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"It is better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in human beings; better to take refuge in Adonai than to put one's trust in princes." -Tehilah 118:8-9



Mind Games and Abuses of Power

I'm taking a break from election commentary, although this discussion is just as pertinent to that topic as well.

Being a believer can be a huge mind game sometimes.

When I first struck out on my own, without the support of a congregation, Rabbi, or believing friends, it didn't take long for me to realize how we are trained and ingrained to be so incredibly reliant upon one another, especially upon leadership.

Christian/Messianic Jewish culture, and even Rabbinic Jewish culture, is a personality-based belief system. Think about it: Think about the way you perceive G-d, Messiah, and His servants. In essence, they're all people in your mind, right? G-d said "Don't make a graven image of Me" and, all of a sudden, the believing world has pictures of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesuses hanging on every wall.

Depending on the branch of service you're in (a.k.a. denomination) you even have some of His compatriots right up there with Him. Today, the Christian Church idolizes servants like Rav Shaul, Kefa, Miriam, etc. as heroes of the faith-- whether you're Catholic or Protestant or a Rabbinic Jew, you have a panoply of historical figures to call on any time you need a handy quote to back up what you're professing. And, guess what? The Evangelical church and Messianic community are no different. When's the last time you saw Joel Osteen putting a picture of Mt. Sinai on the cover of one of his books? Or T.D. Jakes telling ET to show some stock footage of average church goers instead of doing a feature on his daughter's wedding? Just check out Rabbi Bruce Cohen's letter to the editor in the latest edition of The Messianic Times if you want to find out how much of a personality-bash American Messianic Judaism has become.

How many Catholics pray to Saints? How many Rabbinic Jews quote ancient Rabbis? And why? Why is the Judeo-Christian community so consumed with people-worship? Because the Greco-Roman world decided to believe in Messiah-- on their own terms. Graven images, gods with personalities and all too human foibles, the beauty of the human form-- all of that is the direct influence of Greek culture on the gentile believing world. And that influence continues to seep into the Jewish world--believing and not--in steadily increasing amounts.

Rabbinic Judaism was a direct assimilatory reaction to the rejection of Messiah and the consequent loss of the Temple and Israeli/Jewish national sovereignty. Rabbinic Judaism began in Yavneh with the denial of sacrifice as the pathway to G-d's redemption and morphed into a personality-controlled, personality-fed faith. As a result, you have a growing minority of religious Jews who can quote Talmud backwards and forwards but have absolutely no knowledge of basic scriptural texts. This cultural shift has influenced a growing majority of those born Jewish to wind up living more like secular gentiles than not-- and to be completely justified in doing so!

But, Messianic Judaism is different, right? These are the Jews and gentiles who, having forgone human tradition, turned to the scriptures with open minds and hearts. The Bible is the foundation of their faith. Like the Puritans who sailed to the shores of America for religious freedom, their bedrock and justification is the Living Word of G-d. And, just like the Puritans, the Messianics are subject to the same human faults and fallacies that act as the doormen to disaster.

The letters of the talmidim, just like the words of the prophets, urge their readers and listeners to stop acting small and to think big about the way they act towards one another. Petty jealousies, lying, power-plays and the like plagued the believing community then as they do now. In fact, they are the reason Israel lost sovereignty in the first place: Bad behavior produces bad fruit. We all know that. What we so often neglect is the result of bad fruit in the stomach of the body. Bad fruit makes you sick-- so sick, in fact, that you have to spit it out. It's a pretty standard biological reaction: expel the cause, treat the sickness, so the body can heal.

Can you imagine what G-d would look like to you if you lived in the pre-Constantine era, with no photographs, no film, no Michaelangelo to paint your icons on the stone and brick walls? He wouldn't look like Charleton Heston, or Jim Caviezel, or Joel Osteen, or T.D. Jakes, or John Hagee, or any other "name" you can think of in your own circle. He wouldn't look like your Pastor, Priest, or Rabbi, either. Big shock there.

The thing is: We can think these things, but thinking, and even comprehending them isn't enough. The "personality preachers"--world-famous and not--tend to be the best at condemning the wrong within their own communities. Of course, this condemnation tends to be a very subjective one, but the opinions of the speaker are generally glossed over by the audience that is too busy being enamored with the pomp and circumstance of the performance to worry about what is actually being said, and to whom the condemnation is being directed.

Until the condemnation is directed at them.

Like many, I have been the subject of direct and indirect condemnation in a variety of Judeo-Christian circles and, without fail, my peers in each incident were oblivious to my personal persecution until they, too, came under leadership's scrutinous glare. We're the people who believe in forgiveness and redemption, yet we thrive on creating tsuris and placing the blame.

Rarely, and not until it is too late, do we actually acknowledge the damage that has been done by digesting the bad fruit. In this case, the bad fruit are the mind games produced by gross abuses of power committed by those who forget that their leadership roles are granted to them by the same authority on which they are ultimately dependent: G-d and the move of His Spirit in His people, the body. Sick things happen when leaders get out of control, and their congregants are the ones who pay the price. And, because we're all links in a chain, the entire body pays a heftier price than we could ever imagine-- because we're too busy living small to think big.

Do you know why the top 2 commandments are to "Love the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself"? Because it is EASIER! It is TEN TIMES EASIER to love someone than to hate them, TEN TIMES EASIER to forgive someone than to hold a grudge, TEN TIMES EASIER to put your full heart in G-d and not man, and TEN TIMES EASIER to let the love you have for G-d guide you into loving relationships with one another.

Human beings don't know it all. Bodies are dust. Pictures can be erased, torn up, thrown out. But the spiritual damage of unjust condemnation, ridicule, hatred, those are wounds that can only be healed by G-d, but ones whose scars will never fully fade. Do you know why G-d commanded the Israelites to literally "cut off" members of the community who sinned? Because the act of cutting someone off, of condemning them, was a literal stripping of their identity, their very sense of self. That is not the job of any Rabbi, any Pastor, any Priest, any one. The next time you so much as utter a foul word about someone, think of that-- think of the fact that you are acting to strip that person of their identity. Then question if power and authority like that really belongs in your hands.

We live in destructive times. By our very choice to be a believer in and follower of Messiah we have made ourselves targets for the destroyer. The survivors, and the ones who will be used to ensure the nation's survival, will be the individuals who comprehend and live out the truth that G-d is the sole Creator and Authority over their identity. The individuals who refuse to submit to abuses of power will be the ones who triumph over the petty mind games by flying right past them and achieving the real Goal. And, here's a hint: It's not a front-page writeup, tickets to the "MegaChurch of the Moment" or a front row seat at the next "Famous Man's Revival Hour Broadcast LIVE!"

Keep your eyes and ears open, followers of Messiah. Maintain the integrity G-d has given you in the face of unjust condemnation--from enemies and "friends" alike.

"My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow Me, and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from My hands. My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father's hands. I and the Father are One." (Yochanan 10:27-30)

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posted by Shoshana @ 2:42 PM

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