A KINGDOM KEY THAT PREACHERS DON'T UNDERSTAND

I didn't get it for the longest time.  As a matter of fact, I resented it.  I could not get used to the multiple attacks I had to take as a minister from within the framework of believers.  Now that a new documentary is out, I know we still don't get it.  Preachers, our call is not a Rose Garden for favorable interviews and signing of autographs. 

We must wake up.

BETRAYED: The Clergy Killer's DNA is a 93 minute documentary about how many ministers are quitting; an estimated 1500 a month.  The cause is attributed to a handful of members within the congregations who openly crush ministers to the point they move on to other employment.  The film calls for stances to be taken against these destroyers.

A Kingdom key that preachers don't understand is that we are, in reality, called to follow Jesus.  By vowing to take up our crosses day in and day out (Lk. 9:23-24), we are volunteering to be killed.  It is to be a way of life; not a rarity among us!

And how many would love to produce another film titled BETRAYED: The Member Killer's DNA which would put equal blame upon us preachers?  I'm saying I have done as much killing as being killed.

Killed?  Is that too strong?  No.  My guess is that much of church leadership and the vast majority of congregations have little insight to this very strong term.  Yet, it is there.  It is true.  And, it is strong.

The good news is that this is precisely the cure for an aching/dying society; finding men and women who refuse to run and will endure the war-zone of spiritual conflict.  We have not been called to church socials and infant baptisms.  We have been pegged by the Spirit of God to die for enemies of His so that they can live.

We cannot quit.

To be fair, I have only read excerpts and viewed a brief trailer of BETRAYED: The Clergy Killer's DNA.  Yet, I've seen enough.  Church isn't a safe haven for anybody.  The sooner we all realize it, the more serious about God's Kingdom we will become.

Believers are soldiers of the Cross; not sightseers of ornamental sanctuaries and stained-glass windows.