In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!

In our time (and throughout the history of the Christian Church) there have been abusive and manipulative leaders trying to seduce the believers in the church. Jesus Himself warned for them, Paul wrote that they would rise from among the leaders in the church. I support the approach in the article from Jonas Melin in the daily Christian paper to 100% at the same time I would like to raise a flag.

The main Christian news during the “summer news drought” in Sweden has been the heretic teachings of Bennie Hinn, his divorce process and possible relationship to Paula White, which he stopped. With that as backdrop I understand the need for Jonas’ teachings as we time after time discover the lack of knowledge and discernment among believers as they run after teachers who give them what they want (and not what they need).

Jonas uses the teachings of Paul as guidelines for evaluating whether or not a teaching/sermon/preaching/dogma is from God or not. In different blogs, I have addressed exactly the same issues as Jonas in regards to teaching, the life and lifestyle of the leader and her/his character. (Don’t forget that almost all requirements for elders and deacons in the church according to Timothy and Titus are character issues – not spiritual gifts!)

The problem we face is that many people in our churches today are Biblically illiterate; they don’t have the Biblical knowledge (nor input which helps them to get it) and therefore they don’t have a sound Biblical foundation by which to evaluate teachings and people’s seductive approaches (seduction implies that things are done in a non-obvious way and therefore requires a healthy basis and discernment).

Another aspect is the we are spiritually, emotionally and socially starving; the lack of intimacy, real and meaningful relationships in the Church and the absence of God’s supernatural intervention in our society and life as Church make us very vulnerable and willing to embrace situations, contexts and leaders where things seem to happen, which at other times would not be considered interesting.

Lastly, a short observation… we live in a country where people from the day they were born have been encouraged to question everyone and everything. (Strangely enough this is not always practiced as we have seen earlier on). However, there is a deep resentment and suspicion of leadership in general. We almost exalt questioning of people in authority as a virtue within our culture. That’s why so many Christian leaders in our nations stop being leaders! It is just too hard to be a God-loving, God-fearing and God-obeying leader as people don’t show respect, reference and submission to those who are put in leadership (yes, I realize some have TAKEN this leadership position – it is not always God-given).

Hebrews 13: 15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Here we find a healthy challenge; we are to test (not to question!) everything and at the same time we are called to have a reference and respect for those whom God has put as leaders among us. My approach to this is that I will always start with TRUST – not questioning. What is your approach?

This is the Way I see it!

John