I just read a blog about the passing of Pastor Zachary Tims. The blog made a valuable attempt to address the needs of New Destiny’s members, but also had a very questionable statement that I would like to ponder for a moment. I will have to admit after reading this statement I really didn’t read much more.

So the writer states that their should be an effort to deliver the drug addicts and alcoholics within the congregation. That sounds great! Then the blog writer states

“We feel possibly there are a lot of Tims members who are struggling with a drug habit like he was, because when a pastor preaches to his flock, they immediately catch his spirit.”

If my blog were a turn table, I would scriky, scriky, scratch and bring it back! So pastors have these spirits that are reminiscent of that “spirit” that comes flying out of the box at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark…whoa, cool! I find these kinds of statements interesting, especially when they are not backed up by scripture. I find them even more interesting when they suggest that pastors have some super human abilities that other believers don’t have.

Let’s look at this a moment, “when a pastor preaches to his flock, they IMMEDIATELY catch his spirit”… oh if that were true… If that were true then all of my church members would attend church every Sunday and every Thursday, because that’s what I do, not just because I’m the pastor, I attended every Sunday service and every weekday service before I was a pastor… I’m faithful! If that were true every one of my church members would serve in ministry, they would all tithe, they would all attend fellowships, because that’s what I do, not just because I’m the pastor, I did all of these things when I sat in the midst of a congregation.

Believers don’t be duped by these hyper-spiritual statements, this is what we call SPOOKY DEEP. Your pastors “spirit” is not invading the bodies of the congregants. If that were true then the congregations of many of the pastors that I know would be Super Congregations. Every member would be as committed as the pastor, every member would love like the pastor, believe like the pastor, live at what ever level of faith the pastor has. Even as good as this sounds it’s not ideal, our walk with Christ is a walk it’s not spiritual cloning or teleportation to maturity. It’s a walk because in the midst of the walk we learn, we develop strength, we come to progressively know God.

I realize that I’m looking at this from a positive stand point, but if the blogger’s statement were true in the negative it would be true in the positive, and it’s just not true at all. One of the things that God has been speaking to me about lately is changing the culture, let’s start with debunking these pseudo spiritual ideas that cause fear, confusion, and judgemental attitudes.