Posted in Church • Daily Living • Hypocrisy

The Homeless Pastor Scam

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Pastor Jeremiah

 

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek (pictured) transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service….only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food….NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit n the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

 

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation……..”We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek”…. The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation…..The homeless man sitting in the back stood up….. and started walking down the aisle…..the clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him….he walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment….then he recited

 

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning…many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame…. he then said….Today I see a gathering of people…… not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples…when will YOU decide to become disciples? He then dismissed service until next week……. Being a Christian is more than something you claim. I’ts something you live by and share with others.

 

The story and picture above is from a Facebook post. Thousands of people had shared this. The facts are not verifiable, and the story is suspicious. It’s probably made up, like the one about the guys with guns coming into a service and scaring off all the “pretenders.” But people will share stuff like this because it slams Christianity. Or it evokes an emotional response, and that’s all people want to give. Cluck the tongue, shake the head, feel sad, maybe feel a little superior then move on to the next post with the joke picture.

 

Even if it’s true, it’s still a scam and it still makes me mad. Number one, how did this guy “transform himself into a homeless person?” How in the world would anyone know he didn’t have a home? Are all “homeless people” dirty, unkempt, ragged and unwashed? No. All the church people knew was that a guy who didn’t take care of himself was bumming around asking for money. Number two, most homeless people I know of want it that way. The bums like being bums. They have no responsibilities, no taxes, and complete freedom. There are some who are just mentally off too.

 

Back when I had a company of 15 to 20 people I tried to hire the “homeless.” Most just wanted to be left alone after being given some cash. None accepted employment. Much of the cash went to buy alcohol. We offered to let people use our shower facilities to clean up, our office to sleep in, and free computer help with a resume if they didn’t want to work for us or we didn’t have a position open. Uniformly we were turned down. We tried to hire some work release inmates – same thing. They wanted to continue in their sinful lifestyle and just have people hand them cash. We were NEVER able to really help such people. There are some “homeless” who have been helped who truly fell on temporary hard times, but they are few and far between.

 

We have a phone number in the book for our ministry. We don’t have a building or a huge congregation, or a huge budget. But we routinely get calls for help from traveling people who “broke down” and just need a few bucks for repairs. In my opinion these people are not truly in need. They simply move around sponging off of churches because churches are soft touches for a sucker story. The people we know in trouble, who are part of our community, we help without question. They don’t always need cash. Sometimes they need counseling, or help learning how to budget. Sometimes they need help getting a job or making rent temporarily. Because we know them we can help them more effectively, to the point that they can recover and live godly, responsible lives. The guy on the street corner with the sign probably makes more than I do when you factor in fees, taxes, and charitable giving (which I’m sure he’s not doing unless the charity is himself).

 

I’m one of the first to criticize the church for hypocrisy. Maybe some of these people were in fact hypocrites. But not because they had a hard time with a smelly freeloader. It is because they do not follow God’s book of instructions. If I was in that church, I might’ve helped the “homeless” guy to the nearest one of dozens and dozens of Christian programs for helping those in need. However, I would screen those who really need help from those who merely want to be helped to stay the way they are. I also would consider firing this new senior pastor because he is more into sentiment than teaching the Word. I might fire some elders too, because the congregation isn’t getting taught the Word either.

 

And another thing. Why in the heck were they hiring a senior pastor from outside the flock? With 10,000 people, none were qualified to step up? How come they weren’t training disciples to take on the task? Was their discipling so pitiful that not one of 10,000 could handle the simple job of pastor?

 

I wish people would shut up with false sympathy, false criticism, and false accusations of hypocrisy. Read and follow the Word instead of posting moronic pictures and stories. Get a brain. Think.

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Love • Marriage • Natural Man

Suicide Silence

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I’ve been quiet for a while (no pun) because I’ve been struggling with writing an article about suicide. Recently a nephew went out this way, and this brought back memories from a few years ago when an acquaintance went out by her own hand also. It has taken some time to put down my thoughts on paper (okay, a word processor) and arrange them in a readable format. The article has some very personal testimony, and is very blunt. The connecting subjects of divorce, homosexuality, depression and anger are part of it, so exercise caution in reading. There will be many who do not like the truths I included, and I will be attacked. Here are some of the opening paragraphs, and there’s a link at the bottom for the whole article on wholebible.com

 

Her name was Theresa, a woman who killed herself at the end of December 2004 by jumping from a cliff on a hill near my home. She left behind eight kids, a broken marriage, and saddened friends. I knew Theresa a little because a few years before she died I answered an ad she placed at a local music store for people to form a band. We played together a couple of times; she was gifted with writing songs and playing keyboard and guitar. It didn’t work out for us to keep playing together because she lived in a town about 45 minutes away, so I mostly lost touch with her except for a couple of emails. Once she attended a Bible study we had in our home but as I remember the distance again was too great so she didn’t keep coming. I was reacquainted with her when I saw the newspaper article telling of her death.

