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Tag: Derrick Thomas Thiessen

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: The Miracles Performed by Jesus are Still Happening Today

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The Biblical miracles that Jesus and his disciples did in the first century are repeated by true believers throughout history. Every century has had observable evidence proving the Bible true. The evolutionary experiments do not have that track record.

They are lucky to have 150+ years of experiments and they still have people who disagree with how the mechanisms of evolution operate. There is no such division with the observable evidence that has taken place in support of the Bible.

Every true Christian knows exactly how those miracles were done and they were witnessed by both unbelievers and believers. We are not talking about the fake faith healers. We are talking about the true miracle workers who do not make a show of it or use it to get rich.

They do it all the time and it is witnessed by whoever wants to see it. The Christian has observable evidence for the existence of God, Jesus, and creation. The question is will they believe it or not?

You see, it is not really about observable evidence but about the unbeliever hiding from the truth. There is more than enough observable evidence to show the Bible is true. It boils down to the fact that unbelievers do not want to humble themselves and be servants of God.

They like their lives as they are and do not want to change. That is the power of deception in their lives. Ex-Christians can whine and moan all they want about Christ not being real but they are just trying to convince themselves that they did not throw their lives away for nothing.

The Bible should be enough evidence for everyone as it fits the dictionary definition of the term ‘evidence’ it furnishes proof of creation, why we are here, and more. Then the true followers of Jesus furnish even more proof through their changed lives, their healing of others, and more.

— Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, TheologyArcheology, Observable Evidence, November 7, 2022

My Response to Dr. David Tee’s Latest Tantrum

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Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, continues to rage blog against me and my British friend, Ben Berwick. What follows is my response to several things Thiessen has written over the past couple of days. These excerpts are from the posts Empirical Evidence-2 and Church Survival. Give them a read if you dare, but you won’t be able to comment on Thiessen’s blog. He has eliminated commenting on his site. He has also taken down his contact page, thus further walling himself off from any accountability for his words.

Most of our material has nothing to do with MM, BG, and other unbelievers yet they feel free to do unprovoked attacks on us. We only use material God leads us to and wants us to write about, whether it includes us or not. When it is in the public square, people have the right to respond to the information or talk about its erroneous points.

Once again, Thiessen refuses to call us by our names. He recently decided to also stop linking back to our sites when he quotes us. He is, in effect, stealing our content, not giving proper attribution. (Please contact me Derrick if you would like me to teach you the proper use of names and source attribution in your writing.)

If you peruse Thiessen’s blog you will find that MOST of his content references BG or MM. Thiessen rarely writes original content. He writes that which could charitably be called response posts. If you look at my posts over the past year that mention Thiessen, you will see that almost all of them are responses to something he has written about me. If Thiessen wants me to stop responding to him then all he needs to do is stop mentioning me on his blog. He won’t do this, of course. Without me and Ben, Thiessen would have nothing to write about.

Thiessen is certainly free to respond to my writing in any way he chooses. I have resigned myself to the fact that Thiessen will do what he does, even if the voice in his head tells him to stop. For some unknown reason, he is obsessed with me, much like a stalker or a scorned lover. I offered to send Thiessen a picture of me nude. He refused, of course, to provide me with his mail address so I could do so. I thought that maybe seeing me naked would calm his passions a bit. 🙂

Oh, and we are not linking to his response as he will just trash this answer and its content. All quotes came from MM’s website and were not edited by us. We just quoted them in pieces to facilitate a response to each point.

MM could not wait to pen his reply last night to part two of our Empirical Evidence post. As usual, it was filled with denial and the usual making science the authority over od [sic], etc. it was a waste of time to read so we did not read it nor are we answering it directly.

But one thing that has bothered us is that both MM and BG make everything we write personal to them. They continue to use our wrong name as if to get a rise out of us. But their disrespect undermines their points of view.

I will leave it to Ben to defend himself, if he chooses to do so.

Yes, Derrick, when you mention us by name; when you attack our character; when you lie about us; when you distort our beliefs, we are going to take it personally.

I use Thiessen’s legal name because, well, that’s his real name. David Thiessen, John Ford, David Tee are all fake names used by Thiessen to escape accountability to family and law enforcement. That’s why he lives in the Philippines, safe from U.S. legal service. Using his legal name makes it easier for people, including a child he abandoned, to find him.

As far as Dr. David Tee is concerned, Dr. Tee is a nickname given to Thiessen when he was in Bible college. Thiessen has provided no evidence for his claim that he has an earned doctorate. He could easily settle this issue by providing the name of the school where he EARNED his degree. As it now stands now, only God has seen Thiessen’s degree, and he ain’t talking.

If they had stopped to think about it, our use of initials was not personal. MM stands for Meerkat Musings which indicates that we are not addressing the person writing the content. Instead, we are addressing the content only and have left all personal aspects out of our own content.

The same for BG. His website is titled ‘The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser’ So our use of initials again only refer to the website content, not the man behind it. But they do not think about these details in their haste to try and do everything they accuse us of doing to them.

But expecting rational and polite behavior from unbelievers is an unrealistic hope. As we read their content and responses, they are the ones making it personal, not us. But we will try to ignore their badly written responses and focus on the content we can use here.

Bullshit. One hundred percent grade-A bovine shit. This blog is all about me. It is a first-person account of my journey from Evangelical to atheism. Thiessen knows this, and readers will quickly see through his justifications and nonsense.

