The Word of Truth Ministries
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The Bastardizing of The
Pastoral Ministry: |
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"He has given some
apostle, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the
ministry, the edifying of the body...."
The Pastoral ministry is one of the five ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11, but in no other place in New Testament scripture is this pastoral ministry specifically listed, even though all the other ministries in Ephesians 4 are listed elsewhere. Today however that ministry has taken dominance over all other ministries in this modern, Laodicean Church [Rev. 3:4-20] and has virtually taken lordship over the congregants of the church. In so doing (and being allowed to do) many wicked men who now gather into the pastoral ministry (not because they have ever been called of God, but because this ministry can be a financially lucrative ministry when it is subverted) and have bastardized that ministry for their own financial and carnal benefits. What God's people have suffered through this wickedly abused pastoral ministry needs exposing and preached against until God's people come to a sober reality of the egregious abuse never intended by God for them to suffer under this ministry! First, a bastard is one born out of wedlock; something that is illegitimate in its birth; something that is irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual. That is what a bastard is, and to bastardize is the make something that is good into something that is bad, something that has no legitimate father or birth. These are ministers who will not be chastised by the word of God, and children without chastisement are bastards, and not sons. [Heb. 12:8] Many pastoral ministries are being administered abnormally, as spiritual normality is accorded by a correct interpretation of God's word. And, of course, good, common sense is always good to have and exercise, but many of these so-called pastors have neither a correct interpretation of the word of God nor good common sense. Instead, there is a certain madness of the many pastors, even as Balaam, son of Beor, who prophesied for gain was mad and could never get enough even as the dumb ass spoke to him and forbade his madness. The dumb ass saved Balaam from his own lying vanities as he rushed to prophesy for gain. But most of these bastardized pastors will not be saved because they love the gains and pleasures of this present world too much to adhere to God's word and God's chastisement--they are bastards, not sons! [Jonah 2:8; 2Pet. 2:13-16] Many so-called pastors apparently have not really read the Bible or do not care about what the Bible says about their behavior. Consequently, what we have is vast sickness throughout the church world by wicked men exercising the pastoral ministry as lords over God's servants, over other men's houses and families, absconding with God's people and have made God's people their own servants so much so that only legal authority outside the church can put a stop to the utter foolishness and chaos going on in many of these churches. And sadly, many congregants allow this insanity of cultism around a pastor; they turn their ears away from truth to the fables of these deceitful workers! [Jer. 5:30-31; 2 Tim. 4:1-5] This gross ignorance and sickness (and it is indeed sickness we see in most of the bastardized pastoral ministries) has been perpetrated against the people of God in the name of God by wicked (NOT GODLY) men who have changed the truth of God into a lie for their own carnal desires, under the pretense of watching for one's soul and many other convoluted pretenses that blinded saints allow. [Rom 1:21-26] Gross, vile, obscene, and utterly foolish absurdities have and are occurring under corrupt pastoral ministries that are steeped in ignorance, yet thinly masquerade as godly ministries. But as God told Ezekiel to prophesy against the lying prophets of his day, he has propelled me and others like me to expose the hideous abuses that are taking place in many pastoral ministries:
Foolish, crude, ungodly, and vulgar men have come into the church because they see financial opportunity there for the taking and with little effort, just the ability to subvert the scriptures. None of these men who go into the pastoral ministry leave riches to come and serve God. Most come into this ministry because there is money to be made; money that they could never make were they outside the church with their low skill levels. Most of the pastors who are crooks and frauds (and there are many) could never live the high lives they live, in their cushioned positions of pastors, by their weak skills. So they come into the business of churching where the picking is easy; for these lazy, greedy dogs (as Isaiah calls them) will not work for money because they are crooks and gangsters, thieves and thugs who can never get enough! They rape and pillage the church of God and think there is no end to their madness and there is no recompense for their sins. "Come, say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." [Isa. 56:10-12; Phil. 3:2] These are dumb dogs who cannot bark, lazy, ignorant dogs who will have their part in the lake of fire, which the scripture says, has enlarged herself without measure to greet them. [Isa. 5:13-14] Aside from the fact that God's word says the things they do are wrong, the problem with saints tolerating that wrong is this: "Injustice [immorality] anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." [Dr. MLK,Jr.] That is the nature of evil; once it is allowed to flourish, its continuity breeds in some the idea that it is the normal way things should go. Consequently, they start seeing evil as good and good as evil; they put darkness for light and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter--they are convoluted in their notions of what is right and what is wrong. [Isa. 4:20-24] Thereafter, they commend themselves to themselves as they compare themselves by themselves and not the word of God--these bastardized pastors