The People Want a King - Corruption and Cultic Leadership

A lot of cults come by the way of making one person the final authority, as infallible as God. The leader or head becomes a “Fuhrer” whose ways are perfect and whose word is law. This is der untergang (the downfall) of that group of people.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

The principle of the “Fuhrer” leadership is unquestioned obedience to an authority who places himself in the position of God. He assumes authority that God never gave him. God did not intend for his people to be ruled by dictators of kings, but by Himself and His Word. 

God alone is infallible. When Israel demanded a King, they were subjecting themselves to a man. When the King was godly, the nation prospered. When the king was evil, the nation turned into idolatry. Everything about that nation – it’s faith on God, its economy, its principles – all rested upon the shoulders of one man, upon his character, his whims, his mercies, his likes and dislikes. 

Jesus alone is the head of the church. No man is the head of the church, or ever was. Neither Peter nor Paul nor James assumed control and complete leadership. Peter was one of the twelve and an apostle. James, not one of the twelve, was an elder, leader, and pillar. Paul founded many churches. None of them assumed for themselves the authority and position of a “Fuhrer”. No one preached the gospel in Peter’s name or went out to do work in for Peter, to accomplish Peter’s goal or mission,  but rather in the name of Christ and for the glory of God. 

When a man or (especially a) woman assumes Fuhrer leadership over the church, something has gone terribly wrong. This is a heresy and a cult. Sometimes this even occurs after the death of a leader, when his subsequent followers venerate him and set out to great things for his name.  

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

(1Co 1:11-17)

What is the Fuhrerprinzip? How shall we indentify it?

1)      The Fuhrer is seen as a Christ/Messiah-figure

2)      The Fuhrer’s Word is infallible

3)      The Fuhrer’s Word is above written law and the Word of God (Scripture)

4)      All offices, policies, and decisions work towards the exaltation of the Fuhrer’s responsibility

5)      Individuals do not need to read God’s Word or hear from the Holy Spirit, only to listen to the voice of the Fuhrer

6)      Outside teaching and principles, though good and similar, are all not allowed to “pollute” members. They are only allowed to read the Fuhrer’s books and listen to his teachings and counsel. (ie. communism to Hitler’s national socialism, or Hitler’s Mein Kampf). The only true and pure teaching comes from the Fuhrer.

7)      The Fuhrer is the highest living authority – he is the living law

8)      All members are in complete obedience to the Fuhrer, to the point where they fail to take responsibility for right and wrong actions. They are coerced into doing wrong by the Fuhrer.

This kind of “authority” does not work!  

The people who follow such as a leader and establish him are fickle. They are the ones who exalt the leader and place him in this power. This is not the will of God but the will of man. 

Followers always want to make their leader into an idol. They idealize leadership. They “long for a king” – they want a physical leader, someone who will speak for them and command them. Human beings tend to insanely idolize men, so that the good and godly man is deified in their eyes. They want a leader they can look up to and be subservient to. 

A real leader knows the limitations of his power. His authority is not given to him by his own greatness, or by the people who acknowledge his greatness, but by God who uses ordinary, simple, men. He must continually remind those under his leadership that he is lacking in many areas and that they have to have personal responsibility before God (and not to him). 

The mis-leader or Fuhrer acts in a criminal way and his followers justify him, whereas true leader is always a disillusion. Man can never idolize him. He refuses to become an idol. He is in that position, that office, not because of his own merits. 

A wife, for example, should not idolize her husband and let him take the place of God in her heart. A wife should not obey a husband because he is perfect, but because God is perfect. The authority of a husband does not hinge on his perfection. He knows that he is imperfect and flawed. The same thing is with parents and children. Parents should not have a perfect “facade” before their children and hold them in subordination. Controlling freaks are often rude, bullies, proud, and consumed in themselves, who refuse to be humble or admit their failings. They refuse to acknowledge any other authority but theirselves. However, all authority is derived from God, therefore a humble and penitent parent or husband is one who truly has his wife/family in submission because he realizes the frailty of his own self.  They obey him not because he absolutely demands obedience or because he is perfect. They respect him because he is humble, open, and honest. He is responsibility to God for the authority God has given him and is a true leader.

Bonhoeffer said that those who yielded to the temptation of worshipping a messianic mis-leader would destroy their future, just as those who worshipped Moloch sacrificed their children.

The Fuhrer principle of leadership is idolatry and sinful. God did not create the “Fuhrer” system, especially not for the church. 

“The fearful danger of the present time … is that … we forget that man stands alone before the ultimate authority and that anyone who lays violent hands on man here is infringing eternal laws and taking upon himself superhuman authority which will eventually crush him; the eternal law that the individual stands alone before God takes fearful vengeance where it is attacked and distorted, thus the leader points to the office but Leader and office together point to that final authority itself, before which Reich or state are but penultimate authorities. Leaders or offices which set themselves up as gods mock God… (The Fuhrer Principle)

While the true God was among us here on the earth, he endured the reproach of those who set themselves up in judgment against him. But when he comes again he will not stand silently before mocking crowds; he will come to judge the living and the dead. At that time, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is ultimately before God therefore that every Fuhrer; and every follower of every Furher must give an account – not as a leader or a follower but as an individual alone before the ultimate authority – which is God.”

Therefore be very wary about false authority in the church. The church is always ruled by the will of God, and the Will of God is never expressed in the sole image of a man except save Christ. The only head of the church is Jesus. 

There may be a fantastic, godly teacher, preacher, evangelist, apostle, or prophet. However, as Ephesians 4 teaches us, all the gifts bestowed on these men are solely from Christ. Moreover, these gifts are not complete in themselves, but they complement and complete each other. A prophet cannot do a complete work – he has one of many roles and all roles are equally important. Spiritual gifts are not for self-glory or self-exaltation, but rather for the edification of the entire body of Christ. The Word of God is clear that those in authority as servants to those they serve. They are servants who wash feet, ministers and deacons who build up Christ’s body. These giftings enable them to serve, even as Christ came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

 A Fuhrer may dictate his followers’ minute life decisions, pressuring them with his “spirituality”. He mixes personal tastes and opinions with truth and presents them as gospel. He likes a certain style of lingo, culture, protocol, music, dress, hairdo, and all his followers imitate because it tied in with some Scriptural revelation of his own. He models everything on himself.

A church happens when each members yield his individual rights for the good for the entire body and takes on the image of Christ. A cult happens when each member yields his individuality and becomes one congruous form, taking upon themselves the image of the Fuhrer. Each member yields his individual rights to a man instead of Christ. That man does not yield personal rights nor individuality, is not humble, but rather expands his image over others and abuses rights that never belonged to him.  

If people start quoting a leader incessantly, relying on his reasoning, his revelations, his visions as the foundations of their spiritual life, if this leader becomes worshiped and adulated, if his word takes precedence over Scripture, his interpretation through which his followers read God’s Word, if he is authoritative and controlling, and the fellowship becomes ingrown with his and only his teaching, if he refuses to listen to the council of those around him and relies solely upon himself, something is very wrong. When this happens, he is not a leader but a Fuhrer and he is ripe to wreck destruction akin to that of Hitler himself. This is his personal untergang.