The Pastor, The Priest, the Marriage Counselor & the Wafer ~ Act One
Introduction: This series of
letters shows the desperation and destruction wrought by well-meaning
pastors acting as marriage counselors. The first is a letter from
a man to his pastor who is trying to get the husband to see the error of
his ways so he can deserve his wife back, who has split from him but not
divorced him. The pastor, playing out his stereotypical role, has tried
valiantly to keep his congregation from becoming a playground of
adultery by showing the men the latest video tapes by the latest experts
and giving them little assignments. This while the wife is out doing as
she pleases, all the while attending the Sunday services, church camping
trips and women's Bible studies.
The first Act is a letter from the husband to the pastor/marriage
counselor, a copy of which the husband sent to a friend.
Act Two
is a humorous reply to the husband from his friend...
Dear Counselor,
As I have said to you before, (name of pastor) you have been manipulated by the best. Not only by my wife, but by the devil himself. I wish you could see this and quit your "marriage counseling" ministry. You need to preach the everlasting gospel and get off this track of trying to put things together in man's wisdom.
The forwarded message is one that got
"caught" by me. I know from other sources that (name) has developed
quite a following in her struggles as a liberated woman/ Christian. You
are just helping her and a lot of other women along in this. She is
mocking her husband, and so are you, (Name). I know this will be hard
for you to see, but you are doing it. This is my message to you in the
Name of Jesus Christ. Know by this letter I have not decided to stop
counseling with you. My wife has not said no, according to you, so
neither am I.
I am getting ready to expose her and her wickedness for the last time.
She is prepping to take me to court to get money from me. I am sure you
have heard her little history of struggle and sympathize with her
"martyr" mentality. She and the other liberated women are very good at
manipulating men this way, aren't they? So I expect you have joined her
side, even though you swear up and down you haven't. Your leading has
lead nowhere. Quit playing shrink and get back to the gospel, please.
Quit manipulating my wife, cuz it's you that is getting manipulated. My
advice to you is to drop this whole thing like a basket case and find
another service contract.
Everybody seems to be confused, don't they? There is no confusion; only a thinly veiled attempt to avoid the obvious. The men do not have authority in your church. Making them grovel before men (or women) is not the same as releasing them in the Lord by the power of the gospel. Jesus, when he washed his disciples feet, did not tell them to go and set up seminars to preach a social gospel of making marriages little examples of church control over its parishioners. He showed them that He, Lord and Master, was able to cleanse them of sin only by them submitting to his humble service. If Peter had persisted in not letting the Lord cleanse him, he would have remained in his sins. When we see a brother sin, it is our duty therefore to humble ourselves and clean his feet. If we play little Christian games of looking the other way and letting our brother stumble, teaching him (or her) that there is no problem, we're all saved and that's pretty much all there is to it, that anyone who interferes with our sense of assurance that we're saved is none other than the devil... I could go on and on with your gospel... then we can pretend we "loved." If our brother refuses to be cleansed, if he spits on our attempts, if he gets so confused he seeks the company of the hypocrites, then so be it. The person is subverted of their own soul.
I am challenging you, Counselor, to preach the full gospel, the one that shows the goodness and the severity of God. As one wise gentleman said, To present half the truth as the whole truth is a lie.
You have tried of late to teach those things concerning our life-and-death stance with the gospel. I commend you for it. I also know that you have a tendency to listen to women who complain about that. I warn you as a brother, do not listen to them. If you lose them, so much the better for your congregation.
You think my preaching is sidetracking my problems. Who in the heck taught you that? Certainly not the Scriptures. You said that if you preached to your wife she would divorce you (or some such). You told me not to preach to my wife. Then you turn around and piously preach to your parishioners just yesterday that they should preach to their lost loved ones during this wonderful Christmas season. Contradiction. We're not confused, we're just unwilling. Do you know who this (name) is? Maybe it's a woman. If you don't get the forwarded message, please let me know.
Go with God,
Chris
(I capitalize the first letter of my name because it is a convention in the English language and I feel no need for false humility. Why do you not capitalize your name?)
We encourage you to email the author to prove or disprove, from the Scriptures, the intent, meaning, purpose or doctrine of this piece. email Chris