Jesus and John Wayne meets Jesus

I've found so many parallels between modern Evangelicalism and the Pharisees. Here's another:

In Jesus and John Wayne, John Wayne is the archetype of Christian masculinity and leadership: warlike, strong, opinionated, violent, abusive, powerful, rich. The "sheep dog" of the wolf, sheep, sheep dog analogy, whose penchant for violence must be tolerated in the name of safety and protection from wolves.

What did Jesus say about this?

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force. (Matt 11:12)

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 18: 1-4)

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 19:24)

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them, and those in high position exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20: 25-28)

The Pharisees were also mini-John Waynes looking for a John Wayne messiah to physically overthrow and remove the Roman empire. They anticipated a strong earthly ruler who would come. Instead they got a lamb. A man who took a beating, then wasn't physically strong enough to carry his own cross.

When the actual Messiah came in their midst, he was unrecognizable to them because he didn't fit the shoes they expected him to fill, and because of that, they strongly rejected him. Isn't that what we see today? Wholesale rejection of the Holy Spirit's work in the church because violence and abuse is the proxy for righteousness, not humility and child-like faith.

I think the image I have for humility and servant-leadership in the church today is a ruler who walks down the street quiet and unadorned, but who has hired a dozen people to walk in front proclaiming how humble he is and beat any who dare say differently.

It seems that revival after revival, there is just some new excuse uncovered to justify abusive leadership.