Monthly Archives: March 2011

Sinners in The Hands Of God who Has a Wonderful Plan for Their Lives

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Excerpts from America’s most famous sermon,Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God’s visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works towards them, remained (as vers 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them……

…..The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. — “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.” — By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. — The truth of this observation may appear by the following consideration.

  1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. — He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it…..

  2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins…..

  3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3:18. “He that believeth not is condemned already.” So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. “Ye are from beneath:” And thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God’s word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him.

  4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.

    So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

  5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.

  6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God’s restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them…..

  7. ….Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God’s hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case….

  8. ….God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant…..

So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. — That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies. God’s creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor…..

…Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”

Does God Hate?

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Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth. Deuteronomy 16:21,22

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Psalm 5:4-6

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Psalm 45:6.7

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19

Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Amos 5:20-22

The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. Amos 6:8

I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.  Malachi 1:2,3

And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. Malachi 2:15,16

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Revelation 2:5-7

God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7:11

When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: Psalm 78:59

Does God hate? His  Word is clear. God hates.

But, but , but the Bible says God is a  God of love. Yep, and it also says he us a God of hate. Deal with it. (or as most Christians do, explain it away)

But, but, but these verses are in the Old Testament? Is the Old Testament no longer a part of the canon of Scripture? Christian could only hope. Either the Old Testament accurately describes God as a hater or it doesn’t. Your choice.

But, but, but God hates the sin but loves the sinner.  Right…Still trying to use that lame ,worn out, unsupportable cliché?  Sin is what sinners do. When Jesus died on the cross did he die for sin or sinners? (cue CCM  tune “When He was on the Cross I was on His Mind”) Sinners sin and God is angry with all the workers of iniquity

Christians have several choices:

  • Own what the Bible says
  • Explain it away using big, important sounding theological terms
  • Make some Old Covenant/New Covenant defense for God. Or……God went to rehab and he is much nicer now
  • Ignore what the Bible says and just keep living for Jesus
  • Use Hebrew, Greek and Latin, along with West Virginian, to explain that the word hate doesn’t meant hate
  • Use the same scissors that Thomas Jefferson used to cut up the Bible and make it palatable. Just get rid of all those pesky hate verses

I am a Bible believer. When the Bible says God hates who am I to suggest otherwise?

In fact, the God hates verses are proof that God does not exist. If God really existed he would have blown up this whole planet by now. We ARE a vile, nasty, wicked, sinful, depraved, dead in trespasses and sin people. We deserve God’s hate. Ex-preachers like me really deserve God’s hate. We know better, yet we trample under the blood of Jesus anyway. Yet, here we are………Perhaps when NASCAR is over God will have more time to hates us.

A Case Study

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When judging a religious or political movement we must not judge them in the present. We must take the time to look at their history and what they have or have not accomplished. It is easy to become reactionary when judging in the moment. When a politician or a preacher does or says ___________ we are inclined to judge them right then and there, and certainly we have a right to do so. However, if we want to make a mature judgment we have to look at their history.

Most of us would agree that change is very hard to accomplish. Change IS possible but not it does not come easily. President Obama ran on the platform of “Change you can believe in.” Most of the people who voted for him would now likely say that Obama had not, as of this date, delivered the change they were expecting. Rhetoric is one thing. True change is another.

Tomorrow, if you opened up the newspaper and read that Sarah Palin had change parties and became a Sunni Muslim would you believe it? Not likely. Is it possible for Palin to become a Democrat and a Sunni Muslim? Sure, but not likely. Change is hard.

Denominations, churches, and pastors are notorious change artists. The grand objective is to grow the membership which yields more income. More people=more money. More money means they can do more to reach people. In and of itself, this is not wrong. After all, it does take money for a church or denomination to operate. A pastor needs money to adequately provide for his family. Money is not evil.

Churches are keen on using programs and activities to keep old members happy and attract new members to their church. Old members clamor to be fed and coddled. They demand the new. (how else do we explain  praise and worship music)  Old members want their church to be hip, up-to-date, modern.  Even Independent Baptist Churches do this. The only difference is they wait 20 years before adopting something. Best I can tell, Independent Baptist churches are just getting into Gaither music from the 1980’s.

I said all of this to say it is vitally important that we not judge religious movements in the moment. Let’s look at their history. Let’s look at the fruit they bear. I want to turn my focus toward Christianity in general and Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christianity in particular.

The Christian religion is 2000 years old. Christians have accomplished many things over 21 centuries. I reject the notion that the Christian church had not done any good in the world. They have and they should be given credit for it. That said, the Christian church has perpetrated heinous crimes against the human race. Violence, war and death in the name of God has maimed and killed millions. Countless lives have been ruined as a result of physical, sexual, and mental abuse. Many question if the world would not be better off without Christianity.

I am almost 54 years old. I was a part of the Christian church for 50 years. I have been sprinkled and immersed. For my entire teenage/adult life I was an active part of Evangelical/Fundamentalist churches. I have lived long enough to watch movements rise up and die. I now have the perspective of time. I can look back at the history of the movements I was a part of and ask what fruit did they bear?

I was taught that the purpose of the church was to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Every Christian has a mandate to evangelize. The churches I was a part of grew rapidly during the late 1960’s through the easily 1990’s. Although most Christians NEVER share their faith one time with an unbeliever, a sufficient number of Christians took the evangelism mandate seriously and the result was explosive church growth. In the 1970’s almost all of the Top 100 Churches, attendance wise, were Independent Baptist churches. Only 1 or 2 Independent Baptist churches make the Top 100 list today.

