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Category: Evangelicalism

The Truth About Discernment Ministries

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments
discernment

In the 1980s and 1990s, I pastored Somerset Baptist Church in Mt. Perry, Ohio. Wanting to keep my congregation unspotted from the world and aware of the heresy and heterodoxy surrounding them, I was ever aware of those deemed “liberal” within Evangelicalism, in general, and the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, in particular. Naming names was a part of my preaching for too many years than I care to admit. Rooting out heresy and naming those who weren’t orthodox was labeled “discernment.” Discernment ministries popped up everywhere, with some practitioners saying that their ability to discern truth and error was a gift from God.

Wanting to accurately know what these heretical and heterodox preachers believed and practiced, I read books from discernment ministries, passing on the relevant information to church members in my sermons and classes. Cult “expert” Walter Martin — who believed every religion but his own was a cult — was a discernment minister, as were men such as Rick Miesel and David Cloud. This was before the Internet, so you either got discernment news from books or newsletters and sermons. Meisel operated the Bible Discernment Ministry (which is now operated by John Beardsley). Meisel put together a binder of men and women he deemed heretical and offered it for sale. I bought a binder from Miesel. Periodically, he would send out updates and addendums to the binder. Cloud operated Way of Life Literature, a ministry focused on Baptists in general, and the IFB church movement specifically. The Sword of the Lord and The Biblical Evangelist were two newspaper rags that frequently published articles calling out heresy, demanding that offending preachers, churches, and institutions repent and return to IFB orthodoxy. Countless other papers were published during this time. For several years, I published The Sovereign Grace Reporter, a monthly newsletter that called on Baptists to embrace their Calvinistic roots.

The Internet changed everything, including discernment ministries. For a few dollars a month, a discernment ministry could set up a website reaching more people than they could ever reach with printed materials or audio tapes.

Today, there are scores of discernment ministries, each with its take on heresy and who should be excommunicated from the ranks of orthodoxy. In 2007, I showed up on the radar of heresy hunters such as Ken Sliva and Preacher Boy. Silva is now deceased, and Preacher Boy is no longer in the ministry. I was able to find one discussion I had online with Ken Silva in 2008. Here’s the relevant text. Keep in mind, I was still a Christian — barely — at this point (spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original):

Now as a heterosexual man completely comfortable within my own sexuality I will now remind you of a prior AM piece It’s Time To Rethink The Issue Of Homosexuality. Within it, I have already shared that as a former professional musician once living in Los Angeles, I have personally known many homosexual people. As a matter of fact I also mentioned a friend of mine, whom I also worked for, happened to be quite open about his homosexuality. I, on the other hand, was also quite open about my Christianity. And, the Lord be praised, one day he even said as a compliment to me, “You act like a Christian is supposed to act.”

With this as necessary background let me point out that in a post called Rob Bell and his stance on homosexuality I am taken to task for my writings concerning Bell by Erica Martino who, as I pointed out previously, happens to be the wife of Rob’s friend Joe. Being criticized all goes with the turf I play on so I’ve no problem with Erica including me with, “These men and women [who] are like Dogs returning to their vomit.” I also discussed in the aforementioned FTCJ post an exchange I had with Bruce Gerencser, with whom I have waged war spiritually before, in the combox of Erica’s post.

Gerencser tells us at his blog Bruce Droppings that he’s “a retired minister, having spent almost 30 years in the ministry.” He made the choice to open our discussion at Erica’s blog with the following ad hominem:

“Here’s the deal guys…….Ken is gay. Those who become obsessed with the sexuality of others often have skeletons in their own closet. So Ken, I question your heterosexuality. I think you are hiding your true gayness. Come out from among Him saith the Lord!! … Quite frankly I would rather be in hell with Rob than in heaven with Ken.

Bruce”

This would lead to the following, which now goes to the central point of this particular article and also provides a perfect example of how Christ-followers hostile to Sola Scriptura are attempting to make it appear as if there is some difference between God the Father of the Old Testament and God the Son in the New Testament. And if you wish to defend the Gospel and the Bible from this malicious attack on God’s Word and the attempt to use Jesus to make it appear that He approves of the practice of homosexuality then you’ll need to be ready for this:

“You ask if Jesus says homosexuality is a sin? Of course not. Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. I’ll wait for you to find a proof text. Make sure it is in red.”

By telling me to “make sure it is in red” Gerenscer is revealing he knows very well Jesus is not recorded in the Gospels as speaking directly to the issue of homosexuality. Now I attempted to leave any further discussion alone by simply pointing Gerencser to Apprising Ministries: Shocking New Evidence Jesus Condemned The Practice Of Homosexuality but unfortunately he replied:

“Ken,

I won’t play the game. I don’t read your site. Every time I try and go there my browser crashes. Thank God for providence. So real simple give me the verses in the NT where Jesus directly spoke about homosexuality. NO song and dance. NO shuck and jive. Put up or shut up.

Straight up asking for your proof, from the infallible, inerrant Word of God. (KJV is even OK with me) Remember no “inference” or “God talking and we know Jesus was God” ………Just the verses where Jesus spoke or taught on the issue of homosexuality. You are the one who has made this foolish claim.

I agree the Bible addresses homosexuality but Jesus never addressed the issue. You are the one speaking in Jesus’ name (I am just speaking in Bruce’s name, maybe you’ve seen the movie) so please show me the verses. Thank you in advance.”

And for one who claims to have been a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the following from Gerencser from his next two responses to me is very sad indeed:

“Ken,

Nice dodge. As I thought no verses. You said Jesus spoke about homosexuality. He did not. You “assume” information that is not in the text. I do not base the condemnation of millions to the Lake of Fire on “inference.” God better be clear on this one…….and it seems Ken is much clearer than God, especially Jesus.

Ok just one more little point. Ken, I challenged your “Jesus said” position. I never said the Bible did not speak to the issue of homosexuality. Jesus didn’t………..and that’s just the facts.”

Since our interest here is attempting to gain some further insight into Rob Bell’s own position on homosexuality I’ll simply place below a quick composite of my answer to Gerenscer’s foolish statements:

“Wrong. I’ll make this very simple. You are correct for a change: “the infallible, inerrant Word of God… [The] Bible addresses homosexuality.” Since you admit that the Bible is God’s Word; then you will agree it teaches that Jesus is God. In the Bible God already addressed the issue of homosexuality in the OT. Therefore whatever God says concerning homosexuality in the OT Jesus, the Creator, also says concerning homosexuality in the OT.”

