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.
Moises Escoto, a youth pastor at Iglesia de Cristo Misionera Mahanaim Church in Carrollwood, Florida, stands accused of numerous sex crimes with children.
A youth pastor and a foster parent used an app to meet children and sexually assault them, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.
Both men face charges including human trafficking for commercial sexual activity, lewd or lascivious battery and use of computer to solicit illegal acts, according to a news release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies arrested Moises Reiniery Escoto, 36, a youth pastor, on Feb. 9 after he was accused of soliciting sexual photos and videos from a teen he met on an app, the release says.
Detectives began investigating after the 16-year-old’s mother found “disturbing content” on the teen’s phone, the release says.
Detectives found that Escoto had met the teen two years prior on an app called Sniffies, the release says. The app describes itself as a “map-based meetup app” that can be used with an account or anonymously, according to its website.
After meeting the teen, Escoto solicited “sexually explicit pictures and videos in exchange for money and gifts,” deputies said.
He was also meeting with the teen and “engaging in sexual acts,” the release says.
Contact information for Sniffies could not be found. Its website says users must be 18 or older to use the app.
A message left at the Tampa church where the sheriff’s office said Escoto served as a youth pastor was not returned.
Escoto is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail on a $138,500 bond, according to Hillsborough County Jail records.
During their investigation, detectives found another man they said had met a child on the Sniffies app and “engaged in sexual acts with (the) child in exchange for money,” the release says.
Deputies identified the suspect as Joel Ricky Lutz, 38, who is a registered foster parent, according to the release.
Authorities arrested Lutz on Feb. 15 at the Outback Steakhouse in Pinellas County where he worked, the release says.
He is being held on a $280,500 bond.
The Florida Department of Children and Families said in a statement that Lutz is not currently licensed as a foster parent.
“The Department is deeply disturbed by the allegations brought forth,” the statement says. “(The Department of Children and Families) will assist law enforcement in their current investigation as needed.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement that both of the men arrested were meant to be mentors for young people in the community.
“It is absolutely disgusting that these two men, who were placed in positions of mentorship and trust with children in our community, used online apps to seek out and victimize our youth,” the statement says. “Unfortunately, we know that predators are constantly on the hunt to ruin the innocence of our community. I urge parents to know where and what their children are doing online at all times.”
A youth pastor sexually abused a 16-year-old child for almost a year and expressed indifference when learning the victim’s age, according to deputies in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Deputies announced the suspect’s arrest on Friday. Authorities claim he met the victim through a chat and meet-up app called Sniffies. Authorities said that as part of the investigation, they discovered that another man, 38-year-old Joel Lutz, met a victim through the same platform and engaged in what they described as “sexual acts with a child in exchange for money.” Authorities identified this victim as being 16 years old. The sheriff’s office also identified Lutz as a registered foster parent.
At the time of his arrest on Feb. 9, Escoto was a youth pastor at Iglesia de Cristo Misionera Mahanaim Church in Tampa, Florida. Not anymore. Senior Pastor Raymond Arroyo told Law&Crime Escoto was fired “immediately.”
“On February 9, 2023, #teamHCSO’s Human Trafficking Section began investigating a case after a mother found disturbing content on her 16-year-old’s cell phone,” authorities wrote regarding Escoto’s case.
Authorities said they learned he and the victim had “multiple sexual encounters” between May 2021 and March 2022.
“The victim and the defendant also exchanged in several sexual explicit photographs/video of each other via social media,” deputies said.
He willingly exchanged “US currency and/or gift cards” in exchange for “the sexual acts and/or photographs,” investigators continued. The two communicated through Snapchat and the Sniffies platform, authorities claimed.
Investigators said they received the victim’s mother’s permission to search the phone and also pose as the teen online, communicating with Escoto. Authorities claimed to discover messages between the victim and former youth pastor, including:
“send me the ass pic. Showing hole (go on [redacted] hanging)”
“One time fuck? for $65?”
Escoto allegedly made a detailed request for sexual acts in another message. Authorities said the 16-year-old identified the defendant through a driver’s license
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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What was it about Calvinism that attracted you, theologically and psychologically?
Calvinism is a theological system with points of doctrine that build upon one another. Pull any of the five points: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints (TULIP), from the system and it collapses upon itself. Of course, the same could be said of any theological system. That said, Calvinism is the most complex, intricate theological system ever created by human minds.
It was the order and complexity of the system, then, that caught my attention. I have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and I am a perfectionist. (See Christian Perfection: A Personal Story.) I desire, crave, and need order. Theologically, Calvinism provided me just what the doctor ordered. As I read and studied the Bible, listened to preaching tapes of Calvin-loving preachers, and devoured countless Calvinistic books, I began to “see” the truthiness of the doctrines of grace, along with its attendant doctrines such as the Sovereignty of God.
The primary reason I became an atheist is that Christianity no longer made any sense to me. (See The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.) The opposite was true with Calvinism. It simply, at the time, based on my reading and study, made perfect sense to me. Calvinism best explained certain Bible verses that had always perplexed me. Yet, at the same time, it created new interpretive problems for me. As a non-Calvinist, I found that words such as world and all meant everyone without discrimination (i.e. For God so loved the world — John 3:16). Calvinism, due to the doctrines of election and predestination, requires adherents to reinterpret verses that imply that Jesus died for everyone, Jesus loves everyone, etc. Of course, Arminians do the same with verses that speak of election and predestination.
I have long argued that the Bible is a book that can be used to prove almost anything. Whatever your theological beliefs might be, there’s support for them in the Bible. I’ve concluded, then, that all theological systems are Biblically “true” and that all sects – Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Methodists, to name a few — are right when they claim their beliefs are the faith once delivered to the saints.
How is Calvinism different from Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) theology?
While IFB churches are autonomous, each with its own set of beliefs and practices, they do, generally, have a common set of beliefs. (See What is an IFB Church?) When I entered the ministry in the 1970s, I didn’t know one IFB pastor who claimed the Calvinist moniker — not one. There were several pastors who, if rumors were true, had Calvinistic tendencies. Calvinism was routinely derided, criticized, and deemed heretical — antithetical to soulwinning and church growth.
