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"TO THE ELDERS
AMONG YOU..."
- Dr.Blesson C.S. |
Dr.Blesson C.S |
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Shepherding is one of the five ministries
which were instituted by early apostles with the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. The pastoral ministry
involves studying, assimilating and preparing the Word
for the hungry people. |
He is called to give fresh food everyday
just like the Israelites received fresh manna from
heaven. His mandate is to take care of the sheep and
protect them from prowling lions and hunting wolves. His
ministry involves visiting the sick, giving wise
counselling to the members of the church and to
encourage and lead everyone towards God.
Although most of the pastors are well organized,
dedicated, confidential, sensitive and Christ centred,
there is a small section of them unknowingly or
deliberately indulge in various activities that does not
glorify God or justify their calling into the ministry.
Most often it is because of these A few, many believers
and pastors suffer, and ultimately the Kingdom of God
suffers. This brings a very bad name to the congregation
and gives an opportunity to anyone to sneak in and say
anything about our churches. Some of the pastors have a
tendency to think that everything written in the
Scriptures is for others and not for them and tend to
think that they are somehow far above all that is
written.
Preaching News: Some pastors have somehow
forgotten that their calling is to preach the Word and
not to be a news anchor. I was in one such 'inspiring
news cast sermon'! I knew where the message was going
right away. He started '…these are the last days, and
the days are evil' and then he just became a news anchor
right there on the pulpit. I knew, he had read the
Hindu, Indian ExpAress and some stories from magazines
like 'The week', 'India Today' and a news analysis from
'Frontline.' He even illustrated his point by wrongly
saying a story from that month's Reader's Digest. After
around one hour of news analysis he summarized saying
'…days are evil…' Wow! Church pulpit or news desk…I am
confused. Do people come to church to listen to God's
Word or a news wrap up?
Preaching Nonsense: Some pastors preach utter
nonsense from the pulpit. I sometimes wonder how such
ridiculous nonsense can come out of their mouths. One
pastor was preaching, '… Holy Spirit revealed to me that
Jesus did not shed His blood just on the cross…He shed
His blood for you and me when He was circumcised!' Oh
come on… what doctrine was that? I knew for sure many
members of the congregation never even noticed it but
were busy shouting Hallelujah and Amen! This time I was
in another place, this pastor was more educated so he
decided to become scientific. He said science proves
heaven and hell exists and added 'NASA scientists have
discovered where hell is and they have taken many
photographs and recorded sounds of weeping and gnashing
of teeth by the inhabitants. They have published in many
leading journals!' I was sitting and laughing, thinking
which comic book he read before entering on to the
pulpit! Imagine an educated person from a coming to the
church for the first time sitting and listening to this
'scientific sermon'. Will they ever think of entering
into churches again?
Marketing the Son of God: A few years back, I was
talking to a young pastor who was keen in initiating a
new church. We were discussing several aspects and then,
all of a sudden he said 'My calling is to Market the
Good News'. I froze for second, and was searching for
words to ask him what he meant, but he continued. He
said, 'this is the era of globalization and marketing,
we have to use all these tools to sell our ideas!' I
tell you, he firmly believed in what he said and gave
several 'rational' reasons to me. I was wondering how
God became such a small 'item' that we are talking about
'marketing' Him! Imagine how it will be to 'market' God
in Mass media to 'sell' Him? There appears to be many
self appointed media and marketing managers to market
'God'. Does His sovereignty depend upon our marketing
skills?
Feeding Bottles or Blazing Swords: After a
particularly flowery sermon, I came back
enthusiastically and tried to remember so that I may
make a gist of it. I tried recollecting for several
hours, nothing came to my mind, I struggled and
struggled to get some points out of it and then all of a
sudden I realized…actually it had no points! The sermon
was like an icing on nothing! It went on and on using
fantastic language but had no substance. It was a
circular ride repeating 'God loves you no matter what
you do and who you are' repeated again and again in all
possible grammatical usages of the language. Later, I
found out that there are many who use these kinds of
'feeding bottles' to feed the same baby food again and
again and make everyone happy all the time. On the other
hand, I was in another place where, the pastor's words
were like a sword and 'chopping' off one by one! 'Don't
do this…if you do this, your will...God will take away
your life…' I could clearly see the horror in the faces
of those kids seated on the front rows. What will be the
image of God they would have in their mind at a tender
age? Some might end up thinking that God is some kind of
'Monster' waiting to prey on us. Imagine a newly
born-again believer listening to this… Where is the
balance in teaching?
Chaos and Calling it His Leading: While
discussing with two pastors, one of them told that he
spends hours and hours praying and planning about every
Sunday's service and take care to select the songs,
Psalms, and inform all the responsible people for that
day and so on. The other looked and said… “You use your
brain and plan??? I just let God 'lead' all by Himself”!
If we don't have to plan for anything and if God were to
lead us as this pastor told, then why God should give us
a thinking mind? I have noticed that many pastors, does
not want to plan and in the end things become
chaotic…they will happily say “It was God's will”! I
have noticed this on several occasions including Sunday
worship, wedding ceremonies, etc. I was in one such
fantastically chaotic service. It began by a screech of
the PA system, the chairs were awkwardly arranged and
the people could not move about smoothly, and the space
was not sufficient. The pastor started to sing on wrong
scale, and songs had to be stopped several times and had
to be restarted. As people filled the place, they could
not get access to vacant chairs, and in the middle of
the service more chairs had to be brought in and the
whole hall had to be rearranged. There were not
sufficient people to collect the offering, and it went
on and on after the song was over. And two preachers
turned up for giving message because of
miscommunication. The pastor then introduced the speaker
confidently with a wrong name! As the message started,
the pastor's mobile rang, and then as scheduled, the
power went off and there was no fuel to start the
generator…. How dare you think that this is God's will
and leading? Why should we blame God for our
foolishness?
