The leaders that are not teaching you to have morals are miss-leading souls. There is a responsibility of the leaders to teach the flock about morals. By morals I am meaning it is not ok to do what ever you feel to do through out the week and then go to church and feel by doing so will get you to heaven. We need teachers that will stand up for the word of God and will not be afraid of the faces of the people. There is a great responsibility that pastors, teachers have and many will be held accountable for the souls that have been mislead. Leaders would be better off to have no follows at all than to lead people to hell with a message that is not to help children of God to know the truth. They would better off as my Dad use to say I would rather be walking down the road talking to myself than to miss-lead anyone. What has made many leaders fail to teach the truth to the people? Here are a few reasons that I feel are happening to them. One, the people has taken leadership upon themselves and are now telling the pastors what they can and can not preach as well and informing them if they continue to teach message that reprimand then their funding will end and this may cause a dismissal as well for their part. Let me tell you something. You as a preacher have the God given right to teach the word of God and you would be far better off to walk on down the road telling the people that if you can not teach the word of God then you will not miss- lead them. Do not conform to anyone or false doctrine. Take a stand for the word of the Lord inform the people the truth as it is in the Bible. Always remember one thing you are going to be held accountable for those that you are teaching. The only one you need to satisfy is the Heavenly Father and what does he ask of you and what He wants of you. A long time ago I went to a meeting and was ask to go up front of the church and share with them what I had to testify about. After doing so the pastor came up to me with a tiny book and ask if I would preach for them a revival. He also told me that he had a condition if I did so. Seem the people as well as he liked the way the Lord anointed me and how the gifts of God worked. This was what he had to say; I do not want you to be preaching on Jesus I was in shock by this time I ask him what did he mean no preaching about Jesus? He told me he had a church full of different beliefs and if I preached on Jesus name I may offend some of his people and they were ones that gave to the church well as far as money. So he said so when would you be available for a meeting. My response to him was, if I can not preach Jesus then I do not want to be preaching at all here. He of course was shocked as well. He was referring to my preaching Jesus name baptism. Yet I told him I had to preach whatever the Lord would have me to preach. I told him to put his little book back up for I could not minister in a church that would not allow me to talk about Jesus. Another time in a church I had a lady that would call me and tell me that they did not believe what I was preaching they did not want to hear about hell or the devil no messages on the judgement. I went back for sometime trying to seek God as far as what to minister to these people. Finally after many calls from her I stood up at the pulpit and just fell on my knees telling them I had nothing to say to them for they did not what to hear what I felt to say that I was at a lose. I said all of this for a reason. First and foremost no one has been given the right to tell a called minister what he or she can and cannot preach. Lay members have not the given right to tell one what to be preaching on. This has caused many to fall away and is a stumbling block to many. Let the pastor minister what he feels God has given him if it does not line up with the Bible then and only then would it be proper to go to him and ask him to show the church where He is getting such a message. This would only be if he were preaching a false doctrine. There is a right and a wrong way to settle matters in the church.

Sonja 8/1/04