Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. New King James Version

In the original King James Version, the word "imitators" is actually "followers". I went and did an study of the word "followers" and discovered that the word "followers" can be traced back to the Greek word "mimos" which means "to imitate". If you look at the word "mimos", you will see the English word "mime". If you think about people who mime, they imitate, while being silent, basic body motions and also many will enact out a script or enact out an interpretation of a song. In some churches, the art form of mime is an acceptable part of the worship experience.

Therefore, who should we imitate, follow, and "mime"? It is God Almighty. It is not a televangelist, not our boss at work, not our favorite movie star. We are supposed to be an imitator of Christ and do the deeds and commandments Jesus told us to do while fulfilling the Great Commission. In fact, the entire Bible shows us examples showing us how to imitate Christ and be Christ like in nature. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT quoted here) after he told his followers to love their enemies that "In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven..." and also in verse 48 that "...you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." To be a good imitator in Christ is to emulate here on Earth the love, character, maturity, and holiness Christ demonstrated on Earth. We will not be sinless like Christ, but we must strive to be like Christ as much as possible. Yes, we need to be pure. However, the purity Christ demonstrated was based on the inherent will of the Father and not our personal likes and dislikes. We may never be as mature as Christ, but we must grow towards a Christ like maturity and wholeness. To imitate Christ is to love others as God loves us. Even though we are sinners saved by grace and will sometimes fail and sin, this nature to sin must never hinder us from being an imitator of Christ. We as Christians need to rise above the mediocre 'norms' the world accepts as a standard and raise up the standard of Holy Temple Living by becoming Christ like. The way to become Christ like is to imitate Christ in all we do and in every area of our life.

Since we are supposed to be imitators of Christ and emulate the deeds of Christ by feeding the hungry, leading sinners to salvation in Christ, healing the sick, casting out devils, and preaching the Word of God to all the nations, are we effective imitators of Christ? Do we see ministers of the Gospel use the manual of life known as the Bible to teach us the skills to be a follower of Christ and fulfill God's will by performing the deeds mentioned in the previous question? Have our churches taught us or taught us effectively how to imitate Christ by doing what Jesus did? My answer to these three questions in reference to most churches today is an emphatic NO!!!!

It is tragic that in many churches today, the Christians within their specific fellowships are not taught how to be an imitator, "mime", and true follower of Christ. Instead, many churches teach their congregations intimidation, manipulation, fear, and lies. Instead of learning how to be Christ like through imitating Christ, they learn, experience, and are humiliated by overt and covert manipulation, fear and intimidation to fulfill not a Great Commission, but a personal agenda called "of God". In fact, many people who experience this and at some point in their life decide to enter the ministry end up emulating not God, but the manipulators, fearmongers, and intimidators that pressured a legalistic performance oriented behavior pattern calling it 'obedience to God'. Why would laypeople and ministers do such an atrocity? Because they saw it at work in their previous churches and saw the tactics work successfully with tangible results deemed as "blessings". At the same time, they saw the arrogance and cockiness of these leaders strutting on the stage causing a emotional rise out of the audience and deemed this as "anointing" and were told by these same leaders "not to touch that anointing (annoying) and do not their prophets (profit$) harm". Since these tactics and the leader's arrogance showed 'physical evidence' (numbers, money, unanimity, buildings, etc.) of working, this must mean that "these tactics and these cocky men are of God". Their mindset tells them that "If this was not of God, then these tactics would not have worked and the actions of the leader would have been publically exposed as pride and arrogance". With a distorted view of God now experienced and manifested, a distorted Christian begins to distort Scriptures further in order to instill intimidation, fear, and manipulate others to his personal agendas as "God" and his (emphasized as "His" in reference to Diety) followers as "the remnant army" while pronouncing his personal annoyances as "sin" and his (emphasized as "His" in reference to Diety) dissenters as "the enemy".

Where the verses of the Bible teach us to imitate Christ by healing the sick, many spiritual leaders twist these same verses to cripple their congregations by manipulation tactics. The shepherd's staff that is used to lead the sheep into wholeness and functionality now becomes used as the weapon that cripples the sheep into humiliation and dysfunction. Where the verses of the Bible teach us how to imitate Christ by winning the lost for Christ, many spiritual leaders twist these verses to rally the saved who believe in the personal ideologies called corporate theologies we labelled "God", "holiness", and "annointing" while alienating the lost and not saving their souls from Hell. Where the verses of the Bible teach us to imitate Christ by feeding the hungry, many spiritual leaders twist these same verses to justify pouring finances and resources into feeding excessive greed and fueling the perpetual motion machine called "church". How? By scaring those in the congregation into believing that they are 'blessed' if they sacrifice and contribute to the greed and 'cursed' if they do not sacrifice and contribute. In the background, the people who came for our answers still leave the church every Sunday starving, naked, and homeless in the physical, mental, and spiritual realms.

In the remainder of this article, I will discuss this concept in further detail as I expose many common Charismatic teachings as the simple hogwash that it really is.

Please Click here for part two of this article.