Pastor Jared Moore Celebrates Zero Baptisms!
Perhaps in anticipation that someone would look at the Annual Church Profile and discover his church baptized no one during past year, Pastor Jared Moore has written a blog posting patting himself on the back for his fruitlessness.Most pastors would be ashamed of taking a salary from a church for twelve months without finding one lost person to lead to the Lord and baptize. Not Brother Jared! The quintessential Crybaby Calvinist, Jared believes his labors were just peachy-keen in the Lord's eyes.
One must wonder -- what has Jared been doing all year? Has he been doing "the work of an evangelist" as Paul said to Timothy (2 Tim 4:5)? It would seem not. We do know, however, that Jared has spent quite a bit of time watching ungodly, extremely violent TV shows such as The Walking Dead. He claims the grace of God drew him to such violent entertainment. (No, I'm not making this up, read his article about it here.)
I've seen a preview or two for The Walking Dead and honestly, the preview alone almost makes me ill. Or as Jared says, "It’s just as bloody and gory as any movie I’ve ever seen."
I'm going to be blunt. Scripture is clear, God is not pleased with senseless violence and a pastor who is entertained by it and encourages others to be entertained by it has failed in his duty. The Bible commands a pastor to be "not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome" (1 Tim 3:3). Remember God's description of how the world was before Noah's flood? "The earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence" (Gen 6:11).
Christians are not to love violence. In more than one place, God describes lovers of violence as ungodly and unbelievers. The Bible says,
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness... (Rom 1:29).
The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence (Psa 11:5).
With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent (Psa 17:4).
Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways (Pro 3:31).
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence (Pro 4:16-17).
From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence (Pro 13:2).
Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble (Pro 24:1-2).
Remember what was said of our Lord Jesus Christ by the prophet Isaiah? "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth" (Isa 53:9).
Here's a challenge to Jared. Instead of watching this season's The Walking Dead, consider that God's grace may be drawing you to go house to house (Acts 20:20) in order to share the good news of Jesus. (Of course I know as an extreme Calvinist you believe it's not good news for them if God has not preselected them for salvation but you know what I mean.) Don't be satisfied with fruitlessness. Remember, Jesus' words: "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned"(John 15:5-6). As I taught you previously Jared, the Lord delights in sinners being saved in great numbers!
Anyway -- try it Jared. Just skip The Walking Dead and go knock on some doors at random and start sharing. Then write another blog post next year and let us know what happened. I'll covenant to pray for you during this next year.
Charles
posted by Charles @ 11:51 AM
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