"I've been guilty in times past of going beyond my own limits and authority assigned to me by the Lord. For this reason, I will not correct Creflo Dollar because I do not know him personally and I am not in his jurisdiction. I have no relationship with him, and I don't really know his heart." - Bert Farias
Wow. So according to Bert Farias, false teachers can only be corrected if you know the heretic personally, are in his jurisdiction (whatever that means), have a relationship with him, and believe that you know his heart. That is ABSURD. Do you know how many false teachers would be corrected with this standard? ZERO. I do not need to know Creflo personally. I am not correcting his choice of curtains in his mansion. I need to know his teaching and for that I have decades of material. Can you point me to the bible verse about jurisdiction when it comes to correcting false doctrine? No? Of course you can't because it does not exist. My relationship is with God and His word, not the wolf. I do not need to be in relationship with the wolf. Oh, and if you want to "know his heart" read Jeremiah - it is wickedly deceitful above all else. Just like yours and mine. His heart does not matter. His mind does not matter. His intentions do not matter. Only his teaching matters and it is false.
"Of course, I can offer my perspective and understanding on tithing and any doctrine, because I am an elder that has given my life to laboring in the word and doctrine. But it would take a long series of teachings to do that. Every elder can do that in his own territory and local jurisdiction to those who've been assigned to him in a local context. But very few have the authority to do this on a national and global context. There are limits to our grace and authority. Many ministers and local elders do not understand that each of us have only a measure of faith, grace and authority that we are required to steward, and to go beyond that is to err." - Bert Farias
That is wholly unbiblical. The measure of faith verse is dealing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The discernment of spirits is one but that is not discerning doctrine. Two totally different things. We all are to study like Bereans to be considered more noble. Just consider here what Farias is saying. He can provide his understanding and perspective on tithing, but it would take too long. Oh and it is not his jurisdiction. Oh, and he doesn't have the authority to do so. What a cop-out. It would take me five minutes to write one paragraph explaining why tithing is not a New Testament teaching. Now, I did write a book on the subject, but you do not need to read the entire book to understand the truth. The New Testament teaches that giving must not be compulsory and the Old Testament tithing system was compulsory by nature. Does Farias actually think that God set up His church so we could only speak to our local congregation? Once again, he is setting up a system where no one would ever be corrected of false doctrine. This is serious stuff. Tithing ties us back to the law and renders Christ meaningless to us. Read Galatians chapter five! So, if Bert Farias saw a mega-church preacher teaching that you have to tithe or God will curse your money, which Creflo used to teach, he would do nothing about it because he thinks it is beyond his authority? To hell with those who get their faith shipwrecked. Oh, that we would start worrying more about the bloody sheep than the ravenous wolves. Hope that is not too judgmental for you Bert.
"The best thing local elders and pastors can do to deal with error is by teaching the truth boldly, accurately and strongly in their sphere of authority to those assigned to their jurisdiction. There are boundaries in the Spirit and to our measure of faith and grace given to us. The context for righteous judgment and correction should come through the operation of the local church and its elders. Beyond that, apostolic grace and wisdom are needed. True apostles have inherent grace to build foundations in Christ and to establish local churches, until the body of Christ is brought into full maturity and incarnation function." - Bert Farias
I cannot believe how incredibly irresponsible and unbiblical this is. It is of course a direct outshoot of the NAR teachings on false authority paradigms. Now obviously we should preach the truth boldly where our flock may be but the notion that this prevents you from being concerned about other sheep is asinine. Essentially, Farias is saying that we should preach the truth about tithing for example to our church but keep quiet when we see false teaching on the matter in other churches. To this I ask, what would happen to the sheep under Creflo Dollar? He does not answer to anyone. He is non-denominational. Even Rick Warren, who was theoretically Southern Baptist never listened to the SBC. With no accountability and unlimited resources you are advocating turning your back on these battered sheep because you think you do not have the authority? I think the disconnect is known as Michael Brown Disease, where you think everyone who spells the name Jesus correctly is a brother and you don't want to step on any toes. What you fail to realize is that we all have responsibility, authority and jurisdiction when it comes to correcting wolves! When the sheep are being actively slaughtered, we should not be pontificating about authority paradigms that are not even in the bible to begin with! Tithing was an Old Testament agriculture system to ensure the Tribe of Levi had food! To claim that we must tithe before paying our electric bill is heresy from the pit of hell! That truth does not need "apostolic grace" or any other nonsensical requirement that you fabricate.
"One of the big problems has been that ministers and leaders with large spheres of influence on national and international platforms have very little accountability to any other Ephesians 4:11 ministry gifts; apostles and elders who would be bold enough to bring godly correction. It is in this way we will avoid all the strife and idle babblings that only lead to more strife and division within the body, such as the present controversy with Mr. Dollar. "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness" (2 Tim. 2:16)." - Bert Farias
