Understanding Church Vision (Part 2 of 4)
False Shepherds
A false shepherd is someone who tries to either lead others away from the vision of Jesus Christ or tries to place themselves into the position of Christ. Most of the modern leadership training teaches pastors that they are the shepherd and that they are the ones who create the vision for the church. As we have seen earlier, the vision for the church was given by Jesus after His resurrection. Even if they are sincere, anyone who attempts to lead the flock away from the vision of Christ is a false shepherd. The purpose of church leadership is to equip the saints for ministry by teaching them to observe the doctrine of scripture and grow into the head (Jesus Christ) so that the church body can come to the unity of the faith. Those who execute the office God has given faithfully will inherit the promise of 1 Peter 5:1-4:
1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
The option God has given us is to lead God’s people away from truth and be judged, or to lead God’s people into the ways of Christ and receive the reward. Jesus alone is the Chief Shepherd – not the pastor. The Bible only uses the word ‘pastor’ once in the New Testament (Eph. 4:11). When appointing a leader in the church, the Bible refers to deacons, elders and bishops. A deacon is a servant in the church. The deacon is never given authority over the church though many traditions have altered deacon to mean officer. This has caused problems in many churches. Elders are spiritual leaders that are appointed in the church to ensure doctrine is consistent with scripture and to preside over the church. A pastor or bishop is also considered an elder in scripture (See Titus 1:5-9, 1 Timothy 5:17). A bishop or pastor has the role as an overseer in the church. The word ‘bishop’ comes from the Greek word, ‘episkopos’ which means, “an overseer or a man charged with a duty of seeing that everything is done rightly”.
Whether the pastor realizes it or not, he is part of the flock and if he belongs to Christ, he also is a sheep in the flock of Christ. Having leadership does not change who we are. Our role in leadership is to communicate what the Chief Shepherd has instructed through the word. As we follow the word we lead by example and teach others to follow the word. The overseer stands as a feeder of God’s flock, not the possessor of the flock. Pastors, your congregation is the flock of the Lord, not the flock of your pasture. Do not allow yourself to be lifted up with pride and begin to look at yourself as the good shepherd or the church as your flock. The passage above clearly states that you are not lords over those entrusted to you, but rather you are to be one who follows Christ as an example for others to see.
There are three areas that the Bible identifies as characteristics of a false shepherd: They come in their own name; they try to make the sheep their own; they shift the focus to their own vision or undermine the word of God. First look at John 5:43-44
43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
A false shepherd will come in his own name and will attempt to draw disciples after themselves. This was foretold in Acts 20:29-30
29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
A false shepherd is called a wolf in sheep’s clothing throughout the New Testament. These will arise from within the church and seek to draw disciples after themselves. They will have visions, claim to be one who gives revelations directly from God and they will exalt themselves over the word. The false shepherd will exalt their own vision and personal revelations over the true revelation given through the word of God. The false shepherd will defy Hebrews 1:1-2
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
The apostles revealed what Jesus taught them and according to scripture, the Holy Spirit brought all things to their remembrance and taught them how these things apply (John 14:26). If you read the epistles of the apostle Paul who was called after Jesus’ resurrection did not receive new revelations; his revelations was the application of the Old Testament and how all the old revelations by the prophets pointed to Christ. Paul’s writings do not give us new doctrines, but instead he points out how the old doctrine applies to the Christian’s life. He took the mysteries of the Old Testament and showed how they pointed to Christ and how they apply to the lives of those born into the New Testament Kingdom of God. According to scripture, the revelations ended when they were brought to completion through Jesus Christ. Even the book of Revelation is a gathering of all the Old Testament prophecies and sets our focus on the fact that they indeed are the revelation of Jesus Christ. Any revelation that does not enlighten our understanding of what has already been revealed is not of God.
The primary mission of the leadership God has established within the church is to instruct the church in sound doctrine so that they fulfill the great commission, but these wolves who pass themselves off as sheep will provide another vision that takes the eyes of the flock away from its mission. They will sound like a sheep by religious sounding speech, but you will know them by the fruit of their teaching. Do they teach others to obey all that has been commanded so that they can be imitators of Christ who will receive a full reward? Or do they build their own kingdoms and claim it is a move of God?