Unbelievers have nothing to offer the believer except destruction. The believer needs to be warned about them and their views.

Thiessen is free to warn unbelievers about Ben Berwick and Bruce Gerencser and their “evil” views. Please note that Thiessen previously said his writing wasn’t “personal,” yet he says he is obligated to warn the believing world about us. That seems pretty personal to me.

Only a handful of Christians read Thiessen’s blog. Most of his site’s traffic is from this blog and Meerkat Musing. So to Derrick’s fans (Victor Justice and Revival Fires, to name two) I say: consider yourself warned. Bruce Gerencser and Ben Berwick are the False Prophet and the Beast:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20)

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Dr. David Tee Says Atheists Can NEVER Be Reasoned With!

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Derrick Thiessen is the tall man in the green shirt

Recently, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, decided to take yet another swipe at me and Ben Berwick. Here’s what Thiessen had to say about me and my family and my response. All spelling and grammar are in the original.

#2. Atheists can never be reasoned with

While atheists claim to be the champions of reason, rational thought, and logical thinking. However, when you go to their websites you will find them to be the exact opposite especially when Christianity or people they do not like are discussed.

There is no point in trying to reason with atheists as they will ‘interpret’ everything you say and twist it to fit the way they want the content to sound. We get a lot of this at BG’s website as he ‘responds’ to our articles here with a lot of false accusations and comments designed to make him feel like a victim.

Once again, Thiessen lazily refuses to call me by my name. This is his way of showing disrespect. I have come to expect this from him, as has Ben.

Several years ago, I mentioned Thiessen two or three times for my Christians Say the Darnedest Things series. Since then, my posts about him have ALWAYS been responses to articles he has written about me. Thiessen writes very little original content. Instead, he takes the content of others — especially Ben and me — and “responds” to what they wrote. I say “respond,” but what he really does is call names and attack their character. I have no problem with anyone responding to my writing. I am not above critique or criticism. This is not, however, what Thiessen does.

He is not a victim of anything. He just wants the attention. He is unreasonable as he chastises us for making a spelling error and then draws a conclusion that we know nothing about Gandhi. He is wrong of course, but he doesn’t care. As long as he unreasonably puts us or our website in a bad light, he is happy.

Thiessen, of course, like many Fundamentalists, has no sense of snark or humor. That was the point of my mention of his misspelling of Gandhi. I still don’t think he knows much about the man. He wasn’t, after all, an Evangelical missionary.

According to Thiessen, I am not a victim; I want attention; I am unreasonable. Again, he attacks my character, instead of actually writing about my writing. Thiessen wrongly thinks that my goal is to put him and his website in a bad light. His blog is read by ten or so people a day. Why would I bother with a boutique blog like his? As far as putting Thiessen himself in a bad light, he does that all by himself. All one has to do is read his words to see the measure of the man. And once I publish my post “Who is Dr. David Tee?” then everyone will know who Derrick Thiessen really is.

Long before Thiessen started attacking me, he frequented other atheist and Evangelical blogs. In every instance, he wore out his welcome and was banned. When this happens over and over and over again, dude, YOU are the problem.

His treatment of Christian content is very unreasonable:

If Jesus is calling, his flip phone must not be working. I have not received one call from the Big Kahuna. Thiessen says he is a Christian. Fine. What in his behavior commends Jesus to unbelievers? I see nothing in the life of Thiessen that is remotely attractive. He is a hateful man, a liar. He repeatedly attacks people he disagrees with. If he is a Christian, why would I want to be one?

He draws this unreasonable conclusion based on what we have written. We have not lied, or been hateful but because his mind is so twisted with sin and deception, he only sees what he wants to see. That is not being honest or reasonable.

I will leave it to others to determine whether I am being honest and reasonable. I am confident that I have accurately represented Thiessen in my writing.

His conclusions come from the fact that we do not agree with him or his acceptance of sinners and sinful behavior. Our articles have constantly pointed out that paradise would not be paradise if unrepentant sinners were allowed in.

Yet he ignores that fact and calls us hateful because we won’t contaminant paradise. The last line is unreasonable as well as dishonest as we have explained time and again, we analyze content and do not attack anyone.

I call Thiessen hateful because, well, he IS hateful. He will reveal this predilection of his again in a minute. If Thiessen doesn’t like being called “hateful,” then I suggest he change his behavior. Unfortunately, Thiessen’s religion taught him that hate is a virtue. That’s what Fundamentalists do.

But the atheist always twists everything into an attack and cannot discuss anything rationally nor will they accept any viewpoint other than their own. As one of the people on his website commented, BG has no story to tell anyone.

Yet he has to say it in every article he writes. Why do we bring this up, because he won’t listen to reason.

I will ALWAYS listen to sound reason. I will not listen, however, to Fundamentalist blowhards like Thiessen who cannot and will not see any other view but their own. Thiessen is certain he is right and everyone else is wrong — especially atheists and other unbelievers.

He keeps repeating it to reinforce in his mind that everyone else is wrong and did him wrong. Yet, he takes no responsibility for ruining his wife’s faith.

No wonder her relatives did not like him. He ruined their daughter, granddaughter, cousin, niece and on it goes. But he won’t accept the truth and apologize to them. He just writes more negative stories about them without giving them a chance to say their side of the story. He is not the only atheist who does this.

