The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

Tag: Evangelicalism

  • Did You Know It’s the Teachings of Hess and GHod That Make Christianity Different

    noah's flood

    “It is the teaching of Jess and GHod that makes Christianity vastly different from all other religions.”

    — World Renowned Theologian Dr. David Tee

    Thiessen also said:

    The biggest difference is in the teaching of each faith. When was the last time you heard or saw gangs of Christians invading villages, killing their members, setting their buildings on fire, and then celebrating the deaths of those who do not believe?

    Unbelievers get upset and call Christians and God many different names, accusing them of crimes they did not commit, all because they do not like the teaching found in the Bible. Yet, that teaching has not ordered anyone killed, nor villages burned, nor for celebrations of the death of the wicked.

    Talk about a sanitized version of Christianity, from the teaching of the Bible to present day Christian beliefs and practices. Talk about living in denial over what the Bible actually says.

    Sure, some expressions of Islam are violent. However, if we go back a thousand years or so, we find Christians acting just as violently as some Muslims do today. And when we turn to the Bible? We find account after account of God’s violence against those who dared to disagree with him or worship another deity. And when we get to the book of Revelation? Boy, oh boy, God drops all pretense and shows that he is, indeed, a violent, murderous, genocidal deity.

    Did God ever command his chosen ones to commit violent acts? Of course he did.

    Consider:

    Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses’s hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on either side, so his hands were steady until the sun set.  And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner.  He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord!The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Deuteronomy 17:8-14)

    Hundreds of years later, GOD said:

    Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God.  Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget. (Deuteronomy 25: 17-19)

    And this brings us to 1 Samuel 15:1-8:

    Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

    So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand soldiers of Judah. Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley.  Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites. Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. (1 Samuel 15:1-8)

    Virtually every Bible scholar — except Evangelicals — says that God commanded Saul to commit genocide against the Amalekites for what their great, great, great, great, great grandparents did hundreds of years before.

    The Bible contains numerous accounts of God’s violent acts, either directly or by his followers.

    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.

    From Genesis through Revelation, we find a violent God who often maims and kills people out of jealousy or because they pissed him off. Shit, he killed a man just for keeping the Ark of the Covenant from toppling over. Talk about pettiness.

    And since Jesus was God — the second member of the Trinity — another absurd, irrational belief — he, too, is responsible for the God ordained violence recorded in the Bible.

    God of love, mercy, and kindness? Maybe, but honest readers of the Bible can’t ignore the fact that God was, at times, anything but. Oh, Evangelicals have all sorts of explanations for God’s immoral, sinful behavior, but the fact remains God commanded Saul to slaughter the Amalekites, including children, infants, and fetuses. A pro-life God he is not.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

    You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

  • Why It Upsets Me When Evangelicals Say “I’m Praying for You”

    prayer

    Why do I get upset when Evangelicals (and other Christians) say, “I’m praying for you?”

    First, Evangelicals who say this to me deliberately violate the clear teaching of the Bible. Did Jesus not say:

    Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

    So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

    And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 NRSV)

    These verses seem clear, without ambiguity. Jesus commanded his followers to give and pray in secret. Why, then, do so many Evangelicals think it important for them to tell me that they are praying for me?

    Second, I ask Evangelical readers in the comment guidelines to not leave “I’m praying for you” comments. Unlike some readers of this blog, I find no value or purpose in telling people you are praying for them. God is a myth, and so is “answered” prayer. I view prayer in the same light as I do God — a waste of time. It’s fine if Christians think differently, but understand that telling me that you are beseeching the God of the Bible on my behalf does little more than irritate me. Why do something that you KNOW will irritate the hell out of me? Especially since my knowing that someone is praying for me plays no part in whether God answers said prayer.

    Third, praying for me is literally the least you can do for me, no different than politicians who offer up “thoughts and prayers” when there is another mass casualty shooting. Countless Christian prayers will be offered up for the dead. Why? They are dead. Instead of prayers, how about actually doing something that will make a meaningful difference?