A false shepherd is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The false shepherd will attempt to make the local congregation loyal to himself and his own vision. As we have seen earlier, the true sheep will hear the voice of Christ and will not follow the voice of a stranger so this will create an immediate conflict. Anyone who will not show loyalty to the false shepherd will be scorned, criticized, subjected to intimidation or driven away. Jesus said the wolf will come in and catch the sheep and scatter them. Those who are vulnerable will be captured and those who will not follow the stranger’s voice will be scattered. God will allow this to infiltrate the church in the last days as He has foretold, but He also gives a warning in Jeremiah 23:1
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.
True leadership will teach people how to listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, but the false shepherd will persecute any who listen to the voice of Christ over his own voice. One of the great deceptions in the church is that pastors are being taught to place themselves up as idols by usurping the position that Christ has reserved for Himself. No wonder the seminaries and leadership training programs are propogating these false beliefs for the biggest names in the church culture today have been trained by institutes that believe the scripture is dangerous and should not be taught. If the trainers are trained by those who do not believe, how can we expect truth to remain in the center of the church’s mission? Look for yourself and you will see that every leadership conference teaches two main principles: the pastor is the shepherd and that the pastor creates the vision for the church. Add to that the fact that the scripture is spurned and we have a church that fulfills the last days church foretold in the Bible.
History repeats itself for before the judgment and destruction of Israel, they followed the exact same paths. Look at Jeremiah 23:14-16
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: 'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.' " 16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.
Is this not exactly what we see in the church’s new vision being communicated today? In the first part of this study we looked at quotes from the founder of the church growth movement who indeed strengthens the hands of the evildoers and insures that no one turns back from their wickedness. Our leaders now focus on making people feel good about themselves regardless of their actions or lifestyles while at the same time hiding them from the scriptures that communicate God’s call to repentance. As we will explore shortly, they all speak about visions that come from themselves or from those they have trained. Like the last days of Israel before being destroyed by Babylon, the prophets spoke good, prophesied prosperity and rebuked any who dared mention the truth of scripture.
When God brought judgment on Israel, He commanded that judgment begin at His sanctuary (Ezekiel 9:6). In 1 Peter 4:17 the Lord foretold that when the time came for judgment, it would begin at His own house. Why? When God’s people reject the truth and follow after false shepherds, they are corrupting what God has set apart for Himself. Israel was a people taken out of the nations and set apart for the Lord to be a people who carried His name (2 Chronicles 6:6). The church is a people called out of the world and we are called by His name. God has a right to purge wickedness from what has been set apart to represent His name and indeed He will. God first gives space to repent but as the Bible states, “God will not always strive with man” (Gen 6:3). When the church has lost its power to shine God’s glory to the nations, judgment will begin and indeed we are seeing the warning signs of this already.
Our church leaders use subtlety to deceive and even boast about this. When Rick Warren did an interview for PBS in September 2006, he boasted that he employs a ‘stealth strategy’ to influence churches. He tries to stay beneath the radar while training pastors with his philosophy. This should not be surprising for his pastors.com website encourages pastors to conceal the source of their sermons and allow the congregations to believe these messages originate from their study of the scripture. As the trainers have strayed from the truth, those who are trained are losing the vision that God has already given us. The modern Christian leadership training conferences and institutes teach that we must form a vision in our hearts, cast that vision and then follow our own vision while at the same time calling it God’s work. It is falsely taught that the vision begins in our hearts. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Earlier in this study we looked at the scripture’s warning that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and that only God can search the hearts and reveal the truth (Jeremiah 17). This is reaffirmed in Proverbs 28:
26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.
Wisdom comes from God and we find wisdom through keeping God’s word (2 Timothy 3:15, Psalm 119:98, Proverbs 2:1-9). If we believe the scriptures then we must conclude that those who teach others to ‘vision cast’ are teaching them to be fools. The vision does not begin in our hearts but begins in scripture.
