Why are so many Evangelical preachers obsessed with sex, gender, and genitalia? Every day, I peruse blog posts by preachers preoccupied with who fucks whom, when, where, and how. These preachers prattle incessantly about what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. While these so-called men of God would say that “sin is sin,” based on what they dwell on in their sermons and blog posts, it’s evident that they consider sexual sins more serious than others. Never mind the fact that most sexual “sins” are between consenting adults; “sins” that hurt no one.
These keepers of everyone’s chastity but their own are especially focused on what LGBTQ people do sexually. Worse, they have gone after transgender people with hatred and vengeance. What have LGBTQ people done to these preachers of God’s sex code? Nothing. Their mere existence is enough to stir Evangelical preachers into fits of rage.
One Evangelical preacher, Dr. David Tee (whose real name is Derrick Thomas Theissen), recently wrote:
By now, everyone has heard of the UK Supreme Court’s decision. It is good news for real women who have suffered more than enough these past few years with fake women invading their spaces.
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Of course, no Christian needed a Court’s decision on the issue. The Bible has been declaring the separation of the two genders for thousands of years, and Judaism did it long before that. The Supreme Court is merely saying what all Christians already knew, and what unbelievers have been hiding from.
What we hope will happen is that all fake women will be denied access to these spaces, and real women can feel safer. While this ruling only applies to the UK, we hope to see similar rulings take place around the globe.
The madness must stop as trans- women are not real women and suffer from mental and spiritual problems that deceive them into thinking they are something they are not. The objection that this decision may cause more fake women to kill themselves is erroneous.
The source of the problem with fake men and women is their blind acceptance of the feelings that they were born in the wrong body. They hold tightly to those feelings as if they were a lifeline. This is deception at work.
Until the fake men and women see this, they will always be confused and have problems. The feelings are not real, but a trap from evil to destroy them. They have to see that those feelings are false and take the right steps to get help.
Encouraging their ‘transition’ is not the answer and does not protect the lives of these fake people. In fact, it puts them more in harm’s way as the majority of society finds their delusions disgusting and wrong.
It is even more wrong to allow them to enter women’s spaces and activities and claim they are real women. As the Bible and science have pointed out continuously, no one can change their gender, and participating in this folly only makes fools out of the fake people and their supporters.
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God does not change just because the NT came into existence. God made two distinct genders at creation, which do not change at any time. Science cannot overcome what God did at creation.
If you want to protect fake men and women, then get them the help they need instead of parading them around in public where they will be rejected, ridiculed, and worse. Trying to make them a part of normal society is not the right thing to do.
The trans ideology is perversion at its finest, desecrating what God called good. Let’s hope that more courts see the light and make the same correct decision as the UK Supreme Court did.
It is time to protect our children, sisters, brothers, cousins, and everyone who is falling to this sinful thinking that does more harm than good. Get them the help they need before it is too late.
Thiessen would have his handful of readers believe that transgender people are a threat to the human race. Previously, he has called for transgender people to be arrested and put in internment camps — thus protecting the public from these “evil” people.
Rarely does a week go by without Thiessen writing a post condemning transgender people. He is obsessed with these folks, even though they haven’t done anything to him. Most transgender people just want to be left alone. They want to have the same equal protection under the law as the rest of us.
While Thiessen is free to twist the Bible to fit his perverse hatred of people who violate his Puritan code of human sexuality, it doesn’t follow that the United States government should give his beliefs the force of law. We live in a secular state, not a theocracy. Until the David Thiessens of the world clearly show that transgender people harm others, their protestations carry no weight.
I find it interesting that Thiessen and his merry band of genital inspectors show little to no interest in a real threat to people, especially children. Transgender people rarely make the news for committing sex crimes, yet rarely does a day go by when one or more preachers are arrested, indicted, or convicted for sexual abuse, rape, and other sex crimes. Thiessen, in particular, ignores these stories, and even goes so far as to defend these Jesus-loving perverts. What are we to make of his behavior?
The message to Evangelical preachers is this: Mind your own fucking business. Clean up your own backyard first. Do something about predatory preachers and clerics who take sexual advantage of vulnerable people. Focus your attention on church members, and not on people who don’t attend your churches — people whose beliefs and practices are different from yours.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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David Tee/Derrick Thomas Thiessen is the tall man in the back
Recently, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, said the following in a post titled, We have Time Today. All grammar, punctuation, and nonsense in the original. My response follows.
Thiessen writes:
We quoted someone in our previous post and it got us thinking about an issue he and another person get so upset about. For some inane reason, our two antagonists have a problem with being called by initials.
The “someone” in this post is my British friend, Ben Berwick. The “another person” is Bruce Gerencser. You, of course, would never know this by reading Thiessen’s post. Evidently, readability and comprehension don’t matter to Thiessen.
I think I can speak for both of us when I say we don’t get “upset” by Derrick Thomas Thiessen’s refusal to use our proper names. It’s annoying and disrespectful, but “upsetting? Not a chance.
The reason why is only known to them and we wonder about it because starting from our freshmen year of college and going past our graduation day, our friends used our first initial to address us. We didn’t take offense at it and demanded they use our full name.
Thiessen spins a whopper when he says he doesn’t know why we don’t appreciate his use of initials in place of our given names. I have explained this to Thiessen several times, as has Ben. Besides, just because he doesn’t mind people calling him by initials, doesn’t mean we have to accept him doing the same with our names. Thiessen knows we want to be addressed by our proper names. He also knows we want him to provide proper attribution when he uses our writing. We can’t make him do either of these things, but his refusal to do so sure says a lot about him and how he treats other people.
In fact, we liked it. The initial was convenient, easy to say and as far as we know, we were the only ones addressed by that initial. Our two antagonists seem to take great offense at being called BG and MM of course, we could have used BB for the latter but we don’t think he would like to be named after children’s ammunition.
I don’t take great offense at Theissen calling me BG. I do, however, think he is being childish and petty. There’s no reason I can think of for not calling me by my proper name — especially after I asked him to do so.
Maybe their anger comes from the fact that it us who reduced their names to initials? We do not know but they seem to disagree with anything we say just because we say it. But why get upset over using a person’s initials?
This is done all the time and as far as we know very few people ever get upset about it. Some people also shorten Jesus Christ to JC and we have not decided if that is insulting or not. Maybe if the initials were used in a derogatory manner it would be considered wrong and insulting but that is another topic for another day.
No, it is NOT done all the time. Show me one website or blog that reduces the names of people mentioned to acronyms. By not using proper names when mentioning people on his blog, he leaves his readers perplexed and uninformed. Who is BG? Who is MM? Thiessen does not explain who these people are. And since he refuses to give proper attribution when he uses our writing, this means the ten people who read his blog can’t check his writing. It is proper and professional to provide attribution for every quotation. There’s no possible justification Thiessen can give for not using our proper names or providing attribution.
Or they may be upset because they suffer from extreme TDS and we do not attack or put down Mr. Trump. Who knows or who cares. Our intent was not to be mean, derogatory, or insulting and it is intent that matters not how people perceive something.
What is TDS? Tiny Dick Syndrome? Typical Derrick Shit? Here’s a good example of what happens when you use acronyms instead of proper names (or nouns?). If you care about readers understanding your writing, there is a proper way to use acronyms. For example, before using the IFB acronym for the first time, I write Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB). That way readers know what I mean when I say IFB. The same goes for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) or the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). The goal is to provide understanding so there’s no miscommunication on my part.
Thiessen wrongly thinks that “intent” is all that matters. He must have missed the lesson in Bible college that talked about the importance of perception. If Thiessen doesn’t want to be perceived as an asshole, then he should behave appropriately. I deeply care about how people perceive my writing or me as a person. I don’t want to leave readers in the position of having to figure out my intent.
