Posted on 05/18/2016 4:08:54 PM PDT by Olog-hai
>>Yes, pastors are people, too. But when they stop believing in the gospel, they need to have the honor to get out of the church and spare the flock traveling to hell with them. Unbelieving Pastors should not exist. They need to be tossed.
Absolutely! But, some things are not unbelief. They might be wrong, but are not going against the gospel. Now, the UMC and PCUSA threw the gospel out the window long ago. But the LCMS pastor was true to the gospel even if you disagree with him on the definitions of the apostolic age and miracles. I doubt that he was saying that God does not work in miraculous ways, but the age of “signs and wonders” is over until we get to the end. They aren’t necessary anymore because the gospel and Holy Spirit have been delivered to the world.That is the only sign and wonder we need in this age. Requiring anything more is actually more blasphemous than anything he said.
I doubt that he was saying that God does not work in miraculous ways, but the age of “signs and wonders” is over until we get to the end.
>>I have witnessed many miracles, so I know this is not true.
Like what?
Lol.
I believe you are hinting at hypocrisy of the first order. Jesus might have been talking STRAIGHT at those folks when He scolded the Sadducees and Pharisees. Well, talking to ALL of us as we are all sinners.
It would be great if you are right and this is only a tempest in a teapot. The important factor, though, is not the small number of people who would be affected by any changes, but the large number of influential people —enablers and fellow-travelers — who are advocating the changes. The homosexual issue is just the tip of the iceberg. It is just one of their efforts to remake Christianity and the church in their own images. I left the UMC over issues such as this — which were nowhere nearly as bad then — and over general doctrinal teachings. Some years ago, a UMC pastor wrote a book called something like “What You Don’t Have to Believe to Be a Christian.” One of his examples: you don’t have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but you can believe that he was a really special person. Another example — years ago, when I was still in the UMC, I was sitting in on a UMC seminary class is which “inclusive language” regarding God was being discussed. One example — using Mother to refer for the First Person of the Trinity. I brought up an example I had seen from an inclusive language hymnal, in which “Praise to Thine eternal merit, Father, Son and Holy Spirt” was rendered “Mother/Father, Holy Spirit.” I asked the teacher, a noted feminist theologian, what was the significance of that, outside the fact that that combination of words fit the music. She admitted, rather sheepishly, that some people have “problems” with the idea of the deity of Jesus. When I asked a friend of mine, who was not a Christian and had not had any kind of religious upbringing, what he thought of the change, he exclaimed, “They left out Jesus!”
And there you go. That speaks for a lot of what goes on in the UMC. It is, as you say, a shame.
They should review the Bible instead.
There's a woman's "church," painted purple, right across the street from where I get my nails done. It's a "her church." At first they had pews but so few people went there that they took out the pews and put in folding chairs.
And, from there it went downhill...lol.
The two women keep it open because.
There are ALWAYS nuts like these and your UMC pastor who interpret God's word the way THEY want. It's no surprise that there were/are some 30,000 (Catholic Church numbers) to 40,000 (Protestant numbers) different denominations in the world.
I'm not deprecating any of their versions but it's no surprise that so many Christians get confused sometimes about what is God's word and what is the rhetoric of some pastor who interprets the Bible his own way.
Do you remember Doctor EEEEEUUUgene Scott? He was one of the first televangelists. He always wore a different hat. He was quite smart and knew the Bible backwards and forwards. His "byline" was: "SEND ME YOUR FILTHY LUCRE!!!!"
I did NOT mean to minimalize anyone by the "tempest in a teapot" remark. I was using it in a grander manner, as in GOD WILL DECIDE so why worry? We have only to love God and love each other...living the best life we can and trust in our good Lord.
Gene Scott provided some very interesting late, late, late night viewing for me when I was back in school. I believe the first time I saw him, he was sitting in his armchair, wearing a yachting cap and smoking a cigar, talking about the Old Testament, with graphics of pyramids and strange symbols behind him. His wife took over for him, but I haven’t seen her program for several years.
I know that God wins in the end. The unfortunate part is that we have to walk through a lot of wreckage —human, spiritual — on the way there; much of it completely avoidable if more of us would humble ourselves to God and His way.
True. But, this life is SO short and fast so getting our eternity right IS the more important because it's fore...well, you know what I mean.
I remember Dr. Scott yelling "SENT ME YOUR FILTHY LUCRE!!!" and his wife, seen only from the back, was strutting her stuff, wearing backless spike heels and a FULL LENGTH ERMINE COAT.
THERE was where HIS money was going...on her back.
SHE couldn't maintain the show the way he did. He WAS charismatic, I'd say that for him.
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