Ask one hundred Christians to define “True Christianity,” and you will end up with dozens of definitions. Put Church of Christ, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Reformed, and Apostolic preachers in the same room and ask them to define “True Christianity” and you will hear all sorts of explanations for what it means to be a “True Christian.” Each sect defines “True Christianity” differently. Who is right? How can we possibly know who is right? The aforementioned preachers each will appeal to the Bible and church history to justify their claim that they represent “True Christianity.” However, their interpretations widely differ from one another. They can’t all be right. Must one be baptized to be a Christian? Must one speak in tongues and be baptized to be a Christian? Is having faith all that matters, or must good works accompany faith? Is Calvinism or Arminianism “True Christianity?” How can any of us determine which sect, if any, represents, reflects, and teaches “True Christianity?”
I daily read many Evangelical blogs and websites. Rarely does a week go by without an Evangelical preacher opining on “True Christianity.” I have always found this odd since their target audience is people who are already “True Christians.” Why must the already saved be reminded of their status with God? Supposedly, the Holy Ghost lives inside of EVERY Christian. The Holy Spook is their teacher and guide, giving them everything they need for life and godliness. Or so says the Bible, anyway. Yet, Sunday after Sunday, Evangelical preachers stand before their congregations, reminding them of the requirements of “True Christianity.” Preachers repeatedly chastise congregants for not practicing what they believe are the basics of Christianity: daily Bible reading and prayer, regular church attendance, giving tithes and offerings, sharing your faith with unbelievers, and practicing the teachings of the Bible (as interpreted by your sect/church/pastor.) Most Evangelicals fail to follow and practice the basics of “True Christianity.” Does this mean that they aren’t “True Christians?” Some Evangelical talking heads will say, “Yes, Evangelical churches are filled with fake Christians; people who are posers, not possessors; people who have head knowledge and not heart knowledge of “True Christianity.”
I contend that these proponents of “True Christianity” — however they define it — preach a bastardized gospel that distorts what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. Right beliefs trump right behavior. Certain external behaviors such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph are valued far more than others in the Bible, such as helping the poor, sick, hungry, and dying. Could it be that Evangelicals have missed the mark and are preaching a gospel contrary to the teachings of Christ?
In Matthew 22:36-40, we find the Pharisees and Sadducees trying to trip up Jesus by asking him questions. One Pharisee, a lawyer, asked him: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus replied:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Jesus told those gathered to hear him that the entirety of the Old Testament hangs on two commandments:
Loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind (or might)
Loving my neighbor as myself
When was the last time you heard an Evangelical preacher sum up “True Christianity” by saying, “The True Christian loves God with all his heart, soul, and mind, and loves his neighbor as he loves himself?” I preached it during the latter years of my time in the ministry, but I can’t recall another Evangelical preacher emphasizing that these two commands are the sum, the essence of what it means to be a Christian.
I always reversed these commands, saying you don’t love God if you don’t love your fellow man. Think of how Evangelical zealots treat me and other unbelievers, thinking that atheists, agnostics, pagans, and other non-Christians aren’t their neighbors, so they don’t have to treat them with love, compassion, and kindness. Long-time readers of this blog know that some of the meanest, nastiest sons-of-bitches in all of Christendom are Evangelical Christians. “But, Bruce, atheists can treat Christians poorly too.” Yep, but just because they do doesn’t mean you get to treat them in kind. Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and turn the other cheek. When was the last time you felt “love” from an Evangelical Christian?
In Matthew 25 and other passages in the Bible, Christians are reminded that they are duty-bound to love their neighbors and care for the least of them. Most Evangelicals vote Republican and support Donald Trump, a party and presidential hopeful who despises people of color, immigrants, widows, orphans, and the marginalized of society. They vote for and enact policies and laws that show they don’t love their neighbors. According to Jesus’ own words, this means that they don’t love God.
Words are cheap. Jesus said, “Show me your faith. Show me what you really believe.” James reiterated this when he said, “Faith without works is dead.” Jesus told his followers that we show what we love by how we spend our money. Churches spend boatloads of money feeding the flock, choosing to make fat sheep fatter. How much money is actually spent on “loving your neighbor as yourself?” That’s a rhetorical question — but in reality, not much. And if you object to my broad characterization of Evangelicalism, please send me your church’s annual budget. The real budget; the one that lists the actual expenditures of the church. Most churches spend less than ten percent of their income on “the least of these.”
