Commercial Break: 6 Warning Signs Your Pastor is Building His Own Kingdom

 

6 Warning Signs Your Pastor is Building His Own Kingdom

This is a real danger for pastors. When a ministry begins to flourish and becomes broader in scope, there is a danger that the pastor starts building his own kingdom instead of the Kingdom of God. 

What happens is that slowly, over time and almost unnoticed, the pastor becomes the center of attention and Jesus is replaced on the altar by the man. One thing’s for sure; this kingdom will not last because it is of man. It might flourish for a time, but so does a flower and then it’s gone.

Your Pastor is Always Right

(Note: Even when he never is)

When your pastor is always making himself or herself right, this can be very problematic for a number of reasons. No one is always right, including pastors. A pastor’s responsibility isn’t to interpret the Bible; their job is to preach the Gospel. It’s not based upon what they think. It’s based on what God says. If your pastor is unwilling to acknowledge or admit their mistakes or doesn’t accept an obvious mistake, that should be a major red flag. Also, if there’s a problem in the church, your pastor should be approachable. If a pastor is so unapproachable and unopen to constructive concerns or criticisms, then he his heart is not in the right place concerning the ministry.

Your Pastor Overrules the Board

(Note: In some cases, this is not a problem as the Board never offers anything to which the Apostle, Prophet, Elijah to Come, Messenger of the Covenant and Branch would take exception to.)

Is your pastor a loose cannon? If he or she is, this is a warning sign that they are too controlling and have their eyes set on an alternative kingdom. A pastor should never have the church checkbook in their possession. Your church deacon or treasurer should be in possession of this and require at least two signatures, not one being the pastor’s. If you see your pastor beginning to break the rules of the church, then that is a major sign that something is going on that shouldn’t be. A pastor is accountable to the church. This ensures that they stay above reproach.

Your Pastor Doesn’t Delegate

A huge red flag that your pastor is building their own kingdom is when they begin to do it all, refusing to delegate anything. When this happens, your pastor has too much control and is no longer focused on Christ’s kingdom and the role of the church. The gifts of the men and women of the church should be utilized to the ministry of the church. All members of the church must be allowed to minister in their particular place in the body. One man or woman can’t do that.

Your Pastor is Surrounded by "Yes Men"

(Note: Ahem...)

This is a pretty big red flag and can have very negative implications. “Yes men” refers to those individuals who only say yes to everything that is presented to them. If a leader wants to be successful, they must be willing to say “no” to “yes men.” 

The problem with yes men and those unwilling to disagree, lead-up or challenge their leader is leaving their leader vulnerable to settling for the status quo. It’s important for leaders to create an environment where individuals can be open and honest. If your pastor isn’t doing this, you should be concerned.

Your Pastor Resists Accountability

(Note: As in "Why is nothing you preach real or true?" and "Why is it always that we didn't understand but now you do x 48 this year?)

Accountability is defined as “the quality or state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.” Sadly, pastors are not excluded. 

You should pay attention to a pastor who has stopped being accountable for job responsibilities. (Note: Or the veracity of his theology).  

This is a huge red flag that he is building his own kingdom and not God’s. Pastors set the example for accountability. Remember, a pastor’s official responsibility is to govern the church along with the elders, and his focus should be primarily spiritual, attending to matters such as edifying believers and equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry.

Sabbath

 

The concept of Sabbath as a spiritual practice in Judaism and Christianity

Used in my class tonight.

New from Journey Films: 

SABBATH

An Ancient Tradition Meets the Modern World

• Award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier explores what the revolutionary concept of a day of rest can mean for a burned-out world.
• Released to PBS stations nationwide June 1, 2023 via American Public Television. Featuring theologian Judy Fentress-Williams of Virginia Theological Seminary
• Streaming on-demand at journeyfilms.org; on Youtube at https://youtu.be/WTfzePC5lt0?si=RFJxYrDU_Y8MfEfm. Visit the Journey Films Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@JourneyFilms.

In his new film SABBATH, award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier explores the religious, secular, psychological, and sociological implications of a weekly day of rest for a “profoundly burned-out world.” The wide-ranging two-hour documentary delves into the history and practice of an ancient concept that is rooted in the biblical story of creation.

Practicing Sabbath may be a remedy for what ails the modern world—whether it’s a 24-hour religious observance, or a secular respite from the nonstop pace. “Two-thirds of Americans say that they’re working more than 40 hours week,” says sociologist Notre Dame Tricia Bruce. “We work more in order to sustain the same level of living,”

Internist Dr. Sigve Tonstad notes that the increased use of prescription medications for acid reflex and mood disorders indicates just how stressed-out society is.

“Our world now runs 24/7 with little distinction given to the day or the hour.

Sabbath challenges us to set aside time for the sacred, to set sacred time apart from ordinary time and do it regularly,” says Doblmeier. “It has been an important and life-guiding practice across the ages and it’s needed now more than ever.”

