since rectified and resolved in the Neo-Charismatic Church Age, that would certainly be a glorious outcome of an extremely destructive and disgraceful period in church annals. However, those claimants are galaxies removed from being right. The fact of the matter is that the false doctrines and unbiblical practices the Discipleship proponents fostered were never fully extirpated from the Post-Pentecostal Church, but rather were actually surreptitiously infused into its fabric, foundation, and functions. Much of what the Neo-Charismatic Church espouses concerning church government, local church polity, and Fivefold Ministry functions, as well as a host of other topics, is predicated on the hyper-authoritarian teachings propagated during the Shepherding Movement, which were actually recycled doctrines indigenous to The New Order of the Latter Rain Movement birthed in 1947 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, that produced The Manifested Sons of God heresy.

A fundamental and essential tenet of the hyper-authoritarian Discipleship/Shepherding system is a dogma which is best described by the term "absolute submission," in which followers are required to, in effect, surrender their personal will unto the many ascending echelons of leaders in the pyramiding chain‑of‑command, and to obey explicitly and comprehensively the dictates and whims of those many "leaders." Followers are taught that they cannot simply hear from God themselves, but that they must "submit" virtually every matter of importance requiring a decision in their life unto their "leader." They are taught that God requires them to "be in submission," which in hyper-authoritarian cults extrapolates into total obedience and obeisance to the chain of human leaders of their group, and into those leaders making most or many of their decisions for them, whether overtly or by employing subtle manipulation that leads the member to the conclusion to which the leader wants them to arrive.

In these groups, it is quite common for members to be compelled to receive the approval (which is usually spoken of as a "confirmation") of their "leader" with regard to such mundane decisions as major and even minor purchases, going on a trip, visiting with relatives, matters concerning the care and nurturing of children, dating, marriage, relocation, and a host of routine decisions individuals and families must make as a normal course of life. Moreover, it is not uncommon for the member’s "shepherd" to take on the role of de facto advisor and confidant in legal and fiduciary matters, such as estate wills and financial planning, probate, trusts, capital investments and expenditures, and court litigation, even though the "shepherd" is not a professional and has little or no expertise in those fields. Some "shepherds" have even been given power‑of‑attorney to act as a legal agent on behalf of an "underling." Not infrequently, so‑called "shepherds" have used the color of their authority to wrangle their way into being made a beneficiary of estates and death benefits of members as well as interest‑holders in business enterprises in exchange for their "advice."

On this last topic, as somewhat of an aside, allow me to point out that it has become vogue for mega-churches to recruit salaried "estate/trust planners" whose primary goal is to raise funds for the church, which they accomplish by advising and assisting well‑to‑do and usually elderly members to invest their money in a host of fiduciary investment vehicles available today that will produce returns on their money, provide tax shelter, and provide on‑going funds for the church as a living and death beneficiary or assignee. Though these professionals are typically licensed insurance salesmen and securities brokers who often reap additional compensation from commissions paid by the carriers and firms they represent, these churches have the unmitigated gall and lack of integrity to unashamedly anoint them with the title of "pastor" in a thinly veiled attempt to lend additional credibility and confidence to their schemery by giving the impression that the function of these professional money‑makers is spiritual and that their advice has spiritual merit and underpinnings. In my opinion, this is sheer deception and nothing less than a modern‑day, more sophisticated version of money‑changers in the Temple! What makes it especially deplorable, despicable, deceptive, and outrageous to me is that it is all done under the color of spiritual authority.

Absolute submission is an integral and essential element of the Discipleship/Shepherding theories and practices. However, it is manifest in varying degrees of covertness and overtness by different groups employing them. At one end of the spectrum are proponents and practitioners of these doctrines who hold to and implement an extreme and dogmatic version of absolute submission to the group’s leadership, which is very manifest in the structure and modus operandi of the group, both publicly and behind‑the‑scenes. At the opposite end of the spectrum, are groups who employ a much more subtle and oblique form of absolute submission, which is deliberately kept out of the public services in order to give the impression of freedom and liberty. It is only manifest in the behind‑the‑scenes aspects, among those who have completed all the requisite indoctrination, initiation, and "proof of loyalty" "tests" prerequisite to them becoming a part of the "inner circle" of leaders and prominent "insiders."

In any case, however, absolute submission is by no means a benign and inconsequential premise, but is an extremely malevolent and destructive mechanism the sole goal of which is unauthorized and ungodly predomination and control. Invariably and inevitably, in the case of those who have accepted the premise of absolute submission as being meritorious, and have integrated it into the structure and operations of their ecclesiastical society, whether it is manifested privately or publicly, it becomes the basis for a demonic and extremely injurious form of "brainwashing" and psychological "conditioning" of the constituency. Multitudes of naive and unsuspecting individuals as well as whole families have been psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually damaged by these very powerful mechanisms of domination‑ and control‑oriented indoctrination. Some have suffered such total spiritual shipwreck and disillusionment that recovery requires the supernatural intervention of God.

Be assured, however, that most hyper-authoritarian groups, from the leaders to the members, will vehemently deny adhering to the premise of "absolute submission" or any of the Discipleship doctrines or practices, for that matter. Moreover, they will adamantly insist that their group does not employ any of the techniques, mechanisms, and methodologies inherent in all such aberrant, cultic and occult theosophies.

Because of the disrepute and disfavor into which the Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices as well as their proponents fell in the Seventies, many Discipleship/Shepherding groups, as mentioned in Chapter Two, simply "went underground" with their methodologies, resorting to a more subtle and obscured, "kinder and gentler" modus operandi, disguising their mechanisms, and implementing alternate, less overt terminology. By and by, most Discipleship/Shepherding groups became increasingly more esoteric (a practice expounded upon further in Chapter Eleven), only implementing their methods and mechanisms of domination and control upon new initiates gradually, incrementally as they progressed through the various stages of development in their relationship and status in the group, while redoubling their efforts to give the appearance of liberty in the public services. Before long, the unsuspecting victims are "caught in the web" of religious enslavement, from which, because of the illusive and delusive strands of indoctrination, many will never escape.

Now, though there have been countless truly innocent and unsuspecting victims of this demonically‑inspired system of unauthorized domination and control, there are a significant number of participants who, driven by selfish‑ambition, were actually attracted to it by the allure of becoming so‑called "leaders" within the sphere of a group‑society where they could attain some measure of "authority" that would give license and sanctioning to their innate desire to dominate and control other people.

A now infamous truism attributed to Nineteenth Century English Parliamentarian and historian, Lord Acton, states: "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely!" Absolute authority coupled with carnality inevitably produces corruption. Those who crave power and authority over others are operating out of a destructive dementia, which, if not arrested by the Cross of Christ, ends up destroying their own lives as well as the lives of many others. Authority in the hands of those who crave it is the most destructive force known to mankind. It is an historic fact that those selfishly‑ambitious would‑be world‑rulers who craved power and world‑dominion down through the ages, eventually became corrupted and demented by that power, and once having obtained some measure of it, used it not for good purposes and constructive advancement, but for evil and destruction.

All this is why the Lord consigns legitimate authority only unto those who have surrendered their self‑will and who have humbled themselves to comprehensive obedience unto the authority of God. In other words, God grants true authority only unto those who, like the Roman Centurion, are men "under authority"—God’s! The last person to whom God entrusts authority is the person who craves it. God’s Way is to humble the exalted and exalt the humble. He does not entrust authority to those who crave the status of being someone great and first, but those whose genuine desire is to be a servant and a slave of all, following after the example of Jesus, who "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mk. 10:42‑45).

All this is also the reason these absolute authority structures and the dogmas advocating absolute submission to human leaders are unequivocally not of God—because they contravene totally His Word, His Will, and His Ways! Notwithstanding, proponents of the Discipleship doctrines in general and the absolute submission dogma in particular twist and pervert certain passages of Scripture and use them as purported "proof‑texts" by which to corroborate their corrupt and excessive claims that such slavish obeisance to mere mortals is what the Word of God prescribes. Such cases of perversion of Scripture are far too numerous to examine each one here, but just three of the more stellar examples will suffice to make the point.

One of the most frequently quoted texts by the Discipleship proponents pertinent to the matter of absolute submission is Hebrews 13:17, which, for purposes that will soon become clear, I quote here from both the New American Standard and the King James Versions:

Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (NASV)

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch over your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (KJV)

This particular verse is an outstanding example of how the poison of deception is concocted by subtle twists and perversions of otherwise perfectly valid truths by expositors of hyper-authoritarianism. When they teach on this subject, invariably they use these verses as a basis to spin an expository yarn that leads listeners to believe that God is in this verbiage telling believers that they are to be virtual empty‑headed marionettes, walking around like zombies in a catatonic‑trance, automatically and immediately responding in hypnotic‑like total obeisance to every tug on their strings by their leaders. In the case of the extremist proponents of these doctrines, this is not a figurative assessment, but rather precisely what they seem to want out of their followers. As CBN founder Pat Robertson once quipped concerning the band of leaders who started the Discipleship heresy, the only difference between some of them and Jim Jones essentially is the Kool‑Aid.

It is the assignment of corrupt connotations to the key words and phrases of this text that results in their extreme and erroneous extrapolation. The Greek word translated obey, for instance, does not connote a slavish, cowering, cringing‑in‑fear, obeisance and servility, and total subjugation. Rather, it signifies to be "persuadable." The dictionary definition of "persuasion" is the act of causing someone to believe or accept, or to do something by appealing to their sense of reason or understanding; to induce to believe or act; to influence; to convince. Concerning the meaning of this word in this passage, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states: "The obedience suggested is not by submission to authority, but resulting from persuasion" (p. 806).

Additionally, Vines indicates that this Greek word translated obey in many English versions, peitho, is closely related to the word pisteuo, which means to trust, and that the difference in the meanings of the two words is that the peitho (persuasion‑obedience) is produced by pisteuo (trust). In other words, the obedience spoken of here in the original language is more of a willing compliance and cooperation based on persuasion resulting from established trust and confidence.
Hence, the import of what God is saying here is that believers should display an attitude of willing compliance, cooperation, persuadableness, and convincibleness, toward their spiritual leaders, based on the trust those leaders have established with regard to their spirituality, integrity, and wisdom, juxtaposed to the contentious, argumentative, non‑compliant, and uncooperative attitudes some purported believers display toward their leaders.

Beyond all of this, is the overriding point that is being established here, which is that the specter of "absolute authority" vested in an elite cabal of leaders linked together in some humanly‑devised ecclesiastical hierarchy simply and indisputably is not prescribed or supported by Scripture. The only "absolute authority" that exists is the sovereign authority of God Himself. Unredeemed and partially redeemed humans will never be fit to share in that level of Divine Authority.

This article is an excerpt from the book, Charismatic Captivation, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the prevalent problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal churches in particular since the "Shepherding Movement" of the 1970s. The volume spotlights the salient signs and symptoms of authoritarian abuse, dissects the fallacious doctrines behind it, and offers victims clear, concise steps for recovery from the psychological trauma and spiritual damage they experience. It has been praised by scholars, ministers, and layman alike as one of the most convincing as well as comprehensive treatises written to date regarding Neo-Pentecostal authoritarian abuse. The book is available from Amazon.Com, Barnes and Noble, bookstores, or from the publisher, Real Truth Publications.

Nicolaitanism In The Neo-Pentecostal Church (Part 2)

2009-04-28T14:45:00.003-04:00

In the Revelation He communicated by the Holy Spirit to the Apostle John, Jesus issued a terse but severe warning to the Early Apostolic churches expressed His utter disdain for both the deeds and the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. He commended the Ephesian Church for being in accord with His own hatred for the deeds of the Nicolaitans: “Yet this you do have, that you hate the DEEDS of the Nicolaitans, WHICH I ALSO HATE” (Rev. 2:6). Conversely, the Pergamum Church Jesus condemned for the fact that, "you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans." Further demonstrating His contempt for the Nicolaitan false teaching, He followed this indictment with the command, "Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."

In short, Nicolaitanism was a heretical hierarchical system of church‑government devised, propagated, and instituted by a corrupt sect of usurpers that surfaced toward the end of the First Century A.D. The teaching of the Nicolaitans was the genesis of the concept that remains yet today in much of Christendom in which an elite class of professional clergy is set in as a hierarchical ecclesiastical government to in effect lord over the laity. The Nicolaitans taught and instituted a form of ecclesiastical hegemony (domination by force by one entity over another) based on a pyramiding, multilevel ascendancy structure comprised of priests, bishops, and cardinals, and so on, all of whom were under complete subjection to a singular religious potentate, who was venerated as the human substantiation of Christ Himself—the Pope. The residual of this system today—still alive and well and revered by millions of adherents—is the Papal System of the Catholic Church.

The Nicolaitan heresy was virtually identical in essence to the Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices propagated by proponents and yet prevalent in the Post-Pentecostal church today. How much more significant that becomes when it is understood that it was primarily these perverse precepts and their propagators that were responsible for plunging the Church into the spiritual “black hole” of the Dark Ages, from which the collective Church is still today in the process of recovery and restoration.

Apostolic Authority Supplanted by the Nicolaitan Doctrines

Jesus’ apocalyptic warning against the doctrine and the deeds of the Nicolaitans is more than just interesting. The truth of the matter is that had the early churches given heed to those Divine warnings, the course of history would have been totally different than what it was, because as mentioned before the demonically inspired teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans resulted ultimately in the Papal system that supplanted the apostolic authority upon which the Church was founded. This, indeed, was not only the most grievous and egregious effect of the Nicolaitan heresy, but no doubt also the very objective of the arch‑enemy of the Church, Satan, who personally contrived this diabolical deception.

In His now infamous dissertation to Peter and the other Apostles of the Lamb, Jesus declared the Church to be His very own possession, His consuming passion, and that He Himself was its Chief architect and builder, when He proclaimed, “I will build My Church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18). When contemplating this statement, it is imperative to remember that when Jesus said He would build His Church, He meant He would build His Church through, foremostly, the foundation ministries of apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). Prior to His ascension, Jesus personally selected twelve “disciples” who by His appointment and anointing became “apostles” (Mat. 10:1,2), and relegated to them the task and function of being the chief surrogate builders of His Church. The apostolic precedent He set and never rescinded remains in effect throughout the Church Age. 1 Cor. 12:28 makes this abundantly clear, in that it explicitly states that “God has SET in the CHURCH, first apostles, second prophets,” which means that apostles and prophets are permanently set into Church for as long as the Church exists and remains here upon the Earth, or in other words, for the duration of the Church Age. The term “set” in this passage, it is important to understand, connotes permanence, in the way the term is used to refer to what happens with concrete as it dries—it becomes set.

Further evidence that apostles are the surrogate “builders” of the Church is found in the Apostle Paul’s statement concerning the nature and function of his ministry as an apostle: “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise MASTER‑ BUILDER I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it” (1 Cor. 3:10). The term “master‑builder” Paul used is the equivalent of what today is called a “general contractor,” which is the most concise yet comprehensive definition of the ministry of the apostle in the Bible.

A general contractor is the person responsible for building the building precisely according to the predetermined design of the architect represented on the blueprints. The general contractor, while he must himself be skilled and knowledgeable in each and every phase of construction and installation, cannot, for the sake of the successful completion of the overall project, hinder his effectiveness by becoming involved in the actual labor of any of the particular phases of the construction process. Rather, the function of the general contractor is that of coordination, administration, and oversight of the building process. He must see the overall “big picture” and oversee its completion. He must concentrate his efforts solely on organizing and overseeing the work of all the subcontractors and laborers in his charge, selecting and efficiently employing just the right person for each phase of the building process, in order that the building be built in precise accordance with the specifications of the architectural design.

Apostles are spiritual general contractors. What makes them apostles is that they are graced with and can at any time as necessary flow in the full range of the Ministry Gifts. Plus, they have also been anointed with the gift of spiritual (not to be confused with, business) administration. Spiritual administration includes for one thing a supernatural ability to discern by the Spirit the spiritual gifts with which believers have been anointed by God, so as to, on behalf of the Lord, select and appoint the right people to the right spiritual functions and responsibilities. Square pegs in square holes; round pegs in round holes. Apostles also employ the range of Ministry Gifts to train and equip other believers to function in their particular gifts and callings, and to coordinate those efforts in a cohesive and collaborative effort toward the spiritual edification of the Church.

The Church is established “upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19,20). Truth declares unequivocally that the Church Jesus is building is founded upon and will be built up through apostolic authority. The true Church of Jesus can never be established upon any form of government other than apostolic authority. The Church‑Age began with apostolic authority in place, and apostolic authority will be in place at its culmination. Moreover, it will only be when the Church returns to apostolic authority and foundation that genuinely significant spiritual advancements will be made.

The natural nemesis of that apostolic authority has always been, and will always be humanly contrived and appointed, politically‑based, hierarchical systems of ecclesiastical government. Supplanting of the apostolic authority and government established by Jesus was a primary factor precipitating the Church’s gradual descent into the throes of deception and apostasy that transpired in the Dark Ages. Abrogation of apostolic authority in favor of politico-ecclesio hierarchy led to the virtual debacle of the Church as the instrument for implementation of Divine purpose, reducing it instead to being an agent of demonically‑inspired humanistic purposes. No other single element was more causal to the deterioration of the Church during its corporate apostasy than this supplanting of apostolic authority.

Similarity of Nicolaitan and Discipleship Heresies

So much more could be said with regard to the imperativeness of apostolic authority in the Church today, but space here will not permit. The point I am establishing here is that the teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans and the modern Discipleship teachings and practices are virtually identical. It is an indisputable fact that the Nicolaitan heresy was the primary force leading to the supplanting of apostolic authority in the Early Church, which in turn ultimately led to the corporate apostasy of the Dark Ages. So also the heretical Discipleship/Shepherding teachings advocate a counterfeit authority system that in effect supplants apostolic authority. The similarity is just too striking to be merely ironic or coincidental. Rather, it is my confident conviction that the Nicolaitan doctrines were planted by Satan in the Early Church to supplant and effect the abrogation of apostolic authority, and in identical fashion the Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines were implanted by Satan in the Last Day Church with the express intent to supplant apostolic authority, and impede, or if possible, preclude, the restoration of same. In the case of the latter, however, Satan’s efforts, in the end, will not be successful, for apostolic authority will indeed be restored to the Church.

We are told through the writing of Solomon that in reality there is nothing that is truly “new”:

That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new?” Already it has existed for ages which were before us. (Ecc. 1:9,10)

And so it also is with the unscriptural hypotheses brought forth in the heretical Discipleship doctrines. They are virtually identical to those propagated by the Nicolaitans, which, as I have said repeatedly, was the seed from which the fallacious hierarchy of the universal Roman church was germinated.

The reason for the similarity lies squarely in the fact that these doctrines were not merely contrived in the minds of men. Rather, they genuinely are “doctrines of demons” of the sort prophesied by the Apostle Paul in his letter to his younger protégé Timothy (1 Tim. 4:1ff). He foretold that in the last days there would arise patently demonic but subtle and impelling doctrines of deception that would actually be propagated by lying, deceiving spirits through the agency of human teachers. These false teachings would be so subtle and impelling that many genuine and sincere believers would be duped by and give heed to them, with the result that bona fide believers will fall away from a true relationship and rightstanding with God into apostasy and perdition.

Indeed, this egregiously erroneous Discipleship/Shepherding teaching, I am absolutely persuaded, is a doctrine of this sort. It is contrived by the devil himself and propagated by his fallen cohorts, demons, with the objective of craftily leading unsuspecting believers into spiritually idolatrous and adulterous covenants with mere men, and away from effectual relationship and rightstanding with God. As I have been establishing, these doctrines and practices are essentially the same age‑old attempts by Satan to captivate and control people through the mythical utopian bliss of religious collectivism: “promising them freedom while they (Satan and his cohorts) are the slaves of corruption” (2 Pet. 2:19, parenthesis added by the author).

