According to Bert Farias, we cannot correct anyone unless we know them personally and know their heart...

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But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. - 2 Corinthians. 10:13

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The Creflo Dollar drama marches on. For those unaware, Mr. Dollar recently came out against tithing, correctly consigning it to the law, which he now actively preaches against because of his false beliefs in antinomianism. This old heresy claims the law can be ignored by Christians because of grace. Greasy grace as it is commonly known, I championed by Joseph Prince but Dollar became enamored with it several years ago. Now Prince carries on with abusive tithing teaching despite the conflict but Dollar felt he could not. The ironically stupid part is that Dollar still teaches seed theology and refuses to apologize for decades of tithing abuse. Nevertheless, the Charismaniacal world flipped out because they mostly rely upon tithing to support their mega-church lifestyles. We reviewed a piece recently by another false teacher, Jamie Morgan, upset with Dollar but this time we have different take that smears discernment ministers and anyone with the temerity to say boo to Creflo Dollar. The reasoning is absurdly unbiblical. Let us reason once more together through the above linked article found on Charisma News.

"Social media can be a real blessing and be used for good. But it can also be a curse and a cause for strife, offense and division and "every man doing what is right in their own eyes." As a glaring example, many people are correcting Creflo Dollar on his denouncement of tithing as only an Old Testament law and principle. Pastors seeking to protect their own turf, ministers seeking to protect their own projects funded by the tithes of their downlines of churches and sponsors, are offering their two cents worth. This sort of correction is mostly out of context." - Bert Farias

Years ago, Bert Farias used to write gospel-centric articles but now is reduced to this. He is right of course about social media but his application here is silly. The issue when it comes to correct doctrine is not the method of delivery but the accuracy of the content. So, I did not begrudge Jamie Morgan for criticizing the new teaching from Dollar. I begrudged the fact that it was inaccurate and unbiblical. What is disturbing here is Farias' opening point is not to take a stand one way or the other but to claim that correction on matters of doctrine can somehow be "out of context." As we watch his rationale develop, we will see that Farias wishes to take no position, for no apparent reason.

"Unfortunately, social media platforms can enable judgmental fault-finders who think they are the assigned watchmen for God. They believe they are the defenders of truth and righteousness, when in fact, they are sowing the wrong kind of seed. "We, on the other hand, will not boast beyond our proper limit, but [will keep] within the limits of our commission (territory, authority) which God has granted to us as a measure, which reaches and includes even you" (2 Cor. 10:13). Many on social media have carved out a ministry for themselves and garnered a great following, whose ears are tickled and self-righteous tendencies are gratified. Most of them are out of order and operating beyond the limits and boundaries that God has allotted them. Others are simply following the example and training they've received to be bold and defend the faith." - Bert Farias

Let us first deal with the misused scripture reference, which is also the key verse for today. Paul is speaking here about BOASTING, not discernment. Gill's Commentary thinks this is most likely a comparison to gnostic teaching that routinely boasted beyond common knowledge into areas they had no right to boast in. Matthew Poole's Commentary speaks about false teachers that had infiltrated the Corinthians Church and were boasting of their gifts and abilities. Either way, it has nothing to do with correctly discerning doctrine and providing truth over error as the bible commands us to do. The smear here against discernment ministries reveals that Farias would rather muddy the waters than deal with the truth. The verse about tickled ears is related to false teachers Bert, not proper discernment. Note that Farias does not offer that he thinks the discernment ministers are factually wrong, just that they have exceeded some nebulous sense of authority that does not come from the bible. So, since Bert seems to not understand let me clarify for him. The boundaries God has allotted anyone to speak the truth about is the entire bible and anyone who claims to teach from it but does so falsely. The issue Bert is protecting the flock, not your personal ideas about territoriality. The issue is not whether I am allowed to speak about a false teacher as egregious as Creflo Dollar. The man once preached that he wished he had a machine gun to kill all of the non-tithers in his church. That is what you are defending sir.

"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

Amazing. Farias almost realizes a fatal flaw with his jurisdictional blather. Too many of the teachers with the biggest microphones are not held to account by anyone. He still acts as if all teachers who teach falsely just need a little correction and they will snap back in line. Nonsense. Creflo Dollar has been rebuked and corrected for decades without changing any false teachings. It took a horribly false theology about grace to finally make him stop preaching the horrible theology of tithing! It is interesting that Bert chooses to close with a verse ripped horribly out of context. You see the context reveals how untenable his position truly is:

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." - 2Timothy 2:14-19 (ESV)

The issue here is nothing about territory or authority. Just that you have studied to show yourself approved. You will not be ashamed then to bring the word of truth against any false teachings. The irreverent babble Paul is talking about is false teaching! He even names them - Hymenaeus and Philetus! Paul tells us that their false teaching upsets the faith of some! That is what should matter to us! How deliciously ironic that the very verse Farias uses to close exposes his entire rant as unbiblical and inaccurate.

Make no mistake about it beloved. This is the apostate church system protecting themselves by attacking discernment, creating false authority paradigms and defending indefensible wolves at the cost of the lives of many sheep. There is no grey area. Creflo Dollar is one of the vilest false teachers of the past century. He has shipwrecked the faith of untold numbers of people. He has fleeced the flock of over 27 million dollars. He has been corrected yet he still devours sheep without worry of rebuke because people like Bert Farias keep giving him permission and authority he does not deserve and certainly did not earn.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 21, 2022

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.