The Hateful Teacher

    This is the vigilant defender of the faith.  God has called him to correct every error and bring every thought in obedience to his own.  He listens with the most minute scrutiny to every utterance that proceeds from his peoples’ lips and is quick to say, “Aha! You didn’t cross that t or dot that i.  You are a heretic.”

    He whim whams the poor people over the head with election and predestination so harshly that it causes spiritual indigestion.

    He loudly proclaims that anyone who doesn’t embrace his harsh sentiments are surely bound for the pit.

    The babes in Christ do not grow under this type of ministry: but they do swell and become convinced that should their church be done away with, true doctrine would disappear from the earth. Those that stay in this become cynical and argumentative, because the truth has not been taught to them in the right spirit.

    Every time I hear one of these special men I think of the story of the Indian who came to hear a famous preacher.  Afterwards a member of the church asked the Indian his impression.

    “Ugh”, said the Indian, “Big wind, loud thunder, no rain”.

    - Excerpt from “Leaves, Worms, Butterflies & T.U.L.I.P.S.” ~ Jack D. Shanks (1979)