By DAVID EPPS
Pastor

From time to time, I read a Christian magazine entitled well, I don't think I'll mention the title of the magazine. On the one hand, I'm afraid Ill get sued and, on the other hand, I'm afraid that people might go out and buy it.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Often the articles are quite good and informative but, at other times, they are just silly, inaccurate, and faddish. Generally, I refer to it as the "National Inquirer of the charismatic movement."

It's the ads, however, that have caught my attention for several years. If some minister is advertising his particular conference, it's almost never called a "conference." It's more likely to be called a "Holy Ghost, Spirit-Filled, Fire on the Mountain, Slam-Bam, Pentecostal Word Explosion," or some similar stringing together of adjectives. I''ve been to some of those conferences in days gone by and, regardless of the wording of the ads, they're just conferences.

Along the same line, I noticed a trend a few years ago in the way that ministers advertised and promoted themselves with titles. When the magazine first started publication, the ministers referred to themselves as, say, "Tommy Smith" (not a real name). A few years later, the same man would be billed as "Pastor Tommy Smith." Once in a while, one would find a "Reverend Tommy Smith," but most people in that particular group didn't like the term "reverend," so few people used it.

Then things began to get interesting. Soon, it seemed that everyone who was promoting himself or herself was a "doctor," as in "Dr. Tommy Smith." No, Tommy didn't go off to a real seminary and get a real degree in most cases. He, in all likelihood, received an "honorary" degree from a fellow preacher buddy who started a "Bible college" in the basement of his church and passed out "doctorates" to his friends like M&Ms. Or, he may have written in to one of the dozens of "schools" advertised in the back of the magazines, paid his "tuition," turned in some "work" and received a "degree."

I knew one man personally who claimed five "doctorates." Try as hard as I might, I could locate nary a one of the "schools" on the Internet or in any college guide. I remarked to my wife, back then, that, if "This trend keeps up, these people will be prophets and apostles soon!"

Well, shut my mouth, as they used to say in the deep South. I must be a "prophet!" Within a couple of years, Dr. Tommy Smith was billed as "Prophet Tommy Smith." Today, sure as shootin', the same man is now "Apostle Thomas Smith, D.D., Ph.D, STD, LL.D." The only thing I missed was the assuming of the title of "bishop," as in "Bishop Tommy Smith," that occurred between his "prophet" and his "apostle" titles.

Lest one think that this is a trend restricted to the fringe groups, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in an article dated Jan. 12, spoke to this very issue, which is affecting and infecting many Atlanta-area ministers. The article, ironically titled, "Titles from God," reported on incidences in which ministers decided to give themselves more impressive titles.

One man, a Baptist, began referring to himself as "bishop" because, as he said, "The Lord laid it on my heart to be consecrated a bishop."

Another story was told of two men who started an "international" ministry and apparently named themselves bishops. At least one of them is an "archbishop" today. One African-American pastor said, "Once Bishop (T.D.) Jakes got on TV, everybody wanted to be a bishop."

Dr. Riggins Earl, who earned a real doctorate from Vanderbilt University and teaches ethics and theology at Interdenominational Theological Center, said that the titles have become a way of being competitive. "Even calling themselves doctors doesn't do enough. We have to find other titles that have more of a mystical appeal."

There are real doctors and bishops and such, of course. Don Smith, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, has a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary. He introduces himself by saying, "Hi, I'm Don Smith."

Douglas S. Woodall is the Bishop of South Carolina and the Archbishop of the Armed Forces for his denomination. He also has an earned Doctor of Theology degree. He introduces himself to strangers by saying, "Hi, I'm Doug Woodall."

When the fourth-century Athanasius was summoned by Pope Alexander to be consecrated as a bishop of the church, Athanasius, not daring to aspire to such a holy office, sent another man by the same name in his place. Alexander replied that Athanasius would not escape so easily. Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria would become one of the most important figures in the history of the church, but he never sought a title to "become competitive."

Maybe some of the "prophets, apostles, doctors, and bishops" ought to go back to school (or, in some cases, go to school for the first time) and take a few courses in church history. Perhaps, then, they might surrender the spurious titles and just become "Tommy Smith" again. Or as St. Paul said, "I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think" (Romans 12:3 NASB).

[David Epps is pastor of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at www.christthekingcec.com.]

Back to the Opinion Home Page | Back to the top of the page