Every church I pastored had growth spurts, some more dramatic than others.  We were busy making new converts and we also attracted people from other churches that wanted to get in on the excitement. A lot of Christians are like crack addicts. They move from church to church looking for the next fix, the next buzz. As I learned time and again these type of church members rarely stayed. Sooner or later a new crack dealer will blow into town and off they will go to whore themselves for a bit of blow.

Over time the growth slowed or petered out altogether.  Pretty soon preachers were talking about quality rather than quantity. They would rather have 10 well taught members than 100 members that were ignorant of the Bible.

I pastored one church in SE Ohio for 11 years. I started the church from scratch in 1983.(most of the churches I pastored were new churches or young churches) We had 16 people for our first service. The church attendance reached a high of 200 in the late 1980’s .This was a tremendous attendance for a rural church. The church was one of the largest non-Catholic churches in the county. We advertised ourselves as the fastest growing church in the county.

We were a busy church. Evangelism was key to all we did. We had a bus ministry, jail ministry, street preaching ministry, tract ministry, and tape ministry. Everything was geared towards evangelizing the lost. We took very seriously Christ’s command to make disciples.

In 1989 we started a private Christian school for church members only. We had a total of 15 students. By 1989 we had stopped the bus ministry and the Church had lost a significant number of people. (of the 50 or so people who came from 2 other churches that were having troubles, all of them ultimately returned to the churches they let). Our focus was still on evangelism but we also spent a significant amount of energy educating the children of the church.

In the late 1980’s my doctrinal beliefs changed from the bizarre mix of Arminianism and Calvinism that most Independent Baptists believe in to five point Calvinism. This doctrinal change affected HOW  I evangelized and how I preached. Services became less a revival meeting and more of a classroom. When I started the church I was a topical/textual preacher. When the church closed in 1994 I was an expositional preacher.

In 1994 the church closed its doors. I won’t tell this part of the story here. I am reserving that for the Fundy World Tales. Over 17 years have passed since I preached my last sermon at this church. As I reflect now over the past 17 years I must reckon with the fruit of my ministry at this church. (and please no pious, well you won’t know til you get to heaven)

I was a typical Independent Baptist preacher. I was fervent in preaching and always tried to be Biblical in all that I said. I believed that the Bible was a supernatural book given to us by a supernatural God. I believed in preaching the whole counsel of God.  During my time at this church over 600 people made a public profession of faith. I baptized numerous people.

But what about now? Where are the church members now? Where are converts now?

The vast vast majority of the people I pastored no longer attend church, and those who do, with the exception of a few people, do not attend an Independent Baptist church. For some, this was the last church they ever attended. Whatever the reason they just stopped going to church.

The Christian school provides an excellent snapshot of church. What became of the students? None of them attend an Independent Baptist church. In fact most of them rarely, if ever, attend any church at all. Some of them are married, others have been divorced. Several of them married Catholics. (a sin above all sins)  Several of the students are gay. (another sin above all sins)

Outside of teaching the children to read and write it seems that the church did not have a positive effect on them. I am not implying that the lives they are now living are bad or incomplete. I am in contact with several former students and I am proud of the lives they have made for themselves. I am glad they could shake off the Baptist dogma they were taught and that they learned to think for themselves.

As I look back over my time at this church I must conclude that I expended a lot of blood, sweat and tears  (and many members did also)  for little or no gain. The church grew and died.  hose who were a part of it moved on. I pastored 4 churches after this one.

The question WHY lurks in the shadows. Why did many of the members abandon the Christian church or become Christian’s in name only?

First, they were tired and burnt out. I have a Type A personality.  I was a 25 hr. a day/8 day a week preacher who was consumed with winning souls, building the church, and preaching the gospel. I expected church members to have the same energy level as I had. Few could keep up. (I was the problem not them)  I constantly challenged the church to be busy with reaching the community for Christ.  Better to burn out for Jesus than rust out.

This kind of energy level was unsustainable. It ruined my health and destroyed a lot of good people. When I left to pastor my last church, my three oldest children stayed behind. I find it telling that they began attending the largest church in the area and quickly blended into the crowd.  They were tired of being Dad’s, also known as God, permanent work crew.

Second, I believe the message I preached was  great for making new converts but not so good for developing mature believers in Christ. My preaching left them in an infantile state unable to discern things on their own. (and perhaps some of them wanted it that way) Because I preached a message of certainty, a message that truth was available to all who wanted it. (and I was the truth dispenser.)

The truth that I taught them was a shallow truth that was lacking in reason and maturity. It is no wonder Baptists are easy targets for cults. Baptists have a know-so salvation but it is down hill from there.

I taught them that doubt was of the devil and that the Bible was the answer for every problem. The problem is, both of these statements are lies. Doubt is key to a mature faith, or for that matter, leading a person out of the faith, as it did for me. The Bible is not a catch-all answer book. It doesn’t have all the answers. Preachers can whip up superficial answers to the plight of the human race but these answers fail quickly when pressured.

I had a black and white view of the world and I taught the church to have the same view. The Bible lends itself to such a view.

It is 2011. 17 years away from the last service in SE Ohio.  I have many, many fond memories. I pastored some of the best people the human race has ever produced. Loving, kind, and giving people. I also pastored some of the meanest, nastiest, long-tongued sons-of bitches to ever walk the face of earth.

I will always be grateful for the 11 years I spent in this church. However, I must give an honest accounting of the work and I must admit that very little was accomplished that had a lasting effect. Sure, we had a lot of great experiences. The stories we all could tell. But, at the end of the day,there was little enduring effect.

