Crimes in the Church

I subscribe to a google feed that sends me news of new church and spiritual scandals. Everyday there are two e-mails in my inbox with some distressing and shameful scandal.

Not all church scandals involve a cult steeped in aberrant doctrines. Many of them involve churches similar to the one down the street from you and I. The ones that make the news are usually the ones that make it to court because someone filed a complaint. All too often, churches choose to keep their dirty linen inside the church walls. This in itself is a scandal, but one known only to God and to those who are scandalized by the complacency of it's members.

This is more than just my opinion as I've followed these church failures, and yes, they are failures and more than that, they're putting the name of Christ to an open shame...but it seems to me that most of these scandals involve either a money crime or a sexual crime. And for every crime involving churches, there has to be a victim. Sometimes it may be money donated by the congregation and then misused or stolen by the clergy, usually the pastor. The congregation is made up not only of the middle class and/or those who can afford a loss without it hurting them, but also of those who can scarcely afford to put food on their table.
Then, on the other hand, a sexual crime usually, but not always involves a young child, such as the 9yr old girl raped and victimized by her pastor.

How often when a church scandal happens and a rogue pastor is exposed do you hear that we are just supposed to pray for him and then forgive him? I agree that we need to do that as well, but we clearly do NOT need to place him back in a place of leadership. The very fact that an ungodly crime happened in the first place is an indication that there is something very wrong going on in whatever church is involved. For example, why wasn't the said wolf in sheep's clothing and his behavior discerned by someone accountable? Isn't that what elders are for?

Back when I was still a young in the LORD Christian, I sought God not only in church, but in His Word and in my prayer closet. I began to get "vibes" if you will that there were things going on in the church, (in this case, a spiritfilled church where such things as sex or money crimes should NEVER happen. The Holy Spirit was warning me, but the leadership seemed to be oblivious.

Like I said, it always seems to be about either sex or money....two of the deadliest sins that man is prone to be capable of. And two that God takes most seriously.

My friend told me that 3 years prior, during a men and boys only church outing that her son had been molested by the church youth minister. He was 13 at the time, but was so confused and ashamed that he didn't tell his mother until he was 16. At that time, she told a friend who was in leadership in the church, who then told the pastor. What happened then was beyond belief. Instead of confronting this perpertrator, the pastor preached what I heard was a firey sermon the next Sunday, and the perp ran to the altar bawling and squalling. The church took this action as "repentance" and then without any form of counseling, or removing him from his position as youth minister. What were they thinking!??

Sadly, this damaged my friend's son beyond belief. This happened many years ago, and although this young man is now grown, married and with a family, he still bears scars from this molestation. However, during the interim period he went through many difficult times that went unministered to. He'd just refused to go back to that church without telling anyone why.

And the church? Well, sexual molestation of a minor child is first of all a CRIME punishable by law. This perp should have been arrested, taken to court and jailed. Also, the church could have been sued to the max by my friend. Neither happened and he went scot free to continue his hidden agenda in the church behind closed doors. Almost.......you see, what happened a few years later, this same perp died (in perfect health" of a heart attack. The first thing that came to me was...."God will not be mocked", especially in his own house called by his name. The next thing that came to me was, "vengance is mine, saith the LORD, I will repay". Apparently, he wasn't kidding when he said that. There was simply no other answer, or reason for this person to die.

God's eye is on the sparrow, and he watches over his little ones. He warned those not to touch one of them, and what would happen if they did. Lest we not forget, we are held responsible if we turn a blind eye toward blatant and obvious sins and misconduct in the household of God.


Link: http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17178:how-should-the-church-respond-to-the-rev-albert-whyley-scandal&catid=50:letters&Itemid=87

Restore My Soul

Don't we all need to have our soul restored on a regular basis? I do..when the wind and waves nearly "sink my ship" I run to Him..and He lifts me above the storm.
Right now, I'm very tired. I know there is peace for me, if I will just cast my cares over on Him. The LORD JESUS CHRIST has big shoulders to lean on.

The Harlot Church System

Charles E. Newbold has written the quintessential book that identifies just who the harlot, apostate, organized religious counterfeit of Christianity really is, in his bold expose, "The Harlot Church System".

This is a MUST READ, for anyone who has struggled with spiritual abuse in the church, or clergy system.

