Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Privilege and Power: The Idols of the Church of God



Concretized Christianity has a blog entry about privilege in the Churches of God.


Anyone who has been around the churches of God for any length of time knows about privilege. First, we see it in action in every one of the church of God organizations. There is a pecking order – a hierarchy – and privilege is layered throughout that until you get to the people who just fill the chairs every week and fawn over and idolize those with privilege, while in the organizational sense, they have no privilege and aren’t even, legally, members of that church of God organization (only the organizational privileged are).

However, those people know they have privilege compared to others (the world) because they are told that over and over. They’re special. They’re the elite. One day, they will be resurrected first and they will rule with Jesus Christ as kings and priests for 1000 years.

While the substance of this is true, the implication of it is false. The first resurrection will include those whom God and Jesus Christ have both called and chosen, but they are being resurrected to serve, to help, to repair, to restore, to coach, to guide, to agape – just as God and Jesus Christ do with us. None of that is ever discussed because these things don’t sound power-filled.

Power is an idol in society and an idol in the churches of God. The lust for power is often the sole motivation for what these man-made organizations do and say.

Privilege and power often go hand in hand. Whether the power is real or imagined, organizations and people who believe they have power manifest the corruption of the idea of privilege.

People who have not suffered and who also cannot see, relate to, nor empathize with the suffering of others is a symptom of privilege. James discusses this in the second chapter of his letter. Privilege creates a bubble of illusions that is solely focused on self: what I want, what I need, who I am, and what I think or believe.

The bubble of privilege is opaque, so that anything that is outside that bubble is invisible. Jesus discussed this bubble of privilege in Matthew 25 in His parable of the goats and the sheep.

The sheep had no bubble of privilege. They were looking for needs among the people around them and meeting those needs, no matter where they found them. They weren’t doing it because someone was “important,” or because other people would see them and applaud them, or because it made them feel good or superior.

The sheep were doing it because it was the right thing to do. They were following God’s word (read Deuteronomy sometime if you want to see what loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – about the first third of the book – and loving your neighbor as yourself – approximately the last two-thirds of the book – looks like in action and ask yourself if this looks like you) and they were following the example of Jesus Christ.

The goats had the bubble of privilege. Inherent in their response was, “well, Jesus, if You personally had come to us and asked us, of course, we would have done these things for You.” In other words, if the Son of God had made the first move, knocked on the door of their bubble of privilege, and said, “I need…,” they would have done it. Otherwise, they didn’t see, know, or care to seek out the needs they could meet right outside their bubble.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Achieving rank and power was the only way to obtain shielding and immunity from the harsh authoritarianism imposed upon the laity. Then, you were a "made man", a member of the club and were protected from the mini-Hitlers and spies. Unless you were caught in a major screw up, life was sweet.

DennisCDiehl said...

The Book itself is to blame, if blame is a correct word here, for the heirarchy of administraion and the chosenness of those who are called while others not so much.

Matt 13:11 “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Acts 20:28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Ministry,-In-The-Church
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Ministry,-In-The-Church

Heb 13:7 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

Ephesians 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Peter 2:4-9 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

It has never been difficult implanting choseness and being special, member or minister, above all others "to whom it is not given" etc. The Book has plenty to say to implant that idea in any Christian group by the Administration or ministry by scripture surfing for the appropriate verse


Tonto said...

A breakthrough in the governments of men, was the MAGNA CARTA. This dispersed power away from just one despot, and dispersed it at least to a number of Nobles as well.

This is what a couple of the COGS minimally have done, they have expanded the "membership" to include ordained elders, who in turn elect their own King. This is progress beyond the "HWA Corporate Sole" model.

However, the next step of enlightenment would be the "enfranchisement" of the laity and their right of choice and voting. Complete with a right to vote, and to choose or remove local ministers, and to elect representatives to the general conference. This was the original Wooten model for UCG, that was soon rejected by the elite, after misrepresenting the egalitarian "brotherhood" ideas during the nascent beginnings. There was supposed to be local empowered elected councils, local collection and use of monies, and ministerial accountability. All tossed , once the dust settled back in 1995/96.

