Galatians 5:22,23 says:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Evangelicals “say” they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is their teacher and guide, giving them everything necessary for life and godliness. Galatians 5:22,23 says the fruit (evidence) of the Spirit is
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Longsuffering
- Gentleness
- Goodness
- Faith
- Meekness
- Temperance
in the lives of believers. People say they are followers of Jesus, yet when you examine their lives for evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, they are sorely lacking, if not altogether bereft of any evidence of God living inside of them. The evidence of true faith is not what you believe, but how you live. Jesus had a lot to say about how Christians should treat their enemies. It seems that most Evangelical Bibles are missing the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7 and Matthew 25).
Think about the countless Evangelical apologists who have commented on this site, contacted me on social media, or emailed me directly. What conclusion would we come to if we judged them by their works (fruit)?
Yesterday, I wrote a heartfelt, personal post about my health problems and my struggles with suicidal thoughts. Readers responded as decent, thoughtful people would; with love, kindness, and compassion. Of course, Revival Fires and Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, weighed in too, but their words lacked empathy.
3. We thought we gave BG [Bruce Gerencser] a reason to live 🙂
BG [Bruce Gerencser] whines in another post about why he has not taken his own life. He thinks about it because of all the pain he is in and all the medical problems he has. Now he has to face an operation and we do not gloat or make fun of these troubles.
While we [I] thought we [I] were [was] giving him good motivation to live. In atheists’ minds, there are few better reasons to live than to attack a Christian fundamentalist or EvangelicaL [sic] Seriously, he lists some very good reasons why he endures the pain and ailments he suffers from.
In our [my] hearts today, we [I] feel empathy for him and wish we [I] had the gift of healing. Then we [I] would ask God to heal BG for pure reasons, one being to finally show BG that God exists. Since we [I] do not have that gift, we [I] ask those who do to prayerfully consider bringing God’s healing to BG [Bruce Gerencser].
It would be nice to see him have a pain and sick-free end of life and make the quality of his life better. We hold nothing against BG [Bruce Gerencser] or MM [Ben Berwick] and do not want to see them come to any harm. For those who have doubts about doing this, I remind them of the example Jesus provided. People brought their suffering friends and loved ones to Jesus and he healed them all.
BG [Bruce Gerencser] qualifies for healing because he is not excluded from the term ‘everyone’. It may be too late for BG [Bruce Gerencser] and his wife to return to the faith, but his healing would greatly influence his children and grandchildren giving them the opportunity to see that God exists and make the right decision to go to heaven.
Right out of the gate, Thiessen says I am whining about my pain and suffering. Anything he says after this is meaningless. Who says to a sick, dying man, “Stop whining”? Thiessen has repeatedly hurled the “whining” accusation at me over the past three years. Any openness and honesty about the physical difficulties I face is whining in his book.
Thiessen says he is not gloating or making fun of me, but he is not being honest. He believes my pain and suffering are God’s way of getting my attention or punishing me. (Jesus could email or text me.) It is far more likely that Thiessen prays, “Pour it on, Jesus.”
Thiessen says he would pray for my healing, but since he doesn’t have the “gift of healing,” he can’t do so. He asks Christians with the “gift of healing to pray for me.”
This is a testable claim. Readers know that I have fibromyalgia, gastroparesis, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, osteoarthritis, numerous herniated discs, and other structural problems in my cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. I have a tear in my right shoulder labrum, diabetes, and high blood pressure. I have plenty of problems for Jesus to work with. With God all things are possible, so if Christians with the ‘gift of healing” prayed for me, I’m certain God answer their prayers.
Thiessen is right. God healing me would be a big deal. So pray away, Christians. If God answers your prayers and heals me, I will renounce my atheism and return to Christianity. If God doesn’t help me, I will assume that either God isn’t listening to your prayers or he doesn’t exist. I have prayed thousands of prayers for my healing, without success. My partner, Polly, has prayed for my deliverance too. Still more crickets. It’s hard not to conclude that God is either pissed off at me, or he doesn’t exist. My money is on the latter.