This story could be repeated by countless other pastors and church members.  The Evangelical/Fundamentalist church wants to keep the focus on what they are doing now. Their new preacher, their praise and worship team, their new overhead, their latest greatest program.

What they don’t want you to do is take a big step backwards and look at their history. History is not so kind.    Churches will boast of thousands of conversions yet their attendance never grows. They will boast of how great their preacher is and how is is feeding the flock, yet little is done to truly prosecute the kingdom claims of Jesus.

I may be an atheist but I still believe that if Christianity wants to have any part in the 21st century they need to take seriously the claims of Jesus. I may object to the theology of Christianity but I have no objections about those who truly live according to the gospel. I have met very few gospel living Christians. (and I don’t know of one preacher that is) I may consider their religion false but I can appreciate their commitment to being a follower of Jesus.

Personally, I think atheists like me would make good special speakers for any church.  I have been on both sides of the fence.  While I am convinced that I am on the right side of the proverbial fence, I do know that others believe differently. The church is insulated from criticism. They seem impervious to being judged. How else does a church promote child abuse, call condom use a sin, and refuse men who are priests the right to marry? The Catholic church seems immune to pressure to join the modern world. The same could be said of churches from every kind of denomination. Churches are so inward drawn that they can not see their error or abusive behavior. People like me chuck rocks every now and then, but for the most part we are ignored. What does a godless heathen have to offer the church?

Atheism is making huge inroads among Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians. Why? The short answer is that Christians are coming to see that short, boilerplate answers no longer work in a diverse, complex world. Nothing is simple. Complexity abounds. There are numerous shades between black and white. When the church continues to offer simplistic answers to complex issues they lose people who refuse to accept such answers. They end up reading blogs like this or reading books by Bart Ehrman or the new atheists.

This blog is frequented by hundreds of former Fundamentalists/Evangelicals.  Their numbers are too large to be ignored. Some readers attended and/or graduated from Christian colleges, yet they no longer believe. Why? A number of former pastors read this blog. Again. Why are they FORMER pastors? The Christian church likes to look for defects in the person (like people do when they want to plumb my emotions) rather than look at themselves.

I lament what was lost but  I find hope in what I have gained. I only hope that the people I pastored find hope wherever they may be.

Fate

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Nothing is literally preordained. There is no cosmic force manipulating us at every moment of the day. We cannot predict how the water at the head of the river will make a current at the mouth, but we can know the general course of the river’s flow. We know the banks of the river, but what will happen along each mile of that river is still unknown.

   So too it is with life. We are journeying on its river, and we don’t know what will be around each bend for us. Others have charted it, others have made poetry, history, commerce, and war on its waters and shores, but what will each of us do? That is not yet known.

   However, the idea that fate is neither static nor absolute does not absolve us from the need to understand life. Fate is a metaphor both for our actions and our surroundings. What we do does count for the future: our actions today determine our later choices. And our surroundings affect us too: they give us a certain range of opportunities from which to select.

   Perhaps the hardest lesson to learn in life is to accept our limitations. But instead of thinking of them as a preordained set of conditions, we have to understand them on a much more subtle level. Our “fate” is a constantly fluid set of limitations created by the interaction of our decisions and our opportunities. We can neither transcend them nor can we regard them as boundaries that will never change. Fate is constantly changing and yet we can never ignore it. Coming to terms what that is the secret of happiness.

Everyday Tao by Deng Ming-Dao

Dancing, Independent Baptist Style

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I spent my teen years as an active member of Trinity Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio and First Baptist Church, Bryan, Ohio. From the age of 13 through the age of 19 I was an active member of the church youth group. I attended countless meetings, rallies, and activities.

I loved being a part of youth group. (this is due, I am certain, to my parents divorcing and my dad marrying a 19yr old girl)

That is until Monday. Come Monday I had to go to school. No Christian schools or home schooling for me. I tried my best to be a good Christian.  I carried my Bible to school. I took every opportunity to profess my faith in the classroom. I challenged my biology teacher over evolution. I wrote a paper for history titled, Why the Baptist Church is the True Church. I received an A on the paper. The teacher wrote one word on my paper, interesting!

I walked the straight and narrow. No drugs. No smoking. No sex. No rock and roll.  I kept my hair pretty short. I was a perfect example of a good, little Baptist boy.

I dated a number of girls, always from the youth group. I never dated anyone who was not a member of the Church I was attending. We were cautioned against mixed dating. (dating Methodists, Catholics, or Southern Baptists)

I had a few non-Christian (which meant not-Baptist) friends. I played city league baseball and basketball and this allowed me to interact, and make friends with, kids outside my religion.  I have no doubt that I was considered a religious-whacko.

I wasn’t a perfect kid. I went through spells of rebellion. Took up cursing for awhile. In eight grade I told the youth director to go fuck himself. That didn’t go over very well. I helped my friend steal his father’s 1955 Chevrolet. I had a penchant for stealing Levi’s. My father wouldn’t pay for  them so I resorted to stealing them from the local department store. I had (have) a temper and I could go fro cold to blistering hot in about 2 seconds.

