divorce and pastorship

Istherenotacause

You can play your "what if" games all day long.

I, for one, do not wish to stand in front of our Lord and have to answer for denying a man his God called ministry.

It's wrong to judge someone's worthiness because of what happened in his past.
By your reasoning, no one in the world today is qualified to be a pastor.
And it's useless to say anything more.
Go ahead and live in your little judgmental world.
Good day.

 

Go ahead and live in your lawless, pot-bellied on grace utopia that doesn't exist except in the fantasies of your warped mind. Seems to me you need to make a trip to Heaven and straighten God out wiz, maybe you really are the wizard of Oz and can get Dorothy to click her ruby-red slippers together and chant,"There's no place like home, there's no place like home".

"God never gave anything to the Tin-man, that he didn't already have,

And cause never was the reason, for the Tropic of Sir Gallahad."

You throw forgiveness and judgemental attitudes all in the same bucket and slop the hogs with it. The topic of this thread is divorce and pastorship with the question of whether or not a man is qualified to pastor after having been divorced. Since God does not call the divorced man into the ministry as a preacher, all your comments regarding this topic are from the perversion of the Word of God through comprimise and deceit. When God inspired Paul to write to Timothy and Titus the man is to be blameless, the husband of one wife He meant JUST THAT! The husband of one wife, nothing different, nothing deviating from the truth, just one wife, (one living wife).

I'm not playing any little games and I do know what the Lord has to say in this matter. Grace doesn't release us from the Law, only the penalty of the Law, that is death. I challenge you to show me any diffewrent and I will certainly show you exactly that He does not excuse lawlessness for the sake of receiving more grace to go against the Law.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?


I have given the previous example of a man divorcing and re-marrying, to allow anyone to reason within themselves the ironic belief that a man can commit sin and never have to account for that sin, at least in his flesh.

Hyper-displacement of the flesh does not exist, my friend. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. That's not my idea of the past becoming null and void, that's the Lord telling us that "God requireth that which is past".

I've never said a divorced man cannot minister, especially to those who have fallen into the same snare set by satan for all men, saved or not. Believe me when I say this, wizo, I have preached with men who have been divorced, for many years, I have seen them used to minister, but I have yet to see one who has finished his course. It seems that eventually they get all bent on a certain subject and fall by the wayside in their endeavor to justify their cause.

David's elder brethren tried to make him justify why he came to the battle with all sorts of accusations, David's reply was,"What have I now done? Is there not a cause?" I Samuel 17:29.

I'm afarid you have the same disrespect for the call God places on a man for the ministry of a preacher, note that I said preacher and not pastor, as this world does. For if a man is called of God to preach, then the man must be called into one of three, or all three positions of pastor, evangelist, or missionary. A man who is double-married is not a vessel fit for the position, he is unclean in the area of divorce which God by example has never allowed.

He proposed to Israel a bill of divorcement, a bill is not a law, only a bill. If God were to have divorced Israel, and married her sister Judah, even Jesus wouldn't have been qualified to preach!

If you will study it out with an open mind Jeremiah tells us that the LORD introduced the bill, warning Israel of her adulterous affair, wooing her to repentence that He might restore her to her previous estate. Look into the lives of Hosea and Gomer, sir, see the hand of mercy, but also see the ultimatum.

God is still wooing unto Himself a bride, washing her clean in His own blood, else He would have closed the door on this thing a long time ago and put us all in hell.

I've heard it said that you can't mix grace with the law, but you can't have one without the other either!

If God would have divorced Israel in Jeremiah 3, none of us would have the chance to be saved and become that spiritual Israel mentioned in Ephesians 2:12, "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"


Hebrews 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

God hasn't created a new set of vows, but He is renewing the vows of holy matrimony with His bride, Israel. Writing His laws within her heart, just as He wrote the Ten Commandements into tables of stone.

Now I must revert to what I've heard others say, "I can't make you see the truth, God will have to do it."


Oh, be careful how you use that word judgemental, your mind couldn't even tell your fingers to hit which keys to type your posts without judghement.

In His Holy Service, Ephesians 2:14

Brother Ricky

 

I see this has degenerated into one of those Calvinist vs. Arminian type threads:
"I'm right, you're wrong, I'm holy, you're gonna burn in hell!!"

Forget you.
I'm outta here.

