Christianity?? In the 21st Century

--Bill Petite 

A pastor was removed from the pulpit for three months for horse whipping a man in his office….more than 10 years ago. A PCUSA (Presbyterian) church in SC has hired a transgender Lesbian as their pastor. A pastor in GA has claimed the word, abracadabra, is what Romans 4:17 is referring to. And, finally, four pastors in a GA church falsely accused a popular East TX pastor of plagiarizing his sermons and then apologized for the false accusation and resigned.

Some of this might sound like I found an old National Inquirer and got these stories. But that’s not where I found these. I read them in an online Christian (??) publication. But let’s stop and think for a minute or two and consider if we could have found any one of these stories say, 20 or 30 or 40 years ago? Maybe; I was writing for an online Christian magazine about 15 years ago and I can say I don’t remember coming across anything like these. Well, except for the PCUSA story since they have been inviting Satan and his minions into that organization for the past, I don’t know, put a number on it. I had a nephew who was a pastor in that organization before his untimely death and he fought hard against all the evil they were proposing. He wasn’t alone; he was just one of about 700 pastors between the PCUSA and the UMC (Methodist) who met regularly with the purpose of opposing these non-Biblical practices the two churches (I use that term very loosely) were attempting, at that time, to bring into the denominations. Since then, the two organizations have allowed a lot of these practices to be a part of their being.

As a small child, I attended, with my parents, my uncle’s church. He was a hell fire and brimstone preacher but he spoke the truth of the Bible. I recall entering the church for a Sunday evening service and he came out of the men’s room and was irate. Someone had written on the walls of a stall and he was into a heavy rant about it. The church building was still pretty new and now, I can understand his anger at this. But back then, that was possibly the biggest thing he had to be put off by in that church. He never horse whipped anyone; he wasn’t Gay and masquerading as a pastor in Jesus’ Church and he never took material from someone else for his sermons. None of that stuff would have been heard of back then; many, many years ago.

 

In the late 1960s, there were a lot of denominations and local churches who thought Chuck Smith was out of his mind when he welcomed in a generation of hippies and young people who were considered rebellious and against all authority. But Chuck took the time to know them and understand them. Then, a revival broke out in what we remember as the Jesus People and it spread across the country like gasoline on a wild fire.

But God had ordained that; it was His plan and His will for all of that to happen. But God never had or has in His plan for Gays to be in Church leadership. Actually, God never had in His will for active Gay people to be a part of His ministry without first, being saved and delivered from the adverse lifestyle. There are very, very many former Gay people in the Church who have been saved by Jesus and removed from that sinful lifestyle and have never had a desire for it again. This is not a Gay bashing attack; it is just a reminder of God’s truth found in His word concerning the Gay lifestyle. It is abhorrent to Him. In other words, He strongly hates it. That’s the sin as with any sin and not the person. He will never throw out the person who is guilty of the sin but He will remove the sin from the person.

I can assure you that the person who was hired by that church in SC is not there by the will of God. That person, if he/she will not repent and ask Jesus to forgive him/her for the sin in his/her life, he/she is in danger of hearing what is recorded in MT chapter 7:23:  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’   (That's a lot of pronouns for one person)

There are many today who actually believe they are doing God’s work but they are doing it their way and not God’s way. Those words from Jesus might be the scariest words in the Bible and I really would never want to be a person who hears them. But when people insist on keeping their worldly, sinful desires in their life and insisting that God approves of it, they are only fooling themselves and they will fool themselves right into eternal suffering if they don’t repent.

Why would four pastors in a GA church accuse a pastor in East TX of taking material from another pastor for the purpose of trying to make it his own? Even if they knew each other, and they might, what can you gain from that lie. It cost all of them their pastoral position and might have a really hard time finding another one. Who wants to hire a lying pastor?

I guess I can’t finish this with a little magic. Okay, that was bad but when you really stop and think about it, these false teachers have no fear of saying some of the dumbest things about God’s word. The pastor in GA took the word abracadabra to mean the same as what Romans 4:17 says. The meaning of the word in Aramaic/Hebrew: “I create as I speak”

That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Romans 4:17

This pastor’s emphasis was on that last phrase of this verse and was telling his church that they too could create something from nothing or they could speak it into existence. That would be quite a magic trick since only God Himself can do this. It’s exactly how He created the heavens and the earth; He spoke it all into existence. But we are not God and we cannot do that. But here’s the question; how many people walked out of that building actually thinking they could speak something into being. Or as Pastor Donnie McClurkin, who exposed this lie, asked if you can speak away your bills? Listen, this is nothing more than positive confession which has been taught by the Faith Teachers for over a century. Name it and claim it.

