The Help Meet

I was listening to a sermon by R.C. Sproul recently in which he was discussing the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness. I always enjoy his sermons and books and mostly agree with what he has to say. Mostly.

In this instance, he said something that really captured my attention. Something that he passed over very quickly. I've no idea if he had given any particular thought to what I noticed, but, though I listened to the rest of the sermon and feel I gained much from it, his initial point, to me, was the salient one.

He began by describing the circumstances of Jesus baptism, including the argument against it by John, the descending of the Dove and then the call into the wilderness. He pointed out that Christ, being the second Adam, faced temptation with the difference being that the first Adam had a mate for support, but Jesus was all alone when facing the devil. 

A mate for support? That didn't work out so well for Adam.

Incidentally, what would've happened had Eve succumbed and Adam had not? This requires more time and words, but, in short, Eve would've been banished and Adam would've been alone. Remember, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." (Gen 2:18)

This part of his discussion really set my mind to thinking. I wondered, why didn't Jesus have a mate and why was he alone? What was the point in the devil's questions, other than the obvious, and why did he go after these particular areas of our Lord's life? Yes, I have heard many valuable sermons on this matter, but they, I suppose, always lacked in something for me.

My father loved the Church! He was a pastor and his job, his family, his life revolved around supporting, promoting and edifying the Body of Christ. He taught me so many things in this regard and, though I might not recall his exact wording, he taught me to always look for two people when studying the Scriptures: the Bride and the Groom.

If you look for them, they are on every page of the Holy Bible. From Genesis and the first wedding to Revelation when the "Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" (Rev 22:10) They are there, hidden in this wondrous and sometimes mysterious tome.

So, it occurred to me, why isn't Satan going after the bride first, like he did with Adam? Is there a bride to attack yet? A bride who would lead her mate into a fall as the first bride did?

Now, we know, if we know anything, that trying to line God up with time and bind him into any sort of chronology is a fool's errand. God created time and is not bound by it, but is all through it or outside of it or around it or wherever and whenever He chooses to be.

So, if I say, there was not exactly a Bride of Christ yet, I'm in dangerous territory. No, I don't suppose there actually was because Christ had not yet washed Her in His blood and there was yet no death, burial and resurrection, so I'll just say, tentatively, that Christ was truly alone in the wilderness with no one by His side. (Though I also remember He was a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8)

Sadly, the Bride has become so diminished and so overlooked due to the Fundamentalist storming of  fairly all of our American Christian denominations, that She is almost an anachronism in current theology. The problem is, there is nothing and no one as important as She is to the Groom! She is His one True Love. She is His heart's desire. She is the One washed in His blood and presented blameless before His Father. She is the One Whom Jehovah declared would ensure that the man was not alone. She would be his "help meet"!

His "help meet." His helper. Or as one description even says, "one comparable to him." 

This was why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He had a wedding to attend. His own!

Don't forget, His first miracle was at a wedding. The party was about to crash because they had nothing to drink. Not until He provided it, at least.

I am just trying to emphasize the importance of the Bride of Christ to the Bridegroom here. As my father always said, a wife is more closely related to her husband than their own children. The twain are one flesh.

Okay, so, did the tempter know this? Did he understand this? Did he comprehend this? I'm going to say, no, but he is a master at finding the weak points. Certainly, he doesn't understand love, commitment or attachment, but he does see the importance of it in our lives and is an old hand at using such unknowns against us.

Now, here is Jesus, ragged, tired, hot and hungry. Searching for communion with His Father. I love to ask, I wonder what He was talking to His Father about on day thirty-nine. 

Along comes old slue-foot and, in short order, hits him hard with three temptations. Our Lord of course, passes the test with flying colors, the devil flees, for a time, and the angels come to minister to Him.

You know the story, how He is tempted in three things. (No, you can't be tempted if it doesn't cause you to desire it.) Sustenance, adoration and recognition. These were all things our Lord desired, though He knew He couldn't trust the one making suggestions to Him.

Okay, so where is the connection?

All the things that Christ was tempted with were things that a husband should expect from his spouse. 

Now, these concepts I present will be very old fashioned, but, I think, Jesus was an old fashioned guy.

