ettuthomas (ettuthomas)
01-11-2006, 08:29 AM
Imagine . . .
Imagine you are young, you are in college, and you have given your life to serve God in the ministry. Imagine you have enrolled in a fundamentalist Bible college recommended by your pastor. You have given your heart to God and, true to your convictions, you have dived head first into the ministry at this college, believing everything you are told.
Now imagine that you are led to believe by everyone you respect that God has given you a man--one man--who is to provide you with direction for your life. Remember, everyone for whom you have respect has told you that this is the right thing to do. You are humble. You understand that you are young and foolish in many ways. In fact, you are told over and over again that you have no wisdom and should not trust yourself to make any important decisions. Your "man of God" has more wisdom in his pinkie than you have in your whole body. Trust him. Go to him for counsel. Confide in him. By all means, obey him. Whatever you do, do not disobey God by disobeying the man of God. It could ruin your life.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Satan is after you to destroy you. He will certainly do so unless you listen to the Authority God has given you. There is a reason God has brought you to this place--because he knew you needed this man's wisdom to lead you and guide you. Don't quit. Don't leave. Never disobey the man of God.
Now imagine you have had all this drilled into you. You may be a young man or a young lady--it doesn't matter much at this point. Whichever you are, one thing is certain. You believe.
When the man of God called you in and asked you to date this one certain individual, you did so without hesitation. You trusted the Preacher. You trusted his wisdom. Perhaps you had your eye on someone else at one time before. Perhaps there was an individual whom you admired or liked, or found yourself enjoying his or her company. But your preacher said "no" that this individual was not right for you. So you trusted the Preacher. You may not have liked it, but you submitted. Finally, you gave in and dated the one whom he chose for you.
Now he tells you that it is time for marriage. You are reluctant. You're not sure what to do. Do you love her (or him)? Is this person right for you? Do you really know this individual? Well, Preacher says he is the one, and Preacher is always right. Right?
Now imagine you are a young man in this or a similar situation. You have been told to ask this young lady to marry you. She has probably been told to say "yes" when you do. But you haven't asked her yet. I don't know why. Maybe you are just nervous. Maybe you have doubts. Maybe you just don't like being pressured so much. Whatever the reason, you haven't asked her yet.
So there you are sitting in a Wednesday night church service listening to the Bible study and all of a sudden you find yourself being called up to the front by the man of God. Your significant other is being called up as well. There, in front of the whole congregation, you are told that you are getting married. The Preacher even gives you the date that it is going to happen.
"But, but, but . . ." you stammer. "But I haven't even asked her yet."
"Then, what are you waiting for?" says the man of God.
So you get down on your knees and propose.
Now imagine you are the girl. You did not know this was coming, at least not in this way. There is no ring. You have simply been told you are getting married to this guy on a certain date and then you are proposed to because this guy has been told to propose to you--and all of it in front of your whole world.
What do you say? Well, you obey the man of God, of course. What else can you do? Be labeled a heifer? Be labeled as disobedient? Have doom pronounced over your future for not listening to God's voice in your life?
So you say "yes."
Now imagine that this took place at a certain infamous church in a certain east Texas town less than four weeks ago. Just imagine. It really isn't that hard, is it?
You know what will happen to this couple years down the road if they run into problems because they married someone they don't love or because they married someone who had problems they did not know about because they weren't allowed to get to know them or because they wake up and realize their spouse never loved them and only married them because they were told?
Do you really want to know what will happen?
They will be told, "You chose him. No one forced you to marry him. You made the decision. You live with it."
Just imagine . . .
http://tbcunderground.blogspot.com/
(Message edited by ettuthomas on January 11, 2006)
Imagine you are young, you are in college, and you have given your life to serve God in the ministry. Imagine you have enrolled in a fundamentalist Bible college recommended by your pastor. You have given your heart to God and, true to your convictions, you have dived head first into the ministry at this college, believing everything you are told.
Now imagine that you are led to believe by everyone you respect that God has given you a man--one man--who is to provide you with direction for your life. Remember, everyone for whom you have respect has told you that this is the right thing to do. You are humble. You understand that you are young and foolish in many ways. In fact, you are told over and over again that you have no wisdom and should not trust yourself to make any important decisions. Your "man of God" has more wisdom in his pinkie than you have in your whole body. Trust him. Go to him for counsel. Confide in him. By all means, obey him. Whatever you do, do not disobey God by disobeying the man of God. It could ruin your life.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Satan is after you to destroy you. He will certainly do so unless you listen to the Authority God has given you. There is a reason God has brought you to this place--because he knew you needed this man's wisdom to lead you and guide you. Don't quit. Don't leave. Never disobey the man of God.
Now imagine you have had all this drilled into you. You may be a young man or a young lady--it doesn't matter much at this point. Whichever you are, one thing is certain. You believe.
When the man of God called you in and asked you to date this one certain individual, you did so without hesitation. You trusted the Preacher. You trusted his wisdom. Perhaps you had your eye on someone else at one time before. Perhaps there was an individual whom you admired or liked, or found yourself enjoying his or her company. But your preacher said "no" that this individual was not right for you. So you trusted the Preacher. You may not have liked it, but you submitted. Finally, you gave in and dated the one whom he chose for you.
Now he tells you that it is time for marriage. You are reluctant. You're not sure what to do. Do you love her (or him)? Is this person right for you? Do you really know this individual? Well, Preacher says he is the one, and Preacher is always right. Right?
Now imagine you are a young man in this or a similar situation. You have been told to ask this young lady to marry you. She has probably been told to say "yes" when you do. But you haven't asked her yet. I don't know why. Maybe you are just nervous. Maybe you have doubts. Maybe you just don't like being pressured so much. Whatever the reason, you haven't asked her yet.
So there you are sitting in a Wednesday night church service listening to the Bible study and all of a sudden you find yourself being called up to the front by the man of God. Your significant other is being called up as well. There, in front of the whole congregation, you are told that you are getting married. The Preacher even gives you the date that it is going to happen.
"But, but, but . . ." you stammer. "But I haven't even asked her yet."
"Then, what are you waiting for?" says the man of God.
So you get down on your knees and propose.
Now imagine you are the girl. You did not know this was coming, at least not in this way. There is no ring. You have simply been told you are getting married to this guy on a certain date and then you are proposed to because this guy has been told to propose to you--and all of it in front of your whole world.
What do you say? Well, you obey the man of God, of course. What else can you do? Be labeled a heifer? Be labeled as disobedient? Have doom pronounced over your future for not listening to God's voice in your life?
So you say "yes."
Now imagine that this took place at a certain infamous church in a certain east Texas town less than four weeks ago. Just imagine. It really isn't that hard, is it?
You know what will happen to this couple years down the road if they run into problems because they married someone they don't love or because they married someone who had problems they did not know about because they weren't allowed to get to know them or because they wake up and realize their spouse never loved them and only married them because they were told?
Do you really want to know what will happen?
They will be told, "You chose him. No one forced you to marry him. You made the decision. You live with it."
Just imagine . . .
http://tbcunderground.blogspot.com/
(Message edited by ettuthomas on January 11, 2006)