Except with his widow mother, whom he vaguely worshiped, and with Jim Lefferts, Elmer assumed that he was the center of the universe and that the rest of the system was valuable only as it afforded him help and pleasure.”-Lewis, Sinclair. Elmer Gantry. Penny Books. Kindle Edition.
“I must approach this long, legal proceeding as a crusade for truth.”-Tom Chantry, convicted on two counts of assault of a child and four counts of sexual molestation of a child.
“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”―
The Brothers KaramazovI am quite pleased by the response of some folks who are interested in starting a blog (and in one case, a person who has already started a blog) and having a loose coalition of sorts so we can help one another.
I think the best example of how this works is to look at Todd Wilhelm at Thou Art theMan and TWW. Before Todd returned to Arizona from Dubai, I had written about his experience with the Hotel California of the Evangelical Set aka 9 Marks and UCCD. I had already proclaimed him the official hero of TWW since he stood up against the sale of CJ Mahaney’s books at that church because he believed and support the SGM victims while he was working in Dubai. He left the church. For his righteous stand, he was placed on the member discipline list aka* We are going to discipline you even if you are not here.*
A friendship was formed and I got to meet him one time when he visited stateside. He had already started a blog and was pleased to find that Ton Chantry would be tried in Arizona after Todd permanently returned. I was thrilled that he wanted to cover all the Chantry stuff since TWW was getting busier. Lo and behold, Todd did something that I hadn’t seen before. He attended all of the trials, sentencing, etc. and penned meticulous write-ups on the proceedings. He brought us all into the courtroom, helping us to comprehend what was involved in such a trial. Frankly, his coverage was downright fantastic.Todd is gifted at what he does and he honed his talents during the course of these events.
He also gave me permission to repost any of his blog posts so his writings would get out to the audience at TWW. People began to visit TWW and Thou Art the Man- a sort of cross pollination. Our blogs benefited from our ongoing friendship. I personally benefitted from having a blogging friend that I could go to with questions about some of the things I was writing about as well.
I have great hope that a camaraderie of sorts can develop between new bloggers who can shoot ideas off of one another. I am also committed to helping people get their start and to share with them what I’ve learned in the last 10 1/2 years. I believe each person has a unique talent and giftedness that can contribute to the sharing of information about issues in the broader church environment. You can see that by looking at Todd’s posts and my posts. We have different styles yet we both share a common concern.
Besides, Todd has the ability to make me laugh in the midst of the difficult stories that we cover. It reminds me of medical humor. If you’ve eve been around doctors, nurses and other health professionals, you will discover how they make each other laugh in the midst of extremely trying circumstances. You should be here when my daughter who is a nurse, my husband and I get together and discuss the *stuff* of medicine. We laugh and at time, cry, over what we must deal with.
So, here is Todd’s post. I loved his insights into Chantry and Chantry’s friends. I am proud to post his thoughts here and hope in the coming year to have some others join us in what we do. There is so much to talk about!
Once again, thank you, Todd.
Tom Chantry’s “Crusade For Truth” Hits the Brick Wall of Reality
In the book, “Let Us Prey: The Plague of Narcissist Pastors and What We Can Do About It,” the authors write:
“Narcissism is typified by an exaggerated sense of self-importance and power, rigidity, the inability to admit error, a sense of personal greatness, the use of power to manipulate and control others, an inability to feel or express remorse, and a lack of empathy for others.”
Having now sat through both of Tom Chantry’s trials, and having read much of his material published on the internet, I believe this description is an accurate portrayal of Tom Chantry. Likely spoiled as a child, he is used to being the center of attention, getting his way, and being accountable to no one. Thus it is no surprise that once the reality of his conviction for sexually molesting a child sets in, the pedophile, as witnessed in his taped phone conversations, cannot accept reality.
According to Chantry, he was “illegally convicted,” all the prosecutors in the back-water state of Arizona should be hung, and the judges sent to prison for life. (In the video below, Chantry apologizes to Judge Astrowsky for his comment, but not Prosecutor Eazer – in fact, he continues his verbal assault of Ms. Eazer in his ridiculous rant.) This is typical behavior of a narcissist; Judge Astrowsky can do something for Chantry, and indeed Chantry implores Astrowsky to free him, an innocent man, in his tirade. Prosecutor Eazer is of no value to Chantry, therefore he feels free to attack her. This brash display in the courtroom should give pause to Al Huber and Karen Chantry, who both testified just prior to Tyrannical Tommy, that son-in-law/husband Tom Chantry was a changed man since he left Arizona.
