"Touch Not God's Anointed" Leads to Spiritual Abuse... #48
...Almost Every Time
…saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” Psalm 105:15
…saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” 1 Chronicles 16:22
This last week has been a tough one for those of us who at one point called James River Church (JRC) home. From 2008-2011 I worked at the church while I finished my Master of Divinity and enjoyed every minute of it. While I would never say the experience was perfect, it remains a highlight in my almost 20 years of pastoral ministry. I have many friends who are still at the church and I know they want to see Jesus lifted high and believe they are doing God’s work there. That’s what made this week hard - the internet decided that the gospel was not preached at JRC. And, sadly, this past weekend gave them a good reason to say that regardless if it’s true.
I won’t revisit the entire controversy surrounding this past weekend at the Stronger Men’s Conference (you can read about it here), but I did want to touch on one specific moment from the conference that concerns me greatly. In an attempt to clarify some of the early tension, Pastor John Lindell invited Pastor Mark Driscoll back on stage (see here) and said this:
“You have to be careful that you do not criticize the people who have the anointing of God on their lives.”
Is this true? I believe no and here are my reasons why.
An Aside - Matthew 18
Before examining this deeper I want to get something out of the way that I know some folks will think. Doesn’t Matthew 18 apply here? If I’m offended or concerned by something Pastor John said shouldn’t I go to him privately? The short answer is no. Matthew 18 does not apply to public Bible preaching. Public speech is always accountable to public scrutiny.
We see in Scripture where authors, under Divine inspiration called out individuals directly:
Galatians 2:11 “when Peter came to Antioch I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed.”
1 Timothy 1:19-20 “…some…concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
2 Timothy 2:17 “Among them are Armenaeus and Phileitus, men who have gone astray from the truth.”
2 Timothy 4:10 “For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me…”
2 Timothy 4:14-16 “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.”
3 John 1:9 “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.”
Matthew 18 does not shield any pastor or teacher from correction.
First Objection: Who is God’s Anointed?
My first objection is the apparent narrowing of “anointed ones” to people in public ministry. This entire idea runs counter to Scripture. In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Paul states that anyone who is “in Christ” is anointed by God:
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”.
Further, the Apostle John states in 1 John 2:20;27:
"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth…As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.”
The Bible does say that people are appointed to different roles and offices within the Christian church (2 Timothy 4:1-5) and it outlines how the church is to respect those who work in the offices of the church (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13) and even give “double honor” to our pastors (1 Timothy 5:17), but nowhere does it even hint to the idea that was espoused on the stage. In fact, by John’s definition, by telling Mark Driscoll he was out of line he was criticizing God’s anointed.
Second Objection: The Charismatic Misunderstanding
I am a Charismatic and believe that the Spirit of God empowers all believers to preach and teach the Gospel with signs and wonders (the anointing). The idea we cannot criticize God’s anointed stems from a common Charismatic misunderstanding of “touching not God’s anointed” that pulls from two passages of Scripture. Psalm 105:15 and 1 Chronicles 16:22.
The immediate context of both passages, by any common exegetical understanding of Scripture, makes clear that the “touch not the Lord’s anointed” was for a specific group of people - not modern preachers. On top of that, the passage deals with God intervening to stop acts that cause physical harm, not criticism with words or tweets.
Charismatics like to insert themselves into these passages (although non-charismatic books like Tale of Three Kings also make this assertion) as a sort of clobber verse when faced with criticism or critique of their public testimony, but by any fair reading of the passages it’s not only an inappropriate exegetical approach to the passages, it also borrows more from a post-modern subjective paradigm than any common interpretation of Scripture.
Third Objection: The Potential For Abuse
In my nearly 20 years of pastoral ministry, I know of multiple instances where I was told directly that I was “touching God’s anointed”. I’ll share two of them.
The first was when a classmate in Bible school got up with a “word” from the Lord and told our entire school that the Lord had said we needed to lighten up. And to do that we needed to stand on our chairs, tap our heads, and rub our bellies while laughing. This is absurd on every level and some of my friends couldn’t even do it because of their age or disability. Why would God ask them to do something He knew they couldn’t? So obviously I didn’t participate. I left the chapel. I was then hunted down and told that by objecting (by leaving) I was “touching God’s anointed” and giving into a spirit of rebellion.
One of the other times happened when I was pastoring and I was put in charge of our church’s finances. I saw very quickly that we were heading underwater. After reviewing everything, I brought up to the pastor - who put me in charge of the review -what I found and how if we didn’t stop spending like a church of 1,000 we would be a church of 0. The pastor did not accept this conclusion and even after reviewing the numbers, he refused to believe they were correct because the Lord told him He’d provide. And I was coming close to touching the Lord’s anointed because I didn’t believe like he did when looking at the numbers. The church closed a year later.
These are personal anecdotes but I know of many more examples of abuse by pastors, evangelists, and teachers who grabbed onto this teaching of “anointing” to cover up their sexual abuse, spousal abuse, and a host of other sins. The power that claiming “anointing” can give a person in leadership is staggering and almost every time it leads to abuse.
Final Objection: Shaming People Who Question Leads to Unbelief
In the latter part of Pastor John’s explanation of anointing, he states that whenever you criticize a person with God’s anointing, you’re always “in the flesh” and that leads to unbelief. I found this part personally the most problematic. How we approach our leadership is important and it’s true we can sin in how we speak or talk about our leaders. But not all criticism is fleshy.
Proverbs 27:6 states that faithful are the wounds of a friend. Ephesians 4:15 states that we need to speak the truth, but with love. 2 Timothy 2:25b states we are to correct with gentleness those in opposition to us. Jesus countless times criticized. John in Revelation criticized entire churches.
Criticism alone does not lead to unbelief, it’s the stifling and gaslighting of all criticism along with demanding everyone circle the wagons of groupthink that ALWAYS does that.
Final Thoughts
Since the Men’s Conference ended distraught attendees of JRC have reached out to me because they do not know what to do with the media circus. Many of them were considering leaving after JRC platformed Bill Johnson (see here) but after this past weekend, most of the people I talked with made the decision they were leaving. They’re the main reason why I’m writing this now.
The fact is this hurts my heart so much. I love JRC. I spent years there. I was a member there. I want to see it continue to succeed. I know so many people who are there and truly want to be part of the lifting up of Jesus. And that is why I just hope the church as a whole course corrects. I hope people who shame the infirm and sick are not continually given a platform. And I hope this toxic teaching of “touch not my anointed” is rejected and repented of.
Because the fact is these teachings are hurting God’s anointed.
Well said Matt.
Byron