Don't Let People Guilt-Trip You For Not Going To Church

Hebrews 10:23-27, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”

We live in a world of self-righteous hypocrites. Sometimes religious people make me sick! Our text passage of Scripture from the New Testament book of Hebrews (particularly verse 25 about not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together) is perhaps the most abused and misused Bible verse today. I have had mean people cruelly throw this Bible verse in my face, trying to make me feel guilty for missing a church service due to my poor health, or for not going to church at all because I couldn't find an acceptable one to attend. That is a very ungodly thing to do to someone, guilt-tripping them.

According to PositivePsychology.com in the Netherlands...

Guilt tripping is a manipulative tactic where one person tries to make another feel guilty to influence their behavior or decisions. It often involves emotional pressure that targets the recipient's sense of responsibility or care for the person applying the guilt. SOURCE

A lot of religious people try to guilt-trip others to be unkind and a jerk. They should all SHUT UP in Jesus' name!

When I attended the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2014, I stayed home the previous Sunday because my neck pain was overwhelming and I didn't sleep well at night. When a young Christian fella in the Navy asked where I was last Sunday, I told him the truth that I was in much neck pain. The jerk said, “Forsake not the assembling of ourselves together Brother!” What he said deeply hurt my feelings. What a selfish jerk! I am old enough to be his father. I am sick and tired of hypocrites! If you ever do that to someone, guilt-tripping them, you are the scum of the earth as a human being!

Several years ago I had another little tramp do the same thing to me. I was visiting the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam in 2018 for about a year. The young Christian woman asked where I was the previous Sunday and I told her the truth that I was at home in much pain and suffering. She looked down her long Pharisaical nose to condemn me, saying: “Well, we have a man in church that has high blood pressure, and he takes the same prescription medications as you do, and he is always here at church.” I wanted to call her a “stupid cold-hearted brat,” but I said nothing as a gentleman, knowing that she is immature as an adult. She had no idea what she was even talking about. In fact, we DON'T take the “same” prescription drugs, and how would she even know what medications we take? Listen dear reader, it is none of anybody's business who goes to church, or why someone stayed home, et cetera. People need to learn to mind their own business!

I have no doubt that some zealous churchgoer is going to criticize me for this article, but so be it, that doesn't mean that I am wrong. God understands each person's individual and unique situation. In his helpful book (that I cherish reading again and again), “I Never Knew You,” by Christian author Michael P. Bowen, he writes on page 115 that he cannot attend any of the churches in his town because they all preach a counterfeit plan of salvation...

According to many verses in the bible, especially those warnings God gave to us through Paul in the book of Galatians, you should never listen to anyone’s message that runs counter to the message given to us by Christ, and you should never attend a church where the pastor tells the flock that they must add works of discipleship to faith in Christ’s “finished work” as the way to enter heaven. That’s exactly the reason why I no longer attend any of the local churches in my current hometown. [emphasis added] —Michael P. Bowen, “I Never Knew You,” p, 115

For that very reason I have been expelled (kicked out) of the last five churches that I've attended, for merely TELLING THE TRUTH. Today's incompetent pastors are dingleberries!

Guilt-tripping is a form of emotional manipulation that can harm relationships and is not a healthy way to communicate. Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”  We should be forgiving, kind to one another, encouraging the saints to treat each other with compassion rather than using guilt to control or influence actions. I understand that there are many different scenarios, so I am not addressing every instance in this blog.

In 2014 I heard Pastor Marty Herron at the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam tell hundreds of church members one of the most shameful things that I have ever heard. He said, “Once people are offended and feelings are hurt, it's over!” That's holding a grudge! What Pastor Herron should have said is that even though we are all sinful humans, the Bible commands us to forgive, to be kind, and to love one another instead of holding grudges. Marty Herron was henpecked by the rich people in Harvest Baptist Church, under their wicked control.

I am writing this particular article to encourage anyone who like me, has had much difficulty finding a doctrinally sound local church to attend; and who like me, has health afflictions which cause them to need to be at home most of the time. After all, that is why I receive medical disability. Yet, there are many complete jerks in churches today who will selfishly berate, scold, tear down, guilt-trip and criticize you for your situation, having zero empathy for you. I have heard preachers say that if you have to crawl, don't miss church. I humbly disagree. In these modern times we have plenty of solid Bible preaching available on social media.

When you put someone down for missing church, putting the guilt-trip on them for their situation, the Bible likens you to a monster who takes away someone's warm coat in the winter, leaving them to freeze to death in the cold.  Proverbs 25:20, “As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.” That jerk at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam who guilt-tripped me for missing church was a perfectly healthy young man at the time, showing total disregard for my health afflictions. What a self-righteous hypocrite! Be nice to people.

And that young Christian woman at the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam who guilt-tripped me for missing church, she and her husband eventually quit going to church and stayed at home for years! What a little self-righteous hypocrite! To the best of my recollection, as a witness before God my Savior, I have never one time in my entire life guilt-tripped anybody for anything. If I have I am so sorry, but I don't think I have. I am pretty good at minding my own business. Proverbs 26:17, “He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.”

Sometimes people email me and ask, “Are you talking about me?” I never tell them because THEY KNOW if it's them. I tell them instead what I tell everyone: “If the shoe fits wear it!” If my preaching rings your bell, then I probably am talking about you. If it doesn't then don't worry about it and learn from other's mistakes and sins.

Don't Compare Yourself To Other Christians

I am not trying to upset or offend anybody, and if you are offended then you are missing the entire point of my sermon article. I am simply saying that we should mind our own business. What saith the Scripture?

2nd Corinthians 10:12, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

It is foolish to compare your life and circumstances to that of others. I used to feel bad when I compared myself to some of my peers that I graduated from Hyles-Anderson College with. Some of them are pastoring churches. Others are laboring on the mission field in foreign countries for Christ. Most of them have loyal wives by their side. But I have a website ministry that is not recognized as a legitimate ministry by most Christians. My wife divorced me in 2006 and left me all alone in my physical suffering and chronic pain.

That really depressed me, being alone and not having a recognizable ministry. If you look at church websites that link to other ministries, I can only think of ONE church website that lists my Jesus-is-Savior.com ministry, and that is the website of my long time ministry friend Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023). But God impressed upon my heart years ago that it doesn't matter what other people think, He is my only Judge (James 4:12). My website ministry work for Christ is exponentially reaching far more people than I ever could have as a church pastor or missionary to a foreign country. I am an evangelist to cyberspace, a missionary to the internet, and my ministry is 100% valid and recognized by Heaven's hosts.

I have been dealt different cards in life than others have. I grew up around Skid Row in Chicago, tagging along with my father who ministered to the bereaved, broken and destitute of life for over 30 years as a Skid Row Gospel preacher. That humbled me, allowing me to see where booze and sin can take a person, to the gutter! Thankfully, by God's grace, I have never drank a drop of booze, never smoked a cigarette, and have never taken any illegal drugs. I count myself very blessed, because many people have.

