What or who is a �pastor?� Where did he come from? What does the Bible say? Where is the pastor found in the Bible?
Many questions are springing up today in regards to the issue of �the pastor.� No doubt, this is largely due to God�s Spirit moving and working in many people�s minds and hearts.
(All to the annoyance of many �pastors� I might add!)
It has gotten to the point where many local institutional churches have even created a plethora of pastor levels or posts. There�s the �senior pastor;� �assistant pastor;" the �counseling pastor;" a �youth pastor;" "singles pastor;" �pastor of visitation;� �outreach pastor;� all of these of course report back to the �head pastor�, or the �chairman.�
What is wrong with this picture? How did the "pastor" become such a powerful position?
Can you find anybody��anybody at all in the New Testament who was always the speaker; who delivered funeral orations; presided over marriages; who went to a school for pastors (seminary)?
Can you find anyone in the New Testament who always was officiating over so-called �worship services;� who was on the �payroll;� who patted old ladies on the hand; who was always dressed up in fine clothes and who prayed in a funny voice?
Can you find anyone in the New Testament who was hired by the congregation?
Did you find anyone? I didn�t think so.
The concept that �the pastor� is the premier member and leader of some local institutional church is essentially a Protestant brainchild and is quite striking at that, especially when the singular term
"pastor" cannot be found in the King James New Testament�..not even once!
The plural term "pastors" is found in the King James New Testament only once in Ephesians 4:11. This is the only verse in the entire New Testament with the word "pastors", and the world of Christendom has become totally and fanatically obsessed with this term.
One verse on which to hang an entire local institutional church doctrine and practice!
In Ephesians 4, �pastors� means shepherds, a metaphor describing a particular function in the assembly or community. It is NOT an office or a title. A first-century shepherd did not organize official church meetings; officiate �worship services�; set up programs and seminars, and neither was he invested with some kind of unquestionable official authority or position of mediation between the saints and their Lord, like we have today.
When we look at the letters that were written in the NT Scriptures, we find that none of them were addressed to "the pastor"; important travelers coming to town were not greeted by "the pastor," and collections of money were not given to "the pastor."
You would think that today�s "pastors" ought to seem somewhat aware that their job is strangely unbiblical, but no, exactly the opposite! How could something so obviously true be turned around into a great falsehood and then imbibed and embraced as �sound bible teaching� in our day? Such is the astonishing power of deception.
As was said once before, with only the rarest of exceptions, none of these so-called �pastors� who would come across an article like this can ever be objective in reading it because it exposes their role as the unbiblical figures in an unbiblical church institution that the people look up to, and in many cases, who pay their salary, fringe benefits, and other perks!
Many, if not ALL of them literally earn their living as those who think that they have been �called by God� into their �pastoral role�! It is very easy for them to be self-deceived. They have read the modern idea of the modern pastor back into the New Testament.
Never would any first-century Christian conceive of the modern day pastor! Haven�t Catholics made the same mistake with the word �priest?� The word �priest� is used in the NT, yet a priest back then certainly bears no connection or likeness whatsoever to the Roman Catholic �priest� of today.
It was right around the time of the Protestant Reformation that this gross aberration of Scripture was invented by men without any thought of trying to justify his existence Scripturally. �The Pastorate� is a man-made tradition.
Your �pastor� has NOT been called of God, nor ordained thru Biblical means. He has taken it upon his own initiative to label himself �The Pastor� and if these were Old Testament times, fire should swoop down from heaven and consume these imposters for their arrogance.
In Revelation Chapter 2, there were some professing Christians in Ephesus and Pergamos who did not listen to and follow Jesus' teaching and example. Jesus� command to His disciples in Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-44; Luke 22:24-27 in regards to exercising authority is, �It shall not be so among you.�
Jesus went on to say, �But whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.�
In the system that Jesus describes, the chief, the ruler, the head, the leader, the one who is great among a group of Christians, shall be the servant of all; not someone who �calls the shots� and rules over the others.
But those at Ephesus and Pergamos in Revelation 2 did just the opposite. They created a hierarchal, ruling class of "Nicolaitans" who set themselves above the people in the assemblies. But Jesus directly rebuked them saying, He "hates" (Revelation 2:6) the sin of the Nicolaitans and anyone who holds to that doctrine and/or practices that doctrine should "Repent therefore or else I am coming to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth." Revelation 2:15-16
(See the article, �The False Teaching of Delegated Authority� for more detailed explanation.)
Can anything be more frightening than those words that Jesus uttered? And yet.....AND YET, do �the pastors� today even care? The very idea of people actually voting on, and then actually electing, and then actually installing a man into the office and position of �THE PASTOR� in which he supposedly now can rule over and officiate over the people is completely incompatible with the words and example of Jesus!
Any so-called "pastor" who occupies this man-made, false position and teaches others to recognize him in contradiction to the Scriptures, cannot be considered a true leader guided by the Holy Spirit.