In the late 1980s, Calvinism began to make inroads into the IFB church movement. Some IFB preachers embraced Amyraldism (four-point Calvinism). Wikipedia explains Amyraldism this way:
It is the belief that God decreed Christ’s atonement, prior to his decree of election, for all alike if they believe, but he then elected those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, seeing that none would believe on their own, and thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election. The efficacy of the atonement remains limited to those who believe.
The issue, of course, was for whom did Jesus die? Evangelical Calvinists believe Jesus died on the cross only for the elect — those chosen by God from before the foundation of the world. Four-point Calvinists, uncomfortable with the doctrine of limited atonement (particular redemption), concocted a system that said, the atonement of Christ is sufficient to save everyone in the world, but efficient for only the elect. Got that?
While Calvinism continues to make inroads in IFB churches, many Calvinistic pastors tend to keep their beliefs to themselves. They preach Calvinism without ever mentioning Calvinistic buzz-words. Over time, congregations are converted without ever realizing they’ve changed.
Classic IFB beliefs are laughingly called one-point Calvinism. Yes, God is the one who saves sinners, but it’s up to them to decide whether to believe. As with Arminian churches, emphasis is placed on man’s ability to choose (free will). Calvinists, on the other hand, focus on the sovereignty of God and the inability of man. As you can see, these two theological systems are disparate, so much so that the two groups are continually at war, each believing the other is heretical.
Evangelical Calvinists generally believe that IFB churches preach works salvation, and they alone preach salvation by grace. Carefully examining Calvinism, however, reveals that they too preach salvation by works. In fact, outside of Pelagian sects, all Christian sects/churches preach some form of salvation by works. (Let the howling begin.)
There are numerous other theological differences between IFB theology and Evangelical Calvinism, but I have shared enough of the differences to show that these two groups generally don’t “fellowship” with each other. Calvinists view IFB (and Southern Baptist) churches as targets for subversive theological change. Pastors hide their Calvinistic beliefs, hoping, over time, to win them over to the one true faith. This approach has led to all sorts of church conflict.
Why would your change of theology cause friends and colleagues in the ministry to shun (abandon) you?
In the IFB church movement (and many other Evangelical sects), fealty to the right doctrine is paramount, as is following certain social practices. Some tolerance is granted for being slightly off the theological center, but major deviations result in shunning or being labeled a heretic/liberal. Calvinism was certainly considered antithetical to IFB doctrine and practice, so I was not surprised when many of my preacher friends distanced themselves from me as they would a gay man with AIDS. I moved on to new fellowship groups, those with Calvinistic, reformed beliefs and practices.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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When engaging Evangelicals in discussions, it is important to get them to define what they mean when they use the word “God.” On Sundays, Evangelicals are quite specific: God is the Christian deity; the God of the Bible; the Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Ghost. All other Gods are false Gods. If Evangelicals are true to their faith, they will admit that they believe there is only one path to Heaven — theirs. Not the Catholic road; not the Muslim road, not the Jewish road; theirs. In their minds, True Christianity® is rooted in the merit and work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead three days later. For Evangelicals, God, Christianity, and salvation are clearly defined in the Bible. People who disagree with them are either lost or being led astray by heretical beliefs. In recent years, some Evangelicals have lurched towards the liberal fringe of Evangelicalism, believing that many of the beliefs once held dear by God’s chosen ones are no longer essential doctrines of the faith. Roman Catholics, Mormons, and Seventh-Day Adventists are now considered “Christian,” whereas just a few decades ago every Evangelical considered these sects cults or false religions. God surely works in mysterious ways, does he not? What’s next, rock music in worship services? I digress . . .
Engage Evangelicals on matters of church and state and you will find that they quickly lose their particularity about God. Pursue discussions about prayer in public schools, the National Day of Prayer, teaching creationism in science classes, or posting the Ten Commandments on the walls or grounds of government buildings, to name a few, and you will find Evangelicals have abandoned or muted their strict, absolute definition of the word “God.” All of a sudden, God is a generic being, a deity found in all religions. These hypocrites value political power more than they do standing true to their beliefs. As we have learned with the part Evangelicals played in the election of pussy-grabber-in-chief Donald Trump, they are willing to wholesale abandon their beliefs and practices if, in doing so, they gain political power. Following the plan set forth in the late 1970s by Jerry Falwell, one of the founders of the Moral Majority, these cultural warriors are willing to sell their souls to the Devil if it means outlawing abortion, abolishing same-sex marriage, and stuffing LGBTQ people back into the dark recesses of closets. It seems, at least for many Evangelicals, situational ethics and morality — wherein the end justifies the means — are now the rule, and not the exception. There was a time when Evangelicals resolutely stood upon the teachings of the Christian Bible. Today, many of them are only concerned with power and control. As a young pastor in the 1970s, I didn’t know one Evangelical pastor who didn’t believe in the strict separation of church and state. My God, we were Baptists — the original separatists. The pastors I knew wanted nothing to do with the government. Today? These same men, with straight faces, say that there is no such thing as church/state separation, and if anything, our founding fathers only wanted to keep the government from establishing a state church.
Evangelicals may attempt to appeal to a generic God when engaging in public square discussions and debates, but don’t let them pull the proverbial wool over your eyes. When they write or say the word “God” they are ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, speaking of the Evangelical version of the Christian deity; the God ensconced in the pages of the Protestant Bible. Let me be blunt, Evangelicals who appeal to a generic God are being dishonest. They don’t believe this God exists.
Engage Evangelicals on the “God of Creation” and you will often find that they will begin by appealing to a generic, universal understanding of who and what God is. Often, they will cough up Romans 1:17-20 and Romans 2:11-16:
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
….
