Latte's Musings: The Truth about pastors

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Homeschool News 'n Views
Issue 73, June 15, 2008

By Dan L. White

Listen to this article.

Sometimes we talk about pusillanimous pastors. Is that too harsh?

Pusillanimous –

lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid.

Latin pusillus, weak, diminutive of pullus, young of an animal;

used in Church Latin to translate Greek oligopsychos: "small-souled".

Church pastors are nice guys. That’s why they’re pastors. They’re personable and easy to get along with. They don’t rub people the wrong way. People like their church pastors. They’re nice guys.

That can also be their biggest shortcoming. They don’t want to offend people. Pastors tend to be cuddlers, not correctors. So when people need correcting, pastors usually cuddle.

The only time the word pastor appears in the New Testament in is the old King James Bible is in Ephesians 4. Some say that the original Greek word there should be accurately rendered as shepherd, not pastor. That will give a different connotation. Pastor refers to putting out to pasture, while shepherd is someone who not only feeds the sheep, but guides them and protects them.

Psalm 23 is the shepherd psalm. Verse 3 of that psalm says that the shepherd guides in the paths of righteousness. That means that the sheep have to be corrected when they head off in the wrong direction.

Others say that the pastor system, having one man in charge of a congregation, is incorrect. Paul said to ordain elders in every church, meaning that the church would be run by elders, not just one elder. That way, one man does not have to take all the pressure when correction is necessary. Pastors have a high burnout rate.

The reality is that, given the spiritual condition of America today, the pastor system has not worked. The people have not been corrected. They have headed off in the wrong direction.

The Christian researcher George Barna has written about this extensively. He has done repeated surveys which show that most who call themselves Christian don’t read the Bible, don’t know the Bible and don’t have a Bible view of life. The people who do attend churches have been greatly affected by the common problems of society, such as adultery, divorce and pornography. They have not been guided in the paths of righteousness.

A prime example of pastor pusillanimosity is education. Most Americans know how anti-Christ the public schools are. The pagans revel in that. Most Christians do not rebel against it.

Here’s an easy test. The public schools are filled with all sorts of evil. They train 90% of America’s youth in that evil. Almost all of America’s youth absorb that evil, and then become evangelists of evil themselves. This is turning America into an evil, Christ hating country.

Does your church stand against the public schools?

If Christian parents want to avoid that evil, all they have to do is take their kids out of the public schools. There is currently no persecution. It’s not even a real hassle anymore. Just do it.

Does your church and its pastor guide the people in the paths of righteousness, by telling them to get away from that big government institution of anti-Christian education? Does your church actively and vigorously support Christian education? Does your church pastor absolutely and unequivocally tell the members to get their children out of the public schools?

Or does he pusillanimosize?

There are some pastors and congregations which do make a strong stand against the sins in the public schools. It is very inspiring to see that. Some have homeschool support ministries which they will share with other congregations who are interested. Some have proven plans for starting an easy co-op homeschool-church school program. A few churches are just full of homeschool families. May they be greatly blessed in their stand for God and against Satan. May Christ draw them ever closer to Him.

We heard of one pastor locally who gave a sermon urging the congregation to get out of the public schools. However, some of the congregation -- including church officials -- just got out of that church.

Many would think that is bad. Oh, no – they left the church. People must never be offended, or they will leave the church.

A spiritual group is like a burning fire. When someone is joined to that group, they either add fire or water to the group. If the person is spiritually growing, shown by being willing to stand against sin, then he adds more fire to the fire of the group. If he is spiritually dead, not willing to stand against sin but tolerating it, then he adds water to the spiritual fire of the group. Get enough of those in a group and all the spiritual fire goes out.

So in that instance, those public school people took their buckets and went elsewhere.

There are very, very few pastors and congregations who stand against the sins of the public schools. If they won’t stand against obscenities, sex, drugs, violence and now homosexuality, what will they stand against?

Driving around in the Ozarks in June, we see many huge, elaborate church buildings with big banners out front – Vacation Bible School. They try to dress their Vacation Bible Schools up by making them like video games or space trips or some such, since they are assuming the young people will not be interested in – the Bible. So what if all those big churches taught the Bible to their young people not just during vacation, but all year round?

But they don’t. And most church pastors don’t give strong sermons against the sins of the public schools. They just give positive messages full of pusillanimuck.

Look at what we are facing in the near future.

From Yahoo news, June 15:

“[Several historians see] Barack Obama’s prospects as the most promising for a Democrat since Roosevelt trounced Hoover in 1932.

“This should be an overwhelming Democratic victory,” said Allan Lichtman, [one historian] Lichtman, whose forecasting model has correctly predicted the last six presidential popular vote winners, predicts that this year, “Republicans face what have always been insurmountable historical odds.” His system gives McCain a score on par with Jimmy Carter’s in 1980.”

[Another historian] compared McCain’s prospects to those of Hubert Humphrey, whose 1968 loss to Richard Nixon resulted in large part from the unpopularity of sitting Democratic president Lyndon Johnson.

“It is one of the worst political environments for the party in power since World War II,” added Alan Abramowitz, a professor of public opinion…. His forecasting model — which factors in gross domestic product, whether a party has completed two terms in the White House and net presidential approval rating — gives McCain about the same odds as Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and Carter in 1980 — both of whom were handily defeated in elections that returned the presidency to the previously out-of-power party.””

If the liberals control the presidency and both houses of Congress, Christians will face trials they have never faced in America. These trials will be financial, because taxes will be raised, particularly on families. These trials will be religious, as there will be active persecution of any who do not bow to the liberal religious dogma. These trials will be personal, as the nation gets absolutely overrun with pornography and filth, sucking many down into the pusillanimire.

And all those pusillanimous pastors and churches – what will they do then?

The same thing they are doing now. They will just go along, saying nothing, doing nothing, just having pusillanimeetings.

Does your church make a stand against the public schools?

If you attend a church which does not stand against the public schools right now, then for spiritual food you’re just getting dead meat -- pusillanimeat. That won’t apply just to education and schools, but to everything they say and do. If they don’t have the faith to stand in one area, they will not have the faith to stand in other areas.

If you eat enough of that, it will kill you spiritually.

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and the parable of the pounds in Luke 19 are similar. You recall the stories, where Christ’s servants were given a weight of money to use for increase. Some servants used their gift for increase and some just did nothing.

Notice that there are two groups who receive Christ’s condemnation: those who are His outright enemies and don’t want Him to reign; and those who are His servants but do nothing.

The sad reality is that most churches have not helped teach young people about Christ, but have actually hindered that. If you want to draw closer to Christ, you will not do so through such a group.

As we near the end of this age, Christ is drawing His people closer to Him. Just like the original disciples, Christ’s true followers have the faith to stand for Him. That faith comes from Him. Christian homeschool families have made a monumental choice, in deciding to follow a homeschool Christ centered lifestyle. Almost surely your church or your pastor did not urge you to do that. They may have even hindered you in doing that. But you followed Christ directly, not going through any group or any man.