“How I thank God for my Christian parents, for my Sunday School teachers, and especially for my Preacher. He never cheated on his wife; he never lied; he never stole from the church; he never turned a blind eye to a song leader having an affair with the pianist or even the janitor playing his guitar in a beer joint. He discerned the difference between good and evil and never mingled them together. He preached on hell, on separation, on dancing, on movies, and on bad language. He preached a saving gospel with fire and power; he challenged the Sunday School teachers to visit more and study harder and teach better. He saw our church grow when every other church in town went into decline during the summer months. He had virtue and integrity and morals and godliness and Christian ethics! He knew what was right and stuck to it, and we loved him for it! He was our preacher for thirteen years. We never had better! ... It was because of our preacher and his helpers that I saw through the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of the pastors who had virtually no Christian ethics: Men who spent church money on themselves and were asked to leave; men who kept a mistress; men who smilingly lied to their congregations; men who stole sheep from other churches; men who covered up for each other when they were caught; men who slandered those who questioned their immoral conduct; men who stole faith promise money for missions and spent it; men who did their best to split another pastor’s church; men who lied to the tax department; and men who shut struggling churches down, sold the building, and pocketed the money, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.” “The Vanishing Ethics of the Ministry” by Buddy Smith, Heads Up! Sept. 18, 2015 Comments are closed.
|
Archives
February 2020
|