For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
According to Evangelical apologists, there is no such thing as an “atheist.” According to their interpretation of Romans 1 and Romans 2, “God” reveals himself to everyone through creation, and he gives to everyone a BIOS of sorts; a conscience; a base moral code. These “truths” are found in most religions, Evangelicals say, especially in the text-based Abrahamic religions. Evangelicals want to leave people with the impression that the concept of God is a universal truth. However, when pressed — well, backed into a corner by bold atheists — Evangelicals will grudgingly admit that there really is only one God — theirs. Poof! And just like that their generic, universal deity goes up in smoke. When Evangelicals speak of a Creator God or a God who gives everyone a moral and ethical compass, they are talking about a very particular God — theirs. Mark it down, when Evangelicals use the word “God” they are NEVER referring to a generic deity — even if their lying lips suggest otherwise.
Hardcore Evangelical apologists often use the idea of a generic God as a way to hook naïve people, drawing them into discussions that always lead to the man, the myth, the legend, Jesus Christ. I have found that one of the best ways to attack such an approach is to grant their premise: Fine, I readily admit that there is a Creator God, a deistic God who created the universe and endowed humans with a moral/ethical code. Now, please show me how you get from the concept of A GOD to THE GOD; from the generic Creator God to the Evangelical God. And please show me this bridge without using presuppositions or making appeals to the Bible. End of discussion, every time.
Much to the dismay of hardcore atheists, I am quite happy to admit that it is possible (not probable) that a deity of some sort created the universe. I don’t believe this to be true, but I am willing to grant its possibility. However, I have yet to see an Evangelical argument that gets me from this to this God being the God of the Bible.
The next time you have an Evangelical try to engage you with generic God arguments, don’t believe one word of what they are saying. Evangelicals have never believed in a non-proprietary definition of the word “God.” In their minds, there is one God, and Jesus is his name. Well, that and God, the Father, and God, the Holy Spirit. I’ll leave that mess for another day.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Jose Maldonado. Bruce Gerencser, Pat Horner, Somerset Baptist Church
As I ponder why I became a Calvinist, several things come to mind. This post will look at these things, and then in Part Seven of this series, I will answer questions about Calvinism that readers of this series submitted.
I knew nothing about Calvinism when I started pastoring churches in 1979. None of my professors at Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution — mentioned Calvinism other than to say the college was against it. Students were told that they were not allowed to talk about or promote Calvinism. One student in my sophomore year ignored the Calvinism ban and was expelled.
As a young IFB pastor, I held to and preached an admixture of Arminianism and Calvinism, often called Calminianism. This approach is common among Evangelicals. This syncretism causes all sorts of interpretive problems, not that Calvinism and Arminianism don’t have their own problems. No soteriological system is perfect, each having unique interpretive problems. A pastor must determine which system best fits his reading of the Bible. For me, it was Calvinism.
As I read the various passages of Scripture about predestination, foreknowledge, election, regeneration, and the sovereignty of God, it became crystal clear to me that Calvinism best explained these things. I still believe this today. I am well aware of the verses that contradict Calvinism, especially verses that talk about human volition. However, there are also verses that say human free will is a myth — a belief science seems to reinforce. On balance — for me, anyway — Calvinism best fit the Biblical narrative. Arminianism best fit how I wanted things to be, and that’s why in the early 2000s, I stopped preaching up Calvinism from the pulpit, choosing more of a Mennonite approach to interpreting the Bible.
Every theological system finds its proof in the pages of the Bible. That’s why I believe every system is “right.” The Bible can be used to prove almost anything. Christians fight endless internecine wars over theological rightness, bloodying each other up before returning to their respective corners. These wars, of course, betray the teachings of Christ and Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:1-6:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;One Lord, one faith, one baptism,One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Christianity is hopelessly divided along theological lines and interpretations of particular Bible verses. The best a pastor can do is choose which theological system best fits his reading of the Bible. From there, it is up to him to decide how best to interact with preachers, churches, and parachurch organizations that differ from him theologically. Personally, I chose to have an ecumenical spirit; I willingly and happily embraced all those who claimed to be Christians — Calvinists or not. I was able to hang on to my Calvinistic theology while at the same time embracing brothers and sisters in Christ who differed with me.
From 1995-2002, I pastored Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio — a nondenominational congregation. I preached from a Calvinistic perspective, but I had room in my worldview for people who might see things differently. Unity was more important to me than theological fidelity. That’s why the advertising slogan on the entrance door for the church said “The Church Where the Only Label that Matters is Christian.”
1990s Bryan Times Advertisement for Our Father’s House, West Unity, Ohio
As a pastor, I was an avid reader. While I received a subpar, almost Sunday School-like education at Midwestern, I spent twenty or so hours each week reading and studying the Bible. Unfortunately, more than a few of my preacher friends never moved intellectually beyond what they were taught in college. I chose to apply myself in the privacy of my study, reading theological tomes and biographies, along with using numerous commentaries in my sermon preparation.
I became a Calvinist in the late 1980s, at a time when there was a resurgence of Calvinistic thinking among Evangelicals — especially Southern Baptists. Even among IFB pastors, Calvinism made inroads. I found that the Calvinistic books available to me were intellectually stimulating in ways that no book from IFB publishers such as the Sword of the Lord could provide. I had a deep love and appreciation for authors from the Puritan era. I had an account with Cumberland Valley Bible and Book Service in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Rare was the month that an order from Cumberland Valley didn’t arrive at our house. These deliveries were like Christmas for me.
As an IFB pastor, I felt constant pressure to perform. Since humans had free will, it was up to me to convince them of their need of salvation. If they didn’t get saved, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was to blame. Calvinism delivered me from the need to perform. Often when men embrace Calvinism, they lose their passion for soulwinning. That was not the case for me. I was just as passionate before Calvinism as after; the difference being that instead of the pressure being on me, it was on God. I was called to faithfully preach and teach the Word of God. It was up to God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to regenerate sinners and draw them to faith in Jesus Christ.
I stopped giving altar calls, believing that they were manipulative. I was content to preach the Bible and leave it up to God to save sinners. Of course, numerically, the number of people allegedly saved under my ministry precipitously dropped. From 1983-1994, over six hundred people made public professions of faith in Christ. From 1995-2002, the number dropped to almost zero. Yet, if you asked me which church was healthier spiritually, I would say the latter.
