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Psalms 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 

TO PASTORS

Do you have a "happy" church?
More important, do you have a "happy" Lord?
Ultimately, are you happy? Or, have you come to
believe that being happy is worldly. Believe it or not,
the word "happy" is in your King James Bible.

"Pastor" A word of caution. I use the word pastor in this study as a accommodation to those of you who think you are pastors. I have almost no confidence in the use of the word as used today. Please study this page on the title "pastor."

This is one of two attempts to help men who serve the Lord's Church. I plan to do another page for evangelists.

I am using the Word of God heavily, but I know full well that many preachers do not really believe the Word of God should change their lives. But, I have done this work knowing that someone will benefit. I have drawn on my own experience growing up in a pastor's home, as a missionary myself, and having pastored four churches.

Our little cheeky motto applies:

" Who de cap fit mek dem wear um." Jamaica

Which is, in Latin:

Aut Disce
Aut Discede

Learn something, or get out of here.

:-)

 

CURE FOR JACK BOOT PREACHERS AND DULL CHURCHES:

Most churches are dull because the preacher is dull.
It is time to stop blaming the sheep for the deficiencies of the under-shepherd.

1. YOU

What is your one driving desire?

If it is anything but to feed sheep, you are not a pastor. You are an hireling, and you need to hit the altar first at the next altar call. For life, God is first, the wife next, your kids next, and the local church next. That is real cool, preacher. There is a good message there to preach to the saint who is not claiming to be "called to preach." But, after the above descending order, your next urge should be to feed sheep. If you have a herd of goats on the side, you are an hireling, a loser. If you play and do your own thing and let the church workers make church life work, you are a rebel against any alleged calling God gave you.

Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

You are NOT "called to preach." That is a Fundamentalist buzz word that is not found in the Word of God. You are called to feed sheep:

John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

You are subject to the same temptations as anyone else, and you will be tempted and wooed by Satan even more than other people. There is a deadly notion among many preachers that they are bigger and stronger than the sheep. Well, you to are a sheep. And, any farmer will tell you that sheep are dumb. There is only ONE Shepherd. Everything you have you got from the Good Shepherd, unless you are not born again. You did NOT get your calling, your ministry, by going to the right school or belonging to the right preacher's club. Being a "Sword man" will not carry the day. Your alleged "heritage" and historic distinctions over the past 2000 years as a Bible believer will do NOTHING to make your ministry pleasing to God. God wants you dumb as snot, empty, and desperate, so that he can fill an empty vessel with himself.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Soberly! I must say that I have known many Fundamentalist preachers, and almost all evangelists and missionaries who are drunk on themselves. They are not sober. They have big mouths, boasting of their numbers, and they walk and swagger around like poodles at a dog show. They don't understand how utterly helpless they are without the power of God. Many of them go on, though others see right through them, acting out gestures and talking the talk. But, they are empty. Ichabod. The Glory has departed.

Does the shoe fit? Why do you hate ME for asking such a question? You bash up the sheep every Sunday and try to talk them into doubt of their salvation, and guilt they should not feel, so that you can see the altar full. Well, it is YOUR turn, Buddy. Maybe you don't even need to finish this page. Maybe you need to go down on your knees and cry out to God in repentance for letting your God given ministry turn into an hireling's circus.

I hear many stories of pastors who have fallen into sin and are feasting their soul on porn and using other men's wives. I hear of an evangelist who will not stay with other preachers at camp meetings because he cannot stand the filthy humor and foolish jesting in the dorm (Evangelist PK). There is a pattern of playing the fool among us. Dr. Peter Ruckman's Blow Out is classic. Men run crazy, speakers play the comedian, idiots scream and throw hymn books.

Here YOU are, according to Paul:

1 Timothy 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Titus 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

A preacher runs through the woods with the men shooting paint balls in mock murder games. Another preacher has gun shoots with teen age girls shooting AK-47s. Contests are brought on to increase Sunday School attendance in which the preacher plays the fool to amuse unrighteous brats and keep them coming.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

It is well received in the world when a man in leadership shows grace. A Middle Eastern man, when entertaining guests, will make every possible consideration to make everyone comfortable and help them enjoy one another. But, in much of Fundamentalism, the preacher swaggers into the room, makes jocular worldly jabs and jabberwocky gestures, and the sheep must pretend to be impressed.

Your job is not to be the center of attention. Your job is to bring the sheep together in joy, feed them the Word, and give them every opportunity to enjoy one another and Jesus Christ. I am sick of preachers who stand around and draw all men to themselves instead of to Jesus Christ.

What if some saints like to sit and talk and drink coffee? Well, after the service, or between Sunday School and worship, make a time for them to visit and drink coffee. Your schedule and your priorities be damned. The sheep need one another as much as they need you. Jesus Christ sat around and ate and chatted "with publicans and sinners." Do you suppose he would be impressed with the way you herd the sheep here and there to meet YOUR priorities? Your sermon is important, but it is NOT the main event.

Come down preacher.

Come down and join the folks.

They are very likable. Instead of running to the next preacher's camp meeting, how about a fishing trip with that good old boy who is limping along in spirit? How about taking a deacon and running to a couple auctions. There is nothing like a farm auction to help you see the real world. Watch the human nature. Listen to the lies. Ask the deacon about some gem you can buy, and bid on it. Show it off later to the other men, and give the old deacon the credit for helping you get a deal. Bid on that set of hames and hang them on the garage. Every time you see them, you will remember to pray for that old deacon. When I see mine, I think of Kent Smith.

 

2. READING

1 Timothy 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

You need to read three things-- these are essential from my experience

FIRST:
Read your Bible for your own strength. Read in two places. One should be to stimulate your mind to self-examination. The other should be either Psalms, Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes. Keep notes on those things which you can use in exhortation and doctrine-- for sermons. I do get a very good feeling when a brother says, "I was reading in Zechariah five, and I think that woman in the ephah is the Catholic Church, what do you think?" I know that man is digging, AND he is stumbling onto the gold mines that make his mind work.

SECOND:
Read missionary biographies. You can find them on eBay and bid on them. Also, try Book Finder. Make sure they are very old so they are not about modern washed out spiritual babies. Watch for them at yard sales and used book stores. There is NOTHING but the Bible that should be more important than missionary biographies.

THIRD:
Read to learn about the world and issues. Read to learn about the wolf. Some preachers are ignorant of the evil and boast that they don't need to know anything but the Bible. I read on the Internet, but I also read at the public library. I grab several magazines from the periodical section, and I sit down and scan them. When I find something useful, I copy the article and carry it home for a sermon illustration.

