Recently, I received the following email from Pastor Simiyu:
Praise the Lord, I am pastor Simiyu in Kenya and I thank God to meet you here, I love your ministry so much and I welcome you to reach in Kenya.
I have seven Churches here in Kenya and I ask to join your ministry to work under your ministry.
I sent him the following reply:
Dear Brother in the Lord,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. My team of prayer warriors and I prayed over your request today, and we came to one mind that God is directing us to come to Kenya and minister to the seven churches you mentioned in your email.
My ministry has been blessed materially by God. We will cover all of our travel expenses. All we ask is that you provide us with housing and one meal a day. If this is agreeable to you, please let me know what dates you have in mind.
Brother Simiyu, I believe God has great things in store for you and your churches. I hope I can play a small part in his blessing of your work.
All Praise to the Wonderful Name of Jesus,
Dr. Bruce Gerencser
Since I originally published this post, the good pastor and I have had a back-and-forth conversation. Enjoy! (All spelling and grammar in the original.)
Simiyu:
I love your ministry so much, and I will be working under your ministry, with oll of my seven Churches, I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
Yes I will try to get a House for you, though our houses is not good and beautiful, but God will help us.
Welcome in Kenya, God has given you KENYA.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, how are you going on there?
Here in Kenya, I will my Pastors and churches are praying for you.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, How are you going on there?
Simiyu:
Hello pastor, praise the Lord, how are you going on there?
You are so silent?
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro. Joshua,
Thank you for contacting me.
My team and I have been fasting and praying about our upcoming meetings. We have felt the sweet presence of the Holy Ghost, believing that God is going to do great things — souls saved, reclaimed backsliders, and healings — during our meetings with you.
We plan to fly to your country on my Lear Jet. God put it on the heart of a wealthy supporter to purchase this jet. We have flown all over the world to preach the gospel. May Jesus’ name be praised.
I talked to him about ministering to your churches. He seemed genuinely excited about our plans. He later called me and said he would like to send you $5,000 US to help with your expenses. Isn’t God good?
Please send me your mailing address or bank account/routing number so I can get the money to you. We could also use PayPal.
I also need the address of your church and where we will be staying so I can put together the flight plan (I am the pilot).
Do the April dates still work for you?
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
All praise be Jesus, our wonderful Lord and Savior.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord, yes God is good, I am happy to hear from you, welcome in Kenya, this year on April, yes April is good and we are ready to have you in our Churches.
The Hotels where you will be staying is at BUNGOMA Town, and at SIRISIA Town.
Thank you also for your help and support, that God has touched your heart to help.
HERE IS MY BANK ACCOUNT.
1,MY full names are,
JOSHUA SIMIYU WEKESA.
2, Name of my Bank is,
DIAMOND TRUST BANK.
3, My Account Number is,
02155860XXXXX.
4, Bank Swift code is,
DTKEKENA.
5, Address is, 107 BUNGOMA.
jwekesaXXXX@gmail.com
6, Our Currency is, KENYA SHILLINGS.
7, My City is, NAIROBI.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, How are you going on there?
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro. Joshua,
Greetings in the matchless name of Jesus.
What is the name of your church? Does the church have a website?
Thanks.
Simiyu:
The name of my Church is PENTECOSTAL.
My Church have no website.
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro Joshua,
Thank You!
One more thing you need to know before I come to your church. I am gay. My husband, Duane, travels with me everywhere I go. I just want to make sure you or your church won’t have a problem with this.
Blessings on you and yours.
Simiyu:
Yes, we have no problem with that, I welcome you, so much in my Churches, also I with my Churches will be working under your ministry, will be part of your ministry, I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
God Bless you and your family and Church.
Bruce Gerencser:
Dear Joshua,
A month ago, you, an operative from your “church,” or a bot came to my blog https://brucegerencser.net. You used my site’s comment form to send me the following email:
“Praise the Lord, I am pastor Simiyu in Kenya and I thank God to meet you here, I love your ministry so much and I welcome you to reach in Kenya.”
I have seven Churches here in Kenya and I ask to join your ministry to work under your ministry.”
Was your intent to try to scam me? How could you not know that I am an atheist; that I oppose Christianity, especially Evangelical Christianity? The evidence was there for you to see. You gave yourself away when you said you were okay with me being a married gay man. NO Evangelical would be okay with me being gay. (For the record, I am not gay. I have been married to the same woman for forty-five years.)
I suggest going forward that you try to scam your fellow Christians. Atheists are not likely to support” your ministry.
Be well.
Bruce Gerencser
Simiyu:
No, I was not trying to scam you, I told you the truth, that I was evangelical before, but it that message I was asking to join your ministry, because as you know your ministry have never reached in Kenya, so I was evangelical before.
But now I am asking to join your ministry, remember I said that I ask to join your ministry, so I am new in your ministry, and I want to join your ministry, so I was not to scam you, but I was now becoming the part of your ministry.
So I still ask, and welcome you to reach in Kenya, so that all my Churches will be working under your ministry, and I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
Bruce Gerencser:
I AM AN ATHEIST! There is no God.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Over the weekend, I received the following email from an Evangelical man named Nathan Tucker. My response is indented and italicized. Tucker read two posts, Another Evangelical Con Job, This Time by 7 Hills Church in Cincinnati, Ohio and Dear Evangelical before contacting me. According to the server logs, he also looked at the front page, which contains ten full-text posts. I do not know what posts he actually read. Tucker read none of my autobiographical material (please see the WHY? page), yet, as you shall see below, he felt qualified to deconstruct my life. Perhaps Tucker missed this verse in his Bible: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude (Proverbs 18:13).
Now to Tucker’s verbose email:
Every single human being has ulterior motives behind all human behaviors. It has been said, and I believe it is true that, the greatest and most basic drive on earth is the human belly. Everything mankind does in the material world, he does so that he can eat and drink, so that he can continue eating and drinking; so he can continue living. Jesus recognizes this in a passage I am sure you are quite familiar with. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus indicates that, “man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (The New King James Version, 1979). Jesus, Who was acutely aware of the need to eat after having not eaten in forty days, implicitly states man must have bread to live. That is, man must live on the material things of this world. Yet man cannot live on those material things alone—there must be more to this life than eating and drinking. God tells us that to truly understand what it means to live, one must be “born again” (John 3:3-8).
Tucker claims that “every single human being has ulterior motives behind all human behaviors,” yet provides no evidence for his claim. It is never wise to claim to know something about every human being. Of course, this is a common Evangelical behavior. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone needs to be saved. Everyone will go to Heaven or Hell after they die. The problem with this sort of linear, black-and-white thinking is that billions of people reject it. I am an atheist. I don’t believe in the existence of deities, including the countless Gods Christians worship. I don’t believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. I reject the central claims of Christianity; that Jesus was divine, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, resurrected from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. Simply put, these things don’t make sense to me. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.)
Tucker claims, without evidence, that there is more to life than eating and drinking; that what everyone needs is Jesus, the bread of life. What I want to know is this: is Jesus white bread, cracked wheat, rye, or whole grain? If Tucker has evidence for there being anything other than the material world we live in, I would love to see it. So far, all Tucker has done is quote Bible verses and make unsubstantiated claims. If someone claims that there is a spiritual dimension, then they are going to have to cough up evidence to support their claim. Countless Evangelicals have emailed me and left comments on this blog that emphatically said that God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is real. When pressed for evidence for their claims they typically do three things: quote Bible verses, give some sort of subjective, anecdotal testimony of having a saving/personal relationship with Jesus, or flee to safety of the house of faith. Neither of these things can, nor ever will, be sufficient evidence for their claims.
