Out and About 14 When Leaders Are Victims They Victimize

[HKHaugan]

“…the great Western heresy - that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God (Mrs.K.J.Schori, Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church---quoted from her 2009 speech opening the National Convention of that church).”

 

Every generation has its own style, its own images and its own idioms.  We talk about the ‘beat’ generation, the ‘yuppies,’ the ‘hippies,’ the ‘x’er’s,’---for academics, the post-modern generation,---each had its own verbal expression and the mental pictures they evoked.  We all have been through them and as each passed we found they were simply cultural waves, social currents that were spiritually fueled. Intellectuals bathe in them to identify that they belong to the academic elite whose current is to appear superior to those who don’t think as extensively as they do.  Every age has them and every age sees them go. They may look and sound different from age to age but the same dynamics operate in all of them. 

 

The above quote from Mrs. Schori, for instance, is the present spiritually deceptive attitude that has victimized the leadership of many denominations, which have succumbed to the spirit of the age.  That attitude is one of superior condescension by intellectually gifted wordsmiths who move in a vacuous atmosphere of subtlety.  We live in a time of intellectual subtlety.  Notice the number of universities whose faculties take great delight in belittling any faculty member espousing Christian faith.  It is not only an intellectual attack but also the kind of attack that is embedded in an emotional cushion.  It is an attitudinal agreement that inherently declares, bottom line, there really is no God and therefore the Bible, which may have some literary value, is ultimately worthless as authoritative in anything.  It is amazing that the very university systems that supposedly support all options open for free discourse in research, sharing and debate close the door to biblical reasoning.

 

Back to subtlety.  Subtlety is the dynamic the sinful nature uses to weave a pretentious personal redefinition into the fabric of ‘religious’ thinking.  That dynamic is courted by the spirit of the anti-Christ who lurks in the cloister of theological sophistication ready to deceive those who believe they are the new wave for contemporary ‘religious’ thinking.  That spirit works its language into the verbiage of the age and spouts words like ‘inclusivism’  ‘multiculturalism’ ‘racism’ ‘sexism’ ‘homophobia’ ‘feminism’---their definitions founded in the self-impressed creativity of a non-biblically oriented mind.  

 

This mindset has crept into every corner of the academic world.  It is this very elitist mindset that has captivated and compromised the non-biblically oriented intellect in denominational leadership. 

 

The shame in so much denominational leadership is how compromised it is when facing the world’s evils.  Jesus looked at the leadership of the Temple in His time and drove its offenders out with these words, “It is written, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers (Luke 19:46).’”

 

This mindset also fosters the defensiveness in an age where everyone is ‘feeling offended’ by someone or something. It caters to the social paranoia of the age.  Everyone is against me, my lifestyle and where I live.  Denominational leadership decides its mission is to solve and ‘save’ through social action replacing biblical authority and teaching with self-gratifying emotional and political activity.

 

This self-impressing mindset is nourished by the spirit of the anti-Christ and employs emotionality to build a barrier against any attempt at reasoned spiritual thinking.  Further it is the mindset that leads us into moral anarchy, “Whatever feels good, do it” and “Take control of your life” and the flippant “Let the devil take tomorrow” (only to discover too late, he will). 

 

No wonder there is such a rash of angry reaction and contempt toward anyone or any school that attempts to maintain personal and interpersonal trust in Holy Scripture as the ultimate authority for human living.  If there is anything we as disciples of Jesus need to be reminded of is that we are in a spiritual battle and only spiritual methods can be used to offset the evil forces working so hard in this generation (Eph.6:10-18). 

 

This is also precisely why we need to be on the alert when those who use the word ‘Christian’ to identify themselves, wander far astray from Scripture in their speeches.  Note that in Mrs.Schori’s statement there is no citation of Scripture to support her accusation of heresy.  She is the author of that statement.  She relies on her authority as a denominational leader, not God’s.  She has conveyed in her statement that she is more authoritative than the third chapter of the Gospel of John not to mention the rest of Scripture. Add to this the contents of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer that from cover to cover contains one’s personal manual for personal worship designed to bring depth and meaning to the hearts and minds of its readers.  Not only that but she has in one sentence declared the great bulk of the world’s Christian population heretical. 

 

On the other hand a true disciple of Jesus is always ready to back up any personal conclusion with Scripture.  But we have to be careful in our use of Scripture.  Scripture is not a weapon to gain control in an argument or to prove how right we are.  It is attitude governed by spirit.  The question is always ‘What spirit is controlling me at any given moment, the Holy Spirit or another?’  Anger, lust, greed, ego, superiority, deceit---name it, retreat if necessary, pray and yield to the Holy Spirit’s leading.  The Scripture is a ‘love’ manual.  It is the Holy Spirit’s directive allowing Him to guide every next moment.  It is our spiritual attitude shaper.  Jesus is its message and it is Him we convey as it is used in His love.