All I know to do is tell my story. I try to be open and honest. My family can either accept, reject, or ignore what I write. Outside of Polly, I rarely mention family members by name. They are not public figures, so I protect their privacy. They are, however, part of my story. Just tonight I tried to explain this to an extended family member who belongs to an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church. This person dumped twenty years of stored-up hostility and anger on my head. Boy, was it ugly. Of course, this person freely chooses to read my blog. Don’t like what I write? Don’t read it. It is unfair to expect me to not tell my story. I am a writer. I have a story to tell. I get it, Polly’s IFB family doesn’t like the fact that I write about the IFB church movement and the harm it has caused over the years not only to me personally, but to Polly and our family. They could respond to me. Start a blog called “The TRUTH About Atheist Bruce Gerencser.” Call me to account. Or, better yet, talk to me directly. I will gladly explain anything I have written on this site. Yet, here Polly and I are, fifteen years removed from Christianity, and not one Christian family member has had a meaningful discussion with us about why we deconverted. I repeat, not one.

Polly and our children and our grandchildren are free to make their own choices in life. I don’t control their lives. Thiessen demeans Polly (and our children) by suggesting that I had some sort of power or control over them. This is his patriarchal Fundamentalism talking. Polly is free to be whatever she wants to be, as are our children. Regardless, I am going to love them as they are. I do the same for our extended IFB family, but as was made clear to me tonight, love is not a two-way street. Our atheism, for them, is a bridge too far.

We feel sorry for BG as he threw everything away and then blames everyone else for his decision.

Do you know what pisses Thiessen off? I don’t need his God; his Jesus; his Bible; or his religion. He cannot wrap his mind around someone not being like him.

Doesn’t bother us in the least except to bring up feelings of sadness that BG had it all and then left it all for nothing. The above quote is obviously a lie as we have never said that and it is something that BG has made up on his own. Even after telling him the opposite.

We have accepted his claim that he was a true Christian and then walked away but that doesn’t help us feel any better. Atheists are unreasonable as they cannot be honest about what Christians say and feel. Or even what they believe.

I didn’t throw anything away except pain and harm. My life post-Jesus is better in every respect, and I suspect Polly would say the same. Thiessen, of course, cannot wrap his mind around how this is possible. This is a problem most Evangelicals have with my story. Will Robinson. This Does Not Compute!

Saved by Reason,

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Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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My Answers to Dr. David Tee’s “Questions”

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In January 2021, my friend Ben Berwick wrote:

Returning for a moment to something put forward on Blogging Theology, we have this sweeping notion that atheists believe murder can be ok, due to subjective morality. I’m not aware of anyone who has suggested murder is ok, but I am aware of several Biblical passages where victimless crimes are punished by death. There are quotes in both the Bible and Quran that speak of the destruction of entire civilisations for not believing in God. We are led to believe such wholesale slaughter is justified and morally right, yet when asked if they would carry out such acts if commanded to, the devout often refuse to answer. I wonder if any of my usual sparring partners will explain how the numerous violent acts of God in holy texts can be considered beyond redoubt, but not believing in God can automatically qualify someone has a supporter of murder?

Twenty-two months later, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, responded to Ben’s post in an article titled If God Asked You to Kill Me:

Would you do it? That is the question MM asked us some time back. He was not thrilled with our answer as he was looking for a strict yes or no response. Our answer was that God would not ask us to kill him.

The reasoning is simple, God is not in the murder business. Anyone in the NT era who says they were told by God to kill someone, was not hearing the voice of God. In the OT when he told the Israelites to kill certain people groups, it was not a request but a command.

God has his perfect reasons for issuing those commands. One of them was that the people were so far gone that they probably could not be redeemed. We see that situation in the pre-flood world as all they thought of was evil.

We are getting to that attitude in today’s world. Many people only think of doing evil and they are not in a position where they will be open to redemption. But even in this new situation, God will not ask his followers to kill unrepentant sinners.

He still wants all men to be saved and he will exhaust all avenues to achieve that goal. When they are exhausted, he will not ask his followers to kill anyone. he will end this world as we know it and bring the final judgment upon everyone.

God does not need us to kill anyone. The time when unrepentant sinners are sent to hell is coming close. also, God is not going to tell his followers to do any sin. He will not ask or command anyone to murder someone else.

….

When the question was posed to us by MM, it was merely an attempt to create a strawman argument against God and sinners and to provide him with justification for his refusal to accept Christ as his Savior.

There was no legitimate reason to ask that question since it is the Muslim who claims their god commands or asks them to kill those non-Muslims he does not like. Christians are not commanded to kill and the Crusades were not of God but of man’s desires fueled by evil influences.

Note that Thiessen didn’t answer Ben’s question: if God told you to kill me (as God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac) would you do it? Having read Thiessen’s writing for years, I can tell you that if he believed God was telling him to do something, he would do it. I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t murder Ben — as God’s hand of judgment — if he were certain his peculiar God was telling him to do it. This is a man, after all, who testified under oath that he hears voices.

Ben has written several posts on his interaction with Thiessen and another apologist: Disturbing Silence and If God Asked . . . . Thiessen quickly responded with a post titled Here is the Question, revealing he does not pray or contemplate before responding to his critics. In his rambling, at times, incoherent, post, Thiessen asks two questions. While he primarily directed these questions to Ben, he also directed them to me (unbelievers). What follows are my responses to his questions.

#1. Is MM so bad that God needs to send someone to kill him?

