YOU are the one that is responsible before God to pursue and follow His will and calling on your life. There are clearly some false teachings seeping once again into the body of Christ. Please be careful.
What happened 40 to 50 years ago in the shepherding movement didn’t get a bad rap only because some abused the teaching; no, no, no. The teaching itself was very severely flawed, and not by just some, but MANY! Cheri and I lived through that era and those errors, coming through with lots of pain and needing restoration from the deceptions that were being spread through huge segments of the church. It took us a couple of years of study and research, and getting a doctorate which included the study of leadership styles, and then writing a book (unpublished) of our experiences and how God’s Word set us free from those deceptions – all of that to recover, be healed, and help set others free.
When I hear about how many repented back in those days, I was there and can tell you: Almost all the apologies had to do with how the teaching was abused; I don’t recall any apologies from major leaders who apologized for teaching deception or erroneous doctrine.
I’m deeply troubled by any and every hint of teaching that would return to the error of those days. Examples: submit to your elder/pastor as you would the Lord; using the story of Jesus’ affirming the faith of the centurion as a text to teach that authority and anointing flows down to us as we are in submission to the spiritual chain of command above us; the use of Psalm 133 about “how good it is to dwell in unity”, like oil flowing down from Aaron’s head to his beard, as a text for how the anointing flows down from the the apostle to those submitted to him and to those under him; teaching that if God is calling you to a particular church or ministry, that you shouldn’t leave without being clearly sent out by that leader or ministry.
Jesus is not an absentee Lord; He does not need to delegate His Lordship function to human leaders, as He is present with us and speaks through His Word, by His Spirit. Of course we cooperate and support our church leaders, if they are faithful servants of Christ; however, we do not need their permission to leave or go or pursue God’s calling on our lives. Their wise counsel and guidance are important, for sure, but – bottom line – YOU are the one that is responsible before God to pursue and follow His will and calling on your life. There are clearly some false teachings seeping once again into the body of Christ. Please be careful.
Love and blessings!