Are We Heading Toward Another Corporate Apostasy?

Jesus' apocalyptic warning against the doctrine and the deeds of the Nicolaitans is more than just interesting. The truth of the matter is that, had the early churches given heed to those Divine warnings, the course of Church history would have been totally different than what it was, because as mentioned before the demonically inspired teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans resulted ultimately in the Papal system that supplanted the apostolic authority upon which the Church was founded and consequently ended up in apostasy. This, indeed, was not only the most grievous and egregious effect of the Nicolaitan heresy, but no doubt also the very objective of the arch-enemy of the Church, Satan, who personally contrived this diabolical deception.

The question before the Church today is: will we allow ourselves to be taken into the error and resulting apostasy that was the fate of the Pergamum Church by continuing on this path of displacement of apostolic authority by a Scripturally-invalid system of government and authority, i.e., “bishops,” and the rest that comes after that, or shall we cease and desist from that trend and opt instead to return to the apostolic-prophetic foundation so that indeed “the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former (Hag 2:9)?”

The harlot Worldwide Universal Church, will not cease and desist from that path, but will follow it to the end—in the name of ecumenicism, ally with all the “religions” of the world (true Christianity is not a religion and is the only faith that will be excluded from the alliance) and align under the Roman Papal System, recognizing the Pope as the supreme spiritual potentate and the transubstantiation of Christ. Sadly, the Spirit tells me that huge blocks of even the Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal Church, led by their false, self-appointed “bishops,” will ultimately depart from the true Church Jesus is building and ally with the apostate Antichrist universal church, taking multitudes of their adherents with them, in fulfillment of the Spirit’s prediction set forth in First Timothy 4:1,2.

[Editiorial Note: Astoundingly, around the start of this year, 2003, many months after the writing of the above prophetic paragraph, upon mentioning it to a minister-friend, she became exercised in the Spirit and related to me an event transpiring a few months prior in which a friend had accompanied a large contingent of Charismatic "bishops" on a "missionary" travel tour the main purpose of which was a prearranged official Papal audience at the Vatican at which each bishop genuflected and kissed the Pope's ring, and he in turn blessed each one.]

Which Church Will You Be A Part Of?

As sad and distressing as that is, the most important question of all to you, the reader, and to every believer is: Which church will you be a part of—the one whose ultimate architect is the arch-enemy of God, which will be led by the false prophet in alliance with the Antichrist, or the End-time Remnant Church that Jesus is building, whose Architect is God, and is led by the Conquering Christ, the Champion of our salvation?

Nicolaitanism In The Neo-Pentecostal Church (Part 1)

2009-03-22T17:20:00.002-04:00

One of the common denominators of false cults, false religions, and the occult is that their doctrines and practices are predicated upon the “isms” of vain, humanly invented philosophies. The same is true of the heretical hyper-authoritarian Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines, dogmas, and practices that were infused into the fabric and foundation of the Neo-Pentecostal church, which fact is further corroboration that they are all of the aforementioned characterization: cultic, false, and occult. One of the most significant “isms” of the Discipleship heresy is one that is specifically mentioned and condemned in the Bible—Nicolaitanism.

In short, Nicolaitanism was a heretical hierarchical system of church‑government devised, propagated, and instituted by a corrupt sect of usurpers that surfaced toward the end of the First Century A.D. The malevolent and ignoble objectives of these interlopers are succinctly reflected in the etymology of their name—Nicolaitans—a compound Greek word, comprised of two components. The first component is derived from the word “nikao,” which means, to conquer. The derivation of the second compound is the word “laos,” which refers to the laity, a term used in the days of the Early Apostolic Church to allude to congregational believers who are not Fivefold Ministers or a part of the governmental presbytery of a church. Combined, these two components precisely convey the overall primary goal of the Nicolaitans, which was to conquer the laity.

It is not clear whether this appellation was an overtly defiant choice by these tyrannical ecclesiastical usurpers themselves, or whether they were so named by their opponents. What is abundantly clear from history, however, is that the demonic doctrines and practices devised and propagated by this corrupt corps of clerics were deadly weeds of false teaching virtually identical to that being touted by the Discipleship proponents of today. It is also evident that, because those deadly weeds were not vigorously opposed and extirpated, but were instead permitted to spread through the Church, eventually the hyper-authoritarian Nicolaitan doctrines and deeds led to the hierarchical system of the Roman Catholic Church that took the Church into 1,200 long years of spiritual deterioration and devastation.

The teaching of the Nicolaitans was the genesis of the concept that remains yet today in much of Christendom in which an elite class of professional clergy is set in as a hierarchical ecclesiastical government to in effect lord over the laity. The Nicolaitans taught and instituted a form of ecclesiastical hegemony (domination by force by one entity over another) based on a pyramiding, multilevel ascendancy structure comprised of priests, bishops, and cardinals, and so on, all of whom were under complete subjection to a singular religious potentate, who was venerated as the human substantiation of Christ Himself—the Pope. The residual of this system today—still alive and well and revered by millions of adherents—is the Papal System of the Catholic Church.

The Nicolaitan heresy was virtually identical in essence, as I said, to the Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices propagated by proponents and yet prevalent in the Post-Pentecostal church today. How much more significant that becomes when it is understood that it was primarily these perverse precepts and their propagators that were responsible for plunging the Church into the spiritual “black hole” of the Dark Ages, from which the collective Church is still today in the process of recovery and restoration.

The Dark Ages (313—1517 A.D.) was the period of the Great Apostasy for the collective Church, an occurrence prophesied by the Apostle Paul when he wrote:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will FALL AWAY FROM THE FAITH paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron (1 Tim. 4:1,2).

During this age of spiritual darkness, the Truth was subverted by humanistic ideologies and vain philosophies (Col. 2:8)—the “doctrines of demons” of which Paul forewarned. Eventually, nearly every remnant of Divine Truth, the foundational teachings upon which the Church had been originally established, was distorted, debauched, diluted, degraded, abrogated, and abandoned.

The prominent and preeminent role of the Nicolaitans in this cataclysmic and precipitous descent into comprehensive spiritual apostasy dramatically depicts the catastrophic consequences that ensue when false teachers are not exposed and their false teaching extirpated with finality. It is for this very reason that the Word of God warns, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (Gal. 5:9). It’s also the reason the Lord mandates: “Clean out the old leaven (false teaching), that you may be a new lump,” and “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves,” in order that we might “celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and TRUTH” (1 Cor. 5:7,13,8).

Jesus’ Disdain for the Nicolaitan Deeds and Doctrines

Considering the eventual denouement and consequences of the Nicolaitan heresy, it is little wonder why Jesus issued such a terse but severe warning to the Early Apostolic churches through the Apostle John regarding the Nicolaitans in the apocalyptic vision comprising the book of Revelation. It is in His commendation to the church of Ephesus in which Jesus expresses His utter disdain for the premise of such ecclesiastical predomination as that proposed and propagated by the Nicolaitans: “Yet this you do have, that you hate the DEEDS of the Nicolaitans, WHICH I ALSO HATE” (Rev. 2:6).

Jesus’ commendation of the Ephesians for recognizing the hereticalness of the ungodly teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans, and their consequential resistance and rejection of the false doctrine, is a tribute to the Apostle Paul who founded the church, to Timothy, who Paul personally tutored and sent to be their chief elder, and to all the other Fivefold ministers who contributed toward the spiritual development of the Ephesians. They had been so well taught that they were not deceived by men who came to them claiming falsely to be apostles (Rev. 2:2), nor did they succumb to the demonic doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans.

In His commendation of the Ephesians, Jesus indicates His hatred for the Nicolaitans’ deeds, which was an allusion to the practices of unauthorized, oppressive domination that were engendered by the heretical doctrines espoused and propagated by them. However, in His condemnation of another of the Asia Minor churches He addressed in the apocalyptic vision conveyed to the Apostle John while on Patmos, Jesus’ expressed His utter disdain of the doctrine, or teaching, of the Nicolaitans, “Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching (doctrine) of the Nicolaitans” (Rev. 2:15).

Jesus’ Condemnation of the Pergamum Church For Accepting the Nicolaitan Heresy

Though the Ephesian church was not taken in by the hypothesizing and attempted hijacking by the Nicolaitans, unfortunately, this was not the case with another of the seven Asia Minor churches explicitly addressed by Jesus in the Revelation communicated through John—the Pergamum church. Jesus sharply condemned the Pergamum church because “some” among them (some of which apparently were among the leadership of the church, else it could not have existed in the church long) had indeed been deceived into accepting and espousing the teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans: “Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching (doctrine) of the Nicolaitans” (Rev. 2:15).

The Nicolaitan heresy was not the only deception by which the Pergamum believers had been bewitched, however. For, Jesus also rebuked them because some of their membership also espoused some other form of false teaching leading to some form of idolatry and immorality that the Lord said was akin to the teaching of the prophet Balaam:

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. (Rev. 2:14)

The Pergamum Principle: Proclivity To Deception

Apparently, the Pergamum church had become especially vulnerable to false teaching. Like many groups today, they seem to have even developed a proclivity to deception, a tendency toward being duped by false teaching. As it is also today, it seems that once a group has begun to receive false teaching, an invisible door in the spirit realm is opened, making them susceptible to additional false teaching and delusion of many different kinds. I have found this to be true in my experience in dealing with different groups and churches. Usually, where there is one erroneous doctrine being espoused, there are many different deceptions. Indeed, the culture of some Charismatic churches is a virtual cornucopia of false teaching and what can only be characterized as a fair of folklore and mysticism. I call this proclivity to deception, “The Pergamum Principle.”

Why is this so, and why do some individuals and groups seem to be especially vulnerable to deception, while others are able to resist it and stay on track doctrinally and directionally?

I believe the Lord has shown me the answer to that question. It is revealed in a portion of Scripture where perhaps we would not expect to find the answer, a passage dealing with five main elements—the Second Coming of Christ, the Rapture, the Day of the Lord, the Last‑day Apostasy, and the revelation of the Anti-christ:

...with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him (the Rapture), that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.... And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed.... that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, [displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders {NIV}], and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, GOD WILL SEND UPON THEM A DELUDING INFLUENCE (PROCLIVITY TO DECEPTION) SO THAT THEY MIGHT BELIEVE WHAT IS FALSE [THE LIE {margin}], in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness (lawlessness). (1 Thes. 2:2‑12, parenthetical explanations added by the author)

What the Spirit is revealing in this passage is that there will be a period right before the return of Christ, the Rapture of the Church, and the revelation of the Antichrist, in which many ostensible believers will fall away in their relationship with Christ due to a “deluding influence” or “proclivity to deception” that the text explicitly states God Himself (as hard as it may be for some who insist on maintaining a humanistic view of God to believe) “will send upon them.” This deluding influence will have the effect of causing certain believers to believe lies, false teaching, deception, and to be duped by counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders perpetrated by Satan himself during that time through counterfeit messengers (ministers) who will arise in the Church falsely claiming to be apostles:

...false apostles, deceitful workers, who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan disguises himself as an angel (Greek words for “angel” and “apostle” are synonymous) of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants (“ministers,” Greek) also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds. (2 Cor. 11:13‑15)

This grave consequence will, according to the text, be directly linked to the workings of the “mystery of lawlessness” that is “already at work” to some degree, though presently restrained from full manifestation by the presence of the Church on the Earth until such time as the Church is taken out of the way (raptured) at the return of Christ. That is to say, those who will become susceptible to deception during this time of apostasy will become so because they have continued to maintain some degree of enamorment and involvement with some forms of “lawlessness.” Instead of fully receiving and believing the whole Truth, and allowing their lives and attitudes to be fully exposed by the Light of Divine Truth, such marginal believers will continue to revel in the dark shadows of deception.

Love of the Truth Produces True Salvation

Moreover, this text indicates that the true essence of the problem lied in the fact that “they did not receive the LOVE of the Truth so as to be SAVED.” Unless and until a person acquires a genuine LOVE for the Word of God, which is the expression of Divine Truth, he will never be able to fully receive and believe its content in his heart, and thereby make a complete repentance leading unto salvation (2 Cor. 7:10). Indeed, verse ten of our text indicates that these people never did become fully “saved” in their hearts, though they no doubt would vehemently contend otherwise.

Having made such a statement, I need to digress for a moment in order to explain. This word “saved” that appears in this verse, is based on the Greek word “sozo,” which means to make whole, to restore, to effect recovery, in addition to also carrying the connotation, to make holy. Based on this, it becomes clear that through the years since the waning days of the Early Apostolic Church many have espoused a far different connotation of this familiar term “saved,” which is so basic to fundamental orthodoxy, than the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit in the no less than 108 occurrences in its various forms in the New Testament.

The fact is, being “saved,” in the true Biblical sense, has little if anything to do with “having a home in Heaven” as so many modern expositors have so vociferously, adamantly, and repeatedly purported it does. Being saved, in the sense intended by the Holy Spirit, is a matter of being “sanctified,” that is, being made holy; it is being restored to the place of holiness and righteousness possessed by Adam before the fall; it is being made whole—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:19)—in accordance with the Image of Christ (Rom. 8:29), the Image according to which Man was originally created (Gen. 1:26,27). Being “sozo‑ed” is to be made “wholly holy” as well as “wholly whole.”

In reality then, the matter of “having a home in Heaven,” or more appropriately and importantly, having rightstanding and fellowship with God, according to true Biblical orthodoxy, is dependent upon our submission to the process of being made holy, that is sanctification, which is precisely what the Spirit has said—“without holiness, no man will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14, KJV). Conversely, being saved is not so much predicated on “walking the aisle,” “shaking the preachers hand,” or parroting some verbatim profession of faith, as purported by so many, though it may indeed all begin that way. So many people focus on the start of salvation, that is, being “Born Again” (though, certainly that is essential), instead of the really crucial matter—the finish. The winners of a race are determined at the finish, not the start. Aside from the obvious fact that to finish a race, one must start the race, the beginning is not the determining factor in regard to the final outcome of a race. The outcome of a race is not determined by who started, but who finishes. It is not the starting of the race that is most consequential once the determination to enter the race is made, but rather finishing the race without having been disqualified (1 Cor. 9:24‑27).

Similarly, the essential matter of salvation is not the matter of being born but the matter of dying. The matter of being born, whether in the natural or the spiritual, we had absolutely nothing to do with. In both the natural and the spiritual, our birth was a matter of the workings of God, which transpired totally without any contribution from ourselves. Contrary to the so‑called “testimonies” of some who would take credit for their salvation, the Bible says we were “Born Again through...the living and abiding Word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23), and that it was by grace through faith we were saved, and even that was not of ourselves or of our own works, but was the gift of God, so that no one can rightfully boast regarding his own salvation (Eph. 2:8,9).

Moreover, as I indicated, true salvation is not based on our birth, but on our dying. We must “die daily” to self and sin, crucifying the evil passions and desires of the sin nature that lurks within us (Gal. 5:24). The paradox of the gospel is that if we die, we live, eternally. For the believer, dying is living. This process of dying is sanctification, the process of being made holy, and “without holiness, no man will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14, KJV).

Spiritual Idolatry

2009-03-16T10:04:00.001-04:00

Though the term is a fairly familiar one within the context of the church and Christianity, few people really understand what spiritual idolatry is, meaning its true nature. In this article we are going to consider the matter of spiritual idolatry and what it is from a Biblical standpoint.

To merely call idolatry "sin," though it certainly is, somehow seems an extreme understatement, for it is the ultimate affront unto God. Yet, arguably, it is the most pervasive sin of all today among professing believers. Contributing to the prevalence of idolatry within Christendom, no doubt, is the common perception by many that idolatry is something that occurs only in underdeveloped, far-away, foreign lands, or that it is something relegated mostly to ancient civilizations of past ages, while nothing could be further from the truth.

In Galatians 5:20, the Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit listed "idolatry" as one of the fundamental elements of evil comprising the carnal nature, or sin nature, which actually is the nature of the devil himself, and which is also alluded to as the "spirit of disobedience" — the "spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). So, in other words, because the carnal nature is common to every human, idolatry, then, is a basic tendency of every person ever born.

In simplistic terms, idolatry is making something or someone that to which we look to bring happiness, peace, fulfillment, contentment, and all the things only God is supposed to provide us, which in essence is the definition of a false god.

To put it another way, idolatry is fashioning and forming false gods, or idols, out of one's own vain imaginations. Indeed, idols are really always imaginary, existing solely in the human mind and thoughts. Again by inspiration of the Spirit, in another place, Paul states categorically that those possessing true Spiritual knowledge and understanding "know that there is no such thing as an idol (false god), and that there is no God but one" (1 Cor. 8:4). False gods are false because they really do not exist, except in the mind of the idolater.

Idolatry in actuality then is merely the product of human thinking, manufactured in the factory of the human mind. It is the act of creating an abstract god within the deep, dark void of human reasoning. At bottom, all idolatry is "mind-idolatry," for it is primarily in the mind that all idolatry exists. In a nutshell, the basis of idolatry is what I refer to as "stinkin' thinkin'."

Moreover, the ilk of idolatry which bona fide believers are most guilty of committing even routinely, though unwittingly, is the idolatry of holding to false and contrived ideas about God that in fact are wholly incongruous with what He Himself has revealed in His Word concerning His Divine Nature, Will, and Ways. When it is all distilled down, idolatry is the ultimate form of arrogance and self-righteousness, for it supplants God and His Word, Will, and Way, and puts in His place a false, humanly formed and fashioned god, one made in our own image and after our own likeness, to affirm and hallow our own humanly contrived ideas and concepts. Thus, idolatry, in my view, is the ultimate offense that the human heart can commit against a Holy and Sovereign God.

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), who was the pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Toronto and Chicago, for a number of years was also editor of the CMA's official organ, Alliance Weekly, as well as a prolific author of books. His spiritual acumen was so highly regarded by his colleagues that many esteemed him a twentieth-century prophet. Despite all his prodigious achievements, he was perhaps best known for his personal intimacy with God, and his book, The Knowledge of the Holy (Harper & Row), was a collection of some of his most outstanding messages related to knowing God in personal intimacy. So profound and insightful are his comments regarding the subject of idolatry, as well as exquisitely and eloquently articulated, that they could scarcely be improved upon, making direct quotation the only fitting means of conveyance. The following are excerpts of his commentary, the chronology of which I have taken the liberty of rearranging in order to better serve our purposes here:

"Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it."

"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. 'When they knew God,' wrote Paul, 'they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'"

"Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is — in itself a monstrous sin — and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness."

"A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God."

"Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true."

"Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it."

All false doctrine is, in essence, an assemblage of "wrong ideas about God" and "perverted notions about God," as Tozer put it. How profound and Scriptural is his statement: "Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous," for "polluted waters" is a metaphor evoked in Scripture to represent false teaching. Indeed, false teaching is by no means, as some seem to believe, a harmless or inconsequential phenomenon, but rather polluted waters can be lethal, both in the natural and the spiritual. False teaching, which in essence is substituting human ideas and sophistry for the absolute Truth of God's Mind, in fact IS idolatry.

Idolatry and false teaching are synonymous terms. Idolatry always has associated with it some form of false teaching, and false teaching is always an ilk of idolatry. As Tozer so brilliantly articulated it: "The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true." In other words, the person engaging in idolatry simply contrives his own doctrine concerning spiritual matters and the composition of "truth," and conducts his life based on those determinations even though they are not congruous with the real Truth which emanates from and is defined by God as Truth in His Word.

Over the course of Church history, change within the Church has been a slow—at times agonizingly slow—process. Despite the great strides the Church has made since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 A.D. in ridding false teaching, more yet remains. And false doctrine is far from being the innocuous matter it is viewed as being by many professing believers today. The 21st Century Church needs to accept the responsibility incumbent upon it to point out and repudiate false doctrine of whatever sort and wherever it may be found, for truly false doctrine inherently is spiritual idolatry of the highest order.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 10/15/99]

[Note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to those pertinences that arose out of that movement.]

