Post by philiprosenthal on Jul 20, 2006 9:34:07 GMT
RELIGIOUS ELITISM: DOES IT CAUSE AIDS (ACQUIRED INTEGRITY DEFICIENCY SYNDROME)
With all the multiple scandals and abuses in EveryNation one has to ask why is this denomination getting so much of it - especially when such behaviour is against their official teaching?
Are many of the leaders are suffering from some underlying disease which makes them vulnerable to infection with all types of other spiritual diseases? Is we see on the surface (sex, money and power abuse scandals) just the symptom of a more serious underlying condition?
I would answer: Yes. That underlying disease I think is religious elitism. It was the first malady that Jesus attacked with respect to the Pharisees (Matthew 23). A preoccupation with status symbols (Titles: Pastor, apostle, prophet); different clothing; five star hotels, first class flights, big houses, exaggurated introductions, authoritarian and unaccountable structures etc all reinforce this elitism.
It leads to a false type of religiosity, where people try to pretend what they are not; then deceive to maintain that facade; emphasise trivialities they are good at; focus on externalities; and persecute those real Christians who try to challenge the phoney religiosity.
Every Christian organisation, just like your physical body is being continually attacked by evil spiritual forces, deceptions, problems, relational conflicts etc - just like germs try to infect your body. In a healthy body, these attacks are fought off by the immune system. But where the immune system is compromised by HIV/AIDS, or authoritarianist elitism - then leaders don't listen to those who point out problems and want to try fix them. They think they have all the answers and will listen to no one. Congregation members and junior leaders think they have no right to challenge. Thus problems don't get fixed - and they grow worse and worse - until they eventually explode into massive out of control scandals. In a healthy church, there will be wicked people and godly leaders who fall, but they will be found out and dealt with fast before they cause too much damage. Many of them will resist temptation because they realise they will get caught if they sin. But the clever autocrat thinks he can get away with sin by manipulating the system and using his power to defend himself.
I won't accuse all EveryNation leaders of this, but I move around a lot in senior Christian leadership circles in almost all denominations (Roman Catholics to Pentecostals; denominations and NGOs) - and I have never seen behaviour like this so bad or so widespread anywhere else. The religious elitism in EveryNation-His People is fringe. It's bordering on cultic. It's not normal Christianity. A lot of leaders have been there too long and got too isolated from other churches to realise this.
While I was still in His People, I used to represent the organisation at certain inter-denominational gatherings. There, other Christian leaders would tell me how they had been offended by the arrogance of other His People leaders, and urged me not to follow this example. I also got to meet numerous men in top positions, who were and are very humble and used no status symbols or pretentions of hyper-spirituality or autocracy etc. Decisions were made following due process often by voting and after giving everyone a chance to speak - not by some super-anointed man of God just demanding everyone do what 'God has told him to do'.
Religious elitism like HIV/AIDS is infectious. If you hang around this type of leader, you put yourself in serious danger of catching it. And it will mess up all the rest of your spiritual life. Avoid such people like leppers. Tell them to repent. Don't crave their endorsement or promotion. God can give you much better promotion than them.
How do people catch it?
i. They copy the behavour of the leader - even unconciously.
ii. They believe the lies of the leader about the 'superiority of our group'.
iii. They get abused by the leader and then take out their anger by abusing someone below them.
iv. They see the hierachy as a ladder they want to climb and thus try to climb it.
v. But the most dangerous method of catching it is 'discipleship'. If you allow yourself to be 'discipled/mentored' by an elitist spiritual leader - you are in serious danger. Get out fast.
If you have already had such discipleship, you need to get help fast, before it totally messes you up:
* Recommend move to another church where the leader is a humble man you can learn from.
* Read some books on spiritual abuse - recommend 'Healing spiritual abuse' by Ken Blue - download at www.vineyardbi.org
This is dangerous stuff - keep away from elitist disciplers.
Therefore I argue that to stop more scandals we need to:
i. Stop the culture of elitism. All leaders should behave like normal human beings - not a religious priesthood.
ii. Restructure every church and ministry to allow a voice for the ordinary person to ask questions and have his concerns fairly addressed.
