Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I would rather say that I try to obey every christian leader. ... Of course, "I follow everyone" can be a ruse, a cover for "I follow no one". The Lord will judge in that day.
But at least I will argue that those who use Paul's writings as a lever to pry obedience from others (re: what to read, what to think, with whom to associate) are far from the mark of Christian leadership, and in my estimation are probably near the "least in the kingdom".
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Good points. It irks me to see the teachings of scripture manipulated for personal gain, but there is no consensus here. That is why many Christian leaders can continue for years unchecked.
Believers must follow the voice of the Shepherd above all. There is, however, a learning curve here. Perhaps the failure experienced by following the directives of their leader becomes the best education in knowing the Lord's voice in the future. Sometimes without failures, as the Bible instructs us to "prove all things," we cannot be certain what is the Lord.
Leaders do need testing and proving. The pastoral epistles do speak of a vetting process. The Lord Himself trained the disciples (not just the twelve) to be future leaders in the churches of God. He even trained one who ended up being indwelt by the Devil, and the other eleven were clueless as to what was going on.