To “Preachers” and “Pastors” and “Authors” and “Music-Makers”
For all of those in ivory towers, never spilling blood for a Down’s syndrome child, never wrestling for hours to help a relationship in turmoil (other than by some ridiculous “appointment” or “session”), never losing sleep for twenty consecutive nights praying, or seldom helping in setting captives free in others’ personal lives, other than sterile attempts by a clinical speech, and borrowed words….
For those who speculate, pontificate, and hibernate when the war rages for the lives of young ones and teens, and they’re no where to be found in the daily trenches….
For those who have the nerve to SELL to God’s People, for $14.95 or $9.95 what they claim is from God, and therefore should be a gift to His Lambs….
For those who dispense wise words as talking heads, from pulpits (or couches) at some pre-arranged holy hour, but are nowhere to be found in openness and vulnerability, and risk for others in the days and evenings… the predictable cowardly, selfish, lazy (and often pseudo-spiritual) retreat to their “personal lives” rather than to where Life really is, on our knees and in the trenches daily for others….
For all of these and more:
“How vain it is to sit down to write, when you have not stood up to live.”
-Henry David Thoreau
“The Kingdom of God consists not of mere words, but of POWER” (1Cor.4:20).
For the sake of the truly saved believers in every denomination in the four corners of the world, as well as unsaved people who are honestly searching for the real Jesus, we need to reconsider carefully and Biblically what so much of the religious world has come to accept as normative.
Let’s all “grow up into the Head” and leave childish ways behind! Let’s not be duped by counterfeits of talk or emotion or group dynamics that have no lasting value. Let Jesus Reign, and the Body of Christ—the Kingdom of Priests, RISE UP and fulfill her Calling and Destiny! It’s time now! To “take up our cross daily” to come after Him is to “die daily” for others, just as was His Cross for OTHERS. Not ideas, or concepts, or emotion manipulating, or form, or gimmick, or program, or hierarchy, or word-crafting and then a disappearing act.
“God’s Intent is NOW, through the LIFE of Christ in His Daily Body, to make known His manifold Wisdom, even to the Principalities and Powers!” (Eph.3:10).
5/3/2002
4 replies on “To “Preachers” and “Pastors” and “Authors” and “Music-Makers””
The words of this post are not mine, but are written by a brother and friend whose words of truth are always welcome.
The Holy Spirit, given His way, will never allow us to be stagnant, but will continually raise the bar of service. I have not arrived yet, but I am moving. Hard words are words that demand faith and perseverance. We cannot be satisfied with with the status quo. God forbid that in this critical hour that we should be found standing still and not investing our lives in lost and wandering sheep. God forbid that we should desire the things the world desires; that we compliment preachers for great services and Sunday morning entertainment, God forbid! May I never be able to write another word if I am not moved to grief with the witness of such man made, choreographed, patented acts of worship, that produce no fruit for our God. God forbid that that grief does not demand an investment on my part, and that I am found to be only a man with a keyboard, a monitor, and a chair.
(Psalm 137:1-6)
Steve Blackwell
BOF,
Exactly right! I have often considered the same thing and thankfully there are people I fellowship with who are willing to do just that. I have seen our church elders put people up for months who were homeless and jobless because of mental problems. I have a spare room in my house and the minute God shows me a person who needs it, I pray I will give it up at no charge to help some soul(s) get their life together. My wife is very reserved and timid, so I would need God’s help to convince her this is what we should do, but she does have a lot of love for people. I have been working on her, and God, too, to open our house to people we know at church who need to experience hospitality from others.
In any case, what you’ve said is true and I commend you for voicing it. We ARE to be God’s hands and feet, not just when we’re sitting down. And I appreciate Thoreau’s comment also. I am sure Paul would say “It is a true and worthy saying!”.
Baptism of Fire,
Yes those are hard words, but true, and truth is welcome here always, even if it hurts.
Steve B.
Thank you so much for this article. It is bold and has caught my attention and gripped my Spirit. This deep groaning within me, is it His Spirit? Is it my Father’s pain?
Yes. it is my Father’s pain. My Father is in pain. My Father is in pain. How many of us want to enter into the agonies of His heart? We could not bare it. No, not even for a moment!! The very fire of it would burn us to ashes.
Steve, you could be damned for heresy and apostacy by quoting Henry Thoreau. But I certainly won’t do that.
Social reformation was the most likely outcome, the true fruit, following the “Preaching and the living of the Gospel/Cross” by John Wesley and William Booth, men who knew,
“No greater love has a man than he lay down his life for a friend”.
Woe unto you Christians who say ‘bless you brother” and do not lift a finger to help their brother in need.
There came down a priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And a Levite, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave it to the host, and said, Take care of him; and if you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.
Or is this just for the “ministry of helps?”
No more of your ‘homeless shelters”, your “soup kitchens”, and your “good works” that are on constant display before men, that degrade a man, a woman, a child and rob them of their dignity.
How ineffective these “good works” are in the furtherance of the gospel. How counter productive in assisting these people back to that place of self respect and dignity that Jesus so desires for them. Our Father is in pain over this you know.
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.
Do you have a spare bed in your house? You will have the visitation from God you so desperately need if you become a “living epistle” and open the door of your home and wallet to these people. If each middle class Christian brought one homeless person to Christ and stayed with that person until complete healing and restoration, you would then have your revival. That would be revival!!! But no, you self seeking Christians and pretenders of the gospel, have left it up to your Government agencies and they don’t have the Truth. But you do, don’t you? Shame on you who have the gospel. REPENT!!! Perhaps the Lord will have mercy on you or perhaps He will not. Have you no fear of God? You sit and debate over “doctrines of men” and “heresy” and “eschatology” while millions of unevangelized homeless are already living in hell (figuratively).
It’s not a popular message is it? And most comfortable Christians don’t want to hear it. It’s too pure, too simple, too holy. Too unworldly, too other wordly. You would rather have your “soup kitchens” and “shelters for the homeless” and then go back to the warmth and security of your homes. Where is the cross in this?
You complain about rising food prices & petrol costs and interest rates. How about complaining about living with rats. Try this one if you’re a young girl living on the streets. “Will I get raped tonight? Will I get beaten tonight?” If you’re a mother on the streets. It’s not, “am I giving my children the best education?” It’s , “can I keep my children alive tonight? Can I keep them dry and warm? Can they eat today? Can I protect my children from the predators that roam the streets? How can I stay awake all night so I can watch them and protect them?”
Will I understand if you don’t post this? No, I will not. It’s a hard word isn’t it? And many turned away. Like they are now…passing them by, turning away. Do you not know that when you do this to the least of my brethren you do it unto me.
Are you willing to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings? Are you willing for the joy set before you?