The next time an Evangelical tries to explain “True Christianity” to you, ask him about the two greatest commandments: love God, love your neighbor. He will likely hem and haw, saying “Who is my neighbor?” Or he might say that they show their “love” for their neighbor by evangelizing them.” Most likely, the Evangelical will ignore you, saying that unbelievers don’t know anything about the Bible.” How hard can it be to understand what Jesus is saying in Matthew 22? Even a third grader can understand that “True Christianity” is defined by love for God and love for your neighbor.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
There are over 4,000 religions in the world. These sects can be categorized under six headings: Christianity (31%), Islam (24%), Hinduism (15%), Buddhism (7%), Folk Religion (6%) and Other (17%). According to Wikipedia, 63% of the world self-identify as religious; 22% as non-religious, and 11% as convinced atheists. While the number of atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers, especially those who identify as “nones” continues to increase, their overall percentage of the world population is static or in decline. The best explanation is that religious people tend to have larger families and more children.
According to the Pew Research Center, 71% of Americans self-identify as Christian, 6% as non-Christian, and 23% as “nones” — those who are atheists, agnostics, or indifferent towards religion. Christianity breaks down thusly:
Evangelical — 25%
Catholic — 21%
Mainline Protestant — 15%
Black Protestant — 7%
Mormon — 2%
Jehovah’s Witnesses — 1%
Orthodox — 1%
Non-Christian religions:
Judaism — 2%
Islam — 1%
Buddhism — 1%
Hinduism — 1%
According to the Pew Research Center, non-believers (unaffiliated/”nones”):
Atheism — 3% (this number is misleading since some religions, such as Buddhism, as atheistic)
Agnostic — 4%
Nothing in particular — 16%
In the United States, non-Christians are a larger demographic than Evangelicals. You wouldn’t know this based on their underrepresentation in the media and civil discourse. Worldwide, two-thirds of people self-identify as something other than Christian. Again, thanks to misrepresentation in the media, most people, especially Americans, think Christianity is statistically the largest religion in the world. It’s not, and in Western countries, Christianity continues to decline. Any numeric growth for Christianity is primarily driven by Pentecostal/Charismatic churches in South America and Africa.
Regardless of atheist hopes for a post-religion world, most people hold to some degree or other of religious belief. Granted most people are cultural believers, but when asked to name their team they will gladly do so. Whether they are willing to die or sacrifice their financial well-being for their faith is a whole other question.
Christian apologists point to the pervasive belief in God as evidence for his existence, even though they believe all other deities except theirs are false — no gods, at all. However, isn’t THE issue WHICH God is the one true God; which religion is true? Most religions make truth claims. Few religions believe all deities are the same and all roads lead to Heaven. How can we possibly determine which religion is right? You would think that if Jesus, Allah, or Jehovah are the one true God they would make that clear to everyone. Instead, we have mass confusion.
According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, there are over 200 Christian denominations in the United States and 45,000 worldwide. Each sect has its own beliefs and practices, including what is required to be a Christian. No two Christian sects/churches/pastors/congregants believe the same things, despite the Bible saying that there is one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism. Christians can’t even agree on the basics: salvation, baptism, and communion. If Christians, who have a vested interest in being right, can’t figure out the “truth,” what hope do non-believers have of doing so?
I have concluded that all religions are right; that it is impossible for me to determine who holds the keys to the kingdom, so I have decided they all do. I have also concluded that religion is a human construct; that the Bible that Christians call the “Word of God,” is a human book written by fallible men trying to explain their view of the world, God didn’t create humans, humans created God.
But Bruce, what if after you die you find out that you were wrong about God and Christianity; that the God of the Bible is the one true God? While I have no worries about this being true, if I did find out that I was wrong, I would put the blame squarely on God. He should have made things clearer. He should have clearly stipulated “What a man must do to be saved?” Acts 16: 29-34 states:
Then he [the prison keeper] called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them [Paul and Silas] out, and [the prison keeper] said, Sirs, what must I doto be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Acts 2:38 says:
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 10:9-13 adds:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
And finally, James 2:17-20, 24, 26 says:
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? . . . Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
As you can see, none of these verses says the same thing about what is required to be saved. Faith alone? Faith plus baptism? Repentance plus baptism? Faith plus works? Household salvation? Paul, Peter, James, and Paul all preached different gospels. Which one is right? How could we possibly know which is right? All we have is an ancient religious text and religious leaders telling us what that text means. How can we possibly know if the Bible and its interpreters are right? God could — after all he is GOD, right? — clear this matter up, but no clarification or correction is forthcoming. For 2,000 years now, God has not uttered one word to the human race. He has not attempted to clear up the confusion. If our eternal destiny hangs in the balance, you would think God would make sure we know exactly what we must do to be saved. Instead, all we have is silence. Why is that?
