One of the popular teachings
today in Evangelical circles is
that of “Spiritual Fathers”,
individuals who are supposed to act as mentors, guides, and
accountability partners
between a Christian and Jesus
Christ. Often success,
prosperity, fame, blessings,
and attaining “the anointing” are tied to this mentor, a.k.a.
Spiritual Father, without
whom, the believer cannot
attain the full blessings of God. This teaching has become
popular due to the trend that
Christians today have in the
pursuit of monetary success
and prosperity. The teaching is
also tied to the “Breaking the Curse” teaching, in that
believers who don’t have a
“Spiritual Father” often
“suffer” the prolonged
consequences of curses and
lack of monetary success and prosperity.
However, the question that
critical thinking Christians
must ask themselves before
submitting to one of the
“Spiritual Fathers”, is this teaching biblical, is it
supported anywhere in the
New Testament? What did
Jesus Christ say about
“Spiritual Fathers”?
The New Testament does not at any time support the
teaching on Spirituals Fathers.
The word “Spiritual Father” is
not found anywhere in the
New Testament. Just like
many other extra biblical teachings, the proponents of
“Spiritual Father” often take
one or two scriptures in the
New Testament out of
context and then build on that
with heavy out of context reliance on the Old Testament
as their back up. Matthew 23:8-10 (NKJV)
8 But you, do not be called
‘Rabbi’; for One is your
Teacher, the Christ, and
you are all brethren. 9 Do
not call anyone on earth your father; for One is
your Father, He who is in
heaven. 10 And do not be
called teachers; for One is
your Teacher, the Christ. Jesus Christ was very clear
that we do not call anyone
‘father’ here on earth as we
have one Heavenly Father, our
Heavenly Spiritual Father, God
Creator of Heaven and Earth. The New Testament uses
Father in reference to God in
Heaven and He is the only one
who has authorized blessing
for us believers through Jesus
Christ, by Grace and not works. No “Spiritual Father”
on earth or inside your Church
can grant you any blessing,
none… Ephesians 1:2-4(NKJV)
2 Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.3
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ, 4 just as
He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame
before Him in love, On the contrary, The New
Testament does support
Christian Church Leadership
and that must not be confused
with “Spiritual Fathers”. Yes,
the New Testament speaks about leaders in the Church,
Paul the Apostle appointed
various leaders in the Churches
he opened. However, never
did he refer to them as
“Spiritual Fathers”. Never did Paul state that blessings and
success come from “Spiritual
Fathers”.
The concept of "Spiritual
Fathers" is used by some for
control, manipulation, and monetary gain, driven largely
by a Christian’s fear of being
“cursed”. The more people
who call some individual a
“Spiritual Father”, the more
that “Spiritual Father” can gain in terms of influence.
When it comes to “Receiving
the Anointing”, there is no
New Testament backing for
such teachings and a Christian
does not need a “Spiritual Father” to be anointed. As a
matter of fact John the
apostle tells us that we are all
anointed by the Holy Spirit as
Christians after we receive
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 1 John 2(NKJV)
26 These things I have
written to you concerning
those who try to deceive
you. 27 But the anointing
which you have received from Him abides in you,
and you do not need that
anyone teach you; but as
the same anointing
teaches you concerning all
things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has
taught you, you will abide
in Him. The anointing you received
from The Holy Spirit is able to
teach you all things, that is to
say, The Holy Spirit should
guide you through God’s
Word and your mentor should be Jesus Christ and not a Man
who will fail you the next
day. The Teaching on “Spiritual
Fathers” is about placing a
level of trust in a human being
but that is disastrous to your spiritual faith as you will
discover that humans fail and
therefore your true mentor
should be Jesus Christ and
what He taught and said.
Nowhere does it say in the New Testament that you
receive an anointing from
your “Spiritual Father”. Yes,
we do have Church leaders
and their duty is to guide you
in your PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus
Christ so that you receive
directly from The Lord and
relate with Him personally,
not to serve as intermediaries
between you and Jesus Christ. The most misquoted verse by
the proponents of the
“Spiritual Fathers” teachings is
1 Corinthians 4:15-16 in which
Paul tells the Christians in
Corinth that they may have many instructors but not
many fathers … 1 Corinthians 4:15 (NKJV)
15 For though you might
have ten thousand
instructors in Christ, yet
you do not have many
fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the gospel. 16
Therefore I urge you,
imitate me. Paul was not trying to act as
an intermediary between
Christians and Jesus Christ, he
was not telling them to
emulate to him per say, but
rather that they should submit to Jesus Christ just as
Paul had submitted to Jesus
Christ. It is reason that Paul
used the phrase, “imitate me”.
Many proponents of the
“Spiritual Fathers” teaching stop there but in 1 Corinthians
11: 1, Paul completes that
phrase, “imitate me as I
imitate Christ”. 1 Corinthians 11(NKJV)
1 Imitate me, just as I also
imitate Christ. The teaching on “Spiritual
Fathers” is not found
anywhere in the New
Testament and contradicts the
Teachings of Jesus Christ on
that subject. You don’t need a “Spiritual Father” to be
anointed and blessed. Our
Heavenly Father has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in
Jesus Christ and anointed us
by The Holy Spirit with an anointing that abides with us.
Cultivate your personal
relationship with Jesus Christ
and have no spiritual
intermediaries, let Jesus Christ
and His Words be your Mentor, and let God of Heaven
be your Spiritual Father.
God Bless You.
Kato Mivule
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