Bruce: I am a wizard! I have the power to do all sorts of supernatural things!
Tucker: No, you are not.
Bruce: Yes, I am!
Tucker: Prove it.
Bruce: I have read all the Harry Potter books. I watched all the movies too. I believe Harry is the one true Grand Wizard. When I embraced Harry as the Grand Wizard, he came into my heart, giving me power to do mighty works in his name. I know, I know, there’s no doubt about it, Harry lives in my heart.
Tucker: I don’t believe you. Until you provide evidence for your claims, I refuse to believe you are a miracle-working wizard.
Until the Tuckers of the world can provide empirical evidence for their claims, I have no reason to believe what they say.
The problem is simply this: many professing American Christians and pastors are not truly born again. Well, how can I say this? Isn’t this a terribly judgmental statement? It is a judgmental statement, but it is a statement based upon the perfect Law of Liberty—Christ says, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16, 20). Many times people hear this statement, and they immediately think of the fruits of the Spirit, and I guess that is acceptable. Yet, there is a more basic understanding regarding what it means to be born again, what it means to be a true Christian. Primarily, a true Christian is one who sincerely loves and fears the Triune God and is one who strives to keep God’s Law in thought, word, and deed (Isaiah 66:2; John 14:21; Matthew 22:36-40). Being a Christian means one loves God and loves his neighbor—love is the fulfillment of the Law of God (Romans 13:10).
I would have, as a pastor, agreed with everything Tucker wrote above. I loved and feared God. I strove to keep the law of God in thought, word, and deed. I kept the two great commandments: love God and love my neighbor. Tucker will search in vain for anyone who knew me who would say that I was not a committed Christian. So, I am not sure what point Tucker is trying to make.
Hypocrisy is real. Every single human being is a hypocrite; we only differ in degrees. I am a hypocrite. I know what is right and many times, I find myself doing what I know to be wrong, sometimes uncontrollably so. Many times, I feel like a failure as a Christian. Yet, I know that I am not alone because Paul had this same experience, and he describes it quite succinctly in Romans 7:13:25. Paul is describing the spiritual warfare that goes on within the heart of one who is born again. This warfare or struggle with sin is what characterizes and marks the life of a true Christian—the true Christian seeks to execute or put to death the rebellion towards God in his own heart and life (Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:13), and he seeks to aid others in that pursuit through loving admonition, encouragement, and sincerity of heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the full knowledge that none of this striving can be accredited to man, but all to the grace of God in the sacrifice of Christ.
Hypocrisy is ugly, especially within the church. I hate it in myself, and I hate it in the church. I simply want to vomit when I hear a Baptist or Pentecostal preacher condemn one to hell for partaking in beer or alcoholic beverages, all the while knowing that same preacher is going to have fifteen plates of food from the buffet after the sermon. Equally, that same pastor will no doubt condemn adultery, but adultery and gluttony have at their core the same sin—lust.
Hypocrisy is real, hypocrisy is ugly, but hypocrisy is present everywhere, not just in the evangelical community. For instance, we want freedom of speech to exist in a culture fixated on cancelling the politically incorrect. We want to conserve energy and planetary resources, but we burn countless units of energy for sporting events, entertainment venues, and sometimes, for no purpose at all other than to make something pretty. We want to put an extreme and almost obsessive focus on health, but not help the truly sick and suffering because of the “evil of opioids” and potential drug addiction.
Okay? So what . . . I am an atheist, so all this verbiage has no relevant meaning to me, outside of the fact that we all can be, at times, hypocrites. I don’t need a relationship with Jesus to know I am a hypocrite, nor do I need the Holy Spirit to convict me of my hypocrisy. I am quite self-aware. Even my counselor agrees with this assessment. (In fact, she thinks I am too self-aware.) Thus, I am cognizant of when I am being hypocritical. The difference between myself and Evangelicals is that I am not morally hypocritical. I don’t get up in a pulpit on Sundays and preach about all sorts of “sins” and then go home and commit the very sins I preached against. I don’t wage war against society’s vices and sexual proclivities all the while practicing these very same sins in the privacy of my home or a motel room.
Additionally, Atheists and Humanists are not spared from hypocrisy. They lament the evils of the world such as hypocrisy, justifiably so, but due to the nature of their worldview, one that hinges on the idea that there are no moral absolutes, they cannot sincerely call hypocrisy evil. Hypocrisy is distasteful to be sure, but hypocrisy, murder, sexual impurity, and deceit cannot be called evil, not if the atheistic humanist is to remain true to his worldview, that is.
I love it when an Evangelical zealot tells me what it is I believe or what other atheists believe. Personally, I think morality is inherently subjective. Christians believe the same thing. If that weren’t so, then the followers of Jesus would all have the same moral beliefs. Since no two Christian believe the same things about morality, it is clear, at least to me, that morality is subjective for Christians too.
I am a humanist. It is humanism, not atheism, that provides a moral framework by which I live my life. Please read the Humanist Manifesto to learn more about how humanists view morality. As far as “evil” is concerned, evil is not a thing or an entity separate from human behavior. Evil does not exist apart from humans. Humans do evil things. I have no problem saying that certain behaviors are evil.
That is where this discussion comes full circle, Bruce. You claim to be an atheist and a humanist, yet you reject the evangelical community because of their failure to adhere to a standard of sincerity that your worldview cannot legitimately define and account for unless moral absolutes exist. If morality is relative and merely rooted in human consensus, societal convention, as the Humanist Manifestos claim, then why shouldn’t the evangelical community be hypocritical if that is what gives them fulfilment, meaning, and happiness? You might say it defies logic to believe one thing and act contrary to that belief, all the while seeking to bring in new acolytes to use and abuse. Again, by what standard is anything “logical” or “illogical” if there is not some absolute standard by which these human abstractions are to be measured?
I do not reject the Evangelical community. I am surrounded by Evangelicals. What I reject are Evangelical beliefs and practices. What I object to is the psychological, and, at times, physical harm caused by Evangelical preachers and churches. (Please see the Black Collar Crime Series — one thousand stories and counting.)
Instead of spending an inordinate amount of time and energy rebutting Tucker’s claims about atheists and morality, I will leave the task to atheist firebrand and expert debater Matt Dillahunty.
The truth of the matter, Bruce, is you, like me, have been injured by either a wolf in sheep’s clothing inside of the evangelical community, or you may have been injured by a sincere Christian caught up in sin, but the actions of others cannot give us an excuse to reject our Creator and Sustainer. You know God exists and you have spent the last two decades pointing at the hypocrisy of others so that you can explain away His existence.
This is the point in his screed where Tucker shifts into Christian Asshole® mode. Without bothering to read any of my autobiographical material, he is going to tell me why I am not a Christian and what it is I really believe.
Tucker tells me that I was either hurt by a preacher or the sinful actions of Christians. Over the past sixteen years, I have written over 6,000 posts. Not one time have I said that I left Christianity because of someone “hurt” me. Not once. Did Evangelical Christian behavior play a part in my deconversion? Sure, a small part, as did numerous other things. However, I have made it clear over, and over, and over again to the Nathan Tuckers who contact me that I left Christianity for intellectual reasons. Not because I am angry, hurt, or jaded, but because the central claims of Christianity are false. It is really that simple. I am more than happy to discuss these reasons with Evangelicals, but they typically choose to attack my character and motivations instead of meaningfully engaging me on the real reasons I no longer believe. The reason for this is simple. If they say that I divorced Jesus for emotional reasons, they can dismiss my story out of hand. “Oh, Bruce just got his feelings hurt and couldn’t cut it” (as Dr. David Tee frequently says). Evangelical zealots know that if they engage me on the intellectual reasons for my deconversion they are likely to end up looking bad. I know the Bible inside and out. I am an expert on Evangelical Christianity. I am quite fluent in what Evangelicals believe and how they think. How could I not be? I was born into, raised, and educated in Evangelicalism. I spent the first thirty years of my marriage swimming in the deep end of the Evangelical pool. Even today, I continue to stay connected to the Evangelical sect. If Tucker wants to engage me on Evangelical beliefs and practices, I am game. I am ALWAYS game. Sadly, no one wants to play. 🙂
All the while, your actions beg the following question: why does it matter whether people believe in God or are used and abused by the evangelical community or not? If this life is all that matters, why not let people enjoy it how they see fit? Because they are being lied to? By what standard is something a lie or the truth? What are you trying to save them from? What is your motivation?