My goal changed over the years, moving from being a hellfire and brimstone preacher, to more of a teacher. I started the ministry as a textual or topical preacher. After embracing Calvinism, I started preaching expositionally — verse by verse, passage by passage, book by book. I preached over one hundred sermons from the gospel of John alone (my favorite book of the Bible). While I never lost a desire to win people to Christ, the focus of my ministry changed from quantity to quality. Instead of striving for raw attendance numbers, I chose to focus on the last half of the Great Commission, “teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Embracing Calvinism caused me a lot of conflict within the IFB circles I ran at the time. I lost numerous friends and acquaintances over my change in theology. This was exacerbated by the fact that I sent out a monthly newsletter titled The Sovereign Grace Reporter. This newsletter contained articles promoting Calvinism. They could have, at times, a polemical tone.
In the mid-1980s, I started a multi-church monthly youth meeting (rally). At its height, there were fifteen participating churches. The group blew up after several pastors took issue with my Calvinism. These men feared that I would infect their youth with Calvinism. One man accused me of being the “keeper of the book of life.” I tried to reason with him, but, in classic IFB fashion, he stood up, denounced me, and stomped off. This put an end to our group.
If you have any questions about this series or Calvinism in general, please leave your comments on the Do You Have Questions About Calvinism? post. I will start answering these questions later this week.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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.
In April 2022, Kevin Sykes, a Mormon youth leader in Springville, Utah, was arrested after police found child pornography on his smartphone.
A Utah County man was arrested Tuesday after police say they found child pornography on his cell phone.
According to court documents, an acquaintance of 54-year-old Kevin G. Sykes of Springville was helping Sykes with his phone when he saw an image of child pornography open in Sykes’ internet browser.
The witness reported this to police, who contacted Sykes and interviewed him.
After being told about the child pornography tip, Sykes claimed that the images were 3D art and did not portray anyone being victimized. He did admit that the images were graphic and depicted “young boys.” He said he did not have any interest in pornography containing real children.
Sykes consented to a search of his phone. During the search, investigators say they found several images of computer-animated pornography that showed “young boys from infant to teen age being sexually assaulted by other children or adults.”
Police say they also found real, non-animated images of child pornography on his phone, with both male and female victims estimated to be 8-16 years old. In addition, his internet history allegedly contained searches for explicit images of children.
A detective with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit met with Sykes on Tuesday and informed him of what they found. Sykes claimed he did not know how the images got onto his phone, but later said he sometimes saves images “for the thrill of the catch” without going back to look at them.
Sykes was booked on four second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Sykes told police he was a youth advisor in his local church, working with boys who are 11-14 years old. He said he has never been alone with any of the boys, nor has he had any sexual attraction or sexual contact with any of them.
A family is sharing their story after a Springville man they knew was arrested for child pornography.
Kevin Sykes, who served as a youth leader with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, faces four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for explicit images of children that were found on his phone.
The man contacted FOX 13 News, but asked to remain anonymous while detailing he became a victim of Sykes.
“I was eight years old. I think it might have started when I was seven,” he said. “At first it was just like, you know, someone I knew, and then he started getting closer to me and my family.”
The victim talking said the events took place around 12 years ago and claimed Sykes was grooming him and slowly and methodically making his moves.
“He’d get my attention with something that would catch my eye,” the man said. “And then he would, you know, he would use that against me; like ‘Hey, if you want more candy, you can’t tell your mom, you can’t tell adults about this,’ and in my head, since I didn’t, I was young, I didn’t know it was wrong?”
The man’s mother also spoke with FOX 13 News.
“I was really glad to see that he was arrested, but it brought up a lot of emotions and I am very sad to see that he has continued to do this. He was very aggressive almost immediately, but at the same time very, very sly about all of it. It didn’t take very long though. It was just a few more months before I realized what he was doing.”
Sykes was arrested after a tip from his workplace lead Utah County Sheriff’s Office deputies to him.
“One of the big problems is that there are victims in those pictures, and finding where they are and getting them the help that they need is difficult,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
When officers searched the phone, Sykes had several images of young boys ages 8-to-16.
More disturbing to officials and victims was Sykes’ position within his local church.
“We believe since he has had regular contact like that, that there may be some risk that there are victims who have been what we call contact victims out there,” said Cannon.
Amended criminal charges have been filed against a Springville man accused of sexually abusing a young boy for years and paying him thousands of dollars to not tell anyone.
Kevin G. Sykes, 54, was charged Friday in 4th District Court with two counts of attempted forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony; plus sex abuse of a child, and eight counts of forcible sex abuse, second-degree felonies.
Earlier this month, Sykes, who police say was a youth leader at his church, was charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, after his boss found suspected child pornography on his phone, according to charging documents.
As the investigation progressed, however, police learned that Sykes had been sexually abusing a boy for several years beginning when the boy was 10, according to amended charges filed Friday. The boy told detectives that he believes Sykes “had molested him more than 100 times over the years.”
During one incident in 2019 when the boy told Sykes to stop because he did not like it, Sykes told him, “‘Too bad’ and, ‘I’m paying you money not to say anything,’ and kept doing it,” the charging documents allege.
The boy estimated that over the years, Sykes “has given him as much as $15,000 in cash, given him three cellphones, clothing, lots of nicotine vape cartridges and paid his cellphone bill” and told the boy that he couldn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse “because (the boy) was being paid,” according to court documents.
Police say Sykes claimed to be “mentoring” the child at the time, which put Sykes in a position of trust over the boy. After his initial arrest, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said Sykes “has a position in his church where he works with young men and boys in the same age range as those depicted in the pictures found on his phone.”
On February 9, 2023, Sykes pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child, first-degree felonies, plus three counts of forcible sexual abuse and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies.
A former youth leader from Springville has admitted to sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy after police say he paid the boy thousands of dollars not to tell anyone.
Kevin Sykes, 55, pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child, first-degree felonies, plus three counts of forcible sexual abuse and four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed charges in two of the three cases it addressed, and prosecutors also agreed to dismiss any cases against Sykes currently being investigated.
