I still get some raised eyebrows and or wrinkled forehead responses from inquirers when I, as an ordained pastor-teacher, tell them that my pulpit is on the Internet, when asked where my church is located.
Is that (their expressions ask) a legitimate function for an ordained minister?
That's a fair question that deserves a responsible answer.
A “minister” is a broad term that can apply to any angelic (Heb. 1: 14 ) or human (Romans 13: 4) being, that renders some type of service to others. It can apply to services rendered in both the spiritual and secular realm.
A pastor-teacher is one who has been gifted, trained, and ordained to study and teach the Word of God.
One needs to be able to distinguish the difference between the one Church (singular) that God designed, and the many Churches (plural) that Man has established in the name of various Christian religions.
The phrase Christian religions is actually an oxymoron, evidenced by the fact that it is the well-intended, but misguided, religious teachings and practices that have taken root in the Christian Community at large, that are responsible for much of the present-day, widespread, apostasy spoken of in 1Timothy 4: 1.
False doctrine and accompanying practices WITHIN a religious environment is a powerful weapon in the devil’s hands.
The devil achieves his ultimate form of deception when he is able to conceal his presence, and use others to convince people that they are doing what God requires of or desires from them, when in fact they are not.
False practices are always preceded by false concepts or doctrine. Differences of opinion over religious practices was what was behind the first recorded murder in human history (Gen. 4: 3-8).
When Cain’s well-intended offering was rejected, Cain murdered his brother whose offering was accepted.
This scenario has repeated itself over and over again throughout the course of human and church history.
Isaiah spoke about false worship concerning the people of his day, during the Old Testament dispensation (Isa. 29:13).
Jesus spoke similar words to the people of His day when He said, “…in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15: 9 NASB2020).”
False doctrines and accompanying practices have been an issue from the very beginning of the Church Age (Gal. 3: 1), and will only get worse (1Tim. 4: 1) as we draw nearer and nearer to the end times.
These false doctrines have divided and sub-divided the Christian Community, with each group believing that it is they who have gotten it all right, to the exclusion of all others.
Being Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, or Non-denominational, etc., are all labels that are the product of Man, that aren’t found anywhere in Scripture.
1Tim. 4: 1 and Gal. 3: 1 takes the seriousness of false doctrine a step further, connecting the infiltration and promotion of false doctrine WITHIN the Christian Community with demonic activity!
Yet, most Christians would have a difficult time to even consider the presence and influence of demonic activity taking place within their own choice of denomination.
Q.: What does all of this have to do with the type of pulpit?
A.: Everything.
Q.: Why?
A.: Because it is from the pulpit, be it traditional or unconventional, that Church Age believers (should) receive their spiritual edification and guidance.
It is not the location or the means of communication that matters. It is the range, quantity, and the accuracy of what is being communicated that matters, for which all pastor-teachers will give an account (James 3: 1).
The Church that God designed is not a building. It is the collective body of all born-again believers from around the world. Unlike it had been during the Old Testament dispensation, the location and type of structures (if any) where the local assemblies gather together are of no significance.
Neither is the method of communication, be it face to face, or by way of modern-day technology.
Most of the Church that God designed is already in Heaven, having departed this world. Departed believers are in interim bodies (2Cor. 5:1), and will remain in Heaven in these interim bodies until the Rapture takes place.
When the Rapture takes place, the Church members in Heaven will be gathered together in the air above the Earth, and will be united with the Church Age believers who are on the Earth (1Thess. 4: 16, 17) .
It is a that time that all Church Age believers, those who had been in Heaven, and those who were on the Earth, receive their resurrected bodies.
For the believers that had been in Interim bodies, God raises up in the form of a resurrected body, the decaying bodily remains or dust that they left behind at the moment of their physical death.
For the Church Age believers who are on the Earth at the time of the Rapture, their natural bodies will be instantaneously transformed into their resurrected form (1Cor. 15: 52).
Then, the entire Church, having gathered together in the air around the Lord, will then be taken away to the 3rd Heaven, but will return to the Earth with the Lord at the Second Advent.
The Rapture and the Second Advent are two, different events, taking place seven (some teach 3 ½) years apart.
The Rapture takes place in the air ABOVE the Earth, whereas the Second Advent takes place ON the Earth. After the Church is taken away in the Rapture, the people left behind on the Earth will go through the worst time in all of human history. Scripture teach that if this period of history were not cut short (by the Second Advent), no human life on the planet would survive (Matt. 24: 22).
Remember, there are many things that still have to take place before the Second Advent, but the Rapture could take place TODAY or during your lifetime if the appointed time for its manifestation arrives. But should it not, your last opportunity to be born again (John 3: 5, 7), and or to embrace Church Age, post salvation discipleship, expires when the moment you pass away!
[The departed souls of unbelievers, who have been in the Torments of Hades since their earthly departure throughout the course of human history, remain there until the future events, recorded in Rev. 20: 13, 15, take place.]
In the meantime, as long as the Church is here on Earth, born-again believers do not “go” to Church, but “are” the Church that gathers together (Heb. 10: 25), wherever and or by whatever means are available to them.
It is the function of the pastor teachers to edify the Church Age members who attend or otherwise connect with their pulpits, equipping them (Eph. 4: 11ff) with the information and guidance they need to identify and to execute the post salvation life of discipleship during their time here on Earth.
To appreciate the legitimacy of an Internet pulpit, one must have a clear understanding of the primary mission the God gave to the Church that is here on Earth.
This primary mission, clearly documented in Matthew 28: 19, 20, calls for activity both outside and inside of the meeting places where Church Age believers gather together for worship. These activities amount to what theologians have labelled The Great Commission.
Sad to say, but the Great Commission has become the Great Omission in many sectors of the Christian Community at large.
The outside activity of the mission calls for presenting the unadulterated Gospel Message to spiritually dead persons, affording them the opportunity to be saved. This can also apply to individuals who attend or who otherwise connect with a ministry, but have not been born again.
The inside activity of the mission is to make disciples, that is students (2Pet. 3: 18) and appliers (James 1: 22) of the Word of God, out of those who have been born-again.
An Internet pulpit, filled by a Biblically-qualified pastor-teacher, is clearly capable of fulfilling both the outside and the inside parts of this primary mission. Internet pulpits have the capacity of reaching out to everyone who has access to the Internet, no matter where they are, 24/7, or what is going on. Their pulpit is only a click away!
The Bible must be interpreted and applied in light of the time in history when it was first written. When the command (not an option) to gather together recorded in Hebrews 10: 25 was given, there were no other ways to “gather together” than to do so physically.
Don’t get me wrong. I am certainly not speaking against the gathering together in a traditional local assembly, but to exclude all other means of gathering together to receive ongoing spiritual edification and guidance is being very short sighted.
The devil, his Eph. 6: 12 forces of evil, and the people that knowingly or unwittingly do his bidding, are making great use of all the modern-day means of communication to promote his/their ungodly agenda, doing circles around others who would keep God in a box, limiting themselves by tradition.
We, being soldiers of the cross, would be negligent not to make use of the same modern-day technology to fulfill the Great Commission.
Would I have been more useful to God by seeking a position in a traditional local assembly, or as I did, having reached out to tens of thousands (according to website counter stats) over the last few decades? I think the answer is obvious, confirming the legitimacy of an Internet pulpit.