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook (Immediate Download)

The Curse Of Unauthorized Covenants

2009-02-24T11:11:00.005-05:00

For over thirty years, I have been doing all the Lord has allowed, anointed, and enabled me to do to set captives of spiritual authoritarian abuse free from the bonds of witchcraft, or the "yoke of slavery," in which they are ensnared.

In the last few years, the Lord has kindled a fire in my belly for the State of Florida in particular. Not only to do what I can to set the captives residing in this State free, but also to be used of the Lord to ignite prophesied fires of revival and refinement in the humanly nicknamed "Sunshine State," but Heavenly named, "Sonshine State."

Florida is an apostolic state, in that the apostolic anointing and function is a "first-in" anointing and function (1 Cor. 12:28) — a forerunner, pioneering, breakthrough anointing. Virtually all the original famed explorers' forays into the New World were along Florida's then surreal sand-covered beaches. Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, is accredited with the original discovery, in 1513, of the pristine paradisal peninsula, which is encompassed on three sides by the immense waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The lush flora and foliage pervading it partially influenced the awed adventurer's naming of the newly found land.

Further demonstrating the State's apostolic roots, though it is not been widely chronicled, a number of critical conflicts, conflagrations, and events precipitating the colonization and early establishment of America occurred here in Florida.

Florida is a proverbial "Fort Knox," financially speaking, because much of the world's wealthiest and most influential people reside in or hold properties or interests somewhere in the pearled peninsula. For multiple consecutive years, the sparse, exclusive enclaves of Jupiter/Hutchison Islands have been ascribed the wealthiest per household hamlets in America. The unimaginable dense concentration of mammon represented in the State of necessity then comprises a lion share of the "wealth of the wicked" God declares is stored up for the righteous of the End-times Church Jesus is building that is required to finance the final great global in-gathering of souls.

For these reasons and much more that cannot be addressed in this article, one of the most ferocious pitched battles between Heaven and Hell is over the 60,000 total square miles of land mass comprising the State of Florida, but more importantly, over the some 18 million souls who inhabit it. Numerous profound and portentous prophecies by prominent voices foretelling major moves of the Spirit of God have been trumpeted during the 20th and now early part of the 21st Centuries. What some have purported to be a "Prophetic Movement," which was a precursor of the subsequent "Apostolic Movement," was launched from the panhandle of Florida, where one of the most significant modern protracted outbreaks of the Spirit, the "Brownsville Revival," also occurred. The sleepy Central Florida town of Lakeland was the somewhat unlikely host of the so-called "River, or Laughing Revival" in the early 1990s through the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne and the aegis of Carpenter's Home Church, itself a significant phenomenon, burgeoning as it did into a multi-thousand-member super-church over the span of two decades in the late 1900s under the leadership of Karl Strader. (Albeit, the fruit of the "River Revival" in the hosting AG church was not lasting, but rather experienced in its aftermath dwindling attendance and ultimately a complete debacle as a consequence of a series of scandals, leadership failures, and dubious circumstances, climaxing in the forced selling of 10,000 seat facility.) Similar growth bursts transpired during that same span in a number of other Florida locales as well. Still today, Florida is graced with a number of mega-, super-, and large Neo-Pentecostal churches that are offshoots of the spectrum of spiritual streams flowing in the State over the last three or four decades.

Unfortunately, however, as an apostolic State, the master-deceiver, the "prince of the power of the air," has also in times past hijacked the spiritual air-currents of the fair State whose name is also partially derived from the Spanish word for Easter, for propagation of some of his most diabolical and damaging handiworks of deception — "winds of doctrine," i.e., false movements founded on "doctrines of demons" — in modern church history. One of the most prominent of those false movements was the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement of the 1970s, spawned in the South Florida coastal town of Fort Lauderdale. The deviant doctrines dispersed through that false movement eventually permeated the fabric, foundation, and functions of the Charismatic Movement, ultimately effecting its derailment and demise, as well as the defilement of its myriad of spiritual offspring (believers, churches, ministries) with the spiritually decimating disease of hyper-authoritarianism.

From today's vantage point, it is clear that the effect of that spiritual plague was of epidemic proportions. Veritable spiritual genocide has transpired as a result. Not just in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal but denominational and non-Charismatic consortia as well. None of the present streams of the Spirit — i.e., spirit-oriented churches, groups, ministries, and networks — are unaffected by it. The constant stream of communications and counseling requests to my office over three decades by victims of authoritarian abuse demonstrate the validity of these assertions. The streams that are supposed to make glad the City of God (the church Jesus is building) [Ps. 46:4] have been polluted by it and instead made the Church sad. Vast portions of the Body of Christ reel in the downward spiritual spiral of witchcraft! It's almost as if the events initiated by the sounding of the Third Angel's trumpet of Revelation 8:10,11, wherein a great star named Wormwood — "fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters....and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died (spiritually) from the waters, because they were made bitter" — has some latent application.

What is the answer? I believe the answer is inherent in a prophetic word the Lord gave me in July 2004. It tenders the key that unlocks the chains of bondage in which God's people who are called to be "Sons of God" as opposed to "slaves of men." The false teaching of illegitimate authoritarianism has brought curses upon the Body of Christ that must be reversed in order for the people of God to possess their inheritance. This past week the Lord dropped this phrase into my spirit, "Poised to Possess!" I believe the Spirit is saying the Church is "poised to possess" the Promise Land, but like the Israelites, they must be delivered out of the tyranny of spiritual Pharaohs that are holding them in bondage in order to possess it. The Body of Christ at large, and to some degree the Church of Florida more so than any other, is in serious crisis! Yet, sadly the majority of believers are thoroughly brainwashed and thus hoodwinked to the horrific state of affairs that pervades the Church.

As I write, my spirit is exceedingly sorrowful and grieved. But I have been at this prophetic thing long enough to know that it is not really me that is sorrowful and grieved, but rather God. Really, when you stop and think about it, what is it to me? Why would I, as just another person, care about these matters? No, I'm seeing and sensing what God sees and senses. Prophets are "seers." They see things; often things others do not or cannot see, at that time. Oftentimes others will not see the things a prophet sees until like Elisha with his servant, the prophet prays that God open the eyes of the blind so that they can see what he sees. But prophets are also "sensers" they sense things that others do not sense — often the heart or feelings of God (yes, God has feelings). I know without any equivocation that what I am seeing and feeling in my spirit is what God sees and is feeling. This is not a Steven thing, this is a Spirit thing!

One of the objectives of the Spirit of the Lord and anointing that was upon Him, which is likewise the anointing under which every true minister on His behalf operates, Jesus stated was/is to "set the captives free" (Lk. 4:18,19). The Holy Spirit commanded through the Apostle Paul, "It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject AGAIN to a YOKE OF SLAVERY" (Gal. 5:1)! Jesus declared, "He whom the Son sets free is FREE indeed" (Jn. 8:36)! He also said that true disciples of His, who abide in His Word, will be SET FREE by the Truth that they KNOW (Jn. 8:31,32)! It is clear from just a few snippets of Scripture such as these and the preponderance of Old Testament chronicles concerning the people of God as well that God is intensely desirous of His people being FREE of ALL kinds of bondage, no matter what it may be! GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE FREE! Free to be HIS! He is a jealous God who, above all else, wants us to be free to belong to Him, and Him alone!

Satan himself, the original rebel and defector from God, is the master-taskmaster! He is the arch-megalomaniac who is absolutely possessed with the altogether foolish figment of conquering and controlling God's entire Creation, and enslaving the crown jewel of that Creation — mankind. Yet, the most succinct expression by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God of the purpose of the Son of God's manifestation and visitation is "that He might DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL" (1 Jn. 3:8). Essentially, "the works of the devil" are invisible chains of captivity to the rebellion against God that the devil himself originated. God wants you free from his bondage.

My spirit cries out to the Body of Christ today: BE FREE FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF SATAN AND SIN, INCLUDING THE SIN OF IDOLATRY AND SPIRITUAL ADULTERY! I implore you to hear the voice of the Lord crying out in the wilderness today! Pray and ask God if you have sinned and brought a curse upon your life by entering into unauthorized covenants.

Father, I pray now, in the name of Your Son, whom you sent to set the captives free, that you open the eyes of your people, to see the yoke of bondage that they have been under, and that you set them free from it today! I give you praise, honor, and glory, for hearing my prayer and doing it! Amen!

After reading this prophetic word, if you have not already read my book, Charismatic Captivation, I strongly urge you to order your copy today and read it, in order to be set free from "the yoke of slavery" to illegitimate human mediators. You may read more about the book and order it from our website at: http://www.slm.org/pubs/index.html. I also urge you to take a look at my recommended reading list for victims or suspected victims of spiritual abuse that you can order through Amazon.Com.

The Curse of Unauthorized Covenants
By Steven Lambert, ThD (7/7/04)

One of the last books Derek Prince authored prior to his recent death was Blessings and Curses (Revised version, 2003; Chosen Books, Grand Rapids Michigan).

It has been well-documented how that in the 1970s Prince had been one of the originators of what became known as the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement. To his credit, however, when the doctrines associated with that movement were challenged by numerous prominent church leaders, the highly-respected Bible teacher was the first to publicly acknowledge that the teachings were erroneous, recant them, repent, and ask fellow believers for forgiveness from the spiritual harm he had been instrumental in wreaking upon the Body of Christ.

In Blessings and Curses (p. 46) [emphasis and bracketed comments added], Prince writes:

In Exodus 23:32-33 God warned Israel about the idolatrous nations whose land they were about to enter: "Do not make a COVENANT with them or with their gods...The worship of their gods will CERTAINLY be a SNARE to YOU." If you make a solemn agreement with people who are under the power of evil forces, you come under that same power.... As Christians, we are all in a covenant relationship with the Lord and the ONLY other valid covenant is that of marriage between a husband and wife. Covenants are very powerful, and to enter into a covenant relationship on any other basis but these can be extremely dangerous. If it is a scriptural covenant [which the author states are only those between a believer and the Lord, and between a husband and wife], its effect will be a blessing. But, if it is unscriptural, its effect will be a CURSE. Solomon offers an urgent word of counsel in Proverbs 6:4-5 to anyone who has made a pledge or vow binding them to an evil ASSOCIATION:
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
No slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
What you have said with your own lips [unscriptural/unauthorized pledges, oaths, covenants] only YOU can unsay. At the same time, get rid of any articles associated with the ungodly covenant. It is best to do this in the presence of Christian witnesses who can support you with their faith.

It is clear in Scripture that human covenants, pledges, and oaths other than the only two that are authorized by Scripture (marriage and God's with believers) subject the participating parties to curses that bear the potential for great harm and grave danger.

Contrary to the adage quoted even by occultists, Jesus did not teach that the truth itself will automatically set you free. Rather, He taught that it was the truth that we KNOW — the truth that lives (abides) in us and that we live in — that will set us free (cf, John 8:31,32). Indeed, the Word of God is literally filled with Kingdom Truths that bear unfettered power to liberate all who will accept and apply them to their lives, yet that glorious result cannot occur until we first KNOW those Truths. It is incumbent upon every believer who comes into this knowledge and understanding regarding illegitimate covenants to immediately repent and renounce every such improper covenant, and replace it with a confession of the two appropriate covenants, in order to "free yourself" from the "hand of the hunter" and "the snare of the fowler" — for improper covenants make us captives to the hunter and make our lives ensnared by the fowler, (Satan) who has the authority to fowl everything in our lives that is unprotected as the result of our removing ourselves from the protective covering of God through improper spiritual covenants and associations made with humans, which produce enslavement (Rom. 6:16).

Ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men, as postulated by the erroneous Shepherding doctrines, have brought the State of Florida under a curse — from the Southeast coast to the Northeast extremities of the panhandle. Let every preacher and believer first "free" his or her self from these covenants of enslavement and the curses they bring upon the participants, then preach, proclaim, and declare the message of freedom and liberty to fellow believers, and thereby deliver ourselves and the church of Florida that Jesus is building from the scourge of the curse!

When the scourge of this self-imposed curse is finally removed, we will begin to see God's hand of favor and approval released upon the church of Florida, and the fulfillment of the many prophesies predicting an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit and God's Glory upon the coastlines of the State![end]

The following is an excerpted section from Chapter Two, The Movement Goes Underground, from my book, Charismatic Captivation, first published in 1996, which proffered back then more warnings concerning the dangers of unauthorized and unscriptural "covenant relationships," and traces the roots of the concept to the Discpleship/Sheperding controversy that emerged in the mid-1970s.

However, what has transpired over the course of time is that in order to avoid the adverse effects of controversy, the majority of Discipleship proponents and practitioners have gone "underground," so to speak, employing less overt and less conspicuous methods and means of propagation, cloaking and camouflaging their operations behind more subtle and euphemistic, cryptic language.

For example, the extreme concepts initially referred to as concepts of "pastoring" are now termed "shepherding" principles. To give it a more sophisticated and sanctimonious ring, the obsequious relationship between the subjugated (the sheep) and their subjugator (the shepherd) now is called "covenant relationships." These "relationships" (if you accept that appellation) in many groups espousing Discipleship/Shepherdship/Covenant doctrines and employing variations of the practices advocated under that teaching are actually codified in the form of a "Covenant Agreement" signed by the subjugated in which the subjugated pledges his eternal oath of allegiance and unquestioned obedience and obeisance, along with his financial support, of course, to his "shepherd." Usually, this "covenant" requirement is a matter which is not addressed openly in the public meetings, but is introduced "in private" to attendees who have been around long enough to have become fully indoctrinated with the group's ways and teachings, and to have become psychologically dependent on the group (more on this and other psychological mechanisms employed by Discipleship groups later).

Allow me to say in passing that to me, oaths such as these bear little dissimilarity to the secret oaths and pledges required of initiates into secret societies such as the Free Masons, Ku Klux Klan, and the La Cosa Nostra (Italian Mafia), which essentially bind the inductee to that group for life, or in other words, "Til death do us part." In fact, it has been my experience in dealing with hundreds of people in deliverance from demonic powers that the pledge taken by inductees into these secret societies is precisely the same in terms of the spiritual impact it induces as those taken by members of Discipleship/Shepherding/Covenant cults (as we shall discuss later, this is precisely what these groups are — cults). A plethora of spirits of bondage, witchcraft, and idolatry saunter right through the door willfully opened by the person who enters into such demonic "covenants" of allegiance to men. Additionally, terribly debilitating and subversive satanic soul-ties are formed with the individuals with whom they have "covenanted." But, in actuality, the spiritual dynamic that is being instigated in the unseen spiritual realm when a person "covenants" with another human being in this manner, agreeing to subject himself to a mere human rather than unto the Lord Jesus Christ, is a pact of idolatry, because, spiritually speaking, wittingly or unwittingly, the subjugant has in essence pledged to submit his human will to his subjugator. In effect, the subjugant has just become the willing slave of his subjugator, for the Spirit says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are SLAVES of the one whom you obey" (Rom. 6:16).

The ultimate result of such a "pax idolatrus" is that that person has in actuality made the pact, not with that leader, but with demons, for in reality there is no such a thing as an idol, but the idolatrous homage rendered unto "idols," whether they be human or inanimate is "sacrifice to demons, and not to God" (1 Cor. 10:19-22). In other words, anyone who makes a spiritual covenant with anyone other than God, covenants with demons, whether they intend to or not, for "You cannot drink the cup of (fellowship with) the Lord and the cup of (fellowship with) demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (Ibid, v. 21, parenthesis added by author). If you do so covenant and so partake of fellowship with idols (other gods), or demons, you "provoke the Lord to jealousy" (Ibid, v. 22). Thus, in actuality this "covenanting" business and paying homage to human leaders is tantamount to pagan demon worship. The Bible explicitly constrains us against making such "covenants" with anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It specifically commands, "Do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor. 7:23).

Dear Friend, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men such as what are addressed in this word, I urge you to "Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids" until you "FREE YOURSELF, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler" by renouncing all such ungodly covenants and thereby break the self-imposed bondages and curses over your life. Repeat the following simple prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, my eyes have been opened to the error of these improper covenants I have made with men in ignorance, and sense the inner conviction of the Spirit regarding them. I ask you to forgive me of my sin and error. I want to FREE MYSELF from the witchcraft resulting from those false oaths, pledges, and covenants right now. So, in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Name above every name, I now renounce those covenants I made and demand by the Spirit of the Lord that the illegitimate yoke of slavery that has been upon me now lift off of me! I am now free of all false burdens and responsibilities, and free to serve YOU as my Lord. Thank you, Jesus!

[Original Post Date on Prophetic Perspective E-zine: 11/19/2005]

The Thin Line of Leadership (Part 2)

2008-11-19T11:49:00.004-05:00

The main focus of the initial installment of our discussion was the matter of hyper-authoritarianism in general and how easy it is for the most principled spiritual leaders to cross over the "thin line of leadership" between leading and lording, discipling and dominating, coaching and coercing, to operate in "foul ground" without even realizing it. In this part, we begin turning our attention to some of the whys and wherefors of ecclesiastical predominance.

Of course, as was pointed out in Part 1, there is nothing new about authoritarian abuse by spiritual leaders. In any age, there is no shortage of unscrupulous religious dictators bent on self-aggrandizement facilitated through personal kingdom-building purportedly "in the name of the Lord." Nevertheless, while it is not indigenous exclusively to our time, due perhaps to the move toward organizational ecumenicism commonly referred to today as "networking," there is little doubt that it is more widespread than ever before, to the point that sadly the term, "ubiquitous," now applies. Unfortunately, today there is little difference between the ecclesiastical and the secular realm with respect to corruption. And, after no small number of years of studying this phenomenon, I have concluded that the primary cause is nothing more sophisticated than base greed fueled by the oldest and most powerful human propensity which God Himself testifies is the ROOT of ALL evil — "the love of money."

Moreover, whatever the premise and psychology behind it, the sad historical record is that few of the corrupt and covetousness-crazed ecclesiastical autocrats alluded to herein are ever heedful of the criticisms or pleas of their fellows to turn back from such blatantly aberrant behavior, thus we will not engage here in the futility of attempting to convince them to do so. What is written here, is primarily for those sincere, honest, earnest, upstanding, and conscientious leaders who may realize from the reasonings offered herein that unwittingly and unintentionally from time to time they have transgressed the invisible line between leading and lording. The majority of that ilk, we are persuaded, will follow the leading of the Spirit to discontinue any unscriptural and improper leadership techniques, methods, and methodologies.

Most reasonable ministry professionals, if forthright, would agree that ecclesiastical predominance and authoritarian abuse exists in nearly every branch of the Church — denominations, modern proto-denominational associations and "networks," as well as among independents — and in far too great a quantity. Regardless of the "checks" against such errancy supposedly inherent in an "established" ecclesiastical hierarchy, every honest minister knows there exists — between the sequestered and secluded air-conditioned offices of organizational headquarters and the salt mines of the local church — a cavernous void rife for selfish-ambition, self-aggrandizement, and corruption by unscrupulous church-leaders.

As earnest as organizational officials may be about their role of "overseeing," it has limitations. A local church-leader so disposed can construct a partition around the affairs of that local operation, buttressed by servile and intensely loyal church cronies, that is quite difficult to "see over." Despite genuinely believed, eloquently articulated, and convincing pontifications describing the purported fail-safe system of accountability in place between the senior church leader and headquarter officials, the unsavory reality is that a leader could be a drunkard, womanizer, wife-beater, child-molester, swindler, and egregious authority-abuser, without anyone at headquarters ever knowing until a cataclysmic public eruption occurs. Indeed, the increasing public scandals of this sort involving high-profile ministers lading the news-media these days is testimony of that reality. Impersonal hierarchical governance will never be a safeguard against these potentialities. Only down-to-earth, real relationships with real mutual accountability based on a balance between "the God-kind of love" and the standard of "God-kind of living" among equals having different functions and responsibilities can ensure against inappropriate behavior and improper practices by church leadership.