They are the wolves that Jesus earnestly warned us to flee from.
Anyone can be fooled by frauds, charlatans, fakes and imposters. When sheep are enamored and follow anyone other than Jesus Christ, they are following the wrong voice (John 10:27 states, "My sheep hear MY VOICE, and I know them, and THEY FOLLOW ME.").
There is ONLY ONE MASTER, JESUS CHRIST (Matthew 23:8-10), and any human leader who proclaims that they are �your pastor" is a liar and a wolf.
1 Corinthians 11:3 "But I would have you know, that THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST."
The title "pastor" in the bible, literally translates into "shepherd", which is another title for "elder". Elders were not evangelists or teachers or prophets, they had a specific role. Giving a "sermon from the pulpit" is not in the bible, and giving a sermon is not limited to "pastors" or elders. The Elder's job is to be like the "president"(not a dictator) of the church, a man that can rule with the same experience and authority that he has proven thru his role as a father in his own family. He would be like a impartial and experienced "judge" or "adviser" or "counselor" for the church. The job roles we've attached to the "pastor" title today should not be limited to the pastor. We should all be visiting the sick and the backsliding, we should all be able to give a defense for our faith and stand confidently when questioned. After those elementary things, we should also each be developing our "gifts" of being a teacher, preacher, evangelist, minister, healer, prophet, etc. The elder might be someone who we would refer people to who had questions if we were still babes in the faith and could not answer, but all Christians must continue toward maturity, and all Christians are ministers to the world with their gifts. The idea that one has to have a college degree and approval from a denomination to be a minister for God is not biblical, and it's very dangerously close to the idea that only educated priests are allowed to read the bible. In most churches I've been to(I've been to many denominations), a very large majority are content to pay a pastor or pastors to spoon feed them the gospel and to do the visiting and ministering that we are all supposed to be doing, or at least equipping ourselves to do. Not to say that is the way it is for everyone or in every church, but I can't count how many times I hear "What? I can't teach, I don't know enough, I'm not a good speaker, I don't know as much as the pastor, I'll let him do it, etc". To those people I would like to say, "well, you'd better start practicing". And it's absolutely immoral to simply be a parrot for your "pastor". We MUST study for ourselves, and sometimes we might even find out our pastor or our traditions have been wrong!
Mark shared ~ Giving a "sermon from the pulpit" is not in the bible, and giving a sermon is not limited to "pastors" or elders.
*** Well�I do know that it is Biblical that Jesus did stand up in the Temple and read from the Scroll�there would be a podium of some sort to lay the Scroll upon to unroll it and Jesus is Teaching here as an Elder for only an Elder may read from the Sacred text �Scroll� to �Teach� the group of men gathered together for this very purpose.
Luke 4:16-20 (KJV)
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
*** I can imagine the other folks that followed Jesus, Hebrew men under the age of 30 along with gentiles, men, women and children that were not permitted within this room would linger outside to listen through the �Open� windows�
*** At my lil Church�the �Women�s Ministry� has a gal that is appointed�Elected� by our Church to head up the women�s Bible Study as well as Other women�s activities. There is always a �Sermon� with �Scripture� givin pertaining to the Topic of the Event. Women tend to focus on the Scriptures directed towards the women for Gods direction and guidance�for example 2 John 1:1 and Titus 2
Shared ~ The idea that one has to have a college degree and approval from a denomination to be a minister for God is not biblical, and it's very dangerously close to the idea that only educated priests are allowed to read the bible.
*** Ya�I totally agree with ya on this. It isn�t a bad thing to attend a seminary for the purpose of learning of all the Doctrines�First Things, Grace Things, Church Things, Last Things�there are many !!! We also have the Holy Spirit within us�
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Shared ~ We MUST study for ourselves, and sometimes we might even find out our pastor or our traditions have been wrong!
*** Yup-A-Roo !!!...However�I truly believe that the LORD will lead a person to the �Church� that He desires us to attend and be �Planted�� Just simply Pray about it and follow the LORD's lead :)
GOD�s continued Grace and Blessings to Yall !!! X <>< O
There are no biblical requirements for a person to be a poimen-shepherd,yet there are requirements for an elder,and deacon,1 Timothy 3: 1- 13 this may be that the function of a shepherd is not as important as an elder.
Peter called himself an elder, not just an elder but a 'sumpresbyteros' or a 'FELLOW ELDER'not a pastor( 1 Peter 5:1),likewise John calls himself an elder not a pastor, 2 John 1: 1
In the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit,the apostles would talk with tue ELDERS,and the assembly,no mention of 'pastor' in the entire book of Acts, this may be that the Elders are the will of GOD to the body,not pastors.
Maybe if the 'church' openly confessed that they do not want GOD Almightys will,(elders),but they want their own will (pastors)that we might see the Holy Spirit bring repentance (a change of mind) into the body of Messiah.
