Posted on 07/06/2013 8:46:42 AM PDT by don-o
Fun times at the Immanuel Baptist Church of Skiatook, Oklahoma.
Recent video shows pastor Jim Standridge throwing what can only be described as an uncomfortably epic hissy-fit upon discovering one of his younger churchgoers had fallen asleep during his sermon.
“Don’t you go to sleep while I’m talking?” Standridge said from his pulpit, looking directly at the snoozing churchgoer. “Hey! Hey! Don’t you lay your head back!”
“I’m important. I’m somebody,” the pastor continued as he stepped down from the pulpit and walked directly over to the unidentified sleepy male. “You may do your English teacher that way, but I’m not here teaching English. I’m teaching eternal life.” Standridge walked over to the man, stood over him, and sternly told him: “You stay awake and you listen to me.”
Instead of returning to his pulpit to continue the sermon, however, Standridge then took the opportunity to berate other churchgoers who’ve run afoul of him lately.
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
I am shocked and saddened that you are disturbed.
He is either not letting G-d do his work without complaint/worry or he is in serious personal trouble and taking it out on others.
One Preacher who acted like that was having an affair with the secretary and feared getting caught. He was always on the defensive.
Winner. Doesn't sound to me like there was much anointing in his sermon, which often happens when you don't include God in the process. Maybe preaching simply isn't his calling.
Is that how Jesus would have handled it?
Now James was hard core. Don’t know about this guy though.
and yet that is just what we are told to do. Ever read Matthew 18?
It’s definitely not what he said, to me. It’s definitely the angry, mean, finger pointing, public way he said it. Like someone else pointed out, there’s way too much I, I, I and me, me, me in his tirade.
http://www.ibcskiatook.com/component/preachit/video/585-may-19th-2013-morning-service
This is very true; I think the state of America's churches would be vastly different if, for a whole year, every church did a sermon from James.
Indeed, I think we'd restore much of Christianity's name/reputation (which is really Jesus's) if we all personally did an intense study on James.
Just look at the start of ch 5:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.Imagine what work would be like if employers refused to comply with withholdings, on these religious grounds. (Indeed, I view withholdings as the chief evil of our income-tax system [followed closely by its disproportionality]: for it is either coercing the employer to commit fraud [not paying what he promised], or it is theft from the worker.)
That’s not what Matthew 18 is about.
Matthew 18 is about conflict between people. This is about a pastor preaching to his flock.
I am reminded of this:
Matt 26
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch[d] with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on.[e] See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
And I am reminded of His turning over the tables of the moneylenders in the temple.
You know, that is a very interesting example by Jesus. I wonder if He would have the same reaction to things like the Purpose Driven Life/Church/Whatever.
If God's upset about it, He's more than capable of taking action. So are the boy's parents, for that matter. I'd certainly nudge a teenager if I noticed he had dozed off ... but not a 5-year-old, because we just want him to be silent!
You do know that this tut-tutting story about the minister being a big meany comes from the Huffington Post and msn?
I am also reminded of the teachings of Gurdjieff, who described his mission as one of getting mankind to *wake up*. What better illustratration of that principle could there be than this incident.
In the early days of AA before the Big Book was written, the pioneer members would read the book of James every day. All 12 of the Steps essentially come from that book.
I don’t care where the story comes from. I would not attend a church where the pastor made a personal attack on a person in the congregation. If his delivery was from the heart and the message from the scripture, nobody would be sleeping.
I did not know that; it’s quite interesting — thank you.
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