Pitfalls of hero worship
It was prayer time in one of the mega churches in town. The leader, founder and general overseer was the one conducting the service.
As the voices of the congregation rose in high tempo accompanied by keyboard sounds and drumming, the general overseer heard it.
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He heard it clearly—and it shocked him beyond measure. Floating on the wings of the communal worship was a kind of prayer he had never heard before.
He opened his eyes, scanned the front pews, and listened more attentively. Did he really hear what he thought he heard?
Then he saw them. A man and his wife, facing each other, were busily praying, clapping, and stamping their feet. It was a refreshing sight—except for the words of their prayer.
Straining his ears, the general overseer listened more attentively. And, sure enough, there came from the man and his wife the prayers that he later described as highly sacrilegious.
For, instead of addressing God Almighty as the recipient of their petition, the couple were passionately addressing the general overseer!
So, assuming the general overseer was called Bishop John Peter, the prayers went like this — “Oh, may the double spirit of Bishop John Peter come on us! We honour you, our leader John Peter; we glorify you for your powers and great anointing.
“Let your abundant blessing be upon our family, Bishop John Peter. We appeal to you, Bishop, to release the double blessings of your powers upon us . . .”
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If it were biblical times, Bishop John Peter would have torn his robe and poured ashes on his head in disgust for the blasphemy he heard.
How many more members of his congregation, he wondered, worshipped him like this couple demonstrated?
He was so upset that he halted the prayer session immediately and vehemently addressed the stunned flock.
“How on earth,” he queried them, “could anybody ascribe glory to me, a mere human being—glory that belongs only to God Almighty?”
“Look at me: do I look like a deity to be worshipped?” he scolded them.
“I bring you the Word of God to teach you, correct you, instruct you, even rebuke you in order to help you work out your own salvation in Christ with fear and trembling. At what point did you turn me into a worshipful personality? I may be your hero, but never to be worshipped.”
He had the strong urge to expose the couple and publicly rebuke them, but he restrained himself and decided to meet them in private instead.
In order to send the message more strongly and register his displeasure for what he heard, he brought the service to an abrupt ending—except for the offertory and the benediction.
Hero worship
That certainly was a saintly general overseer. His reaction to hero worship dates back to the apostolic zeal of the early church, not this modern day when some leaders directly or indirectly enjoy being worshipped.
When people tried to worship Paul and Barnabas at Iconium, the two apostles tore their clothes in disgust, pleading with them, “Friends, why are you doing this?
We too are only human like you. We are bringing you good news . . .” Acts 14:15).
We respect and acknowledge the role of leaders who establish churches and nurture congregations with the good news of Christ.
We should pray for them, assist them, flow with their biblical teaching, and even give them gifts.
But when they show signs of soliciting or patronising excessive admiration and desire to be worshipped, then they are becoming a kind of carved idols to be careful about.
Says the Lord Almighty, “I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another (Isaiah 42:8).
Subtle
A friend of mine denied that he worshipped the founder of his church, but he has used the picture of the founder as his computer monitor screen saver.
Whenever he switches on his monitor, it is the founder’s face he sees first. Why?
I accepted his denial, but I told him that hero worship, which is the extreme reverence of leaders and raising them to the level of deity, can be subtle and hidden in the heart.
Christendom worldwide records widespread hero worship of ordinary human beings that has resulted in leaders deceiving their followers to commit mass suicide.
Others have led their followers astray, from true faith into occultism.
Leaders need to watch out against bootlickers, sycophants, and hero worshippers. We ought to develop the mindset that constantly tells us, “Look, you are a mortal human being”—to remind us that we are, indeed, nothing but by the grace of God.