Everything I have written in this post is already known to Thiessen. If he wants to be considered an Asshole for Jesus, it is on him, not me. I will continue to use Thiessen’s real name and provide proper attribution when I respond to one of the endless posts he writes about me or my favorite Meerkat.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, recently sent me a guest post. While I initially agreed to publish his post, I regretted doing so after reading it. After a day of contemplation on the matter, I decided not to make his post available to the readers of this blog. His vitriol towards LGBTQ people in general, and specifically transgender people, was enough for me to pass on publishing his post. You can read the post on Thiessen’s blog, TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God.
In his initial email to me, Thiessen demanded:
Hello,
I have attached the document to this email, The instructions are the same as before. Do not let your editor or anyone touch the content or make changes. The content has already been through two spell and grammar checks.
It is written the way I want it to read.
DDavidT
I’ve been blogging for seventeen years. Scores of people have sent me guest posts to publish. Not one person has made demands of me as Theissen does with his post. Most people appreciate a professional editor going over their writing. Contrary to what Theissen says, his submission had numerous grammar, punctuation, and word usage errors. And Thiessen knows this. He just published his post on his blog. I used comparison software to compare what Theissen sent me and what he published on his site. Numerous changes were made to the text. So much for the text he sent me not needing an editor.
Since he was unwilling to allow Carolyn, my editor, to edit his post to make sure it meets the publishing standard for this site, I decided not to publish it. Both the content and the quality of the post were sufficient for me to say “no thanks.”
While waiting for me to publish his post, Thiessen said the following on several blog posts:
On another note, BG is asking for people to write guest posts. We figure he is getting sicker and it is harder for him to maintain his writing schedule. We submitted one a few days ago and are still waiting to see if it will be published.
We told him not to let his editor touch the content as we wrote what we wanted in the post. we have checked for several days now to see if it will appear and if it doesn’t,. we will place it here.
BG has often claimed that we do not write like a doctor so we did a post leaning towards an academic style of writing to satisfy his complaint. So we shall see. If he does not want to post it, he should send us an email so we can post it here.
Anyways, if anyone wants to write a comment below, use our initials DT, we are not upset if anyone does.
BG has failed to post our guest post. We wrote it because he made the offer and opened it up to everyone and on any topic. We see that he has made his own posts since we submitted it, so it is not like there is a long line of authors trying to publish something on his website.
We will give it one more day, and if it doesn’t appear, we will post the content here. We do not care where it is posted as long as it gets published. He may not like the concluding remarks, as those do not bode well for him and his LGBTQ friends.
Our initial thought for his delay is that he got very afraid to publish it, but we do not know the real reason.
Author’s note– This is the guest post we sent to BG in response to his offer to publish a guest post by anyone on any topic. We simply got tired of waiting for him to post it. If he eventually does, we may take this one down so there is no duplication.
Thiessen thinks his post is so incendiary that I am “afraid” to publish it. Child, please. When I read this post to my partner and read the line from Theissen that said, “Our initial thought for his delay is that he got very afraid to publish it,” Polly started laughing hysterically — rightly so.
Frankly, I am tired of Theissen refusing to use my name when he mentions me on his site. Why should I post anything of his if he can’t even bother to call me or Ben Berwick by our given names? Instead, he uses the initials BG and MM. Further, he refuses to properly link to our content when he uses it. I always use his proper name and link to his content when mentioning him on this site. That’s what professional, respectful writers do– which Thiessen is neither.
Finally, reader interaction is welcome on this site. I read every comment and try my best to respond, if warranted. Thiessen doesn’t want to participate in this process on this site. Comment on a post of his on this blog, and instead of replying, he turns it into a blog post on his site. And if you try to leave a comment on his blog, Thiessen will likely give it a one-sentence answer or delete it. If a guest writer is unwilling to interact with the fine readers of this blog, why should I bother to publish his writing?
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Revival “I Lie for Jesus” Fires is an Evangelical Christian who regularly tries to comment on this site. Most of his comments are so vulgar, vile, and disgusting that I refuse to approve them. What follows is my response to his latest comment. (All grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the original.)
Ok buddy you want to talk about pastors and clergymen that fall into sexual sin,rape?prison rape,etc. It actually amazes me if you struggle with pain and bad health as much as you put out that you’re able to take the time to research this every time a LIKELY false Christian pastor falls into this trap.
I am glad you find my herculean research skills amazing, but the Black Collar Crime Series doesn’t take me as much time as you might think. I have developed research and writing skills that help me quickly turn out these posts.
You seem to suggest that I am lying about my struggles with chronic pain and pervasive health problems. Why would I lie about these things? What do I gain from misleading readers?
I find it interesting that you think preachers who rape children, molest teenagers, and take sexual advantage of vulnerable adults have fallen into a “trap.” It’s as if you think these preachers were just humbly walking the road of life, suddenly tripped, and “fell” into sexual sin. This, of course, is untrue. Most of the preachers featured in the Black Collar Crime Series are not first-time offenders. Many of them were predators for years before they were caught. Proving how easy it is to fake being a Christian, these men Sunday after Sunday stand before their congregations preaching the wonders of Christ all the while committing crimes.
Sadly most are likely just a false as you were in your heart.
You do know the Bible says that liars will end up in the Lake of Fire, right? You have no evidence for your claim that I was a false Christian. The same goes for these offending preachers. Based on your comments on this site, I may be an atheist, but I am a better Christian than you are. In fact, most of the atheists on this site are better Christians than you are. Your behavior suggests that you are Christian in name only.
As far as the preachers featured in the Black Collar Crime Series are concerned, I am sure some of them were Christians in name only. However, what these stories suggest is that one can be a Christian and still commit crimes; that Jesus, salvation, and the Bible are no antidote for sexual sins. The Bible says that when a person is saved, their old life passes away and their new life, in Christ, begins. While I have met scores of loving, kind followers of Jesus over the years, they are the exception to the rule. I have concluded that the so-called “new life in Christ” is largely a myth; regardless of whether a person is saved, they are who they are. The real issue, in my humble opinion, is why so many preachers commit sexual sins. I have written over 1,000 posts for the Black Collar Crimes Series, with hundreds of other stories I have not yet posted. The sheer volume of these stories suggests that Evangelicalism has a big problem with predator preachers. Instead of attacking me for publishing these stories, Evangelicals might want to ask why sexual sin, along with infidelity, is so common among preachers. Why do churches continue to cover up such things, fearing loss of testimony more than doing right by victims?
Also sad that every time this happens it gives God and the church a black eye and a fat lip.
Just like when David committed adultery with bathseheba. As Nathan states in 1 Samuel it gave the enemies God a reason to blaspheme.
Yes, these preachers give the church a black eye. What you cannot or will not see is that your own behavior, as witnessed on this site, also gives the church a black eye. Again, the question that should be asked is: why is such behavior so common among Evangelicals; that despite being bought by the blood and filled with the Holy Ghost, Christians can and do commit crimes and have affairs. Why is that? I see nothing in American Evangelicalism that remotely suggests that it is superior to all other religions and that it is a preferred way to live.
So is the point trying to be proved here that these sick men “Christian pastors” who are being charged with child sexual crimes 😡😡 beyond unthinkable!! Or have had an affair with the church secretary,etc are they never truly saved?(likely) Or is the point that the church is no different than the cesspool of a lost world? Obviously if it is either or Or both the main point is to discredit Jesus Christ and disprove existence of God.
The Black Collar Crime series is in its seventh year, having published more than one thousand reports of clergy and church leader criminal misconduct. Most of the reports are about Evangelical pastors, evangelists, youth directors, and other church leaders who committed sex crimes. Using Google Alerts, I receive an immediate notice any time a news story about clerical malfeasance is posted on the Internet. It is important that these stories receive wide circulation. Victims need to know that there are people standing with them as they bring to light what God’s servants have done in secret.