As far as we can tell, MM has not gone over the edge or past the point of no return so why would he be concerned that God would send someone to kill him? This fascination with the topic has us wondering what MM is doing in his private life.

I have no doubt that if I suddenly died, Thiessen would claim that my death was his peculiar God’s judgment on my life. I am certain he would think the same if Ben suddenly died.

Thiessen subtly wonders out loud if Ben is doing something in secret that would warrant God sending someone to kill him. Thus, he believes that there may be times when God will send someone to kill unbelievers; and if he is honest, he will admit that if he is the one chosen by God to do the killing, he will gladly do so.

But in the NT age who would be bad enough for God to send someone to kill him? After all, God has let Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and other evil people live long enough to do their dirty deeds,

We do not think that MM is a serial killer on the level of the Green River Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, and or John Wayne Gacy nor is he a criminal like Whitey Bulger or members of the Mob in any era, so why is he so worried about God sending someone to kill him?

God is very patient and wants MM to be saved just like he wants everyone else to be saved. 

Ben, of course, is not worried about God sending someone to kill him. He may, however, be worried that someone thinking God is whispering in his ear might cause him harm. I too have similar concerns. Religious fanaticism — and make no mistake about it, Thiessen is a fanatic — can and does lead people to do all sorts of bad things.

This leads us to God’s next question: #2. Since MM thinks he is so bad and he knows the gospel message, why hasn’t he done something about his sinful spiritual condition?

I don’t think Ben has ever said he is “bad.” The best I can tell, Ben is a decent bloke. I wished he lived closer. I’m sure we would hit it off and down a few beers on Fridays at the local pub.

Yes, Ben knows the “gospel.” So what? Ben has read and understands the gospel, but he rejects its claims, as do I. Ben hasn’t done anything about his “sinful spiritual condition” because he isn’t a sinner in the Evangelical sense of the word. Thiessen wrongly thinks that if he believes something to be true, everyone should believe the same thing. As a Fundamentalist, he has a narrow worldview; one that has no place for any other viewpoint but his own.

We know he and others have heard the gospel so he knows there is a way out of his sinful situation why has he not acted on it properly and asked Jesus to redeem him? One reason he hasn’t is that he is too focused on us and other believers and will use us and other believers as his excuse for not accepting Christ.

Both Ben and I are unbelievers (agnostic and atheist, respectfully). We don’t believe because we have found the central claims of Christianity to be false, or lacking evidence for their justification. Personally, I reject the notion of “sin,” thus there is no “sinful situation” for me to get out of. I haven’t asked Jesus to forgive me because I reject the Christian concepts of redemption and forgiveness. When I cause harm to someone, I ask for their forgiveness. God doesn’t exist, so I have no need of his “forgiveness.” Again, Thiessen wants to force everyone to conform to his peculiar theology, and when they don’t conform, he attacks them personally, impugning their character.

Is he trying to be like Ghandi refusing salvation because the Christians he sees do not act the way he wants them to? But he should realize that Jesus is not calling him or any other unbeliever to follow other Christians.

Ignore anyone who can’t spell Gandhi’s name correctly. It is evident that Thiessen knows very little about Gandhi’s life; his religious, political, and social beliefs and motivations.

Jesus is calling MM and other unbelievers to FOLLOW HIM. Then if MM is so upset at other believers, why does he not protect himself, change his eternal destination, accept Christ as his personal savior then follow Jesus correctly showing every other believer how it is done?

If Jesus is calling, his flip phone must not be working. I have not received one call from the Big Kahuna. Thiessen says he is a Christian. Fine. What in his behavior commends Jesus to unbelievers? I see nothing in the life of Derrick Thiessen that is remotely attractive. He is a hateful man, a liar. He repeatedly attacks people he disagrees with. If he is a Christian, why would I want to be one? No thanks. I have pointed this out to Thiessen numerous times, complete with Bible verses. He ignores me, saying that unbelievers have nothing of value to say to him. But, what about what God said? — crickets —

This is the way it is with unbelievers. They do not understand the faith or how it is lived, yet feel they can critique the lives of those who believe as well as criticize the faith etc., yet do nothing to change their lives.

I can’t speak for Ben, but I most certainly do understand “the faith” and “how it is lived,” and Thiessen knows this. I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years. I was born again at age 15. I pastored churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan for twenty-five years. I know “the faith” and “how it is lived” inside and out. Thiessen has no evidence to the contrary. I am more than qualified educationally and experientially to critique Christianity, including critiquing the lives of those who claim to follow Christ. “By their fruits, ye shall know them,” the Bible says. Unlike Thiessen, I don’t hide in a foreign country under an assumed name, leaving behind a track record of immoral and criminal behavior. My life is an open book. If someone has a question, all he or she has to do is ask.

My life is fine just the way it is. Do you know what pisses Thiessen off? I don’t need his God; his Jesus; his Bible; or his religion. He cannot wrap his mind around someone not being like him.

MM and unbelievers are not in a position to criticize Christians as they refuse to live life following Christ. Their lives are not better than the Christians and they have nothing to offer anyone so they really cannot complain about God, his plan of salvation, or how Christians live their lives.

Well, we can do whatever we want. FREEDOM!

Thiessen is the one who has nothing to offer to anyone. Just the other day he said he was thinking about shuttering his blog. Why? Nobody reads it except God (and God never comments). If visitor, pageview, comments, and email numbers mean anything. a lot of people think I have something to offer. In 2022, this site will once again pass one million page views. My presence on social media is growing and I continue to receive speaking engagement requests. Even to Thiessen, I have something to offer: blog fodder. He would have nothing to write about without me or Ben.