In Luke 16, we find the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers and tell them the truth. Surely, if someone came back from the dead and preached the gospel to them, they would believe, the rich man thought. Abraham told him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. The rich man replied: Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. Abraham said: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
According to Abraham, God will not provide any other evidence except what is written in the Bible (particularly the Old Testament). Never mind the fact that the Bible is hopelessly convoluted and contradictory, your eternal destiny depends on you “rightly” reading and interpreting the Bible. However, the Bible also says 1 Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural [unsaved] person CANNOT receive the things of the Spirit of God. The Bible tells us the unsaved are deaf, blind, dead, and unable to hear, see, or believe the gospel. It is God alone who gives unbelievers the ability to believe. Yet, despite being powerless to believe on their own or save themselves, God will hold them accountable and send them to Hell if they don’t.
Until God shows up or releases a memo straightening this mess out, we have no hope of knowing which sect, if any, is right. We do not have sufficient evidence to make such a decision. Thus, most people will choose and practice the dominant religion of their country or tribe. Choosing a religion is akin to the choice of a favorite football or baseball team. Is it any surprise that my children and most of my grandchildren are Cincinnati Reds and Bengals fans? Of course not — Dad and Grandpa avidly roots for the Reds and Bengals. My children and grandchildren have embraced our tribe’s teams. So it is with religion.
All of this suggests to me that all religions — including Christianity — are human constructs. Once I understood this, I no longer feared being a member of the wrong sect or worshipping the wrong God. And if I am wrong? That’s on God — whomever he/she/they/it may be — not me. I have been diligent in my search for God and the “truthfulness” of the various claims made by religion. While I haven’t studied some religions as I have Christianity, I am confident that all of them are of human origin. And when it comes to Christianity itself, I am convinced that the central claims of Christianity are false and can’t be rationally sustained.
If “God” wants us to “believe,” it is on him/her/them/it to accurately and completely convey to humanity the truth. That this hasn’t happened suggests that God is either busy, on vacation, taking a shit, or, just maybe, he doesn’t exist. My money is on the latter.
My partner of forty-five years, our six children, and sixteen grandchildren have heard me say countless times “I work on information.” Sometimes, Polly or another family member will tell me something without giving me enough information to understand what they are saying. Polly will assume I know who “John” is at work. I typically smile and say, “I work on information. Who is John?” That’s how I view stories about God, Jesus, and salvation. I work on information, and so far that information has not been provided. The best I seem to get are people who say they speak for God, preachers such as Dr. David Tee, Don Camp, Revival Fires, John, and a host of other zealots. Is this the best God can provide?
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
The North American Mission Board (NAMB) spent 2023 serving Southern Baptists in their efforts to reach North America with the gospel through church planting, compassion ministry, evangelism and chaplaincy.
“If we make the Great Commission the top priority, our best years of ministry are ahead of us,” said NAMB president Kevin Ezell. “As Southern Baptists, we’ve faced challenges within our family of churches and dealt with external pressures from our secularizing culture. We continue to focus on Christ and His mission through it all, proclaiming the gospel and participating in God’s mission to build His kingdom in North America and around the world.”
Every year, NAMB tabulates the number of churches Southern Baptists planted the previous year. In 2023, NAMB noted that the class of 2022 church plants—639 new churches—pushed the total of churches Southern Baptists have planted since 2010 beyond the 10,000 mark.
Wow! The Southern Baptist Convention has planted over 10,000 churches since 2010. Reading the excerpt above might give the uninitiated reader the idea that the SBC is g-r-o-w-i-n-g. It’s not.
Within the Southern Baptist Convention, multisite congregations reported 585 campuses in addition to their first location. The SBC saw 416 fewer churches and 165 fewer church-type missions associated with the convention in 2022 than in the previous year.
Fewer churches, not more. The SBC is known for playing games with statistics. “We started 1,000 new churches in 2022! Praise Jesus.” The small print says, “We closed 1,416 churches in 2022, a net loss of 416 churches. Further, a ploy the SBC uses to prop up new church numbers is to close churches and re-open them with a new name. First Baptist Church of Podunk, Kentucky becomes Grace Fellowship of Greater Lexington, Kentucky. Same people (or perhaps more people from a merger with another declining congregation), same pastor (or perhaps a super-duper church planter), and same building.
The numbers are clear, the SBC is in numeric freefall. Having a record Annie Armstrong offering doesn’t change the fact that 13.2 million were on Southern Baptist church membership rolls in 2022, yet on any given Sunday, only 3.8 million people were in attendance at a particular church. Less than 1/3 of Southern Baptist Christians attend church on Sundays. This statistic is the true measure of the health of the SBC.
