REAL and FALSE KINGDOM AUTHORITY
There are some great teachers of the Word of God out there. Those who are approved by God and speak under His
authority correctly handling His Truth. One such widely recognized teacher is Adrian Rogers, who is 'still speaking' on the program,
Love Worth Finding. He was a pastor, teacher, author, and three-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention. My sweet former pastor (who happened to go to bible school with him, though both now have gone to heaven) said Adrian really impressed on him that people were more important than projects.
His series on Kingdom Authority encouragingly reminded me of the astonishing
power that is ours as believers; and
struck me with new insight. As he stepped through to explain the truths of
our entitlement to heavenly authority now in Christ,
our reigning now in His Spirit on earth, and the
abundance of grace that is
absolutely ours now to be free from the slavery of sin and Satan; the flame of my faith became fanned by the knowledge of direct access to God the Father to personally connect with Him, beseech Him in prayer, and SEE Him work marvels that will reconcile any wrong, flourish any desert in our lives, and remake us into the glorious creation he has planned. Instead of worrying, we can be ASKING for lots of help, just like a child would do. We can do the
very important and wonderful works he deliberately thought-out for us, before the FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!! Can't get more exciting and adventurous than that!
Mr. Rogers also explained that many Christians do not live through this authority because they’ve not been told,
or they think it is too good to be true.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln penned and signed a document that entitled and declared slaves their permanent, legally valid, and protected freedom. I have included pertinent excerpts from "The Emmancipation Proclamation" below:"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, …shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States…will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom…
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days… “
-Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States (bold emphasis mine)
Adrian explained that although this great covenant was made something distressing occured, '
however, many slaves
stayed on the plantations'. 'Some
didn’t get the news of the proclamation; and some
didn’t believe it because it seemed too good to be true.'
The same is true for christians. If our church leaders don't deliver the news of our new freedom and power by declaring the Truth of God's Word then we may remain ignorant of it. Or if what we've been taught or modeled is so different, it may seem foreign or unbelievable to us. Shepherds after God's heart want their flock to know and experience their POWER and FREEDOM in Christ, so they will be empowered to do all that God has called them to individually. False Shepherds want the sheep to be dependent on them to control what they believe and do.
He clarified and illuminated
godly authority (not “godly form” but
power). Defining authority as
the official legal right to act, he explained, because one is
under authority, he can
have authority. Citing Luke 7:8 he showed that the source of authority is always from above, and that your authority is no better than the one who is over you. Jesus has dominion over Satan and authority over demons. That means they are subject to you also in HIM, just as they were to the disciples. Yet, only when they were believing, and not influenced by the religious legalists. When we are believing, we ACT like Jesus. We move as a BODY of believers and the LIFE & LOVE of CHRIST is in US. We are not a business with just projects to master workers to do.
You cannot be over someone in the body of Christ UNLESS you are UNDER the authority of GOD. This is
apparent by one’s actions, not one’s words. If you are submissive to God you will be submissive and humble toward others as God commands, “Submit to one another out of REVERENCE for Christ”. You will “walk in the way of love”. Thus you will be kind, not rude and bullying; humble, not boastful and arrogant; encouraging, not envious or competitive; patient, not pushy and hard line; gentle, not dominant or dictatorial; a giver, not a taker or a user; a servant, not manipulator or a controller. The positive genuine characteristics are those resulting from obedience to Christ. The
negative traits are of those who are disobedient to God. Then Adrian ended his teaching today on Kingdom Authority by emphatically stating this:
“GOD DOES NOT GIVE KINGDOM AUTHORITY TO REBELS!”
It seems the only other way, then, to impose "kingdom authority" is to INVENT IT by DECEPTIVE PERSUASION and CUNNING CONTROL.
To Compel you to need them because you are "not good enough" as you are, Impose a standard other than simply living in Christ, Press you by "lack of spiritual committment" guilt, Push by condemnation when they sense you are getting too confident, Belittle you with accusations, Coerce you by lying about their "closeness and higher approval with God", Intimidate you by telling you how wrong you and how right they are, Steal your freedom, your money, your free time, and your future, and Break you down by using you to perform endless tasks and "service" for their glory (not God's) by FALSE AUTHORITY as IMPOSTERS.
God himself pleads with us through Paul: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff...
Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it.”
-Galatians 5:7-9, 21-23