False Vision
Almost every modern instruction on leadership follows the same general path. The mantra begins by declaring that leaders should ‘dream big’. The dreaming leadership model finds its roots in creative visualization which teaches that the mind’s eye has the power to see a vision, create that vision and then speak that vision. This has been introduced into Christianity by adopting various terms that sound Christianized. Now instead of using our ‘mind’s eye’, Christian leaders are told to dream and even taught that dreamers in the Bible created their own paths by following their dreams. In truth, at times God used dreams to communicate His plan to individuals. Not every plan of God was revealed in dreams and not every dream was the plan of God as we can see through the numerous scriptures that warn us against following the dreams of men.
While the Bible warns that those who follow their own hearts are fools, modern leadership philosophies teach men to dream big, visualize the dreams they devised from their own hearts into a vision, proclaim that vision so that it will come to pass and then follow their own visions as they draw disciples to follow them. As they proclaim their own visions, they claim that following the vision is following God. Anyone who hesitates is intimidated by being warned that they should leave the church or it is implied that they are resisting the move of God. They will say that people who won’t follow their visions are stuck in a comfort zone or are fearful of what God is doing.
Pastors are told to visualize (or dream) large majestic sanctuaries and big buildings. They are taught to see retirement homes, schools, gyms, conference centers and big, big plans. It is ironic that the Bible teaches that God speaks to us through His small quiet voice, but everything about the false vision is loud, earthshaking and leaves little room to stop and listen as we seek the voice of God and His word. Never do you see pastors come back from training with the ‘vision’ to make disciples and teach their congregations to obey all that the Bible commands. The focus is not on the individual lives God has called us to disciple, it is always on things that bring glory to the pastor or shared glory with the church.
It all sounds so good but there is one basic flaw in this entire way of thinking – the vision is dependent on the man. The Bible says that God chose the small, humble, base, despised and weak things to accomplish His will so that no flesh will glory in God’s work. Very rarely will God use the mighty man and big things to accomplish His will. This is clearly taught in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. The Bible does not say that God will never do big things, but it does teach that rarely God uses these things. The Bible teaches that God alone opens the door and accomplishes His will, but the modern movements teach that we are the source of power. Consider this quote from the ‘The Cellular Church’ (http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_09_12_a_warren.html):
'The best of the evangelical tradition is that you don't plan your way forward -- you prophecy your way forward,' the theologian Leonard Sweet says. 'Rick [Warren is] prophesying his way forward.'" (Malcolm Gladwell, "The Cellular Church,"
Now compare this philosophy to Jesus’ words to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:
8 "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
It is God alone that opens doors and He opens the door to those who keep His word and glorify His name – not to those who prophesy their own visions. If the vision is not from God, it is not of God. We know that through the scriptures God has given us a clear vision to keep the word and teach the true disciples of Christ how to obey all the commandments He has given. True disciples are those who hear and follow the voice of Christ – which is the word of the scriptures. A church organization can grow without the move of God. If you have the right programs and messages that appeal to the world, a social club will evolve, but this is not the move of God. If a church is not making disciples as instructed by Jesus – those who die to their lives in this world and live in the Spirit – if a church is not focused on this basic command given by God, it is merely an organization and is not of God. Just because someone says, “God has sent me” does not mean they are sent by God – unless it is to test God’s people for faithfulness (see Deut 13:3).
The Bible repeatedly foretells of deceivers who will rise up and draw away the masses after themselves. Let’s take a moment to examine the scriptures that warn us of these things. First let us look at 2 Timothy 3:12-17
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
If the members of the church took the time to read the word of God, they would see that the situations we are facing are foretold of and warned against in great detail. This passage is filled with information that if we heed, will assist in our efforts to fulfill the vision Christ gave and avoid being a part of the deception of the last days. If you follow the flow of this passage you will see that the instruction begins first with the warning that if you truly desire to live godly and follow the truth, you will suffer persecution. The last days church will despise the sheep of Christ because those who live godly will not follow their false shepherds.