    Thousands of people have allegedly prayed for me. I say allegedly because I know Evangelicals are famous for lying about praying for others, or they briefly pray one time and move on. Instead of doing something that will tangibly improve my life, Evangelicals choose the one thing — prayer — that does nothing for me.

    I have been blogging for seventeen years. I can count on two fingers the number of Evangelicals who have done something material for me; something that would make a difference in my life. The two people I have in mind sent me money to help with my needs. Is this not the essence of loving your neighbor as yourself? I am known for being a big tipper when we go out to eat. During the holidays, it is not uncommon for me to leave a tip equal to the bill total. I do this for one reason; to be a blessing and help to others — no strings attached. I should add that these two people — both preachers — have left Christianity. Beware of giving money to Bruce Gerencser. It could cause you to lose your faith. 🙂

    One of my biggest beefs with Evangelical churches is that they rarely, of ever, do anything just to be a help to others. Years ago, an Evangelical preacher named Iggy left a comment detailing all the things he and his church did to be a blessing to others. I dared to question the motivations behind these acts of love. Boy, did we have a digital fight. 🙂 I concluded that the goal was not helping others as much as it was advertising the church’s and pastor’s name.

    Will this post keep Evangelicals from saying they are praying for me? Silly boy, of course not. Evangelicals gonna do what Evangelicals do.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Christian Say the Darnedest Things: Public Schools are “Pagan Seminaries” Says IFB Pastor Robert Reed

    pastor robert reed

    By Robert Reed, pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Coden, Alabama, as published on The Transformed Wife

    “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

    Public schools (kindergarten through high school) have proven to be a Trojan horse for school children in America, and colleges and universities throughout our land.

    Public schools are not public, they are controlled almost completely by the state and federal government. These schools are not only brainwashing the children, they are also very expensive. Education ranks with defense and welfare as one of the three major expenditures of government. In 2000, the average amount of dollars spent per pupil was nearly $7,000.00. Nearly every politician runs his campaign on the issue of education because it is big business in our nation. If God is not welcome in the public school system, why on earth would anyone want to send his or her children there? In fact, we send missionaries around the world to convert the heathen and send our children to schools that teach the heathens’ ways. Have we lost our minds?

    ….

    The public school system has been flawed from the very beginning. It has never been good, and no, it did not go bad in the 1960’s when prayer was taken out of the schools. Even though there have been good people in the system, the conception of state-controlled education is from hell. Public education claims to be neutral on religion, but there is no such thing as neutrality in religion. What they mean is that biblical Christianity cannot be taught, but humanism, evolution, globalism, etc. can be taught. The public school system is very hostile toward Christianity, in other words, the system hates God. The two principle founders of government schools in America hated God and biblical Christianity (Horace Mann, the father of education in America and of the Unitarian Faith and John Dewey, the father of progressive education, and the co-author of The Human Manifesto I). John Dewey was an atheist. In Colossians 2:8, we are told to take warning lest we be spoiled (robbed) through philosophy. Philosophy is simply the love of wisdom apart from God. Many philosophers are admired, quoted, and followed in the public school. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were mentally deranged, hated God, and yet their teaching is prevalent in education.

    Plato’s ideal society was to have the government to train the children, eliminating parental authority and influence. The goal of public education is to make loyal state citizens, taking the children from their parents.

    Karl Marx called for the abolition of the family, desiring to stop the exploitation of children by their parents.

    In Europe, the Prussian monarchs adopted government education as a way of producing children of the state, and other European nations followed suit.

    In Germany, Hitler used education and the authority and power of the state to accomplish his agenda.