I realize that these reports are often dark and depressing, but the only way to dispel darkness is to turn on the lights. Clergy who prey on congregants — especially children — must be exposed, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. By leveraging this blog’s readership numbers and publishing these reports, I am serving notice to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges: we are paying attention, and if you fail to provide justice for victims, we will hold you accountable.
Sometimes, these seemingly untouchable predators are brought to justice, but not before the public puts pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors, forcing them to act. The sordid story of abuse at Restoration Youth Academy is case in point. Decades of abuse reports were filed with local law enforcement, yet nothing was done. Yes, they finally acted and the perpetrators are now in prison, but what do we say to the hundreds of children and teenagers who were ritually abused before prosecutors got around to doing their job?
I am sure that this series will bring criticism from Evangelical zealots, reminding me that accused/charged clerics are innocent until proven guilty. While they are correct, all I am doing is sharing that which is widely reported in the news. In the sixteen years I’ve been writing about clergy misconduct, I can count on one hand the number of pastors/priests/religious leaders who were falsely accused — fewer than five, out of hundreds and hundreds of cases. The reason for so few false accusations is that no person in his or her right mind would mendaciously accuse a pastor of sexual misconduct. The social and personal cost is simply too high for someone to falsely accuse a religious leader of criminal conduct.
Secondary reasons for this series have to do with exposing the lie that Evangelicalism is immune to scandal and criminal behavior. I remember when the Catholic sex scandal came to light. With great glee and satisfaction, Evangelical preachers railed against predator priests and the Catholic Church who covered up their crimes. Now, of course, we know — with the recent Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) and Southern Baptist sex scandals — that Evangelicalism is just as rotten, having its own problems with sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups. Evangelicals love to take the high moral ground, giving the perception that their shit doesn’t stink. Well, now we know better. Not only does Evangelicalism have a sexual abuse problem, it also has a big problem with pastors who can’t keep their pants zipped up. (Please see Is Clergy Sexual Infidelity Rare?)
I receive threats from people defending their religious heroes. Threats of legal action are common, even though all I am doing is republishing stories publicly reported by news agencies. A pastor featured in one of my reports contacted me and said that reporters had it all wrong. As I do with everyone who asserts they are being falsely accused, I told this preacher that he could give his version of the facts, sign his name to it, and I would gladly add it to the post. Usually, this puts an end to any further protestations. Most often, the accused want to bully me into taking down my post. In this preacher’s case, he provided me his version of events and I gladly added it to my post. After adding the information, I decided to investigate this pastor further. I found more information about his past indiscretions and crimes. I dutifully added them to the post. I have not heard anything further from the good pastor.
I am not immune from making mistakes, so if you spot a factual error in one of the stories, please let me know and I will gladly correct it. If you come across a story that you would like me to add to this series, please use the contact form to email me. Please keep in mind that I need links to actual news reports in order to add them to this series.
I primarily use Google Alerts for Black Collar Crime reports. I also rely on readers to alert me to new stories or updates of previous reports. I am one man with a limited amount of time each day to slog through the brackish Evangelical swamp, so I don’t see every report or know the outcome of every case I’ve featured in the Black Collar Crime Series. Keep in mind that I require EVIDENCE for me to update a story. Not gossip or personal opinion. Actual evidence such as reputable news stories (with links). Just because a reader or drive-by commenter says something doesn’t make it so. I appreciate your understanding.
I realize that nothing I say in this post will change the minds of preachers such as Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen has a sketchy background. He has been accused of abandoning his family, including an infant child, failing to pay child support, and fleeing to South Korea/Philippines to avoid being held accountable for his behavior.
Thiessen has been a vocal critic of me personally and of the Black Collar Crimes Series. Thiessen is known for defending clerics who commit sex crimes. Just this week he wrote two more posts defending Ravi Zacharias. He has also defended men such as Bill Cosby and Bill Gothard. Thiessen goes to great lengths to defend his support of offending preachers, but I find his defenses lacking in every way. Thiessen repeatedly rejects the substantial work done by law enforcement in investigating, prosecuting, and convicting pastors who commit sex crimes. Why? This is the judgment of the “world,” not God. Of course, God is unavailable for comment. All we have are our legal processes; albeit imperfect, they are the best we have to hold clergy and churches accountable.
Thiessen frequently blames victims for what happened to them. Thiessen is not alone in this approach to women (sometimes men) and children who have been sexually violated and taken advantage of by so-called men of God. Again, Thiessen claims that victims are following the ways of the “world” instead of God. Of course, God’s ways in Thiessen’s mind are his peculiar interpretation of the Protestant Christian Bible.
He [Bruce Gerencser] is right in one thing, we do not like his black collar series but not for the reasons he thinks. We [Derrick Thiessen] do not like it for many reasons and two of them are, it is not being fair or just. That owner [Bruce Gerencser] ignores all the unbelievers and atheists who are caught, tried, and convicted for the same crimes.
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[Speaking of being fair and just] Christians have to do both to be able to make an impact for Christ. But this is not the end of the hypocrisy and injustice carried out by the owners of the BG [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] and MM [Meerkat Musings] websites, as well as other unbelieving websites.
There have been other similar stories about drag shows in schools, and so on. Yet not one peep from either owner about how bad, immoral, or wrong these actions are. Instead, they would rather target Christians as that is the group of people, as well as Christ, that they hate.
This is another reason God told us to never follow in the counsel of the ungodly. They do not have fairness or just behavior in their thinking. Look at all the CRT, equity, BLM re-education going on today. None of those and anything similar is of God nor are they just and fair.
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Another reason we do not like the black collar series over at that website [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] is that it is unneeded. It does nothing constructive for society nor does it help redeem those men who failed in their Christian lives, if they were Christians at all.
All it does, as we said earlier, is influence others to hate Christ, pastors, and the church, and turning people to hate is wrong. It is not fair to those men highlighted and the series does not have people being just or fair towards them. In fact, it helps stoke the misguided guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality that many unbelievers endorse.
It is also redundant as the local papers will carry the same stories and his series is just wasting everyone’s time. When the Christian sees those stories they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.
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{we would link to the article we talked about but it is so filled with lies and eisegetical comments that it is nothing but trash [which I can’t rebut] }
I have explained my motivations for writing the Black Collar Crime Series several times. He knows exactly why I do what I do, so I can only conclude that Thiessen is a liar and his goal is to impugn my character and impair my coverage of clergy sex crimes.
Let’s suppose I operated a site whose mission was to cover the Cincinnati Reds. Every day I published news stories about the Reds and individual players on the team. One day, a man named Deirere TeeDee sent me an email, complaining about me not writing any posts about the NHL, particularly me not covering the Detroit Red Wings. Duh, I replied, I write about the Reds, and Major League Baseball, not the National Hockey League and the Detroit Red Wings. Your complaint has no merit.
Yet, this is exactly what Thiessen has done with his complaint about me not covering atheists and other unbelievers who commit sex crimes. He knows that this site focuses on four things:
Helping people who have questions and doubts about Christianity
Helping people who have left Christianity
Telling the story about my journey from Evangelical Christian to atheist
Critiquing Evangelical Christianity
I have been blogging since 2007 — sixteen years. I have stayed true to these four focus points, rarely veering off the path to talk about politics, sports, food, and travel. Why Thiessen cannot understand why I write the Black Collar Crime Series is beyond me. I know that all sorts of people commit sex crimes, but my focus is on Evangelical preachers who commit such crimes. This is NOT a sex crime blog. If it were, I would cover unbelievers and believers alike. And even if I did, it would still be true that the vast majority of people who commit sex crimes are Christian or religious. Why? Because most Americans are Christians.
