|
Fighting with the Authorities
December 7, 2011 |
|
|
|
||
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
wont 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. Ill 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 didnt 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 goats 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 18:15-17Step
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
friends position.Every word I
have written is true. They cant deny it. They just dont 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 dont
want men to be independent Christians dependant on Christ they
want them to be dependant Christians dependant on them. They
dont 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 arent 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 cant 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 fishfine, or if you
decide to cut baitfine. 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 4:17As I recall,
Jesus ate a lot of fish.© 2012 Dave Daubenmire –
All Rights Reserved
Coach Dave Daubenmire, founder and
President of Pass The Salt Ministries
www.ptsalt.com and Minutemen
United
www.minutemenunited.org, is host of the high octane Pass The
Salt radio show heard in Columbus, Ohio.In 1999 Coach Daubenmire was sued by the
ACLU for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio.
He now spends his energy fighting for Christian principles in the
public domain.E-Mail:
coach@ptsalt.com
See also
I am a Proud Conspiracy Theorist