Religious fanatisme

Jn 7 “24Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” The appearance is linked to what we see, and produces fanaticism, while faith is linked to what we do not see and brings forth justice

(Ro 1:17 ; 3:22 ; 3:26 ; 4:3 ; 4:13), He 11 “1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Thus, the faith that justifies before God is a power that puts us in perfect communion with the invisible. Those who have not received this power built their religion around the look, material, visible, or impressions.

Cain could not go beyond the curtain of the look or material. He looked at the flowers, fruits and other products of fields and said, these appearances are certainly pleasing to God as they also are to me. Let us remember that he was the first lawyer, even before God, he denied the murder of his brother Abel, which he had yet perpetrated, and wanted God to provide evidence. By faith Abel saw the invisible, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He did not need evidence, like Cain his brother, but the revelation of God. And his sacrifice offered on the basis of faith was pleasing to God, his brother’s was rejected. Cain had all the pieces of evidence that the religion of his own invention was useless because it could not help him recover a true communion with God. But, stubborn, unbelieving and murderer, he remained clung to his own religion and rejected the counsel of God anyway. Here there was no question of a choice based on any rationale, justice or truth, but simply on religious fanaticism. The judgment of justice is based on faith and judgment according to appearance is based on bigotry. Cain was a fanatic, but he could not obey.

There is nothing we can do to please God, unless God Himself performs it in us (Isa. 26:12). When people, even in good faith, take the initiative to defend the cause of God without having His revelation and mandate, they are in pure religious fanaticism, and all they will do is nothing but abomination in the sight of the LORD. Did the three friends of Job not shed a lot of sweat in the cause they called « to ascribe righteousness to my Maker » (Job 36:3)? But did they know they were provoking the Lord to anger? And afterwards, to what good was their sweat? As, after, God threatened to kill them, because, said He, they had not spoken in righteousness like Job had. And yet they had only said good things about God, but not in righteousness but in religious fanaticism.

God does not need me to say He is good; he just needs His Spirit to say it in me. When I say it without His Spirit, I play religious fanaticism and I become an abomination in his eyes. Unlike, Job said: Job 27 “2As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul”, Job 34  “5For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.”  Such declarations sounded very shocking in the ears of fanatics, and yet in the end of days God testified that it is Job who spoke in righteousness.

We do not need suave, caressing or flattering words, and our God will not bear them. We need words that are uttered in righteousness and truth, whether they sound shocking or not. God requires righteousness, not fanaticism. Religious fanaticism chases out light and keeps the soul in blindness and recklessness. It is fine to say that one loves God. It's fine to choose to serve or to fight for his cause. But one needs to have the revelation and understanding of God's plan in the Scriptures, for not falling into religious fanaticism. The Jews inclined more to following the dictates of their religious leaders rather than the testimony that God the Father had deployed before their eyes for his Son Jesus of Nazareth, because they were fond of their religions, but very hostile to the Truth.

They had all the evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah, the King of the Jews. At a given time, when they ate of the loaves and were filled, they even wanted to kidnap Him and crown him King of the Jews by force (Jn 6:1-15). As far as bread was at stake, yes, they accepted Him as King, but as for the truth, no question. The entire world is ready to receive Him as Healer, the one who blesses, etc., but very few only can accept Him as Lord. And Jesus said to those Jews: Jn 6 “27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”  

But stubborn, unbelieving and murderer, they stayed anyway clung to their religions and drove away the counsel of God. Here there was no question of a choice based on any rationale, justice or truth, but simply on religious fanaticism. Before Pilate’s entreaties who asserted that the man was righteous and that he would not bear His blood on him, they assumed their fanaticism in these words, "Let His blood be on us and on our children". Thus they did prefer darkness to light, with all the consequences entailed, including two millennia of misfortune.

Fanaticism is blind and illogical, and this is not only in religious matters. In sports, for example, when a person is supporting a football team, he has no logical reasons to justify his position. Violence may even be reported between two blocks of fanatics, and it might be found out after investigation that one block has not swallowed the defeat of their team, or a team or a celebrity might have been insulted and the supporters might be unable to tolerate, etc. But our God does not need fans, He does not want us to love him, follow him and serve him in fanaticism, but by His Spirit. Whenever someone tries to follow Him, the Lord always wants to know the underlying reasons for this commitment, so He asks the question « What seek ye? » (Jn 1:38).

Several times Peter tried to behave as a fanatic for Christ, but each time the Lord rebuked him. Once the Lord announced his suffering and death, Peter without understanding what God's plan was, began to rebuke Him: Mt 16 « 22Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. »  At once, the Lord thwarted this fanatical zeal: “23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  Yet on his side, Peter was convinced he loved the Lord, and therefore he would not suffer to hear Him predict bad things about Himself. Note what had taken place a little before that scene: Peter had responded by revelation of the Father that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus had then called him blessed to have received the revelation of the Father who is in heaven.

A similar thing happens again in the upper room, Jesus once again announcing his suffering and death tells his disciples that they shall leave Him alone. Once again Peter does not bear and thinks he can correct the oracle of the Lord: Lc 22 “33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.”  So, to prove that his oracle could not fail, the Lord gave a sign to Peter “34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.” Whoever sits in fanaticism or proselytism fails to recall the Scriptures. In this case, Peter failed to recall what the Scriptures had predicted in Zechariah 13 “7Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”

It was later after the resurrection of the Lord, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, that they recalled this scripture in writing the Gospels: Mc 14 ” 7And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” et Mt 26:31. So if Peter had followed Jesus to prison and to death, this word of the Scripture could have failed and God could have been a liar. Also the Lord would not have claimed to be the only Savior of the world because Peter would have assisted in this task.

Another time, this time at the arrest of Jesus, one among those who were with Him struck a servant of the high priest with the sword and smote off one ear. Still at once, Jesus, Master of justice and Instructor of the divine logic, called all of them to order as follows: Mt 26 « 52Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” 54But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? Since the Garden of Eden, the fanatical zeal is a train that leads to physical violence. When a person takes initiatives without revelation, he necessarily differs from the scriptures and the culmination of his approach is the crime, and this is where the apostles were proceeding to.

After the completion of the sign, Peter remembered and repented. Just before parting from His disciples, the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him more than all the others and Peter answered in the affirmative. But the Lord repeated the second and third times the same question, as He was telling Peter to feed His sheep (Jn 21:19). It was a big responsibility and it took to be aware thereof before answering the question. Peter then realized that the fanatical zeal was useless, but he only needed the grace of God to serve Him according to His plan and His revelation, and by His Spirit. It would be better to do nothing or to claim nothing doing for God when there is no explicit mandate, instead of committing into initiatives by fanatical zeal and end up in disapproval.

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