Al Huber and his daughter, Karen Chantry both testified they had never witnessed any abusive behavior in all the time they knew Tom Chantry! I can only assume they meant they had never witnessed Chantry removing a young boys pants, severely paddle him, and then set the boy on his lap and fondle him.
Al Huber and Karen Chantry surely knew that while Tom was employed at Christian Liberty Academy he pulled a paddle out of his desk and beat a little 5-year-old so severely that the Police were called in to investigate by the boy’s parents. (The parents decided not to file charges, but removed their son from the school.) Left unsaid is the fact that the school’s Headmaster, Philip Bennett, was good friends with Walter Chantry; and Tom’s sister, Becky, married a son of Headmaster (now Superintendent) Philip Bennett, and is employed by Christian Liberty Academy. I should mention that Chantry stated, according to a document signed by his counselor, Devon Berry two years prior to the above-mentioned incident, that he would never spank another child other than his own. I should also mention that Chantry told the Police he had spanked no more than twelve children since he had been teaching at Christian Liberty Academy!
But Al Huber and Karen Chantry would have us believe Tom was a changed man since he left Arizona! Who am I to doubt? After all, Huber told the Judge he believes he is a pretty good judge of character – nobody has conned him for more than a year or two! Let me state the obvious, Mr. Huber; Tom Chantry has conned you for seventeen years.
Tom Chantry is slowly realizing his days of victimizing young boys are over. He likely was convinced in his narcissistic mind that his masterful oratorical skills would convince Judge Astrowsky to “end the tyranny and free an innocent man.”
Sorry, Tom. after conning good and decent people in your little cultic Baptistic world for 49 years, the game is up. Unfortunately for you, the bumpkins of backwater Arizona know an Elmer Gantry when they see one. A jury of twelve of my fellow citizens has convicted you, and a member of the Judicial branch of the Arizona Government has sentenced you to twenty-four years in prison. I’m sure I speak for all my fellow citizens of Arizona when I say that I am happy to see my tax dollars spent on your two court cases. I am happy to help provide for your food, housing and medical needs for the next 23 years, secure in the knowledge that you will not be sexually molesting any more young boys.
In way of explanation, while listening to the sentencing testimony you will occasionally come across some choppy sounding audio. This was caused by me clipping out references to the victims or their families. I chose not to include the statements made to Judge Astrowsky by any of the family members of the victims. I also chose not to include the statement of Bob Selph – where have you been all these years Bob? I pray you now work to right the wrongful neglect you have foisted upon the good people of Miller Valley Baptist Church, although many of them no longer attend that church, and some no longer attend any church. I also chose not to include the statement of Mr. Stevens, Defense Attorney for Tom Chantry. Mr. Stevens was placed in the unenviable position of attempting to justify the bizarre “allocution” of Tom Chantry.
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1 BAM
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Cool pic up top (Horsehead Nebula).
Gotta’ admit though, it kinda’ looks like something Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are gettin’ ready to hose down with their Ghost Buster gear.
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Glad my tax dollars are being spent to keep this convicted predator locked up and away from children. I’m just stunned, however, at the sheer hubris, but I guess i shouldn’t be.
I loved the Horsehead Nebula picture, but there are a lot of really great photos at the Top 100 Hubble images page. I particularly liked the new view of the Pillars of Creation (#2), but they’re all spectacular images that show the massive variety of our universe.
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100/
I could spend hours looking at the pictures, clicking through to the associated web pages, looking up more information about the objects pictured. I went down a happy bunny trail looking at information about V838 Monocerotis (number 22). I am fascinated by the possibility that a L-type brown dwarf caused the explosion we’re currently seeing reflected in the clouds and dust surrounding the star. (must.stop.) I love Dee’s astronomy pictures.
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Loose quote towards the end of the YT audio I believe it was the prosecutor who stated that his children had to script their discussions before talking to him. That reminded me how I use to and still “talk to God” ie pray to make sure I did not tick Him off. I cant even wrap my head around that. Thanks for the article.
