CHAINS, RINGS, staffs, and liturgical vestments may make a person appear venerable, but they do not necessarily make anyone true servant of Jesus Christ. Academic degrees are very good, but they do not scripturally qualify anyone to be a true servant of God. But divine calling and preparation through the Word of God by the Spirit of God with godly character do.
When you decide to follow a pastor for discipleship or mentoring, look beyond his physical appeals – wealth, education, stature, oratory skills, complexion, wardrobe, tribe, nationality, miracles, popularity and years of ministry. A professed preacher can possess all the things aforementioned and yet be a charlatan.
As a Christian, it is not wise to follow a pastor or worship with a church just because they mention the name of Jesus Christ. It is not wise to follow a prophet or bishop when you have not learnt or been told, understood and scripturally be convinced about his key assignment and unique message given to him by God during his calling.
God does not call, train, prepare and set people in ministry when He has not spoken to them. And He does not speak to anyone He calls without giving them clear message of the assignment or job they must perform for Him in the world. A person called by God and placed in ministry will have strong innate desire to do the very job assigned him; he or she will do the will of God.
We live in a generation where many false ministers have sneaked into the Body of Christ unnoticed. Their aim is not to serve Christ Jesus, but to make money, achieve fame and popularity. The apostle Paul wrote a lot about these false ministers. In his letter to Titus, Paul described them as insubordinate, empty talkers, deceitful teachers, who teach lies for money.
“They must be silenced. By their wrong teaching they have already turned whole families away from the truth. Such leaders only want your money” (Titus 1:11, NLT). “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4).
The Bible says false ministers deny Jesus Christ. They disown Him. They are controlled by the same evil spirit which tempted Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ for money. This does not mean they do not mention the name Jesus in their ministrations. They do. They mention the name of Jesus Christ in their prayers, teachings, preaching, counselling and conversations.
God does not forbid people from mentioning Christ’s name. False ministers mention the name Jesus Christ all the time, but they do so to cover up their evil activities. Thus they never walk in the truth. Jesus Christ is truth, the Holy Spirit is truth and the Word of God is truth. But Christians are commanded to walk in the truth for their freedom from the controlling power of sin, the world and the devil.
Now, to deny Jesus Christ is to reject his teachings and ordinances. Thus false ministers, most of whom are into occultism, refuse to follow Jesus Christ by failing to abide in His Word. They refuse to teach what He taught, preach what He preached and walk the road to the cross which He commanded His servants to walk in. By their fruit, especially in the area of teachings, we can easily know them.
But there are true servants of Christ in the world today making disciples for Christ by vigorously preaching the gospel, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all the commands of Christ Jesus. The commands of Christ include the teachings of the apostles who spoke by the Spirit of Christ as recorded in the epistles.
Teaching the commands of Christ is necessary to produce Spirit-born sons and daughters of God. It is to get the disciples perfected, i.e. matured, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).
Houses, cars, planes and clothing are good, but Jesus Christ did not die primarily to procure these things for His followers. And academic degrees are very important, but Jesus did not die for them. Jesus Christ purposefully came to die for the salvation of precious souls. Salvation is not a matter of joke; it is a serious matter.
And pastors play key roles in the ultimate salvation of believers on the Last Day. Now, it is time each believer diligently examined the teachings of their pastors and also find out if they are really tending, feeding and preparing them for the second coming of Jesus Christ or not.
It is time to make a bold decision to leave false pastors who are not following Christ. Leaving a morally corrupt and doctrinally deviated pastor or church is not leaving Jesus Christ.
So, quit and change your pastor if he is habitually immoral or a womanizer, drunkard, does not teach about salvation, his messages are not Christ-centred and gospel-focused, sells concoctions, offer prayers to kill his perceived enemies, curses people, practises numerology and does not run transparent financial administration.
By James Quansah
jamesquansah@yahoo.com