I have repeatedly explained to Thiessen why the Black Collar Crime Series is needed. I assume, at this point, he is being obtuse. Most of the stories I write require numerous news stories to tell the complete story. They also require research on my part to find out what sect the offender was a part of and their background and beliefs. Sometimes, these reports take a lot of time to put together. Other times, a Google search quickly gives me everything I need to write the story.
These reports are based on news reports, court records, social media, and other verifiable sources. I rarely interject my personal opinion. My goal is to provide a one-stop website for people looking for information about a particular preacher/church and their crimes. Blog traffic numbers suggest that this is exactly what is happening.
It is not uncommon for news sites to either delete stories about clergy sex crimes or put them behind paywalls. That’s why it is important for me to make these stories available to the public free of charge. The public has a right to know what is going on in Evangelical churches. Surely it is important to cover criminal behavior by clerics. Surely it is important to say to victims that I hear them and I will make their story known far and wide. The bigger question, then, is this: why do Derrick Thiessen and other Christians of his ilk want to muzzle me and keep these stories from being known?
One answer to the questions above is that the Thiessens of the world don’t care about the victims of clergy sex crimes. I suspect many of them believe that the victimized women (and men) and children are not victims at all. Thus, they view sexual predators as the real victims; that the “world” is out to get them. Thiessen admits as much when he says “When the Christian sees those stories [about rape, sexual assault, child molestation, along with theft, fraud, and murder] they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.” Remember, Thiessen has called sex crimes “mistakes.” He has yet to write one positive post about the victims of clergy sexual misconduct. All that Thiessen cares about are the poor preachers who rape, assault, misuse, and abuse vulnerable people. In his mind, these preachers just made “mistakes.” If they will just shoot a 1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness) to Heaven, Jesus will forgive them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. With that, the offending preachers are forgiven and should get right back on the ministry horse. Thiessen seems oblivious to the fact that most pedophiles are incurable; that Jesus himself can’t fix them. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that preachers caught committing sex crimes, particularly child pornography, have likely been doing so for years. When a 60-something-year-old preacher is arrested for sexually assaulting a child, it is likely that he has committed this crime before. Most clergy sex crimes go unreported/unprosecuted (as is the case in the general population). What I cover with the Black Collar Crime Series is but a fraction of the crimes committed by Christian clergy. I read sites such as Ministry Watch, The Roys Report, Bishop Accountability, Baptist Accountability, and the Black Collar Crime listings published monthly for members by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I am astounded by how many stories about clergy sex crimes I actually miss.
It’s clear to all who are willing to see that Evangelicalism has a clergy sex crime problem of epic proportions. These reports are not a few bad apples. The sex scandal roiling through the Southern Baptist Convention certainly proves that the proverbial barrel is littered with rotten, stinking apples.
— end of quote
What it really does is show the extreme depravity of man.
No, what it shows is the extreme depravity of some born-again Christians. Why is this behavior so common? Why do so many preachers commit sex crimes, especially with children? Are you really saying that none of these offending preachers are saved; that they are still depraved?
Christ is Holy and Righteouss! God and man who died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin and purchase eternal life and change lives and hearts! Even the most depraved!
“Changes lives and hearts?” Surely, you jest. The Black Collar Crime Series is testimony to the fact that Jesus does not change lives and hearts. The real question is why do preachers commit sex crimes? It is evident that religion does not insulate them from such behavior. Why is that?
And any prison on the face of this earth will be a spa and beach compared to what awaits the unredeemed in hell.
There’s no evidence for the existence of Hell. The only hell is that which we cause and experience in this life. What I find interesting is that you never mention the victims. Why is that? You seem more concerned with justifying criminal behavior and defending Evangelicalism than you are speaking for the vulnerable. Why is that? Jesus said in Matthew 18:6: But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. This verse must be missing from your Bible.
You would think that every Evangelical would support the Black Collar Crime Series. If godliness and holiness are the goal, why would any Christian object to light being shined on evil works done in darkness, even if they are committed by so-called men of God?
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
This cartoon correctly shows how many Evangelicals perceive the transgender/bathroom issue. Their perceptions, however, are categorically wrong.
What should we make of Evangelical Christians who are obsessed with human biological sex, gender, genitals, and what people do with them? I peruse scores of Evangelical blogs and websites every day. Without fail, one or more of these defenders of the one true penis will write an article disparaging LGBTQ people. Rare is an article about the peccadilloes of heterosexual people, even though their sexual sins and crimes are far more common than those found among LGBTQ people.
Some Evangelicals are, in particular, obsessed with transgender people. Take Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Week after week, Thiessen churns out articles attacking, disparaging, and demeaning transgender people. Between Thiessen’s defense of preachers who commit sex crimes and his obsession with hating LGBTQ people, it makes me wonder what lies buried deeply in his proverbial closet. Regardless, Thiessen’s unhealthy obsession with transgender people is disturbing, to say the least. If a transgender woman was beaten and killed near where Thiessen lives and law enforcement found his hate-filled writing about transgender people, he would quickly become a person of interest.
Today, Thiessen wrote another article about transgender people titled, If You Still Think It is Fair. Thiessen said things like:
How humiliating was it when a fake [transgender] woman was sent to the Miss Universe pageant in 2018? Of all the women in Spain, a fake one was deemed to be the most attractive? and qualified for a female beauty pageant??
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It is not normal behavior to reject one’s actual gender and pretend to be a gender one is not. There is nothing fair about this inclusion in any women’s event or activity. What makes it worse is the fact that a female [U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe] is opposing Trump’s Executive Order banning fake women in women’s sports and activities.
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There is nothing right or fair about including transgender in women’s activities. You will find that there is no historical foundation for these inclusions. It may have taken place in Sodom and Gomorrah but God destroyed those cities so we will never know.
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When female athletes do not stick up for their real female counterparts, then you know there is something really wrong with many people. Maybe the problem is that many men and women think that since they are not involved in those activities, it is not their problem.
However, many problems are solved by those who are not involved. They have the advantage of not having emotional conflicts, should see the situation clearly, and can suggest proper solutions. Those outsiders can still champion right over wrong as eventually, the sinful behavior will reach their activities soon enough.
As Christians, we need to continually speak out and hold our ground.
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It is not normal, it is not right, and it is not moral. Christians can do something with God’s help. When they address this problem, they just need to remember that Transgenders are God’s creation also, and are under severe attacks from evil.
They need to be rescued from this sin and the people who are locking them inside this sin. This is a spiritual warfare battle and Christians need to go into it armed with sincere prayer, the right attitudes, and the right knowledge. Wisdom will help apply that knowledge correctly so that God wins the day.
This is not something we can do on our own. We need Go’d help in this and other spiritual warfare issues. We are just not equipped with the right tools to handle spiritual problems on our own.
As Christians pray and get prepared for this battle, they can still speak out telling the world that has lost sight of the difference between right and wrong, what is right and what is wrong. Without the Christian testimony and witness, those godly standards are lost as no one else has them.
Stop the unfairness and humiliation of women and show Christian love to the real women of the world.
In what way do transgender people materially affect the lives of Theissen and others like him? None that I can think of. No, Thiessen is transphobic, and he rails against transgender people because he finds them disgusting. Or perhaps he is sexually attracted to transgender people, and God, Jesus, the Holy Ghost, and the Bible can’t stop Thiessen from thinking lustful thoughts about what people have in their pants or under their skirts.
