To start with on spiritual fathers, John 14:26 says
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you ALL THINGS, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
If you pay close attention to the words of the above quoted verse, you discover the phrase ALL THINGS I capitalized. I did that for a very good reason. You see…in the christendom, we have a lot of Bible teachers who are well trained and equipped for the enormous task of enlightening the body of Christ.
However, no matter their number, in their MILLIONS, cannot teach us everything we need to know in the christendom, as they themselves do not know all things, no man of course is an island of knowledge.
This is one of the reasons Jesus, our great Rabbi, sent the Holy Spirit who can teach ALL THINGS just as much as himself. As we are now in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, believe you me, people who possess this spirit of God will know A LOT OF THINGS that are not taught in church or available in any book.
Mind you, all we need to know are already written in the Holy book, the Bible, but due to the nature of human not to change his or her long-time habit, a lot of us Christians do not remember the exact word of God in the Bible so as to put them into action due to what we already know and accept as the truth, which is not. Thank God Holy Spirit is to remind us ALL THINGS… _ and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you (John 15:26b).
With respect to the above introduction, I observed that so many of us Christians are forgetting a particular part of the Bible, which happens to be one of Jesus teachings. If we pay close attention to the words brewing in our minds, we see that Holy Spirit has been reminding us of the particular verse I'm about to quote long before we read this article.
How do I mean?
Today, many of us say we have “FATHERS IN THE LORD or SPIRITUAL FATHERS” both in the Bible and in church or in early church days. That is totally wrong and biblically incorrect. Please, don’t jump into any conclusion until you are done reading this article. The Lord himself is your Father, so you cannot have another father. If you have a leader in church you look up to, he is simply your pastor or prophet or apostle or teacher; he is NEVER your Father in the Lord or spiritual Father.
I know some of us may say those aforementioned terms do not mean earthly father like the way we refer to our earthly parents. Most definitely, the father we refer to still means a guidance in one aspect of life, be ye physical or spiritual. Whether it refers to our earthly parents or spiritual guidance, Jesus said in Matthew 23:9…
Do not call ANYONE on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
Hope you can see my capitalized word again?
“ANYONE…” including the early church leaders in the Bible called early church fathers. So, there is no point arguing about the meaning of the word father or capital letter father or small letter father, Jesus said: "do not," I repeat, Jesus said: "do not call anyone your father." If Jesus says something is final, who are we to argue with him? Even the Bible verse Matthew 23:9 capitalized one Father and left the other father uncapitalized — and still insist no one should be called father, even in small letter— to buttress this point.
Consequently, from today, desist from the act of calling your pastors your spiritual father or father in the Lord or reverend father, they are not fathers and must never be called so… I didn’t day so, Jesus did. And don’t forget we have one Father who is a jealous God: he will never share his glory with any man; so, don't share it. Always remember that fact when sending your spiritual fathers day messages.
And then, again, here is another mistake, below, several Christians make in the christendom that Holy Spirit is trying to stop us from repeating.
What is that mistake?
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That mistake is...
The act of referring to our Bible teachers as Master, Teacher or Rabbi.
Of course, we have millions of Bible teachers in the christendom. No doubt about that as God himself gave them to us.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and TEACHERS (Ephesians 4:11).
So, Christ knows that we have Bible teachers. The point is if you are a Bible teacher, you must not allow anyone to call you a teacher or master or Rabbi as we have only one teacher in the christendom, that is Jesus Christ himself…
And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ (Matthew 23:9).
People of course will call you teacher or master or Rabbi, that’s why that verse did not use the phrase “do not call anyone” like it did for the preceding verse on fathers. But it started with “do not be called teachers.” That is, don’t allow it. When people call you “our teacher,” reply them immediately, in a polite manner, not to call you that as we have only one teacher who is Christ.
Accepting to be called a teacher or master or Rabbi is equivalent to accepting to be in the same position as Christ. Hope we all remember what Lucifer did in heaven?
Lucifer did not make himself equal with God. He was still thinking about it in his heart when God counted it against him.
Take a look at it below…
FOR YOU HAVE SAID IN YOUR HEART: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north (Isaiah 14:12).
Consequently, anyone who accepts to be given that special title of honour known as Rabbi or the ordinary term master or teacher is worse between the Devil and such a person? no different from the devil who placed himself in the same level with God in his heart.
I pray everyone making this mistake accept their wrongs and turn a new leaf. May the Lord God help us all in Jesus name (Amen).
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