Over the course of our time in the public eye of Christendom, there has been a lot of opposition to the way we go about doing things–how we confront error, the delivery of some of our messages, and the aggressive nature towards certain doctrines, traditions, and mindsets that we have taken.

You will not see us malign anyone’s character or their intentions, their heart towards God or their heart towards other people.  You will not see us do anything to seek to damage anyone’s reputation, accuse people falsely, or have any malicious intent towards others.  You will not see us doing things to discredit the worth of people or their ministries.

That’s called slander.  There are a ton of people who build their entire “ministries” by tearing down others.  We will not do that.  Ever.

What you will see and likely have seen is that we unashamedly confront mindsets and traditions that are very prevalent in the church today that keep people in bondage.

We wouldn’t have the majority of the New Testament if Paul didn’t think it was important to confront error and teach Truth.  Most of his letters were letters of correction to well-intentioned but incorrect churches who were steeped in error.

The trouble and the tension with what we do is as follows:

Since so many people are so emotionally and mentally attached to what they do (performance) and the ministries/teachers they respect and listen to, if anything that those well-respected teachers preaches is even mildly confronted or corrected by anything we’ve put out, people have had a tendency to put up a huge wall and get offended, leading to them (the hearers) shutting down or slandering us.

So we are faced with an interesting dilemma–one that was shared, I am quite sure, with Jesus and the apostles as they came on the scene preaching a message that, quite literally, was diametrically opposed to the popular teachings of the religious leaders of their day.

They weren’t persecuted because they were nice to everybody and wandered around talking like Mr. Rogers.

They were persecuted because if what they were preaching was indeed Truth, that meant that everybody around them was wrong.

But Truth is Truth.  And once you know Truth, it sets you free (John 8:32).

What most people don’t know, is that there is a condition on Jesus’ statement of Truth setting you free:

“…Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31-32

If you are not holding to Jesus’ teaching, by His own words, you aren’t really His disciple and you don’t know the Truth, and you are not free.

We try to do everything that is in our ability to show spiritually starved people what Jesus really said, what He really did, and the vastly amazing implications that has for you as one who profess Him as your Lord and Savior.

Unfortunately, a lot of what is taught in the church today is not what Jesus taught and actually is diametrically opposed to what He taught and especially the finished work that He did on Calvary to atone for sins and pay for your freedom.

So naturally, we get some pretty heated flack from those whose traditions and mindsets and doctrines we confront.

And two of the most frequently used oppositions to anything we have said, done, or teach are the following:

• “You must walk in ‘honor’…don’t be ‘dishonoring’!
• “You can’t just speak the truth…you have to speak the truth ‘in love’!

I am going to do my best to address this issue of honor.

The “speaking the truth in love” thing is so frequently thrown out it’s essentially the person saying:

“I am agreeing that what you are saying is true, but because the way you said it hurt my feelings a little bit, I am perceiving that as unloving, and therefore I am going to ignore the fact that what you said is true and thus stay the same in my lies.”

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In regards to HONOR

Centuries ago, honor meant standing up and fighting for what was right no matter the cost.

Honor was a whole lot more than treating someone nicely and being friendly and jovial towards that which defied freedom.

Honor certainly was not blindly accepting or believing something someone said simply because of who said it.

I believe that is called being naïve.

Honor meant openly defying tyrannical oppression and defending, sometimes violently, the cause of righteousness and truth despite the persecution that vehemently came their way.

Honor meant being willing to confront someone, unafraid of consequences, because that person was harming someone innocent. It meant loving a person so much that you were willing to have your intentions be misunderstood for the sake of standing for truth and setting them free with it.

That is honor.

Religion today teaches that “honor” is just blind, dumb submission that doesn’t ask questions.

Religion today teaches that “honor” is obedience to what man says, yet ignoring what God has already said.

Religion today teaches that “honor” is not correcting anybody, not standing up and saying that certain messages or teachings are wrong, all for the sake of “love” and “unity”.

And I would propose to you that is all a lie from the pit of hell.

The devil doesn’t have to work very hard to keep the church running in circles.  Man-made doctrines about “honor” and “walking in love” are working a fine job doing just that by keeping Christians SILENT about the very issues that are keeping people in bondage.

The Bible calls that “fear of man”, “people pleasing”, “ear tickling”, and “flattery”.

HONOR is to do to others what you would have them do to you.

HONOR is to fight for what is RIGHT, and GOOD, and TRUE despite the cost and despite all of the slanderous accusations and lies that will be railed at you for doing so.

“He has honor if he holds himself to a [righteous] ideal of conduct thought it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.” – Walter Lippman

“Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong.” – Thomas Jefferson

I would add that it is not honoring to sit idly by when you know that something is being spread or taught that is not in alignment with the teachings of Christ.

“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” – Edward Burke

It IS honoring to ask questions.  It IS honoring to confront error with Truth.  It IS honoring and it IS loving to stand up for Truth because that is precisely what Jesus, the apostles, and so many martyrs throughout the ages have done as they have given their last breath to stand for righteousness and the finished work of the cross.

How “honoring” were the apostles by today’s standards in Acts 4:18-20 and Acts 5:29 when they boldly and brazenly refused to “submit to leadership” or “honor the authority” of those ‘churches’?

How “honoring” was Jesus when He called the leaders of His day “sons of the devil” for how much they were burdening other people and teaching man-made tradition? (Matthew 15, Matthew 23, Mark 7)

How “honoring” was Paul when he said if anybody taught a gospel contrary to the one he taught, that they should be eternally condemned? (Gal. 1:1-10)

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed;To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” – Luke 4:18-19

Honor is setting the oppressed free and bringing good news to those who have been downtrodden and heavy-laden.

THAT is honor.

Anything less falls miserably short of what God ever designed “honor” to be.

And now that you have seen what the Father sent Jesus to do:

“…Jesus said, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent ME, so I am sending YOU.” – John 20:21

Real honor fights for what is right and good.

Real honor fights for what is True.

Real honor fights despite people misunderstanding intentions.

Real honor stands up against that which enslaves the innocent and helpless.

Real honor opens the eyes of the blind and unstops the ears of the deaf.

Real honor defies tyranny.

Real honor does not compromise for the sake of making people feel good.

Real honor cares more about the freedom of people than the comfort of those who spread lies and are in bondage.

It always comes back to JESUS.

“Honoring people does not mean putting up with lies, it means dismantling them no matter who says them. It’s not honor or love to defend stupid stuff because your pastor or favorite preacher says it.  It’s quite the opposite.

The kind of “honor” that is so popular in church today kills people; it’s a devil.

Real honor will never compromise the Truth of Jesus just so it can get along with people, but it will die fighting for Him.  Hebrews 11 is what real honor looks like.  The life of Jesus is what real honor looks like.” - Daniel Silva

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I hope you have been as impacted by this as I was by writing it and the understanding of what it really should look like to “be honoring”.

The world around you is ravaged with darkness.

These broken ones are fearful, helpless and alone — who have filled their lives with all sorts of depravity and empty material things in a vain attempt to satisfy the longing of their soul for just a taste of Divine Love.

The cries of the lost who have been blinded by the god of this age rise daily to the Throne of God as the people of God sit idly by and do nothing.

Who will rise to confront the tyranny and the oppression that has so brutalized those helpless to fight back?

Who will stand in defiance of the onslaught of the forces of hell and say “ENOUGH!” ?

