Writers 
Man-appointed leaders claim to receive a call from God, but the call is by the authority of human vessels who are not speaking by the unction of the Lord.
Man-appointed leadership is very common in our society today. The strong trend of humanism in the world makes people man-centered rather than God-centered. The humanistic spirit, which exalts the might and wisdomof man, has infiltrated
the Church and her leadership. As a man calls himself into a position of authority in the Church, he puts much reliance on his own strength and ability, his academic degrees, training and education. Churches today are coping with this kind of leadership. But education, good as it is, cannot replace the call of God which alone brings anointing and the true authority of God upon an individual’s life. The Church today does not need
man-made or man-called or man-trained leadership. Man-appointed leaders look toward the ministry as a professional (e.g. a dentist) looks toward his career. But ministry is more than a good career in a nice institution. Some of our modern theological institutions, which claim to train young men and women for the work of the ministry, have almost lost the concept of a divine encounter with the Lord.
Thank God for those colleges and seminaries that make the divine call of utmost importance!. Man is not the one to choose the profession of the ministry.
God is the one who exercises the choice, man responds. It is presumptuous to enter the ministry simply because one can speak several languages and pass written examinations on.history, world religions and other subjects. Many in this category have run, but God has not sent them. Man can fill the mind and say, “Go forth and speak.” But only God can give the anointing and the authority of the Holy Spirit to bring forth fruit and change lives through Jesus Christ.
The first king of Israel is an example of a man-appointed leader. The background to this story is found in I Samuel 8-10. In I Samuel 8:1-4 we find Samuel appointing his own sons as judges over Israel. Samuels sons, however, had not followed their father in the ways of the Lord. The people, therefore, rejected them as leaders. They asked Samuel to give them a
king like all the other nations. Up until that time, Israel had no king but Jehovah. Israel had a theocracy, but now they wanted a man to rule over them. Samuel, very displeased, went to God.
The Lord told Samuel to give the people of Israel what they wanted a man to rule over them. The Lord said they had not rejected Samuel as their leader, but that they had rejected Him.
Samuel returned to the people and gave them their request, a leader appointed only with earthly authority, a ruler who could draw only upon earthly resources. Samuel described the kind of leader they would have. Taken from I Samuel 8:11-17, the description applies to the man-appointed leaders in the Church.world today.
“He will take your sons and appoint them for himself ” (I Samuel 8:11).
“He will appoint many men to work his ground, to harvest his crops, to make his instruments of war and his chariots” (8:12).
“He will take your daughters to be confectionaries, cook and bakers” (8:13).
“He will take the best of your fields, vineyards and olive yards and give them to his servants” (8:14).
“He will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his of icers and servants” (8:15).
“He will put to work your servants, maid-servants, godliest young men, and your asses” (8:16).
“He will take a tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servant” (8:17).
The key phrase to those portions of Scripture is, “He will take.” The man-appointed leader is destined to rob and spoil.the people of the Lord. He is out to get what he wants and what he needs, at the expense of the sheep. He is not concerned with the needs of the sheep. This is a picture of the
hireling, who is the opposite of the true shepherd. The shepherd will die for the sheep, whereas the hireling lives off the sheep. A man-appointed leader is more interested in his own selfish desires than with the people whom he is supposed to serve.
In I Samuel 10 we have the account of Saul’s anointing by the prophet Samuel. Samuel anointed Saul with oil poured out from a vial. All other kings were anointed by the oil poured forth from the horn of an anima -not a vial. The vial was a man- made bowl containing drinking water. The horn was taken from an animal that gave its life to produce it. Saul, a man-made ministry, was anointed with a man-made instrument, the vial.
David, on the other hand, being God’s choice, was anointed with the divine oil poured forth from the horn of an animal.
God’s leaders are anointed with a horn and not a vial; by God’s Spirit and not by man’s.