The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

For the Sake of My Children and Grandchildren: I Hope and Work for What Might Be, Not What Is

November 1, 2021 War and Peace 24 Comments

military industrial complex — Cartoon by Matt Muerker

Evangelical Christianity taught me that humans are fallen, broken people, the world is sinful and wicked, and there’s no hope for a better tomorrow. Salvation through the merit and work of Jesus was personal, a promise of a better life after death. Until then, endure. Eschatologically, things are going to get worse and worse until Jesus comes again. Some day soon, God will unleash terror upon the earth, slaughtering billions of people. Blood will flow three feet deep in the streets as God violently kills virtually every living thing on earth.

Such beliefs lead to cynicism and fatalism. Why bother to do anything meaningful to change and transform our world . . . Jesus is coming soon! And after God is done burning the earth to the ground, he will make a new heaven and a new earth for Christians, a place void of sin, non-Christians, atheists, Democrats, and Bernie Sanders.

In recent years, Evangelicals have left their eschatology behind, seeking a theocracy on earth. Using raw political power, they hope to first make America Christian, and then the world. How will they accomplish this goal? Violence. The January 6, 2021 insurrection was just the first, not the last, attempt by right-wing extremists (who are largely Evangelical) to assert their theocratic will. What I find ironic is that Evangelicals have abandoned the hope and promise of a future heavenly kingdom for a bloody, ruthless, violent kingdom on earth. Instead of waiting for a divine payoff in the afterlife, Evangelicals want to cash in their life insurance policies now.

Evangelicals have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of following in the steps of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, Evangelicals follow after political leaders, generals, and preachers — men who, themselves, crave power and authoritarian control. None of this is surprising. One need only read American history to see that this has always been our path, one paved with the blood of innocents, one where “might makes right.”

I have long advocated for a better way. Long before I became an atheist, I embraced pacifism and socialism (properly defined and understood, not as the words are ignorantly used today). I began pondering if there was any hope for a better tomorrow. Were Evangelicals right? Was the human race headed for destruction, doomed because of original sin? Should I bother trying to make the world a better place? As a cynic and a pessimist, it is easy for me to think, “fuck it, why bother?” Solomon was right when he said, “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Reading the news only makes matters worse as the worst behaviors of humans (mainly men) are on display. From endless wars to stubborn inaction on global climate change, it seems the human race is determined to obliterate itself. Come, Lord Jesus, Come, right?

But then I think of my six children, their spouses, and my thirteen grandchildren. I will be dead in a few years, but they could live on another forty to eighty years. What kind of world do I want for them? It is for this reason I hope and work for what might be, not what is. If nothing is done about America’s war machine and its imperial ambitions, decimation and decline are sure to follow. If nothing real is done about global warming, my progeny will be left to live on a planet that is increasingly inhospitable and lifeless. If we don’t lay down our weapons of violence and turn them into plowshares, world war is inevitable. Donald Trump famously asked what good are nuclear weapons if you can’t use them. Imagine having such a megalomaniac so close to the switch that could destroy the world (see the recent season of Fear the Walking Dead to understand what such a world would be like or read Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road). The next time, we might not be so lucky. Just last week, several Republicans were clamoring for war with China. I can imagine no scenario where that ends well for the United States. Arrogance and pride lead to destruction.

I don’t have all the answers for what a better world might look like. All I know is that hard decisions must be made if we want a safe, prosperous future for our children and grandchildren. How about we start by banning the use of coal and halving the indefensible, immoral defense budget? How about a living wage and health insurance for all? How about finally coming to terms with the systemic racism that plagues our nation? And finally, how about free and fair elections, term limits, and breaking the stranglehold right-wing extremists have on our political system? These would be a good start . . .

Or maybe Evangelicals are right. Jesus is coming soon. The world is fucked. Grab what power you can, kill those who stand in your way, and ride out the apocalypse until Jesus shows up on a white horse.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

If You Wear Rainbow Suspenders, It’s Proof You Are Gay

November 1, 2021 Evangelicalism 23 Comments

Two weeks ago, my interview with Vice News was posted on YouTube. As of the writing of this post, it has been viewed 652,000 times and received almost 7,000 comments.

Video Link

Most of the comments were about Greg Locke, but some commenters had a problem with my rainbow suspenders or the fact that I am an atheist. Here are seven of those comments:

Such is the nature of social media. People can say whatever they want, regardless of whether what they are saying has any factual basis. For the record, I wear my rainbow suspenders for three reasons:

I like them
They drive Fundamentalists insane 🙂
They show my support for LGBTQ people

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Leader Mark Cuprik Accused of Sex Crimes

October 29, 2021 Black Collar Crime 36 Comments

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.

