How To Shop For A Church

How To Shop For A Church

The Pastor/priest: Where Did He Come From?

The Pastor: Where Did He Come From?

by Frank Viola

http://www.ptmin.org/thepastor.htm

It is a universal tendency in the Christian religion,
as in many other religions, to give a theological
interpretation to institutions which have developed
gradually through a period of time for the sake of
practical usefulness, and then read that
interpretation back into the earliest periods and
infancy of these institutions, attaching them to an
age when in fact nobody imagined that they had such a
meaning.

-Richard Hanson

The Pastor.[1] He is the fundamental figure of the
Protestant faith. He is the chief, cook, and
bottle-washer of today’s Christianity. So prevailing
is the Pastor in the minds of most Christians that he
is better known, more highly praised, and more heavily
relied upon than Jesus Christ Himself!

Remove the Pastor and modern Christianity
collapses. Remove the Pastor and virtually every
Protestant church would be thrown into a panic. Remove
the Pastor and Protestantism as we know it dies. The
Pastor is the dominating focal point, mainstay, and
centerpiece of the modern church. He is the embodiment
of Protestant Christianity.

But here is the profound irony. There is not a
single verse in the entire NT that supports the
existence of the modern day Pastor! He simply did not
exist in the early church.

(Note that I am using the term “Pastor” throughout
this booklet to depict the modern pastoral office and
role. I am not speaking of the specific individuals
who fill this role. By and large, those who serve in
the office of Pastor are wonderful people. They are
honorable, decent, and often gifted Christians who
love God and have a zeal to serve His people. But it
is the role they are fulfilling that both Scripture
and church history are opposed to as this article will
show.)[2]

The Pastor is in the Bible . . .
Right?

Man Who Protested at Mass Is Charged

Man Who Protested at Mass Is Charged: "Man Who Protested at Mass Is Charged
By Caitlin Liu, Times Staff Writer

July 23, 2005

Prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges Friday against a man who handcuffed himself to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's chair during a recent Sunday Mass to protest the archdiocese's handling of the priest sex abuse scandal.

Victim advocates said they were outraged by the charges against James C. Robertson, who contends he was abused.

Robertson, 58, of Mount Washington, has sued the church, alleging he was molested by two Catholic brothers at a Gardena high school during the 1960s. He faces up to 1� years in jail and $2,000 in fines on charges of trespassing and disrupting a religious service.

'It's unbelievable,' said Steven Sanchez, the Los Angeles director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. 'For the last five or six decades, priests have gone and confessed to Cardinal Mahony or his predecessors that they were molesting kids, and all this time, Cardinal Mahony and his predecessors could not find the LAPD's phone number … until [Robertson] makes a silent protest.'"

A Few Books Written about Roman Catholicism

Sex, Priests and Power Anatomy of a Crisis - A.W. Richard Sipes

Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children - Jason Berry

Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II - Jason Berry, Gerald Renner

Bill Handle Interview with Former Priest

It's only in America that the filth inside of the dark institution of Roman Catholicism has begun to be exposed.

The Press, media and the courts have made a tremendous difference says former priest, A.W. Richard Sipes. While Sipes was in Rome in 1994 he and asked an offical, "Why is it that Rome doens't acknowledge the problem that we're having? The response, "In Rome the vatican can't figure out why the bishops can't control the press and the courts better."

Click here to learn a little more about what the Roman Catholic institution is really concerned about, and to get a glimpse at how deep this problem really goes.

Keep in mind that when a cardinal is ordained a cardinal by the pope, he kneels before the pope and takes a vow which includes, "I vow to keep secret anything that is confieded to me that if revealed would cause scandal to the church."

Dead priest left legacy of pain, fear

Dead priest left legacy of pain, fear

San Franciscan Selected by Pope

William Levada, who currently fills the catholic office of archbishop in San Francisco has now been promoted to head the "congregation for the doctrine of the faith," formerly known as, the office of the inquisition.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Don Lattin writes:
Pope Names San Franciso Archbishop as orthodoxy chief


"Pope Benedict XVI today named San Francisco Archbishop William Levada to lead the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - making the Bay Area leader the church's top cop for doctrine and second most powerful man in Rome."

>snip

"Looking back, however, one can see early signs of Levada's destiny during his formative years of seminary study at the North American College and the prestigious Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

His doctoral dissertation was on papal infallibility."

>snip

A Dream About a Minister's Wife

No Special Seating

I had a dream that the trumpet had sounded and the
dead in Christ had risen and we which were alive had
been caught up to meet the Lord.

A banquet table was spread and there was much
excitement with joy flooding the place as we began to
seat ourselves for the great feast in the presence of
our Lord and Savior.

