“When Eve saw that the fruit
was good for eating and
desirous to make one wise…”
Friend
of
mine
sent
me
a
blogpost this morning wanting me
to check it out – by the third
line my eyes were just about
rolling out of my head. So this
post
bears
the
subtitle
“teachers behaving badly”- why?
Oh because the art of political deception is alive and well in
the religious blogsphere – you no longer have to prove your
case, you need only make yourself look more desirable than
your opponent – generally by calling your opponent’s
competency into question needlessly.
The problem wasn’t his theology – really he never said much
about it. What he did do was criticize a specific doctrine of
others without really teaching why his was right. Oh sure, he
gave a few verses outside of both their Biblical and Ancient
Near Eastern context, but what he was perpetrating is an old
political trick of saying nothing while seeming to say an
awful lot. He crafted a tale that made people desirous to
believe him and take his word for what he was saying, without
having to actually prove himself. He told people exactly what
they should think of other people and their arguments without
telling them anything about the other people or what their
arguments were. Reminded me of the serpent in the garden,
promising wisdom if Eve would just take his word for what he
was saying and yet delivering only death.
He criticized a big name ministry, and some teachers within
the movement (which I will not reveal so as to not color the
argument) who are deservedly well-respected by comparing them
unfavorably in comparison with some names that are quickly
losing respect for employing some of the same attack dog
tactics I saw in this blog post. You see, and here is where
the deception comes in – he gave the reader every reason to
discount the teachings of others without ever laying down
enough reason to believe what he is pushing. He carefully
crafted an argument based not on making a rock-solid and well
documented case (as every true teacher will do), but upon
calling into question the integrity and competence of others
to such an extent that in the end, the uninitiated will
wholeheartedly agree with the author because they wouldn’t
want to be like those “inferior” and “deceived” teachers that
were named. The entire blogpost was one big manipulation
tactic geared towards making the reader feel badly for even
thinking about agreeing with those other ministries and
teachers. Sadly, I see it all the time. In truth, he did
nothing except prime the audience so that they would see
himself (and not those other teachers) as the authority and
then refused to back up his arguments – simply citing that the
scriptures themselves proved him right (a cheap and sadly all
too common claim out there – it’s the pseudo-intellectual
equivalent of “the Holy Spirit told me”). This is the sort of
behavior that is all too common among the online Body of
Messiah – we look like the world and with good reason because
we play their games better than they do – but unlike
politicians, we play the game with God’s reputation and so our
judgment will be heavier. There is little respect out there
for the hardworking, spiritually mature, non-sensationalized
teachers and too many people enjoy being critics while
offering nothing except their criticism – in this day and age
all are free to argue their case, even if they haven’t
seriously studied the matter in question. Imagine trying to
get away with that in any classroom! It is the critic, and not
the scholar, who gains the broadest audience – so make sure of
who it is you are listening to as it would be tragic to learn
from a critic. The most obnoxious teacher is generally the one
who has the least of substance to say.
So what are the warning signs that you are being grossly
manipulated?
(1) The teacher is “priming your pump” – in other words, the
person starts out with their very long, very agonizing
struggle with the question in hand. Yes, their opinion wasn’t
reached overnight (unspoken implication – “unlike others”) and
they spent many tearful nights and many years searching the
scriptures before learning the truth but in the end they
realized that their position is the only valid position there
is (insinuating that if everyone was as diligent they would
agree as well – or perhaps “as anointed” if they received it
instead by revelation). The teacher has just “primed the pump”
by making you want to be the beneficiary of this hard-won
revelation, by causing you to desire to become wise or at
least embarrassed to admit disagreement. Remember how Eve was
deceived? She wanted to be wise and have her eyes opened.
(Social media is proof positive that this sort of thing works
very well on men as well as women) But hey – if he or she
spent all those years studying there should be quite the paper
trail, right? Why not simply present it?