 

I thought at first that she could not possibly have committed suicide, because the last I knew she seemed to be well adjusted if melancholy and bitter over her divorce. She had, I heard, solid relationships with a Baptist church she attended after she moved to our town, loved her kids, and had various friends. I suspected foul play; she couldn’t have jumped; she must have been pushed. But as the details were related to me, they found her footprints at the top of the cliff showing she was running towards the edge, and she had to jump far enough to clear a ledge just below the lip of the cliff. What sort of pain and anger, I wondered at the time, drove her to run toward her own destruction like that?

 

More recently a nephew of mine also decided to end his life. I didn’t know him at all, really, because he lived in another state and he’s the son from a previous marriage of my sister-in-law’s second husband. I met him a couple of times when he was a teenager. He was a likable, quiet kid who was into computers and was an amateur astronomer. According to friends he was smart and had two astronomy magazine articles written about some of his work. Like Theresa, he also seemed stable and there was no warning that he was feeling suicidal. Neither left a note, so we can only guess at the final straw that caused them to self-depart this physical plane.

 

As I understand it, for a few days before Theresa killed herself she wore duct tape over her mouth. One of her kids asked her why, and she said “no one was listening to her anyway.” She was right, in a way. We don’t want to hear it when someone is contemplating their own demise. After they’re dead we wonder why they didn’t seek help, but before they go it’s too uncomfortable to consider. Even if they did talk people have difficulty with answering. We can’t even talk about it very well after our loved ones are gone, so how much harder is it when they’re alive?

 

Read more online at www.wholebible.com

Posted in Church • Continuity & Discontinuity • Identity • New Testament • Old Testament • Whole Bible Christianity book

Start of the Church

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I was raised thinking that the church started at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The story I was told was that God finally got fed up with Israel and switched His program to the Gentiles. As if the Gentiles were so wonderful or more receptive or better behaved or something. Translations of the Bible reinforce this story because they pretty much universally use the English word “church” in the New Testament but not in the Old.

 

The word the translators (and pastors, priests, and rabbis) think is associated with the church is the Greek word we transliterate ekklesia (ἐκκλησία a-klay-see-uh Strong’s number 1577). This word simply means “assembly” or “congregation.” The Hebrew words for assembly or congregation are qahal (6951) and edah. They mean the same thing as ekklesia, and in fact the Greek Septuagint uses ekklesia about 52 times. Sometimes the assembly is formal, such as when kings called Israel together, and sometimes is was an informal family gathering. But ekklesia is not translated “church” in the OT in any of the English translations I consulted.

 

There’s simply no reason to make an arbitrary distinction for the assembly between the OT and the NT. God’s assembly has been gathering for a long time. The plan of God is continuous, without interruption, and didn’t start in Acts 2. It might’ve gotten a kick in the pants, but the congregation has always been around. The “assembly” that Jesus said He would build (Matthew 16:18) has a foundation that was started in the Garden and goes on into the future as a kingdom that never ends.

Posted in Authority • Church • Fear • Gospel • Punishment • Reward • Second death

The Wrath of God

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I feel somewhat out-of-place in addressing this topic. Most messages from Christians are centered on a sappy Jesus who, to them, is like a refugee from the ’60’s hippie movement spouting one liners about human ideas of peace and love. They don’t read the Bible very much or we would hear a lot more about God’s wrath (hundreds of verses) and how it is surely building over the current state of the world’s culture. In my opinion it is also building over the church’s involvement in leading the way, too.

 

But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:16, ESV)

 

The reason for talking about God’s wrath is number one because it ain’t pretty yet it will surely fall; two maybe it will spur people to repent; and three that it might inspire those who are already elect to do good. Speaking of the wrath (or fierce anger) of the Lord is an act of love because we want people to stop despising His Words and scoffing at the prophets or messengers of God. If we keep on like we are there will be no remedy.