“In the NT Christ tells us God the Holy Spirit would speak for Him. God does not change; and Jesus Christ does not change. The teachings concerning homosexuality spoken by the Vicar of Christ, God the Holy Spirit, in the NT are in complete agreement with the OT. No way around it for one who holds to the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God and the Deity of Christ. God has spoken in both the OT and the NT condemning the practice of homosexuality as sin.”

“There’s your straight up asking for proof, from the infallible, inerrant Word of God. You cannot separate God the Father and God the Son on this issue. Jesus did address sexual immorality, which includes honosexuality, and He most likely felt that as God He didn’t stutter the first time so His view is clear enough.The Bible is God’s Word; Jesus is God, therefore, whatever the Bible says on homosexuality, Jesus says on homosexuality.”

As this discussion with Gerenscer was going on without my knowledge Dave Marriott, a friend of mine, attempted to help Rob Bell’s friends take a closer look at their conduct, which is a reflection on MHBC and Bell himself as their friend and teaching pastor:

“Joe and Erika,

I’m shocked at your posture in this thread. I cannot believe that those who claim to attend a church where all are loved and accepted, where individuals can find a haven of rest —- that these individuals would sit back and watch Bruce denigrate the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures and call a married Christian man a homosexual. Way to take the high ground guys.”

The reason I introduce this into evidence is because it’s possible that in Joe Martino’s response to Marriott we might catch a glimpse of his friend Bell’s own position concerning the practice of homosexuality. Note Martino echoes Gerenscer’s attempt to pit Jesus against the crystal clear teaching of the Old Testament that the practice of homosexuality is sin. In fact, at that time it was actually a capital offense and one was to be painfully executed if caught:

Hi Dave,

First of all, there is no K in Erica.

Secondly, have you ever heard of Ted Haggard? He was exactly what you claim for Ken. A “married Christian man” who guess what? You remember, turns out he had gay lovers. I think that makes him gay. For all I know, the same could be true of Ken. I mean, the man cannot answer a question without doing dances that would make the produces of “Dancing with the Stars” proud. There seems to be many parrallells between Ken’s “ministry” and Haggard’s. I applaud Bruce, for throwing these thoughts out there.

Bruce is a grown man, who can speak for himself. He makes a valid point that we have no record of the God/Man Jesus Christ saying anything about Homosexuality in the Scriptures. Does the Bible speak about it? Yes, but I don’t see Jesus talking about it while He was on earth. Probably because those moral, upstanding Romans weren’t involved in it. Besides, what do you want us to do? Maybe we should spank Bruce? Maybe we should take his computer away? He’s in 50’s for crying out loud.

You’ve chosen to align yourself with Ken and attack Rob. That is your choice, but don’t come here and play all cutsie about Mars. Erica wasn’t mean to Ken in the OP. It’s not even just about Ken. It is about what God is doing in and through Mars. You and Ken and all your little posts can’t stop that. 

Perhaps what we see in the bold type above will be the same dodge Bell himself uses as to why he has not gone on the record concerning where he personally stands on the practice of homosexuality. Frankly, with Bell’s reputation of leading MHBC, “a city within the city,” which “lives for Jesus”, and with so much praise being heaped upon him as a Bible teacher, the Body of Christ has every right to expect that pastor-teacher Rob Bell will finally tell us: Does Jesus consider the practice of homosexuality sinful, or not?

Because for the regenerated Christian the answer really is clear: What God says; Jesus says. So why then can’t/won’t Rob Bell answer this simple question? And as we get set to close this, for now, while those dialogues above were progressing Rob Bell’s friend Erica went on to write A follow up post on Rob Bell and homosexuals from which I derive the title of this AM article. Sadly, as sincerely impassioned as it is, it’s filled with red herrings and straw men such as:

“We have this mentality as a church that one sin is greater then the other. This is what the endless chatter is all about… When was the last time you heard endless chatter about lying, gossiping, malicious slander…for some reason we have it in our head that one sin is great then others…

I know a homosexual. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She is tore up in side… How could she be a Christian and be a lesbian? …  The lesbian I once new would not have been welcomended in most churches, the abortionist would not be welcome in most church, nor the murder, the sex offender, the rapist. Because as Christians we beleive we are better then them… “

Let me tell you honestly that I do believe Erica is sincere, and, there is also truth in what she just said. However, all of that actually has nothing at all to do with the question I have raised; and so, I’ll share below what I said to Joe and Erica Martino, friends of Rob Bell and members of his city within the city, so prayerfully it will help us all focus on the heart of the matter:

Hopefully you will be able to grasp the actual issue here. ALL sinners are welcome to attend Christian churches, and should be encouraged to do so. The issue is: Does Rob Bell, unlike others in the Emerging Church he is associated with, believe Jesus says the practice of homosexuality is a sin.

That Christ’s blood was shed for sin is patently obvious to anyone who is regenerated. But, does Bell believe the practice of the homosexual lifestyle, monogomous or not, is a sin?

Search long and wide on the Internet and you will find other discernment articles that mention me. Such is the nature of the Internet. Dr. David Tee, in particular, is the epitome of a discernment minister. Protestia is another prominent discern ministry, as are Berean Call (Dave Hunt), Trails Research, Michelle Lesley, Herescope, Berean Research, Church Watch Central, Evangelical Dark Web, Midwest Christian Outreach, Shadow to Light, Spiritual Minefield, The End Time, The Truth Shall Set You Free, The Transformed Wife, and Absolute Truth From the Word of God — to name a few.

To the person, the people who operate these sites are “heresy hunters.” Sussing out heretics wherever they may be found, these so-called followers of Jesus believe that they are spiritually purer and more mature than other Christians. These defenders of the one true faith even go so far as to say who is and isn’t a real Christian. Most of them are hardcore Fundamentalists who believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Their goal is to purify the church and keep it on the straight and narrow. By all accounts, discernment ministries are failing in their mission, or, even worse, suffer from mission creep, now going after fellow Fundamentalists with their exposés. These days, there are near-constant internecine wars between discerners and those they are exposing. I find these battles quite entertaining, with each side pissing in a hurricane while the world goes to hell. As long as I don’t get splattered, I am content to buy a pop and some popcorn and watch Evangelicals devour one another. There’s a place for pointing out heresy and heterodoxy, but the longer heresy hunters are in the game, the more shrill and divisive they become in their judgments. Throw Trump, MAGA, racism, xenophobia, and misogyny into the mix and you have a variety show like you have never seen before.