Confidentiality Betrayed: A friend of mine was
telling me how their pastor had a loose mouth. He was
telling me that no one can share anything with him good
or bad. Either he will 'preach' that the following
Sunday as an illustration or he will somehow find a way
to 'fire' it from the pulpit. I also have noticed that
many of the pastors cannot keep things confidential.
Mostly, the confidential and personal matters shared
with pastors do rounds among all the believers in the
name of prayer points. Worse still is that every time it
move on from one person to another, the story gets built
up and up and in the end, a simple prayer point or a
personal request stands up like a giant monster! People
tend to tell it to others 'This is confidential stuff,
please keep it in your prayer and is about such and such
person'. This keeps on moving and in the end; everyone
in the congregation knows a distorted version of truth
and become a 'secret known by every one!' Will anyone
trust such people anymore?
Terrorizing in the Name of Counselling: With a
glass of juice in my hand, I was sitting across a table
and was talking to a student who accepted Lord from
another background. I could see the 'storm' in his glass
of juice as he spoke with shivering hands. He was
informing me how he and some of his friends went into a
'Pentecostal' church and came back shattered after a
session with the pastor. I could see his strong feelings
through his penetrative eyes. That pastor started with
the colour of their shirts, ordered them to remove
moustache, remove the chain and ring he was wearing, and
leave all his friends, because they are all idol
worshippers. He added… no movies, no music, no dark
colours, must come to that church every Sunday and now
here else, pay tithes and offering…if not …all of you
guys straight into Hell where you will be tormented day
and night for eternity! He did not stop there, if they
did not obey 'God's' word spoken through him, God will
start punishing them in 'this' world too… Terrified,
this guy spent sleepless nights and vowed never to go
there! Sadly, some of his friends went back to their old
ways. Is this counselling or terrorizing? Who is
responsible for those lost souls?
Unapproachable Pastors: Some pastors are too busy
but many pretend to be very busy. Some of them are never
busy but simply does not want to meet church members;
they think that they are much beyond meeting all these
ordinary folks! Some claim to be pastor and do
everything except pastoring their church. They have
farms, businesses, shares in stock market, have schools,
orphanages and whenever they are filled with burden for
souls, they go to Gulf or North America or Europe. So,
obviously they are busy... One pastor was heard saying
'these believers always share their problems and disturb
me all the time'. I have seen many pastors wasting their
time, resources and energy in schools, orphanages, court
cases and very many unwanted things due to business
dealings, forgetting that they have been called to lead
a congregation. If 'pastors' are not approachable or not
available for the needs of the believers of the church
he is shepherding, can we call him 'pastor' anymore?
What is the use of such leaders in the church? How long
will that church stay united?
Tithe Based Importance: Most of the churches that
preach on tithe often end up giving importance to the
high tithe payers. The more the tithe you pay the more
say you have in the affairs of the church. I was in one
such church where the pastor insisted that tithes should
be put in a cover with names! I have also noticed,
because of this some who pay tithes will slowly end up
in decision making process by their money power. One
believer was boasting once saying that 'our pastor
cannot leave me just like that…He knows that my tithe is
sufficient to support him'. Many of us will know how
many pastors end up respecting money power! The Bible
never says that we should write our names and identify
ourselves. And many forget that tithe itself is an Old
Testament concept. I wonder why some pastors have an
itch to know how much each one earn? The Bible talks of
giving confidentially and I am not sure why many
churches forcefully give offering covers to all every
time they meet. Should we use every gathering to talk
about money? Will not God accept our offering if given
anonymously?
Scattering the Shattered Sheep: This is the
saddest thing of all that a pastor can do…Scattering
those very sheep he is called to shepherd. This is true
and is happening in many congregations and usually no
one dares to talk about it. Pastors and some of their
powerful sidekicks marginalize marked people and try
their best to throw out of the church, so that they may
achieve their agenda. They try to defame them, frame
them, conspire against them, sometimes this goes on to
the extent of calling gangs and filing false cases in
courts! Some pastors shamelessly tell people to leave
the church from the pulpit! These agents of devil don't
understand that Jesus died for them and they are
challenging God Himself. In one case, a believer was
asked to swear over Bible and asked to leave the church,
when he questioned a controversial decision taken by the
pastor. Tearfully this man was forced to do this by the
pastor all his buddies and was forced to leave! How sad!
I wonder what type of Hell these pastors are reserving
for themselves. Are pastors called to scatter the
shattered sheep? Don't they know that millstone is kept
ready to be tied around their neck and to be thrown in
sea?
I, like many others have great reverence to those who
are called to be shepherds. But, the moment they deviate
from God's commands, they cease to be an authority
appointed by God. I hope and pray like countless others,
that our shepherds will do what they are called to do
and will save themselves and their sheep. Don't you hear
the lion roar and see those radiating red eyes of wolves
in the darkness? How everyone long to hear God's word
and see their pastors doing their duties as God ordained
them to do!
We see, hear and understand all these unwanted things
coming… straight from the Pastor's Pulpit! Are we not
celebrating Good Friday every day? Is this all the value
for Jesus' sinless Blood?
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This page
is updated on April 20, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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