Ok, first, forgive me if my attempt to say what I mean is less than eloquent.
I want to say that I belong to a church that is committed to following the teachings of the Bible without all the politics and whatnot intertwined. In fact, although I know my pastor's views on certain political issues (this only because we are also friends) he refuses to bring any of this into a sermon or any capacity in which is seen as the 'leader' of a group of people. Yes, there will be teachings on things that could be deemed political I guess, but only when backed by Scriptures.
Also, our church has a variety of pastor's and boards that meet to discuss the decisions that the church makes and the image it conveys. This is too help guard against the fact that the pastor is simply a man, he makes mistakes, and most importantly, he can be wrong.
Prayer is a term thrown around very loosely as well, but my belief is that any corporate action of a church or televangelist or whatever, should be questioned by the individuals that hear it and then be prayed about. I do believe in a personal God that will answer your prayers. Why listen to pastor tell you what God says, when you can ask yourself. (this is not to say I believe followers of Christ shoudl not attend churches, but that is a different discussion)
Back to the point though, I would still claim that I am a Christian that does follow my 'leaders' as you put it. However, I do not do so blindly. I follow my pastor often because I believe he is in line with God's will most of the time, and he proves it to me the best he can with Scripture, but MOST importantly, consistently stresses the importance of seeking God's will personally as individuals. If I do so and find him in the wrong, he encourages me to come to him and tell him why. Just because he has the title of Pastor, doesn't mean he cannot misinterpret something.
Finally, just touching on the rampant hypocracy of self proclaimed Christians:
I somewhat agree. I believe this is a huge problem and it shows that the worst enemy of a follower of Christ is fellow Christians who fail. It's the whole if you talk the talk, walk the walk thing. This is a messy area though. There are categories of this:
1. People who do contrary to what they preach to others....and are not repentant/remorseful. This is hypocracy, no if ands or buts. This is completely wrong.
2. People who do contrary to what they preach....and repent. They screwed up. Just because you know what God desires of you and make your mind up to not do the things God does not desire, does not mean the temptation to commit such acts is gone. Or that you lack maturity in what you believe. That is the whole beauty of Christ though. Jesus was sent to be an eternal sacrifice to 'pay' for the sins of the followers of God. You can read in the old testament of all the situations and the specific ritual sacrifices that the people would make to atone for their sins. When Jesus was crucified, He became the new covenant of God, deeming the other sacrifices unecessary in that his blood was sufficient to cover all sin.
Those who do whatever they feel and hide behind the veil that they know Christ and therefore are forgiven are in the wrong. I do believe that they are forgiven, I do not believe that they are in line with God's will AT ALL when this occurs.
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I am sorry if this is segmented or unclear or seems to lapse into classic 'christian-ese' speech. I am at work at the moment and trying to multi-task
