On a personal note, it is very interesting (and painful to an extent) what I am learning by the Holy Spirit. We must walk in discernment and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, especially about the truth of who we are to allow to influence/persuade/submit our lives to.
Submission does not require" blind" obedience to any person, no matter who they are. It does not mean that we allow someone to dictate to us what the will of God is for our personal lives. It does not mean we surrender our Spirit-led convictions to a "spiritual authority's" mandate or interpretation of his/her theological view. This is a false teaching, and we must earnestly seek to be walking in the light in order to see it. We must be Bereans and seek the Word and the Spirit for discernment for our own lives.
We must trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as we present our bodies a living sacrifice, so that we may know the perfect will of God in all things. I believe we must persuade one another to live a holy life, a sanctified life according to Scripture, yet we must not become judge and dictator of exactly what that looks like in someone's life. We are not cookie-cutters of one another. It is then that we have crossed over into judging.
Let's take a look at this Nicolaitan spirit, which crept into the church body around the 3rd century. Nicolaitan in Greek means "conquer" (Nikao) "the people" (laos).
Davis writes:
"The first item on the Nicolaitan spirit's agenda is to divide and conquer. This form of opposition promotes distinguishing people into two classes -- the priest and the laity. This philosophy will advocate an "us and them" perspective within the Church. Further, there is no mention in the New Covenant Word where priests or ministers mediate between God and the people, nor where they are separated in their worship of the Lord. Also, no hierarchy is supposed to exist in the Body of Christ -- all are called to minister together as one body headed by Christ.
The Nicolaitan spirit destroys those precepts and separates the ministers from the people, rendering the leaders overlords instead of servants. The Lord expressed His hatred for this type of administration and expected His people to do likewise. In other words, there are to be no intimidating, controlling, power hungry officers in the Church exercising counterfeit authority over the "laypeople."
Believers who are genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit and in radical pursuit of the Lord openly embrace godly leadership, counsel, and direction as a platform for growth and a safety net against demonic snares. There is an obvious need for definite leadership in every generation. The primary objective of this outline is to identify prevailing attributes of spiritual influences that distinguish true from false.
The Nicolaitan spirit deteriorates the structure of the Church body by attempting to create subordinates rather than brothers and sisters. Slaves brought under this kind of authority are always distraught and nervous because of the great responsibility and expectations to please their masters. This creates an irrational spirit or a neurotic mind-set rather than a spirit of peace, promoting insecurity rather than abiding strength.
The spiritual adversary described in the book of Revelation as the Nicolaitans ventures to overshadow God's aspiration to release total liberty among believers and mobilize His people into a royal priesthood. That trend will change as we grow more adept at discerning His presence and walking more intimately with Him."
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