KOPP DISCLOSURE: No More Lies from Pastor Bob

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

@#$%

I don't lie...as much as I used to...

Like sentences ending with prepositions, there's something wrong with people who say they love Jesus yet can't/won't handle the/His truth as personified in Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture.

If you've been reading KDs, especially since the epiphanies of my week with Eugene in October 2011, you know our Lord's insistences in John 3:19-21 have been racketing up and up and up and...

Specifically, our world, country, marketplace, public education, and churches are going to hell quicker than poop through a goose and it's because we have turned our backs on God as personified in Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture and taken Him out of decision-making in our world, country, marketplace, public education, and churches.

Redundant idolatries distracting from documentable allegiance to the Him and, ergo, His.

He will not be mocked; and His judgments increase in frequency and intensity in an eschatological way.

Yes, there is the consistent Biblical truth of hope as summarized in 2 Chronicles 7:14; but only a totally self-righteous and auto-suggesting imbecile misses the truth of judgment apart from confession and repentance reinforced by righteous works.

A funeral and two recent notes to me come to mind.

@#$%

I buried Kathy on Tuesday.

An excerpt: "I've stopped making excuses for cranky Christians. Do you know what's going on in honest pastors' minds like cartoon captions at some funerals: 'I guess I'll have to lie about this guy/gal...[But if I told the truth, I'd say,...]...He was a real SOB...Ding dong! The witch is dead...'? It's impossible to be close to Jesus and be mostly or more often or usually cranky, contentious, irregular, irascible, and irreconcilable...People who are mostly or more often or usually that way can't be that close to Jesus and maybe/probably don't even know Him; or as someone said, 'What's deep in the well comes up in the bucket.'"

Conversely, Kathy was a gem amid the fiberglass: "In this world of quitters when they don't get their way or captain the team and find it impossible to serve unless leading the show because they are selfish religionists only masquerading as Christians, Kathy was a shining, brilliant, radiant gem amid the fiberglass."

Tozer: "Every Christian wants to do good. He knows that he is not saved by his good deeds, but he knows also that good deeds will follow his salvation and be the practical proof that it is real. And he knows that he will someday stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the consequences of deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil."

I went on to say how Kathy was always so positive and incarnated Mother Teresa's admonition to anyone claiming authentic kinship to Him: "Just allow people to see Jesus in you...Smile at each other..."

I recalled coming to the church over eight years ago and wondering what I had done so badly that I was being punished by so many people living to hate each other for Christ's sake; and how Kathy loved me and hugged me and prayed for me and stood with me through the dark days until the Son began to shine upon our family of faith as we pruned, purged, and opened our hearts' doors to the infilling of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus as attested in Holy Scripture so that the remnant was reinforced and we began to love each other and others to love Jesus: "It's like mornings on farms; as the sun shines through the windows. The birds sing; and the rats run for cover!"

Kathy was part of the remnant who allowed the Son to shine upon the family of faith on the corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois.

He shined through people like her; which is the way it's/He's supposed to...

Two notes from two different pastors this week: "A man came into my study and basically threatened me and the leadership of the church; saying he will leave and not quietly, trying to take as many people with him as possible...I was deeply loved by half the people in my first church, and nearly destroyed by the others..."

Redundant idolatries distracting from documentable allegiance to Him and, ergo, His.

The Scots Confession: "We most boldly affirm that it is blasphemy to say that Christ abides in the hearts of those in whom is no spirit of sanctification...so long as they obstinately continue in wickedness. For as soon as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus...takes possession of the heart...so soon does He regenerate and renew..."

The second note concluded: "It was years before another church would touch me...I have been in my little pair of churches (Presbyterian and Methodist) for about 20 years. I am blessed where I am, but the past has taught me to never take anything for granted in this world..."

My response: "I praise the Lord that you have survived, brother; and we have a responsibility to intercede for others anointed for such service! To borrow a line, 'As we do it for others, we do it for Him!'"

My thought repeated on Tuesday: "Thank You, Lord, for sharing Kathy with us as a model of Someone better!"

@#$%

I told the truth about Kathy; and I will tell the truth about anyone who knows the truth like Kathy.

Conversely,...

Bob Dylan: "There are those who worship loneliness. I'm not one of them. In this age of fiberglass, I'm looking for a gem!"

Kathy and women/men of faith like her are gems amid the fiberglass of churches increasingly polluted by posers of idolatrous, self-righteous, and auto-suggesting religion coincidentally/remotely related to the Jesus of the Bible.

Calvin was right. People who really love Jesus show "signs" of loving Jesus by loving like Jesus.

Luther was right: "Good works don't make a person good; but a good person does good works!"

Yes, Paul/James were right: "The fruit/proof/evidence of the Spirit is...Show me your righteous works to prove..."

They got it from Jesus: "Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven..."

Behavior confirms belief.

Belief determines final destiny.

Righteous works go a long way in proving gratitude for salvation by grace through faith.

Deal with it/Him.

Kathy did.

People like Kathy do.

Anything less is a lie from the mouth as proven by the actions of a liar.

@#$%

So no more lies from Pastor Bob.

If you don't worship Him regularly and use the charismata and other resources entrusted to ya to honor Him and help others - "As you do it for them, you do it for Me!" - you're a poser and polluting a membership roll.

If you say you love Jesus while hating others for Christ's sake, you're a poser and better be careful about the book of life which is eternally more consequential than any membership roll.

If you can't serve unless you lead, control, or something else equally arrogant, ya better get back into the Word and learn more about the humility that...

If you're mostly or more often or usually cranky, contentious, irregular, irascible, and irreconcilable, you can't know or even be remotely related to Jesus because intimacy with Him yields righteous works mostly, more often, and usually.

Deal with it/Him.

Kathy did.

People like Kathy do.

Anything less is a lie from the mouth as proven by the actions of a liar.

@#$%

I know...because I don't lie...as much as I used to...

Not enough.

That's the...truth.

@#$%