Menu Close

Category: Evangelicalism

Sacrilegious Humor: Comedian Josh Johnson Takes to Task Rich Evangelical Preachers Such as Kenneth Copeland

This is the latest installment in the Sacrilegious Humor series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a comedy bit that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please email me the name of the bit or a link to it.

Today’s video is a takedown of Evangelical preacher Kenneth Copeland by comedian Josh Johnson.

Video Link

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Do We Really Need the Separation of Church and State?

donald trump dump truck

This series, titled Trump Dump, features outlandish, untrue quotes from Donald Trump, MAGA supporters, and Right Wing media. If you come across a quote for this series, please send it to me with a link to the news story that contains the relevant quote.

They say separation between church and state … I said, ‘All right, let’s forget about that for one time.

They said, really there’s separation. I don’t know. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure, but whether there’s separation or not, you guys [Evangelical Christians] are in the White House where you should be, and you’re representing our country, and we’re bringing religion back to our country, and it’s a big deal.

— President Donald Trump, as reported by Politico

Recent Evangelical prayer meeting at the White House

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Baptist Church Treasurer Ernest Reddick Sentenced to One Year in Jail for Defrauding Church

lisburn baptist church

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Ernest Reddick, the treasurer of Lisburn Baptist Church in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, was sentenced to one year in prison for stealing £410,000 from the church.

The BBC reports:

A 60-year-old man has been jailed for a year after he admitted defrauding a church of £410,000. 

Ernest Reddick of Diamond Road in Dromore, County Down, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud by false representation and one of false accounting.

Detectives said donations from the congregation of Lisburn Baptist Church were being used to “prop up” Reddick’s accountancy business.

At Craigavon Crown Court on Thursday he was given a two-year sentence, half of which will be spent in prison and half on licence.

Det Insp McCarten said police were contacted by a pastor from the church in November 2021. 

The pastor said that a member of his congregation had admitted to taking money from the church bank accounts and making false accounts to disguise it.

The police investigation found Reddick had been acting as a treasurer for the church since 2012 and had used his position of trust to create a “web of false transactions”.

An earlier hearing heard that Reddick, a director with CMC Accountants in Lisburn, “destroyed, defaced, concealed or falsified” a certain account record which had been “made or required for an accounting purpose”.

The investigation found that Reddick later paid back the money in full, but Det Insp McCarten said “the impact of his offending on those who put their faith in him” should not be underestimated.

Reddick committed the offences between 1 January 2012 and 30 November 2021.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

The Son Vs. The Father: Which “God’s Will” is Right?

jesus saying I dont want to die

Evangelicals generally believe that their deity — the trinitarian God of the Bible — created everything. Further, he is sovereign and controls everything that happens. These statements apply to God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Ghost. If this is so, Evangelicals have a big problem on their hands.

Luke 22: 39-42 says:

And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Is the Father God? Yes. Is Jesus God? Yes. If God is the super-duper, co-equal, three-in-one Christian deity, shouldn’t the Father and the Son have the same wills? Yet, in Luke 22, we see Jesus’ will at odds with the Father’s. Jesus, the co-eternal, co-equal son of God, didn’t want to die on the cross. Which is odd since Jesus knew from before the world began that the Father would one day punish him on a Roman cross, leading to his temporary, forty-eight-hour death. For thousands of years, Jesus knew that at an appointed time he was going to be executed. Being co-equal with the Father, he knew when and how everything would unfold.

What we clearly see is that Jesus’ will in Luke 22 was different from that of the Father. How can this possibly be? This story seems to suggest that at least two parts of the Godhead were at odds with each other concerning Jesus’ death.

I can’t wait to see how Evangelical commenters explain the dueling wills between Jesus and the Father

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Narcissist-in-Chief Throws Himself a Military Parade for His Birthday

trump parade

President Donald Trump plans to have a big-ass parade, complete with thousands of troops, vehicles, jets, helicopters, tanks, and — you heard it here first — submarines. I can’t wait to see a nuclear-class submarine navigate Pennsylvania Ave. Trump plans to hold this parade on his birthday in June.

In my lifetime, it has been nations such as North Korea, Russia, and China who hold “look how big my dick is” parades. Trump, long embarrassed by allegations of a small dick, wants everyone to know that he is a John Holmes-like military leader. He’s packing, baby, and his “enemies” better watch out.