"This month, Mother Earth News had a classic article exalting the folly of the vegetarianism cult. Let me read a paragraph to you, and you tell me what the Bible says about this....." This is a powerful way to start teaching about SDA and cultic law-keeping and what Paul said on the subject.

2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Satan has not been permitted by God to list his devices in the Word of God. There are accounts of Satan's ways in the Word, but how they work out in your day, and your community, is up to you to learn. Your personal Bible reading will help you sort the present stress as you work at it.

Paul was a man of much knowledge from life and outside of the Bible. God sent him to the desert to live with Arabs so he would stop putting everything in a Jewish cultural perspective. He suffered the loss of his preconceptions. He went up on Mars hill and talked to them and quoted their philosophers. If you think you can be a dumb door nail for Jesus, you are wrong. The sheep are constantly blundering into error, and YOU are supposed to know it when YOU see it so you can warn them.

Acts 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

A very good place to learn about new cults and issues affecting your missionaries is the Internet. Here is how you can find the national local news for each missionary you have CLICK HERE

 

3. STUDY

1. Study the Bible

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

I find that when I try to preach a sermon a second time that I flounder. I have to go back and rework the sermon every time, and when I do I see weak spots. I see errors. I see too much of me, and not enough of the Word. What you learned from study of the Word is to be kept, according to the text above, for your soul is in peril. You are not in peril of damnation once you are saved, but only the Word will keep your soul from pollution of sin. Keeping is a discipline, and teaching what you have in your soul is just as helpful to you as to the sheep. You need what you teach. If you don't think so, you are a dead beat, and I know your sheep are starving.

Proverbs 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

Your preaching is poor when your study is brief. No way around it. God does NOT do miracles of filling your head for you so you can preach. Paul clearly tells Timothy he has to study it IN so he can preach it OUT. This is why so many of you preachers use thousands of clichés to fill in space--

"Know what I mean..." "Mark er down..." "This is how you please God..." "I wouldn't trust anyone else to preach this to me..." "You better pay attention..."

And, this is why some of you wail, hack, and scream "Amen" so much. You have nothing else in your head. You lazy slow belly!

STUDY!

2. Study the world

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

You need to know how the world works, and you learn that from the men in your church who work daily in the world. If you don't spend time with these men, you will be dumb as snot about life in general. This is also why mending tents, working on the side, and planting a garden, are highly useful, as it was for Paul. You need to stop and smell the roses, and you need to stop and smell the loading dock of that warehouse worker in your church. I used to buy vegetables from the transfer businesses of my customers in Nogales, Arizona. The world there is highly instructive. The world of the Smoky Mountains and Yosemite Valley are also highly instructive. Inhale. You will learn a lot. Do NOT commit yourself though.

3. Study yourself

1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

This is not some Freudian notion. The texts above make it VERY clear that you and I better be looking at our ways and examining ourselves daily. It is a sick sick preacher who forces the sheep to look at themselves, but he has a belly so big he has not seen his toes in five years.

 

4. FELLOWSHIP

1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Any alleged fellowship which does not center on Jesus Christ is not worthy of the Lord's Church. Also, you are NOT in the Pauline model if the sheep cannot get close to YOU. Read that verse again please.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The suffering of the saints is a great reason to gather in fellowship.

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Worldly activities are no foundation for fellowship. Also, if you have a flock of goats you claim are a calling, you are in fellowship with the wrong flock. Repent !! Get back with the sheep.

Philippians 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

You cannot have this kind of fellowship one day a week on a walk around the aisles of the auditorium between the third and fourth hymn. This fellowship caused saints to linger in Christ.

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Fundamental Baptist preachers wait for the Holy Ghost to work in the heart of a saint like a dog waits for a marriage license.

The closeness and self-sacrifice of the saints for one another was the most convincing thing the lost saw. No wonder souls don't get saved anymore in your assembly BETWEEN SUNDAYS. You have to try to do all the soul winning on Sunday in the altar call. You make NO provision for the saints to be seen caring for one another between Sundays. You go on visitation to build attendance and fill buses. You have designed a program for the saints which all happens at the church house.

Part of the problem here is the lust for cash. You collect all the giving in a fourteen inch plate, and YOU decide where it will go. You better start teaching the giving between Sundays which meets the needs of the troubled saints. Men will see their good works and glorify God.

And, here is proof that YOU, preacher, are to lead, at your kitchen table and at the local cafe:

1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

How about meeting one of the men in your church, the low man, the slow man, the hick with only three teeth, for breakfast at the local hick cafe. NOT the big tourist chain where you can gorge on all-you-can-eat food. That old hick, and the local cafe, are a gold mine for learning about the world in which you live. Why are you hiding from sinners. Jesus Christ would head for that cafe in a flash if he were here. And, he would probably close your day school. Show the saints how to home school so you can get back to being a pastor. You have this monumental urge to build that resume, right? Day schools do that, and they give you an early heart attack too, maybe even a divorce.

 

5. HOSPITALITY

Build Men--
Do you spend time with the men in your church? I have seen lately that almost all Fundamental Bible believers have pastors who do not LIKE the people. They claim they do, but they do not go spend time with them. You are a filthy liar if you say you love the sheep but you don't have time to show it. Jesus picked twelve men and gave them the best and choicest teaching of his earthly ministry. In what way do YOU resemble Jesus Christ and his relationship with his disciples?

Fire up the boys and teen age youth also--
Does your wife bake cookies to bribe the kids to stop by on the way to school? When you visit the homes (if you do), do you spend time talking to the kids about their lives? I knew a Catholic priest who visited the homes of his people regularly. He would drink coffee a while, and then he called the teens in the home to him. He asked them what he preached about last Sunday. The kids knew what was coming, and they liked the priest intensely. They would do their best to give the right answer. Then, the priest would ask, "What does that have to do with your life?" I was amazed at this report which I got from one of his parishioners. This man, lost in the grip of the Whore of Rome, was doing what 80% of Fundamentalist pastors will not take the time to do. By the way, those kids would do anything for that priest.

Put the aged men to work--
Ed Arnold was a prayer warrior. I could ask him to pray at a certain hour, and he would be on his knees praying at the appointed time. One day I had to deal with Satanic invasion of a home. I went knowing I would be in warfare, so I asked Ed to be in prayer. The visit was an experience in victory in the Lord, and I went home rejoicing. I forgot Ed was praying, and went about the rest of the day. Several hours later Ed called and asked me how it was going. He had not quit praying all that time. Needless to say, I was humbled for my carelessness with Ed, but also with the fact that the victory had nearly nothing to do with me. Ed was holding the feet of God and would not let go.