In June, Thiessen wrote thirty posts about me and/or my British friend, Ben Berwick. Can anyone say “obsessed”? I offered to send Thiessen a semi-nude photo of me wearing my rainbow suspenders. He could either put my picture on his bedroom ceiling or his nightstand. Both of us have written posts that mention Thiessen, but our posts are responses to his incessant personal attacks or misuse of our content. If Thiessen would stop stealing our content and move on to other subjects or people, neither of us would mention him again. Trust me, contrary to Thiessen’s delusions, responding to him doesn’t give me a reason to live.
Thiessen has permitted me to share his email address: kinship29@yahoo.com. Since Thiessen doesn’t allow comments on his blog and doesn’t have a contact page, I encourage readers to send him an email and let him know what you think about his writing. 🙂
Update:
This was Tee’s response to this post:
Yes, maybe whining was too strong of a word but his content comes across as major whining to us. After all these years, one would think he had adjusted and could talk about something different than his pain, illnesses, and the fact that he was in the church for 50 years, etc., etc.
One does not have to whine to be open and honest but his Type A personality may not let him tone it down some. Maybe it would do him some good to learn that he is not the only one who suffers from chronic illnesses and pain.
We do not mean anything bad by our terminology but we are sure, he took it that way. We have been told the same thing for years starting from many decades ago so it is a casual comment to us.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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He is an unrepentant arsehole, in addition to being a cruel liar.
Bruce, your problems are what they are. You do everything you can to try and improve your lot but, ultimately, you can only work with what’s there. I’m sure if some super treatment were on the horizon you’d be the first one aware of it, and you don’t need uninformed (though usually well intentioned) people offering up the usual quack remedies. If I could wave a magic wand and make you better I would, but unfortunately no such thing exists. Tee thinks he’s got one. He’s actually a moral monster.
One thing that really makes me angry is people claiming totally implausible cures when they prayed to God. I’ve seen it in comments here, where some either unlikely or impossible healing is claimed to have taken place. It’s one of the few instances where I tell people they are lying, though I usually add ‘or delusional’. Seriously, is a god of any belief system really going to heal your acne problem overnight, when in Gaza (use any alternative as appropriate) hundreds of kids are dying daily, and suffering in ways we can’t imagine?
DEE-T – A real Christian and Man of God. LMAO
Bruce I was expecting DEE-T to respond in some cynical way, and he did not disappoint!
He lacks empathy Bruce. The empathy he tries to exude is performance orientated. In other words, if you are healed &/or prayers are answered he comes across as genuine and godly. False empathy. Time for T to stop whining about you. The poor man hasn’t got a clue and he thinks he does.
I wonder how DT would respond to the amount of pain you are in, if he himself experienced it? Would he have a stick to bite so he doesn’t have to whine, but be super mainly Christian guy? I got to tell you I think DT would collapse if he had to suffer. He can’t imagine how brave you really are, Bruce, because he’s a weasel.
I like his new book and award🤣
Bless his heart, Mr Tee did weigh in on your health issues.
I don’t get why Mr Tee thinks his specific prayers won’t work. Are Christians only assigned certain topics they are capable of praying about? I must have missed that in the Bible. I thought Christians were supposed to pray about anything, without ceasing, take it to the Lord in prayer.
And where does Mr Tee get his information that you are beyond saving? Isn’t anything possible with God, or is Bruce Gerencser God’s Kryptonite? If Bruce is God’s Kryptonite, does that make Bruce more powerful than God? Asking for a friend…..
If Tee’s God is so powerful, where was he when Bruce got whatever genetic makeup predisposes him to his illnesses? Where was that God when Bruce was growing up in a dysfunctional family? Where was that God when Bruce was driving himself into the ground and living (along with his family) in poverty in the service of that God?
Oh, and where is Tee’s God when the children he abandoned can use him?
I am embarrassed by that exchange. I’m pretty sure I have never replicated this type of action, but I am once again reminded of my seemingly endless capacity for being a jerk in other ways.
In case your correspondent ever reads this, I am a faithful reader. I have never seen an instance of whining by Bruce. His accounts have usually been designed to show empathy for others in pain.
Bruce, I hope you are okay with this thought. You are an atheist who serves as a model of the sort of Christian that, in my better moments, I aspire to become.
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