Question Authority!!!

   I once heard a sermon, where the preacher was teaching on “Respect for authority.”   He was upset about a bumper sticker he had seen, which simply read, “Question Authority!” Apparently, this preachers authority was in question, as he reminded the congregation of God’s call on his life, his knowledge of the Word and their need for him as a protective covering over them.   I’m sure he would have liked it if the few remaining members drank the kool-aid without complaint.   His influence over the people was dependent on their unquestioning obedience to his self-proclaimed authority.   I thought that true authority would be secure enough in itself to invite inquiry as an opportunity to impart wisdom to others and not barricade itself behind a defensive wall of self-justification.  Scripture teaches,

 

Prov 9:8-9 ~ Prov 27:5,6 ~ James 3:17

Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser ~ Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend ~ The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

    Remember the Bereans! ( Acts 17:11 ) Whenever any so-called authority acts insecure, demanding or controlling, it’s because the highest authority of God’s Truth and Love are not in them. Flee for your life! Dictators and cult leaders require blind allegiance and do not tolerate their doctrine being scrutinized. It is every free thinker’s intellectual duty to inquire, verify and cross examine resources presented, to hold accountable, expose and confront all error with Truth. God created your intellect and reasoning skills, so you could use them to discern truth from error, love from fear and gain the wisdom of Christ, so that you are nobody‘s fool.

    For centuries, the Roman Catholic church controlled and exploited the masses, keeping the naïve subjugated by denying them access to God’s Word; limiting it’s dissemination except through a self-serving priesthood who manipulated it’s interpretation for personal advantage. The illiterate masses became dependents to the church and were denied the most basic human right necessary for self-awakening; the freedom to pursue and access Truth themselves. Jesus said, in Luke 11:52  

 “ Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."   

   So likewise today, most church systems, denominational boards and their bylaws allow no legitimate challenges to their orthodoxy as they deny dissenting viewpoints a voice in order to maintain pseudo-unity under their rule.   I refuse to be sedated!   Passive people are easily manipulated by men and spirits not of God. They’re exploited by demonic doctrines which upfront seem reasonable, yet eventually enslave them. “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine”.    To incrementally trade off your liberties for a false sense of security, is to sell your birthright for a bowl of beans.  Like Esau, you’re selling your heritage into bondage down the road. My heart burns within me, I am weary of modern-day Pharisees, these micro-monarchs who corral God's people for their own selfish motives; who build kingdoms unto themselves in order to bolster their ego. It sickens me, how they heal the people slightly and make a big show of putting Band-Aids on cancer. God grieves over the wickedness of frail men in authority, who create dependency upon themselves, so they can feel important, valuable and potent. Whose corruption is multiplied through systemic institutions which reinforce their dysfunction and offer a meager pittance for the dependents they create.

Comments

[Ramona]

I like this. It is one of my rally cries also, and I too have been called to task for expressing such a thought. The problem, as you state it here, is that those who do not have authority often set themselves up as such persons, therefore, we need to question that which presents itself as a voice of authority. At no time do I prompt anyone to rebel against true authority, but to question if the authoritative sounding voice is truly a voice of real authority, is in my mind, an intelligent thing to do.