This has been a painful few years for me. The extent of ministerial betrayal among charismatic ministers, especially among those emphasizing supernatural power and accurate prophecy, has been more than disappointing. I do not believe that sin among charismatic ministers is more frequent than among more non-charismatic leaders. We certainly know the painful revelations about Catholic leaders. However, charismatics project supernatural gifting, real or feigned, which attracts multitudes in ways that is not the case with their non-charismatic counterparts. Therefore, their ministerial ethical betrayal produces a much larger public scandal.
Three areas of abuse stand out. One is sexual abuse patterns. The second is feigning and cheating in prophetic charismatic gifts—declaring accurate knowledge of individuals in an audience but actually cheating through the use of social media and other means of gathering information. The third is financial scandal, a gross misuse of funds so that the minister lives a high life of luxury.
My response to this has been to be involved in pursuing one situation of violation to get at the truth, and also to be involved in seeking to bring a revolution of standards and accountability among charismatics and charismatic congregations that are not accountable to denominational judicial structures. More on that at the end of this short essay.
The Lack of Real Accountability and Judgement by Social Media and Restoration
Sadly, because many have not been subject to the right government of a plurality of elders and an appeal eldership when there are serious accusations of abuse, they are being judged by social media exposure. One sad aspect of this is that internet exposure and judgement does not discern degrees of seriousness in sin. There is much inaccuracy. A person who committed a sexual violation many years ago is judged and lumped together with serial abusers. In one case, this is even so when their situation was dealt with in discipline by an eldership years ago and they were removed from ministry.
The pendulum has now swung to the other side so that restoration, when feasible, is not even entertained. Some years ago, Gordon MacDonald, the President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the very important college ministry, confessed to adultery. He went through a rigorous process of repentance, was out of ministry for two years, and then restored. The Evangelical world applauded the integrity of the process and restoration, as was reported in Christianity Today.
Today, I wonder if his restoration would ever be accepted.
Another minister committed adultery and went through repentance and restoration only to fall again. For me, such a repetition implies that he should never be restored to ministerial leadership. Each case has to be judged individually, and we cannot simply lump them all together.
Fraud in Prophetic Ministry
There are several cases of prophetic abuse and people claiming to be prophets giving amazing words that were actually based on cheating. Where is the fear of God? I ask. Could these charlatans end up in Hell?
One of the really painful aspects of such cheating is that it discredits the reality of authentic supernatural gifts. I was privileged to walk with a senior team member for fifteen years whose prophetic gifting was amazing. I was present when he gave words to a hundred students in our related school in Korea. He did it through a translator, but the effect was amazing—it was awesome. I was part of a repeat of this type of ministry with him in Japan.
My friend walked in integrity and raised children with his wife who all walk with Yeshua. I myself have been called out of audiences and given amazing words by prophets who knew nothing about me. But now this wonderful ministry, so needed in the Church and the Messianic Jewish world, is despised.
See the wonderful effect of this kind of ministry in evangelism in the book Intimacy with God by Randy Clark. Randy is a man of great integrity and is solid theologically (Ph.D. in theology).
The Kingdom Accountability Project and Life Model Works
I am privileged to have worked on a project called the Kingdom Accountability Project. We call for all ministry to be subject to an eldership, and for congregations to be led by a plurality of elders with a lead elder in a mutual accountability relationship. We call for there to be an appeal eldership outside of the local eldership to hear cases and bring discipline when the leader is accused of serious sin.
We also present gradations of sin, the process and time for restoration to leadership, and also when no restoration to leadership is possible—though perhaps restoration to fellowship may be.
I also recommend the Life Model Works movement and their standards for character formation in leaders. The book The Other Half of Church is an excellent work on this, by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks.
It is time to join together to call for a revolution in standards and accountability. In doing so we must also reaffirm our faith in genuine supernatural ministry, including the prophetic and other supernatural gifts from God.