Mark Cuprik, a youth leader at Victory Christian Center in Boardman, Ohio, stands accused of sexual battery, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, and importuning.

WFMJ-21 reports:

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a former local church youth group leader who is the subject of an eight-count indictment accusing him of engaging in sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Mark Cuprik, 22, allegedly drove to Beaver Township Memorial Park with the girl last March.
According to police, Cuprik was a friend of the girl’s family, as well as a youth group leader at Victory Christian Center.
Police say a family member began chasing Cuprik’s car. The chase involved high rates of speed and a disregard for traffic control devices, according to the report.
Cuprik eventually dropped the teen back off at the park and she was reunited with family members.
….
Following an investigation into social media accounts, the grand jury indicted Cuprik on charges of Sexual Battery, Unlawful Sexual Conduct With a Minor, Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor, Disseminating Matter Harmful to Juveniles, and Importuning.
According to the indictment Cuprik engaged in sexual conduct with the teen from late February through late March.
Investigators say Cuprik also possessed material showing a minor engaging in sexual activity.

Victory Christian Center released the following statement:

Any abuse, especially that of a minor is abhorrent and should never be tolerated. We are incredibly grieved in regards to the allegations and indictments of of a former youth leader at our Boardman campus. Our Board of Directors are aware of the matter and cooperating with the appropriate authorities. The accused leader was removed immediately from any and all involvement with in the church when the allegations first surfaced under previous leadership of VCC in January of 2020.
When current VCC leadership learned more details about the matter, a statement was read to the Boardman Campus providing transparency and condemning the actions of the former youth leader. VCC leadership also made extra efforts to stay in close touch with the victim’s family, providing support and offering professional counseling to them, offering to pay for all such expenses.
Given that this is now an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further.

Cuprik’s father may be the pastor of the Boardman campus.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

How to Make Sure Your Teen Age Son Can’t Handle His Sexuality

October 29, 2021 Evangelicalism 22 Comments

Several years ago, Kristen Welch, author of Rhinestone Jesus: Saying Yes to Jesus When Sparkly, Safe Faith is No Longer Enough and Don’t Make Me Come Up There: Quiet Moments For Busy Moms, wrote a blog post titled, To the Middle School Girls at the Pool Who Told My Son He was Hot (link no longer active). Welch and her family went to the community pool and lo and behold there were girls there with bikinis on! I know, hard to believe. According to Welch, some middle school girls with bikinis on told her middle school son that he was hot. I wonder if these middle school girls really had bikinis on or if they just had bathing suits that were too skimpy for Welch’s Christian taste. I also wonder what age the girls were. Twelve or fourteen going on fifteen? Middle school is usually defined as grades sixth through eighth. In my day, back when Ken Ham got off the Ark, middle school was called Junior High. The school I attended housed grades seven through nine. So, were these girls barely out of diapers, or were they menstruating females who are sexually aware? The same questions could be asked of Welch’s son. How old is he? Is he spitball-and-bra-snapping middle school age or is he sexually aware, desiring-the-attention-of-the- fairer-sex age?

According to Welch:

Maybe you didn’t see that my son was with his family at the community pool the other day, playing catch with his dad. Maybe you didn’t understand that he didn’t want to hang out with you when you kept bumping into him and following him around. Maybe you didn’t notice he was averting his eyes every time you walked by in your bikini. Maybe that’s why you walked up to him and said loud enough for his splashing sister to hear, “You are hot. My friend thinks so, too.”Maybe you didn’t see my son’s cheeks flame and watch him look to his father for help or hear him mumble “like I care” or see him get out of the pool to move away from you. Maybe not…

Here’s my first question. If you are a Christian family, what are you doing at the community pool? Surely, Welch and her husband had to know that various forms of nakedness would be on prominent display at the pool! I find it interesting that it seems to be no big deal for Welch’s pubescent son and middle-aged husband to be in an environment that is sure to stir sexual passions. Instead, Welch focuses her ire on a group of bathing-suit-clad middle school girls for telling her son he is hot. The middle school girls who dared to make Welch’s son feel the way any normal heterosexual teenage boy would want to feel will never read Welch’s post. Until the original writing of this post, I had never heard of Kristen Welch or her blog. Several of my Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) relatives posted this article to Facebook, saying how wonderful it was. Evidently, there must be a lot of Christian families with middle school sons who are hot and have girls hitting on them all the time.

