The Cycle of Power and the Path Back to “The Way”
There is a time in a parent’s life when you reach a critical threshold where you must make a painful choice: do you keep stepping in to bail your child out, or do you step back and let them face the consequences of their own decisions?
As parents, we eventually realize that constantly intervening, protecting our children from stumbles, and fixing their messes prevents them from ever truly maturing. Sometimes they have to learn the hard way—while we watch in heartbreak—or risk spending their entire lives trapped in a loop of dependence, making the same mistakes over and over while waiting for us to fix it. A loving parent gives their children the best values, the right tools, and an abundance of love—and then steps back, offering tough love when needed, to let them figure out how to live.
When Jesus spoke to his early followers, his favorite term for the Jewish God was Father (Abba). He chose a word rooted in family, love, and guidance rather than state power or imperial rule. If there is a God, a divine source, or a guiding universe, Jesus pointed us directly to the mirror of parenting as the ultimate key to understanding how that power operates.
The Road Ahead
To understand how this divine parenting plays out in our world, we have to look at how we, as humanity, have behaved as children. Throughout history, we have repeatedly fallen into a cycle: learning a profound truth, forgetting it a few generations later, and then letting power and politics corrupt the very guidance we were given.
By looking at where we went wrong, how early history transformed the quiet, first-century community known as The Way—the original, non-political movement of Jesus’s earliest followers—and why God allows us the freedom to stumble, we can begin to see how to break this cycle and finally grow up.
1. Seeking Guidance and the Challenge of Human Power
When we consider the atrocities of Nazi Germany, the rise of fascism in Europe, modern tyrants throughout the world, and sadly the political divide in our country today, we rightly ask the question: “Where is God in all of this?”
Throughout history, humanity has struggled to understand where the divine sits in times of crisis. When major historical events unfold, people reflexively claim, “This was God’s will.” But history reveals a far more troubling reality: people routinely attribute their own political desires, prejudices, and power grabs to the Almighty.
Perhaps the biggest slap in the face of the Divine is when a political system wraps itself in a cloak of religious beliefs in order to justify its grab for power at the expense of the dignity of every individual. Case in point: look no further than the rise of Christian nationalism in America.
To recall a tragic moment in Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus looked out over a city whose leaders had abandoned the true path of peace and justice to chase political power, he wept over it. When we witness faith being weaponized to divide communities and elevate political figures to messianic status, we see that same tragedy unfolding all over again. (Luke 19:41 )
When a faith community splits down the middle, one side claiming a partisan agenda or authoritarian leader is holy, while the other side claims it is corrupt, it functions like two parents locked in a toxic divorce. They yell past each other, issue opposing commands, and offer contradictory moral standards. And just like in a fractured home, when two parents disagree on basic right and wrong, the children suffer, grow confused, and lose their way entirely.
How We Forgot the Blueprint
This cycle tends to repeat because every few generations, we simply forget the core of what we were taught.
In the first century, the earliest followers of Jesus did not view themselves as a political movement or an elite institution. They were known simply as The Way (hē hodos). Guided by leaders like James, Peter, and John in Jerusalem, they were entirely Jewish, keeping the Torah, observing the Sabbath, and practicing radical, shared community (koinonia).
As the movement grew, a deep tension emerged between James and Paul. James focused on preserving the movement’s Jewish roots, while Paul pushed to open the doors to Gentiles without requiring them to observe traditional Jewish laws. Paul’s vision allowed The Way to spread rapidly across the Greco-Roman world, creating diverse communities where different backgrounds could worship together.
However, within a few centuries, the movement underwent a far drastic shift. When the Roman Empire adopted the faith as an official state religion in the 4th century, what began as an intimate, lived practice of community ethics was transformed into an institutional structure used to unite an empire.
When faith becomes tied to political power, the original, quiet message of The Way can easily get lost. Across generations, leaders have fallen into the trap of convincing believers that earthly or partisan victories are the main goal.
