A SCANDALOUS FREEDOM by STEVE BROWN

Author:STEVE BROWN
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HOWARD BOOKS
Published: 2004-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

In the Church

The problem of irresponsibility doesn’t happen exclusively in relationships within the family. Many Christians have turned over control of what they believe and how they live to authority figures. This is the stuff of which cults are made.

When Luke commends the Christians at Berea, he doesn’t commend them because of their submission to Paul—who had preached the gospel to them—or because of their obedience to some authority structure. Rather, he says that they “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” 3

I never understood cults—that is, until I joined one. While it wasn’t a formal cult, it was just as destructive and just as frightening. Without going into details, it happened because I went looking for a father. And a man with a lot of money and a lot of power was searching for someone looking for a father. Over a period of almost three years, I managed to overlook this man’s faults, to ignore his false teaching, and to defend him to everyone who could see what was really happening.

Sometimes I would compose a list of questions and concerns I had about our relationship, the organization he was founding, and the future relationship I would have with that organization. But do you know what happened? Every time I found myself in his presence, I would forget about the list and think, How could I have thought such things about this godly man?

I have a friend, Eddie Waxer, with whom I have had an accountable relationship for more years than either of us will admit. (Eddie, by the way, has a wonderful ministry in the world of sports and recreation. Because of his ministry, the world will be different.) During my “cult period,” Eddie flew in from Africa and asked that I pick him up at the Miami airport. We went out to dinner, where I described to him my involvement with the man, the questions I had, and the way I had handed important decisions in my life over to him.

NEVER AGAIN

WOULD I BE SO

IRRESPONSIBLE AS TO

GIVE CONTROL OF

MY LIFE TO ANOTHER

HUMAN BEING.

“Steve,” Eddie said. “If someone told you what you just told me, what would you say to them?”

“I would,” I said without hesitation, “tell them to get the heck out as fast as possible and never look back.”

“Well?”

That night I made a decision about that man, but I also made a decision about my life. Never again would I be so irresponsible as to, without thinking and without questioning, give control of my life to another human being. I would always remember that others don’t deserve that kind of worship and unthinking obedience.

Despite what I’ve related about my short-lived foray into placing my life into the hands of another flawed human, I always have had an authority problem. I resent authority, rebel against it, and try to avoid it. (Sometimes I even find myself getting angry at stop signs!) God is working on the bad side of that authority problem, and I’m getting better.

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