Five Problems With Top-Down Vision-Casting
1. It’s more Old Testament than New Testament.
When we talk vision-casting, we tend to use Old Testament images and stories. Moses going up then coming down the mountain. Ezekiel in the Valley of the Dry Bones. Elijah and the still, small voice.
There’s nothing wrong with teaching from the Old Testament, of course. But it’s not the best model for how Christians hear from God. The Day of Pentecost changed the top-down, lone-wolf prophet model for hearing from God. Acts 2 does not give us a picture of Peter hearing from God in private, then coming to the disciples with the vision. It shows the Holy Spirit descending on the entire church, with Peter being the spokesperson to the community for what the entire church experienced.
The church gets the vision from prayer-soaked time in God’s Word. Then one of the leaders speaks that united vision to the community. When was the last time you heard that in a vision-casting message?
Speaking of the Old Testament …
2. It usually rests on obscure and/or questionably interpreted Bible passages.
There are two default passages used to promote the importance of top-down vision-casting.
- Proverbs 29:18 | KJV” href=”http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/proverbs/29-18.html” target=”_blank”>Where there is no vision, the people perish. —Proverbs 29:18
- Habakkuk 2:2” href=”http://www.biblestudytools.com/habakkuk/2-2.html” target=”_blank”>Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. —Habakkuk 2:2
The first passage is almost always taken out of context. What I quoted isn’t even the entire verse! The whole verse reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” —Proverbs 29:18 (emphasis mine).
When the last half of the verse is included (a bare minimum for biblical integrity), it’s about keeping God’s laws, not vision-casting. Not to mention it’s one of the few times modern church leadership teachers ever quote from the KJV because if you quote it from any modern translation, it sounds very different.
- Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18 | NIV” href=”http://www.biblestudytools.com/proverbs/29-18.html” target=”_blank”>NIV)
- Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18 | NAS” href=”http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/proverbs/29-18.html” target=”_blank”>NAS)
In the Habakkuk passage, the best we can say is that it has something to do with the importance of writing things down when communicating a message. But it has little if anything to do with casting a vision.
These passages are slim biblical support for something we’re told should be used as a foundation for everything a church body does. Too slim.