Sykes was charged with sexually abusing a young boy for years, beginning when the boy was 10 years old, and giving the boy as much as $15,000 to keep the abuse secret.
During one incident in 2019 when the boy told Sykes to stop because he did not like it, Sykes told him, “‘Too bad,’ and, ‘I’m paying you money not to say anything,’ and kept doing it,” charging documents state.
Police said Sykes was a youth leader in his church and interacted with boys the same age range as those found in the pornography on his phone. They also said Sykes claimed to be “mentoring” the child at the time, which put Sykes in a position of trust over the boy. The investigation into Sykes began after his boss reported suspected child pornography on his phone, charging documents say.
In a statement supporting his plea, Sykes admitted to knowingly possessing or viewing child pornography and to taking indecent liberties with someone over 14 to gratify sexual desire, and taking and attempting to take indecent liberties with a child to gratify sexual desire.
Sykes is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27.
Although the judge will determine the sentence, prosecutors and Sykes’s attorney agreed to recommend concurrent prison terms of 15 years to life and three years to life for the first-degree felony charges, and between one and 15 years in prison for the second-degree felonies.
Astoundingly, none of the media reports mentioned the Mormon stake Sykes was a part of.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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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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.
Donald Williams, pastor of several Evangelical churches in Georgia, was recently sentenced to a minimum of twenty years in prison for rape. Astoundingly, Williams was already a registered sex offender while preaching at several of these churches.
A Macon pastor jumped around several Central Georgia churches while he was on Georgia’s sex offender registry.
Donald Williams was pled guilty and was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl. A judge sentenced him to at least 20 years in prison Monday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Sex Offender Registry says Williams was added to the registry in August 2010. 13WMAZ obtained records of two cases where Williams is accused of sexually assaulting or attempting to abuse a minor.
The most recent case happened in September 2021. According to a Bibb County incident report, the 14-year-old victim was walking home from school when Donald Williams pulled up and offered her a ride.
The girl told deputies Williams asked how old she was and started touching her. He drove her four miles away behind an elementary school on Woodfield Drive. Then the report says, he parked at the dead end and assaulted her.
Macon District Attorney Anita Howard says after he assaulted the girl, he drove to a balloon release in memory of a homicide victim.
While he preached and prayed there, he kept the girl in his car.
Later, he dropped the girl off near her home and gave her his business card with his picture.
Houston County Superior Court records say this isn’t the first time he’s been convicted of a sex offense.
In April 2010, he offered a ride to a 16-year-old multiple times while he exposed himself in plain view to the child. He pleaded guilty to attempting to commit child molestation and public indecency.
Shortly after, Williams was added to Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry.
Under Georgia law, sex offenders can not work or volunteer at churches.
But it seems no one picked up on the red flags.
Between 2010 and 2021, Facebook posts and videos show he preached at several Central Georgia churches.
He was a pastor at First Baptist Church in Jeffersonville for at least two years starting in 2016.
Then, he preached at some Macon churches–either as a guest or staying for a short time.
One of those, Greater Little Rock Baptist Church on Felton Avenue in Macon. We spoke by phone to Lead Pastor Paul Kelley.
Kelley says he didn’t know Williams was on the sex offender registry. He told 13WMAZ he wouldn’t “judge” or “slander a friend” when asked if he could interview on camera.
Kelley called Williams a “dynamic young preacher and singer” whom he’s known over the past 10 years.
In response to the case, District Attorney Anita Howard says pastors are in “an unusual position of high trust in our society. This has the potential to create an opportunity for them to take advantage of innocent people. That is exactly what happened in the case involving Donald Williams.”
She says every organization, including churches, should do background checks on employees and volunteers who work with children whether the law requires it or not. She says it’s an obligation to protect the children in our community.
Bibb County Chief Superior Judge Howard Simms gave Williams a 45 year sentence with at least the first 20 in prison.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Earlier this year, I did an interview with Tim Mills, The Harmonic Atheist. This interview has now gone live on YouTube. Please give it a listen and let me know what you think. If you are so inclined, please LIKE the video.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—who once suggested that his boss, then-President Donald Trump, may have been sent by “God” to save Israel—waxed biblical again this week in defense of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime in Palestine.
Interviewed by Julia Macfarlane and Richard Dearlove for an episode of the “One Decision” podcast that aired Wednesday, Pompeo—a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate who also previously served in Congress and as CIA director—denied that Israel is even occupying Palestine.
Mcfarlane noted that as secretary of state, Pompeo “undid the Hansel memo that called Jewish settlements in the West Bank against international law,” a U.S. position that had been in place since 1978.
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international law affirmed by numerous United Nations bodies, both Israel’s 52-year occupation and ongoing settler colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.
Pompeo—who played a leading role in negotiating the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and multiple Arab dictatorships—countered that Israel “is not an occupying nation.”
“As an evangelical Christian,” he asserted, “I am convinced from my reading of the Bible” that “this land… is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people.”
“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” added Pompeo—who refused to say whether he supported a so-called two-state solution to the crisis caused by Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and ongoing usurpation of Palestinian land.
According to a 2017 survey by LifeWay Research, a Christian polling group, 80% of U.S. evangelicals believe the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948, largely through terrorism and ethnic cleansing, was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy that would hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Around two-thirds of respondents said that the Bible says “God” gave Israel to the Jews, while more than half said Israel is important for fulfilling biblical prophecy.
Many evangelicals believe that Jews must rule Israel in order for Christ to return, but once he does nonbelievers including most Jews will be wiped out. Knowing this, numerous Jews and others have decried what has been called the “unholy alliance” linking Christian and Jewish Zionists.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
We’ve been here in Hughes Auditorium for over a hundred hours — praying, crying, worshiping, and uniting — because of Love. We’ve even expanded into Estes Chapel across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary and beyond. I can proclaim that Love boldly because God is Love.
Asbury University, an Evangelical institution in Wilmore, Kentucky, is presently experiencing what is commonly called in Evangelical circles a “revival.”
As you may have heard in news reports, a spontaneous religious revival broke out Feb. 8 at an ordinary, scheduled chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore. As I write this, nearly a week later, it’s still going, 24 hours a day. The faithful and the curious have flooded into Wilmore from around the state and the nation to be part of the experience.
