CHARISMATIC TALK

One of the things that I find interesting in the Body of Christ is the unique beliefs that come from our Charismatic brothers and sisters. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I hate these people or that everyone who is Charismatic are unbelievers, but I find their interpretations of God and the way that He handles His people quite entertaining.

For instance, I was in the Barber Shop this past Saturday, and I heard two ladies discussing "the anointing" of a pastor and his congregation. The ladies were saying since a pastor is given "the anointing" from God that it should trickle down upon the congregation and bless the entire church in the same measure. In other words, since the pastor is head and gets blessed by God, then everyone around him should expect the same level of blessing.

Now forget the fact that there are some people in the congregation who are unbelievers and are automatically disqualified from receiving any spiritual blessings from God (John14:13-15), and there are others in the congregation who are disobedient and thus strain their relationship with God. According to these ladies, none of this matters as long as the pastor is following the ways of God. So, in short, the pastor becomes the cannon of the spiritual health of his congregation. But, despite this interesting deduction of the ways of God, in reality it is not automatic that the congregation will be equally as blessed as a pastor that is obedient to God. This can be seen in the examples given above, as well as Biblical examples such as Jesus and His disciples (i.e, Judas Iscariot) and Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

In conclusion, while I do believe that God can bless a ministry that has a faithful pastor and the congregation can be reapers of it, to say that the measure is equal with everyone is just plain untrue! And to believe and teach this error can be license to give people a channel to live however they want because ultimately their fate lies within the hands of their pastor. And to have your fate in the hands of anyone but Christ will, at the end, put you on a ground of sinking sand.