Especially when they do not recognize the adversary that hinders the Christian’s spiritual growth. With that refusal, they are criticizing Christians based on 1/4 to 1/2 of the story. That is not right nor is it fair.

So we challenge MM and other unbelievers to honestly answer those questions. We do not expect MM to be honest as he never is and will find some way to deflect the true content and distort it into something he can criticize.

Consider Thiessen’s two questions answered. 🙂

Saved by Reason,

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Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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.

Dr. David Tee Says It is Wrong for Me to Write the Black Collar Crime Series

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Derrick Thiessen, back row, tall man in the green shirt

It has been a while since I’ve responded to something written by Dr. David Tee — whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen continues to rage-blog about me and Ben Berwick (Meerkat Musings). For the most part, I have ignored Thiessen’s bloviating, but his latest post about me deserves a response.

I am still working on a post titled “Who is Dr. David Tee”? One thing I know for sure is this: Thiessen is a staunch defender of Christian rapists, child molesters, predators, and abusers. This fact is shown once again in his latest post about me.

Here’s what Thiessen had to say (all spelling and grammar in the original):

BG has a series called Black Collar Crime.

BG is short for Bruce Gerencser. Thiessen is too lazy to type out my name, so he uses BG instead. He does the same with Meerkat Musings (Ben Berwick).

He is soooo brave ‘outing people’ who have already been arrested and saying how bad they were. it doesn’t take much to read a newspaper or two to get these stories. These men have already been outed so there is no need for him to write this series.

Actually, the Black Collar Crime series takes a significant amount of time for me to write. For each story, I typically read several news sources, check out the alleged offender’s social media accounts, and read the offender’s church website. I also view and listen to their videos and podcasts. I always want to make sure I accurately report these stories. Sometimes, thanks to churches quickly wiping all mention of offenders from their websites, I have to use the Wayback Machine to find older iterations of church websites. All of this takes time.

I do not, at any time, say how “bad” offenders are. I use headlines that are factual, not sensational. These headlines are typically built from the news stories themselves.

I have explained to Thiessen numerous times why I publish the Black Collar Crime Series. Sometimes, you have to tell toddlers things numerous times before they “get it,” so I will try one time to ‘splain to Thiessen why I write this series.

I use Google Alerts to notify me when there are new stories about clergy criminal misconduct — especially sex crimes. I receive several hundred alerts a day. I sift through these alerts to find stories best suited for the Black Collar Crime Series. So far, I have published over 1,000 articles, with hundreds more waiting to be reviewed and posted to this site. Many of these stories come from one or two news sources. All too often, these reports quickly disappear or are placed behind paywalls. By publishing them on this site, I am providing a public record of these clerics and their crimes.

Plus, he is not helping law enforcement as the people he records have already been arrested. All he is doing is showing that he can jump on the beat-down bandwagon instead of showing the pastor love, forgiveness, mercy, and so on.

Preachers claim to speak for God. They claim to believe and practice the Bible. Many of them preach one thing and do another. Preachers are viewed as moral authorities, so when they don’t practice what they preach, their hypocrisy needs to be pointed out.

Evangelical churches are known for hiding and covering up criminal behavior (especially sex crimes) by clergymen, deacons, evangelists, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, bus workers, and other church/ministry leaders. Just as it is important to expose offending preachers, it is also important to expose offending churches.

There’s no bandwagon for me to jump on. Only a handful of people and groups are writing about clergy criminal behavior. It’s not easy to daily wade through the Evangelical sewer, but doing so is important. We must not let preachers and churches continue to criminally harm people without being called to account. The best way to do this — for me, anyway — is to write the Black Collar Crime Series.

Thiessen seems to think I should feel sorry for the offenders: the rapists, child molesters, sexual predators, and abusers; that I should show them love, mercy, and forgiveness (and so on, whatever the hell that is). He’s joking, right? Forgiveness is up to the victim, not me. Mercy is up to the courts, not me. And love? That’s up to their families, not me. My responsibility is to write this series and shine light on their wicked behavior.

But enough about that series, we have noticed that he only publicly attack those who said they are Christian. That is kind of biased and very dishonest. We challenge him to do a black-collar crime series on atheists.

Yes, it is the Black COLLAR Crime series, a riff on the white collar many clergymen wear. This blog is primarily about Evangelicalism, not atheism. The Black Collar Crime Series, Red Collar Crime Series, and other series fulfill that mission.

We know there are plenty of atheists who make the police blotters and have been arrested for numerous crimes. Let’s see him be honest for a change and do both sides of the street instead of hating on only those he was once a part of.

There is a connection between religion and the crimes committed by preachers. I will gladly write articles about crimes committed by atheists in the name of atheism, so I am calling Thiessen’s bluff. Please send me any news stories of crimes committed by atheists; crimes where atheism played a part. Remember, offending preachers often use religion, theology, and the church to prey on people. Can this happen with atheists? Sure, but I currently don’t know of any stories about predator atheists.

I am sure readers of Thiessen’s words will see that he continues to besmirch my character. I expect this of him. He claims I am dishonest, a liar, yet he provides no evidence for his claims. I get it. Theissen doesn’t like the Black Collar Crime Series. I suspect the series gets too close to home for him, so, unable to refute the message, he rails against the messenger.