Membership peaked at 16 million in 2005. That same year, almost 10 million members were nowhere to be found on Sundays.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
If you currently lack faith in Christ, you perhaps balk at the idea that Christianity can be proven scientifically. But if you were to turn to Jesus in repentance and faith, you would start down the path of sanctified reason and a higher level of knowledge that is only attainable by submitting your soul to your Creator and embracing the Gospel for yourself. The One who created us with the ability to do science knows exactly what will happen if you surrender yourself to the overwhelming evidence for Christ’s resurrection and the scientific proof for Christianity.
So, will you accept and rely upon the Gospel promises in God’s Word, rather than your own limited subset of knowledge? Without faith, you will never experience the certainty of salvation. You must first receive the free gift of salvation through faith in the Savior. As Jesus made perfectly clear, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).
Once you rely upon the historical events of the cross and the empty tomb as the basis of your forgiveness of sins, your faith instantly begins to grow into a scientific certainty within your heart. This scientia, sanctified reason, knowledge, science, episteme and assurance will entirely change the way you view life, death and the world to come. It is a proven fact!
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Adam Pepper and his wife Tracee, missionaries to the Dominican Republic with Commission to Every Nation in Kerrville, Texas, were sentenced to seven and five years respectively for sexually assaulting two minors and possessing child pornography.
The Second Collegiate Court of La Vega sentenced two Canadians to seven and five years in prison and suspended from work, for sexual assault and threat against two minors in the El Mirador sector of Jarabacoa. Adam Eric Pepper and his wife Tracee Lynne Pepper (Tracee Lynne Plett), both 35, were also given the payment of 10 official minimum wages and the criminal costs of the trial. The case was submitted by the Comprehensive Care Unit for Victims of Gender-Based Violence, Domestic and Sexual Offences of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of that jurisdiction. The first was serving in pretrial detention since February 2021 in the public prison of La Vega and was sentenced to seven years deprivation of liberty, while his wife was given five years suspensive of work, an impediment to leaving the country and refraining from teaching in educational establishments. The complaint was filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office by the mother of a child under the age of 12, after finding images on her son’s cell phone given to him by Adam Eric Pepper, where the accused is visualized by sexually assaulting him, which he recognized for the pants he was wearing. The defendant, whenever he committed the criminal act, threatened the minor that if he said anything he would fall prisoner and then he would not be able to continue giving gifts. The child ' s mother stated that the accused told him to leave the minor to be with him longer alone and to sign a paper stating that if anything happened to her, he and his wife stayed with the child. Tracee Lynne Pepper is also accused of touching the child and recording sexual images of the boy with another 13-year-old girl, so she was also accused by the youngest’s aunt, who stated that Plett told her that if she dared to say what she was doing she and her family, she would kill her and her family.After a raid on the defendants’ home in April 2021, the Public Prosecutor’s Office occupied them with USB memorabilia, a professional camera with their accessories, a suitcase with high-definition recording equipment, a small digital camera with their accessories to use underwater, among other belongings. Videos with images of minors in sexual activity were found on cameras. The legal qualification granted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to this trial against the accused is for violation of several articles of the Dominican Criminal Code that criminalize and punish the association of criminals to commit sexual threat and assault, as well as sexual, commercial exploitation and the provision of images that violate the honour and dignity of children, in addition to violating articles punishing the production, marketing, acquisition, and possession of child pornography.
A Canadian missionary couple was sentenced to several years in prison by Dominican Republic authorities for sex crimes involving children, according to a press release by the country’s attorney general last Monday.
Adam and Tracee Pepper, missionaries with the missions organization, Commission to Every Nation (CTEN) Canada, were convicted of sexually assaulting and threatening two minors in Jaracaboa, Dominican Republic. The couple, both age 35, are also convicted of possession of child pornography.
Police began investigating the Peppers in 2021 when a mother reported that she found photos on her son’s phone of Adam Pepper assaulting the boy, who was under 12 years old, according to the press release. Pepper reportedly threatened the minor not to reveal the abuse by saying he would stop giving the child gifts. Pepper had previously given the boy a cell phone.
The mother alleged that Adam and Tracee Pepper continually pushed for more alone time with the minor. She added that the couple even had the mother sign a document that stated if the mother were physically unable care for her son, the Peppers would assume custody of him, the press release said.
Tracee Pepper was also convicted of sexually touching the boy and recording sexual images of the boy with a 13-year-old girl. The girl’s aunt told investigators that her niece and family were threatened by the Peppers with harm if they spoke out.
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The couple began working with the missions organization CTEN Canada, an affiliate organization of CTEN, in August 2020, according to Adam’s LinkedIn profile.
When the organization learned of the accusations against the couple, they were decommissioned, Rick Malm, Founder and CEO of CTEN told the The Roys Report(TRR).
Malm said the organization was shocked by the news as CTEN staff thoroughly vetted the Peppers before they joined and found no red flags. CTEN interviewed the couple, the couple’s pastor, and other friends of the pair to conduct a background check, he said.
