Anointed Appointed: Master, Teacher, Rabbi

In the Torah, Saul, David, the prophets were anointed and appointed to be leaders and teachers of the people. In the Gospels, Yeshua anointed and appointed the apostles to disciple others. That is the way YAH designed the hierarchy of instruction. You have the one leader or teacher. It was a top down structure of learning. YAH teaches the teacher, and the teacher then teaches you. That is not the way that Yahuah left things after He sent his yachid, his beloved Son to be the Pesach Lamb.

To date, I have only heard one “teacher” call himself “anointed and appointed” to teach the Besorah (good news), but many Christian “preachers” do the same thing, yet worded slightly different. I am quite certain that there are many more. We almost fell into believing the “Anointed Appointed” teacher, top-down hierarchy trap. However, something about it just never sat right with my husband and me, and the Ruach Ha’Qodesh did show us why it irritated our very souls. Before I get into that, though, I would like to relate a story about what happened when my husband dared to question what and how one identifies “anointed appointed.”

We have since joined the Facebook exodus, but at the time, we were on there, and we were active members of the Messianic Torah Observant group. Members were encouraged to ask questions (though no one else is supposed to answer those questions that has not been deemed worthy by the “rabbi.”) Beware when you see this, because this is a sign of a cult, with one man controlling the narrative.

So, my husband, Todd, asked “How does one know someone has been anointed and appointed to teach?”

Manny, the lead man who runs the social media answered him like this, “You decide for yourself…”

WE decide that someone is anointed and appointed to teach us? Wait….What?!!!

My husband said, “You don’t understand what I am asking. I want to know how do you know when someone is anointed to do anything?”

Manny gave another generic answer that was convoluted, alluding to submitting to the authority of man, i.e. the self-appointed rabbi, etc, etc, and then before my husband could respond to clarify his question, he was blocked from the group and his question deleted.

Hold the phone!! This is more cultish behavior…..unfortunately, that is not the only behavior that screams cult here. Buyer BEWARE!!

So, apparently Manny thought that my husband was questioning the “rabbi’s” authority to proclaim himself “anointed and appointed.” That is not what Todd was doing, but……why is no one allowed to question this “rabbi’s” self-proclaimed authority? The over-reaction by Manny was all the answer we needed, really; then, the Ruach Ha’Qodesh started revealing in earnest to us what was going on there just beneath the surface, as well as the undertow in that assembly.

I have to be honest it was the draw of the fellowship that was broadcast to the world that is seducing people into moving there to be part of this fellowship. We were desirous of that fellowship as well. Being alone in this walk makes it so much more difficult, but we should not so readily replace our Messiah with a flawed man who has puffed himself up with pride, arrogance, and surrounded himself with yes-men. This article is not intended to call out this “rabbi,” but to relate what we experienced, what YAH has shown us, and to warn others to at least be cautious with charismatic leaders and realize what you see on YouTube is also “telling a vision,” but not necessarily the whole truth! The only other thing I will say about this is that we need to keep our eyes open, keep prayed up, and keep our ears open to the still small voice of the Ruach Ha’Qodesh so that we don’t fall into the snares of the wicked one (Psalms 141:9).

Now here is the WORD refuting the claims of the “rabbi.”

Yeshua is THE Anointed One; it is one of the titles used to refer to our Messiah in the Torah and the Prophets. To say that you are anointed and appointed to teach is akin to saying that you are the messiah appointed to teach. Does that sit well with you? This is exactly what bothered our spirit.

Perhaps you are saying that I am being too picky about the title “anointed appointed teacher or rabbi,” but……am I? Let’s examine what is taking place in the Messianic community. The people who sit under and listen to this “rabbi” teach have to submit themselves to the authority of the self-proclaimed “anointed appointed rabbi.”

I ask you: Whose authority are we supposed to be submitting to? Man’s? I don’t think so, with exception to the wife submitting to her husband.

When Yeshua was crucified, the veil in the Temple that separated the common man from the Holy of Holies and the dwelling place of the Most High, Yahuah, was torn in two from the top to the bottom…top down. (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:35). This did two things simultaneously: it made the way for you and I to go boldly before the throne of grace of Yahuah (Hebrews 4:16, 10:19) and it did away with us ever needing ANY intercessor or fellow teacher or Catholic father or Jewish/Messianic rabbi, between us and Yeshua Ha’Mashiach. Our Messiah is the only intercessor we need now, and the only teacher we need is the Ruach Ha’Qodesh (the Holy Spirit).

We also have the scriptures in Matthew 23:8-12 where Yeshua Himself tells us that we no longer need to have masters or rabbis or teachers to teach us, and He also warns us to not exalt ourselves in such a way.

8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ (Messiah); and all ye are brethren.

9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ (Messiah).

11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Now I have heard the sermon (for want of a better word) that this “rabbi” gave trying to explain away Yeshua’s words and warnings here as being directed only to his disciples, but it falls far short of the mark. It was, in my opinion, an effort to abdicate Yeshua’s authority and lend credence to his own. Yes, Yeshua was talking to his disciples, but does His warnings not still ring true today? For us? I believe they do, and you know what? Yeshua’s disciples believed they do, too.

Here is why we don’t need a rabbi or teacher. We have the benefit of the Holy Spirit, the RUACH HA’QODESH living inside of us if we have been born again. (While this rabbi does not like the phrase “born again,” because it is too “Christianese,” if it was good enough for my Messiah to say, then it’s good enough for me.)

But, don’t take my word for it, here is what Yeshua’s disciple, John, had to say about it:

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. John 16:13 KJV

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. I John 2:27

We know that Scripture says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established”  (Deuteronomy 19:15,  Matthew 18:16, II Corinthians 13:1-4) That is from the mouth of two witnesses, and one of them is our Messiah.

We always need to test what we read and hear against what the WORD says. We don’t need to worry about what other people say and other people’s opinions, including those of other self-proclaimed preachers, rabbis or teachers. Nor do we need to seek out other doctrines. We don’t need to be listening to or seeking out other voices for a source of Truth. The Torah is the Truth! Letting multiple self-elevated people speak into your mind, heart, and soul is how you drown in the confusion of too many doctrines of men.

I have, unfortunately, seen this happen to a man in the Messianic community recently. We, too, almost fell into the “Anointed Appointed” teacher trap that some “teachers, masters, rabbis” are calling themselves. Bottom line, when you hear something that does not line up with what the Word says or is in direct contradiction to what the WORD says, then you either need to shelve it for a later time, take it to your Anointed Appointed Teacher who IS the Ruach Ha’Qodesh, the set-apart spirit living inside us for clarification. Test all things, regardless of who the source is.

It is not about submitting to authority, it is a matter of whose authority we should be submitting to.

If you would like to know more about how to identify cults and cult behavior, Cult Research has an easy to understand list of qualities and characteristics associated with cults that has been reprinted HERE from the book written by Janja Lalich and Michael D. Langone titled Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Bay Tree Publishing, 2006). This is a really good book if you want to check it out on Amazon. I am not an affiliate of Amazon.