A woman came in who I recognized as a minister's wife.
She began looking for a place set for her, but there
was not any, for no one had a special place set.

Surely her position required that a special place be
set, but no, there was not any. She looked around and
there were those that did not have much in life, yet
had kept the faith. Some had been poor and some that
had been old and had lost their usefulness in life.
There were those that had no husbands and those that
had husbands, but they were simple men and not very
educated. There had been those that had struggled with
many children to raise, that were just a pain to be
around...

There were some that had always worn clothes from the
give away rack at the thrift stores, as well as those
that had been repulsive drunkards who had reached out
to the Lord just in time.

People that were simple and not of any high degree in
the church. There were those that didn�t seem to
belong to any group and mostly kept to themselves.
They had not seemed to possess any special talent and
most of them lacked money.

The woman continued to look for her place. There was
no separate table reserved like the ones they had at
all the other meetings where the ministers and their
wives would congregate. No special seating
preparations for the wives of pastors anywhere to be
found. None of the congregation were there waiting to
seat her first, or to serve her as they had so humbly
did for so many years. There was no separation at all
from the others that were just members of the
congregation.

She went about looking for her place and just could
not find it. Nor could she find anyone to sit by,
because she just could not fit in. Her clothes and her
finery were so out of place here. Her husband was no
where to be found, nor any of her other friends in the
ministry that she used to sit next to.

Fear began to take hold of her, as she began to look
about. Then an angel came to her and spoke saying, you
will not find a special place here because all are
saints and there is only One who sits on the throne.

You had your special place in life where you
segregated yourself with your position full of
prestige and pomp and there is not any in this place.
You surrounded yourself with fancies and finery that
most of these could not afford. This place has those
that have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and
they are all dressed in white. There is no division.
These are the simple of the congregation who you could
not sit beside in the past. Besides, your clothing is
all wrong. No one is exalted here for they are all
just saints. You can�t expect to sit beside them now
here in this place. No, there is no place for you.

- a dream that a saint had 2005

BACKGROUNDER ON THE VIRGINIA STATUTE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

BACKGROUNDER ON THE VIRGINIA STATUTE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Where's the Pastor?

Not in the Bible.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Psalm 119:165

Without looking, do you know how many times the word "pastor" can be found in the New Testament? How often do you hear the term, "the pastor" spoken among professing Christians? Where and how did and does this lone pastor, a type of CEO, and in too many cases, a dictator/ruler over the flock of God, derive his power? I challenge you to prove all things and see if the modern day pastor position is not biblically unsubstantiated and therefore unsound.

Do you know without looking? The word pastor, in singular form, is nowhere to be found in the New Testament. The word "pastor", singular, is found once in the Old. The word pastor is found only one time in the entire authorized version of the Holy Bible. Yet these days, as often as one is confronted with the term, you'd think that "the pastor" was the only office in the bible. With all due respect for the true gift of pastoring, we are inundated with man, woman and his or her dog either claiming they are or aspiring to be "the pastor."

Now, I thought that the word pastors (plural) was at least twice in the New. Not so, one time only is the word pastors, plural, found.

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; Ephesians 4:11

And that is it. That is the only place one can find the word pastors in the New Testament.

I thought it was also here: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." I Cor 12:28

Where is the pastor? He is not in the bible. Teachers are there. But you won't find what Christiandom today refers to: a lone, solo, priest prototype or the misused term , "the pastor." He's just not there.

Why is it then, that a word found one time in the entire New Testament has become seemingly the only and particularly the most exalted ministry in modern religious circles? What does it mean to say, "Reverend so and so assumed the pastorate?" That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.


And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15 (King James Version)

So Jesus spoke to them: "You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what's behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous. Luke 16:15 (The Message)



Could it be, that some, if not a vast amount of what we assume to be "just the way it is" is nothing less than false doctrine? Jesus said that some worship him in vain, teaching for commandments, the doctrines of men. Paul tells us "of your own selves" shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. Paul went on to say, "Therfore watch and remember that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears." Acts 20

For three years the beloved apostle ceased not to warn every true, Apostolic, born again of water and spirit, Christian. Night and day with tears he warned them that after his departing, men whom he described as grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the flock, the Apostolic church of the Holy One of Israel.

Why is this so important you may say. Maybe you're content with your local church just the way it is. The bible says,

Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Psalms 119:104 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. Psalms 119:128

The lone pastor system is a false one. Anything we practice that can't be supported with scripture is a hindrance to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus bought the church with His own blood. The least we can do is strive to be what He paid for, for the sake of the saints and whosoever will.

Sincerely I pray,
Lori Ann in L.A.