2. The Divine Parent: “I Have Given You the Tools. Figure It Out.”
If God were to step in every time a culture chose a dangerous path—if God had struck down Hitler in 1933 or stepped in to directly manipulate modern elections—humanity would never learn. We would remain perpetual children, running to a divine parent to bail us out of the fires we set with our own hands.
Free will means the divine source operates not as an authoritarian dictator, but as a wise Parent. The Divine Parent says:
“I have given you reason, conscience, empathy, and the golden rule. I have shown you what love, honesty, and justice look like. I will not make the choices for you. You are your own people. Figure it out.”
When bad leaders rise, when corruption takes hold, or when societies fracture under the weight of Christian nationalism, it is not because God commanded it. It is because human beings—using their free will—chose convenience over truth, power over character, and political ideology over basic human decency.
3. Breaking the Cycle: The Lesson of Revelation
How long do we keep making the same mistake?
For centuries, many believers have read the Book of Revelation and concluded that humanity’s job is simply to wait—to sit on our hands, endure the chaotic cycles of history, and wait for the Divine Parent to step in, rescue us, and fix the world’s messes. But how long do we wait? Another thousand years? Another two thousand? What if we have misunderstood the message of Revelation all along?
Throughout Revelation, there is a powerful, intentional contrast between what John hears and what he actually sees:
- What John hears: When John is told about the ultimate power in heaven, he hears announcements of a fierce conqueror—the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” coming to destroy his enemies with raw force.
- What John sees: But when John turns around to look at what is actually there, he doesn’t see a ferocious, bloodthirsty beast. He sees a Lamb standing as if it had been slain (Revelation 5:5–6).
The imagery is striking. Human power expects a lion—a tyrant who uses force, political dominance, and military might to force compliance. But the revelation of the Divine shows a Lamb—a path built on self-sacrificing love, humility, gentleness, and peace.
If Revelation tells us anything, it is that God is not coming to set up another worldly empire using the violent, authoritarian methods of human politics. The Divine Parent is showing us that true victory over human corruption isn’t achieved by waiting for an imperial rescue, but by choosing the way of the Lamb right now. We cannot keep making the same mistakes while waiting for a bailout. We have been given the blueprint; it is up to us to start living it.
If we are reclaiming “The Way”: Time to Grow Up
We stand at a monumental crossroads in human history.
For thousands of years, we have played the role of spiritual children—pointing fingers, fighting over inheritance, and waiting for a divine rescue to clean up the chaos we create. We have built empires in God’s name, waged wars under holy banners, and let political systems hijack our faith to justify their thirst for power. But a loving parent does not raise children to stay children forever. The ultimate goal of parenting is to raise mature adults who can stand on their own feet, embody the values they were taught, and make wise, compassionate choices in an imperfect world.
The Divine Parent has already stepped back. The tools—reason, empathy, truth, and self-sacrificing love—have been handed to us. The blueprint was shown to us two thousand years ago in the quiet, living practice of The Way, mirrored in the enduring testimonies of Friends:
- The Testimony of Integrity: Refusing to let lies or deceit pass simply because they serve our political side, letting our “yea be yea, and nay be nay.”
- The Testimony of Simplicity & Humility: Measuring true greatness by how we serve others and walk gently on the earth, rather than seeking wealth, status, or power over others.
- The Testimony of Community & Stewardship: Protecting the vulnerable, sharing our resources, and upholding our shared responsibility to look out for our neighbors.
- The Testimony of Equality: Honoring the “Light of the Divine” within every human being, recognizing an inherent, sacred dignity that no political party, state, or empire can take away.
We can no longer hide behind the excuse of waiting for a miracle, nor can we continue to let corrupt institutions tell us what to believe. The cycle of history only stops when we decide to stop it. It is time to step out of the shadows of political idolatry, take responsibility for our shared world, and finally walk forward in the humble, courageously simple practice of The Way.
The tools are in our hands. The Parent is watching with love. The choice to grow up has always been ours.