Ground Control To Pastor Tom

Here are two quotes from an eleven-year pastor on his blog:

Let me say this up front: I have some real struggles categorically condemning certain — maybe any — form of prayer.

AND

Jesus clearly condemned “vain repetition” (Matt. 6:7) and prayer distinctly practiced for show (Matt. 6:1-4).

Yep, you heard right. At the start of one paragraph he said he didn't want to condemn any certain form of prayer. And two paragraphs later, he said Jesus did just that.

The subject was Emergents and Contemplative Prayer. These folks are bringing in pagan prayer and meditation practices from the East. Obviously this is a very sinful thing.

However, our pastor friend (I'll call him Tom), wanting to seem open-minded, could not bring himself to speak against it. Only that it bothered him a bit, but not enough to actually be a mean, bigoted, Fundamentalist jerk casting dispersions on others and their groups and calling names and such.

Then Pastor Tom went on in the next paragraph to say that Jesus condemned certain forms of prayer. Pastor Tom didn't even catch his own contradiction

Let us remind ourselves that Paul told Timothy in I Timothy 3 the overseer was to be both moral and "able to teach." We can't be sure if Pastor Tom is really that dull or just blinded by his lust for approval from all quarters. Paul definitely made the moral part most important, but don't forget the smart part, too.

Grounnd controlllll to Paaastor Tommmm........

Phil Perkins.