August 4, 2015
Dear Pastors:
Ecclesiastes 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? [The Scriptures here are teaching that man, a living soul, will live forever somewhere, either heaven or hell. The beast, at his death, goeth back to the the dust.]
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is hi his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
I have always preached that, if you help folks, it will cost you time and money, a person who like the Psalmist declared, “sweareth to his own hurt….” [Psa 15:4.]
At a tad after 8:00 AM this morning, one of our YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL supporting Pastors called. Let me just call his name “Ken [K].” K pastors a church next to a military base where soldiers are who have been in our war efforts both in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has a man in his church who is on total disability, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
K said this guy is like a mountain man. The man M has a wife and four sons. Yesterday evening the fella used a horse whip on one of his sons, which his wife remonstrated against. He then got a pistol and held it to his head. Then, he shot several rounds in the house.
K called to ask me what to do.
Let me digress a moment, then I shall come back to what I told Pastor K. While I worked for Dr. Hyles at FBC in Hammond, Dr. Roger Voetglen, Fairhaven Baptist, Chestertown, Indiana, and his school Principal, were both arrested because the Principal had disciplined a child in the school. Dr. Hyles sent me out to preach at the Church while Roger and the Principal chose to stay in jail for a few days.
I preached Sunday AM and again PM. The PM service was on the radio. When I preached, I said that the Judge, a Judge Pivarnik, who had a vendetta against Roger and Fairhaven, was crooked. Judge Pivarnik heard the program, and then sued Roger and I for $800,000.00. David Gibbs of CLA represented us as primary lawyer. Being from Ohio, David had to get an Indiana Attorney. The man whom he hired was District Attorney in a small town, a SAVED PRESBYTERIAN.
That attorney told me, “You Independent Baptists are stupid. The most important person for you to know is your local DA.” I took that to heart, and when I came to OKC to Pastor, I got to know Andy Coats our DA, and then his successor, Bob Macy.
While Bob was DA, a feller [lets call this illustration # 1,] who had worked as Bus Director at FBC prior to Wally Beebee, whose first name was Charlie came to Pastor a church about 3 miles from WHBC. This feller was an unethical pastor. He and his son started an automobile selling business on the side. They were turning back speedometers on the vehicles. They got in trouble with the law. Bob Macy called me and asked my suggestion on the feller. I told him, “Make a plea deal with him, that if he will leave the state of Oklahoma, and never come back, charges will be dropped.” In that feller’s case that is what they did.
Another feller Pastored near Ft. Sill, Oklahoma [illustration # 2]. His wife was the daughter of a preacher in Indiana, who knew me. I didn’t know the man and wife at Ft. Sill. They believed when the Scriptures says “rod” it means literally a “ROD.” So they used a ½ inch wooden rod on their young’uns. The rod, of course, marked up the children’s bottoms.
They had a 1-1/2 year old boy. A Nursery worker in the church changed that little boy’s diaper one Sunday morning, found terrible bruises, and called the Police. The Police arrested the Pastor and his wife and placed the children in foster care. It was one bad situation.
The Father-Preacher of the wife, in Indiana, called me that Sunday. I told him I would talk with Bob Macy and see what, if anything, could be done. Bob said, maybe the DA at Sill will listen, and we will see what could be done.
Bob called me on Tuesday and said, “The DA says if the couple will take their kids and leave the state in 24 hours, he will release them on the condition that they never come back to Oklahoma.” Bob indicated he had taken my advice on that car selling preacher, and felt that might work with the Ft. Sill DA.
He said, if they will get out of the state in 24 hours, they can have their kids back. I called the Preacher in Indiana who had called me. He said, “Brother Vineyard, there is no way they can leave in 24 hours.” I said, “Well, let them have their kids taken away from them, and let them serve time in jail.” I hung up without even saying goodbye. When folks call me for advice, I give it, but if you don’t want to take it, I shall not waste my time talking with you.
Well, in about 2 minutes the Indiana Preacher called me and said, “They will leave in 24 hours.” I called Mr. Macy, and that is what they did.
Now, lets go back to Pastor K and his PTSS feller. K was out of town but on his way back. I told K you are going to have to turn this in to the DA. In Oklahoma they could have arrested me if I’d know of child abuse and not reported it. K has an Associate Pastor, who is his son in law, and very sharp, named P. I told K to have P go get the PTSS feller and stay with him til K can get back in town about 4PM this evening.
I told K he was then going to have to take the PTSS feller to the DA, or the Sheriff, and report what happened last evening.
None of this has anything to do with Israel. But, it has to do with you and I being more successful in what we do in our churches. Now, please note:
1st, JAV has learned the most important person for you to know is your prosecutor, district attorney, or whatever they call him.
2nd, you should teach you church people to have their children go to Police Officers when they are out and about, give their name, and tell the law enforcers the children appreciate them putting their lives on the line, 24 x 7, for the kids!
3rd, when you people get in trouble, as they will, if you are reaching very many, then DO ONLY THE RIGHT THING TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM!
4th, if you are not AT THIS TIME a Psalms 15:4, “…sweareth to his own hurt…” PASTOR, then become one immediately, knowing it will cost you time and money to help folks.
5th, Don’t worry about those whom you have helped, WHO TURNED AROUND AND STABBED YOU IN THE BACK! Just do WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO DO, AND HE WILL SORT ALL THAT OUT!
PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY! PRAY FOR THE DEBATE COMING UP THURSDAY. PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM!!!!
JIM VINEYARD
YEDIDIM OF ISRAEL
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