“Sabbath is not simply a pious teaching,” says theologian Norman Wirzba, of Duke Divinity School and author of Living the Sabbath. “What’s at stake is the very meaning of life.” Rabbi David Seidenberg says, “The Sabbath is made to teach humanity something.”

Doblmeier and the Journey Films team traveled coast-to-coast exploring Sabbath beliefs and practice, meeting authors – both secular and religious, monks, theologians, clergy, farmers, physicians, and practitioners both young and more senior. He shows the profound beauty of the practice across traditions, the principles of justice that undergird it, and the potential it offers for healing a stressed-out world:

• Judaism: “Shabbat is the Jewish cathedral,” says Susannah Heschel, professor at Dartmouth College, referring to the metaphor used by her father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in his classic The Sabbath.“Sabbath arrives with sunset, we don’t make it arrive.”
• Pandemic and the Sabbath: One chapter in the film focuses on the challenges posed by COVID-19 to public gatherings for Sabbath worship. “Catholic worship is very communitarian,” says popular TV personality Robert Barron, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of WinonaRochester. “That form of worship is not something that can be done through a camera lens.”
• Sabbath and the Environment: The Sabbath principle of not taking too much from the soil is modeled at Princeton Theological Seminary’s Farminary, which integrates theological education with small-scale agriculture. “Our exhaustion and the exhaustion of the broader creation are two sides of the same coin,” says director Nate Stucky.
• Sabbath and the African American experience: Judy Fentress-Williams of Virginia Theological Seminary discusses the critical role Sabbath played for enslaved people and how, over time “church for black people became everything.”
• Seventh-day Adventists: For Rev. Michael Mickens, pastor of South Jackson SDA Church in Jackson, Mississippi, keeping the Sabbath means practicing righteousness, justice, and compassion towards those in need, principles reflected in the church’s ministries that includes a health clinic that is open on their Saturday Sabbath.
• Sabbath and Justice: “In the day of Shabbat one is living in potentially radical equality with the people around you,” says eco-theologian Rabbi David Seidenberg. This is amplified in the Jewish observance of a Sabbath year: “In the Shmita year, one is doing that to an even greater degree. The rule is that all debts are forgiven.”
• Latino Catholics: Sunday Mass at downtown Los Angeles’s Our Lady Queen of Angels parish is a vibrant Sabbath observance and community gathering. For a largely immigrant congregation, community organizer Joseph Tomás McKellar says that Pope Francis’s words are important “If you have the right to work you also have the right to rest.”
• Islam: Muslims do not speak in terms of Sabbath. However, the Friday Jummah Prayer, offers an opportunity to pause, rest, reflect. Imam Khalid Latif, Executive Director of the Islamic Center at NYU quotes the Koran: “Indeed in the remembrance of God, hearts find rest.”
• Unplugging: A form of a secular Sabbath, the Unplugging movement encourages disconnecting from devices for a 24-hour period to take time for self-care, family, and friends. But Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World, adds one thing missing is that “we all have to do this at the same time. If we don’t, we’ll never be able to relax. We don’t trust that our coworker is unplugging too.”
• Romantic Sabbath: Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and poet William Wordsworth advocated a poetic ideal of cultural and personal Sabbath.

Doblmeier looks into the fascinating history of Sabbath, from its biblical origins to the present day. Sunday closing laws, preventing stores and other commercial enterprises from operating on the Sabbath, go back to the early founding of America. Those “Blue Laws” in the U.S. were supported in the early 20th century by the nascent labor union movement, “a surprisingly religious story that does converge around Sabbath,” according to American religious historian Thomas Kidd. Closing laws (which did not extend to those who celebrate Sabbath on Saturday), are largely gone, but still exist in towns such as Bergen, New Jersey, where the mayor says that Sunday closures allow the town “one day when we can catch our breath and relax.”

The Journey Films site (www.journeyfilms.com) offers extensive Education and Outreach materials to facilitate presentations, conversations and discussions about SABBATH in churches, schools and organizations.

ABOUT JOURNEY FILMS Journey Films was founded in 1983 by award-winning filmmaker Martin Doblmeier as a television and film production company specializing in religion, faith and spirituality. Journey Films has produced more than 30 documentary films that have aired on PBS, ABC, NBC, the BBC and on broadcast outlets around the world, including BONHOEFFER, BACKS AGAINST THE WALL: The Howard Thurman Story, REVOLUTION OF THE HEART: The Dorothy Day Story, and SPIRITUAL AUDACITY: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story. Journey’s films have been translated into more than a dozen languages. In all, Journey Films have won three regional Emmy Awards, eight Gabriel Awards for the nation’s best film on a topic of religion, three Gold Awards at the US International Film and Television Festival, the Sun Valley Film Festival and many others.