Evidently, Tucker thinks I should be okay with preachers, churches, and parachurch organizations misusing and abusing people; that I should be okay with preachers raping and sexually molesting children; that I should be okay with Evangelical theocrats trying to take over our government; that I should be okay with Evangelicals trying to ban books and history in public schools; that I should be okay with Evangelical racism, bigotry, and homophobia.
It is because we only have one life that these things matter. I have a wife I have been married to for almost forty-five years. I have six adult children. I have thirteen grandchildren. I have at least twenty reasons to work as hard as I can to make this world a better place to live. Jesus, I am starting to think that Tucker hasn’t ever talked to an actual atheist. Most atheists seek meaning and purpose in their lives. We want a better tomorrow, not only for ourselves, but also for everyone.
As you can see, Tucker repeatedly claims that atheists aren’t moral; that they have no moral foundation. He’s convinced that we are immoral, godless heathens. No amount of challenge is going to change his mind. He knows what he knows. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
Tucker is only moral because of Jesus. If that is the only reason he doesn’t rape, murder, steal, or eat too much at Thanksgiving, by all means, Tucker, for the sake of all of us, stay saved. We don’t want you going on a crime rampage, all because you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in your mythical heart.
Now, you may ask, what is my motivation behind writing you? Sincerely, I do not know what my motivation is at this point. I was looking into this band called 7 Hills Worship and your website popped up. I know that I am not trying to save you; God alone can deal with the heart and conscience of human beings, and salvation is up to God, not man (Romans 9:10-24). I am not trying to fight because of some sense of pride. I am not trying get money or fame (I am convinced I will never have either; that is okay). Heck, I am not even trying to befriend you. I think what struck my conscience is your pain. I have experienced similar pain and I wanted to set my faith aside too.
No, Tucker hasn’t. He doesn’t personally know me, nor does he know anything about me. He was too lazy to invest any time in reading my autobiographical writing. Yet, he knows my “pain.” Fuck off with that nonsense. Yes, I have experienced a lot of trauma in my life, more than most people experience. Yes, I battle serious, unrelenting physical pain every day of my life. Tucker could have known these things had he shown a bit of curiosity, but unfortunately, curiosity is not a common Evangelical trait. (Please see Curiosity, A Missing Evangelical Trait.)
Tucker is being less than honest when he says he doesn’t know what his motivations are for writing me. I have heard from thousands of zealots over the years. Typically, they respond to me because they think God want them to do so or they “feel” the need to set me straight or they delusionally think that they will be the one who brings me back to the faith. Tucker read the Dear Evangelical post. In this post was all the information necessary to know who and what I am. I even give Evangelicals a Reason for Contact Check List they can use when emailing me:
Reason for Contacting Bruce Gerencser (Check all that apply)
_____To tell him he is wrong
_____To preach at him
_____To quote Bible verses to him
_____To evangelize him
_____To tell him he doesn’t know anything about the Bible
_____To let him know God still loves him
_____To let him know I am praying for him
_____To tell him he never was a Christian
_____To tell him he is going to Hell
_____To tell him he is still saved and can never be un-saved
_____To tell him he was/is a false prophet
_____To tell him he was/is a wolf in sheep’s clothing
_____To tell him he is angry
_____To tell him he is bitter
_____To tell him his writing shows he has been hurt
_____To tell him he is fat
_____To tell him I hope he burns in Hell
_____To tell him that I am praying God will kill him
_____To tell him that he has a meaningless, empty life
_____To tell him he is going to die soon and then he will find out THE TRUTH!
_____To tell him that I know THE TRUTH about him!
Once you have completed the form, cut and paste it into your email or comment.
Tucker could have saved himself a lot of time by using this checklist. Instead, he sent me a sermon. I will leave it readers to “discern” his motivations.
Yet, the hypocritical behavior of others cannot change the truth that nothing in this world makes sense apart from the Christian worldview, the Christian faith—not the Christians who hold that view, but the objective truth of Christianity itself. Biblical Christianity is true, despite the shortcomings of its practitioners. In fact, Jesus even warned us about these people, which brings even more veracity to His claims. The fact is that Christ is the only perfect man to ever live—He is the only human being that cannot be charged with hypocrisy; that is why He was murdered and that is why our trust must solely rest in Him, not His followers. Take care.
My worldview makes perfect sense, all without God, Jesus, Christianity, and the Protestant Christian Bible. Most people in the world believe the same thing. Yet, Tucker is convinced that his little band of true believers has cornered the market on truth; that their worldview is the only one that makes sense. We see similar thinking among Trumpists, QAnon supporters, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy theorists. It is not surprising that many of these people are also Evangelicals. The dominant religion of those who tried to overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021? Evangelical Christianity.
Christianity does not equal objective truth. I am more than happy to school Tucker on the falsity of his claim. While we are at it, we can discuss why the Evangelical deity is immoral and why the Bible shouldn’t be used for anything other than a paperweight.
What is “Bible Christianity”? No two Evangelicals agree on its definition. The Bible isn’t inerrant or infallible, nor is it internally consistent. Contradictions abound. That said, if Evangelicals want to believe that the Bible is true, fine. Just keep your nose out of my business. I don’t care what the Bible says, nor do care what Evangelicals think about how I live my life. You do you and I will do me. And if my wife consents, we can do each other. 🙂
Jesus was a man. He lived and died, end of story. Just because a religious text says Jesus was _________ doesn’t make it so. I have no reason to believe that Jesus was anything other than a Jewish apocalyptic preacher who ran afoul of Jewish leadership and Roman law and got himself killed.
Tucker really needs to rethink why Jesus was executed. That’s some bad theology. Maybe if he decides to engage me we can talk about his claims about Jesus.
Saved by Reason and Polly’s Awesome Cooking,
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Today, I received a comment from a Christian man named Keith that stated, in part:
Thus, since so much crock comes out of the pulpit (and always has), you have to read the Bible for yourself. And, pray for yourself and your family. I do both.
….
My hope is that one day you’ll be able to separate the religious crap you were taught (and taught yourself), from the core truth of Jesus (you might have to vomit some, my guess), and find your way back to Jesus Himself.
What is the core truth of Jesus? Where can we find this truth? The Bible, right? All we have is the Bible, a collection of sixty-six books written thousands of years ago primarily by unknown men. All we know, then, about Jesus comes from a fallible, internally contradictory, religious text written by fallible men. Why should I give this text any weight or authority? What value is the Bible and its teachings to me or my family? If I never read the Bible will my life be less in any way?
In his comment, Keith mentioned his blog, The Myth Machines: Truth Unshackled. I perused his blog, reading a dozen or so posts, hoping to understand him better. The best I can tell is that Keith is a disaffected Evangelical, a Black man who is disgusted by much of what he sees in churches today. I suspect he thinks that as a pastor I was just like the clerics he has problems with. It’s too bad Keith didn’t bother to read my autobiographical writing. (Please see Why?) He would have quickly learned that I am not the straw man he has constructed in his head.
