A New Day
As you can see, if you look at my profile, the man is stepping out from behind the mask. I have been keeping myself unknown to most, by hiding behind the screen name of Pelajus. I have done this because I hold theological positions that are minority positions in my denomination, the Church of God, Cleveland, TN.
However, this week, my wife and I decided that, while we are not leaving the Church of God, that we have to leave the church that we have been members in for six years. We have ministered there, as unpaid assistants, to the pastor who is there. While we love the pastor and the members dearly, we realized that we don't belong there. We have had to keep our beliefs about the Rapture quiet, as everyone believes in a pre-Tribulation Rapture, and we don't. If we even intimated a view contrary to that teaching, folks got all upset and unsettled.
We have different beliefs about Bible translations. I believe the King James to be an archaic relic of a bygone day. To everyone else, the King James Version is the only Bible that God ever wrote.
My wife and I believe that the televangelists of today are the worst lot of hucksters and heretics since Johan Tetzel, during the days of Martin Luther. Many fall down and worship these clowns.
There are other things that have finally indicated to us that it was time to pull up and leave, but we have been fighting this for some time. After all, the two of us have shared a major teaching burden in the church, and our leaving will leave holes in the Wednesday night and Sunday morning teaching. We are not so proud as to think that we are irreplacable, but since the church is running less than 30 a Sunday morning, there isn't much left to draw upon. We hated to leave the church in the lurch, but for the sake of our selves and our teenage kids, we have left the church we attended.
This isn't a happy post, I realize, but it is the truth and situation we face at this time. Where will we go? We honestly don't know. We gave notice of our departure on Wednesday, and here, on Friday, we don't know where we will be going to church this Sunday. The wife says that for the time being, she doesn't want to attend any Pentecostal churches. Coming from a woman raised in the pentecostal Assembly of God, and who is ordained as a minister in the pentecostal Church of God (yes, both of us are ordained ministers), this is an amazing statement.
While we don't want to turn our back on our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, and don't want to deny our Pentecostal heritage, we just don't feel that we can take the small-mindedness of what we have seen over the past few years.
So, the bottom line is this: we still love God. We still desire to serve Him and His Church (pentecostal or non-Pentecostal). We will follow HIm.
A new day is starting for us, in which we can still follow the old paths of God.
As you can see, if you look at my profile, the man is stepping out from behind the mask. I have been keeping myself unknown to most, by hiding behind the screen name of Pelajus. I have done this because I hold theological positions that are minority positions in my denomination, the Church of God, Cleveland, TN.
However, this week, my wife and I decided that, while we are not leaving the Church of God, that we have to leave the church that we have been members in for six years. We have ministered there, as unpaid assistants, to the pastor who is there. While we love the pastor and the members dearly, we realized that we don't belong there. We have had to keep our beliefs about the Rapture quiet, as everyone believes in a pre-Tribulation Rapture, and we don't. If we even intimated a view contrary to that teaching, folks got all upset and unsettled.
We have different beliefs about Bible translations. I believe the King James to be an archaic relic of a bygone day. To everyone else, the King James Version is the only Bible that God ever wrote.
My wife and I believe that the televangelists of today are the worst lot of hucksters and heretics since Johan Tetzel, during the days of Martin Luther. Many fall down and worship these clowns.
There are other things that have finally indicated to us that it was time to pull up and leave, but we have been fighting this for some time. After all, the two of us have shared a major teaching burden in the church, and our leaving will leave holes in the Wednesday night and Sunday morning teaching. We are not so proud as to think that we are irreplacable, but since the church is running less than 30 a Sunday morning, there isn't much left to draw upon. We hated to leave the church in the lurch, but for the sake of our selves and our teenage kids, we have left the church we attended.
This isn't a happy post, I realize, but it is the truth and situation we face at this time. Where will we go? We honestly don't know. We gave notice of our departure on Wednesday, and here, on Friday, we don't know where we will be going to church this Sunday. The wife says that for the time being, she doesn't want to attend any Pentecostal churches. Coming from a woman raised in the pentecostal Assembly of God, and who is ordained as a minister in the pentecostal Church of God (yes, both of us are ordained ministers), this is an amazing statement.
While we don't want to turn our back on our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, and don't want to deny our Pentecostal heritage, we just don't feel that we can take the small-mindedness of what we have seen over the past few years.
So, the bottom line is this: we still love God. We still desire to serve Him and His Church (pentecostal or non-Pentecostal). We will follow HIm.
A new day is starting for us, in which we can still follow the old paths of God.
posted by Bro. Pelajus @ 10:54 PM
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