PBS reports:

Detailed Army plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians, The Associated Press has learned.

The planning documents, obtained by the AP, are dated April 29 and 30 and have not been publicly released. They represent the Army’s most recent blueprint for its long-planned 250th birthday festival on the National Mall and the newly added element — a large military parade that Trump has long wanted but is still being discussed.

While the slides do not include any price estimates, it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to put on a parade of that size. Costs would include the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft, and troops from across the country to Washington and the need to feed and house thousands of service members.

High costs halted Trump’s push for a parade in his first term, and the tanks and other heavy vehicles that are part of the Army’s latest plans have raised concerns from city officials about damage to roads.

Asked about plans for a parade, Army spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday that no final decisions have been made.

Col. Dave Butler, another Army spokesman, added that the Army is excited about the plans for the birthday festival.

“We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us,” said Butler. “We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.”

Others familiar with the documents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized, said they represent the Army’s plans as it prepares for any White House approval of the parade. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There has been no formal approval yet. Changes to the plans have been made in recent weeks and more are likely.

Much of the equipment would have to be brought in by train or flown in.

Some equipment and troops were already going to be included in the Army’s birthday celebration, which has been in the works for more than a year. The festival was set to involve an array of activities and displays on the National Mall, including a fitness competition, climbing wall, armored vehicles, Humvees, helicopters and other equipment.

A parade, however, would increase the equipment and troops involved. According to the plans, as many as 6,300 of the service members would be marching in the parade, while the remainder would be responsible for other tasks and support.

The Army’s early festival plans did not include a parade. But its 250th birthday celebration on June 14 happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday, and officials confirmed last month that the Army had started discussions about adding a parade.

The plans say the parade would showcase the Army’s 250 years of service and foresee bringing in soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide. Those could include a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.

There would be seven Army bands and a parachute jump by the Golden Knights. And documents suggest that civilian participants would include historical vehicles and aircraft and two bands, along with people from veterans groups, military colleges and reenactor organizations.

According to the plan, the parade would be classified as a national special security event, and that request has been submitted by the National Park Service and is under review.

And it is expected that the evening parade would be followed by a concert and fireworks.

One of the documents raises concerns about some limitations, which include where troops would be housed and “significant concerns regarding security requirements” as equipment flows into the city. It says the biggest unknown so far is which units would be participating.

In his first term, he proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said that after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees that he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.

That plan was ultimately dumped due to the huge costs — with one estimate of a $92 million price tag — and other logistical issues. Among those were objections from city officials who said including tanks and other heavy armored vehicles would tear up the roads.

Trump said in a social media post in 2018 that he was canceling the event over the costs and accused local politicians of price gouging.

This year, as plans progressed for the Army to host its birthday festival in Washington, talk about a parade began anew.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged in April that the administration reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14 that would stretch from Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are located, across the Potomac River and into Washington.

Bowser at the time said she didn’t know if the event was being “characterized as a military parade” but added that tanks rolling through the city’s streets “would not be good.”

“If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,” she said.

In 2018, the Pentagon appeared to agree. A memo from the defense secretary’s staff said plans for the parade — at that time — would include only wheeled vehicles and no tanks to minimize damage to local infrastructure.

Count me embarrassed by this Trumpian display of military porn; a “celebration” that will cost tens of millions of millions of dollars.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

President Donald Trump and His MAGA Cabinet Are Lying About Project 2025

trump project 2025

For you who are unfamiliar with Project 2025 — get your head out of the sand — Wikipedia defines the Project this way:

Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election.

The ninth iteration of the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership series, Project 2025 is based on a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory that states that the entire executive branch is under the complete control of the president. The project’s proponents say it would dismantle a government bureaucracy that is unaccountable and mostly liberal. Critics have called it an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan that would steer the U.S. toward autocracy. Some legal experts say it would undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers, the separation of church and state, and civil liberties.

