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“Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who … has risen from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to a high position” Jerome (52.5)
John Stackhouse Jr and his wife, Sarah-Jane Britton (Bastararche) before her first marriage ended): thoughts on repentance and restoration.
At the moment, I have been learning more than I ever wanted to know about the broken marriages of John Stackhouse Jr. and Sarah-Jane Britton (aka Bastarche.) More on that later. I started to think about their families and previous spouses and wondered about the hurt. I have been informed that there is hurt, which makes me sad. There is little to rejoice about in this situation, at least at this moment in time. I thought about apologies, repentance, and true reform instead of the restoration we write about here. However, I rarely see any example of true repentance in the stories I cover. Yes, there have been apologies. In some cases, there are no apologies…In other cases, there are lawsuits and threats of lawsuits, as seen in the Johnny Hunt situation.
I know of one pastor who had an affair and handled it correctly. He apologized and truly repented. He decided that he would never return to the pulpit. I must admit that I felt bad about that since he is an excellent teacher. He went to work at Home Depot. As time passed, he began to teach a small Sunday school class and has continued to do so. There is much that I say which found its root in his thoughts on life and theology.
I don’t think much of quick apologies since apologies are lived out over time. I do not believe in the restoration of pastors or leaders who have abused (clerical abuse) one of their congregants. When Scripture talks about restoration, I think it speaks of the restoration to the body of Christ after a time of sorrowful repentance. But back in the pulpit or positions of authority over others? No, it is time for them to live out their faith in humility, out of the eye of the admiring congregants. So, what is true repentance?
(PS Anyone who thinks they are spiritually superior and uses David’s example will be kicked off the blog until they have done their homework.)
What does a no account, scandal-ridden, former British Prime Minister like John Profumo have to teach us?
Here is a link to Wikipedia on John Profumo.
John Dennis Profumo CBE (/prəˈfjuːmoʊ/ prə-FEW-moh; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keelerin 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affair, led to his resignation from the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan.
After his resignation Profumo worked as a volunteer at Toynbee Hall, a charity in East London,[1] and became its chief fundraiser. These charitable activities helped to restore his reputation and he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1975.
David French is a writer that I follow. I have learned much from his writings. He had much to say about John Profumo. On 12/22, he wrote Remembering What Repentance Looks, subtitled: “True sorrow looks more like resignation than restoration.”
Let’s start with Profumo’s rise and fall.
John Profumo, born in 1915, was an English aristocrat, a soldier and a politician. He served in World War II with distinction. He landed on the beaches at Normandy and was mentioned in dispatches. He was awarded a military OBE in 1944.
He began his political career as a member of Parliament, and by 1960 he rose to become secretary of state for war in the British cabinet. Shortly thereafter he began an affair with a young woman named Christine Keeler. The affair was bad enough, but it was rendered incalculably worse when it was discovered that Keeler had also been sleeping with the Soviet naval attaché Evegeny Ivanov.
At first Profumo lied about the affair to Parliament. A 2006 profile of Profumo by Theodore Dalrymple notes that lying to Parliament was then “regarded as the most heinous sin a gentleman could commit, rather than as merely par for the course.” But then he confessed, “resigned in shame and resolved never to obtrude upon the public again.”
His service to the poor.
Profumo was an aristocrat, meaning he could have retired to his clubs, drowned his sorrow in fine drink, and played cricket. He wasn’t the only aristocrat to fail. He was, after all, a war hero and one of the boys. According to Wikipedia:
On 21 December 1944, Major (temporary Lieutenant Colonel) Profumo was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, Military Division) “in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in Italy”,[8]specifically, for his service on Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander‘s staff commanding the 15th Army Group. In November 1947, Acting Colonel Profumo was awarded the Bronze Star Medal by the United States “in recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies”.[9]
Profumo eschewed all that and began his decades-long work with the poor. According to French:
What did he do? He dedicated his life to quiet service for the poor. As Dalrymple notes, “He went to work for the poor of the East End of London, starting by washing dishes in a hostel.” After washing dishes, he raised money for Toynbee Hall, a charitable organization located in London.
Read the following sentence carefully.
None of this service was performative. None of it was designed to pave the way for his return to public life. Once he lost the public trust, he never attempted to gain it back.
Queen Elizabeth later recognized and honored him for this work, but he never asked anyone to trust him again.