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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Why Victor Justice, Derrick Thiessen, Daniel Kluver, and Revival Fires Don’t Really Believe and Practice the Bible

bible

God says (according to Evangelicals):

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 17:16-20)

But the fruit of the Spirit is [present tense] love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)

Based on these Scriptures and others I can easily provide, Victor Justice, Revival Fires, Derrick Thiessen (also known as Dr. David Tee), and Daniel Kluver don’t really believe and practice the Bible. In fact, it can be argued that they are not Christians, at all.

Remember, God said it, I didn’t. 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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 Finds My Writing “Disturbing”

disturbing

Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, didn’t write about me yesterday — a blessing for which I give all praise, honor, and glory to my god, Loki — but he’s back with a vengeance today, writing two posts about me.

Theissen, who has been devouring my writing for the past two years, said today that I wrote something that he finds “disturbing.” What disturbed him, you ask? A Black Collar Crime story? Surely, you jest. Tee is a well-known defender of rapists, child molesters, and sexual predators. In fact, he has told me that I should stop writing this series; that the actions of these criminal preachers are none of my business. (In Tee’s mind, nothing is my business. I’m an atheist. I have nothing to offer to the human race.) What he found disturbing was this:

I get a lot of emails from Evangelical Christians who are struggling with their faith. Pastors, evangelists, missionaries, college professors, and devout church members will contact me about their existential struggles. Some of them have questions, others just want someone to listen to them.

According to Tee:

One reason this [his] blog exists is to help Christian pastors, missionaries, and church leaders. Unfortunately, they are not stopping by and talking to us. So we can only guess and follow God’s leading as to our content.

We can only trust God that the right people read what is written here and either it helps them or they use it to help someone in ministry who is struggling in their faith. We do not mind this method as it keeps us from being prideful,  arrogant, and other negative characteristics. God gets the glory as he uses it freely according to his will.

Tee says no one is stopping by and talking to him. Instead of wondering why that is, he appeals to providence. He’s just doing God’s work, and he’s leaving the results to him. Sure. Perhaps Tee needs to think really hard about his content. Imagine complete stranger stumbling upon Tee’s blog. What would be their first impression? If they looked at Tee’s 2022 writing, what would they find? Dozens and dozens of posts about BG and MM. They wouldn’t know who these people are. Tee is too lazy to write out their names. He also refuses to link to their sites. They would likely conclude that Tee has a burr in his saddle over BG (Bruce Gerencser) and MM (Meerkat Musings/Ben Berwick). Thousands and thousands of words written attacking not only their beliefs, but their persons. Would they conclude that the triune God of Christianity, the Great I Am, the Way, Truth, and the Life, approve of Tee’s verbiage? Or would they conclude that Tee is just another rabid Fundamentalist crank with an ax to grind; a man who will not rest until BG and MM are burned at the stake?

Notice what Tee says next:

Yes, we talk about different content from BG’s and MM’s websites but those posts are efforts to help pastors, etc. remain on the straight and narrow. We do not lie, distort, or attack those people for whom we take examples from. Our purpose is to help those struggling remain in Christianity and not be destroyed by evil through people like BG & MM.

Am I the only one who thinks Tee is trying to appropriate the purpose statement of this blog? Damn, Derrick, how about a bit of originality on your part? To quote the line from the Waterboy, “you can do it!”

In my aforementioned post, I wrote:

My goal as a writer has always been the same: to help people who have doubts and questions about Christianity and to help people who have left Christianity altogether. My objective has never been evangelization. While scores of people have deconverted after interacting with me, that’s never been my goal. I genuinely want to help people.

That has been my purpose and goal for fifteen years. I remain one man with a story to tell. If by telling my story I can help others, fine. I am eternally 🙂 grateful that scores of people have found my writing helpful. What writer doesn’t want to have his work well received? But, make no mistake about it, if no one read this blog, I would still tell my story. I personally benefit from telling my story. That thousands of people read it is affirming (and more expensive) and encouraging. When I wake up every afternoon, one of the first things I do is read the comments that came through overnight. Thoughtful words from people I have come to love and respect — with a bit of bullshit and Christian hate mixed in.

Tee asserts, without evidence, that I have nefarious motivations:

Herein lies the problem. It sounds attractive yet this is just pure deception at work. The type of ‘help’ BG is referring to is to help believers lose their faith and reject God. He is not helping them keep their faith and remain with God so BG and people like him are helping evil destroy God’s people.

We need to stop that from happening and get to those struggling believers before they make a fatal eternal mistake.

….

No Christian should listen to BG or those men. They are as deceived as any unbeliever. We have read Erhman, Dawkins, Hitchins, Harris, and Loftus and there is not one word of truth in their content.

If BG wanted to help these people, he would lead them to Christian authors who do have the truth and who do understand what those struggling Christian men and women are going through. All BG is doing is planting seeds of destruction and watering them so that evil can finally destroy those people.