Take note of the fact that the wicked leaders of this era are not only deceivers, but they are also being deceived. This is exactly what we see in the new ‘vision casting’ movement in the church. The church leaders are being deceived into buying into this New Age practice and then they replicate the deception to their congregations. They may be sincere, but they still are deceived and have become deceivers. All of this could be avoided if our church leaders would follow the instructions of scripture for it is not possible to deceive the ones who are examining and following the word of God. Consider Matthew 24:24-25
24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 "See, I have told you beforehand.
The deception will be persuasive and very compelling. Jesus forewarned that if it is possible, it would deceived even the very elect of God. Who are the elect? Remember that Jesus said that many are called but few are chosen. Twice Jesus specifically stated that those who are truly blessed by God are those who “hear the word and do it”. In Luke, Jesus said that those who hear and do the word of God are His brethren. These are the elect. Many feel the call of God, but only those who obey God by keeping His word are chosen to become God’s elect. It is not possible to deceive the elect of God because they will not turn from the word of God. We may be inspired by the persuasive presentations of the deception, but when we recognize the conflict, we hold on to the word knowing that we “must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them”. We know the word of God is true; therefore, the burden of proof is upon everything else to prove itself to be consistent with the word which we know is true.
Unfortunately, the leadership training of the Christian church no longer believes in the authority of God’s word. One of America’s most distinguished seminary professors, J.P. Moreland has joined the ranks of those who claim that Bible believing Christians are guilty of ‘Bibliolatry’. Bibliolatry is the belief that looking at the word of God as the final authority is idolatry. The magazine ‘Christianity Today’ published an article on ‘Bibliolatry’ and wrote about a lecture Moreland delivered to the Evangelical Theological Society a few weeks ago. His lecture was titled “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It”. J.P. Moreland stated:
"In the actual practices of the Evangelical community in North America, there is an over-commitment to Scripture in a way that is false, irrational, and harmful to the cause of Christ," he [Moreland] said. "And it has produced a mean-spiritedness among the over-committed that is a grotesque and often ignorant distortion of discipleship unto the Lord Jesus." The problem, he said, is "the idea that the Bible is the sole source of knowledge of God, morality, and a host of related important items. Accordingly, the Bible is taken to be the sole authority for faith and practice."
When I read this, the scripture that came to mind is Psalm 50:16-17
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, 17 Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you?
Those who reject the authority of scripture have no right to proclaim what they believe is the statutes of God. Any who follow those who cast aside the word are just as guilty. Since the authority of scriptures is affirmed repeatedly throughout the Old and New Testaments, to reject the authority of the Bible is to disbelieve the word of God and step outside of Christianity. Our current leaders are casting the word of God behind them while at the same time claiming to declare God’s statutes. According to Moreland, Christians who believe that God’s word is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness and is the final authority as God has repeatedly emphasized throughout scripture, these Christians are ‘mean-spirited, irrational, harmful to Christ, grotesque and ignorant’.
J.P. Moreland is not a radical, left-wing liberal theologian. He has delivered lectures to over 200 colleges and seminaries, taught at Liberty University, Campus Crusade for Christ’s Institute of Biblical Studies, and is currently a professor at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. This school claims to be a conservative, Bible based seminary that claims to believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and states, “At Talbot, you can be assured that the Bible will be treated as the authoritative Word of God”. Unfortunately a church, ministry or seminaries statement of belief may appear sound on the surface, but it is often refuted by the teachings of the organization once you get beyond their statements of faith.
The very leaders who are training the leaders of the church have departed from the scriptures and have turned to world philosophies and worldly wisdom. The deception in the last days was foretold to be great, but the elect will endure to the end. The vision of these leaders do not come from the scriptures. They will use scriptures and orthodox sounding terms to gain the trust of those who do not seek the Lord through the word, but once trust has been gained, they switch to their own visions. We are called to know the word so we can clearly see deception. Consider this warning from 2 Peter 2:1-3
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words;
Do you see the fulfillment of this prophecy being fulfilled before your eyes? Is not the way of truth being blasphemed when trusting in the scriptures is called idolatry? Many will follow their destructive ways and unfortunately the masses will reap the consequences. We should not be surprised when the truth is spoken evil of. If the truth is hated, those who hold to the truth will also be hated. The word will be attacked and any who hold to the truth will be persecuted by both the world and the last days church. The deception will be brought in secretly and indeed has come in. It will sound good, be presented with persuasive words and will be followed by the masses. The only way to identify the false vision is by knowing the word of God through personal study. Not by reading books, but by each individual Christian reading and studying the word.
