There are
many who could be pointed to that (from a Christian perspective) represent
evil. There are the drug dealers and users. There's the small town whore who
puts out a plywood sign at the end of her driveway that says "No Visitin"
when she's taking a night off. There are the bar-fighters, drunks who just love
to make trouble and get into it. There are plenty of corrupt business barons...
oil and lumbermen who are known for their shady deals and the way they treat
those who work for them or have some kind of land dispute with. They play rough
and like to throw their weight around.
And yet from
a Christian perspective, from a spiritual perspective the most evil men in
these towns have to be the ministers.
Leaving aside the sodomite priesthood of Rome
and its centuries of apostasy, I'm speaking of the Mainline Churches, the
Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian pastors who haunt the grand old buildings
and still hold positions of respect within the town.
I've made a
point over the years to talk with these men and in a few cases I have unhappily
worked for them. In principle I will not work on church buildings but I have on
occasion been called to work on a home. In some cases I didn't know the
occupant was a current or retired minister.
Why are they
so evil?
Because they
are false teachers and prophets. I'm thinking of my most recent encounters with
a retired Presbyterian pastor. He attended Princeton, studied under Metzger,
listened to teachers like Tillich and Barth as they came through. Barth to him
is akin to a Fundamentalist zealot. That alone is telling.
This man
doesn't believe in the Virgin Birth, the Incarnation or the Resurrection. He
doesn't believe Jesus to be Divine or that He ever claimed to be. The Gospels
and Epistles are all frauds, written decades after the fact by people claiming
to be Apostles.
The Old
Testament is of course absurd. There's no such thing as predictive prophecy.
Isaiah didn't write most of Isaiah. Daniel is a complete fraud written hundreds
of years after its namesake. Genesis 1-11 is all mythology. He believes in
Evolution and disavows all miracles.
I have spent
hours talking with this man over the course of several years and by my
estimation, the man's favourite authors are Stephen Hawking and Bertrand
Russell, famous for his "Why I am not a Christian."
And yet this
man's home is surrounded with 'Christian' trappings from his days in
'ministry'. Of course there's also a lot of sacrilegious and blasphemous humour
hanging on the walls. He loves to be called 'reverend' by passersby as he sits
out on his porch. And not a few lost and lamentable souls actually come to this
old reprobate for advice.
His whole
life is a fraud. He collects a pension for a career rooted in deception. He
doesn't believe in any of it. Since retirement he doesn't even bother to attend
church.
Here's this
respected man that's looked to as a man of God and yet in reality is a wolf in
sheep's clothing. The druggies can steal your lawnmower but this man can
corrupt the soul. And how many are in hell while having sat under his
'ministry' for many years?
And he's by
no means unique. In fact it's amazing how alike all these guys are. I've talked
to quite a few of them and they all seem to be cut from the same cloth. You
have to know the questions to ask. You have to get them talking. Once they think
you're something of an insider, you know the theological lingo and the names...
then they'll talk.
How can they
look at themselves in the mirror? I don't know. I suppose to them they are sort
of societal/intellectual leaders of the Western Tradition. To them, the
Protestant Reformation, even the New Testament are just stepping stones along
the way of the Great Western Path. And just like Descartes and Hume are
responded to and philosophy moves beyond them, so it is with doctrine and
ideas. The Protestant Confessions were fine documents in their day. I've heard
quite a few say that. But they would be totally inappropriate for our own day.
They don't
believe God has spoken and not a few of them could rightly be labeled as
agnostics. Religion is something man needs and in our culture it has been the Church.
They are sort of ceremonial leaders for sociological ritual. They are
commentators and counselors. This is how they can justify what they do. They
can utilize the historic symbols of the faith because they have social meaning
and if it means something in your heart then it's 'true for you' as it were.
Jesus of
Nazareth is kind of like Gandhi and Paul is interesting but almost as bad as he
is good.
There are
still people in these Mainline bodies that believe more than this and some of
the pastors do as well. But they need to understand they are yoked together
with these devils. On a denominational level these are the people they will
have to deal with, this is where their money goes. How far will these so-called
conservatives in the Mainline bend before they wake up and realize their
denominations are apostate? Get out! Have nothing to do with these people.
Machen was
right, theological liberalism is just another religion that dresses itself up
as Christianity. It's just Secular Humanism using Christian terms. The Presbyterian
pastor knew of Machen and grew quite hostile. He didn't like him one bit.
This retired
pastor has treated me rather shabbily during our last couple of business transactions.
He has a grand old family house full of amazing history. But I'm tired of being
taken advantage of and him changing the deal part-way through. I'm done with
him. He'll be gone soon. He's well into his eighties. I tremble for him. He's
got a lot to answer for and I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