“It’s not winding down,” said Craig Keener, a widely regarded biblical studies scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary, which is across the street from the university. “People have been praying for it for years,” he said. “I was hoping it would happen before I retired.”
At some points the university’s chapel has been so crowded the seminary’s chapel is being used as an overflow site. The two schools are separate institutions. Keener emphasized he wasn’t involved with the revival’s outbreak and isn’t a leader of the ongoing events. But he’s attended services at the university multiple days. “It started with the students,” he said. “I think they’re the most important component.”
He said the gathering has been marked by prayer and worship, mainly, with an occasional sermon, too. This past Saturday, Feb. 11, roughly 1,000 people took the Lord’s Supper together.
The awakening began with an ordinary, regularly scheduled 10 a.m. chapel service. For some reason, this one didn’t end. People didn’t want to leave. They felt what they interpreted as an unusually palpable presence of God.
Students felt an “unusually palpable presence of God.” More on that in a moment.
I sit in the back row of the Hughes balcony. My legs are starting to ache from stiffly sitting in the same position for so long. Voices echo throughout the high ceilings as the pounding beat of a drum rattles my bones. The light shifts with the sun through the yellow, artfully crafted, stained-glass windows facing me.
“Our affection, our devotion, poured out on the feet of Jesus.”
Over and over again, this refrain repeats.
I sat here on Wednesday, I sat here on Thursday and I sat here on Friday. Hopeful to connect with Jesus in the earth-shattering way it seems everyone else has. Or at least in the way their Instagram stories make it seem.
After my 1 p.m. class on Wednesday, I felt called to go to Hughes. Lately, my heart has been incredibly hardened. It was full of frustration due to so many situations in my life that I felt unheard and unvalued. For the sake of complete transparency, it had even been impacting me physically with a tightening in my chest, a bodily response from being unable to access my emotions. When I arrived at Hughes, my immediate inclination was to take photos and record what was happening through interviews, as my job typically requires. In my heart, I felt an outer nudge to be still. And so that’s what I did.
Nothing immediately happened to me or changed in my heart. A beam of light did not cast itself upon me, and thank goodness, the Lord did not immediately smite me out of existence even though I deserved it. I did not let the lack of immediacy deter me, even though I thought about leaving. All that mattered at that moment was our Creator. The transfer of my focus nudged me to ponder how infinitesimally small we are. The situations that enraptured my mind were mere specks on the horizon compared to eternity.
My heart shifted, and a resentment that had followed me for months was lifted by the grace of God alone. Walls of bitterness and agitation released themselves from my mind. I felt them cast out of my mind and heart to the point where I have almost completely forgotten the prior feeling. Knowing myself, I am confident this shift is not of my own volition. I was set and satisfied in my resentment, but God had different plans for me.
This moment of absolute peace shifted my reality. My conversations with friends are deeper. Reconciliation is genuine and pure in heart with no intent to harm. God-prompted, open discussions are strengthening beliefs in ways I never could achieve on my own.
Having preached here in Kentucky’s Asbury chapel, where I had the privilege of leading hundreds of students in prayer late into the night, I am thrilled to hear the credible reports of a significant new work of the Spirit breaking out there over these last six days, and now beginning to spread to other universities.
I am particularly grateful to those who seem to be stewarding this humbly, wisely and well. (Some of them will be joining me tomorrow night for a time of impartation at an online seminar organised by @reviveeurope and @247prayer)
Let me also say that I understand the cautious questions being asked in some quarters. These are natural and sensible.
But after a quarter century thinking and praying about such things, and with much on my heart, for now I simply want to say just two things:
Firstly, as has often been said, when it comes to reports of revival I would far rather be gullible than cynical. As Gamaliel said to the Sanhedrin: “If this teaching or movement is merely human it will collapse of its own accord. But if it should be from God, you cannot defeat them, and you might actually find yourselves to be fighting against God!” (Acts 5:38-39, J.B. Phillips)
Secondly, we need this. What’s happening at Asbury is not everything but it is something and right now we need something to shock the system so that this generation can experience for themselves the life-changing power of God. We need repentance and holiness. We need the kind of outpouring of the Spirit on campuses that can incubate and detonate a new generation to preach the gospel with greater confidence, fight injustice with greater defiance, and transform society with greater intelligence.
Beyond human programs, products and personalities, we need God’s power, presence and perspective. In other words we need a sovereign inbreaking of the Holy Spirit.
America was built on such awakenings. The UK was saved by them. And they always, always, always begin in precisely this way: with seasons of concerted prayer.
The desire and need for revival (renewal or awakening) is baked into the DNA of millions of Evangelicals. Churches regularly pray for revival, pleading with God to set their souls on fire again.
Those of us raised in Baptist churches likely sang the nineteenth-century hymn Revive Us Again countless times:
We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love, for Jesus who died, and is now gone above.
Refrain: Hallelujah! Thine the glory, hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.
We praise thee, O God, for thy Spirit of light who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. [Refrain]
We praise thee, O God, for the joy thou hast giv’n to thy saints in communion, these foretastes of heav’n. [Refrain]
Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. [Refrain]
My wife, Polly, and I attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan in the 1970s. Revival was on the lips of professors and students alike. We pleaded with God to send revival, and, at times, he did. Virtually every week, we would sing Set My Soul Afire during daily chapel services:
Set my soul afire Lord, for Thy Holy Word, Burn it deep within me, let Thy voice be heard Millions grope in darkness in this day and hour, I will be a witness, fill me with Thy pow’r (chorus)
Chorus
Set my soul afire Lord, set my soul afire. Make my life a witness of Thy saving pow’r. Millions grope in darkness, waiting for Thy Word. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire!