Keith says I need to read the Bible for myself. Uh, that is exactly what I did for most of my adult life. As a pastor, I spent over 20,000 hours reading and studying the Bible. What does Keith think I missed? He doesn’t say. My core beliefs were Evangelical and orthodox in every way.
There is no Jesus for me to come back to. I deconverted because the central claims of Christianity no longer made sense to me (please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense). First, I believe the Christian deity is a myth. Second, I don’t think Jesus was divine, born of a virgin, did any of the miracles attributed to him, or resurrected from the dead. Jesus lived and died, end of story. Third, I reject the notion that there is life after death. Just like Jesus, we live and die, end of story.
Jesus is a ship that has sailed on a one-way trip, never to return. No amount of Bible reading is going to change my mind. I know what I know. No one can say that I didn’t do due diligence when it came to the claims of Christianity. I have weighed them in the balances and found them wanting.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Over the weekend, I received an email from an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) man from Texas named Richard Boltin. Here’s what he had to say (all spelling and grammar in the original):
I was saved at the age of 12 and from that time God has placed a desire in my heart to tell others about my saviour. No one has ever forced or driven me so to speak to witness or preach the gospel it has just been a simple desire I have because of what my saviour did for me. I have not always faithfully followed Christ in fact there was a time in my life where I was disappointed by other people who were professed Christians and I was out of fellowship with the Lord over this for many years, please don’t get me wrong it was not their fault but rather my own. The Lord graciously turned my life around and gave me back that desire to serve Him. I am sorry but in my life I have not experienced any of the kind of frustrations or disappointments you related about the IBF. The gospel is simple and salvation is eternal but true salvation will render a desire to such a person as he will never escape. Simply put if that desire is not there then I question weather I was truly saved. I could give you scripture but it would seem to be a frustrated effort as you have already said you were a self proclaimed athiest. I will say tho when Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill and preached to the Athenians he said the time of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent speaking of their idolatries. All men are at some time in their life tangled in the scheme of this idolatry but God is gracious in that he winked at it at one time but now by the finished work of redemption of Christ on the cross offers to all salvation in Him. I hope and pray for you Bruce that he will challenge your heart and give you something that you can hold on to and believe because there is coming a day weather we believe it or not that every knee will bow to Jesus Christ. I attend to these same conversations with my son and I pray for him daily and will do the same for you.
After Richard emailed me, he left fourteen comments on this site. You can read all of Richard’s comments and my responses in one post, Breaking News: IFB Preacher Bob Gray, Sr. Admits to Driving Church Members. That’s right, Boltin read all of one post. I gave him links to other posts he should read, but he chose not to. He didn’t read my About page, nor did he read any of my extensive autobiographical material. Perhaps, Proverbs 18:13 best defines Boltin’s actions: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude.
Boltin is a diehard Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. Proudly IFB, he is also a conspiracy theorist and an avid Trump supporter. Based on Boltin’s comments, he likely has spent decades in the IFB church movement — an authoritarian sect known for its religious and social extremism. When I read Boltin’s remarks, I hear a man John C. Holmes proud, a man who is certain he is right. Boltin didn’t come to this site to interact with me or the readers of this blog. He came to rebuke, correct, preach, and evangelize. Based on my interaction with him, he showed no awareness of the fact that he could be wrong.
Take, for example, his objection to me saying that the IFB church movement was in numerical decline.
Boltin wrote:
I have been to many IFB churches that run quite a few in church. I don’t know how you can say they are in serious decline you don’t attend therefore you don’t see I have known churches in the last 2 years that run as much as 2000 per Sunday the church you just mentioned Emmanuel Baptist in Longview is one they run 2000 per Sunday My brothers church in Tennessee Hairraman they run 1000 per Sunday several in Ft Worth run 3 – 5 thousand pretty good for todays standards and there is by the way no hatred for the LGBTQ crowd amongst these churches they just preach against the sin not the sinner. They try to win these souls to the Lord.
I replied:
Do better, Richard. Just because you can point to churches running in the thousands proves nothing. First, what did these churches run in the past? Attendance at Emmanuel is less than what it was when Gray Sr. pastored the church. Second, in 1980, most of the churches on the Top 100 churches list were IFB. Today? Only one remains, First Baptist in Hammond, and it runs 10,000 less in attendance than it did in the 80s. Third, scores of large IFB churches are now defunct. Emmanuel Baptist in Pontiac is a good example. When I attended Emmanuel in the 70s, it had days when 2,000-4,000 people were in attendance. Today, the church no longer exists. The church I attended in the early 70s ran over 1,000 in attendance. Today, it runs around 400. My wife’s uncle’s IFB church ran over 400 in the late 60s. Today it runs 150. Shall I go on? Fourth, smaller IFB churches either are static or in decline attendance-wise. These are facts, Richard. I hate to appeal to authority on this issue, but I’m an expert on the IFB. I grew up in the IFB. I attended an IFB college and married an IFB preacher’s daughter. I pastored IFB churches. Most of all, I have been closely following, monitoring, and studying the IFB church movement for over 45 years. I know what I’m talking about. So, pointing to a church here and there to prove your point tells me nothing. I heard there is an awesome K-Mart somewhere in Texas. Should we take this as a sign that K-Mart is flourishing, especially when the rest of the evidence suggests otherwise? Do a study, Richard. Call 100 older, established IFB churches and ask them if they run more in attendance now than they did 20, 30, or 40 years ago. I guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of them will say no. It’s so bad that some IFB preachers are saying “quality over quantity” in an attempt to cover up the fact that their churches are numerically dying.
Boltin, not listening to anything I said, replied:
and the fact that you point out that churches run less in attendance means nothing in todays society that cares nothing about where they will spend eternity. You know a lot of what you just discussed about the brevity of life is recorded in the book of James. What is your life it is even a vapor that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away. We are not to prepare our lives as if we are even guaranteed of a tomorrow but rather we are to live it to please our saviour. There I answered your questions about Abraham and about church attendance and many other things yet I still have yet to hear one shred of evidence that you don’t really believe the things you acclaim and I see your bitterness and your hatred and also that you hide behind a shield of humanism and atheism in an effort to comfort your heart about the true destiny of your soul
Did you notice that Boltin totally ignored the evidence I provided, choosing instead to preach and attack my character? Sadly, this is common IFB behavior.
Boltin says four things about me:
I don’t really believe the things I say I do
I am bitter
I am hateful
That I use humanism and atheism to hide the true destiny of my soul
I won’t bother to rebut Boltin’s claims. I have done so numerous times before. If Boltin wants to read my responses to people who say that I am bitter and hateful, he can do a search and find those posts. Boltin, of course, won’t do so. He, like many IFB zealots, is lazy and lacks curiosity. (Please see Curiosity, A Missing Evangelical Trait.)
I do want to address one issue that I mentioned in my comments to him. At the age of fifteen, I was saved at Trinity Baptist Church, a large IFB congregation in Findlay, Ohio. According to Boltin’s theology, once a person is saved, he can never, ever, for any reason lose his salvation. This is the core of the “once saved always saved” soteriology preached by many (not all) IFB churches, pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. It was most certainly the soteriology preached by Bob Gray, Sr., Jack Hyles, Tom Malone, Bob Gray of Jacksonville, David Hyles, Lee Roberson, Curtis Hutson, and countless other IFB luminaries. I heard it preached at Midwestern Baptist College in the 70s, and at numerous Sword of the Lord conferences and preacher’s meetings. I knew when I was in the movement, I preached up once saved always saved. (I abandoned once saved always saved in the late 1980s. I believed it was a truncated, bastardized perversion of the gospel.) I may be an avowed atheist today, but according to IFB doctrine, I am still a Christian. I may lose some rewards in Heaven, but I will still receive a mansion right next door to Boltin’s. And that, my friend, chaps his ass. That’s why he doubts I was ever saved.