The real purpose of Welch’s post is to whine and complain about the bad, bad world we live in, a world Welch describes as:

. . . a culture where anything goes. And sometimes it’s confusing to know how to handle all the messages media throws at you when the world you live in supports your right to do whatever you want. Truth changes more often than the weather and it’s getting harder and harder to stand on anything absolute.

Welch assumes the middle school girls are confused, lacking truth, and are products of a culture where anything goes and you can do whatever you want. She sees their behavior as the product of a decadent culture, but I see it as sexually aware girls who think a boy at the public swimming pool is attractive. What’s more natural than that? This is much ado about nothing. Instead of writing a whiny post, perhaps Welch should take the time to teach her son how to gracefully handle his holy hotness. When one of the girls said “You are hot. My friend thinks so, too,” all Welch’s son had to do is smile, say thanks, and walk away.

You see, according to Welch, these girls are making it hard for her son to “live a godly life.” Once again, it’s the girls’ fault. This is a common refrain in Evangelicalism. Our sons and fathers are weak, pathetic horn dogs, and girls and women need to cover up lest they have impure thoughts and mentally fornicate.

Welch writes:

. . . We are working really hard to teach our son to live a pure life. We are encouraging him to bounce his eyes away from bikini-clad bodies. We are raising him to be noble. We are praying for him to have integrity. We are advising him to look into a girl’s eyes and not cleavage. We are warning him about sexting.

So, did Welch take her son to a public swimming pool so he could work on his eye averting skills? Why not go all the way and take him to the strip club? Perhaps it could be a father/son outing. The Bible says to abstain from (avoid) the very appearance of evil and the Psalmist said, I will put no wicked thing before my eyes. I suspect Welch believes that wearing a bikini is sinful and wicked, so why did she put her son (and husband) in a position where they could sin and commit mental fornication?

I know I have written about this subject many times, but it bears repeating here. Instead of blaming women for the sexual failures of male Evangelicals, how about teaching boys and men to responsibly handle their sexuality? Grow up, be a man. Attractive women are everywhere. Biologically, sexually aware males want to have sex with sexually aware females. It’s human nature. Instead of demanding women cover up, how about teaching Evangelical boys and men how to be around attractive females (or the same sex, god forbid) without getting a boner and sinning against God (and perhaps going blind).

Next June, I will turn sixty-five years old. I am officially an old man. When I went to school in the 1960s and 1970s, there were no Christian schools, and home schoolers were few and far between. As a somewhat attractive Christian boy who was certainly attracted to nice-looking girls, I had to learn to how to handle my sexuality and maintain my technical virginity until my wedding day. I dated a handful of church girls, and a few girls outside of the church. I knew what it was to hold hands with a girl, put my arm around her, kiss her, and feel my sexuality rising, all without ravaging her. I was then, and I am still today, responsible for my sexuality. While I now know that if I had rounded third and headed for home it would not have been a “sin”, it was my choice and my wife’s choice to wait until our wedding night to cross the plate and score a winning run for Team Gerencser. Had we waited much longer to be married, we likely would not have been virgins on our wedding day. If we had succumbed to our desires, thanks to our Evangelical religious beliefs, we would have felt dirty, guilty, and ashamed, sure that God was going to strike us dead. What should have been a normal sexual experience for an adult couple in love was turned into something to be feared until we said I do.

Welch needs to teach her son and all her children to handle their blossoming sexuality. Saying thus saith the Lord, avert your eyes lest ye turn into an Evangelical horn dog is not the answer. Welch is right, the rules of sexual engagement have changed. Now there’s sexting that provides instant visual gratification. Again, it’s up to the smartphone user to control their use. If a teenager can’t act responsibly . . . here’s the shocker . . . take their damn phone away. Personally, I think adults, who have forgotten what it was like to young, have blown the sexting issue way out of proportion. Several years ago, a sexting scandal made the front page of our local newspaper. You would have thought local police had broken up a child pornography ring. Instead, it was sexually aware teens sending inappropriate texts and pictures to each other, no different from lifted shirts and dropped pants in the 1970s. We baby boomers survived, even if we are now blamed for all the decadent sexual behavior now on display in America.