I spent most of my teen years in Findlay, Ohio. The pastor, Gene Milioni had a real problem with dancing. Dancing was a sin against God. Never mind David dancing naked, he did it BEFORE the Lord.  My generation’s kind of dancing was carnal, worldly, and sexual. (and he was right, it could be)

I vividly remember ninth grade year at Central Jr High. The Phys Ed teacher decided to teach square dancing.  I was all for learning to square dance.  This would be my only opportunity to touch the cheerleaders. Unfortunately, Pastor Milioni put an end to my carnal desires. He came to  school and made a fuss about the square dancing class. Next thing I know, I am being forced to sit with the fags (talking as we did in the 1970’s, I do not use such language today) who refused to take Phys Ed.  This was a punishment worse than death. (Pastor Milioni also came to my school to complain about the choir singing Jesus Christ Superstar. I had to quit choir)

The school held regular dances, social events that everyone attended, well everyone but this good Baptist boy.  I went through a period of time where I was really upset about all the rules and restrictions so I would stay overnight with a non-Christian friend and I would go to the dances with him.  I did this numerous times. I don’t know if my parents ever caught on. If they did, they never said a word.

Churches That Abuse, Why Good People Do Bad Things and Why Bad People Do Bad Things Part 2

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This entry is part 2 of 10 in the seriesChurches That Abuse

In the first part of this post I dealt with Churches That Abuse: Why Bad people do Bad things. I wrote:

The Christian church attracts people with ulterior motives. Generally, Christian people are very trusting. When someone gives a testimony of redemption most Christians readily embrace the lost sheep that is now found. Tales of addictions, sexual immorality, prison, violence and the like find a sympathetic ear with most Christians. The worse the sinner, the greater the testimony of God’s wonderful, saving grace.

There is no doubt that many sinful, fallen people have found deliverance through what they believe is the saving work of Jesus Christ. Many vile people now live productive, grace filled lives as born again Christians.  They are to be commended for the change that has taken places in their lives. While I no longer embrace the Christian church and its message of saving grace I am quite ready to admit that religion transforms and changes multitudes of people.

Because Christian people are trusting and accept people at face value they are an easy mark for people who have evil intentions. In amongst the sheep are criminals, thieves, child abusers, and sexual deviants,to name a few. These people make an outward show of Christianity but inwardly they are ravenous wolves seeking sheep to devour. This is true not only in the local church but also in Christian camps, group homes, and Christian schools

Churches make it easy for deceivers to set up camp in their midst. The deceiver quickly embraces the church family, begins to regularly attend services, and even gives money to the church. They are soon embraced as brother or sister. Before too long they are given access to places of responsibility within the church. They now  have access to the treasures of the church. (monetary, physical, spiritual)

In this post I want to deal with Churches that Abuse: Why Good People Do Bad Things. This post deals with a very difficult and controversial subject.  It is easy for us to understand evil actions in a church when it is committed by evil people, wolves in sheep clothing. It is much harder for us to understand evil actions in the church when the evil is committed by individuals who are generally considered good people.

How does a good person, a  pastor, deacon, or Sunday school teacher, go from a life as a devoted follower of Jesus to a acts of abuse and perversion?  It is easy to dismiss this person as a person who secretly was always an abuser. but, what it they weren’t?  What caused them to turn from a follower of Jesus to an abuser?

I will not offer any iron-clad answers to this question. I do want to suggest that there are teachings and ideologies within many Christian groups (especially those of Evangelical or Fundamentalist persuasion) that are instrumental in turning good people into abusers. They become Good People who do Bad Things.

My focus is on the churches I am most familiar with, Independent, Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and often Baptist churches. I could spend the next hour detailing the heinous acts of people I personally know, men and women considered to be devoted followers of Jesus who became abusers of the very people they were given charge to care for.

I do not want this post to come off as a justification for the behavior of abusers. When 9-11 happened our focus was rightly on the terrorists who murdered thousands of people. Over  time a few people tried to raise questions about why the terrorists did what they did. These people were viciously attacked. “Who in the hell cares WHY they did it. We know they did it  and that is all that matters.” I understand this sentiment, but refusing to answer they why question leaves us open to a repeat of the 9-11 attack.

Multitudes of people have gone through a personal 9-11.  They have been attacked, abused, and often emotionally and spiritually destroyed by people they trusted. Their tales of abuse are heart wrenching and I  have no problem understanding their hatred for those who abused them. What I want to gently do is try to understand WHY the abuse happens. I will understand if you say “let them all rot in hell. I don’t care what their reasons were, or why they did what they did.” I have not walked in your shoes so I  have no right to tell you how you must respond to these issues.

However, I spent the first 50 years of my life in the Evangelical and Fundamental church. I believe I can give some answers to the WHY questions. I want to look behind the abuse and see what led good people to become abusers. I am convinced there are things within the DNA of Christianity that lends itself to breeding and growing abusers, especially within the Evangelical and Fundamentalist church.

What are the reasons a person joins a Church?

  • They are born into the church. At a later date they make a public profession of faith and are baptized.
  • Their family has always attended a particular church so they, keeping with family tradition, join the family church.
  • They get married and their spouse attends a particular church. They join the church their spouse attends. It is important for couples to be on the same page spiritually. (or so they are told)
  • They move into a new community and find a church of like faith to join.
  • They are dissatisfied with the current church they are members of and they are looking to join a church that best meets their needs.
  • They think there is no Church that meets their needs or standard of belief so they start their own church.
  • They are friends of someone who attends a particular Church.  They visit the church, like what they see, so they join their friend’s church.
  • They attend a Church, hear the preaching, fall under conviction of their sins, and  are  saved. They are baptized and become a member of the Church. They are called a “new convert.”

What I have listed above pretty well covers the reasons why a person becomes a member of a particular church. I recognize the reasons I mention lack nuance but I think they will suffice for what I plan to write later.

There are countless numbers of people who are not a part of organized religion. They are part of fellowship groups, cell churches, home churches, study groups, etc. While these groups are detached from the organized church they are just as capable as being abusive as any group mentioned above. I know of home churches that are just as fundamentalist, if not more so, than any independent, fundamentalist Baptist Church.