 

Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the LORD. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD. (Zephaniah 2:1–3, ESV)

 

The preachers of the false Jesus hippie dude whose teachings resemble those of Bill and Ted in their Excellent Adventure (“Be excellent to one another, and, Party on, dude!”) are presuming on the riches of His kindness. Obedience is not an option or a feeling. It is commanded by God that anyone who does not obey the gospel will be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).

 

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans 2:4–8, ESV)

 

Jesus is coming back soon, and many will be shocked and stunned to the roots of their soul at the sword in His hand and the fury with which He treads out the wine press of God’s wrath (Revelation 19:15). Don’t you be included in that number.

 

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:5–8, ESV)

 

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14–15, ESV)

Posted in Church • Whole Bible Christianity book

Fast Food

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A comparison that occurred to me a few years ago is that churches have become like fast food franchises. They only serve certain food a certain way, they replicate only after themselves, and they have a rigid, top-down management structure. If you get tired of the same old food at one franchise, you have to go to another. A burger place doesn’t serve pizza, and a taco stand doesn’t serve burgers. If you want to change something, you can’t. It doesn’t matter how many complaint cards you fill out. The number of outlets is the most important thing to a franchise. The real concern for a franchise is making money. Yep, the more I think about it the more the current crop of churches looks a whole lot like a bunch of fast food stands.

Over 247 billion served.

Posted in Authority • Church • Daily Living • God • Judaism • Love • Messianic Movement • Orthodox • Whole Bible Christianity

Whence Cometh Whole Bible Christianity?

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We didn’t set out to “create” whole Bible Christianity. We stumbled across it as we were searching through many existing church ideas and congregations for truth over the years. In some ways we were forced to whole Bible Christianity because in our search for truth we were rejected by the standard church on a regular basis. “If you’re not being ministered to here then you need to find a place where you can be ministered to” is a fairly common way to tell people to hit the road.

The love that many in the church preach lasted only as long as we agreed with the power structure. “Unconditional love” and “tolerance” are for those who don’t make waves or rock the boat with pesky questions like “Where does that teaching come from in the Bible” or “Why aren’t we doing what the Bible clearly says to do?”

At one time we thought the Messianic movement had a great chance of reaching a lot of disaffected people with the message of the whole Bible. Sadly they haven’t been up to the task. They have become so distracted by genetics, Judaism, language, divine invitations and the like that God’s Word is getting neglected as badly as in the church. In some ways they make the craziest people in the church look orthodox by comparison. Even the people closest to sticking with the whole Bible get lost in Jewish tradition.

So in a way it is the existing structure of church and Judaism that has led to our rediscovery of whole Bible Christianity. We don’t want a separate movement, but they do. We want access to God without intermediaries telling us their version of truth and chastising us if we deviate. In reaching for God we don’t want our hands slapped by people who see a threat to their power. We’re tired of getting our hooves torn off, being maimed and malnourished. It isn’t our fault that we’ve wandered away from dry and grassless desert hungering and thirsting after soul-satisfying food and drink. We’ve found green pastures beside still waters in whole Bible Christianity, and we ain’t goin’ back.

Posted in Authority • Bible • Church • Daily Living • Faith • Fear • Hypocrisy

Take A Stand

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When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. (John 12:9–11, ESV)

 

So not only were the religious leaders of the Jews plotting to kill Jesus, they also wanted to remove the evidence that Jesus was really who He said He was. There might be just a teeny bit of a reason for killing Jesus in the fact that He claimed to be equal with God and maybe some blindness on the part of the leaders is expected. And Jesus asks the Father from the cross to forgive them because they “know not what they do.”

 

However, this is not the case with plotting to include Lazarus in the festivities. The only thing Lazarus did wrong was coming out of the grave when Jesus told him to. Nothing in the Law could be used to persecute him; they just decided to do it anyway. Probably because they thought of themselves as doing a favor for God. This shows how the Law was typically used and abused by people without love. The hearts of the leaders were filled with hate and jealousy, so the use of the Law was false. They used it in a false way to condemn Jesus, and just ditched it when it didn’t suit their purposes. Either way, the Law was not in their hearts. We get a pretty complete picture of this in these three references close together in John 12.

 

So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (John 12:19, ESV)

 

If love for God’s Word was in their hearts, they would’ve rejoiced that the world was going after Him. Instead, they were upset that no one wanted to listen to them. They were tweezed that they were losing “their place” (John 11:48). This explains why John the Baptist, though a priest, worked outside of the system in the desert.

