Letter
to Paul
My
Dear Friends,
Today please be in conscientious prayer for ministers, teachers, church
leaders, missionaries, and pastors. I won't belabor the reasons but Satan
is on a rampage with some I know and it will take God's guidance to get
each of them through it. The Lord knows who is doing what as He does with
each of us. Pray for them to hear what the Spirit tells them, to have
clear guidance where the Lord is taking them, for their protection, for
comfort at the burdens they bear because of Whom they serve, and love
overflowing. He desires for us to know what it is to belong to the Bride
we are to His Only Son, Jesus our Savior, Redeemer and Bridegroom.
This humorous account is only funny because it's true. When you're done
laughing, you may find yourselves in tears before the Lord as I am. We
endure family, continuing to show the love the Lord has for us to others
without compromising the saving grace we have as gospel. We love our own
family that world around us may see how the Lord cares for us and that the
gospel then would be attractive to them to relieve them of the effects of
sin and they would know they have the hope we have. We are salt and light.
Pray for those the Lord has presently on the front lines for Him. Pray for
the Lord to soften the hearts of those He sends us to that they will be
ready to know the truth when they hear it.
Apostle Paul
First Christian Church
Antioch, Syria
Dear Mr. Paul:
I
have your application for missionary appointment before me, and will be as
frank as possible concerning your qualifications as a foreign missionary.
We have to be very careful in choosing our missionaries, and our Missions
Board has reviewed your case thoroughly. We have decided that it would be
unwise to send you to the foreign field for the following reasons:
-
It has come to our attention that you are doing secular work on the
side. We do not feel that making tents and a full time ministry go
together very well. It seems that you do not have enough experience in
trusting the Lord for your income. You should make up your mind whether
you want to preach or continue your profession.
-
Your previous actions have been very rash and unseemly for a minister.
We learned that in a public meeting you opposed Dr. Simon Peter, an
esteemed minister with an excellent reputation. We also hear that you
argued so violently with some of our ministers that a special council
meeting had to be called at Jerusalem to prevent a serious split in the
churches. We frown on such radicalism. For your own good, I am enclosing
a copy of Daius' Carnegus book on “How to Win Jews and Influence
Greeks.”
-
We understand that you do not agree with all the points in our
constitution and by-laws, and do not even believe in all our doctrines.
In checking back, we discovered your Christian education consisted of a
three-year course in Arabia . We find that the Arabian school has not
been approved by our accreditation board and we hear that there are some
strange unknown doctrines being taught in that school. We also hear a
rumor that you are a snake handler. Such a reputation could only hurt
the true cause of Christ and the Church. We don't have all the details
on that episode at Melita, but we understand you claim immunity to harm
from snakebites through a promise of Christ. It has come to the
attention also that you preach much about ‘the Power of God’ and the
‘gifts of the Spirit.’ Also that you speak in tongues a great deal.
Surely you realize that such as this only drives off the better class of
people and attracts only the riff-raff.
-
We see here that you have a jail record in several places. If this is
true, it puts you in a bad light, for our denomination has always stood
for a high standard of holiness, and I fear it would damage our
reputation to have someone representing us that had served time in jails
and prisons. Frankly, Mr. Paul, we seriously doubt you could have been
innocent and the judge wrong in so many cases. It just doesn't look
right.
-
It seems that you are a troublemaker Mr. Paul. Several businessmen of
Ephesus have written us that you were the cause of severe loss of
business to them and even stirred mob violence. You must learn to
cultivate the friendship and influence of men such as these. We also
have some details of a lurid ‘over the wall in a basket’ episode at
Damascus, plus a stoning at Lystra, and several other violent actions
taken against your ministry. Haven't you ever suspected that
conciliatory behavior and gentler words might gain you more friends? We
have never condoned such sensationalism in the ministry. This is just
not the type of ministers that we send out. We have learned through
channels that following some trouble with a preacher on the island of
Cyprus; you had to change your name. This does not seem to us to be
conduct becoming to the ministry.
-
You admitted in your application that in the past you neglected such
needy fields as Bithynia, just because ‘the Spirit didn't lead that
way,’ and that you undertook a hazardous journey on the strength of a
dream you had at Troas. Mr. Paul, surely you don't expect us to go along
with such flimsy and fantastic excuses for your seemingly purposeless
wanderings. Many times you did not stay long enough, in our opinion, to
get a church established. You left your converts many times without even
a pastor to guide them, and without setting the church in order in some
good fundamental denomination. We hear also from Troas that you preach
too long, one sermon lasting almost twenty-four hours, even to the
extent that a young man fell asleep and was seriously injured. We
understand that you claim to have restored his life and raised him from
the dead by falling on him and embracing him. What nonsense! If the man
was injured, you should have called in a competent physician.
-
We understand from your own home church that you could not get along
with your fellow ministers, that John Mark, a commendable young man and
nephew of one of our leading ministers, had to leave your party in the
middle of a journey, and that you had a violent quarrel with gentle,
good natured Barnabas. Now these men are well thought of in Jerusalem
and we wonder why you are always having trouble with your fellow
workers? We have notarized affidavits from three fine brethren,
Diotrephes, Demas, and Alexander, to the effect that it is impossible
for them to cooperate with either you or your program. From what we
hear, you seem to have a self-exalted spirit, boasting about your
revelations and that God has chosen you to reveal some ‘new Mystery.’
Can't you realize that any new truth that is to be revealed would come
through Headquarters to the recognized, more mature brethren, and that
after it had been checked by our Procedure and Doctrine Committee that
we would establish it? As you see, Mr. Paul, we feel definitely after
close scrutiny of your case, that you are undoubtedly the most
unqualified applicant we have ever seen, and my advice for you is to
find a church where you can Work in harmony, and use your past education
as perhaps a Sunday School teacher. I hope I have prevented you from
making a terrible mistake in your life.
Head Minister
First Christian Church
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away
their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou
in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full
proof of thy ministry.” (2 Timothy 3:16-4:5)
Volume 16, 2010 |