by: Dr. Bruce Goddard
Though Eli failed in so many ways, Hannah still believed God and prayed. When Saul turned to a witch for guidance and let folks down, truth did not change. God was still real and the Bible was still David’s guide. When Abraham accepted Hagar as a wife and brought about the child Ishmael, God was still real. Peter cursed and refused to stand for Jesus; John Mark quit and returned home; Paul and Barnabas fussed over Mark and split up; Paul had to publicly rebuke Peter – all these things happened, but the Bible was no less true and God no less real. Leaders let you down.
I am a little frustrated by wimpy, young preachers who are reevaluating their faith because their leader has let them down. Did a man let them down or did their Bible let them down? Are they so shallow as to get their faith from a man? Were they so much like sheep that their convictions were moved by the piece of dirt behind a pulpit? I might understand that instability if it were an average church member, but not when it is a preacher. If one is called of God, it might be wise to get one’s convictions from the Bible rather than frail men.
I believe a woman should keep her thighs covered because of the Bible. I believe a woman should not wear pants because God says there are things that pertain to a man. It matters not if my leader becomes a drunk or a pimp; my Bible is why I believe what I believe. Long hair on a man was condemned in the Bible before I met a preacher. When I cultivated an intimate relationship with my Bible, attendance at parties and hanging around the worldly influences in my life ceased. Preachers inspired me, but the Bible guided me.
I believe in separation because God says, “…come out from among them, and be ye separate…” I believe booze is wrong because God’s Word says it is wrong. I believe worldly fashions in dress, hair, music and lifestyle are wrong because my Bible says so. My spiritual “mentor” may end up in jail or a drunk, but my Bible still says the same thing. (I really do not like the word mentor, it is new on the fundamental scene and not in my Bible anywhere. If that offends you, then you probably have too many issues for me to help you anyway.)
All I want young preachers to do is follow their Bibles, get off Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and foolish blogs. I would like young preachers to stop getting their spiritual opinions from people who change so often that you need to follow them on Twitter because you are never sure where they will be next. You need not follow me on Twitter, you already know where I will be. I will be straight and old fashioned in my stand, just as I was ten, twenty and thirty years ago. I’m not going the way of Reuben, “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.”
So you found out men are flesh. Had you been reading your Bible you would have known that, sissy! Cry, hurt, throw a doctrinal temper tantrum, kick your fundamental feet. Run around and around like Chicken Little screaming the sky is falling. I read enough Bible before I started Bible college to know men do sinful things. I chose soul winning before I started Bible college. I chose separation and the KJV before I heard the name fundamentalism. I figured out secondary separation from reading my Bible with friends, not from a college teacher. Just where did you get your belief system? Did that come up as you played, Call of Duty, Black Ops? Grow up and play the man, not the video boy!
Men fall; I take warning, and pray for their families. Then I keep doing what I knew was right before I met them. What is the problem?
I don’t mind if these spiritual babies get off the scene and join the carnal, contemporary frauds; let some God-called, young men who walk with God and love their Bibles get to leading folks to Christ and serving in the churches of America. Young men need to quit blaming their baby-bottle Christianity on someone who fell and start standing for God the Bible and right. Who cares who sins, it has been going on since the Garden of Eden.
Someone let you down and now you do not know what to believe? Well, you little sissy, when you get out of Kindergarten call me and we will try to find a first grade class for you. But until you grow up and become a man, do not mess up any churches by calling yourself a preacher. Let a man of God do that – one who reads his Bible and gets his conviction from God.
If you did learn the truth of the Bible from a man of God, the Bible is still the same when that man fails. Live it; stand for it; man up – if your heart breaks, your convictions should not.
Dr. Bruce Goddard
Pastor
Faith Baptist Church
Wildomar, CA
thepreachersfriend.com