    As one writer so plainly said, “State controlled education is a blueprint for tyranny.” Hitler’s youth became loyal followers of the state and marched to the drumbeat of Nazi ideals. This was seen in the oaths and pledges of the youth in Germany at that time. Hitler gained control of the entire nation by gaining control of the education system. Government schools are common among dictatorial nations. When the communist came to power in Russia, government controlled education was one of the first things to be incorporated. Even in ancient times, nations wanted control of the children. Pharaoh wanted the Israelite children (Exodus 10:9-11), and Babylon wanted to control the training of the children taken captive (Daniel 1:3-5). This is not a new tactic.

    ….

    The answer is simple; get your children out of the system (II Corinthians 6:14-18). We are not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12:1-2) and evil communication corrupts good manners (I Corinthians 15:33). The system is anti-God, anti-Christian, and anti-family. Every public school should be shut down in America, and this could be done if it was not tax funded. There is a war going on for the souls of our children. The indoctrination of our children goes on for twelve years, seven hours a day, one hundred and eighty days a year. Be obedient to God’s Word and learn not the way of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:2).

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Sacrilegious Humor: Religion by Daniel Sloss

    daniel sloss

    This is the latest installment in the Sacrilegious Humor series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a comedy bit that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please email me the name of the bit or a link to it.

    Today’s video is titled Religion by Daniel Sloss.

    Video Link

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Quote of the Day: The Disconnect Between Jesus and Evangelical Christians

    stephen colbert

    If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition … and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.

    — Stephen Colbert, as reported by Snopes

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • What IFB Christians Mean When They Say, “I Am Not Being Fed”

    photo of a man in a red shirt feeding a baby
    Photo by Photo By: Kaboompics.com on Pexels.com

    I preached my first sermon at age fifteen. All told, I preached more than 4,000 sermons over the course of thirty-five years. I spent twenty-five years actively pastoring churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. I started out in the ministry preaching primarily topical and textual sermons. In the mid- to late-80s, I began preaching primarily expositional sermons — book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I love preaching expositionally. This approach forced me to be true to the text. For example, in the early 90s, I preached more than one hundred sermons from the book of John. I also preached through much of the New Testament, along with preaching sermons from Genesis, Exodus, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, and the major/minor prophets.

    Over the years, thousands of people heard me preach, both at the churches I pastored and at revivals, conferences, and special meetings. There were times when people disagreed with me on this or that theological subject or objected to my Calvinistic beliefs. These folks would grumble and complain to their fellow members, saying they were no longer being “fed.” In time, off they would go, looking for a new pastor to “feed” them. It was not uncommon for me to hear that they missed my preaching or missed our church, but rarely did they return. To do so would mean admitting they were wrong as to the reasons they left.

    That’s not to say that people were always wrong for leaving. No church or pastor can be all things to all people. I had certain beliefs that upset people. I completely understand why an Arminian Christian might be offended by my Calvinistic preaching. Calvinism and Arminianism are incompatible with each other, but I pastored more than a few Arminian Christians. They like me as a person or my family, so they ignored my Calvinistic beliefs, while, at the same time, accepting and appreciating my focus on holiness — without which no man shall see the Lord.

    One thing I never did was change my preaching to please people. Preaching expositionally kept me from chasing rabbits or letting my feelings dictate what text I would preach from. Congregants knew ahead of time what text I was preaching from. This allowed them to read and study the text beforehand, though, to be honest, I doubt that many members did.

    That’s not to say that Christians are never justified in looking for a church that “feeds” them. Some pastors are dreadful preachers, delivering rambling, incoherent, shallow sermons. After hearing such sermons, I don’t blame people for looking for a new church.

    Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • What IFB Christians Mean When They Say, “I Need a Good Church Home”

    somerset baptist church 1989

    It is not uncommon to hear Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Christians say, “I need a good church home. Any suggestions?” This question is typically used by people who are either disgruntled members or people who are moving to a new community and need a church to attend.