Less than one percent of Americans are transgender, yet according to Thiessen and other Evangelical zealots, they are an existential threat to the human race. In the past, Thiessen has said transgender people should be arrested and put in internment camps, much like the United States did with Japanese and German people during World War II. Bigotry is bigotry regardless of the clothing it wears.
Transgender people were disgustingly used as a political prop for Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians during the last election. Based on the ads, you would think transgender people are lurking in the shadows on every corner, hoping to find a defenseless child to rape or assault. Some ads focused on transgender women playing women’s high school and college sports. Keep in mind that few transgender people play organized sports. According to one news report, ten transgender women played college sports last year. Ten. A whopping ten transgender women out of thousands of female athletes. At the high school level, last year in the state of Ohio, only two transgender girls played sports, Yet, we are to believe that a total of twelve transgender women are destroying high school and college athletics. Child, please. This doesn’t mean that there are not issues to resolve when transgender people play sports. There are, and it is up to league administrators to determine what constitutes fair play. However, this is not a simple issue to solve. If it is just a matter of testing for testosterone levels, what will happen to heterosexual women who have high testosterone levels? As a former player of high school and college basketball, we used to joke about the jumping capabilities of White people; you know, “white people can’t jump.” Generally speaking, Black athletes run faster and jump higher than Whites. Should Black athletes be penalized for having genetic superiority? So it is with transgender women. If being trans gives them an unfair competitive advantage, then it may be necessary to adjust the rules — based on science and not because of bigotry. So few transgender students play sports that it is impossible to know whether they have a physical advantage, and, if they do, how much advantage they have. This is an issue that must be addressed by science, and not the shrill, hysterical rants of Evangelical preachers. (I should note that many transgender people want this issue addressed too.)
Rarely does Thiessen write a post for his site without mentioning BG and MM, also known as Bruce Gerencser and Ben Berwick (Meerkat Musings). His latest post disparaging transgender people mentions both of us. Here’s what “Hetero D” had to say:
We know that there will be those who disagree with us, for example, MM and BG, but their minds are confused and deceived so their opinions do not matter. This issue is a product of deception and confusion as the people allowing this humiliating act are just as deceived and confused about life and gender.
According to Theissen, our opinions on this issue don’t matter. Why? Our minds are confused and deceived by a mythical being, Satan himself. What, exactly, are we confused about? It is Thiessen who refuses to accept what consensus science tells about biological sex and gender. The Line, owned by Jimmy Snow, features a weekly call-in show hosted primarily by transgender people. If you want to understand the plethora of issues surrounding transgender people and the challenges they face living in a world increasingly hostile to them, I encourage you to tune in to their program.
Matt Dillahunty, whose significant other is transgender, also has several programs on The Line. Matt is a good source for those who want to understand transgender people. I will give you fair warning, Matt has zero tolerance for bigots like Thiessen. Honest, thoughtful discussions are welcome, but disparaging and attacking transgender people will bring upon you the wrath of Almighty Matt, and rightfully so. I should note, it is almost always Evangelicals who call into these programs to attack transgender people. They are not interested in learning about biological sex and gender or making good-faith efforts to understand transgender people. In their minds, as with Derrick Thomas Thiessen, transgender people are e-v-i-l. For you who regularly comment on this blog, you have read the comments of several transgender people. Do they seem “evil” to you? Of course not. If anyone seems evil, it is Theissen, but even with him, I don’t think he is actually evil. He has been conditioned and indoctrinated his whole life to hate LGBTQ people. In recent years, Thiessen’s hatred has focused on transgender people, though it is unlikely that he personally knows anyone who is transgender
I remember thinking just like Thiessen about LGBTQ people. My hatred and bigotry were driven by not only my Christian Fundamentalism but also the fact that I didn’t know any LGBTQ people. Oh, there were people I suspected were “gay,” but I wasn’t friends with any of them. It took actually meeting and befriending LGBTQ people for my views to change. Today, I have friends all across the sexual and gender spectrum. My life has been enriched in every way by knowing them.
For you who are former Evangelicals, how did you view and treat LGBTQ people? Were you a bigot like Thiessen? What caused you to change your mind about LGBTQ people? Do you know or are you friends with transgender people? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
David Tee/Derrick Thomas Thiessen is the tall man in the back
I promised to ignore the Evangelical featured in this post, but sometimes he writes things so vile and so egregious that his words are impossible to ignore. Yes, I am talking about Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen.
Several days ago, Thiessen wrote a post titled, People Are Not Going to Like This. Like what, you ask? Blaming thirty teen boys for committing suicide after they were sexually blackmailed.
High school senior James Woods was obsessed with comics. He could quote every episode of “The Flash,” idolized the superhero Green Arrow, and often sported a Naruto-inspired headband he insisted helped him run faster in track meets. He looked forward all year to a trip his family and friends planned for the Dream Con comic book convention the following summer.
Three months into the school year, just before Thanksgiving, the 17-year-old died by suicide. His parents were shocked, grieving and baffled. James, who lived in Streetsboro, Ohio, had not struggled with mental health, they said.
When police looked through James’ phone, they discovered he had fallen victim to financial sextortion, a crime that occurs when a predator threatens to distribute private material or harm a victim if they don’t comply with the predator’s financial demands. The scam is the fastest-growing cybercrime targeting children in North America and most commonly exploits young men, particularly boys ages 13 to 17.
Sextortion has been connected to at least 30 deaths of teen boys by suicide since 2021, according to a tally of private cases and the latest FBI numbers from cybersecurity experts.
In more than a dozen interviews, male sextortion victims and the parents of teenage boys who died by suicide described how predators established a false sense of trust before blackmailing their victims. All of the parents USA TODAY spoke with said their teens died by suicide within 24 hours of being threatened − though the window was often shorter.
James’ predators falsely told him he would face jail time for sending nude photographs, that his parents would stop loving him, and that he would never be able to run track again or go to college. In the next 19 hours, they would send James more than 200 messages, a technique predators use to instill a sense of urgency and prevent giving the victim time to think or reach out for help.
“They eliminated his desire for a future,” says his mother, Tamia Woods. “I don’t think that James knew he was a victim.”
Most of us rightly grieve for the parents and families who lost a child due to sextortion. Seems to be a proper response, right? But not for David Theissen, a moral crusader who obsesses over what he deems sinful behavior in others while ignoring his own. As a young Bible college student, I was taught to practice what I preached. Evidently, Thiessen never had that lesson at the Christian Missionary & Alliance college he attended years ago.
Yes, the predators are guilty of committing a crime and some of them may even qualify legally to be charged with murder BUT there would be no crime if the boys had morals, obeyed the Bible, and had some courage.
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The predators cannot force anyone to take those nude shots or participate in sexually charged conversations. They can only set up the situation and hope that, like these boys, someone will take the bait and get themselves entwined in this criminal activity.
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That is part of the situation as well. Once the boys or any boys jumped at the opportunity to have a female friend like them, they made the fateful decision to make themselves vulnerable to criminals.
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It is the boys’ decision to disobey that instruction that helps get them in trouble. This is the key to this whole problem. The boys made their own independent decisions to act on the requests of fake females. They over-rode their parents and others’ instructions and gave into temptation.
Sadly, they came to a point where they saw no other way out but to kill themselves. The Bible verses these boys violated were ‘Children obey your parents’ ‘Resist temptation’, ‘Flee from evil’, Resist evil and it will flee from you’.
There are others and there were other options available to the boys, and even girls, caught in this problem. They could easily not decide to send those photos, take part in those conversations, or do anything that would compromise them on the internet.
The boys in that article contributed to their demise by making bad decisions after bad decisions until they made that fatal one that ended their lives. Life is all about decisions. If people were taught strong morals, right from wrong, etc., then we would see fewer suicides from sextortion and other internet crimes.