 

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:42–43, ESV)

 

The leaders used the fear of being put out of the synagogue (life revolved around it more then) to keep people in line with their perverted version of God’s Word. Some of the leaders had a chance at something different. At this point they chickened out, but hopefully later they realized the error of their ways. Sooner or later we have to take a stand. We can’t let the bullies who threaten us with cutting off fellowship in whatever form keep us from saying and doing what is right. People with hate in their hearts, who twist the Word for their own purposes, even if they are in leadership positions in the church, have to be opposed. Take your stand on the Word at all times no matter what the risk.

 

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. (John 16:1–4, ESV)

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Faith • Fruit • Hypocrisy

Judas, Compassionate Betrayer

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But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:4–6, ESV)

Lots of people are trying to make Jesus into some kind of social worker concerned with redistribution of wealth like any good liberal. However, if you want a biblical picture of a liberal, look no further than Judas Iscariot.

It appears on the surface as if Judas is very compassionate. He is compassionate about the poor. He is compassionate about redistributing money and a fair share. But mostly he is compassionate about Judas. He is like today’s liberal politician or Christian – he is very compassionate about other people’s money. Mostly so he can get his cut. He looks at the pure nard perfume as a cash windfall, and wants to use compassion for the poor as a cover for getting his fingers on it. He tries to lay a guilt trip on Mary about the waste and the expense so he can slip a few coins into his own pocket, and makes himself look holier-than-thou in the process.

The bottom line is he is the one who is guilty of theft, betrayal and hypocrisy. Interesting how those tend to go together. He looks like a believer but underneath his whitewash the love of money drives him to steal and eventually sell out our Messiah Jesus. So many today are spiritual descendants of this man. On the surface they look holy and spout biblical one-liners like they really mean them. Yet they betray Jesus with every dollar pinched and every selfish agenda pushed. Hands are in the cookie jar or held out for a 30-piece “fair share” payoff while pious lips stridently preach concern for others. They have no intention of practicing what they preach. Secretly they sell Jesus out by trading His precious Word for the kingdoms of the world. And look good doing it too.

Funny how Jesus didn’t do anything about it at the time. He just kept feeding Judas rope until he had enough to hang himself.

Posted in Bible • Church • Fruit • Relevance

Relating to People in the Bible

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There are different Bible people I identify with at different times. But probably the one I most identify with is John the Baptist. He was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and called out for repentance saying “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Isaiah 40). There is no record of him healing anyone, or raising the dead, making blind people see or casting out demons. All he did was preach the Word and baptize. Out in the desert. With funky garments and a slim diet of grasshoppers and wild honey (imagine arguing with killer bees for THAT). I could stand to go on a diet, but grasshoppers and wild honey?

I might not be eating the same stuff or wearing the same clothes, but I definitely feel I’m out in the desert preaching repentance to rocks. But the message needs to go out. And Jesus is coming, and I think coming soon. The church I think is by and large succumbing to philosophies of men so somebody has to do it.

So which biblical figure do you relate to, and why?

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Healing • Worship

Teacher Born in Sin

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Some of the most complex or hard to understand ideas are understood and accepted by the most uneducated of people. The man born blind in John 9 is a case in point. He was healed of his blindness by Jesus, and knew exactly why.

The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. (John 9:30–34, ESV)

The educated (and to their own minds sinless) religious leaders of the time couldn’t seem to figure it out. More likely they knew but refused to accept. Not so different from so many today who are blind though their eyes work perfectly fine.

Education has a place, but when it feeds an overweening pride it blinds. Here the blind people cast a man who could see out of the congregation (synagogue). We see the same effect today – blind people are casting those of us who can see whole Bible principles out of congregations. So the congregations are made up mostly of blind people. Proof that the religious leaders were not following God’s Word was in the fact they didn’t know from whence Jesus came and refused to follow His teachings.

The blind are convinced they have no sin, and attack any who imply different. The couldn’t biblically dismantle the formerly blind guy’s teaching, so they attacked his character and hit him with the worst they could dish out. Except it didn’t do anything, because he went right back to Jesus and worshiped Him (verse 38).

If your eyes work as they should, worship of Jesus including doing what He did is the natural result. He did what the Father told Him to do, and people who can see are right in line with that. Getting kicked out of the congregation is no indicator of sin or sinlessness. In fact, it might be an indication that your eyesight is very clear.