Hostage To Pastors

by Van Robison

hostageHow many of today's pastors would continue to preach if no money was involved in ministry? Very likely not more than a handful of them would preach if they did not get paychecks. Pastors all want you to volunteer your time and especially your money, but how many pastors volunteer to preach the Gospel for free? Did Jesus Christ ever intend that preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God should become a multi-billion dollar business enterprise, such as we see in the world of churches today? The message that Jesus Christ very clearly gave to His hand-picked disciples was "freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8), and yet almost all preachers today think "freely give" means for church goers to "freely give" to the preachers, when Jesus taught His "preachers" to be the ones to give freely, and not to merchandise the Gospel. Elsewhere Jesus taught that "by their fruit you will know them", and it seems the fruit of almost all pastors today is to take your money, and not to give freely.

The reason that the disciples of Jesus Christ were warned NOT TO PREACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST (Acts 5:29 and Acts 5:40), is because the teachings of Jesus Christ stripped the religious leaders (elders, priests, chief priests, scribes and lawyers) of:

  • False religious power.
  • Money robbery.
  • Man-made customs and traditions, in the name of God.
  • Self-importance and self exaltation.
  • Deceiving people with heavy burdens, not from God.
  • Works done to be seen of men.
  • Wearing religious garb to impress others with their false "Holy" status.
  • Vain titles such as being called "master" or "pastor", when Jesus Christ is the only Master and real Shepherd.
  • Being lords over God's heritage.
  • Focusing on money, instead of love, mercy, compassion and faith.
  • Straining at gnats and swallowing camels (majoring on minors, while minoring on majors).
  • Appearing as "angels of light", when inwardly they were wolves in sheep's clothing.
  • Appearing outwardly beautiful, while inwardly being full of dead men's bones.
  • Appearing outwardly righteous, while actually being hypocrites.
The church world is hostage to pastors in our day and age, much as the common person was to the religious leaders of the time of Christ. Even Paul of the New Testament era worked with his own hands, earned his own private income, paid his own expenses, and never coveted the gold or silver (money) of anyone by his own admission (Acts 20: 29-34). Paul, unlike almost all preachers today, followed the admonition of Christ to "freely give", and even though Paul earned his own income through tent making he still found time to preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1).

Millions of church goers are hostage to pastors, not only for money sake, but also by the many false teachings circulating in the world of churchianity. False teachings have to do with such issues as:
  • End times false prophecies.
  • Placing hope and faith in "the rapture." (A false escapist doctrine, not founded on Biblical truth).
  • Saturday "Sabbath" observance. (Jesus Christ is the real Rest, and not any day of the week). Matthew 11:28 "Come unto ME, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST." See also Hebrews 4:9-10, and Colossians 2:16-17.
  • Sunday observance. (A man-made tradition never established by Jesus Christ).
  • Man-made customs and traditions having to do with churchianity. For example:
    • Church buildings.
    • Church steeples.
    • Stained glass windows.
    • Pastor worship. (Hotly denied, but millions bow to professional clergy as if they are infallible).
    • Many other endless customs of churches, and there are many.
  • False tithing.
  • The professional clergy (clergy/laity) system of churchianity.
  • False emphasis upon "going to church", rather than simply following Christ 24/7.
  • Corporate churchianity.
  • Business models of megachurches.
  • "Senior Pastors", when the real Master/Shepherd and Senior Pastor is Jesus Christ.
  • Other endless man-made religious ideas, in the name of Jesus Christ (falsely so).
In the time of Jesus Christ and the original disciples, the religious leaders commanded that there be NO PREACHING IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. Today, the religious church leaders tell you that you are in "rebellion" if you question their "authority", especially if you tell them that Jesus Christ gave them NO AUTHORITY OVER ANYONE (except to cast out demons). Instead, they want to tell you "Paul said", without ever digging deep to discover that some writings attributed to Paul are in contradiction to the teachings of Christ, and are either falsely interpreted, mistranslated, or even entirely spurious.

As long as Christians allow preachers to do their thinking, they will be be HOSTAGE TO PASTORS, and pastors will gladly take your money for as long as you live, tell you what to think, and make you believe they are ordained by God to rule over your life. If Christians looked to Jesus Christ--the real Shepherd--with the same sheep-like belief they place in pastors, then all pastors would have to give up the "professional clergy" charades. Pastors are very jealous about their false power, control and authority over others, and most seem to never come to terms with the truth: that they do not displace Jesus Christ as Shepherd. If all the money were taken from all the pastors, then we would all be able to easily see the difference between those who are really preachers and those who preach because money is the real motive.

Are you a HOSTAGE TO PASTORS? Or is Jesus Christ your REAL SHEPHERD? Jesus came to SET THE CAPTIVES FREE (Luke 4:18). Is what is termed "Christianity" really man-made "churchianity" (customs and traditions of men)?

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