I can’t imagine God will put up with all of this nonsense in His Church for much longer. I am not some crazy date setter but I do believe we are in the very last of times. I am no longer active in any Church ministry but if I still was, I’d be teaching anyone who would listen that God is not to be mocked and He will not tolerate His word being used for the personal agendas of false teachers. He will not put up with abhorrent lifestyles occupying any pulpit in any church. The worship of God is serious and as a pastor, I would not want to be caught up in any kind of un-Godly activities and foolishness when He returns.

His Church is not a social club with annexes around the state or the country. It’s not a project to see how many people can be lured inside in order to pump up the numbers. His Church is not to be presented as a show instead of a place to worship Him. His Church is to be made up of those who truly love and worship Him and only want to please Him and praise Him for who He truly is and that is the one and only true God of this universe.

If you have no problem with the stories I used as an example at the beginning of this post, you should probably check your Christianity and see where the gapping holes are located and then pray and ask God to fill them. He is a truly loving and forgiving God but He is also a just God and sin cannot stand in His presence. So, examine yourself and check your Christianity for holes and then get right with God. And, we all have some holes but some are bigger than others and we just overlook them. I just can’t imagine that God is pleased by what He sees in some of the churches around this nation, not to mention the world. That’s’ what passes for Christianity in the 21^st century.

One Step is More Than Twelve

--Bill Petite
 

 I was lounging by the public pool on the military installation where I was stationed and recovering from a four-day drinking binge. I was sobering up slowly and soaking up the hot sun. I looked to my left and saw my commander and my First Sgt walking toward me. My first thought was there must be an emergency at the vehicle maintenance shop where I was the NCO in charge. This is what I thought because I was on leave this week following the 4^th of July holiday. Why would they be coming to see me when I was on leave?

I was sitting at the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the water when they approached me. The First Sgt said, “Sgt, we need you to come with us back to the Troop (building where the unit was housed and the command offices). I asked him what the issue was and he answered, “You need to just come with us. So, I went with them and when we got back to his office, the First Sgt told me, “Your wife called the commander and wanted to know why you were being so pressured in your job that it makes you drink so much.” I was speechless for a few seconds and couldn’t believe that Jeanne, my wife, had called the commander for any reason.

I told Top, the First Sgt, “I’m not pressured in my job by anyone. That’s not why I was drinking.” The First Sgt talked to me for a while and then took me into the commander’s office. I had always got along with the commander. He was a stern commanding officer but fair. He didn’t pull any punches and told me, “You are going to Detox at the hospital. There are MPs waiting to escort you there. You are very good at your job and I don’t want to lose you but you need help and you’re going to get it now.” That was it; Top escorted me out to the MPs and they took me to the hospital. I wasn’t happy about being stuck in a hospital ward with a bunch of other drunks who were sent there for the same reason I was. We drank too much alcohol and we needed dried out. I was put in an exam room and a psyche assistant came in and asked me a bunch of questions and then left. He told me to sit on a bench outside of the room until the doctor came.

By the time the doc arrived I was almost completely sober. He sat down next to me on the bench and said, “I want to admit you.” Oh no, was my thought. Then he said, “But I can’t.

There are twenty beds in Detox and they are all full. So, I have no place to put you.” My next thought was, “Yay! I’m free.” He gave me a prescription for Valium and told me to get it filled at the pharmacy in the hospital and take it to the MPs office near the main entrance and show them it’s filled and have them call me and I’ll release you. I did all of that and they called Top and told him I was released and he could come and get me. He couldn’t believe it but came and took me home. I vowed to stop drinking following that episode and did, for about three months. I tried and had tried for a couple of years to stop but it never worked. I even went to AA meetings but they made me feel worse.

Jeanne and I had attended a meeting where there were about eighty to one hundred people there and they all took turns telling how they drank away businesses, families and relationships as well as jobs. When we left, I felt terrible and the only thing I could think of was how much worse these people’s lives were than mine. I went to another one on a Friday evening by myself and I sat there listening to what I considered a bunch of meaningless talk. The longer the meeting went on, the more I began to feel sick. I thought, “This meeting can’t be this bad that it is making me feel sick.”

