Latest / The Christian Podcast Community / Does Your Pastor Cover You From Demonic Attacks? What the Bible Says

Transcript

Does Your Pastor Cover You From Demonic Attacks? What the Bible Says · The Christian Podcast Community

• 0:00
  Have you ever been told that if you leave your pastor's spiritual covering that you'll be opening yourself up to attacks from the enemy?
• 0:08
  That as long as you remain under your pastor's authority, then you will be protected spiritually?
• 0:16
  But what does the Bible say about that?
• 0:20
  In this video, we're going to discuss what is spiritual covering?
• 0:23
  What authority does the Bible give to pastors, and who is it that protects Christians spiritually?
• 0:30
  If you leave a pastor, are you also leaving God's protection?
• 0:34
  Before getting into whether or not the term or phrase spiritual covering is biblical, we need to understand what some people mean when they use this term.
• 0:44
  When it comes to spiritual covering, it can be a good thing.
• 0:47
  It can be a biblical thing, right?
• 0:49
  However, there is a teaching around spiritual coverings that is unbiblical and it's not healthy and not good for Christians to hold to.
• 0:57
  Now, what we're examining, we're examining the teaching where some pastors teach that they are the spiritual covering over church members, that remaining submitted to that pastor provides spiritual protection.
• 1:10
  Notice I said that pastor, right.
• 1:13
  Your specific pastor that you're tied to.
• 1:16
  That leaving this covering could expose you to, to demonic attacks, curses, being vulnerable spiritually, where you find yourself in a drought, all these things.
• 1:27
  So because of that, submission to a particular leader is necessary for being protected.
• 1:34
  Now, I want to be clear that everybody who may use the phrase spiritual covering may not believe or may not teach these things here.
• 1:42
  However, this is why it's important that when you hear these terms, it should at least bring up a yellow flag that you want to inquire more about what your pastor may mean by thinking that they are spiritual covering.
• 1:55
  The Bible is clear.
• 1:56
  We need pastors, and you should be submitted under pastoral leadership.
• 2:00
  So the question isn't if Christians need pastors.
• 2:03
  The question is, did God appoint pastors to be a spiritual shield over believers?
• 2:09
  Okay, so let's take a look at a couple of scriptures dealing with this subject.
• 2:12
  And the first one we're going to look at is first Peter 5.
• 2:16
  And Peter says something interesting that we should take into account dealing with pastors and also how we as laymen also should view pastors.
• 2:23
  Starting at verse one, therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among
• 2:37
  you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the
• 2:56
  flock.
• 2:56
  It's good to know here that Peter's encouragement and exhortation to pastors is that they do this oversight willingly, that they're not being forced to pastor right.
• 3:06
  They're doing this out of joy and in their heart eagerness, as Peter puts it.
• 3:11
  Also recognizing that the people belong to God, they're not the pastors, they belong to God.
• 3:17
  The pastor has been allotted these group of people to exercise oversight over and he ought not to do it by lording it over them, by trying to be controlling, by trying to be domineering.
• 3:30
  That's not the role of the pastor.
• 3:33
  And I like how the writer of Hebrews puts this.
• 3:35
  Obey your leaders, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.
• 3:41
  So our obeying them is simply because we understand that the role of the pastor is serious, that the pastor has to answer to God or how he leads and how he instructs and teaches.
• 3:53
  This is another reason why Peter brings out the fact that they should do this voluntarily, this do this willingly.
• 3:58
  This isn't something that should be done with grief, right?
• 4:01
  Because it's unprofitable for us.
• 4:02
  And how is it unprofitable for us?
• 4:04
  If the pastor isn't doing this with joy, they aren't doing this with eagerness, then they're not really feeding us spiritually, they're not really thinking about us as they should.
• 4:13
  And this doesn't help the body, this doesn't help the flock.
• 4:16
  Now let's look at Acts, chapter 20, around the 28th verse.
• 4:20
  Paul's letter to the elders of Ephesus paints a beautiful picture of the responsibility of a pastor.
