Deb’s
The “saddest” part of this dominee’s “witness” is that he is claiming (and proclaiming) that God is now teaching him to live in faith ! From the way he does this this it also appears that he is “humbly” experiencing this as an elevated “status” in God’s kingdom and using it to make him look better and more spiritual!

That is another trait of a false shepherd/pastor/teacher/prophet. They will always get the “spotlight” to “accidentally” fall on them . . . And the people of the church are all now “looking” at him with awe . . .

Smuggler

>> I personally know a pastor(Dominee) who is currently waiting for a Church (gemeente) to send him out. He has “apparently” got a calling from God to go and work as a missionary in another country BUT if a church does not send him, he will loose his pension.
Currently he is asking around for a congregation to send him.
Now, Is this a “shepherd/missionary” in God’s service or is he a “hireling” (John 10) in service of a “system” ?

Unbelievable.

I do this blog for free, pay for it’s upkeep, hosting, etc and will not ask a cent – I will never sell 1 letter of the Word of God. My husband and I rely upon our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for our incomes to keep us going through the month.

Deb’s

Deborah (Discerning the World) wrote:

>> Hmmmm. I wonder what God thinks of Pastors who make money off selling the gospel of Jesus Christ – I don’t want to be in their shoes.

Mic 3:11 “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. Mic 3:12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps,…”

I believe the Church “system” as we have it today is Babylonian. It is money based and provide it’s followers with an “earthly” security. This “system” promises you a “safe” place to have your “guilt feelings” soothed making you feel better about yourself and in return you must pay then for providing you with this “service”. The “priesthood” of this system is usually provided with housing, a salary, medical and a pension.
They never have to trust God for an income.
I personally know a pastor(Dominee) who is currently waiting for a Church (gemeente) to send him out. He has “apparently” got a calling from God to go and work as a missionary in another country BUT if a church does not send him, he will loose his pension.
Currently he is asking around for a congregation to send him.
Now, Is this a “shepherd/missionary” in God’s service or is he a “hireling” (John 10) in service of a “system” ?

Hester

>> Now if, instead of, having these fancy buildings, the preachers, move and preach the gospel (the Good News, as they ought to) to different groups of people then certainly more people will be exposed to the True Gospel.

That is how it was done in the bible, the disciples never had buildings, they went from place to place preaching the gospel. I do not believe for one second that the way ‘church’ is today (buildings and all) is biblical. For the simple reason that the truth is hated and 9 out of 10 people will choose to follow the wide path. These large churches are a farce, the gospel they preach is a farce and so are the pastors. But see if you can find a pastor today who has a day job (like the Apostle Paul did) who would then go out and preach here and there for FREE. Do you get such a thing today? Or do all pastors make money off of selling the gospel? Hmmmm. I wonder what God thinks of Pastors who make money off selling the gospel of Jesus Christ – I don’t want to be in their shoes.

I just read through this for the first time and this is truly an excellent article. I am just wondering, is this not exactly what is wrong with having ‘church’ the way we do in our society? We have these buildings, which cost a fortune to maintain and the same people, sitting in the same pews, Sunday after Sunday, and the same minister listening to the same problems of the same people. Now if, instead of, having these fancy buildings, the preachers, move and preach the gospel (the Good News, as they ought to) to different groups of people then certainly more people will be exposed to the True Gospel. I can almost guarantee you that if a pastor/minister/whatever they want to be called, should preach the way he ought to, after the 4th Sunday, the “Christians” would leave the church building saying, he has said this last week and the week before, we will go where our ears can be tickled and we can hear what WE want to hear (motivational speeches). Makes me wonder how many of these “Called preachers” would have an audience left and how many would want to be ‘called’ still. How many would want to be “called” with no income??

DEL STRASHEIM

I am sure you can email this off or print it, just make sure you keep all the copyright stuff in place.

Near the top right hand side of the page (in the grey column) you will see a colourful little button that says + ADD THIS. If you mouse over it you can select an option to email.

A LISTEN’S GUIDE TO THE PULPIT – A GREAT ARTICLE AND WELL THOUGHT OUT ARTICLE. I DO NOT SEE THAT THIS CAN BE E-MAILED. THEREFORE I AM REQUESTING PERMISSION TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE AND SEND IT ON TO MY SIBLINGS.

RESPECTFULLY YOUR,
DEL R. STRASHEIM, EMERITUS ARCHITECT