What evidence does Boltin have for saying I never was a Christian? Certainly not my life. Certainly not my devoted love and service to Jesus. Certainly not my preaching and soulwinning. Certainly not my commitment to holiness. No, Boltin thinks the fact that I am an atheist “proves” I never was a Christian. Wait a minute. I thought that all a person needs to do to be saved is to believe the gospel and sincerely pray the sinner’s prayer. I did that. On what basis does Boltin deny that I ever had faith in Christ? If my godlessness is the problem, then Boltin must answer whether he is preaching works salvation or that he believes that salvation is conditioned on believing the right things until the end. So which is it, Richard?
Let me return, in closing, to Boltin’s email. Every person who emails me is presented with the following text:
If you would like to contact Bruce Gerencser, please use the following form. If your email warrants a response, someone will respond to you as soon as possible.
Due to persistent health problems, I cannot guarantee a timely response. Sometimes, I am a month or more behind in responding to emails. This delay doesn’t mean I don’t care. It does mean, however, that I can only do what I can do. I hope you understand.
To help remedy this delay in response, my editor, Carolyn, may respond to your email. Carolyn has been my editor for six years. She knows my writing inside and out, so you can rest assured that if your question concerns something I have written, Carolyn’s response will reflect my beliefs and opinions — albeit with fewer swear words.
I do not, under any circumstances, accept unsolicited guest posts. Think that I’m interested in letting you write a post with a link back to your site, I’m not.
I am not interested in receiving commercial email from you.
I am not interested in buying social media likes, speeding up my website, signing up for your Ad service, improving my SEO, or having you design a new blog theme for this site.
I will not send you money for your ministry, church, or orphanage. In fact, just don’t ask for money, period.
I know you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, but you are not a medical professional, so please do not send me unsolicited medical or psychological advice. I am not interested — ever.
If you are an Evangelical Christian, please read Dear Evangelical before sending me an email. If you have a pathological need to evangelize, spread the love of Jesus, or put a good word in for the man, the myth, the legend named Jesus, please don’t. The same goes for telling me your church/pastor/Jesus is awesome. I am also not interested in reading sermonettes, testimonials, Bible verses, or your deconstruction/psychological evaluation of my life. By all means, if you feel the need to set me straight, start your own blog.
If you email me anyway — and I know you will, since scores of Evangelicals have done just that, showing me no regard or respect — I reserve the right to make your message and name public. This blog is read by thousands of people every day, so keep that in mind when you email me whatever it is you think “God/Jesus/Holy Spirit” has laid upon your heart. Do you really want your ignorance put on display for thousands of people to see? Pause before hitting send. Ask yourself, “how will my email reflect on Jesus, Christianity, and my church?”
Outside of the exceptions mentioned above, I promise to treat all correspondence with you as confidential. I have spent the last fourteen years corresponding with people who have been psychologically harmed by Evangelical Christianity. I am more than happy to come alongside you and provide what help I can. I am not, however, a licensed counselor. I am just one man with fifty years of experience as a Christian and twenty-five years of experience as an Evangelical pastor. I am more than happy to lend you what help and support I can.
Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
I assume Boltin read this and ignored it. He is a man on a mission from God.
IFB adherents are difficult to deal with. They are often arrogant, self-righteous, and disrespectful. Steeped in certainty, and believing the Holy Spirit is leading, guiding, and directing them, IFB Christians totally disregard my wishes, sending me emails that I have no interest in receiving. I don’t need to read more Bible verses — I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover numerous times — or hear any more sermons. I know all I need to know about the Bible and Christianity. Anyone who bothers to do their homework knows this about me. I am more than happy to answer questions or help people in any way I can. I take the time to correspond with numerous people every week. However, emails such as Boltin’s raise my ire because their only purpose is to attack, criticize, and denigrate. Boltin made no attempt to interact with me or understand my story. I tried to draw him into discussions about his beliefs and support of certain IFB preachers, but all he did was criticize, deflect, change the subject, or disregard what I said.
I don’t know why I bother. These sorts of “discussions” always end the same way. I remind myself that I once was just like Boltin; that I had similar beliefs and practices. I was a Baptist Fundamentalist through and through. (One difference, however, is that I never defended or supported men such as Jack Hyles, David Hyles, and Bob Gray, Sr.) I know that I was able to break free from the IFB cult. This will not happen for the Boltins of the world until they are willing to admit that they could be wrong; that it is possible that their foundational beliefs might be untrue (especially when it comes to the inerrancy and infallibility of the Protestant Christian Bible.)
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Rarely does a week go by without comments and emails from Evangelicals telling me that my life lacks meaning and purpose. Just today, an eighty-three-year-old Evangelical man named James Verner told me:
I used to be on the outside looking in, so I have a good idea of what you feel like now, much of which includes a terrible feeling of emptiness . . .
He just knows that I have a “terrible feeling of emptiness.” He doesn’t know me. He didn’t read any of my autobiographical material. Yet, he is certain that my life lacks meaning and purpose. In this man’s mind, life can only have meaning and purpose if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. This approach is typical of Evangelicals, who have a binary, black-and-white view of the world. Either you are saved or lost, in or out, headed for Heaven or Hell. This is a perfect example of us vs. them thinking; God’s chosen ones against Satan and the world.
Verner lacks imagination. Unable to see and understand peace, happiness, purpose, and meaning as a possibility outside of Jesus, he sees his life and experiences as a blueprint for others. Get “saved” and you too can have a life just like mine! Little do Evangelicals know that this is not the selling point they think it is. Why would I want to be like Verner? I like my life as it is just fine. My life isn’t “perfect,” whatever the hell perfect means. I have had a lot of pain, suffering, trauma, and adversity in my life, yet I am grateful for still being among the living. I have been married to Polly for almost forty-five years. By all accounts, we have a good marriage. We deeply love one another, and more importantly, we really like each other. We are best friends who enjoy one another’s company. We are blessed to have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren — ten girls and three boys. (I love using words such as grateful and blessed. Drives Evangelicals nuts. Why? In their minds, there can be no gratefulness or blessing without Jesus.)
My life and that of countless atheists, agnostics, pagans, and other non-believers repudiate Evangelical claims that having purpose and meaning in your life requires a salvific experience and relationship with Jesus. We are undeniable proof that it doesn’t.
So to the Verners of the world, I say this: I don’t want nor do I need what you have. If you need God/Jesus/religion to give your life meaning and purpose, that’s fine. I am a live-and-let-live kind of guy. Whatever floats your boat, right? You will search in vain on this site for a post written by me that tells people how they should live their lives. I spent fifty years in Evangelical Christianity. I have had my fill of preachers telling me how I should live my life. I have no interest in telling people how they should live.
I am sure that the Verners who frequent this site are befuddled by my unwillingness to drink their flavor of Kool-Aid. They can’t imagine a life worth living without their peculiar version of Jesus. And make no mistake about it, they love, worship, and adore a Jesus that they have shaped and molded into a being that meets the felt needs of their lives. There is no singular Jesus. That’s why there are countless Christianities with their attendant deities.
Let me conclude this post by talking about why Evangelical Christianity doesn’t appeal to me; why no amount of pleading, argument, prayer, or Jesus himself showing up on my doorstep will facilitate my return to faith. Evangelicals have written thousands and thousands of words and prayed countless prayers hoping that I will see the light. That ain’t going to happen — ever. Why? Christianity doesn’t make sense to me. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.) I am a rational man. To quote atheist firebrand Matt Dillahunty, I want to believe as many true things as possible. In my mind, Christianity is fundamentally irrational.
