Such fan bases, such personality cults, are nothing new. They afflicted the church in Corinth, and they have been an ever-present malady ever since. Psychologists could no doubt have a field day here. Transposition of filial affection to a surrogate parent figure, a desperate need to belong to a group: both of these can offer plausible, second-level explanations for such commitment and surely contain important truths. At root, however, the problem is even more serious: the Christian, biblical perspective has to be that what we see in such relationships is idolatry. The Bible is clear that idol worshipers take on the characteristics of their idols. Worship a dumb statue and you will become dumb (Ps. 115); we might add that, if you worship a professor or teacher or pastor, you will come to be like them, warts and all, and probably in an exaggerated way. That is why so many professorial disciples sound like cheap, lightweight versions of the original. They are basically idolaters and what you see in their lives and language is the inevitable result of their idolatry. - Carl Trueman.
Read the whole article here - well worth a read.
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