Cult of Personality

You've likely heard the term "cult of personality". No, I'm not referring to the song by Living Colour. (In fact, I suspect that a lot of my readers have heard the term, but not the song.) The term refers specifically to a political leader's attempt to use the mass media to create a heroic image. In general, it refers to the following that certain public characters receive by virtue of their public image. It is easy, for instance, to see the cult of personality -- the almost mindless following -- that follows Senator Obama. (Note: Here and for the rest of this post, those who respect a certain personality are not all necessarily part of a "cult of personality". Admiring or quoting a person does not necessarily qualify you as "mindless" or part of a "cult".) There are people that are just enamored with him. They see him as Messiah. You could ask them his positions on various issues and they likely wouldn't know. He's just ... "cool" in some sense.

Nor do I mean to imply that these personalities are "evil" in some sense. It's not necessarily the personalities who are at fault. It's not that they're necessarily bad or presenting bad information. Some are. Hitler and Stalin used this technique to bolster their totalitarian rule. But John F. Kennedy had a cult-like following as well. It seems like when Bono (of U2) speaks, people listen, not because he's an expert on whatever it is he's talking about, but because, well, he's Bono. "A cult of personality." Hollywood and the music industries seem to carry quite a bit of this with them, perhaps because they are the mass media.

No one is immune from this, it seems. Even Christians can fall prey to the cult of personality. While "Calvinism" is not actually a product of Calvin, but a particular understanding of Scripture, many Calvinists end up seeing John Calvin's writings as Scripture. They'll offer up his commentaries or his Institutes of Christian Religion as "prooftext". "If Calvin believed it, it's good enough for me." But it's not merely Calvinists. Lots of people have their guy (or gal). For some it's MacArthur or Sproul or Spurgeon. For others it may be Charles Stanley or Joel Olsteen or Charles Finney. Todd Bentley enjoyed a deep cult following over the last year or so with the so-called "Lakeland Revival". These followings are different from respecting a particular author or speaker. If they speak, their followers listen without examination. These followers are marked by blind devotion. If you question the person, the followers don't examine the question; they lash out at the questioner. "How dare you assault the Lord's Anointed??!!"

Please note: Christianity is not based on a cult of personality. It is based on the Bible that reveals the singular focus of Christianity -- Christ. If you find yourself in strong reaction because someone disagrees with an author or speaker you like, please check yourself first. The Bible, we hold, is inerrant. Anyone else is ... wrong at times. There are some really great names out there: Calvin, Luther, Augustine, Tozer, Adrian Rogers, Spurgeon, Ironside, Hudson Taylor, Tyndale, Ryrie, Scofield, Wesley, C.S. Lewis -- lots and lots of names. If some of those are your touchstones, your validation of what you believe, beware. Christians are not to operate in the realm of the cult of personality. We are to be followers of the Word as expressed in Christ and explained in the Bible. Anything else puts you on dangerous ground.