In 1992, I was severely rear-ended by a church bus that permanently misaligned my neck, leading to a diagnosis of Cervical Degenerative Disk Disease and Stenosis in 2004. Sadly, and painfully, I tumbled 15 feet down a conveyor slide at work in 2005, which worsened my injury, adding Radiculopathy to my list of afflictions. So, for a guy like me, God has given me the perfect ministry, that I can work on at home at my leisure. I often need to go lay down and rest.

By God's grace over the past 24 years, I figure I must have at least 50,000 hours invested into my website ministry. There have been at least three times that I remember, when I worked through for 37 hours straight, and thousands of days when I worked for 12 hours or more. It's hard to believe that there are 55,572 files just on my Jesus-is-Savior.com website; I've not been idle for 24 years. I give God alone all the praise, credit and glory (John 15:5).

So, I no longer compare myself to others, because it's simply not fair to myself. Everybody's situation, variables and plight in life is different. God is faithful (1st Corinthians 1:9).

Mind Your Own Business Friend

What do you care who comes to church and how often? What's it to you? You should mind your own business. My old boss used to wisely say: “If you've got enough time to watch what others aren't doing, then you must not have enough work to do yourself.” Amen to that! People should drive in their own lane and mind their own vehicle. Some of the most miserable, hateful and resentful people are the ones who always notice what everybody else is doing or not doing. Really, live your own life in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray for others who are lagging behind in your opinion. It's not your jurisdiction to condemn others.

Ah, and then there's the religious hypocrite for a wife, who wickedly badgers her husband to go to church. I fully agree with Pastor Curtis Hutson, who teaches that if a Christian husband tells his wife to stay home with him from church, she should stay home. If you disagree with that, it is only because you have been adversely influenced by the evils of toxic feminism. Going to church makes you religious, it doesn't make you a good Christian.

I’ve been thinking about how feminism is destroying women and marriages. It’s everywhere now. I know a good man whose wife just left him. The guy would have done anything for her, bent over backwards, but she said she just wasn’t “happy.” So many women today have been sold the Devil's lies and they’re chasing something that doesn’t even exist. Many disgruntled wives are wearing rose-colored glasses, chasing unicorns and rainbows to nowhere. Proverbs 14:1, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

With the blessing of the internet in these modern times it has never been easier to obey Hebrews 10:25b, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is...” It's not the same as physically attending a local church, I get that. But it is nevertheless possible to hear solid, fundamental, Christ-honoring, Bible preaching today via an internet connection. And you can tithe to a church online. And you can encourage and fellowship with the saints online. Praise God! So, you don't have to physically go into a concrete building somewhere to obey this Scripture.

That being said, please don't misunderstand me, I am a firm believer that everybody should attend a local Bible-believing, free grace Gospel only, inspired King James Bible only, sin-fighting, soulwinning, people-loving, separated, fundamentalist, New Testament church. Nothing can substitute for physically going to the House of God. I understand that only the believer's body is the temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit, but the local church is where we meet, the House of God.

Unfortunately, an increasing number of believers simply cannot find a doctrinally sound church in their local area to attend, and that's a big problem. It's becoming next to impossible anymore to find a Baptist church that doesn't preach the damnable heresies of Lordship Salvation (Calvinism) and Misunderstood Repentance (aka, the “repent of your sins” to be saved garbage). These are corrupt cults that you SHOULD NOT attend, nor even listen to, not for even one hour. Galatians 2:4-5, “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Paul refused to hear the other side of the argument. False prophets are subverted of themselves, like the insane flat earth camp.

It is better to just stay home from church than to attend a cult where a counterfeit plan of salvation is preached, and the Devil's corruptible seed is used (i.e., the Devil's bibles).

So, please don't condemn me for my health afflictions if I stay home from church more than half of the time. You are wicked and a horrible person if you berate and guilt-trip anyone for missing church. What you ought to be doing is encouraging that person, praying for them and telling the individual (or family) that you love them in the Lord. Five minutes of praise will do more to help a person than a lifetime of criticism. Proverbs 27:21, “As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.”

And please don't condemn someone for not going to church if all of the churches in their area are preaching damnable heresy! I tell you, you'd be ten thousand times better off staying home from church altogether, than to go to a cult that preaches Satan's fraud of Lordship Salvation, and the “repent of your sins” garbage to be saved that Ken Ham preaches; or they use the Devil's toxic modern polluted Bible perversions. RUN away quickly!

Furthermore, not everyone can drive for an hour to find a good church. I personally cannot drive for more than about 20 minutes due to my adverse health and prescription drug side effects, because I fall asleep behind the wheel. When I visited Tennessee in 2013, I fell asleep while driving from Knoxville to Nashville and I almost died, crashing my rent car into the roadway safety traffic barrier. Thankfully, those concrete safety walls are designed to lean back when you hit them, and toss your car's wheel back onto the roadway, which saved my life. I was lucky and blessed. My guardian angels were on the job watching over me that day! I couldn't believe that there was no damage to the car! That being said, I try not to drive more than short distances. So, I need to find a local church that is a short distance from me. I sure wish a New IFB church would come to Pensacola! The fields are ripe for harvest here!

Dear reader, my whole point in all that I have shared with you in this article is simply that you don't know what other people have to deal with. You don't know their whole story. You don't know what prescription medications they are taking, how many drugs, or how those various medications interact and impact that person's health, mind and life. You don't know their marital situation or family issues. Who am I, or who are you, to condemn others for staying home from church? Honestly, in view of today's pathetic church scene, I see a lot of people leaving the churches to find God. I am not kidding!

At present I am taking seven different prescription medications from two different doctors to control my Type II diabetes, triglycerides, neck pain, burning nerves and radiating sharp pain in my limbs. Thankfully, my A1C that was 10.8% in 2023 is now down at 5.5% (normal) thanks to my doctor. I cannot express in words how miserable I am, physically. The agonizing pain in my neck in a burning pain that radiates into my shoulders and upper back. It is debilitating. The entire right side of my body feels half asleep all the time, which feels like dead weight when I stand up to walk. I live in a lonely world of pain and discomfort. It is the “new norm.” God is good and I have no complaints. Pastor Jack Hyles is right that life is a veil of tears.

The sharp pain radiating down my right arm into my thumb is so awful at times. I love playing stringed musical instruments, but rarely feel the ambition to do so. I just need to often lay down and rest. Sadly, my own wife does not understand what I am suffering through, and she is unfairly demanding of me at times, lacking compassion and understanding to “put up with me.” Understandably, I get irritated and frustrated easily. That is why I strive to keep my life simple.

All I can do is take life one day at a time by God's amazing grace. I learned that we do not grow in strength as Christians, we grow in grace (2nd Peter 3:18). Not being able to obtain an adequate amount of prescription pain medication in Florida has made everything much more difficult for me. I am only provided 40 mg of OxyContin daily by my doctor, which is a joke compared to the 140 mg I received daily 15 years ago on Guam. I need at least 80 mg just to cope. Having only 40 mg a day is not near enough, but no one cares.