According to French:
The irony is that he did in fact recover that trust. In 1975 he was awarded a CBE for his charitable work, and In 1995, he sat at Queen Elizabeth’s right at a dinner honoring Margaret Thatcher’s 70th birthday. And when he died in 2006, he was eulogized as a deeply honorable man. But he never asked for the public to trust him again. He never tried to make a political return.
He includes this quote by Theodore Dalrymple, which I think should be hung on every pastor and theologian’s door.
In fact, the dignity, discretion, restraint, and repentance with which Profumo lived his life after his fall were the last gasp of an old system of values. His honorable conduct—continued for years, away from the blaze of publicity—would now be almost inconceivable among the political elite.
David French contrasted Profumo’s with that of celebrity coach Hugh Frieze, who is now at Auburn (at least I think so. I don’t follow college football.)
Late last month Auburn University hired Hugh Freeze to be its next football coach. Who is Hugh Freeze? You might remember him from the book or the movie “The Blind Side.”
…You might remember him as the former football coach at Ole Miss, where his rising star fell (briefly) to earth after he was caught in multiple recruiting violations and caught calling a phone number tied to an escort service.
Frieze is mad that Christians have been “unforgiving.” I assume he means towards him…
He resigned—but then reappeared a few months later in January 2018 to speak at Liberty University’s convocation service, where he asked for forgiveness and then scolded other Christians for being unforgiving. Liberty hired him to be its football coach that December.
In a 2020 Sports Illustrated interview, Freeze expressed frustration that he still had to deal with the repercussions of his past sin three years on from the scandal. “To my knowledge, I’ve tried, with anybody I could, I made sure they knew that if I hurt them I was sorry, but it’s time to move on,” he said. “How many times can we write about it? How many times can we talk about it? I said I was wrong. I’ve paid a price. My family paid a heck of a price. When can we move on?”
Frieze wished to compare himself to the prodigal son who came home and was forgiven.
David French observed the parable of the prodigal son, which should be repeated regularly by pastors of good faith. Be sure you get the part in which the prodigal son Does NOT ASK for His Former Position. Repeat: he did not ask to be exalted once again.
A young man asked his father for his inheritance, left home, and squandered his wealth so thoroughly that he found himself destitute, reduced to eating pig feed. In his desperation, the young man repents:
I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.”’ (Emphasis added.)
Note that the prodigal son does not ask for his former position. This is not a man seeking his former prestige. He’s broken, seeking only to be a hired hand. In an act of remarkable grace, however, his father restores his son:
But the father told his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” So they began to celebrate.
So, who exemplifies the prodigal son more? Frieze, who demanded it, or Profumo, who labored long without recognition?
David French’s warning: Powerful people should not seek a second chance at the prestige they once possessed.
Any person can live a life of great meaning and honor far removed from the spotlight. And not one of us is capable of peering into a man’s heart to know when he’s changed. But let me suggest a clear warning sign that repentance isn’t real—when a powerful person doesn’t just ask for forgiveness but also seeks restoration to the life they lived before.
No one is entitled to be a pastor or a politician, and there are times when the continued quest for those positions is itself a sign that a person simply doesn’t understand the price they should pay when they’ve committed a serious wrong. Powerful people should not seek a second chance at the prestige they once possessed.
There is much in the article that I did not cover. French specifically looked at the abuse in the SBC. His thoughts are worth the read. His post went a long way in helping me see how true Christians respond to being called on the carpet. It doesn’t involve lawsuits, it doesn’t involve threats, and it doesn’t include arrogance. A genuine Christian responds humbly by removing themself from the limelight and following their Savior on the humble path of caring for others, even at a cost to their ill-conceived dignity. There are way too many self-aggrandizing celebrities in the broader evangelical world. Time for some genuinely humble leaders. Do you know any?
