Some leaders in the charismatic church system are still operating in ministry mindset that they were 20 years ago. They continue to do what they know and have been taught. Their priorities are still to build successful ministries that are recognized nationally or internationally instead of focusing on individual living stones and building them into the temple of God. The Lord desires our focus to shift to His kingdom.
How to Discern
Discerning these churches or ministries is sometimes difficult. This is because there is an outward appearance of “doing everything” for the people of God. However, we can accurately discern the true nature of the ministry by what is not taking place.
Are we seeing leaders being raised up within the house and leaders being raised up and sent out to start other spiritual houses? Are believers being built into a temple so the Lord can have a dwelling place in the Spirit? Are believers coming to the fullness of the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ? Are believers being empowered to function in the gifts of the Spirit and other “body part” roles within the church?
If we are not seeing the fruit of these things, we need to look beyond the mirage that immature leadership is casting and see the truth.
Here is the word of the Lord to those shepherds of the Charismatic church system (who idolize ministry, manipulate believers, and abuse money):
“AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the [spiritual] shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them. And they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts of the field. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yes, My sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth and no one searched or sought for them. [Matt. 9:36.] Therefore, you [spiritual] shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, surely because My sheep became a prey, and My sheep became food for every beast of the field because there was no shepherd–neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My sheep–” (Ezekiel 34:1-8 AMPC)
A System that Loves Money
The charismatic church system will always focus on money and its ministers are very good at preaching about money. They know how to manipulate people and pull on offerings to cause people to give more than they should give. They twist scriptures to get as much as they can from the sheep, because in their eyes, the sheep are there to help build their ministry (which they deceptively believe is the Kingdom of God).
Charismatic shepherds will beat their sheep to death with the passage from Malachi chapter 3:8-10, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
However, they neglect the truth of what the “house of God” actually is as defined by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Is the house of God a physical building or only the ministers? Do we still have an Old Testament system of Levitical priests? Believers in the New Testament church are the house of God or the temple of God! A physical building is not the house of God! If we are going to preach Old Testament scriptures then we need to bring them into New Testament revelation.
Paul clearly understood this truth and almost every time he spoke about giving money, it was in the context of providing support to fellow believers (the house of God) in order to meet their needs:
Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you (2 Corinthians 9:1 NKJV)
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 NKJV)
Most every charismatic shepherd (bound in the religious system) that I have heard quote Paul and preach on offerings has taken the above scripture out of context (along with other scriptures) to move the church to give money. Paul was sharing this message in the context of God’s own people (His house) being in lack and needing money for daily living. What context are modern shepherds using these scriptures for?
Are shepherds taking scriptures out of context to motivate believers to give more money for a larger or new building, more cameras or technology, or other outward things they see as building the kingdom?
Carnal shepherds will always focus on money and external buildings instead of internally building within the hearts of believers. The carnal-minded view outward physical progress as success, but those who have the mind of Christ understand that the kingdom is within the hearts of believers and that true success cannot be measured with outward appearances or physical things. True success can only be gauged by the measure of Christ within a believer. Is the believer being transformed into the image of Christ, or is the believer remaining in a state of immaturity?
Note: I’m not suggesting it’s wrong for the church to have material things such as cameras or buildings. It is wrong to focus on them and make them the priority. It’s wrong to shear the sheep of all their hard-earned money to spend it on things and programs that the Lord is not initiating. To see my full explanation and teaching on this subject, please see the article below:
Leaders should be making the sheep under their care spiritually fat, but many use the sheep for their wool. They view the sheep as resources that are given to them to provide for and serve their own ministry. These shepherds shave the wool off of the sheep and use that money to make their ministry even greater and well-known.
Some charismatic leaders use the sheep for production. They require the sheep to spend their time and energy to produce for their vision. This is the opposite of the Kingdom of God. In God’s Kingdom, the ones who are given a position of being first should be the servants of all. Leaders should not be taking advantage of and exploiting the sheep.
Charismatic shepherds use the funds from their sheep to live and operate in ministry (which is fine and Biblical). But some use their ministry time to write books (which that time is funded by the sheep), and then they sell those books to their own sheep for money! Please ponder that. The assignment of these leaders is to equip and perfect the saints for the work of ministry and bring them into the unity of the faith and maturity. Instead of freely fulfilling their commission, they use the sheep’s money to fund their book-writing time and then turn around and make the sheep pay for the understanding that is released in the book.
So the sheep not only pay for the time in which the shepherd is writing the book, but they also have to then pay again for the actual material. Many charismatic shepherds are not fulfilling their ministry functions because they are charging for the Gospel. I understand it costs money to print books, and it could be perfectly justified selling those books to the body of Christ at large if the price was reasonable. However, when your own precious sheep provide you with finances to be in ministry full time, which enables you to spend the time writing a book, at least you can give the book for free to the entire church that you oversee!
The same goes for shepherds who host conferences and bring in well-known leaders in the charismatic church. I do not believe that it is right or biblical to charge money to hear the kingdom of God preached. Jesus went everywhere preaching the Kingdom without cost and He is always our example. But even if charismatic leaders have to charge some minimal fee to people coming from out of town (so that people don’t register and fail to attend, thus taking seats from others who would like to attend), they should never be requiring their own sheep to pay to attend a conference in their own house!
