Authority 3, A History of War
So now that I’ve described the basis of Authority and how it’s used through history, and presented a pattern that describes how authority continually goes wrong, let me now turn to how that error makes this world what it is and why it is at the root of our responsibility in any spiritual battle and expose it in action today.
I’m not trying to be authoritative or assuming any authority myself. At the root of my argument here is the stated fact that God is not just the root of authority in Christian theology, but He is in fact the source of all authority throughout reality.
I’m just postulating here. I’m suggesting or assuming the existence, fact, or truth of (something) as a basis for discussion, reasoning, or belief.
I touched briefly on the psychology of the self, or ego. I have a lot I can say on this topic, but suffice it to say for this conversation that this is the root of our constant battle with the Authority of God and the separation from God.
That implies that maybe Adam and Eve weren’t created with one. I don’t think I’d go that far. Firstly, whenever the bible talks about that first sin it uses words like fallen, which to me would imply moving from a good state to a tainted state. I don’t know how much of this comes from translation and how much comes from the intent of the ones who wrote it. I don’t even want to get into that. There is evidence of a locus, a physical spot in the brain where things like spiritual thought and selfishness originate. A physical locus that is consistent.
In any event, let me present a description of that battle.
1) Satan
We start with Satan, who was described as the most beautiful and perfect in Ezekiel 28:12, 15, 17
“12 … You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
“15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created”
“17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty…”
And then it says something interesting:
“17 … thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness…”
His wisdom, chokmah in Hebrew, is described as being skilled wisdom or wisdom of creation, those things in reality, and how to administer them.
As it alludes in Ezekiel and other places he saw his own greatness and decided to put himself above God. This is the first example of one trying to subvert the Authority of God for himself.
2) Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve knew with definite proof that God was real. They still chose their own will over God’s. They sought to be like God by knowing the difference between good and evil. Not unlike many since that time, clearly knowing that God is real is no protection from wanting to be God. The Authority of truth, at least for themselves.
2b) Cain and Abel
Almost immediately God starts establishing that faith and trust work. When Abel presents his sacrifice he does so following God’s instructions and it is accepted. Cain decides to do it his way and the sacrifice is rejected. We all know what happens next.
3) Antediluvian
There are several examples in this time period of people choosing their own truth over God’s, and it eventually resulted in the flood.
4) Babel
Another example of man trying to be like God by virtue of his own efforts. Whatever you may believe the Tower was or how you may interpret these verses, I’ve never met anyone who had a different idea of the problem, that man was relying on his own authority.
5) Abram
Abram, who later became Abraham and is considered the father of the Abrahamic religions, was told by God that his 90+-year-old wife would bear a miraculous son. His wife, Sarai/Sarah, laughed and I’m sure she really had to twist his arm to go have a child with her younger slave Hagar. God made a point to show him the error of his ways by making a son with his own earthly efforts and a slave when God’s intention was for the birth to be a miracle with a free woman. God then produced that miracle child, Jacob, with Abraham and an unlikely infertile and aged mother Sarah. Again, man tried to accomplish God’s will through his own efforts.
6) Moses
Moses of course is one of the two men God chose to counsel with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, a choice of huge importance. Moses was a great man for faithing. One time he depended on his own however when he struck the stone of Jacob twice, you can argue all you want as to why he did so, but God clearly told them “Because you didn’t do what I said” he would be punished for doing his own and striking it twice. Moses’ faithing was beyond reproach otherwise as God did not speak to him again for 40 years while they all wandered the desert as they still kept to the task. A feat of herculean proportions when compared to everyone else’s faithing before or since.
7) David
Israel wanted a king and God told them to wait. They went ahead and got Saul anyway and then weren’t happy with him. When God’s choice came along (David) Saul tried to kill him. After David was installed as king they had the best most blessed time in their history.
8) Jesus
Jesus is not really an example of contrast, but his apostles and the early church are very important to this pattern.
