Men Who Would Be Pastors
That those who assume leadership in the world of churches stand in the place of God is more than ridiculous. No doubt many enter into the pastor type of occupation with complete sincerity and without ulterior motives, but not all. In the story in the book of Acts about Ananias and Sapphira, we read that God supposedly struck this man and his wife down dead at the feet of Peter. Christians reading a story like this would have a sense of FEAR that pastors and church leaders are not to be taken for granted. I take the position that this story has two possibilities and neither have anything to do with God (God was not responsible, nor was the Holy Spirit). First, it could be pure fiction and it never happened. Second, if these two people really did drop dead at the feet of Peter, then they were poisoned or killed by some human being with ulterior motives.
The Roman Catholic Church traces its origin (falsely) to Peter and is there some kind of connection with this account of a man and his wife dropping dead at the feet of "Pope Peter", to intentionally create FEAR of religious rulers in the minds of their subjects? The "sin" of Ananias and Sapphira was that they supposedly lied about $money, which is a rather amazing reason to kill someone. God did not even strike down dead on the spot those who crucified Jesus Christ, which was exponentially a far greater issue than anything Ananias and Sapphira ever did.
For splinter group church goers who live in FEAR of their church leaders and rulers, here is a major contradiction. In Luke 9:54-56, we read that two of the disciples of Jesus wanted to call down fire out of heaven and consume some folks they had issues with, to which Jesus rebuked them saying "The Son-of-Man is NOT come to destroy men's lives, BUT TO SAVE them." So then if indeed God is the author of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, then the contradiction to what Jesus taught is not only confusing, but leaves one in grave doubt about the validity of such contradictions. Aside from that how could Jesus teach "love your neighbor as you love yourself", "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "love your enemies", "blessed are the peacemakers" and so forth and then defy His own teachings? Were Ananias and Sapphira an exception to the rule?
We begin to see what is called "the Bible" unravel when it is examined much more closely than is ever done from the pulpits of churches. In the Old Testament there is a story during the time of Moses and also attributed to God, that God supposedly opened up the ground and swallowed Korah, and others with him (including women and children), because Korah voiced opinions contrary to Moses. This is yet another story designed to instill the FEAR of religious and secular rulers into the minds of common people. If Jesus Christ was indeed God of the Old Testament as so many Bible apologists proclaim, how then is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever? I am more than confident that there is a great deal in what is called the Bible, that has to do with causing common people to live in lifelong fear of the rulers of men. Pastors love to quote passages such as "you dare not touch God's anointed", which causes people to fear.
Fear of rulers of men is as old as dirt. We read in the Bible "fear not" and we read "fear God" and we read "there is no fear in perfect love." So which is it? As a parent do you want your children to live in fear of your being their parent, or would you prefer that they live knowing that you love them unconditionally? In Romans 13 we read that "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil and so obey the rulers" and that has to be pure fraud. History is proof that rulers of men have slaughtered the good and the innocent by the millions, since the beginning of time. Some rulers have even murdered their own family members in their insanity and murdered countless others in their insatiable lust for power, control and wealth. The wars of rulers of men never cease to destroy not only those involved in military, but "collateral damage" (civilians, including women, children and babies). The Old Testament is full of it and so is real life since the beginning of time and the human sacrifices in endless and perpetual wars never cease. For Romans 13 to state that rulers are "not a terror" to good works, but to the evil, is nothing short of ludicrous. Jesus Christ was nothing but GOOD and if the rulers of men are "not" a terror to good works, how then was Christ crucified? Yet another major contradiction in the so called Bible and there are many.
Should members of the splinter groups of the "churches of God" ever study the Bible for themselves, without being told what it is suppose to mean from their leaders, who stand in pulpits, they would have a rude awakening. Pastors, elders, or whatever title men love to attach to their names, does not make them all knowing, all right, all infallible, all inerrant or to be feared. And yet, it is because of certain verses in the Bible, that many who go to church live a life in fear of "pastors." Strange indeed that we read that Jesus came to SET THE CAPTIVES FREE, and yet the church world has taken many captive. In fact Jesus demolished man-made religion as defined in Matthew 23. No church organization pays attention to such details.
Van Robison
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