The project calls for the replacement of merit-based federal civil service workers by people loyal to Trump and to take partisan control of key government agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Commerce(DOC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) and the Department of Education (ED), would be dismantled. It calls for reducing environmental regulations to favor fossil fuels and proposes making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) less independent while defunding its stem cell research. The blueprint seeks to reduce taxes on corporations, institute a flat income tax on individuals, cut Medicare and Medicaid, and reverse as many of President Joe Biden’s policies as possible. It proposes criminalizing pornography, removing legal protections against anti-LGBT discrimination, and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs while having the DOJ prosecute anti-white racism instead. The project recommends the arrest, detention, and mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and deploying the U.S. Armed Forces for domestic law enforcement. The plan also proposes enacting laws supported by the Christian right, such as criminalizing those who send and receive abortion and birth control medications and eliminating coverage of emergency contraception.

Most of Project 2025’s writers and contributors worked in either Trump’s first administration (2017−2021) or his 2024 election campaign. Several Trump campaign officials maintained contact with Project 2025, seeing its goals as aligned with their Agenda 47 program. Trump later attempted to distance himself from the plan. After he won the 2024 election, he nominated several of the plan’s architects and supporters to positions in his second administration. Four days into his second term, analysis by Time found that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s executive actions “mirror or partially mirror” proposals from Project 2025.

Trump denies knowing anything about Project 2025. He, of course, is lying. Same goes for Trump’s cabinet members. They know, and have always known, about Project 2025. It’s official, libertarian theocrats have taken over the country. Their goal is to dismantle the federal government and cause untold harm to state and local governments.

If you want to keep abreast of Project 2025, please check out the Project 2025 Tracker.

The MAGA Trojan horse has been wheeled through the front door of the federal government. I am left to wonder if there is anyone left in Washington to defend our Republic from invasion and destruction.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce, Have You Heard the Gospel According to John Calvin?

peanut gallery

Yesterday, I received an email from a Calvinistic Evangelical named Bob (all spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original):

Bruce, I spent 40 years as an Armenian before God saved me and regenerated me. 
I came off a ventilator after saying my goodbyes. I wasn’t supposed to live.

My first thought was: What does God want us to know and understand?

I began listening to doctrine lessons and was converted to Augustin and predestination, Gods sovereignty and Election.

I’ve been in 4 yrs of doctrine and church history studies.

I’m a Reformed Baptist 2LBCF confessional covenental believer now.

It’s a real thing.

Reconsider my friend!

For readers unfamiliar with Calvinism, Calvinists adhere to what is broadly called the five points of Calvinism or the doctrines of grace.

The TULIP acronym represents the five points:

T= total depravity
U= unconditional election
L= limited atonement (particular atonement)
I= irresistible grace
P= perseverance of the saints (preservation of saints)

Calvin’s five points were a response to the claims of Jacob Arminius. Arminians generally believe:

Classical Arminianism is a protestant theological view that asserts God’s prevenient grace for regeneration is universal and that the grace allowing regeneration and ongoing sanctification is irresistible.

Calvinism and Arminianism are incompatible with each other, though both theological schools appeal to the Bible as justification for their beliefs. Just remember, the Bible can be used to justify almost anything. Within Calvinism and Arminianism, there are various internecine battles over subtle, minor points of doctrine. Generally, Arminians consider Calvinists as fellow Christians, whereas Calvinists think Arminians believe a false gospel and are unsaved. Years ago, I co-pastored a Calvinistic church in Elmendorf, Texas. Tracts were circulating among the congregation that posited great Evangelical Christian preachers such as D.L. Moody, Charles Finney, and John Wesley were unsaved. I remember one discussion I had with a church member who believed these notable preachers were lost. I asked him, “Are you saying that the five points of Calvinism are the gospel; that someone must believe all five points to be saved?” The church member, with nary a thought, replied, YES! Of course, this position has all sorts of problems that I will perhaps address someday.

This brings me to Bob’s email. First, Bob seems unaware of the fact that I was a Calvinistic pastor for many years; that I ran in Reformed Baptist, Founder’s Group, and Sovereign Grace circles. I left the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement in the late 1980s, embracing Calvinism and its various theological peculiarities. During this time, an increasing number of IFB and Southern Baptist preachers were embracing Calvinism. This continues to this day. (Please see Why I Became a Calvinist — Part One, Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Two, Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Three, Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Four, Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Five, Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Six. Why I Became a Calvinist — Part Seven.)

As do many Evangelical Calvinists, Bob believed he was a false Arminian Christian for forty years; that it wasn’t until he heard the “true gospel” and God regenerated him and saved him that he became a True Christian. I remember struggling with whether I was a True Christian. After all, I was saved in an IFB church that thought Calvinism was heretical. Was I a false Christian? Eventually, I made sure I was a True Believer — Calvin-style.