The older men will stand with you and hold up your arms, but you have to make the relationship with them to enjoy this camaraderie in battle. Ed was at our kitchen table sometimes three times a week. He knew the battles, and, like the Prussian soldiers of 1870, Ed knew what the next command would be before I gave it. That sort of man is priceless. Ed was 78 years old and fully employed in the battle.

By the way, the Prussian army never fought a battle in which they were not outnumbered two to one, sometimes far worse. The unity of mind, among the troops, with the Bismarck, was total, from the private to the generals. But, when the order was given to "fire," the Bismarck turned in his saddle and fired at the same instant as the privates. Think about that for a minute please.

The Prussian troops marched to their own heart beat. They had no fear of the enemy, and they were trained not to hate the enemy-- they were so totally involved as a unit, the whole army, that they literally walked over their enemies. Their discipline went deep into their soul. A Prussian soldier NEVER went AWOL during battle. One soldier ran in panic. He was captured and brought to the Bismarck for court martial and execution. The Bismarck asked him why he ran. He said he saw that the battle was lost and panicked. The Bismarck said, "Come with me tomorrow, soldier, and we will fight again, and it we lose the battle, we will both die together." He roared with laughter and sent the man back to his unit.

Do the men in your church war the warfare WITH you, or are they your slaves? The jerk, Jack Hyles, on several occasions claimed that his deacons were so loyal that if he told them to march off a cliff, they would do it. What an effete ass. If Jack Hyles was a real man, he would have marched off the cliff, and they would have followed. The image is still NOT biblical, but Jack showed what men were for in his church-- slavery.

Proverbs 27:23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

Open your own home--
The best way, and I mean the BEST way, for you to know the state of your flock is to sit at their kitchen table, and to invite them to your kitchen table, and just talk. You will find no better way to be the best friend they have. Of course, you have to LIKE the sheep. This is why Jesus was found in the homes being entertained so often. And, those people knew he loved them.

Make the Church House a home away from home--
There are lonely people in every local church. They come in all ages, from twelve to ninety two. And, they come with many reasons for loneliness. Do you have any feeling for these people?

Black inner city churches--
I visited a Black Baptist church in Detroit one day, and I had a great visit with the pastor and his youth man. That church was having something going on every day of the week for the members to come to and get them away from their homes. Homes in the Black community are often sad places, as are the homes of many Whites and any culture. The church house needs to be more an oasis and less a place for YOUR program notions.

If you start looking for ways to gather the sheep, and if you talk to the aged women and men, it will not be long before you will think of ways to gather sheep and exalt Christ. If you push YOUR notions of what happens at the church house, you will have a great program for lonely people and over worked saints who go along with your programs and make them happen-- our of sheer exhaustion. Did you know that it is OK to lead the sheep to "lay down beside still waters." The frenzied programs look great from a distance, but up close the people running them are distracted and dry spiritually from making the Christian life a preacher's rodeo.

Make your church house a place of hospitality every time the doors open, and I promise you that you will have a very happy flock of sheep. I know-- we did it-- and peace and strength came into the church family. AND, we kept everyone together as families. It CAN be done.

ANOTHER ARTICLE OF THE JOURNAL ON HOSPITALITY-- And, why you may be over weight.

 

6. DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST

Where does an evangelist do his work? Philip met the Eunuch along the road to home. Paul went up on Mars hill and parlayed with the philosophers. Jesus went to the towns, and he ate with publicans and sinners. He also went looking for Matthew where he worked at the tax office. Aquilla and Priscilla found Apollos preaching and taught him. Paul was stuck on an island for the winter and gave the Gospel. Paul was put under arrest and used the time to win many to Christ.

It is interesting that no one evangelized at the church house. Early church writers tell us that the saints would cook a meal on the First Day and take it to the home of someone they were trying to win to Christ. These writers also tell us that Paul spent the morning at Ephesus in the market place visiting the merchants and giving them the Gospel. In the midday heat he taught in his Bible Institute, and in the afternoon he mended tents to pay his bills.

So, why are you doing all your evangelism at the front of the church house. That place is the gathering place for the saints, and it is often the only time you have to feed them. You have all week to wander around town evangelizing. There is this warped custom in Fundamentalism that says soul winning is done at the church house by a preacher in a three piece suit.

When is the last time you took some sinner fishing?

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

That "out of season" is not taken very seriously these days. That means to be a Gospel spreading person at times when others would not anticipate the Gospel could be given. Talk about Jesus in the check our line, don't just throw a tract at the check out person. Praise God for anything in conversation with the lost. Bring Jesus into all conversation, and bring biblical truth in. I often will use the Word when some point has just been made by a sinner, such as, "You know, that is just what the Bible says...." Then I quote some verse that fits the topic of discussion. I prove the truth of what the other person just said. They then get the feeling the Bible is on their side. I let that soak briefly, and then I add something Jesus said, or some Gospel truth as well. That often is all the sinner will take, so I drop it, and move on. The next time I meet some of these people, they are often the one to start the discussion of spiritual issues.

Tracts are OK, but I believe God wants us to speak up. Find any way you can to bring the Bible and Jesus into a conversation as authorities on conversation. Most people will listen and receive this, and you can build visit on visit without them feeling like you are nailing them. By the way, we are not called to put sinners in their place. Their destined place is hell. We are called to exalt Jesus Christ. He gave us that plan:

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

 

7. YOUR FAMILY

I have heard so many stories of pastors neglecting and abusing their families, and I am talking about "our" people, not Benny Hinn and Paul Crouch. A pastor in northern Indiana went to a pastor's retreat in Hawaii, took his personal secretary, and left his wife at home. A pastor in Michigan regularly took food at meal time away from his son as a form of discipline. The kid is grown now and retarded and warped in mind. Hundreds of evangelists run the roads of the USA without their wife of kids. Stories abound of the wife at home barely making the budget and having to work at WalMart as a checker. What kind of creeps are we now seeing take over the pulpits of American, indeed, or the world's Fundamental Bible believing churches?

Your church, your pulpit, and your office, are NOT higher priority than your family. You are a damned fool if you put the local church above your wife's and kids' well being. I use "damned fool" advisedly. You are NOT born again. I shall now prove it:

1 Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

A born again man does NOT leave his wife to take on higher callings, for THERE IS NO CALLING, given by God, which sets your wife and kids in second place. NONE! I have said much on this page about how you should conduct yourself toward the sheep God has given you. But, none of the priorities this side of The Glory can be allowed to supplant that of your calling to be a husband and father. If you did not like that plan, you should have castrated yourself and become a eunuch. It is interesting though that God insisted that a deacon and elder (bishop) be the husband of one wife (I Tim. 3). While God insists that you have a wife, that is, if you are "called to preach," he also insists that you provide for her first.

