Administror Notice
We pray that all is well for you in your local communities.  The USA's economy is currently receading at 6-8%, in excess of that of the depression in 1931, but we are still not calling it a depression. I wanted to post a note on this not relating to prophecy, but to our own situation. The costs of operating this and other sites over the years have been born primarily out of my personal income with little to no support from the community. Due to my own finances, I am in a situation where I may have to take the sites off line for an extended period. My income provides support for over 20 people, several who are disabled. My ministry to them is in danger of failing as we are 60 days behind in our mortgage. My personal take-home income has been cut this year by nearly $800 per month. My wife lost $400 in hers. While we struggled through last year, barely keeping afloat, this year we are running with $1200 less personal income than last year. Although we have embedded advertising into the sites to produce a revenue stream, the income is amounts to pennies a day. We do not intend to bring the site down permenantly, but may need to shut our servers down for a period of time to save on electricity and cut our commercial internet connection. Please pray that Elohim provides the resources necessary to sustain our home as there are a dozen children and others that will have no home if we lose ours.
Shalom,
Rabbi Netzar ben Yaacov
UNJS, INBD
| What do you mean I can't be an Elder? |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Monday, 03 November 2008 11:39 |
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What might disqualify an individual from being recognised as an elder in the community? Are there really established standards? Who enforces these standards? There are many people in the community that teach Torah. There are many that teach about Messiah. There are still more who do both. Most of those teachers believe and practice what they teach. There are some that have secret teachings that they will only give to a trusted few. Does your teacher pracice what they teach? It is important to know this. Following a hypocrit into a cess pool only makes you dirty. Who is your teacher accountable to? Will he really submit to them when it matters? 1 Timothy has something to say about this: 1Ti 3:1 ¶ This [is] a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 1Ti 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; 1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Assembly of Elohim?) 1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 1Ti 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 1Ti 3:8 ¶ Likewise [must] the deacons [be] grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 1Ti 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 1Ti 3:10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being [found] blameless. 1Ti 3:11 Even so [must their] wives [be] grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 1Ti 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 1Ti 3:13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Y'shua HaMoshiach. So how many leaders out there fit ALL these qualifications? Probably not many, Shaul himself did not meet all fo them. And as unfair as it may seem, we tend to focus on some of them more than others. Due to the nature of the society in which we live, some of these items appear to be more important that others - probably directly relating to the kind of temptation we are under at the time. We expect that our teachers will keep their clothes on. We expect that they will not ask us to bed their wife with them watching. We expect that they will not take money dedicated to a building fund and direct it to their salary. We expect that their children have been trained in the same path. We expect that their marital life is at least semi-stable. We expect that their wives will not run around the community tale-- bearing. We expect that when we visit them they will dress appropriately. We expect that their research will be well sought out and fully documented. We expect that they will not attempt to seduce our children. We expect that they will not change their doctrines for the purpose of money. We expect that they will submit to what ever authority they agreed to submit to, not just when it is convenient. We expect that there is order in the home in which wives are typically submissve to their husbands. We expect that they will fast and avoid business on Yom Kippur. We expect that if they are teaching on Shabbat, they will certainly be doing something for the annual holydays. We expect that when they invite us over, they will not make us wait in the rain outside. But maybe we expect too much.... 1Ti indicates that we should first prove these men who would be leaders. It is not wrong for them to desire the office. Other passages indicate that it is a good thing. But the person should be proved first. What about a great teacher? A great scholar? are they leaders simply because they know much? Well it helps, and it certainly lends to giving them authority. However, knowledge without wisdom is like a clanging bell. It is there, everyone sees it, but it is not always helpful. There are many would be leaders who know much, but have no compassion for those they server. Worse yet, they don't always see their role as that of a servant, but think that they "Rule in Moshe's seat". Because of this, when they do get out of line, and the body of elders they had originally argreed to submit to reprimands them, they rebel. "Who are these who think to control me?" Says the rebelious leader. They, then, begin a systematic approach of defaming those that stood against them and showed them their error. They get desperate, grasping at anything that will lend legitimacy to their authority. They falsify histories, they attempt to retro-actively establish legal entities to prove ownership. Without oversight gifted teachers become run-a-muck leaders. This eventually leads to the assembly shattering, each going a different direction. How many leaders have fallen to adultry? How many teachers have lain with the "church" secretary, behind the back of their wife and community? How many pedafiles have lead congregations without anyone knowing until the day the cops showed up? How many leaders have taken funds for the building and used it for toys? Almost every community I have seen has someone who has done some of this. Some worse than others. Some later rather than sooner. It always has a crash and burn on the leaders and those around them. Usually the leader will attempt to justify their actions by pointing the finger. They are like Adam who said, "My wife made me do it". Or worse like Hava, "Here adam share this with me", then, "the serpent made me do it". But that is not