What's caught is more important than what's taught....
What in the world does that mean?
It means that what we do, and what people get out of our personal example far out-weighs
any words we can possibly speak.
Jesus warned against the example of the Pharisees.
He said they say but they do not do.
Are we guilty of that sin in any area of our lives?
The Bible says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and let not that man
think he will receive anything from the Lord.
The thing that is weighing on my heart this morning is the example of a Pastor whom we consider
very dear, but we are faced with the reality that, in at least one area of his life, he says but he does
not do.
Anyone who has visited this site very much knows that Butch and I hold the King James Bible to be
translated from reliable Texts and to be the true Word of God, and we know that the Minority Texts, from which most all
other modern versions are translated, are not at all reliable (see "Bible Versions" on the navigation bar).
The pastor in question has spoken with us (more than once) on this subject and has indicated his
general agreement.
He reinforces this view vervally from his pulpit, and It is written into his church by-laws that
the King James Bible is the preferred version in that fellowship.
He preaches from the King James Bible, and we have heard him thanking church members for doing the
public Bible readings, at church services, from the KJV. He has been very vocal in his belief that the King
James Bible is the most reliable and in encouraging his flock to use it.
So we were rather shocked recently, when we discovered that he was using another version
in his personal study and reading.
The discovery came at a Wednesday night church meeting, when the person leading the Bible study
asked for some folks to read certain things from a version that was not the King James Version.
She asked who had brought that particular version with them that night, and then made
a point to ask the pastor did he bring his as well.
He had--and it was very apparent to us that it was a well known fact within the congregation
that the pastor used that version in his private studies.
That really threw us.
I ask the reader at this point to remember this article is not a treatise on Bible Versions but
rather on the power of example.
The pastor had never indicated to Butch and I that he used other versions in his private study (and
we had discussed Bible versions with him, so the opportunity had been there for honesty).
What became very obvious to us, that night, was that for all the talk about the King James
Bible, in spite of the fact that the church by-laws recommended it, and in spite of the fact that the pastor preached from
it and thanked church members for reading from it...
It was all just window dressing.
Several people in the congregation had the version that was mentioned, so it is obvious that the
pastor's example was having far more impact than his words.
The people in that congregation were being taught to use the King James Bible, but
what they caught was that it really didn't matter.