Gifting vs. Character: What Recent Prophetic Scandals Reveal About the Church

There has been a surprising development in several places where certain leaders have actually taken the position that one’s gift (or gifting, as some put it) is more important than their personal character.

I would not have believed that there could be such a development if I had not talked to some who actually take this view! Their point is this: signs and wonders and miracles are what will get the attention of the world, that the church will not make the needed impact on society until the world is made to see the supernatural work of God—such as healings, miracles, and awesome prophecies.

Some say that that we will not win the undeveloped world without their seeing signs and wonders as was present in the earliest church. Therefore, priority must be given to those who have miraculous gifts, whether or not these people are transparently holy in their personal lives. To put it another way: whereas I hold that the Word and Spirit must come together equally and simultaneously, the position of gifting being more important than character seems to flow with a prior emphasis on the Spirit and less on the Word.

Is this true? Is the Holy Spirit more important than the Word—that is, the Bible? No!

In recent years there have been ever-increasing reports of high-level preachers and successful pastors who have been found out for having lived double lives. Once they are exposed, they are usually forced to leave their ministry altogether. But some would say that these people should not be disciplined but allowed to continue in their ministries since the miraculous will get the attention of the world and cause people to want to turn to God. Some famous TV preachers have insisted on remaining in the ministry. But not one of the them has yet returned to their early acceptance and usefulness.

Double Lives of Some Preachers

The influence on me of my old First Church of the Nazarene in Ash-land, Kentucky, is incalculable. I did not get my current theology from my former church in Ashland, but it is where I received a desire to please God. I honestly fear that many Word churches do not engender this kind of earnestness to please God. This pursuit of wanting a close walk with God was helped along by my first memory of my father. It was seeing him on his knees for some 30 minutes every morning before he went to work. He was not a preacher; he worked as a rate clerk for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

As a teenager I began wanting to read my Bible and pray a lot. The First Church of the Nazarene in Ashland had 12-day “revivals” at least three times a year. I was on the front row of church every night at every one of them. These visiting preachers instilled in me a deep yearning to spend time with God in prayer. From the age of 15, I spent some 15 minutes on my knees in prayer before I went to school and another 15 minutes in prayer before I went to bed each night. It never crossed my mind that this was unusual.

My father taught me to have a respect for preachers. He introduced me not only to Charles E. Fuller, but to every Nazarene preacher he met. I held all preachers in reverential awe. My earliest influence was from my first pastor, Reverend Gene E. Phillips (1902–1977), who was my pastor until I was eight years old. When I heard him preach some20 years later, I realized how my own preaching style was so very like “Brother Philips.”

I had my favorite choice of preachers among those dozens who came to our church in Ashland. One of my top favorites was evangelist Earl Smith (not his real name). He was converted from a life of debauchery. This man preached with unusual power and effectiveness. I remember going into a room on a Sunday after he just preached and asked him to lay his hands on me and pray for me. I was 16 years old, this being before I felt the call to preach. It gave me pause that the evangelist seemed annoyed that I bothered him. But he had a gift of persuading people to come to the altar to pray like nobody I ever saw. The last night he preached, on the final Sunday night with us, dozens went to the altar and were apparently converted or renewed in their faith.

Sometime after that I learned that our pastor was given confidential information that evangelist Earl Smith was living a double life. The pastor was told this during the very middle of this same revival meeting. Rather than cause a needless stir that would upset hundreds of sincere people, he wisely kept quiet about it, watching and listening to the evangelist who had been having an adulterous affair during that week. It turned out that a woman would travel to the same town wherever the evangelist was preaching.

Indeed, in the Henry Clay hotel in Ashland where the evangelist stayed, this same woman was also registered. The pastor kept absolutely quiet and watched with astonishment as the evangelist preached with such power night after night and also with extraordinary success. But after the final service—the same night I had asked this evangelist to pray for me—the pastor confronted him. The evangelist not only confessed his adultery that was taking place in the Henry Clay hotel, but admitted that this woman had been carrying on with him in town after town for a long while. He later surrendered his credentials and left the ministry. I never heard of him again.

As for the previously mentioned Canadian evangelist, he was back in ministry in a short period of time. One well-known charismatic leader, a friend of mine, continued to support this man who returned to preaching. I said to this leader, “How can you do this, to support this man after he has clearly been exposed?” His reply, “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” (Proverbs 24:16 NIV). He took the view that gifting is more important than character.

A book titled Some Said It Thundered: A Personal Encounter with the Kansas City Prophets was published in the UK in 1991. It featured four men who had unusual prophetic gifts. It happens that I have met all of them, only one is still alive. I became close friends with two, one being the late John Paul Jackson. John Paul strongly stressed character being more important than gifting. To John Paul, it was essential that one lived a godly life. This is one of the reasons I affirmed him. The other man I knew well was well known and had the most extraordinary prophetic gift I have ever come across. We too were very good friends for a while. He spent vacations with us in Florida.

