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If we analyze the basic elements in the Shepherdship error we can see it is made up of the following ingredients: F. FLESH - It is man-centered and operates by the flesh to control, dominate and manipulate the sheep. A. ANTI-FAITH - There is no faith in God's saving and keeping power or the Holy Spirit's teaching ministry or protection. Dependence is on the Shepherd to "cover" their sheep bringing them to maturity. I. IDOLOTRY - Jesus is dethroned and replaced by the shepherd as Lord. No man can serve two masters (Matt.6:24) L. LEGALISM - Motivates and operates by law-principle: fear of
punishment, hope of reward, like the Galatians who have begun
in the spirit and are now seeking to be made perfect (mature)
by the flesh (Gal.3:3). Turning again to the weak and beggarly
"elements whereunto they desire again to be in bondage (Ga1.4:9)
These four elements are contrary to the purpose of Christ and are, therefore, Anti-Christ in nature. The first letter of each word can be arranged to spell F.A.I.L., which sums it all up very well. The sheep are FAILING to enjoy God's blessings, in bondage to their shepherds and flocks, trapped and held there by false obligation, false loyalty and fear. The sheep are unaware of exactly what is wrong and unable to get out because of spiritual blindness, due to error. The shepherds are also FAILING to enjoy God's best. When you build up a church by fleshly methods of domination and manipulation you have to maintain it and prop it up by the flesh too. If you relax and fail to stay on your toes it will begin to slip and cave in here and there. In their hearts they must know that many of their flock are only staying, due to fear, just so long as they ride herd on them and keep them put down and in their place of fear and self-doubt. They may enjoy the outward advantages of having their sheep in awe of them in a way that borders idolatrous worship, but their new- creation spirits must be miserable. Our spirit always knows when we are in error, even if our head justifies and defends it all. It is a pitiful situation all the way around and we have to guard against the temptation to get angry at the people involved. They are our brothers and sisters. The devil and demons are the real enemy behind it all. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities . . . Eph. 6:12. In recent years we have begun to hear a lot about the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. It is pointed out that Jesus prayed that we all may be one in John 17:21, therefore we are to pursue unity as a top priority. We can certainly agree with this, thus far. However, a problem arises when we listen closely to these "unity teachers" explain how we are to arrive at this all-important goal. We are told that we must believe nothing but good about all fellow-Christians. We must categorically refuse to listen to anything bad about anyone (after all our ears are not garbage cans). So, by following the policy of "hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil" we can immediately flow in fellowship and unity with all of the brethren. This sounds so nice and simple, but it simply is not scriptural. This would make "ignorance of the facts" the basis for unity in the Church. If that were true perhaps we should become hermits and avoid all human contact so we could really walk in love and unity. What nonsense: (Someone humorously point out that unity teachers are sometimes prone to be the ones who love everybody except Christians who don't love everybody and they never talk about anyone except about other Christians who talk about people.) We can certainly agree that there is far too much petty, carnal criticism and fault-finding going on in the Body of Christ which is clearly wrong because the motive behind it is to tear down others in order to build up self. This sort of talk must be stopped. However, the remedy is not to be found in teaching all Christians to wear earplugs and a blindfold. The devil would really love that, wouldn't he, so that he could work unhindered! We need to be mature enough to face issues and sort things out according to God's Word. We need to deal with sin and error in our churches, yet still love the people involved. Agape love faces and deals with realistic problems. We seem to have some Christians today who think they are more spiritual than the Apostle Paul. They will not listen to anything negative from man at all, they claim to only listen to the Holy Ghost, who tells them all they need to know about people. If we will read our Bibles we can see that Paul listened to the people and sorted things out. In I Cor.5:1 he said "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you" (Why did you let someone tell you that Paul? Don't you know your ears are not garbage cans ?) We see that Paul listened to the problem for the right motive and wrote the Corinthians a letter to deal with it. Again, look at I Cor.1:11 "For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you." I Cor. 11:18. "...when ye come together in the Church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it." (Here he is "sorting" things out and only "partly" believes this report). As pastors we need to teach our people not to gossip about one another's mistakes and shortcomings. When we see the faults of our brothers we are to pray for them in an attitude of patience, forbearance, and mercy. This is what we would want them to do when they see our failings. We also need to teach our people to come to us and tell us when serious problems begin to develop, that