161 of 194 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Typical covering theology... Some good points., July 24, 2002
This review is from: Under Cover: The Promise of Protection Under His Authority (Paperback)
John Bevere, I believe, is a sincere man of God who intends to encourage God's people with biblical truth; however, on this subject I found his handling of Scripture a bit misplaced in some instances. He tends to rely heavily on the traditional ideals of positional leadership and authority, which are popular among most of those who teach "covering theology." While Bevere's handling of the subject is perhaps a bit more graceful than some, it is still primarily the same ol' traditional view that is backed by scarce biblical support. In fact, one has to rely principly upon Old Testament texts to really push this view of leadership because the New Testament pattern is so different.
The concept of "church covering" is not even found one time in the New Testament and Jesus, in fact, told His disciples NOT to serve His body as "authorities" who were over them, bearing titles and having men address them as such (Luke 22:25-27; Matthew 23:8012).
A study of church history reveals that most of the implications of "official" ministry terminology found in our KJV's come from romanistic influence and do not appear in the original texts and are unheard of in the first couple centuries of Christian writings. For example, many passages in the NT that refer to "offices" of ministry simply refer to "serving", "leading by example", or "being watchful and caring for" the Lord's flock (emphasis on the flock being "the Lord's") not ruling or exercising authority over others.
Jesus' own directive to His disciples was, if you want to be great, serve! Lay your life down! Wash feet! Don't expect to be paid for your service, but give freely and do everything you can to avoid the trap of money (1 Corinthians 9:18-19; 2 Corinthians 2:14-19; Mark 6:8-11; Acts 20:33-35; 1 Timothy 3:3,8; John 10:11-12; etc.). Of course receiving financial aid was not illegal for the minister in every case, but it most certainly was NEVER the rule - rather it was the rare exception! Scripture and early Church history proves this point! The principle service of the "leader" is to serve and build up the body, to cause her to mature in Christ and become dependant upon her Lord and learn to hear and follow Him as the Head. This happens from the "bottom-up" NOT the "top-down."
Today, in many churches, men are viewed as the head of the church body and programs and authority structures are emphasized over personal relationships and the necessity of knowing Christ and submitting to the prompting of the Spirit.
Unfortunately, Bevere misses it also when he encourages believers to submit to church authorities even when they are out of line and err from truth. The Bible NEVER sanctions such requirements on believers! Bevere suggests, in essence, that by obeying leaders (i.e. church leaders) it is the same as obeying God (even when they are wrong and may tell you to do something that you believe is opposite of what you believe the Lord has spoken to you to do) and that by disobeying leaders it is the same as disobeying the Lord. Hence the idea is that if you disobey the Lord's voice because you were submitting to your pastor, God will honor you for this because you honored the man over you, but if you disobey the man over you, God will count that just as severely as disobedience to Him because He (allegedly) set this man over you. Such teaching is also absent from the Word! The apostles encouraged the flock to always obey God rather than men. Thankfully, he does seem to draw the line at some point; when leaders directly disobey Scripture you are not obligated to obey, but this point is less than emphasized with all the other strong urging to obey them even when they may be wrong. The line seems to be there, but it's hard to find amidst the heavy submission emphasis and that submission being equated with submitting to God. And there is so much gloss about the responsibility of the "leader" that the "layperson" (a term I personally can't stand) is implied to be less than able to hear and follow the leading of the Spirit than a leader. This kind of teaching de-emphasizes the biblical reality of the priesthood of all believers and causes people to think positionally instead of relationally. Leaders inevitably become placed on high pedestals in the minds of those in the congregation (whether they desire this or not). All of these problems stem from a faulty perspective of biblical leadership. Sadly, most who teach and support the covering doctrine don't even realize their error or suspect such is possible. In my opinion, these types of perspectives on authority and submission are harmful and serve only to make the body of Christ lame. This is not to say that leaders are not found in the New Testament or that their service is not needed or important. What I am saying is that the right kind of leadership is the key! The biblical kind, NOT the traditional kind!
While the book makes some positive statements about the attributes of good and godly leadership (which I enjoyed), there are a number of other (what I believe to be) unbiblical directives and perspectives shared concerning submission to leadership and the very idea of "being under" men, which is opposite of what Scripture teaches, which is that leadership is not positional, but functional and works "along side of" the body, building her up.
An absolutely excellent book on this subject that I would rather recommend is "Who Is Your Covering" by Frank Viola. Frank's book involves a direct study of the specific passages in the New Testament regarding the subject of leadership in the church, rather than just pages of perspective and traditional teaching. Frank leaves no stone unturned in this book and every question about biblical leadership and the popular concepts of "covering" are dealt with extensively. Another fantastic title is Watchman Nee's book, "The Normal Christian Church Life."
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51 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Book That Feeds The Clergy/Laity System, September 28, 2004
This review is from: Under Cover: The Promise of Protection Under His Authority (Paperback)
I have enjoyed John Bevere's books in the past. His book THE BAIT OF SATAN is a must read for every Christian who suffers from hard leaders, bitter memories, or bitter members. However, I was disappointed with UNDER COVER.
Bevere promotes an unbiblical view of authority that will only feed the present day error of the clergy/laity system. The church I attend recently suffered from this perspective when half the membership wanted a "do it all" pastor while the others wanted a servant among the people to teach and equip (Eph. 4:11-16) but not be a CEO type leader. The CEO members left.
In UNDER COVER Bevere tries to promote the idea that God has placed spiritual leaders in authority to help the saints and therefore the saints must submit to their leaders (Hebrews 13:17). However, the Greek word for "submit" is a word that means "to be persuaded by." Biblical leaders don't lord it over those in the Church (1 Peter 5:1-4) but they lead by example (John 13:1-13; 1 Cor. 11:1; Hebrews 13:7,17). Further, all members are equal (Gal. 3:26-29) and all have equal access into the King's prescence (Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-2). We no longer need a priest for Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 7:25). We are all priests (1 Peter 2:5-9; Revelation 1:6). God raises up leaders (Acts 20:28) but these leaders are Spirit-led servants and not harsh task masters (Matthew 20:20-28).
A good read is Frank Viola's book WHO IS YOUR COVERING? or Gordon Ferguson's GOLDEN RULE LEADERSHIP.
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34 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Concerned, February 18, 2002
This review is from: Under Cover: The Promise of Protection Under His Authority (Paperback)
My advice to eager readers of this new book is: "Proceed with caution." I have some theological and hermeneutical concerns, not the least of which is submission to evil leaders.
Paul's writings and the Book of Acts offer a far more balanced approach. Paul said: "If I please men I would not be the servant of Christ." The Apostles clearly stated: "We must obey God and not men."
Paul did not "submit" to the Judaizers for one minute and withstood Senior Apostle Peter to his face. A clear study of Galatians, Romans and Acts will bring a balance to this "submission" teaching.
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