[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Ohio

When it comes to "Authority" in the body of Christ, Ron Kangas at LSM loves to consider himself the present day Moses. Supposedly then RK has been called by God in the burning bush, conveyed 10 plagues on Pharoah and Egypt, has parted the Red Sea, has been to the mountain, has received the vision, has the glow of God on his face, has build God's house, and how dare anyone even criticize a stupid thing he does or says!

Only his little circle of blendeds take anything he says seriously. The entire body of Christ, on the other hand, would shake their heads and wonder if he was delusional, like a Jim Jones or a David Koresh.

But let's look at what the apostles have told us about authority in the church. Peter conveyed what Jesus regularly taught about never lording it over the church like the Gentiles rule their charge. In his instructions to both Timothy and Titus, Paul enumerated qualifications for both elders and deacons in all the churches. This is extremely significant. Paul never stated that leaders should be loyal yes-men or authoritative figures, owing allegiance to some fake headquarters. That would be the message from the super-apostles and the Judaizers.

Instead Paul mentions that elders should be moral, upright, and those who manage their own households well. Paul saw the urgent need for time-tested and proven men of character to lead the church. Paul saw that each church needed men to exercise the same traits of authority exhibited in healthy homes. Elders were to be the same shepherding fathers and teachers in the church that they were with their own families. Just as overly authoritative fathers are failures in their own homes, authoritative elders are damaging to the house of God. What father would tell his children about their mother, what Ron Kangas said to the saints about his wife?

Yeah, just wanted to say that I agree with what Ohio wrote here in bold. If you picture Ron's shameful speaking about his wife in a home or family setting, his behavior becomes all the more shocking and abhorrent. If you observed a husband speaking that way about his wife at home, no one would logically consider him for leadership in a church. I am just floored that no one in the room of 4,000 attendees spoke up when he said that. What a blanket of mouth-shutting oppression there is in the local church!