may need to be dealt with. This way, Satan will not gain the advantage of covering things up just when they need to be brought to the light. If we refused to listen to anything negative about anyone we couldn't check into the matter to see if it is true and warn our people about heresies, error, troublemakers or wolves. Yet we see by both precept and example that we must face and deal with these very problems in the Church and not close our eyes in the name of "unity". This also brings us to another point. We can not expect to have unity or even fellowship with all of the brethren: 1.) I Cor. 5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one, no not to eat. 2.) Rom.16:17 ". . . mark them which cause divisions and offenses (occasions to stumble) contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 3.) Tit.3:10 A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject. We can certainly tolerate differing views on non-essentials and still have fellowship with other born-again Christians. However, when Christians depart from the basic, essential doctrines of Christ (II John 9) we must reject them as heretics, hence we can have no fellowship or unity with them. We should love them and pray for them, but we cannot fellowship with either sin or error because "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (ICor. 5:6) Churches and groups who teach Shepherdship error vary widely in the way they teach and enforce their precepts. Some may talk about "delegated authority" and "covering" yet in actual practice they do not attempt to rule their member's lives. Others may not talk the "terms" yet in actual practice they do dominate and manipulate their sheep through Shepherdship tactics we have discussed. We have found that when Shepherdship error is taught or practiced to the point that the Lordship of Jesus is replaced by the Lordship of a man over the believer's life we must recognize it as extremely dangerous heresy and we can have no flow of fellowship or unity without compromising the doctrines of Christ. Once we took a clear stand against the Shepherdship error we quickly found out that those deeply involved in the error did not want to have fellowship with us anyway, unless we would agree with them. We believe that it is high time we took a stand on the truth of the Word. Like Martin Luther of old we are "tied by the scriptures." No worthwhile victory can ever be won by compromising God's clear truth. God isn't calling us into a unity based on refusing to hear or see anything wrong among the brethren. We will come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man . . . how? By speaking the truth in love (Eph.4:13-15). We can well take heed from a profound statement we heard T.L. Osborne make on T.V. recently. He said "When men are thoroughly indoctrinated they cease to think." This is why people stay stuck in error until someone brings them the truth in most cases. We need to determine anew to stay open to God in every area and be quick to bow our knees to truth wherever we find it. If you have been involved in Shepherdship error and now you want to be free you will need to verbally renounce any vows to shepherd or flock in the name of Jesus and ask for and receive your forgiveness. You also need to renounce various spiritual errors connected with your association as God reveals what they are to you. Some need more deliverance than others to be totally free, God will show you what is right for you. God wants us all to "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal.5:1). When a Christian fully realizes he has been misled, deceived and possibly even abused through Shepherdship teachings he may go through a time of bewilderment and confusion. He may feel his whole world has been shattered and he does not know what to believe or who to trust anymore. Some are tempted to backslide and just forget the whole thing. Some react by becoming disallusioned, cynical and embittered against all churches and pastors. Some become so fearful that they refuse to attend any church again. Others retreat into a dead Denominational Church hoping to find a quiet, safe place to nurse their wounds. We visited a certain area in Florida where Shepherdship had flourished several years ago, only lo find that it was very difficult to get even a small group of spirit-filled Christians together. Local leaders told us that there were hundreds of Charismatics in that area but they had been so burned by the Shepherdship error that now they would not go to church at all. When a Christian recognizes that he has been in the Shepherdship error, what counsel can we offer to help him avoid all such destructive reactions, heal his wounds and rebuild a healthy, right relationship with God and fellow-believers? Many have told us that they felt as though their Shepherdship beliefs were like a distorted jigsaw puzzle, now they could see that they had been wrong, but they didn't know how to fit their pieces together correctly. Their bewilderment and confusion was overwhelming at this point. We have found it helpful to counsel them to go back to "square one". At least they can say "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so", even if they are not sure of anything else at first. When we first started walking with the Lord none of us had our puzzles all put together intellectually so we just related to Him with our hearts rather than our heads, and we had all the joy, peace, and love we wanted and more. After all, joy, love, and peace are of the heart not the head anyway. We counsel people who are terribly hurt and confused in this way: 1.) Get your eyes off man, he will always fail you, it was man who led you astray, not Jesus. 2.) Go back to square one and just live right and love Jesus and do the simple things you know you should do (pray, read your Bible, go to Church). 3.) Don't try to figure everything out intellectually 4.) As you love and follow Jesus and keep your eyes centered on Him, He will guide you into all truth by the Holy Spirit and the confusion will clear up and you will begin to see clearly. You will see which pieces should fit together again. 5.) Here are a few simple guidelines we can apply to any system of so-called Christian teaching that claims to be based on the Bible. If it is of God it will pass these tests:
