While it is on my mind, let me do that and quote a few more verses that I suspect will never be heard form a Struthers pulpit.
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James 2v1-4
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Wow. Actual advice – objective standards that allow people to know what is expected of them, and for there to be the same expectations of everyone. Not “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring – what you do is make sure you have a sense of anointing and feel that you are led by the spirit in what you say.” Nope, nothing vague and subjective, just clear and logical advice to follow.
According to these verses, how you act does not depend on how spiritual you are or how much you are tuned into God, but upon a set of principles that can be applied in many different situations. (Again, please note I am not saying you can never be led by God, or following a key principle is the only way to decide what is best to do. What I am saying is that the Bible includes clear advice about standards and behaviour and you cannot claim to follow the Bible if you miss that out and only ever preach from verses that fit your favourite theories.)
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Matt 7v21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
So, people saying Jesus is Lord, prophesying and casting out demons should NOT be taken as a sign that someone is right with God. Interesting.
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Deuteronomy 1v13
Choose some wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes and I will set them over you.
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Acts 6 v 3
Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
In both the old and the new testament, the leaders ask members of the congregation to choose people they see as wise. The leaders do not choose these people themselves, nor are those to be chosen revealed by God in some way, it is the ordinary people who are asked to choose and, in both cases, one of the criteria used is Wisdom (which is of course also featured elsewhere in the Bible). Could you as members of the congregation identify those in the congregation who are wise? Not just "full of the Spirit" - that is a separate criterion - but full of wisdom?
What about the closing bit - have you ever been asked to “choose among yourselves”? Do you know of anyone in Struthers who has been appointed to any role by this method - that the leaders asked the ordinary members to choose amongst themselves?
If not, they are only preaching from and practicing selected parts of the Bible.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2021 11:06PM by ThePetitor.