Why the Church Chose Pyramid Power Over Jesus's Way
One morning, I received a text from my friend Melissa Pace that stopped me in my tracks. She shared that while awakening, she clearly heard "Revelation 17." When Melissa says she heard something from the Lord, I listen carefully—she's an incredibly humble, gifted, and godly woman whose spiritual discernment I've learned to trust.
When she looked up Revelation 17, she found the chapter that depicts the fall of Babylon the Great—a powerful, corrupt spiritual system often interpreted as representing a false religious system that has perverted true faith and opposed God's people throughout history.
The timing struck me deeply, as I'd been contemplating how dominance-based hierarchical structures have infiltrated the Church, replacing Christ's revolutionary model of servant leadership with the world's pyramid-style power systems.
The world transformed the Church rather than the other way around.
The Great Misunderstanding
As Christians, we've fundamentally misunderstood critical biblical concepts like submission and "headship." What I've discovered through years of study and painful personal experience is that there are essentially two kingdoms operating with completely different rules—and we've been trying to serve God using the wrong kingdom's operating system.
In the World's Empire-Like System:
Power flows downward in one direction
Authority means control
Leadership equals being in charge
Submission means inferior status
Success means rising above others
But in God's Kingdom:
Power flows in all directions; it's circular
Authority means responsibility to serve
Leadership equals lifting others up
Submission means mutual support
Success means bringing everyone up together
When Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), He wasn't just making a statement about geography—He was introducing an entirely different operating system for human relationships.
The Woman Riding the Beast
In Revelation 17, John describes "a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names." This woman, clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones, holds a golden cup "full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication."
Biblical scholars have long interpreted this as representing a religious system that compromises with worldly power—making unholy alliances with empire to maintain control and influence.
Isn't this precisely what happens when the Church adopts dominance-based hierarchies instead of Christ's model of mutual submission? When we replace "one anothering" with chains of command? When we trade washing feet for expecting to be served?
The Babylonian system is seductive because it promises efficiency, order, and clear lines of authority. But it produces the opposite of what God intended: spiritual abuse, suppressed gifts, distorted views of God, damaged witness, and divided hearts.
The Blind Spot We've Missed
One of the most significant revelations I share in BLIND SPOT is how we've completely misunderstood Paul's teachings about submission. When I noticed that Paul always placed instructions about wives submitting alongside instructions about slaves submitting—often in the same breath—I realized something profound:
Paul wasn't endorsing these power structures; he was showing believers how to operate within broken systems while releasing Kingdom transformation into them.
Just as we now understand that Paul wasn't endorsing slavery for all time, we must recognize that he wasn't endorsing male domination either. He was planting seeds of Kingdom reality that would eventually undermine both systems.
We've been filtering Peter and Paul's words through our flawed perceptions, opting for the world's dominance-based hierarchies rather than Jesus's revolutionary model of power through love. We essentially missed the whole point. We erased the original message of how to take dominion of the world through love—not force—through submission and strength.
The Devastating Consequences
The consequences of embracing dominance-based hierarchy in the Church have been catastrophic:
Spiritual Abuse: When leaders believe they have inherent authority over others rather than a responsibility to serve, abuse of power becomes almost inevitable. We see this playing out in scandal after scandal across denominations.
Suppressed Gifts: When half the body of Christ is prevented from fully exercising their spiritual gifts, the entire Church suffers from this amputation. We've silenced prophetic voices, stifled teaching gifts, and limited pastoral hearts simply because they happened to be housed in female bodies.
Distorted View of God: When we present God's design for relationships as hierarchical rule and submission, we distort people's understanding of God's true nature. Jesus demonstrated a very different reality—one of mutual love, honor, and service.
Damaged Witness: Our insistence on hierarchies based on gender, social status, and religious position undermines our testimony of Christ's revolutionary love in a world increasingly aware of power dynamics. We see the abuse and damage all around us, but we fail to see its root cause.
Divided Hearts: Countless believers live with the cognitive dissonance of sensing God's heart for equality while feeling bound by what they believe Scripture "clearly teaches." Once the blinders are removed, those same scriptures clearly say something very different than we were taught.
The Coming Fall
Revelation 17 doesn't just describe Babylon's corruption—it prophesies her fall. The very powers she allied with will eventually "hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire" (Rev 17:16).
Is it possible that we're witnessing the beginning of this fall now?
As more believers recognize the contradictions between Christ's example and dominance-based structures, as more women and men find their voice and speak truth to power, as more communities embrace mutual submission as God's design—are we seeing the first cracks in Babylon's foundation?
The scandals, the exodus from traditional churches, the rise of egalitarian communities, the questions from younger generations who refuse to accept "because I said so" answers—all of these could be signs that God is shaking what can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
A Call to Kingdom Reality
The good news is that God is awakening His people to these truths. Throughout the world, communities of believers are discovering relationships that truly reflect His nature—built on mutual honor, mutual submission, and mutual empowerment.
This isn't about women taking over or men being diminished. It's about both genders discovering their full potential within the safety of mutual love and respect. It's about power flowing through service rather than domination, through love rather than force.
As I conclude in BLIND SPOT:
"The time for bold and courageous action is here. That bold action is simply walking out the truth in love... Welcome to God's Kingdom, where mutual submission reigns and where 'head' has no 'ship' attached. Where 'head' means unity with the body, not control over it. Where power flows through love, not force. Where every relationship reflects the very heart of God and naturally releases the transforming power of Christ."
The Choice Before Us
We stand at a crossroads. We can continue propping up Babylonian systems that promise order but deliver oppression, or we can embrace the radical alternative Jesus modeled—a kingdom where the greatest is the servant of all, where leaders wash feet, and where power is used to lift others up rather than keep them down.
The fall of dominance-based hierarchy in the Church isn't something to fear—it's something to celebrate. It signals not the Church's destruction but its purification, making way for the Bride of Christ to emerge in her true beauty: a community that embodies the very nature of God expressed through mutual love, honor, and submission.
The question isn't whether Babylon will fall—Revelation promises it will. The question is whether we'll cling to its familiar structures or step boldly into the Kingdom reality Jesus died to establish.
The choice is ours. But choose we must, because trying to serve God using Babylon's operating system will always produce Babylonian results, no matter how sincere our hearts or how biblical our language.
It's time to come out of her, my people. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Blessings,
Susan 😊