My first exposure to the permanent disqualification concept was in the 80’s, hearing a recording of John MacArthur’s response to the Jimmy Swaggart scandals and Swaggart’s return to the pulpit. “Ministry is a one-shot deal. . .there is no going back when you’ve fallen!” he repeatedly railed at the seminarians in the chapel. I wondered how many of them resolved at that point to never, never divulge any of their weaknesses, sins, temptations, etc., for fear of being disqualified before they’d even begun in ministry. But in a largely pluralistic religious landscape, and an entrepreneurial-styled approach to professional ministry in the US, most of our largest, independent churches do not function under an authority structure like mainline denominational churches, and their leadership teams have been carefully curated by the pastors themselves, and just rubber-stamped by the congregation, if at all. There is no one to see that a fallen pastor is kept from ministry, or from determining his/her own course of “restoration.” Often, their only “discipline” is a bit of bad press online or in print. . .for a limited period of time. And while the David-account is a horrible argument for a return to ministry post-fall, the general idea of second chances is baked into the Christian faith (ie, the disciples, Peter, John-Mark). I am not sure if the Lord would be keen to sign-off on our permanent disqualification schemes, since He didn’t seem to follow those policies Himself, at least in the bible. I wonder if our constructs are truly “repentance, but never restoration,” which puts us in a position of ensuring that God Himself will never be allowed to requalify a disqualified leader. Maybe it’s not a slam-dunk black-or-white issue (as Macarthur, or French suggest). I do know of fellow-pastors who have fallen, decades ago, and are now in ministry; humbled, chastened, repentant and wiser. (For such a public figure, check out Gordon McDonald’s fall in “Rebuilding Your Broken World,” or the life of King Manasseh.) But the intriguing question to me is, why do churches/Christians keep gathering in support of shepherds who abuse the flock, and have an insatiable appetite for lamb?
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?
During the better part of a century of doing church in America, I’ve observed a strange dynamic taking place. There are congregations which love bad-boy “pastors” in their pulpits, who act no differently than they do … it makes them feel better about themselves.
I’m not a fan of SBC’s Lifeway Research these days (since they converted to New Calvinism), but I found this article helpful in regard to what genuine repentance should look like:
https://research.lifeway.com/2018/01/25/12-signs-repentance/
Todd Wilhelm,
Yes it is….
Max,
That’s a great insight. I was certainly vulnerable to that desire. I joined a church as a young man with just such a pastor, who spoke often about the “backslidden” churches in our community, the absence of any “real commitment” to discipleship and evangelism, the biblical illiteracy, and the “Sunday only” faith, compared our commitment to “really live out” the faith. He was a good speaker, young, visionary, and just edgy enough to make the congregation believe we were really cutting-edge. He was especially hard on members who came from a Christian upbringing, and whose families still worshiped in more conservative-type churches. I learned to recognize the odor of wolf through him. He’s finishing out a 20-year sentence in the state penitentiary today–felony sexual assault.
Max,
A correlary to Max’s obervation is that I have seen people love to listen to/follow “Mr. Big Shot/I have all the answers/I am Mr. Smooth/I am a warrior/you name your infatuation
As I have said many times, the more I live and learn, the more I realize how much I do not understand.. but, show me a Big Time “Christiain leader” that would admit this.. but then, maybe I am just “flawed”…
Even our “true repentance” is marred by our inborn sinfulness.
Ken Garrett,
Whoa. That’s quite a story.
“Bring forth the evidence of repentance,” Matthew 3.8 and Luke 3.8.
Zacchaeus did: “I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Luke 19.
Evidence of repentance. There is no repentance without evidence. Repentance requires evidence. Words are not evidence.
senecagriggs,
You sound as if the power of God within a man is weaker than sin. We are are born in the image of God, before sin took effect. I suggest you start accepting the truth that Christ has put sin to shame.
Wow! Is this log spot on. Well, done Dee!
Whether it’s a pastor or football coach, I think a mixture of narcissism and fear of not knowing how else to earn a living fuels these fallen leaders to seek out the same profession and income level they lost.
Tom Rubino,
lol! I meant this blog is spot on!
Great comments here, but time for a joke since the topic is repentance.
Once there were two house painters who added water to their paint to make it go farther and to make more money from their customers. One day one of the painters told his partner, “I just can’t do it any more! I just can’t keeping adding water to the paint! We are cheating people! I feel so bad! We’ve got to stop!”
His partner asked, “What’s the big deal? What’s different today?”
The upset painter replied, “Last night God spoke to me in a dream?”
His partner, “God spoke to you in a dream?! What did he say?”
The reply: “REPAINT, YOU THINNER!”
I remember when, at least in SBC circles, the idea was believe, behave, then belong. Of course we were also taught that true repentance was part of believing. I also remember in the early 90s when our new pastor railed against that idea. He was for belong, then hopefully believe, then eventually behave. Makes it easier to get butts on the bench that way I suppose.
Paul Washer is a preacher, SBC raised, and yes one of today’s crop of Calvinists. All that said, what he has to say about repentance is good, and he has really taken some hard hits from within his own group for teaching the necessity of repentance in salvation.
