I must be an idiot. I should have known something was up when a mega-church minister from India came to me and bragged about how he never attended Seminary or Bible school. He said he didn’t need to because he had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to guide him. I don’t judge ministers by their resumes. I’ve met some who had impressive resumes and could care less about the people around them. And, I’ve met ministers without formal training who loved people and did amazing things in Jesus’ name. So I wasn’t bothered with the no formal background comment. For some strange reason my new friend saw his lack of education as a plus. I should have seen his boasting as a red flag.
The other red flag? Along with the boasting came a big vision with a little bribe attached to it. My overseas Pastor friend had big dreams. He wants to build an empire, 200 churches throughout the world all connected to him. My little church would get in on the ground floor. We would grow and prosper by latching onto his coattails. Everybody wins. But wait, there’s more. He needed an employee in the USA to help him make his dream come true. And that employee would be well compensated.
Just like that, all of my dreams seemed to come true. My little church, struggling for people and money, would be restored to its former glory. My own pocketbook, too often empty, would suddenly bulge with well-endowed paychecks. And I would be a part of a grand world-wide vision that could become like; dare I say… The Billy Graham Crusade!!!
All right, calm down Bill. Take long, deep breaths.
Every crazy dream flashed before my eyes. That’s how you get caught. All you see is the grand vision stretched out before your eyes. You reach out for it, and the fisherman starts to set the hook… But thank God, I wiggled off the line before I could be reeled in.
A friend told me to look closer at the visiting Pastor’s website. I started to click on every link I could find, and there it was. Good old fashioned Christian heresy.
“Adam voluntarily handed over his crown and throne to satan when he chose to obey satan and disobey God. From then satan became the god of this world. The present situation is such that God cannot interfere directly in the affairs of this world. He needs a legal and logical basis to do so. That is the reason God wants us to pray for everything. If God interferes in the affairs of this world, satan can and will question God "why are you encroaching into my territory?"
Huh? God the creator can’t act in our world? Without getting permission from satan? Huh?
Or should I say; D’oh!
No need to quote anymore. This guy is a whack job.
Well, after I read lots of stuff like the above on his website, I told my Indian mega-church friend; thanks but no thanks. Time for you to head back to India. And time for me to get back to reality.
Too many times, we allow our emotions to cloud our judgments. Because our day dreaming feels good, and our hopes for the future can give us a temporary high, we can get caught in the snares of the enemy. It has happened twice in my ministry. The first time, false dreams almost destroyed me. This time it has come and gone very quickly with little damage done. For some, temptation arrives with false promises of material gain and emotional fulfillment. For me, temptation comes out of my desire to be a successful minister. A worthy goal, turned into the tempters snare.
Oh well, my big dreams will have to wait for another day. Right now, I have the people in my small church to take care of. This is the dream that is very real.
A tax collector, an apostle, a witness. A believers beloved friend, Matthew.
God is greater, regardless of who attempts to fight it, God is the Teacher.
John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance , whatsoever I have said unto you."
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
Satisfaction is a gift from God alone.
Satisfaction is void of the wicked. The wicked, always coveting more and more.
Satisfaction with God leads to truth in ones life. The truth that God is perfect.
He obviously loves you very much friend, you have a body of believers, hungry for His word. This should make you smile. Gods will be done. Gods love guiding, the wicked cannot touch. May God bless friend.
Satan tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of the world.
Jesus is the only leader (Matthew 23:10).
How would you define what a "successful minister" is?
__________________ "God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. We speak on behalf of Christ when we plead, 'Come to God!'" (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
I heard my old Baptist preacher say that seminary was the easiest place to backslide...
"In Bible college, I sometimes heard professors and chapel speakers say that a Christian college was the easiest place to backslide. What they said about Bible college applies as well to the ministry. The emphasis is simply that serving Christ cannot be a substitute for fellowship with Christ. Working for Him must never take the place of walking with Him."
__________________ I am... Fundamentalist, Wesleyan, Pre-Millennial, Dispensationalist, Charismatic, Pentecostal... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. My! There are a lot of labels these days! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Men may call me a knave, a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content..." - John Wesley To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
It is my perspective that the seven churches came down as a timeline.
1. Ephesus - Apostolic
2. Smyrna - Martyr - ten days = ten persecutions
3. Pergamos - Orthodox - Pergos is a fortified structure
4. Thyatira - Catholic - The Spirit of Jezebel is to control and to dominate
5. Sardis - Protestant - The reformed church can be just as dead as the church above.
6. Philadelphia - Methodism - To be sanctified was to have brotherly love.
7. Laodicea - Materialism - Most successful churches are independent.
I went to one of those new 'worship' services to find 90% of it praise and worship. Instead of opening the bible the 'elder' showed a few slide shows from a recent missionary trip. There are no pastors at the church. When they served communion they just had juice and bread in a separate room.