Just because someone says that the Lord has given them a vision and says, “Thus saith the Lord”, does not mean the Lord has spoken to them. The scriptures give many examples where false prophets have come and spoken in the name of the Lord but spoke lies. Job’s friends claimed to have had a revelation of the Lord but God rebuked them for speaking falsely; the 400 prophets spoke prosperity to King Ahab while being influenced by a lying spirit; the prophet Hannaniah proclaimed the words of the Lord but was lying and the false prophets of the last days will do the same. The false claim to have a ‘vision of God’ was used as a deception even back in Jeremiah’s day. Look at Jeremiah 14:14-15
14 And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land' -- 'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
The New Testaments give an identical warning in 1 Thessalonians 5:3-4
3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
Peace and prosperity are only to those who fear the Lord. Those in rebellion try to proclaim their own prosperity in order to avoid accountability to the Lord. If you read the book of Jeremiah, the events and warnings are identical to what is happening in the church today. In Jeremiah’s day, there were thousands of false prophets but only a handful of true prophets. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Amos were prophets sent to Israel to proclaim the truth while thousands of false prophets proclaimed their own visions. The true prophets were consistent with the word that was already known to be true, but they were still not believed because the false teachers appealed to what the people wanted. Whose word proved true? Not one book in the Bible was written by any of the false prophets and not one of these prosperity teachers was proven true. All of God’s word was proven to be true and continues to be fulfilled today. The same word that spoke against the false prophets stands against the false visionaries of our day. Look at Jeremiah 23:31-32
31 "Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' 32 "Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD.
The modern visionaries are against the sheep of Christ and those who follow the vision Jesus gave, but the word of God is against these prophets whom the Lord did not send. While they claim to have a vision from God, they contradict the word of God and in the end they will be judged along with those who follow the dreams they fashioned out of their own hearts.
Since the church leaders who are mentoring pastors were mentored by Schuller’s Church Growth Institute and modern seminaries that deny the authority of God’s word, it should be no surprise that the seeker sensitive movement employs the same strategies that grow numbers while decreasing disciples. The members may be disciples of the church leader who has drawn disciples after himself, but they are not disciples of Christ. The requirements for discipleship that Jesus gave will not build a mega church, but it will build our hope in heaven. Look at Luke 14:26-27 and 33
26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
33 "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Luke 9: 23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.
If you want to prophesy your own way, invest your life in wealth, health and prosperity or follow your own visions to gain the things of the world, you will not find much comfort in Jesus’ call for discipleship. If you are ashamed of the word and are afraid to be called idolatrous for believing the word, you will not gain much comfort in this doctrine. However, if your treasures are in heaven and you set your heart on a pilgrimage as the Bible teaches, this will both convict and inspire you. Those who reject this teaching are not His sheep for Jesus Himself said that those who cannot receive the word are not His.
Do not follow any other shepherd for none is your shepherd but Christ. Do not seek to become a shepherd for you will be challenging Christ. Do not fall into the deception of creating your own vision for this is never taught in scripture and it is expressly forbidden in scripture. The entire church culture is turning from the word and following their own visions as the Bible foretold, but you must follow the truth of scripture if you belong to Christ. Almost all of the seminaries, pastoral training, and leadership institutes have become their own gods, trust their own visions and revelations and are teaching you to do the same. These are not the fringe liberal organizations that are leading this charge into error, but mainstream, well respected training institutions and leaders. Consider this claim from Rick Warren’s pastors.com website:
These 14 lessons will help you understand your own vision for your church and help you communicate that vision to your congregation. First taught by Rick Warren to the leadership team at Saddleback Church, these lessons will both improve your own vision casting and help you train your church members to cast vision as well. – pastors.com (http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/article.asp?ArtID=9562)
Find one scripture where you are told to conjure up YOUR OWN VISION. Vision casting is a New Age religious practice and the Purpose Driven movement has placed a deep wedge between the church and the ways of God. While this movement begins its instruction by saying “It’s not about you”, the entire purpose centers around you. Like the false vision statements that sound orthodox but are followed up with contradictions and the rejection of scripture, the purpose driven, seeker sensitive, vision casting, and church growth movements begin by claiming that it is not about you but is about God, and then they contradict this by everything they teach after the opening statements. The sole purpose of these statements of faith is to get you to lower your guard by bait and switch tactics.
