Church. Your Redemption is Required of you.

When the church abandons its God-given mandates—particularly regarding qualified male leadership, care for the vulnerable, and the discipling of women in biblical womanhood—it invites judgment. This erosion fosters abuse, confusion, and disorder. The call is urgent: repent, reform, and restore fidelity to Christ and His commands before the lampstand is removed (Rev 2:5).

1. Shepherding and Qualification (1 Tim 3; Titus 1)
   The pastoral office requires men “above reproach,” “able to teach,” and marked by a maturity shaped by the Word and Spirit. Unqualified men who crave titles but resist training disqualify themselves (cf. James 3:1; 1 Tim 5:22). This is not gatekeeping—it’s godly gatekeeping, ordained by Christ for the protection of the flock.
2. Appearance of Godliness (2 Tim 3:5)
   This text precisely names the dynamic of modern clerical pretenders—externally devout, inwardly barren. Paul warned Timothy of such men who would infest the church, leading weak households astray.
3. Widows and Orphans (James 1:27; 1 Tim 5)
   Pure and undefiled religion before God (not just before man) means caring for the vulnerable. When the church abdicates this to the state, it not only fails its mission—it commits spiritual negligence.
4. Feminization and Role Reversal (Titus 2; Gen 3:16)
   The breakdown of male leadership leaves a void that younger, often theologically ungrounded women try to fill—sometimes with good intent, but usually without biblical alignment. Meanwhile, older women—the very ones commanded to teach the younger—are silenced by neglect or discarded by relevance culture.
5. The False Pope and the Solo Pastor Model
   The early church practiced a plurality of elders. The modern solo-pastor-as-pope setup is foreign to Scripture and invites authoritarianism or burnout. Christ is the only Head of the Church (Eph 5:23); the pastor is a steward, not a monarch.
6. Cultural Decay as Theological Failure
   Fatherlessness, abuse, and addiction are not just social crises—they are signs of theological failure in the pulpit and familial failure in the pew. The church was meant to be a household of God (1 Tim 3:15), but now resembles Babylon’s outer courts.
7. The Hosea Parallel
   As Hosea bought Gomer back from the slave market, so must the church plead with God to rescue His Bride from her worldly flirtations. The warning of Revelation 2:5 stands: “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

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Redemption is Required Church:

The failure of leadership and spiritual responsibility in Israel resulted in judgment—yet God preserved a remnant. Christ, the true and faithful Husband, restores what we have desecrated (Eph 5:25–27). The church’s hope is not in innovation but in reformation—always returning to the Word, led by men shaped like Christ, guarded by truth, and driven by love.

-Pastor David Ashley

Cross Strength Ministries

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<meta name="title" content="Church. Your Redemption is Required of You">
<meta name="description" content="A prophetic call for the church to repent from compromised leadership, neglected discipleship, and abandonment of biblical roles. Reformation—not innovation—is our only hope.">
<meta name="keywords" content="Reformed theology, church leadership, biblical womanhood, male elders, Titus 2, 1 Timothy 3, church reform, ecclesiology, Hosea, spiritual neglect, pastoral qualifications, Christ's bride, church discipline, redemption, sound doctrine">
<meta name="author" content="Pastor David Ashley, a/k/a: The Pastor of Pump">