Disobedient Christians Who’ve Lost Their Authority In God

A pastor told his church recently that when Adam disobeyed God he lost his authority in God and everything turned against him. In thinking about this, I’m asking myself how come Adam allowed himself to get to that point. What happened to the man who walked with God and was told by Him to have dominion over everything? Genesis 1:28. Did he get so caught up in his work that he caused his relationship with both God and his wife to wane? How else could a man go from having dominion over to becoming dominated over? Had those relationships been strong, would Eve have gotten to first base with that temptation?

What about Eve? She knew the word of God given to her husband. What was in her heart that she was unable to submit to either one of them? What was in Adam’s heart that he didn’t bring the matter to her attention or to God’s attention if she wouldn’t listen to him? Was he afraid God would tell him to put her out of the garden and start again? So the pastor is right, Adam did lose his authority in God when he disobeyed Him. Be fruitful and multiply, God said to him. What a disaster! After his disobedience everything did turn against him. He became fruitless and multiplied that! No more tilling, only toiling. The blessings of dominion all gone now, the curses of domination replacing them.

I’ve seen pastors and elders lose their authority in God too, for the same reason – disobedience to God. Each one used the word of God, but they could not use the God of the word, that’s the big difference. They once walked close with God, but for whatever reason their relationship with Him waned and it was as though they sought to become their own god. Harsh in their dealings with people, impatient with others, dismissive of caution and disrespectful to those who brought it. One of them even taught that, “the way you treat others, is the way you treat God.” In the light of 1 John 4:20 I believe that statement to be certainly true …….for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

If the only harm these people did was to themselves, one could say it’s no big deal, God will sort it out one day. But just like Adam, that’s never the case. Their behavior and influences always get passed on and picked up by others in the church under their ministry. Then just like five of the seven churches mentioned in New Testament Revelation who failed to respond in obedience to Jesus’ warnings, they lose their authority in God and get tossed out from His presence too. Yes, the obedient and faithful among them experience the presence of the Lord, but not so, the others. As a result, the obedient and faithful are hated for it. Note: If that last statement makes you angry, check your obedience in God.

So what happens to disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God? Most don’t believe it. They simply by-pass the question just as they by-passed the word of God they originally found unpalatable. Let’s take the command of Jesus to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations……. Matthew 28:19. They see themselves as “going” when they “go to church” on Sunday and attend the mid-week Bible study. They see themselves as “going” when they front up to the annual church conference and family camp. They see themselves as “going” when they all get themselves on the same spiritual and doctrinal page. And, other church groups not on the same spiritual and doctrinal page are seen by them as, “not going.”

They see themselves as “going” when they turn up for the monthly church working bee. But especially do they see themselves as “going” when they hold the annual church car-park sale. All primed up they are, to smile and talk about, “the lovely day” to the curios bargain-hunting community dropping by to pick through home-made cakes, jams, garden plants, faded old paperback books, old vinyl records that have been picked over and rejected a million times before, along with the equally picked over and rejected out of date videos and music cassettes. And if they should make a couple of hundred dollars out of it, they are sure to “amen’ the pastor’s, “Praise the Lord for His blessing yesterday, and that we’re able to send this money to the missions.”

Disobedient Christians lose their authority in God when they reject any part of His word. A Christian man saw no need to get baptized. “Tell me why I should?” he asked at least two pastors over some years. He didn’t get a biblical answer so he continued to reject it. Then over time his body started to deteriorate, to the point where he got the shakes. He couldn’t walk properly and had to use sticks. He couldn’t hold his knife and fork properly, so he had to eat with a spoon like a baby. Then one day an interim pastor came and told him. “Tell me why I should?” he asked. The interim pastor said, “Because the Lord Jesus commands it.” It was the first time the man had heard it put to him like that. So he said he would obey that command.

It was mentioned to him that if he sought God with a humble heart for healing as well, then God would answer his prayer. There was a gradual but definite change in his body not long after his baptism and after some months he threw away the sticks and the spoon! The saddest part about that whole deal, however, the church didn’t appreciate the miracle. The interim pastor moved on, the sick still got sick and the doctor remained the one they sought first, not Jesus. The angry remained angry, the bitter remained bitter, the unforgiving remained unforgiving, the critical remained critical, the arrogant remained arrogant and the pretenders remained pretenders.

