My 2nd Letter to Ted Weiland.

From: John Hurt
1857 Brindley Hollow Rd
Buffalo Valley, TN 38548

To: Ted Weiland
Mission to Israel Ministries
PO Box 248
Scottsbluff, NE 69363

Dear Ted,

I appreciate your online sermons, and the time and energy that you expend in delivering your messages. I see that your latest online sermon is from Paul’s comments in 1st Timothy 4, and apparently you will be covering 1st Timothy 5 in your next lesson. I would like to ask you, as a friend, that you abandon 1st Timothy 5 for your lesson material and use Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5 to 7 instead – for the following reasons:

Our family has a friendship with Breland Sparkman, and his wife, Tracey Sparkman. Tracey’s first husband was in law enforcement, and was killed in the line of duty, leaving Tracey as a widow with 4 small children. Tracey and her first husband had been devout members of the Church of Christ in Louisiana.

When her husband was killed, Tracey was left with the funeral expenses, 4 children to feed, and no job. While she was trying to “get on her feet” financially to address the loss of her husband, she went to the Elders at the Church of Christ to ask for financial assistance.

The Elders told Tracey that since she was only in her thirties, and not 60 years old, that they could not provide any financial assistance to her, as commanded by Paul in 1st Timothy 5:9. She was stunned.

While Tracey had helped other people in the church except for “washing the saint’s feet”, per Paul’s opinions in 1st Timothy 5, Tracey was not old enough to receive the Church’s help for her, or receive any financial help for her children.

And while Tracey did get married again after her husband’s death, it would be a great insult to say that she “had waxed wanton against Christ”, or that she “had damnation” or “cast off her first faith” because she got married again. She is also not a “busybody”, as Paul claims. Paul is wrong about his views on widows who get remarried. Christ never said anything like this.

The actions of this Church of Christ in Louisiana based on Paul’s opinions not only hurt Tracey as a widow, but her children who had become fatherless. This “church doctrine” based on Paul has contradicted the rest of the Bible. Churches in the 1st Century who followed this doctrine of Paul would have provided a death sentence for women like Tracey and her children, as there was no other social welfare system at that time.

Deuteronomy 22:17-21 tells us that we should be generous by giving part of our harvest to the widow and the fatherless, and does not mention any age requirement for the widow. This contradicts Paul.

Exodus 22:22-24 says that if we afflict the widows and fatherless, then YHVH will kill us, and our wives will be widows and our children fatherless. This also contradicts Paul in 1st Timothy 5.

Please, do not teach this opinion of Paul. It has consequences for everyone. And don’t “whitewash” what Paul has clearly said about not helping widows under 60 years old. Just don’t teach it.

The 2nd reason you need to avoid 1 Timothy 5, is that Paul tells us that any elder that “ruleth well” deserves a “double honor”, or twice the working man’s wages as his pay for being an elder. This is in direct contradiction to Christ’s commandment to His ministers that “freely you have received, freely give” when they preach Christ’s doctrines. (Matthew 10:8-14)

In Matthew 10:8-14, Christ said that no one who preaches His message should receive “gold or silver, brass, or scrip”, which means that is no money should change hands. Christ said that the most a traveling evangelist of Christ’s doctrines could ever have is a place to stay, and the promise that God will provide for the workman who is worthy of his food. That is, you still have to work. I want you to know, that you are always welcome to stay and work at my house, but I won’t give you any money, as this would corrupt you in your ministry, as you would be encouraged to say things that benefit me.

Once a man receives payment for preaching certain topics, it is unlikely that he will ever speak out against any fault that would hurt his benefactors. This is why so much “pablum” is the basis of most sermons, and why the church is dead to the people that want to know the truth.

I know you came out of the Church of Christ to follow the truth of God’s word. The truth that I have shown you is that teachings of Paul contradict Christ and it hurts people like Tracey Sparkman.

If there is any ounce of spirit left in you that caused you to leave the Church of Christ to follow the truth, I would like to ask you to please leave off teaching Paul’s doctrines and return to the truth of Christ and His doctrines. You don’t have to tell anyone why, just do it.

No one really cares about 1st Timothy 5, or Pauls’ opinions about widows or overpaid clergy. As Leo Tolstoy said, “Christian believers are drawn to the words of Christ, and repulsed by the words of Paul.” 1st Timothy 5 has to be one of the most repulsive chapters ever added by Constantine and his church to the otherwise “holy” canon of scripture. Paul’s writings should have never been put into the Bible.

And to consider withholding funds from a starving widow and her children, so that some “elder that ruleth well” can get twice the average wage, is absolutely disgusting. Christ does not teach this doctrine, and neither should you.

The world would be a better place without Paul, and all of the preachers who teach Paul and ignore Christ.

All you have to do is to start preaching Christ and not Paul, nothing more. May God open your eyes.

Thanks,

John Hurt

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My 3rd Letter to Ted Weiland: May 19th, 2023