Almost immediately after His death and with the appointment of the so-called brother of the lord James, Christianity came under attack in the way I’m describing. Historical evidence indicates that James was favored by the existing Jewish leaders and tried to bring early Christianity back into line with Jewish thought. He was known as the man with the knees of a came due to his habit of continuously kneeling and praying in the synagogues and temples. History indicates he was behind or involved with all the tension between Peter and, in time, Paul over adding conditions to the gospel message such as keeping the kosher food laws or keeping circumcision. There is no evidence anywhere of him ever converting to Christianity, try to find it. The story of the history behind the Pauline epistles all point to an ongoing struggle between faith alone vs works or faith plus works that we still argue about today. This is the most blatant example of this battle for authority between the authority of God vs the authority transferring to man. By requiring anything other than faithing for salvation by grace it places the onus on us and our behavior, no matter how small the effort may be. Circumcision is one of the smallest amounts of effort a person can put into their salvation, and it only affects half the population. And yet the bible clearly shows the apostles standing up to including it in the gospel very seriously. It’s seriously one of the most pervasive and ridiculous arguments you could find, as I’ll demonstrate soon in future videos. This pattern continues from here…
9) Early Christian Church becomes the Catholic Church
Under serious persecution in the Roman Empire, the early church doesn’t have many records that might tell us about the struggles in this pattern they may have fought. Many other sources can detail the Wild West type environment of these early centuries of the church and the battles that took place between all the different ideas about the church and the gospel. Regardless, eventually, Christianity was recognized by the Roman Emporer Constantine providing some legitimacy and relief from persecution. From then on, what would come to be known as the Catholic Church gained more and more political power and wealth. Eventually resulting in the infallibility of the Pope and other doctrines more in the Authority of Man camp than the Authority of God camp. I’m not going to get too much into it here, saving lengthier discussions for later conversations.
10) Buddhism
I don’t want to give the wrong impression about Buddhism. It does contain a great deal of good and honest moral truth and teachings on how to live a life that is surprisingly happy and peaceful.
Years ago if you looked up what a religion is, you would find a list of items required such as a code of morals, a creation mythology, beliefs about life after death, and a centralized hierarchical organization for the administration of the faithful and handling the conversion thereof. Back then, up until just 20 years or so ago it would also almost universally include a divine power or authority. Up until then, Buddhism would not qualify. It has taken a great deal of change in how we think and what’s generally accepted in society to make Buddhism fit into the panoply of world religions. No one ever doubted that the Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, was divine or a god. In fact, the early councils of Buddhism tried repeatedly while he was alive to elect him to the position and he refused every single time. It wasn’t until over 20 years after his death that they voted him to godhood.
Buddhism represents the highest form of moral authority that man can muster, absent from God. It represents the best we can do alone.
11) Schism(s)
It is difficult to agree on a date for the event where the start of the schism was apparent. A quick examination of schisms from the 4th century up to the 1800s will easily demonstrate that throughout most of the differences were to be found differences in opinion about this same issue. The priest Arius‘ denial of Christ’s divine nature was one of the reasons the Council of Nicaea convened. He embodied the spirit of elite Greek culture, present in cities such as Alexandria, and he fell under the influence of various dualistic and gnostic schools. The root of Gnosticism becomes an important force in the battle to make man the authority.
12) Gnosticism
We could talk about Gnosticism for days, but it has always been antithetical to Christianity’s core belief in the authority of Jesus, and that rather than sin as the barrier between us and God the true barrier is ignorance. The same mistake as Adam and Eve that started this whole mess. Unfortunately, it still thrives today, and it can be said it is currently enjoying a resurgence.
13) Martin Luther
The individual’s quest for purpose and constancy in life led him to the field of philosophy, yet he found it to be equally unfulfilling. This was due to the fact that philosophy relied on human reasoning and interpretation of ever-changing circumstances, which he believed to be unreliable because human reasoning is inherently flawed. As humans, we are at the mercy of subjective interpretations of our experiences. The individual believed that God held the key to ultimate truth, but was unsure of how to pursue a meaningful and lasting communion with the divine. Having been raised to fear God as a strict and unforgiving judge, he could not imagine any other way of understanding the divine.
In July 1505, a storm struck while Luther was returning to university. After lightning hit a nearby tree, he vowed to become a monk. He sold his books and joined St. Augustine’s Monastery on 17 July 1505, much to his father’s dismay.