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From Tom Chantry’s now locked-down blog, hints at the skeleton in his closet?…the year before the nouthetic-brokered coverup of his crimes collapsed with his arrest:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161205185811/https://chantrynotes.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/mark-driscoll-tullian-tchividjian-and-reformed-baptist-polity/
Tom Chantry in 2015:
“Mark Driscoll…Tullian Tchividjian…the two scandals ought to serve as a lesson to Reformed Baptists. The temptation for us [is] to loudly insist, ‘Nothing like this could ever happen in a Reformed Baptist church!’…we don’t have any churches large enough for the broader evangelical world to notice when we fail”
“let us not imagine that our polity has somehow eliminated the scourge of mendacious leadership!…there is, after all, a reason why I am one of the two most hated Reformed Baptists!…We may wish to say that such terrible scandals as Driscoll and Tchividjian have perpetrated could never happen under our polity…In fact, brothers, I would say that they have, only not so publicly.”
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Really christ – like behavior in that one!
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“… some no longer attend any church …”
Now, whose plan would that be? Mission accomplished as Hell rejoices.
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Some of the hardest preaching about a particular transgression has come from folks secretly engaged in the same sin. Remember Ted Haggard. Such preaching is an attempt to divert attention to others, but it’s only a temporary fix – there is always a payday someday for those who abuse the office of “pastor” to work their dastardly deeds.
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I can’t decide if TC is actually deluded, a liar, or possibly both. It boggles the mind.I’m glad he won’t be out for quite a while.
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“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
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Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
Frivolity aside (my previous comment), I’ve long been fascinated with the planet Mercury.
Whenever it’s visible with enough degree separation from the sun (dawn or dusk) I’m always out with my binoculars to catch a glimpse.
The recent NASA Messenger probe has revealed stuff about Mercury that contradicts what science previously thought about the innermost planet of our system.
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Slightly off topic… but the bit about how health professionals make each other laugh resonated, and I wanted to share one of my own best stories. Hopefully others will find it as funny as I still do decades later.
I worked for most of my adult life as a paper-pusher in a medical oncology practice. Clear back in 1987 we were in the process of moving to new quarters, and it was about 9 PM on the final night before we would see patients for the first time in the new facility. We were all very tired and punchy.
So my boss, the oncologist, said, “Let’s go home.”
The office manager said, “But I still have 14 unpacked boxes and I haven’t found your instruments yet!”
Doctor: So?
Manager: Can you wing it tomorrow without instruments?
Doctor: Of course I can wing it without instruments. Let’s go home.
Manager: But what if you need to look in somebody’s ear?
Doctor: Patient’s dying of cancer, what the H*** do I want to look in their ear for?
It was a very good thing I had sat down moments before to rest, because I nearly sustained a workman’s comp injury falling out of my chair laughing. (And yes, we all went home right about then.)
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He babbles on and on and on and on ….for an hour and a half! That’s a serious mental problem, right there. Just wow!
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Well, that’s not a problem for a preacher … but I know what you mean. Yes, he is a sick man in more ways than one.
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Max,
I lived in Colorado when that happened. His own sermons on homosexuality came back to haunt him.
The massage therapist he went to got a bit of backlash too. It was sort of like “the other women” treatment. Denver AM radio let him come on the air and tell his side. Ted Haggard came looking for a massage therapist.
Ted Haggard went underground, came back up restored, then nothing else was heard of him.
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Reckon where this underground is that fallen pastors go to? Seems that some of them spend only 1-year there (e.g., Tullian), while others take 3-year stints in the hole (e.g., Boles). And are they truly restored or do they make unrepentant comebacks because they don’t know what else to do to make a living. Deceiving churchgoers is easy money if you have a touch of charisma, a gift of gab, and a gimmick or two.
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True enough on the one hand.
But what does that say about the churchgoers who fork over their hard earned greenbacks to these guys?
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He’s a liar. (IMHO)
He knows what he’s done.
He’s done it in secret and covered it up.
He’s admitted it on one or two occasions.
He is a member of the “If I refuse to break down and keep insisting the lie is the truth, people will have no choice but to accept it as truth” club.
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Or it’s an attempt to self-medicate/self-treat in secret.
Think about it… Here’s Ted Haggard, ManaGAWD, with a sexual urge towards the strongest Taboo in Christianese Culture. A Taboo so strong that if any hint of his sexual attraction leaks out, it will ruin him completely. He’s going to keep it secret. And not only that, he’s going to preach against it to the point of rabies, preaching to himself more than anyone else. If he’s that foaming-at-the-mouth against it (in all Righteousness), then he CAN’T be One of THEM, can He?
