Most Leaders Are Self-Serving and
Will Use Anyone They Can
The powers
of this world are out to manipulate us. Many Christians seem to think the primary
and greatest threat is coming from the outside. The Secularists, Muslims, Foreigners
or some other villains are out to get us.
Read your
Bible again. Those people are not a threat to us. Not really. They can present
a danger to the body in some cases, though not as often as some would think.
Their ideas present a danger to us when they are synthesized with what the
Scriptures teach, but standing alone these outside forces while perhaps
unpleasant to live alongside of, are not an existential threat to the Church.
Empires rise and fall, the Church cannot be eliminated. The Truth that is the
Gospel of Christ transcends earthly power.
The real
threat comes from within. We're warned of false prophets and false doctrine. It
is people working within the Church that are the threat... if we're not
vigilant, we'll never see them coming. And what do they bring? They don't often
come blatantly teaching us to reject the Scripture. Though it must be admitted,
as Satan has grown bolder, this sad reality is sometimes the case. But more
often than not, they package the world's lies in the form of Christian truth.
This is
where the pronoun confusion comes in. Many teachers see the danger in what the
secular world is teaching. It's right to speak truth and expose the lies.
Shepherd the flock, help them to see. But, these teachers want to change
society or in many cases confuse the sacral notion of society (viewing it as
somehow Christian or an extension of the Church) and the Church itself. They
use 'we' and 'us' often in ways which conflate society and the Church.
The social
battles are equated with and are part of the Church's struggle. They say things
like: The Secular Worldview is running rampant in the Church. We have to work
harder to teach God's people, to save our schools and protect our military from
this threat.
It's
innocent enough I suppose, but it belies a grave misunderstanding. I don't
doubt for some it is genuine confusion and a mistake but in many cases I
believe it is the manifestation of erroneous thinking and impulses.
The end
result is the power-struggle enters the Church. The Church in order to preach
the gospel, and for some it is a 'second' gospel, must seek the reins of society. The world, its ways and
means, and even its goals are baptised. The 'kingdom' of the Sacralist is
simply a baptised version of Babylon. It is sanctified violence and coercion.
It is raw power.
Throughout
Church history perhaps the most striking example of this is when Constantine
wedded political power to Christ's Kingdom. This changed everything. It
affected how the Church viewed the state, society, money, violence, law and
virtually every other area of doctrine.
The moral imperatives
of the New Testament have been replaced with a new set of ethics that permit us
to wield power, coerce others through violence, acquire wealth, use others,
threaten, wage war, and use the law for manipulation instead of justice. Politics
are ugly and necessitate scheming and duplicity. But this is justified. The
goal of political power is to acquire the reins and keep hold of them. It's not
Truth, it's victory that's in sight. And if that's not bad enough, all this is
done in the name of the Kingdom and for its advancement and prosperity. It is a
gross perversion and in fact a rejection of the Kingdom and its values.
Why don't
people see this? Why don't they pick up on this contradiction as they read
Scripture and think about the lives they lead and what the Church is teaching
them to do? They're too busy invested in the big game of society that affirms
many values about power, money, suffering, and the meaning of life that are
completely contrary to what the Bible teaches.
All too
often we are willingly blind and we affirm and confirm our beliefs not by
comparing our thinking with what the Scripture teaches, but by looking at those
we perceive to be our enemies.
We see
others who believe things that oppose the Bible, so we oppose them and think
we're safe and thus standing 'with' God and His Word.
Morally
blinded, we eagerly let others come in and teach us what is in fact worldliness,
and because it's couched in Biblical lingo and peppered with piously named
concepts, most don't see it coming.
Fallen man
has a penchant for self-deception. Some of these teachers even believe their
own propaganda.
Manipulation is Easy: Especially when it comes from those you trust
The masses of
churchgoers are easy to manipulate. Most of them have never given serious
thought to the issues. They've let others do the thinking for them.
The last
thing these leaders want to do is to teach people to think. They say they do.
They claim to want you learn a Christian worldview. Most of what they're doing
is not educating to empower. It's little more than indoctrination.
Can I prove
that? Of course not, at least not by standards they will accept. I can't prove
what's in their hearts. I can only read the Bible, learn what it teaches and
observe what is happening. Every situation, every teacher and every student is
different.
I can learn
history and get a fuller picture. The more you learn and grow the more you will
be convinced that many people are using history as a tool not a means. They're
not learning of the past to understand but to craft a narrative, to find
talking points and manipulate their audience.
The
Christian Right is not alone in this, but in recent years even attempted
objectivity and balance are suspect, odious and indicative of thought-crime.
I know from
my own interactions and observations that many and embracing concepts and ideas
without knowing what they really are and where they've come from.
They're
unfamiliar with the Bible and with the Church. They're not familiar with
theological ideas, or the history of them. They're ready to speak and act not
due to some kind of understanding, but because they've been manipulated, often
by fear and anger.
And though
many of these teachers consider themselves to be devout culture warriors, they
too have often not thought very deeply about what power is...the very thing
they're after. They're more likely to get their audiences worked up over a silly
television show than thinking about the actual issues.
Issues are
presented, and questions are asked which are loaded with unrecognized and
unchallenged assumptions revealing either a lack of reflection or in some cases
gross inability and ineptitude.
But most of
the time their actions and rhetoric seem to be motivated by a desire to steer
the audience and stir their passions. I believe it to be deliberate in many
cases. Their methods are not a case of incompetence but engineered to bring
results.
They accuse
the media of sensationalism, capitalizing on people's suffering and mistakes,
bias, and opportunism.
They're no
different. I hear it every day as I (painfully) listen to the podcasts and
radio programmes. They seek victory through demagogic appeals and the stirring
of strife.
Some can't
even see that its power they're after. They cannot be honest with themselves. How?
Legislation usually plays a significant part in this agenda. Using the state to
shape society is using power, force and the threat of violence. If it's
legitimate then say so, but you cannot argue with someone who won't be honest
with himself.
They can't
see it and instead of being presented with the real goal, they've been taught
innocuous catch-phrases... "We're just voting our values."
Many are not
even aware of the theological concepts their leaders are espousing and that they've
eagerly imbibed. They zealously promulgate the doctrines and use the lingo, but
then when you identify it for what it is, they deny it.
It reminds
me of watching exasperated Calvinists arguing with Arminians. Often the
Arminian keeps denying that's what he is...even though he's espousing all the
main ideas of the Arminian system.
Some people
are stubborn and refuse to accept a label, even if it's only meant in a general
sense.
So many are
offended and protest when you identify the ideas their espousing. I realize
labels can be problematic but that kind of subtlety is not the issue here. Most
folks I talk with literally don't know where their thoughts come from. They'll
espouse some political or economic idea that's scarcely a few centuries old and
they think it came from Paul's epistles.
It's sad
that for all their time and energy they've spent in the fight...they don't even
understand what it's about.
But their
leaders have failed them. They have inoculated them to analytical examination
and have taught them confirmation bias as a means of rational justification. We
have people espousing Dominionist ideas and concepts but deny it. We have
people who praise and support American hegemony but refuse to identify it as an
Empire or acknowledge the pervasiveness and profundity of its power.
GO TO PART 3