Tyrants

After posting the article on the media, I have had time to look at monopolies and the reason they have and abuse their unquestioned authority.

The media industry is run by a small cartel that determines the manner in which it operates from the ethics to the editorial content. Sad to say is that the said cartels are composed of very godless characters, some who are in the direct employ of the devil (usually called illuminati or something like that). That is the reason the media is about popularizing abominations even as they pour scorn on godly values and vocations.

I will remind us of the two tabloids created by leading newspapers in Kenya whose specialty is the sins of the pastors, especially the really shameful. Sad to say is that most of the stories are made of hearsay with no attempt at establishing the facts before writing. The same trend has been visible on the TV stations for some time now.

But I will not stop at the media, though it is at the top of this pyramid. I will look at a few other positions and responsibilities that place us in a similar position, a position where we enjoy unquestioned authority, a position where our word becomes law. In the next post I hope I will be able to give us a way out of the damnation that that tyranny invites.

Pulpiteers

This is the person who has access to a pulpit. He (again contrary to the plain teaching of scripture many are women meaning they are not exceptions) is the person who makes a living by preaching to people.

I am a preacher and love teaching God’s word. I have severally asked people to stop me as I teach to ask something if I was not clear or even ask for clarification on something I have said as they may forget if they waited till the end of the sermon. Never once have I had anyone do so. The preacher is many times treated as the voice of God that can’t be questioned even when his closeness to God is only on his lips.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (Isaiah 29:13)

Look at all the abuse God’s people go through at the hands of some of these pulpiteers? And by the way not all pulpiteers are profiteers by decision. Many are taken the profiteering route by the people they preach to. Many of the people preached to do not know the difference between the voice of God and the voice of His servant (some are not even His servants). Yet that is not the real problem. Few will care to know God beyond that servant. What he says is treated simply as what God says. But even worse is that they do not expect any responsibility to God beyond doing what that pulpiteer says. Some never entertain the thought that the pulpiteer is a person like them.

Close to thirty years ago I was invited to preach to a high school. There was also another function in another school and they invited me to join them. We had very good fellowship on the way.

What shocked me are some young people who asked me to give them the portion of scripture where an illustration I had given came from. As far as they were concerned everything I spoke came from the Bible. That is what shook me as to my responsibilities as a preacher of God’s message. It got me to appreciate this verse.

My brethren, be not many masters (teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1)

We incur greater condemnation because we exercise greater authority over the people we instruct. And this happens whether we realize it or not. We can have people do things just by suggesting because of that pulpit we occupy.

This is the reason we have pulpiteers who can impoverish their congregations just by expressing some whim. Someone can give everything they have so that the pulpiteer can buy a car or house yet the said giver does not even have food for his family. We have pulpiteers who will unite or separate families just by a sermon they preach. Some become sex maniacs because their authority on the pulpit overshoots the moral judgment of those they lead. These are things I have seen, some that I have come too close to.

Why is pulpiteering such a risky venture?

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2Corinthians 4:7)

A minister (and the pulpiteer is many times the most visible of them) can be compared to a container holding mercury. We know that mercury is the densest liquid. Think of the minister as a plastic bag. Simply speaking he has no capacity of handling all this weight without falling apart.

There are two extreme errors we can fall into. The first is to so fortify the container that it takes all the glory from what it holds. The other is to decide that mercury cannot be defiled even if it spills, unlike other liquids, that we become careless with the vessel.

The first error brings me as a minister to the point that I become more prominent than the treasure I hold (ministry). I therefore present myself in terms of being indispensible to the treasure. In other words I am more important than the ministry I carry out or that the ministry really must have me to continue. At the least we operate at par with that treasure. You see me and you are seeing the treasure. And sadly that is how many pulpiteers have packaged themselves to their congregations, whether in the church they pastor to the TV/ radio audience they pretend to pastor. These are the pulpiteers who will hold that pulpit with iron hands and jealously guard it against pulpiteers other than those he has carefully vetted for fidelity to him. These are the ones who love it when their fans go on leave when he does so as no other person can hold that treasure like him. Simply saying he becomes a god.