The stark truth remains, even in these days of supposed increased human knowledge, political systems by their very nature, whether secular or ecclesiastical, are fertile breeding grounds for corruption. As long as the Church insists on mimicking the world's way of star-worship and undue exaltation of its leaders, and coronating them with inordinate and undue political and monetary deference and "power" attributed to royalty, we will continue to subject ourselves to such ecclesiastical corruption and public chagrin. For, as Lord Acton so aptly observed, "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." By no means are the hallowed halls of the Ecclesia a safe-haven from that adage.

Maybe it's our European lineage, or maybe it's just a basic human propensity, but the American Church seems to have this inexorable need for a de facto ecclesiastical aristocracy from which it is not willing to repent. Like Israel in the day of Saul, we clamor for our kings and our queens after the manner of the other nations of the world. We are even willing to render unto our Caesars a superabundance of our personal resources in order to have royalty through whom to vicariously live a life of opulence, ease, and privilege. Like the nations of the world, we just plain want our kings. They need not even subjugate or conquer us to gain aristocratic ascendancy, for we freely and wantonly bestow it upon them. Speaking about the need for a single world leader who would have the political cunning and charisma to preside over a one world order, a senior United Nations official quipped to reporters some two decades ago now, "Give us a super-leader, be he devil or Divine, and the world will follow!" Likewise, this seems to be the collective clamor for Christendom as well. And, the worldwide, ever-expanding move toward the false unity of ecclesiastical ecumenicism taking place in the institutional churches is certainly further evidence of that religion-related proclivity.

So it is not only base lusts of crazed charlatans that leads to authoritarian abuse, but rather it exists and even flourishes also because of the unredeemed fleshly desires of those who are willing to be subjugated by charismatic beguilers spewing forth utopian promises of grandeur. Let's face it, somewhere in the human psyche is the desire for Oz, a new Garden of Eden, heaven on earth — call it what you will — we long for it, even Christians, who theologically should know better. Little wonder then that even the "elect" can be so easily deceived by new-age "New World" philosophies and vain promises. Unredeemed humanity and unenlightened Christianity alike crave utopia now, in this life, in this present world-system — never mind that it is antichrist-ruled — rather than have to endure the temporary duresses requisite to the manifestation of Christ's Kingdom on earth.

Besides having a general aversion for learning, mankind, as a whole, is intellectually and spiritually lazy. The majority of people don't want to have to study, to read, to seek, to investigate, to ruminate, to mentally assimilate, to pray — we want someone else to do all that for us, because it requires too much effort and cuts into the time we allot to leisure, pleasure, and entertainment. Thus, what most people are looking for is not merely a spiritual shepherd — someone to teach and guide us in the ways of God, but a guru, a dalai, a priest — someone to do all the "spiritual stuff" for us, and then just tell us what we should believe and do.

The fact of the matter is, especially in a free society, there would be no authoritarian subjugation if there were no one willing to be subjugated by self-aggrandizing despots. Without question, in the case of many, their tacit acquiescence to predomination is purely a matter of intellectual and spiritual laziness coupled with general apathy. However, in those cases where a very defined and definitive system of deliberate domination and control has been instituted, there is another dynamic at work — selfish ambition.

Indeed, at bottom, it is selfish ambition, both on the part of the subjugator, and, ironically, the subjugated as well, that drives hyper-authoritarianism. The subjugator is bent on building a private kingdom wherein he or she is exalted and exulted as lord, master, and supreme-ruler. And, the "subjugatees" are enticed into becoming a participant in the grandeur through promises of shared ascendancy and personal aggrandizement, which appeals to and appeases their own selfish lusts for superiority.

Where it is employed today, the nuts and bolts of ecclesiastical group-predomination, virtually without exception is a kind of multi-level, pyramid authority structure, or polity. It is identical to the M-L-M (multi-level marketing) schema so popular today in the business sector, wherein each participant recruits other participants, all of whom formulate his "downline." Supposedly, each participant's downline is his personal pipeline of income reaped from the efforts of his recruits as well as each of theirs, and so on down the line. The basic hypothesis is that this pyramid-shaped structure intrinsically produces exponential and near effortless synergism equating ultimately to perpetual residual income. Essentially, it's the modern, sophisticated version of the old chain-letter.

Two things that should alert thinking observers to the impropriety of these types of structures apparently escapes the notice of many. One is the fact that pyramid schemes, though most M-L-M have found crafty ways to circumvent it, have been deemed by every state in the U.S. to be illegal, essentially because the postulation of synergism is fraudulent except in the case of those in the first few levels at the apex of the pyramid. The second is that the pyramid, as evidenced by the pyramids of occult-rife Egyptian heritage, is the very signature and icon of the occult and its ultimate author, Satan.

Notwithstanding, there are a plethora of hybrids of this system being used very effectively in churches in America and around the world to expand their membership, from mainline denominations to independents, though all those employing it would adamantly and vociferously deny it. Nevertheless, it can hardly be denied that a staple of modern church "development" methodologies is the "small group" concept, which virtually all churches employ in some degree and form. In some churches they are called "cell groups." Others call them "care groups," or various other appellations. Whatever they are called, they are essentially small groups of only a few to fifty or a little more, who meet usually in someone's house, usually the leader's, for the supposed purpose of fellowship, prayer, and exhortation.

In itself, of course, there is nothing wrong with that concept, and indeed it is quite Scriptural, useful, and effectual in terms of practical ministry. In fact, it is in the small group setting, away from the ecclesiastical formality of the sanctuary where people can be real that real ministry takes place. After all, real fellowship and ministry cannot be achieved with the back of someone's head, or in the hour or two of a church-service. Moreover, there is certainly much more to real fellowship and ministry than mere handshakes, chit-chat, and congregational prayer.

The main problem comes in the leadership of those small groups, and the status given those who host or "lead" them. Indeed, the essence of the problem is in whether the people in charge of these meetings are considered merely "hosts" or spiritual "leaders." In many churches, those who host these meetings are considered and even called "leaders." Sometimes the term is prefaced by the prefix "lay-", nonetheless, they are given a status of being a "leader" of some echelon in the church polity, as well as varying degrees and forms of deference commonly attributed to that nomenclature.

Now the concept of deploying the laity of a local church in constructive and effectual roles of real and substantive function according to their God-given giftings and talents is an altogether proper, needed, even necessary, and certainly Scriptural concept (Rom. 12:3-13; 1 Pet. 4:10,11; et al.). However, where that concept goes awry in application is when untrained, ungifted, unanointed, untried laymen are all of a sudden dubbed "leaders," and congregants look to them for counsel, Biblical answers, and direction for the diverse range of problems and needs believers typically encounter in their Christian pilgrimage.

When it comes to such spiritual input into the lives of God's sheep who were purchased with the precious cost of the shed blood of Jesus, it is vital that it be: firstly, correct and Biblically-based; secondly, God-inspired; thirdly, prudent and pragmatic; fourthly, timely according to God's timetable; and fifthly, presented in a constructive rather than destructive way. All of that requires experience and expertise. Summarily, the matter of speaking unto God's sheep on His behalf is a fearful thing that should not be taken lightly. Nor, because of its extensive potential ramifications, should it be delegated to undeveloped, inexperienced, Sunday-morning spiritual "dabblers," or spiritual "weekend warriors," especially those steeped in self-absorption and a super-inflated sense of self-importance, seeking status, recognition, and ascendancy over others.

The problem with the multi-level downline or small group system instituted within the ecclesiastical mini-society also known as local churches is that by nature that system is fertile ground for such spiritual sophomorism and thus attracts the very people who engage in it. The very unfortunate result is two-fold. One, what in essence, to put it bluntly, is a bastardization of the ministry. True ministry is devalued, degraded, debased, and debauched, which is precisely what has happened on a large scale in many sectors of the Church today. Two, the sheep of those flocks are being subjected to a debauched, defiled, and, in some cases, a desecrated counterfeit of genuine ministry, depriving them of the benefit they could have derived from true God-ordained and -anointed ministry.

Almost without exception, where hyper-authoritarianism is occurring, such a small group system with lay-leadership is employed, supposedly to promote "church growth," which invariably refers to growth in terms of size rather than spirituality. And, in these multi-level downlines the under-leaders are indoctrinated by the ultimate leader with certain patent hyper-authoritarian precepts and practices by which to "govern" the affairs and functions of their particular downlines. The under-leaders in turn pass those dogmas and doctrines onto the group they lead. The result is an entire church of participants in an infrastructure of unauthorized domination and control over its members that to them seems wholly proper and good because they were spiritually reared and trained in it, in some cases from the very beginning of their new life in Christ.

This is a dire development in our churches today that sorely needs wholesale correction, but it is only one of the many factors leading to authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement in church-groups.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook (Immediate Download)

The Thin Line of Leadership (Part 1)

2008-11-19T11:38:00.004-05:00

There is a very thin line between leading and lording, discipling and dominating, coaching and coercing. So thin is the line, it is at times and in certain scenarios nearly indistinguishable.

Indeed, church leaders commonly cross the divide without even realizing it, and are much chagrined upon discovery of their transgression. Moreover, many find themselves alternately on one side or the other of the line at different times. For the majority of sincere, upstanding, and ethical ministers, transversing — or transgressing, as it may be — the line is altogether unintentional, and when they suddenly find themselves on the wrong side, they cannot remember when, how, or even why the misstep occurred. Unfortunately there are also ministers not of this upright ilk, who intentionally and indeed unabashedly leap over the boundary line to operate in "foul territory" as their habitual modus operandi.

The role of leadership, regardless the arena, is intrinsically complex. Certainly, because of human fickleness and unpredictability it is an art, not an exact science. Even for the most masterful, leading free-willed humans often resistant to the very premise of being led is a tenuous and slippery slope. The particular kind of leadership ministers are charged with exercising is especially formidable, in that the ministry is, at bottom, the arduous and precarious discipline of behavior-modification.

Further complicating the task, as every minister is painfully aware, is the fact that for church leadership professionals ministry is also their livelihood, their means of support for themselves as well as their families. While at first thought this may seem to be tangential, rather it is central. For, the unfortunate fact is that like most other areas of human endeavor, financial reward and unredeemed personal ambition are primary motivators to those who transgress the boundaries of Scriptural propriety to lord over the flock entrusted to their charge. Regardless of how sophisticated the world becomes, the love of money, as Divine Sophistry reveals, remains the root of all evil.

In the case of leaders who purposely and knowingly choose to be dominating and controlling dictators over associates and God's sheep in order to build their private kingdoms, the sad record is that precious few are influenced toward repentance or change by the criticism or pleas of fellows. Though those of this ilk always seem to be plentiful, nevertheless, there are also many sincere and earnest leaders who functioning in the fray leadership often is, err on the foul side of the line. With many of these, the transgression is unwitting and unwilling. That is to say, they don't realize they are engaging in improper domination and control, nor do they mean to, but are merely trying to fulfill as best they know how their responsibility to lead.

Frequently, especially in the case of organizational church leaders, they tutored under other leaders on their way to becoming leaders themselves. As a result, many ministers merely mimic, at least partially, the methodology and methods of their mentors or some leader with whom they are impressed. The theory of mentoring, of course, is certainly Scriptural, however, it is also incumbent upon those who are being mentored to evaluate the Scripturality, ethicality, and effectuality of the methodology and methods employed by their mentors. Nowhere does Scripture advocate or condone "blind" obedience or obeisance of spiritual leaders, regardless of their status and stature.

On the contrary, God commands all believers to examine all spiritual postulations carefully, holding fast to that which is good, and abstaining from every form of evil (1 Thes. 5:21,22). Moreover, the Holy Spirit termed the Bereans "more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica" because they examined the Scriptures daily themselves to evaluate the veracity of the things being preached by the greatest of all God's theologians and messengers, the Apostle Paul, and his associates as well (Ac. 17:10,11).

While the Holy Spirit calls evaluation of teaching, or doctrine, "noble-minded," leaders who dominate followers, invariably call it "rebellion" when their adherents engage in it. Instead of teaching their followers to study the Scripture themselves in order to scrutinize what they and other ministers are teaching, they essentially insist their followers simply accept and believe what they tell them Scripture says and means, and to merely do what they tell them to do. Of course, that very proposition by Dark Ages Church leaders contributed greatly to twelve hundred years of apostasy.

Jesus' Great Commission charged all ministers to "make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." (Mat. 28:19). The word "disciple" means "learner." Jesus was saying that the task of ministers is to make or compel believers to become "learners" through the medium of teaching, which is systematic and specific instruction, not just generalized preaching. To put it another way, the role of ministers is to teach people to become learners. Unfortunately, this concept is novel to many believers as well as ministers. To paraphrase a familiar idiom regarding secular education, the Church should be the highest institute for the highest (i.e., spiritual) learning.

Still, the task of ministers does not end with teaching believers to be learners, but according to Jesus' exhortation extends beyond that to the task of "teaching them to observe." As James declared, we are not justified by what we have heard or know, but rather by what we do or observe. The job of ministers, as daunting as it may be, is not to merely teach believers to mentally assimilate abstract principles, but also to teach believers to obey and apply those principles in their lives. And, as any earnest minister knows, while teaching people to be learners is difficult, teaching them to be "obeyers" is even more difficult.

But, nothing exists in a vacuum, including ministry. What ministers are supposed to do according to Scripture and what they often feel they can do according to the situation in which they function often do not correspond. Besides being ministers, they are also husbands and fathers, and therefore have a legitimate as well as Scriptural mandate to properly provide for their families, just as any other head-of-household believer. Factor in the element that all active professional ministers to some degree are "elected" to the positions they hold in their immediate organization by the very people they are to minister to, and you have a major, ongoing dilemma which every minister knows all too well. The expression: "between a rock and a hard spot," may have no more apt application than the ministry — the "rock" being Jesus and His inflexible charge to ministers, and the "hard spot" being practical, personal ministry to intractable humans with an intrinsic propensity for spiritual non-compliance.

The result is another invisible line separating what a minister should be counseling, teaching, saying, deciding (et al.), and what the people are willing to tolerate, receive, accept, and allow from the minister. Ministers grapple with this very real predicament daily. From the perspective between what the people will allow and what God mandates, ministers are perpetually "damned if they do and damned if they don't."

Like the umpire, on every call, alternately, you have one team and its fans against you and the other team and its fans for you. It is never a win-win job, but always a win-lose job. Somebody is adamantly and vehemently against you on every call. That is just the nature of the job. A veteran major league umpire once bemoaned his was the only profession in which you must be perfect the first day on the job and then improve from there. Well, there is one other profession of that ilk — the ministry. But, the requisites of ministry are even more stringent than umpiring because in addition to having perfect knowledge and judgment, the minister is expected by his constituents to also be a veritable perfect replication of Christ Himself, totally devoid of anything human.

This Catch-22 is among the primary factors that cause even sincere, honest, earnest, and well-intentioned leaders to cross the invisible line between legitimate and illegitimate authority, and gradually gravitate toward domination instead of discipling, lording instead of leading, and coercing instead of coaching, coaxing, and convincing. And, as stated before, it often happens unknowingly and even unintentionally. The overwhelming majority of ministry professionals have no desire whatsoever of operating outside the bounds of authority, and would be appalled to find they have encroached upon "foul ground." In the continuation of this article, we will examine some practical tips for recognizing improper domination and control by church leaders.

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church, arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77).

The Fallacy of Personal Pastors (Part 2)

2008-11-19T11:01:00.003-05:00

The adulterated concept of "spiritual covering" itself is problematic enough. Yet, its negative effect is increased by the fact that it is the predicate for several other, related elements of error comprising the heretical Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices, one of which is the matter of "personal pastors." Indeed, this element has been the basis for at least as much excess, errancy, and authoritarian abuse as the others discussed in this series of articles concerning those doctrines and practices. To those who employ these practices for sordid purposes or with less than pure motives, the perverted concept of "spiritual covering" is sanction for a most insidious kind of unauthorized personal domination and control of their subjects under the auspices of this very delusive and destructive version of "personal shepherding."

[Note: This post is a continuation of the previous post, which the reader should read first in order to understand the context.]

As with most other elements of error with these and other false doctrines, this particular component is the result of perversion and adulterization of a valid Truth. The essence of the erroneous concept of "personal pastoring" is that because the spiritual leader, along with the entire chain of leaders extending from him in a vertical downline, provides and in effect IS the "spiritual covering" for his followers (which we have already shown to be a false hypothesis), the leader has not only the right, but also the duty to interlope into the private and personal affairs of the lives of the members of the group. In essence, the leader becomes the equivalent of tribal chief to the group, whose final approval members of the tribe must have for most every important transaction and decision in their lives, with some variability depending on the particular group and leader. In many cases, members must receive authorization from the leadership for the most mundane matters in their lives, including financial matters and purchasing decisions, matters of career and employment, housing, family, friends, social and educational matters, and just about every segment of the members' lives.

Now, of course there is a very valid role of shepherding that Fivefold Shepherds (and all Fivefold ministers are under-shepherds, not just pastors) are indeed ordained by the Lord to fulfill on behalf of the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4), Jesus. Indeed, Chapter Eight of this book (CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION) is wholly devoted to delineating the proper role of Fivefold ministers as elucidated by the Word of God to the extent that it relates to the errors of the Discipleship teachings. The meaning of the word "shepherd" is to feed and care for, to lead and to guide, and that is the crux of what Fivefold shepherds are to provide on behalf of Christ unto the sheep of God's Fold.

As I have repeatedly indicated in various ways, what is involved in the case of the Discipleship/Shepherding teaching and practices, unfortunately, is a bastardization of the shepherding principle. And the core of that corruption is that proponents and practitioners of this teaching "exceed what is written" by trying to impose their leadership authority and responsibility in the natural realm rather than limiting it to the spiritual realm. Corruption and counterfeiting of the genuine and true is one of Satan's favorite and most effective strategies. He attacks the manifestation of Truth by polluting it with subtle deception, excesses, and error. The result is mixture, and the product of mixture is confusion. Confusion in turn opens the door to further demonic incursion. Demonic incursion produces discreditation, and discreditation leads to the ultimate objective of the wiles of the devil — rejection of valid Truth. Most of Satan's evil machinations are predicated on this multi-part strategy.

Exceeding the God-ordained scope and sphere of ministry offices is one of the most common forms of error in the Church today. It is absolutely vital for every minister to understand that the context and sphere of one's shepherding role is limited primarily to the spiritual. While Fivefold ministers may occasionally be able to proffer some inspired or experiential counsel and advice even regarding natural matters, their foremost calling and enablement by the Spirit is to feed, care for, lead, and guide the sheep of God's Flock spiritually and in relation to spiritual matters, not so much natural affairs. We are charged by God with the responsibility to feed His sheep spiritual food, to care for them with the spiritual wherewithal of the Holy Spirit, to lead them unto the one and only true Rock of their Salvation and Provider, Jesus, and after the pattern given us by the Chief Shepherd (Ps. 23), we are to guide them "in the paths of righteousness," which is, the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus.

The Chief Shepherd

What all of this speaks to us and what all ministers need to be reminded of from time to time is that for as much power and authority (along with abundant responsibility) Jesus has vested in us as His "stand-ins," His under-shepherds, to minister unto the Flock of God on His behalf, notwithstanding, and without any equivocation — it is Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who is the TRUE and SUPREME SHEPHERD. All of the rest of us are not even worthy, compared to Him, to be called after His name or to bear in any degree the title of which He alone has proved Himself so inimitably worthy — "Good Shepherd." Those mere under-shepherds on Earth who are so overtly impressed by themselves and their own "accomplishments" would certainly do well to take a cue in humility from the Twenty-Four Chief Elders who, when face to face with "the One who was sitting on the Throne," did "cast down their crowns before the Throne, saying, Worthy art THOU, O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power.'"