Where does a personal relationship with Jesus begin? Not in your “heart” — which doesn’t exist — but in your mind. Evangelicals believe that when a person is born from above (saved), the third part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost comes into their lives and lives inside of them as their teacher and guide. The Holy Spirit literally talks to and moves, prompts, directs, motivates, challenges, and corrects them. How do they know this to be true? The still small voice of the Holy Spirit they hear in their heads (and to a lesser degree what is written in the Protestant Christian Bible).
This voice in their head tells them that their peculiar version of God is the one true God of the Bible; the creator of the universe; the giver and taker of life; the sovereign ruler, king, and potentate. How do they know these things are true? The voice in their head and the words of an ancient religious text written by fallible men, tell them so. This same voice — the witness of the Spirit — tells them that the Bible is inspired (a faith claim), inerrant, and infallible.
Believing that God is really speaking to them, Evangelicals read the Bible, believing that it was written by God himself through holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (the voice in their heads). Thus, Evangelicals believe the Bible is literally true, without error. This means that have committed themselves to believing all sorts of nonsense.
Fundamentally, Christianity is a blood cult based on the fantastical claims of an ancient religious text that a voice in their heads tells them is God’s words. I cannot and will not believe such nonsense. This doesn’t mean that I am anti-religion. It does mean, however, I will not embrace a system of belief and practice that I think is irrational. Becoming a Christian would require me to deny and repudiate things I know to be true. I am unwilling to sacrifice my intellect on the altar of faith.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Trolls come and go. Over the past fifteen years, countless vile, hateful, violent lovers of Jesus have gone to great lengths to harass me, not only on this blog, but also on social media and by sending me emails. Using fake names, email addresses, and masking their location, these keyboard warriors try to inflict as much psychological harm as possible. Sometimes they change their usernames, hoping I will think they are new commenters. Sometimes this works for awhile, but one thing about trolls, they will always reveal who they really are.
“My beliefs began to change in the 1990s, first when I stood against the first Iraq War, and later when I publicly rebuked Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority for abandoning the gospel for the sake of raw political power.”
The Moral Majority was disbanded in 1989. You “rebuked” them years after they ceased to exist as a group?
Honestly, Bruce, I think that you were just going through the motions…being a “pastor”. Reading vociferously through your blog over the years, you talk about many topics. One subject that almost never comes up is the topic of work. You probably would’ve left the church years earlier had you been one with more ambition and motivation. In all likelihood you may never have went into the “ministry” in the first place. I’m pretty sure you just thought being a “pastor” was something you could do without too much effort.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake. I corrected the post.
As for the rest of your comment, it’s evident you have definitely skipped some of my writing. As my wife and children will testify, I was a workaholic for many years, often working 60+ hours a week. Ask my family how little they saw me. You must have missed where I said that I preached 4,000+ sermons, often spending 20 hours a week on sermon preparation. You also missed, evidently, that I planted five churches — not a job for lazy men. And finally, you skipped right over my secular work history outside of the church.
Your comment is a first, Jerry. This is the first time someone has ever said I lacked ambition or motivation. Since you made this comment after “vociferously” reading my blog, I assume you are just trying to be an asshole.
I’ve read your list of “jobs” many times. When I said that I’ve read through your blog vociferously, I wasn’t jesting.
Would you like to make an additional hundred or so corrections like you just graciously did? How about adding a section to your bio that shows that you’ve quit or failed at almost everything you’ve ever done throughout your entire life, Bruce?
Let’s have a conversation about some other things besides your failed “ministry”:
How’s your photography “business” coming along?
How about the book you’ve been “writing” for the last decade?
Let’s talk about you pathetic social media channels (all failures). Five years on YouTube, 4 crummy videos, 83 subscribers, and zero comments! Just let me know if you would like me to continue to recount more of your online obsolescence.
Now you’re retired…from what? Is Polly retired too? Don’t even bother answering that. You truly are a pathetic failure.
You’ve even ruined your filthy, blasphemous, blog. Your sick, demented mind needs to control every aspect of everything. Instead of having a robust and diverse conversation around your diseased ideas, you ban anyone that you can’t control. The only talent that you have, and I really mean the only one — you are a decent writer.
Full Stop.
BUT, you’ve even managed to get in the way of this with your hunger for control! So, congratulations, big guy, after years of writing you have a following of about two dozen punks, weirdos, and all of them sycophants.
That’s my apology, and You desperately need to get saved!
Thank you for being a shining example of the depths of vile moral corruption found in Fundamentalist Christianity.
I have no intent of justifying my life and experiences to you or anyone else for that matter.
You might want to rethink my blog traffic numbers, dude. Thousands of people read this blog. Add up all the traffic sources, this site sees 750,000 to a 1,000,000 page views per year — many of whom are Evangelical and IFB Christians.
I may bump your comments up to the front page. Isn’t that what you really want? You want everyone to know you put the atheist Bruce Gerencser in his place? I may grant you your deep, hard, throbbing desire.
I’m far from perfect. I’ve made lots of mistakes. Unlike you, I don’t go around shitting on people’s doorsteps.
Jesus Fucking Christ, Jerry. Get a life.
This is your final comment. I gave you a chance to be a decent human being. You chose, instead, to attack a man you don’t even know.
I should add, if you have vociferously read my writing (and I doubt you have), you have had ample opportunities to engage me and the readers of this blog in thoughtful, robust conversation. Instead, you choose to full-on attack me with your first and last comment. Why is that? You squandered a golden opportunity to advance your beliefs. Instead you decided to be just another example of an asshole for Jesus.
Good job.
Bruce
Dee did not comment again until January 2023. His first response was to Karen, the Rock Whisperer:
Karen,
[derogatory statement deleted]. If you didn’t want your mamas funeral service to be about Christ, why’d you have it at a church?
You could’ve just rented out the local bingo hall and or something. No offense. Just having a hard time wrapping my head around your logic.
Evidently, you can’t read: “my parents made their arrangements long before my mother became ill.” This is the same reason Polly’s mom’s funeral was held at a church. Her decision, and we respected it, even though we knew the service would be a hurtful shit show.
You can run along now. It is evident you have no intentions to play well with others.
Your little statement was offensive, and you know it.
Defending Victor Justice? That’s rich. The guy is a stalker and troll.
You will find I treat people with kindness and respect when they do the same. If not, I am more than happy, praise Jesus, to call them assholes and tell them to fuck off. My house, my rules. Don’t like it? Start your own blog.
Oh brother, this is your worst work yet. Although you’re a nasty bastard to anyone that doesn’t kiss your ample backside, your writing is usually solid. Grow up and be a man, leave this drama for the women and children.
I’m not sure who you think you are talking to, Bruce. Are you honestly calling me a coward? Perceiving weakness for meekness is a stupid thing to do. Just what kind of a neighborhood did you grow up in? You wouldn’t run your fat trap for long where I grew up.
You run a public blog, and I thought that I would honestly comment on what I read here. Your regular posters are saying far more insulting things than anything that I wrote. Are you going to remove it? BTW, almost all of them are using “fake” names.
If you are to fragile to handle feedback on the crap that you write, you shouldn’t solicit comments, punk! One thing I can tell you; not one of the deranged freaks making comments to me on here would EVER say these things to my face! And that goes double for you, you bearded face clown!
I could care less if you publish this or not. Just know that I’m telling you that you sound like a little girl trapped inside of a man’s body. And when you, or that sick, hate filled, bimbo is attending a funeral, just sit there and shut your mouth !