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: Evangelical Pastor James Swanson Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Child Pornography Possession

Bruce Gerencser 1 Comment
busted

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.

James Swanson, pastor of Rome Wesleyan Church in Rome, New York has been sentenced to three years in prison for child pornography possession.

The Rome Sentinel reports:

A former pastor at Rome Wesleyan Church has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

James H. Swanson, 59, of Rome, was sentenced by Chief Judge Brenda K. Sannes on Friday to three years in prison, followed by 15 years of post-release supervision, on a charge of activities constituting child pornography. Swanson was also ordered to pay at least $8,000 in fees and restitution.

Authorities said Swanson, for years, would download child pornography from the internet and then upload it to a Google Gmail account. The authorities were tipped off by Google in March 2022, leading to an investigation and interview with Swanson, officials said. Swanson admitted to the conduct while being interviewed, authorities said. He was taken into custody in September 2023.

According to court documents, Swanson served as the pastor of the Rome Wesleyan Church for several decades.

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: Youth Pastor and Registered Sex Offender Marvin Scales Sentenced to Fifty Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
marvin scales

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.

Marvin Scales, a youth pastor at an unreported church in Waxahachie, Texas, was recently sentenced to fifty years in prison without parole after pleading guilty to four felonies including two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a young child, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and one count of sexual assault of a child. He is also accused of impregnating a fourteen-year-old child.

Astoundingly, Scales was a registered sex offender, stemming from a 1998 conviction of sexually assaulting an eleven-year-old girl and sexual indecency with a thirteen-year-old girl. Oh, the grace of God and unconditional forgiveness, right? Scales spent ten years in prison for his crimes. How in the hell, did a church, any church hire him as a youth pastor? It took me all of TEN SECONDS to find Scales in Texas’ registered sex offenders database. The church in question is culpable in Scales’ crimes. Absolutely NO EXCUSE.

Fox-4 reports:

A Waxahachie youth pastor who impregnated a 14-year-old girl was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing four minors.

Marvin Scales, 53, received a 50-year sentence on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a young child, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and one count of sexual assault of a child.

An investigation into Scales began in August 2023 when a 14-year-old girl gave birth at Baylor Scott & White – Waxahachie.

Hospital staff tipped off police when Scales went to the hospital with the young girl and was “overly involved” in the delivery process. 

Waxahachie police then obtained a warrant for the newborn’s DNA and confirmed Scales was the biological father.

Scales was the youth pastor of a local church. However, authorities did not specify the name or location of the church.

Once church members learned about the first victim, several more came forward.

The DA’s office says Scales would regularly have children from the church on overnight trips and would have them sleep over at his house.

Victims told investigators Scales would have sex with them on the trips and overnight stays.

Investigators say Scale had an extensive security system at home that caught several of the sexual assaults. They say he even recorded several of the assaults himself and kept them at home.

The security footage helped authorities find even more child sex abuse victims.

According to the Texas Public Sex Offender website, Scales first became a registered sex offender in 2006. He verified his registration with the Waxahachie Police Department on June 5, 2023.

Online records show Scales was convicted of three child sex abuse crimes in 1998 and was released from jail after 10 years.

It’s unclear when the local church hired Scales or if they knew about his sex offender status before hiring him.

Scales is not eligible for parole.

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: Evangelical Pastor Bertheophilus Bailey Accused of Sexually Assaulting His Daughter

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
pastor bertheophilus bailey

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.

Bertheophilus Maurice Bailey, pastor of St. Andrew Christian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, stands accused of sexually assaulting his daughter for years.

The Herald Sun reports:

A pastor’s daughter was in sixth grade when he prayed over her, then started to touch her inappropriately, Oklahoma police said. Bertheophilus Maurice Bailey, of Tulsa, then sexually assaulted her and continued to do so for years, police said. “For too long, I suffered in silence, afraid of the repercussions of speaking out against someone with such influence and power,” the daughter, Harmony Bailey Oates, said in a Sept. 17 Facebook post, coming forward about a decade of mental and sexual abuse by her father.

….

Tulsa police said the victim filed a report about the abuse in August 2023, but they said she was not ready to press charges until this month. On Sept. 25, 45-year-old Bailey was arrested and charged with rape, child sexual abuse, incest, forcible sodomy and burglary, according to jail records.

The abuse that started when Oates was a child continued into her adulthood, police and Oates said. Bailey raped the victim when she was 16, and he later broke into her home and sodomized her after she moved out as an adult, police said. “The damage he has done is immeasurable. It has poisoned my relationships, poisoned my mind,” she said. “It has filled me with doubts, with fears, with a sense of worthlessness that I struggle to overcome.”

Her father was a pastor at St. Andrew Christian Church until Sept. 21, according to the church’s website. He had been there since 2018. McClatchy News reached out to St. Andrew Christian Church for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

“He took away my innocence, my sense of self, my ability to trust,” Oates said. “He left me broken, shattered, a shell of the person I could have been. And yet, I refuse to let him define me.” Family members said they learned about the abuse on the same day Oates made her Facebook post, according to a statement posted on Sept. 18. “No one should ever have their trust and safety violated in such a horrific way, especially by their own father. We are all so deeply sorry that this happened to you,” the statement said.

The Roys Report reported:

In a recorded telephone phone call sent to the police by Harmony Oates’ mother, Oates confronts Bailey about the abuse, and Bailey begs Oates not to tell her husband saying, “the secret getting out would be a total catastrophe to the whole kingdom of God,” the affidavit states. “

In a series of text messages between Bailey and his wife, where she confronts Bailey about the alleged sexual abuse and his alleged lying, Bailey confesses to lying and saying, “He had planned on taking the secret to his grave.” 

In another text message Bailey says he “feels ashamed and humiliated from the exposure of the abuse.” After confessing his guilt, Bailey texts that “jumping from touching to sex is not a big deal for me,” court documents show.

The affidavit states Bailey admitted to watching pornography with his daughter saying, “seeds of sin grow” and acting out the scenes because that’s “what people do.”

Oates told police the alleged sexual abuse started when she was in sixth grade and her father would pray over her body and touching her inappropriately. Oats said the abuse eventually escalated to rape when she was 16 or 17 years old.

After Oats married and had a child, she accused Bailey of coming to her home and sexually assaulting her there and also peeping through her windows.