ABOUT MARTIN DOBLMEIER Martin holds degrees in Religious Studies, Broadcast Journalism and three honorary degrees in Fine Arts and Humane Letters. Since 1983 he has produced and directed more than 30 films focused on religion, faith and spirituality. Martin combines a lifelong interest in religion with a passion for storytelling. Over the years he has traveled on location to more than forty countries to profile numerous religious leaders, spiritual communities, heads of state and Nobel Laureates. His films explore how belief can lead individuals to extraordinary acts, how spirituality creates and sustains communities, and how faith is lived in extraordinary ways.

Could This Be The Most Pathetic Feast Sermon Ever?

Imagine for a moment that you have driven close to a thousand miles to attend the Feast with like-minded brethren, or maybe spent thousands of dollars in plane fare for you and your family. You arrive at your temporary dwelling in a mid-priced hotel and walk into a room with less than 40 people present. Already the alarm bells are going off, but being the good COG follower you are you tell Satan to take his nasty thoughts and shove them, you are there to enjoy the Feast!

Then it comes time for the sermon. All excited you bring your briefcase up onto your lap and pull out the big fat Moffit Bible you have diligently been highlighting for years and the new notepad bought especially for Feast notes. After all, true followers of Christ take diligent notes so they can inculcate the word spoken by God through the ministers. You are excited to hear new truths about the millennium and the world tomorrow where the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

This is going to be so great, your kids will be enthralled.

And then, the minister opens his mouth and it quickly goes downhill. You look at your kids as their eyes enlarge and tears start to form as they hear this:

Wild Beasts and Prophecy

Louis Rubin discusses the prevalence of tigers as pets. He also discusses the number of dogs and cats people have. He quotes passages in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Ezekiel, Revelation, and Jeremiah related to prophecies about problems with wild beasts, including dogs. Louis Rubin quotes various ones related to risks associated with rabies. He speculates that food shortages related to the ride of the third horseman of the Apocalypse may be a factor in the deaths from wild beasts and pestilences associated with the ride of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse. He mentions that scripture prophecies the death of 2 billion people during the ride of the fourth horseman.

What in the flying jackass did you just hear? Your kids now see this in their minds:

All of this crap is derived from another ludicrous article by the Armstrongite propaganda machine in the 1960s when the tribulation was just a few short years away. Scare the brethren and they will send in more money for that final push, and to save their sorry asses.

The old Radio Church of God published the following:

God warned Israel in Leviticus 16:14-35 what would happen IF THEY DISOBEYED this law. Israel was to receive severe punishments in four progressively worsening stages unless the nation repented.

Some have thought this prophecy apples only to Israel’s first punishment, and isn’t for us today. They quote verse 22: “I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you FEW in number; and your ways [roads] shall be desolate.”

Those who are scoffers will say, “That is no concern of ours: there are not enough wild beasts in this nation to do any serious damage.” Don’t you believe it! We are already getting a foretaste of this condition. Rabies and other diseases that are spread by animals are becoming increasingly more destructive, …

Besides the rabies that is being spread far and wide by foxes, skunks, mice, bats, and dogs, there are many more diseases that are bringing great destruction to our children and cattle. Diseases, however, are not the only source of trouble from animals. Man has so abused his natural surroundings that wildlife populations and their food supplies are becoming unbalanced. When a species becomes too numerous, or its natural food supply runs low, it is likely to cause abnormal destruction due to sheer hunger madness. Consider the following report from TRUE MAGAZINE, March, 1960:

“There are twice as many rats in the world as people — about five billion (400 million rats in the U. S.). EVERY 12TH FARM IN THE WORLD PRODUCES FOOD ONLY TO FEED RATS; a total of about two million average sized modern farms! …”

Wild animals are destined to become even more destructive THROUGHOUT the world BECAUSE MEN HAVE SEVERELY ABUSED THE LAND. (Robinson JW. Are We Cursing our Land? Good News, December 1960)

This is the resource material for Armstrongite and Bobite "ministers" to pull their information from. These men of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god" have never had any real religious education, know nothing about the Bible except what they read in Bob Thiel's books and booklets, or if they have been in the church long enough from old Worldwide Church of God publications. That is the reason they CANNOT discuss Jesus or the New Covenant in any detail.

Ideally, that kingdom to come in their long desired millennium will be a kingdom ruled by Christ that will be 1,000 years of rest, unless they are a king or priest or better yet a god or goddess and then they will be busy ruling worlds with rods of iron. No rest for the wicked! They need to be educated into the ultimate truth, Bobism!

Little will be heard about Christ at any of the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu's Feast sites. Upcoming death and destruction with war, plagues, rampaging animals, vicious cats and dogs, rabid hamsters, and knife-wielding chinchillas will be the topic of discussion. Finding rest in Christ will not be heard.