With all the multiple scandals and abuses in EveryNation one has to ask why is this denomination getting so much of it - especially when such behaviour is against their official teaching?
Are many of the leaders are suffering from some underlying disease which makes them vulnerable to infection with all types of other spiritual diseases? Is we see on the surface (sex, money and power abuse scandals) just the symptom of a more serious underlying condition?
I would answer: Yes. That underlying disease I think is religious elitism. It was the first malady that Jesus attacked with respect to the Pharisees (Matthew 23). A preoccupation with status symbols (Titles: Pastor, apostle, prophet); different clothing; five star hotels, first class flights, big houses, exaggurated introductions, authoritarian and unaccountable structures etc all reinforce this elitism.
It leads to a false type of religiosity, where people try to pretend what they are not; then deceive to maintain that facade; emphasise trivialities they are good at; focus on externalities; and persecute those real Christians who try to challenge the phoney religiosity.
Every Christian organisation, just like your physical body is being continually attacked by evil spiritual forces, deceptions, problems, relational conflicts etc - just like germs try to infect your body. In a healthy body, these attacks are fought off by the immune system. But where the immune system is compromised by HIV/AIDS, or authoritarianist elitism - then leaders don't listen to those who point out problems and want to try fix them. They think they have all the answers and will listen to no one. Congregation members and junior leaders think they have no right to challenge. Thus problems don't get fixed - and they grow worse and worse - until they eventually explode into massive out of control scandals. In a healthy church, there will be wicked people and godly leaders who fall, but they will be found out and dealt with fast before they cause too much damage. Many of them will resist temptation because they realise they will get caught if they sin. But the clever autocrat thinks he can get away with sin by manipulating the system and using his power to defend himself.
I won't accuse all EveryNation leaders of this, but I move around a lot in senior Christian leadership circles in almost all denominations (Roman Catholics to Pentecostals; denominations and NGOs) - and I have never seen behaviour like this so bad or so widespread anywhere else. The religious elitism in EveryNation-His People is fringe. It's bordering on cultic. It's not normal Christianity. A lot of leaders have been there too long and got too isolated from other churches to realise this.
While I was still in His People, I used to represent the organisation at certain inter-denominational gatherings. There, other Christian leaders would tell me how they had been offended by the arrogance of other His People leaders, and urged me not to follow this example. I also got to meet numerous men in top positions, who were and are very humble and used no status symbols or pretentions of hyper-spirituality or autocracy etc. Decisions were made following due process often by voting and after giving everyone a chance to speak - not by some super-anointed man of God just demanding everyone do what 'God has told him to do'.
Religious elitism like HIV/AIDS is infectious. If you hang around this type of leader, you put yourself in serious danger of catching it. And it will mess up all the rest of your spiritual life. Avoid such people like leppers. Tell them to repent. Don't crave their endorsement or promotion. God can give you much better promotion than them.
How do people catch it?
i. They copy the behavour of the leader - even unconciously.
ii. They believe the lies of the leader about the 'superiority of our group'.
iii. They get abused by the leader and then take out their anger by abusing someone below them.
iv. They see the hierachy as a ladder they want to climb and thus try to climb it.
v. But the most dangerous method of catching it is 'discipleship'. If you allow yourself to be 'discipled/mentored' by an elitist spiritual leader - you are in serious danger. Get out fast.
If you have already had such discipleship, you need to get help fast, before it totally messes you up:
* Recommend move to another church where the leader is a humble man you can learn from.
* Read some books on spiritual abuse - recommend 'Healing spiritual abuse' by Ken Blue - download at www.vineyardbi.org
This is dangerous stuff - keep away from elitist disciplers.
Therefore I argue that to stop more scandals we need to:
i. Stop the culture of elitism. All leaders should behave like normal human beings - not a religious priesthood.
ii. Restructure every church and ministry to allow a voice for the ordinary person to ask questions and have his concerns fairly addressed.