Trying to keep this PG, most men, firstly, expect a woman to fulfill his physical needs. Cooking, caring, etc. They expect their wife to sustain them physically and mentally. Even to the point of producing offspring for them.

The second thing a husband might expect would be recognition. He's been out all day fighting the dragons and the traffic and when he brings home the bacon for his lovely wife to cook, he wants to know she'll recognize his value as a bread-winner and protector and the "man of the house." Why do you think men whine and cry about how hard their job is?

Thirdly, and these last two are closely related,) men seriously expect worship for what they do. (It's no small thing that in King James' English, "worship" means "respect." He wants his wife to tell him how great he is and how strong and virile. Yes, he wants to be put on that pedestal that men think they've earned.

Yes, these are likely over generalizations. And let's be clear, the Lord was not a selfish, arrogant man. Still, we are a reflection of Him and His Bride, so the parallels are obvious if we look for them.

So, Satan, in essence, was telling Him that He really didn't need His Bride. He could achieve everything that He needed without Her.

"Feed yourself. Jump off the temple roof and, when the angels catch you, everyone will know who you are. Just give me a little worship, and the entire world will worship you too."

Yeah, simple enough. Big problem! It wasn't God's plan. Worse yet, it would've meant that the Son of God would be alone, never knowing true love as God intended it.

Incidentally, that last bit was a bridge too far for the devil for sure. He betrayed his own desires by asking for worship from Him Who deserves all glory and praise. Yes, Satan is envious of God! He is, unlike our Savior, all alone.

Scripture says that, while Eve was deceived, Adam was not. (I Cor 2:14) He purposely chose his Bride over his Father. And rightly so. (Yes, I've written about this elsewhere.)

Yes, there are many lessons to be derived from this story, but, as Moses said, "The twain shall become one flesh." So, I suppose, the devil, by design or by instinct, went after the heart of our Lord. His aim was to cause Him to do the opposite of what the first Adam did. To choose Himself over His Bride.

Christ's Ten Commandments to His Bride

My father, my favorite Bible scholar, taught me many things concerning the Holy Scriptures. I would love to have half the knowledge and insight that Floyd Davis had concerning the will of God.

One of the things he taught me, though I couldn't quote him on it, was to a have certain attitude concerning Bible study and to approach this Scriptures with an understanding that God, above all else, considers His inestimable gift to man as, first and foremost, a love letter to His Bride. So, when reading the Book, I try to keep my eyes open for Her, the One Who gave His life to save Her and the love they two truly share with each another.

Thus, while rereading the Ten Commandments, I got to wondering exactly what it was the Father was trying to say and to whom He was trying to say it. Ergo, here are the commandments, set of vows, if you will, that I suspect He mandated would consummate the bond between the Bridegroom and the Bride.

(Exodus 20)

1. I am your first love; love Me and Me alone.

2. All other loves are false, so do not create anything to love other than Me.

3. You bear My name; do not misuse or abuse it.

4. Spend time with Me.

5. Remember those who brought you to Me.

6. You were meant to give life, not take it

7. Do not give yourself to other lovers.

8. I have given you all that you need, so do not take what I have given others.

9. Do not misrepresent others or Me.

10. I gave you my best, do not yearn for whatever others may seem to have.


Exodus 20

Here Comes the Bride!

There is, sad to say, much confusion these days, as there has been for, well, probably the last century at least, concerning Biblical ecclesiology. Especially in my lifetime, the past fifty plus years, it has only waxed worse. Even the SBC itself has become embroiled in this bewilderment, spurned on by Fundamentalists who have persistently increased their stranglehold on a denomination that once believed in not only the security of the believer, but also the priesthood of the believer.

So much of the confusion has come from a basic misunderstanding of who we are. If you don’t know who you are, nothing else can fit into place. Like my dad used to say to me, “Remember whose child you are.”


Not saying whether they are right or wrong, but I have heard many, many stories of adopted children, upon reaching adulthood, setting out to find their natural parents. I too have spent much time researching my family’s genealogy. The desire to know where we came from seems to be an innate characteristic of human kind.