Who will speak with the conviction, authority, and boldness that pierces hearts and obliterates lies with Truth?

Who will arise from the obscurity of man-made religion and confront hypocrisy and challenge the only ones empowered to help the helpless?

Who will help remove the chains of powerless traditions and the constraints of control and deliver others so that they can be deliverers?

Are these ones who are scrambling daily for their next fix of drugs, sex, alcohol, and entertainment not worth the time and effort it takes to embrace them and love them as they were created to be loved?

Are these ones who are drowning in a sea of mindless self indulgence that bespeaks their own crisis of identity and screams a cry of help not worth leaving your prayer meeting to demonstrate the depth of the heart of God towards them?

Do you not yet realize that you are the Father’s plan for transformation in your city?

Do you not yet realize that the resurrected Christ lives and breathes and dwells within you, most likely imprisoned by man-made rules imposed upon you by powerless and controlling leaders who have elevated themselves and their ministries above the very Word of God?

Do you not yet realize it is not “honoring” to blindly believe everything that someone says simply because you think they have good intentions and they seem to be a nice person who has good oratory and public speaking skills?

Do you not yet realize that Christ-in-YOU is the answer to the very prayers you have been praying for countless hours on end at untold numbers of meetings and conferences?

What more will it take to shock you out of complacency?

What more will it take for you to realize the depth of your own laziness and disobedience to the Commission you signed up for when you committed your life to the Author of Life?

What more will it take for you to realize that the entire PLANET is CRYING OUT for answers to the horrifying nature of sin and death that comes at them from every angle–every second of every day–and they are POWERLESS to stop it without Christ–and that YOU are His ambassadors on this earth?

What more will it take for you to realize that YOU ARE CRYING OUT TO GOD FOR THAT WHICH YOU ALREADY HAVE?

How selfish are you?

How self-centered can you be that day in and day out you spend untold numbers of wasted hours in nice, comfortable church meetings or rattling away on the internet about your latest “glory party” while the world around you perishes without a saving knowledge of the One who paid their penalty for sin—and the only reason they don’t hear is because the Church isn’t doing its job?

How can you be so selfish to write this off as simply someone penning an article who has an “evangelistic anointing or calling” when God is no respecter of persons and Jesus never told a single disciple that they didn’t have the responsibility to demonstrate His Kingdom to the world around them?

How can you remain so blind when the Truth stands right in front of you beckoning you to come and help Him bring His Love and Forgiveness and Grace and Power to the people whom He died for?

Will you rob Him of the reward of His suffering?

How can you think it is even remotely okay for you to ignore the commands of the King of the Universe to not only love Him, but to love those around you and demonstrate who He is to them?

Is there not a cause?  Are the giants in this land not ours for the slaying?

Are you so fearful?  Is your devil bigger than the God within you?

Will you be amongst the remnant that grow a backbone and stands for what is right?

Have you been so inundated with mindless religious traditions and nice sounding music and fantastic ear-tickling books and prophecies that your ears have been deafened to the cries of the desperate ones around you?

Are you so wrapped up in your own self-righteousness that you feel the need to rub the sins of a group of people whose nature is to sin in their faces, instead of loving them and showing them who Truth is?

Are you so blinded by your own ambitions to be a Christian superstar and being recognized by some mega-money-hungry-ministry that you are not willing to spend time fighting the devil off of the sick, helpless and dying in a hospital room because it might take more than a 30-second prayer?

Are you so enamored with the thought of being an “itinerant minister” and conference speaker that you spend thousands of dollars and years of your life to move your entire life to attend “schools” and learn a whole bunch of religious, unbiblical-but-good-sounding-stuff that thousands before you have spent and yet the world still remains unchanged and you’ve not heard of these self-proclaimed ‘world changers’?

Does it not strike you as even remotely strange that there has been all this “praying for revival” and how little “revival” has resulted?

Are you even slightly aware of the fact that the notion of actually going INTO all the world to preach and demonstrate the Gospel was what Jesus said—not you sitting huddled in a room, an auditorium, or even in a ‘prayer closet’ begging Him to do your job?

Has it occurred to you that by going from meeting to meeting, church to church, conference to conference because of how good you feel afterwards and the emotional highs you get— that you are addicted to spiritual masturbation and self-gratification?

Have you considered looking into whether or not  your “Christianity”  actually reflects the Christ whom you profess?

Do unbelievers like to be around you?  Do they tell you that you’re “not like other Christians” that they have met because you actually love them and show them that they are worthwhile?

Or are the only people that seem to like you already “Christians”?

Have you even stopped to think about the fact that it was the “Christians” of Jesus’ day that were the very ones that had Him murdered because of how aggressively He confronted their hypocrisy and hell-inspired traditions of man-instituted bondage?

Or that the “sinners” of His day actually liked being around Him because He didn’t rub their sin in their faces and judge or condemn them?

Which side of the fence are you on?

How angry is this article making you?

If it is, have you considered why it’s making you angry?

Is it because your own hypocrisy and disobedience has been laid bare before you and that I am telling you that you are playing a demonically perverted game—a masquerade to the whole world around you, yourself included—that you are not actually living the Christian life?

Is it because as you read these words you have realized that you are now responsible to actually do something with the life that has been granted to you rather than going to another good meeting?

Is it because I am calling YOU, oh fair Christian, to repent of your hypocrisy and demonstrate the life and character of the One whom you profess with your lips?

Or is it because you have realized that you have been blinded and duped by the great deceiver–the father of lies–that old dragon who thrives on rendering useless the very ones (you) whom God ordained to crush him (satan) under their feet?

Is it because you have recognized the deception that has gripped you and the Church of the Living God and the very wrath of God towards sin, death, and bondage now burns within you?

If it is the former, then you will either turn from your hypocrisy or just harden your heart further to the voice of the Lord who has called you.

If it is the latter, there is much to be done.

The battle is ours to war–and victory has already been achieved on Calvary.  There are giants in our promised land that are ours to slay.

Who will stand and fight?

Who will rise and defy the tyranny and oppression that has infiltrated the church as well as that which afflicts the lost?

Is it you?

I will see you on the front lines.

We’ve got giants to kill.

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Please watch the following video — it is a reenactment of a vision William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, had a few hundred years ago.

This is an article by Charles Spurgeon that rings just as true today as when it was written.

You probably won’t hear this passage preached out of on Sunday morning.

“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” – 2 John 1:9-11

So much for “honor” as it is so blithely taught today.

Church of Christ, awaken and get a tongue of FIRE and set people free!

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“I have not much patience with a certain class of Christians nowadays who will hear anybody preach so long as they can say, “He is very clever, a fine preacher, a man of genius, a born orator.”  Is cleverness to make false doctrine palatable?  Why, sirs, to me the ability of a man who preaches error is my sorrow rather than my admiration.

I cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before me. Would you have me eat poisoned meat because the dish is of the choicest ware? It makes me indignant when I hear another gospel put before the people with enticing words, by men who would fain make merchandise of souls; and I marvel at those who have soft words for such deceivers.

“That is your bigotry,” says one.  Call it so if you like, but it is the bigotry of the loving John who wrote—“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work (2 John 1:10-11).”

I would to God we had all more of such decision, for the lack of it is depriving our religious life of its backbone and substituting for honest manliness a mass of the tremulous jelly of mutual flattery.