Luther took his vow to Saint Anne extremely seriously because he was absolutely terrified of death, and he firmly believed that the saint had saved his life that day of the storm. His fear of death originated directly from his understanding of God as an all-knowing and all-powerful divine being, who could see into people’s hearts and punish them for their shortcomings. As a deeply flawed human being, Luther recognized that there was no way for him to earn God’s forgiveness or attain life after death in heaven, and he could only envision the endless torments of hell for eternity.
He devoted himself to a strict discipline of prayer, fasting, almost constant confession of sin, and studying the scripture but still could not conceive of a loving God who offered forgiveness.
As the story goes, in the midst of his suffering with this church doctrine-inspired shame, around 1513 a nameless monk saw his suffering and told him just two words: “Read Romans”. The rest is history. After much study and prayer, He discovered the message of faith alone, by grace alone, by scripture alone. This experience also impressed upon Luther the primacy of the scripture over church teachings, as the Church had been unable to offer him anything meaningful in dealing with his spiritual struggles, while the biblical passage had opened the way for complete communion with the divine.
14) The Jesuits
This order was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions, with the approval of Pope Paul III. Members of the Society of Jesus make a profession of “perpetual poverty, chastity, and obedience” and “promise a special obedience to the sovereign pontiff regarding the missions” to the effect that a Jesuit is expected to be directed by the Pope “perinde ac cadaver” (“as if he was a lifeless body”) and to accept orders to go anywhere in the world, even if required to live in extreme conditions.
This is the epitome of worldly authority in the battle, as it was created a few decades after Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation with the express goal of combatting Protestantism.
The Papacy, the Jesuits, and the Council of Trent all contributed to this revival. However, in the end, this “rebirth” of the Catholic Church was nothing more than an attempt to maintain its historical doctrine of the church while simultaneously battling the Protestants who were now winning over the spiritual minds and hearts of people across Europe.
15) Theosophy
Theosophy is a 19th-century occult movement rooted in ancient Gnosticism, meaning “divine wisdom” in Greek. It’s held by Rosicrucians, speculative Freemasons, and independent theosophical groups in the UK, who originated the New Age movement in the ’70s and ’80s.
Theosophy as a religion was established in the United States during the late 19th century, founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and drawing its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky’s writings. Theosophy played a significant role in bringing knowledge of South Asian religions to Western countries.
If you were to ask 20 different people what the beliefs of theosophy are you might get 30 different answers, but the common thread is that man is of the same essence as God and seeks to return to be a part of God, and that man achieves this through knowledge, intuition, and meditation.
Sound familiar?
There is a notable historical connection between Gnosticism and Christianity alternatives in the Western world, by way of Theosophy. Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley were influential figures in the theosophical movement, which had a significant impact on various religious and spiritual movements, including Anton LaVey’s Satanism, L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology, Wicca, and the modern New Age and New Thought movements. Although Alice Bailey, who joined the movement in 1917, is widely credited with introducing the term “New Age”.
Theosophy not only provides much of the framework and the vocabulary for today’s New Age movement; Many women of the Theosophical Society became suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting to create a political role for women as a way to “sacralize the public sphere and creating the feminist movement.
Don’t be shocked, there is no way anyone can reconcile feminism with Ephesians 5:22-24.
Prominent scientists who belonged to the Theosophical Society included the inventor Thomas Edison, the biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, and the chemist William Crookes, among others. Theosophical ideas were also an influence on the Irish literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, with writers such as Charles Johnston, George Russell, John Eglinton, Charles Weeks, and William Butler Yeats having an interest in the movement. Their influence can be seen in many well-known fringe figures today such as David Icke. Theosophy came to heavily influence “popular religiosity” and by the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries was “permeating just about every nook and cranny of contemporary “folk” religious culture” in Western countries. It was a major influence on the New Age milieu of the latter twentieth century. It played an important role in promoting belief in reincarnation among Westerners.
Theosophists have infiltrated Academics and politicians in the last 20 years and are directly linked to progressive politics today. The ideas and beliefs are currently being espoused in Christian churches and Christian academia in the US as you read this. Right now there is a movement to eliminate ‘justified by faith’ among biblical studies academics from the gospel messages of Paul.