Ergo, there has been much confusion about even our very relationship to God. Furthermore, much confusion about our relationship to our Savior. (Not that the two are different, although they are, but that’s another blog.)


Fundamentalists avoid the term “Bride” like the plague! (Name rather than term.) Preferring to use the word “church” almost exclusively. “Church” has become, even at that, interchangeable with “religion.” (Thank you Thomas Jefferson!) “Church” has been applied to everything from Hinduism, Muslimism, Christianity and even the “Church of Satan.”


Now, what could be worse than that? Only one thing I can think of. The misuse, brought on by the misunderstanding, of the word “church” by the very ones who once claimed to be the very “Church of Christ.” (Remember Missionary Baptists?) Many, sadly, especially, specifically, Baptists, have forgotten what the word “church” means. Baptists not only stand guilty of misinterpretation, but of propagating this repugnant misnomer.


Furthermore, any scholar can tell you the Greek word ecclesia is the precise word from which we get “church.” They’ll further explain that the very word means “congregation.” Strangely, many will go on to say that it means both “universal” and “local” seeing no contradiction whatsoever in their polar opposite uses of the word. Now, at best, we may only have a shadow of the mystery of Christ’s Church, but even a poor mathematician like myself knows one plus one equals two.


Much of the confusion seems to come, of course, from our own prejudices, but also from the fact that we ignore what the Bible itself says about the matter. As one preacher I know said, “The Bible is its own best dictionary.” Much of our, (by “our,” I mean, “their,”) misunderstanding comes from clinging to what we were taught by mom & dad, our church or what we learned in our initial walk with God. (Somehow, we think we got it right on the first try.) We cling to our prejudices and preconceptions like a dog bothering a bone!


Peradventure, we walked into a wedding ceremony. Wouldn’t it be easy enough to spot the bride and groom? Aren’t they the ones, holding hands, making promises and standing before the minister? Aren’t they the ones all dressed up as if they are getting married? If we’re unsure, can’t we ask a friend to identify them for us?


Rev 21:9…Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.


The problem for many is, they have their own ideas about the wedding couple and, even when the Scriptures explicitly identify them, they argue, “Oh, no, that’s not them! They don’t look like I was taught to believe they should look.” Even though a mutual friend may point out the two, we still can’t see them when we have our eyes closed.


How can you know the Bride if you don’t even recognize the Groom? How can you know the Groom if you don’t even recognize the Bride? It’s a conundrum! (Though it should not be.)
So, what does the Holy Bible say about who the Bride is? To begin, let’s ask who the Groom is.


Matthew 9:15
And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.


It seems apparent, probably no Christian would argue, that Christ is the Groom. “Christianity 101.” Doesn’t seem complicated.


To continue, if there is a Groom, is He married? (Should be simple, but, oddly enough, some disagreement here.) Yes, but what does the Scripture say?


Romans 7:4
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.


Mysteriously, the Scripture says we are “married” to Him and each other. Not to oversimplify, but if we recognize the Church is one body, to me that illuminates this apparent ambiguity. (I love oxymorons!)


To continue, who is the Bride? “Who” being the operative word here, as opposed to “what.” This is where things always seem to get sticky!


Revelation 21:
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.


9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
If I told you of the beauty of my bride and said, she was as clear as sunshine and tall like the trees and fresh as a cool mountain spring, would you think her to be a forest? If I introduced her to you, would you see only the description and not the person? What if I had a friend introduce you to her? Would that help?


Shamefully, Fundamentalists, et al., have stubbornly interpreted, professed and proclaimed that the very city in the book of Revelation is an actual, literal city. It matters not one iota to them that the angel actually calls this the “Lamb’s wife.” They cling with a death grip to their teaching that this is some literal city that will one day miraculously drop on top of Jerusalem. To what purpose, I cannot say. I can only imagine they have some twisted desire to sit and gloat over the millions of souls going to Hell around them for a thousand years. Sheesh!


How many times have we used the “streets of gold” and “gates of pearl” as descriptions of Heaven? It pains me to say it, but I have fallen into that trap myself.


So much of the analysis of Scripture can be argued and it is possible to have two different viewpoints on the same scripture and both interpretations be correct. (Remember, if it’s not wrong, it’s right.) Still, some Scripture is painfully obvious and self-defining. At least it is to those with open eyes and open minds.