Bailey reportedly told a therapist in emails of the alleged crimes, who then reported it to authorities. The minister reportedly “he felt tricked and thought he was safe to disclose in therapy,” the affidavit states.

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 Pastor Rocky Goodwin Accused of Child Porn Possession

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
pastor rocky goodwin

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.

Rocky Goodwin, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, and CEO of Evangelistic International Ministries, both in Warren, Arkansas, stands accused of distributing, possessing, and viewing sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Goodwin has been scrubbed from the websites of Calvary Baptist and EIM. Currently, their Facebook profiles are inoperative.

pastor rocky goodwin 2

The Kansas City Star reports:

A year-long child porn investigation led to charges filed against an 86-year-old pastor of an Arkansas church, authorities said. Rocky Goodwin, a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Warren, was charged Sept. 16 with 10 counts of distributing, possessing, and viewing sexually explicit conduct involving a child, court records show.

….

The investigation began in May 2023 when Microsoft informed officers that a suspected child porn image had been uploaded on a user’s computer into a reverse image search on Bing, according to an affidavit. Two similar images were uploaded months later, authorities said.

….

Investigators learned all three reverse image searches contained child sexual abuse material, investigators said. Officers executed a search warrant at Goodwin’s home in May 2024, seizing his laptop, according to the complaint. Files on the computer included .zip files with sexual labels, including one labeled with the words “12 year old girl,” authorities said. The computer contained 71 child porn images, investigators said. “Mr. Goodwin denied any knowledge of the child sexual abuse material and denied operating the laptop in that illegal manner,” police said. “Mr. Goodwin stated he knew no other person that could have had access to that laptop.” When Goodwin was initially arrested in August, he said through his attorney that he “vehemently denies all charges and allegations.” “They are false,” lawyer David P. Price told the Magnolia Reporter. “We are looking forward to Mr. Goodwin’s day in court and are confident that he will be exonerated.”

The Magnolia Reporter adds:

A Magnolia attorney for a Warren man accused of several pornography-related offenses has issued a statement saying charges against his client are false.

Arkansas State Police Special Agents arrested Rocky Goodwin, 86, of Warren on Thursday, August 15, 2024.

“On August 17 and 18, several reports were published regarding the arrest of Rocky Goodwin of Warren, Arkansas, for the viewing, downloading and/or distribution of child pornography,” said lawyer David P. Price.

“Mr. Goodwin vehemently denies all charges and allegations. They are false. We are looking forward to Mr. Goodwin’s day in court, and are confident that he will be exonerated,” Price wrote.

According to Arkansas State Police, in May, agents with ASP’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) executed a search warrant at Goodwin’s residence in Warren after multiple cyber tips were reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

A laptop computer located at the home was seized and analyzed during the investigation. That analysis identified several known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) images along with an internet history related to CSAM material.

Goodwin is free on $150,000 bond.

Where oh where did the child porn images on Pastor Goodwin’s computer come from?

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: Evangelical Discernment Pastor JD Hall Convicted of Embezzling Money From Church

Bruce Gerencser 6 Comments
jd hall

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.

At one time, Jordan Daniel “JD” Hall was a big name in Evangelical discernment ministry circles. Hall used his blog, Pulpit & Pen (now named Protestia), social media, and podcasts to maintain the Book of Life, “discerning who is in and who is out of God’s Kingdom.” Hall was fond of going after preachers he deemed heterodox or heretical. He was unafraid to name names. Now it is time for his name to be named. Hall has reaped what he sowed. While many Evangelicals considered Hall a defender of the faith, I always thought of him as a bully. I had several conversations with Hall over the years, but nothing substantial.

Hall was the pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana. In 2022, Ministry Watch reported:

The founder of a controversial Christian website known for its criticism of evangelical leaders for being too liberal has resigned from his church for “serious sin.”

Montana pastor Jordan Daniel “J.D.” Hall is no longer listed as pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sydney, Montana, and has been removed from the staff of Protestia, a website originally known as Pulpit&Pen.

While the church has not yet publicly acknowledged Hall’s departure, as of Sunday (June 26) the church’s leadership page can no longer be found. Also on Sunday, Protestia issued a statement saying Hall had resigned as pastor of Fellowship Baptist and is “disqualified from pastoral ministry.”

“Earlier this week, the team at Protestia received allegations of serious sin committed by our brother JD Hall,” the statement reads. “After correspondence with leadership at Fellowship Baptist Church, we learned that JD was determined by the church to have disqualified himself from pastoral ministry, had resigned from the pastorate, and submitted himself to a process of church discipline. Due to JD’s removal from pastoral ministry, we likewise have removed him from ministry with Protestia.”

Hall’s resignation is the latest bad news for the Montana pastor and blogger. 

In February, Hall filed for bankruptcy after being sued for libel for a story the Montana Gazette, another of Hall’s publications, had run about Adrian Jawort, a Native American activist. Then in mid-May, he was arrested for driving under the influence and carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated.  

Hall later settled with Jawort, retracting the story that prompted the lawsuit and issuing an apology, saying he had fabricated the story. As part of the settlement, Jawort can make a $250,000 claim against Hall in bankruptcy court. Hall currently faces an additional lawsuit filed by the WhiteFish Credit Union, for stories published in the Montana Daily Gazette, according to the Sydney Herald.

In the past, Hall’s congregation—a self-described fundamentalist, independent Baptist Church—has stood by their pastor, despite his legal problems. The church issued a statement supporting Hall in February, saying he faced “trials and persecution” from liberal activists.

“We rejoice in our pastor’s persecution and suffering for the sake of our Lord, Christ. And we, as a congregation, we stand behind him 100%, as has already been established by the unanimous, united voice of our congregation,” the statement read.

After Hall’s arrest, the church also issued a statement of support, claiming Hall suffered from a vitamin deficiency that caused “poor coordination, slurred speech, word displacement.” The church also said at the time that Hall was overworked and would take several months off to rest. According to that statement, Hall could not return to work without his wife’s approval.

Hall has pled not guilty to the DUI and weapon charges. He also addressed the church following his arrest, according to the church’s statement in May.

“He cautioned us solemnly to be ready for what enemies of Christ would do with his situation and to brace themselves,” the statement read. “The congregation spoke openly to assure Pastor Hall he should not be ashamed, that we do not care what the world thinks, as we know the truth.”It is unclear whether Hall’s departure from the church is related to his previous arrest.