Tee thinks I am “destroying” Christian people. I ask you, how can a lowly Evangelical-turned-atheist man destroy people who have the Holy Spirit living inside of them? Is Tee saying that I am more powerful than God? All I do is write. People are free to read or not read. People are free to contact me or not contact me. You will search in vain for one person who will testify that I tried to evangelize them or shove atheism down their throats. That’s just not how I do things. Five decades in the Evangelical church showed me how wrong and harmful it is to push your beliefs on others. As an Evangelical pastor, I believed that life was all about its destination (Heaven or Hell). Today, I believe that life is all about the journey. I’m content to kindly interact with people, helping in any way I can. How they respond to my help is up to them. I have had Evangelicals contact me with questions I patiently answered. They go their way, never to be heard from again. That is, until 5-7 years later when they write to tell what’s new in their lives. I often hear that my honest interaction with them planted seeds that later spouted. Is it my fault that through reason, skepticism, and common sense, these people concluded that what they had been taught as Christians was a lie?

People come to me because they have found the standard answers from preachers wanting. When Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, CS Lewis, Ray Comfort, Frank Turek, Kent Hovind, Ken Ham, and Josh McDowell are the best you got, what do you expect? (And that’s not saying the sophisticated theologians are much better.) Until apologists can provide compelling arguments for the problems of evil and suffering or the hiddenness of God, I suspect more and more Christians will exit stage left. Until apologists can provide compelling arguments for the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible — good luck with that — more and more Christians are going to conclude that what their preachers have been saying about the Bible and its teaching are lies.

The Internet has pulled back the curtain and exposed the lies behind Christianity. Tee longs for the day when sheep sat in church and hung on their shepherd’s every word. Preachers were viewed as infallible authority figures who would never, ever lead them astray. Now, thanks to the one and true God — Google — Christians know better. All I am is just one small point of light for those who stop by to read my writing. I suspect the fact that lots of Evangelicals find my writing resonates with them terrifies Tee. OMG, Satan is winning! No, reason and rationality are.

According to Tee, I am “evil.” That’s pretty rich coming from a guy with such a sordid past. Regardless, it is clear, at least to me, that “evil” is winning. I am quite happy that I am on team “evil.” 🙂 When I look at Tee’s past behavior and how he presently lives his Christian life, I find myself asking, “why would I ever want to be like him?” The single greatest reason people are walking (and running) away from Christianity is the behavior of God’s elect. Mahatma Gandhi famously said:

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Bad Christian behavior remains an indictment of Christianity. Rare is a Christian who evidences the fruit of the Spirit in his life — without which a person is not saved, according to the Bible — and practices the teachings of Christ. If faith in Jesus doesn’t transform people, why should the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world care one whit or shit about Christianity? If David Tee is the best Christianity has to offer, no thanks! People such as he continue to lead people away from faith. And all the atheists, agnostics, and progressive Christians said AMEN!

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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Derrick Thomas Thiessen Outraged Over Allegations I Have Made Against Him

dr david tee

Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is outraged over allegations made about him by a (somewhat) anonymous person who has knowledge about Thiessen’s past. Thiessen fled the United States years ago, and reinvented himself as a preacher, teacher, and professional shit-thrower. He first moved to South Korea and currently resides with his wife in the Phillipines.

Today, Thiessen took to his blog to say that both the anonymous person and I are liars. Worse, he claims I “hate” him:

That is the only explanation we can come up with to explain why BG says so many outrageous things about us in his different articles. Why else would he be saying those things? It is obvious that he hates us for exposing his false thinking and using his blog as a teaching source.

Thiessen operates a blog that virtually no one reads. That doesn’t mean that he might not have things to say to a particular demographic worth reading. I’m sure he does. However, until Thiessen shares his traffic numbers, I will stand by my claim that no one reads his blog except God — and he never comments. I suspect that a lot of his traffic actually consists of the readers of this blog. Unlike what Thiessen does with me, I mention him by his full name (fake and real) and link to his site. This, of course, gives his site credibility with search engines. I know some of you have gone to his site and read his writing. You even tried to leave comments which Thiessen promptly deleted.

If you do a search for “Bruce Gerencser” on Google, you won’t find one link to TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God. This tells me that Thiessen either has indexing turned off for his site or his low traffic numbers tell Google that his site is not authoritative. Maybe God can help him with his SEO (search engine optimization), or I can, for a fee, help him with it. I’d go with the latter since God doesn’t seem all that interested in TheologyArcheology. Thus, when Thiessen says I “hate” him because he exposes my false thinking, I wonder to whom, exactly, he is “exposing” me? It seems to me that Thiessen is an exhibitionist standing on the berm of a country road late at night, exposing himself to three of the cars that drive by during the night. 🙂 The rest of the cars speeding down the interstate never see him in all his glory.

I have no problem with people responding to my writing, even if they, as Thiessen does, lie about me or grossly distort my words. That’s the nature of the Internet. People can say what they want about me, and if warranted, I will respond. Thiessen is free to use my writing as a teaching source, however, I wish he would do so ethically by using proper attribution and linking to the appropriate post. Why he chooses not to is beyond me.

Thiessen goes on to say:

When we were sent some derogatory information about him by one of the people he has permanently banned, we went to BG privately and let him know what was going on. BG does not return the favor as he has published comments made about us that were far from the truth.

He has done no such thing. The person in question was actually me posting derogatory information about “Bruce Gerencser” in his comment section. He jumped on that like a fly on a pile of shit on a sweltering hot summer day. While he did email me about the accusation of “Bruce Gerencser” having a sexual relationship with a man in one of the churches he pastored, I eventually told him I was pulling his leg. That hasn’t stopped Thiessen from combing the Internet looking for dirt on me. He won’t find any, but it’s amusing watching him try. My life is pretty much an open book. Can Thiessen say the same?