If this is beneath you, you should leave "the ministry," and you should get a job on the block and give attention to your wife and family. If the board of your church is demanding that you abandon your home to administer the church affairs, find another church, probably a lot smaller one. Find a church where you have to mend tents on the side. That way the people will have to face the fact that you are a family man and not a slave of their tithing. Big church boards frequently get the idea that they have BOUGHT a pastor, and they demand his posterior be under their control at all times. That will NOT include your wife and kids. In fact, jack boot deacons will even demand the services of your wife, taking her away from your home. If you are in such a situation, preacher, you are a fool. Call your preacher buddies, and get into another church fast. If you don't, your kids will grow up to hate God and be drunks.

Any deacon or church member reading this-- TAKE NOTICE: If you have a pastor who consistently neglects his wife and kids to keep himself in a whirl and frenzy of activity building up the local church, call a meeting and rebuke him soundly. If he rejects the rebuke, run the hireling off. Why am I so blunt? This kind of preacher, as has been seen thousands of times in recent years, will demand that the men in his church follow his lead. Have you noticed that the men in your church are gone from home almost every evening? Have you noticed that loyalty to Christ is defined as loyalty to the pastor and his agenda? Have you noticed that the men who don't sacrifice their marriage and kids on the altar of Type A frenzy with the pastor are made into the Omega of the church? This natural brute beast will do to YOU what he is doing to his own home. He is possessed of devils. These devils use him to destroy homes.

If he owns the church real estate, or if he has some organizational power to resist you, leave. Go find a real New Testament local church, even if you have to attend the Brethren or Mennonite church nearby.

 

8. THE "I" PROBLEM

Money

Many of the pastors I have met are obsessed with money. They preach often on giving, or they work it into their sermons at least once every Sunday. They demand more and more cash flow from the saints, and they don't care if the saints in the pew have less of this life's blessing than they do.

Proverbs 30:15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

Well, the horseleach girls have a big brother in our day. YOU? Are you always crying, "Give, Give"? Oh, you claim you just want a big missions program. You have this stupid notion that you can rightfully sheer the sheep right down to the skin because the world must be reached with the Gospel. Missionaries must be supported. Well, my dear jerk, God never asked a man to deprive his wife and kids of the blessing GOD gave them so your missions paranoia could be satisfied. Some of you idiots need to take a little vacation and sit in on a theology class at a Reformed seminary. They have lots of things wrong, but they DO understand that God is in control, and he can reach the lost in Bangladesh without raping the saints in Bogaloosa.

Preacher, do you REALLY believe this verse?

Philippians 4:17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

When did you catch Jesus, John, Philip, Peter, or Luke talking about money and the cash flow the way YOU do? Never, and you know it. But, some of you gigolos see the local church the way a pick pocket watches the people at the County Fair. You have NO interest in them unless they buy you things and keep your big belly full.

What did Jesus have? He borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem to offer himself as Messiah to Israel. Can you believe that. The focal point of all prophecy to Israel, and Jesus did not ask the disciples to pass the hat and buy him a great white horse (Navigator). Look at this....

Matthew 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

So, preacher, you tell me that your family is in genuine need, right? Let me tell you a story.

My Dad was pastoring a small church in Quartz Hill, California in the 1950s. We were not making it as a family. I recall, as a kid, that we did not always have the things other people had. My Dad finally realized that the little church was not made up of people who could give more. Instead of have a "Faith Promise Sunday," and preaching on giving every other Sunday, my Dad did what he knew he could do to provide for us. He hired on at a cement company driving a cement truck. My Dad was a good driver. He was one of the only men left, in those days, who could "split gears" with the two transmissions the old trucks had. Dad never had any trouble getting a job driving a cement truck, for his reputation backing out on wood scaffoldings, when they built Long Beach Harbor, was legendary. Dad drove 60 miles one way from the High Desert to San Fernando Valley three days a week to drive truck.

Dad had not been driving long when the deacons asked to talk to him. They told him that they did not want him to have to drive truck and not be a full time pastor. They raised his salary and said they intended, by faith, to take better care of him, and the rest of us in the family. You professional shake down artists have NO idea how precious and sweet that sort of love is. You have never walked orderly, you refuse to mend tents, you are just too good to sweat, so you will never know how it feels to be loved the way my Daddy was loved. By the way, the Quartz Hill Baptist Church is still sort of small, but it is still Fundamental, Baptist, and KJV Only. The foundation you lay on money grubbing will NOT be a foundation that lasts 50 years, like that little church in the High Desert.

Furthermore; you bring your alleged salvation into question with your zeal to grab the cash, for you are a gross violator of the Word of God:

Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If you were really born again, you would be satisfied with the treasures you are sending on up ahead into the Glory where The Lord Jesus Christ is keeping track of them.

Pastoral Rule

In a word, YOU are not the ruler of the Lord's Church.

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

If you teach the saints that Christ went back to heaven and turned his Church over to you, you are a "damned fool." Again, damned, because you are a supplanter of Christ. Fool, because you would try to take the authority of God away from him. Damned fool fits well, don't you think?

Read the following slowly. Deists teach that God created the universe, set men in place, and went out to lunch. God left the world and the Church for man to manage and rule because God is sort of divinely distracted by himself or bigger things, and it is up to us to take charge. That is precisely your theology. You, preacher, are a deist if you believe in pastoral rule. The Lord Jesus NEVER abdicated from his headship over his Church.

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

You are no different than the Pope who uses that verse to claim he is the ruler of the Lord's Church in the earth.

Every man in your church is under Jesus Christ, not you. Every kid in your church is under Jesus Christ, not you. Every lady in your church is under Jesus Christ, not you. One reason you may well be using several ladies in your church as concubines is that you think they are yours after all. That is what the scum head in Hammond thought.

Who are YOU anyway?

1 Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

Why not as "lords"? Are you a literalist, as you claim, in interpretation of the Word? Well, if so, the thing is easy to understand. You are not a lord because the Church has only one Lord. So, pastoral rule, as practiced by Fundamentalists, is robbery of God. You are the lord of the local church, for you are the ruler. You know it, the deacons know it, and your wife and kids know it.

One preacher invited us to his home in Michigan. When we sat down to eat with the family, the preacher served himself first. We attended a church dinner at a church in Dayton, Ohio, and the pastor pointedly told the men to get in line first to serve themselves before the ladies. He went first before all others. He had a cover story for this which was madness, but the real context fit what he told me about his deacons. He said he kept them so that they were no more than janitors. He boasted that he never asked their opinion on anything. Just like Jesus Christ, Peter, and Paul, right? BAH !!