repentance. That is attempting to spread the guilt, so that the blame is "lessened". A matter of "Don't look at the beam in my eye, look at the splinter in my brother's". Zimri was not given that option. When he bedded the foreign woman in the middle of the camp, Pinchas ran him and the girl through with a spear. And the whole of Israel was blessed. There was no mercy, there was no forgiveness, whether repentance occurred or not, we will never know. Too little, too late. When a leader rebells agains the community standards, and gets caught we have the Matthew 18 process to adhere to. At first, one that know details addresses the individual, then two, then the local beit din or comunity if small, then to the larger beit dins to deal with the matter, and if the individual still does not repent but continues their actions, then what? Then it is necessary to go to the community as a whole. A public declaration at any time for any reason of wrong doing is painful for those involved. It is painful to those who are making the declaration. It is painful to those who are being declared. There is an old talmudic story that equates lashon hara with trying to gather the next day feathers from a pillow that had been torn open. Not addressed is the idea that some pillows need to be torn and emptied. They are over stuffed and not useful. Some people repent with a gentle nudge, other must be hog-tied, tarred, feathered, dipped in honey and fire ants, and still they will not repent. Some believe that there is nothing that they do that is wrong. They believe that when they made the decision it was the right one, no matter if the situation changes later. They simply will not repent. So, when a leader behaves poorly, or even worse very-badly, what do we do? In my case, I worked with a fairly popular leader in the Nazarene community for a number of years. I was only interested in getting information out to the people. He was doing some things I was unaware of, and doing others that I became aware of over time. He always had a good logical well formed argument that explained every issue that came up. He was a master at debate, a true legalist. He used the Torah for his own gain. I recently seperated from that leader. One of five out of seven International Nazarene Beit Din members who voted to discipline him for his actions. More information on that can be found at http://www.inbd.org . My journey with that man taught me much. It taught me who my friends were and who they weren't. I learned much about Torah and history and the writings and prophets that I did not know before. I even helped fill in the blanks on a few items that completed some of that leader's major writings. It also taught me how to be deceived. How to get dirty without actually touching the dirt. It wasn't the doctrine, for it was sound. It wasn't the histroy, for it was accurate. It was complacency. It was doing all I could to get that leader to do the right thing, and having little success. That leader hurt thousands, and as of the writing of this article, still does. How? by not keeping his commitments. By living a lifestyle that is not one of Torah observance. By twisting the Torah to his talmidim to blind them to his hidden sins. So many times I wanted to quit working with that man, but I could not. It was as if Eloah was telling me, "not yet, but soon". Even when I started working with him, I knew it was for a short period of time. As of the Days of Awe, I was given leave to depart from this leader after Yom Kippur. As I leave him, I find myself dirty, naked, beaten, and suffering. One leader referred to this author as a schill. Well, a schill knows that he is defrauding people, and benefits from it. This author did NOT receive benefit, and did not knowingly defraud anyone. In fact, this author did everything possible to get that reprimanded leader to do the right thing in his business practices. Even now, the reprimanded leader lashes out at those who only sought his repentance and sought for the sake of the community of believers and the Kingdom. That leader has dirtied all of us who stood by him with his actions and inactions. So am I fit to continue to lead? Well, I never really wanted to lead. I just wanted information to get to the community because it was important. That meant being a leader, I guess. Since I own, run, operate, and write on many Nazarene websites, I will continue in that role that has been chosen for me, but not with that man who rebelled against authority and discipline when it was needed. But that does not necessarily make me a leader. I am just a man. In the area of what would commonly be assessed as leadership, I've not done that well. I am not a very good public speaker. I could do very little to influence the actions of the man who I worked in ministry with. Some believe I should have left sooner. But, if I had the reperations that have occurred for much of the community would not have happened. I did what I could, when I could, and that is all I can do. It is with great sorrow that I have fought so hard forthe salvation of this man, but now need to turn him over for destruction that his nephesh may be saved. But the shield that has protected him is no more. When Elohim said that he was going to confound the wise with the base things of the Earth, he was not kidding. An Elder serves as an elder as long as he is benefitting the community in the roles he is assigned to. After much prayer, my assignment has changed. May my new assignment be with righteous men who do not need to be constantly monitored but instead are also seeking only for the sake of the community, and not their own wallets. It takes alot to be an elder in any community. We cannot wear our feelings on our shirt sleaves. The standards of conduct are high. We can disqualify our selves through unrepentant actions. And we need to have someone, some group, something that we need to report to. Someone out there who will slap us and tell us when we are screwing up, before it is too late. Then we need to be humble enough to submit to the authority and repent. Elders, preachers, rabbies, teachers, scholars, etc... They are just human beings. They come with baggage. They come with histories. They come being stubborn at times. Hopefully, they come to serve, versus lead. Hopefully, they come humble. Hopefully, they come with the interest of the community in their heart. So, don't put a leader up as an idol. They are just men, there is no end to the writing of books, and Elohim will lift up His knowledge as needed through others. And, although there are monsters in the dark, sometimes there are monsters in the light too. Monsters in the light are harder to find. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 03 November 2008 13:58 ) |
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