“My gosh it’s just really heartbreaking,” Malm said. “This is just totally out of the blue.”
Since decommissioning the couple, CTEN notified the Peppers’ church and donors, Malm said. CTEN offered to help the Dominican Republic government with its investigation, but he said the government didn’t ask for any help.
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The Peppers had done missionary work in the Dominican Republic periodically since 2018, according to Adam Pepper’s Facebook page.
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Pepper previously served as a youth leader at both Steinbach Evangelical Mennonite Church from 2005 to 2009 and at La Broquerie Youth Group from 2008 to 2012, according to his LinkedIn.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Sergio Guardia, pastor of Nuevo Amanecer — a Spanish ministry at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and director of Hispanic Ministries for the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia, stands accused of stalking a woman and breaking into her home.
A pastor previously employed with the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia (SBCV) is facing multiple charges, including stalking.
Sergio Guardia was arrested on Nov. 10 with a stalking charge and a separate count of breaking and entering an occupied house to commit a misdemeanor. Another count of the latter was added the next day, according to court records.
A hearing has been set for Feb. 7.
An online search for Guardia lists among the results that he was the director of Hispanic Ministries for the SBCV, working among both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking churches. When the link is clicked, however, a missing page response appears. SBC Workspace lists him serving as campus pastor of Thomas Road en Español-Lynchburg from November 2013 to August 2019.
Guardia also was an occasional columnist for BP en Español, Baptist Press’ Spanish-language website.
Baptist Press left multiple messages for the Lynchburg Police Department for further comment, with none being received by press time.
“Sergio Guardia is no longer employed by the SBC of Virginia,” a convention representative said last week. “He resigned in November. We have been made aware that he is dealing with legal matters, and because of the legalities involved we have no further comment.”
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Recently, Dr. David Tee, who is neither a doctor nor a Tee, coughed up yet another hairball about a post on this site. Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, responded to the post Who Wrote the Bible?, saying that its author, Dr. Philip Almond, is wrong; and that virtually everything this scholar said about the history of the Bible is wrong. Tee, of course, as a hardcore Fundamentalist, thinks whatever he believes about the history of the Bible is right. What qualifications does he have to make such a bold claim? Why, he’s a Christian. That’s it. According to Thiessen, the stupidest Christian knows more about the Bible than scholars such as Almond and Dr. Bart Ehrman.
I will leave it to readers to decide if they want to read Thiessen’s latest monument to ignorance. I do, however, want to point out one thing Thiessen said that I find ROTFL worthy. Thiessen says that no contemporary, first-century secular scholar or historian ever mentioned the Q source — a hypothetical collection of mostly Jesus’ sayings — so Q is a myth.
It should also be noted that no ancient non-Christian writer mentions Q or its existence. It is not and was not a source book for anyone. Even those scholars who claim the manuscript existed do not know when it was written or who wrote it.
Thus the arguments used against the Bible would apply to this document as well. There is no proof for this document anywhere.
It is unrealistic to think that unbelievers would have information about the Bible that Christians do not have. As usual, their efforts to discredit the Bible only backfire on them.
Q doesn’t exist because “no ancient non-Christian writer mentions Q or its existence,” Thiessen opines. Fair enough, but if that is the case, the same can be said about the virgin birth of Jesus, his miracles, and his resurrection from the dead. In fact, many of the people, events, and history mentioned in the Bible aren’t mentioned by “ancient non-Christian writer[s].” Thus, following Thiessen’s illogic to its logical conclusion means that because no ancient non-Christian writer mentions the virgin birth of Jesus, his miracles, and his resurrection from the dead, these things never happened.
Of course, Thiessen will object, saying that I am lying, twisting his words, or any of the other excuses he uses to escape culpability for what he says. I will leave it to readers to determine if I have fairly represented his words.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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.
Elbert “Buddy” Goins, pastor of Mount Hope Christian Church in Mount Hope, West Virginia, stands accused of offering money to have sex with a minor.
The now former lead pastor of Mount Hope Christian Church has been arrested on charges of patronizing a minor victimized by sexual servitude.
Elbert Eugene Goins, known as Buddy Goins, was arrested on December 8 in Beckley. According to the criminal complaint, he had been talking to an adult about having sex with the adult’s purported minor child.
“During the conversations, Goins discussed meeting with the child’s purported guardian and the purported minor child with the intent to pay for sexual services with the minor,” the complaint reads.
When Goins arrived in Beckley to meet who he thought was the adult and the child, members of law enforcement including the West Virginia State Police were waiting. He was arrested and taken to the Beckley Detachment, where he agreed to an interview with state troopers.