Bob asks, “What does God want us to know and understand?

Bob answers this question with anecdotal stories from his own life:

Bob preaches the gospel of right beliefs. Believe these things and thou shalt live. Calvinism is the straight way and narrow gate that few people find, and Aminianism is the wide gate and broad way that leads most of humanity to eternal damnation. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Without evidence, Bob claims Calvinism is a real thing — real in the sense that it is the true gospel. Bob asks me to “reconsider.” Reconsider what, exactly? I know the theological claims of Calvinists inside and out. I am one of the few people who have read Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion from cover to cover. To this day, my interpretation of the Bible skews towards Calvinism and reformed theology. That said, I now see how harmful Calvinistic theology can be, especially among Evangelicals. So, Bob shouldn’t expect me to return to Calvinism. Of course, since God’s grace is irresistible, if God wants me to be saved, I will be saved. If I am never saved, it is because I was not one of the elect — those chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world.

Note that Bob did not share the gospel with me. He doesn’t mention the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus one time. Why is that? Isn’t that the gospel that saves, and not The Gospel According to John Calvin?

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Daniel Champ Accused of Stealing $135,000 From Church

preachers and money 2

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Daniel Champ, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bel Air, Maryland, stands accused of stealing $135,000 from the church. First Baptist is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation.

The Christian Post reports:

A Maryland pastor has been charged with stealing approximately $135,000 from his church, with him allegedly using the funds on sports betting and food deliveries.

Daniel Champ, 42, is charged with theft of over $135,000 and embezzlement from First Baptist Church of Harford County, CBS News affiliate WJZ-TV reported last week.

According to authorities, Champ is slated for a court appearance later this month and has been removed from the church’s account. He has also been ordered to leave his residence on the church’s property.

One congregant spoke to WJZ under the condition of anonymity, expressing disappointment with a reported lack of transparency on the part of church leadership.

“I was very disappointed that they didn’t come out honestly and tell us what was happening, why they weren’t forthcoming and honest,” said the church member.

“Because money goes to that church, that’s the people’s money. And why weren’t they honest? Why didn’t they just tell people? … I think they need to come clean and be honest with the people. I think the people need to know.”

Champ was charged early last month, according to court documents, with the Maryland resident posting a $15,000 unsecured personal bond on April 11.

The pastor is accused of having stolen the money from around January 2019 until last October, when church officials noticed that there were dubious bank charges and missing funds.

According to investigators, Champ used the stolen money for various personal expenses, including sports betting, food deliveries via DoorDash, and PayPal.

Based on the church’s Facebook page, the last Sunday sermon Champ gave at First Baptist was on Sept. 8, noted The Roys Report, with the church’s website presently being down.

During his message, Champ preached about 1 Thessalonians 2, which warns against preaching the Gospel with “a cloak of covetousness” or giving an exhortation that is “of deceit.”

When discussing the biblical passage last September, Champ talked about preachers who are proclaiming the Gospel “for monetary gain, for some kind of gain for ourselves.”

“They’ll come, and they’ll preach to you, and even though some of what they say is truth, they’re doing it out of the wrong heart,” he said.

“They’re not doing it sincerely because they care about your soul. They’re doing it because the more people they get on their side, the more money they make.”

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Did You Know Christians Are the Most Persecuted Religious Group in America?

christian persecution

William Wolfe, a writer for The Christian Post, had this to say in a post titled The Federal Persecution of Christians Will Stop. Here’s Why. Wolfe stated;

Christians are, without question, the most persecuted religious group in America.

During 12 of the last 16 years under the anti-Christian Obama and Biden regimes (with a four-year reprieve during Trump’s first term), Christians were explicitly and relentlessly targeted by the life-crushing power of the government. If it wasn’t the feds, it was hostile blue states like Colorado, Virginia, New York, and others that did the devil’s dirty work. And if it wasn’t the feds or the states, it was universities, corporations, and the media.