The federal and state governments certainly don't care about pain sufferers. The pain doctors are afraid of getting into trouble with the government, so they refuse to treat pain. Tyranny is rarely seen except by those who are oppressed by it. We are not anywhere near as "free" as we have been led to believe by the corrupt American media and White House. It is a shame that U.S. citizens suffering in pain are treated like criminals.

In conclusion, if you know a Christian who is not faithful to attend church, don't guilt-trip, berate, condemn or put them down. Instead, encourage them in the LORD by showing unconditional love toward them. How about giving them a big hug in the Lord? Cordially invite them to church, but don't pressure them. And if someone tells you that they have health problems, let them know you understand and and leave it alone. Pray for that individual. 1st Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” Please don't miss what the Bible just said... AND ABOVE ALL THINGS... love one another.

Today's Professed Christians Have Become The World's Missionaries To The Church

1st John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

I cherish this passage of Scripture as I grow older. Lord willing, I will turn 59 years old on March 5th, 2026. I heard famous actor Dick Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) say in an interview not too long ago that at his old age, he has sadly watched all his friends and family pass away. It is a lonely feeling to be the lone survivor. Dick Van Dyke said: “Every one of my lifelong friends is gone.” The beloved actor just turned 100 years old on December 13th, 2025. And thankfully to report, Dick Van Dyke is a Christian. He is also a Presbyterian, as were Pastor J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988) and the famous Prohibition Era evangelist, Billy Sunday (1862-1935).

I am often reminded of this passage of Scripture when I consider the wicked who are now old, some of whom have already passed into eternity. David Lee Roth comes to mind, one of the most vile entertainers who ever lived. Roth (born 1954) is now 71 years old. Sadly, he is nothing more than a dirty-minded old man, who can shamefully look back over his trainwreck of a life, as the former lead singer of the Satanic rock band Van Halen. 

Tragically, guitarist Eddie Van Halen split Hell wide open on October 6th, 2020, when he died after decades of suffering from cancer, which had spread throughout his body to his lungs, throat, tongue and brain. Eddie also suffered from Diverticulitis (bowel disease). My heart goes out to the guy. Sadly, although Van Halen today is viewed as an American novelty, when I was an impressionable teenager in the 1980's I distinctly remember the powerful Satanic spirit that permeated the band's presence and music. It was surreal, which anyone who grew up in that era fully knows. The god of rock, pop and country music is sex!

Our remaining innocence at that time in the United States between the 1960s to the 1990s was being systematically stripped away by a plethora of demonic rock bands, immoral television shows and subversive organizations like the ACLU, NOW and NAMBLA. Today we are experiencing the dire consequences of these evil influences and bands like Van Halen, with sexual immorality existing everywhere. Marital infidelity and fornication is everywhere. Divorce is shamefully common place today across America. Although divorce rates in southern California for divorce have reached over 70% in some areas, the average nationwide is 41%. This is a symptom of our ungodly perverse culture that no longer fears God. Divorce is always a sin and biblically forbidden. Proverbs 13:10 warns that only by pride cometh contention.

The World's Missionaries To The Church

I own five cherished copies of 'The Strand Study Bible.' They are no longer in print, so if you want one I highly suggest that you buy one before used prices skyrocket to $750 to obtain one. Here is Pastor Brad Strand's commentary for 1st John 2:15...

“Sadly, here in America, there are a lot of Christians who have assumed a kind of reverse mission. Instead of being the church's missionaries to the world,  they have become the world's missionaries to the church. They follow a social gospel instead of a scriptural Gospel and devote their moral energies to trying to make the church more democratic, to assure equal rights for women, to legitimize homosexual marriage, and so on. We are told to love the world's people in order to win them to Christ (Jn 3:16), not love the world's philosophies.”

SOURCE: Pastor Brad Strand, “The Strand Study Bible,” p. 2126

I couldn't agree more with Brother Strand. I and my wife recently experienced a shameful encounter with a local Baptist pastor in April of 2025. His name is Brad Moffett at the Family Baptist Church in Pensacola. He had invited us to meet with him for a pleasant conversation, but then did a Bait & Switch on us, deciding instead of harshly censure my fundamentalist website ministry, with which he largely disagrees. It was a horrible thing that Pastor Brad (age 37) did, a cheap shot to say the least. His father is ten times worse, a potty-mouthed angry man who wickedly holds grudges and kicks people out of church on a whim, as they cruelly did to us in June of 2025. God will punish them for their arrogance and most of all, rejecting THE TRUTH that Bible repentance to get to heaven does NOT mean to turn from your sinning. God's curse is upon this cult that masquerades as a church (Galatians 1:6-9). When men run a local church by their own corrupt standards instead of by the inspired incorruptible Word of God, it has become a manmade cult. Family Baptist Church in Pensacola is a cult!

The thing that resulted in I and Alice being kicked out of Family Baptist Church in 2025 was that the church's authoritarian hypocritical leaders (not myself) decided to make an issue over my fundamentalist Bible preaching on social media against women wearing pants, because the ungodly pastor's ungodly wife wears her ungodly pants (Jude 1:4-6). It was this article in particular that I wrote back in 2019 that put a burr in their saddle. Not only does that carnal pastor's carnal wife wears her worldly pants, but so also does his carnal worldly mother. I speak this to their utter shame!

You know, I was reading from Acts chapter 28 this week, which is an amazing passage of Scripture. At the beginning of the chapter (verses 1-6) we find the Apostle Paul shipwrecked on the island of Melita. The local barbarous (meaning primitive) people befriended Paul and his companies because it was cold and raining. They build a warm fire for the men. Suddenly a poisonous snake bit Pau's hand. But when the primitive ignorant islanders saw this, they falsely accused Paul of being a murderer who was being punished by nature. A few moments late when they saw that Paul didn't get sick or die, they said he was a god.

This passage of Scripture is reminiscent of many people in the world, still today. The idiotic fools in this passage of Scripture irritate me. When I and Alice heard Pastor Brad Moffett challenging me to show him from the inspired Holy Bible where God forbids women to wear pants, he was just as foolish and ignorant as those barbarous islanders. The big difference is that Brad Moffett knows better, but he is in denial. The naïve people of Melita had an excuse, they were barbarians. But in the United States of America, with all our wealth of knowledge and access to study resources, NO ONE has any legitimate excuse not to do what is right.

The writer of the Proverbs warns about “the attire of an harlot” (Proverbs 7:10b).

Women began wearing pants in Western society during the mid-19th century, primarily due to the dress reform movement. However, it wasn't until the mid-20th century that pants became widely accepted as everyday clothing for women. The concept of women wearing “immoral” pants is tied to societal norms and values that have changed over time. Historically, women began wearing trousers in the 19th century as part of the dress reform movement, but it was often viewed as scandalous or inappropriate until the 20th century when pants became more accepted in women's fashion.