I took 1,500 or so words to say to Kristen Welch, quit your whining and teach your son to grow up and embrace his sexuality. (This post was originally written in 2015. He is now in high school or college.) If he has impure thoughts or gets frisky with a middle school bikini babe at the public swimming pool, teach him to accept responsibility for his behavior. Do your best, Mom, to not turn out another weak, pathetic Evangelical man who can’t bear to see cleavage without having thoughts of banging the woman on the spot. We have enough of these kinds of men. They are likely sitting near you at whatever Bible-believing church you attend.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Four Evangelical Church Members Convicted of Burglary and Trespassing

October 29, 2021 Black Collar Crime 3 Comments

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.

This story involves four members of Colorado Springs Fellowship Church, an Evangelical congregation pastored by Rose Banks located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

North Springs Edition reports:

Four parishioners of a Colorado Springs church were convicted of burglary and trespassing Monday after attempting to reclaim property from a parish family last year.
In August 2020, a group of Colorado Springs Fellowship Church members tried to reclaim an apartment and property they’d lent to a church family because they weren’t complying with their terms. On Monday afternoon, parishioners Eric Jenkins, Matthew Brown, William Williams and Willie Pee were found guilty of second-degree burglary and felony trespassing.
Four other criminal cases in the incident are still pending in District Court. Clifford Stewart, another charged parishioner who called police the day of the incident, is scheduled to see his case go to trial in November, while a trial for Michele Harris, accused of stalking, is set to start in December.
….
On Aug. 19, 2020, according to a police arrest affidavit, several parishioners from the church arrived at the home of Nicholas and Arnisha Gainer with a locksmith and bundles of black trash bags, on a mission to reclaim the apartment the church had lent to the family out of their “Christian charitable efforts.”
The lease agreement for the apartment was in the name of Yolanda Banks Walker, treasurer and daughter of church pastor and founder Rose Banks, according to the affidavit. According to the Gainers, the family paid roughly $1,000 per month as rent, and the church owned all the furniture in the apartment.
But roughly a month before the incident, the relationship had soured, after the church served the family a notice to vacate on claims that someone in the household had been smoking marijuana and improperly storing and handling a gun inside the apartment, according to the affidavit.
That order, police later wrote in the affidavit, was “not lawful” because only the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office “had the authority to forcefully evict El Paso County residents.”
When the parishioners showed up at the Gainers’ apartment, Nicholas Gainer told police, they forced their way in, changed the locks and began packing the apartment into the trash bags.
….
Gainer said he argued with the parishioners, but told police that eventually led to a shoving match and one of the parishioners placing him in a headlock, making him fear for his and his family’s safety.
To get the parishioners out of the home, Gainer told police, his 16-year-old son brandished a baseball bat and shouted at the parishioners to leave, allowing Gainer to grab the gun he legally owned from his bedroom and do the same. He told police he never pointed the gun at parishioners, instead holding it at his side.
Parishioners initially denied to police there was any physical confrontation besides blocking the way to the bedroom when Gainer went for the firearm, but later said the argument with Gainer had ended in a shoving match. They said in the lawsuit they backed off when he emerged from his room with the gun and called police.
The Gainer family told police in interviews after the incident that on top of the alleged break-in, parishioners had also been making the rounds with their employers, making several calls and sending several letters to their offices claiming the family “should not be working around children.”
According to court records, parishioners who went into the apartment were arrested two months later, on Oct. 30, on charges ranging from child abuse to conspiracy to commit burglary.
On Monday, all of the parishioners on trial were acquitted of child abuse, and Williams was also acquitted of conspiracy to commit burglary. All were found guilty of felony trespassing, second-degree burglary and tampering.
….
Jenkins, Brown, Williams and Pee are set to be sentenced in January. For the top charges, the second-degree burglary convictions, they could face four to 12 years in prison with five years of mandatory parole, as well as possible fines of $3,000 to $750,000.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Halloween: Ten Reasons Why People Should Never, Ever Carve Pumpkins or Wear Costumes

October 28, 2021 Religion 23 Comments

The following video is produced by woke AWAKEN LA church (affiliated with the Foursquare Gospel sect) in North Hollywood, California. It has a much higher production value than C.H. Fisher’s video, Halloween Helliween, so Fisher might want to take note of how to preach nonsense with pizzazz. Bullshit goes down easier with a cool soundtrack and flashy graphics.