Preacher, have you ever washed anyone's feet?

Luke 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

Heaven will be hell to some of you preachers, for your Lord will serve YOU, and you will see, in his love and tenderness for you, what you NEVER learned to do as a pastor of his flocks.

Luke 17:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Instead of looking eagerly to the sheep to BE served, how about looking into the face of the Good Shepherd, and see how you measure up as HIS servant?

Guruism

Do your people exalt you, or do they exalt Jesus Christ and the Gospel?

One of the marks of any cult is this-- The human leader exalts the god far beyond the reach of the followers, AND, the guru then convinces the people that he, the guru, is the earthly manifestation of the god. From Hinduism, with its Baba Ganooshes and Rajneeshes, to the Pope in Rome, the gods, or even Christ, are far away, busy, or harsh and agitated with humanity. The human spiritual boss man is the one with whom we have to do.

Is this how your people feel about you. How about "100% for Hyles"? That is guruism, and I don't believe 10% of the Hyles mob are born again. They are not 100% for Jesus Christ, and they say so themselves by exalting the guru. Words are important, and what we speak sets our eternal destiny:

Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Here is Reverend Zophar:

Job 11:2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?

This man did not like what Job was saying, so he mocked Job. Well, God stakes all on your words:

Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The mouth of YOU and the mouth of your people is what YOU will answer for. If you stand by silently in fake humility, as the people exalt you, as the people in Hammond exalted their guru, you will answer for those words, even the people's words. You are a fool if you think God will not judge you for letting other men exalt YOU. Ah, the the incense of flattery and praise smells so sweet, right? YOU ARE A BLASTED SATAN EMPOWERED GURU OF A FALSE FAITH. Jesus Christ was a servant to the end, and at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, he will serve his Bride.

[ The following is offered free of charge:

Those arrogant boys in the Baptist Bride need to understand two things:

1. We who have not assassinated our minds and imbibed the ambrosia of Brider myths will not serve them. Jesus Christ will serve us and them, if they are born again.

2. It is not a shame to serve. The Baptist Briders show that they have no concept of the Christian life, for serving is the highest calling that anyone can have. Our Lord showed us that, so I have no confidence in the profession of faith of a Baptist Brider. How can they be of Christ and define service as a default or second lever blessing in the Glory? If you are a Brider, you will not be served by me, you may well be served by Satan, brimstone and ashes de jour.

It is time to deal with the Fundamentalist Movement with some reasoning from the Scripture instead of mush headed tolerance. Much heresy is being promoted by Fundamentalists these day. Much practical theology, from sexual lust to Nicolaitan self exaltation, is permeating the mass of Bible based churches. We need to understand that the Fundamental Church Movement is largely unchristian. Many pastors are not saved. They are just along for the ride-- it is a job and no more. The Baptist Bride movement is a subchristian cult, for they define themselves entirely the opposite from how God defines true saints. So, committed Briders will go to hell. We need to evangelize the Baptist Bride. We need a missionary to the Baptist Bride just the way we need missionaries to the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

And, for the record, any time you meet a Hyles preacher or his followers, you need to assume they are not born again. They are man worshippers. ]

 

Excerpt from a letter from a reader: One of the things I am appreciating about our pastor is that he is fair, and he is only dogmatic where he must be. Just last night he told me of a man-- a truck driver-- who came to a recent midweek service and went out of his way to make sure it was OK for him to come into the auditorium. The pastor, puzzled at the man's reluctance to walk right in and sit right down, informed him that everyone was welcome. This man, on the road most of his days, visits Baptist churches when he can and where he can. Apparently, he was stopped over in Los Angeles and visited R.L. Hymers' church. Hymer's deacons (read: thugs) wouldn't let him in because he wasn't wearing a tie. (!) When he tried to explain that he had just pulled in on a 12-hour run from New Mexico they were unmoved.

9. HAPPY--
Are YOU happy? Are the saints happy? Is God happy?

Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

1 Kings 10:8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

Would the Queen of Sheba say that about your church family if she dropped in for a visit? Hmmmmmm

Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

John 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

If God, through the Holy Spirit, claims in the Bible that he likes to make us happy, could you humble yourself and spend some time making the saints happy? They might even get the idea that you actually like them. You say you love the saints, the sheep, but you make NO time for them between Sundays-- seldom visit their homes just to be with them-- never stop by a member's business during work hours. Do you have other things more important than the happiness of sheep?

Stop claiming you love the sheep if you will not give your life to them. Jesus spent time with the disciples, much time. He got alone with them over and over. He never sent them home so he could go make a couple of benches or tables. I bet he was a great bench maker. But, once he set his face to offer himself as Messiah, he also picked the right friends, and he spent most of his time with them.

Do you know what makes God happy?

Deuteronomy 30:9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

God is happy when you are living in victory and rejoicing in his Word and ways.

Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Run your bucket down the well of salvation, and see what happens. When that bucket comes up full and running over, pour it all over the saints next Sunday morning. Make someone happy.

 

10. WORSHIP

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

As the saints walk into the church house on Sunday morning, what is on their mind? Have you talked about David walking up to the temple in expectation? Have you told them how the Songs of Degrees were used? Do you even know, or do you care? Here is what one brother experienced recently as he went "to church" Sunday morning:

The church I left last Spring tore it for me when they closed for SUPER BOWL SUNDAY. I just don't want to have anything to do with a church that is so indifferent to the gospel that they would shut down like that. I have plenty of church-planting friends who have preached to their wife and kids some Sundays, and THEY didn't shut down! Well, yesterday as I was on my way to the independent, Fundamental-with-a-capital-"F" Baptist church, I renewed my "vow" that if so much as a mention were made of "What's the score?" or anything like unto it, I was OUTTA there.

I hadn't even gotten in the door when the first guy I ran into-- one of the elders-- asked me if I knew the score. (I did not; I don't have a TV.) I just stopped in my tracks, informed him that I had not the slightest idea (I would have mentioned that I didn't give a tinker's dam but he might have thought I was cussin'!), turned around, got in my car and went home. We are, and have been for some time, to that point when pastors, instead of speaking out against Sunday amusements, are actually promoting them, even if in a backhanded sort of way. Ball games on Sunday are just about the most effective tool the devil uses to keep folks out of church. I'm pretty discouraged right about now...

Here are some considerations regarding worship

1. Why have Fundamentalists lost all concept of biblical worship?

The history of Fundamentalism has two distinct heritages.