UCG (and later COGWA) was promoted as a "confederacy with local empowerment " it ended up in an elite communist model with central planning. The result?? ... as is typical in all centralized communist models, at all levels, is inefficiency, lack of innovation, lack of progress, and just plain "falling apart" backwards and unable to adapt.

The COGS all are a Caste System, and as spoken against such by James in the Bible It actually is a complete lack of faith by the elites that there is the power of the Holy Spirit acting and leading the laity.

Perhaps they are right about that, and as such, rely on the carnal model of things for power and control as occurs in all human organizations. If these guys really had faith, they would take nominations from the brethren, pray, toss them in a bag, shake , and draw names, just like they did when they replaced Judas.

In a very upside down service model, the brethren (the customer) actually serve the Servers in a bizarre upside down world.

The next step in the process of "The Enlightenment" after the Magna Carta was the Mayflower Compact, later followed by Declaration of Independence, voting rights, and a Bill of Rights.

Instead, we have the blind leading the blind, in a very sad menagerie of a "caste system" of the elite, making sure that empowerment and paychecks stay as guaranteed for as long as possible, while the slave class slowly die off and fade away.


Tonto said...

A breakthrough in the governments of men, was the MAGNA CARTA. This dispersed power away from just one despot, and dispersed it at least to a number of Nobles as well.

This is what a couple of the COGS minimally have done, they have expanded the "membership" to include ordained elders, who in turn elect their own King. This is progress beyond the "HWA Corporate Sole" model.

However, the next step of enlightenment would be the "enfranchisement" of the laity and their right of choice and voting. Complete with a right to vote, and to choose or remove local ministers, and to elect representatives to the general conference. This was the original Wooten model for UCG, that was soon rejected by the elite, after misrepresenting the egalitarian "brotherhood" ideas during the nascent beginnings. There was supposed to be local empowered elected councils, local collection and use of monies, and ministerial accountability. All tossed , once the dust settled back in 1995/96.

UCG (and later COGWA) was promoted as a "confederacy with local empowerment " it ended up in an elite communist model with central planning. The result?? ... as is typical in all centralized communist models, at all levels, is inefficiency, lack of innovation, lack of progress, and just plain "falling apart" backwards and unable to adapt.

The COGS all are a Caste System, and as spoken against such by James in the Bible It actually is a complete lack of faith by the elites that there is the power of the Holy Spirit acting and leading the laity.

Perhaps they are right about that, and as such, rely on the carnal model of things for power and control as occurs in all human organizations. If these guys really had faith, they would take nominations from the brethren, pray, toss them in a bag, shake , and draw names, just like they did when they replaced Judas.

In a very upside down service model, the brethren (the customer) actually serve the Servers in a bizarre upside down world.

The next step in the process of "The Enlightenment" after the Magna Carta was the Mayflower Compact, later followed by Declaration of Independence, voting rights, and a Bill of Rights.

Instead, we have the blind leading the blind, in a very sad menagerie of a "caste system" of the elite, making sure that empowerment and paychecks stay as guaranteed for as long as possible, while the slave class slowly die off and fade away.


Anonymous said...

7.20 AM
Dennis, I'm not sure what your point is. The bible does say that the first fruits are holy, meaning set apart. It also calls them the weak of the world rather than being better than others. Christ instructed church leaders to not lord it over the flocks faith and lord it over them like the gentiles. You are cherry picking verses to paint the wrong picture.
The bible also instructs to not add or subtract from God's word, which the ACOGs have done with their lording ways and above-the-law, made-man ministry.

Anonymous said...

the next step of enlightenment would be the "enfranchisement" of the laity and their right of choice and voting.

The ministry are jealous that the laity DO have voting rights. Members vote with their tithes and with their feet, unlike the ministry who are more or less shackled to whichever church corporation is their master.

Anonymous said...

The Book itself is to blame ...

Because it was written by deceitful power hungry rabbis to fool the Jews (OT) and then the Romans and other gentiles (NT). It's all about power. That's what the authorities did then and it's what they do today.

Anonymous said...

Members vote with their tithes and with their feet, ...

Not really because tithing is mandatory and leaving gets you in the lake of fire.

jim said...

