“GREEK NUGGETS OR
FOOL’S GOLD?” (Part 2 of 2)
Eric Berne published a book called “Games
People Play”. A brilliant best seller.
A theological sequel called “Games Pastors
Play” have Pastors hoping it
doesn’t sell one copy!
There is a chapter called
“THE GAMES OF THE
GREEK GNOSTIC PASTOR -
HOW MANY GAMES DOES
YOUR PASTOR PLAY?”
#1 “FEAR OF MAN” a.k.a. “Gasp! Wheeze! Sacre Bleu! Shock! Horror! I’ll be
disowned by my
Bible College lecturers” (Prov 29:25) a.k.a “My loyalty to God and
God’s words
is lower than my loyalty to my denomination, church Constitution and
fellow
pastors”
#2 “PRIDEFUL
HUMILITY” a.k.a. “Aw! Schucks! I’m
nothing” (Col 2:18) a.k.a. “I am writing a book on humility and how I
attained
it” a.k.a. “Wow! Really! Do you think I should have been on the 1611
Translation Committee?” a.k.a. “God is only a sovereign not Almighty”
(Gen
17:1)
#3 “WHITEWASHED
TOMBS” a.k.a. “I hope people
don’t find out how little I know” a.k.a. “I’ve painted the outside of
my
theological house in white, but I hope no-one knocks at the door and
smells who
I really am” (Matt 23:27) a.k.a. “I know little about the English
language so I
must astound my congregation with my pathetic Greek knowledge to earn
my
salary.” a.k.a. “But Emperor, you have no clothes on!”
#4 “DESIRE FOR
GREATNESS” a.k.a.
“Gee Professor! I think you’re wonderful” a.k.a. “I love the praise of
men more
than loving the praise of God” (John 12:43)
#5 “SOULFUL
PRAYERS” a.k.a. “Switch the
points! I want the train to go on that line” a.k.a. “My will God, not
thy will
be done” a.k.a “I never read the King James Bible believing it is
perfect”
a.k.a. “I never read the King James Bible with a desire for the Holy
Ghost to
help me understand it” a.k.a. “I ‘pray’ that God will know he has
chosen the
wrong word.”
#6 “THE PEA UNDER
THE CUP” a.k.a. “Mummy! Mummy! How
come it’s under that cup now?” a.k.a. “That cloud has no water” (Jude
1:12)
a.k.a “The Greek Game” a.k.a. “I simply look up the back of a Strong’s
Concordance and chose another English word.”
#7 “THE ITCH” a.k.a. “Doctor! Doctor! It won’t heal” (Deut
28:27) a.k.a. “After their own lusts, they have chosen me as Pastor,
having
itching ears” (2Tim 4:3) a.k.a. “What’s this Rash?”
#8 “PIZZA DREAM” a.k.a. “Too many ingredients” a.k.a. “Widely
absorbing what other commentators say but not believing and studying
the English
of The King James Bible.” (2Tim 2:15) a.k.a. “Casting down vain
fantasies of
the mind” (2Cor 10:5) a.k.a. “I’m a legend in my own mind”
#9 “BREAKFAST
CEREAL” a.k.a. “Puffed Wheaties
and Coco Pops” (Col 2:18) also known as “Theological Balloon-itis”
a.k.a.
“Theological chair shuffling on the Titanic” a.k.a “HIV-ITIS of the
theological
world”
THREE TOOLS USED
BY PASTORS TO FIND FOOL’S GOLD
1. THE GREEK GAME. This game can be played by anyone with a Young’s
Concordance.
2. Words are chosen from a GREEK LEXICON rather than a Concordance. Can be played by
anyone. Usually by a Pastor with limited understanding of the Greek and
less
knowledge of the English.
3. TOTALLY FALSE STATEMENTS a.k.a. WILFUL IGNORANCE are made having little Greek knowledge eg ‘agape’
and ‘phileo’ and hundreds of others. Can be played by anyone.
Ah! ‘The Greek’ preacher! What must we do? (Matthew 15:14)
As has been said “Head for the hills when
Pastors ‘Squeak the Greek’ ”
Commonly known as GREEK-ITIS a.k.a. STIFF-NECKED-ITIS
and
virtually impossible to cure.
“A reproof entereth
more into a wise man than an hundred
stripes into a fool.” (Prov 17:10)
****
****
Harley
Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