Every church and denomination has its own orthodoxy and its own orthopraxy.  When trying to determine why good people do bad things we must first look at what a particular church or denomination believes and practices. This is essential to understanding why people, in the name of God, people who are committed followers of Jesus, abuse other people, often doing despicable things to those they are supposed to love and protect.

Most Evangelical and Fundamentalist churches teach:

  • The Bible is the inspired word of God, and is sufficient for faith and practice. I am deliberately avoiding the varying arguments about inspiration, inerrancy, etc. Every Evangelical believes the Bible, to some degree or another, that the Bible is God’s truth.  If they don’t they are not an Evangelical.
  • That what the Bible teaches is to be believed, obeyed, and practiced.
  • The Bible is to be, with rare exception, read in a literal sense.
  • The pastor is called of God to preach and teach the Bible to the church membership.( I am well aware that a few churches have multiple pastors, elder boards, et,c but the vast majority of churches are pastored by one person)

When we add these things together we end up with a church that believes everything written in the Bible. They believe they are to live by teachings of the Bible. They believe the most important thing in the world is to be obedient to God.

God has given them a man or a woman to teach them and guide them in the teachings of the Bible. The pastor is linch-pin of the church. He is the main cog upon which the machinery of the church turns. It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of the pastor, one person above all others, in what people believe and practice. The amount of power that a pastor has is astounding.

How do pastors gain such power over people?

I will answer this question in my next post. It is going to take me a few posts to fully develop my thoughts on Church Abuse: Why Good People Do Bad Things.

Does God Judge Pastors Who Quit the Ministry?

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This is a common question that many well meaning, thoughtful Christians ask. The Bible says:

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29

In the Evangelical Church pastors are believed to be “called of God” to the ministry.  This calling, this anointing ,is God setting a man apart for the work of the ministry.  Ordination is the Church putting its stamp of approval on the man God has called.

A man called to the ministry is called for life. The ministry is not just a job or a vocation; it is a divine calling. Pastors (elders, bishops, evangelists) are men sent from God to preach and teach the word of God to the people of God.

Pastors are called to live a life devoted to the gospel. The gifts and calling of God to irrevocable. Once called, a ,man can not forsake or walk away from the ministry. He can live his life in such a way that he is no longer fit for the ministry but this does not mean he is no longer called to the ministry. The pastoral epistles set forth very clearly the standard for how a pastor must live his life:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. I Timothy 3:1-7

Paul. writing to Timothy makes it very clear that there is a danger that a pastor may fall into the snare of the devil. Paul was concerned about this in his own life. He writes in 1 Corinthians 9:26, 27:

So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

When a pastor sins and does repent, if he is a true, called of God minister, God chastises him.  Hebrews 12:7-9 makes it very clear that God chastises the sinful pastor(and all Christians) as a loving father would his children.  If there is no chastisement this is proof that the person is NOT a Christian.  The King James version calls such people bastards. (illegitimate children)

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Hebrews 12:7-9

Over the course of my life as a Christian and as a pastor I heard countless stories of how God chastised people because they were living in sin. Rolfe Barnard, one of my favorite preachers, had a sermon titled “God Kills Christian’s. Will He have to Kill You?”  I heard story after story of how God killed or maimed pastors who disobeyed God. God hates sin. Any sin, every sin.  There is no sin too small. There is no sin exempt from God’s holy hatred. Jesus died on the cross for sinners. This shows God is serious about sin.

The question Does God Judge Pastors who quit the Ministry is answered with a hearty YES. Even people like me, who leave the ministry, not because of any moral or ethical scandal, but because we a longer believe, we no longer have faith, are severely judged by God.  How dare we reject God’s calling and God’s salvation? How dare we spit in the face of God and reject his grace? We deserve a double dose of God’s whoop ass.

Granted, the scenario above is a Calvinistic, can’t fall from grace, way of looking at this subject. (this is the majority  view in the Evangelical Church) The Arminian view, the view that people can and do fall from grace, can and do quit the ministry, quit God, and abandon the faith, does not have a better outcome than the Calvinistic view.

The Arminian, like the Calvinist believes God chastises Christians who live in unrepentant sin. The only difference between the Arminian and Calvinist is that the Arminian believes a person can withstand God’s chastisement and continue in sin  resulting in the person losing their salvation.

However, the Bible makes it very clear that those who fall from grace, those who lose their salvation, can never regain it.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.3And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Hebrews 6:1-6

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Hebrews 10: 26, 27

Let me use myself as an example.  Christians view me one of several ways:

  • I never was a Christian and I was never called by God to the ministry
  • I am still a Christian and I am still  called to the ministry. I am just just backslidden and God will continue to chastise me until I return to the Christian faith and the ministry
  • I was a Christian and I was called by God to the ministry but due to rebellion against God, due to wanton disobedience I have fallen from grace and no longer am I considered a God called minister. (some believe if I repent I can regain salvation and the call to the ministry while others believe I have committed the unpardonable sin)

Some people are certain that the heath problems I have are God’s chastisement. They fail to consider that my health problems started while I was still in the ministry. Of course, there’s an answer for this too.God was testing and trying me to make me stronger. ( the thinking goes like this: God beats the shit out of you so you will love him more)

I no longer concern myself with the judgments that others make about me.. This I know:

  • I once was a Christian and now I am not
  • I once was a pastor and now I am not
  • I once believed the Bible to be truth and now I don’t
  • I once had faith and now I don’t

Do I believe God is judging me for quitting the ministry?  Of course not. No God, No judgment. Simply put, I am a man who went through what people call a “crisis of faith” and when I came out the the other side I had left Christianity, the Bible, and the ministry behind. (three of the hardest decisions I have EVER made)

Christianity requires faith and it requires intellectual assent to certain truths about God and humankind. I no longer have the requisite faith to believe and I can not intellectually assent to that which I do not believe is true.

