The Cult Of The Individual

By, Reverend Ed Crabtree

In one of our news letters, we made the following statement in the article entitled Entertainment: 21st Century Prophecy;

We must be on guard as Christ admonished, ever wary of false prophets.  Consider this, if a Minister or Political leader claims to support and promote a Christian agenda, and his very actions are the anti-thesis of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we must assume that he is in league with the opposite of Christ, the Anti Christ.

One of our members sent me an e-mail in response to this statement.

Recently I have attended gospel meetings in our city.  He has given message regarding second coming of Jesus Christ, Antichrist, 666 impression and  his 7 years ruling.  Moreover, he described that the Antichrist will come from European Union.

Hence I request you to clarify ……………

First I would like to thank our Brother for asking for a clarification, as that does touch on several different concepts we have discussed in the past and that probably need to be touched on again.

During the course of the last forty-seven years, I have been blessed to attend various churches in which I have listened to many different ministers deliver their messages.  By far those that I appreciated the most were those that seemed to say “this is what I received form the scriptures, please study for yourself and see what you receive.”  While there has actually only been one or two that physically made this statement, several others seemed to make that implication.  I have so much more respect for these ministers that strive to set the layperson “free into the sprit of God,” than those preachers and evangelists that send the message, “I have studied the scriptures and I am absolutely right in my understanding of them.”  While the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, as outlined in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are fairly straight forward with little room for ambiguity, the actual meaning of the prophesy of Revelations always has been and will in all probability remain veiled in mystery until the day that we look up and actually see with our own two eyes, Our Lord Jesus Christ descending from the heavens.

Throughout history countless evangelists, ministers, preachers, theologians, kings, princes, popes, potentates and presidents have offered their opinions regarding these mysteries and the identity of the Antichrist,  some even going as far to name a specific person while others named a specific date of the apocalypse, but to date they all appear to have been mistaken, or their claims simply have not yet come to pass.

My very good friend and colleague, the Reverend J.W. Stansell Jr., wrote a very good essay on the prophesies of Revelations, a missive that I really enjoyed reading and found great merit to some of his arguments.  But I do I agree with him 100%? No, and I am sure that J.W. doesn’t agree with all of my opinions based on my study of these mysteries.  However by comparing notes, so to speak, we both came away from our comparative discussion of the Revelation Prophecies with a greater understanding, a condition of  “growth in the sprit.”

I have often used the story based on the poem about the blind men and the elephant, to illustrate how different people can encounter the same unknown and come away from the encounter with differing views of the same object or material, each thinking, due to the fallacy of human nature that his particular view was the absolute, the most correct.

In the poem based on a story from ancient India, we find several blind men, each using the power of touch and feel to develop a picture in their mind of the nature of the great beast.  One encounters the animal’s side and compares it to a wall, one finds the trunk pictures it as if a serpent, one touches the tusk and finds it like a great spear, one feels the animal’s leg and likens it to a tree, another compares the elephant’s ear to a large fan, and finally one of the group encounters the tail and finds it to be like a rope.  Each of the blind men, were absolutely convinced that their opinion based on their individual observations was the absolute description of the magnificent animal, and they argued with each other never realizing that each had a profound observation and that if they compromised, never giving up their individual position but rather acknowledging the merit of the observations of their counterparts, they each would have a better “picture” of the entire animal.   In this work by the American poet John Godfrey Saxe, the author concludes with the following;

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!

The prophesy of Revelations is indeed shrouded in mystery, each of us may study it, and like the blind men, come away with a different picture.

Our Brother that wrote the e-mail that initiated this essay, is a resident of a land far from where I reside.  And the minister that asserted that the Antichrist will be revealed as the European Union has certainly studied the prophecies and came away from that study with a different picture than I. While there has been much discussion alluding to the possibility that the Antichrist will emerge from a European power, there have been other studies that indicate otherwise.  But what we must consider is that which might be summed up in this quotation attributed to an American Founding Father.  Shortly before his death on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84, he was attributed as saying this regarding the argument of theology;

“I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble….”

