The Pasadena / San Gabrial Valley Journal News - Black African American Business, Educational and Social News
Religion
Response to Ministers Who Don’t Like What I Write
Dr. Milligan,
With your permission, I would like to use your e-mail in my article that circulates among pastors and ministers around Los Angeles. I have read conflicting and controversial messages that you've issued regarding ministers, and, of course, it makes me feel edgy to push hot buttons, but I think there are some, like Jerome Fisher, Pastor Emeritus of Citizens of Zion, Compton; or Solomon Drake, Pastor of Greater Ebenezer, LA, who have stories that need to be told. Please permit me to run with this story. I promise to keep your links attached in the electronic version.
Dear Sir:
Feel free to do so. And you are right; many of our black ministers should leave a written legacy if no more than to clear the air about lies that have been told on them. I am a minister too, and I have an obligation to speak truth and, hopefully, the truth I speak will move all ministers to a new consciousness to look closely at themselves and their behavior. That's the problem now—everybody turning their head and saying, "Let God handle it." Remember, there is a sin of omission as well as sin of commission.
The behavior of some of our ministers is causing many to become unchurched, and when adults stray away from the church, their children are not introduced to the church. I am just doing my job as a Christian, minister, and as an elder. I speak truth to all issues, so why should I skip around the issues of the church when I have witnessed the devastating effects on the community and families as a result of unspiritual behavior of ministers? I know some of them don't like me, but I love them. I love them enough to tell them the truth. I love them more than they love their members because some of them are afraid to tell their members the truth—especially those who pay big tithes—that is the truth. Well, I am not bound by man's ideology but by God's truth instead.
Seeds From The Sower
During World War II, a young boy was sent from England to the United States for safety. While crossing the ocean, the ship he was on was hit by a torpedo and he was thrown into the water. A rescue boat came and lifted him out of the water. As they lifted him to safety, his first question was not "Why?" It was "Which way is America?" What an important lesson.
All of us have dreams that someone has torpedoed.
We have all experienced the feelings of being "lost at sea" at one time or another.
When events such as these occur, we have a choice.
We can look back in bitterness or look ahead in anticipation. With God, no one or nothing is hopeless. During a difficult time in his life, the Apostle Paul said, "We get knocked down." He quickly added, "But we get up again and again and keep going!"
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