“Freedom is not for Cowards” was the title of a sermon that was preached recently by Carlton Pearson. I was intrigued to listen because of the title but the context to which the title was applied was something that I wasn’t prepared to hear. A short time into his introduction, Bishop Pearson stated that after 63 years, serving God and preaching and being involved in “religion” he has found some element of freedom from “traditions” that have been handed down or passed down that don’t work anymore. They have become increasingly irrelevant!
Earlier this week I read a post by a former pastor who explained why he walked away from pastoring the largest church in North America. The pastor cited his reason for leaving as “I could not teach beliefs and doctrines that “I myself” no longer accepted. He provided a list of about 26 mistakes that he made as a megachurch pastor and an equal number of issues that he should have been more concerned with.
Some years ago, I listened to a prominent female Bishop in the Lutheran Church describe her tenure in the pastorate of a certain diocese. This Bishop admitted that what she preached every week was not something that she necessarily agreed with. She stated that she continued to pastor the church because it was steady pay.
I’m wondering how many of you preachers, apostles, bishops, prophets, evangelists, teachers, etc., still believe those things which were handed down from the Apostles and have been memorialized for us in the Bible? A young man told me recently that he refrains from calling himself a Christian because it has negative connotations to others who are not Christian. The problem here is that people say that they believe in Jesus Christ but are only willing to follow him some of the way.
We live in a very complex world where many ideas and ideals are being promulgated and parsed through but what is the reference point for the Christian, the believer in Christ when it comes to the solution(s) to life issues. Do you pastor, preacher, teacher, have the capacity to provide for the saints, the lost, the confused, a right direction to the solution for their problems.
There exists in our world a plethora of issues to take sides for or against and this seems to be what it means to be a Christian today, i.e., what side you take on the issue(s). But again, how are we helping the “saved” stay saved, how are we helping people to overcome. Carlton Pearson referred to himself as a “Theist”, which does not mean necessarily that he believes in the Christian God but rather that he believes in the existence of a god or gods or a creator who intervenes in the universe.
Carlton Pearson was right about one thing however, that is, Freedom is not for Cowards. But not being a coward does not mean that the freedom that you’re fighting for is right. The question for you Bishop, Pastor, is what are you fighting for?
++Troy A. Alexander
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