In the sermon by elder Sonny Pyles on the heavenly race of I Corinthians 9, which I have begun critiquing already in my series on the Bema of Christ, brother Sonny got off track in giving a short homily on "young preachers" that arise among the PBs. (listen here) I want to cite what he says and then make some comments and observations thereon. After all, I was once a young Hardshell preacher just as was Sonny himself. Or, just like his son David.
Said Sonny (4530 mark):
"Lots of times a young preacher-one preacher starts out, everybody's encouraging him, he's a little Christian celebrity. Folks hold him up on a pedestal, like this. He starts out trying to preach, he's a little Christian celebrity. He goes off to the big annual meeting and everybody looks around - here is out latest movie star. (laughs) Never heard anybody - I don't treat them that way. And, if the Old Baptists would wake up and put them through boot camp (amen, right), instead of telling them 'you're the greatest,' we would tell the, say, 'son, one of these days you'll get big enough to get some wings and then we'll let you fly.' But, we've got folks among us that want to put them to flying the first day. I don't handle them that way. I don't handle them that way."
"Unless they overall me (his home church in Graham, Texas) any of them we turn out (ordain and send to preach) are going to be PB Marines, PB Green Berets, that know what we teach on any point of doctrine and can systematically defend it. We're going to turn out PB Marines."
I never was quite a "little Christian celebrity" when I was first ordained a Hardshell elder in 1974., though I did go through that Hardshell "boot camp" and can make some personal observations on that.
1. Boy, did I ever have several mean "drill instructors"!
2. And whew! did I ever have some cowardly fellow soldiers!
3. And what about them "squad leaders" among the Hardshells, i.e., hard hearted deacons and preachers with "screwball ideas"? Had to deal with them too!
4. And, oh those "drills"! Crawling to the feet of the local Hardshell popes! Under enemy fire all the time!
5. And, those lessons in warfare! Knowledge of how to avoid or deceive your enemies! Taught by the old "war torn" local generals! A Hardshell "war college"!
6. Able to defend systematically all Hardshell beliefs! All in a "single bound"!
7. The old generals like Pyles, who train the young recruits, and pushes them through boot camp, have medals of all their past victories over the enemy!
8. Was Sonny a young celebrity? If he wasn't when he was young, he certainly became one when he was older (grew wings and could finally fly?).
Pyles admits that many of his brethren "shadow box" in the fight, taking on no real opponent. He said many of them attack other groups in the pulpit, or "straw men," and that this was not really fighting the enemy but was mere "beating the air."
I agree.
Hearing Sonny say these things made me think of these words of mine from an old entry I made right after father died. In that post - My Conversations With Father - I retold words I spoke to father years ago when we were debating hardshellism: "Dad, I eat Hardshells and Campbellites for breakfast."
(Actually I was rephrasing a line from a movie where Swartzeneggar was in a fight with a Green Beret dude and said to him "I eat Green Berets for breakfast")
Well, where are the Hardshell "Marines"? Where are the Hardshell "green berets"? Was not David Pyles first ordained and sent out by Sonny's church? Well, he is surely one of those "Green Berets"!
It is clear to me and others that there are no soldiers with "guts" among today's Hardshells. None who can come forward and defend their aberrant views systematically. Those who can't, by Sonny's criteria, are not Marines nor Green Berets!
Jason Brown was a trainee under Sonny and David. He came forth to fight and defend. We gave him credit for that. But, he has fled the battlefield. Any newcomers?
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