Dear reader, the sinful world has changed for the worse, but God's high standards of morality have not changed. If it was wrong for a woman to wear pants 300 years ago, then it is still, wrong today! I contend that pants on a woman is the attire of an harlot! I've noticed that the number of readers for my ministry blog have been steadily decreasing since I've been preaching hard biblically against women wearing pants in public. SO BE IT! If the truth offends you, it is only because you are living in disobedience to our holy Creator! But kindly said, while you are here I am going to tell you THE TRUTH, like it or lump it. That is my faithful duty as a fundamentalist Bible preacher. My aim is to please God, not increase the number of readers.

Only a wilfully blind fool would dare to justify Christian women wearing pants, in plain view of such Scripture passages as 1st Timothy 2:9-10, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” And Titus 2:5,To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Every Christian woman who wears pants (which is irrefutably men's clothing) KNOWS deep in her heart of hearts that she is sinning, by defying a holy God who created man in His own likeness. She is sinfully tempting men to lust.

I and Alice were shocked in April of 2025, when Pastor Brad Moffett said in his office that it shouldn't matter if his wife wears pants, because a man who walks in the Spirit will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Well, if his rebellious wife would start waling in the Holy Spirit, she'd stop wearing her provocative sexy pants in public! To wickedly lay the blame upon men for a carnal woman who dresses worldly to tempt them is as wicked as the Devil. What a shameful disgrace for a Baptist pastor. Clearly, Brad is henpecked.

Pastor Strand nailed it in his 'The Strand Study Bible,' professed Christians today have become the world's missionaries to the church. Women wicked pastors and their ungodly wives encourage girls and women to wear pants and shorts, they are bringing the world into God's House!

Pastor's Wife Gets Caught With Her Pants On

I and Alice heard Pastor Brad Moffett's immature wife shamefully compliment a young teen girl on her “nice shorts” at the church's annual picnic at the Lillian Recreational Park in Alabama in May of 2025. It was the church's annual Memorial Day picnic. It was our first time attending. The pastor's wicked wife walked over 50 feet to our picnic table while we were eating, to make sure we heard her brag on the young girl's “nice shorts” in front of our faces, clearly to taunt me as a fundamentalist Bible preacher. It was eating the pastor's wife at the core of her conscience that my wife was wearing a full-length dress, putting the pastor's immodestly clothed wife to utter shame in her ungodly pants. I didn't pick this fight, they did!

It was quite obvious what compelled the pastor's wife to do what she did, because Alice came to the picnic in a feminine modest full-length dress, which without saying a single word made the wicked pastor's wife feel like an immoral woman because she was wearing her worldly snug pants. We did not take her SHAME upon us! We left the picnic. It couldn't have been more obvious that we were not welcomed, all because we are separated fundamentalist believers and they are neo-evangelical unseparated hypocrites. From day one in 2021 they held a sinful grudge against me because of my fundamentalist ministry.

And I'll say it again, lest anyone wrongly accuse me of judging others, it was THE PASTOR AND HIS WIFE WHO MADE AN ISSUE of my Bible preaching, not me. I am simply taking a biblical stand to finish what THEY STARTED. Psalms 94:16, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” I couldn't care less if the pastor's wife and mother wear pants, which is why in the 45 months that I attended the Family Baptist Church I never spoke a single word against them.

You see dear reader, that is the power of THE TRUTH. If you are a godly Christian lady and you wear a long dress everywhere you go, worldly hussies who wear their shameful pants WILL persecute, mock and be mean to you. So says the inspired Holy Scripture in 2nd Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” That is why they ruthlessly kicked me and Alice of of their religious social club, because they know WE ARE RIGHT! That is why neither of the pastor' wives ever welcomed my wife into the church. They horribly avoided her. If you simply carry a Holy Bible and live godly in Christ Jesus, the world will give you up! And sadly, so also will today's army of ungodly neo-evangelical Laodicean churches give you up. I speak this to their utter shame!

The pastor's wife's pride overwhelmed her at the church picnic. She literally got caught with HER PANTS ON! She didn't think that we'd actually show up at their picnic in another state, but we did. SHAME on Brad Moffett and his immodest wife. SHAME on Bobby Moffett and his immodest wife. They are the world's missionaries to the church! No wonder people don't want to attend churches anymore, they all suck! They kicked us out of their church because it is not the LORD's church. That is clear.

And you listen to me, SHAME ON YOU too dear reader if you defend women wearing pants, when our U.S. prisons are FULL of men who have lost the lustful war against their soul. All because of some two bit whore who caused them to give into temptation to lust (Matthew 5:28). Since lust is a sin, women wearing pants is a sin!!! You are a darn fool if you disagree.

1st Peter 2:11-12, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

For a shameful pastor to say what Brad Moffett said to I and Alice (that his wife can wear pants because men shouldn't lust upon her) is to side with the enemy of the flesh. It is no different than when Hollywood actor Jane Fonda (aka, “Hanoi Jane”) shamefully went to North Vietnam in 1972 to protest with the communists against our U.S. troops who were being killed in the war. The U.S. Department of Justice should have revoked her U.S. citizenship immediately and let her live in North Korea. Shame on Jane Fonda and Brad Moffett for siding with the enemy! Of the Christian's three enemies: Satan, the world and the flesh, the flesh is the most deadly because it is with us continually.

As of 2021, there were approximately 127,282 men incarcerated in U.S. state prisons for sex offenses involving children. This number reflects only those convicted of sex crimes against minors and does not include all sex crime offenders. That's just underaged sex convictions! There are MILLIONS of American men arrested each year because of some whorish woman who provoked them with immodest clothing, “the attire of an harlot” (Proverbs 7:10b). If you laugh, mock, joke and make light of this importance matter of MODESTY, then woe be unto you in eternity when you answer to a holy God who sacrificed His only begotten Son to pay for OUR SINS (Romans 14:10-12). PAYDAY SOMEDAY!!!

Christian women who wears pants are not glorifying God, they are blaspheming the inspired Word of God and glorifying the flesh. From the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam, I saw Pastor Sean Quinlan's admirable wife walking through the Micronesia Mall one day several years ago. She was wearing a beautiful full-length maroon dress and gave me a very feminine curtsy, which made a big impression upon me, that she is a godly woman. I saw multiple men, neighbours, greet her with admiration and respect. If that had been Brad Moffett's wife in pants, NOT ONE MAN would have acknowledged her as a lady. You know dear reader that I am telling THE TRUTH. Proverbs 12:17, “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.”

I humbly don't claim to be a good Christian, but you won't find a more sincere preacher who works night and day to reach lost people for Christ, and to feed the dear Savior's sheep. Thank you for reading my ministry blog. To God alone be the praise and glory. Jesus is precious!!!

