In an examination of alleged rebellion in the church, Pastor Jason
Cooley compared rebellion in the sacred assembly to rebellion within the
context of the biological family.
As an example, the pastor provided the illustration of a husband telling
his wife to do one thing while the wife responds how she feels led by
the Lord to go in another direction.
But provided that either alternative is equally godly, wouldn't a loving
husband take into
consideration what the wife had to say and perhaps in
many instances even defer to her suggestion?
So why wouldn't a pastor worthy of respect as such do similarly?
Rev. Cooley insists that, since such indolence would not be tolerated in
the home, it should be just as quickly punished in the church.
Pastors insisting that they should be obeyed without question or
hesitation like a parent in general and a father in particular need to
be reminded of a fundamental assumption that cannot really be altered.
That is you have no say into what family you are born; however, an adult
is perfectly free to up and leave any church in which they do not feel
that they are being respected as a free human being.
This legalistic pastor admonished in this same homily posted at
SermonAudio that one cannot have a foot in what would be considered a
strict congregation in terms of the expectations imposed upon the
members and the other foot outside in terms of refusing to relent to
pastoral obedience.
So does Cooley intend to bestow a blessing upon those that depart such
congregations to attend those that still adhere to essential Christian
doctrine but which do not deem it necessary to clamp down so tightly
regarding secondary matters?
Or will he hint at Hellfire in the attempt to frighten people from
looking for more psychologically or methodologically balanced churches?
In this sermon, Pastor Cooley also criticized those that set out to establish churches on their own without proper authority.
By that, does that mean he intends to repent of being a schismatic and to return to the Roman Catholic Church?
By Frederick Meekins