It is one of the peculiar callings of the pastor to say out loud with biblical authority that which is forbidden to be said in society at large. The Pastor must be loving, compassionate and politically incorrect, unfashionable, gauche and to a large degree out of style in both his life, his personal image, and especially in his preaching.
When the pastor publicly proclaims that which is societally forbidden to say, he pours water on the altar. He dowses his church in buckets of fire retardant. he is a proverbial wet blanket to any and all phony fire.
This doesn’t hinder the fire from falling, but it does make evident that any fire on the altar isn’t man made, and utterly. heaven sent.
This is precisely the opposite philosophy of the prophets of this world who manufacture fire, and call it the spirit. To change metaphors, they build with wood, hay and straw– kindling for the fire of God. Or one more biblical metaphor: they allow their church to sprout weeds which choke out true fruit and call it a harvest.