He who does not hate the false does not love the true; and he to whom it is all the same whether it be God’s word or man’s, is himself unrenewed at heart.

Oh, if some of you were like your fathers you would not have tolerated in this age the wagon loads of trash under which the gospel has been of late buried by ministers of your own choosing.

You would have hurled out of your pulpits the men who are enemies to the fundamental doctrines of your churches, and yet are crafty enough to become your pastors and undermine the faith of a fickle and superficial generation.

These men steal the pulpits of once orthodox churches, because otherwise they would have none at all.

Their powerless theology cannot of itself arouse sufficient enthusiasm to enable them to build a mousetrap at the expense of their admirers, and therefore they profane the houses which your sires have built for the preaching of the gospel, and turn aside the organisations of once orthodox communities to help their infidelity: I call it by that name in plain English, for “modern thought” is not one whit better, and of the two evils I give infidelity the palm, for it is less deceptive.

I beg the Lord to give back to the churches such a love to his truth that they may discern the spirits, and cast out those which are not of God.  I feel sometimes like John, of whom it is said that, though the most loving of all spirits, yet he was the most decided of all men for the truth; and when he went to the bath and found that the heretic, Cerinthus, was there, he hurried out of the building, and would not tarry in the same place with him.

There are some with whom we should have no fellowship, nay, not so much as to eat bread; for though this conduct looks stern and hard, it is after the mind of Christ, for the apostle spake by inspiration when he said, “If we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1)

According to modern efficiency he ought to have said, “Let him be kindly spoken with in private, but pray make no stir.  No doubt the thought was original, and we must not question his liberty. Doubtless, he believes the same as we do, only there is some little difference as to terms.”

This is treason to Christ, treachery to truth, and cruelty to souls.

If we love our Lord we shall keep his words, and stand fast in the faith, coming out from among the false teachers; nor is this inconsistent with charity, for the truest love to those who err is not to fraternise with them in their error, but to be faithful to Jesus in all things.”

This is why I am so intense.

This is why I confront what I confront.

This is why.

This oughta shake some things that need shaken.

It’s time to ask the hard questions that demand answers.

One of the most frequent questions that we get asked (just for obeying the Word of God) is “Who is your covering?” and “What church do you go to?” and “Who is your pastor?”

It is usually asked with good intentions but in a lot of ways it is asked in a sense of “Who can I go talk to about what you’re doing and saying because I don’t like it very much…”

This post should take care of all of that.  While it is longer than my usual posts, it bears reading—especially if you have any  inkling of a desire to change the world for the Kingdom of God and see the captives set free by the power of God.  If that is you, I would highly suggest reading this in its entirety—because I assure you, you will be asked these same questions and hit the same kind of opposition that we have hit (and conquered).  I only wish that I had come across these truths sooner.

Keep in mind those “covering” questions sound notoriously like the questions the Pharisees asked Jesus in Mark chapter 11 –

“They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question.  Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’….” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
- Mark 11:27-33

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Our good friend Tim Jorgensen said in regards to this topic:

“I may be opening a can of worms here… but there is actually no place in scripture where ‘a pastor’ must be appointed as the point leader of a local church.  It is simply an unscriptural tradition.  It is not necessarily bad, because a pastor has an ability to relate to and nurture people (in order to get them to be fruitful and multiply I might add -but that is another topic). The apostle Paul actually appointed elders/deacons to be the leadership in local churches in cities.

Of course there should be order in churches/assemblies/meetings- otherwise there would have never been a need for Paul to write these epistles to the different churches. Everything in nature that pertains to life has an order that perpetuates and sustains it.  God is a God of order.  No problem.

The REAL problem is this– when someone is obeying the scriptures and seeing fruit and a false, cancerous order tries to squeeze the life out of it by intimidating it into submission to its disobedient structure. These are false apostles, false pastors, false teachers, prophets etc.

So this ‘where is your covering?’ accusation comes in to say ‘you can’t obey God unless you have someone I can accuse you to, or discount what you are doing in this denomination/group’s box’ .

Yes- it is important to relate to one another as a part of the Body of Christ, and in Eph. 4 it speaks of the 5-fold’s ministry role in this… which is (drum-roll please) to train and RELEASE people to act in the fullness of the stature of Christ! Not to hold people back from obeying the rightly -divided Word!

Soo…. if a pastor (acting as and demanding to be a covering) is actually holding people back from obeying the gospel and acting as Christ… could that pastor be …. anti-Christ? Hmnn….”

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Anyway, I came across a great article that was written by Cheryl McGrath of Great South Land Ministries.  I requested permission to repost the article here and it was granted.  So without further ado…
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“UNCOVERING THE “COVERING DOCTRINE”

by Cheryl McGrath of
Great South Land Ministries
www.greatsouthland.org
southland@greatouthland.org

(All scripture references NKJV unless otherwise stated.)

“I hope you will be patient with me as I keep on talking like a fool. Please bear with me.  I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself.   For I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ.   But I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Christ, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent. You seem to believe whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach about a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.” ( 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 NLT)

I am inviting you to take a journey to freedom.   Freedom, though, rarely comes without a cost, so be prepared for a few bumps and bruises along the way! My fervent prayer is that by the time you reach the end you will at the least be stirred to do some personal exploring of the scriptures, and at the most some long-held religiously-based mindsets will be shattered beyond hope of repair.

Firstly, though, let me share a little personal history in order to establish the fact that the teaching I offer you in this article has not been arrived at hastily, presumptuously, or with lack of experience in what is commonly known as “the church”.  For almost my entire life I have been “churched”.   Born to a Catholic-Italian father and an Anglican-Australian mother, anyone might have guessed there would be a few pot-holes along my spiritual path!  I do remember at a very early age being taken by an uncle to a Catholic Mass, where the sheer majestic atmosphere of the church overwhelmed me.  He must be some God!  I thought.

Later, I was introduced to Sunday School at a nearby Baptist Church by yet another conscientious relative, where the most important thing I learned was that God loved me.  Good start!  In my first year in high school a friend and her mother shared the gospel.   As a result, alone in my bedroom, I experienced a life-changing revelation of Christ on the Cross.  I was born again!  Several years were then spent attending a local Anglican church with my friend.   After some time I was allowed to teach the kindergarten Sunday School class, but was still forbidden to take communion because I had never undergone infant baptism.   (That scenario had been too stressful for my Catholic father and Protestant mother!)

In my early twenties, through the encouragement of the same friend, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.  My husband and I started attending a little Assemblies of God church, where to my great delight I heard for the first time about the gifts and anointing of the Spirit.   There followed nearly twenty years in that denomination, and during those years, I was certain that I would spend the rest of my life there.

God had other plans, however, and after a series of deep family crises which my church preferred not to know about, my husband and I found ourselves fellowshipping briefly at a Uniting Church (Methodist to American readers).   Perhaps “fellowshipping” is not the right word. “Attending” might be more appropriate, as fellowship did not appear to be an offer.

From there the journey through “churchianity” continued, when a Congregational Pastor friend who’d been Spirit-filled invited us along to his church.   Alas, the pastor wanted the Spirit, but the congregation didn’t, so we, as well as the pastor, found ourselves being offered the left boot of fellowship! A major geographical move found our family churchless again, so off we went to find our new “spiritual home” among the local Pentecostals, trying several different flavours, but somehow we knew we weren’t fitting.  God came to the rescue again, directing us to a Baptist church with a charismatic pastor, but with the clear message this was to be for “a season only”.   This would prove interesting! (Lord, isn’t this where I started?)  We spent three years of relative peace there, before He suddenly said “the season’s up.”  That was four years ago. These days we fellowship in a house church community.