1st John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Valuable Resources On Leadership By Pastor Jack Hyles

Matthew 20:25-28, “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Strong spiritual leadership is woefully lacking in today's churches and Bible colleges. Sadly, we've got a bunch of clowns running the churches into the ground. You're average pastor cannot even explain repentance correctly, thinking in error that it means to turn away from your sinful bad habits. Repentance is a change mind, not a change of behavior!

Here are some edifying preacher's quotes about leadership...

• “Everything rises and falls on leadership” —Pastor Lee Roberson (1909-2007)
• "God never leads anyone anywhere for money." —Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
• "Nobody is fit to be leader unless he would rather be a follower instead of a leader." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "The leader must be alone while others are with each other." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "Real leaders would rather follow." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "The follower is as important as the leader." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "Leadership is made for service." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "Leadership is forced on a man who is prepared but unaware." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "Leadership always has to be learning." —Dr. Jack Hyles
• "The wise follower will want to build strong leaders." —Dr. Jack Hyles

The following are invaluable resources from Pastor Jack Hyles about leadership...

“Leaders And Followers,” chapter 14 from Pastor Jack Hyles' book, “How to Treat Different Types of Church Members.”

“Leadership,” chapter 9 from Pastor Hyles' helpful book, “Strength and Beauty.”

“Real Leadership”

“Three Kinds Of Leadership”

“The Analysis Of A Leader”

“When Leadership Clashes With Leadership”

“You've Got To Lead Your Leader To Lead”

Here is a Wednesday night Bible study from Pastor Hyles' series on “The Science Of The Christian Life.” This particular Bible study is called, “The Science Of Leadership.”

True leadership requires a servant's heart. Mark 10:44, “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” No one who desires to lead is fit to lead. True leaders would rather be followers laboring in the background to help in any way they can. The worst leaders are those who were promoted for the wrong reasons.

Anyone who is familiar with the secular workplace knows that there are two sides: Labor (represented by worker's unions) and Management (the company). It is common for companies to promote troublesome employees in the labor force to management, to rid them of a problem. Sadly, that is not a proper nor good way to fill managerial positions. In my humble opinion, over 95% of people in management positions are not competent or qualified. That sadly includes pastors.

These resources could provide a wealth of helpful information for anyone who wants to teach a class on leadership. God bless you dear reader for reading my ministry blog. It is my heart's sincere desire that God will use my humble writings to enrich your life, bringing lost sinners to the saving knowledge of the Gospel of free grace, and to feed Jesus' sheep. I love you all with God's unconditional love, whoever you may be dear friend. Jesus is precious!!!

America's Woeful Lack Of Spiritual Leadership

Isaiah 9:16, “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.”

A nation's spiritual level cannot rise above that of its churches. America's pastors and churches are pathetic nowadays! There is a wicked spirit of lull over the churches, like bees who've been mesmerized and disoriented by a Bee Handler's smoke.

In his classic book titled, “Power Through Prayer,” Pastor E.M. Bounds (1835-1913) made these intriguing statements about spiritual leadership...

Preachers are preeminently God's leaders. They are primarily responsible for the condition of the Church. They shape its character, give tone and direction to its life.

Much every way depends on these leaders. They shape the times and the institutions. The Church is divine, the treasure it incases is heavenly, but it bears the imprint of the human. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and it smacks of the vessel. The Church of God makes, or is made by, its leaders. Whether it makes them or is made by them, it will be what its leaders are; spiritual if they are so, secular if they are, conglomerate if its leaders are. Israel's kings gave character to Israel's piety. A Church rarely revolts against or rises above the religion of its leaders. 

Strongly spiritual leaders; men of holy might, at the lead, are tokens of God's favor; disaster and weakness follow the wake of feeble or worldly leaders. Israel had fallen low when God gave children to be their princes and babes to rule over them. No happy state is predicted by the prophets when children oppress God's Israel and women rule over them. Times of spiritual leadership are times of great spiritual prosperity to the Church.

SPURCE: Pastor E.M. Bounds, “POWER THROUGH PRAYER,” p. 50

It is tragic and sad that America's churches have deteriorated so badly. You'll be hard pressed today to find a Baptist church that hasn't been infected by the fallacies of Misunderstood Repentance, Lordship Salvation, Zionism and False Bibles. The biggest mistake that you'll ever make is to blindly follow a pastor without verifying his teachings with the inspired Word of God (1st John 4:1). The Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES to verify his preaching (Acts 17:10-11). Paul said that the Thessalonicans weren't as noble! What a shameful testimony upon the churches of Thessalonica. Should it be surprising then, that the Thessalonian churches seemed to have forgotten what Paul had previously taught them about Christ's future return (2nd Thessalonians 2:5)?

I cannot help but think about the disqualified leadership at Pensacola Christian College (PCC). The religious institution opened its doors in 1975. You won't find a more lethargic, spiritually lifeless and impotent example of apostasy today than PCC and their shameful Campus Church. For years now PCC has wickedly invited, honored, promoted and bid Godspeed to infidel Ken Ham and his Answers-In-Genesis heresies. RUN from this place! Ken Ham is very bad news. It's bad enough that Ken Ham promotes the fallacy of Young Earth Creationism, but to add injury to insult he preaches another gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). 

PCC's incompetent leaders are pulling on the same rope as the Devil, by wickedly bidding Godspeed to a false prophet who is wrong on God's simple plan of salvation (2nd John 1:11). Ken Ham errantly teaches that to get to Heaven, you must turn from your wicked ways. Jonah 3:10 in the Old Testament says that God saw THEIR WORKS, that they turned from their evil ways. The Ninevites did not get saved, they simply forsook their sinful ways to obtain a temporary reprieve from God of looming judgment. A century later God sent the prophet Nahum to pronounce judgment upon the Assyrians in Nineveh, and they were destroyed by Babylon. Unrepentant sin always brings the judgment of God.

PCC has blood on their hands for wickedly bidding Godspeed to false prophets. PCC also bids Godspeed to Bob Jones University (BJU), a cursed cesspool of hellbound Calvinists. BJU promotes the Devil's False Bibles, and preaches the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Sadly, PCC is also guilty of preaching Lordship Salvation. By laying down with dogs, PCC has been infested with BJU's ticks and fleas. Birds of a feather flock together!

PCC doesn't contend for the Christian faith. The local churches where I live in Pensacola have been corrupted by PCC's strong influence in the region. Since PCC is idle for Jesus Christ—not fighting the good fight of faith, not contending against false doctrines and false prophets, not exposing the Devil's fallacy of Lordship Salvation, not exposing the Devil's false Bibles—PCC is having a detrimental influence upon thousands of affiliated churches. It is so sad. PCC has set the bar very low for serving God. They cannot even get the Gospel correct at PCC!!! Pastor Lee Roberson (1909-2007) was so right: Everything rises and falls on leadership!

