Being a modern day "Teacher of the Law" (religious authority) is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it can cause one to actually get in the way of the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally in how he saves the day. The Pharisees were basically the teachers of the law in Jesus' day. In our day, Christian teachers, whether emerging or established, (including those of us who go to seminary like myself) are the 21st century teachers of the law.
"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." - John 3:8
The way the Spirit of Christ moves is, for the large part, pretty unconventional and "outside the box" of what we predict and plan. God's Spirit is creative, dynamic, and is not restricted to our ossified systems of doing things and is not afraid to work "outside the system". We'd better not dare to try to put the Holy Spirit on a leash. We can't really anyways. We should either colabour with him in overcoming demonic strongholds to save the day, or simply get out of the way. But we dare not try to stop him effectively doing his thing, which, according to Isaiah 61:1, includes:
"binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners"
In this Parable of the Dark Knight Rises clip, we see 4 types of Enforcers of the Law (metaphorical Pharisees):
1)newbie Christian religious authority not used to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
2)experienced Christian religious authority open to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
3)spirit-of-the-law-following young Christian religious authority
4) experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
Just like how some Gotham City enforcers of the law (legal authorities) can sometimes get in the way of Batman effectively fighting crime "outside the established system" of doing things, modern day Christian religious teachers and leaders can sometimes get in the way of the Spirit of Christ effectively fighting demonic strongholds "outside the established system" of doing things.
0:05 - 0:20:
"what's going on with the environment?" - newbie Christian religious authority not used to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
*Spirit of Christ shows up on the scene*
"Oh boy, are you in for a show tonight son!" - experienced Christian religious authority open to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
0:28 - 0:40:
The Spirit of Christ moving in "outside the system" to save the day
1:10-1:20 (Luke 13:10-17)
"I'm going to do what an experienced and open-to-the-Spirit Christian religious authority couldn't do." - experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
"What's that?" - spirit-of-the-law-following young Christian religious authority
"I'm going to religiously take down the Spirit of Christ!" - experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
"Sir, what about the spiritually armed demons?" - spirit-of-the-law-following young Christian religious authority
0:42 - 0:50:
*newbie Christian religious authority begins to try to use an extra-biblical law within his system to stop the Spirit of Christ* "sorry"
"Put that extra-biblical law away before you hurt yourself like in Luke 13:10-17!" - experienced Christian religious authority open to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
3:10 - 3:29 (John 7:32-47)
*Spirit of Christ escapes away from those ordered to arrest him*
"We lost him" - Teachers of the law
"How could you lose him?" - experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
"He has a lot of Supernatural explanatory power" - Teachers of the Law
"What?! And you don't?!" - experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
4:13 - 4:32 (Matthew 22:15-22)
"Like a rat in a trap gentlemen" - experienced Christian religious authority not open to the Spirit of Christ's unconventional movings
*Spirit of Christ escapes out of a religious trap with wisdom*
"You might have the wrong theological animal there sir" - experienced Christian religious authority open to the Spirit of Christ moving unconventionally
Just like how Batman refuses to be domesticated by the established legal human authorities if they oppose his unconventional/outside-the-system effective crime fighting, so the Spirit of Christ refuses to be domesticated by the established Christian authorities if they oppose his unconventional/outside-the-system effective demonic stronghold demolishing.
The Church needs more Commissioner Gordons out there, who are there to colabour with the Spirit of Christ in fighting spiritual evil.
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