But I was unaware of two things regarding this prophet: his personal weakness and the fact he was living a double life. He seemed to me to be a godly man. I was in awe of him, I thought it was like being with Elisha. On the first day we met, he prophesied extraordinary things to me, including revealing things he could not have known about me. He preached for me several times at Westminster Chapel. I took him in as a member. He prophesied things that spared the Chapel from being overtaken by Satan’s plot to destroy the Chapel. He prophesied to our deacons and to me things that perfectly came to pass. He revealed things regarding my family and me that were absolutely true. He preached a sermon on worship that permanently changed my own life. I can honestly say I thank God for him, that he did us more good than harm.

But could the accuracy of his words of knowledge and prophecy have been a camouflage for his private life? It would seem so.

I will never forget the moment or the place—Terminal B at Dallas-Ft. Worth airport—when my beloved friend Jack Taylor (1934–2021) told me about the fall, or I should probably say the exposure, of my aforementioned prophetic friend. It was one of the worst days of my life. I died a thousand deaths on the spot. I quickly contacted this prophet to tell him what I had just learned and that he must resign his membership at Westminster Chapel or be on the front page news of the London Times.

I kept a distance from him for more than 10 years, but Jack said that I needed to be gracious to him. He flew to where I was ministering to spend time with me, and we talked together. I asked him, “Did your prophetic gift function when you carried on as you are accused of doing?”

He replied, “Yes.”

I was not surprised that he said that. What apparently happens is this. It seems that when a gifted person has a fall, they notice that they still preach just as well or prophesy just as well. They assume God is not displeased. But one sin leads to another and in some cases becomes a lifestyle. Some people who live like this get caught, some don’t. I sup-pose there are countless people in public ministry, as I write, who are gambling on not getting caught as they carry on in sin.

Is there an explanation for the same person to have a valid gift from God but simultaneously live in an ungodly way? I believe there is. It is Romans 11:29 (KJV): “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” This means that repentance (Greek, metanoia, which means “change of mind”) is not a requirement to obtain a gift of the Holy Spirit. Neither is it a condition to retain the gift that God may choose to give. This is why most translations of Romans 11:29 say that the gifts are “irrevocable.” If someone protests and says that this principle only applied to God’s promise concerning Israel, I reply, “Romans 11:29 was already an eternal truth and principle that Paul also applied to God’s relationship to Israel.”

Romans 11:29 explains how the Canadian evangelist could be so effective in the Lakeland revival for several months before getting caught. It explains how evangelist Earl Smith could preach all across America in my former Nazarene denomination with apparent anointing and success. People like this apparently continue on and on and on with the hope they will get away with it.

Some do, some don’t.

But is there an example of this kind of thing in the Bible? I believe there is. It is the example of King Saul. He was given a new heart (1 Samuel 10:9). He was also given the gift of prophecy (1 Samuel 10:10). Samuel prophesied this to Saul. His gift was so amazing that people who observed this said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel 10:12). Saul got off to a great start as king (1 Samuel 11:9).

Dr. Lloyd-Jones used to say to me, “The worst thing that can hap-pen to a man is to succeed before he is ready.” Saul’s gift and stature went to his head. Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel to offer burnt offerings. But Samuel was late. Saul justified offering the burnt offerings by himself without Samuel. He said he felt “compelled” (1 Samuel 13:12 NIV). He took himself too seriously and commanded, “Bring me the burnt offering” (1 Samuel 13:9). King Saul knew exactly what he was doing; he went right against the explicit Scriptures to warn against a person offering burnt offerings when they are not called to do this (Leviticus 1:3-9, passim in Leviticus).

The Mosaic Law is threefold: (1) the Moral Law (the Ten Commandments); (2) the Civil Law (how the children of Israel should govern themselves); and (3) the Ceremonial Law (how the children of Israel should worship). Saul broke the Ceremonial Law. He probably reasoned, “This such a small point, offering burnt offerings, that it doesn’t matter.” Yet it was so important that when King Uzziah repeated the same sin, he was afflicted with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:19).

Reader, if you want a fast track on how to become yesterday’s man or woman, go knowingly against Holy Scripture. I don’t think most people realize how important God’s Word is to Himself. David knew this. He said, “…thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2 KJV). The King James Version translates Psalm 138:2 literally from the Hebrew. It is my opinion that many translators have actually underestimated the importance of God’s own Word. Nearly all of them gloss over Psalm 138:2, but the English Standard Version has a footnote that says, “you have magnified your word above your name.” This is the literal Hebrew.

Why would this be so important to God? I believe it is because God cares more about His integrity, His Word, than He does His name, reputation, and power. The Bible is God’s integrity put on the line. God will clear His name one day, be sure of that. In the meantime, He values His integrity most of all.

Here is a principle, reader, you can take with you to the bank: God will use people in proportion to how highly they esteem the Bible.

After King Saul offered the burnt offering, Samuel showed up and asked Saul, “What have you done?” That is when Saul justified himself, claiming he felt compelled to go against the Word of the Lord. Samuel replied:

You have been foolish. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel, but now your reign will not endure. The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded (1 Samuel 13:13-14).