    Due to their emphasis on doctrine and social practices, it is not uncommon for IFB congregants to get upset over something their pastors said or did. Church splits are common, with offended members moving on to other IFB congregations. I pastored an IFB church in southeast Ohio for eleven years. The church grew rapidly, exceeding 200 in attendance in the mid-80s. During this time, two nearby IFB churches had splits. Overnight, our attendance increased by 50 people. These folks were committed followers of Jesus. I knew a bit about the splits at their churches, but decided to accept them as members, even though I knew that this was risky for me to do. Why? People coming from church splits typically don’t stay for the long term. And sure enough, two years later, every one of our new members had returned to their previous churches. The very problems they had at their previous churches cropped up at their new church. Disagreements over my preaching and how the church operated arose, leading these people to move on. I did not attempt to keep them, knowing that their previous churches were “home.”

    Often, IFB Christians move to a new community. The first thing they do is to look for a church home. It may be a community with 10 churches, but if they aren’t “like-minded” congregations, IFB Christians will not visit them. From their perspective, non-IFB churches are liberal or worldly. When no IFB church is available, it is not uncommon for people to start new churches. In their minds, every community needs a sin-hating-Bible-preaching IFB church. Of course, as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, people who start new churches can/do leave for friendlier confines.

    I learned as a pastor that people come and go. I also learned that I couldn’t make everybody happy. And, finally, I learned not to burn the bridges I had built with leaving members. Over the years, numerous congregants left to find a new church home, only to return a few years later. Without exception, I welcomed them back into our church — no strings attached. Sometimes, these folks stayed, but others would, in time, become disgruntled again. Two families came and went three times in eleven years. Something in my preaching would upset them, and off they would go to “friendlier” churches.

    Are you a current/former IFB church member? Did your churches have a lot of turnover? Please share your experiences in the comment section.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Fundamentalist Preacher Says New Telescope Used to Deceive People

    rubin observatory telescope

     We are not sure how long the new telescope has been operating. We [I, Derrick Thiessen] just found out about it last night, and unbelieving scientists are touting it as the miracle of science. [What Tee can’t be bothered to name is the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile.]

    ….

    Since the universe is not expanding, dark energy most likely does not exist, and we do not think that dark matter exists either. It is just more made-up stuff by unbelieving scientists.

    ….

    Unbelieving scientists continue to chase the wrong things using the wrong tools and going down the wrong path. Then, while dismissing this telescope is easy, Christians need to be more on guard.

    ….

    The telescope may be an amazing piece of human construction and technology, but its main goal, whether stated or unstated, is to continue to deceive Christians and unbelievers.

    It cannot find evidence for things that never existed. It can only capture what God did at creation. Anything else is read into the images by unbelieving scientists. Why do we find evidence for God everywhere? It is because God knew that humans would be exploring the heavens, the earth, and the oceans.

    He made sure they were without excuse at the final judgment. God has let Himself, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit be known easily.

    — Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, Don’t Be Fooled

    The new telescope has been advertised that it could possibly find the origins of the universe.

    ….

    However, finding the origin of the universe is impossible.

    The origins are gone, and the only evidence that there was an origin is the fact that the universe and everything in it exists today. The title of that video is misleading, but it also shows how arrogant and unintelligent scientists are.

    The arrogance leads them to think they can build a telescope that can see into the past (which the video states it may do). The past is gone, and God is not going to be found repeating what he already did.

    This leads to the unintelligent aspect of scientists. They think they can find something that no longer exists. Also, they think they can find a natural origin that never took place and never existed. That is just dumb.

    We have the origin of the universe that everyone can read [the Bible], and no one has to spend billions of dollars to find it. All one has to do is buy or borrow a bible, read the first few verses of Genesis one, and they have the origins of the universe.

    ….

    No matter what man does and marvels at, God has done it bigger, better, and more glorious. When you watch these videos, keep in mind what we wrote in the previous article on the telescope. It cannot see into the past, it cannot see creation or the origin of the universe, and it is never better than what God did.

    — Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, An Impossible Task

    Video Link

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.