attempt to standardize their abnormality as they delight themselves in each other, but that is a way of deception. Solomon argues that there is a way that seems right to a man (in his own eyes) but the end is the way of death. That is what happens when one's standard is not God's word and when a man's light is darkness! [Prov. 14:12; Mal. 2:17;Gal. 6:3] Second, let's look at what is happening in these sick churches under ungodly pastoral ministries: In one church I attended, a young pastor stoutly said that when he was in the world "I was living good, and now that I am over here, I do not plan to live worse." This is the attitude exhibited throughout many churches; such an attitude means that they are going to live the worldly lives in the church that they had before "becoming to God." Coming to God has made no difference to them, other than they can live "large" as many of them describe it and do nothing or very little for such a life. And there is no saintly scrutiny of these wicked men by anyone other than other wicked men. This young man [a 37-42 year old male] was not really in the body of Christ according to the right dividing of God's word. Furthermore, his preaching is little more than practical, commonsense advice, not the word of God. But the people love it because such a minister of men will never place the obligation of God upon the people; he will always place his obligation upon them and call it the obligation of God. And that obligation will always center around him and his financial needs. The congregants will be burdened to maintain "the pastor and his wife" high above the maintenance of all other congregants. Matter of fact, other congregants are not maintained at all by these churches. Yet the New Testament church of God is obligated by the word to remember the poor, keep and care for the widows indeed. [Rom. 15:26; Gal.2:10] But in bastardized pastoral ministries, these things seldom, if ever, happen; the churches are too busy making sure the pastor is rich! Conversely, in most of these bastardized pastoral ministries, the church/pastor demands that widows and pensioners pay tithes to pastors of their welfare checks, their husbands' retirement, their social security, etc., and these gangsters and robber ministers think nothing absurd or abnormal about this demand. Like Reverend Ike, They have reversed the order of God--instead of the church taking care of the poor and widows indeed, as dictated by scripture, the poor and widows are taking care of an overly bloated pastor who can never get enough, Isaiah said. Today, most of the pastor-centered churches busy themselves with pastors' appreciations, pastors' aids, pastors and wife's appreciation, pastors' anniversaries, love offerings for the pastors, etc.--these are traditions that have absolutely no Biblical basis at all; these are bastardized behaviors and customs of men that feed the carnality of men and generate thieves and wicked men entering the pastoral ministry. Consequently, most churches today have been built and organized around a minister, not around Christ, the word of God; he is only used to take away their reproach. [Isa. 4:1] Look at the big Mercedes Benz cars or other expensive cars these pastors drive, paid for by the congregants who ignorantly mutter, "I want my pastor to have the best!" Look at the gated communities and big big homes the bastardized pastors have; and the expensive clothing they wear--Jesus said such people are in kings' palaces. But blind congregants make kings out of their pastors. [Mat. 11:8] And these tragic and hell-bent congregants have been made to think that their hell-bent bastardized pastors are kings and should be treated this way. Of course, these crooked pastors would never dissuade such foolish misinterpretations of scripture, for they love the glory and have centered the church around themselves. Therefore, they further that notion by teaching that we are kings and priests unto God, but do not explain that our glory is a future glory, not a present glory. Like all these "Gospel of Wealth" preachers who preach this absurdity, they have hastened God's timeline for their wealth to this present time and shall not see the eternal glory that is to come. They fail to teach that we must now occupy until Jesus comes; we are the light of the world as Jesus was when here. They fail to teach that down here, we are to perfect ourselves to meet our coming king. And standing in his stead, saints of God understand that the servant is not greater than the master, but if he would be perfect, he must be as the master. [Mat. 10:24-25] Jesus shows us that the position we are to inhabit now is as disciples/servants--he that is greatest among you, let him be your servant, not your lord. [Mat. 20:27/23:11] Jesus had no wealth on this earth. Today's Bill Gates aspiring ministers cannot escape the judgment of God because of their love for money! So, like one of the early con men of current times, Rev. Ike, they want wealth now, not in the by and by of God, and they will get it through perversion of things godly for their greed and err from the faith.[1 Tim. 6:8-12] These bastardized pastors sport big unethical bank accounts that they have swindled and defrauded from the people of God through covetousness and feign words; they make merchandise of God's people [2 Pet.2:2-3] so they may live deliciously and travel to exotic places on vacations and cruises, etc. They live more luxurious lives than many wealthy people who have actually worked for their money. I have cited this particular case of gross abuse before and will cite it again because it is so egregious: I was courted to help a supposed Apostolic Faith church in California, where the pastor was a big voice bishop who preached sermons he read from books he did not write. The entire church, I discovered, was organized around money and a cult of his personality. So as I rightly divided and taught the word of God, needless to say, I conflicted with their established order. But taking questions as is my style of teaching, I allowed anyone to dispute or disprove what I taught--no