Oh my, poor persecuted Christians. Require them to obey the law, and Evangelicals scream persecution. Evidently, they believe that the laws of the land don’t apply to them, even though the Apostle Paul stated:

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (Romans 131-2)

As a pastor, I taught church members that we were duty-bound to obey man’s law as long as it didn’t conflict with God’s law. In Acts 5, we find Peter and his fellow apostles at odds with the high priest:

Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The High Priest demanded that Peter and the other apostles stop preaching about Jesus. The apostles replied: We ought to obey God rather than men. Sadly, many Evangelicals interpret this verse to mean that if any law, rule, or regulation conflicts with what they think God wants them to do, they should obey God, and not man. This errant thinking has led to all sorts of conflict between church and state. I gladly stand with Christians if and when the government demands they stop preaching the Bible. However, this is rarely why church and state come into conflict. No, these skirmishes come when Evangelicals think the government is getting in the way of them doing whatever they want to do. They wrongly believe that their beliefs supersede man’s law — without exception. Years ago, I was friends with a man who started a church in southeast Ohio. He dragged a modular home onto a plot of land and turned it into a church — complete with alterations. I warned him that he would run afoul of building codes, but he ignored me, saying that he was “following the will of God.” This preacher eventually learned that hearing voices in his head is no match for the law. He refused to comply, leading to the county demolishing his ramshackle church building.

In 1989, I started a non-chartered, tuition-free, private Christian school for our church’s children. As an unchartered religious school, our school, Somerset Baptist Academy, was not subject to state education laws. One day, an inspector for the Ohio EPA showed up at our school to inform me that our school fell under the regulations for public water supplies. We were required to test our water every three months for contaminants and submit the report to the state. Was the government “persecuting” us? Of course not. There was nothing in the law and its enforcement that hindered our practice of Christianity.

I was a street preacher for many years. My public ministry on street corners led to frequent conflict with law enforcement and community leaders. I was threatened with arrest more times than I can count. I always stood my ground. Why? The government was trying to stop me from exercising my faith — a clear violation of the First Amendment. I refused to bow a knee to Caesar. Had a police officer demanded I move my car because it was parked illegally, I would have complied. Why? The Bible commanded me to obey the laws of the land.

I never had a problem differentiating between God’s law and man’s law. Sadly, many Evangelicals think that they are free to disobey man’s law anytime they want. After all, it is easy to come up with a Bible verse to justify illegal behavior. This is especially true with anti-abortionists. Many communities have laws regulating pickets at abortion clinics. Anti-abortionists wrongly think that they don’t have to obey these laws, and when arrested, they scream PERSECUTION! Persecution, my ass. They are free to picket the clinics. All they have to do is stand a certain distance away from the clinics, limiting harassment of clinic users and staff.

The same applies to Evangelical pharmacists, nurses, and doctors who object to prescribing abortion drugs. They shouldn’t be forced to prescribe these drugs, but since prescribing them is a job requirement, they have a choice: prescribe or quit. It is not persecution to require them to do their job. We see similar skirmishes over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples or baking cakes. If religious beliefs keep Evangelicals from doing their job, they need to choose another profession. It is not persecution if you lose your job for refusing to obey the law or follow your employer’s rules.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Corey Mahler Says Suicide is the Best Choice for Atheists

corey mahler

Evangelical Lutheran Corey Mahler had this to say about atheists:

Anyone who claims to be an Atheist should immediately lose any and all credibility with rational men, for an Atheist can be at most two of the following things: alive, rational, and honest. Naturally, this means that a living Atheist must be irrational or dishonest. The logic behind these conclusions is as simple as it is compelling: If there is no soul, this life is, in the end analysis, wholly and totally devoid of meaning. In the face of a meaningless existence, the only logical action is not to act. However, avoiding personal pain and suffering is also rational, so suicide (in order to avoid the pain and suffering entailed by simply waiting to die) is the most rational choice.

….

In the end analysis, then, the only rational choice for the Atheist is suicide. He can make an irrational choice or lie to himself (and to others) about his decision (i.e., be dishonest), but the logic is inescapable. For the Atheist, the following simple proposition shakes his worldview to its core and unseats his beliefs from what he believed was a foundation:

Atheist, [(alive)⊻(died of natural causes)]→[(rational)⊼(honest)]

Given an Atheist who is alive (or who died of natural causes), he cannot be (nor can he have been) both rational and honest. The Atheist must abandon reason or lie to himself and to others. Of course, he can also ‘opt out’. The Atheist who yet draws breath betrays his irrationality or his dishonesty with each and every breath. For the rest of us, we can remain secure in our belief that an Atheist should never be taken seriously.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.