I know this is the place of fellowship the Lord has for me at this time, but I also know that He alone is my spiritual home. It took a lot of years and a long journey for me to discover that truth.

Of course, there are many details I’ve omitted, some not so pleasant, to make this history as brief as possible.   My purpose in relating these facts is not to imply any kind of pretentious credentials, or to elevate one type of worship expression above another.   My desire is only to establish the fact that there IS a denominational history, and a fairly extensive one, from which I draw upon in addressing this issue of “spiritual covering”.

You see, in a number of the denominations I’ve been involved in, including at leadership level, a “doctrine of covering” was taught and accepted.   And for many, many years, I never questioned this teaching.  After all, everyone believed it; the leadership upheld it, so it must be right, right?  It is only as the Holy Spirit has impressed me to study the scriptures more deeply on this teaching that I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that He never originated it! In His infinite grace, He chose to wait patiently for a time when the Spirit of Truth would become dearer to me than the traditions of men.

The teaching on “covering” goes like this: Everyone needs to be accountable to someone who is spiritually his or her superior. This someone may be your cell group leader, the head of a church department or your senior pastor etc.   In turn, these leaders receive covering from someone further up the line, for instance a denominational leader or a “recognized” apostle.  The necessity for this covering is based on the belief that believers need to be safeguarded from falling into error and/or sin.  So covering is provided by those who are more spiritual than we to protect us from such error. At the top of this pyramid of covering there is quite often a well-known and recognized “name” but the chances of meeting or having any kind of relationship with that person if you are at the bottom of the pyramid are fairly slim.

Currently, there are several networks offering this kind of covering to those in some form of church leadership or ministry, more often than not for an annual fee.   The annual fee usually provides for the running of the network, and conferences where you can fellowship with others under your particular brand of covering. You may also be denied entrance from one of these networks because you don’t have the appropriate credentials.

One of the strange things about this “covering” teaching is that rarely is anyone asked about their spiritual covering, until they step outside their particular church, denomination or network.   However, the minute a believer shows signs of having something important to share with the wider Body of Christ, suddenly all and sundry are interested primarily in that one important question: “Who are you covered by? “ It all sounds pretty reasonable except for one problem – it’s not found in scripture. In fact, the early church was taught to rely on the inner anointing to discern the spiritual source of potential ministers. (1 John 2:20; 1 John 4:1)

So, where did this idea originate that believers need to be “covered” in order to serve God and minister within Christ’s Body? Are you, like many others, living your Christian life under the shadow of this fear that without “covering” you dare not minister, preach, pray or do a myriad of other things you’re called to do by the Spirit of God, because you will somehow be ministering without protection?

The purpose of this article is to shed some light on this issue based on scriptural truth.   To begin with, though, we need to understand that this need to be covered by a perceived spiritual authority, and the scriptural instruction to submit ourselves to God’s delegated authorities, are NOT necessarily one and the same thing.   Furthermore, New Testament authority as demonstrated by Jesus and the first apostles, is servanthood-authority, upholding, strengthening, reinforcing and overseeing the Body from beneath, not domineering, controlling and ruling from above.   Therefore, it is vital in examining this issue that we begin from a correct understanding of Biblical submission and Biblical authority.

“LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU”

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought in not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:5-8)

The current mindset we carry in much of the church concerning submission is quite unrelated to the submission taught and demonstrated by Jesus and the early apostles. There is a desperate need to return to the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.   The scripture tells us that though He was equal with the Father, Jesus CHOSE to submit Himself, He CHOSE to humble Himself, He CHOSE to obey.   This is the key to Biblical submission, and the model laid down for us by both the Father and the Son.

Submission is firstly a choice; a choice that can only ever be made by the giver.  Biblical submission can never be demanded or forced. That kind of relationship is subservience, not submission. Jesus chose to subject Himself to the Father, but the Father “so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son.”  Sacrificial giving and sacrificial submission are married to each other.  In the Spirit, you cannot have one without the other.   If you try, you will invariably end up with control, dependence and abuse rather than humility, interdependence and grace.

The New Testament concept of submission, or subjection, is one of a totally voluntary attitude of giving, of yielding one’s preference and deferring to another. In this way, Jesus as a child was subject to His parents, yet the scriptures record that He did not even consult them when He was “about His Father’s business.” (Luke 2:49,51)

“IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU”

“Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they know they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this joyfully and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” (Hebrews 13:17, NLT)

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.   And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.” (Mark 10:42-44)

“Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads.” (Mark 10:42 The Message)

There is no question that the scriptures instruct each one of us to submit to God’s delegated authority.   It is the understanding and the application of that authority we often stumble over. The Bible records that Jesus taught the twelve this Kingdom authority as they walked along the road to Jerusalem. His face had been set toward the Cross, and it is certain He was keenly aware of the short time He had left with them. Perhaps He was conversing with His Father about what were the most important lessons He could impart to them during the time that was left.

We know that He heard them disputing over who among them was the best “leadership material”.   Perhaps Peter, having not long before witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration, thought that gave him special status.   Perhaps James and John felt they were more likely candidates for rulership than impetuous Peter.   Shortly before, they had asked Jesus to give them special places of honour in His Kingdom. Whatever had started their dispute, Jesus certainly knew how to end it! “Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave…” (Matt. 20:27).

The Lord was speaking to a group of people who had grown up under the rule of the Roman Empire.   The Romans exercised their authority through forced subjection and harsh cruelty.   In fact, the literal translation of the words Jesus used in reference to Roman rule mean “to be under the power of” and “to be subdued.”  Despite having witnessed Jesus using a very different kind of authority and power, the disciples had not yet understood exactly what He would require of them.   The Romans were, in the political sense, their masters.

Yet here was Jesus stating that to exercise the authority He was going to invest in them they would need to become slaves to one another, and not masters. One might safely assume these weren’t words any of them particularly wanted to hear that day!

Kingdom authority has nothing to do with titles, positions, educational qualifications or reputation. Kingdom authority is granted by the Lord according to the measure with which He can trust us to wield it with humility.   The greatest authority in the kingdom is reserved for His bondslaves.

WHAT ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY?

In today’s church system we have confused the word “covering” with the need for accountability. Consequently many are holding themselves accountable to people with title and position, regardless of whether or not they are developing an ongoing transparent relationship with that person.

In the Kingdom, it is not possible to be truly accountable to those with whom we are not actively growing in relationship. How can I be trusted to call you to account righteously if I don’t love you in Christ? How can you love me with Christ-like love and not call me to account?

Paul was able to correct the Corinthians because he had true relationship with them.   He had travailed over them, nurtured them, wept for them and rejoiced with them. Therefore he was able to reprove them, for their edification and not for their destruction. (2 Corinthians 13:10)

When we turn to the scriptures for guidance on this issue of accountability, a startling fact confronts us.   The New Testament mentions accountability ONLY in terms of the believer towards God. The scripture teaches that we will give accountability TO GOD ALONE in the following areas:

- stewardship (Luke 16:2)
- ourselves (Rom. 14:12)
- fruit (Phil 4:17)
- what we do in the flesh (1 Pet. 4:5)
- leaders shall give account for the souls they watch over (Heb. 13:17)

What then, DO the scriptures teach about how believers, as members of the corporate Body of Christ, are to relate to one another?