The best rationalization for why Fundamentalists cling to this interpretation is one given by a particular preacher I know. (I have quoted him on many occasions.) He said, “It’s a Jim Dandy way to sell books about end time prophecy!”


Matthew 19:6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.


Genesis 2:21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.


Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.


Scholars, (guys with books for sale,) credit Moses with Genesis 2:24, saying he inserted it to teach God’s lesson about marriage. Still, if you believe the Bible, you’d be sore pressed to say this statement was incorrect whatever the reason for its insertion at this point. Even our Lord quoted this Scripture in the Gospel. When a man and a woman marry, they become “one flesh”…one body.
Eve was made from Adam’s rib. She became his helpmeet. His mate. Eve came from him. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Today, when a man and woman become “one flesh,” the offspring of that relationship is truly, literally, the two becoming one flesh!


John, et al., teach us that the Body of Christ is the Church. He taught that we are even Her children. (Mysterious, is it not?)


2 John 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth


He taught us that it is Christ who sanctifies the Church and cleanses Her. He presents Her to Himself, a chaste, pure Bride. This is something she is incapable of doing Herself. He chose Her. She is His Elect!


Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.


More than one someone has asked if the Bible should be taken literally or metaphorically. One brilliant response given was that it should be taken seriously. Much of what the Holy Scriptures has to say, we try to moralize, allegorize, literalize or seek some other way of dealing with the puzzles that it has to offer us. Often, more than we can sometimes easily admit, it speaks plainly.


Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.


As surely as He is our Head, we are His Body. Christ had a body while He walked this earth. His body was filled with the Holy Ghost. He was resurrected and raised to Heaven. He left a Body behind, filled with the Holy Ghost, to do His work, greater works than He, works that He could no longer do. His Body is still “of His flesh, and of His bones.”


Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.


That Body is resurrected, married, filled with the Holy Ghost and pregnant with the life thereof! The Church of God, the Bride of Christ, is not a harlot who produces offspring with a Man to whom She is not married! She is no mere concubine, brought in for a one night stand, with no rights, privileges or rank and no Covenant with her Spouse. To quote my late Uncle Ulis, “If there has been no marriage ceremony, we are all bastards!”


Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.


Ben Franklin said, “You are what you read.” He has been paraphrased, and I think accurately, “You are what you eat.” Now, this would be consistent with the Holy Scripture’s teaching on what the Church eats and drinks. Someone else said, “Garbage in; garbage out.” We would well remember that, as Christians, what we take in is makes us what we are.


When we consume that “living bread,” we consume that which is not only healthy for us spiritually, but that which makes us part of Him. It becomes part of our DNA; part of our blood.


John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.


I Corinthians 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.


We who take of the “Lord’s body” worthily, do so to our own health. If we do it in order, in His authority and that of His Bride, we become “one flesh” with Him and with His Congregation. Then, those who are of His will, shall be “added to the Church.”


Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.


I Corinthians 11 is some of the most preached out of context Scripture in the Bible. It is normally treated as if Paul is merely meandering from subject to subject. These verses are generally treated as a suite, but should be treated as a segue.


I don’t mean to defame the Apostle’s name, but he and I do have one thing in common. We both often go around the barn to make a point, but we are definitely trying to make a point.


Paul spent this entire chapter discussing order in the family and order in the Church of God. The scripture contained therein referring to the Lord’s Supper is one of the favorites used by many pastors when having a Communion Service. In my opinion, which is what this blog is all about, it would behoove them to both read and preach this entire chapter or avoid it entirely. They certainly shouldn’t pull those few verses out that refer the “Lord's supper” and use them as nothing more than a club with which to bludgeon their congregation.


Our pastors tell their congregants to “examine themselves.” The listeners flee the pew and fill the alter. They then return to their pews, proudly believing, “Yeah, I’m alright with God now.” The truth of the matter is, they can’t make it back to their seats without sin creeping back into their hearts!
Fundamentalist pastors specialize in filling their parishioners with guilt and shame and fear. After all, we’re Baptists. Isn’t that what we do?


