The influence of pomp and superstition

The influence of pomp and superstition

Humanity has long had a love affair with pageantry and ceremony. We love grandiose productions with all the accompanying grandeur. Hitler and the Nazi party used this fascination for the purpose of selling their brand of Arian supremacy and National Socialism, and later on, anti-Semitism. The Nazis held the Nuremberg Rallies every year. Nuremberg's quaint medieval character provided an ideal backdrop for the nationalistic pageantry. The first truly grand-scale rally occurred in 1929 and featured most of the elements that marked all future rallies: blaring Wagnerian overtures, stirring martial songs, banners, goose-step marches, human swastika formations, torchlight processions, bonfires, and magnificent fireworks displays. Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders delivered lengthy orations. Buildings were festooned with enormous flags and Nazi insignia. The climax of the rallies was the solemn consecration of the colors, in which new flags were touched to the Blutfahne (Blood Banner), a tattered standard said to have been steeped in the blood of those killed in Hitler’s abortive Beer Hall Putsch of November 8-9, 1923.

The rallies lasted several days to a week, and drew hundreds of thousands of Party members and spectators, including hundreds of foreign journalists. The rallies included rousing speeches by the Führer (Hitler) that were often the occasion for the announcement of new Nazi directions. For example, in 1935 the racist Nuremberg Laws were promulgated against the Jews. The emotional power generated by the rallies was preserved in films, which presented a carefully orchestrated version of the rally. [Encyclopedia Britannica]

What aids the deception is the pleasure that comes from the stimulation we receive from the sights and sounds. The fireworks make us ooh and ah. The songs make us emotional. The speeches are carefully crafted and choreographed to make us believers. The colors are bold and bright so that we cannot take our eyes off them. The symbols are everywhere so that no matter what direction we turn, our view takes them in and their subliminal message burns itself a little more into our conscience.  

Television producers use a similar means to keep our attention, likequick cuts, zoom-ins, zoom-outs, rolls, pans, animation, music, graphics, and voice-overs, all of which lure viewers to continue watching even though they have no interest in the content.

This doesn't mean that we should not watch television. It also doesn't mean that if we found ourselves at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally that we would come to believe the Nazi party to be the salvation of Germany. We cannot lock ourselves away from all things that seek to deceive us. The key is to not be deceived.

2CO 11:3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

JAM 1:16-17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

God doesn't need zoom-ins and zoom-outs in order to get our attention, keep our attention, and stimulate awe in our hearts. He doesn't need these parlor tricks because His word is alive and powerful. The Son of God came to earth and revealed the Trinity to us and He saved us. The plain truth in the word of God is all that is needed. Christ is the word come to earth from heaven and He is light, multi-colored wisdom, power, proper emotion, and a sight, when comprehended, that keeps the eye's gaze in awestruck wonder. Why did the Nazis need those rallies? They needed them because what they truly had to offer was dull, dark, evil, sinister, selfish, and full of death. For the same reason, Satan portrays himself as an angel of light, 2CO 11:14. If he showed who he really is, no one would buy his brand. Christ offers true life and peace.

The human race's love of grandeur caused some terrible setbacks in the fourth century that has continued its effect into modern times. Before the time of Constantine (the Roman Emperor who embraced Christianity) Christian worship had been relatively simple. At first, Christians gathered to worship in private homes. Then they began to gather in cemeteries, such as the Roman catacombs. This was more so to be near the graves of the martyrs than to hide from persecution. By the third century there were structures set aside for worship that were very simple.

After Constantine's conversion, Christian worship began to be influenced by imperial protocol. Incense, which was used as a sign of respect for the emperor, began appearing in Christian churches. Officiating ministers, who until then had worn everyday clothes, began dressing in more luxurious garments. The communion table became an "altar." Likewise, a number of gestures indicating respect, which were normally made before the emperor, now became part of Christian worship. For example, at an earlier time, the practice was not to kneel for prayer on Sundays, for that is the day of our adoption, when we approach the throne of the Most High as children and heirs to the Great King. Now, after Constantine, one always knelt for prayer, as petitioners knelt before the emperor. The custom was also introduced of beginning services with a processional. Choirs were developed, partly in order to give body to that procession. [The Story of Christianity, Justo Gonzalez]

Now that Christianity was no longer persecuted and was encouraged by the emperor, churches could be built. Instead of worshiping at the burial place of a martyr, churches were built on the spot. The churches built in the time of Constantine and his successors contrasted with the simplicity of churches built prior. Constantine himself ordered the building of elaborate churches, and his mother, Helena, built grand churches in the Holy Land. It is here that we find the birth of the grand basilica which was richly adorned with marble, lamps, tapestries, and beautiful mosaics. The grandness of the church would vary depending on how rich the person was who paid for the building.

The result of all this was a great increase in the amount of attendees and a departure from the plain teaching of the word of God. Services were becoming more full of "the show" and less filled with the word. Overwhelmed by the favor that the emperor was pouring on them, Christians sought to show that Constantine was chosen by God to bring the history of both church and empire to its culmination, where both were joined. The more devout left the churches and fled to Egypt and Syria while the churches of the west began to fill with spectators who were only coming for the show.

From this it was only natural that things would progress towards the superstitious. In some cases martyrs were dug up and reburied under the church altar. This led to the idea that a certain power came to the altar by the martyr. Helena, the emperor's mother, gave special impetus to this entire development when, in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she claimed to have discovered the very cross of Christ. Soon this cross was said to have miraculous powers, and pieces of wood claiming to come from it were found all over the empire. This wonder of superstition is all part of the show.

Man desperately wants to find a way to combine the natural with the supernatural, and so, in their minds, a sliver of wood becomes a conduit of heavenly power and a pile of bones becomes a radio to God. And yet, in the same building they have ornately constructed to worship Christ, they have given Him away for a hunk of matter. They come to imagine that His literal body is in the bread, but only after the proper prayers are said over it at the "altar," which is nothing more than a hunk of marble. Being blinded by the pomp and the grandeur they began to lose their grasp on the simple truth that yes, it is true that there is a supernatural combined with a natural, but that is only in the person of Christ. God put the human and the divine together without losing the individual characteristics of each. God put flesh and bone together with infinite deity and gave us the mystery of the hypostatic union. The Christians of that day were better off in the cemeteries, for at least then they seemed to understand this foundational truth. The supernatural took upon Himself the natural and He broke the pattern of superstition in order to establish the one and only truth.

Two things: first, we must understand that our flesh has a desire to find deliverance in the natural. JOH 6:33-35

"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."  They said therefore to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. They actually asked for this bread, thinking it was literal.

JOH 6:51-52 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

JOH 4:13-15 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. " The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw."

This is why Satan, through his cronies, is always selling the salvation of man and earth by man's efforts. Know your enemy and know the enemy within you. It will look to the natural for deliverance. ZEC 4:6 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts.'

Second, don't despise anything in your life that happens to be paltry or of little worth. Our flesh always wants something bigger and shinier. The early Christians were better off gathering for services in humble homes and graveyards. It may be that God has reserved those paltry things in your life so that you don't lose sight of the true riches of life, which is Christ. EPH 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Php 4:11-12 Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

1TI 6:8 And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

HEB 13:5-6 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?"

As you forge ahead in the Christian way of life, don't forget the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. As you do, you will be daily withdrawing from your unfathomably rich inheritance in Christ.

Love to all who are His,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries