SACRED COWS

Mature reformers love the church enough to challenge her discrepancies with the Word of God, her traditional ways that hinder the impact of truth and freedom, and her love affair with the world.

1. PROPHECY: too much of the false and soulish has diluted the true. I hear many soulish, man-centered, and silver-tongued articulation of words that are nothing but learned vocabulary, and at best a mixture from the many examples of the master manipulators and cheap imitation of the genuine. There is no substitute for the anointing.

2. DANCING: there is no such thing under the new covenant as “dancing before the Lord” and “dancing with all your might” as David did. In the NC there is only dancing “in the Spirit”. There is also no such thing as interpretive dancing, and flag waving is a usually a show for man’s eyes and a distraction. There is no substitute for the anointing.

3. CLAPPING: clapping is often inappropriate especially in our corporate praise and worship times. God is not a political figure that needs a clap offering. Clapping is neither praise or worship. In fact, to be honest about it, it short-circuits the glory of His presence. Often it is a display of irreverence and bringing God down to man’s level. He is to be worshiped in spirit and truth with the lifting up of holy hands, not the clapping of unholy hands. There is no substitute for the anointing.

4. SINGING: Singing is not a display of man’s talent. It is worship unto God to be done with grace and melody in our hearts, and often with our spirits in other tongues and with our understanding in interpretation. There is no substitute for the anointing.

5. LEADERSHIP: there is no example of a single-pastor led church in the New Testament. Pastors were never meant to be popes and have the preeminence. The Biblical example is shared leadership or a group of elders with various gifts and valued graces.

6. JUDGEMENT: The least esteemed to judge in the Church are those who say, “Thou shalt not judge” (1 Cor 6:1-2). The Church is to be the prophetic voice in society and the conscience of a nation. She can only rule and reign with Christ when she understands that she is to be the “pillar and ground of truth” and that righteousness and justice is the foundation of Christ’s throne (Psalms 97). This greasy grace, sloppy agape, and unscriptural mercy has no place in the Church. Yes, compassion is needed, but conviction is, too. Sin and worldliness always dilutes the glory. There is no substitute for the glory of God.

7. SEXUAL SIN: Fornication is not even to be named among the saints, and adultery brings a reproach that can’t be wiped away. Today it’s Christian leaders grooming young ladies, homosexuality in the church, gay marriage acceptance, pedophelia and sexual deviances and perversion. And we pray, “Lord, send your glory!” We are deceived. There is no substitute for holiness unto the Lord.

These are just a few. You can read my books to get more of the same.

Peace.

Bert Farias' books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God and the return of the Lord. They also combat the departure from the faith and the turning away from the truth we are seeing in our day. His recent five-book bundle, written under a fresh anointing, is a forerunner of what the Lord is doing in His church today. His newest release, Turning Your Trials Into Gold, is a powerful testimony of how God raised up Bert and his wife Carolyn from a sick bed  and near death.