One of my dear friends just received a few more bruises from another battle with “the authorities.” Not the government free-speech deniers, but those passive bullies known as Christian-leadership.
He just went toe-to-toe with the Christian version of the Obama administration. They will be ticked off because I am writing about this, because the last thing they want is for anyone to expose their deception, but I believe that sunlight is always the best disinfectant.
1Co 11:3 “Now I want you to realize that Christ is the head of every man…”
Let me make this clear. The Lord is my Shepherd, not some man in a fancy suit. I answer to the Lord. He is my Spiritual leader.
And so should you. Ultimately, we will all stand before Him and give account for what we have done. You will be alone. Your pastor won’t be there with you.
Submission to authority is not absolute. Ask the Germans if bowing down to Hitler was the right decision. Our submission is to the Word of God, not to an authority structure. Christ is the Head of the church. Not the pastor, not the elder board. Christ is the head…and the head of everyman.
“Obey God, rather than man.”
“Touch not thine anointed” is the club that they use to swat frisky Christians over the head. Blind loyalty to any man is just that…blind. I’ll have no part of it.
Absolute submission is foolishness. God gave you a mind and a backbone. Use both.
My friend saw trouble in the leadership. He saw sin in the camp. He took it to “the Pastor.” The pastor did not like his “lack of submission.” He told my friend that a church has to operate according to an “authority structure.” He explained to my friend that God put the structure in place. To question it, or fail to obey it is “divisive.”
He pounded my friend over the head with Romans 13.
But my buddy clubbed back with the Ephesians 5:11. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” The leader didn’t like that. God had ordained the authority structure in this situation and my buddy was to follow it, he demanded.
What if the actions of those in the authority chain were un-biblical and sinful, my buddy posited?
He responded that we were all “flawed people” and that God could do good things even through “bad kings” as long as we obeyed.
(I am not making this up.)
What if the actions of leadership are harmful to the sheep, my friend pushed. What if the lying to the sheep was causing a hemorrhaging in the body?
The Shepherd merely gritted his fangs more firmly. He was used to obedient sheep, compliant sheep that would merely baaa as they were fleeced. He wanted more than anything to stuff a wool sock in this trouble-making goat’s mouth.
My friend followed the Biblical pattern when he first discovered the sin. Mathew 18:15-17
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." Mathew 18:15-17
Step 1. He went to his brother and he would not hear. He went back to him with a brother. He would not change.
Step 2. He went up the chain of command. His superior would not listen. He took a brother with and went back to him. Empty promises were spoken, not action taken.
Step 3. He went to the big cheese who referred him back to step 1. (Circular management.)
Step 4. He took eight witnesses with him in a meeting with all three of the “spiritual authorities.” Nothing was done. But they were ticked. How dare he get a “lynch mob?”
Step 5. He released they information to “the elders” above the authorities. He did it in a private communication to them.
Step 6. He ended up back in a meeting with the top two” hirelings” he had already met with. The chastised him for not being a “team player” and questioning their “authority.” His actions were “divisive” and had to stop. He was harming “the ministry.” It was time “to go a different direction” with my friend’s position.
Every word I have written is true. They can’t deny it. They just don’t want anyone to hear it…or believe it. They want to cover it up…kill the messenger…protect “the ministry.”
I see it more plainly than I ever have. Most “pastors” does not want bold men…they want compliant men. They are not interested in men being leaders…they want men to be followers. They do not train men to confront sin…they train men to accept sin. They don’t want men to be independent Christians dependant on Christ…they want them to be dependant Christians dependant on them. They don’t want men who will question authority…they want men who will submit to authority.
Submission to sinful authority is exactly how we got in this mess in America. It started in the church. Looking the other way at sin in the camp led to more sin. Mercy without judgment emboldened others. The “we are all sinners” mantra justified sinful behavior. As the Christians became more polluted, the church became more polluted. Obedience to un-Godly authority led to acceptance of un-Godly behavior. The sin-sick church led to a sin-sick world. Disobedience to the Bible led to disobedience to the Constitution. Disobedience to the Constitution led to tyrannical government. Tyrannical government led to the fleecing of the sheep.
It is not hard to follow this circular path.
A bold, out-spoken, strong Christian man is a rarity these days because our “Pastors” club them into submission with the “submit to authority” jack hammer. “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” Thomas Jefferson told us.
Sadly, more often than not, the man wearing the backwards-collar is the greatest tyrant. Why would a mature Christian man need the approval of a “pastor” to do what is right?
Christians are being submitted to death. We are taught to submit. Submit to un-Godly laws. Submit to un-Godly politicians. Submit to un-Godly court decisions. Submit to un-Godly government regulations. Submit our children to soul-killing government education. Submit to government theft. Submit to the trampling of the individual conscience. Submit to the shackles of over-burdensome public debt. Submit our children to “children-services.” Jesus will save us!
No wonder our men aren’t men anymore. The pastors are taking the fight out of them. We are taught to submit to the wrong things.
Blind submission to any man or system is not healthy, or wise. It takes the fight out of you. It does to the will what novacane does to pain. It deadens the natural response.
Search the Scriptures…I challenge you. Find anywhere in the New Testament where you are instructed to yield your God-granted authority to a fallible man. There are at least 58 commands in the New Testament detailing our “one-another” responsibilities but not one command about the pastor riding herd over the flock like Clint Eastwood in the TV show Rawhide.
Organized religion can be spiritual bondage. You just follow a different potentate. True leadership is based on truth and trust…not on position. Following truth is a difficult journey.
“Decisions, decisions. Sometimes the decision to do nothing is wise. But you can’t make a career out of doing nothing. Freddy Fulcrum weighed everything too carefully. He would say “On the one hand…but then on the other” and his arguments always weighed so evenly that he did nothing. When Freddy died they put a big “0” on his tombstone. If you decide to fish—fine, or if you decide to cut bait—fine. But if you decide to do nothing you will not be having fish for dinner.”
Submit to Christ. Submit to Truth. Resist tyranny. Fight lies. Stand for Truth. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” -James 4:17
As I recall, Jesus ate a lot of fish.
© 2012 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved