Dear Pastor Whoever

Dear Pastor Whoever….

I have attended evangelical ‘services’ for several decades (in my city of Kelowna, B.C., Canada). I possibly have been a christian longer than most Pastor Whoevers have lived. I have been acquainted with several pastors and I know the history of many I have never personally met. Though I have witnessed so much frailty in what you call the ‘ministry’, I know you have seen so much more. I was always on the outside looking in while you have been on the inside where there is little obscurity.

You could write of this frailty within the ‘ministry’ much more capably than I. But you won’t. There is this loyalty thing, an unspoken rule of hush-hush that protects the persona of the ‘ministry’…. which you must know is fanciful. You have long ago set your loyalty upon your evangelical lords and peers rather than your congregation. So…. because you won’t tell, I will. My purpose is not malicious, but to simply expose the fallacy of your esteemed religion, and every religion. I want to convince pew-people that pulpit-people are quite ordinary, and that the religion that places the man behind the pulpit is not a holy thing, but quite unholy. So, after perusing my memory (of Kelowna only) , here it goes….

One pastor was caught in adultery. Another was deep in pornography. Another and another and another had nervous breakdowns. Another I saw flirting with a store worker. Another told dirty jokes. Several were control freaks. Another prophesied falsely. Another occasionally lied. Another prophesied falsely. One slandered.

Another and another preached that God didn’t necessarily want to heal their own sick bodies. Most collected the abominable evangelical tithe. All were paid a non-Biblical salary. Few, very few, mentioned Jesus in day-to-day conversations. Very few had an enviable intimacy with Jesus. (Their speech betrayed them.) And on and on and on….

I am not suggesting pastors are less spiritual than pew-people. I am saying pastors are quite ordinary, susceptible to the same miscues and flaws and bias as the rest of us. Their love for God is quite ordinary, their faithfulness unremarkable., not the super- christians most assume they are. None are worthy to be followed, lauded or salaried.

And you, my brother-in-Christ, have the responsibility to simply tell your people the truth. Your silence is your endorsement of a false narrative that suggests the credentialed/salaried/titled are more spiritual, more Christlike, than the non-credentialed, none-salaried, non-titled.

Something to think about?

Larry Jones