Compared to the glory of the SUPREME SHEPHERD, we are poor and miserable substitutes, mere mortals of flesh and bone, with no worthiness of our own, nothing with which to commend us to God, or in reality even to our own fellows. It is only as we reflect His Image, His glory, His Light, which we do only ever so sporadically and imperfectly, that there is anything comely or of worth within us. We merely reflect, with varying and variable degrees of illumination, unto a lost, broken, downcast, hurting, spiritually bankrupt, and dying world of undone sinners the Image of a glorious and risen Savior who suffered immeasurable shame, disgrace, sorrow, and pain, far beyond anything we could even imagine much less ourselves experience, in order to set the captives free from their bondage and eternal damnation.

It is these sentiments and understanding the Apostle Peter, who over a period of three and one-half years had walked and talked and eaten and lived with this GREAT SHEPHERD OF OUR SOULS, was trying desperately to convey when he wrote:

Therefore, I exhort the elders (Fivefold Ministers) among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Pet. 5:1-4, parenthesis added by author)

The Amplified Bible's version of this passage conveys in even more graphic terms the sense of what the Apostle was communicating in these words:

I warn and counsel the elders among you — the pastors and spiritual guides of the church — as a fellow elder and as an eyewitness [called to testify] of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a sharer in the glory (the honor and splendor) that is to be revealed (disclosed, unfolded): Tend — nurture, guard, guide and fold — the flock of God that is [your responsibility], not by coercion or constraint but willingly; not dishonorably motivated by the advantages and profits [belonging to the office] but eagerly and cheerfully. Not (as arrogant, dictatorial and overbearing persons) domineering over those in your charge, but being examples — patterns and models of Christian living — to the flock (the congregation). And [then] when the CHIEF SHEPHERD is revealed you will win the conqueror's crown of glory.

To me personally there are few things as repulsive and infuriating as a "spiritual" (or, more appropriately, "religious") leader who is all the very things the above text warns us not to be: arrogant, dictatorial, overbearing, and domineering, over the meek and innocent sheep of God's Flock under his charge. This, to me, is about as despicable as it gets — to take advantage of and exploit the need people have for a human pattern and model of Jesus they can see, and use that need as a pretext to dominate and subjugate those needy people for sordid and self-aggrandizing personal gain. I know that it is also a stench in the nostrils of God! And, if it is so utterly offensive and repulsive to me, one who is of the same fleshly nature as they, it must only be the expansive and encompassing mercy and forbearance of God that keeps Him from wiping such vile vermin completely off the face of the Earth and taking them instantly to their final and just reward, wherever and whatever that may be.

Whose Flock Is It? Whose Sheep Are They?

I mean, it appears to me that when those in leadership positions engage in such sordid attitudes and activity they have forgotten one very vital and important factor in the scenario, which is that the sheep don't belong to any man. The true sheep of God, which is every truly Born Again believer, are all the sheep of GOD'S FLOCK. The true sheep, it will come as a shock to many "leaders," are GOD'S sheep, and Jesus is the true Shepherd of God's Fold. They are not the personal possession of human pastors, despite the fact that the attitudes of many pastors seem to reflect that they think they are. Human shepherds, it must never be forgotten, are merely custodial under-shepherds.

The Apostle Peter made all this abundantly clear in the passage we just examined, where, in verse two, he exhorted the presbytery of the local church to "shepherd THE FLOCK OF GOD." Moreover, it is on this foundational fact that he bases his further exhortations to under-shepherds not to lord over the flock, but to rather prove themselves examples, visible models, live representations of the Good Shepherd which the sheep can actually behold with their physical eyes.

Another passage which specifically alludes to the fact that it is to GOD'S FLOCK that the sheep belong is found in the Apostle Paul's exhortation unto the eldership (Fivefold Ministers) of the church at Ephesus, whom he had called together for a final word of exhortation and admonition prior to his departure to Rome. To these "episkopos" (elders, overseers, shepherds) he said:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all THE FLOCK, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church OF GOD which he purchased with his own blood. (Ac. 20:28)

In this passage we see "the flock" equated with "the church of God." "The church of God" is the "Ecclesia," the assemblage of the "called out" saints Jesus referred to when He said, "I will build My church; and the gates (lit., powers) of Hades shall not overpower it." In this Truth-replete statement, Jesus was succinctly indicating four major points about this "Ecclesia" He was personally engaged in building: one, it was His own personal possession, and no other person or group of persons; two, this particular group of called out, consecrated, and set apart believers, the Holy Race, is the only one He Himself is engaged in establishing; three, those "churches" or collections of peoples being led and built by mere men apart from His personal engagement are imposters and bogus counterfeits, false imitations, of the true Church that He Himself is building; and four, that the identifying and distinguishing mark of the true Church that Jesus Himself is building is that the individuals of this Ecclesia, and thus its collective whole as well, are not being overpowered and vanquished in terms of constitution, character, and conduct, by the powers and assailment of the devil's kingdom, Hades.

Relating all this with what Paul said to the elders of the church at Ephesus: the bona fide, Born Again, called out, set apart from the world, sanctified, consecrated believers who comprise this Ecclesia which Jesus is building, are the exclusive possession of Christ Himself; they are the sheep of the Good Shepherd, Jesus; they are the sheep of God's Flock, and not that of any mere human. The true sheep, the sheep of this Ecclesia, are those who "belong to Christ," meaning they are His possession, and are those who "have crucified the flesh with its (carnal and worldly and devilish) passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24, parenthesis added by author), which speaks of their having been sanctified and set apart in deed, not merely metaphorically.

AntiChrist Wolves

Now the portion of the Apostle Paul's poignant and impassioned exhortation to the Ephesian elders just quoted began with an admonition to "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock...." The subsequent verses specify what it was that the Apostle told them it was their responsibility from God as shepherds and overseers of God's flock to guard against — the intrusion and infusion of "savage wolves." He indicated this was an inevitable occurrence following his departure unto Rome (where he would be put to death), inevitable, presumably, that is, if preclusive action was not taken. Though Paul himself was speaking entirely of the churches of that day to whom he had ministerial responsibility, his Spirit-inspired admonition, especially since it is now part of canonized Scripture, is also a dire and rousing exhortation to the Ecclesia of Christ of every era, including the present one. Here is the entire text:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure SAVAGE WOLVES will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. (Ac. 20:28)

Paul was warning these Fivefold ministers who were charged with edificational and governmental responsibility that there would be persons purporting to be anointed and appointed leaders infiltrating their ranks who were false, self-imposed interlopers motivated by self-aggrandizement, who would exploit the sheep for their own personal sordid gain. Paul seemed to be indicating that some of these "ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing," as Jesus called them, would emerge even out of this very group of current elders who were assembled before him. He said these imposters would teach perverted, erroneous, and unproven doctrines in order to draw away the disciples after themselves, in effect causing those disciples to fall away from Jesus as their Shepherd in order to follow after and adhere to these errant and bogus ministers.

Now in so deceiving and leading astray those sheep, these seducers would prove they are "antiChrist wolves," possessed and driven by an evil antiChrist spirit of the devil, because they are actually engaged in seducing the sheep to abandon Christ and the Truth in order to follow after these false shepherds and false saviors and their fallacious doctrines and indoctrinations.

This is precisely what is transpiring in the case of the perverted and invalid Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and those who propagate them. Nothing could be a more exact fulfillment of what the Apostle Paul predicted would transpire than the overt abuses and excesses in terms of human shepherdship taking place today in groups and churches under the auspices of these fallacious doctrines. Those teaching and operating in accordance with these deviant doctrines are indeed "drawing away disciples after themselves" and away from Jesus as their true Shepherd and Savior, abrogating Him in those offices, and substituting themselves instead. Discipleship shepherds via the tenets of these errant doctrines pose and interpose themselves as the de facto shepherd and savior of their followers, even though they may evoke the name of Jesus with superfluity in all the discourse of their public ministry. By "speaking perverse things," these "savage wolves," motivated by sordid and demonic passions and desires for ascendancy, adulation, and personal aggrandizement, have set themselves in the place of veneration Christ alone is worthy to occupy. Such usurpation is overtly and quintessentially antiChrist.

[For more on the detrimental effects of submitting yourself under the spiritual coverings of men, I urge you to read The Curses of Unauthorized Covenants.]

[Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert, a Charismatic minister. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church, emerging out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77).

The Fallacy of Personal Pastors (Part 1)

2008-11-19T10:31:00.002-05:00

The adulterated concept of "spiritual covering" itself is problematic enough (for more on that subject, read the previous two posts). Yet, its negative effect is increased by the fact that it is the predicate for several other, related elements of error comprising the heretical Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices, one of which is the matter of "personal pastors." Indeed, this element has been the basis for at least as much excess, errancy, and authoritarian abuse as the others discussed in this series of articles concerning those doctrines and practices. To those who employ these practices for sordid purposes or with less than pure motives, the perverted concept of "spiritual covering" is license for a most insidious kind of unauthorized personal domination and control of their subjects under the auspices of this very delusive and destructive version of "personal shepherding."

As with most other elements of error with these and other false doctrines, this particular component is the result of perversion and adulterization of a valid Truth. The essence of the erroneous concept of "personal shepherding" is that because the spiritual leader, along with the entire chain of leaders emanating from him, provides and in effect IS the "spiritual covering" for his followers (which we have already shown to be a false hypothesis), the leader has not only the right, but also the duty to interlope into the private and personal affairs of the lives of the members of the group. In essence, the leader becomes the equivalent of tribal chief to the group, whose final approval members of the tribe must have for most every important transaction and decision in their lives, with some variability depending on the particular group and leader. In many cases, members must receive authorization from the leadership for the most mundane matters in their lives, including financial matters and purchasing decisions, matters of career and employment, housing, family, friends, social and educational matters, and just about every segment of the members' lives.

Now, of course there is a very valid role of shepherdship that Fivefold Shepherds (and all Fivefold ministers are under-shepherds, not just pastors) are indeed ordained by the Lord to fulfill on behalf of the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4), Jesus. Indeed, Chapter Eight is wholly devoted to delineating the rightful role of Fivefold ministers as elucidated by the Word of God to the extent that it relates to the errors of the Discipleship teachings. The meaning of the word "shepherd" is to feed and care for, to lead and to guide, and that is the crux of what Fivefold shepherds are to provide on behalf of Christ unto the sheep of God's Fold.

As I have repeatedly indicated in various ways, what is involved in the case of the Discipleship/Shepherding teaching and practices, unfortunately, is a bastardization of the shepherding principle. And the core of that corruption is that proponents and practitioners of this teaching "exceed what is written" by trying to impose their leadership authority and responsibility in the natural realm rather than limiting it to the spiritual realm. Corruption and counterfeiting of the genuine and true is one of Satan's favorite and most effective strategies. He attacks the manifestation of Truth by polluting it with subtle deception, excesses, and error. The result is mixture, and the product of mixture is confusion. Confusion in turn opens the door to further demonic incursion. Demonic incursion produces discreditation, and discreditation leads to the ultimate objective of the wiles of the devil — rejection of valid Truth. Most of Satan's evil machinations are predicated on this multi-part strategy.

Exceeding the God-ordained scope and sphere of ministry offices is one of the most common forms of error in the Church today. It is absolutely vital for every minister to understand that the context and sphere of his shepherding is limited primarily to the spiritual. While Fivefold ministers may occasionally be able to proffer some inspired or experiential counsel and advice even regarding natural matters, their foremost calling and enablement is to feed, care for, lead, and guide the sheep of God's Flock spiritually and in relation to spiritual matters, not so much natural affairs. We are charged by God with the responsibility to feed His sheep spiritual food, to care for them with the spiritual wherewithal of the Holy Spirit, to lead them unto the one and only true Rock of their Salvation and Provider, Jesus, and after the pattern given us by the Chief Shepherd (Ps. 23) we are to guide them "in the paths of righteousness," which is, the Way, Truth, and Life of Jesus.

[Addendum, 2008: How critical the discussion of this Truth is today in the first decade of the 21st Century, when hundreds, if not thousands, of purporting preachers are now misusing the God-ordained sphere of their ministry offices promoting themselves as get-rich gurus, wealth wizards, life coaches, securities sages, investment instructors, profit prophets, and all kinds of other demonically-inspired claims to specialized insight under the auspices of the Holy Spirit. All this absurdity is a bastardization of the ministry that is bringing discreditation and disgrace upon the good offices of the Fivefold Ministry! It is absolute BLASPHEMY against the Holy Spirit, from whom these unscrupulous, self-seeking, greedy charlatans purport to be receiving their inspiration for their avaricious ambitions at the expense of God's Flock! This is nothing more than money-changers in the Temple, and I for one, am OUTRAGED by it all and refuse to sit quietly and passively as these purveyors of poisoned waters perpetrate their diabolical schemes of sorcery a la Simon the sorcerer who was "claiming to be someone great," performing his MAGIC ARTS and seducing the "smallest and the greatest" among the people of Samaria into calling him "The Great Power of God," and "giving him attention (lit., deference afforded deity) because he had for a long time astonished them with his MAGIC ARTS" (Ac. 8:9-11). All of this is nothing but SORCERY of the highest order! The same kind of sorcery employed by Simon the Sorcerer, Elymas the Magician (Ac. 13:6-12), and the slave girl "who was bringing her masters much profit by her fortunetelling," whose masters, after the Apostle Paul cast the spirit of divination out of her, became enranged when they "saw that their hope of profit was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged them through the market place before the authorities," who proceeded to order that they be beaten with rods and threw then into prison and placed thm in shackles (Ac. 16:16ff). I prophesy to you that God is about to bring judgment upon this whole matter and every person claiming to be a "minister" or "prophet" who refuses to repent from all this witchcraft being perpetrated upon the people of God in the name of the Lord and the Holy Spirit! The same righteously indignant Jesus who wielded the whip in the Temple in Jerusalem to drive out the money-changers 2,000 years is about to wield His whip of judgment once more to drive the modern-day money-changers from the Church He is building! Mock this word at your own peril, Preachers and pundits of perdition alike!]

When a minister routinely goes beyond the God-set, albeit, invisible, boundaries of his calling and purview of authority, which is the limitation of the spiritual realm primarily, and habitually interlopes into the natural, physical realm, interposing his own will in the ordinary private matters of his followers' lives, he is engaging in unsanctioned usurpation and illegitimate authority. In the process, he also leaves behind his legitimate duties, responsibilities, and sanctioning from God as an under-shepherd, as well as his effectuality. To take it a step further, a minister who engages in this sort of imposition and usurpation has essentially taken on the role, totally illegitimately, of the husband/father/head of those households and families over which he has imposed his authority; for, as the Scripture delineating true "spiritual covering" (1 Cor. 11:3-16) indicates, the role of headship (i.e., government or leadership) of a household or family in the natural, has been assigned by God to the husband/father of that house.

Spiritual Adultery

Another term for this illegitimate interloping and usurpation into another man's domain of authority is — "spiritual adultery." Now to some this attribution will seem to be overkill and a bit melodramatic. Yet, in light of Scripture, it is neither. This is precisely what leaders who engage in these practices are engaging in — spiritual adultery. Allow me to explain.

God said the head of every woman is her husband, and every woman, at least every Born Again woman, has a husband, even those who are widowed, divorced, or never-married. Born Again women who for whatever reason do not have a physical husband with whom they are living are joined to and one with the Ultimate Husband — Jesus Himself (1 Cor. 6:17), the effectuality and efficacy of which fact is determined by the degree of each unmarried woman's receptivity and faith in that fact. When a person other than the legitimate husband/head of a house invades the sanctity of that household by illegitimately interposing his own will and authority upon the woman of that house, that constitutes spiritual adultery. No person, man or woman, including ministers, is authorized to intrude into a household in this fashion.

It is with regard to this very sort of illegitimate authoritarian "home-invasion" that one particular New Testament passage alludes and admonishes with especial attribution to the "last days" in which we are now living:

But realize this, that in the last days there will set in perilous times of great stress and trouble — hard to deal with and hard to bear. For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self- centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate (greedy) desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffers), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. [They will be] treacherous (betrayers), rash [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it — their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession. AVOID [ALL] SUCH PEOPLE — TURN AWAY FROM THEM. FOR AMONG THEM ARE THOSE WHO WORM THEIR WAY INTO HOMES AND CAPTIVATE SILLY AND WEAK-NATURED AND SPIRITUALLY DWARFED WOMEN, LOADED DOWN WITH [THE BURDEN OF THEIR] SINS, [AND EASILY] SWAYED AND LED AWAY BY VARIOUS EVIL DESIRES AND SEDUCTIVE IMPULSES. [These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them]; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth. Now just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so THESE MEN ALSO ARE HOSTILE TO AND OPPOSE THE TRUTH. THEY HAVE DEPRAVED AND DISTORTED MINDS, AND ARE REPROBATE AND COUNTERFEIT AND TO BE REJECTED AS FAR AS THE FAITH IS CONCERNED....BUT THEY WILL NOT GET VERY FAR, FOR THEIR RASH FOLLY WILL BECOME OBVIOUS TO EVERYBODY, as was that of those [magicians mentioned]. (2 Tim. 3:1-9, AB)

I have alluded already to the fact that these false concepts of "spiritual covering" mixed with the "absolute submission" concept makes for an extremely poisonous and potentially lethal rue, which almost invariably eventuates into various forms of authoritarian abuse that frequently entail some kind of illicit sexual exploitation. This, of course, by Bible-definition, is physical fornication and sexual adultery, which obviously is utterly sinful and damning, not to mention the horrendous natural and spiritual consequences such abominable abuse and exploitation engender. Nevertheless, though it may be hard to imagine, the fact is that in these situations where leaders illegitimately interlope into the private affairs of their followers, usurping the role of the husband, even in those cases in which no physical fornication and sexual adultery have yet occurred, the "spiritual adultery" that has been committed is even more heinous and abominable and will produce even graver consequences, both spiritually and in the natural. The reason spiritual adultery of this nature is such a grievous offense to God is that it is His authority, albeit, intermediated in the case of the married woman by a human husband, that is being usurped. The true spiritual Husband is Christ, and it is His betrothed that is being assailed when one of His sheep is abused and exploited. Thus, spiritual adultery carries with it an even greater judgment than sexual adultery.

Spiritual Idolatry

Abhorrent as it is, that these Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines and practices constitute spiritual adultery, there is yet another offense they abet which in terms of gravity may even surpass spiritual adultery. In addition to spiritual adultery, adherents and practitioners of this false theosophy are also fostering and participating in "spiritual idolatry" as well.

These doctrines are idolatrous for two related reasons. One, because they lead people away from the objective of whole and complete trust in God alone as the ultimate Source of supply of all things. And, two, because in addition to leading people away from trust in God, they also lead people to put their faith, hope, and trust in mere flesh and bone human leaders for the things God insists we look to Him for, many of the particulars of which I have already addressed.

[Read entire article: Spiritual Idolatry]

[For more on the detrimental effects of submitting yourself under the spiritual coverings of men, I urge you to read The Curses of Unauthorized Covenants.]

[Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). ]

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 2)

2008-11-15T16:30:00.003-05:00

Hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices have become cemented into the foundation, fabric, and functions of many churches and even whole denominations and church networks. The problem has become so widespread that it is almost pandemic in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches. Hyper-authoritarian doctrines are not Biblical and they spawn practices and cultures within churches that amount to what some call "spiritual abuse," or perhaps more aptly, authoritarian abuse. One of the undergirding premises of these Hyper-authoritarian doctrines and the exploitative practices they engender is the pseudo-concept of "spiritual covering."

