Someone has hit it right on the head in regard to UBF's hypocritical twisting of Christ's commands in Matthew 23:
Another passage from the same London UBF sermon:
"Look at verses 9,10. 'And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.' We have our fathers and spiritual shepherds who lead us. We have leaders in our church. They have the position in order to keep the spiritual order of the church. They are the same as us in that all believers are children of God. There must not be any difference between people and there is only one who is above us- our Father in heaven. (9b) Look at verses 11,12. 'The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.' Jesus tells us that we should serve one another. In order to be exalted not by men but by God, Jesus' disciples should humble themselves."
They quote the Bible verse which says we should *not* have "spiritual" fathers. Then they conclude: "We *have* our fathers and spiritual shepherds who lead us. We *have* leaders in our church. They have the *position* in order to keep the *spiritual order* of the church."
What's that for a sermon? The Bible says one thing and their interpretation is to state the opposite!?
They claim the only thing in which the leaders are "the same with us" is that they are also children of God.
Then they insert a sentence which is correct but which comletely contradicts what they said before: "There must not be any difference between people and there is only one who is above us- our Father in heaven. "
...
Another way of UBF to deal with Bible passages which do not fit their ideology is to simply quietly skip over them.
For instance, the verse 8: "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers." The messages talks about verses 5-7, then continues with verse 9, probably in the hope that nobody notices if they skip a verse. The obsession of UBFers with titles like "Dr." or "missionary" or "shepherd" is one of their most revealing spiritual problems. This verse addresses this problem directly. The title "Rabbi" means something like "teacher" - the same as UBF shepherds claim to be "Bible teachers." They use the title "shepherd" or "missionary" in exactly the same way as those people used the word "Rabbi."
The problem is mentioned in verse 7 as well: "they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'" Here, UBF is able to comment the verse, because it starts with "they..." (the Pharisees). The UBF comment is: "They sought their own glory by being greeted in the marketplaces and being called "Rabbi." Jesus tells them that they should not be called 'Rabbi'." That's all. Jesus tells *them* - it's only a problem of Pharisees. Then UBF skips verse 8 completely which starts with: "But *you* are not to be called..."