Fine article and accurate regarding a cog mindset, but I hate the overuse of the term “privilege”, particularly within our society/country. The term is meant to divide.
No longer can one be moved with compassion to help the destitute, the hurting, the addicted, the sick, the unstable.
The term privilege results in guilt or a pseudo guilt of the “privileged” and an “entitlement” mindset in the “victim”.
Generally, two negative emotions though guilt is appropriate at times, but not as widely applied within our society.

If one is moved by compassion to help others who feel gratitude for for the assistance, then two positive emotions are expressed.

In our materialistic society money is the most widely used measure of one’s worth. Middle class people who make up 70 percent of our population or more are not generally privileged within this society and generally do not feel privileged.
I know several brilliant hard working, pleasant, sober white men who should be rolling in the dough, but they aren’t. On just merit, perhaps they “deserved” more. But, life has its way. Yet, they would often be scorned and judged as privileged.

Maybe, just maybe, we don’t have that arrogant and hateful “right” to label someone as privileged.

Race also is used to claim privilege. Most middle aged people in the U.S. are middle class and grew up when the country was over 70% white. What privilege is felt by over 70% of a society?? Privilege is of a much smaller percentage than 70%. White Americans aren’t privileged within America, though some populations may be discriminated against. As such, conscientious individuals of the majority population will evaluate themselves and see if they are discriminating on false measures. This yields to growth and generally a change of heart, but to be labeled as a “privileged” thing does not yield good results.
Countries like Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., etc. are still about 90% white. Are they privileged within their country? Generally, no. Are the Chinese privileged in China?

The actions and the moral nature of individuals is the measure. Yes, to generosity of resources/time and to gratitude. No, to critical theories that bandy about terms like privilege with little regard to accuracy.

Anonymous said...

‘The Book itself is to blame’

What barbarity books have inspired humanity to inflict upon each other down through the centuries.
We need only to read the books authored by Hitler or Marx or Mao, to see the depths human depravity will sink too, in order to bring about utopia on earth.
Modern ‘Influentials’ and authors such as Dawkins or Sam Harris publicly state their intentions to ‘demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms’ seemingly unaware that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Ceausescu and others had the same ambitions. Such is the power of books and the ideals they purport.
All the while ignoring the good ‘the Book’ has inspired humanity to achieve.
And the examples are legendary.
The heart of the problem is that of the human ‘spirit or heart’.
We have forgotten how to love one another and to do to our fellows as we would have them do to ourselves.
Armstrongism and it’s splintered remnants are a witness to this.
I am not inclined to agree that the Book is entirely to blame, but that our inclination to evil and harm simply overwhelms and dominates our nature, to the extent we crucified the One who showed us that He was the solution.
Something the Armstrong movement have missed as seen by their appalling behaviour.

Anonymous said...

Dennis wrote, "The Book itself is to blame.."

I take exception to this. Woody Allen (he was once one of my favorite comedians) once said something like, "Any form of government can work if it is founded on love." I think that is true. A libertarian government where everyone is loving will work. And an autocratic government where everyone is loving will work. "Do unto others ..." works across governmental forms. What is important is how people relate to eachother - with love or with competition, for instance.

The Bible describes a hierarchy in the NT church. Ambassador College Big Sandy had a hierarchy. I can assure you that these two hierarchies are totally different. The former is based on servant leadership - probably as long as the Apostles were alive. The latter was based on competition. 180 degrees out. The former was founded on love. The latter was founded on getting ahead.

Its not the Book. Its the heart.

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Anonymous said...

"Privilege" is just the latest buzz word to explain the advantages that some people have and others do not. Throughout our history, different groups of people received what was outlined and promised in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and it was withheld from others. If you can't see and understand that, you are just plain stupid.

Extreme conservatives have always been very effective orators in justifying and explaining away the barbaric treatment of the people whom they consider to be the lesser ones. It is unbelievable that people exist who actually believe that the whole Civil Rights Movement was totally unnecessary and didn't need to even exist in the first place. In fact they'd like to take a big eraser to it, and undo all of the very positive societal evolution which we have experienced over the past five decades. That's pretty much why Drumpf extended the "Welcome" mat to them in Charlottesville!