To turn an old hymn on its head……..I once was found and now I am lost……

Things I Hate About Shopping at Meijer

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We live in a small, rural, NW Ohio community, population 325.  The village of Ney has 1 traffic light, 2 bars, 1 gas station, and 1 person who doubts God exists   Both of the local bars serve food, one is a mom-pop style restaurant and the other a pizza joint.

When we want to do some shopping I must get in the car, holler at my wife to hurry up, and off we go. The closest town is Bryan, 5 miles away. Bryan has a few fast food restaurants,a Chief Supermarket and a Walmart.  Defiance, ten miles away, is the biggest community in this area, population about 17,000. Defiance has a plethora of fast food restaurants,a small mall, a few full service restaurants, and a small collection of free standing big-box/small-box stores. There are five grocery stores in Defiance, Walmart, Aldi Chief, Meijer, and Kroger.

If we  want to do some serious shopping I must get in the car, holler at my wife, oh wait I already told you this…   Anyway, serious shopping requires a 50 mile drive to Toledo or a 40 mile drive to Fort Wayne.  My favorite store is Amazon.com.  I don’t have to get in the car and I don’t have to holler at my wife, except when UPS is a the door.

Our favorite grocery store is Meijer. Meijer is a regional grocery chain. We also like shopping at Chief Supermarket, a local grocery company. We hate shopping at Walmart but due to a limited budget we are forced to give Satan some of our money. We eat a lot of fish and Walmart is the best place for buying frozen fish and Zero candy bars. We shop at at Aldi every so often and  we try to shop at Chief as often as we can. Our daughter works for Chief so we view our grocery purchases as job security for her. We do not shop at Kroger. High prices and those damn cards they make us use make Kroger our least favorite store.

I am  the primary shopper in our family. Polly and I go together but I am the one who  checks prices and quantities and decides what  to buy. We have a white board in the kitchen and shopping needs are supposed to be written on the board. Did you notice the word supposed? (wife is now officially glaring at me) We use coupons, shop with a list, and most always pay with a debit card.

Going to the grocery is often the only time I get out of the house. By the time I am done shopping I am in tremendous pain and ready for a 4 vicodin with vodka drink. (I dream of this, but reality is I am very very careful with the meds I take so it’s  2 vicodin with a glass of water)

There are a lot of things that irritate me when I go to the grocery store, If you have some illusion that I am a Zen-like person who has perfect peace and calm as he painfully shuffles down the aisles of the grocery I am sorry that your illusion is about dissipate.

I love shopping at Meijer. I am a Meijer fan-boy.  Anything I can do to stick it to Walmart I am all for it. But, as much as I like shopping at  Meijer, there are some things that irritate me.

What follows is Bruce’s Top 15 Meijer Complaints

  • My number one irritation is the greeters, well really just one greeter.  There is one greeter who is an automaton. I kid you not, she says the exact same thing, with the exact same cadence, every time. When we come in the store she says in her best robot voice, Welcome to Meijer.  When  we leave the store she says Have a a nice day, thank you for shopping at Meijer.  Have you ever seen the comedy Good Burger? If so, this greeter is just like the one Good Burger worker, Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger! Can I take your order?
  • Shopping carts that have squeaky wheels or wheels that go thump, thump.
  • The way the meat department stacks meat above the cooling line in the meat coolers. I have complained to the manager and I have called the health department. Evidently, no one seems to care that some meat products are not kept at a proper temperature.
  • Advertised items not stocked. Every week we have to go ask someone for a sale item or we have to go to the service desk to request a rain check.
  • Fish that is on sale but the meat department never seems to have in stock. This happens EVERY week.
  • People who are too lazy to put items they don’t want back where they belong. Polly found a thawed out frozen cake that some lazy ass had dumped. The only worse thing? The Meijer clerk probably put it back  in the freezer.
  • Not necessarily only a Meijer problem, but I hate the size game that food producers play, A quart is no longer a quart. An 18oz jar of peanut butter is now 15oz. I am very good at spotting packaging that has been reworked to hide a reduction in the amount of product.  I think I would make a good spy for Consumer Reports.
  • Shopping for toilet paper. Am I the only  person who thinks we are getting ripped off one sheet at time? It is becoming harder and harder to figure out exactly how much toilet paper you are getting in your single, double, triple, mega toilet paper roll. Is it single ply or double ply? Is it twice as strong or just every day get your fingers poopy single ply toilet paper.?
  • People who stand in the middle of the aisle during busy times. No matter how long I stand there and give them the Gerencser glare they seemingly are oblivious to anything but their middle of the aisle bull session.
  • Ditto that for people who seem to only use the motorized carts on the busiest days of the week. I am all for handicapped people being able to shop but a little common sense about it would be very helpful.
  • Cashiers that don’t know their veggies. How many times have I heard “what are these?” Sometimes, when we buy a lot of  veggies I tell the cashier that I work for Meijer Corporate Office and I am testing their veggie knowledge. The younger the cashier the fewer number of veggies they can name.
  • Scanners that don’t work at the self-checkout. When I have to get help three times, that is two times too many. What makes it worse is when the clerk says “Yeah we have been having problem with this one all day.” Arghh…cuss in mind but smile with my fake I love Jesus smile.
  • Stockers who think that their shelf stocking takes precedent over your ability to get down the aisle. Sometimes I will, without saying a word, move their cart. Oh the dirty looks , but I think they get the point.
  • Dirty bathrooms. Never clean enough for me. I expect clean floors to splatter urine on. I hate electric hand dryers. Give me paper towels or give me death by unwashed hands.
  • People who glare at me when I park in a handicapped space. I DO have a placard, but evidently I don’t look disabled enough. I am too young. I don’t “look” disabled. (even though I walk with a cane) Never mind that going to the store, to that one store, often takes every bit of my energy, not only for that day, but for two days later. Sometimes, I never do, but sometimes I want to wave at them………..

