Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell
I believe deputy authority is a faithless teaching. A teaching manufactured by fallen men who don't have enough faith in our living Lord Jesus to let him be the Lord of our lives, or their own lives. It's not their job.
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I sense two complimentary sources for the deputy authority teaching. First is that, even though we crave freedom, we also want structure and security. We don't trust ourselves and want someone to tell us what to do. So all the hippies who fled the "square" denominations in the 1960s were like moths to the candle, for charmers like Lee. They soaked up his mantra of "poor, poor, Christianity" and how they were now out of the sheep pen and into the Good Land, into the pastures of plenty. Just call on Jesus and be one, and everything's fine. No more rules or regulations, just the Normal Christian Church Life.
The unholy twin of this desire to be led by the nose is the person who wakes up each morning convinced that the world would be a better place if everybody would just listen to them, and give them what they want. They're the leech who cries, "give, give!" and is never satisfied (Prov 30:15). Look at any HWFMR outline: full of phrases like "we should" and "we must" and "we have to" and "we need to". An unending stream of requirements which never can be satisfied.
I think Lee fit this profile to a "t". And voila! the teaching of deputy authority was born. The Deputy God - just do exactly what they say and everything will be fine. And in spite of their attempts to masquerade as being "God's humble little servant", if you hang around with them for long enough someone like RG (to Bill Mallon) will make it plain: "We do what we're told." Or MP (to awareness): "When I say 'blow your nose', you only ask me which nostril."