“… all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5)

In Galatians Chapter Two we read of a journey Paul took to Jerusalem.   He states that he went up “by revelation”, that is, at the instigation of the Holy Spirit, in order to confirm that the gospel he had been preaching was approved by the eldership of the Jerusalem church.   He goes on to state that “those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me,” had nothing to add to his teachings. He further adds that when James, Cephas (Peter) and John perceived the grace God had shown him, he was given the “right hand of fellowship.”

At the instigation of the Holy Spirit, Paul had subjected himself to the Jerusalem eldership, including Peter, for the purpose of accountability.   One may safely assume that Peter, having spent around three years day and night with Jesus, and highly regarded by the early believers, held very great authority in the church.   Paul, however did not ask Peter to cover him.  Instead, he did not hesitate in calling Peter to account when Peter was later swayed to go back on his word by the fear of men (Gal. 2:11-14). Bear in mind this is the same Peter who stated “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

These men understood the nature of relationship through the Holy Spirit; ALL of you be submissive to one another, ALL of you be clothed with humility.   Each of us is accountable to one another, whatever our function in the Body, whether apostles, teachers, deacons or helpers.  This is the church Christ is building.

To say that we are demonstrating accountability to a person or group of people we may briefly rub shoulders with at a meeting once or twice a week, or perhaps once or twice a year, is ludicrous. True accountability is about how we express Christ in us – our lifestyle, our character and our integrity in families, jobs and church community.  This cannot be measured outside Godly relationships, and without a humble willingness to be in subjection one to another.   Each one of us needs to seek out and submit ourselves to those in the Body the Lord has placed close to us to provide that accountability, regardless of their position, title or function. Each one of us needs to be willing, in humility and service, to provide that same accountability base for others in the Body. This applies to leadership equally as it does to the newest, most inexperienced member of the Christian community.

Sadly, what we see today in so much of the church, is a frenzied jockeying for position under the supposedly protective umbrella of some ministry name or reputation, in order to prove ourselves “covered”.  ”Who covers you? ” has become one of the most frequently asked questions among Christians, and too often it is the deciding factor in assessing a ministry’s integrity or otherwise. Consequently, an unsatisfactory answer to that question in some church circles can label you “outside the camp” and almost certainly not to be trusted.

Christians are judging each other’s worth and relationship with God on this issue of covering, and using it to justify self-righteousness and spiritual elitism.

“…..then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.” ( Isaiah 4:5)

“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” Ps. 91:4

IT’S ABOUT HIS NAME

“Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority? ” (Luke 20:1-2)

As we see from this portion of scripture, the question “who covers you? ” is not new.   The chief priests, scribes and elders were not simply asking Jesus where His supernatural power came from.  More than that, they wanted a NAME. “Who is he? ‘ Come on, tell us Jesus, who is the scribe, who is the rabbi, who is the prophet who covers you? And no more of that over-spiritualized talk about your Father. We want the name of the person who said you could do these things!”

The apostle Paul confronted a similar problem in the Corinthian church.

“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.  Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:10-13)

The Lord is jealous over us concerning His Name. We were bought and paid for by His Blood, and His Name is the only Name by which we are to identify ourselves.   When believers choose to find their identity in another name other than His, the Spirit is grieved and His Name is dishonoured.

IT’S ABOUT THE FLESH

“Don’t ever let anyone call you `Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as `Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don’t let anyone call you `Master,’ for there is only one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. ” (Matthew 23:8-11, NLT)

The Corinthians were apparently separating into factions according to whom they considered was the most authoritative teacher.  They were following after men, and for that reason Paul took issue with them.   Further in his letter he goes on to challenge them by describing this kind of mindset as carnal and fleshly rather than spiritual:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.   I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?” (1 Cor. 3:1-4)

Finally, he instructs them:

“Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come–all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Cor. 3:21-23)

The Corinthians had become so obsessed with the attributes of certain teachers they were idolizing them. They wanted to regard particular individuals as their “master”, “father”, or “teacher”, but Paul wanted them to understand that in doing so they were falling short of their full inheritance in Christ.   He wanted them to see that all of these teachers, belonged to them as servant-ministers, and not the other way around.

IT’S ABOUT A SUBSTITUTE KING

At the heart of the Corinthians’ idolatry was the age-old desire for a ruler, a king.   The flesh would much rather fear man than fear God. The flesh would much rather submit to the control of law than submit to the freedom of the Spirit.  This principle is seen throughout scripture.

Afraid they would die, the Israelites begged Moses to be God’s messenger to them, rather than hear His Voice for themselves.

“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” ( Exodus 20:18-19)

God desired for the people to hear Him for themselves, but they refused.  Effectively, the Israelites were elevating Moses as their mediator.  The entire nation had been called as a kingdom of priests, but their preference was to be ruled by one man. (Exodus 19:1-9)

Many years later, when the prophet Samuel officiated as Israel’s judge, Israel’s carnal desire for a man-king surfaced again.

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways.  Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day–with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods–so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behaviour of the king who will reign over them.”

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, “This will be the behaviour of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.   He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.   He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants.   And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord.  So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” (1 Samuel 8:4-22)

The key to Israel’s demand for a human king, rather than the direct reign of Yahweh over them, was “that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”  They wanted a name and a face that could “go out before” them.   They wanted someone visible they could show the other nations.  They wanted a symbol, a token leader who could take responsibility for how they would live and conduct their lives. They wanted someone with a reputation they could identify with.  They wanted to be like the world.  They wanted human “covering.”

You see, friends, there is a place for governmental leadership, there is a place for accountability within the Body, there is a place for submission to legitimate God-delegated authority.   All these are valid and in order, but only insofar as they are not permitted to substitute for the direct rule of God in our lives.   And only insofar as they are not sought out as a counterfeit for the sovereignty and rulership of the Holy Spirit within each believer.

IT’S OF A DIFFERENT SPIRIT

“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.” (Ezekiel 28:14)

Many Bible scholars agree that God’s rebuke to the “king of Tyre” recorded in Ezekiel 28:1-19 is prophetically addressed to Satan.   In it, we find that originally this fallen angel was called the “anointed cherub who covers”.  Some scholars believe he was especially anointed to cover the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies.   In the Presence of God, he walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.   The passage states that when iniquity was found in him he was cast out of God’s holy mountain, and removed from the midst of the fiery stones.

This Hebrew word “to cover” means “to hedge, fence about, shut in, block, overshadow, screen, stop the approach, shut off, cover” ( H. “cakak” Strongs 05526 ).   It is a word than can be used either in relation to defense or oppression.

Beloved, Satan still desires to walk back and forth in the midst of God’s living, fiery stones.  He still desires to be the covering cherub on God’s holy mountain, but the covering he offers is oppressive, designed purely to hinder believers and rob them of the freedom and full potential that is ours through Christ.

The doctrine of covering is an old lie with a new name. It is fundamental to the maintenance of a false hierarchical religious system controlling many Christians in this day. Without the power of this erroneous mindset, it is even doubtful that some sections of the “church” could survive.

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is OVER ALL and THROUGH ALL and IN ALL. (Ephesians 4:3-6)

The scriptures plainly state that it is God alone who is OVER all. Only God can cover His people, and only the Holy Spirit can unite them. The most disturbing aspect about the covering teaching is that it subtly encourages believers to look to men and women rather than develop their own deep relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.

