#pastor

Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them. We are content to have the message second-hand. One of Israel's fatal mistakes was their insistence on having a human king rather than resting on the theocratic rule of God over them. We can detect a note of sadness in the word of the Lord, 'they have rejected me from being king over them' (1 Sam. 8:7). The history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence of God is to change. ↗

— Richard J. Foster

#god #old-testament #pastor #priest #spiritual-mediation

A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men. ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#faith

Most people understand that the important things in life are not things at all - they are the relationships we cherish. ↗

— John Paul Warren

#john-paul-warren #pastor-john-paul-warren #voice-of-the-nations #relationship

This ain't my first rodeo!". ~R. Alan Woods [1999] ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#abuse-of-power #abuse-of-religion #church #pastors #r-alan-woods