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:47:00 PM PDT

While I will not condone extreme conservatives in any circumstance, the carnage the extreme left has brought upon humanity in the last century is undeniable and written in the blood of hundreds of millions of souls. From Soviet Russia to Maoist China to Cambodia to Vietnam to North Korea to Ethiopia to South Yemen to Eastern Europe. And included in that roll of shame is Nazi Germany and fascist Italy which are the by products of the extreme left as documented by numerous individuals such as Jonah Goldberg, James Gregor and many others.
For extremists, some are indeed more equal than others, especially those at the top. And those at the top have more privileges than
those less equal, as Armstrongism demonstrated.

jim said...

The Civil Rights movement identified and successfully addressed the problem: racial discrimination. If the communicated argument was that 80% of the population was “privileged” while many of those “privileged” were dirt poor (e.g. sharecroppers) and also Discriminated against, the civil rights movement would have been far less successful.
Jesus addressed the heart and the individual; He didn’t disparagingly label someone simply based on appearance.

Anonymous said...

Is this post a joke ? a comedy moment ? Seriously? I mean what you posted here it's beyond parody.

I don't know how a reader could keep a straight face reading the immortal lines of "privilege is layered throughout...until you get to the people who just fill the chairs every week and fawn over and idolise those with privilege.'
With the added punchline of "while they have no privilege...and aren't even members."

Privilege ? Never in all my life have I encountered any church members who thought the ministry was 'privileged' far from it. The complete opposite in fact. Many ministry are pitied by the membership for various reasons.
Privilege is NOT being part of the elite and indeed sitting on those chairs unfortunately for the author NOT putting any ministry on pedestals of idolatry.

Thb said...

From reading this post it appears the concretized christianity (odd name to say the least) blog writer/s are oblivious to the noble bereans and the whole point of being in covenant relationship with God, walking with God and worshipping God.

Anonymous said...


5:55 am...Is this a joke or are you trolling us? The point of the post went entirely over your head. No wonder the COG is so screwed-up!

Armstrongism has always told the members how special and privileged they were to be "called out" from the world to do something special. Also, they are told they are more favored/privileged because the entire mass of Christianity is wrong except for their little privileged/elite group. Stupidity at its finest!

RSK said...

Sounds like you dont understand the meaning intended when "privilege" is used in that context. Though I understand, because at one point I did not either.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are correct, In retrospect HWA and all his minions were despicable, but what was also wrong with me to ever desire to be part of such an organization? Could the need or desire to be thought “special” have also contributed? I don’t know, perhaps. I was so young then and impressionable, but come on, there was some really outrageous stuff there. So we would all have a planet eh? I wonder if the person who got Pluto would feel gipped?

Anonymous said...

But you don't see the glory of Armstrongism?! Mr. Armstrong is your apostle.

Anonymous said...

"Mr." Armstrong is not my apostle, or anyone else's. He was a charlatan and a false prophet, and the Bible tells us that there is a special punishment awaiting such people.

Anonymous said...

Go re-read the post. Put the binoculars on. The 'concretized christianity' post advert was written in the context of church members idolizing and perceiving the ministry as privledged. Calling others stupid? Says it all about you. Isn't that a acute trait of Armstrongisim (as you like to call it) belittling others. Oh the irony.

jim said...

Rsk,
I fully get the context of the idea of privilege in all the major ways as used today. The problem is that “privilege” is based on appearance and not on the individual. It is prejudice and discrimination toward an entire group of people and is striving to make this prejudice universal.

I don’t believe whites as a whole are being privileged beyond the respect anyone should receive. Do you go around thinking it is a privilege that people don’t expect ill of me? I think that is just a common correct mindset. That is not privilege which in its worst form is delivered to a top 1-5%.

If people want to call it privilege then that is their problem. If someone takes a single aspect of someone’s appearance (e.g. color) and shows a lowered disrespect based on that then that is discrimination. Common decency and respect toward someone is not privilege. If someone shows all 95 of their white customers proper respect and shows sll 5 of their black customers some level of disrespect, they are discriminating; they are not privileging the 95, they are simply discriminating against the 5.