So it looks like the church is becoming un-doctrinalized ever since the Thyatirean age. I personally feel the need of both good worship and a time in the word, as the scripture says...
Make thee twotrumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. - Numbers 10:2
I believe that there is a metaphor in the above scripture giving the two most important aspects of a worship service...
1. First Trumpet - Worship... Led by a worship leader astute in the arts of music.
2. Second Trumpet - The Word... Usually led by a senior pastor astute in the word.
And so we have...
John and Charles Wesley
DL Moody and Ira Sankey
Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver
Billy Graham and GB Shea
Jimmy Swaggert is gifted in both trumpets... Too bad he fell from grace...
Jonathan Falwell and Charles Billingsley
It is a neat thing to attend a Christian worship service where both the time of worship and the time in the word are outstanding!
__________________ I am... Fundamentalist, Wesleyan, Pre-Millennial, Dispensationalist, Charismatic, Pentecostal... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. My! There are a lot of labels these days! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Men may call me a knave, a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content..." - John Wesley To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I believe that there is a metaphor in the above scripture giving the two most important aspects of a worship service...
1. First Trumpet - Worship... Led by a worship leader astute in the arts of music.
2. Second Trumpet - The Word... Usually led by a senior pastor astute in the word.
There is no such thing as a "worship service" in the New Testament nor is there such thing as a "senior pastor" or a "worship leader." Pure tradition!
The professionals perform for a passive crowd instead of "When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation..." (1 Corinthians 14:26).
"Each one" is miles different than "those two on the stage." People's eyes are put on Jesus and one another rather than being an audience for the "special few."
__________________ "God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. We speak on behalf of Christ when we plead, 'Come to God!'" (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
Satan is called the prince of the air and has his time, yes God is soveregn but satan has been given his time on earth and he did usurp mans position when Adam fell. This does not mean that God does not turn evil for good or that satan is more powerful, it just means that God has alloted a time for him and till the end of tribulation man will have to accept the fact that satan is here. Through Christ we are given power and authority over him but it is up to us to use that power. God isnt going to do it for us when He has given us all we need. I just couldnt let that slide as what was on the website might not have been wrong, it is all in how he was viewing it.
__________________ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
The word “pastor” comes from a Latin word which means shepherd.
The primary terms that describe the role of the pastor are “elder,” “bishop,” and “teacher” (1 Timothy 3:1-13). “Elder,” or episkopos (from which we get our word episcopal) refers to the oversight of the believers, and it involves teaching, preaching, caring, and exercising authority where needed. The elder also serves in the church as leader and teacher. In Titus 1:5-9, Paul urges Titus to "appoint elders in every city." They will teach and lead the congregation in their spiritual development.
Yes, there are false teachers holding the office of Pastor; but most Pastors I know have hearts after God's righteousness and acknowledge the seriousness of the positions they hold. They are held to a higher standard than most and will answer to God for how they handled themselves as leaders, teachers, and authority figures in the church.
I disagree with you based on my own experience. The office of Pastor is still modeled after the principles laid out in the NT.
__________________ SingPeace
Malachi 3:10 - . . . Test Me, and see if I won't return to you a blessing too vast for you to receive. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
The word “pastor” comes from a Latin word which means shepherd.
The primary terms that describe the role of the pastor are “elder,” “bishop,” and “teacher” (1 Timothy 3:1-13). “Elder,” or episkopos (from which we get our word episcopal) refers to the oversight of the believers, and it involves teaching, preaching, caring, and exercising authority where needed. The elder also serves in the church as leader and teacher. In Titus 1:5-9, Paul urges Titus to "appoint elders in every city." They will teach and lead the congregation in their spiritual development.
Yes, there are false teachers holding the office of Pastor; but most Pastors I know have hearts after God's righteousness and acknowledge the seriousness of the positions they hold. They are held to a higher standard than most and will answer to God for how they handled themselves as leaders, teachers, and authority figures in the church.
I disagree with you based on my own experience. The office of Pastor is still modeled after the principles laid out in the NT.
You are interpreting scripture based on the assumption that offices & hierarchical authority is supposed to exist
Your copy & paste job from GotAnswers proves you are just accepting whatever is fed to you on the matter. I provided two links above giving you info
The greatest enemy of truth is the assumption that you already have it. If you are more comfortable with tradition than you are with truth then I don't expect you to read any of it.
If you are actually interested in following Christ as He intended & wise not to be deceived into falsehood, however popular it may be, you can also read this short book which looks at the New Testament Chronologically concerning elders. http://frankviola.org/straight.pdf
__________________ "God the Father was in Christ on the cross making relationship with Himself available to the world by no longer counting people's sins against them. God has given us this message of relationship to tell others. We speak on behalf of Christ when we plead, 'Come to God!'" (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
Linear Mode