I Corinthians 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body


What of those who partake “unworthily“? A word about that: There have always been those who come to the Lord’s table, not for the Lord, but for what is on His table. Like a cat, rushing to its food bowl, never looking up to see from whence the food comes, but only burying its face selfishly in its meal.


They know not the Lord of Hosts! These are cowans and usurpers! Their desire is only to steal the birthright of the Children of Light! Those pretenders who care not for the Lord of the feast, but only for the feast. What is food to the Church of God is poison to all others. What is sustenance for the Bride is detriment to those unbidden.


Neither the King nor the Queen has invited them and, yes, therefore, they drink and eat “unworthily.” Only those summoned by the Bride and the Bridegroom are welcome at His table. One might even say, R.S.V.P.!


Is my table so different from my Lord’s? I don’t allow just anyone to walk through my door and sit at my table with my family. Do you?


No, not all are welcome at the Table of our Lord. Yet, the Children of His Bride are not only welcome, but also commanded to be present and partake. He did not merely suggest it; He expects it.
When my drill sergeant told me that whenever I do a particular thing, whatever that thing may have been, I should do it a certain way, he was expecting me to do as much. I knew an order when I heard one.


1 Corinthians 11:25
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me


“As oft as ye drink it…” A recommendation? A good idea? A proffering? It seems to me that when the Lord said these words, He expected us to do as much. In my mind, if the Lord expects something, that qualifies as a command.


He does not want His commands to be disregarded. He does not want Himself to be forgotten!
Of course, this begs the question: Do crackers and juice the Lord’s Supper make? In other words, is the presence of the furnishings of Communion and the performance of the ceremony all that is required of us? Most would say obviously not, but how many would still insist that the old, rotten, stinky, dried up, cold, lifeless, stale, habitual ceremony their church goes through, is somehow pleasing to God?


Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.


Churches go through this performance, thinking they are doing big business and supposing they are doing exactly what God wants. They do it in a haphazard way with no real thought or attention to the implements they use or the ritual itself. They do it on the cheap! Many even sink so low as to buy those musty prepackaged crackers and the cheapest grape juice they can find. After all, does it really matter? Isn’t it the thought that counts? As my father was fond of saying, “If any way will do, then no way will do just as well.”


If you stop and ponder, you may realize that on any given Sunday when this service is exercised in your church, the reason is simply because it is written into the church bylaws. Can you think of many things more repugnant than going through the motions of this precious ordinance of the Church of Christ than doing it simply because it is ON THE SCHEDULE!


Where is the love? Where is the passion? Where is the romance?


1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.


I’m reminded of when Abraham and Isaac went to make sacrifice in the mountains of Moriah. We all know the story how Isaac, unbeknownst to him, was to be the sacrifice. At one point, he looked around himself, taking note of all that they had brought with them. He then said to his father, in so many words, “Father, we have everything for the sacrifice, but the sacrifice.”


Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?


Sadly, we go through the motions and have all the implements of the Lord’s Supper, and, for that matter, worship in general, but we never ask ourselves, “Where is the sacrifice?” We do the things we think we’re supposed to do, but where is the offering? Where is the sacrifice? Frankly, there is only one sacrifice that will suffice. Something, or someone, has to die!


I imagine we will continue to argue and debate within and without concerning this matter, but it is His blood and His body and He gives it to whomever He chooses. All are invited, but not all are welcome!

The Woman Down the Street

I knew a man some years ago; I think it would be accurate to refer to him as a friend. Well, one day, he sort of announced to me that he was thinking of leaving his wife. It seems that he had been keeping company with a woman who lived down the street and had told his wife that he was moving in with the woman. Furthermore, he told his wife that if the new relationship didn't pan out, he would simply come back home.

Now that is the situation, more or less that was described to me. Admittedly, I think my major regret about the whole situation personally, is that I didn't confront my friend and tell him how out of line he was.

To continue the tale, the new relationship didn't work out, but there never was a return home to his wife. I guess you could say their relationship had been, shall we say, strained. "Surprise, surprise!"

He did find another woman, though, who would marry him. They have a relationship that has continued for some years and seem quite content and even have a number of offspring. His first wife also remarried, but the relationship with the new husband is, in my opinion, cold. The two seem to have fallen on hard times and the relationship appears to be in a downward spiral.

