A minister arose and asked to speak. He then said, "Honorable fathers and brothers, I have been asked to speak on the subject of what a minister should be learning from Christ. I will attempt to indicate what Jesus spoke to His disciples and what He taught them. Jn. 12:26 says, "If any man serve me let him follow me." Now as for us ministers it is impossible for us to follow Christ, because we are bound to the regulations of the church. Our Lord and Savior did not become a public teacher until He was 30 years old, but our ministers are ordained in their youth to lead and teach others, Jesus was never ordained as a clergyman; He did not want or have a pulpit or a place in the temple. If He were now living He would not be given an opportunity to speak from any pulpit without being ordained. He would not be allowed to speak in any of our church buildings. Jesus spoke as one sent of God, not of people. He did not have church authorization. Yet we today do not honor those who preach in this manner, without being sent or having the consent of the people. We think they are doing a work they have no right to do and we forbid them. Christ did not wear priestly robes, what we wear is similar to what the heathens wore and the old Egyptian, Chaldese and Roman priests. I also want to draw your attention to the fact that our Savior did not serve an altar which is also from the heathens. Not at any time did the Lord ask people to build church buildings for worshipping the Almighty, but just the opposite. To the Samaritan woman He said, "Woman believe Me, the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. The Lord did not use the ringing of church bells, and He did not try to charm the people with church music. He did not use all kinds of instruments as the Salvation Army does. All these things were later inventions as substitutes for empty and spiritless sermons that were given to the people. Then we read on that Jesus said He was greater than the temple, and that the Almighty does not live in temples made with hands, but wants to live in our hearts. The Lord did not preach written sermons or read His prayers. I probably should not criticize our way of doing because it is so much easier to use the written prayers. Jesus was not taken up with religious ceremony either. He did not perform the marriage ceremony, nor speak at funerals as we are asked to do. People say He did not baptize anyone. When someone asked Him about burying the dead, He answered, "Follow Thou me and let the dead bury the dead." He did not ask to have a funeral service for Himself. Think what a disloyal situation it has become. We ministers use heathen habits and are teaching people that it is Christ- like. Such as the anointing and the baptizing. We who should be free from sorcery. Christ went forth through cities and towns preaching - sometimes on mountain tops, in orchards, in fishing boats etc., healing the sick and feeding the hungry. There is not a minister in this whole country who would decide to follow Jesus in this way with Christ as his example. And if he did, he would be putting himself in a place to be ridiculed by everyone. Our Lord left those who would not hear Him, but we cannot leave our congregation when they do not want to hear us. When people sought Him to depart out of their coasts He left (Matt. 8:34) but we have to stay where we have been sent, even though oftimes people do not wish to hear us. There is no comparison here, only a great opposition. Jesus did not seek to please people to win their friendship and consent for Himself. Because He told the honorable Scribes and Pharisees of Israel they were like whited sepulchres and the King Herod, He called a fox. If Jesus were here now He would not be chosen to serve as the court chaplain, or as the minister to open Parliament. Now I would like to ask you a question, which of us would dare to say to the rich people, "Woe unto you" as Jesus did? We have to honor Kings, obey people instead of God. We are told to read the prayers, not just before our sermons but also afterwards and I find myself wondering what Jesus prayed for. He usually went off alone to pray and taught others to do the same. Those who prayed in public, He judged as hypocrites. Undoubtedly, we have distorted the teachings of Jesus. But still we call ourselves servants of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not own a pillow for His head but we have homes with modern conveniences. Our standard of living is similar to the rich Caiapas or Pilate. Our course in life is more like them than the lowly Nazarine. Jesus disapproved of the desire to be rich and he sent his disciples out without gold or silver. We continue to try for larger congregations and salaries. Jesus and his disciples were kept by free will offerings. The law of our country tells the churches to pay their ministers so we do not have to ask God for our daily bread, the way Jesus taught his disciples. We teach others that Godliness with contentment is enough, (I Tim. 6:6), but I'm sorry to say we fail to manifest this. We recite Matt. 16:26 to our congregations, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." Yet we take whatever we can get and give no thought to whether or not it is detrimental to our soul. Jesus said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing would be impossible." Jesus said, "The work that I do can be done by those who believe in Me," but we do not dare to try it, without a steady salary, bringing the Lords' message. We possess none of that strong faith that Jesus had and what He taught. We do boast about it but in truth we are not followers of Jesus. He was not a liar and not a hypocrite. I believe it is dangerous for us to say that Jesus is our example. On the contrary it seems that Judas the traitor is our example. When our Lord needed money He went fishing. Our ministers get it from the mission fund or some place similar when they are in need. Jesus is not our example or pattern anymore – not for our lives or for what we  teach. We would find it impossible indeed to accept His example and way, and to teach it, because we as ministers have bound ourselves with an oath to the god of this world and find it necessary to still the voice of conscience.

When he had finished speaking there was a long silence. The words that had been spoken were not accepted more so because the gathering was open to the public and to the press. Then one of the visitors got up and said that he was in accord with what they had been hearing and felt it was the unadulterated truth and that it couldn't be otherwise, but he could see that the honorable church fathers could not discuss this any further. However, he felt there is no forsaking as bad as to call Jesus our Lord and not do as He commanded, and that there is no greater deception than to call ourselves Christians and not following Christ. He then thanked them for allowing him to speak.

He who loses money loses much;
He who loses a friend loses more;
He who loses faith loses all.
...

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