If you have any questions please call us and we will answer them as best as we can. If you have observed problems with this doctrine in your area we would like to hear from you first-hand because many Christians seem to have the misconception that this error has almost completely died out yet we keep receiving reports to the contrary. We would appreciate a letter explaining the Shepherdship problems in your area for our files so that we can advise, anyone who would enquire about your vicinity. TRAITS OF A GODLY PASTORI Corinthians Chapter 13:1-8Paraphrased For Pastors
The Holy Spirit gave us the following allegory to graphically illustrate the very heart of the Shephferdship error as follows: Imagine for a moment that there was a certain newly married couple who lived in a new subdivision neighborhood surrounded by other young couples. Just suppose that this young husband was required by his job to leave the country for a few months on a special assignment, so he asked two of his best buddies in the neighborhood to look after his wife in his absence. The first neighbor called the young wife and made sure she had his phone number at work in case of any emergency and he offered to mow her lawn and keep an eye on her house, especially at night. The next day the other neighbor knocked on her door with his suitcase in hand and announced that he was moving in with her so he could really look after her properly in her husband's absence. He insisted that she must cooperate so he could do the job right and she must submit and yield to him just as if he were her husband. When she protested he seemed shocked and hurt. "If you really care for your husband you will submit to me for his sake" he reasoned. "After all, he is the one who asked me to look after you while he was gone and you wouldn't want him to be angry with you when he returns and finds out that you would not cooperate." We can easily see which neighbor was a true friend to the husband and the wife. The first one planned to look after the wife in a way that would preserve her faithfulness and loyalty to her true husband. The second one planned to use this opportunity to move right into her bedroom, compromise her and cause her to be unfaithful to her true husband while insisting it was all the husband's own idea and he was just a loyal friend trying to carry out the husband's wishes. Each neighbor had a different interpretation of what the husband meant when he asked them to look after his wife in his absence. The second neighbor's interpretation was a shocking affront to common decency to say the least. Jesus has entrusted pastors with the responsibility of looking after his bride, the Church, in his physical absence. Pastors are to fulfill their ministry in a way that will encourage and preserve faithfulness and loyalty to Jesus, our only true husband. We can see the counterfeit, demonic spirit behind Shepherdship teachings which insists on drawing God's people into compromise and spiritual adultery with the shepherd, all in the name of piously fulfilling Jesus' own wishes for his Church. Jesus is the only one who loved us enough to die for us. He alone IS worthy of our unconditional faithfulness, loyalty and devotion. The Apostle Paul had the right interpretation of Jesus' wishes when he put it this way: II Cor. 11:2 "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Just as we were revising and updating this booklet (1983) we received several calls and letters about a new variety of the Shepherdship error that is currently being taught in "Faith" or "Word" Churches. We listened to some tapes about so-called "Bible ways" to relate to your pastor and immediately recognized that this is another new variety or "strain" of the Shepherdship virus which is spreading rapidly in some areas. This error begins by misunderstanding, misinterpreting, and twisting the meaning of a passage in Eph.4:9-13 regarding the five-fold ministry gifts of Christ to the Church. We are told in this particular variety of the Shepherdship virus, that a pastor is a divine gift to the Church endowed with part of Christ's own ministry thereby placing he and his wife right up there on the Sovereign or Imperial level of authority along with the Godhead (see page 26 and 27). We are told that God expects us to "honor this gift" (namely the pastor) which God has set over our lives to teach, govern, and chastise us. We are to submit to him and obey his teachings or be found guilty of rejecting Christ who sent him. We are exhorted to follow out pastor very closely (no matter where he is leading) just as Elisha followed Elijah so that we will qualify to receive the same anointing that is on him and be greatly rewarded. (Can you picture the pathetic spectacle of several young "lackeys" following their pastor around shining his shoes, opening doors for him and carrying his Bible?) We are told to exalt our pastor