The complaint says that he “advised he was communicating with an adult” about having sex with the adult’s minor child.
According to the complaint, Goins suggested that he was hoping to have sex with the adult, but it also says that he knew what could be assumed from that conversation.
The board of the Mount Hope Christian Church has released a statement about the arrest to Newswatch. It says Goins was terminated from his role as lead pastor the next day, Dec. 9.
The board says that they were “shocked” by the arrest. Their statement emphasizes that Goins was not arrested at the church and says that members of the congregation are not involved.
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According to the criminal complaint, the investigation and arrest happened in Raleigh County in Beckley. Mount Hope Christian Church is located in Fayette County.
Goins posted a $50,000 bond. According to records obtained at the Raleigh County Courthouse, his preliminary hearing is set for December 28.
The charges of patronizing a minor victimized by sexual servitude carry significant penalties. He faces at least three years behind bars if convicted, with a maximum sentence of 15 years. He could also face a fine of up to $300,000.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Christianity is a blood cult. Catholics (and Greek and Eastern Orthodox), for example, believe that when they partake of communion the elements supernaturally transform (transubstantiation) into the flesh and blood of Jesus. They are (literally) drinking and eating the blood and flesh of Jesus. Other sects such as Lutherans practice consubstantiation; the flesh and blood of Jesus are present in communion elements, but the elements do not supernaturally transform into the blood and flesh of Christ. Methodists, Presbyterians, and other protestant sects generally believe in the real presence of Jesus in the communion elements. Most Evangelicals practice memorialism. Communion is a memorial to the blood sacrifice and death of Jesus. It is a reminder of what Christ has done on our behalf on the cross.
Regardless of how the communion elements are viewed, the focus of the ritual is the shed blood of Jesus; his atonement for humankind’s sin. This is why Christianity is a blood cult, no different from sects that in the past or present either use animal or human blood in their worship practices. While Christian communion has become normalized, its history traces back to blood cult worship practices of Canaanite tribes.
Let’s suppose I start a church that is opposed to blood cult rituals; a church that views communion as an affront to all that is holy and true. Let’s suppose I wrote a Bible for this new church, one that said offering blood sacrifices to Jesus is a mortal sin and an affront to the one true god, Loki. Let’s suppose this church believes that Christian churches are cult temples, places where children are indoctrinated into believing nonsense such as transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or memorialism.
Believing these blood cult practices are a threat to the health and future of our country, this new church decides to vandalize Christian churches by spraying WARNING BLOOD CULT! DO NOT ENTER UNDER RISK OF ETERNAL DAMNATION! on the exteriors of their buildings. There is one true God, and Loki is his name! The Bible says __________! Surely, our vandalization of Christian church buildings would be justified, right? After all, we were just standing up for our God and the teachings of the “real” Bible. Shouldn’t religious beliefs trump everything, including laws governing vandalizing the property of others?
Americans with any understanding of the U.S. Constitution and our legal system will object, saying that it is never right to vandalize churches, even if one disagrees with their beliefs and practices. The Constitution grants Americans freedom of (and from) religion, regardless of beliefs and practices. In other words, Americans are free to believe crazy shit; and believe me, crackers and wine turning into flesh and blood of Jesus is “crazy shit,” as is the virgin birth, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the various “miracles” attributed to Jesus. Crazy stuff, to be sure, but people are free to believe as they wish.
You would think that Evangelicals (and conservative Catholics and Mormons) would be big defenders of the freedom of (and from) religion and the separation of church and state. Surely Evangelicals want the government and outsiders to stay out of their business; if they want to engage in blood cult rituals, they should have every right to do so. And I agree with them. If snake-handling Primitive Baptists in Kentucky want to handle rattlesnakes during their worship services, believing, according to Mark 16, that God will protect them if they are bitten, who am I to object? Evangelical churches do all sorts of stuff that outsiders might view as whack-a-doodle nonsense, but just because others can’t or won’t understand or accept a religious practice doesn’t mean Evangelicals should stop doing it.
Unfortunately, many Evangelicals give lip service to the First Amendment when it comes to religion. They want the freedom to practice their religion as they wish, yet they don’t want to grant that same right to non-Christian sects, pagans, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and Satanists (both those who worship Satan as a literal being and those who view him as symbol, as is the case with The Satanic Temple).
I am a member of The Satanic Temple. I support and applaud their work defending the separation of church and state. I appreciate their frontal assaults on Christian privilege. Christian churches and parachurch organizations have been abusing the U.S. Constitution my entire sixty-seven years on planet Earth. Wrongly thinking the U.S. is a Christian nation, Evangelicals, in particular, think Christianity should receive preferential treatment. They want the right to have release time programs at public schools such as Lifewise Academy, but don’t want non-Christian groups to have the same right. The Satanic Temple is challenging the preference and reverence public schools give Christian groups by sponsoring After School Satan Clubs for non-Christian children. Predictably, clueless to their own preferential treatment, Evangelicals and other conservative Christians are outraged over school boards permitting “Satan” in public schools.
