63rd Street Christian Congregation

Billy Bob and Disciplining a Renegade Preacher Billy Bob Bookme
Cut Them Off Church

I am coming to you from the beautiful city of Cut Them Off, All Truth, USA.

A question came up in our men�s Bible study concerning how to handle a �renegade preacher.� We define a �renegade preacher� as one who holds views not accepted by the tried, true, and faithful preaching brethren.

Now the question was, �should we disfellowship him according to 1 Cor.5:11 and follow the Bible or follow the established wisdom of our dear beloved brethren many of which have gone on to be with the Lord?

The consensus was to follow the established wisdom of the All Truth brotherhood. We should not disfellowship him, let me repeat, not disfellowship him, but encourage the faithful brethren not to allow such a one to preach for them or lead a song in any of the All Truth churches. Apply pressure, starve out, force into conformity is the best teacher!

It has been well established that we have ways of dealing with unruly preachers (we call renegades) who won�t follow the old tried and true ways of the All Truth church.

Our brotherhood has been fortunate to have very wise brethren that have developed clever ways to control the preachers. For example; the preacher�s directory � You would probably assume the directory makes it much easier to find a preacher�s phone number or address. That�s correct but another great service to the All Truth church is served as well. We can remove his name from the directory if he rebels or fails to conform to our desires for his best interest. When we do this it immediately sends a signal (red flag) to all the faithful All Truth churches that he is in error on something that we determine is not good. They understand this to mean, don�t book him for a meeting or send him any money. We can call this (starving out the renegade). If he wants the money and support bad enough he will do what�s right. Our philosophy is �cut off the money and the preacher will learn the truth!�

This same approach works with whole congregations. Sometimes one of our All Truth churches gets out of control and we have to apply the pressure, threats, coercion or whatever it takes to bring them in line. We can threaten to remove them from the beloved church directory containing all the faithful All Truth churches.

This approach also strikes fear in the hearts of those who would dare rebel. We as well understand the importance of protecting the churches autonomy. We allow the All Truth churches to have autonomy as long as they follow the All Truth brotherhood. We protect their autonomy as long as they conform.

It is undeniable that we have developed good practical methods of controlling the faithful members and God is blessing our efforts.

Some argue, �the faithful churches are going down in number and people are leaving!� Yes, that�s true but that just proves what the wise have said all along. �some people don�t want the truth according to our All Truth brotherhood.�

Billy Bob Bookme
Billy Bob Bookme