“If I have X Problem, then EVERYBODY Must Have The Same Problem.”
Like recovering alcoholic Billy Sunday preaching Christless sermons against Demon Rum. Like Rush Limbaugh being Number-One Fanboy of the War on Drugs while hooked on Oxycontin. “You know a preacher’s in trouble when he stops preaching on what he’s for and only preaches on what he’s against.”
And it all works just fine — until one day everything blows sky-high.
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A lie, repeated often enough, becomes the Truth.”
— Reichsminister Josef Goebbels
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“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
— P.T.Barnum
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HUG,
Speaking of fallen preachers, did you know jim bakker wasn’t just accused of ‘sexual misconduct’ he was accused of rape??? I literally never heard that until a week ago.
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“Sexual Misconduct” or unspecified “Moral Failings” IS Christianese for Rape.
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I’ve been around churchgoers of all shapes and sizes for 70+ years. There is a segment of them who seek out and support “pastors” with a past who never exhort them to holiness. Following such shepherds make them feel better about themselves. The whole bunch never get out of shallow water.
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And for Unfallen Preachers, there’s the big scandal boiling up regarding Jerry Falwell Jr and Liberty U. Financial scandal, political scandal, abuse of power scandal, abuse of inferiors scandal… A site called Politico started it with an expose, Eagle is covering it over at Wondering Eagle, and Professor Fea spent several posts on it over at The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
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I need to read up more on the liberty thing, but it’s interesting that his dad took over for jim bakker after he got caught out.
So…Tullian, Falwell Jr., and that sproul person…how many kids/gkids/sil’s of famous mega preachers are going down in flames latelY? (or should be)
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Headless Unicorn Guy,
Josef Goebbels learned from a New York marketing guru. The marketing guru created subliminal messaging.
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Lea,
Jerry Farewell Sr. took over Jim Bakker’s church?
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Brian,
Not the church, the PTL network, until it was officially bankrupt defunct. I dont know that jim bakker had a church?
I was a kid when all that went down and all I remember was lots of money, people making fun of poor tammy fae, and an affair. I was astonished that it was actually forcible rape (that he of course denies).
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Dee covered Kory Welch, son-in-law of John Macarthur, who was clearly getting way more than he deserved. He was also cited in the Masters U accreditation warning for his problematic financial deals, too-close association with Macarthur, and when they tested him on basic education laws, he didn’t know any of them. http://thewartburgwatch.com/2018/08/24/john-macarthurs-son-in-laws-alleged-compensation-for-video-production-and-macarthurs-alleged-comments-during-a-meeting-with-seminary-students/
I think the Mcdonald boys definitely fit in there.
Nepotism is always a bad idea, no matter if it’s it business or church.
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Let’s face it, with only two choices, which is a man like this likely to choose? Confess and take your punishment, or blather endlessly that it was all the agenda of the enemy to discredit you and the gospel? What does he have to lose? He’s sure to fool at least some of his loyal supporters.
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Lea,
Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to think all these juniors are chips off the old blocks – they just don’t have the skill to carry it off like dad did. Falwell’s (Sr.) power and influence did not just arise out of nowhere, and his takeover from Bakker pretty much sealed the deal for me on his legitimacy.
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I’m brain dead on this for the moment. When Jim Banker got out of prison, a few of the nationally prominent evangelist came together to help him get back on his feet. I wasn’t sure if it was on the personal level or if it was to get him back on the air.
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The irony would be grand if it turned out that the marketing guru was Jewish, yes?
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Final comment with regard to the brick wall mentioned on TWW’s Marquee for this thread:
Brick walls are relatively easy to dismantle, but ones made of concrete and rebar?
Not so easy.
Kudos should go out to TWW and other watch blogs who are making sure that concrete and rebar (so to speak) are used to contain (in a journalistic sense) the Chantrys of the fundagelical world.
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Bakker asked Falwell to take the reins of PTL when the scandal first broke and he had to “step down”. Falwell spent his entire time at PTL doing damage control as the scandal snowballed, getting sabotaged by Bakker loyalists, and generally ending up holding the bag. He said on a radio interview afterwards that if he knew the mess he was going to be getting into, he would have said “NO!”