But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8).
I am really concerned for ministers whose ministries are shaped by encounters than by a sound knowledge of the word of God.
Why should you build your ministry on encounters, rather than on the word? The new wave and rave in town is the craze for encounters in a manner that downplays the sanctity and sufficiency of the word of God. By encounters, I refer to supernatural experiences with angels, voices, revelations, ascension to heaven and other categories of spiritual experiences which are not necessarily wrong if they emanate from God, but which could be catastrophic and destructive for any minister if they aren’t from God. Now here is the dangerous part of this trend. The propensity for Satanic interference of supernatural encounters is extremely high—and particularly for ministers and ministries with very weak word foundation. Encounters are not substitutes for the written word.
Don’t build your life, ministry on supernatural encounters
In fact, the written word is the validator of every spiritual experience. You cannot build your life and/or ministry, if you are called into ministry, on supernatural encounters. The consequences have always been dire. Many have been lured and misled into necromancy, Spirit-travels, Astra-travels, demonic meditations and all manners of occultic experiences that end up leading ministries and ministers into passive witchcraft. Passive witchcraft occurs when demonic encounters produce miraculous signs and wonders, but a minister mistakes these results for the hand of God. And after a while, the passive witchcraft turns to active witchcraft.
Fame plus heresy is a dangerous combination
Just today, I stumbled at a short audio clip of a minister in Nigeria, and I felt really sad. Nothing is more dangerous than when you combine fame with heresy. Although, neither is appropriate, It is still better to be heretic without fame than to be heretic with fame because with fame and heresy comes the destruction of a whole generation. This man of God just rubbished the ministry of Paul: “Paul’s epistles are not totally correct,” he said.” “Paul is a man like you and I. Consequently, the epistles he wrote still contains errors.”
Please build your ministry on the word of God
This man wrote more than two third of the New Testament—and it’s on most of his revelations that the theologies that sustain the Christian faith were built. While it is true that he is not God, his writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit and were canonized by the early church fathers whom God led to set the canon of New Testament scriptures. And you have the audacity to fault the foundational theologies that sustain the Christian faith? From my assessment, I noticed that the man of God builds many of his teachings and doctrines on his personal encounters and those he connected from mentors and fathers in the faith. This is extremely dangerous for the body of Christ—and in the spirit of love—I desire that this precious man of God be corrected and guided back to the place of biblical inerrancy.
The Word cannot be wrong
You cannot be a student of the word with the smallest theological foundation and not know that the bible is inerrant (cannot be wrong) and is authoritative, powerful, sufficient, truth and unique—the five theological nature of the bible called, “Bibliology”. To doubt the inerrancy of scriptures is to pull down the foundation of the gospel—and in fact, in that condition, you aren’t qualified to preach to the body of Christ. This condition is further amplified by our generation’s over-emphasis on encounters upon encounters. We adulate ministers with prophetic gifts above those with teaching gifts.
Do not build your ministries on miracles, signs, revelations
We under-estimate teachers and over-estimate prophets—when all of these offices are equally beneficial and mutually important for the growth of the body.
The sad part of this, “encounter-driven” generation is that many young people are gravitating towards the same craze—downplaying the inerrancy of scriptures and elevating encounters as sacrosanct validation for divine approval. Perish the thought. The future of the gospel is rooted in the truth of God’s word. If you want to last and remain relevant, do all you can to be rooted in the word—and not in encounters. This was the same error God’s servant, Kenneth E. Hagin warned many senior ministers of in the 1960s. He said to them, “do not build your ministries on miracles, signs and revelations”. If you do, many of you will not last. And just like he said, a lot of ministers died at very young ages in America in the 1960s and 70s. Papa Hagin told them: “I will build my ministry on the word and will live longer than many of you and see my children’s children.” He lived till 86!
The Word is the foundation for sustaining the integrity of the Gospel
All encounters must be validated by the word (logos) and not by mentors’ or fathers’ encounters. We are leaving a track record of errors and weakness for the younger generation if we refuse to build on the word. Genuine encounters are important. Divine revelations that provoke impartations are extremely valuable, but are never substitutes for a robust foundation in the word. Revelations have never sustained any generation. No ministry grows sustainably on the wings of revelations alone. The word is the greatest foundation for sustaining revival, truth, character and the integrity of the gospel.
Dr. Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist and minister of the word, holds a doctorate degree in employee turnover and human capital development from the prestigious Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. He is also a public speaker with twelve books to his credit. He is based in Canada and can be reached at: ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.