These pulpiteers are synonymous to the churches they lead. The sign board to the church must have the picture of the pulpiteer and his wife. At the very least it must have the name of the great man/ woman. Even an advertisement (again here the media has won over the church) of an evangelistic or ministerial outreach will never be complete if it leaves out the main guy. Even when the pulpiteer is modest (false humility is more like it), there must be no doubt as to who the main guy is. Compare that with Jesus hiding out to avoid the popularity His miracles were bringing around.

The other error is when the holder behaves as if it does not really matter whether he holds the treasure or not. He does not care for the security of that treasure. He can tear to shreds for all he cares as he is just a holder of a treasure that is safe and does not depend on his fidelity or lack of it. This minister lives his life as if it has no relation at all with the message he carries. He behaves like Samson whose lifestyle bore no relation at all to the call on his life. The pulpit becomes an extension of his rottenness as he does not have the fear of God in his life. He will therefore use the pulpit as an opportunity to express his brokenness, yet not to God who alone has the solution.

This is the person who does not mind peddling the Gospel. He will sell anything from books to anointing oil to handkerchiefs. He has no qualms about being paid for praying for or ministering to people. It does not disturb his conscience when he sleeps with his parishioners as everybody knows that he is a sinner anyway. He simply has no push to any worthiness to hold that treasure.

Yet do not for a moment forget that most of the people under his voice will take him as the voice of God and obey him without as much as a question. They may even fight anyone who may appear to question anything from the anointing to the conduct of these pulpiteers.

But do not forget that for the most part more pulpiteers are faithful to the treasure they hold than those who are otherwise. The problem is that those who are faithful to their call have no business marketing themselves or their ministry. Faithfulness to their call is all the reward they require for serving. They are what Christ called the shepherd of the sheep unlike the rest who are hirelings who are in it for the rewards they can access from that ‘ministry’.

And that is life. There needs to be a genuine for a fake to appear. Look at it this way: how much genuine currency is in circulation? Yet when ever did that genuine make any headline? You see it is the fake that will always make headlines as it seeks to be as close to the genuine as possible, and that to deceive the gullible.

That is why it is wrong to say that all pastors are crooks or all ministers are in it for gain just because the devil rightly exposes the fakes he has raised to pour scorn on such an honorable calling. How many others are doing the really transformative ministry outside the glare of the cameras? How many are interceding in their closets without shouting out that their prayers are the ones holding society together? How many are constantly receiving the ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant’ from heaven?

But you see the media is trying to kill opposition by disparaging Christian ministry. And that because these are the only ones connected to the absolute power running the world. These are the only ones with a connection to heaven that can open their eyes to see the end the media is working toward. And of course they have the muscle to shut down the media completely by using their pulpits to share what God has shown them, especially about the media.

I remember recently when we had a referendum when the church (at least part of it) took a position contrary to the one the media was on. One media house was infuriated and decided to show the church who was boss. They simply stopped airing any programs from churches and Christian organizations.  I hear the pastors told them, ‘you don’t want money from Christians, fine?

What the media house forgot was that most of their advertisers were submitted to these pulpits they had scorned. And they stopped advertising in the media house. The said media house had to plead with those pastors by giving them free airtime for their services to be able to convince their advertisers to bring back the money.

That is the reason the pulpiteer can be a tyrant. He is entrusted with a message from heaven and holds immense power for good or evil. Sadly to say that the one who is ignorant will normally use his power for evil.

Scribes

The other category of ministers is closely linked to the last. Many are nowadays both so that they can access everything their ministry can draw to them. I will therefore not dwell much on them as much of what we see with the pulpiteers applies to them.

I also need to let you know that I am in the writing ministry so that you realize that what I am writing may apply more to me than to you. I am a preacher who also happens to be a writer and so I have exposure to both aspects of ministry.

But very few will question a writer as he is thought to be an expert on the topic he has written about even if all he has done is copy and paste from this to his page. Some are experts at making a message they have simply copied more original than even the originator of the same.

A writer is compared to a cow that eats green grass and transforms it to produce white milk. A good writer is therefore one who browses widely yet is able to produce something original and life-giving. But sadly some will give clear evidence of their lack of originality by giving something similar to green milk. In fact many times it will just be a green liquid, a simple combination of the grass and water the cow had consumed. Very little digestion had occurred.

What applies to the pulpiteer applies to the scribe. It is only that they occupy different pulpits.

The Prophet

The prophet is probably the most dreaded of the tyrants. This is because He is the one whose ministry implies a clear connection to the voice of God. He is therefore revered more than any other type of minister due to that single fact.

