Bruce, do you have a “soulmate”? The short answer is “no.”
First, I don’t don’t have a “soul” and neither does Polly, my partner of forty-seven years. There’s no evidence for the existence of the soul, and without one, I can’t have a “soulmate” and neither can Polly.
Second, there are millions of females on planet Earth I could have married and been happy with. Am I really expected to believe that Polly was the only person for me; that if I had never married her, I wouldn’t be happy? This is absurd, to say the least.
That said, I am happily married. By all accounts, we have a good marriage, and we get along with each other 98.9% of the time. All I am saying is that had I met a different woman and married her, it is possible we could have been happily married too. Of course, we also could have had the marriage from hell. Life is a crapshoot, and that includes marriage.
Do you have a soulmate? How do you know that person is the only person out of eight billion people just for you? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Suppose I woke up tomorrow morning and decided that I wanted to be a Christian. I realize that seems unlikely, but that’s not the point here. And because it isn’t the case that I want to be a Christian, we can set aside the “why” questions. What I’d like us to consider is the far more intriguing “how” questions. How would I become a Christian? Is there a series of steps I could go through that would get me there? If I got there, how would I know I was there? And if I thought I was there, would most Christians accept me as one of them?
What might be a good first step if I wanted to be a Christian?
Jack asks an excellent question, one I hope Christian readers will answer.
There are thousands of Christian sects, each with their own beliefs and plans of salvation. How can an unbeliever possibly know with certainty how to become a Christian? As a pastor, my understanding of Christian salvation changed over the years. As my theology evolved, so did my soteriological beliefs.
If you profess to be a Christian, how does one become a follower of Jesus? If you are a former Christian, what did you believe about salvation? Did your soteriological beliefs change over the years? Please share your experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Stephen Melton, former pastor of Big Spring Presbyterian Church in Newville, Pennsylvania, recently pleaded guilty to paying prostitutes for sex.
A former Newville pastor is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty Monday to charges that stemmed from a human trafficking investigation at GL Massage in November.
Officials said Stephen Melton worked as a pastor at the Big Spring Presbyterian Church, during which he met up with a prostitute multiple times a week for over a year.
These visits occurred starting in April of 2023, court records showed.
An affidavit for Melton stated he recognized women at the business as possibly trafficked individuals, but continued visiting the parlor for sexual services.
The reason he chose GL in particular, was reportedly because of its location being on his way home from church.
During an interview with the pastor, police stated Melton admitted to giving some of the prostitutes flowers, food, and clothing.
Melton’s arrest was also part of a large scale operation by the Cumberland County Human Trafficking Task Force named “Closed2Trafficking”, which started in 2023.
CBS 21 confirmed with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office that Melton pleaded guilty Sept. 8 of 2025 to patronizing prostitutes.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Aaron Williams, Jr., pastor of Maddox Memorial Church of God in Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, stands accused of having sex in an SUV with a woman who is not his wife.
Aaron Williams Jr., an aspiring politician and pastor of Maddox Memorial Church of God in Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, is set to be arraigned in Mansfield Municipal Court on Tuesday after he was arrested in late August for allegedly engaging in a sex act with a woman who is not his wife in the back of an SUV at the Clearfork Reservoir Park.
The Mansfield Police Department confirmed with The Christian Post on Monday that Williams was arrested for public indecency. But when contacted by CP, Williams denied he was arrested and alleged he was dealing with political persecution.
“I wasn’t arrested. It’s politically motivated,” Williams told CP before clamming up and insisting he would make no further comment.
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On his church’s website, Williams is presented as the son of the church’s late pastor, a “devoted husband,” “proud father of three beautiful daughters” and a Gulf War veteran who is deeply committed to his community.
“Above all,” states the church, “Pastor Williams lives to please God, serve His people, and inspire transformation in everyone he encounters.”
Records provided by the Mansfield Police Department show that at about 1:32 p.m. on Aug. 30, a patrol officer saw a grey 2022 Land Rover in Picnic Area #1 at Clearfork Reservoir Park. The officer saw Williams and a woman, CP has chosen not to identify because she is not a public figure, in the back seat of the vehicle, engaging in a sex act. Both of them were charged with public indecency.