I love shopping at Meijer. Now if they would just take my list of irritations and fix them I would be extremely happy. After all, the customer is always right. 

A Few Thoughts About Christianity

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For the uninitiated. I was a practicing Christian for almost 40 years. I pastored Evangelical/Fundamentalist Churches for over 25 years.  I married a pastor’s daughter and we raised 6 children in the Christian faith.

I know the doctrines of the Christian faith. I know the history of the Christian Church. I was an expositional preacher, so I spent countless hours studying the Bible in preparation to preach on Sunday. Over the course of my ministry I preached close to 5,000 sermons. (Sunday morning, Sunday night, Midweek service, revivals, special meetings, Bible conferences, camp, etc)

Those are my stats.

When some Christians come upon my blog they react rather violently at times. Some very close friends have attacked me in ways befitting of the Inquisition.

Here are some of the things I have heard from Christians:

  • I never was saved
  • I met a false Jesus
  • I have lost my salvation
  • I am still saved but backslidden
  • I am still saved but God is, or will sometime soon, chastise me

Most of my critics blame my defection from the Christian faith on the fact that I read too much. One former friend told me I should stop reading anything but the Bible, and the King James Bible at that. Books ruined me.

After all, how often do Christians hear from the pastor that many people miss heaven by 18 inches. (the distance from the head to the heart) Never mind the Bible says as a man thinks in his heart so is he. The heart IS the mind. (lest you doubt how prominent this thinking is try this Google search)

Moving on…

What are my reasons for defecting from the Christian faith, for de-converting?

  • I could no longer embrace the teachings of the Christian Church.
  • I no longer believed the Bible to be the inspired Word of God
  • I saw little or nothing within the visible expression of Christianity that appealed to me.
  • I could not reconcile the existence of war, violence, famine, disease, and suffering with the God of Christian Bible.
  • My personal experience with the Christian Church has marred my life, left me mentally and physically damaged, and has caused great pain in my life. I will likely be in counseling the rest of my life as a result.

Martin Luther and I have a lot in common. Luther said “Here I stand; I can do no other.”

And to that I say Amen.

I refuse to be a fake Christian. I refuse to be a fake worshipper, an insincere seeker. That’s why I do not call myself a Christian. It is hypocritical to claim the name and not play the game.

That said, it does not necessarily follow that I am an atheist. That I don’t believe in God. You would err in making such assumptions about me. I may not believe in YOUR God or YOUR sacred text but that does not mean I reject the concept of God altogether. (however this should not be viewed as an open door for me to return to orthodox Christianity. That door is closed)

I am an agnostic because I believe that God is unknowable. The concept of God is a metaphysical claim. It is beyond proof.

To some degree I am putting God to the test.  If what gains a person a place in heaven is believing the right things, going to a certain building at a certain time on a certain day of the week, and consigning all other human beings who think differently than me to hell, then I suspect I will end up in hell.

However, if what matters is how I live, how I treat my fellow man, then I just might have a chance. I find the teachings of Jesus of much help in this regard. If this is the standard, and God exists, all will be well. If God does not exist, and I live by this standard, I will then have lived a good life. (Pascal’s wager for agnostics) :)

Contrary to what some Christians believe, not believing in a personal God or Saviour does not result in immorality and hedonistic living.  I live a better life than many Christians I know.  I am not being prideful. I am just stating what I have observed. The very same people who have condemned me to the flames of hell are also some of the most hateful, mean-spirited people I know. They are bitches and sons-of-bitches in every sense of the word.

I have little respect for people who preach at me, quote Bible verses to me, send me literature, or invite me to their Church. Such people are willingly blind to the arrogance of their own religious views.

I do respect Christians who live their faith. I do respect those who tolerate, and make an attempt to understand the viewpoint of, others.

I am only one person with a story to tell. I have no group, no party, no posse.

I am one old man with a life lived. I write what I think I know, what I have experienced.

I am prone to error and I have few final answers to give anyone. I am not anyone’s lifeline.

I am a frail voice in a frail world.

I am grateful for all who read my writing, even those who think I will burn in hell some day.

Churches That Abuse, Why Good People Do Bad Things and Why Bad People Do Bad Things Part 1

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This entry is part 1 of 10 in the seriesChurches That Abuse

Churches attract all kinds of people with varying motivations for being a part of a particular religion. I spent 50 years in the Independent Baptist/Non-Denominational/Evangelical Church. When it comes to other religions I only know what I read in the media. The experiences and observations I share in this post come from the 50 years I spent in the Independent Baptist/Non-Denominational/Evangelical Church, first as a parishioner, and later as a pastor. I spent 25 years in the pastorate, pastoring churches in Ohio, Michigan, and Texas.