Regarding the statement in the Entertainment: 21st Century Prophecy; piece of last week;

“We must be on guard as Christ admonished, ever wary of false prophets.  Consider this, if a Minister or Political leader claims to support and promote a Christian agenda, and his very actions are the anti-thesis of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we must assume that he is in league with the opposite of Christ, the Anti Christ…….”

It was not my intention of even touching on Revelation Prophesy, but rather, as with all of my writings, to call for an awakening of God’s people.  To realize that like the blind men and the elephant that there are more considerations than a singular outlook or opinion.

In the piece A Tale Of Two Apples, I tried to make the point of how opinions could differ, but yet some people might try to make their “opinion” based on a narrow outlook, the law of the land. (see: http://www.crabtreeinternet.com/ministry/sermons/twoapples.shtml )

In my opinion, if any group, body, organization, nation or corporation, that professes to be Christian at heart or nature, follows a path that is obviously a path in direct opposite of the path as outlined in the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we must at least consider the possibility that this entity is at least in league with the Antichrist, if not the Antichrist itself.  If any group tries to make their doctrine international law, a doctrine that is the antithesis to the doctrine or teachings of Christ, then we must be wary of that group.

Although I have my personal, my own heart felt deep opinions regarding the identity of the Antichrist, I will not go on public record naming that person or persons, as to do so, if proven wrong, would decrease my credibility, just as those ministers that prophesied that the second coming of Christ would occur at the stroke of midnight on December 31 1999 as the year 2000 entered in decreased their credibility.  It could be the European Union, if could be another government, or it could be a combination of governments and corporate interests, an alliance that is yet to arise into public recognition.

The recent disaster here in the United States known as the Hurricane Katrina, has brought to light a great disparity.

When the tsunami struck in Asia the wide spread anarchy that we have seen in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, simply did not happen, at least not the extent it did in New Orleans.  Commentators from around the world have wrote thousands of words analyzing this phenomena, one such hypothesis was offered by Jeremy Lennard in the Guardian Unlimited of the United Kingdom

I covered an earthquake that laid to waste a large part of the small Colombian city of Armenia. As emergency services searched for survivors, the army patrolled the streets, firing regular volleys of tear gas to keep whole crowds of looters at bay. ……….So what do Armenia in 1999 and New Orleans in 2005 have in common? Poverty and desperation, certainly – but that also applies to the areas hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami. In Colombia, though, people who live outside the three major cities (in Columbia) often complain of exclusion in the extreme, of “feeling that the state has never touched their lives”, leading them to take matters quickly into their own hands. As in the US, the cult of the individual is worshipped and any sense of social responsibility is weak. (for this complete article see; http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/09/02/up_in_arms.html#more )

This observation by Lennard regarding the worship of the cult of the individual which leads to a lack of social responsibility is indeed a profound concept.  I have gone on record as saying that I feel that God wants us to have a certain degree of materialistic comfort but when that pursuit of materialism far, far outweighs the service of God, then those that pursue “the worship of the cult of the individual” have adopted or have started to follow a path in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ or in other words have aligned themselves with the Antichrist.

In response to a post on the Church of Interfaith Christians e-mail discussion group regarding the slow or even lack of response to the needs of the victims of Katrina, I wrote;

Although the quote “Let them eat cake” has always been falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette, the concept of the wealthy elite not caring about the working class and the poor or disabled, is totally relevant to this situation.  The far right conservatives, including some who profess to be righteous Christians, have clearly demonstrated their disdain for assistance to those that cannot help themselves, or whose incomes fall below the poverty line.

Those that have a disdain for the poor fail to recognize some of the basic teachings of Christ;

When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.

But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke chapter 14 verses 12 through 14

Many people have indeed enjoyed a financial bounty, a feast, but how many have called the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind to enjoy in that bounty?  America is one of the richest nations per capita in the world, but the economic divide between the wealthy and the working classes or the poor is widening at an exponential rate.  We see those in the working class watching their incomes erode from rising fuel and energy costs as well as the cost of housing, medical care, and prescriptions, while the wealthiest Americans enjoy more and more.

