Out of love for the truth and with a sincere desire to bring it to light, this article poses questions to address certain practices that are prevalent in Charismatic/Word of Faith Churches today.  Our goal is to determine whether these practices are set down by God and thus should be maintained and observed or if they are but mere human traditions and/or additions to scripture and thus should be tossed aside and credence given to the former.

In all questions posed, we should ask …'what does the Word of God say?'  If you don't know, search the Scriptures yourself for the truth (don't rely on a man's opinion or interpretation of Scripture - the only word that is infallible is the Word of God).

1. Does the pastor of a church have the authority to act on behalf of God for its members?  For example:  

• Should the pastor’s advice be considered more valid than Scripture?  

• When seeking direction for one’s own life, does the pastor have the authority to override what a person feels is the right course of action to take?

• Can the pastor truly hear from God (concerning direction in the lives of the church members) for all of the members of the church?

2. Is the pastor truly so infallible that what he teaches (both from the pulpit and by example) should not be questioned or held to scripture that is properly interpreted?  

3. Why does the pastor teach his members that those who question his teachings or acts are in rebellion and in danger of Gods wrath, motivating the members to fear, timidity and anxiety instead of love, power and a sound mind?  

4. Why, when a person does venture to question the biblical foundation for the acts or teachings of the pastor, are they then expected to fall into submission to the leaderships ideas and philosophies quickly or suffer the consequences (i.e. excommunication by some or all of the members of the church)?  

5. Why does the pastor have no real accountability, save those who are 'yes men' for fear of retribution to a confrontation?

6. Why in questioning a decision made by the pastor is there the fear of rejection by the pastor instead of the assurance of the him acting with true humility, true love and searching Scripture to ensure that his actions are in accordance with the Word of God?

7. Why are there members of the church being excommunicated for reasons other than false teachings or unrepentant sin, but rather because of indifference with the pastor (which is not sin)?

8. Why, when the pastor does excommunicate these individuals, is there no trial or at least a meeting with leadership, so that the person in question can defend their stand on the posed question or act taken, in accordance to scripture?   

9. Why does the pastor say, 'God told me not to talk to them', when this is against the teachings of Christ on handling matters between Christians?

10. Why when this excommunication takes place is it made to seem then, that the pastor had nothing to do with it, when the members were following his leadership example of both conduct and in word?

11. Why does the pastor 'lord over' the people of the church, ruling them with force and cruelty instead of serving them with love?

12. Why are those who feel the call and need to preach the Gospel of our Lord either in their own city or in another part of the country or world stifled and held back at the insistence of the pastor?  

13. Why does the pastor require the members to rally around 'his' vision, instead of training and equipping them to fulfill God's desire for their own life?

14. Is not the position of the pastor to equip the saints for the work of the ministry?

15. Why does the pastor shut down any 'small group' ministry started by a member instead of encouraging this type of ministry as put forth in scripture?

16. Why does the pastor not have leaders who are in full charge of particular parts of ministry, so that youth, children, married couples, singles, the older generation, etc., have more personal ministry and discipleship thus less would slip through the cracks?

17. Why does the pastor 'cut the feet' off of the sheep, so that no one can be effective in the ministry but himself (though this makes him less effective as well)?

18. Why does the pastor (under-shepherd) set himself apart from the sheep while they are left alone to care for themselves all the while becoming easy prey for any wild animals?

19. Why has the pastor (under-shepherd) not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost? 

20. Why does the pastor set himself ‘above’ the members of the church, thinking of himself more highly than he ought to?

21. Why does the pastor keep all people of the church (including leadership & those on staff) at arms length instead of developing relationships, as is the example of Christ, which leads to true discipleship?

22. Why does the pastor call ‘familiarity’ a sin, when this is opposed to the whole Word of God, which teaches us to love others with genuine love and gives proper examples of what biblical relationships should be?