If they knew they could resist temptation and flee evil, then the same results would be achieved. To be honest, part of the blame lies at the boys’ feet because they let emotions, etc., over-rule common sense and what instructions their parents and others gave and went off to do immoral behavior.
The Bible verses these boys violated were ‘Children obey your parents’ ‘Resist temptation’, ‘Flee from evil’, Resist evil and it will flee from you’.
There are others and there were other options available to the boys, and even girls, caught in this problem. They could easily not decide to send those photos, take part in those conversations, or do anything that would compromise them on the internet.
The boys in that article contributed to their demise by making bad decisions after bad decisions until they made that fatal one that ended their lives. Life is all about decisions. If people were taught strong morals, right from wrong, etc., then we would see fewer suicides from sextortion and other internet crimes.
If they knew they could resist temptation and flee evil, then the same results would be achieved. To be honest, part of the blame lies at the boys’ feet because they let emotions, etc., over-rule common sense and what instructions their parents and others gave and went off to do immoral behavior.
People may hate the Bible but it is full of instructions that protect everyone from predators like the ones involved in the article. The key is to make the right decisions first, not afterward. Biblical instructions are signs that God does love everyone and has provided protection for them.
The people of this world just have to humble themselves and make the right decisions to obey God and the Bible if they do not want to be involved in these and other types of crimes. Of course, it takes courage to do so but God can give the courage to those who need it to overcome evil and resist temptation.
Speaking of one 15-year-old boy who killed himself, Thiessen said:
Sadly, he did it to himself by failing to follow Biblical and parental teachings.
Just follow the Bible, and all will be well? Really? The Black Collar Crime Series clearly shows that even preachers who “follow Biblical teachings” can and do commit crimes and other untoward behavior. Sexual misconduct is common among Evangelical preachers and church members alike. Thiessen, himself, has enough secrets in his life to suggest he doesn’t practice what he preaches. In fact, I would suggest that he writes stories such as this to cover up his past peccadilloes. What better way to make yourself look good than by either defending those accused of sexual misconduct or attacking those making allegations against so-called men of God?
Many readers of this blog faithfully attended Evangelical churches as teenagers. We know firsthand that the Bible is no match for sexual hormones; that God allegedly gave all of us sexual desire and made it its strongest during our teenage and young adult years. Teenagers are not adults, and that’s why they need to have mature, educated parents; parents who know that quoting Bible verses and taking their teens to church are not effective protections against sexual desire — especially in the digital age. Yes, parents need to be proactive, but that takes more than proof texts, sermons, and youth group meetings. Even if parents do everything possible to protect their children from sexual predators, predation still happens. When it does, children need love and support from their parents, not religious pronouncements. What children don’t need are parents and preachers who barrage them with words allegedly from God, complete with interpretations from preachers who, in many cases, broke God’s law themselves when they were teenagers.
What these boys’ families need most of all is love, kindness, and support, and not hateful judgments from a self-righteous Evangelical preacher who only sees the “sins” of others — never his own. Thiessen abandoned a child he fathered years ago, failing to pay court-ordered child support. Some believe he lives in the Philippines to avoid legal responsibility for paying support. Whether Thiessen has other children, I do not know. For those of us who have responsibly raised teenagers, we know the pressures teens face in life. Hopefully, we remember facing similar pressures when we were teens. And most of all, if our children are victims of extortion, we hope they will come to us for help. Unfortunately, Fundamentalist Christianity often keeps children from asking for help because they don’t want to be harshly punished for a sexually oriented text message or picture.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Note: This is the last post about Dr. David Tee that will appear on this site. I have reached the end of the road with him. I know I have said this before, but I plan to keep my word this time.
Dr. David Tee, an Evangelical preacher whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, recently wrote a vitriolic post titled The Biggest Whiner We Have Ever Seen. The title is written in the singular tense, but, as you will see in the moment, it should be in the plural. Thiessen, for whatever reason, decided to write a long post excoriating my friend Ben Berwick and me, calling us the biggest whiners and crybabies of all time. Lost on Thiessen is that he wrote a whiny post complaining about others he deems whiners and crybabies. As readers know, Thiessen is pronoun-challenged, so it is unclear at certain places in his screed whether he is talking about Ben, Bruce Gerencser, or both of us. Since Thiessen refuses to use our names in his posts or link to our writing he regularly steals, I will have to guess who, exactly he is talking about.
— Begin post (All spelling, grammar, punctuation, and irrationality in the original.)
We are not going to link to the person’s crybaby rant because it serves no purpose.
If Ben’s writing serves no purpose, why did Thiessen use it as the basis for this post? I don’t have the time to count how many posts Thiessen has written about either of us this year, but I suspect the total exceeds fifty — more than one time per week.
But in the 12 years we have been writing this blog, he has risen to the top to be the biggest whiner and crybaby of all time. That isn’t much of an achievement as very few people who we have used content as examples have complained.
Thiessen uses our content more frequently than any other authors — overwhelmingly so. Others don’t complain or respond to Thiessen because they likely don’t know of his existence or don’t care.
Some have written rebuttals on their websites but nothing to the level this one person takes it to. The guy must have the brain of a 4-year-old who hasn’t learned life’s lessons yet and gets upset that his PUBLIC comments are being analyzed and criticized.
I can’t speak for Ben, but what is upsetting is Thiessen’s lies and distortions of my beliefs, and his refusal to thoughtfully engage in discussion. Instead, he calls names and says “You are wrong.” I have challenged Thiessen to a debate several times, but he refuses. I have even let him write a guest post on this site, only to have him refuse to engage the comments and critiques of readers afterward.
It is absurd to see his reactions after all he knows what happens when he places information in public. Not everyone will agree with him and will take him to task. They do it to us all the time. yet this one person thinks his words are not to be touched even though he is very wrong and uses erroneous thinking all the time.
It is just dumb for him to waste time ranting about someone’s criticism of his dreadfully wrong ideas and thoughts. it is time for him to grow up and learn how to take it but he may be one of those progressives who are triggered every time something doesn’t go their way.
He really shouldn’t be ranting about anyone’s content that disagrees with his own ideas. He has nothing to offer anyone. If he does not want to be analyzed or critiqued, maybe he should stop publishing content on religious, political, and controversial topics.
Sadly, Thiessen sees himself as some sort of authority on the Bible, Christianity, theology, history, archeology, and marriage. He expects the targets of his attack to “learn how to take it” without responding to him. That’s not how it works. Public critiques require public responses. The real issue is that Thiessen thinks his response is the final answer and that everyone should bow to his superior intellect. As I have repeatedly shown, Thiessen has a poor grasp of Evangelical theology, church history, and science. I have shown that it is likely that Thiessen doesn’t understand the Christian gospel. He refuses to engage me on these issues, choosing instead to call names and throw temper tantrums.
He is not the answer to the world nor does he have any answers except to rid the world of the only answer there is. We do not mention his name and only use initials because we ARE NOT making it personal like he and one other person do when they do not like something we have posted.
Thiessen is gaslighting everyone. If you have read any of his writing, you know that he has, indeed, made things personal. His refusal to use our names and properly link to our content is childish and disrespectful. I have schooled him several times, without success. Of late, he has taken to using our content without even using the MM and BG initials for our names. It’s clear, at least to me, that Thiessen isn’t interested in dialog.
They are the ones trying to push for a bad response, not us. We are merely pointing out certain things they write as examples or teaching points. This is why we rarely address their rants. They want to make it more than it is.
Whatever our motives, Theissen deliberately mispresents our beliefs. That he uses our writing as “examples or teaching points” shows how he views himself, not as a fellow interlocutor, but as some sort of exalted teacher or authority.