Whereas a pulpiteer and scribe will paint using broad strokes and therefore give general highlights on people’s lives, the prophet will give very precise and direct message to a particular position.

Fighting or slighting a prophet will many times bring about quick judgment. Sample this.

Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. (2Kings 1:14)

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. (2Kings 2:23, 24)

Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king. (1Samuel 12:17)

No wonder they are the most targeted of ministers as they not only give God’s word, they give it in a very direct context. That is the reason they are the ones who fill history with their deaths.

Again that is the reason the prophet is the one everybody fights against, from the media to other ministers – because he stands the tallest and poses the greatest threat to any deviation from God’s orders.

But the prophet is also the most counterfeited ministry. It also happens to be probably the most abused ministry. This is because very few Christians will dare question a prophet even when they have enough evidence that he is either false or even operating in the flesh. But I think there is a greater concentration of con artists in this than in any other ministry because the devil does not want to take chances with a church that hears clearly from God through the mouth of His prophets.

What would you do if a prophet told you that God had ordered you to give you all the money in your pocket or account? What guidelines will you use to verify that that word came from God? What arguments will you use to explain if you felt otherwise? Would the fact that they gave you a very accurate prophecy earlier defeat your argument?

Of course there is the singer/ dancer who like Herodias daughter can cause a king to kill a prophet. That is also another field dominated by tyrants, some who are known as Gospel musicians yet spewing blasphemy after blasphemy through their music.

Conclusion

I did not write just to show us who the tyrants are. I have said that the tyrants are many times counterfeits or ministers who started aright but became snared later, many times by the gifts from those they led. I want to point us to the end of all this tyranny so that as ministers we will be able to appreciate the authority God has bestowed on us so that we are not taken advantage of.

I also want to point the led to their responsibility to check this tyranny through the responsibility God has also bestowed on them. I am guilty of sin when I allow my spiritual leader to make spiritual decisions for me. I have no excuse at all when a spiritual leader takes advantage of me. I will be judged very harshly by God when I allow a spiritual leader to walk all over me. I can never feign ignorance when a spiritual leader leads me to sin.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

But let me point at the judgment we will (not may) incur when we use our spiritual positions for something outside of the mandate God has for us. I will mention a few incidents.

·         Samson died a miserable death

·         Gehazi became completely leprous

·         Balaam was killed with the sinners

·         King Saul dies with his whole family

·         Eli, apart from also dying with his sons also lost the priesthood

·         Reuben and Esau lost their birthright

·         Ahithophel committed suicide

·         General Joab was killed

·         Herod was eaten by worms as he was giving a speech

Let me give us two examples from the life of worshipper David.

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. (2Samuel 23:15, 16)

David just expresses a whim and his loyal soldiers take it as a command and risk everything to get the king a cup of water.

And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. (2Samuel 24:21 - 23)

This guy is willing to surrender his inheritance so that the king can seek God. In fact he even wants to fund the whole expedition due to his loyalty to his king.

What will help us avoid tyranny is what David did after such acts of loyalty.

… nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. (2 Samuel 23: 16, 17)

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2Samuel 24:24)

We must carry our own weight even as we lead people. But even more important is that we need to be pointing these people to God continually. Our ministry should leave no doubt at all as to who is the boss. We should redirect any focus directed at us to the right place.

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

This was John the Baptist responding to the report of his loyalists that his star had started waning. He was actually excited that it had happened as that is what he had been preparing his loyalists for. He knew without that that was what he was created for.

Like John we must be ready and willing to point the people we lead to a living relationship with the God we serve. Again let us look at another person who was the only link for millions.

And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! (Numbers 11:29)

This as his loyalists had complained that some people had responded to God outside the prescribed place and sought Moses to intervene.

We should point people to God through everything we do, from sermons to songs to prophecy. Any other direction will surely bring God’s judgment on our tyranny.

Let us be tyrants for God. Let our passions run with the desire to divert any attention and devotion directed at us to the Person who created all for His glory.

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)

But above all is the fact that we need to establish what exactly God expects of us wherever He has placed us. Then we will not be confused by all the applause we may be enjoying from earthlings and lose our connection to heaven. his voice must not only be clear; it must also be current.

That is the only way we can divert the judgment due us from the tyranny we create by these spiritual positions we hold.

God bless you