(More wisdom from Brother Ritechus N. Dignation)

Well, this rant is not going to make me any friends. I was just talkin' with a brother yesterday with all that's wrong with the world and we got off on talking about what all is wrong with churches. Now since I am a preacher, I can talk about preachers.

You know what just rips my gizzard? Preachers that preach too long. Now let me qualify that. I believe a man ought to preach what God has given him and preach it all, I mean unload the whole truck. I'm talkin' about preachers who preach past what God has given them and drag on sayin' nothing. I have heard some great thirty minute sermons that were ruined because they were stretched into an hour. Now I know people say you can't tell a man what to preach or how long to preach, and I agree with that. But no man is past criticism and every word that comes from a man's mouth don't necessarily come from God. It's kinda like a singer songwriter I heard one time before he commenced to singing. He said that God gave him the song he was about to sing and that it was inspired. Well if that was true, then God must have bad grammar and poor rhyming, because his song was full of it (I know my wording ain't always the best, but I don't claim to be inspired). The point is, be careful about blaming God for your actions. Remember, the mind can only absorb what the bottom can endure. Stand up, speak up, and shut up! Nobody wants to hear a man repeat himself.

Here is something else that just rips my gizzard; song directors that try to teach you every hymn in the book. If you want to kill a good song service, start trying to make people, most of who are not musicians, learn new songs. There is a time and place to learn new songs and it ain't on Sunday morning or Sunday night. When you call them to task about it, they get all defensive and tell you that it's in the book and we should sing it. Well the radio in my pickup will get 10 stations, but I don't force everybody who rides with me to listen to all of them, even though they are all on the radio. Every song is not a hit and every book is not a bestseller. Teach'um to the choir first, then after they have sung them enough for everybody, it will be easy for the common folks to catch on.

And here is one last thing that really rips my gizzard. It's preachers that work up an invitation and extend it into next week. Fifty seven verses of Just As I Am is a mite bit too much. Now I am all for invitations and don't believe you ought to close without one. We should give people a chance to respond to the Spirit of God, but it's God who is supposed to motivate and not man. When a man works up the emotions of folks and uses every trick in the book to get them down the aisle, then he's probably going to get a man- made conversion, which is no conversion at all. I once heard a preacher tell a sob story about how his dog, old Blue had died and he had people bawlin' all over the church. He then smoothly slid into the invitation and told folks that while the Spirit of God was movin', they better come to the altar. Of the five folks that walked the aisle that night ten years ago, one is in jail, the other owns a bar, another became a Campbellite, and the last two only grace the church with their presence when there's a funeral. But that fateful night at church, they cried about old Blue, got baptized and joined the church. I just wish they had joined Jesus. Tarnation! It ain't the preacher's job to call, convict, and convert people. Preacher, preach the word in holiness and power and then get out of the way so God can do His job. When God gets them down the aisle, then you be faithful to give them the Word of God and then let God do the savin'. - Brother RND

Copied From Joseph Harris @: http://www.miniedition.net -- Used By Permission