Video Link

The video narrator gives ten reasons why people should never celebrate Halloween:

Halloween is the Devil’s holiday.
There are curses that are unleashed when people carve pumpkins. If you put the carved pumpkin on your porch, it brings demons into your house on Halloween.
Christians bring a four-to-five generation curse on their families when they celebrate Halloween.
Harvest parties are not a suitable substitution for Halloween. Substituting harvest parties for Halloween brings curses upon children and churches.
Wearing costumes changes identities. When Christians put on costumes of something they are not, they open themselves up to demonic attack.
Halloween is the opposite of Resurrection Sunday. It is the celebration of death.
November 1 is not about the saints. All Saints’ Day is a demonic holiday.
Celebrating Halloween is a betrayal to God.
Curses become active when Halloween begins.
Halloween is a trap set up by the Devil.

Here’s the money quote:

The whole picture of Halloween is to bow down to the Devil. The biggest witchcraft is done on Halloween.
….
Halloween is an abomination to God.
….
Halloween is a poison to believers and non-believers alike. Many people get killed,shot, and go missing on Halloween. Don’t play with fire. If you play with fire, you’ll burn your whole house down. The Devil has a mastermind strategy on how to deceive people. Remember, he is the father of lies. The Devil kills, steals, and destroys through these types of holidays and culturally encouraged traditions. It’s a trap set up. The enemy’s purpose is to keep you away from the cross. The lies and deceptions may appear harmless, good, or cool, [but] these deceptions are the Devil’s way to send you to a place called Hell.

Sadly, Awaken LA’s website features pictures of teenagers and young adults. I can’t help but think, so many bright, hopeful lives ruined at such a young age. The church is pastored by Alexander Prokopchik.

Here’s a bonus video about Halloween from Apostle Chally (Terry Poling) of the Jesus Holy Spirit Motorcycle Ministry. Enjoy. 🙂

Video Link

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Halloween is a Satanic Holiday, Or So I Believed for Many Years

October 28, 2021 Evangelicalism 21 Comments

A story from the past.

From 1995-2002, I pastored Our Father’s House, a nondenominational church in West Unity, Ohio. One Sunday, the following discussion took place between an old woman in the church and one of my younger children.

Old Woman: So, how much candy did you get trick-or-treating?

Child gives Old Woman an embarrassed look.

Child: I didn’t go trick-or-treating.

Old Woman: Really? Why not?

Child: Our Dad doesn’t believe in Halloween.

Old Woman: Hmm, that’s interesting You mean you have never gone trick-or-treating?

Child: No.

Any of my six children could have answered the old woman’s questions. None of them was allowed to go trick-or-treating. Not one time. And they knew not to ask. Ever.

As a true-blue, bought by the blood, sanctified, sold-out, consecrated, committed follower of Jesus, I believed Halloween was a Satanic holiday, and Christians, if they were right with God, should never, ever practice Halloween. For a few years, I took the same approach with Christmas. We didn’t put up a tree or decorations, nor did we exchange gifts. We spent Christmas Day at a Columbus, Ohio rescue mission serving meals to the homeless. (We did go to Polly’s parents’ home for Christmas Eve.)

I firmly believed Halloween was a thoroughly pagan and Satanic holiday. I could not, in good conscience, allow my children to participate in a holiday I considered an act of Satan worship. One year, when my oldest son was in elementary school and before we started sending him to a Christian school, I kept him home from school because of the Halloween celebration his class was having.

Both Polly and I have many fond memories of trick-or-treating when we were children, but I thought our parents were ignorant of the real origin of Halloween, and this is why they let us go trick-or-treating. As I look back on it now, I suspect Polly thought I was crazy about Halloween. I recently asked her if she really believed like I did about Halloween. She said, uh, No. 🙂 Why, then, didn’t she say anything? Simple. She was a dutiful wife of an Evangelical pastor, a woman who was taught that her husband was the head of the home and had the final say on everything; and “everything” included Halloween and trick-or-treating.