Hall is best known for his role as Pulpit&Pen founder, where he criticized what he saw as liberal and worldly influences affecting the evangelical church and especially the Southern Baptist Convention. Among the site’s regular targets were Bible teacher Beth Moore, former Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore (no relation), Religion News Service columnist Karen Swallow Prior, former SBC President J.D. Greear, and Tennessee preacher and Trump supporter Greg Locke.

After Facebook banned the Pulpit&Pen, the site was renamed “Protestia.” Hall also heads the Gideon Knox Group, which runs a church-based collection of media sites and other media ministries, including the Polemics Report, the Bible Thumping Wingnut podcast network, and an AM radio station.  

Hall’s church echoed his political views. Along with listing the church’s views about the Bible, the Trinity, baptism and other Christian doctrines, the Fellowship Baptist statement of faith includes a “repudiation of the Social Justice Movement, Critical Theory, Liberation Theology, and Marxism in all of its various forms.”

The Christian Post also reported:

A report from the Sidney Police Department cited by The Sidney Herald said Hall was arrested on May 11, 2022, at approximately 11 p.m. on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and multiple traffic violations while driving under the influence. 

An incident report shows that when police approached Hall, he spoke slowly, his eyes were watery, closed slowly and deliberately, and his speech was slurred and mumbled.

He also stumbled, displayed poor balance, and performed poorly on a field sobriety test. No alcohol was found in his system when a blood alcohol test was administered. He also had a Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Shield handgun, which was found under his coat in an inside-the-waistband holster during his arrest, the report added.

Fellowship Baptist Church leaders say they were unaware of Hall’s addiction to Xanax when they defended him publicly and rejected his initial offer to resign.

As the scandal erupted, Hall was also accused of physically assaulting his wife, Mandy, and son, and embezzling $10,000 from his church.

It is now known that Hall was a Xanax addict. This, however, would not be Hall’s biggest problem. Earlier this month, Hall was convicted of felony embezzlement after he pleaded no contest. The judge ordered Hall to pay $15,000 restitution to Fellowship Baptist Church. That’s right, he stole money from the church. Not only that, but some people are alleging that Hall stole more than $100,000 from the church.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports:

Jordan “J.D.” Hall, once a prominent religious and political figure in Montana right-wing circles, was ordered earlier this month to pay more than $15,000 to the Sidney church he once led after a Richland County District Court judge found him guilty of felony embezzlement.

As part of a deferred sentencing agreement filed Sept. 10, Hall, who was ousted from Fellowship Baptist Church in 2022 amid claims of drug abuse, domestic violence and embezzlement, must also report to a probation officer and abstain from drugs and alcohol. He also may not own any weapons or enter bars or casinos, among other restrictions. If Hall complies with the terms of his three-year sentence, he will not be considered a felon.

“It’s with my deepest regret and full admission of my own personal failures, and to be clear, sins, that I have deeply hurt the church I loved and formerly served for so long a time,” Hall wrote to his former church in a court-ordered apology. “I pray that resolution of this issue might bring healing and wholeness with your body. As I move forward to a different, better, and more quiet life, with these things behind me, I pray that you are able to move forward with your very important mission as well.”

According to court documents, Hall, who operated the now-defunct Montana Daily Gazette, routinely and improperly used the church’s funds for personal and political expenses. Documents filed by Richland County Attorney Charity McLarty alleged that Hall’s improper expenditures surpassed $100,000 over a five-year period.

These expenditures, according to court records, included payments on a gun safe, personal travel, cell phones for his family and payments to employees of Hall’s political blog. One witness, a former treasurer of the church, told Sidney police that when her husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, Hall took her copy of the church checkbook and said he would start paying the bills.

The treasurer “mentioned that she now suspected that Hall did this so she did not have the need to look at bank statements,” according to court documents.

The conclusion of the investigation into Hall’s embezzlement — allegations of which have floated since the firebrand pastor was forced from the church two years ago — was first reported by Montana 1st News, a right-wing blog operated by former Daily Gazette contributor Brenda Roskos. Hall could not be reached for comment through his attorney. A representative of the church did not return a request for comment.

….

Hall courted frequent controversy as he built a profile but avoided any real blowback until 2022 when he settled a libel lawsuit brought the previous year by a trans woman lobbyist he’d accused of intimidating a lawmaker in a story he wrote and published in the Montana Daily Gazette. Facing sanctions and mounting legal fees, Hall declared bankruptcy and even posted an apology to the lobbyist — authored by her attorneys and published out of legal necessity, he was quick to note — in the Daily Gazette.

The church pulled its support for Hall when he was arrested on drug and firearms charges following a traffic stop later in the year. From that point, Hall’s world unraveled. Church leadership removed Hall as pastor, explaining that he had shown up to Sunday service while high on Xanax, and that many in the congregation had suspected Hall’s drug use but kept quiet for fear of stirring conflict. The church also said that Hall’s wife had come to them with allegations of domestic violence against her husband. The church filed two police reports, one related to the claims of violence and another alleging that Hall had embezzled funds from the church.

When Montana Free Press reported these allegations in 2022, the police reports were heavily redacted and the state had only brought charges against Hall for drug possession, driving under the influence and possession of a concealed weapon while under the influence. (Prosecutors ultimately dropped all but the second charge, and Hall was found guilty last year).

In July 2022, the church’s newly elected treasurer, Deedra Erickson, told Sidney police that she suspected Hall had stolen funds from the church, according to court records. The last suspicious use of church funds, she noted, was in June of that year — just before Hall left the church.

“When asked what brought this matter to the attention of the church and herself, Erickson stated Hall had begun to behave erratically. Erickson said they began looking into the first month of purchases and saw several suspicious transactions,” court records said.

It’s one thing for Hall to use his church debit card to cover travel, gas and other expenses related to his ministry, Erickson told police, but Hall seemed to be using church funds to cover all manner of other costs: trips to Helena, Great Falls and Mexico, and a buy-now-pay-later loan Hall obtained to purchase a gun safe. He was also using church funds to pay contributors to his various publications, she contended.

When a police lieutenant showed the church’s former treasurer, Joyce Nesper, an “excel printout of all Hall’s expenses all over the United States … she made the statement that those were political trips that should have not been paid for by the Church,” according to court documents.

Nesper told police that Hall had taken over responsibilities related to financial transparency, like reviewing bank statements and submitting financial reports to church leadership.

But the more than $100,000 in expenditures that Hall’s accusers questioned is not reflected in the relatively meager restitution Hall paid the church.