A. Fundamentalists who came out of the denominations starting in about 1930 were fighting compromise in doctrinal areas. They met at Niagara in about 1940 and set forth the "Fundamentals" they would not compromise. They were, for many years, a real blessing and a destination for people leaving compromised denominations. The Bible Church Movement came out of this branch of Fundamentalism. Today, most of these fellowships have abandoned the King James Bible, and they are top heavy with hierarchy. The IFCA is a classic case as they have left the narrow way and become cautious and timid about fellowship and doctrinal standards.

B. The Independent Fundamental Church movement was not founded on principles derived from doctrinal issues. The Southern Baptist Convention, in the early days of Fundamental Baptist zeal, was also sound in doctrine, by and large. The problem then was that the SBC was buried in formalism, massive hierarchy, ritual, and dead forms. The Fundamental Baptists were resisting formalism, and so they have always had churches which are prone to be giddy, driven by yelling and hollering, and they are very short on worship. The average Fundamentalist thinks worship is three hymns and an offering. Many Pentecostals and the Church of God think the same thing. This is endemic in Christendom other than the Reformed movement where things to the other way and drag down to sheer boredom.

To the average Fundamentalist preacher, the main event is his sermon, and a long psychological attack on the security of the believer takes place at every service as the preacher tries to talk the believers out of their salvation so they can "get assurance" at the altar. To their credit, the Fundamental Baptists are the most likely people in the USA and the world to retain the King James Bible with zeal. Only a handful of Bible Church Movement churches have stayed with the KJV.

So, the reason you are terrified of worship, preacher, is that your heritage has extracted it from your experience, and out of your church life. What on earth do you think of when you read:

Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

You can always run to the other context here and add the best part:

1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

If there is an offering involved, most Fundamentalists will put up with some effort at worship, right? But, what is the beauty of holiness? Do you know? When is the last time you preached and taught the saints what worship is? Never, right? Let's face it, you have never even tried to worship the Lord, maybe not even in your personal life and in your home. It is formalism to you. It is something only found in the dead Methodist Church or the Southern Baptist Church with some Freemason leading a responsive reading, right.

Well, God commands us to worship him, and you are not doing that. Why should he bless you? Has it ever occurred to you that worship makes for a flock of sheep that are content and secure. Maybe you want them to stay a bit insecure so you can talk them down the aisle and threaten them if they don't meet your expectations from them.

Read the following, and ask yourself how much of this picture of worship is really on your mind on Sunday morning.

Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Luke 24:52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

2 Chronicles 20:18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

Zechariah 8:21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.

Exodus 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

Nehemiah 8:1-8

Psalms 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

Psalms 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

2. How can we go back and teach worship?

DO IT. TEACH IT. LIVE IT. INVITE IT.

Give up your precious claim to the pulpit to the Holy Ghost for a change. Stop thinking about who is in charge, and let the Holy Ghost BE in charge. Know where you are going, but be ready to be sent elsewhere in worship by the Holy Ghost. No, I have not been to a Charismatic meeting lately. Why is it that we are so prone to think that giving the Holy Ghost the power over our gatherings is going to morph us into Benny Hinn groupies? Just because there is a counterfeit of the work of God does not mean we should totally supervise the Holy Ghost so that he will not get out of control.

If you are not born again, preacher, you have real good reason to keep tight control on the meetings and your alleged "worship," for as an unsaved hireling, you do NOT have the Holy Ghost to do it for you.

3. What can we do to increase our zeal to worship God?

Read the Word of God more--
Separate the reading of the Word from the teaching. Jesus stood in the synagogue to read, and he sat down to teach. The people did not marvel at his reading. Any Jewish kid over 12 is asked to read the Word in the synagogue. The thing that they marveled at was his teaching. Long ago, when the Holy Ghost was right at home in the churches, and without asking your opinion, he lead the churches to have a lectern for the reading of the Word, and a separate pulpit for proclamation. This could still be done in principle by having godly men, or young men, read the Word instead of the imperial preacher doing it all.

Read the Psalms. They were used in Israel, and by Christ himself. We are COMMANDED to use the Psalms, and yet you will visit 100 Fundamentalist churches and find maybe one that reads a Psalm every Sunday. It is considered high church, or dead religion. So, what a fool the Holy Ghost was to disagree with you omniscient Fundamentalists thus:

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Read more when you preach. Many men read one verse, claim it is their sermon text, and then they blabber for forty minutes. The alleged sermon is all THEM. This is why some of you boys love Spurgeon so much. He was very short on reading the Word and long on elocution. This is why some of you hate Peter Ruckman. He uses up to 40 texts per sermon, and you are too lazy to find that many, or else you think YOU are more important than the Word of God. You will pass away, and you can be wrong. ( Forgive my, holy father, for even thinking you might be fallible. )

DL Moody, toward the end of his life, was not able to spend all the time he wished in preparing his Sunday evening sermon. He resorted, in desperation, to what he called "Bible readings." He did not think them worthy of being called sermons. He would read the Word of God, and he would intersperse the verses with comments only for the purpose of illumination. What do you know? He reported that these "Bible readings" were better attended than any of his other meetings. Much power came into these meetings. Why? Answer:

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

One way to break up a spirit of impatience with Bible reading would be to call together about four godly men, and maybe a couple of the godly teen boys. Tell them not to speak of what you are doing. Prepare a whole Sunday morning of nothing but Bible reading. Make sure the men helping are good readers. Order the reading to follow a path, but not too strictly. At the end of the morning, ask if anyone would like to hear one of the men read a passage that came to mind while they were listening. If you give altar calls ordinarily, give one. Instead of you jabbering and pleading, as if everything depended on you, have the same men read a couple verses each calling the sinner to Christ, and the saint to repentance and victory.

Scary, is it not? Downright revolutionary! And, there is no way you can be out of order and say something in the flesh. Hmmmmmm
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Prayer--
Most prayer in worship is a minimal formality, a necessary interruption. We do not pray as the men of the Old Testament and as the patriarchs of the Church Age. Where is Adoration? Where is Thanksgiving? Where is Confession of sin?

Also, why not take prayer requests? If you have a 5000 member temple, sorry about that-- you are too big to be biblical anymore. I have asked for prayer requests. I simply suggest they be general if sin or bad living is the issue, and not to use the request time as an excuse to gossip. Really born again people catch on quickly.
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Singing--
Stop singing the same ten hymns every Sunday. Ask for requests. Again, set the pace. Ask for marching hymns. Ask for the old hymns of the faith. We did this in Michigan for twelve years. By about the fourth year, I had ten year olds whose favorite hymn as My Faith Has Found a Resting Place, or Be Thou Exalted.

