Authority

When you get down to the root of Corey’s rambling nonsense, you’re left with only one central concept: Control.

Corey wants to be in control.

That’s very reassuring to me. I can understand that impulse. It’s human. It’s manly. I can reason with someone who thinks control is all we need to improve things.

I wouldn’t say I like it when things don’t go my way, and the world is full of people trying to control themselves, their country, the economy, their families, their churches, and their communities.

But control can be an idol, and we must be careful how much we think we can control.

  Mahler’s brand of “White,” “Christian,” and “Nationalist” suggests that if we could control people enough, they would be Christian, and then the Christian people would rule the country. We could prevent the police and the economy, and then we could use the power of those things to make America a better place. It’s an alluring fantasy, but it’s a fantasy nonetheless.

Nassem Talib, an economics writer, talks about the “Harvard/Soviet” Fallacy. The Harvard/Soviet Fallacy is that if you had the right people, the right motivations, the proper rules, and the right power, and you could control for the variables and force people to obey, you could make a truly effective, efficient economy and society.

 All evidence to the contrary, of course.

This doesn’t work, and it never will, and the reason for this isn’t entirely economic- it’s theological. Sin is why that won’t work.

There are no right people with the right motivations. The rules are never proper. Power gets corrupted and abused, and you can’t imagine every option, every wrinkle, and every possible future. You might be able to force people to obey, but many of them won’t follow, so you have to kill many people to make your perfect society work. And then there’s the problem that well-meaning people don’t like to be controlled, so some of your best minds, not just your most rebellious, won’t live like that- and you’ll have to put them in a camp too.

Your perfect society looks a lot like jail.

When I read the book of Isaiah, I see the warning about God’s people trying to control things- they are working with foreign powers to protect themselves- a very human impulse. God is telling them that He will take care of them. They are not in control. God is.

But they want to do it themselves. They want to control. They want to decide. They want the power, and they want to use the power.

And they fail, and God lets them fall. That’s the punishment. God allows them to do it all by themselves.

Power is a tricky thing. We love to be the person who has the power, but we don’t like it when other people have power.

Mahler is learning this the hard way. A guy who talks about power and authority certainly does not seem to understand his Pastor’s control over him.

Mahler’s Pastor called him to repent, as have other Pastors. Mahler refused. Mahler claims that he knows better even though he has no training, call, ordination, or authority. He says he can decide when to obey and when to refuse. “Those people aren’t Christians,” he says. Because they don’t… hate Jews enough?

Corey can’t have it both ways. If he’s advocating for a theocratic revolution, shouldn’t he be listening to his Pastor? His behavior suggests that he has decided that his judgment of himself is superior to that of the called and ordained man who was placed in authority over him.

Mahler is excommunicated. His sin is not forgiven right now. If he died tonight, what would happen to his soul? I’m not 100% sure, but I’m worried about it. I don’t want him to end up in fire forever because he got sucked into some Klan recruiting schtick on the internet, and the whole thing consumed him.

 It’s too dumb. It’s too petty. It’s too small for a man to lose his soul over. Being the loudest voice in Jew-hating Lutheran Twitter for the last nine months is nothing, and Corey’s playing chicken with the Office of the Keys over it.

The risk isn’t worth the reward. It’s the same as every other idol. They’re all false gods. None of them can help you. None of them will save you.

He needs to repent, turn back home, and come back under the care of the shepherds who are placed over him. He’s not alone. We all need to be back there. The difference is I know I’m sinning, hate it, and go back for the medicine I need at Supper as often as possible.

When formally refused Communion by our Pastor at our Church, who among us would not take a very long, challenging review of what we had been doing? Instead, Corey picked a fight and tweeted about it. That’s not a good sign.

But here’s the good news: Corey can come back. Woe can come back. Turnip can come back. Leave the burden of your hate, anger, and misery on the road, and come back home. We will welcome you back, and you can be forgiven again.