Follow God. Do Not Follow Men
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sad′ducees.” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sad′ducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sad′ducees.
I have contemplated the leaven of the Pharisees before, when the COVID Pandemic Panic was taking government lunacy to new heights.
Why am I revisiting this passage?
Because I have come to realize that I did not go far enough. At that time I was focused on vaccine mandates and the Governor of New York bastardizing religious authority to push COVID vaccines on people.
Yet today we see around us all manner of presumed “expert” as well as self-anointed “influencer” purporting to lead us this way and that. We see every such “expert” and “influencer” stumbling, falling, and being shown incapable of leading anyone in a good direction.
We have seen commentators like Jordan Peterson tripped up in debates over religion.
We have seen commentators like Sam Harris tripped up over Donald Trump.
We have seen medical “experts” like Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx exposed as frauds.
We have seen the president of Harvard University, notionally America’s most prestigious institution of higher learning, forced to resign amid accusations of plagiarism.
We have seen another Harvard academic stripped of tenure after being caught committing wholesale academic fraud—ironically faking data for her research into dishonesty, of all things.
We have seen journalists tell blatant lies rather than report the truth about former President Joe Biden’s dementia.
We have seen expert after expert, authority after authority, and “thought leader” after “thought leader” repeatedly fall short of our expectations. We have seen them fall far short of their own representations.
Yet why should we be surprised that those whom we elevate fall before us? They are every bit as fallen as are we. They are sinners; we are sinners. They fall short of the glory of God; we fall short of the glory of God.
We should not be surprised that those whom we elevate stumble and fall. We should expect it. We should expect it because we ourselves will stumble and fall.
We will get up. We will press on. We will stumble again. We will fall again.
So will all those we call “expert”. So will all those we elevate and celebrate.
King Solomon was blessed with great wisdom, yet he fell at the end.
King David was beloved of God, yet he fell repeatedly.
The Apostle Peter was said by Jesus to be the rock upon which He would build His Church, and yet he fell, denying Christ three times before the cock crowed.
All men stumble and fall. Put a man in the mantle of authority and everyone gets to watch him stumble and fall.
If we presume that mantle of authority elevates any man to any degree, we are very much mistaken. Any mantle of any authority is in that regard a lie.
That mantle of authority is that leaven of the Pharisees. The warning Jesus gave His followers was not merely to avoid the particular teachings of the Pharisees, but to reject any pretense that Pharisee or Sadducee had any claim on moral or spiritual authority whatsoever.
It was not by happenstance that Jesus admonished His followers to “call no man rabbi.” It was not by accident that Jesus forbade His followers to call any man “master”. It was not coincidence that Jesus did not want His followers to acknowledge any man as “father.”
The teaching here is clear: only God has authority. Only God is the arbiter of what is true and what is false. Only God can say what is right and what is wrong. Only God defines what is real and what is not.
Mortal man does not get to decide such things. Mortal man only gets to follow in whatever reality God has already decreed.
If mortal man should presume to assert a reality other than what God has already decreed, mortal man will stumble. Mortal man will fall.
Often, in discussing various issues in All Facts Matter I will insist that people not take my word on anything, but always do their own due diligence even on what I present as facts and evidence. I do not claim for myself any mantle of authority, not in the realm of journalism, not in the realm of knowledge, and certainly not in the realm of matters moral and spiritual.
I share my thoughts on Christianity and Christian living here, but they are merely my thoughts. Perhaps they are an insight into truth, or perhaps they are a testament to my own befuddlement and cluelessness. Honestly, I do not know which is the better description.
Should you think as I do? No. You should think as you do.
To that end I will advise you not to follow any person, no matter how persuasive and charming. Anyone who presents some authoritative vision of “truth” should be rejected as someone who is lying to you.
Turn only to God. Listen only to God. Follow only God.
God will reveal His truth to you. He will reveal His truth in this world, with facts and evidence and data you can use to echo that truth to the world. He will not present lies, or manufacture false claims, or deceive.
In every part of my being I believe that to be true.
My prayer is always that I will have the courage to stand apart from all who seductively insist I follow them. My prayer is always that I will have the fortitude to stand against those who make claims without evidence, who suggest that reality is something other than what available facts say it is. My prayer is always that I will have the wisdom to turn to God directly and not rely on some self-anointed interlocutor to tell me what God “really wants” of me.
My prayer for you is that you also will have the courage to stand apart from all who seductively insist you follow them. My prayer for you is that you also will have the fortitude to stand against those who make claims without evidence, who suggest that reality is something other than what available facts say it is. My prayer for you is that you also will have the wisdom to turn to God directly and not rely on some self-anointed interlocutor to tell you what God “really wants” of you.
God reveals His truth. God reveals His truth in this world, with facts and evidence and data we can use to echo that truth to the world. God does not present lies, or manufacture false claims, or deceive.
In every part of my being I believe that to be true.
As always, I love your wisdom, Peter. And ALL of us are befuddled and confused regarding God. He is so far beyond our comprehension in magnificence that we would have to BE God to fully understand all that He Is.
Suppose you left a math textbook open on a picnic table, and a sparrow landed on it and began to peck at the math problems. There is no way possible that the bird could solve those equations, right? What’s more, the sparrow could not grasp the concept of math, or of books, or of reading. We are that sparrow, not having even the ability to comprehend what we are experiencing as God.
But that’s alright, because God makes himself known in your heart and through your intuition. If you feel at peace, if you feel love, if you feel His Devine Presence, then you are in synch with God, even though you cannot rationally comprehend it all.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” - II Timothy 1:7
This is why Jesus and His disciples would say, “Go in peace”, and “Be at peace”. That mindset is the “frequency” of abiding with God. Be at peace, Peter, and know that you are loved.