Sheep’s clothing? Nah, the wolves have found it more profitable to dress in shepherd’s clothing!
I wonder if they put all the pastor-criminals in the same wing at state pens? From the continual string of reports on TWW, there must be a bunch of them doing time around the country. A local music minister died in prison a few years ago before he completed his sentence on child abuse/pornography.
AKA “He Does It, Too! SEE? SEE? SEE?”
or “HE GETS AWAY WITH IT, SO CAN I!”
I don’t think “Rule By Vice” (where the Guy on Top sets the example for all under him) is the only factor in play. but it’s definitely one of them.
They do with ChoMos.
Luckyforward,
Argh…
I try . . .:)
Ken Garrett,
Unfortunately, my long time “in country” (as HUG likes to call it), but not as long as Max ( sorry Max), I have seen several examples of what Ken Garrett reports…. I am now somewhat “cynical” of any Preacher that “Preaches” as Ken describes…
Well said Ava.
Sad, isn’t it … that you can’t trust a preacher until you know you can trust him. I suppose it has always been that way (wolves in shepherd’s clothing), but it sure seems like there has been a proliferation of wolf packs in the American church over the past 20 years or so … predators drawn to unsuspecting prey because of the trust factor.
From the link I provide upstream, a sign of genuine repentance: “We have a willingness and eagerness to make amends. We will do whatever it takes to make things right and to demonstrate we have changed.”
Saying you are sorry and crying without tears are not evidence of repentance. That may getting a standing ovation from the congregation, but doesn’t cut it with your victim(s) or God.
Genuine repentance must be expressed in concrete changes. See John the Baptist’s powerful and clear message in Luke 3. Apology is not enough. Admission of sin is not enough. Regret and remorse are not enough. Genuine repentance must be expressed in concrete changes.
As always deezers, the space pic up top (milky way through a rock arch) is really kool.
And that to me, almost always means some kind of restitution.
> True sorrow looks more like resignation than restoration
I think that one of the marks of genuine repentance is acceptance that one is not entitled to be trusted by the person(s) one has harmed.
—
Me thinks that this non-entitlement to be trusted might be valid not only retrospectively. Churches confer a lot of power on people who in many cases are practically strangers — new pastoral hires. Perhaps there should be very lengthy (multi-year) probationary periods for all hires of people who are not already well-known to the congregation.
I’m curious why Gordon MacDonald doesn’t come up more often in these conversations…unless, of course, there are some details I am missing. We attended Grace Chapel after he had come and gone the second time. Clearly the experience of restoring MacDonald to the pastorate (involving 2 years of a restoration process outside the public eye) marked the congregation (in both positive and negative ways).
Exactly. There’s no such thing as being half-repentant.
I guarantee you … every new-to-me pastor I encounter are on probation with me. Gone are the days when trust accompanied the title of pastor; they need to prove themselves worthy of my trust. Granted, the vast majority are OK (at least I hope they are), but they must be tested and tried by me as Scripture instructs (1 John 4:1). There are just too many rascals in the pulpit these days to do otherwise.
Great post. Only God can judge true repentance but humans can learn or not learn by observing. People caught in sin don’t ever need to lecture others.
On the lawsuit side, I don’t think lawsuits in the church are good. But I have to say the discovery in the SBC lawsuits brought by Hunt and Sills, both abusers, is going to be really interesting. Will it show that the SBC was really looking for truth or were the SBC leaders looking for scapegoats?
Remember when JMac from Chicago invoked a copy of Scientology’s Fair Game Law LRH against Julie Roys?
He was strutting around like a rooster OD’d on testosterone about how he was going to destroy JR until his lawyers told him about “Discovery”, i.e. that JR’s lawyers would be allowed access to his lawyers’ case and evidence and everything on his end would be public record.
ManaGAWD couldn’t drop the lawsuit fast enough.
A powerful and clear look at genuine repentance, indeed:
“Produce fruit that is worthy of and consistent with your repentance; that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness. And do not even begin to say to yourselves as a defense, ‘We have Abraham for our father and so our heritage assures us of salvation’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children (descendants) for Abraham; for God can replace the unrepentant, regardless of their heritage, with those who are obedient.” (Luke 3:8-14 AMP)
Regret and Remorse can be faked.
I’ve seen NPD Sociopaths turn it on and off like a light switch.
Max,
Wisdom from Mr. Rogers: “Saying I’m sorry is the first step, then “How can I help?’”
