Decision time

  After a thoughtful time of reflexing on my life, the situation at church, and my wants and needs I made my fateful decision.  I know the pastor was glad I decided to resign my teaching position as he has been trying to oust me for years but the congregation kept re-electing me.  But with a big shift in the makeup of the class, the pastor thought he had enough power to get me out.  At first he was going to have voting by secret ballot but was afraid he still might lose  so he just flat out said that Rick would teach half the time and I would teach the other half.  So much for free and fair elections. 
  The one thing I was not expecting was to be removed as deacon.  But the pastor had a good excuse for that one to:  he said it was his belief that a preacher ought not to be a deacon but to devote his  a member of the board of trustees, time to developing his ministry.  Using the same logic, I resigned from being the teacher, and my jobs as sign maker, videographer, printer of church bulletins, and my membership in the planning committee.  I turned in my keys so I will not be responsible for regulating the temperature in the buildings prior to service. 
   It wasn't just that the desirable jobs like deacon and teacher should be taken away and the jobs that no one wants or is capable of doing remain.  I told the pastor that if a preacher  couldn't be a deacon because it took time away from his ministry that it was also true that all the other things I did around the church also took time away from my ministry so they would have to go as well. 
  No wonder the man doesn't like me.  I beat him at his own game. 
  From time to time this man offends someone to the point that they leave the church.  There are just a few people from prior congregants that he has not offended.  In fact he upset two people last night.  He emphasized in his message last night that he considerers anyone who works on Sunday a backslidden Christian.  Not only that but he referred to a specific job: a janitor in a nursing home, as examples on people who should not work on Sundays.  While he was specifically targeting this one poor lady, he inadvertently hit another lady.  She had to work on Sunday a day during 2016 and 4 times in 2015.  She was upset too. 
  The pastor has the biggest ego of anyone I've ever meet and I've 70 years old and have encountered plenty of cocky people in my life.  He thinks he is an authority on everything.  If, in a lesson, a mention something he disagrees with, he will take time in his next sermon or two to belittle my point f view.  He has even quoted non existent scripture before.   I doubt that anyone could convince him the scripture doesn't exist because he would claim it existed in principle if not in fact, which it doesn't even do that. 
  I mentioned one time in a lesson that in Hebrew the word for "spirit of God" in the creation story
is wind.  I said I liked the concept as this wind is a capital W and describes a n entity that covers everything everywhere, has power to move and change things, is invisible, and works by design with intelligence.   "God is not the wind" he exclaimed in his next message.  Well, I liked the concept as it is easier to visualize the Holy Spirit that what one normally thinks of ghostly figures and his exclamations and declarations against the idea in no way changes the fact that in the original Hebrew text the word used to describe the spirit of God was Wind. 
  Sometimes he is just an idiot and he will sooner or later offend the newer people too.