In Part 1, I painstakingly presented my case that "spiritual covering" as theorized by the Discipleship theosophy from which these doctrines and practices originally arose is an absolute MYTH, in that no semblance of the Shepherding teaching version of "spiritual covering" exists anywhere within the pages of Scripture. I stated my proposition plainly and directly, say that "Spiritual covering," in the vein it is presented by proponents and propagators of these hyper-authoritarian teachings, is an outright deception! It is a complete fabrication concocted by the originators of these fallacious doctrines as a supposed pretext for facilitation of entirely self-aggrandizing objectives of subjugation, domination, and control.

Further I said that what the Discipleship proponents refer to as "spiritual covering" is really "spiritual control." And, I expressed my belief based on years of observation that these teachings and practices are witchcraft of the highest order for the basest of motivations—mammon—the love of money and self-aggrandizement in the form of power, prestige, and prominence, because that is usually what is behind it.

Here in this portion, I will focus on some of the other aspects of these teachings that make them patently erroneous, unbiblical, and actually, "doctrines of demons."

Spiritual Mediators

The premise of absolute submission is predicated on the hypothesis that the spiritual leaders are in effect (though most Discipleship teaching adherents would emphatically deny the attribution) "spiritual mediators" between God and their followers, who assume the role of hearing from God on the behalf of their followers. According to the premise, the followers are spiritually deficient and inferior to the leaders, and thus basically incapable of seeking and hearing from God for themselves and cultivating on-going communion and fellowship with God, so they need a "mediator," someone who supposedly has a more elite status with God, to be a priestly "go-between" between them and God. The hypothesis is that the leaders are much more spiritual than the people, and therefore more capable of receiving from God what is best for their followers. By the way, if that premise sounds familiar to you, you are right, because in essence it is virtually identical to the theories upon which the surrogate priesthood and papal system of Catholicism were based, which, totally supplanted and negated the personal priesthood of believers in the Medieval Church.

This whole matter of "spiritual mediators" is so totally ludicrous and such a complete affront to the truth of the personal priesthood of believers that every knowledgeable believer should be thoroughly disgusted and totally outraged at such an idiotic, outlandish, and even blasphemous notion. The Bible explicitly says: "There is one God, and ONE mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all...." (1 Tim. 2:5). There is never, ever to be any "spiritual mediators" between God and men, except the Christ — Jesus Himself. The Man with the nail-prints in His hands is the only true spiritual mediator between God and Man. All the rest are pretentious impostors! Jesus is the only Man who ever lived a perfectly sinless life, which was the requisite enabling Him to become the Spotless Lamb of God, the propitiatory sacrifice, typified by the oblational sacrificial lambs, which the Jewish high priests offered up for the sins of the people century after century.

So also was Jesus the true Spiritual High Priest, who those centuries of natural high priests who offered up the sacrificial lambs year after year represented. Those which came before Him were the types and the shadows, the mere "eikons" (reflections) of the real. Jesus was the real, the source of the reflection. He was the Image that the types and shadows reflected. He was the true Sacrificial Lamb who took away the sins of the world. And, He was the true Spiritual High Priest (Heb. 3:1), who offered up the true Sacrificial Lamb—His own sinless life—as a ransom for all, once and for all.

And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He

, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those

high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did ONCE FOR ALL when He offered HIMSELF.

...we have such a High Priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. (Heb. 8:1,2)

But when CHRIST appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:11,12)

The point is that the true High Priest (i.e., Christ) has now entered into the true Holy of Holies into the actual presence of God as the ultimate and only effectual Mediator on our behalf (Heb. 9:23,24). He lives evermore in the presence of God as our Intercessor (Heb. 7:25), having appeased His righteous wrath, having taken upon Himself the punishment due us, and having canceled out our debt of transgressions which separated and disfellowshipped us from God. Hence, since Christ Jesus has accomplished the ultimate on our behalf before God, and perpetually lives in the presence of God as our spiritual High Priest and Intercessor, and since He has made peace for us between ourselves and God forevermore (Rom. 5:1), we hardly need human mediators between us and God.

His once-and-for-all sacrifice and entrance into the true Holy of Holies has granted us all equal access, free access, bold and confident access (Eph. 3:12), not only into the Holy Place, but also even behind the veil into the Holy of Holies, for each of us, even unto the very Throne of Grace itself, that is to say, the very Throne of "the God of all Grace" (1 Pet. 5:10). Of this access we are invited to avail ourselves freely, not coweringly but boldly, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16, KJV).

To suggest that any human could do this for us as a mediator between us and God is not only preposterous and absurd, but also an affront to Jesus Himself. It is blasphemy! Those who pose and interpose themselves as mediators between believers and God are fortunate that God has not struck them down dead! Indeed, I believe this very thing will happen in the days ahead. God is now issuing fair warning! If Uzza, the loyal friend and servant of David was struck dead by God for merely touching the religious icon of God's presence, and if Ananias and Sapphira were struck down dead by God for having lied to the Holy Spirit, how much severer punishment would one deserve who is so blatantly blasphemous as to purport to be the spiritual mediator between God and men?

Basis for Authoritarian Abuse and Licentiousness

Again, I must emphasize that the subject of this passage clearly is NOT Governmental Authority in the Church. Rather, the Divine dissertation is directed specifically to the matter of Domestic authority; that is, authority in the family unit. That is made evident in verse three, where the Apostle says: "But I want you to understand that Christ is the Head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the Head of Christ." As I have already pointed out, another way to characterize the subject of this passage, which the highlighted portions bring out, is: spiritual "headship." However, the spiritual headship that is being discussed here, contrary to the assertions made by many, is not some sort of "universal" ascendancy, in practice and attitude, of men over women; nor does it speak to any ilk of Governmental Authority within the "ranks" of the Church. Rather, the exclusive focus of this passage is "Domestic Authority," which is the order of authority within the FAMILY structure, in human households. And in the household, within the structure of the family unit, there is only one head — the husband; not some "spiritual" leader; not any other person. The husband is the unequivocal head in his OWN house, and not in any other.

Moreover, the misinterpretation and misapplication of the import of this passage to the specter of general interrelations between men and women itself is the basis for one aspect of error inherent in the Discipleship doctrines that is of no small consequence. Specifically, the more radical Discipleship proponents have interpolated these verses to mean that all women, married or unmarried, are supposed to be "submitted" and subservient to all men, and especially to the "spiritual leaders" of their church or group. Furthermore, they contend Scripture prescribes that the purview of authority of the spiritual leaders of a church extends also into the home, and takes precedence over the authority of the husband in the family unit. It is this totally false assertion that is a common basis for much authoritarian abuse that is taking place in many more church-groups than what any of us would care to imagine.

For many years, I have known by the revelation of the Spirit that there are at least scores of cases in which these doctrines of demons are being used as a pretext and license for authoritarian abuse involving just about every kind of illicit and immoral sexual involvement by compulsion and seduction under the color of clerical authority possible. I predict that very soon God is going to see to it that the unwitting and confused victims of these heinous atrocities are liberated from their captivity, and that the perverted perpetrators of these despicable crimes and irresponsible violations of trust are publicly exposed, expelled from the ministry, prosecuted, and duly punished for their deliberate debauchery and violation against the lives and consciences of their exploited victims. Jesus said that it would be better for such perverted heretics who misuse the trust of their clerical office for such immoral exploitation that a millstone be tied around their neck and they be cast into the sea to drown, than undergo the Divine punishment that awaits them for having caused one of His little ones who had believed in Him to be so violated by such authoritarian abuse.

Moreover, in the process of time, it is going to become very apparent that the specter of authoritarian abuse and licentiousness perpetrated by wayward spiritual leaders is far more prevalent than what has ever been recognized before. Likewise, it will become just as manifest that the subject matter of this book — the heretical Discipleship doctrines, which are concerned primarily with false and fallacious concepts of spiritual authority — has been a primary underlying premise for much of the authoritarian abuse that has taken place among Charismatic/Discipleship churches and groups especially.

The root-cause of the Discipleship heresy is the "spirit of error" (1 Jn. 4:6), which is a spirit of perversion, and the "spirit of error," unchecked, will eventually lead to a multiplicity of perversions in virtually every facet of the person's life in which this demon and its cohorts are manifest. In the process of time this spirit will manifest perversion, corruption, and convolution in the inhabitee's spirituality and every aspect and attitude indigenous to their natural life: their morality, marriage, ministry, message, methods, motives, and monetary matters.

In respect to this type of authoritarian abuse, one thing that needs to be pointed out, however, is that it is not just individuals who have been victimized by this spiritually lethal perverse spirit, but so also has the collective Body of Christ, in that Satan has been sowing these weeds of heresy and tares of heretics in God's Field, thereby polluting and severely denigrating its produce, which was precisely his objective.

Ultimate Accountability

You see, when taken to their fullest extent, what these false teachings culminate in, is an infringement upon the Biblical fact of ultimate accountability to God, which is to say that in the end everyone is accountable to God, and to God alone, for his conduct and for the substance of the life he or she lived. Ultimately, it is to an Almighty and All-Knowing God that we must give account for the totality of our lives. Ultimately, each believer is accountable only to the authority of God, and not to any supposed "spiritual authority" of men.

This Truth and its veracity is unequivocally and wholly supported by the preponderance of Scripture, and proof-texts corroborating this absolute fact are so numerous that to quote them all would require a separate volume of its own. But, there is one passage that states it about as directly and succinctly as it can be stated, which is, Romans 14:12: "So then EACH OF US shall GIVE ACCOUNT of HIMSELF to GOD."

Moreover, the verses that precede this particular passage are also extremely enlightening and germane to this point regarding ultimate accountability unto God. In verse four, Paul poses the consummate question to which every believer would be well-advised to give careful heed: "Who are you to judge the servant of another?"

To judge someone else, it is imperative to understand, by its very nature, means that the person who is sitting in the seat of the judge is of a greater status, standing, authority, and behavioral stature, than the one who is being judged. Yet, clearly an overwhelming preponderance of Scripture teaches that as Jesus stated, "You (all believers) are all on the same level as brothers" (Mat. 23:8; L.B.; parenthesis added by author). As established repeatedly throughout this book, in the Kingdom of God there is absolute parity among believers. There is no such a thing as "big me, little you" in the Kingdom of God. Oh, to be sure, in real life, demonstration of carnal attitudes of ascendency and arrogance over fellows is just as common among purporting believers as it is in the world. But, that is not the way it really is in the Kingdom of God and from God's perspective. Such fleshly attitudes are of the category of the "evil passions and desires" which every believer must crucify if he is going to show forth evidence or fruit that he has been genuinely Born Again and been made a bona fide partaker of the attributes of the Divine Nature (Gal. 5:24; 2 Pet. 2:4).

Notice also in the verse cited (Rom. 14:4) the phrase "servant of another." This makes it abundantly clear that every believer is a bond-servant of God, not of any man. Even when of our own volition we lay down our lives to serve others, we do so because in so doing the Person we are ultimately serving is God, not even the people we are serving, though they are the ostensible recipients of our service. The verse continues by saying: "To HIS OWN MASTER he stands or falls; and stand he will, for THE LORD is able to make him stand." In saying, " THE LORD is able to make him stand," the passage identifies the "master" of the believer as being the Lord Jesus Himself, and not any human.

Verses seven through nine of the same chapter in Romans go on to clearly indicate that every believer "belongs" ultimately to the Lord, and thus is not the subject of any human being in terms of ultimate accountability for his or her life:

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live FOR THE LORD, or if we die, we die FOR THE LORD; therefore whether we live or die, WE ARE THE LORD'S. For to this end Christ died and lived, that HE might be LORD both of the dead and of the living.

But, the next verse, verse ten, really puts it all into proper perspective by reminding us that none of us have the right to take unto ourselves the status of judge over our fellows with regard to the final analysis, assessment, and adjudication of their lives, as well as the fact that none of us have attained unto the transcendent or elite status required to grant us the right to regard a fellow believer with contempt or condescension, or regard any fellow believer, who is also a joint-heir, that is, equal-heir, with Christ, as in any way inferior or "subjectable" to us so as to be their judges, because we are not the judges; rather, we all are the "judgees," being judged ourselves by "the righteous Judge" (2 Tim. 4:8):

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? FOR WE SHALL ALL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD. (Rom. 14:10)

Hebrews 12:23 refers to "THE Judge of ALL," which is none other than God Himself. Hebrews 10:30 plainly tells us: "THE LORD will judge His people," which means that ultimate accounting and the final adjudication of our lives is relegated to the Lord alone. The reason for this is simple: perfect and perfectly righteous and just judgment requires omniscience and infinite knowledge and wisdom, which we, in our human estate of extremely finite knowledge, do not possess. Only God is capable of judging "the thoughts and intentions of the heart" with perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, for it is to His eyes, the manifold eyes of the Spirit, alone that all that we are is "open and laid bare" (Heb. 4:12,13). He who knows us most is the one can judge us best. No one knows us, who we really are, the totality of our constitution and the reasons behind it, like God knows us.

Thus, we see the incontrovertible and unequivocal truth that ultimately every believer is accountable to God and not to any mere mortal. As I have said elsewhere in this volume, only the one with the nail prints in His hands is the one who has been found worthy to be our Lord, Master, and Savior. This is precisely the import of James' statement wherein speaking of Jesus He says: "There is ONLY ONE Lawgiver and Judge, THE ONE WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE and to destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor?" (Jas. 4:12).

So, dear saint of God, the next time someone tries to "pull rank" on you, intimidate, or subjugate you with some humanly contrived, unsanctioned, ineffectual, and non-existent, brand of pseudo-authority, ask that person to stretch forth his or her hands, and look to see if there are nail-holes in those hands. If not, just have a little chuckle within yourself, turn, and walk away, and forget it! Because that person is not YOUR Lord or YOUR Master! He's just another pretender and imposter motivated by an antichrist spirit! PRAISE JESUS — the One who is able to save and destroy to the uttermost — FOREVER! HE ALONE is Lord!

Next article in series: The Fallacy of "Personal Pastors"

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 1)

2008-11-15T13:35:00.004-05:00

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in MY WORD, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will make you FREE." (John 8:31,32; NASB)

It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a YOKE OF SLAVERY. (Galatians 5:1; NASB)

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that COVER with A COVERING, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into EGYPT [symbol of captivity in Scripture], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh [symbol of Satan and autocratic dictators in Scripture], and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your CONFUSION. For his princes were at Zoan [aka, Goshen, where Pharaoh met with Moses and Aaron; Easton's Bible Dictionary], and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not PROFIT them, nor be an help nor PROFIT, but a shame, and also a reproach. (Isaiah 30:1-5; KJV; emphases and parentheses added)

The second primary conceptual error on which the heretical hyper-authoritarian Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines are established, is the matter of "spiritual covering." Indeed, so-called "spiritual covering" is the very centerpiece of these wholly unBiblical teachings and the authoritarian abuse they engender, which is absolutely endemic in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal sects.

Let me begin by stating plainly and directly: "spiritual covering" as theorized by the Discipleship theosophy is an absolute MYTH. No semblance of the Shepherding teaching version of "spiritual covering" exists anywhere within the pages of Scripture. "Spiritual covering," in the vein it is presented by proponents and propagators of these hyper-authoritarian teachings, is an outright deception! It is a complete fabrication concocted by the originators of these fallacious doctrines as a supposed pretext for facilitation of entirely self-aggrandizing objectives of subjugation, domination, and control.

[For a detailed history of the Shepherding Movement, READ THIS CHAPTER.]

Indeed, what the Discipleship proponents refer to as "spiritual covering" is really "spiritual control." However, even the use of the word "spiritual" in this connection requires some qualification, because the only thing "spiritual" about this unauthorized control is that it is inspired by demon-spirits of deception and error. As we shall discuss later in Chapter Nine, what the Discipleship version of "spiritual covering" really is, is nothing less than witchcraft or sorcery. When the myth has been thoroughly debunked, as it will be within these pages, it will be clear that this doctrine of "spiritual covering," like all the other aspects of the Shepherdship heresy, is a patently false "doctrine of demons" being manifested in these last days precisely in accordance with Holy Prophecy of Scripture which foretells of deception such as this being promulgated by demons in the last days, leading to many falling away from the Lord into apostasy:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of LIARS seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.(1 Tim. 4:1,2)

Proofing the Proof-text

Discipleship proponents point to a particular Pauline dissertation found in the Eleventh Chapter of First Corinthians as the primary purported proof-text for their concept of "spiritual covering." It will soon be evident, however, that, as is typical of the other aspects of Discipleship errors, the assertions made on the basis of these verses are the product of blatant and overt perversion, distortion, misrepresentation, and misapplication of the true import and intent of the passage. The unfortunate effect of this corruption of Canon is essentially the same as that which inured unto the Galatians, which was that they became guilty of "deserting" Christ for a different "christ" and a different gospel:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ; for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and who want to DISTORT the gospel of Christ. (Gal. 1:6)

The following is the passage from which the concept of "spiritual covering," as well as several other assertions made by Discipleship proponents, is extrapolated. Since it will be a basis for much of this discussion, it has been set in verse format for easier reference. Also, I have added some explanations which appear in italics and parentheses, to assist in understanding the true import of these verses.

First Corinthians 11:2-16:
2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the Head of every man, and the man (husband) is the head of a (singular) woman (wife), and God is the Head of Christ.
4 Every MAN who has something on his Head (Christ) while praying or prophesying, disgraces his Head (Christ).
5 But every woman who has her head uncovered (not under the authority of her husband) while praying or prophesying, disgraces her head (her husband); for she is one and the same with her whose head is shaved (woman taken captive from vanquished enemies and forced against her will to become an Israelite's wife).
6 For if a woman does not cover her head (allow the authority of her husband to cover and protect her from the spiritual deception of the fallen angels), let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.
7 For a man ought NOT to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman (wife) is the glory of man (husband).
8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
9 for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.
10 Therefore the woman ought to have authority on her head, because of the (fallen) angels.
11 However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
12 For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.
13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with head uncovered?
14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair (type for "covering"), it is a dishonor to him,
15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for A COVERING (a protection).
16 But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.

Now I don't want to be unkind, but in my opinion a person must be totally brainwashed to read this text and in all sincerity and earnestness conclude it says what Shepherdship proponents and adherents assert that it says. Indeed, this text has been used as a premise for a number of pretty silly and bizarre notions, ranging from the role of women in the church all the way to the assertion that God is saying here that women are supposed to wear little doilies on their heads when they attend church. So let's examine this passage, and see what it really says and what it does not say.

Pertinent Peculiarities of the Language

First of all, an extremely vital fact to keep in mind in all Bible study and interpretation, and one which I must take a moment to point out here at the very outset of our scrutiny of this text, is that the Greek language, in which most of the New Testament was written originally, did not have a specific word for "husband" and "wife" as in the English language. Instead, the word for husband is the word for "man," and the word for "wife" is the word for "woman." The only way to determine whether the reference is to the male gender class or to the office of husband, or likewise to the female gender class or the office of wife, is by deciphering the intent of the context. This fact is absolutely critical to the particular passage we are examining here and to properly evaluating and understanding its import.

So, with this in mind, careful scrutiny of the context of these verses on the backdrop of the whole of Scripture, leads to the unequivocal and incontrovertible conclusion that the words used here which are translated in many English versions as "man" and "woman" really should be "husband" and "wife." Validation of that is inherent in the fact that the principles evoked in this passage are limited in application to the husband and wife relationship. They are NOT applicable in the context of general interrelations between men and women, but rather only apply in the sphere of the husband and wife relationship.