The vision casting principle is almost universally accepted across denominational lines and is taught by most evangelical leaders. It is taught by the popular ‘Lead Like Jesus’ leadership training, Robert Schuller’s Church Growth Institute, The Purpose Driven Church, Willow Creek and most Christian seminaries. Andy Stanley’s book ‘Making Vision Stick’ boast the following:
Noted author and pastor Andy Stanley points out that if followers don't get the vision, it's because the leaders haven't delivered it. He reveals the three reasons vision doesn't stick. And then he delivers three ways to make vision stick, to make you a leader worth following:
Rarely will you see a vision advertisement that puts the focus on anyone but you. Christ is pushed aside, the scriptures are misrepresented, ignored or rejected and you become the driving force behind your own vision. Vision casting is the latest hot trend to take the church by storm. Almost every single pastor’s seminar, church leadership conference and church growth lecture uses terms such as ‘vision casting, creative vision, visionary leadership’ and so on. Almost every message on vision begins with this passage from Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Let’s take a moment to examine this verse in detail The word ‘vision’ used in this passage is the Hebrew word ‘chazown’ which means ‘divine communication or revelation from God’. The word ‘perish’ in this passage comes from the word ‘para’ (pronounced paw-rah’) which means ‘to loosen restraints’. This word is quite different from the word translated into perish found in Proverbs 19:9
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.
The word perish here is the word ‘abad’ (pronounced aw-bad’) which means ‘to be exterminated, lost or destroyed’. I have broken down this passage because it is badly misused by those who are ignorant of its meaning. Some teachers are aware of this misuse but are dependent on the ignorance of the congregation because this scripture can be manipulated out of its intended meaning in order to gain power and influence over those who do not commit themselves to the study of God’s word.
The phrase ‘vision casting’ that is being taught in almost every denomination has its origin in occultic religions. Listen to how John Lash defines this term in the occultic dictionary ‘The Seekers Handbook’:
Creative Visualization: the process of using mental images in order to acquire what one desires or produce changes in one's attitude, thus creating one's own reality.
If the name John Lash does not ring a bell with you, here is a partial list of some of the other writings by John Lash:
As you can see, John Lash is not an evangelical nor does he even remotely claim to be a Christian. He is an open occultic worshipper of the New Age religions. One of the New Age practices he teaches is vision casting and creative visualization. The church has adopted this practice through the various church growth movements and have done little to alter this practice from its New Age origin. It stands under many banners such as ‘vision casting’, ‘creative vision’, ‘visionary leadership’ and many similar titles. Even though the title may be altered, if you examine how the vision is cast, you will find that the church’s practice of vision casting is identical to the New Age practice and the only difference is that Christian jargon is added and a few out of context scriptures are thrown in to insulate this occultic practice from criticism. Some may argue that even if the world religions use this practice, it still works and is therefore good. Consider this passage from Isaiah 55:8-9
8 " For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Ultimately it does not matter what I say or what others say. God’s word is the final authority and the church must take its direction from scripture. Where scripture is silent, we do not apply new revelations, but where the Bible speaks out, we must listen. The church no longer studies the word so few people realize how much the Bible speaks on this topic. The Bible gives clear, easy to understand instructions and then we must choose to follow the word of God or follow those who the Bible calls ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’.
Just as the false shepherd calls the sheep to follow him as he attempts to draw disciples after himself, the false vision calls for the people to turn away from the word and follow the ‘new revelation’. While the current deception claims that ‘God is doing something new’, in reality there is nothing new about the so-called new revelation. The only thing new is that the church has received as truth what it once recognized as error.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
Go to Home Page | Sermons | Feedback | Creation | Humor