Now, you might say, "That is one of the craziest things I've ever heard!" I would agree. Still, I'm shocked, though not surprised, to see this scenario played out on a fairly regular basis. You say, "Really? Where?" Ever so sadly, I see it, as I saw this one, in a Baptist pulpit. This is where I see it over and over.

Yes, I confess, this was not literally a husband and wife, but a pastor and a congregation. It was my pastor and I sat dumbfounded on the third pew when he said that he was talking to another church, "with a view to a move." How opaque can you get? I didn't even understand what in the world that meant! He was saying that, although he was currently our pastor, he was being courted by, or was courting, another congregation. He just wanted to let us know publicly and that he might or might not be resigning. Sheesh!

Well, he did resign and take on the newer, ah-hem, larger church out of town, but his pastorate there was short-lived. He soon left, under what circumstances I don't know, returning to his home town. He soon accepted a call to another church and, interestingly enough, the church seems to be very busy and growing.

The previous church hired another young seminary graduate and since the several years he has been there, the congregation has sunk to about a quarter of what it was when he was hired. Deacons and long-time, active members have left. Still, his name does show up in our Associational Minutes on a regular basis heading up one or another county or out of county ministries. Hmmm.

So, what's my point? My point is that, from what I gather, especially among seminary educated preacher's, pastoring has become a vocation and not an avocation. They are being taught to hang on to a church until they have another to go to, no matter what the damage done to the congregation. Furthermore, they're taught that it's perfectly legitimate to court one church while pastoring another.

You may ask, "What are they supposed to do? Resign without knowing where they will go to next, if anywhere?" Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

My father, who was a well respected pastor and led many souls into the Kingdom, understood that when God says it's time to go, it's time to go. He was never fortunate enough to pastor full-time, so he always had to work a regular jog to feed four growing boys and what little money he received from a congregation would have been no more than supplemental at best. His philosophy was, stay until you do what God wants, then let the next pastor do the same. In other words, trust God. Pretty radical, I know.

My brother who is also a Baptist pastor and "tent-maker" as they call "part-time" pastors today, has received some questions from other preachers upon their learning that he had resigned one church without having another lined up. When he told them, "God said it was time to go," some would look at him as if he had two heads! (Incidentally, no good pastor is part-time, only his pay is part-time.)

I fear that our seminaries and colleges are graduating too many young men who are more interested in having a job that they think is an good alternative to physical labor or punching a clock and less about following God's will. We hold our pastors in high esteem for the sacrifices they make for God and their congregations, but upon closer examination many of their salaries, fringe benefits and retirement packages, some are not sacrificing so much.

I hope the parallel is clear that many pastors are treating their churches as a wives of convenience who are to support them until they find something they deem as a bigger, better deal. Pastors are, after a fashion, husbands to their congregations and, in my never to be humble opinion, flirting with another body is adultery in one of its ugliest forms. How can their be stability in the home or the local church when the leader has wandering eyes and a roving heart?

I've no doubt that most of these men have a yearning to serve the Lord, but that yearning is often misunderstood as a call to preach and pastor. So many are of the mind set that the only way to serve God is to "surrender to the call." There are too many out of place and that is why they are easily swayed and mislead by those who do not teach them that the call of God is a call to self-sacrifice. The damage by poor shepherds who feel no obligation to the sheep, but only desire money, comfort, honor and/or a platform to vent is immeasurable.

John 10

1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Marriage Tips

These are some marriage tips I cam up with a few years ago. I wish I could say I totally adhere to them, but that would not be true. Yet, they, I think, make a good standard for us, as spouses, to follow.

1. Don't part or go to sleep without saying I love you...and mean it!
2. If you can't agree, agree to disagree.
3. Don't take things too seriously.
4. Things are never as bad as they seem.
5. Give one another the benefit of the doubt.
6. Apologize...and mean it!
7. Never bring up the past!
8. Remember who the enemy is; the enemy is not your spouse.
9. Remember who the boss is; the boss is not you or your spouse.
10. Remember, God really does have the whole world in His hands.