One of the chief besetting sins of the Church is playing power religion. By power religion, I mean the temptation to look for whatever end will yield the greatest power in order to achieve the desired results. Such concepts are seen explicitly in animistic religions, where one seeks to manipulate spiritual forces to obtain power or blessing. It is seen explicitly in certain sectors of the church, such as extreme forms of Pentecostalism. However, this sin is equally seen in much of the conservative and Reformed church as well; it just tends to sneak in through the backdoors in implicit forms.

The Word of God is not ignorant of such matters. In 2 Kings 16 we see the story one of the most evil kings of Judah, who fell prey to playing power religion.

“When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.  And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal.”¹

King Ahaz saw the great Tiglath-pileser, and with power and religion in his mind, assumed that the reason the King of Assyria was powerful was because of his god and his worship. He gave up his trust in the Lord and put his trust in the false gods of Assyria. He hoped that the power of Tiglath-pileser’s gods would enable him to be raised up to power and prestige.

If you think such horrendous behavior would never happen in the Church of Jesus Christ, you are sadly mistaken. Though such brazen action will not explicitly be seen in the church, the same controlling mindset and spirit undergird much of what they do. One simply needs to consider the motivation behind the practices of many churches today.

In many churches, it is now common practice to utilize worldly techniques in order to manipulate an atmosphere of worship. What motivates the perfectly timed song introductions, emotionally powerful music buildups, effective lighting techniques, illustrious musical solos, and tear-jerking stories mingled with ear-tingling messages with synthesizer backtracks? Is it not an embracing of worldly systems and logic in a pathetic attempt to engender an emotional response? It is playing power religion. The church looks at the world and sees power in emotional concerts and thinks, “It works for them; maybe it will work for me?”

What about the techniques of evangelism embraced in many churches today? A man I know well preached at a camp and was told that “the messages were great, but not many could be saved.” Why? Because “there was no altar call given!” If you want responses, you must have a sweet tune and urge the people to come forward. How can anyone be saved if you don’t have an altar call? Power religion!

Playing power religion is exchanging the wisdom of God for the foolishness of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It has always been a problem, from the power antics of the Corinthian church to the trappings of Rome and the modern obsession with emotional manipulation; it is one well-told story of idolatry. What must the Church do? She must remember the words of her mighty apostle:

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”²

The only hope for the Church is to return to the appointed weapons of her warfare. The Lord has given her the tools of the trade, and they are weapons that shake the foundations of the enemy’s kingdom. As we wage war against principilaties and powers for the sake of the salvation of sinners we do so, as Paul would say, “Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”³ The Church once more must learn to forsake its fleshly ways and seek power from above by following the ways of the King.

1. 2 Kings 16:10–17 ↩︎
2. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ↩︎
3. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 ↩︎