What else happens to disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God? They become a sucker for every false doctrine that rises up out of the pit of hell. All they ever see standing in the pulpit is the smiling face of the elegantly dressed woman, the “cool” casually dressed man, or, the grim-faced authoritarian in his dark suit. They don’t see (discern) the devils from hell riding in on the back of them. All they ever hear is the sweet voice, the emotional voice, the appealing voice, the soft voice and the loud voice. They don’t hear each and every voice as that of Satan the devil or one of his minions 2 Peter 2:1-3, 18-22. They may believe they hear the voice of these in the politicians of the land, but never the preachers of the land.

Closely related to this, disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God become great advocates of that which is deemed culturally relevant. Political correctness, man-made climate change, same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia, the inter-faith movement, the global community and the New World Order. They believe the Marxist/Collectivist/Socialist lie that Christians must be tolerant and accepting of these things, “in a world that’s moving forward.” Satan calls it “moving forward,” God calls it sliding backward – straight into hell! Any church that accepts any one of these lies and practices will dry up spiritually and later come under the judgment of God.

Disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God have little insight or interest in the prophetic. As a result of the few-second grabs on nightly TV they see a little of what’s going on in the Middle East with Syria, Iran, Libya, Egypt and Israel, but they have not the slightest clue as to how accurately it’s lining up with biblical prophetic end-times revelation. They will look at you strangely should you mention the Rapture and will look away from you should you mention the Great Tribulation that follows the Rapture. The false prophecies from the Harold Campings of the world that don’t come to pass have more influence over them than the true prophecies from the Lord God Almighty that do come to pass.

One of the saddest things for me regarding disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God, are those who failed to obey the divine calling God placed on them; or equally, those who walked away from it. Like Adam, they’re not “tilling” any more either, they’re toiling. I’m not speaking of pastors or elders, simply my brothers and sisters in Christ. God has called them to ministry of some kind and they are yet to pick it up. Some did pick it up, but when things didn’t turn out the way they expected them to, they put it down and picked up something else. That’s why they’re toiling; it’s hard yakka (work)! They’re frustrated. They’re critical. They’re angry. They’re tired. Life is hell for them and they make life hell for all those around them.

I’m convinced this is why we find the church around the Western World in the pathetic spiritual state that it is. We don’t have to pick up the behavior and influences passed on by the disobedient pastors and elders over us. We’re not to be men-followers, men-pleasers or self-pleasers, only servants of Christ Galatians 1:10. And until we lay down our lives to Him as such, nothing is sweet … it’s all sweat! The Holy Spirit waits patiently on us to turn back, but He also has a cut-off point. This is the time when He moves on to find someone else. It is also the time when those who have lost their authority in God get angry, jealous, hateful and spiteful towards the obedient and faithful … just like Adam’s son Cain did towards his brother.

Something else I’ve noticed about some disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God; they place more faith in the promises of the Leader of the Government of their nation, than they ever do the promises of the Leader of the Government of their God – until those promises get broken! Taxes and costs go up, handouts and freebies come down. Corruption, lies, deceits and wickedness increase; truth, honesty, integrity and honor decrease. Disobedient Christians get mad! They fume, they curse, they sigh and they cry. But above all, they want them to change their ungodly practices and principles. It’s never going to happen. Why not?

Matthew 24:7-12 shows us everything is panning out exactly the way Jesus said it would. The same for the apostle Paul 2 Timothy 3:1-4. These are the last days; the perilous times have begun. What the disobedient Christian fails to see is that both those Scriptures speak of him as much as they speak of them! What to do then? Disobedient Christians who’ve lost their authority in God need to be upheld before God in prayer by obedient Christians who possess their authority in God. It’s time to stop “toiling” in the serpent’s garden of disobedience and death. Time to get  back to “tilling” for the Lord in the garden of obedience and life. God will honor the prayer. “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:6-7.