The Cult of Personality

1 Corinthians 4:15-16, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me.”

What do you label yourself, or do you? Are you a Methodist, Presbyterian, or Evangelical? Are you a Thomist, Calvinist, or Arminian? Maybe you instead go to the church you went to since you were a child and that is the church you will go to till you die, but have you looked at what you are following?

Some say we should wrap our arms around all these differences and enjoy them, but the problem is that many of those differences are the difference between sin and purity. Should you be part of a denomination that allows out right sin in the pastors’ lives, even if your particular church does not support it? Aren’t you still giving your acceptance by being part of the denomination, regardless of what your particular church is doing at that time?

We all follow something and many times someone, even though many would try to say they are just following Jesus, but they get their interpretation from a personality who has written a book about the Scriptures. Is this wrong? Should we make sure that we do not get anything from anyone at all or align ourselves with a particular person or church?

I believe we can follow someone or a personality in the right way for the right reasons. In many places it is called mentoring, discipleship and accountability. The goal though is to follow those people and churches that follow what the Word of God says. Follow those that are following Christ and will teach you to do the same, just as Paul was saying to the Corinthians. He was telling them to follow him because he followed Jesus and if they wanted to know how to follow Christ then they could watch him and know.

How many of us could say that? How many of us have those people in our lives? If you do, then who cares if people criticize you for following them, as long as they are following Christ and teaching His inerrant Word of God. You need to align yourself to a church and people who love Jesus and long to follow Him both in His doctrinal requirements and social requirements found in Scripture. Those that become upset are just jealous or upset because they do not have the courage, don’t want to rock the boat, or want to rationalize the sin in their lives or the churches. So, instead of looking at what they are doing or what the church is doing they try to make you feel guilty for moving to a Biblical church or following someone who you trust to lead you in a Biblical fashion.

It should not shock us, as those who are in sin always want to keep others down with them and try to keep those who are seeing the truth blinded through guilt. We are to follow Christ, and in doing that we should be aligning ourselves with those people and churches that are sound in their doctrine, because if they are sound in their doctrine then they will be doing the social aspects naturally.

Take a look at who you have chosen to follow and what church you have chosen to sit under. Why have you chosen so? Is it because you have been going to that church all your lives and will continue to do so, even if the church moves away from the Word of God? Do you attend because of the person preaching, even if they do not teach the entire Gospel or change its meaning and context? Or have you chosen your church because they are following the Biblical Standards set before them and the person standing in the pulpit is preaching all the truths in Scripture regardless of how it might offend the congregation?

The end result I guess is whom are you trying to please: God or man? If God, then we need to continually look at what our church believes and who we are following, and who they are following.

Mark 8:34, “Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”