It upholds a man-made church built on hierarchy rather than a spiritual temple built through the unity of the Spirit. It promotes a class system of rulership by title, human appointment and personality, and devalues the priesthood of every believer. It negates leadership by the Holy Spirit and discourages believers from hearing the direction of the Spirit for themselves.

It is a doctrine of demons being used to deceive and blind countless believers.

Now, about that freedom we were talking about at the beginning of this article! Don’t, repeat DON’T, use your newfound liberty as a license for rebellion against authority.

If you have been trapped in this covering doctrine be wise in how you appropriate your freedom. There are many, many humble and faithful men and women overseeing and serving the Body of Christ with humility and devotion, and it may well be that whoever has been “covering” you is one of them.

If you are blessed enough to be aligned with a servant-leader who demonstrates true Biblical authority, honour them, support them, and submit to them. But don’t expect them to cover you – that’s not theirs to give.

False doctrines are mindsets and beliefs that can only be cast down by the Spirit and the Word together.   And ultimately, our walk in the Spirit is not the responsibility of leadership; it is our own responsibility.   It is time for each one of us to choose – do we want the rulership of kings, or do we want the rulership of THE King?

Finally, let me leave you with these thoughts:

1) Who covered Philip when He went down to Samaria and started a revival? (The apostles heard about it and sent Peter and John down to check it out!) (Acts 8:4-8)

2)  Who covered Philip when the angel of the Lord directed him to the Gaza desert? (Acts 8:26-40) (There’s no record of the Ethiopian eunuch asking him for his “covering” credentials!)

3) Who covered Ananias when he was sent to pray for Saul? (He went to pray for a known enemy of the church and didn’t even get permission!) (Acts 9:10-18)

4) Who covered Apollos when he taught boldly in the synagogue, even though he had not yet received the full gospel? (Acts 18:24-25)

5) And who covered Aquilla and Priscilla when they took Apollos under their wing to instruct him further? (Acts 18:26)

6) Who covered Agabus when he traveled down from Judea to deliver a prophetic word to Paul? (Acts 21:10)

The answer is the same in each instance: The Holy Spirit covered, protected, led, and enabled. He is the only covering we need. The real question is this: is He the only covering we want?

“IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU.”

Cheryl McGrath
Great South Land Ministries
www.greatsouthland.org
southland@greatouthland.org

Copyright Cheryl McGrath, Great South Land Ministries, 2003. This article may be distributed freely with copyright intact. Permission is needed for reproducing this article or any part of it on a website. Used with permission.

Feel free to use this page to prove the Truth and the goodness of our Father and His will to heal and set free all who are oppressed by sickness, disease, etc.  People need to hear it.

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“The nearer we draw to the heart of God the less taste we will have for controversy. The peace we know in God’s bosom is so sweet that it is but natural that we want to keep it unbroken to enjoy as fully and as long as possible.

The Spirit-filled Christian is never a good fighter. He is at too many disadvantages.

The enemy is always better at invective than he will allow himself to be.  The devil has all the picturesque epithets, and his followers have no conscience about using them.  The Christian is always more at home blessing than he is opposing.

He is, moreover, much thinner-skinned than his adversaries.  He shrinks from an angry countenance and draws back from bitter words.. They are symbols of a world he has long ago forsaken for the quiet of the kingdom of God where love and good will prevail.

All this is in his favor, for it marks him out as a man in whom there is no hate and who earnestly desires to live at peace with all men.

In spite of his sincere longing for peace, however, there will be times when he dare not allow himself to enjoy it.

There are times when it is a sin to be at peace.

There are circumstances when there is nothing to do but to stand up and vigorously oppose.

To wink at iniquity for the sake of peace is not a proof of superior spirituality; it is rather a sign of a reprehensible timidity which dare not oppose sin for fear of the consequences.

For it will cost us heavily to stand for the right when the wrong is in the majority, which is 100% of the time.

We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant.

We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow.  Little by little we’ve been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless way around, like swallows at sundown, saying nothing that might stir the ire of the sons of this world.

That Neo-Christianity, which seems for the time to be the most popular (and is certainly the most aggressive), is very careful not to oppose sin.

It wins its crowds by amusing them and its converts by hiding from them the full implications of the Christian message. It carries on its projects after the [sensational and obnoxious advertising] methods of American business.

Well might we paraphrase Wordsworth and cry, “Elijah, thou shouldst be living at this hour; America has need of thee”.

We stand in desperate need of a few men like Elijah who will dare to face up to the brazen sinners who dictate our every way of life. (***my note:this includes those who profess to be Christians yet whose actions deny Him and His lifestyle.***)

Sin in the full proportions of a revolution or a plague has all but destroyed our civilization while church people have played like children in the marketplace.

What has happened to the spirit of the American Christian? Has our gold become dim? Have we lost the spirit of discernment till we can no longer recognize our captors?

How much longer will we hide in caves while Ahab and Jezebel continue to pollute the temple and ravage the land?

Surely we should give this some serious thought and prayer before it is too late-if indeed it is not too late already. ”

~A.W. Tozer~

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”  ~John Locke

“Never mistake motion for action.”  ~Ernest Hemingway

“I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.”  ~William J. Lock

“People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”  ~Lewis Cass

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The noise of this life is deafening and filled with echoes of voices that mean well but do little.

It has long been said “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

I have spent the last several years of my life pursuing God and an understanding of His supernatural Kingdom.  I have devoted hours upon hours and days upon days to study, prayer, learning through podcasts and teaching series.  I have done all of these things along with trying and succeeding but mostly trying and failing to see the kinds of results in healing and bringing freedom that Jesus Himself saw.

And all the while I have found myself consistently bombarded by external forces and voices who are a mere echo of their leaders’ voice…those who have had little to no actual experiences in demonstrating the King and His Kingdom—and yet still these critics have always seemed to be the loudest.

I do not claim to understand things to which I do not apply myself.  Nor do I presume to tell a brain surgeon how to perform brain surgery.  Nor do I claim to have all the answers on any particular subject.  Far from it.

However, what I do know is that people who profess something with their mouths and purport to be experts on a subject, yet are not actually doing anything even close to what they speak of, are hypocrites.

Jesus had a lot to say to people like that.

I’m not going to get much into that here.  But there are a few things that I would like to address.

There are those who read what I have to say and subsequently they get very, very angry.  There are those who, for some reason that is unknown to me, continue following what we are doing for the Kingdom of God and yet continue to get agitated and so they spread lies about us and speak slanderous things about how we are rebellious and dangerous to the Body of Christ today.

There are leaders of church organizations in and around the area in which we live as well as elsewhere who apparently are saying some not-so-nice things about us, and, quite frankly, I have no idea why or who these people even are.

While I do expect persecution, as Jesus did promise it, it has never ceased to amaze me how much hypocrisy and spinelessness has infected the minds and lives of those who profess Christ as Lord and Savior.  The righteous should be bold as lions (Prov. 28:1).  It doesn’t say the righteous will hide behind their pulpits and church titles and spread slander and gossip about people who are doing the works of the Kingdom.

To those of you who fall into that category, I would humbly request that if you really do take issue with anything that we are saying or doing, kindly follow the Biblical model of confrontation as laid out in Matthew 18 and come directly to me.  There is a contact page directly on this site and if you need a link, it can be found here.  I would confront these people on my own, except for the fact that most of them I don’t even know who they are, nor do they know me.

