Accountability, a Two-way Street, not a Dead-end road

Truly, I do believe that we must all adhere to ONE standard, and that standard is the divinely inspired Word of the Living God, given and interpreted by His Spirit! And that, yes, we are accountable to that truth, as well as to each other! At least, we need to be accountable to all those other believers that really hear truth, receiving it, submitting to it, and are upholding in their lives and decisions themselves.

I make this specification, because for years, there has simply been too much “one way submission and accountability” being taught! Meaning that I am expected to “submit” to leadership, to be willing to be “called into accountability”, and to be gracious or forgiving if they are impatient, unloving or just plain wrong! However, they seem to feel absolutely no need to be brought into accountability to the truth, or even to have their version of the truth questioned by me. In fact they seem quite put out by the whole idea!

But that is clearly not the biblical idea of leadership, nor the Father's idea of accountability or submission. It is an unscriptural, ungodly, unhealthy, unloving substitute that has no place in any “fellowship” which bears His Name. Instead, this type of leadership employs control and manipulation, which are the characteristics that define co-dependency at best, and witch-craft and other twisted cult-quality relationships at worst.

All the ills in this current society, I believe, can truly be traced to the spot where we – as the Church, and as a once “God-Revering Nation” - have left God, and have blatantly refused to be accountable to His Word, clinging instead to man made holidays, practices, teachings and traditions, worse than those of the Jewish Pharisees! And of course I am not talking about the un-churched, for why would they be expected to be accountable to His Word? Oh yes, God will certainly, assuredly hold each man accountable to it on that day! But can we? Dare we attempt to hold the un-churched accountable to a Word to which we ourselves have not been found faithful? I think we have attempted it! And hence the dilemma, they are straying and staying far away from anything that looks, smells or tastes like so-called “Church”. To use today's catch-word - “FAIL”, mega-FAIL!

No, but I am talking about the ones who preach this Truth. Those who have been taught this Word, (or should have been, since they are the ones who sit in those houses which bear His Name week after week, and year after year). I speak of those who consider themselves to be His own people, those willingly, even irresponsibly, or ignorantly being led around by those others, who are claiming to have His Authority, (i.e., Those in “leadership” who receive the people's trust, obedience, tithes and offerings every week, and in return demand and expect unwavering trust, obedience and accountability, in His Name). I refer to those faithful souls, who line the pews or chairs each week, expecting to be given meat so they can become strong, and expecting to be rewarded with trust in return for their faithfulness, so they can become mature - for, after all, they have been told that one “reaps what one sows”. They expect that the ones who have demanded that they listen, will also listen to them, for are they not quoted the scripture which says, “Brethren, submit one to another in the bond of Christ...”? Alas, it is not always so.

The Scripture does demand that we submit to those whom God places in leadership over us, or I should say, those to whom we feel led to put ourselves under for the sake of receiving His Word! But it also says that we should obey God over man, if it comes down to that choice, and it is our responsibility, not theirs, to know the difference!

In my 30 plus (awake) years in this entity known as “Church” I have seen that there is more emphasis put on “accountability to leadership”, than there is on accountability to the Word, & to the Spirit of the Living God! However, If I am reading my Bible correctly, we each have a responsibility to hear God! And with that responsibility goes the freedom or the right to be given a chance to come into agreement with the Word, which ideally the “leadership” is preaching. But, Leadership must be willing to come under the same accountability! And if it is not happening this way then something is amiss, askew, and terribly out of order.

By all means, we should indeed submit to Godly Authority! But we are responsible to test the spirits to be sure that the Authority being exercised over us is from God! It is very dangerous to assume that, because a person was led by the Spirit in their input the first several times, or even 99% of th time, that they will be always be led unerringly by the Spirit on our behalf! No, we humans do “miss it” on occasion, and it is high time for ignorant irresponsibility, or blind naiveté' on the one hand, and bullying dictatorship on the other, in the Name of Christ to stop. We must revolt against the brain-washing! That is clearly NOT what the Word is referring to when it talks of “the washing of the water of the Word”! It is intended to cleanse and purify our minds, not wash them completely out of our heads, or remove the ridges and thought processes!