I speak as one who has been through this soul shattering experience, and came out a survivor with a new depth of spiritual understanding and discernment, all by the grace and mercy of God.

How this came about is a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching through the Word of God. A born again, blood bought child of God, truly seeking the TRUTH, who has been caught up unknowingly in the organized false religious system will inevitably arrive at the same conclusions as related in this powerful book.

I came across this after the LORD Himself graciously and mercifully pulled me out of "the church" by His Spirit.



The Harlot Church System: "Come out of her, My people"

The Harlot Church System shows how we have made idols out of the Things we call church and how idolatry is demon-driven, spiritual harlotry.

"Show the house to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern." Ezekiel 43:10

The trumpet of the Lord is sounding an alarm to God's holy remnant to "come out of her My people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4

Willis sentenced in Rape of Tina Anderson

Darn it! I lost the LENGTHY post I've just made due to a sudden power outage, and I'm not in the mood to work another late night making another one. The link I've included, (click on title), says it all!

The point I'd like to make is this...this rape, and the sexual abuse and mistreatment of Tina Anderson was covered up by the very church she'd trusted to protect her.

As I've said before, collusion in churches these days has become rather the rule instead of the exception. I don't like it. And neither should you! It shouldn't happen but it does!

Also, if this one case stood alone, one might chalk it up to an exceptional and unfortunate episode, but no......if you google in "preacher rapes young teen", or "women in the church", or even "young boy", you'll end up with a long list of such heinous spiritual abuses.

Preacher Accused of Raping Women Behind Church

I suppose there are a lot of things I could say about this disgusting situation. Reading the comments under the article I posted, it has clearly been grist for the mill for the atheist bunch to come in with their version of the "truth" that religion is bad because of one fox in the hen house, (church).


I'm sad to say from the continuing headlines of some preacher at some church in America being accused of wrong doing, or downright evil, that it's not exactly conducive to giving unbelievers the desire to seek God, or to come rushing through the doors of their local church. On the contrary, who would want to if they believed this sort of thing was representative of Christianity?

It's sad, and almost discouraging to those of us who believe with our whole hearts that Jesus was and is the Way, the Truth and the Life to see this sort of evil being perpetrated in the household of God...those that go by the name of Christ, calling themselves Christians.

I truly wish better examples of the spiritfilled life were shining forth in America as the rule and not the exception. Sigh.

Nevertheless, what I wish to talk about on this post, is not the bad rap true believers and the Holy Name of Jesus are experiencing as a result of such wickedness but the COLLUSION that's been going on in so many churches when some evil begins to be exposed and made public. What I have been seeing is that instead of being shocked and disgusted by perverts and aberrants in the church, it's become almost norm for churches to collectively rush in to protect the accused and attempt to cover up the wicked behavior and make excuses, usually with the old "judge not" mantra. If you think this isn't so, just read this article, and see that almost no one was aware that this "preacher" was a bonefide wolf in sheep's clothing, operating right under their noses. I mean, where is the spiritual discernment? Eyes to see, ears to hear? Something is very wrong with this picture.

Again, I'm saying this has become the norm for these folks, not judging with righteous judgment. Saying things, like, "Well, he seems like such a nice guy"...or "He never did anything wrong to me"..etc, ad nauseum. In so many cases, the wolf culprit is welcomed back into the fold with open arms of forgiveness, (if he's not thrown in jail, or dead from an overdose" to step right back into the pulpit.

I wonder what the Apostle Paul would say? Maybe like he did in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5, "to put that wicked out of the church", and thoroughly lambasting the church folks in Corinth for being puffed up, and non-discerning. He told them they should have been grieving for such things. That such wickedness was not to be tolerated in the household of God, and not to have fellowship or even eat with a brother who called himself Christian but was committing immoral sins. Were the rules changed to accommodate reprobates just because it's 2011? I think not.

If you've been following the previous two posts of mine on this blog about the new Jimmy Swaggart Ministries scandal, and perhaps read Mishel McCumber's website articles on Deception Bytes, you may have noticed as I did, that many of the Jimmy Swaggart groupies rushed in to defend Swaggart and his wife Frances, and instead leveled their verbal guns at Mishel and other employees who'd been spiritually used and abused by this so called ministry.