Set my soul afire, Lord, for the lost in sin, Give to me a passion as I seek to win; Help me not to falter never let me fail, Fill me with Thy Spirit, let Thy will prevail. (chorus)
Set my soul afire, Lord, in my daily life. Far too long I’ve wandered in this day of strife; Nothing else will matter but to live for Thee, I will be a witness for Christ lives in me. (chorus)
For those reading my writing for the first time, I was raised in the Evangelical church, particularly the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement. I pastored Evangelical churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan for twenty-five years. I spent fifty years in churches where talk about revival was common. The churches I pastored held one or more revival meetings every year. In one church I pastored, we had protracted revival meetings — fifteen days, three Sundays of non-stop preaching, singing, and testifying. I have witnessed and experienced firsthand God’s “unusually palpable presence.” Souls saved, lives transformed, sins confessed, wrongs made right. People lingering for hours after church, not wanting to leave. There were numerous days when we saw the Shekinah glory of God and felt his presence in our midst.
I have been a student of revivals all of my adult life, both as a pastor and now as a vocal critic of Evangelicalism. I have read and studied the source materials for the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, the Azusa Street Revival, the New Hebrides Revival, the Brownsville Revival, and other mighty moves of God. I read countless biographies of the lives of notable revivalists such as George Whitefield, Nikolas Count Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, John and Charles Wesley, Barton Stone, Asahel Nettleton, Charles Finney, Christmas Evans, William Williams, Hudson Taylor, David Livingstone, DL Moody, CT Studd, Billy Sunday, Andrew Murray, Evan Roberts, and others. I am confident that I understand the history and nature of revivalism, both from what I have read and heard, but also from what I have experienced firsthand. I have personally felt the presence of God in my life; felt the Holy Spirit come upon me in unusual and powerful ways. The question now, for me — now that I no longer believe in the existence of God — is what do I make of my own personal experiences and that which college students are presently experiencing at Asbury?
Photo by Linda Fox
Is the revival at Asbury an “unexplainable” event? Defenders of the revival will point to its spontaneity and suddenness as evidence that God is the primary mover and shaker. However, I am convinced that there is an earthly explanation for the Asbury Revival, and every other revival before it. Every revival can be explained from a sociological and psychological perspective. Indoctrination, conditioning, and tribalism naturally prepare Evangelicals for experiencing “revival.” Is it any wonder that the primary recipients of revival at Asbury are young adults, many of whom have been raised in revivalistic homes and churches their entire lives? Some of them were homeschooled or attended private Christian schools. My wife and I have six adult children, all of whom were homeschooled and/or attended a private Christian school operated by their parents. They spent their formative years hearing about and experiencing “revival.” Our children read countless biographies about the great revivalists. They were primed and ready for revival.
Years ago, our two oldest sons went to a conference in Louisville, Kentucky sponsored by People of Destiny (PDI)/Sovereign Grace Ministries. Both boys were serious about their faith, and this conference was an opportunity for them to spend several days with like-minded young adults. Upon their return, it was evident the conference had made a difference in their lives, especially son number two. He was on fire for God. He came to Polly and me and informed us that he was packing up his stuff and moving to Louisville. He was certain that was what God wanted him to do. Fortunately, I was able to talk him off the ledge, telling him to wait awhile; that if he still felt that way later, I would support his move. Sure enough, several weeks later, the “voice” of the Holy Spirit receded and his desire to move abated. As I talked to my son tonight about this time in his life, he told me, “truth be told, I think the real reason I wanted to move was that there were a lot of girls in that church. As you remember, Dad, our church didn’t have many girls my age.” He is not the first Evangelical young person to feel revival in his genitals.
My son’s revival experience can easily be explained by looking at the various earthly factors that led him to believe God wanted him to move away from his family and join up with a new, exciting megachurch. Mom and Dad, at their country storefront church, couldn’t compete with that.
What happened at this conference? Preaching, music, and personal testimonies were used to emotionally manipulate those in attendance. This is exactly what is happening at Asbury. The methods of revival have always been the same: use powerful preaching, extended singing, and passionate testimonies to stir the emotions of attendees. Used correctly, these things will always produce “revival” — no God needed. Young adults, in particular, are vulnerable to emotional manipulation.
I was a pastor for twenty-five years. It was not long before I learned to use the tools of my trade to produce “revival” — particularly at Somerset Baptist Church in Mount Perry Ohio, a congregation I pastored for eleven years. Over six hundred people were saved and countless Christians got right with God during my time at Somerset Baptist. People would drive from as far as an hour away to hear me preach and experience God’s mighty work at our humble country church (which had grown to be the largest Protestant church in Perry County). At the time, I thought God was using me to do his work. What else explained what was happening in our midst?
Of course, all “good” things come to an end. Revivals come and go. By the end of my tenure at Somerset Baptist, things returned to “normal.” Attendance dropped and people stopped driving for an hour to hear me preach. I became just another country preacher declaring the unsearchable riches of Christ on a rural hilltop. In time, I moved to San Antonio to co-pastor a young, fast-growing Sovereign Grace church. God was in our midst again. Today, both pastors are gone and the church is a shell of what it once was. Where did God go?
If the Holy Spirit (God himself) lives inside of every believer, why is there a need for revival? If God is all Evangelicals claim he is, why do believers need revived? Evangelicals hear two to four sermons a week, read their Bibles, and consume countless books that purport to tell them how to have fulfilled, Holy Spirit-powered lives. Yet, despite all of these things, Evangelicals still need revived. Why is that?
When we study revivalism from a sociological and psychological perspective, we can easily see the human causes of “revival.” What is attributed to God can just as easily be attributed to human influence. Polly and I have been married for almost forty-five years. We have experienced a lot of ebb and flow in our years together; times when passions ran hot, and times when they didn’t; times when we craved intimacy, and times when we were consumed with other things. So it is in churches. There will be times when it seems the whole congregation is on fire for God. There will other times when the church settles into a comfortable marriage. I pastored Our Father’s House in West Unity Ohio from 1995-2002. I loved this church. Great people. Over the course of seven years, we only lost three families (they didn’t like that we were using praise and worship music). It was all love, peace, and kumbaya at Our Father’s House. Attendance reached the 50s. Few people were saved. We were just another boring Evangelical church filled with good people, loving people; a church where nothing meaningful was happening and no one seemed to mind.