My view on Halloween was similar to the view of Karl Payne who wrote the following at World Net Daily:

As a child growing up in a small town in Nebraska, Halloween was not viewed as a sinister day promoting demonism, spiritism, occultism, Satanism, hedonism, witches, zombies or an invitation to walk on the dark side with demons. It was a day to collect as much candy as possible. The routine was simple. I put on a clown suit that had been passed down through my brothers, grabbed an empty pillow case and filled it up with candy as quickly as possible as I systematically worked my way through the neighborhood. At a halfway mark, I stopped back at home, emptied my pillow case on the front room floor to be sorted later and headed back out to refill the bag a second time. The goal was to have more candy than any of my brothers by the end of the evening, and then see how much I could eat before my mom began rationing my daily consumption.
Times were innocent in the ’50s and early part of the ’60s. We never worried about razors in apples or poisoned pixie sticks. We walked for blocks without a fear or concern for our safety. Tricks, at the worst, were limited to throwing eggs or toilet paper and knocking over a pumpkin or two. And if that happened, it only occurred selectively because many of our parents knew each other, and getting caught could mean a scolding from your neighbor and then a spanking from your dad when you got home.
To make the observation that things have changed culturally in the 21st century from the post-war innocence experienced by many in this country is an understatement. Today we exist in the midst of the loss of innocence and the joy of age-appropriate discovery. Hedonism, in a context of amoral and ethical relativism, is celebrated and force fed from the womb to tomb through a media that more represents an ideological water cannon than a responsible public trust. The secularization of this once great country is complete. The only real question now is how far it will fall in its depravity before, if or when people in the public square turn their gaze up rather than in.
Today Halloween for many is a horror show providing an excuse for people to glorify the deviance and decadence they watch ad nauseam in movie theaters and on public and cable television screens seven days of the week. Everything is a game that can be reset and started over at the click of a mouse. It’s just harmless entertainment that can be enjoyed or ignored. If you don’t like it, don’t turn it on. Who are you to dictate what is right or wrong for others?
Why am I concerned about the way Halloween, the media and our current culture encourage the celebration and trivialization of spiritism, occultism, Satanism, hedonism, witches, zombies and walking on the dark side with demons? Because the supernatural world is real, and no one is immune to it regardless of their education or worldview. God is real. Angels are real. Satan is real. Demons are real. Real gladiators and real Christians died in the Colosseum and circus even though many Roman leaders and citizens just considered their destruction an evening of entertainment.
I have worked for over 30 years with men and women who have been demonized. I wrote a book entitled “Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization and Deliverance,” published by WND Books, addressing the subject as clearly as I was capable of doing. Why? Because real people and real families are being attacked by real demons, and their conditions are largely ignored, often because the subject has been redefined or trivialized, even within religious circles.
I have witnessed the reality of demonic bondage hundreds and hundreds of times. I have also witnessed individuals being set free through deliverance from demonic bondage hundreds and hundreds of times. Christian missionaries who live in the midst of this reality have thanked me many times for writing this book. Religious academics as well as atheistic secularists are more inclined to ridicule or ignore the subject. Curious.
Ultimately, bondage and deliverance both represent choices. In my book I have attempted to outline how a Christian can move from bondage to deliverance in a clear, step-by-step fashion. The New Testament addresses the subject forthrightly, so why should we run from it?
It should not come as a surprise that a secular culture would either ignore this subject or make a celebration out of it. 1 Corinthians 2:14 clearly states that spiritual truth and supernatural realities, be it God or the devil, represent nonsense to a natural man. But it should come as a disgraceful surprise that some professing Christians are so fearful of this subject that they would prefer to cast their lot on this subject with the naturalist or secularists rather than with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the New Testament they study. Apparently, it is preferable to leave real human beings made in the image of God in bondage than face the possible ridicule of those whose ultimate loyalties are to time rather than eternity, to the creation rather than the Creator.
Naturalists redefining the subject do not change the reality of the subject. A holiday celebrating the subject, promoting it as nothing more than a day to collect candy, celebrate the dark side, or mock God, does not change the reality of the subject…

(Please see Jack Chick’s tract, The Devil’s Night to get a bird’s eye view of how some Christians view Halloween.)

chick tract halloween — Jack Chick Tract on Halloween

It was not until I left the ministry that I learned the REAL story behind Halloween and it’s pagan and religious roots. As with many things, I regret not allowing my children to go trick-or-treating. I regret not allowing them to enjoy the fun of Halloween or the wonder of a family Christmas. I know there is nothing I can do about the past. I now immensely enjoy watching my grandchildren practice the evil, wicked, pagan, Satanic holiday of Halloween. I encourage them to sin with gusto . . . and bring Grandpa some candy when they are done making a sacrifice to Satan. Besides, my grandchildren have nothing to fear from Satan. My oldest grandson is a super-hero. Or he was until he became a grown-up teenager.