If he took stock of what we use from his website, he would realize we only address religious, political, and some controversial topics he posts. We do not touch his other content as it does not serve the purpose of this website.
He needs to be more mature and to stop acting like an immature child.
There are countless other writers Thiessen could use for his delusional teaching moments, yet almost all of his writing focuses on content found at Meerkat Musings and The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser. Why is that? I do know that Thiessen has been banned from commenting on numerous Christian blogs. I would block his access to writing if I could, but he uses a VPN or some other form of technology that keeps me from doing so.
By refusing to respond to him going forward, I hope he will move on to other people to belittle and harrass.
As far as acting like an immature child, I will leave it to readers to decide who is actually being immature. His post is nothing more than a personal attack. Had he not written it, there would be no response to him.
As for the other person we have been using content from, he needs to get over his hatred and grow up as well. His narcissism and victim playing as well as mentioning he was a preacher for over 25 years, preached 4000 sermons, etc., etc., has run its course.
Now Thiessen turns his attention to me. He doesn’t like my writing style, or my subject matter, so he whines, bitches, and complains. He could choose NOT to read my writing, but instead, he complains about the fact that I write about my story and dare to mention that I was a former Evangelical pastor. I have explained to him numerous times that I do so because I treat every post as if someone is reading it for the first time. I don’t assume that anyone knows my backstory, so that’s why I briefly mention my bona fides. He doesn’t do this, of course, because he has things to hide; a checkered past he doesn’t want anyone to know about. Thiessen hid behind several fake names until I exposed that he was a fraud. Unable to respond in kind, Thiessen tries to tear me down.
He needs to stop making everything about him and get a new focus on his writing. He is less credible than a fart as at least the fart knows it is stinking up the room and leaves. That guy doesn’t know and won’t leave.
The title of this blog is The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser: One Man’s Journey From Eternity to Here. Enough said. End of discussion.
One of his latest diatribes is against missionaries who make sacrifices to obey God and fulfill the Great COmmission. What was his point? That those who have the answer to life’s problems should not share the good news?
Many of our undergraduate friends went on to become missionaries and have spent their lives serving God. We should take offense at his insults towards them and other missionaries but there is no point in doing that.
All the guy does is show his ignorance and his desire that all people should remain in their sins. That is not a person one should ever listen to. We have also known many missionaries beyond our friends since childhood. They are far better people than that write could ever hope to be or ever was.
His attack on them was uncalled for. If he wants to live his life his way then he needs to let Christians live their lives their way. Sure missionaries make mistakes but those mistakes are minor compared to the one he made when he left his faith.
At least the missionaries are still running the race, did not listen to unbelievers, and did not quit on Jesus. They are trying to fulfill God’s desire that ALL MEN BE SAVED.. There is nothing wrong with their work.
However, that person thinks that all people need to remain practicing sinful activities and tries to deprive them of hope and an escape form their sins. That makes him a very bad person, not a knight in shining armor.
The missionary is the knight in shining armor as they face more difficulties than the average Christian will and for the most part, keep on working for Christ. I doubt that person who rants against missionaries could have survived not having their children in their home for months on end like missionaries have had to do.
These challenges tax missionaries and make it harder for them to focus on their work and have trust that God will take care of their children. That is not easy to do. So instead of attacking missionaries, they need to be praised, supported, and prayed for constantly as the attacks that blogger made only add to the challenges missionaries face.
I should note that Thiessen has, in the past, considered himself a missionary. As far as I can tell, he is not currently in the ministry.
In conclusion, the two people referred to in this blog article need to become more mature, forgiving, and adult about having their content analyzed. They do not have answers for anyone and should remain silent on all religious, political, and controversial issues.
Their comments only harm others not help them. Making their comments and responses personal only reflects badly on them and displays poor character and a lack of integrity.
They are nothing more than whiney 2-year-olds looking for attention and the only way they can get it is by falsely attacking Christians. Maybe they would be cited more on this website if they acted like honest and mature adults instead of the screaming spoiled children they are.
At this point, I am too tired to respond further to his name-calling and attacks. Thiessen responds the same way regardless of what we write, so he is disingenuous when he says “[they] would be cited more on this website if they acted like honest and mature adults instead of the screaming spoiled children they are.”
Rage away, Derrick. I, for one, refuse to play.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen believes a husband beating his wife is NOT grounds for divorce; that a wife must submit to her husband even if he beats her. It should be noted that Thiessen has been accused of spousal abuse in his previous marriage.
There is nothing to unpack [from the quote below]. Abuse is not the criteria for divorce. Are you greater than Jesus??
Male leadership has been God-approved from the beginning. . . The NT gave the leadership role of the church to men, not women.
Throughout the Bible, we see this consistency and order from God. Why would he change this way of leadership for marriage and confuse everyone? Even if abuse is a part of the marriage, God does not change the leadership structure.
As Peter wrote- “In the same way, you wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the behavior of their wives, ( 1 Peter 3:1)
The Bible does not teach nor give permission for husbands or men to be abusive towards wives and other women. When men do that they are sinning and need to get right with God. But notice Peter’s words. They fall in line with Jesus’ words on divorce. Abuse is not grounds for divorce.
Nor is abuse grounds or permission for women to disobey God’s instructions given through the apostles. Wives are to remain true to God’s word, following it correctly so that Jesus can work in their husbands.
Those pastors and other well-meaning Christians who tell wives they can leave their husbands and divorce them in these situations are leading more women to sin and disobey Jesus.
It is difficult to leave women in those situations but it must be done.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Dr. David Tee, an Evangelical preacher whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, despises LGBTQ people — especially transgender folks. He is the epitome of a transphobe. His bigotry is common among Evangelicals who, lacking imagination, can’t fathom anything other than a cisgender, heterosexual, no-sex-before-marriage world. Thiessen not only disparages transgender people at every turn, but he also believes that justice and equal protection under the law doesn’t apply to them. He thinks transgender people are mentally ill and are under the influence of Satan. I suspect if Thiessen had his way, LGBTQ people would be rounded up and sent to sex/gender education camps.
Today, Thiessen wrote an ugly, vicious article titled, Why Should Anyone Support Transgender Rights? Without further response, I give you the words of sex/gender expert Dr. David Tee (all spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original):
So far, there has not been one valid, legitimate, or even halfway good argument that presents any type of solid case for anyone to support transgender rights. There really isn’t one because if supporters were honest, they would realize that the concept of transgenderism is a mental and spiritual deception meant to harm unwary people.
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How can anyone seriously get behind the [transgender] movement when their supporters go to such extremes to bully others into silence or drop their opposition?
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Why should a minute minority be given such leeway when their American population is roughly under 1,000,000 people out of a population of 300,00,00+ people. On the world stage, the figures are just as bad.
Why should 8,000,000,000 +/- people have to give in to the demands of a people group barely making it to 5 million if that? We are not even talking about the issue of right and wrong here. We are just discussing how the rights of the vast majority are undermined and trampled in favor of those who are in desperate need of mental and spiritual counseling and therapy.
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The truth has to be told that transgender identification is wrong and cannot be given special rights. The people also need to be told that they need to go get mental and spiritual help if they want to be part of normal and real society.
There is nothing wrong with telling them the truth. What is wrong is supporting these delusions and allowing them to permeate society to the point that those who do what is right are punished. There was a time when this did not take place and almost all parts of society did tell the confused they needed help and offered to get them the help.
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People need to be rebuked about their sinful ways and corrected from them and transgenderism is sinful and all of its members and supporters need to be rebuked and corrected. Not the Christian.
There is no such thing as discrimination against what is wrong.
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When people cross moral boundaries, nothing immoral or sinful is out of line for them . . . They have no morals stopping them from harming those who disagree with them.
