Quote:
Originally Posted by crakjak
While the bolded statement above is true, I believe this assessment is more applicable to religious denominations that teach the one man rule of the "pastor".
The Howard Wheeler that was mentioned is now in a even more strict group near Waco, Texas called Heritage Homestead, even though he broke with the UPC or with KP in Austin, he did not depart from this type of oppressive leadership.
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I agree, however, we also need to be careful to stop giving LIFE to the UPCI as if it is an organism, The Body of Christ is, the different organizations within it are not.
While certain characteristics (spirits) prevail and are what marks (leavens) any group, there are always exceptions, Godly people who set the standard, by which we can even see that those with bad spirits are among them, and in some cases the majority, (strait is the gate-narrow the path) we must humbly thank God, we can see the difference. And pray for the power to love the unlovable.
When I was in the military, I was a non-commissioned officer (NCO) and I learned that while I had the authority to give orders to those I lead, some would be leaders some day, and my influence would shape their style.
"To the Jew I'll be a Jew, to the Greek a Greek, that I may win some." I had to nurture those who showed promise, and there were some, that just had to have my combat boots to inspire them to do their job, and not get us killed along with themselves.
That is the problem with any human organization... Leadership
It is obvious in many small churches, that a small leader wants to keep the "pond" small so he seems big. It's a numbers thing, the more men in camp, the more the odds are a Saul will have a David rise up.
We have too many "spear throwing" Saul's and not enough Davids who would never throw a spear back at his Saul. A David knows God put the Saul there and God will take him away, and that there is a purpose for everything under the Sun.
There is a purpose for mean spirited nasty hypocrites, they are the "Tares" and it's not ours to pull them up, it's God's will for us to grow along side them and find out if we are wheat or tares. Wheat begats wheat, tares begat tares.
Like David, it may be many generations until the right seed comes along to take the Throne. We are reaping what we sowed. Time to treat the seed.
from a sermon I preached in 1992 Smutberries!"The smut 'berries,' or 'balls,' from an infected head contain millions of minute bodies, the spores or 'seeds' of the smut fungus. These reproduce the smut in somewhat the same way that a true seed develops into a new plant. A single smut ball of average size contains a sufficient number of spores to give one for each grain of wheat in five or six bushels. It takes eight smut spores to equal the diameter of a human hair. Normal wheat grains from an infected field may have so many spores lodged on their surface as to give them a dark color, but other grains which show no difference in color to the naked eye may still contain a sufficient number of spores to produce a smutty crop if seed treatment is not practised.
"When living smut spores are introduced into the soil with the seed wheat, or exist in the soil in which smut-free wheat is sown, a certain percentage of the wheat plants are likely to become infected. The smut spore germinates and produces first a stage of the smut plant in the soil. This first stage never infects a young seedling direct, but gives rise to secondary spores, or sporida, from which infection threads may arise and penetrate the shoot of a young seedling and reach the growing point. Here the fungus threads keep pace with the growth of the plant and reach maturity at or slightly before harvest-time.
"Since this disease is caused by an internal parasite, it is natural to expect certain responses to its presence. It should be noted first that the smut fungus is living at the expense of its host plant, the wheat, and its effect on the host may be summarized as follows: The consumption of food, the destruction of food in the sporulating process, and the stimulating or retarding effect on normal physiological processes.
"Badly smutted plants remain in many cases under-size and produce fewer and smaller heads. In the Fife and Bluestem varieties the infected heads previous to maturity exhibit a darker green color, and remain green longer than the normal heads. In some varieties the infected heads stand erect, when normal ones begin to droop as a result of the increasing weight of the ripening grain.
"A crop may become infected with smut in a number of different ways. Smut was originally introduced with the seed, and many farmers are still planting it every season with their seed wheat. Wheat taken from a smutty crop will have countless numbers of loose spores adhering to the grains, also a certain number of unbroken smut balls. These are always a source of danger, even when the seed is treated with fungicides before sowing.
"There are also chances for the infection of a crop if absolutely smut-free seed is employed. First, soil infection from a previous smutty crop; second, soil infection from wind-blown spores. Experiments have shown that separated spores from crushed smut balls lose their effective power in from two to three months, provided the soil is moist and loose, and in no case do they survive a winter.
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