as "The Man of God" and constantly look for ways to lavish gifts and services on him. If we think he is unscriptural or mistaken in some area it is only because we aren't relating to him "in the spirit" so we are the ones who are carnal and wrong, not the pastor. As pastors ourselves, we can agree that it is right to respect and honor a godly pastor and it is wonderful to be considerate enough to encourage him and lift his load in any way you can. However, we see a great overemphasis on exalting the man as God's gift. For example God has given us the "gift" of tongues but we are not to focus on exalting and honoring the gift of tongues. We exalt and honor God, the giver, and we receive, appreciate, and benefit from using the gift. The five-fold ministry has been set in the Church to lovingly serve God's children, not to "be served" as an end in itself. Jesus himself came not to be served but to serve and give himself for others. (Matt. 20:28) We see no scriptural basis for tagging along after a pastor expecting to receive his anointing. The only reason it worked for Elisha is because God had chosen him to be Elijah's successor in the office of a prophet. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts and callings in the Church as He wills. A young man with a pastoral calling might well benefit by serving under a more mature and experienced pastor just as Timothy benefited by traveling with Paul. Only commitment and faithfulness to God can increase our anointing, there are no short-cuts. Why desire to be a carbon copy of someone else? God has a special, unique calling, ministry, and anointing for each of us. As we have mentioned before (p.7&8) a pastor is set over the local church to govern the affairs and overall direction as God guides him, and deal with serious problems, not to govern the individual lives of the sheep. God has put the pastoral gifts and anointing in certain men called to that office. However, a pastor is still a man and can operate in the spirit or the flesh When God is really using him to teach, exhort, guide or comfort us we can recognize that this is the gift of God flowing through him for our benefit. A pastor can also get over into the flesh, his own opinions, and carnal attitudes. When this happens a pastor's flesh is no different from anyone else's flesh and we can see that this is not God's gift operating toward us. When this happens we respectfully decline to follow or submit to carnality and flesh. We only follow him as he follows Christ and we are to obey his teachings as they line up with the truth of God's Word. This doesn't mean that we rise up and kick the pastor out of the church just because he gets into the flesh at times over minor issues and opinions, we will never find a perfect human. We are to make allowances for his imperfections, pray for him, and bear with him as best we can as long as he is teaching God's Word, helping God's people and producing generally good fruit in his ministry. Another problem we see in this particular teaching is the way the pastor is continually referred to as being "The Man of God". Actually "Man of God" is an Old Testament term often used for the prophets who were dealing with backslidden Israel. In that dispensation the prophets were anointed by the Holy Spirit but the people were not. The prophets were in a different spiritual position with God than the people were in that day. In the New Testament age all of God's people can be filled with the Holy Spirit and endowed with supernatural gifts and ministries. Now we are all the Body of Christ filled with the Spirit of God. We all stand on the same level before God, (see p.7) only our gifts and responsibilities differ. It is wrong to foster the erroneous concept of "The Man of God" set by God over the lowly peons to be exalted, obeyed and served by them. This is a modern version of "The Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes falsely dividing an equal brotherhood. (see p.17) Relating to a pastor "in the spirit" doesn't mean we receive everything he says or does. Even a deacon must be "proved" (I Tim. 3:10). Jesus commended the Church at Ephesus for "trying" certain apostles and finding them false. We certainly must evaluate our pastor's teachings and counsel by God's Word. I Cor. 2:15 "He that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of of no man." We should be as noble as the Bereans who "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11) When we analyze all of these twisted teachings being reported to us from other parts of the country we see again the demonic spirit of Shepherdship error dressed in a new and different disguise attempting to deceive God's people, especially those in "Faith" or "Word" Churches. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul warned us about these very problems we are facing in the Church today. I Tim. 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." He also tells us to assemble together and exhort one another more and more as we see the day approaching.(Heb. 10:25) Now is the time to intercede for God to move mightily to cleanse and purify His Church pouring out an earthshaking Holy Ghost revival which will result in a great harvest of souls for Jesus. In Ezekiel 34 God has given a timeless word to shepherds who abuse His sheep. We can see that it applies to pastors involved in the Shepherdship error because sheep are being abused. At this stage it applies much more to some pastors than others. Only God knows each one's heart, (parenthesis are inserted to amplify)
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