 

Hi wizofoz. You said; I, for one, do not wish to stand in front of our Lord and have to answer for denying a man his God called ministry.

One does not need to do that. The BIBLE does it for you! The standards to be a pastor in 1 Tim. 3 are absolutely rock solid strict and specific. Those rules and regulations are "MUST BE's" according to the text (1 Tim. 3: 2). The words "must be" means exactly what it says. MUST BE!

My read of 1 Tim. 3 is that a pastor must be the husband of one wife (v2). I take that to mean that if he is divorced, and remarries another while his first wife still lives, then he is the husband of TWO wives. I recognize and respect that others read that differently, but I think their explanation struggles as a result of Rom. 7, Matt. 5: 32, 1 Cor. 7: 27 (and others).

In addition, there are a number of other "must be's" in the 1 Tim. 3 text. MANY pastors violate one or more of those "must be" requirements. In fact, many pastors violate those rules MORE than members of the congregation do! The hostile reactions of some pastors when confronted with this PROVE they are not qualified to be a pastor (v3).

Some have mentioned David, Solomon and other Biblical characters as examples of those who had many wives. But these are poor examples for this subject because David, Solomon et al we were NOT pastors in the 1 Tim. 3 congregational sense. Thanks. latterrain77

 

Forget me for I am nothing, But when it comes down to who's right, God is RIGHT!

You jumped to some ludricous conclusions, Sir, by your accusation, you must be either of the above, I tend to remain in the middle, not a Calvinist by any definition of the word, or Arminian by any such convocation. I am a blood bought, sinner sought, holding no ought,child of the Most High.

I haven't asked you one time to agree with me on this subject or any other, so your reaction must be primarily due to rejection of truth or you wouldn't answer the way you have.

I am so sorry this endeavor has proved to be so fruitless for you, but I suppose it's hard to grow good fruit on a corrupt tree.

Have a nice day, Brother, I hope any further discussions will not degrade to this type of behaviour.

In Hos Holy Service, Ephesians 2:14

Brother Ricky

 

Gee, could you be just a wee bit more judgmental here? I haven't reached my condemnation quota yet.

 

Ribbit! And Ribbit!

(A-men! and A-men!)

Thank you Brother for such an excellent post. I neither am any better, more holy,etc., either.

I've learned when you stand on the Word of God, be ready to stand alone, though we're never alone, because the Lord is with us. I really would like to sympathize with those who feel contrary, but I can't without disobedience to the Word of God. Can I have compassion on those who live contrary to Scripture? You had better believe it!

The man of God is perhaps the most misunderstood person on the planet. He must tell what the Lord has placed in His word for the benefit of all men, but most of all for His Glory!

It still never ceases to amaze me how those who disagree always make the same type of accusations and will even excommunicate the other, I have always remained open for conversation with anyone as long as they will have the respect for me that any other person deserves.

In Christ, Our Blessed Redeemer,

Brother Ricky

 

Okay, I know I said I was through. But then I noticed Wiz had posted here.

Wiz, may I point something out?

At least twice now, starting around the top or middle of page 4, you've stated you're through with this topic.

So why do you keep coming back?

 

I'm so sorry Wizo, but it seems to me you made all the condemning remarks calling me judgemntal and to be standing before God having to answer for something that he doesn't believe. Also you have placed me into a catagory with hateful people saying I cannot forget a man's past sins and laying heavy burdens upon him that he is not able to bear.

If you don't agree with the Bible thentnat's o.k., but to make such accusations is unfair.

I've laid out the possibilities according to your posts, and you reacted in the typical manner.

I apologize for your misunderstanding what I've tried to say, I have only given you opportunity to answer without all the brash remarks, sarcastic or otherwise. I'll accept your stance for what you believe, but I will NOT back down from what the Word of God says concerning preachers and God's requirements for them. Maybe I haven't been clear enough in getting the point across, and please do forgive me for the jest about the wizard of oz, I was only trying to lighten up the conversation, again, I'm sorry for the offense.

In reference to this same subject I have started another thread in the Bible Theology and Study section entitled,"Did God divorce Israel?"

BTW, You did say more than once you were "through", "I'm outta here!", and the like, but the evidence stands that you have to have the last word, so here's your chance, go for it!

In Christ, Ephesians 2:14

Brother Ricky