I had an inkling of how that works this morning as I continued reading the saga of Absalom. I was struck by this passage, from 2 Samuel 15:1-6:
“In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, ‘What town are you from?’ He would answer, ‘Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.’ Then Absalom would say to him, ‘Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.’ And Absalom would add, ‘If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.’
Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.”
Absalom didn’t care about the people, but in the way of those charismatic cult leaders he made them think he did. He played to their vanity and their personal desires and they gave him their loyalty. In the end it was enough to run King David out of the royal city.
Personality cults abound, and they are dangerous. We can become so devoted to our pastor or a blogger we like or someone famous like John Piper that we start using their words as our gospel. We can be beguiled by people who say things we wish to be true, enough so that we swallow what they say without examining it critically.
The Bible tells us to be discerning about who we believe and what we listen to. Ultimately, words from anyone other than God himself are tainted in some measure by misguided thinking and self-interest.
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