I first heard about cargo cults when I read Richard Feynman's book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". He attacks cargo cult science near the end of the book, which is a phrase he uses to describe "science" that's really an imitation of science: an outward show without any real substance. That phrase has been brought into software development as "Cargo cult programming," used to describe a [presumably more junior] programmer imitating code written by a more senior programmer because it's known to work, although the imitator doesn't understand how or why it works.
The story of the cargo cult grabs our attention because we recognize in it an all-too-human tendency to develop superstitions to explain events, and to latch on to them in practice to try and produce results we want. We all do this, all the time. I never go hunting without checking out this one spot where I have never shot an elk, because I know a guy who got a monster elk in that spot. I have no idea why the elk was there: was it an unseasonably hot day? an unseasonably cool day? was it particularly dry that day? was the elk just randomly wandering there? or was it going to a specific destination? I have no idea, but I do not allow an elk season to pass where I haven't spent at least some time waiting in that spot for a huge elk to wander through.
It seems to me there's a whole lot of "cargo cult Christianity" going on. Remember the "prayer of Jabez" craze? I didn't dig too deeply into that one, but from what I could tell at the time, it was very much "cargo cult Christianity."
A few years ago, I was visiting a church where the pastor was talking about Daniel 9:1–19. He spent the entire time talking about "remarkable prayers," and it took a while for me to understand that he wasn't very interested in the state of Daniel's heart, or of the God Daniel knew. He was interested in coming up with "the right prayer" we should pray. It's possible I missed his point entirely, but sitting in the congregation, I understood him to say that if we could just get the prayer formula correct, there would be results.
I think the whole "cargo cult" idea explains some of what I have seen around "brethren." We don't set up airstrips in the jungle, but we do develop checklists, and we seem to think as long as we keep checking items off those lists, then we'll prosper spiritually. Our lists might include women covering their heads, praying with "thee" and "thou," not having a pastor, or even having the right books on our bookshelves – although reading those books seems to carry much less weight than shelving them.
Of course, not all "brethren" are guilty of that sort of thing; but an uncomfortably large number are.
These checklists are a lot more like the priests of Baal on Carmel than they are like Elijah (1 Kings 18:17ff). This is treating God like a household idol, rather than the creator of the universe. This isn't looking to honor God as God (Romans 1:21), it's trying to manipulate Him. Idols can be manipulated, God cannot.
We have forgotten what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego told Nebuchadnezzar:
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to respond to you with an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to save us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will save us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods, and we will not worship the golden image that you have set up. (Daniel 3:16–18, LSB)
They didn't assume God would save them. They said they were unwilling to sin against God, whether He saved them or not. This is honoring God as God, not treating Him like an idol.
There's an interesting story in 2 Kings 14:1–22, the story of Amaziah. Amaziah's father had been deposed and assassinated (2 Kings 12:20–21). When Amaziah secured his place as king of Judah, he put to death those who had killed his father, but he didn't put their families to death, because the Law of Moses forbade punishing sons for the sins of their fathers or fathers for the sins of their sons (2 Kings 14:5–6; Deuteronomy 24:16).
To me the most interesting feature of Amaziah's reign is that he obeyed Deuteronomy 24:16. As far as I can tell, he's the first person in the Old Testament to do so. There's no lack of apparently godly people in the Old Testament who violate this command without a second thought. We might think of David handing over the sons of Saul to the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1–14). We might think of Achan's sons and daughters (Joshua 7:22ff). Up until Amaziah, the kings and rulers of Israel seem to ignore this command entirely.
We might be tempted to think there's some sort of mistake here. How can God bless David, when he sins against God in the matter of Saul's sons? How can God bless Asa when the high places were not removed (1 Kings 15:14)? These are questions we need to ask, because they strike at the heart of so many of our failures.
When God blesses, we are apt to look for a cause outside of His
goodness. We fail to learn the lesson of Deuteronomy 9:4–5. When God
blesses, it's not because we earned it. It's because that's who He is: He is the God constantly on the lookout for
the slightest excuse to bless us.
So when God blessed those early "brethren," it wasn't because they checked items off the list. It wasn't even because they had the right list.
Now, it's true that God seems to bless most freely where hearts are wholly devoted to Him (1 Kings 15:14). But we should think very carefully on that. It is true that Scripture doesn't condone our claiming to love God while at the same time refusing to obey Him (John 14:15, etc.). At the same time, there's nothing more common in Scripture than someone who loves God and fails to walk up to His standard. God seems to be much more concerned with our hearts than even our actions. That's worth some time and meditation.
If we really want to make a checklist, we should put "a heart wholly devoted to God" at the top. (It can go above "women need to cover their heads" and "don't have a pastor," it really is that important.) And then we should focus on checking off that one item. We might find we spend our entire lives working on just that first item, and we might find we don't really need to worry about the rest. More likely, if we focus on that one item, we might find there are others that seem to be checked off without our noticing. A heart wholly devoted to God has some surprising side effects.
But we don't do that, because we find it easier to manage a list of superficial things than to work on the one substantial thing. We'd frankly rather be like Pharisees and worry about external minutiae than be like Peter who followed the Lord very badly.
And just to be clear, it seems obvious to me that Scripture does command women to cover their heads in the congregation. It seems obvious to me that Scripture really doesn't advocate having clergy. Really, I think "brethren" are correct about all those things.
But these checklists we develop are only superficial things, they don't get to the heart of what made the "Brethren movement" great. It was an understanding of the Gospel as God's power for salvation. It was the firm conviction that God justifies the one who does not work, but believes. It was the recognition that those who are "in Christ" are separated from who and what we were in Adam. It was recognizing that Christ is coming back, much sooner than we think. These are the things that resulted in the "glory days" we all want to experience. These were the things of substance, not superficiality.
God isn't waiting for just the right incantation before He'll act. He's not waiting for us to get to that really important item on the checklist. That's what idols do: that's not the God we worship.
What "brethren" got right were not so much the externals as the internals. They got a glimpse of the God of grace, and shared that glimpse with others. They saw just a tiny bit of His heart in sending His Son, and they did their best to help others see it. They saw that Christ is coming from Heaven for us, and they told others about it.
If we need an action item – if we need a to-do list – I'll suggest this: let's work on looking on the Lord's glory with unveiled faces while He changes us to be like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). And we fully expect to find ourselves walking very badly with Him, but it's better to walk with Him badly than to be out there on our own. And when He blesses us in spite of our high places, let's just thank Him for His grace, and not look for some righteousness in ourselves to explain His blessing.