16) Communism
I’m not going to get into the history or theories of communism here, men much better than I have already done that, and it’s easy to find. I just want to point out that the briefest investigation of communist literature should provide you with ample evidence that Communism is the epitome of man stealing authority for himself.
When Karl Mark was asked what his object in life was, he said, “To dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” They announce it freely and to the world that they are the anti-Christianity. I’ve covered parts of this before and will definitely get into it again, but of all people that should know without a doubt that Communism is one of the greatest threats to Christianity being openly and freely practiced by free people, Communism not only fits the bill but does so willingly.
To quote Skousen from his seminal work The Naked Communist:
“Ludwig Feuerbach announced that: “The turning point of history will be the moment man becomes aware that the only God of man is man himself.”
“The strategy of the materialists was to appropriate to themselves the toga of “science” and take credit for all scientific accomplishments. Then they determined to ridicule and rationalize away all the things which they opposed by pronouncing them “unscientific.” Thus they attacked the Bible, called themselves higher critics, and attempted to explain it away. They explained the worship of God as being merely the effort of man to project the qualities of his own better nature into some fictitious superior being. They called Jesus Christ an itinerant preacher whose life and writings were effeminate and weak. They ridiculed the possibility of his resurrection. They denied the immortality of human life or the existence of the spirit or soul. They said that man was nothing but a graduate beast and that human life —especially the other man’s life —was no more sacred than that of a centipede, a caterpillar, or a pig.”
The growth of Communism in the world, and specifically in the United States, is a matter of record and history. It should be noted that no Christian country has ever turned Communist, and they know it. They have a vested interest in destroying Christianity in America before they can do away with our government.
Summary
I could fill a dozen more pages with examples of the battle of Authority throughout history. This is the core of Spiritual Warfare that we Christians must attend to in our own lives because we are constantly determining Authority in every little thing in our lives, it is the key to determining the object of our faithing, in worshiping our Father who art in Heaven, and all efforts we may make in our earthly lives for better or worse. I do love to hear preachers and teachers talking about the Armour of God. The belt of truth will be weak without us being honest with ourselves about the authority we allow into our lives; any breastplate of righteousness is brittle without a righteousness that comes from Jesus through Grace alone without our filthy rags of works; our shield of faithing will miss the flaming arrows without knowing the object of our faithing resides in the One that has all power and all authority, and; there will be no helmet of salvation if we look to our own efforts nor any sword of the Spirit if we mistake our own spirit for the one that came at Pentecost.
If you remember where we started and the last three videos I made on this subject, the concept of authority is much more than who can be a preacher or the ideas of truth or responsibility as it is commonly described today. It is a hugely important concept in Christianity that touches on so many other ideas that we can’t escape it. Since the fall of Satan, we have been locked in a struggle to reject our self or ego’s authority and embrace the Authority of God. Jesus Christ was His own authority, thus further glorifying the Authority of God. This can be a complex subject just by virtue of how distributed it is in so many areas of our day-to-day lives as well as that of man on this world through the stage of history itself.
Right now there are academics and others who are attempting to dispense with ‘Justified by Faith’ concepts in our gospel. There are mega-churches spreading the gospel of our own works, and that we are ‘just like God’. We are constantly bombarded by forces of hate, extolling ‘identity’ as their personal god, and that we each have a personal ‘truth’ that all others must honor. The trust we had in our traditional earthly authorities like the law and science and the news and our very rulers has been shattered so severely that everyone is carrying a ‘conspiracy theory’ around in our beliefs.
I’m not the guy that spends a lot of thought on the end times. I’ve said many times that you don’t need to believe in the Book of Revelations to be a Christian. I never have been that kind of Christian. I believe there has been more insanity, misinformation, and abuse around that one book than any other, that a new Christian should be required to practice Christianity for ten years before they are allowed to look at it. From the view of the general public one might believe that Revelations and Genesis 6 with Enoch were the central most important concepts of Christianity.
I know that all I need to be concerned with is my life, and I am not supposed to spend my days focused on when the end may come.
So please don’t mistake this dissertation today with anything to do with end times doomsaying. My sole purpose for throwing these examples together like this is to illustrate that the battle is the same, it’s still being engaged today with new weapons, and that the glory of God can be found in how His Authority has never diminished in all this time and is still going strong today.