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Williams took over the leadership of the church in September 2016 from his late father. Online broadcasts from the church on Sunday did not show him at his pulpit.
When asked if he was still the pastor of the church, the 56-year-old said he had no further comment.
In an earlier interview with The Roys Report, Williams said he never told anyone he was perfect and argued that his misconduct was being “blown out of proportion.”
“I’m not a villain. … I know people jump on stuff like this because they always want to look for something that the church is wrong about,” he told the news outlet. “I never said I was better than anybody or higher and mightier than anybody. I’ve never said I was holier than anybody.”
Williams told CP that he regrets making those comments to The Roys Report, insisting his words were being taken out of context, and questioned why the story was being covered by CP.
When informed that the role of pastor is in a high public office in the context of the Church, he ended the interview after stating that: “Nobody can hold me more accountable than the Father, myself or my family.”
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
In 2023, Albert Wharton, former pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Warsaw, Virginia, was accused of 22 felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 13 while in a custodial position and eight felony counts of aggravated sexual assault. Victory Baptist is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation.
A former pastor of an independent Baptist church in the town of Warsaw in Richmond County is facing 30 felony charges relating to multiple incidents the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office alleges occurred at the church between 1981 and 1997.
Albert Benjamin Wharton, 86, of South Carolina, was arrested in South Carolina at 8:42 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 8 by investigators from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and South Carolina’s Pickens County Sheriff’s Department.
On the same day, Wharton was extradited to the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Richmond County.
Sheriff Steve Smith of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said Wharton’s arrest was the culmination of a 15-month investigation into more than two dozen alleged incidents that occurred while he was a preacher at Berachah Academy between 1981 and 1997. The academy has since closed.
Wharton was charged with 22 felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 13 while in a custodial position and eight felony counts of aggravated sexual assault.
“Wharton has lived and served seven churches in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida over the past four decades,” Sheriff Smith said.
Today, Wharton was sentenced to eight years in prison for his crimes.
A former Warsaw pastor at Victory Baptist Church in Richmond County will spend eight years behind bars for child sex crimes committed between 1981 and 1996.
Dozens gathered inside of a Richmond County courthouse in the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 8 in the small town of Warsaw. The anticipated hearing was set to determine the sentence for 88-year-old Albert Wharton, a former pastor at Victory Baptist Church.
In 2023, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department arrested and charged Wharton with 22 felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 13 while in a custodial position and eight felony counts of aggravated sexual assault.
According to deputies, the crimes were committed at the church’s former school, Berachah Academy, where Wharton was a pastor.
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In June, Wharton entered an Alford plea for eight of those charges. Meaning he is maintaining his innocence while recognizing the Commonwealth’s evidence could find him guilty if this case were sent to trial. The remaining charges were nolle prosequi — meaning officials are declining to prosecute.
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Four victims shared impact statements during the sentencing hearing. Many were brought to tears as they recounted the sexual acts. Some shared that Wharton abused his role as a pastor and say they were beaten and touched inappropriately. Every victim shared the emotional and mental toll this has taken on their lives and said they wish Wharton would take accountability.
Four of Wharton’s family and friends also spoke out during the hearing to share who they know Wharton to be. Many stated that the actions he was charged with was unlike the character they knew. Instead, they described Wharton as a caring, loving, man of God. Wharton’s daughter was among those to speak in Wharton’s character. She described Wharton as her hero and a great example for her kids.
Wharton’s defense attorney shared during his argument to the judge that Wharton does not deserve to die in prison. He cited the 88-year-old’s health as a reason for the judge to suspend his sentence or give him a shortened or at home incarceration.
The Richmond County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Elizabeth Trible, argued that Wharton’s age should not be a factor.
“Mr. Wharton used the girls ages in order to commit these crimes against them and attempted today to use his own age to avoid responsibility for these crimes. I am pleased that the judge didn’t accept that argument,” Trible said.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Let me beat a soapbox for a moment. I fully support the 2nd Amendment. Guns are not the issue. Lack of training isn’t even the issue. As many have said, if guns kill people, then forks make us fat and pencils make mistakes. The issue has always been with the person using the gun, fork, or pencil. What makes the person do what they did? If the gun was removed, they would just find some other way to enact the violence. [Note: Most school shootings are committed by Christians.]