That condition tells you that there is nothing of God in transgenderism. it cannot be supported, given special rights, or normalized. It is a sin which needs to be repented of completely.
Fake men and women need to be treated, not the normal majority.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Female humans typically have two mammary glands, also called breasts. These glands provide milk for females to nurse their young. However, in many Christian countries, especially the United States, female breasts are sexualized. Evangelicals, in particular, have irrational beliefs about female breasts. Male humans also have underdeveloped mammary glands, but I can’t ever remember hearing a sermon condemning men for exposing their breasts. No, the focus is on female breasts, especially if the preacher sees a comely woman walk into church, distracting him from preaching the Bible. Nothing like boobs to distract a preacher from the Word of God, right? 🙂
We live in a culture where female mammary glands are sexualized; that breasts are treated as genitals are. Thus, Evangelical preachers demand women cover up their breasts lest their very existence distract men from God or cause them to lust. As readers will see in a moment, this includes women exposing their milk-producing mammary glands as they feed their infants. Women are expected to totally cover their breasts in public or church lest hapless Evangelical men lust.
Take Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Yesterday, Thiessen wrote a post titled Illogical Arguments. Fearful of seeing boobs in public, Thiessen demands nursing women cover their breasts and not nurse their babies where anyone can see them.
Thiessen writes (all spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original):
When it comes to breastfeeding people have different opinions. Many unbelievers [including many Evangelical women] feel that women should be allowed to breastfeed in public. Most of their arguments are illogical and very limited. Take for example this point some unbelievers raise:
Firstly, breast-feeding is perfectly natural. It is one of the most natural things in the world. Numerous species across millions of years have breast-fed their young.
This is illogical because first, humans are not animals [humans are animals, as any non-Evangelical biology book will tell you]. The latter do not have a moral code to follow nor even know what morality is. Second, animals tend to have sex in public. If one wants to be consistent and not a hypocrite, then one must call public sex acts natural and should be allowed for public viewing without stigmentation [??].
Third, there are rules of decency and morality that humans must follow [really? where can these rules be found]. Animals do not have those rules or know what they mean. Why lower humans to the level of animals when we are clearly superior to them and have a different set of rules to operate by?
There are very good reasons why public breastfeeding is not allowed. Morality and decency are just two of them. [So, public breastfeeding is immoral? Which Bible command says that] Another reason is that public breastfeeding is very selfish. it is all about the women going me me me. [No, it is all about the baby, who, when hungry, says me, me, me.]
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That is selfish and does not take into consideration anyone else’s views or feelings about public breastfeeding. [Yes, Derrick, your views or feelings do not matter.] Doing this natural act privately does not make a woman second-class or inferior, it simply shows that the mother considers other people. It is very awkward walking in a public place and coming across a woman breastfeeding. [Maybe for you, Derrick, but this is not a universal feeling.]
Women should not be putting others into that state. Then private breastfeeding protects women from being further objectified sexually as well as stopping women from tempting men and women to sin. [If you, Derrick, are objectifying breastfeeding women, that is your problem, and not theirs. If you, Derrick, get a boner when seeing a partially exposed breast in public, that’s your problem. Grow up.]
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Morals and decency are not submissive to parental experience. parental experience is submissive to morality and decency. Actually, babies do operate by a schedule and parents have known about this for millenniums. [Says a man who knows nothing about raising children.]
It is just that the modern world has interrupted that schedule due to the busyness of adult lives. It is also interrupted by the false idea that women are made second-class because they cannot do their normal schedules until their children are old enough to not breastfeed.
Then opposition to this act is not about men’s rights. It is true that wives must obey their husbands [says who?] and no man in his right mind wants his wife exposing herself and putting herself in danger by whipping out her breast. [I must not be in my right mind; not that Polly ever “whipped out her breast” when feeding one of our children.] The husband and father do have the right to say where a woman can breastfeed. [No, they do not — ever.]
The woman has given her body to the man she has had sex with. It is not hers anymore, she does not have rule over her body. [Yes, she does. It is her body, not her husbands. You seem to not understand bodily autonomy. I am sure female commenters will straighten you out on this issue.] It is their [husbands] business what a woman does. What she does reflects on him and can either undermine or enhance his reputation as well as his qualifications. [OMG! Polly undermind my reputation by feeding Jason, Nathan, Jaime, Bethany, Laura, and Josiah in public.]
When it comes to motherly duty, there has never been a rule or guideline in those duties that women can publically breastfeed their children. It is not part of their duty. It is their duty to breastfeed but not in a position that makes them a public spectacle or embarrasses their husbands and family.
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Then feeding a child is not the only priority of a mother. [When the child is hungry, it is.] Her top priority is her husband [no, the child comes first.] and she must be submissive to him, even in breastfeeding. [Good luck with that, Sherlock.] This illogical argument is nothing but an attempt to sin and defy God. [Really? Breastfeeding in public a sin? Chapter and verse, please. Women defy God when they breastfeed in public? Again, chapter and verse.]
Unbelievers are not content with pleasing God and want to do things their own way.
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There is nothing wrong with scheduling one’s day so that the mother can be in a private location to breastfeed her child. Rescheduling does not undermine her priorities but gives her peace of mind. She is protecting her husband, her child, and herself.
Exposing oneself in public does open the door to more crimes against women. [Only from men like you, Derrick, who are lurking in the shadows.] One reason for saying that is that the woman is not sure who is watching her or who gets a fixation on her. Instead of making women more vulnerable to sexual crimes, we need to protect them better.
One way to do that is to teach women how to schedule their breastfeeding time so that they are not in danger of being victims of crimes. Why should society change because some minute minorities want public breastfeeding? [Do you seriously think that public breastfeeding is a “minute minority position? You need to get out more or travel to other countries where people don’t sexualize female mammary glands.]
No, it is time to put the minute minorities in place [Good luck with that. I dare you to tell a woman breastfeeding in public to put her breast away. I guarantee you that you will get more than your bargained for.] and keep them from encouraging and helping people to sin against God and others. [Derrick, if a woman breastfeeding in public causes you to sin, you are a pervert.] It is very unintelligent to say that non-parents should mind their own business on this topic. [Yes, mind your own fucking business.]
Non-parents are included and this is part of their business because public breastfeeding affects them as well. [How does it affect you, Derrick, other than you can’t keep your mind out of the gutter?] When you make it public, it is not a private matter anymore. Plus, the non-parent’s are under the same rules of decency and morality and those are impacted by making this natural act public.
As you can see, Thiessen sexualizes female mammary glands. He even goes so far as to say that women who breastfeed in public are vulnerable to sexual assault. When and where a lactating woman feeds her children is up to her husband, not her. As I have mentioned before, the female body is hyper-sexualized in Evangelical churches. Men are weak, pathetic horn dogs who can’t control themselves if they dare see a woman’s cleavage or, God forbid, her milk-filled mammary gland.
My partner, Polly, gave birth to six children. She breastfed all of them on demand until they were weaned. Polly sat on the front pew of the church, nursing her child while listening to her husband preach. She was discreet, but everyone knew what she was doing. Not one church member ever complained about her doing so or suggested Polly was being immoral. As a pastor, I saw countless women nurse their babies while I was preaching. I found it to be quite normal, never a distraction. Well, one time a woman nursing her child was a distraction. As I was preaching, a church member sitting three rows from the front, exposed her breast so her five-year-old daughter could stand there and nurse. I found her doing so quite amusing.
Breastfeeding in public is a normal, healthy human behavior. There is nothing sexual about the practice. Evangelical men such as Thiessen who sexualize the practice are the problem, not women. If Thiessen can’t keep his mind on Jesus while a woman is nursing her baby nearby, I suggest he immediately go to the nursery to protect his infantile self from lust.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
