Coffee in, Pontification out:
“Don’t read Calvin, Luther, Boston, Gillespie et. al. Read contemporaries; they are more relevant! There is no blessing in reading these dead guys. reading them will create nothing more than potholes in your road and deter from the unity Christ commands and prayed for. Their situations were so much different. Don’t bother to question the way things are done in your local church-there is no payoff. The leadership knows whats best-after all, it is Christ who ordained these men. If God wanted you to speak on His behalf, would He not have ordained you to a position, officially, so you have a voice in the matter. Would that not be validation to you and the things you want to convey? Is it not God who speaks, in more of a direct fashion to them, than to you, the layperson. Are you not being outspoken in bringing various complaints to your leaders? You will be seen as a trouble maker. You become a painful thorn in the side of the leadership, a burden. Does God want that? How has reading these men benefited you and your walk? Very few men agree with you and these nuggets you possess from reading these dead guys. You are seen as, odd. No one really wants reform. At least not in the way you define it. Not in the way these dead guys do. Most likely, since you are not applying the times and places, you have misunderstood the meaning behind these principles they espouse. Don’t you know, they are no longer really relevant. Consider the times. You can’t apply principles that they held dear to our day. The church is evolving. It is moving forward, exactly as Christ has decreed. You either want to be part of the team or you don’t. As the U.S. Army cries, Lead, follow or get out of the way. The train is a rolling; get onboard or get run over!”