In a memo to the court, Hall contested the prosecution’s accounting of his expenditures. Had the case gone to trial, he argued, he would have shown that all but 55 of the 1,186 transactions the church presented to police as fraudulent or unauthorized were proper or made without his knowledge. He asserted these 55 charges amounted to $15,454.44, the amount the court ultimately ordered him to pay as part of his plea agreement.

Many of the travel expenses the church questioned, Hall argued, were legitimate. It was Hall’s duty as pastor, he said in court documents, to “proclaim the Gospel” through “personal evangelism” and “any other means,” including representing the church in “civic matters.” This often meant travel out of state or even the country.

And he said his schedule was public, his travel destinations known to his congregants and church leaders. He said that in 2010, for example, he attended a Tea Party event.

“He was given a warm reception and he continued to ‘proclaim the Gospel’ at many subsequent events,” Hall’s memo said. “His sermons were published on YouTube and elsewhere and the FBC congregation knew about them, watched them, encouraged them, and often met to send him off to the next one with prayer and hope those who listened would be persuaded to love God in the way the FBC did.”

He blamed several expenditures identified as improper on mistakes by church treasurers or his secretary. And to the extent that the church’s money was going to, for example, his podcast, it was in service of his evangelical aim, he argued in the memo.

“In these podcasts, Mr. Hall discussed his evangelical strategy: Instead of bringing politics to religion, he would bring religion to politics and invade political events with religion,” according to the memo.

Since his forced departure from Fellowship, Hall has almost entirely avoided the public eye. In October of 2023, he appeared in an interview for the Christian polemics website Protestia. In the interview, he claimed he became accidentally addicted to Xanax because of medical negligence.

Hall doesn’t seem repentant, grudgingly admitting some financial improprieties, but denying the rest or blaming the church treasurer or his secretary for improperly accounting for his expenditures. It remains to be seen what the future holds for Hall and his family.

Protestia claims that Hall is INNOCENT. They, too, are high on Xanax, if this is the conclusion David Morrill and his merry band of Pharisees have come to.

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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Red Collar Scandal: Evangelical Pastor Steve Lawson Admits to Affair with Woman Almost Fifty Years Younger Than Him

Bruce Gerencser 5 Comments
pastor steve lawson

The Red Collar Scandal Series relies on public news stories for its content. If you read a story about an Evangelical preacher who can’t keep his pants zipped up, please send it to Bruce Gerencser.

Steve Lawson, Calvinistic pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, dean at The Master’s Seminary, and founder of One Passion Ministries, “dedicated his life to helping biblical expositors bring about a new reformation in the church.” His “passion” also included having a five-year relationship with a non-church member female in her twenties. Allegedly, this relationship did not slide into home, with no intercourse taking place. All we know is that Lawson had an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman young enough to be great-granddaughter.

“Inappropriate relationship” is a term used by Evangelical churches and preachers to cover up the true nature of sexual misconduct. Did they just have an emotional relationship? Hold hands? Kissing and hugging? Mutual masturbation? Oral sex? Anal sex? Yes, anal sex. In some corners of Evangelicalism, only vaginal sex is considered sexual intercourse. Regardless, Phil Johnson, an elder at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and a friend of Lawson’s, said in a since-deleted tweet:

phil johnson tweets on lawson

Rick Pidcock, a former Fundamentalist Christian, had this to say about the vague phrase “inappropriate relationship”:

What does “inappropriate” mean? Has there been an ongoing sexual relationship? Is it texting? Is the woman a church member? Is she a legal adult?

The problem with vague statements like this is that it makes it impossible for us to have any kind of deeply informed discussion about how to solve these problems or hold people accountable without filling in blanks and throwing out hypotheticals. Then when we do, the church can call us gossips for speculating about details.

By withholding specifics, they seem to want to stifle any conversation about it. And thus, they control the narrative and protect themselves. And perhaps protecting themselves has less to do with doing the right thing and more to do with protecting themselves against legal trouble or making sure they can continue moving forward with their building plans.

I am sure more details will become known in the days ahead. For now, another Evangelical preacher is sidelined because of sexual infidelity. Will he resurrect from the dead after a time of repentance and restoration? We shall see. At Lawson’s age, it might be best for him to retire and spend what time he has left fixing his relationship with his family.

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.

Why Many Evangelicals Have No Regard for Animals

Bruce Gerencser 6 Comments
kristi noem

Kristie Noem, governor of South Dakota, shot her fourteenth-month-old dog Cricket for being a bad pheasant hunter and a good chicken hunter. Noem could have given Cricket to someone else or taken her to a shelter. Instead, Noem took Cricket to a gravel pit and shot her. Noem later shot her goat. His biggest offense was that he smelled and chased her children. Noem dragged the goat to the pit, tied him to a post, and shot him. Unfortunately, the goat moved, requiring Noem to fire again.

Kevin Roberts, the mastermind behind Project 2025, killed his neighbor’s dog with a shovel. The dog’s capital crime? He barked too much.

My partner, Polly’s late uncle was the pastor of the Newark Baptist Temple — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation in Heath, Ohio. He was also an avid hunter. One day, while he and his dogs were out hunting, one of them took off after deer, returning hours later. His punishment for running off? Polly’s uncle shot him in the head. Again, the dog could have been given to someone else or taken to a shelter, but Polly’s uncle deemed the dog irredeemable and killed him.

One Baptist preacher told me that when he went hunting, he shot every cat he came upon. If he saw a cat along the berm of the road, he swerved at them, hoping to end their nine lives underneath the tire of his pickup truck. Why? Why such violent, indifferent behavior?

Years ago, we attended a Bible church in Butler, Indiana. One Sunday, a farmer told the adult Sunday school class about some kittens he had. He didn’t want them, so he killed each kitten by hitting them in the head with a hammer.

The one thing all of these animal killers have in common is that all of them are devout Christians. One of them is a conservative Roman Catholic, the other four are Evangelical Christians.

It has been said you can tell a lot about a person by how he or she treats animals. What do these stories tell us about these people?

Perhaps the bigger question is, why did these people indiscriminately kill innocent animals? They could have done differently, but they chose to use violence instead. Why?

Genesis 1:26 says:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

According to this verse, God gave humankind dominion (rule) over animals; domination over; control over. Many Evangelicals believe that God has given them the absolute right to do what they want with animals, be they wild or domestic. In their minds, if you have dominion over animals, their lives are in your hands. You have every right to kill them, eat them, or use them any way you want.