Someone will be sure to ask if I did alternative Halloween activities like Fall Festival Day, Trunk-or-Treat, or other alternatives to Halloween. I did not. I never believed in the replacement theory: that if we took something away from our children we had to replace it with something better or spiritual (The Evangelical Replacement Doctrine and The Replacement Doctrine: How Evangelicals Attempt to Co-opt the “World”). I believed Christians were put on this earth to be a light in the darkness and we didn’t need replacements for things that were sinful.

How about you? Did you practice Halloween? Did your Fundamentalist parents allow you to go trick-or-treating? If they did, how did they deal with the origin of Halloween?

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

I Am No Longer on Social Media

October 28, 2021 Blog News 9 Comments

I recently closed all my social media accounts. This will allow me to focus my attention on this site instead of dealing with multiple streams of comments and messages. If people want to comment on something I have written, they will have to do so here. Further, if people want to email me, they will have to do so through the Contact Form. My health continues to be the tail that wags the dog, so I’m being increasingly forced to focus on essentials, cutting out superfluous services and activities.

Thank you for your understanding.

Let me conclude this post with a bit of stupidity from Evangelical Christian John Fanortney (likely a fake name). You can read my previous post about Fanortney here.

Fanortney posted his last comment hours after I closed my YouTube account. If you close your YouTube account, your comments are deleted. Instead of recognizing and understanding this, Little Lord John Fanortney thinks I deleted my comments due to his withering exposure of my inconsistencies and leftist ideas. Sure, Johnny boy, sure. 🙂

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why Are Evangelicals So Easily Offended by My Writing?

October 27, 2021 Evangelicalism 11 Comments

Today, an Evangelical pastor left the following comment (using a fake email address) on the post titled How Dare I Talk Smack About IFB Evangelist C.T. Townsend (all grammar in the original):

To deny Heaven is to deny Jesus and that robs Christians of hope it is thievery it robs joy and it is slander because You call GOD a liar. One would have to wonder why would you fight so hard against something you don’t believe in ? And what gives you the right to tell others how they should believe ? It would be nice to be as smart as you think you are .Psalm 14-1 Roman’s 14 – 11 and 12 it is far better to do it now .

Why are Evangelicals so easily offended by my writing, thinking that I am directly and pointedly (and individually) writing about them? Instead of seeing my writing as a critique of Evangelical Christianity — its doctrines, practices, and influence on our society — many believers take my words as a personal affront or attack.

Why is it Evangelical churches, preachers, websites, blogs, and podcasts can rail against other religions, atheists, humanists, liberals, Democrats, abortion, LBGTQ people, etc., ad nauseam day and night, yet if non-believers dare challenge their assertions, Evangelicals take it personally? Why are there so many butthurt Evangelicals in the world, people easily offended by anything that disagrees with their worldview?

Evangelicals are fond of sharing their personal testimonies of salvation, deliverance, and new life in Christ. Yet, according to Evangelicals, skeptics, rationalists, atheists, agnostics, and humanists shouldn’t do the same. Why is that?

Here’s what I think . . . Evangelicals know the power of a good story. They know that people like myself telling our stories can and do lead people away from the One True Faith®. I have long said that I am one man with a story to tell. The foundation of this site is the trajectory of my life from an Evangelical pastor to an atheist. My goal has never been to evangelize for atheism. That scores of people have found my writing helpful in their journey away from Evangelicalism is not my fault (not that there is fault to be had). I write, tell my story, people read, and respond accordingly. In a free society, shouldn’t all of us be free to tell our stories and share them with whomever we want? My Gawd, Evangelicals go door to door attempting to spread the “good news” of their version of the Christian gospel. Let me tell you what Jesus did for me, and what he can do for you! Why do Evangelicals want atheists to shut up and mind their own business? Why, one would almost think that Evangelicals fear that our stories and critiques of Evangelicalism might quicken the exodus of people out of churches; that our words are, evidently, more powerful than the words of their God and his alleged messengers on earth: pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Over 300,000 Christian churches dot the American landscape. I live within 25 miles of almost 300 churches. Evangelical Christianity dominates every aspect of local life. Yet, people like myself are viewed as a threat to Christianity. Really? I mean, really?

I would contend that the greatest threat to Evangelical Christianity is Evangelicals themselves. Eighty-two percent of white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. An increasing number of Evangelicals have embraced conspiracy theories. Some are QAnon supporters or members of groups who advocate the overthrow of the United States government. Evangelicals are front and center in the culture war. Who are the people primarily behind attempts to criminalize abortion? Who are the people primarily behind attempts to demonize LGBTQ people and end same-sex marriage? Who are the people behind attempts to roll back social progress to the “good” old days of the 1950s? Evangelicals (and Mormons and conservative Roman Catholics). If Evangelicals want to see the greatest threat to the future of their religion, they need only look in the mirror.