Identifying the Subject and Scope

Once these peculiarities of the language are understood, the next matter of utmost importance is identifying the subject and scope of the passage we are examining. For reasons that shall become evident, it is vital to understand that the clear and unmistakable subject of this passage is the matter of Domestic Divine Order, that is to say, the order of authority existing among husbands and wives and their children, or to say it yet another way, the government operable within the structure of the FAMILY unit. "Domestic Authority" is the exclusive focus as well as the limits of the scope of this passage. The aspects and applications of the authority addressed in these verses are limited to the purview of that particular ilk of authority, and cannot be universally applied to other types of authority.

Recognizing the true focus and scope of this text is crucial to comprehending its import. Not recognizing these parameters, or blatant disregard of them, whichever may be the case, has been a primary factor resulting in the formulation of the fallacious assertions adamantly proclaimed and staunchly defended by Discipleship proponents supposedly based on this passage. To be specific, the matter of "spiritual covering" is the heart of the issue. And indeed, there is a type of spiritual covering that is addressed in these verses. However, what is critical is that, as stated already, the spiritual covering that is discussed in this context is NOT Ecclesiastical Authority, that is to say, Governmental Authority within the Church. Rather, Domestic Authority is the clear and unequivocal focus of Paul's dissertation here, which the Apostle makes evident in verse three by specifically identifying the topic of this portion of his letter and by expressing explicitly what it is he wants the readers to understand: "But I want you to understand that CHRIST is the Head of every man, and the MAN (HUSBAND) is the head of a WOMAN (his WIFE), and GOD is the Head of Christ."

Another way to characterize the focus of this passage, which the enbolded portions of this verse bring out, is: "spiritual headship." However, the propensity of some to "exceed that which is written" has resulted in the misconstruction and misapplication of this perfectly valid truth, and the manufacturing of a kind of so-called "headship" based purely in human imagination without any Scriptural foundation whatsoever. In point of fact, the only valid ilk of "spiritual headship" or "spiritual covering" there is, and the only one which is supported by the Word of God, is that which is being addressed here, which is the "spiritual headship" and "spiritual covering" the husband provides for his own wife as the God-appointed representative of Christ within the family unit. In no way, however, does this passage contain any evidence or corroboration of the sort of "spiritual covering" Discipleship proponents allege is provided by a shepherd to his followers. To extrapolate from this passage a pretext for some sort of "headship" interposable by "spiritual leaders" over subordinate believers is an act of gross distortion, convolution, and misrepresentation of the Word of God, as well as an act of blatant and extreme irresponsibility.

CHRIST — the Only Spiritual Covering for Every Man

Now as I stated initially, ecclesiastical authority is decidedly not the focus of this passage. Indeed, the only mention of the matter of ecclesiastical authority occurs in oblique references in verses four and seven, which actually state the very opposite of what the Discipleship/Shepherdship proponents purport the verses say and the very opposite of the assertions they cite the verses as a proof-text for:

4 Every MAN who has something on his Head (i.e., Christ) while praying or prophesying, disgraces his Head (Christ).
7 For a MAN ought NOT to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman (wife) is the glory of man (husband).

In verse four, Paul specifically states that, juxtaposed to the married woman, who must have a covering of spiritual authority, i.e., a spiritual "head," which role is fulfilled by her husband, any man who covers his Head with a "spiritual covering" — a human, surrogate, intermediary "head" — is bringing reproach, dishonor, and disgrace to his Head, because, as Paul indicates repeatedly in this text, the man's Head is Christ Himself. Thus, to characterize the import of the text in another, forthright fashion: in this passage, the Spirit is expressly prohibiting human, surrogate, intermediary spiritual "headship" in the case of MEN, in that Christ Himself is the Head, or "spiritual covering" "of every man" who is truly Born Again and has truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ over his life.

Notice also the phrase "while praying or prophesying." Praying and prophesying are the spiritual activities and functions in which believers are to engage. This phrase gives qualification to this statement, making its import to be that it is in the realm of spiritual activities and endeavors in particular that a man is NOT to have another human being as his "head," or as a "covering," for that role and function is to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus alone. Christ alone is qualified and capable of fulfilling that crucial role and function.

This is vital to the matter of the Discipleship error, because this has been one of the areas of greatest excess and abuse, in that many so-called "spiritual leaders" (especially laymen) in these in-house "chains of command" became extremely caught up in their newly acquired (albeit, illegitimate) authority, for which they were not properly grounded or adequately developed or sufficiently mature spiritually to properly handle, but which they nonetheless began to wield and intrusively interpose into the lives of their "subordinates," including their most private, personal, and even intimate choices and decisions. The outlandish and totally false hypothesis was that each of the multi-levels of "spiritual leaders" over the peonic, subjugated, and supposedly inferior believer were his "spiritual heads" and "spiritual coverings," and whatever communication or correction God desired to relate to the believer, He would relay through one of these surrogate "heads," and so-called "confirmation" of the validity and veracity of the communication would manifest in the form of unanimous "agreement" among all these "heads." Theoretically, if just one of the "heads" in the chain of "heads" did not have "a witness" for the matter, that meant the communication was not from or of God.

This "no witness" nonsense became a primary mechanism of control, manipulation, domination, and other more nefarious activities, in an array of circumstances ranging from preventing members from leaving the church or group, to sexually-oriented abuse under the color of spiritual authority. The gravely damaging effect of this absurd and wholly false theosophy and system of religious enslavement is well captured in the quoted impassioned complaint of a former member of the Discipleship Movement responding to Bob Mumford's attempted conciliation with disjoined former followers:

"Saying I'm sorry wasn't enough....We had been taught that the men who led us somehow heard from God better than we did. Even after we left the movement there was that hidden fear that they might be right and we were somehow less of a Christian and had failed God by not being totally obedient to them." (Mumford Repents of Discipleship Errors, Charisma & Life, February 1990, pp. 15,16)

Though we are certainly to avail ourselves of the ministry God disseminates through Fivefold ministers, and though we are to maintain a compliant and cooperative attitude toward them, and treat them with due honor and respect, no mere human is ever the "head" or "spiritual covering" of any other man, especially; or woman, for that matter, because "spiritual covering" exists and is effectual only in the relationship of the husband to his own WIFE — no other woman. In other words, even a Fivefold minister — apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher — is the spiritual "head" of only ONE woman on this planet — his own WIFE (if he is married)! That, my friend, is it! FURTHERMORE, a Fivefold minister is the spiritual "head" of absolutely NO MAN! I cannot state it any more succinctly or directly than that.

One of the last books revered Bible teacher, Derek Prince, authored prior to his recent death was Blessings and Curses (Revised version, 2003; Chosen Books, Grand Rapids Michigan).

In Blessings and Curses (p. 46) [emphasis and bracketed comments added], Prince writes:

In Exodus 23:32-33 God warned Israel about the idolatrous nations whose land they were about to enter: "Do not make a COVENANT with them or with their gods...The worship of their gods will CERTAINLY be a SNARE to YOU." If you make a solemn agreement with people who are under the power of evil forces, you come under that same power.... As Christians, we are all in a covenant relationship with the Lord and the ONLY other valid covenant is that of marriage between a husband and wife. Covenants are very powerful, and to enter into a covenant relationship on any other basis but these can be extremely dangerous. If it is a scriptural covenant [which the author states are only those between a believer and the Lord, and between a husband and wife], its effect will be a blessing. But, if it is unscriptural, its effect will be a CURSE. Solomon offers an urgent word of counsel in Proverbs 6:4-5 to anyone who has made a pledge or vow binding them to an evil ASSOCIATION:
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
No slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
What you have said with your own lips [unscriptural/unauthorized pledges, oaths, covenants] only YOU can unsay. At the same time, get rid of any articles associated with the ungodly covenant. It is best to do this in the presence of Christian witnesses who can support you with their faith.

[For more on the detrimental effects of submitting yourself under the spiritual coverings of men, I urge you to read The Curses of Unauthorized Covenants.]

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

The Signs of Spiritual Abuse

2008-11-15T12:41:00.006-05:00

Are you one of the many loyal and sincere church members who faithfully and cheerfully attend, support and participate in a local church, but have a nagging, persistent inward "thought" that "something is just not right here?"

Each time it rises within you, you peer around the room at the faces of fellow-worshipers caught up in seemingly heart-felt worship, you tune your ear to the soothing, melodious music crescendoing upward, and listen intently to the inspiring exhortations flowing from the lips of the various leaders on the platform...then...once again...you begin to chastise yourself...and "take authority" over those terrible carnal, negative thoughts, and command them to leave your mind. Now! there! no more of that! Right? Right!

That is, until the next time...and it happens all over again! You are enthralled in blissful worship and praise, focusing entirely on the Lord and His Magnificence. You begin to feel that familiar, but awesome sensation of His Presence filling the room and settling gently upon you. And then...BOOM!...there it is AGAIN!!—that still, small inner voice, telling you He is pleased by your expression of love, adoration, and praise; it is a sweet savor which He has received from your heart to His. But, still, He wants you to be aware there is something wrong here...with the leadership...their teaching, their "leadership" attitudes and methods, their motives and ambitions, their personal life-styles, their earnestness regarding ministering on His behalf to the needs of the hurting, needy multitudes for whom He died.

Is it possible this really IS the Lord speaking to you? Is that possible? And then you go through the drill once again, looking, listening, analyzing. "But," you reply inwardly to the voice, "look at all these people here, the volunteer workers, the ministers, the musicians and choir! they can't all be wrong! and there wouldn't be this many people here if it wasn't of God! Look at this wonderful building, its furnishings and decor, the instruments, all the regalia, all the money it cost? God has to be endorsing this, otherwise the money for all this would not have come in! Listen to the inspiring music and messages by the leaders! And look at all the people who've been blessed! This CAN'T possibly not be of God! God! what's wrong with me? why do I think such horrible thoughts?" you cry silently within.

Then, you begin realizing, somehow, somewhere along the line you began losing your joy, your zeal for the Lord. It used to be you could hardly wait for the services and to be involved; now it is drudgery to go at all. You used to have such a light and blissful feeling as you worshiped the Lord in the services; now you just go through the motions, feeling heavy, staring placidly toward the platform, sometimes wishing you were somewhere else. You used to be able to "look past" the leaders, and focus only on the Lord; now, all you see during the service is people, people behind the pulpit, people on the platform, and people in the pews. You used to feel God's love and pleasure with you; now it seems all you feel is unworthiness, guilt, and that nothing you do is ever enough or pleasing to Him.

"What on earth has happened to me? What's wrong with me?" you ask yourself. "Is it just me?" Then, you begin to look around the room and study other long-time members. You compare how they are now to how they were when they first came. Is their life, as it should be, appreciably better, or have they and their family experienced an inordinate share of tragedies, seemingly inexplicable difficulties, and reversals? By and by, you begin to realize that many of the other members have lost their "first love" too, their zeal, their enthusiasm, their joy in serving the Lord, and that, though Christians, like everyone else, certainly experience adversity, many of these members' lives have been on a gradual, downward spiral, instead of advancement and blessing.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? If so, don't think you're alone—it's repeated several times every week by multitudes of sincere, faithful, and trusting believers. They've had this inward intuition for quite some time that something was just not right at their church or in their group, but just couldn't put their finger on precisely what it was. The teaching "sounded" right, all the right things were being said, good things were happening, many members were being "used" in various "ministries" of the church. Still, this nagging sense something is awry persists.

Often, these are the symptoms of a church or group laboring under the heavy-hand of hyper-authoritarianism. That is to say, the leadership is dominating, controlling, and manipulating their followers, and exploiting them for their own personal gain and private kingdom-building. Wholesale abuse and misuse of authority is an integral part of the very foundation, fabric, and functions of such groups.

Exploitative abuse of authority occurring in groups where these hyper-authoritarian systems of governance are instituted come in various shapes and shades, ranging from members having to receive the approval (usually referred to as "witness") of their spiritual leaders to date and/or marry, to virtual sole dependence upon the supposed superior spirituality of group-gurus regarding every detail of their personal financial matters and requiring their leaders' approval for virtually every significant expenditure. Commonly, in these groups there is constant allusion to the members as "dumb sheep" who must be "led" by the shepherds, ad nauseam. The definition of the term "led" in these groups is that the "dumb sheep" cannot trust their own judgment or ability to receive direction from the Lord for the important decisions of their lives, but must rely instead upon the transcendent wisdom and spiritual acumen of their "personal pastors."

The proper role of human under-shepherds is to lead people to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and teach them how to be His disciples, in submission to Him and His authority. Hyper-authoritarian leaders, instead, lead people to themselves, and indoctrinate them to be their followers, in total submission to them and their authority. In essence, these dominating shepherds teach they are the church-members' de facto lord, master, and savior, rather than Christ. They indoctrinate members to believe the spiritual leaders of the church themselves are the members' "spiritual covering" (a totally false and patently unbiblical concept), and any member who ever leaves the church will be "out from under" their "covering," be without any covering or what they call, "uncovered," and will experience terrible curses and other horrible consequences as a result. From the pulpit often come "horror stories" about what happened to such-and-so person or family, who were so spiritually bereft or rebellious as to leave the group without the blessings and approval of their "spiritual authority."

In these groups, the "authority" of the "shepherds" is absolute, sacrosanct, and inviolable, that is, without reprisal. Any semblance of anything other than total and unquestioning obedience to the desires and counsel of the church's leadership chain is considered rebellion and insubordination, and simply is not tolerated. Members live under the constant threat of being branded with the Scarlet Letter "R" for "rebel," openly denounced and shamed from the (bully-)pulpit, and consequently shunned by the "covenant-community" for failure to comply with the unwritten, unspoken rules and expectations established by the leadership. An oppressive performance-based approval and promotion system keeps members in constant internal turmoil and fear as they jump through all the hoops the spiritual taskmasters put before them, in an attempt to seek their leaders' approval and favor. Moreover, members are indoctrinated and compelled to accept the leadership-set agenda of the group, regarding which they have next to no real say, as their personal burden and responsibility, and thus to commit their time, talent, And most importantly, their tithe, to its successful completion. Sadly, most never see past the spiritual smoke and mirrors to realize that the so-called "church" to which they have sworn allegiance and promised their wholehearted and unflagging support, is nothing more than the personal "business" of its leaders, and not only are they free labor, but they actually pay out of their own resources for the privilege of being a participant, i.e., member.

The following are some of the common signs and symptoms, or common characteristics, of authoritarian abuse manifest in hyper-authoritarian groups, churches, networks, and ministries, especially those identifying themselves as Charismatic or Pentecostal. It simply is not feasible to elaborate extensively on each of them in an article such as this. However, I have addressed most of them in various books, booklets, and articles I have written on the topic. Bear in mind that the list is by no means exhaustive, and that these are somewhat general, rather than, exact descriptions. Many variations on these basic themes exist in authoritarian groups.

Bottom-line is: any ministry in which more than one or two of these signs of abuse are manifest should alert you to the undeniable fact that it is a hyper-authoritarian organization, regardless of how large, popular, or well-known it and its leader are. And, if after reading this list, you cannot recognize and admit to yourself that your beloved church or ministry is practicing, unbiblical and ungodly doctrines and practices, then you are definitely brainwashed and under the spell of "deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" and these demonic lies are "seared in your own conscience as with a branding iron" (1 Tim. 4:1,2). And, that means you need deliverance to be set free from Satan's bondage and deception. It also means you are deceived about who you are serving. You are not serving the true Jesus, who is the One who died to set the captives free, but rather you are serving false gods — idols — which is idolatry, which means you are an "idolater," and idolaters do not inherit eternal life or have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God (Gal. 5:20,21; Eph. 5:5)! The only way for you to escape HELL and eternal punishment and enter into Heaven and the Kingdom is to REPENT! Then RUN from your captors and RUSH into the arms of the True Jesus, who died to set the captives FREE! "He whom the Son sets FREE is FREE INDEED!

Apotheosis of the leadership — exalting them to God-like status in and over the group;
Multi-level authority/government hierarchy;
Absolute authority of the leadership;
No real accountability of the leadership to the corporate body;
Hand-picked sub-leaders, based on their demonstration of submissiveness to the ultimate leader rather than on the basis of their leadership skills, spirituality, and anointing and appointment by God;
Pervasive abuse and misuse of authority in personal dealings with members;
Paranoia and insecurity by the leaders;
Abuse, misuse, and inordinate incidence of "church discipline;"
Personal materialism, covetousness, and self-aggrandizement by the leaders;
Members and/or sub-leaders must make a "spiritual covenant," sometimes a signed covenant agreement, pledging their total commitment and financial support to the leadership and church/ministry;
Partitioning of the group into smaller groups that are led by internally "raised up" lay-leaders who have not been anointed or appointed by God for leadership within the church;
Financial exploitation and enslavement of the members;
Inordinate attention to maintaining the public "image" of the ministry;
Doctrinal demeanment and devaluation — the requisite of espousing and teaching "sound doctrine" is demeaned and devalued;
Theological incompetency by the leadership, especially with respect to the rules of hermeneutics and Bible exegesis employed in the formulation of doctrine, giving license to twisting and adulteration of Scripture in order to provide proof-texts for unorthodox and invented doctrines;
Spiritualism, mysticism, and unproven doctrines;
Abuse and misuse of prophetic giftings as a means to dominate and intimidate;
Devaluation, disallowance, disregard, and displacement of the true Fivefold Ministry within the church;
De facto legalism, or works mentality, and its resulting loss of the "joy of salvation," though "freedom" is forever preached from the pulpit and the church is constantly touted as being a "safe church" by the leadership;
Esotericism — hidden agendas and requirements revealed to members only as they successfully advance through various stages of "spiritual enlightenment," i.e., unorthodox, unproven indigenous doctrines;
Isolationism — corporate and individual, especially with respect to exposure to outside ministry sources;
Performance-based approval and promotion system of members predicated on "proven" "loyalty" (i.e., submission) to the leadership;
Devaluation, suppression, and non-recognition of members' bona fide God-given talents, abilities, gifts, callings, and anointing, as a means of subjugation;
Requiring members to perform menial tasks, such as cleaning toilets, setting up chairs, and acting as the leader's personal valet or slave, as a supposed means to humble them and teach them to "obey their leaders;"
Constant indoctrination with a "group" or "family" mentality that impels members to exalt the corporate "life" and goals of the church-group over their personal goals, callings, and objectives;
Members are psychologically traumatized and indoctrinated with numerous improper fears and phobias aimed at keeping them reeling in diffidence and an over-dependence or co-dependence on their leaders and the corporate group;
Corporately, there eventually develops an inordinately high incidence of financial, marital, moral, psychological, mental, emotional, and medical problems, including sudden deaths and contraction of "incurable" and "unknown" diseases;
Lack of true personal spiritual growth and development, especially in terms of genuine faith and experiencing the abounding grace, forgiveness, goodness, blessings, kindness, and agape-love of God;
Members are required to obtain the approval or "witness" of their leader(s) for decisions regarding personal matters;
Frequent preaching from the pulpit regarding not getting out from under the "spiritual covering" of the leadership;
Members departing without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership leave the group under a cloud of manufactured suspicion, shame, and slander;
Horror stories frequently told by leaders about individuals or families who left the group without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership, and the terrible consequences and curses they suffered as a result;
Departing members often suffer from various psychological problems and display the classic symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

So...what to do? Well, here's a few questions for you to ponder:

Do you know what the signs of hyper-authoritarianism, control, and domination in a group or church and how to recognize them?
Do you know if the signs are simple, overt, and obvious, or are they sophisticated and complex, covert, and hidden?
Could you be objective enough about your church or group and leaders to correctly analyze if authoritarian abuse is taking place at your church?
Do you know how to explain what the signs are to prospective or suspected victims in order to convince them they are under it?
Do you know how to throw out a lifeline to rescue them?
Do you know what steps are necessary for victims to recover from the psychologically traumatizing and spiritually damaging effects of years of subjection to spiritual abuse?
Do you know why hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices are unscriptural and Biblically-prohibited, and could you cite some of the Scripture passages in which God condemns them?
Do you know from a biblical standpoint if God requires you to always "obey your leaders," even when they set requirements that contravene Scripture or your conscience, or when they behave as unscrupulous and undisciplined tyrants rather than model the characteristics of servanthood that Jesus modeled and instructs His under-shepherds to likewise model?

