The Master's Voice

 Often, when I am pondering some avenue of spiritual abuse, it's hard to put my finger on the core issue. For example, when I was struggling with disciplining my children, I read a (secular) book that explained the purpose of discipline, and not only did it put everything into perspective, but it gave clarity to my next reading of Proverbs.

This week, I was reading a blog and the whole Evangelical spiritually abusive system came into perspective. This is what Pastor David Orrison wrote (source):

Study what the Scriptures say about your thoughts and take the words to heart. Learn to hear the Master’s voice above all the rest.

I leave this, I want to suggest that this is a primary goal of the Christian life. You may think that you have so many other “Christian” things to do, things that are more important. Believe me, nothing is more important than hearing the Master’s voice and following Him. If you can’t do this, drop everything else until you can. Why spend time and energy running around doing things the Lord never asked you to do? Learn to listen to Him.

What he says is monumental. The purpose of the Christian life, the church, the entire religious system, is to teach us to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in our heart and to obey him. That's it.

So, when we hold this up against modern Evangelicalism, it really shows why the religious system is so corrupt. These pastors don't want us to hear God's voice! They want us to hear their voice. They don't want us to obey God. They want us to obey them. Now, again, some are truly narcissistic abusers and they know completely that they are just there for the power. This also holds true of those who have been deluded into thinking that they are Spiritually-empowered with the ability to command others.

This is a striking difference between what I hear preached at my Reformed/Evangelical church and what I hear in NAPARC. My pastor is teaching me to hear the voice of God. He is teaching me to discern truth. He explains doctrine in a way that let's me understand, discern and decide whether it is truth or not. He doesn't use cognitive dissonance and equivocation to make me doubt my own discernment so that I rely on what he says. He humbly teaches what he believes to be true, and he trusts that the Holy Spirit will guide me into understanding.

That is the core of what is missing in the RPCNA. These pastors seem to believe that equipping the church is enacting a Sunday morning spiritual boot camp, where members' view of self is perpetually beaten down and replaced with the belief that the pastor and session must be consulted for each spiritual question. Members are held in spiritual infancy.

In the same way, the Spiritual Discipline industry teaches people the boxes to check. Did you pray today? Did you read your Bible? Did you read your daily devotional? Have you tithed? Have you done enough good stuff at work? at home? They never really explain (if they even understand) that the purpose of Spiritual discipline is to bring us closer to God. Yet, in the same way, what would happen of spiritual self-help actually enabled people to help themselves? Maybe they wouldn't sell as many books.

I've been wanting to do a write-up on anachronistic church leadership, but this seemed very applicable and pertinent. Maybe this is why the Bible says this about the religious leaders of the day:

Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt 15:12-14)