The preacher who commented thinks that by me publicly denying the existence of Heaven, I am robbing Evangelicals of joy and hope. How is that possible? Evangelicals believe that they are indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit. He is their ever-present teacher and guide. He literally walks with them, talks with them, and tells them they are his own. Further, Evangelicals have the Bible, the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God that gives to them everything they need for life and godliness. Sunday after Sunday, millions and millions of Evangelicals gather together in houses of worship to sing praises to God, hear preaching from the Bible, and fellowship with like-minded people. Many of them attend services throughout the week, keeping their proverbial spiritual gas tanks filled. Yet, despite all this indoctrination and reinforcement, little ole atheist Bruce Gerencser is robbing some Evangelicals of their joy and hope. What does that say about God’s power if I can so easily rob Evangelicals of the fruit of the Spirit? Maybe I really am Bruce Almighty. 🙂

Let me address two claims the preacher makes in his comment:

Why do I fight so hard against things I don’t believe in?
What right do I have to tell others what to believe?

First, beliefs have consequences. That’s why I critique Evangelical beliefs and practices. If Evangelicals weren’t trying to take America back for God and force people to live according to their peculiar interpretations of the Bible, I might turn my attention to fighting against the designated hitter in Major League Baseball. However, Evangelical beliefs are causing harm to people, both believers and unbelievers alike. I am a father to six children, and grandfather to thirteen children. My time on earth is short, but my grandchildren could live for 60-80 more years. Their future matters to me. I see Evangelicalism as a threat to their present and future wellbeing. Look at the primary religious group behind the anti-vax movement and the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Liberal, progressive Christians aren’t the problem, Evangelicals are. Look at the nutjobs who control state governments and have ascended to the highest offices in our land. What are their religious beliefs? Primarily Evangelical, and to a lesser degree conservative Catholicism.

As long as this so, I intend to fight (and write). When this preacher and his fellow Evangelicals recant their theocratic ambitions and stop demonizing everyone different from the way they are, I might start writing about Lionel Trains, baseball, and kinky sex. Until then, I will continue to critique and challenge Evangelical beliefs. If Evangelicals continue to take my critiques personally, I suggest they ask themselves WHY they find my words so upsetting?

Second, I don’t tell anyone what to believe — ever. [Can any Evangelical preacher say the same?] You will look in vain on this site for a post that tells anyone what they must believe. Evangelicals are free to believe whatever they want. However, when Evangelicals drag those beliefs into the public square, they shouldn’t be surprised when non-believers challenge their assertions.

Finally, as Evangelical preachers are wont to do, this preacher ends his comment with insults, insulting my intelligence and calling me a fool. (To which the preacher will say, I didn’t call you a fool, GOD did!) I will spend the rest of the night all butthurt over an Evangelical preacher insulting me. 🙂 At least he didn’t tell me I am going to burn in Hell after I die. 🙂

I should note in passing that this preacher is commenting on a post about Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor and evangelist C.T. Townsend. What is it with the friends and followers of Townsend that makes them so easily offended? Doesn’t the Bible say that those who love God and keep his laws shouldn’t be offended?

Previous posts about C.T. Townsend

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Who Comes Before What

October 27, 2021 Life 7 Comments

What are you?

What am I?

How can you know what I am until you know who I am?

Who I am explains what I am.

But we have little time for knowing who anyone is.

Labels, please.

Declare yourself.

Christian.

Atheist.

Agnostic.

Spiritual.

Buddhist.

Muslim.

Republican.

Democrat.

Libertarian.

Liberal.

Conservative.

Shall I go on?

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Facebook.

Twitter.

Blog.

Texting.

Quick, immediate.

In 280 characters or less, what are you?

But I told you that you can not understand what I am until you understand who I am.

Who I am requires far more than 280 characters.

More than a Facebook comment.

Far more than a blog post.

Who I am requires time.

And effort.

And patience.

Too much work you say?

Then I feel no compulsion to tell you what I am.

The who comes before the what.

Which is all people seem to want to know about me.

Pigeonhole.

Classify.

Categorize.

Label.

Dismiss.

I am far more complicated than your attempts to what me before you who me.

So pigeonhole, classify, categorize, and label me,

but by no means know me.

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.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

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