There will be a host of people in the world who will claim “mental illness” is to blame. I’m not denouncing the fact that mental illness is a real thing. However, in many situations like this, it seems to be an internal rage that finally explodes.
Why are people so angry in our world? Why does it seem that the rage is growing to the point where it cannot be contained?
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When people reject God and His Lordship, they must have something to worship because we are created as worshipping beings. Without God, there must be another god that is worshipped. Whether it be self, nature, or some inanimate statue, those gods are colossal failures, disappointing all who worship them. Disappointment heaped upon disappointment causes people to lash out in anger. Couple that with the fact that the Lord “gave them up” to feel the full brunt of their emptiness without God, and disaster is sure to happen.
Only God can temper the temper and contain the rage that builds in a person.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Bruce and Polly Gerencser, May 1978, two months before our wedding
For those of us raised in high-demand religious sects, we know how much we missed out on while we were busy worshipping Jesus every hour of every day, week in and week out. I spent the majority of my life deeply immersed in the teachings of the Bible and the machinations of the ministry. All told, I attended over 8,000 church services, revival meetings, youth rallies, and Bible conferences. At least three times a week for the first fifty years of my life, I could be found within the four walls of Bible-believing, Bible-preaching churches. I was a committed, devoted follower of Jesus, as was my partner, Polly. When we married in 1978, we made a commitment to follow Jesus all the days of our lives. Our children were born into and lived in a home where Evangelical Christianity permeated everything we did. This is not to say that Polly and I were perfect Christians. We were not. Both of us sinned, and, on occasion, grievously so. That said, the bent of our lives was towards holiness, without which, the Bible says, “no man shall see the Lord.”
The Bible — my interpretation of it, anyway — was the foundation of our family. Thus, there were a lot of things we didn’t or couldn’t do because of our beliefs. This means we missed out on doing many of the things — good, bad, and indifferent — our peers did. Polly, in particular, lived a sheltered life, attending an Evangelical Christian high school. I was more worldly in the sense that I attended a large public high school and was more exposed to the world than she was. That said, Jesus, the Bible, and the church were the sum of our lives until we were in our late 40s.
Polly will turn sixty-seven in October, and I turned sixty-eight in June. Both of us are on the short side of life; I, in particular, with all the health problems I have. As we reflect on our pasts, we can’t help but regret missing out on so much of life. In recent years, we’ve decided to do some of the things we were forbidden from doing. Our only rule these days is this: we are free to do whatever we want to do. No God or Bible to consult. All that matters is whether we want to do something, and if we can afford it, off we go, experiencing and enjoying what little life we have left.
This is especially true when it comes to music. Over the past three years, we have attended numerous “secular” concerts, so much so that several workers at one venue know us by name. So far this year, we have heard (main acts):
Girl Named Tom
The Fray
Augustana
1985 (a tribute band)
Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band
Buffalo Rose
Parmalee
Four Horsemen (Metallica Tribute Band)
Dorothy
Redferrin
In October, we plan to see Killer Queen (a tribute band) at The Clyde Theater in Fort Wayne and Seether, Daughtry, and POD at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights, Michigan. In November, a Blackstone Cherry concert is on the schedule, as is One Dark Night (a Halloween-themed concert, theatrical production). You might think that we are attending a lot of concerts — and we are — but consider how limited I am physically. I can walk short distances with a cane, but anything more than that requires a wheelchair. Fortunately, we have found three music venues that are ADA-friendly; places where we aren’t stuck in a back corner somewhere, out of sight, out of mind. Besides, we have eclectic music tastes. We love live music, so we are to be found at everything from country to heavy metal concerts.