Recent studies have indicated that a large home or estate and one or more luxury vehicles, is no longer considered a sign of status and success.  The wealthiest Americans feel they must have several homes, sometimes in the same city.  They feel that one personal jet aircraft is not enough but several must be owned to demonstrate one’s success.  And even the number of personal servants is now considered to be the sign of affluence.  Case in point, we now have an association of Personal Chefs, a group designed to promote and serve those that have found employment or business opportunities, not as a chef in a fine restaurant but in a private home.  Nannies are the rage among the elite.  Two or three house keepers are the sign of success.  We could go on and on citing signs of excess in demonstrating a façade of financial success, a worship of the cult of the individual, but the bottom line is, success is in itself not a sin, but gaining that degree of success at the expense of the poor or even others is highly questionable.

I know a fifty year old man, who for the last several months has been living with his widowed Mother after his wife left him.  After being unemployed for some time, he has now found a job and his salary, in his opinion will not be sufficient for him to make mortgage payments on a new home.  After telling us of the dollar amount of the salary, we asked him why would he not consider a home like the one he lost in the divorce, his new salary would certainly be enough to cover the mortgage of that type of home.  His reply was that God does not expect him to live in that standard anymore.  Now, I ask you to consider the fact that he is perfectly willing to live under his Mother’s roof without paying a dime, consider the fact that his mother’s retirement is less than $600 per month and his weekly salary is nearly as much as her monthly check, and then tell me your opinion of his values.  This is but one example of how some find rationale to justify taking from those less fortunate.

Another example on a far greater scale, is that we have pharmaceutical companies who no longer strive to “cure” a disease but rather create a medication to control or treat the symptoms and charge astronomical amounts, sometimes hundreds of dollars per month, for the prescription.  Those at the top of the pharmaceutical companies and their investors then enjoy these immense profits gained at the expense of the victims, those suffering from the malady.  A degree of success gained at the expense of those who are in suffering.  While I must add that I personally do not see anything wrong with making a fair profit from one’s products or services, unrealistically high profits derived form your neighbor’s suffering is just plain wrong.  And in fairness to the pharmaceutical industry, this phenomenon is not limited to that industry alone but is now commonplace in all walks of life.   One wonders how people can sleep at night knowing that their fleets of personal jet aircraft and limousines, as well as personal staffs of chefs, maids, nannies and lawn care specialists, their personal homes scattered across the same city, all are derived from excessive profits earned from the backs of the working class and the poor?  One wonders how these elite can then justify their actions by calling themselves evangelical “born again” Christians?

Mat 19:16 through 19:23    Once a man came to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”  “Why do you ask me concerning what is good?” answered Jesus. “There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.” “What commandments?” he asked. Jesus answered, “Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” “I have obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else do I need to do?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich. Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 23:23 GNB  “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give to God one tenth even of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practice, without neglecting the others.

Mar 12:43 & 44 GNB  He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had—she gave all she had to live on.”

In these three sayings of Christ we find our Lord rebuking the wealthy and powerful for their unwillingness to give of them selves, even to abide by biblical teachings of justice, mercy and honesty, while we find him prasing a widow for giving a pentance which which was all she had.  In proportion to the others she had given far more.  Again let me state that do not feel we have to give up everything that we have inorder tos erve God and our fellow mankind, but for heavens sake why must we as a society steal from those with less than us and then toss them aside?

I ask you, in your studies of the teachings of Christ, have you found justifications for taking from the poor, stealing from those that have the least to take?  Have you found justification for placing burdens upon those least able to bear the burden, then justification to never raise a finger to aid them?

Luke 11:46  And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

So I ask, when we see a group that professes to be Christian, but one that clearly demonstrates actions that are in oppostion to the teachings of Christ, is it not possible that these are in league with the antithesis of Christ, the Anitchrist?

Think about it!

We must remember that we are all God’s children, not islands unto ourselves.

Regardless of our position in life, we must remember that we are worthy of the compassion of our fellow man.

Those of us that have achieved financial success must do as others have done and give back to the society that enabled us to obtain our earthly riches, and in doing so lay up treasures in heaven, rather than to hoard material treasures here on earth in worship of the cult of the individual.

“I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble….”