I am happy to speak with anyone who is willing to talk with me.

What I will not do is bow to intimidation, control, manipulation, political power plays, and fear of man.

The ones who persecuted Jesus were those who knew what they should have been doing, and yet were not doing it.  I expect nothing less.

These hypocrites were the most religious looking folks of their day.  They believed God existed.  They believed He was sending His Messiah to redeem the world.  They believed in the supernatural (at least the Pharisees did…the Sadducees did not for the most part).

They had a lot of big temples and looked important and powerful to every outside observer.

And yet, while their intentions may have been good, their actions still denied the God whom they professed with their mouths to serve and represent.  They were clean on the outside but horribly unclean on the inside.

And they certainly were not ‘saved’.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” – Matthew 23:14

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
- Matthew 15:7-9

John the Baptist dealt with the same issue.

“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.“- Luke 3:7-9)

Most people today would say Jesus and John weren’t walking in love.

The intensity and devotion of these men to the Kingdom of God was such that compromise was a word that was not in their vocabulary.  They burned with such a fiery conviction that exposed the hypocrisy of all those around them not only by their words, but by their actions.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18

Jesus did not tolerate the marketing gimmicks and all of the traditions that had so infected the minds of the Jewish people through the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadduccees.  He explicitly warned His disciples to be on guard against such teaching (Matthew 16:6, Luke 12:1)

So why is it that today we as Christians who are truly following God and His Kingdom so tolerate that which Jesus never did?

Each one of us has had a battle with hypocrisy.  Every day we are faced with situations and circumstances where we know better—we know the good that we should do and yet have failed to do what we should do.  In so doing, we have sinned (James 4:17).

The question is what do we do once we have recognized the error of our ways.

I do to others what I would have them do to me.  That is love.  If I was wrapped up in some tradition or mindset that I had been spoonfed my whole life in church services that did nothing to set me or others free, I would want someone to have the backbone to confront me on it and show me Biblically where I missed it and through the Scriptures and life of Christ, the proper way to go about living the Christian life.

That is why I say the things that I say.  That is why I do the things I do.

I do to others what I would have them do to me.  Love God with your whole being and love others as yourself.  This sums up all the law and the prophets.

That principle removes absolutely every single excuse people use to not heal the sick, preach the Gospel, speak Truth, and demonstrate the Kingdom of God to everyone around you.

“Oh, I only do what I see the Father doing.”

“Oh, I have to be led by the Spirit.”

“Oh, but I’m not called to that.  You’re an evangelist.  I’m an ‘intercessor’.   I’m a worshiper.  I’m a prophetic dancer.  I’m a prophetic artist.”

Yeah?  But are you a Christian?  Are you a believer—by Jesus’ definition (Mark 16:17-18)?

Can you do what Jesus actually said to do?  Or are you inventing ministries to compensate for your own unbelief and lack of obedience to the commands of Christ?

There is nothing wrong with intercession.  There is nothing wrong with worship.  There is nothing wrong with dancing before the Lord.  And there is nothing wrong with embracing creativity and artistically showing things that God has shown us.

However, we don’t need the Spirit of God to dance.  We don’t need the Spirit of God to sing.  We don’t need the Spirit of God to paint.  We don’t even need the Spirit of God to preach on Sunday mornings.

We need the Spirit of God to do the things Jesus said to do.

We need the Spirit of God to demonstrate the power of His Kingdom and of His Love.

Paul was very clear that he came with demonstrations of the Spirit’s power because he wanted the church’s faith to be in the power of God:

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” – 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

If what you are doing is not setting people free–physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and financially–you are preaching a powerless Gospel, which, according to Paul, really is not the Gospel at all…and additionally, Paul had some other not-so-encouraging things to say to those who preached a different Gospel than the one Jesus and the apostles preached:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.“
-Galatians 1:6-10

Good intentions never fixed anything.

There are a lot of people who talk a lot about the power of God.  They talk about what God is ‘going to do’.  Or they talk about what God did in the past.  Yet they aren’t seeing results and their congregations are full of sick people.

Most are hearing the Word of God and not doing it—and in this, they deceive themselves (James 1:22).

Most of what comes from the pulpits of a lot of our well-meaning, good-intentioned churches is nothing but a lot of nice sounding theory.

Our God is the great I AM.  The God of right now.

Jesus said to preach THIS message: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  He said to preach the message and to demonstrate it’s reality by healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead (Matthew 10:7-8)…doing the impossible because all things are possible to those who believe.

Change the way you think.  God is here, amongst us, right now.  He is available.  He is waiting to reveal Himself through those who are willing to pay the price and actually believe that He is who He says He is and that we are who He says we are and that we can do what He says we can do.

If you aren’t doing it, you aren’t doing it.

We need to stop majoring on the things the Scriptures minor on and start actually putting action behind our words and demonstrating to this planet that God is real, He is for us, and that He is with us.  We need to stop talking about Jesus and hopping from meeting to meeting week to week and month to month and actually demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God.

Everything else is just worthless religion.

If you can’t do these things, instead of just blindly getting angry for the fact that powerlessness has blatantly been confronted, I’d suggest actually seeking God and asking why you aren’t seeing the kinds of results that we should all be seeing as the people of God.  I know we are constantly asking these kinds of questions so as to better re-present Jesus to the world.

If what you’re doing isn’t working, why is it so offensive to consider changing what you’re doing?

“Go therefore, and hold conferences in all nations, baptizing them in your doctrines, teaching them to buy your books and sermons on the ‘next move of God’, and to leave their entire lives behind to come to the mega-churches all over the world that you will build.  And lo, I will anoint you, but just until the end of the conference.”

Wait!  That’s not what Jesus said to do…He said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”– Matthew 28:19-20

Why do so many of us hop from conference to conference, meeting to meeting, church to church, doing all these nice, fluffy Christian things…and only act like we are ‘anointed’ when we are at church?

Have you ever noticed the fruit of listening to many of your favorite ministers? Do you get a stronger desire to read your Bible or do the things that Jesus said to do?  Does it make you want to spend time in prayer?

Or do you find yourself with an intense urge to buy the speaker’s latest book or their newest DVD sermon series?  Or perhaps wanting to leave everything you know behind and move to the mega-church that they speak at regularly so you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to go to the conference in your area next year?  All so that you can get the freshest “revelation” that they bring every week instead of getting your revelation from God Himself as you study His Word and put it into practice?

Legitimately take a moment and think about this.  The Lord spoke to me about this last night and it hit me like a brick in the face.

If listening to those that you listen to legitimately leads you into a deeper and more intense study of the Word of God, then keep at it!  However, if the only thing that you have found yourself doing is craving their next book, then Houston, we have a problem.

There are giant, very expensive church buildings all over the world that people are streaming to year after year…where there are legitimately amazing things happening…but at what cost?  And why?

Could it possibly be that the message that is coming out of many of these churches is not entirely portraying the Jesus of the Scriptures in an accurate light?

Could it possibly be that we have been deceived into believing a watered-down version of the Gospel that makes us think Jesus is simply concerned about making us happy?

Sorry to take a shotgun to your doctrine folks, but that’s called humanism.