These are just a few of the questions needing answers concerning this prevalent problem of authoritarian abuse plaguing the church today. Being able to readily identify the signs and symptoms of authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement that is rampant among church groups today is absolutely essential for every believer in their quest to know and be personally related to the Great Shepherd, who is the Prince of Peace and the true "Guardian of our souls."

These and many other relevant matters are directly addressed in the book, Charismatic Captivation, written by Steven Lambert, himself a Charismatic minister for more than three decades. The back-cover explains that Dr. Lambert wrote the book "in response to a Divine Call" to expose widespread authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement occurring in many Neo-Pentecostal church-groups who espouse hyper-authoritarian doctrines and employ hyper-authoritarian practices. It also states that the work is "a medium of advocacy on behalf of untold multitudes of innocent sheep of God's Flock who, unknowingly, are being subjected to exploitive enslavement by self-aggrandizing and unscrupulous religious leaders for their own personal advancement and expansion of their private kingdoms." Identifying authoritarian abuse and psychological enslavement, and informing readers how to recognize and be set free from it, is the volume's main objective.

Dr. Lambert presents in this book a thorough analysis of the hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices being implemented by many Neo-Pentecostal churches and groups, citing and elaborating on the five erroneous concepts they are based upon, which render them undeniably heretical. An entire chapter is devoted to an extensive exposition of the nature, illegitimacy, and Scriptural condemnation of ecclesiastical enslavement and exploitation. In another chapter, the author also delineates common control mechanisms employed by both classic cults as well as hyper-authoritarian Neo-Pentecostal cults.

The capstone of the volume is Dr. Lambert's "15 R's of Recovery from Authoritarian Abuse," steps victims of spiritual abuse must navigate through in order to regain their psychological equilibrium and be restored to spiritual wellness, derived from the author's nearly 30 years of experience in ministering to victims of spiritual abuse.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Identifying Hyper-authoritarian Doctrines and Practices

2008-11-15T12:11:00.002-05:00

Hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices have become cemented into the foundation, fabric, and functions of many churches and even whole denominations or networks of churches. The problem has become so widespread that it is almost pandemic in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches. But, the reason these scripturally-condemned doctrines and practices have been able to proliferate and endure is that they have been going on so long that the present generations of church-goers in these ecclesiastical groupings have been reared in these cultures where domination and control by church leaders is the norm and are accepted as being normal. The purpose of this article is to define hyper-authoritarianism and identify the practices that are hyper-authoritarian in nature.

Hyper-authoritarianism is predominance or psychological control imposed by spiritual leaders upon their followers or congregants with respect to not only their involvements within the church or ministry, but also regarding the personal and private matters of their lives. Ministries and church-groups practicing this illegitimate domination employ various means and degrees of psychological indoctrination and coercion to compel congregants to subject and conform their personal activities, behavior, and affairs of their lives with the leadership-prescribed standards, rules, expectations, and corporate goals of the church or ministry. The purported pretext for the imposition of this scripturally-prohibited religious governance is an adulterated concept of ecclesiastical authority. Promulgators and practitioners adamantly claim that the mechanisms of manipulation they employ are a perfectly Scriptural system of "discipleship" in fulfillment of the role and responsibility of spiritual leaders to "make disciples."

However, the fact of the matter is this kind of "discipleship" exceeds by far the bounds and intents of legitimate, that is, Scriptural and Godly, authority. This kind of so-called "shepherding" is not that which is inspired by the Good Shepherd, but by His arch-rival, for it is nothing other than witchcraft and unauthorized meddling into the personal lives of God's Flock. It is blatant misuse and abuse of authority, and is Scripturally-prohibited usurpation of believers' God-given prerogative of personal autonomy. God Himself declares:

For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. (2 Tim. 3:6-9, NASB).

Indeed, the full context of this passage indicates what ilk of individual it is who engages in this kind of ungodly, self-aggrandizing governance over others, how others should treat them, as well as their ultimate fate:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two came to be. (2 Tim. 3:1-9, NASB)

Such dominating autocrats indoctrinate adherents with fallacious, psychologically enslaving teachings, predicated on subtle twisting and outright perversion of Scripture, requiring them to strictly adhere to rules and demands set by the leadership if they are to have the approval of and be in the good graces of the leadership, as well as the collective group. Ultimately, submissive members are compelled, cajoled, and/or coerced to commit everything possible of themselves and their resources unto the support of the group's leaders, mission, calling, and purposes.

The following are some of the characteristics commonly present in and control mechanisms practiced by hyper-authoritarian groups. They are all subtle mechanisms of manipulation used to subjugate and psychologically beat the sheep into complete submission and subservience to the leadership as slaves to build their private kingdoms and achieve their selfish ambitions.

Apotheosis (improper exaltation) of the leadership. Leaders are ascribed God-like homage and sovereignty, not only over the operations of the church or ministry organization, but also over the personal lives and private affairs of their followers. They relegate to themselves "absolute authority" by which they require explicit and complete submission to themselves and their down-line of leadership appointees.
Open reproof and rebuke. Members are subjected to private and public disparagement, reproof, and rebuke by leadership for what they deem to be insubordination and/or disobedience to their counsel, teaching, instruction, or desires.
Open disapproval. Members are subjected to disapprobation, disapproval, shunning, and rejection by leadership and/or the collective group-society for some aspect of conduct they deem improper or unacceptable.
Open denunciation and curses. Members are subjected to denunciation and disparagement as well as voodoo-like witchcraft "prayers" (curses) upon departure of the group.
Open threat of excommunication. Members are subjected to excommunication from group for unbiblical reasons.
Threats of judgment from God and church discipline for insubordination. Members are indoctrinated with unscriptural fear of judgment from God and so-called "church discipline" for insubordination to leadership.
Indoctrination with fear of failure and judgment. Members are indoctrinated with unscriptural fear of failure independent of the group in order to foster undue dependency on the group and its leaders.
Indoctrination with fear of spiritual apostasy. Members are indoctrinated with an unscriptural fear of ungenuine or lost salvation and inferior spirituality.
Guilt-projection. Members are subjected to unscriptural guilt projection regarding their sinfulness, weaknesses, faults, and failures in order to reinforce insecurity, diffidence, and self-doubt, so as to make them feel dependent on the group and leaders for direction, guidance, and decision-making.
Exclusivity and isolation. Members are indoctrinated with teaching about the necessity of them "separating" or isolating themselves from all outside relationships and influences under the supposed pretext of insulating them from philosophical contradictions and criticisms of the particular improper practices and unscriptural beliefs of the group. Leaders also forbid their members from having any kind of exposure to any ministry or ministers outside of the internal hierarchy of their organization and those they have approved, and members must obtain the prior approval of the leadership for any form of exposure to outside ministry.
Internalization. Excessive and virtually comprehensive internal involvement and group-dedication is required of each member to in effect keep them indentured to the mission and development of the organization.
Improper Dependence on Leadership. Fostering or requiring of excessive and inappropriate dependence on the corporate group and leadership for guidance and decision-making regarding their ministry as well as personal affairs. Leadership approval, often referred to as a "witness" by the leadership, is required on virtually every decision regarding the personal affairs, sometimes including mundane matters, of members and their entire family. Congregants are taught that their leaders have been placed in a position as a watchman or a guardian over them by the Lord, as the "bishop (overseer) of their souls," which they interpret to mean that the members need to obtain permission or approval from their "personal pastor" or leader for life matters. The commonly purported reason for this necessity is in order that the member can ensure that they are "in the will of God." Though most of them would vigorously deny and refute the charge, the leadership in such ministries have, in effect, imposed themselves as the members' spiritual mediators. Despite public allusions to the principles of domestic authority explicitly expressed in God's Word, in practicality and privately, the husband's headship over his wife and family is often undermined and even usurped in authoritarian groups by their "shepherd" or "personal pastor" and the requirement for members to obtain their approval or "witness" for ministry and personal matters. In the culture of these groups, the boundaries and sanctity of the family delineated in Scripture are obscured, and members are taught that the church-group is the members' "true family," and that because the pastor(s) or leader(s) are the spiritual head(s) of the "spiritual family," they are therefore the ultimate authority over the individual members as well their family.
Esotericism. Deliberate and crafty concealment or obfuscation of the true nature, agenda, beliefs, teachings, and practices of the group to the general public, prospective members, and new proselytes, who are fed such information piecemeal only as they progress through incremental stages of "enlightenment" or "spiritual maturity" (i.e., indoctrination) so that they can properly understand the teachings and culture of the church-group (i.e., cult).
Love-bombing. Surreal, unnatural, idyllic, Pollyanna, excessive, ushy-gushy, showy, humanistic, carnal, and very conditional "love" and artificial "acceptance" used to anesthetize members against the potent predomination being imposed upon them. Members are incessantly told how much the leaders love them and how dedicated they are to looking out for the members' personal and spiritual welfare. Not ironically, this is a characteristic common to all bona fide cults, whether they be "Christian" cults or otherwise.
Economic exploitation and enslavement. Unbiblical, erroneous, excessive demands and requirements imposed upon members for financial contributions under the guise of "financial accountability" or "good stewardship." Many groups require their members to sign a "covenantal agreement" committing themselves to an iron-clad, exacting requirement of submission of tithes and offerings to the organization in order to retain their membership and to be "considered for leadership positions" in the church.

Multitudes of sincere and trusting believers are caught in the virtually invisible web of religious captivation in Charismatic and other Neo-Pentecostal churches, and don't know it. They are unaware victims of spiritual abuse and exploitation under the heavy-hand of hyper-authoritarianism. The leadership of the church-group of which they are a part is dominating, controlling, and manipulating their followers, and exploiting them for their own personal gain and private kingdom-building. And, it is transpiring not merely in radical, fringe religious sects and cults, as some would suppose, but rather in otherwise bona fide church-groups espousing orthodox Christian beliefs, whose memberships are comprised of a cross section of average Americans, individuals and families, of every race, education level, station, and walk of life.

How unfortunate and troubling it is that this terrible blight on the church has been able to prevail and prosper for so long. May God send forth a move of His Spirit to judge and put and end to it soon!

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Charismatic Captivation Exposed!

2008-11-09T12:49:00.008-05:00

Horror stories of authoritarian abuse and exploitation and psychological enslavement in certified Christian churches abound. From time to time, particular isolated incidents have erupted in highly publicized news stories. However, those high-profile cases really are only the tip of the iceberg. The truth of the matter is, I know from my twenty years of ministry, ecclesiastical enslavement and exploitation is widespread in certain sectors of Christendom in this country. And, it is vital to understand, I am not talking about radical, fringe religious sects and cults, but well-respected church-groups espousing orthodox Christian beliefs, whose membership is comprised of a cross section of average Americans, individuals and families, of every race, education level, station, and walk of life.

Though religious predominance is certainly nothing new, and hyper-authoritarianism is by no means limited to the Neo-Pentecostal branch of the Church, it has, however, especially flourished in the Charismatic and so-called "second, third, and fourth wave" (i.e., Neo-Pentecostal) groups since it was infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of that branch of the Church in the early- to mid-seventies. Moreover, it is the Charismatic branch of which this ministry has been a part since its inception, which gives me not only the "right" but also the duty to bring reproof of error and errancy in that realm (2 Tim. 4:1-5, et al.).

This kind of "Charismatic captivation" is prevalent among Charismatic and other Neo-Pentecostal churches and groups primarily as a result of widely-taught and -accepted hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices first introduced in the 1970s by an alliance of five ministers who rose to prominence, and spawned what became known as the "Discipleship/Shepherding Movement." Those doctrines and practices remain an integral part of the governmental foundation of many churches and groups yet today.

This elite ministerial Quintumverate had somehow concluded that the newly-created and burgeoning branch of the Church generated by the Divinely-orchestrated Charismatic Movement birthed in 1960, was in disarray and needed to be "organized." Somehow they also determined it was they God had appointed to accomplish the task of "organizing" the Charismatic church. The purportedly inspired and Bible-based organizational structure they advocated and eventually instituted was virtually identical to the modern pyramid marketing structure so popular and prevalent today. The "Fab Five" placed themselves at the top of the pyramid of interrelated Charismatic leaders, which quickly expanded into a "down-line" of thousands of "submitted" ministers.

In the mid-seventies the entire matter of this "movement" erupted into a highly-publicized international controversy. The result of the maelstrom was that the relevant doctrines and practices were repudiated and denounced by many well-known church-leaders, and the ministers who invented and promulgated them fell into disrepute.

However, despite the controversy and the public chastisement, those ministers and their followers initially remained unbowed and undeterred. They defended themselves, as well as the hyper-authoritarian teachings and practices and philosophies of church-government they advocated. For many years afterward, they continued to teach those patently false and unScriptural doctrines, and to develop what came to be an expansive multi-level "network" of ministers and churches. Though, it was now done less overtly, and there was a concerted and deliberate effort to take the whole matter underground to lessen as much as possible the negative effects of the controversy and to give the appearance of repentance.

The unfortunate consequence of that move toward covertness and esotericism was that instead of being eradicated, those patently false doctrines and Scripturally-prohibited practices were infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Charismatic/Neo-Pentecostal Church at-large, and are still espoused and practiced by many churches and groups in today. This stems partly from the fact that many of those ministries are headed by leaders who either were a part of those Shepherding networks or who were themselves mentored by leaders who were, and consequently adopted or adapted many of the doctrines and governmental philosophies advocated by the principals of those networks.

Many present-day church-leaders do not realize their leadership methodology is actually a hybrid form of hyper-authoritarianism, and amounts to or engenders domination and control. The proper role of human under-shepherds is to lead people to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and teach them how to be His followers, in submission to Him and His authority. Hyper-authoritarian leaders, instead, wittingly or unwittingly, lead people to themselves, and indoctrinate them to be their followers, in total submission to them and their authority.

In essence, these dominating shepherds teach they are the church members' Lord, Master, and Savior. They indoctrinate congregants to believe the spiritual leaders of the church themselves are the members' "spiritual covering," and any member who ever leaves the church will be "out from under" their "covering," be without any covering, and experience terrible curses and consequences as a result.

This false hypothesis of "absolute submission," with which subjects are incessantly indoctrinated, is the bedrock of such authoritarian doctrines. That, coupled with the enslaving organizational authority structure in place in the groups where these unbiblical doctrines are espoused, is primarily what makes these techniques and mechanisms of control effectual and effective. And, it is chiefly the spiritual and psychological needs and problems of attendees of these groups that makes them vulnerable to such unauthorized domination and control as well as the various sorts of exploitation entailed.

The mechanisms of psychological manipulation, domination, and control employed in these groups are virtually identical, to those employed by certified cults. Indeed, the stark truth is that many of the groups and churches who employ these techniques and mechanisms are themselves at the very minimum quasi-cults, and in some cases, bona fide cults.

The abuse and exploitation occurring in groups where these hyper-authoritarian systems of governance are instituted come in various shapes and shades. In a nutshell, the "dumb sheep" are taught they cannot trust their own judgment or ability to receive direction from the Lord for even the most mundane decisions of their lives, but must rely instead upon the supposed transcendent wisdom and superior spirituality of their human "Shepherds." Typically, submitants must obtain the approval of their group-gurus regarding virtually all personal matters and domestic decisions—matters of romance, such as who members date and marry; health and insurance matters, employment and career matters, and most of all, regarding every detail of members' personal finances, which requires their leaders' approval for practically every significant expenditure.

Relentless programming with this premise along with constant bombardment with belittling derision leads to spiritual and psychological paralysis for submissive adherents. Gradually, as the hidden web of religious witchcraft is woven, and their natural resistance to such domination and control is dissipated, docile submitants eventually become the unwitting and helpless psychological slaves of self-aggrandizing church-leaders and their grandiose plans for the building of their private, personal, earthly kingdoms.

In these groups, the "authority" of the "shepherds" is absolute, sacrosanct, and inviolable—that is, without reprisal. Any semblance of anything other than total and unquestioning obeisance and obedience to the desires and counsel of the chain of leaders is considered rebellion and insubordination, and simply is not tolerated. Members live under the constant threat of being branded with the Scarlet Letter "R" for "rebel," openly denounced and shamed from the (bully-)pulpit, and consequently shunned by their "covenant-community" as well as the threat of excommunication (which is rarely exercised except in the case of the most outspoken dissidents, because they don't want to lose the members and their financial support). Moreover, members are indoctrinated to accept the leadership-set agenda and mission of the group, regarding which they have little real say, as their personal burden and responsibility, and to commit their time, talent, and, most importantly, their tithe to its successful completion. The oppressive maltreatment and mistreatment to which members of these cult-like groups are subjected seems to me to be the spiritual equivalent of the hard task-mastery of the Israelites during their nearly five centuries of captivity under the Egyptian Pharaohs.

So what are the consequences and effects we are talking about here, a scant few slightly disillusioned people with their feelings a little hurt? FAR FROM IT! We are talking about an immense number of broken and destroyed families, marriages, and friendships, multitudes of unpretentious, formerly trusting people who are now psychologically traumatized and marred, and spiritually shipwrecked, potentially for life. Added to that are substantial numbers of failed businesses, bankruptcies, lost fortunes, nervous breakdowns, contracted health maladies, suicides, and premature deaths by various related causes, and the like, just to name some of the consequences experienced by victims. Indeed, the details of the havoc and decimation wreaked upon victims' lives is far too extensive and, frankly, morose to possibly be able to relate here, but suffice it to say it is sweeping, mind-boggling, and, sadly, in some cases, barring the miraculous, irreversible.

The two greatest problems with deception is that the deceived are deceived about being deceived, and their ego and pride make it difficult for them to accept the fact they are in deception. In the case of many of those who do finally accept the fact they have been duped, for years afterward they reel in varied degrees of anger, embarrassment, resentment, disillusionment, and distrust.

No one wants to be a "sucker." Indeed, the sad and unfortunate experience of this ministry in attempting to rescue victims of authoritarian abuse and exploitation is that most simply don't want to hear about anything suggesting they may be deceived, or that their "beloved" church and its leaders to which they have become so codependent could possibly be involved in any kind of deception or error. Even when confronted with proof-positive that these unscriptural and cult-like teachings and practices are an integral, albeit covert, part of their own church's operations and culture, many indoctrinated adherents react with angry and vehement denial, staunchly refusing to accept even the remotest possibility such a thing could be so.

Moreover, astoundingly, instead of desiring liberation, such "deniers" opt to remain captive in what has become to them the familiar and "friendly confines" of the institution of which they are a member. This sad scenario is strikingly similar to that of many "career criminals" who prefer and choose institutional incarceration over the liberties and latitudes of a normal life of freedom. The constant and abiding prayer of all believers should be that God may grant the captives of all these groups the "repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:26).

Fortunately, though, there are those who despite their considerable chagrin and pain, do want to be liberated from the witchcraft of domination and control, regardless of the cost. Somewhere in the psyche of most sound-thinking humans is an intense desire to be free, along with an utter disdain for any form or degree of illegitimate predominance and exploitation. For those people, there are signs of hyper-authoritarianism that are readily detectable when you know what they are. That is to say, there are a number of common psychological control mechanisms employed within groups in which hyper-authoritarian doctrines and practices are espoused and implemented. Unfortunately, they aren't always simple, overt, and obvious, but are often sophisticated, covert, and hidden. They are, however, identifiable by those who are informed about them and know what to look for. In my book, Charismatic Captivation, I delineated the common control mechanisms employed by hyper-authoritarian groups, and how to recognize them. The one thing that book simply cannot supply, though, is the objectivity required to analyze the church or group of which one is a part to determine if these mechanisms are being employed there.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook