A look at another popular biblical misunderstanding. Has God actually said that we are to be the head and not the tail? Ehh...not so fast

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"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. -- Deuteronomy 28: 1-2 (ESV)

I remember years ago listening to Kenneth Copeland defend being presented with two Bentley Luxury Automobiles as gifts from people in his congregation. This is the same man who spews the prosperity Gospel to the tune of a self-worth in excess of 650 million dollars. He lives in a 6.5 million dollar mansion which he has the chutzpah to write off to the federal government as a "parsonage." His defense was that Deuteronomy 28:2 says that you will be overtaken by the blessings of God and hallelujah, he was just being overtaken. I thought it was odd at the time that he referenced verse 2 and quickly sought out verse 1, which was of course the qualifier. Deuteronomy is the culmination of the law. In totality there are 613 Mosaic Laws that were presented to the people of Israel. So when verse 1 of our key verses says be careful to do all I have commanded you it is directly referring to keeping all 613 laws. Only then will the "blessings overtake you." How exactly did Israel fare in keeping the Mosaic Law? Horrible of course. In fact, they were so bad at keeping the law that God had to send His only Son to die for our sins. Another little killjoy in Deuteronomy 28 is that while the first 14 verses outline the blessings for obedience, the next 54 verses spell out the curses for disobedience. Funny, Copeland didn't mention those.

Before we go thinking this is reserved for the likes of heavy weight charlatans alone, Deuteronomy 28 is a go-to chapter for seeker-friendly preaching all over the country. The sugar coated bless me theologies rely upon wresting verses such as the ones found in Deuteronomy 28 horribly out of context and applying them to us as Christians when they have no such application. Please beloved, do not confuse this. It is not just a matter of poor hermeneutics or a disagreement over interpretation. We are talking about things God did not say to us that preachers today claim He did. You may want to sit down for this one but God never said He was going to make you the head and not the tail. It is time to tip this sacred Pentecostal cow over and be set free by the Word of God.

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. -- Deuteronomy 28: 13-14 (ESV)

Let us reason together starting with the only logical way one could misconstrue these verses as applying to the church. I doubt any would argue that Israel did not comply and obey the Mosaic Law. I further doubt anyone would make the argument that we can or should even try, considering the New Covenant and the fact that Jesus Christ nailed the law to the cross. So if no one has been able to keep the law, how does one make claim to the blessings promised under this agreement? Only vicariously through Christ. The only argument that might have a logical strand running through it is that since Jesus lived a sinless life and we are found in Him, that we get these blessings as if we had completely obeyed the Mosaic Law. There are far too many problems with that line of thinking however.

The first problem is that these promises were not made to any individual. They were promised to the nation of Israel. In order to co-opt them you must engage in what is known as Replacement Theology. This false teaching says that the church has replaced Israel in the plans of God. This is of course absurd. God has never given up on His people. They are still the apple of His eye. The church is grafted into Israel, it does not replace it. I do not even think pastors and preachers realize they are doing this when they claim the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 but the only way we would have access to them is if we were Israel and we kept all of the Mosaic Law. We are not and we could not. The blessings we already enjoy are found in our eternal life beyond this world. But the bless me preachers of today are not selling eternal blessings because the vast amount of their listeners are not actually saved. Thus the things of God are foolishness to them. Eternal life is still a myth to them. But temporal blessings? Two Bentleys in the driveway? Being overtaken by blessings? The windows of heaven being thrown open to rain blessings down upon them? Count me in! Secondly, the teachings of Jesus Christ do not line up with this head and not the tail arrogance.

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -- Luke 14: 7-11 (ESV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. -- Philippians 2: 3 (ESV)

Is the Gospel of the Kingdom about making one the head and not the tail or is it in fact the opposite? Jesus notices that people were very preoccupied with stature on this earth so He gives them this parable in the Gospel of Luke. The teaching point is what we need to internalize. For everyone that exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The Bible also says that the first will be last. In the Philippians verse we see yet another version of this teaching. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. In humility count others more significant than yourselves. That does not seem to be endorsing the notion that we are the head and not the tail beloved.