We've got a bunch of religious clowns leading the mega-churches today. These neo-evangelical imposters are dangerous, the blind leading the blind—who all preach the accursed heresy of LORDSHIP SALVATION. This sadly includes all 45,000 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) member churches. These churches represent approximately 15,000,000 Baptists in America. The official doctrinal position of the SBC is that to get to Heaven, you must turn away from your sins with all your heart. Nowhere does the inspired King James Bible teach that nonsense! The only sin that you need to repent (change your mind about) to be saved is UNBELIEF. Since unbelief is the only sin which can prevent you from going to Heaven, then unbelief is the only sin you need to repent of to be saved.

The United States is going to Hell in a wheelbarrow! Our apostate, lukewarm and dead churches are leading the frontal assault on Christendom! Christianity doesn't have a worse enemy today than those pastors and churches which promote the falsehoods of Lordship Salvation, Misunderstood Repentance and False Bibles.

Sadly, I receive emails all the time from frustrated believers who cannot find a good church to attend. I don't really know what to tell them. All I can do is encourage them to listen to online fundamentalist Bible preaching, and pray for God to bring a great church to their area. A common suggestion that I give people is to move to a city with a great church. That is a very wise thing to do, so that you and your family will have a stable and healthy church life. I understand that this is a drastic step, but if it is possible for you, it will solve your problem of not being able to find a good church to attend. America is hurting for great churches today.

I fully agree with Pastor Lester Roloff (1914-1982), who said in his classic sermon titled, 'Titanic': “America was 'great' when she was good, and she was good when she had great churches.” The era of great churches is long, long, gone! The average church today is fat, lazy and dead, just like the lukewarm Laodicean churches (Revelation 3:15-17). Pastors are to blame! Jeremiah 12:10, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.”

“The pastors have destroyed the churches, and they've been trained by people that have never built churches, and they have no compassion.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Many Pastors Have Destroyed My Vineyard”

Today's pastors are a disgrace. There is a woeful lack of genuine love, compassion or concern for hurting people. I have seen countless situations where pastors mistreat people and they leave a church. Instead of the pastor going after them to invite them back, nothing is done and the person never returns. Shame on those horrible shallow pastors for not caring. In the local Baptist church that I have been attending for over three years, I have seen a dozen people quit and leave the church in frustration, while the pastor let them go. That is shameful.

One woman who had often visited our church, was confronted by a Lutheran pastor who showed sincere interest in having her in his church, so now she attends the Lutheran cult instead. The pastor of the Baptist church I have been attending couldn't care less who comes or goes. This is just another reason why I have never officially joined the church. People just want to be loved. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Until pastors start caring about people, neither will the church members care. Today's churches are more resemblant of spiritual morgues than a hospital for sinners. The way we treat people matters. It really does!

We need a whole new breed of preachers in America! Sadly, I heard that very statement from Evangelist Johnny Pope when I was a student at Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993). Johnny Pope worked on college staff at the time. Tragically, recently in 2023, Johnny Pope was a guest speaker at Pensacola Christian College (PCC), who preach the Devil's deception of Lordship Salvation and wickedly bid Godspeed to the Calvinist crowd at Bob Jones University (BJU). Johnny Pope has become part of the problem instead of the solution!

Jeff Redlin is the senior pastor at PCC's Campus Church, which is a cesspool of heresy and false doctrine concerning how to get to Heaven. PCC is a disgrace today! Their pastors and leaders are arrogant, have huge egos and refuse to heed correction. I tried to help them in 2021 and 2022, but was banned from attending Campus Church. I was also completely blocked from accessing both Facebook pages at PCC and Campus Church.

The PCC cult has thrown me under the bus and ostracized me, but they cannot silence and bully God. PCC's day of reckoning is soon coming, when they will by punished by God for shedding innocent blood. The cry of their victim's reaches unto Heaven's pearly gates. PCC's counterfeit plan of salvation is one million times more dangerous than Hollywood's filth and wickedness. Hollywood's movies will corrupt your good morals, but PCC's false gospel will damn your body and soul to the fires of Hell forever (Matthew 10:28).

Our churches are in trouble. I am convinced that all Bible colleges do today is neuter the pastors of tomorrow. How can we make America great again, when most Baptist pastors are preaching a counterfeit gospel of Lordship Salvation and Misunderstood Repentance? We must first make America godly again. ...

“IF YOU WANT TO SAVE AMERICA, GET AMERICA SAVED!” —Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold

I can only think of ONE Bible college today which teaches that the King James Bible is verbally (word for word) inspired. The other ninety-nine percent of Bible colleges errantly teach that only the original autographs were inspired, and that we do not have an inspired Holy Bible today. Nearly all of the apostate religious institutions today foolishly teach that the King James Bible is not inspired by God, and that it has errors in it, and is inferior.

I humbly disagree with them all! I firmly believe that God has kept His solemn promise to preserve His inspired pure Words unto every generation. Psalms 12:6-7, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” God solemnly promised in Psalms 12:6-7 to preserve His inspired very pure words unto every generation. The Devil's modern Bible publishers are fully familiar with this promise, which is why all of them changed God's Word to remove this promise. What other reason would Bible publishers have to remove God's promise, other than to deny that we have an inspired Holy Bible today. I believe the King James Bible to be that one inspired Book!!!

What good is a spiritual leader who denies the inspired Word of God? What good is a spiritual leader who is wrong on God's simple plan of salvation? What good is a spiritual leader who uses, sells and promotes multiple versions of the Holy Bible, confusing people?

Today's pastors are dangerous. Most pastors woefully lack love and compassion for people. I have been victimized firsthand by several pastors, who mistreated me, mistreated my family, and couldn't have cared less about doing the right thing, rejecting the truth. When I told Marty Herron the truth at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam—the truth that they ought not be using the Devil's corrupt bibles, the truth that Lordship Salvation is a false gospel, and the truth that repentance doesn't mean to forsake a lifestyle of sinning to be saved—I was wickedly forced out and banned from attending their church.

Likewise, when I attended Campus Church at PCC in 2021, I was sickened as I listened to Pastor Timothy Zacharias errantly teach that repentance to be saved will result in a change of behavior. That is the deception of Lordship Salvation. I contacted their senior pastor Jeff Redlin about the matter, but he quickly sided with Pastor Zacharias. Subsequently, I was horribly mistreated and compelled to leave Campus Church in 2021, and then permanently banned from returning in 2022 by their ungodly narcissist pastor. This is the hateful, bigoted and cultic environment at PCC. At PCC the system always comes first, but individual people do not matter! PCC has grown too big for their britches and will someday fall hard at the sovereign hand of God (Romans 16:17-18). RUN from PCC!

All across America today, spiritual leadership is either pathetic or non-existent. Everything rises and falls on leadership.

The Church As A Family

by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting was gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Job 1:1-5

God chose a family in the patriarchal age, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to use as an example of a typical Jewish family. They knew that some day God would provide a sacrifice, and they looked forward and trusted in that future sacrifice in the same way that we look back and trust in that past sacrifice. With that in mind, follow this logic.

