I'm writing this prophetically, not as a word of prophecy, but, because prophets are stewards of truth for the Kingdom, to draw attention to one dangerous teaching and one other teaching in Brandon Kelly's APEST posts in the CGGC eNews that I find to be impractical and very troubling.
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What sort of theological error is so serious that it can be deemed to be heresy?
I have no precise answer to that question, especially one that is appropriate to a blog post like this one.
However, I think that when a theological error touches what we believe about God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it's an error that crosses over a line that should never even be approached.
In my opinion, Brandon crosses over that line in his CHURCH ADVOCATE article referenced in his recent eNews post, which is the first of two posts on the APEST gift of the shepherd.
In that article, Brandon describes his understanding of the difference between someone with the gift of shepherding and someone who holds the "standard title" pastor, i.e., someone who leads a local church. (There's a whole short book that could be written to correct that theological error.)
In my opinion, Brandon crosses over the line that defines heresy when he says,
A pastor's responsibility in leading a local church is to ensure that all five of the Five-fold Ministries are being lived out as a community of faith and to have a basic competency in each five.
Again, there's a whole book here...and, not a short one.
But, to go to the place where Brandon's heresy happens:
Brandon is assigning to the local church pastor...
...to a human being...
...a work of the Lord...of God.
We often refer to the APEST gifts as spiritual gifts, and, certainly, they are.
But, in the Ephesians 4 passage Brandon is working from, it's Jesus, not the Holy Spirit Who is doing the gifting.
The NIV takes some liberties with the Greek text but makes the point appropriately: "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets..."
Understand this:
It is Jesus Who created the APEST gifts. It is Jesus Who defines their purpose and Who directs the people who possess those gifts. (Eph. 4:11-13)
With these words, Paul is writing to the Ephesians about the Lord of the Kingdom directing the operation of the Kingdom.
Paul is not talking about the church here and he's certainly not suggesting, as Brandon does, that a local church pastor has any role in ensuring that APEST gifts are being lived out with a basic competency.
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In my opinion, one way a theological error becomes heresy is to assign to a human being what can only be done by the Lord.
And, clearly, by suggesting that the human pastor of a local church ensures "that all five of the Five-fold ministries are being lived out as a community of faith...," Brandon does that.
This, in my opinion, is heresy.
And, it's an old sin: To claim for a human what can only be God's.
I'm certain that Brandon did this innocently and sincerely, and with the very best of intentions. And, I'm certain that he means to do no harm.
And, while I don't know him well, I know him to be a nice guy. And, I know he loves the church.
But, in my opinion, this is a very, very serious theological error.
I truly believe it is heresy. I believe it will continue to prevent us from walking in the power and blessing of the Spirit.
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As to the other issue, the theological error:
It crops up in each of his posts about immaturity in each of the gifts he's addressed so far.
In each case, Brandon suggests that, when APESTs mature, they will moderate in living out their gift...that they will no longer be as extreme in living out their gift.
At first, I misread him. I suggested that Brandon was arguing that APEs would become mature and become more like shepherds, but that's not really it.
What Brandon suggests is that, as they mature, APESTs will cease to be radical in living out their gift. They will mellow. They will moderate.
I don't see that in the Word. And, Brandon offers no authority from the Word to support his opinion.
What I see in the Word is that, as any believer matures, s/he will engage in the mutual submission that is essential to life in Christ's body.
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, the eye will realize that the whole body is not the eye. As it matures, the eye doesn't stop focusing. Instead, it continues to be the most insightful eye it can be, yet it rejoices in the fact that the body also has feet and hands.
This is an important distinction.
Life in the Spirit is vivid. It's continually fresh. It's life touched by fire.
And, maturity in the Spirit is not tame and reserved and moderate, as Brandon suggests. Maturity in the Spirit is life, real LIFE!
A mature APEST is every bit as radical in his/her gift as ever. Perhaps, more so. However, in maturity, APESTs love the other gifts, and the people who possess them, with genuine, Christlike love and Holy Spirit power...and they submit to them.
A mature APEST does it, as Paul says in Ephesians, "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Eph. 5:21)
Earlier, I said that, on this point, Brandon is impractical.
The mature in the body of Christ ooze the Spirit's power. The church's saints are not moderate and tame. They don't live their gifts with restraint. They produce fire, the Spirit's fire.
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One aspect of life in the Kingdom when there is what sometimes called revival, is passion for truth.
Right now, we don't have that zeal for truth.
There's error, even what strikes me as heresy, in the CGGC wind. And, we need to care about that...in community.
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us.
We must repent.
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