You have not arrived to even get close to the heavenlies until you see those eight and ten year old boys fairly shouting, "I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me." The memories I have of our singing times makes me homesick, not for Michigan, or Yermo, California.... It makes me homesick for saints-- those saints who lifted me to the Glory on Sunday morning. And, some Sunday mornings I was the one in the most need. Can you get it, preacher? I sure hope so.
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Benedictions--
What ever happened to benedictions? I will tell you. You are so all fired desperate to get the altar filled, assuming the Holy Ghost cannot work in people's hearts anywhere else, that you don't care how you send the saints home.

Benedictions are all through the Bible. I recall as a kid, growing up in an Anabaptist church, that the benediction was my signal, when I was right with the Lord, that I had to go back into the world and live what I had just heard. I have always been blessed in giving and receiving a benediction.

Here are several, which I suppose you think are only prayed in Episcopal churches:

Numbers 6:23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

1 Kings 8:55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.
57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

Luke 24:50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

1 Corinthians 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Romans 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Romans 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Galatians 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Galatians 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians 6:23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Revelation 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Psalms 20:1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

Now, preacher, what is high church about those benedictions? Were Jesus and all the Old Testament saints, AND all the Apostles a bunch of stuffed shirts? Send the saints off next Sunday with a blessing. Not yours, of course, but could you read one of the above to them as a parting message from God to them?
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Altar call--
Biblical and Historic "Altar Call"

On the day of Pentecost Peter preached a strong sermon. He did not invite a response. The response came from the listeners. If you and I could preach under such Holy Ghost power that people called out asking for instructions to repent, or to be born again, we would know we had been under the Lord's authority.

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This is not the absolute pattern for a response. Paul preached in Acts 20, just before he left Ephesus, to the saints. He preached a long time, but no "altar call" was given. Also, I note that not once, from Matthew to The Revelation, did anyone say, "Every head bowed and every eye closed." Why do we do this. Anyone who is serious about getting saved, or repenting, will do so before men without shame. Why the secret hand raising? The "altar call" has its roots in the Roman Catholic Mass. The Catholic follower goes to the altar to eat Jesus and sustain their salvation. The Fundamental and Pentecostal saint goes to the "altar" to get saved and keep getting right.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Here is the trick many preachers use:

1. Stand, and every head bowed and every eye closed.
2. Raise your hand if you know you are saved (watch for hands not raised)
3. Raise your hand if you are a Christian and you feel you need to do this or that in response to the message (watch for raised hands)
4. "No one looking around now...."
5. If you feel you need to be born again, raise you hand (watch for hands)
6. Sing an invitation hymn.
7. Plead with those who raised their hands to come forward. The alleged anonymous hand raising is now made to appear to be incomplete zeal. The walk to the front is required. The listener thought they would be left alone after raising the hand. Now, they are on the spot. They will either walk, or they will hate the preacher for manipulating them and making a fool of them.
8. Last step: Carve a notch on your gun (resumé) for every one that came forward. To hell with the ones who don't like the method.

What is wrong with this?

1. It is not the method of Jesus Christ or the Apostles.
2. It is tricky. Tricks cause people to later figure out the trick, and they HATE the saints and even Christ.

The biblical method is, "Come, follow me." No tricks, no long wait, no pleading. Say, "Come, follow Jesus," and end the event. If the Holy Ghost is in it, the ones he has reached during the message will come. I also have invited the godly men to pray as the Lord would lead. Two or three would pray for zeal to take action on the message. I have asked if there is a question. Sometimes, someone will ask a question about how to apply the message, and I let a godly man answer if one is willing. I ask for a declaration to act which is done straight up, out loud.

In the High Dessert during the 1970s, I preached on worry and fretting from Psalm 37. I asked everyone to write their fretting problem on paper, then I had a pan up front, and I offered to burn the paper pieces. The sweet lady in our church who was very plagued by fretting brought her paper up weeping. I lit it and burned it, and we talked about how Jesus died so that we could cast all our care upon him. The service ended very quietly, no invitation hymn, everyone very moved, and they talked about the Word all the way to their cars. What else is there in preaching, huh? I don't think I would ever do that thing again, I don't know. It was the right thing one time. Preacher, get your knees on the carpet, and ask the Lord Jesus what HE would do at the end of this coming Sunday's sermon. Stop being a traditional hide bound Fundamental slave of ritual.

I have tried to end the service in prayer and been interrupted by a godly man. "Pastor, may I say something?" Go ahead brother. What followed, on several occasions, was deep compassion with blunt exhortation to shape up and apply the sermon. One man warned himself and the assembly not to ignore the sermon lest God chasten us all. Powerful stuff, my friend. I needed it as much as anyone else, and God knew that. I was not in a position to give the invitation. Preacher, when you need the sermon most, who gives the invitation? When do YOU "walk the aisle?" When are you humbly weeping at the "weeping rail?"

I have seen, and I have used, the biblical method of invitation, and it results in changed lives. It also results in the decision sticking and being real. Les DeGroot preached on husbands loving and being faithful to their wives one Sunday in Nashville, Michigan. He gave an "altar call" for men to come to the front and pledge to be a biblical husband to their wives. No secret about it. No "every head bowed and every eye closed." Men went forward, heads up, straight down the aisle, and everyone was wide awake and taking mental notes. What a commitment those men made! And, their wives and kids knew Daddy was doing something very zealous and important. Pastor DeGroot admonished them briefly and then prayed for them.

Pastor Mueller was the pastor of a Missouri Synod church on Rosecrans Blvd in Norwalk, California in the 1960s. My uncle and aunt told me they really liked him, and they persuaded me to attend church with them one Sunday there. I was skeptical because the Lutheran Church was Reformed, and it had lost almost all of its original zeal by 1960. Well, what a surprise. I learned that the church, under Pastor Mueller's tenure, had grown from 75 to 350 in six months and had gone to two services. Lutheran churches don't grow that fast. I was intrigued. Pastor Mueller preached on Philippians 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

Pastor Mueller used the preaching method of Luther, which was the method of Jesus. I asked him at the close of the service how the church had grown so much. He said it was by Lutherans getting saved for the first time. Almost all of them came Monday morning to his office in response to his invitation at the end of his messages.

READ THE ORIGIN OF REVIVAL MINISTRIES AND ALTAR CALL
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Spontaneity--
Testimonies should be more than forty people saying, "I's saved." So what? It is about time to move on from that.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.