For many Evangelicals, animals are property, meant to be used in any way they wish. This leads to behavior that many people, believers and unbelievers alike, think is indifferent violence — killing because they can. When animals no longer provide value, they are often killed. Can’t have an old boar or heifer taking up space, right? If the boar can no longer impregnate sows or the heifer can no longer produce milk, it’s time to kill them.

Let me be clear, some Evangelicals are animal lovers, much like my partner and I. We value the life of all creatures. We find the aforementioned animal abuse stories to be morally offensive. None of these animals had to die, but because their owners were dominionists, they were killed.

Of course, God provided a good example to Christians in Genesis 1-3. After Adam and Even sinned, they made clothes for themselves to cover up their nakedness. That wasn’t good enough for God. God killed several animals to provide Adam and Eve with animal skin clothing. Why? (And please don’t read substitutionary atonement back into the text.)

God also provided an example to Christians in Genesis 6-9. God had Noah gather up two of every kind of animal on a big boat. Due to humanity’s wickedness, God flooded the entire earth, killing countless innocent animals who were unable to find protection on the Ark. Why did God do this? Because he could. So it is for many Evangelical Christians. They kill animals in their care because they can.

We also see God’s view of animals in the blood sacrifice system of the Old Testament. Animals of all sorts were killed to provide blood atonement for sin. God could have done otherwise, but he didn’t. Being the Bible believers that they are, is it surprising that so many Evangelicals are what many of us call animal abusers?

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.

Immodestly Dressed Women Need to Stop Spreading Their Sin to Weak, Hapless, Pathetic Men

Bruce Gerencser 13 Comments
tim and kara barnette

Warning! Slightly risqué language ahead. You have been warned.

Another day, and yet another Evangelical explaining the importance of women covering up their bodies lest they cause men to “sin.” Today’s member of the clothing police is Kara Barnette, wife of Tim, pastor of Heritage Hills Baptist Church in Conyers, Georgia. In a post titled Modesty Matters (no longer available), Barnette had this to say about modesty and the dangers of women spreading their “sin” to men:

It’s that beautiful yet dreadful time of year when summer clothes come-out.  And it seems that every summer shorts get shorter, necklines plunge lower, styles get tighter, and fabrics are so thin that one could read a newspaper through them.  Yet issues over modest clothing aren’t just significant to the Amish and crotchety old people who complain about “those ‘dang teenagers.”

When a glutton eats too much, no one else gets fat.  And when a thief steals from a convenience store, only the thief goes to jail.  But when a young lady dresses inappropriately, the effects of her sin are expansive.

Her sin spreads.

As she strolls down the beach in her immodest bathing suit or worships on a Sunday wearing a revealing dress, everyone who sees her is handed temptation.   The men and boys around her must battle the sin of lust, while the women and girls around her must battle the sins of bitterness and jealousy and the temptation to show-off their bodies, too.   Everyone is distracted by the young lady’s clothing and everyone struggles to think pure thoughts.

Sadly, today there is often little difference in the immodest clothing choices between girls who’ve never heard the name of Christ and those who come from Christian homes.  Satan is winning the war of indiscrete clothing, and these are the weapons he’s using on parents:

….

My daughter must dress in short/tight athletic-wear to play her sport.  Newton’s Lesser-Known Fourth Law of Motion: A volley ball will travel at the same velocity and direction whether it’s served by a player dressed appropriately or by a player dressed inappropriately.   (The law likewise holds true for golf, tennis, and soccer balls, as well as for the dynamics of jogging, cheerleading, and dance…)  Joking aside, if a team uniform doesn’t meet God’s standards and an alternative is not allowed, then God doesn’t want my daughter playing that sport or participating in that activity.  Her personal testimony is worth even more than an athletic scholarship to college.

I can’t find modest clothing for my daughter.  Principals often hear this complaint from moms about school dress codes, and youth pastors similarly struggle to enforce clothing standards for youth groups and camps.  God has plenty to say about ladies dressing modestly (1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:8-10, 2 Peter 3:1-4), and He doesn’t give commands that our daughters cannot follow.  Shop a different store.  Order on-line.  Buy a sewing machine and make clothes yourself.  Or have your daughter wear the same modest clothing over and over if that’s all she has.  Parents must go to whatever lengths necessary to help our daughters protect their purity.

My daughter will hate me if I make her dress conservatively.  Following the Lord’s commands should not be a chore, but a joy!  Teaching a daughter to present her body as… ‘a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to the God, which is her spiritual service of worship’ (Romans 12:1) ought not be a knock-down fight in the dressing room at the mall; it should be a pleasant experience as she learns to embrace colors, fabrics, and styles that please God and accentuate her beauty.  All rules given by the Lord are for our good and His glory, so helping girls learn to dress modestly can be a fun and creative challenge.

Modesty isn’t an important Scriptural issue.  Tell that to the wife humiliated by her husband’s pornography addiction.  To the congregation who lost their pastor because he had an affair.  To the teenager who has to inform her parents she’s pregnant.

….

My daughter needs to show some skin if she’s going to get a guy.  Allow your daughter to dress provocatively so she can catch the attention of boys, and you’ll get your wish.  But it won’t end well for her.

While you would never throw chum into the ocean water where your little girl was swimming, you’re doing something far more dangerous when you allow her to capture boys with her body.  It’s a deadly proposition.

Just ask Bathsheba.

2 Samuel 11:2 simply states… and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.  David’s sinful lust of Bathsheba was provoked because of her revealing appearance.  David didn’t fall for Bathsheba because she was a great conversationalist, or because he felt an emotional connection to her, or because she could cook a delicious rack of lamb.

He fell for her skin.

And while we will never fully understand Bathsheba’s culpability in the affair, we know that it sure caused her a lot of grief.  Literally.  Bathsheba would eventually grieve both the death of her faithful husband Uriah and the baby she conceived with David.

When we allow our daughter to show too much skin, we lead her into temptation.  We deliver her into evil.  And that evil is contagious: it not only harms her but will infect every person she contacts.

Modesty matters.

Once again, we have an Evangelical blaming “immodestly” dressed women for the inability of men to keep themselves from “lustful” thoughts. Pathetic men, they are, who can’t control their thoughts once their eyes focus on women showing too much of their bodies. In Barnette’s mind, dressing “immodestly” causes women to spread their sin and we all know that women spreading their sin leads to them spreading their legs.