• 4:28
  He says in verse 28, be on guard for yourselves and for the flock and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own
• 4:42
  blood.
• 4:43
  I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
• 4:49
  And from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
• 4:58
  See that Paul's encouragement to the elders wasn't that they be some type of spiritual protection for demonic attacks and and spiritual vulnerabilities that people may deal with that are in the flock.
• 5:11
  However, the strongest encouragement that he gives to them and warning is that they may be ready when wolves come in with false teaching and false motives to try to discourage the sheep and cause them to follow others and
• 5:27
  leave the faith.
• 5:29
  How even amongst themselves, even in their own church, people may arise who have perverse things to say, things that are twisted, that aren't biblical, and try to lead other disciples away.
• 5:42
  And Paul is telling them to be on guard.
• 5:45
  The pastors protect us in sound doctrine, in correction when it's needed, being vigilant, watchful, and caring for us.
• 5:54
  This is the type of protection that pastors are appointed to provide to the sheep.
• 6:00
  That's why God established a pastoral role in the church, not that the pastor has some type of special spiritual power.
• 6:08
  So I do want to make clear that biblical pastoral protection is real.
• 6:13
  When done correctly, it guards the congregation from errors and spiritual harm.
• 6:18
  The problem is that we take something and then we turn it into something completely that the Bible never promises and never establishes as being true.
• 6:28
  Now, after saying all of that, let's discuss who actually protects Christians against spiritual attacks.
• 6:35
  And we're going to take a look at Ephesians, chapter six.
• 6:38
  That's right, everybody.
• 6:39
  We're talking about that good old armor of God.
• 6:41
  We're talking about putting on that full armor.
• 6:43
  And it says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
• 6:48
  Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
• 6:54
  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
• 7:08
  Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day.
• 7:14
  And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm.
• 7:18
  Therefore, having girded your loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all taking up the shield of faith with which you
• 7:37
  will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition, pray at all
• 7:53
  times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
• 8:03
  We got our sword, we got a helmet of salvation.
• 8:06
  We're girded with the truth, the breastplate of righteousness.
• 8:09
  Everything it seems to be for us to be protected spiritually and have this covering comes from God.
• 8:16
  And so this is the encouragement.
• 8:18
  This is the beautiful thing about it, guys.
• 8:19
  And this is why pastors are under shepherds.
• 8:22
  They aren't the actual shepherd.
• 8:25
  Matter of fact, in first Peter 5, we didn't look at that, that fourth verse.
• 8:28
  But if you want to go back to it, it says that these pastors are to do these things, that when the chief shepherd arrives, that they may get a reward.
• 8:38
  So we're under the chief shepherd.
• 8:41
  Christ is the covering.
• 8:43
  Praise the Lord.
• 8:44
  That's a.
• 8:44
  That's a more sure foundation.
• 8:46
  That's a.
• 8:47
  That's an even sturdier shield.
• 8:49
  And I love how it says how we have this shield of faith and we can extinguish the fiery arrows of the evil one, right?
• 8:57
  So when the enemy tried to attack us, it's our faith.
• 9:00
  It's our faith that holds us.
• 9:02
  It's our faith that guides us when we're being, when we have, when we're vulnerable spiritually and all those things.
• 9:09
  It's this, it's our faith, and it's the word of God as our sword.
• 9:15
  We fight the battle spiritually.
• 9:17
  Speaking of First Peter, chapter five, again, there is another passage that I want to go over that actually solidifies this point further, but it's in the same chapter, so we ain't got to travel far.
• 9:28
  Let's take a look at it.
• 9:29
  So in the first few verses, Peter is speaking to elders, but it changes to dealing with younger men, as he stated here in verse 5.
• 9:39
  So just to keep with context, we're going to start in verse five.
• 9:42
  But the focus here is verses eight and nine.
• 9:45
  It says, you younger men, likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
• 9:56
  Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
• 10:07
  Be of sober spirit.
• 10:09
  Be on alert.
