Hold Pastors Accountable!

Subject: Hold Pastors Accountable! Tue May 20, 2008 3:41 pm

Todd Friel, from Way Of The Masters, read this manifesto from an Anonymous writer, saying this is what the congregation should do to their pastors who aren’t accurately preaching the Word of God. I couldn’t understand everything that he was saying, but I’ll write out what I understand. If you want to hear it for yourself, its on the WOTM website for May 12th hour 1. Alrighty, so it begins:

Make him a minister of the Word.
Fling him into his office, tear the office sign from the door and nail on the sign, “STUDY”.
Take him off the mailing list.
Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible.
Slam him down on his knees before text and broken hearts.
Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God.
Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are.
Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through, and let him come out ONLY when he’s bruised and beaten into being a blessing.
Set a time clock on him that will imprison him with thought and writing about God for 40 hours a week.
Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every nonessential.
Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence.
Bend his knees in the lonesome valley.
Fire him from the PTA.
Cancel his country club membership.
Burn his eyes with weary study.
Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God and make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man.
Make him spend and be spent for the Glory of God.
Rip out his telephone.
Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets.
Diffuse his glad hand.
Put water in his gas tank.
Give him a bible and tie him to the pulpit and make him preach the Word of the Living God.
Test him.
Quiz him.
Examine him.
Humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine.
Shame him for his good comprehension of finances, batting averages and political infighting.
Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day, “Sir! We would see Jesus!”
When at long last the pastor dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a Word from God. If he does not, then dismiss him. Command him NOT to come back until he’s read and re-read, written and re-written, until he can stand up worn and forlorn and say, “Thus saith the Lord!”
Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity.
Smack him hard with his own prestige.
Corner him with questions about God.
Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom and give him no escape until he’s back against the wall of the Word.
Sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left…GOD’S WORD.

There is more that Todd Friel reads, but this is awesome! We are so quick to talk about pastors behind their back, or just up and leave a church. We must hold our pastors accountable!!! Talking about them behind their back or leaving the church with not a word said to them will not help. They will continue to lead others astray. Let’s help our pastors get on the right track by holding them accountable to teach the unadulterated PURE Word of God.

Subject: Re: Hold Pastors Accountable! Wed May 21, 2008 7:45 am

hey Jewel. I wholeheartedly agree with what Todd said as well! When I heard it the other day, I was in my office working and it took a lot for me to stay seated and keep my lips from shouting "AMEN" a few times.

I was thinking about this the other day, and had a thought about it i'd like to share. In a lot of pentacostal churches these days, it's almost like the Church has already been prepared for this. In my old church, the congregation had VERY limited access to the pastor (which after hearing the portion you just mentioned along with that letter from the pastor who talked about suffering in the pastoralship as a BADGE OF HONOR when compared to the stripes of Christ.. you know the one where the guy mentioned some of the hardships he faced like babies dying in his arms, people forcing themselves into his house to sit his wife down and tell her to her face that she was a horrible first lady, and my favorite, when the pastor had to tell a woman who had labored in the ministry for years and was a GOOD worker, that her relationship and marriage were not supported Biblically, and she left the church. It's odd that pastors would seclude themselves).

well to get to the point, it's almost like these churches do that so that correction is extremely frowned upon. it's almost like Pastor BECOMES the word. I don't know if you had a similar experience.. but anytime the Pastor would enter a room to preach... everyone would stand and burst into thunderous applause and cheers... the man was utterly revered... look at more like a celebrity than a servant. That makes it REALLY hard when you want to leave a church or approach the pastor to make him accountable. The way it worked at that church.. was if you wanted to see the pastor.. you had to make an appointment... and you had to go thru the secret service first... and they wanted to know EVERYTHING... so you couldn't just say "yeah.. i'd like to approach pastor about his heretic teaching and wreckless approach to God's word". LOL.. ya know? Be praying hard for cats with the burden to approach pastors in that setting.. it's really hard.

When i spoke to my pastor.. my heart was beating OUT of my chest man... really.. really hard when you've been led to believe certain things.

Subject: Re: Hold Pastors Accountable! Wed May 21, 2008 9:29 am

You are SO right. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of Pastors that close themselves up, so that they don't have to be accountable to their flock. There are chain of commands where, if a man has a problem, he has to speak to the leader of the men's ministry, who will in turn relay the message to an elder, who will speak to the associate pastor, who will bring it up to the pastor during their monthly meeting. And you pray that nothing was lost in translation. This is one of the reasons why I have problems with megachurches. I'm not saying that God can't use megachurches, but its almost impossible for pastors and leaders to be accountable to their flock when there are so many in attendance.

Another thing I hear from pastors, when you do charge them with something is, "Follow me as I follow Christ". How am I to willingly do that if you're (on a regular basis) teaching something that is unbiblical? Apparently you AREN'T following Christ if you can, with confidence, preach something that isn't true. And I'm not suggesting that every pastor does this on purpose. I believe there are some loving pastors, who truly have a heart for God and His people, but they just aren't whole-heartedly submitting themselves to the Word. They have other things going on, they are intimidated by the congregation, they let tradition stand in the way. Whatever it is, whether its done on purpose or by mistake, these pastors will be held responsible. And not just pastors, but any leader. That's why I NEVER seek position or title. It is a lot of responsibility and unless I am totally convinced and confident that I will be able to lead my group of people (be it Sunday School teacher or a mentor) I will reject the position.

Please continue to pray for the pastors. They really need it.

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