one could, including that big voice bishop. He would come to the church maybe eight times a year because he was also the "pastor" of another church down south and the head of that organization. Of course, he received/took/demanded tithes from both churches and from the bishops of that organization. So cultified were the people of that church around him that they would set aside his tithes (which of course he had them paying directly to him--this is the standard method of wicked ministers in the pastoral ministry) without any calculation of those tithes into the church's finances; those tithes would be placed directly into the bank for him whenever he came. He, needless to say, was a wealthy man that received all the tithes from that church of some 50+ people, from his church in the south that was larger, and from his bishops who received tithes from their churches and paid tithes to him--sounds like the old Amway scheme, but much more lucrative! Let's just do some math to expose the
remunerations this big voice preacher and other gangsters like him
receive for reading sermons out of books they do not write,
peradventure the IRS is reading this sermon/essay and will do
something about this apostasy, since the church seems impotent to
tackle its own greed or to honestly examine itself: Tithe
teaching is the standard way bastardized pastoral ministries fleece
the people of God, along with the pastors appreciations,
anniversaries, etc.* Of course, tithe-paying
is nowhere taught in New Testament scriptures; indeed, it is
taught against. I have challenged anyone who believes the word
to show where tithe-paying was ever asked/commanded to be paid
by any New Testament saints. New Testament tithe-paying is a
lie concocted by wicked and bastardized pastoral ministries who do
not know or care about God's word. How does this become godly under any circumstances of New Testament Christianity? If one attempts to justify this, in the light of where this money comes from (the poor, widows indeed, as well as from the general congregants who work for their money and often hardly have enough to pay their bills, yet they are told to pay tithes first before anything else, which is in opposition to the word of God for New Testament Christians who are told to take care of home first). Such a person has a lying spirit/a strong delusion and believes a lie rather than the truth! [1 Kings 22:20-23; 2 Thes. 2:10-12] Look at the numbers possible for a single church pastor demanding tithes that go directly to him: An average size church is 150 members. If they are under the tithe system, in the more affluent states that pay healthy salaries: 150 members x $5,500 monthly @ 10%=$82,500 monthly to pastor. And most of these greedy dogs have Pastor's Appreciations, etc. These numbers and amounts are shocking. Can you not now see how wicked men can readily be drawn into the pastoral ministry when the tithe system is in place? But for God having ministers who are not hypnotized by money, the poor people of God would be raped without anyone sounding the alarm. But God has ministers who see this wrong and are crying out against it. In that big voice minister's church there was a little displaced mother, a widow indeed who was feeble in mind; she would wander through and to the church as best she could--at nights she would take the bus to and from church in dark areas; no attention was paid to her--attention the scripture says should have been paid to them. [1Tim. 5:2-16; James 1:27] This church was too busy feathering their millionaire pastor's rich and already cushioned nest! In many churches miscreants and almost, if not in fact, gangsters run many of the churches, prating, as John said, against the true ministers of God and not allowing them in because godly ministers would clean up the malady that is ubiquitous throughout the church world. [3 John 9] But Sunday after Sunday, these ungodly men preside over a blind people to keep them blind to the word of God and to their wrong-doings. How shall these wicked men and those who allow their wickedness escape hell? These are ministers and whole churches that have reprobated-minds who propagate a culture of ignorance. In their eyes they are right, but they do not conform to the word of God and will not allow the true ministers of God into the assembly to speak the word of God. In another example of some of the horrors going on in these bastardized pastoral ministries, a known lesbian pastor is so ruthless in her usurpation of authority contrary to God's word that she sent a congregant to a brother's house, demanding that he lend a certain piece of equipment he owned to her immediately. When that brother refused her request, she asserted that she was that man's pastor not only at church but also in his home. According to scripture, her pastorship over him was an unbiblical usurpation of authority; second, her assertion that she was his pastor in church as well as home implies not pastoral authority but lordship over him. Any brother or sister can say no to a pastor, a minister, or any other brother or sister at his will and be blameless. Clearly, she violated God's word in many ways. But the people that follow her are as blind as she is. God has no lesbian ministers! The technique of these bastardized pastors, pastors who have no footing in God or his word, is to reduce men/adults to children under them. No mentally sound adult would allow this, neither should they. God does not want us to be children, as these totally disrespectful wicked men render so many of God's people. God has given no man the power to disrespect his people and make servants of them. These bastardized pastors are like King Saul. Samuel warned the people at God's behest of what King Saul would do to them--take everything they possessed and make it his. But still they wanted wicked Saul instead of God. [1 Sam.8:10-22] And so it is today; men want a man over them, rather than God, and they will die in their sins as wicked men lead them down the road to perdition.
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P.O. Box 6573
Oakland, CA 94603