When Obedience Becomes Dangerous: Follow Your Conscience or Obey Leadership?

There is no question that Scripture encourages believers to honor Church leadership: "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor" (1 Tim 5:17). Supporting elders and pastors is essential, as they bear significant spiritual responsibility. However, unchecked obedience to leadership can lead to serious consequences. Peter and the apostles were clear when they faced religious leaders in Jerusalem, declaring, "We must obey God rather than human beings!" (Acts 5:29). Moreover, biblical leadership involves humility and selflessness, as elders are instructed to "clothe [themselves] with humility" (1 Pet 5:5) and shepherd the flock "not for shameful gain" (1 Pet 5:2).

God expects leaders in the New Testament Church to understand the significant spiritual influence they possess over others. Leaders can either positively guide people closer to Jesus or negatively manipulate and harm others. Thus, discernment and accountability are critically important within the Church—for both leaders and congregants.

A Terrifying Experiment: Stanley Milgram

In the early 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a chilling experiment at Yale University. Volunteers participated in what they believed was a study on learning and memory. They were instructed to administer electric shocks to another "participant" (an actor) whenever that individual answered a question incorrectly. The actor, hidden behind a wall, would pretend to experience severe pain, cry out, plead for mercy, and eventually fall silent. An authority figure in a white lab coat calmly insisted, "Please continue…the experiment requires that you continue."

Shockingly, 65% of participants continued to administer what they believed were lethal electric shocks of 450 volts. Every participant administered shocks up to at least 300 volts, and most went beyond that. The experiment revealed the disturbing extent to which ordinary people would obey authority, even when their actions conflicted dramatically with their conscience.

Milgram’s Motivation and Historical Context

Milgram, a Jewish psychologist deeply influenced by the horrors of the Holocaust, sought to understand how ordinary individuals could commit atrocities under authoritative pressure. Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, famously defended himself during his trial by stating he was merely following orders in orchestrating the extermination of six million Jews.

Milgram designed his experiment to test whether Eichmann’s claim held psychological validity. Before conducting the experiment, Milgram surveyed experts who predicted that only a tiny minority (around 1-3%) would follow harmful instructions to the lethal level. Their estimate was shockingly inaccurate.

Why did participants comply so readily?

1. The white lab coat symbolized legitimate authority—like a pastor's position.

2. Yale University's prestige encouraged unquestioning trust—like a megachurch.

3. The harm escalated gradually, conditioning participants to comply step by step—like grooming.

[WATCH: The Milgrim Experience explained in 7 minutes]

The Milgram experiment is widely condemned today for breaching ethical standards—subjects were deceived, exposed to intense emotional stress, and denied informed consent or the right to withdraw without pressure. Yet its shocking results proved profoundly valuable by exposing how ordinary people can commit harmful acts under authoritative influence.

Given how readily ordinary people obeyed authority to extreme measures, Yeshua-followers must exercise great discernment when Church leaders claim to speak for God. Believers are naturally inclined to trust spiritual authority, and this openness to spiritual leadership is commendable. Please understand: my default position when I come into a new situation is to agree with leadership, to submit to them—that is always my hope. Nevertheless, the New Testament instructs believers to carefully discern spiritual claims: "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess 5:21).

Real-Life Example: Unquestioning Obedience

Many years ago, I attended a congregation where a leader claimed God instructed them to perform publicly on a musical instrument they had never learned to play as a prophetic act. Predictably, their performance was chaotic and confusing. It culminated dramatically, with the leader appearing to be physically "zapped" by the Holy Spirit, causing the person to collapse. Despite the event's bizarre nature and lack of discernible spiritual value, the congregation accepted this occurrence unquestioningly, primarily because the individual was a recognized leader who had previously offered edifying prophetic words.

Privately, I met with the leader to share my concerns. To their credit, they humbly received the feedback. However, what troubles me today is that out of the 300 congregants present, no one else voiced discomfort or questioned what happened. Blind obedience prevailed over critical discernment. To be clear, no one received a lethal electric shock. But that’s how conditioning works. What if next time the prophetic utterance was urging people to take a specific unethical action?

Prophetic Word of Bickle Being Restored to Ministry

More recently, an independent investigation concluded Mike Bickle had manipulated and sexually abused multiple women, including minors, by misusing his influential position and employing false prophetic words. Yesterday, his sister, a pastor herself, publicly delivered a prophetic "mandate" absolving her brother and restoring him to ministry. She explicitly stated she was not seeking permission or accountability from other leaders, asserting divine authority to shut down any further investigation. “This story [of Bickle’s infedelity] should never be investigated by the church,” his sister vehemently vented. (My thoughts on the entire prophetic word can be read here.)

This scenario illustrates how spiritual authority can be dangerously misused. In the Old Testament, prophets spoke with divine authority, but with limited public checks. In contrast, the New Testament Church, girded with the Word of God, is instructed to weigh prophecies carefully, testing them collectively (1 Cor 14:29). The conflict of interest in Bickle’s sister delivering a prophecy that absolves him underscores why discernment and accountability are essential. Yet many believers might feel pressured into accepting her authoritative declarations without question, much like participants in Milgram's experiment felt pressured to comply due to the authoritative figure's presence and the prestige of Yale University. When someone dogmatically claims God has spoken to them, it is hard to disagree. How much more humble it would have been to say, "I want to submit this to the church for discernment."

Paul’s Courageous Example: Confronting Peter

In Galatians 2:11–14, Paul recounts a significant confrontation with Peter in Antioch regarding table fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers. Initially, Peter freely ate with Gentiles, reflecting gospel unity. However, when influential Jewish believers arrived from Jerusalem, Peter withdrew from table fellowship with Gentiles, fearing their disapproval. Paul courageously confronted Peter publicly, despite Peter’s seniority and established apostolic authority. Paul recognized that Peter’s actions undermined the foundational gospel truth of unity between Jews and Gentiles in Messiah (Eph 2:14).

Paul’s bold action is noteworthy because no one else challenged Peter publicly. Paul’s confrontation demonstrated that gospel integrity outweighs personal loyalty or hierarchical respect. If that happened today, Paul would be accused of gossip, and yet we only know about it because he wrote of the incident in a public letter to the Galatians! Leaders, regardless of their authority or stature, must be held accountable when their actions contradict biblical truth.

Choosing Courageous Faithfulness

Milgram’s findings remind us how easily individuals can harm others when pressured by authority. God has called us to be more like Mordechai, Esther, and Moses—who risked everything to protect others. But sadly, the majority, according to history, will follow the easy path that is less controversial and guarantees survival. Nobody reads books about the Germans who went along with the Nazis, but about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oskar Schindler. And nobody writes books about those Europeans who gladly turned their Jewish neighbors over to the Gestapo, but instead about Corrie ten Boom, who hid Jews in her home, and Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved nearly 100,000 Jewish lives.

Conclusion: Discernment Above Blind Obedience

If ordinary people can be pressured into harming others through authoritative persuasion, how much more alert must the Church be against spiritual manipulation disguised as divine authority? NT leaders, of which I am one, often speak as those who have heard the voice of God. But what if they haven’t? And what if they are asking you to do something that goes against your conscience or the Bible?

Believers are called to honor and support leadership, but we must also exercise critical discernment. Our ultimate allegiance is to Messiah Yeshua and His Word, and we must courageously prioritize obedience to God above blind compliance with human authority.

Question: Have you ever felt pressured toward "white-coat obedience" in a spiritual context? Share your experiences in the comments below and tell us how you responded.