This is preposterous! The sheep fund the minister and allow them to minister full-time. Then the shepherd sets a conference registration and requires his sheep to pay to come in to their house! And if they don’t pay to hear the kingdom of God preached, then they aren't even allowed to come into their own gathering place and fellowship with their own spiritual family! This happens all the time in the charismatic church and it is a system of spiritual slavery and bondage.
I’m not against believers giving money to support what the Lord is doing through His church. I’m against charismatic shepherds manipulating believers to give for reasons that are not pure and for things that are not building the inward and invisible Kingdom of God. Major reform in this area is needed in the church.
We understand it when a poor and homeless person is begging for money. It’s an entirely different thing when preachers are begging for money. Let us be finished with the “begging preachers” in the house of God. Real preachers will take care of and build God’s people up to the point where the hearts of the people are moved to give freely for the sake of their Father’s kingdom.
Funding that Builds God’s House
“He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year; and see that you hasten the matter. But the Levites did not hasten it.” (2 Chronicles 24:5 AMPC)
“And Joash said to the priests, All the current money brought into the house of the Lord to provide the dedicated things, also the money [which the priests by command have] assessed on all those bound by vows, also all the money that it comes into any man's heart voluntarily to bring into the house of the Lord, Let the priests solicit and receive such contributions, every man from his acquaintance, and let them repair the Lord's house wherever any such need may be found. But in the twenty-third year of King Joash's reign the priests had not made the needed repairs on the Lord's house. Then King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, Why are you not repairing the [Lord's] house? Do not take any more money from your acquaintances, but turn it all over for the repair of the house. [You are no longer responsible for this work. I will take it into my own hands.] And the priests consented to receive no more money from the people, nor to repair the breaches of the house. Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord; and the priests who guarded the door put in the chest all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord and tied it up in bags. Then they gave the money, when it was weighed, into the hands of those who were doing the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 12:4-11 AMPC)
The above scripture is symbolic of the current church system. The command first came from the king to take up money to build the house of God. Three years went by and the priests (ministers of the Gospel) had not been doing any repairs, reformation, or rebuilding the house of God. The priests were taking up offerings but using them for their purposes and not for what the king desired. God’s house remained in desperate need of repairs, just as His spiritual house has been in need for many years in our generation.
The church in America has paid shepherds to watch over sheep, but more than shepherds are needed in our time. We have to have fund the builders who will take the living stones and build them into the temple of the Lord. Shepherds are needed and really good at looking after and taking care of sheep, but they are not the primary builders that have the grace to lay Christ as a foundation within a believer.
Overall, money has not been properly allocated in building the temple of God. What does it look like to actually use finances to help build actual people into a living temple? Here are some examples of how church Finances can be used to help believers in the church be the solid living stones that they need to be so they can be built into the Lord’s dwelling place. Everything must be free of charge (since believers already give to ministries).
Providing weekly ministry training classes or ministry schools for all believers.
Providing resources and training materials (including books).
Impart gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Releasing the ministry of deliverance, inner healing, healing, and miracles, so God’s people will be spiritually healthy and able to be built together.
Providing money to worship leaders and intercessors so that these crucial ministries can minister to the Lord for their full-time job. This will create the atmosphere and momentum in which the church can actually be repaired and built.
Bringing in traveling apostles and prophets to minister to the church and not charging the sheep money to come into the building that they fund in the first place!
Selecting certain believers in the church (by wisdom and the directing of the Holy Spirit) to give money to for things such as food, medical needs, dentistry needs, housing, and even vehicles. This will help believers that are struggling in life and give them an opportunity to get free from situations of bondage so they can better serve the Lord and be an important part of the body of Christ.
These are just a few ideas and the Holy Spirit will give more ideas as leadership teams meet and pray about how to actually use money to build the true temple of God. People are more valuable to the Lord than anything, yet so often the church system treats them like they are simply a resource for serving. The religious system only values people who serve its agenda. If you don’t serve the religious leader’s vision, you will not be valued or provided any opportunities.
Church Leadership
True leaders recognize that certain believers have gifts of serving or are called to “helps” ministries. These leaders understand that not all believers are given these “service” gifts from the Holy Spirit. They have a revelation from the Father and see that the Father loves all of His children for who they are and not what they do. These leaders do not impart an orphan way of thinking to the church by insinuating that believers only have worth if they serve in the church.
True leaders will rest in the Father’s love and make sure that believers are functioning in their proper roles. There are many parts to the body. They will not manipulate or force believers to serve or operate in ways that they are not gifted and called to.
For example, what shepherd would want to function as an usher if that wasn’t their calling or function? Leaders should be doing to others what they would have done unto them. Positions in the church are determined by the calling of the Holy Spirit and character. Both things must be in place to function in specific roles. Leaders who force believers to serve in a role that they are not called to (in order to prove themselves) are out of order.
Jesus did not force His first apostles to serve as deacons in the church for five years before they could be promoted as apostles. That way of doing things is the worldly system that has been embraced by leaders and brought into the church. It is carnal and has no place in the house of God. We must repent for our worldliness that we have allowed to come into God’s house.
May the Lord release grace in His house. May He empower and release many reformers to bring the much-needed changes to His house. May His sheep truly be taken care of and healed from their past wounds. May the Lord have His dwelling place in the Spirit.