Even preschoolers are capable!
http://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/dtn/music/songs/im_sorry.html
JJallday,
Thx, JJallday. Just nuggets that fly off the page from the Word of God while passing through the Bible.
Can’t figure out why in the world we don’t hear these truths from the literal Bible preacher boys? The question.
“Time for some genuinely humble leaders. Do you know any?”
++++++++++++++++
i know…hmmm… 2. no, 3. out of many, many.
it’s totally disappointing. but i appreciate those 3.
self-important dressed up in a false-modesty frock is baked into the church leadership industry.
Bridget,
But Seneca is a true Christian with the true Gospel, because God moves with the times.
Yes!
His process of accepting the elders decision that he should be publicly silent for 2 years strikes me as important. I think that was a wise course that his elders required and that he submitted to. If a man is good with his words, he can write good books and preach good sermons, but he can also use that giftedness with words to deceive others.
I’d be interested to hear what you perceived the positive and negative impacts to be when he returned to the pulpit there.
There are no examples in the New Testament of a pastor who failed morally being restored to the pulpit. Scripture quotes no restoration process to qualify a fallen pastor to ministry. Forgive him if he genuinely repents? Certainly! Restore him to the pulpit? NO! There are other places to serve in the Body of Christ for those who truly repent.
Eyewitness,
Still trying to figure out why these straightforward biblical texts are NEVER preached on from the literal Bible preacher boys.
(If the sin involves money, the preacher boys want donations?)
(If the sin involves sex, the preacher boys want a piece of the action?)
Just wondering what the deal is when repentance is so explicitly explained in the Bible.
Matthew 3.8 and so on.
Luke 3.8 and so on.
Luke 19. Zacchaeus.
There it is. Repentance.
Could it be because many of them don’t literally live those truths?
Well then, contrary to what they say about themselves, the literal Bible preachers are not literal Bible preachers.
False shepherds, fake preachers. The Bible has a lot to say about that, too. Literally.
Maybe these pulpiteers and published pranksters need to go back to Square One, Ground Zero, and get the story straight, get their Gospel right.
As a matter of fact, the rest of us in the pews can read for ourselves:
Matthew 3.8 and so on.
Luke 3.8 and so on.
Luke 19. Zacchaeus.
There it is. Repentance.
Go figure. It’s not rocket science. Just repentance. Biblical style.
Instead of settling for Gospel lite. Watered down beer, lukewarm. Yuk.
Revelation 3:18-19
The church in Laodicea was lukewarm. Their selfish social climbing prohibited fellowship with God so, lukewarm, God spit them out.
Ken Garrett,
As someone who has been influenced by Jimmy Swaggart’s ministry (I came to Christ under his son’s ministry and I have met his son in person; I was born in 1990 so I was born after the scandal) Jimmy Swaggart should have taken more time away from the pulpit in order to work on repairing his relationship with his wife (by the way they are still married and they’re both well into their 80s). Any minister who falls into sexual sin should take no less than six months off in my opinion and work on his/her relationship with his/her spouse and family as well as to repair the relationship with God.
It would depend on the sexual failing, it would depend on the severity of the sexual sin as to whether or not a pastor can be placed back in the pulpit. If it’s any sort of sexual abuse, then no.
False “pulpiteers and published pranksters” were never ‘called’ by God into ministry … they ‘went’ into ministry because they had a touch of charisma, a gift of gab, and a bag of gimmicks to fool the pew into financing them. Perhaps the pew “need to go back to Square One, Ground Zero, and get the story straight, get their Gospel right” so they can detect pulpit imposters. Actors would have no stage if it weren’t for an audience willing to buy tickets to their show.
Yeah, they all drag out David as a defense. But David wasn’t in the ministry, he was in the military. David returned to God, he didn’t return to ministry.
Broken trust between pulpit and pew is tough (if not impossible) to repair. There are other places for a fallen pastor to serve in the Body of Christ, rather than the pulpit. IMO, a truly repentant ministry leader would realize that and not put the pew through the misery of always wondering about him. Not to mention that there are no examples in the New Testament (our model for doing church) of a pastor who failed morally being restored to the pulpit.
“And they’ll know we are Christians
‘Cause we’re Smug, ’cause we’re Smug,
Yes they’ll know we are CHRISTIANS ’cause we’re Smug!”
“Most cults are started so the Cult Leader can (1) Get Rich, (2) Get Laid, or (3) Both.”