The false teachers of today cannot even see their own irony. The opening line of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life is -- "It's not about you." He then proceeds to make everything about you. The entire purpose driven church growth theories, seeker friendly industrial complex teachings, and all of the false heresies we see infiltrating the body of Christ today seek to make Christianity about us instead of about Christ and offer the temporal riches of this world as reward. Consider the lyrics for Blessing of Abraham, sung as worship throughout churches today:

[Chorus: x2]
It's Your Inheritance
Get Your Inheritance
You Are The Seed, By Faith Receive
The Blessing Of Abraham
The Blessing Of Abraham

[Vamp: x4]
It's Yours
It's Yours
It's Your Inheritance

(God made you)
The Head, Not The Tail
Above, Not Beneath
A Lender, Not A Borrower

Get Your Inheritance [x8]

How in the world is it worshiping God to literally yell at Him that you are going to get your inheritance? Just like it is not worship to tell God that you are His friend, especially when your life says the opposite. We must understand beloved that our praise music informs our theology. If you say get your inheritance eight times over and over again, you start to believe it. You internalize it. Then after a half hour of false worship you hear a half message about you. Somewhere in it you may even hear the sermon point that God made us the head and not the tail, just like you sang. Was Jesus acting as the head and not the tail when He willingly went to the cross? As a lamb to the slaughter? One day He will return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. But between now and then we are in His age of grace. Is Christianity meant to be an arrogant religion? Absolutely not! The world is arrogant -- we are supposed to be humble! The world is unforgiving -- we are called to forgive! The world demands to be the head -- not the church!

The third reason why the head and not the tail theology is inaccurate for the church is that it cannot apply across Christendom. I know that the models for church growth have altered Christianity to be about these walled off churches that we try to grow individually. False prophets and teachers all came out with alleged words from the Holy Spirit for 2017 recently. The problem was all the words were different depending on what congregation you were in. One church claimed the Spirit said the word for 2017 was transformation and another said accelerate. Well which is it? Isn't there but one Spirit? Are we not one church? The reality is that our brothers and sisters are being crucified in the Middle East and have to hide underground in China. A simple test of the veracity of a theology is whether or not it is viable across the entire body of Christ. The Gospel of the kingdom works in Asia and Iraq as well as in America because the focus is not on this world! It is on Jesus Christ and His offer of eternal life! Let's go through the blessings in Deuteronomy 28 and see if they can apply across the faith.

Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field -- would you say that Christians hiding underground for fear of being arrested or worse are blessed in the city? Are they blessed in the field?

Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock -- does this automatically mean that barren Christian women must somehow not be in the faith? That someone who loses their job, has to file unemployment or is on public assistance is more sinful than someone who is not facing those challenges? How arrogantly presumptuous!

Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. -- well if anything sums up a seeker friendly perspective, this sure does! The problem is does this apply to all Christians? Remember, the only coherent argument someone might make for applying these Deuteronomy verses to the church is through the sinless perfection of Christ. If that is the case then everyone in Christ would have to be equally eligible. Wasn't it Jesus Himself however who contradicted this?

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." -- John 16: 33 (ESV)

If all of the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 magically apply to all Christians why would Jesus warn us that we would face tribulation? Why would He say to deny oneself? To die to self? To pick up our cross daily? That we would face persecution even unto death? I know that purpose driven preachers will never go near these Scriptures when they can instead do another five part series on Jeremiah 29:11 but these verses do exist. It is the counsel of the Lord and unlike Jeremiah 29:11, they were actually written for the church. Back to the blessings:

"The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways -- is this what is happening in Christendom today? Or are we seeing mass persecution in other lands? Christians beheaded for refusing to denounce Jesus Christ. Are their enemies fleeing seven ways before them? Hardly.

The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you -- here we see the clear distinction. Israel had a promised land in Canaan. That is what God is referring to here. Christians do not have any such promise of a physical land. I know that false teachers like to allegorize verses such as this to turn the "Promised Land" into some dream destiny thingy but that is simply poor hermeneutics and teaching. Whereas Israel had an actual Promised Land, the church is not supposed to be of this world at all. We are meant to be pilgrims and sojourners whose citizenship is in heaven. Whereas Israel had an actual Promised Land, the church has no place to lay its head. We are not of this world beloved, no matter how much the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex tries to tell you the opposite. Back to the blessings:

The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you - we have already established that no one could possibly keep all 613 Mosaic Laws, except Christ. Also, is the goal of the Great Commission to make all nations afraid of us? Of course not beloved.

And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.-- So the blessings conclude followed by 54 verses of curses for disobedience, including the prophecy of the captivity in Babylon. These verses have absolutely nothing to do with the church except to serve as yet another pointer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Beloved that is what the Bible is about. The Gospel is about our Christ, our Redeemer. The Old Testament testifies about Him and points towards His coming. It is rich with stories and lessons and images of Jesus. Deuteronomy 28 confirms our desperate need for a Savior not some laundry list of temporal blessings we petulantly think we deserve because He led a sinless life. We need to get our eyes off of this world and onto the eternal life we already have in Christ Jesus. In this life and in this world we will have tribulation but take heart beloved for He has overcome this world. The problem with most purpose driven church preachers today is they do not want to overcome this world. They want to live in it. They want to revel in it. And they want all of the carnal blessings possible to enjoy it. Just be careful what you think you want. He at the seat of prominence may be asked to get up. The first will be last. The head may indeed end up being the tail eternally.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- January 16, 2017

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.