The Illusion, part 3
Do Not Become Like Them
Because we are in a relationship with the living God, our spiritual growth towards maturity is a collaboration project between a Father and a child who is learning to walk. The illusions of life, ministry, and the past all affect the molding process of who we are to become.
We can fight to exclude things on the outside that affect us, but I suspect a greater level of maturity comes when you're willing to tackle the issues within you. Issues you either unknowingly accepted from others, or lies you believed.
Here is a quote from a Substack post I did a while back called “Ramblings,”
“If I put God in a box of my own creation, and enforce on others a religion of happiness for them to follow. Could I not, then, be in danger of creating an idol, a god of my own creation?”
If this comment makes you slow a little, well then, good, it did to me when I re-read it.
Later in the day, I listened to a song from Teshuva called Trust in God that is based on Psalm 115. The song and the Scripture it references are connected to the subject of idols. Let’s take a look at a key spiritual point, which I would call a spiritual law, that is, the chorus of the song.
“May those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.” Psalm 115:8 (Septuagint). What it refers to is the concept that those who build and trust in idols will take on the attributes of what they build.
We have a Problem.
The current time period we are in of leaders getting exposed is something many of us are not fully grasping. Because we look at things through the “lens” of whatever Christian flavor we are connected to, we only see a small section. I’ve listened to a few people who have tried to keep track of the numbers of the fallen across the various Christian faiths over the last few years.
Some would say it’s safe to say a ten or twenty have fallen, maybe a few others might get venturesome to say maybe a hundred have fallen in the body. But according to one pastor in Arizona, he finally quit keeping track of all the leaders AROUND THE WORLD, AS IT JUST BECAME TOO DEPRESSING for him. So would it shock you to know the numbers around the world in all of Christiandom is closer to 7000?
7000, and the majority have been issues related to sexual sins of some kind. This means several things.
We have a bad model for leadership being taught.
Leadership training needs to have an open and on going descussion about sexual temptation from a biblical standpoint.
Leaders have no resources around them to teach them about spirits of lust, perversion, and pride. Or how a healthy spiritual body works to protect itself.
Another issue within the body is the elevation of man. We do it not only in the religious realm, but also in the political, cultural, and even in the workplace. This is because, at the core, man was made to worship God. And when Man has been deprived of the real, he will go looking for the fake. This is why so many end up worshiping creation or their leaders.
Their eyes have been blinded to the real.
Cults use this to retrain the mind away from the maker of creation and then insert whatever programming they want for a desired effect. And once the heart is connected, breaking the connection can be like a divorce because the emotions are now intertwined around this false belief.
This is why, and I would submit that the current system for training pastors and church leaders is insufficient, as much of it rests on worldly principles of church growth, social networking, and corporate business models. I would submit that the old system must die.
Whose Faith is it?
“We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.” Colossians 1:28 NASB In 40 plus years of being a Christian, I have lived on the east and the west coast, several states, and as I ponder this Apostolic call. I must admit, I do not think I have seen a person “complete” in Christ yet. Of course, when I say that, I am saying this from my current point of view and current relationship with the Lord.
What I believe I see is a LOT of congregations with people and leaders satisfied with their current level of immaturity. Most are not growing their faith; they are clinging to the coattails of someone else above them for the emotional thrill of a possible spiritual experience. It’s true, if you have been in a Charismatic, Pentecostal, or any similar group for any time, you have most likely noticed how many people follow certain “prophets.”
Here is what I was told from the Holy Spirit, “These people follow men, who follow other men, but who follows me?” Let that sink in.
We are all people following people; as a result, we are now trapped on the hamster wheel of immaturity, and faith does not grow. Case in point, how many have been in churches when they all “believe” a certain teaching of the senior pastor? This man lays down the law of how we do this and not that. This is often given out of a misguided attempt to protect the flock. But like a child who is never allowed to make a mistake, so that they learn better. The congregation is not trained in the skills of discernment and wisdom.
Do you know the places I speak of?
This last time I ran a group, I chose not to go down that road. Why?
Because (as I told them) if I do that, if I do what other leaders have done, then you’re following my faith and not building yours, and I have interfered with the process Paul laid out in Colossians 1:28, “…so that we may present every person complete in Christ.” And is it good to deliver a half-made project for a gift to a King and claim the project is finished?
Christians can not become complete in Christ under our current hamster wheel system. Our current system is gathering people to create a bigger and bigger ministry to impress the world, other churches, and personal validation for the leader who thinks hes doing the right thing. This is a system that the Ax of the Lord is being put to the roots of the tree before our eyes in this modern age.
What Else is failing?
There are many ways, one of the bigger ones is in mentorship, but not in the ways you would think. When children grow up, they often model themselves after their parents. Little boys become like their fathers, Girls model themselves after their mothers; we all know this. The way we eat, move, and laugh is all watched and often mirrored by those behind us. The same is true in the religious realm. This is why, so often, certain denominations are known for certain actions. At one point, the foundational people did the things we now see, and then those behaviors became normal as people mimicked them.
This is how some of us can wander into a modern church and quickly realise it’s a Baptist church without anyone telling us… It carries the scent, the flavor, the layout.
In the Charismatic, it is no different, and perhaps, it’s even worse. Because of the sometimes flamboyant, over-the-top nature of things. It becomes extremely easy for young leaders (and regular attendees) to start admiring what they see. That admiration and sometimes misplaced respect can be a slippery slope to worship.
In the last place I worked on the East Coast, I’ve watched people trip all over themselves to make sure that the “Man of God” had everything he needed. This was often done under the flag of “stewardship, respect, and honoring” those above you. The culture itself trained this misplaced servitude. For more on this, CLICK THIS LINK.
What I saw was that the rules of Psalm 115 were in effect. Those who trust in these idols (because that is what many leaders had become) and those who supported and built them up would take on the attributes or nature of them. Whatever good and holy, as well as hidden and sinful, was rolling down to the people. This is why so much abuse of alcohol and hard liquor happened; what was at the top was caught and assimilated by those below.
Going Back
So, back to my quote, “If I put God in a box of my own creation, and enforce on others a religion of happiness for them to follow. Could I not, then, be in danger of creating an idol, a god of my own creation?” As the old system crumbles and the Lord starts promoting replacement leaders, we need to be careful what we create and promote. Just because we like something, or we have currently given ourselves permission in various areas, does not make it Holy. What we tolerate may someday become someone else’s pet teaching, and all that’s going to get burned up. 1 Corinthians 3:13-15.
True ministry should aim to present each person’s faith mature in Christ, not dependent on the borrowed faith or the personality of human leaders and their ministries.