Remember you are just a guest in the church. Neither your mother in-law, or that decadent bimbo’s mother, wanted either of you planning their services. By your own admissions, they left explicit instructions for their arrangements that told you both to but out!
My house, my rules. This is not a public site. It is a private blog that the public can read and comment on IF they play by the rules. Don’t like it? Start your own blog. Of course, you won’t do that. That would take work. It’s far easier for you to be a troll, right?
Lots of Christians comment on this site. They gladly play by the rules. They respect that they are guests in my house. If you played by the rules, you would get to comment too.
You are a pathetic, misogynistic man — a true follower of Jesus. Are you a coward? Sure. You hide who you are, and even go so far as to publically attack a dear woman you do not know.
We respected my mother-in-law’s wishes to the letter. We played no part in the funeral. However, no one is going to tell us how we should feel or respond, especially someone like you.
Please work on your grammar and spelling. They are atrocious.
Is Jerry Dee actually a new troll? Maybe. Some of his comments have a Victor Justice vibe. It could just be Justice trying to find a new avenue to comment. I do know Dee and Justice use the same VPN service. Regardless, much like Justice, Dee is permanently banned. I reserve the right to post their comments from time to time if I think they could be instructive or entertaining. I would love either of them to explain these Bible verses in relation to their conduct on this site:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-24)
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)
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)
I won’t hold my breath. One thing is for certain, Jerry Dee, Revival Fires, David Tee, and countless others like them don’t really love Jesus and practice his teachings. They use their faith to cause harm. In their minds, I am, along with the readers of this blog, just enemies to be vanquished.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Today, a Canadian Christian woman named Jane sent me the following email:
I don’t know what happened in your life to cause you to become a non-believer, but your rant is unacceptable.
God has a reason for everything – believe me, I’ve been tested many times. But, whatever His reason, I continue to have faith. I don’t know of a better plan.
You don’t need to spout off your hate because you feel that, at some point in your life, he “let you down”.
Jane’s email sounds like a scolding. How dare I spout off in an “unacceptable” manner. What that unacceptable manner is, Jane doesn’t say.
I really wish the Janes of the world would at least read the About page and peruse the posts on the Why? page before emailing me. Is it too much to ask that people at least make a good-faith effort to understand my story before pissing in my cornflakes? The writer of the book of Proverbs had this to say: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. I will leave it to “God” to speak to Jane’s heart.
Jane says “God has a reason for everything.” She provides no evidence for this claim other than personal experience. Surely she knows that anecdotal stories prove nothing. Before I would buy Jane’s claim, she would have to show that God even exists; that that deity is the God of the Bible; that this God actually has a reason for everything. If the Bible reflects the acts of God, can we say he is reasonable? Further, look at all the suffering, pain, and death children and adults alike face. How is what we see “reasonable”? Jane could argue that the Bible says “God’s ways are not our ways,” but this does not absolve God of moral culpability. Based on the Bible and what we can observe, Richard Dawkins was right when he said:
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
I have no doubt that Jane is a better person than the God she worships. I say this for argumentative purposes. As an atheist, I believe the Christian deity is a myth.
Perhaps Jane would argue that we suffer because of a “sin.” Here’s the problem with this line of thinking. Jane emphatically states that her peculiar version of God has a reason for everything. Would that not mean, then, that God has a “reason” for our sin? I am sure Jane believes God is in control of everything; that he is the sovereign ruler over all; that he even knows how many hairs are on our heads. Thus, following this sort of thinking to its logical conclusion, God is the creator of sin and is responsible for our sinful behavior. You can’t have it both ways. If God is in control and has a reason for everything, “sin” rests on the doorstep of the Almighty.
Jane, as many Christians do, wrongly says that I hate God. First, I am an atheist. It would be silly for me to “hate” a being that I think is a mythical character. I don’t hate God, nor do I hate anyone, for that matter. I reserve my hate for institutions and beliefs that harm people. That’s why I have spent the past fifteen years sharing my story and critiquing Evangelical Christianity and the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church movement. That’s why I continue to publish the Black Collar Crime Series. It is to these things I give my “hatred.” (I am using the word hatred in the sense of my passion for writing about these issues.)
I hope Jane will, in the future, “think” before sending an email to a complete stranger. Questions are always welcome. But scolding me and judging me without bothering to learn who and what I am? Why, that might get you what regular readers affectionately call “the Bruce Gerencser treatment.” 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Several years ago, I received the following email from an Evangelical man named Brad:
You are an accuser of the brethren, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who took the cross for sin, may you be ashamed of what you have done! You will pass away one day Bruce, as we all do, and you will stand before God. Struggling in faith is one thing, becoming an atheist, and then picking on disgraced Christian leaders is another, this behavior is, at the root, the way of satan. How can you not see that?
Yes Bruce, satan is real. But so is the Lord, and He is infinitely greater. I think the reason you pick on fallen Christians, is because deep down you feel a need to validate your decision to leave the faith. You know at some level you are wrong, and a mighty terrible judgement is at the end of this decision.
Being here on your blog, is making me so uncomfortable.
Well, Brad, I am not ashamed. It’s important to turn a bright light on what evil men of “God” do in darkness. Too bad you think it more important to defend these men instead of applauding any and every effort to expose predator preachers. Too bad you think I am “picking” on these “fallen” Christians instead of seeing the importance of exposing harmful, predatory behavior.
I agree with you on one thing, we will BOTH one day pass away. Unlike you, however, I fear neither God nor Satan. Both are Bronze Age fictions that have no power over me. Threatening me with God/judgment/Hell is akin to threatening me with Harry Potter casting a spell on me.
You wrongly believe you have the supernatural ability to read my mind and understand my motives. I, in fact, do not know I am wrong, nor do I think a “mighty, terrible judgment” awaits me at the end of my life. I write what I do primarily out of a sense of moral and ethical responsibility. Yes, I, at times, have a smug satisfaction when I reveal for all to see the hypocritical actions of men and women who purportedly speak for God — people who demand others live a certain way that they themselves cannot or will not live. Such moral/ethical hypocrisy deserves exposure, if for no other reason than to show that Evangelicals don’t practice what they preach, nor do they follow the teachings of the Bible. To such people, I say, Don’t tell me how to live, if you are unwilling to live in the same manner.
I am glad my writing makes you feel uncomfortable. My hope is that feeling this way will cause you to take a hard look at your beliefs and practices.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Somewhere in a dank, dark basement sits an Evangelical man who calls himself Revival Fires masturbating to a bloody picture of Jesus on the cross. Over the past two years, Revival has attempted to comment numerous times, without success. Thanks to a mistake I made two years ago, Revival Fires, using fake email accounts, sends me emails, much like the one below. He lustily enjoys describing in detail what Jesus is going to do to me after I die. I have added a few comments, but outside of that, what follows is Revival Fires in his own words. All spelling and grammar in the original.
The southside humanist group of NEA took a trip to the mountains for a weekend retreat that would feature several Christian and atheist speakers.
Boris Grinder [Bruce Gerencser] was the leader an older man who was a pastor turned atheist.
First day went well.
Day 2 the group went on a hiking trip.
Bus loaded up around 3:00 and on was
Boris -pastor turned atheist after 30 years of ministry
Tom- a young agnostic but doubtful
George-camp Evangelist/Gideon.
Maria- girl with the humanist group that trusts Jesus
Annie-believes God and the gospel but wants to “live a little” first and believes she is good enough for heaven.
On the 2 hour drive.
George shares the gospel 🙂
GEORGE:
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
Sin separated us from God.
God sent his only Son Jesus Christ to die for us and through his death and resurrection we have eternal salvation and forgiveness of sin.
“For I delivered unto you that first of all which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures ” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Admit you’re a sinner
Believe sincerely that Jesus Christ died and rose again
Receive him now.