This past week, we saw this played out in Iowa. The Iowa legislature allows groups to put up displays at the state’s Capitol. Evangelicals, of course, have put up creches and other pro-Christian displays. The Satanic Temple put up a display, one that featured a statute of Baphomet. Local Evangelicals were outraged over “Satan” making an appearance at the Capitol. One Christian, Michael Cassidy, vandalized the statute, removing its head and throwing it in the trashcan.
The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment. Anti-Christian values have steadily been mainstreamed more and more in recent decades, and Christians have largely acted like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot of water. I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged. My conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.
Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief. You would think that Evangelicals would condemn Cassidy’s criminal behavior, but that is not what has happened. Instead, Cassidy is being applauded for his stand against Satan and his defense of Biblical Christianity.
Cassidy’s actions, while in defiance of the Radical Two Kingdoms Ideology of many American evangelicals, are reminiscent of those of the 8th-century missionary Boniface. When confronted with the fact that the Saxons had cultivated a type of syncretism that allowed for the worship of Jesus as one of the many gods in the pantheon, Boniface took an axe to their theory, chopping down Thor’s tree, a pagan shrine, in an act that showed the impotence of the pluralistic pantheon of the Saxon’s. Rubbing the noses of the pagans in their idolatry, Boniface used the wood of Thor’s tree to construct a church.
While many of the “mostly peaceful protestors” of 2020 who destroyed statues escaped prosecution, it is likely that Michael Cassidy will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for his actions. The act of smashing idols in the Iowa Capital will undoubtedly be at the center of the “Christian Nationalism” debate in the days to come. However, one thing is certain: Baphomet, a mere creation of idolaters, is just as weak as Baal, and he won’t be defending himself or his adherents.
Good brothers are disagreeing about the moral and ethical particulars of what happened (almost as if the “Satan” stunt was designed to drive us even further apart), but we can confidently say both that the display was not actually about the real Satan and that Iowa lawmakers should never have gullibly approved of its display.
In our free speech legal tradition, citizens are not discriminated against by not having open access to put up displays in a government building, nor are their rights violated by seeing a display that they disagree with or find offensive, even in a government building. Speech is not violence. The “Satanic” Temple’s identity as a religion is itself a lie, and their adoption of Satan (who is real and has a defined moral identity) is itself a promotion of lawlessness and evil. Our country does not recognize a right to lie nor a right to openly advocate for lawlessness, and Iowa lawmakers should have rejected the group’s childish display as the silly stunt that it was.
As believers, we know that idols and idolatrous displays (much like the food sacrificed to them) have no power. They cannot harm us. In this case, the goofy display of Baphomet put up by the “Satan” group merely joined the chorus of offensive expressions against God that believers are subjected to daily. It is proper that we are offended when we hear or see expression offensive to God, yet in this case we should also be offended by the lack of courage and/or competence of lawmakers who fail to understand that expression cannot be disconnected from meaning.
Much like we are morally obligated to the objectivity of language by insisting (for example) that “male” and “female” correspond to biological reality, a group that identifies with “Satan” should bear the identity of all that Satan implies. They do not get to redefine it, and they don’t get to troll everyone with Satanic idols and then claim “Why you mad, Bro?” non-theism as soon as everyone reacts as if they are truly overtly worshipping Satan. It was a lie, and Iowa lawmakers were stupid for going along with it.
Incidents like this are far more useful to the enemies of Christ than to his people. We were already outraged at the display and at the lawmakers who allowed it. While less consequential, a conservative Christian destroying property to “awaken Christians to government promotion of anti-Christian acts” (despite the categorical difference between allowing expression and endorsing it) is judicially identical to tearing down a statue of Mary outside a Catholic church or spraypainting “Christ is Lord” on the side of a Mosque. It gives fuel to the enemies of Christ by granting undue influence to those seeking to marginalize the Gospel as a message that needs violence and censorship to advance.
The display in question featured a statue of Baphomet, a demonic figure that has long been associated with various occult and mystical traditions and is often interpreted as a symbol of Satan. This particular statue’s presence in a state capitol was a deliberate attempt by the Satanic Temple to assert their “rights” under the First Amendment.
Cassidy, however, took it upon himself to tear down this idol, a brazen embodiment of anti-Christian sentiment, and behead the silver ram’s head of the statue. According to Cassidy, it was a statement about a religion, Christianity, that is under siege in places where it should be respected.
