Published by LT on 20 Nov 2008 at 03:17 pm
Is submission to church leaders necessary for spiritual protection?
“God has an authority structure. He always works through authority. It is for our what…our protection” Ed Young.
Protection from what you might ask. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find out it is about the Devil, sin, finances, ministry success, your ability to provide for your family. There are any number of untold horrors that lurk for those who step outside God’s authority structure. The sad reality is there isn’t much scriptural support for the concept. Bevere attempts to use Numbers 23:23 for support for this teaching (Bevere 72).
Num 23:23 For there is no spell against Jacob,
nor is there any divination against Israel.
At this time it must be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘Look at what God has done!’
Here we see that God had decided to bless Hebrews in their journey and in this particular instance God wouldn’t let Balaam curse these people at this time. God had an agenda with His people at that time and he wanted to be remembered for how he brought them through to the Promised Land. Taking this incident and applying to every church in all time is a huge stretch.
Jesus, nor the apostles ever mention such a doctrine
- Jesus granted the disciples over the spiritual powers of darkness (Mat 10:1)
- Christ defeated the powers of darkness on the cross
- Our freedom comes from being united with Christ in his death and resurrection through faith
- The Old Testament is filled with references to curses in Israel (Psalm 109:19, Pro 3:33, Jer 11:3)
- The church and Israel are two different things
Consider these scriptures:
2Ti 1:12 Because of this, in fact, I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one in whom my faith is set and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me until that day.
2Ti 1:13 Hold to the standard of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 1:14 Protect that good thing entrusted to you, through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
Jas 4:7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.
It is Christ that protects us. We are protected by the Holy Spirit through faith. There is no mention anywhere in scripture that submission to authority is required for spiritual protection.
Another issue with this teaching surrounds the definition of church. Is it an official religious non-profit organization? Does it have to be in a denomination? What qualifies? If I stop attending one church but start a new house church up with 5 friends do I go from being protected, to unprotected back to be being protected again? The whole notion gets really silly.
What isn’t silly is the impact this teaching has on people in the realm of the spirit, heart and mind. It is a spiritualized protection racket. A protection racket is an extortion scheme. The mafia approaches legitimate businesses and offers their “protection” services. If they don’t get their dues then they designate the uncooperative business as free game for freelance criminals or the organization itself. In a church people are given a similar choice of options. Either you stay in church and do as you are told or the devil will get you, God’s provision will decrease and so will God’s presence in your life.
Even when people are mistreated and abused they will stay and endure because they are afraid of what doom lies for them outside the covering of their church. This fear driven manipulation does horrible things to people spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
This particular aspect of covering theology can be difficult to disprove. If someone leaves the church and something bad happens to them then it is cited has proof. If nothing bad happens then people expect it is coming just around the bend or they expect things would have been even better if they hadn’t left. If something bad happens to someone in church then they must have sinned or lacked faith.
The truth is that we experience more of the richness of God family and the benefits of fellowship in a church. There is incredible strength and a greater diversity of ministry in a local body. However one needs something far deeper than a church membership to tap in to these benefits. People need healthy relationships built on trust and held together by sacrificial love. This is the way God designed his body to work. People in authoritarian churches rarely experience this.
Christ’s blood is what sanctifies us. It is what makes us more like Him. It isn’t a stretch to believe that what makes us more like Christ will protect us. We enter in to that relationship through the blood of the cross by our faith in Christ. That doesn’t change whether you are in church or not.
Bevere, John. Under Cover. Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 2001.
sange on 13 Jul 2010 at 6:40 pm #
thank you. After suffering much abuse serving this system my family and I nearly lost our way. men abusing in the name of christ whom we had to forgive and serve none the less left us broke angry at god. THANK god we jhave since gained a deeper understandin and are now letting the BLOOD OF jESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE US. LORD HELP THE SHEEP WHO NEED YOU
Brent on 01 Aug 2010 at 7:24 am #
What a sad state where Christians get hurt by leaders and turn septic. The word say’s serve and obey your leaders. It does not say serve if you feel like it. Or serve unless they ask you to tithe etc.
I rebelled once against one I regarded as off the mark. But God MADE me sit at his feet in true biblical example. Why? Because thats Gods plan and also because that leader is Gods problem not mine. When I finally did God took me out to serve one who taugt Kingdom principles correctly and if I had not learnt the lesson I did, I would not have been able to submit to this othe Pastors leadership properly.
There is TRUE freedom in serving one who is a true Apostle, one who had fruit and one who’s complete family (4 generations) are in the church. Without that, the leader is false according to scripture as he cannot manage his own family.
If you cannot find a true spiritual father, hang on until you do – after all, you are God’s problem. If you decide otherwise then you are decidign that God cannot redeem your situation.
Don’t make the same mistake I did before realising. On the oher hand, making the mistake does make you see clearer!
LT on 01 Aug 2010 at 1:59 pm #
Brent
I have a question for you. You said “The word say’s serve and obey your leaders.” Could you point me to the places in the bible where it says this?
Robert on 02 Aug 2010 at 10:33 pm #
I am currently in the midst of being ‘distanced’ by several church people at the church where I have attended (‘one of the fastest growing in the nation’ by whoever measures this) for over a year, (and was in their transition to ministry program for 6 mos), because I think I am viewed as ‘being in rebellion!’ by a couple of ‘assoc pastors’. lol. Yes, LT, it is rather silly…how a rockstar pastor can get the ‘hungry for faith’ so fired up that they just ‘know’ they are ‘annointed for this in this generation’, etc, etc….
Problem for me is, not my rebellion issue, but that this church does not make it transparent to members and visitors that it operates with this ‘Spiritual Authority’ concept – to the severe degree it does. All of the ‘leadership’ folks are under it and accept it (and of course, think they have some special annointing)…but the average Joe and Jane Christian attending knows nothing.
I’ve been waiting for 2-3 weeks for couple of the elders I use to know…to respond to me (but they are ‘busy’). My simple question to them? “Did I miss something? I was never told this authoritarian structure was in place to the degree it is”. So far, nothing.
Sylvia Lazo on 20 Aug 2010 at 7:28 pm #
The Word doesn’t say ’serve and obey your leaders’…(There is great freedom in simply READING the Bible for yourself, trusting the Holy Spirit to do His job, that is lead you into all truth and teach you).
The Bible DOES say that while Christ is the head of my man(my husband.yes I am a woman), & my man is the head of me…that is a Biblical and very safe place for me to be. It doesn’t however, mention anything about a pastor OR worship leader being in authority OVER me.
I have been in several different local fellowships, one in particular that fully supported the ideas above, showing the full course of Authority and Submission by J Bevere.
These places that call themselves churches doing the will of God, cause much hurt and damage to people.
On the other hand, there is a church in Carpinteria, California known as Reality Carpinteria, that our son attends, and is now on staff, that doesn’t actually hold to some ofthese more pathetic and harmful teachings. All I see in Reality is that the people love Jesus and love people….
I am frankly so tired of ‘churches’ I’m not inclined to attend any any more.