We've touched on this issue before, but this comment from Chip is one of my favorite defenses of the church:
I think some of the people writing this stuff should remember the account of David and Saul. Saul tried to kill David but David was very careful not to harm God’s anointed. Also I guess these people writing have no issues, no sin or any other problems in their lives. Hope their not living in a glass house.
This is exactly how cults are started. Can't criticize the leader: He's God's Annointed. By that logic, the children abused by Catholic priests should just suck it up and keep their mouth's shut. Because, you know, the priests are God's Annointed. And sexually abused children need to be very careful not to harm God's Annointed.
Here's the deal: If being a Christian means I can't criticize any leader in the church, then I'll pass on Christiantiy, thank you very much.
I’ve probably said this before, but it bears repeating. In the Old Testament, only 4 classes of people ever received the Holy Spirit. Prophets, Kings, Judges, and Priests. So the “touch not My annointed” only applied to a few people.
In the New Testament, all believers receive the Holy Spirit, which makes us all equals in the body of Christ. I like Matthew 23:10 in the NASB, where Jesus tells the disciples “And do not be called Leaders; for one is your Leader, that is Christ” Funny, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sermon on that….:)
Can’t you just see Judah on stage… cue the MC Hammer music…
“doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. Can’t touch this!”
Oh wait. I John says we all have an anointing. Can’t touch us either.
Wasn’t David also God’s anointed? So Saul can try to kill David but David can’t kill Saul…or was David not “God’s anointed” just yet?
This is way to hard to track…
Everyone has the right to question, regardless of who it is. Jesus Himself questioned the religious leaders of the day all the time. The questioning SHOULD open a dialogue that SHOULD lead to some resolution. It’s all about response. If “God’s anointed” would respond with an acknowledgment that they did some wrong, made some kind of apology or even showed a sense of humility for their actions, then most people would let it be. But responding with anger, pride, arrogance, etc. only fuels the fire because it means a nerve is struck and the truth is exposed.
Just ONCE I would love to see one of these “hit and run” posters who throw down the “Touch not God’s Anointed” phrase actually come back and clarify what they mean by that phrase as well as reply/dialogue about the valid points that are brought up in response.
As it has been said before:
1. We are ALL God’s anointed (as believers in Christ). We are kings and priests. There is no “special level” of anointing to attain. We are joint-heirs with Christ. We have all we need already through the Holy Spirit. Do all of us function in the level of anointing God has given to all of us? No. That depends on how surrendered we are to the voice of the Holy Spirit (which DOES NOT NECESSARILY = the ideas of the Pastor. We follow a pastor AS HE FOLLOWS CHRIST – if he’s not following Christ as evidenced by fruit of the Spirit in his life and the lives he touches, we shouldn’t follow him).
2. The “TNGA” phrase is mis-used. Has anyone here threatened one of these pastor’s physical lives? That is specifically the meaning behind the “TNGA” passage. David had opportunity to kill Saul and DID NOT.
3. It is BIBLICAL to speak out about wrong-doing. No need to post the MULTIPLE scriptural references about this, but if needed I will. Do I think that posts here can get petty and gossipy sometimes? Yes! You who do that will have to deal with the Lord about that (and the Lord will deal with you). But, the valid points are here outweigh the gossip. And, when these points have already been attempted to be addressed in a biblical manner (talking one on one to the leader about the issue, going to several elders about the issue), then taking it to the larger body is ALSO biblical. It’s particularly difficult to handle a leader’s wrong-doing in a totally biblical fashion when the ELDERS of the house are hand-picked by the pastor to agree with everything he says. When you come to them to address an issue, you are automatically at fault. At that point, since it is mandated that you are at fault, you would be “sinning” and “touching God’s anointed” if you addressed it to the larger body of the church. Wow! What a catch-22!
This reminds me of an account my friend gave me after attending a local Assembly of God a few weeks back. She had gone there to hear a special speaker they were having that week. She said sometime during his preaching he stopped and informed the congregation that he had heard there were some there that had been gossiping about the age difference between the pastor and his new wife. He reminded them that they needed to be real careful about touching God’s annointed and went on to tell them about what happened recently at another church where the board of elders had asked the pastor to leave.(That pastor and his wife were in the audience that night.) He told them that since then three of those elders have died.