The New Testament church is supposed to be a family. I often say at the beginning of a service at the First Baptist Church, "Welcome to our thrice weekly family reunion." Every Sunday morning and Sunday night we have another family reunion. That is a scriptural term because it is in keeping with the fact that the church is a family.

1. The book of Job is a perfect example of the Old Testament family.

2. The book of Job is a perfect example of the Old Testament church.

There was an Old Testament church. The word church means, a called-out assembly. In the seventh chapter of Acts, the Israelites were called out to assemble in the wilderness and were called the church in the wilderness. The New Testament church was not founded in the Old Testament, but there was an Old Testament assembly. That Old Testament assembly was the family. I am not referring to the little unit, of mom, dad, and the children. I am referring to an extended family that included grandparents, great-grandparents, as well as mom, dad and, children. The church unit of the Old Testament was the family.

When Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, there were three things involved in that birthright, including the right to the priesthood of the family. The worship or public gathering of the Old Testament was the family.

3. Notice what size these families were.

Job had ten children, which in those days was really not that large of a family, but I will use it as the average size of a family.

If each of Job's children had ten children, there would have been a total of one hundred.

If each of them had ten children, there would have been one thousand.

If each of them had ten children, there would have been ten thousand.

If each of them had ten children, there would have been one hundred thousand.

That is five generations. A Bible generation is usually considered to be thirty-five years. Five generations would have been 175. In 175 years there would have been 111,111 people in that extended family. In the Old Testament patriarchal days, a man who died at 175 was just a boy. The average man lived much longer than that. For this example we will assume that everybody died at 175 years of age. That means that each family consisted of over 100,000 people. I am referring to the extended family.

Each of these families formed the Old Testament unit of a church or a called-out assembly. They were the worship unit. They assembled for sacrifices and worship to God.

4. The oldest or firstborn son was in charge.

The other firstborn sons in all the individual family units assisted him. In each family the oldest son held the priestly rights in his own family.

5. Soul winning was within the family.

Cities were not popular in those days. Most people lived in the country. A family of 100,000 people covered a large amount of land. Many of the children were not going to believe. Soul winning was to be within the family. They had plenty of prospects. One family could have been larger than the city of Hammond, Indiana. They had no cars or buses, so they had to walk or go on a beast of burden to get to each other. They would explain to the family members who did not believe that one day God was going to send a sacrifice, and that sacrifice was going to pay the penalty for their sins. The lambs, bullocks, turtledoves, pigeons, doves and goats were offered according to God's sacrifice. God one day would provide Himself as a sacrifice.

God told them audibly that by faith Abel believed, and they passed this story down from generation to generation. Every person had to believe in the coming Messiah to be saved, just as we must believe in the Messiah Who has already come. Somebody had to tell them these things, but there were some who would not listen. Some people would not even come to the assembly, just as we have family members who will not come to church. Those people were human beings also. They had to reach them, so there was Old Testament soul winning. Somebody had to tell every person in those days about the Gospel.

I reject the heresy that there is one Gospel in the Old Testament and another in the New Testament. Anybody who goes to Heaven will get there by faith in Jesus Christ. God uses human instruments to get us saved. Most of those human instruments are through the local New Testament church. Likewise, most of the instruments that got them saved were through the Old Testament assembly.

When the Jews came to the promised land, God gave them certain places to live. God not only gave certain land for the tribes, but for their families. Each family was given a certain job in the tabernacle and lived in a certain place. They may have gone many miles before they found somebody who was not in their own extended family. (The Mennonites and Amish have done much the same thing. They settle by families.) It was a matter of geography, or of transportation. They could not get to somebody else's family to go soul winning because they lived too far away. They went to their own relatives and witnessed to them.

6. The entire life was built around the family.

This group of people or relatives assembled on a regular basis for worship, but their social life was also built around this extended family unit. Their business life was together. Their education was together.

7. The family was the city. They did not live in cities; the family was the unit of organization, especially spiritually.

Something happened.

1. Cities came.

Cities have been the destruction of civilization. When the cities came, it broke down the family life.

2. Families scattered.

They went to cities. We are a perfect example in America today. We have two daughters who live a thousand miles from us, and a son who lives five hundred miles away. Many families have grown children scattered across the country.

3. Many families lived near each other.

This caused the building of cities. With the coming of cities, people migrated together and many different families or portions of families lived together in the cities.

4. They started synagogues.

A synagogue was not a patriarchal term. It came about because of cities. Any time ten responsible Jewish men were together, they were allowed to start a synagogue. These were not the same family members. God still wanted His people together.

5. The synagogue became what the big family had been.

The synagogue was an alternative measure started by God to form a family of these people in cities, so that they would have what they had back home when they were together in families. The synagogue was started so God's people could have a family even though they did not have a family.

6. The church became to New Testament Christianity exactly what the family was to Old Testament Judaism.

It is an improvised family. God wants His people to have what the old patriarchal families had, so He started a New Testament group called the assembly, or ekklesia where His people could gather and form a family.

Did you ever wonder why no rural churches are mentioned in the Bible? Every church mentioned in the Bible was in the city. With the breakdown of the family and with the coming of cities, God wanted a family atmosphere for His people, so they could have the same thing they had when they lived in the rural areas and all the families lived near each other.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42

That sounds like what Job's family did. Job's family got together to have a feast and to have a service for God.

And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people... Acts 2:45-47a

That sounds like family. The local church is exactly what God intended to take the place of the Old Testament family. God wants his people to get together and God wants his people to belong to a family. That is what the church is to be. We must build our lives around the church. That is what they did. Our children's activities ought to be centered around the church and not the world. The same is true for our teenagers.

The church was not primarily started as a place where we come to meet God. Nor was it primarily started as a place where we preach the Gospel and get people saved. We are supposed to do that outside of the church. The church was started so that God's people could get together and have a family to encourage each other to be stronger. The church is to be as close as the kinfolks were in the Old Testament because we are the improvised Old Testament family.

That is why we call each other brothers and sisters. We are in the same family unit, and that means we should be there every time the doors are open. We are to support it with our tithe: We are to have our fun through the church and educate our children through the church.

We are supposed to build our lives around the church.

God did not intend for the people in the Old Testament days to spend all of their time at the meeting. They had crops to harvest, and they had work to do at home, but they had regular meeting times.

The New Testament church is not the successor to the Temple. The Temple was not a place where God's people came to learn in fellowship.

The church is not the successor to the Tabernacle.

The church is the successor to the Old Testament family.

When they came together for their services they were so glad to see each other. They shook hands and fellowshipped with one another. That is what it was all about. The church is not a place where we come to worship God. We can worship God much better alone with Him. The church is a place to assemble as God's people so we will have a family. We must get born again before we can join the church just as we must get born before we can join a family.

What a wonderful institution the local church is! It is the New Testament family.

Although we are in a church family, it is also important that we train our own little family where we are. It was not the job of the leader of the entire extended family to do all the training. Every little local family unit was also supposed to do training. In our homes, we must teach the Bible to our children, sing Gospel songs with our children, and should praise God with our children. Then we come together as individual units into a big family meeting just like Job's family did in his day.