Yes, we live in a culture where women publicly expose more skin than previous generations.  My God, my wife wore a dress to a wedding that showed a bit of cleavage! What’s the world coming to? Doesn’t Polly know that she is spreading her sin by wearing a 38DD push-up bra? (Her first push-up bra, by the way — a sure sign of her atheistic depravity.)

bruce and polly gerencser 2017
Polly and Bruce Gerencser, March 2017. Several firsts….cleavage and a black fedora. (my cleavage is covered up)

Barnette’s problem is that she is immersed in a Fundamentalist religious culture that treats human sexuality as something that must tamped down and, at times — because the Bible commands it — denied. Women are viewed as Jezebels, temptresses out to bed every man who casts a gaze their way. These weak, pathetic, horn-dog men have little or no power to keep themselves from lusting (evidently God living inside of you is not even enough), so it is up to women to keep men from lusting by covering up their bodies and avoiding behaviors that might lead men to think they are “available” — Greek for “easy.”

Most Evangelicals are Republicans who supposedly believe in personal responsibility. One need only listen to Evangelical congressmen pontificate about welfare and the importance of holding assistance recipients accountable for their behavior to see this thinking at work. Yet, these haters of the poor attend churches that preach, when it comes to sexual matters, that heterosexual men are not accountable for what are deemed immoral behaviors; that women who tempt men to lust are also culpable for their “stiff prick having no conscience” (a line told to Midwestern Baptist College ministerial students by crusty IFB preacher Paul Vanaman).

Lust is a religious construct meant to elicit fear and guilt. Two thousand years of preachers lustily preaching about the dangers women present to unsuspecting men have led to the female sex being blamed for the inability of the males of the species to keep from wanting to bed women they find attractive. And therein lies the problem. Evangelicals live in denial of their biology — that men and women being physically attracted to one another is necessary for the propagation of the human race. Some Evangelicals will grudgingly admit the biological aspect of human existence, but will then say that our biology has been corrupted by the fall — Adam’s and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.

Remember the story? God created Adam and Eve naked, put a mystical fruit tree in the middle of their subdivision, and told them he would kill them if they ate fruit from the tree. Adam and Eve ignored God’s threat and once they ate kumquats off the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they became knowledgeable of good and evil. Since that day, all humans have been cursed, born with a “sin” nature. According to Evangelicals, we don’t become sinners, we are by nature sinners — haters of God. This is why we need the salvation that was made possible through the sacrificial death of the God-man Jesus on the cross.

The first thing God did after confronting Adam and Eve over their poor choice of a snack was to kill several animals and make the sinning couple one-of-a-kind fur outfits — covering up their nakedness. Implicit in this story is that nakedness is sinful.  Christians, Muslims, and Jews have spent several millennia drilling this idea into the minds of primarily the fairer species. Why? Because it was Eve who first ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was Eve who gave a kumquat — I love that word —  to Adam. Get the gist of the story? Adam may have been the head of Earth’s first family, but Eve is the one who plunged the entire human race into sin. A woman was to blame then, and women are to blame now.

Let me conclude this post with my view of human sexuality and personal accountability. I am an atheist, so Barnette’s Puritanical, anti-human views on sexuality play no part in my sexual ethic. I recognize that I am sexually attracted to some women.  How women dress can get my attention sexually. As Polly will attest, my eyes have been drawn to the comely shape of women who are not my wife on more than a few occasions. And Polly will admit to the same. Several years ago, she told me over dinner, why are some gay men so damn attractive? I laughed, thinking of how, not so many years ago, such a discussion would have been impossible. I subscribe to the look but don’t touch school of thought. Everywhere I look I see attractive women. I saw them as a fifteen-year-old Baptist virgin and I see them fifty years later as a well-used atheist. What I have learned as a grown-ass man is that I am TOTALLY responsible for my sexual behavior. I am TOTALLY responsible for how I deal with my sexual desires. It is up to me, not women, to control my sexuality. If I behave inappropriately, the only person responsible for my behavior is yours truly. I am mature enough to be around women I might find attractive, and if I feel some sort of sexual stirring — down boy, down boy — it is up to me to control my physical response.

My wife and I are in a committed monogamous relationship forty-six years in the making. Now that we have been liberated from the sexual bondage of Christianity, we are free to embrace our sexuality, while, at the same time, living according to the commitment we made to each other forty-six years ago on a hot July day in Newark, Ohio. Both of us are TOTALLY responsible for how we behave sexually. Knowing that marriage is far more than sex, neither of us worries about the other being tempted to sin by a nice ass or an attention-seeking babe or hunk of a man. And yes, both of us are comfortable enough in our sexual skins to admit that there are times we have found someone of the same sex attractive, all without flying a rainbow flag on our porch.

Humanism and Buddhism teach me to treat others with respect, and while I may not be able to control what happens to or around me, I am responsible for how I respond to these outside influences. When a nurse puts an IV in my arm, I know it is going to hurt, and that it might take her several attempts to get the job done (thick skin, deep veins, genetic curse). I also know it is up to me to decide how I respond to the nurse. After making sure the nurse has sufficient experience to do the job (I am considered a difficult stick, so only the experienced need apply), I turn to humor to control the pain that is coming. I tell the nurse about my best and worst phlebotomist list, sharing stories about who is at the top of the list. Once the IV is in, I let the nurse know where she placed on my list. By doing this, I am choosing to be accountable for how I respond. I have heard more than one patient go into a profanity-laced tirade at a nurse who couldn’t magically make an IV insertion pain-free. It is not the nurse’s fault, and blaming her is misplaced. So it is with people who wrongly want to blame women for the moral failures of the human race. Barnette’s blaming of women for unapproved chubbies is misplaced. Men are, from start to finish, responsible for how they respond when sexually attracted to women. Instead of long lists of rules that have proved to not work, why not teach not only men, but women too, how to behave sexually? Surely Evangelical churches can teach men that the Billy Graham rule — never allow yourself to be alone with a woman who is not your wife, a rule even Jesus didn’t practice — is fear-mongering bullshit; that the former Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, should be able to have a private lunch with a woman without fearing that he will succumb to lust and try to fuck her. Surely the people who gave us purity rings made in China can instead teach men and women that it is not what you wear that matters — no ring has ever successfully kept young adults who want to have sex from doing so; that the choice of how to respond to sexual attraction rests solely with us, not others; that inappropriate sexual behavior by me is not anyone’s fault but mine.

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.