In a previous post, Evangelical Trolls, Stalkers, and Zealots, I wrote:

Thiessen fled the United States years ago, escaping a warrant for his arrest. Thiessen left behind a trail of heartache, abandonment, fraud, and violence. His past reveals a sordid life, all while he was an Evangelical Christian. He reinvented himself, first in South Korea, and now in the Philippines. Remarried, Thiessen passes himself off as a Bible teacher and an author.

Thiessen objects, saying:

We talked to the person who was spreading those false pieces of information and did it privately. We also told him that we are expecting a public apology for his false words and actions. So far, that person has not done so.

We know the truth and we are not going to get involved in a he said she said discussion. Suffice it to say the above information is mostly lies and distorted reality. But we cannot expect anything better from either BG or MM.

The person who spread what Thiessen is calling “false pieces of information” had this to say:

In a recent e-mail exchange with Derrick (I have no information that this is not his legal name, so will continue to use it) I informed him that I had been asked to obtain medical-history information from him for benefit of his child. (To clarify this point, I have no direct connection to his child; oversimplifying a bit, they are friends of friends of friends.) In exchange, I told him I would cease and desist further public comment about him.

To his credit, he did respond to that request.

He also demanded that I publicly apologize for comments I have made that are “rife with errors” but informed me that he would no longer speak to me privately and would block my e-mail.

To reiterate, I am posting publicly at his insistence, so I am not reneging on the terms of my offer to him that I would, in effect, “shut up and go away.” I’m here right now because he asked me to be.

In either event, he did not, and still has not, clarified exactly what among my public comments is “rife with errors.” Our private conversations did identify one or two disputed pieces of information relating to the aforementioned medical history. As Derrick does have a right to privacy on that point, and those items were never made available for public consumption, I will not elaborate further.

While I expect Derrick is monitoring this comment section for the retraction/apology he expects from me, I cannot apologize, publicly or otherwise, for providing incorrect information if I do not know what was incorrect, particularly since I have supporting evidence for everything I’ve said publicly, and therefore have no reason to believe it is incorrect.

Derrick, since you insist that I must address this publicly and you have blocked my e-mail address, there is no way to present this other than in a public forum, and I must therefore also insist that you respond in a public forum.

If you will specifically identify what information I have posted publicly about your marital history, work history, criminal history, etc., that is incorrect, and you provide the correct information for everyone’s benefit, I will retract the erroneous comments.

Neither this commenter (whom I have talked with privately) nor I are spreading false information. There is a sworn deposition at the heart of our allegations; one in which Thiessen extensively testified. These allegations are based on his actual words, not hearsay or an attempt to silence him. In fact, there’s a lot more to the Thiessen saga than has been made public. I seriously doubt Thiessen wants all of this evidence made public for all to see. While I cannot and will not speak for the aforementioned anonymous person, my take is that he wants personal health information from Thiessen for the sake of a child that Thiessen fathered and abandoned years ago. I suspect Thiessen honestly owning his past behavior would be appreciated too. Based on the limited information I have read, Thiessen has spent much of his life running from accountability for his behavior — both legally and personally.

Thiessen concludes his post by saying:

No matter how many times we have said it, we have not created a post attacking BG. We have always focused on his content, the same for MM, pointing out their errors so believers will not be duped by BG’s and MM’s non-truth.

But atheists and unbelievers lie as they construct their own moral code, one without God’s influence. We should expect more of these attacks as we disagree with almost everything he writes. BG is wrong as is atheist and that comes from God not us personally.

All of our posts on his content are based on the evidence that BG has written himself. Not one word was made up nor taken out of context. Yet, in almost every post he makes, he tries to smear our name and do harm to us.

We think he wants us to pay attention to him as he misses our company and the opportunity to distort our words. We do understand him quite well and feel sad that he gave up on Christ for lies and hatred.

Not all atheists are beyond the point of no return but BG is and maybe he is trying to take us down with him. It is sad behavior to see take place as he has wasted 25 years of work for Christ for nothing in return.

I will leave it to you the reader to judge the veracity of his words.

Thiessen has spent years attacking atheists and Christians he disagrees with. Ben Berwick and I are just his latest obsessions. Maybe, in time — hopefully soon — he will move on to other subjects of his affection. When I first started responding to his posts and comments, I did so because I felt it was important to defend myself. Early on, I searched in vain for information about “Dr. David Tee.” It was not until a few months ago that I learned his real name was Derrick Thomas Thiessen, not David Tee, David Thiessen, John Ford, or other fake names he has used. I hope by responding to him that I have built up a body of work that others when searching for “Dr. David Tee” will learn who and what this man really is. That said, I do not respond to every post Thiessen writes about me. He has written over twenty posts about me since July 1. Responding to every lie and attack on my character would distract me from real work: helping people who have doubts and questions about Christianity and people who have left Christianity altogether. Thiessen is just a distraction, a gnat buzzing around my head on a lazy late summer day. Annoying to me, sure, but outside of his delusions, his writing is of little significance. Readers of this blog see the man for who and what he is.

Derrick, I know you will read this post, so I will make you a one-time offer. I will gladly give you space on this site — a blog read by thousands of people — to refute the allegations made against you. Not a rant, not a sermon, not yet another attack on me, but an actual defense of your behavior while you lived in the United States. If I am “lying” about you, here’s your opportunity to set the record straight. If you are unwilling to do so, I will let your “silence” speak for itself. This offer expires on September 1, 2022.

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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Bruce Gerencser