My mind is good, my heart is healed, and over time, the strongholds have come down. That could not have happened without theAuthority to the Word, and to the Spirit of Godin my life, working with and through the power of almighty God in the lives of those over me.But no oneis above mistakes, and allmust be willing to come under authority, as well as wield it! In fact, coming under authority applies especiallythose who would wield it! We must be sure that we, as well as those over us, are practicing what we preach! It is well to say that we need to be accountable to an immovable standard, as long as we have made quite sure that we have done all which we are required to do, to have become accountable to that standard ourselves!

A mark of Christ's Authority is humble service, not prideful demands; it is brotherly love, not dictatorial abuse; it is patient agreement, not foot-tapping intolerance! Brethren, we have missed the mark on this, let us not preach too loudly the things that we have not yet lived successfully ourselves! I think we need to “be still and know that He is God”, for a season on this matter. To seek Him in humility and listen for His correction, and produce the fruit worthy of repentance!

We ourselves, for the most part, are perhaps willing to be held accountable to those “over” us, and that is good! But we must be also willing to be held accountable to truth from the most humble of sources, even by those “under” us if need be. Only then can we reasonably preach accountability! Truth is not limited to the vessels which we approve! God reserves the right to serve it to us from the mouths of our livestock if need be! Humble listening is far better than selective judging!

Accountability, as it is currently being taught, is a one way street, and a dead end road at that! But that is not the kingdom of God, it is control and manipulation. God has given all of us Authority in Christ!Of course, it must be grown into, but room should be given for that!The submissionthat is required by God, is askedof the freed will, and is - by definition - something that is our own idea, motivated from love for the Father, and His appointed leadership, not something that is “brow beaten” or “guilt- tripped” out of us! 

And, the "accountability of others" should be reserved for leadership who are willing to walk in humility as Christ did! The ones who are humble enough to realize that, in order to be effective, they must walk worthy of His love and ours! Anything else is slavery, and not true submission at all. We are to “put our own earon the door-post”, out of loving devotion to Him, not be dragged into it kicking and screaming by His well-meaning servants, whether brother or bishop, matters not!  Oppression causes revolt, be it in families, churches or counties! Revolt is NOT rebellion - by Scriptural definition!  People denied their God-given rights will eventually rise up, unless they are unaware of their rights, broken beyond repair, or simply have had no character development.

As followers of Christ in these last crucial days, we dare not abdicate our responsibility to hear God clearly, and we dare not be quick to give our Authority over to men! We can, and should, come under the Godly Authority of His appointed ones, but, without abdicating our own! We dare not ever stop thinking, asking and hearing for ourselves!

We dare not check our brains at the door people! This is NOT what is meant by “only believe”! The Word states, “For I KNOW in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able....” It does NOT say, “ I presume that this guy who is in charge is God's chosen Authority in my life, therefore I should obey him implicitly”! That may be true and even necessary for a season, and if you sense that God has led you there, then it is most likely safe to submit to his or her leadership! God will protect you! But even then we dare not assume anything! We must be led by the Spirit!

It is those who are led by the Spirit that are given the right to become Sons of God, not those led around by the nose! Therefore it says over and over to us, “be on the alert!” “Wake Up!” “Shake yourselves from the dust” - (the filth of man-made ideas, philosophies, and doctrines)! Do not be lulled asleep by those who would usurp your authority, by “handling it all for you” - be they government or religion driven, and do not be bullied out of your God given rights by a bunch of self-important know-it-alls!

It is time, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for those of us who have grown up into Christ, to take our places of Authority as Sons of the living God, and to “be about the Father's business”. Those who do not understand that process, or who would block us from it, must “be about” something else, and they should not be followed too closely! It is time for the True “Church” to get back her Chutzpah! To receive courage and strength from her Lord!

Be careful who is front of you, if it is not the Lord Himself, make sure it is one of His brothers or sisters! And if it is one of His brothers or sisters, make sure that He is in front of them! Lol Your destination, and that of your future generations depends on it! We dare not assume, anything! Deception is a very real threat in these last of days, but we are promised that we can know His voice! Do you? Are you accountable to it, i.e., do you hear and then do what He says? If you are not sure of these things, it is high time you were.

~Selah

In His service and at yours.......

Sandra Carlton Duncan