You have not heard a real testimony meeting until one of the eighth graders tells how he gave a tract to his teacher and she cussed him out good. Another saint says they were amazed that what you said last Sunday about the Mormons was just what she needed in the check out line at the grocery store. And, some old saint, hurting as she stands to speak, says she is being SO blessed by her reading of Daniel and Revelation. She may end by speaking of her hope to soon be with Jesus. Preacher, that is a "testimony meeting."

Ask your godly men if one of them has a "word of exhortation." We did this in Michigan, and some Sundays, the brief exhortation was deeply convicting and wise. Sometimes silence prevailed for a while, and some other godly saint would add a Bible verse for authority. Did you know (sit down preacher, this is shocking stuff) that the Holy Ghost can put together in five minutes what it took you forty hours to study, and he can do it by using that old fellow from the woods who just loves Jesus and the King James Bible?

Now, you will tell me I am a blasphemer I think. But, I will risk this. I believe there were three Sundays in Michigan when I was certainly ready to preach. I knew the message I had was from the Holy Ghost, and I was eager to go. But, something weird happened. The singing was out of this world, and I say that advisedly. Children were sitting on the edge of their seats, and most of them were pleading with their eyes for one more hymn, maybe For All the Saints, by William How. Scary stuff here. The war stories seemed to be endless. Tracts given out, evil confronted in a factory, prayer for a sinner in the market place while everyone watched in awe, and so forth. Older men were speaking a word from their daily Bible reading.

At some point, I began to hear the Holy Ghost speaking to me. You know what I mean, not audibly, but as clear as a bell-- "You have a great sermon, Steve, but I have other plans this morning-- cancel the sermon, and let me have the people to myself." What followed is not possible to describe. It was nothing like some Charismatic circus. It was just a steady building higher and higher into the heavenlies. People were quietly laughing. The silent types were smiling. The kids were 100% with it. Visitors had their mouths hanging open in amazement. A couple times, a visitor stood near the end of the morning and told us, tears streaming down their face, that they had never been in such a service in their whole life. When the service was over, people would not leave. They stood around and chattered for ages.

Now, do you want the Holy Ghost to do all he would like to do in your worship, preacher? If so, you will have to stop worrying about what other preachers will think and say, and you will have to start DOING those things that become worship. You will have to let go. If you have taught the saints about order and about true worship, the day will come when you can stand back, like Nehemiah, and almost become a spectator. That is the day you have learned how to worship the Lord as a church.
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Offerings and Collections--
HERE IS OUR ARTICLE ON THE MYTH OF TITHING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

 

CONCLUSION:

Do you have sheep you need to confess sin to? Have you been preaching old sermons, worse, someone else's sermons-- sermons you heard at the last preacher's camp meeting? Have you been making YOU the center of all church life? Has the worship become nothing but three hymns and the offering? Have you been ignoring your wife and kids? Are you mean as second skimmings to the people you claim to love? What is it?

DOWN ON YOUR KNEES. Get over to the church house, and hit the altar. Whatever it takes.

One preacher read the Jack Boot section some time back when I put it up. He wrote and told me the pages described him precisely, and he was broken hearted. He asked me if I thought he should resign and leave the pastoring of churches since he had been such a brutal pastor. I asked him to repent before the saints, and go on and serve the Lord. His repentance was more precious to God than the day he was born again, for it came from experience and real understanding. He did repent, and the sheep loved him, and he went on to serve with zeal and much fruit. God is FOR you. He just wants you to be like Jesus-- to let go of you self-will and your security blanket of pastoral authority:

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Here is the blunt way to end these thoughts:

Do your men relate to you like a cur dog that rolls over and pees on itself? Or, can you walk into the room, sit down, say nothing, and the men, after a manly greeting to you, keep up their conversation that was ongoing? Jack Hyles entered the foyer of the preacher's meeting I attended, and all the other preachers sent silent and postured in submission to Pope Hyles. Only a devil would thrive on that scene, and Hyles was a devil. Are you?

Preacher Rough
Preacher Tough
Preacher Tender

How's your "tender," mister?
Oh, I bet you think tenderness is wimpy, right?

Psalms 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

2 Chronicles 34:20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, 21 Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

2 Chronicles 34:26 And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;
27 Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

Can a man weep with you, and leave feeling like a man, and like Jesus was close because you wept with him? Do the Good Shepherd's sheep find themselves led into green pastures by you? Are the waters ever still when you are done with your sermon, or are the sheep's ears ringing with your rage and torment about their sins and lousy dedication?

I will blast away 90% of you preachers reading here now-- Can a weak saved man with a tobacco habit, just laid off his job at the factory, and excommunicated by the preacher up the street, feel like you are his best friend? Does he know you are praying for him? Has he ever been picked up and taken for coffee at the local cafe? Does his ten year boy run up to you and show you his new pocket knife?

Preacher, if you enforce "pastoral rule" (not taught in the New Testament) and bash sheep, you will soon be in bed with a whore in your church or laying in Intensive Care wondering why God slammed you down. God will soon turn to a lying spirit up yonder, as he did with Ahab and King Saul, and send you a devil to make a damned fool of you. There is nothing more damned to hell than a bastard preacher who will not repent of an arrogant hard spirit toward the saints.

Let us name one such jackboot-- Truman Dollar-- Drove his car up behind the mortuary, and blew his brains out with a shot gun. He was a preacher boy of GB Vic, who was a preacher boy of J. Frank Norris. Dollar had a long term lusting phone friendship with a lady other than his wife. He only admitted it because he was caught.

Popes die hard.

Now, go be a servant, like your Master was in Galilee.

 

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Much Assurance for Pastors?

You may ask what all of the above has to do with assurance for pastors. I will tell you. If you are NOT following your Master's example, and if you are blundering along doing what your preacher buddies do, you HAVE to be uncertain and unsure of yourself. Follow the Word of God instead of church tradition. Follow Jesus. Feed sheep. Be the man in your home. Serve. And, you will find assurance from the Lord who will bless your work for him with fruit that remains.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

What did the Holy Ghost not promise to do for you?

In what way did God arrange for you to live a life of mediocrity?

Back to work, back to serve, in him you cannot fail. Stop thrashing the sheep. They are Christ's sheep, so whatever happens will be good in the end if you just SERVE.

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IF YOU CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS MESSAGE....

I want you to visit these web sites. You will find some very unsettling articles which show that this issue is far bigger than you imagine. If you rebel, you are part of a massive wave of damnable blasphemous rebellion against the Word of God and the Holy Ghost.

You will burn in hell for bashing up God's sheep. It is impossible that a man should be a jack boot sheep basher and be born again. Can you imagine God allowing you to be in the same heaven with the sheep you tortured and maimed? Impossible!

http://www.sheepcomics.com/

http://www.batteredsheep.com/

 

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