(2) The teacher makes sure to denounce, in various ways, any
teacher of a differing opinion – even if they do so under the
auspices of being concerned for their deceived brethren. The
other teachers are purposefully vague, or their arguments make
them sound lacking next to their peers who agree with the
opinion of the author. The teacher names big names who
disagree, making sure to elevate him or herself above wellrespected Bible scholars and ministries because it wouldn’t do
to simply make his case – he must make you see how much more
competent he is than the big names who earned their place as
teachers over the course of many decades. The serpent did this
in the Garden as well, but the Teacher he called into question
was God Himself. A teacher with the goods needs to present the
goods, not just point out who doesn’t have the goods.
(3) The teacher states his case in a few lines, but doesn’t
bother to prove it – “Scripture proves it for me.” I like to
call it “all claim, very little (if any) substance.” And you
are primed to think he has indeed proved it because by this
point the manipulation has been pretty heavy. It might not
even occur to you to look into his arguments, because he has
carefully crafted his words to give the illusion of his
argument being so self-evident that he in fact has no need to
prove what he is saying. To Eve, it was self-evident that the
Serpent was telling the truth and that God was lying. That’s
how manipulation works. Again, if a teacher has the proof, why
waste 1,000 words without proving it? What exactly was the
point of those thousand words if not to make a case for the
truth of your doctrine?
In the end we, like Eve, often want such a person to see that
we are wise and discerning so we will often take a bite
without demanding proof – not even thinking for a moment how
much it should bother us that this person named names and
insulted people who we should respect, or at least love and
honor as people who have devoted their lives to Scriptural
study. Nor do we pause and ask ourselves why the teacher
couldn’t just make their case without bringing into question
the competency and even honesty of those who disagree. And
oftentimes, we don’t even demand that they make a case at all
– if they made us feel like we are wise for coming into
agreement with them, well that appeals to our desire to please
those whom we place into authority and we get to feel the
vicarious pride of being “in the know.”
I’ve seen what happens when people follow after teachers who
do this – they change and not for the better. I know because I
used to be one of those people. I would get a secret thrill if
someone was being slandered – it was as if I were doing it
myself but I didn’t have to say the actual words myself, at
least not in public. But anyone who has known me long enough
knows that I used to be a first class jerk, and my behavior
during those years was a source of shame to my King. I
listened to jerks and then I modeled that behavior towards
others. Praise Yah that, one by one, the jerks I was listening
to betrayed me because third time was a charm – I found a
teacher who was incredibly gracious and kind and started
behaving that way instead. I am glad that facebook timehop
only goes back two years or people would see some shocking
stuff out of me. It wasn’t until my eyes were opened to this
kind of manipulation that it stopped working on me (well,
usually, I am still flesh) and I came to the conclusion that I
wouldn’t listen to or learn from anyone who does this to
people. It’s unnecessary. We don’t have to exalt ourselves by
degrading others. If we do the work that God has called us to
do, then He will exalt us – or not, His choice.
When I look at the teachers that I really respect, I see them
doing one thing – teaching. I don’t see them ever trying to
name names of the ministries that teach anything else, I don’t
see them slandering others or try to tear them down – they
just teach. When was the last time you saw Brad Scott, Rico
Cortes, Bill Cloud, Dinah Dye, Holissa Alewine, Joseph Good,
Ed Harris, or Valerie Moody (I probably forgot some folks)
going around slandering other ministries or even exalting
their own? They teach and teach and teach and stay focused on
Kingdom growth and not on their own ministry growth. Even when
other ministries come out against them, naming names – they
remain silent publicly. It isn’t about them, and they know it.
I am grateful that a few people like them got hold of someone
like me and are teaching me how a real teacher, a real servant
acts. Following their example is a tough road – they set the
bar really high. But that’s the point, right? There are some
really fabulous teachers out there, people of integrity who
hold each other accountable and help the people coming up –
with people like them, we don’t need to listen to the selfexalters, or the manipulators, or the haters. Life is too
short, we have too much to learn, and too much work to do on
our characters to waste time on those who sound way too much
like they are trying to sell us a poisonous piece of fruit.