Are you a former member of a high-demand religion that put onerous requirements on how you lived your life? How has your life changed? Have you experienced things now that you missed out on in your Christian days? Please share your experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Virtually all Christians claim that God is “love.” Sadly, few believers bother to square this claim with the Bible. Liberal and progressive Christians tend to ignore anything in the Bible that doesn’t square with the “god is love” claim. Certainly, they can find Biblical justification for this claim, but doing so requires a helter-skelter hermeneutic. Evangelicals, on the other hand, typically have a two-faced deity: a God of love and a God of judgment. While both viewpoints find rationalization for their beliefs within the pages of the Bible, Evangelicals tend to have a more complete view of God, albeit one that they routinely distort and corrupt. Both sides are willing to reinterpret the Bible to justify their claims.
While it is certainly true that God is love, it is also true, as Richard Dawkins said, that:
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.
While Dawkins specifically mentions the God of the Old Testament, his observation applies to the God of the New Testament — Jesus. Most Christians are trinitarians. Trinitarianism is the belief that:
One God who exists eternally as three distinct, co-equal, and co-eternal persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. While God is one in essence or substance, these three persons are distinct but share the same divine nature, making God both one and three at the same time.
This means, of course, that the God of the Old Testament is the same deity revealed in the New Testament. When God drowned the entire human race save eight people, and killed countless animals, that deity was Jesus. And when God unleashes the horrific violence recorded in the book of Revelation, that deity, again, is Jesus. As God, Jesus is culpable for the violence and bloodshed attributed to God. You can’t be a trinitarian and deny this conclusion.
I have no doubt that many Christians wish that the early church had rejected the Old Testament as part of the canon of Scripture, but they didn’t, saddling Christians with a God they increasingly find distasteful and hard to defend. Liberals and progressives tend to focus on Bible verses that promote the idea that love is God’s primary attribute. However, it is hard to take the Bible at face value and come to this conclusion. Evangelicals typically embrace the sum of God as presented in Scripture, but this leaves them with having to defend all sorts of things, including rape, incest, genocide, and slavery. I have listened to numerous Evangelicals on atheist call-in shows try to defend God’s honor, without success. Why? Some of God’s behavior is without justification or excuse. He may be a God of love, but he is also a bloodthirsty deity; a God whose behavior is antithetical to the moral beliefs of both atheists and Christians alike.
Personally, I prefer to live in a “God is love” world. I suspect most of you have similar sentiments. That said, the real world is dominated by religions with long histories of violence and bloodshed — especially the Abrahamic sects. While I find the “God is love” claim intellectually lacking, I know the world is better off when both believers and unbelievers alike practice love, mercy, kindness, and compassion.
Let me conclude this post with a short video by Justin, the man behind the Deconstruction Zone. In a few minutes, Justin Holmes, a former Evangelical preacher, dismantles the “God is love” claim. If you object to what I have shared in this post, please provide a theological argument for your objection. Better yet, refute Justin’s video (which I am confident you will not be able to do). And when I say “refute,” I mean show that Justin is errantly interpreting the Bible.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Brett Kitko, pastor of The Phoenix at Central Park Church in Kernersville, North Carolina, stands accused of indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape/sex offense with a child.
A Winston-Salem man is facing child sex crime charges, according to court records.
Brett Martin Kitko, 50, of Winston-Salem, is accused in the warrant of having sex with a child.
Kitko is being charged with indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape/sex offense with a child.
According to the warrant, the offenses took place in August 2001. Kitko was taken into custody on Aug. 19.
The Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office confirms Kitko’s employment as senior pastor at Phoenix Church.
Kitko was given a $300,000 unsecured bond and appeared in court on Monday.
Kitko’s attorney told FOX8 that he will be pleading not guilty.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Jose Fierro, a youth pastor at Revival Youth Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, stands accused of aggravated luring of a minor for sexual exploitation.
A youth pastor in the Tucson area has been accused of luring a minor.
The Oro Valley Police Department said 25-year-old Jose Fierro was arrested on Tuesday.
The OVPD said Fierro, a maintenance worker at The Golf Villas at Oro Valley and a youth pastor at Revival Youth Tucson, is facing a charge of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.
During his initial court appearance Tuesday night, a judge set his bond at $25,000. It appears he was able to post the bond as he was not in the Pima County Adult Detention Complex as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
His next court appearance was set for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 15.
The OVPD said Fierro goes by “Bebecito Fierro” on social media.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