Like I said, this has become the new norm. And it's disgraceful that Christians can be so brain washed in an age where they have every spiritual opportunity to grow in the knowledge of the LORD and through the Spirit of the living God to discern such evil being perpetrated. Those defending such actions will be judged by God, right along with the perpetrators. I don't believe God is going to cut any slack on that.

However, I know many of you, as new Christians have been deceived and abused by such renegade ministries and preachers. I belong to that group myself. Getting OUT of it before such terrible damage is done to the spirit and soul only comes by knowing the TRUTH, and recognizing and discerning evil. And that is only possible by an earnest heartfelt dedication to seeking God's face daily, studying the bible for oneself, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and NOT by being slavishly spoonfed "doctrines" by a mere man, no matter how charismatic he may seem.

Truth comes from the word of God, just as Jesus said, "IF" you will continue in my word, THEN you will become my disciples indeed and THEN you will know the truth, and the TRUTH will set you free". A disciple is a learner and follower.......of HIM, not a man.

When a person starts looking up too much to a preacher, or a man, or a church, they are already in trouble. This is why I've been stressing as much as I have to avoid the doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans, the thing that Jesus said he HATED in the book of Revelation. Where the "clergy" lorded it over the "laity". This was NOT how Jesus set up his church in the beginning, but unfortunately almost all denominations follow the Nicolaitan pattern and system. Beware of this. This is the apostate church.

If I have ONE thing I would like to stress to those of you who've been spiritually abused by such apostate churches, please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. You must have been looking for Jesus when you started. He's still there, and he is not an abuser, but a healer. Pick up where you started and begin fresh with him, your bible, and start over. Jesus will pour oil on those wounds and bind them up and heal all the broken pieces of your heart and soul.

And for those of you who may still be in a church setting you have misgiving about, such as feeling it may indeed be a Nicolaitan system masquerading as a bonifide church, you are probably correct if it fits the pattern I've described. Please pray and ask the LORD for discernment and guidance about what you should do. He will not fail when your heart is set on loving and serving him, and not on some man made system.

God bless,

Constance

Another Former Jimmy Swaggart Employee Steps up With Abuse Allegations

Another brave former employee has now come forward to add credence to Michel McCumber's testimony. It would seem where there is smoke there's fire. I'm pretty sure JSM would like to snuff this fire out before it flares into another full blown scandal.

Frankly, I detest these continual scandals breaking over Christendom, causing the way of truth to be evil spoken of and bringing disgrace to the Holy Name of Jesus. However, I tend to think it's necessary to expose abuses in ministries, large or small. Abuse is abuse.

If the allegations brought forth regarding the secrecy, and abusive control freak practices of the JSM are true, they should be exposed.

Let the reader judge for themselves....... Click on title, (above), to link to the latest blog entry on Deception Bytes

Constance

Spiritual Abuse at Jimmy Swaggart "Ministries"

Mishel McCumber, a former insider at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has come forward with what really goes on behind the scenes at JSM, and it's not a pretty picture. Certainly not a picture of a god-fearing man who is truly repentant of the scandalous affair of being involved with prostitutes, adultery and porn addiction a number of years ago.

Sex scandals seem to be becoming the new norm in the Christian Community. But with Jimmy Swaggart ministries, it would appear that there are other things being hidden behind closed doors.

(Click on the title above to read Mishel's story from her blog, "Deception Bytes"."



Unfortunately, the only difference between the spiritual abuse that's being alleged against the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, and many small churches all over the country, is that it's happening on a large scale, affecting perhaps hundreds of employees, and multitudes of faithful but deluded Swaggart devotees.

I was a brand new "born again" Christian back then when the Jimmy Swaggart scandal broke and devastated the Christian community who'd held Swaggart in such high esteem, but I can still remember seeing Swaggart on TV bawling like a baby, confessing his sin and asking forgiveness to a public audience. We can't know personally the dialogue between him and the Father, but, it seemed to me at the time the guy looked sincerely repentant. But then, I didn't have much spiritual savvy and wisdom behind my belt back then either, so what did I know? I just figured that anyone who said they were a Christian...was a Christian. That was then and this is now however.

What baffled me then, was how could a sincere, blood bought Christian do the things he apparently got caught doing? Now, after some years of observing how things work in Christendom, I have a clearer picture. I've noticed that many Christians start off on fire for God, (first love), and then some where along the line, go haywire.