I left and went home and went to bed and Jeanne came in and checked on me and discovered I had a raging fever and a virus. So, it wasn’t the AA meeting that made me sick, it was a flu virus. But I never went back to another AA meeting for the simple reason that it never did anything for me. I just couldn’t figure out how these meetings were supposed to help keep people from drinking. I know, a sponsor is supposed to be there for you to call and keep you from taking a drink. That would have never worked for me. In the twelve-step program, my foot never got in motion for the first step.

I left the military and went to Southern California and to work for a government contractor. The  beer drinking got worse and maybe worse than ever. When I returned from Vietnam, it started and just became a part of my life I could never totally shake. There were times when I would stop for a period of time and then start again. When I met my wife, it stopped until a short time after our wedding. By the time we got to California it was, again, starting to get bad. For two and a half years after arriving in California, it might have been as bad as it ever was. We had three children by this time and that realization never was enough to stop me.

Finally, on December 2^nd, 1984, following an all-day drinking binge, on that Sunday morning lying in my bed waking up and with a groggy head, I heard a voice. For the previous three or four months, I had been reading Bible tracts my kids would bring home from church. Also, a friend at work who was a Christian had been talking to me about Jesus and giving me Bible passages to read in the evening which I did. I knew I had to stop and I tried but the temptation was too strong and I kept on drinking beer.

But on that Sunday morning, I heard that voice as clear as if someone was standing right next to my bed talking to me. I realized it was the voice of Jesus and He asked, “Are you ready to let me deal with this now?” It was that simple and that clear. It wasn’t in King James or some crazy tongue, it was specifically clear English in words I could comprehend. I’ve had people tell me Jesus doesn’t speak out loud to us; He doesn’t speak to us at all. But I heard it and I gave my addiction to Him and it was gone. On that Sunday morning, I was saved and delivered from my alcohol addiction. That was almost 42 years ago and I have never had another drop of booze in that time. I have never craved or desired it. Jesus took it and broke down that wall which separated us. A week later, I heard someone curse and realized that I had not used one swear or curse word since that Sunday morning encounter with Jesus.

Now, I didn’t write this post to get people to stop drinking alcohol or be the ex-whatever who preaches, “You need to stop smoking or you need to stop using salt or stop doing drugs.” No, I’m the person who will tell you that Jesus is the most powerful force in His created universe. He is saddened by programs like AA and NA and whatever other ‘A’ programs are out there. I’ve had several people who are stuck in the AA program tell that I’m still an alcoholic and I tell them I used the one step program and they ask what that is and I tell them, “Jesus!” Jesus has instantly sobered and saved people strung out on some drug. It was witnessed by many people who were quick to tell others.

So no, this is not some written document to preach to those who are hung up and being held captive by booze or drugs and the useless programs who keep them trapped into believing it’s the only help. I’m not the only person who has ever been delivered from booze or drugs or any other deadly habit. The Church is full of Christians who have experienced being saved and delivered by Jesus.

You see, the one step program is a one-time action on Jesus’ part. We never have to go back and repeatedly ask Him to help us with that same addiction because when He heals and delivers, it’s a finished deal. There is no, “I need to go to Jesus again to keep me from drinking.” Jesus heals and delivers us one time. We are saved one time. There is no going back to get saved over and over. That’s AA; you have to keep attending those meetings. You have to stay in contact with that sponsor who will talk you down from your craving. That’s actually one sinner trying to keep another sinner from sinning. It’s a trap which provides no delivery. The addiction is forever hanging over the person’s head and a fear of always falling back into the addiction. I know this aggravates and irritates AA people but it’s the truth.

When nonbelievers and skeptics refuse to believe Jesus is real, Jesus is God and is all powerful, the truth of His power and His love for us is everywhere. It’s all around for them to see but their eyes are blind to this because they don’t want to believe it. I simply tell them, “I am living proof and then explain why I say that.” Finally, this is what I say to those who just simply can’t or don’t want to believe what is all around them. “Jesus is real and waiting with arms wide open and wants to save you and deliver you from the traps in your life. He did it for me and many, many others and He can do it for you.” Trust in Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and invite Him in to be your Lord and savior. It’s that simple.

Are you trapped by a no win worldly program like AA? Consider the words above and let Jesus give you freedom from your addictions and the traps of this world.