Yep, this crap is still alive and well in many of our churches. You know the old saying: If you can’t dazzle em with brilliance, use fear and intimidation to bring them under control.
I have to disagree. Judah always struck me as a Vanilla Ice kind of guy, with a splash of Kid ‘n Play, all the while wishing he was Kris Kross (yeah, both of um).
Regardless, Heavy D could still have his way with him.
Bring et on. I ain’t fraid no threats.
“When you come to them to address an issue, you are automatically at fault. At that point, since it is mandated that you are at fault, you would be “sinning†and “touching God’s anointedâ€
Boy, does that put a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, been there. That’s why you never meet more than one of them or meet on their ground.
Meet them at a neutral site if you have to and only one at a time and then you are still going to lose.
I wasted 20 years of my life in that place.
I just wanted to serve God.
They are users and abusers.
btw, TNMA was a warning to the Kings/Leaders of the day to not touch or mess with the sheep/people of God.
[Comment ID #37655 Will Be Quoted Here]You are correct, in both places it appears, 1Chron 16:22, and Psalms 105:15, the saying is applied to heathen kings/people, not to harm God’s people.
But when you have a modern charismatic ‘annointing’, you can apply it however you want….kind of like the pope!
Man, this is scary stuff. When we left Living Hope Fellowship (CBC spinoff) we were told the same about questioning the obviously wrong and unhealthy crap going on there. Even when the pastors were caught in blatant sin, the ‘faithful’ would cover their ears and say “Touch not His anointed!” and run screaming. Just weird.
We also had that scripture reference thrown at us about David not killing Saul, stating that we were in sin for leaving just because the pastors were in sin. Our response was “We’re just doing what David did – we are fleeing and hiding in a cave”.
[Comment ID #37664 Will Be Quoted Here]
Great response!
I hope you were able to find a healthy, thriving, biblical church – in every way. I’m in the process. It’s recently come to my attention that the church I’ve known all my life has been very controlling. It’s hard. I’ve finally begun reading my Bible again, and finding so much joy in it! Not just looking for principles on Christian Living, but knowing the things the people went through in the Bible were very similar in a lot of ways, to the things we face today… both good AND bad. It’s funny… if I ever had a bad day, or questioned the way I was feeling or questioned something I heard in the church, no one could tell me an answer or tell me why things were that way… just that that’s what they were taught and how the leadership would do things. I’m beginning to understand a lot of great things my church does/did, and a lot of things that were damaging. Again, in every situation, they’ll be the things we agree with and those we don’t. But, the whole “don’t touch God’s anointed” is so damaging, so controlling, so dictatorial, so emotionally crushing… it’s amazing so many come out of those situations able to find peace, joy, and a true relationship in the Lord. My parents are examples of that. Though they still attend the church, they live daily lives reflecting the way Jesus would do things. I look up to them, and am blessed to have such wonderful examples in my life. Hope you’re able to find a good church with a pastor and friends who will support, surround, and be Jesus to you – and help you do the same with others. 
Wow, this is bringing back memories. I had not really thought about this stuff for a while. I remember whole sermons being taught on the idea of “touch not thy annointed”. Everything from David and Saul to Elijah and the boys making fun of his bald head and where killed by a bear. Talk about intimidation, and we where told this teaching was for our bebefit because the pastor didn’t want to see anything bad happen to us.
At the time I really beleived him and it had me living in fear and scared to ask question. This caused so much pain and confusion in our church and in the lives of the people there.
Thank God I’m free from that mess, even though sometimes thoughts of curses or death come to my mind when I disagree with a “leader”, even if it is done in love.
I was thinking that it was a back handed compliment inferring that we are “King David’s” as long as we don’t kill the anointed. I mean really, David was blogging Psalms to God and that is how we know how much he was complaining about it all. I don’t think the emphasis is on “stuffing” your opinion as much as it is finding a “hitman” and taking them out. It is as though leaders are asking us not to pull the fire alarm when the church is burning down–that is insane. We have a respondsibility to “yell fire” and make sure as many as possible are saved. To knowingly ignore what we know is right to do would be criminal. We are just good citizens in the Kingdom of God crying out for justice.