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This statue of Baphomet, a demonic figure, wasn’t merely an expression of artistic freedom—it was a calculated affront, a provocative act designed to incense and belittle the Christian community. The mere presence of such a symbol in a government building is a mockery of our nation’s Christian heritage—a heritage that has been the cornerstone of our moral and ethical compass.
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While Cassidy’s actions have led to legal repercussions, with him facing charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief, his bold stand has resonated with many. The financial support pouring in to cover his legal fees is a testament to the widespread support for his cause—a cause rooted in the defense of faith against the encroachment of sacrilegious mockery.
In times like these, where the lines between right and wrong are blurred by the brushstrokes of political correctness and cultural relativism, it takes the courage of men like Michael Cassidy to remind us of the values we stand for. His actions, while controversial, demonstrate that there are still those who are willing to take a stand against the tide of secularism and sacrilege.
As the legal proceedings unfold, Cassidy’s stand at the Iowa State Capitol will undoubtedly continue to spark debate and discussion. But one thing remains clear, his actions have become a symbol of resistance, a resistance against the encroachment of blasphemous symbols in spaces that should honor our nation’s foundational values. Michael Cassidy’s story is not just about a legal battle, for many, it’s about the battle for the soul of a nation.
In an act of religious conviction, Michael Cassidy, a Christian and former military officer, recently tore down and beheaded a controversial Satanic altar at the Iowa Capitol. The display had already sparked ongoing debate about the role of religious displays in public spaces and the limits of free speech.
In comments exclusively provided to The Sentinel, Cassidy said that he destroyed the shrine to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.” He cited 1 John 3:8 as an additional motivation for his actions: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Some have questioned whether the Constitution or the original intent of the founding fathers would allow for the existence of the shrine. Andrew Walker, an associate professor of Christian ethics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, argued that the state should not promote any “outright celebration of evil, darkness and perversity” and that “moral evil has no intrinsic rights” within a Christian and historically Western legal framework.
Cassidy will be represented by Davis Younts, an attorney and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who served in the JAG Corps. “My client was motivated by his faith to peacefully protest a display that is a direct affront to God,” Younts told The Sentinel. “When others, including elected leaders, were unwilling to act, he peacefully removed the display. It is my hope that the citation will be dismissed when my client’s actions are understood and that he will not face prosecution because of his faith.”
Cassidy’s actions mirror King Hezekiah’s in the Bible when he tore down the High Places. Second Kings 18:4 says, “He removed the high places, broke the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and crushed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had made offerings to it.” Like King Hezekiah, Cassidy felt compelled to take action against abominable idols that were abominable to the Lord in whom they both trust.
These Evangelicals make it clear that Cassidy was justified in vandalizing the statute. Why? It was an affront to Christianity; a mockery of the faith of millions of Americans. Should any of us be permitted to vandalize and destroy anything that offends our personal beliefs, religious or otherwise? Of course not, but the Evangelicals quoted above think otherwise. If Evangelicals can behead “Satanic” statutes or destroy the holiday displays put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, why can’t I and my aforementioned new church spray in bright red letters WARNING BLOOD CULT! DO NOT ENTER UNDER RISK OF ETERNAL DAMNATION! on the front of Evangelical churches? Surely “freedom” of religion applies to everyone, does it not?
Numerous Evangelical leaders and politicians have said that constitutional protections of religious expression and practice don’t apply to The Satanic Temple; and that the United States is a Christian nation. Presidential hopeful and professional asshole Ron DeSantis stated: “Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government.”
We don’t want to yield some kind of power to the government to begin picking and choosing between religious groups. People might hate us and people might want to exclude us, but that simply opens the door to more sectarian battles, and it certainly won’t stop there.
These pro-vandalization Christians think the law applies to non-believers, but not them; that the criminal destruction of the property of others is justified if personal Christian beliefs are offended.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Suppose you were stranded on a small, uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. Suppose you had no exposure to any of the world’s religions; that you know absolutely nothing about God, Jesus, and Christianity. Suppose you only had one book to read: the Protestant Christian Bible. Not a study Bible or a Bible with explanatory notes. Just the sixty-six books with verse and chapter numbering.
Suppose you sat underneath a palm tree and started reading the Bible. You have no understanding of Christianity or Trinitarian theology. You have never heard of Jesus, Jehovah, the Holy Ghost, Moses, Abraham, John, the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, Paul, or the apostles. What conclusions would you come to about what you read? Would you naturally come to the same conclusions as Christians do today?
Try to divorce yourself from past indoctrination and conditioning. What conclusions would you come to after reading the Bible? Would your conclusions remotely resemble what Christians commonly believe or what Evangelicals believe, in particular?
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