Obviously Swaggart went haywire big time. I believe a loving God makes a place for all Christians to repent when they mess up and fall into temptation, but what really troubles me is when they claim to be repentant, but then either don't....and/or, attempt to cover it up, which to me is a worse sin. That's not true repentance.

With Swaggart, it seems his so-called "ministry" was more important to him than God and living for Jesus Christ. Walking the walk, as I've found personally is a lot harder than just learning to "talk the talk". And in Swaggart's case, he was an expert at talking the talk. A master at it in fact. He knew the gospel, he knew- and apparently had a real experience with Jesus Christ at one time. But when he fell, he was right in the middle of still preaching publicly. This is spiritual abuse any way you shake it...and there is no "excusing it" and sweeping it under the carpet with the old "judge not" mantra.

I had a friend back then who told me that she'd looked up to Jimmy Swaggart so much as an exemplary Christian, that went he fell, she wondered if Jimmy Swaggart could "fall from grace", then how in the world could she, a lowly Christian woman ever make it?

I was a newbie during this period of time as I'd said, but my friend told me that she'd heard a "prophecy" about Jimmy Swaggart after his disgraceful fall that the LORD had said, he would go back into ministry, but it would never be to the extent and power that it was before.

I don't know whether that was a true word from the LORD or not, but the fact that Swaggart went back into the ministry at all, is sad, since apparently he has broken trust with God by spiritually abusing his employees, and deceiving his faithful supporters.

This is the issue I've been trying to drive home time and again to my friends and family, that this type of deception would NOT BE POSSIBLE, if Christians would seriously study the Word of God for themselves, and pray, pray, pray until they receive spiritual discernment well enough to detect frauds like Swaggart. I know it's possible to have this high level of discernment. It's available through God to walk in the Spirit with this discernment. We need it! The only weapon Satan has is deception.

And......"IF" Christians would learn to avoid the Nicolaitan error of putting men like Jimmy Swaggart on a pedestal, and seriously study the Word for themselves with the Holy Spirit as their teacher, then the Swaggart's of Christendom would be looking for another day job instead of deceiving and bilking "the faithful" out of millions upon millions of dollars. Not to mention disgracing the name of Christ, and being an embarrassment to God.

Well, apparently Swaggart is still in business, for the time being at least. I keep praying, believing, and looking forward to the day when "Judgment begins at the household of God". Or maybe it already has...we've seen ministry after ministry go down in recent years with one scandal after another being exposed. Unfortunately, many of these spiritual abusers and charlatans pick themselves up, wipe the dirt off their faces, do a little "counseling" and "restoration" and then get right back in the pulpit again. This, when they should be required to step down and STAY DOWN. I believe in forgiveness, but in cases like this, where it is so very serious, I think it should be a permanent deal breaker when a man who had the trust of so many people betrayed them.

I loved what Mishel prayed, (just below), that set her free from deception. What a difference it would make for all Christians sincerely seeking the truth if they would pray the same way. Then, these terrible abuses would NOT be possible because we'd all be able to spot the wolves in the sheepfold early on and avoid them at all costs!


"My journey out of deception began with a prayer, an innocuous prayer that hardly seemed life changing in its scope. In fact, at the time, it hardly seemed much of anything at all. “Dear Lord,” I prayed, “if I am believing any lies in my life, or am deceived in any areas of my Christian life and what I believe, can you show me? I want your Truth at all costs, even if knowing it destroys my entire world. Oh, and I mean it Lord, even if part of me doesn't and is scarred.” That was the prayer; the prayer that changed my world and set me free. In retrospect, it was a silly child-like prayer, but God honored it.


Did knowing the Truth destroy my world? Quite frankly, yes. However, at that point, my entire world was built on lies and illusion. What would the value have been in keeping that kind of world intact?Make no mistake about it. Truth will cost you."

I was moved to pray like Mishel did as well. We need never think we are above being deceived. That's a dangerous place to be spiritually and can open us up to much pain, and it's not God's will for us to suffer in that way. But..he does require that we discipline ourselves to study and pray so that we may know that precious truth that will set us free from error, bondage, sin, and the deception of spiritual abusers and extortionists.

Constance