“Humanism says that the end of all things is the happiness of man.  Christianity says that the end of all things is the glory of God.” -Paris Reidhead

Obviously God wants us to be happy—but unfortunately, much of the church has taken a Biblical truth and overemphasized it to the point that we have created God in our own image.

Do we realize that one of Jesus’ first major ‘ministry’ moves was to flip over the tables of the people that were doing business in the temples and then driving them out with a whip?  (John 2:13-23)

That certainly wouldn’t win very many popularity points…and if Jesus had written a few books and brought all of His most ‘anointed’ sermon sets with Him, He probably wouldn’t get too many people lining up at His product table after a move like that.

And yet miraculously, multitudes of people still followed Him throughout His earthly ministry.  Granted then He preached the “eat My flesh and drink My blood” sermon (John 6:25-70 ) which dwindled His followers to just a select few again…but there was something about what He carried that truly demonstrated His Lordship, His Divine Love, and His Power that made Him so irresistible to people who were legitimately hungry for something real…

There is this side of the Jesus of the Gospels that has intrigued me for the last several years–and the more I read the Bible the more I find that Jesus was not this gentle, easy-going, chum of a guy who was super nice to everybody.  He was hands-down the most intense man who ever walked this earth.  He called the religious leaders of His day the sons of satan…broods of vipers…hypocrites…

I have a hard time believing that the Jesus of the Scriptures would be very readily welcomed into most of our churches today.  He certainly would not be invited to speak at our “glory, signs, and wonders” conferences or to very many Sunday morning services.  He would make too many people angry because of the message He would bring.

His message demanded that the lives of those who heard it followed Him wholeheartedly and without compromise.

He openly rebuked those who only came to Him for the miracles.

He aggressively destroyed the works of the devil everywhere He went…not just when He had some special “leading” of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38 ).

Jesus demonstrated what a man who is entirely sold out to God can do.

He upset every establishment that He came across…because so many of them became so focused on themselves, their little empires,  and the rules they had put in place that they neglected even doing the simple things that God had commanded them.

The intensity of Christ is something that very few people will dare to speak about.  It makes many pastors and leaders uncomfortable.  It makes those steeped in religion squirm with an uneasy feeling that ‘rebellion’ is afoot.  The Jesus of the Gospels was a man who completely turned everything upside down and made no apologies for it.  He was a revolutionary at the core and ABSOLUTE FREEDOM and LOVE were His weapons of choice.

Everybody likes the Jesus that performs the miracles and loves people in a way that doesn’t demand that they abandon their cozy little lives.  Everybody likes to talk about how Jesus welcomed little children into His arms and the Jesus who multiplied food for thousands and thousands of people.  Everybody likes the Jesus who calmed the storm that the disciples had found themselves in.  Everybody likes the Jesus who healed all the sick and set the demonized free from their torment.  Everybody likes the Jesus that died just for them.  Everybody likes the Jesus who gave up everything of Himself, all of His divinity, just for them.

The trouble with all of this is that while these things are all part of Christ’s character…they are only one part.

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus who told teenage boys to leave their family and their jobs to follow Him (Luke 5:1-11 ).  Nobody likes the Jesus who told a man to leave his dead father and not worry about setting up funeral arrangements (Matt. 8:20-21 ), or the man who simply wanted to say goodbye to his parents before following Jesus that if he turned back, he wouldn’t be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:61-62 ).

Today, He would be called disrespectful and dishonoring to the family.

Nobody likes to talk about the fact that right after He calmed the storm, He rebuked His own followers for having no faith (Mark 4:40 ).

Today, He would be told that He “wasn’t speaking things that edify and build up the church.”

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus that viciously rebuked and drove out those who bought and sold in the temple (Matthew 21:12-17 , Matthew 21:23-27 , Mark 11:15-19 ,Mark 11:27-33, Luke 19:45-48, John 2:13-23 )

Today, He would be told that He “wasn’t walking in love.”  How ironic that Love Himself would probably get labeled with a statement like that.

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus who called the religious leaders of His day the most defaming, slanderous, cruel names of the day and likened them to satan himself.  He called them blind hypocrites and snakes in their own temples (Matthew 23).  Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus that openly refuted the teaching of the rulers of the very synagogues He was teaching in.  Or the fact that in the book of Acts, when the disciples were forbidden to speak and teach in the name of Jesus, they DISOBEYED and said they had to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:17-33).

Today, Jesus and His disciples would be told they were being rebellious for “not honoring authority and their leaders” and that Jesus needed to “stop speaking death and condemnation over them”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who publicly rebuked His followers who were not able to get a boy healed and delivered from demons, even proceeding to say that they had no faith and that they were perverse (Luke 9:37-41).

Today, He would be told He was “too harsh and that everybody isn’t on His level” and that He “didn’t learn what He knows right away”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who told a rich young man to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor (Luke 18:18-23).

Today, He would be told that “God wants us to have nice things and to prosper us”.  (I’m not saying that He doesn’t…I think you get my point, though.)

Nobody likes the Jesus that said that if we don’t hate our families, our own lives, and leave everything that we know to follow Him, that we can’t even be His disciple (Luke 14:25-34).

Today, He would be told “you need to rephrase that nasty word ‘hate’, people will get a bad impression” and to “not take things so seriously”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who likened those who heard His words but didn’t put them into practiceto false prophets and fools…and that everything these evildoers had tried to establish would come crashing down (Matt. 7:15-27).

Today, He would be told “judge not lest ye be judged!”

Nobody likes the fact that Jesus wasn’t interested in maintaining ‘ministry partners’…He wanted the very lives of His followers laid down at His feet, ready to serve every person that they came across and be willing to do anything that He said…even if it meant ‘eating His flesh and drinking His blood’.

This calm, complacent, seeker-sensitive, warm and fuzzy Jesus that is portrayed by mostchurches today is simply not the Jesus of the Scriptures.

Paul had something interesting to say to the Galatians about people who preach a different Jesus than the Christ of the Scriptures:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so now I say again:  If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed! For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?  Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:6-10

Today, Paul would be told he was mean and that he needs to lighten up.

I present this all to you for one reason—to get you to really think about this message of Christ that you profess with your lips.  To get you to legitimately consider that maybe, just maybe, the things that you think you know about Jesus are more than a little bit skewed.  Skewed in the direction of a people-pleasing, super-nice, friendly-Sunday-morning Savior who looks more like a cosmic bell-hop who jumps through every hoop you present Him instead of the glorious, victorious, ruling, reigning, all-powerful, omniscient, death-conquering, disease-defeating, life-requiring Lord of All that He really is.

The message He told us to bring is “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (within reach)!”

The time for playing church is far over.  The life that Jesus has called us all to is one that will be full of victory, love, power, authority, adventure, excitement, persecution, joy, slander, tears, and so much more.

Comfortable is not part of this life in the Kingdom.

This is a war we have been born into…and the victory is ours through Christ.

It is time to lay aside the idol of a Jesus that man has created in our own image and bow our knee to all that He has for us.

Embrace your calling in Christ.  Run hard after that which God has put burning inside of you.  Abandon your fears and all forms of compromise.

Stop wasting your life with all of the things that the world runs after.

An idol is anything that gets your attention more than God.

The Jews missed Jesus the first time because they were expecting a conquering King that would come as a Lion — but they got a Lamb who loved on sinners and was humble as a servant.  It seems that now people are expecting a gentle Lamb but Scriptures point out that they will be getting the roaring Lion of Judah.

Think about it.