Both what happened at Somerset Baptist and Our Father’s House have human explanations. Believers willing to honestly examine their spiritual experiences will come to the same conclusions: that human instrumentality is behind everything. Of course, for those presently experiencing revival at Asbury University, no amount of rational explanation will change their minds. When you are dealing with alleged supernatural experiences, reason and rationality play no part. When faith and the supernatural are invoked, no rational discussion can be had.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Older readers might remember shopping at the stores of discount retailer Kmart and seeing what was commonly called a “blue light special.” Blue light specials were sudden discounts offered to shoppers during their shopping experience at Kmart. A store employee would roll a cart with a police-like blue light attached to a pole near the aisle where the sudden discount was going to be offered. At the customer service desk, another employee would announce to shoppers, for example, “ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS! There’s a blue light special going on right now on GE light bulbs in aisle three!” The employee in charge of the blue light would switch it on, and with its flashing/rotating light, the blue light would guide customers to their exciting just-for-them discount on light bulbs. Woo-hoo!
For eleven years in the 1980s and 1990s, I pastored the Somerset Baptist Church in Mt. Perry, Ohio. I started this church in 1983, and remained its pastor until I resigned and moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1994 to become the co-pastor of Community Baptist Church. For a few years, Somerset Baptist was the largest non-Catholic church in Perry County. The church was known for its fiery redheaded preacher and its International Harvester-colored red and creme buses that bused in church attendees from Muskingum, Perry, and Fairfield counties. Reaching high attendances in the low 200s, this country church reached thousands of people for Christ.
The church also attracted more than a few people who had — in my Baptist eyes, anyway — screwy beliefs. One such person was the mother of a woman who was a member of the church (along with her husband and two children). I had visited this woman and her husband several times at their home, hoping that they would join their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren in worshiping Jesus at the “fastest-growing church in Perry County.” I knew the woman had some charismatic tendencies, but I thought I could preach all that nonsense right out of her if she would only give me the opportunity to do so.
For those of you who are not aware of what charismatic beliefs are, let me describe them this way: all the miraculous spiritual gifts found in the Bible — healing, raising the dead, speaking in tongues, to name a few — are in force and valid today. The favorite gift of charismatics is speaking in tongues — an unintelligible prayer language God gives to people who are filled/anointed/baptized with the Holy Ghost. As a Baptist, I believed that when a sinner was saved he received all of the Holy Ghost, and there was no more of Him to be had. All Christians needed to do was utilize the power that was already within them. Charismatics tended to be an emotionally excitable lot, at least while worshiping Jesus. (I preached at several Charismatic/Pentecostal churches during my tenure at Somerset Baptist.) In their minds, babbling nonsense they believed was given to them by the Holy Ghost was a sign of God’s presence and power. Just turn on any of the dozens of national Christian TV channels and in short order, you’ll see tongues-speaking on display.
The woman I mentioned above was a babbler, and this worried me a bit, but I thought that my Bible-saturated preaching would deliver her from charismaticism. Not only did this woman speak in tongues, she also believed that Jesus spoke to her, audibly. That’s right, this woman had conversations with Jesus.
As was our custom for many years, the church had a testimony time on Sunday evenings. This was time allotted for church members and visitors to stand up and share with everyone in attendance what Jesus had done for them over the past week. Sometimes, these brag-on-Jesus times turned into narcissistic, look-at-what-I-did-have-done-do-for-Jesus sessions. Often, testimony time was a time for congregants to lie about their relationship with God. One dear woman, who had been a smoker her entire adult life, stood up one Sunday and praised Jesus for delivering her from the filthy sin of smoking. We had a quite a praise-fest that night, thanking our Lord for delivering Sister R from her addiction. Years later, I learned that Sister R had, in fact, never stopped smoking, and that the only reason she said that she did was so she could have the appearance of a victorious Christian life like the rest of us. Oh, if she had only known that NONE of us, including her preacher, had victory over sin, she might not have felt compelled to lie. Sister R felt so guilty about not being as spirit-filled as the rest of us that she was willing to lie to her friends (and God) about her deliverance from smoking. Not long ago, Sister R died of cancer. I do hope that she found peace and rest. While her smoking most certainly contributed to her death, she had other qualities that deserved praise and admiration. Sister R was a kind, compassionate woman, but sadly, in the IFB church she attended, all that mattered was her sinful habit. As her dumb ass preacher used to say, smoking won’t send you to Hell, but it sure will make you smell like you have been there! (Please readKen Ham, Answers in Genesis, Dinosaurs, and the SIN of Smoking)
On one particular Sunday night, the charismatic lady mentioned above decided to attend church with her daughter. She had visited several times before, and let it be known that she really liked my “old-fashioned” preaching. Prior to my sermon, I asked if anyone had a good word they wanted to put in for Jesus. Several people raised their hands, signifying that they wanted to brag a bit on their Lord and Savior. The charismatic woman excitedly raised her hand, anxious to let everyone know about a recent encounter she had with Jesus. When it came time for her to testify, she popped up from her seat and said this (as recounted from thirty-five years ago):
I was asleep last night, and all of a sudden I awoke, feeling a “presence” in my bedroom. As I stood to see this presence, my eyes saw a blinding blue light. Now, I knew that Satan could present himself as an angel of light, so I spoke to this light, saying, If that’s really you Jesus, please make yourself known to me. And right then and there I heard, Attention K-Mart Shoppers! (Okay, that last sentence was a bit of literary fiction, also known as preaching.) And right then and there I heard a voice that said, it’s me, Jesus. Praise, the Lord. I knew then that the presence in my room was Jesus.
For those of you raised in the IFB churches, imagine my homicidal thoughts as this woman was regaling congregants with her version of a blue light special. I was oh-so-happy when she stopped testifying, and later let it be known among church members that her testimony was NOT an approved meeting with Jesus. We Baptists only talked to Jesus in English, and only while we were on our knees praying; and even then our talks with Jesus had to align with what the Bible said. In other words, ATTENTION CHURCH MEMBERS! There will NOT be any blue light specials at Somerset Baptist Church.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