Will you trust in Jesus and be saved today?
Pray sincerely,
“Lord Jesus I am a sinner and I cannot save myself I believe that you died and rose again I accept you now I trust in you and you alone in Jesus name Amen “
If you prayed that and meant or God has saved you! [I just prayed this prayer! I am now SAVED!] 🙂
Several in the group prayed.
Maria with tears in her eyes said “I allowed Jesus to remove Satan’s doubt! I am free!”
Boris said “that’s a crock of S&”!? [shit]“
“There is no evidence of any of this baloney “
“I preached for 30 [thirty-five] years”
Annie said ” I know in my heart I need Jesus but I have plenty of time. Besides that I have never like killed anyone “
Tom said, I wish it were true but I highly doubt it”
1 hour into the bus ride back to camp….
The bus hits a baby deer and flips through a guard rail and down the mountain embankment.
No one survives the fiery crash! 😭
George and Maria and the others who accepted Jesus Christ awaken in a place so beautiful that cannot be described in words! [The Bible does not teach this.]
Angelic 🎵 singing 🎵 and praises to God!
A reunion of many who had gone into eternity in Christ took place. Love like they could not comprehend! They saw Jesus face to face!
He welcomed them home to heaven! As they are covered by his blood (spiritually speaking) for all eternity.
JESUS: “Well done thou good and faithful servants “.
Boris and Tom and Annie found themselves in a place of darkness and foul smell. [The Bible does not teach this.]
They heard growling and moaning and deafening screaming !
Their bodies (yes new bodies) ignited in flames!
ALL: AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Fire 🔥!!!!!
Some time later they appeared before the throne of judgement.
JESUS CHRIST: “Depart from me ye cursed”
BORIS: wait no!!!! I preached for 30 [thirty-five] years and accepted you when I was 15!
JESUS: Your heart was never right before God and you like Judas never truly accepted me and followed after the evil one. Bind him hand and foot and throw him in the lake of fire!
BORIS: NOOOOOOO!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭 AHHHHHHH!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!
Annie: (CRYING) I thought I had more time!
JESUS: the Apostle Paul wrote “Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation ” 2 Corinthians 6:2. Throw her in the lake of fire 🔥
ANNIE: AHHHHHHHH Oh God!!!!!!! NOOOOO!!!!!
The LOST: AHHHHHHHH!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!
They experienced pain indescribable!
They remembered every sin they ever committed.
They remembered every chance they had to receive Jesus Christ.
They curse the day they were born.
They despise the second they were conceived!
Millions will be in the same situation as Boris and Annie and Tom one day.. 😭
Be wise and accept his gift like George and Maria and others did!
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved “ Acts 16:31
[Orthodox Christianity teaches that when people die they go to the grave, not Heaven or Hell, to await physical resurrection and Judgment Day.]
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
You should have stopped here. Alas, you did not, so what follows is my evisceration of your ill-informed, poorly thought-out critique of my life.
John chapter 10 tell us that Jesus is the shepherd and his sheep know his voice… “a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him. (v. 5)” Maybe part of the problem is that some of these IFB churches are full of lost people who do not know the shepherds voice, hence why you were allowed to pastor at one of them.
Ryan, do you seriously think that all the people in all the churches I pastored were unsaved? It is evident that you didn’t bother to read much, if any, of my autobiographical material. Had you done so, you would have learned that I pastored a General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) church, two Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregations, a Sovereign Grace Baptist church, a Christian Union church, a non-denominational church, and a Southern Baptist congregation. I also preached special meetings for other denominational churches, everything from Freewill Baptist to Assembly of God. Do you really think all these people were unsaved?
Thousands of people heard me preach over the years. I had numerous colleagues in the ministry. Not one of these people, at the time, “discerned” that I was unsaved; that I was a false prophet; that I was a tool of Satan. Either I had everyone deceived, or you don’t know what you are talking about. My money is on the latter.
Further, do you personally know the people I pastored, or me personally, for that matter? That’s a rhetorical question. I know you don’t. Yet, you think it is okay to judge the spiritual condition of thousands of people you don’t know. You don’t know anything about how I have lived my life, my character, or my commitment to preaching the Word of God and ministering to the churches I pastored.
Let me give you a verse to think about: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. (Proverbs 18:13)
I agree with you that the IFB pushes many false doctrines.
And what are those doctrines, exactly? What makes your doctrines right, and theirs wrong? How do you know you are right and everyone else is wrong?
However, the IFB is not the final say on Christianity.
And neither are you, yet you seem to think that you are. Why don’t you “share” your beliefs with me and the readers of this blog so we can have a go at them? Let’s see how sound you are doctrinally. No sect or Christian has a corner on right beliefs. Certainty leads to arrogance, and that is exactly where you are when you say that your beliefs are right, and everyone else’s beliefs are wrong (so much so that their wrong beliefs will land them in Hell).
Turning your back on Christ because of your IFB experience is exactly what the enemy would have you do.
Sigh (please see Why I Use the Word “Sigh”). Had you bothered to read my autobiographical material, you would have learned that I pastored my last IFB church seventeen years before I left Christianity. I didn’t leave the faith because of my “IFB experiences.” I left Christianity primarily for intellectual reasons. I came to the conclusion that the Bible was not inerrant or infallible; that Jesus was not divine; that Jesus was not virgin born, nor did he work the miracles attributed to him; that Jesus did not resurrect from the dead.
I am an atheist, so the Christian God is a myth, as is the Devil. I have no “enemy” that has nefarious intentions for me. Well, I take that back. I have interacted with scores of Evangelical Christians who have wished ill will upon me, who are praying God judges or kills me, and who said all sorts of hateful, bigoted, vile things about me, my wife of 44 years, my six children, my thirteen grandchildren, and the non-Christian readers of this blog. Assholes, the lot of them.
I would beg you to reconsider your decision and read God’s word for yourself with an open heart desiring only to know the truth embodied by Jesus Christ.
Double sigh
Ryan, I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years. I was saved, baptized, and called to preach. I attended a small Bible college where I met my wife, a preacher’s daughter. I spent twenty-five years pastoring Evangelical churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. I preached 4,000 sermons. I read and studied the Bible for more than 20,000 hours. I can safely say that I know the Bible inside and out; that it is doubtful that you can tell me something meaningful pertaining to the Bible that I don’t already know. Feel free to try, but I suspect you will quickly learn you are out of your depth.
Supposedly, I am a reprobate; one who has done despite to the Spirit of grace. You implied that I am a servant of Satan. Yet, you think all I need to do is read God’s word for myself (who else would I read it for, Ryan)? Really? Besides, doesn’t the Bible say that the natural (unsaved) man cannot understand the things of God? Doesn’t the burden of my salvation rest on God’s shoulders? I can’t be saved unless your God, Ryan, gives me ears to hear and eyes to see. Salvation is of the Lord, right? No man can come to God unless the Spirit draws him. If you want me to be saved, I suggest you take it up with God. He knows where I live. He knows my email address and cellphone number. Come get me Jesus, I’m ready. How about dinner at 5 pm at Applebee’s?
My mind is wide open, Ryan. Feel free to provide me with compelling evidence that Christianity is true; evidence that I have not already considered. I seriously doubt such evidence is forthcoming. I have carefully weighed the claims of Christianity in the balance and found them wanting.
I am not trying to be impolite, but it is evident, at least to me, that you didn’t do your homework. Did you really think your comment would do anything other than annoy me? I suggest you never ever take this approach with a stranger on the Internet again. All you have done is remind the readers of this blog why they are glad that they are no longer Evangelical Christians.
All praise be to Loki.
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
