Let me tell you a story. Back in 1504, during Columbus’s fourth and final voyage, his ships were attacked by shipworms, a kind of marine worm that eats away at wood. The ships either ran aground on the coast or sank at sea. Columbus was near what we now know as Jamaica, so that’s where he took his four ships to avoid sinking.

The island’s inhabitants, the Taínos, initially brought them food, but they sort of got fed up after a few months when the Spaniards ran out of coloured mirrors to trade with, so they decided to leave them to their fate.

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A bit of a row broke out because the crew weren’t too keen on the idea of starving to death.

Columbus, being the seasoned sailor that he was, had a great deal of astronomical knowledge and carried a copy of Regiomontanus’s records, so he knew that on 29 February 1504 there would be a total lunar eclipse in that area.

Seeing that the lads aboard the half-rotten ships were beginning to grow restless with hunger, he went to tell the tribal chiefs that the Christian God was so angry with them (them: the Indians) that He was going to show them His wrath by turning the Moon red, so that they might learn some manners.

The thing is, Columbus had it all worked out, and luckily it wasn’t cloudy that night, so the eclipse took place and the Moon turned red (a ‘blood moon’) due to the refraction of sunlight in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The indigenous people were absolutely terrified; they ran off to tell Columbus to ask his God not to get so angry.

Columbus had timed the eclipse (it lasted 48 minutes), so, using a sandglass, he kept an eye on when to go out and calm everyone down.

A short while later, he appeared, saying that he’d prayed (something along the lines of ‘forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do’) and that God had forgiven them, but that they’d better be careful not to let his crew go hungry, or He’d get angry again.

And so it was that the inhabitants of what is now Jamaica continued to feed the sailors until June, when they managed to rescue them all alive to return to Spain.

Now, the story of Columbus and the lunar eclipse offers us an interesting point for reflection.

Columbus knew something the inhabitants of Jamaica did not: when the eclipse would take place. And he used that knowledge to make them believe he had the backing of an angry God, capable of punishing them if they did not do as he wished.

He did not need to have power over God or over the Moon. It was enough for him to exploit the fear and lack of knowledge of others to get what he needed.

Does that story sound familiar?

Something like this happens in some Christian circles. There are leaders who present themselves as if they had a direct and exclusive line of communication with God. They claim to receive revelations that no one else can question, they announce divine punishments, they attribute misfortunes to disobedience, and they lead people to believe that turning away from them is turning away from God.

And when someone is afraid, they often stop asking questions, stop thinking, and even stop trusting what they read in the Bible itself.

But it is one thing to have a spiritual gift and quite another to use God’s name to subjugate the consciences of others.

The Bible does not call on us to set aside our discernment in order to obey a leader. It invites us to test everything and hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The believers in Berea were commended because they examined the Scriptures to see whether what Paul was teaching them was true (Acts 17:11).

And we’re talking about Paul, not just any preacher!

No religious leader has a monopoly on God. No title makes a person infallible. And no so-called revelation should take precedence over the truth, the character of Jesus, or freedom of conscience.

Because when a leader needs you to be afraid in order to obey them, it is worth asking whether they are leading you to Christ or building up their own power in His name.

Let us not confuse spiritual authority with control, discernment with rebellion, or honest questions with a lack of faith.

Jesus did not come to make people dependent on a human intermediary, but to reconcile us with the Father.

And understanding the Word in its context is also a way of protecting ourselves from those who seek to use it to manipulate us.

Faith does not need ignorance to sustain itself. And the truth is not afraid of being scrutinised.

Verónica Agüero, wife, mum, pastor and social psychologist in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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