23. In doing this, the pastor gives a treacherously poor example of friendships and thus the members are left with nothing but shallow relationships both from the pastor and other members because of the example laid down for them.

24. Leaving the members with no help or encouragement in the times of trial and hardship save a fifteen-minute session with another pastor in the church (if they can be squeezed in).

25. Most members (especially those in any form of leadership) would not dare voice their problems, trials & temptations for fear of being taken out of leadership because of 'lack of faith', though the scriptures are clear that we will endure trials and thus strengthen our faith in the process.

26. Why are the 'sermonettes' for offering as long and sometimes longer than the actual teaching of the Scripture?

27. Why are people of status and money given seats of importance and recognition during services, while all the time 'ordinary' people cannot even approach their own pastor without being guarded and made to feel that they are a threat or insignificant.

28. Why are the people who give large amounts of money to the church recognized either from the pulpit or by acts of kindnesses, while those who give only five dollars in the offering are never recognized in like manner (though none should be publicly acknowledge for their giving) or treated with due respect and honor?

29. Why does the pastor tell the members not to highly esteem these same people (who have been elevated as more important in front of the whole congregation and in private circles)?  In other words, the pastor is saying, 'do as I say -- not as I do'.

30. Why does the pastor share freely with others the sins of members instead of covering these sins (as did Christ)?  

These are just a few points on which to consider, debate (which is not a sin), and to search the Word of God for the truth.  Truth cannot be destroyed by questioning or scrutiny.  It will always stand unbeatable.  Questioning only confirms truth making it visibly stronger; it never crumbles it.  We have not been asked, encouraged, or taught to learn by the process of questioning, disagreeing, challenging, or thinking.  Rather we have been left to assume that all of our teachers were masters of their subjects and could neither teach nor believe anything wrong.  Consequently we have learned by being programmed like a computer.  We have not been taught how to think.  We have been taught what to think.

Like the Catholic hierarchy of old, we are indirectly asked to blindly believe what we are told, and then socially punished in the name of ‘church discipline’ if we do not.  In America it’s normal for Christians to be given a packaged Christianity.  Every aspect is tightly defined and outlined.  There’s no admission of the possibility of errors in the way it’s all put together.  It’s practically unforgivable for thinking Christians to tamper with that packaged shape.  Yet it’s a form of Christianity shaped mostly by the mere preferences of men.  

Instead of blindly believing, we must honestly question every so-called Christian teaching.  We must do it to weed out the irrelevant and wasteful man made teachings from that, which truly has eternal value.

          To learn to question is good.  It is also good to learn that not one dogma, theory, or interpretation should be exempted from its demolishing attempt.  On the other hand, the man made distortions of truth – those that we sometimes hold to be so valuable, and use as criteria for fellowship, and are even sometimes willing to dies for—will fall apart under such honest questioning.  And anything that is destroyed by honest questioning is obviously spurious and deserves to be junked.  By crumbling and falling apart, it proves to be vain.  One who learns through the process of honest questioning, objective thinking, and respectful challenging is more apt to know in the end what is really true.  And he will also know ‘why’ he believes it.

It was written of the period of time right before God brought reformation to the church that ‘many pretend to be bearers of divine truth, while they preach doctrines of their own invention.   Instead of the Gospel truths, or in addition to them, they teach all manner of fabrications of the human mind and man-made laws, and expect and demand acceptance of the former as divine truth, and the observance of the latter as divine commandments.  Thus a far greater loss was sustained than if every ounce of gold and silver in the possession of the people had been robbed; for they had been deprived of the Word of God.’

As Luther said, ‘Now, if it were permissible to deviate from Scriptures in one point, and to follow human reason, it would be proper to follow human reason in all doctrines.’

**This theses (excluding the 30 points of issue) contains quotes adapted from Martin Luther, Randall Arthur and W. Wegener.

Founder and Editor of Charismatic Reform Journal © 2000, Charismatic Reform Journal