THE CHURCH - TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Church As The Bride Of Christ

by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:21-27

Baptists have been educated by inter-denominationalists, so we have garnered much of the doctrine that was taught by the Protestants and not by our Baptists forefathers. One of those doctrines is concerning the bride of Christ. Our inter-denominational friends have influenced us to believe that all believers are the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the church.

Recently, I was reading a book by a well known interdenominationalist. All through the book he presumed that all believers formed the church, and if you are saved, you are a member of the church. No, if you are saved, you are saved, but you are not automatically a member of the church. I have no axes to grind with him about salvation. I strongly disagree with him about the church. Likewise, most Christians have automatically assumed that everybody who is saved is a member of the bride of Christ.

All believers do not form the bride of Christ.

1. The word bride is mentioned only five times in the entire New Testament.

John the Baptist used it once when talking about being the friend of the bride. They thought he must be the Saviour. He told them that he was just a wedding guest and that the Bridegroom was coming later. He was not referring to all Christian people. He was merely talking about himself.

The word bride is not mentioned in any of the Epistles. In fact, it is not mentioned again until Revelation 18:23. It is also mentioned in Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9 and Revelation 22:17.

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: Revelation 18:23a

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talk with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Revelation 21:9

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Revelation 22:17a

Apart from John talking about the bridegroom in a brief illustration about himself, there is not a single mention of the word bride, in any connection, until Revelation 18:23. The rapture takes place in Revelation 4:1, so the word bride is not mentioned until after the rapture.

Revelation 21:2 refers to the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven after the millennium.

Revelation 21:9 and Revelation 22:17 refer to the same thing, all of which transpires after the rapture.

All saved people do not become a bride until after the rapture. There is no bride of Christ today. There is no place in the Bible where it mentions anything about us now being the bride of Christ. That is only in some inter-denominational theologian's commentary. It is not in the Bible.

I make an issue out of this because I am bothered by the fact that fundamental Baptist churches are swallowing the fallacy that all believers form the church, the body of Christ, and the bride of Christ; none of which is true.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7, 9a

The marriage supper of the Lamb takes place after the marriage. It is the reception. Revelation 19:7 talks about the marriage of the Lamb. The marriage of the Lamb takes place during the seven years after the rapture. We are caught up in the air and during that seven year period, there is the marriage of the Lamb.

A woman becomes a bride at marriage and not before. The marriage of the Lamb is in the air after the rapture. Only then will we become a bride. You become a bride after the marriage, so we will not form the bride of Christ until after the rapture. The word bride is not mentioned in the entire Bible concerning God's people until after the rapture, because we are not His bride until the wedding has been performed.

All believers are members of his family, but all believers are not members of the church. You must join a church to be a member of a local body. The church is His body, so all believers are not in His body. All believers are not in the church, and all believers are not in His body. When Jesus comes again, at the rapture all believers will be called out and will assemble in Heaven. All believers will then become members of the church, because then we will all be a called out assembly. That called-out assembly, or church, will become his bride, but this does not happen until the rapture.

2. There is no mention of the church now being His bride.

In all of the letters to the churches there is no mention of them being His bride. In fact, the word "bride" is not mentioned in any of them.

3. The bride and the body are never the same in this age.

There are people who believe that they are the same. Consequently, they believe that only the people who belong to the New Testament church are members of the bride and that everybody else will be wedding guests in Heaven. That is not right. All people who belong to a New Testament church are simply church members now. At the rapture when all of us form a church in the sky, all believers will be the bride and the church, but this is after we have been called out and have assembled.

4. The future church will be the bride.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Ephesians 5:23

The local church is His body by possession. When it says that He is the saviour of the body, it means that the only way to continue being called a local church is to continue being purified by Jesus.

Speaking to the church at Ephesus, Revelation 2 says, .. . repent, and do thy first works; or I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick.... The candlestick is the church. He is saying that He would not recognize them as a church unless they got back to soul winning.

Jesus is the saviour of the body. The body is the church, or the called-out assembly. The only way a church can continue being a New Testament church is to yield to Him and He will preserve it.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you the overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts 20:28

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. Acts 20:17

Paul called for the preachers of the church, not churches, in Ephesus. It is referring to the local church in Ephesus. These preachers at Ephesus could not possibly feed all believers. They could feed only that local assembly; yet, he commands them to feed the whole assembly of God which He hath purchased with His own blood. Jesus purchased, not only our salvation, but He also purchased the local church when He died on the cross. He not only died to save us from our sins, but also so that we could have an organization to feed and mature us in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25

The word sanctify means to set apart. The local church is not the bride of Christ, but it is set apart to become the bride of Christ. In Bible days, an engagement was stricter than it is now. It was a legal and binding contract, and could not be broken.

I will be His bride, but nothing can allow the contract to be broken. Neither party can break the contract.

We sing, "A glorious church without a spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb" I am not against singing this, but it is not yet true. The church has spots, and it has wrinkles, otherwise Jesus would not need to keep on washing it. At the rapture we will be a glorious church. The word glorious means perfect. We will be a glorified church when all the believers are caught up in the air. Our bodies will be changed, we will be like Him, and we will be without spot or wrinkle. Then we also will be His bride. We are not yet fit to be His bride. He wants a glorious bride without a spot or wrinkle.

When the rapture takes place and all of us are caught up in the air, the church, the body, and the bride will all be the same. We will not be the bride until we get to the wedding, but we are already sanctified or set apart.

The church is the only institution in this world that was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is His unit of battle. It is His dining hall where we are fed. It is His arsenal where we get our weapons.

The Bible gives no evidence that all Christians are a church. The word church is the ekklesia, meaning called-out assembly. When did all believers ever assemble? They did not. In Acts 7, the Israelites were called a church, but they were not called a church in Egypt because they were not assembled in Egypt. It talks about the church in the wilderness. They became a church when they were called out of Egypt and assembled in the wilderness.

On the Passover night, they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt and were called out into the wilderness where they assembled around the tabernacle. A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night guided them. There they assembled and were called a church because they were a called-out assembly. There was no church in the Old Testament, except when God's people assembled in the wilderness.

Likewise, God's people will not be a church until we are out of this heathen land and are caught up to assemble in the sky. Then we become the church, and then we will be married to Christ at the marriage of the Lamb. We are already members of the family of God. We are going to Heaven when we die, and we are going to form a group at the rapture that will be His bride. Until then, the church and the body are the same because the church is the called-out assembly and that called-out assembly is the body of Christ.

Maybe this worries you a little. All of your life you have been taught that we are the bride of Christ. What I have explained in this chapter is exactly what Baptists were taught historically. Too much of our theology has come from those who came from Protestant backgrounds, like the inter-denominational colleges. We must go back to the truth of the Bible and teach our people the truth concerning the church and its importance to the work of Christ.

THE CHURCH - TABLE OF CONTENTS