• 10:11
  Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
• 10:17
  But resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
• 10:28
  So in the same chapter, Peter encourages elders to shepherd the flock and what attitude they should do it in.
• 10:35
  Right?
• 10:36
  Peter completely understood the role of pastors and in his instruction to believers in resisting the devil.
• 10:44
  Not one time did he say, hide up under your pastor's covering.
• 10:49
  No, he told them to stand firm in their faith.
• 10:52
  So we see that our spiritual protection comes from God, that he provides everything that we need.
• 10:59
  However, the question still needs to be answered.
• 11:02
  If we leave a pastor's spiritual covering without their permission, are we exposing ourselves to spiritual attacks and curses and whatnot?
• 11:13
  Well, let's give some encouragement here, because this type of teaching brings along fear.
• 11:18
  It causes people to be afraid to make changes in lifestyle, whether there may be a job or whether they may, they may want to relocate or even if they just want to go fellowship in another church.
• 11:31
  These, these, this type of teaching brings along fear.
• 11:34
  And so we want to dispel this.
• 11:36
  The Bible is clear.
• 11:37
  If you look at Romans 8, there's nothing that can separate us from God.
• 11:40
  Nothing in heaven, nothing in earth, nothing, no principalities, no nothing in life or death.
• 11:45
  Nothing can separate us from God.
• 11:47
  The Bible also tells us in John chapter 10 that nothing can snatch us out of the hands of God.
• 11:53
  And so, hey, we're good.
• 11:56
  You're held firm in the hands of God.
• 11:58
  So you making the decision to fellowship in another church under another pastor is not going to harm you spiritually.
• 12:06
  However, leaving a healthy local church can have spiritual consequences, and we got to be real about those.
• 12:12
  You could be suffering from a loss of sound teaching.
• 12:15
  You could also suffer from a lack of fellowship.
• 12:17
  This can happen because at the previous church you've established relationships and now you're going somewhere new.
• 12:23
  And it's going to take time to build those relationships back up again.
• 12:26
  But it can be done.
• 12:27
  But that's something you may have to deal with for a time.
• 12:30
  That's a consequence.
• 12:32
  There could be a lack of accountability, and the place that you're now going to may not have that level of accountability there, where you can grow spiritually and grow in maturity.
• 12:43
  So this is not about rejecting pastoral authority, but Christians still should be honoring, respecting faithful church leaders, receiving biblical teaching and correction, holding one another accountable, being active in the life of the church, and testing the teachings against
• 13:02
  Scripture.
• 13:03
  That is what you're supposed to be doing.
• 13:06
  Notice what Paul says in Second Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 24.
• 13:09
  Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy, for in your faith you are standing firm.
• 13:17
  Paul, being an apostle is telling the people that I am a fellow worker with you.
• 13:22
  Your pastor is a fellow worker with you for your joy.
• 13:27
  The pastors are there for you.
• 13:29
  God is giving you to the pastors to be able to exercise oversight over you.
• 13:35
  But they have to hold, they have to give an account to God.
• 13:38
  So that's what they're there for.
• 13:40
  So they deserve some honor, they deserve respect.
• 13:42
  But at the same time, we're still supposed to test the teachings against Scripture.
• 13:46
  But your pastor is not your spiritual savior.
• 13:48
  And Scripture never tells you that protection from the devil depends on you remaining under one particular man's covering, your confidence should ultimately be in Jesus Christ.
• 13:59
  Honor your pastors, be and stay committed to your local body.
• 14:04
  Stand firm in your faith, but never allow anyone to use.
• 14:09
  Fear of spiritual attacks cause you to be dependent upon them.
• 14:14
  And that is the purpose of this video today.
• 14:17
  Remember, this world is full of errors but the only thing that the doctor prescribes is truth.
• 14:25
  Blessings for we are members of one another for his name's sake prescribed truth we giving you what the doctor ordered.
• 14:34
  Jamal Bandy, Apologist, the Lord's servant we undeserving but Christ changed our mind Frame In a world full of errors, the only thing the doctor prescribes is truth.