Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes another “new religion.” Recently, I read about one called “Yoism.”
Invented by a Massachusetts psychologist, Yoism is a system of beliefs based on the “open source” principle, in which the general public becomes the combined, creative authority and the source of truth.
One example of the “open source” phenomenon is the successful online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
According to the source I read in Christianity Today online, “Yoism operates and evolves over the Internet, and has numerous contributors. It shuns traditional religious authorities and eschews divine inspiration in favor of human wisdom. Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, and Sigmund Freud are among its most revered saints.”
Dan Kriegman, who founded Yoism in 1994, believes in the wisdom of the people and in the idea that religion should be open to revision, clarification, and change.
“Every aware, conscious, sentient spirit is divine and has direct access to truth… Open source embodies that,” Kriegman says. Then he adds, “There is no authority.”
Ironically, I learned about Kriegman and Yoism shortly after reading the people’s reaction to Jesus’ teaching in Luke 4:32: “They were astonished at His teaching, for His word possessed authority.”
Jesus, the Teacher, was unlike the scribes, Pharisees, and doctors of the law in His day. Bible scholar William Barclay offers this explanation:
“Jesus’ authority was something quite new. When the Rabbis taught, they supported every statement with quotations. They always said, ‘There is a saying that…’ ‘Rabbi so and so said that…’ They always appealed to authority. When the prophets spoke, they said, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ Theirs was a delegated authority. When Jesus spoke, he said, ‘I say to you.’ He needed no authorities to buttress him; his was not a delegated authority; he was authority incarnate. Here was a man who spoke as one who knew.”
Inherent in the word authority is the idea of power. Jesus spoke with the power of divine authority. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, Jesus’ power was abundantly evident. As a result, the people were astonished, amazed, and astounded.
Bible commentator R. C. H. Lenski expressed Jesus’ teaching succinctly when he wrote, “This was no skimming of the surface, no quoting of human authorities and basing conclusions on them, no trivialities and useless distinctions, no arid dissertations and legal human precepts that lead to nothing.”
Other Bible writers also attest to Jesus’ authoritative stature as a teacher.
Mark records that Jesus “taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mk. 1:22).
When Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew observed that the people were astonished, “for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:29).
John relates that the Jewish officers sent to arrest Jesus returned without Him. When the religious leaders asked why, they responded, “No man ever spoke like this Man” (Jn. 7:46).
No wonder Jesus could confidently affirm His mandate from the Father when He declared to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Following this declaration was His “Great Commission” to take His soul-saving gospel message throughout the world.
Jesus’ authority exposes the weakness of Yoism, the arrogance of denominationalism, the confusion of cultism, and the hopelessness of atheism. His authority far surpasses the claims of men who occupy religious positions today and who are unscripturally worshiped and exalted.
Jesus’ authority rises far above religious leaders who have attempted to rival or replace Him—Muhammad, the founder of Islam; Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism; or Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.
Jesus’ authority rejects human creeds, religious traditions, mysticism, Eastern religions, and human philosophy.
A. W. Tozer was right when he wrote, “Jesus Christ is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way.”
Not surprisingly, Jesus could authoritatively affirm, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6).
The real question is not, “Does Jesus have all authority?”
The question is, “Will you accept and submit to His authority in your life?”
—Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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