While I am no longer a Christian or a pastor I do keep myself informed concerning the Independent Baptist/Non-Denominational/Evangelical Church. Just because I no longer believe doesn’t mean that my experiences and observations are now, all of a sudden, invalid or lack value. Some Christians try to marginalize or invalidate my writing by suggesting that since I am no longer a Christian, or may have never been a Christian, my experiences and observations can safely be ignored or ridiculed. I will leave it to the readers of this blog to decide whether or not what I write has value. I suspect, knowing my readers as I do, that what follows will resonate with many of them,

The Christian church attracts people with ulterior motives. Generally, Christian people are very trusting. When someone gives a testimony of redemption most Christians readily embrace the lost sheep that is now found. Tales of addictions, sexual immorality, prison, violence and the like find a sympathetic ear with most Christians. The worse the sinner, the greater the testimony of God’s wonderful, saving grace.

There is no doubt that many sinful, fallen people have found deliverance through what they believe is the saving work of Jesus Christ. Many vile people now live productive, grace filled lives as born again Christians.  They are to be commended for the change that has taken places in their lives. While I no longer embrace the Christian church and its message of saving grace I am quite ready to admit that religion transforms and changes multitudes of people.

Because Christian people are trusting and accept people at face value they are an easy mark for people who have evil intentions. In amongst the sheep are criminals, thieves, child abusers, and sexual deviants,to name a few. These people make an outward show of Christianity but inwardly they are ravenous wolves seeking sheep to devour. This is true not only in the local church but also in Christian camps, group homes, and Christian schools

Churches make it easy for deceivers to set up camp in their midst. The deceiver quickly embraces the church family, begins to regularly attend services, and even gives money to the church. They are soon embraced as brother or sister. Before too long they are given access to places of responsibility within the church. They now  have access to the treasures of the church. (monetary, physical, spiritual)

Countless churches, after just a short time, readily appoint newcomers to positions of authority within the church. The reason for this is simple. Most churches need a steady supply of new workers. Sadly many churches practice the four W’s: win them, wet them, work them, waste them.(it is not uncommon for Baptist churches to turn over their membership every 5 or so years) So it is not uncommon to find new church members quickly appointed as deacons, Sunday school teachers, Jr church workers, youth workers, nursery workers ,etc. Rarely is the past life of the new church member examined. (either through an interview or background check)

What I have written above also applies to pastors. Over the course of 25 years in the ministry I candidated at a number of churches. Not one church did a criminal background check. Several churches did check my references but the references they checked were the references I gave them. (who would ever give a reference of a disgruntled church member or board member) Every church I candidated at readily accepted the information on my resume. I found every church to be trusting, and while this is a trait that should be commended, it is a trait that often results in churches hiring men who are deceivers.

The focus of this post is bad people people who do bad things. Bad people are people who become members of a church for ulterior reasons. They are pastors who have a secret past, who go from church to church preying on unsuspecting churches.

Bad people do bad things to trusting children, teens, and adults. They physically and sexually abuse people. They scam people out of their money, sometimes their life savings. They wreak havoc wherever they go. After getting caught they pack up their wares and go down the road to another church and set up shop. There is no shortage of supply of sincere, trusting, honorable church members.

There are some things that churches can (must) do to keep themselves from being easy marks.

  • Do not allow a person to become a member of the church for at least one year. Do not allow them to hold any office of authority or responsibility. Time will likely expose them for what they really are.
  • Require federal and state criminal background checks on every person that will be in a place of authority or will have contact with children or teenagers. This must be a “no exceptions” policy.
  • Pastors should have an open door policy.  Church members should be encouraged to share any concern they might have.
  • When someone reports abuse of any kind an immediate investigation must be done. This investigation should be performed by someone outside of the church, someone who does not have a vested interest in the church.
  • ALL criminal activity should be reported to the police. ALL abuse should be immediately reported to the police or children services. In Ohio, people in places of authority are REQUIRED to report any abuse they are made aware of. They are can be held criminally liable if they do not report it.
  • Churches should thoroughly investigate candidates for the pastorate. State and federal background checks should be done. References should be thoroughly checked. Phone calls should be made to the churches he previously pastored. I would even go so far as to send people to the churches he previously pastored or is currently pastoring.
  • Candidates for a church’s open pastorate should be just as diligent,  Churches are notorious for hiding their dirty laundry. Why did the last pastor leave?  Churches, as a whole, can be just as abusive as a pastor or an individual church member.

Churches must be diligent in their investigation of new church members and prospective candidates for the pastorate. The unasked question is often the the very thing that ends up biting the church in the ass. Personally, I would record all interviews,along with ANY meetings the church has. Recordings put an end to the he said-she said fights that are far too common in Christian churches.

Every church program or class should have a minimum of two workers.(not related to each other) No person should be permitted to teach a class, work with the teenagers, or man the nursery by themselves. If possible, every room should have a window in the door or hall wall.  This allows people walking by to look in at any time.

Just because someone is a teenager or a pre-teen doesn’t mean they should be exempt from the things mentioned above. Many churches staff their nursery, Jr church or vacation bible school with young people from the church. (and sometimes from other churches)  Churches assume that young people are safe. This assumption can prove to be deadly. Years ago we had a young man in our church who was a nice young man. Likeable. Easy going. Oh, and he spent two years in a juvenile detention center for sexual abuse.

The church attracts bad people who do bad things. Unless churches are diligent in protecting themselves they will continue to be easy targets for abuse,  The old adage is true, better safe than sorry. A genuine Christian will not be offended if the church is diligent in its protection of its children and teenagers.

In the next post I plan to deal with Churches That Abuse, Why Good People do Bad Things.