Toxic Characteristic #1 - continued
One terribly poisonous misconception claims that God had a special calling only for certain people and everyone else needs to find something "unspecial" to do. According to the misconception, the business person who tries to do God's will on the job is not as special as the leader of a church.
This premise contradicts the teaching that God has a special plan for every person's life. In a healthy church, a pastor will encourage individuals to minister as they discover talents and gifts that can be used in serving God. The minister of pure faith will encourage everyone to consider themselves special in the eyes of God. Each person has a very special place of service designed by God, and each person should be encouraged to find it.
In a toxic system, the toxic minister sets himself or herself up as having a special destiny or mission that can be performed by no one else. This special anointing or calling is often nothing more than the pathological need to be valued or esteemed. It also takes some of the power that should be attributed to God and gives it to the toxic minister. It is a way to usurp God's authority, and it is a way to discredit anyone who disagrees with the direction of the ministry. If others will not value the minister enough to submit to his or her dictatorial rule, God's anointing is called in to make sure that everyone understands that any waiver of support is really a waiver in faith in God. Those who have felt this type of manipulation should leave this church or organization immediately. But most religious addicts don't feel it; they thrive on it (for a while).
This claim of a special touch has caused problems for people I know. The abuse of a high position to build a self-serving ego has caused unhealthy marriages to continue without healing, finances to be wasted, time to be spent in hours of futile work, and individuals to feel forsaken by a God who does not seem to care. Under the guise of special direction from God, many individuals have compromised their faith and fallen into a trap that did nothing but establish one person's authority above any earthly accountability.
The religious addicts at the top always seem to profit from this misguided loyalty by being able to spend more, build more, or sin more, depending on the area of their lives that has deteriorated. The victimized followers -- seeking a closer relationship with God but focusing more on the addicted leader than on God -- lose contact with God and often fall away from faith permanently. Misguided loyalty allows the delusions of the leader to grow and destroys the faith of the loyal. The result may be financial or spiritual bankruptcy. The only hope to protect other potential victims is for the leader who claims to be God's special officer to be forced into accountability or dethroned.
Power often corrupts. When organizations develop with little or no accountability for the leader, tremendous potential exists for the leader to fall into corruption. One church I was involved with in Texas confronted a minister about his behaviour. Many issues led to the question of whether the minister should stay or go. The minister responded by saying he had started the church and that anyone disagreeing with him should leave. He claimed that God had given him a vision for the church and the means by which the church had grown. The leaders knuckled under to the pressure, and the minister retained his position. He continued with no form of accountability, and it was only a matter of time until he got into trouble again.
When ministers wield absolute authority, everyone loses, even God. This is always the case when religion serves the person instead of a person serving God.
(Toxic Faith, Chapter 6)
No comments:
Post a Comment