— My old Dungeonmaster, during a post-game “Recreational Thinking Session”
I’m wondering if he’s having any luck down on Coronado Isle ‘church’ planting.
You’d think they could come up with some other story from Scripture.
The King David thing is as worn out as the bald tires on a big-rig.
Ava Aaronson,
Because, the more a “preacher boy” says he just preaches from the “literal bible” the more I find that they are “selective”…. time and time again…..
I bet David is getting tired of these rascals dropping his name, too! They are quick to remind us that David did some awful things and that God still used him … but never mention the agony David went through and the consequences of his sin before he began to cry out to God to create a clean heart within him.
Hey Aaron, You definitely had a close-up view of a very troubled time for that ministry! Good points. Thank you for your comment!
Susan,
Thank you. I’m going to look into it. I visited his church a few times with friends from Park St Church in Boston.
Mighty rich diggins’ on Coronado Isle.
And a lotta’ those guys (independents) do make millions, all tax free
Good grief. This is insane. Creepy. Low.
?! Not sure how my name got linked with Jimmy Swaggart!
Granted.
So it’s odd that so many church leaders seem to go for this stuff. Unless the church leaders are more like cult leaders. If that’s even possible.
And if so, maybe that explains why their supporters keep supporting them. These are not just normal churches with normal pastors. These are cult leaders with cult followers. Is there any other way to explain why people are actually financially supporting these guys?
Just in general, true repentance involves voluntary restitution. How that plays out in the pulpit, I’m not sure.
senecagriggs,
Where’s the good news in that?
“What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
In a family, restitution won’t always apply. Amendment of life might be more important, even after a debt is repaid or a broken window mended. A young person can learn better ways, and so can a spouse or an older relative.
Our family calls this turning the ship: coaxing a change of direction, and watching the course change. If a teen is caught breaking a major rule at school, they might be alarmed enough not to break that rule again. But the joy comes from changes in the way the teen thinks about school, and rules, and the people around them.
Does it ever? Play out in the pulpit? The question.
I agree, but that depends on the deed and situation. A pastor who steals the offering money should go to jail and then do something else.
A lot of 12-step programs use the phrase “progress, not perfection.” If a person is, say, immature or insensitive, it might take time for them to improve their thinking and behavior. Encouragement can help more than reminders of past misdeeds.
^^^ The above assumes the person has a conscience.
Sometimes a preacher’s focus is the preacher’s own problem.
Jesus didn’t focus on particular sins or sinners. He called out the religious elite when they confronted him. But Jesus didn’t focus on the prodigals of his day.
In society, we always know who the “sinners” are and what they are about. In Jesus’ day, the adulterous and extortionists (Zacchaeus) sometimes got the message and repented. But Jesus was no Hellfire and damnation street corner Bible banging preacher. He did, however, rage at the Temple businessmen and religious elite.
If preachers want to rage like Jesus, they’d go after their fellow clerics violating women and children, and amassing fortunes from tithes. Where’s that pulpit sermon? We have yet to hear it.
Some genuinely overworked pastors burn out. This can cause bad behavior such as drinking to excess, having a shorter temper, or leaving work undone. (Burnout will not cause embezzlement, infidelity, or abuse, in my amateur opinion.) Some denominations have specialized programs that remove clergy and try to identify and treat problems. A return to the pulpit is not guaranteed.
I don’t know much about these programs, except that pastors tend not to want to participate. Maybe that’s a mark of high quality. 😉
Sorry Max…thumb malfunction on my part!
Makes sense.
Our pastor had burnout dealing with too many people problems or problem people. His wife said he kinda shut down so she came to the rescue by whisking him away on retreat for a few days. We, fellow church members, supported her plan. Good people.
BTW, this pastor was a salaried professional who served as a non-salaried pastor in our HS-gifts-functioning church. (He is now retired. And we have relocated.)
So, good people all around. Not perfect, but a good church.
I resemble that remark! 🙂
Bingo.
And you won’t hear anything like that cuz’ they rake in tons of dinero, and aren’t about to upset the cantaloupe cart.
Same with crying on cue.
I get a vibe of “City on the Edge of Forever” from “Old Testament” Star Trek.
One issue with pastors caught in sin are church members/ leadership who deny the issue or try to minimize it. The church I was in with the serial adulterer had a board that wouldn’t act and members that didn’t believe it. The pastor went out of state to take another lover from another congregation (this had also happened in his two churches prior to ours). In the same denomination, about a decade ago, I discovered, to my horror, that I was auditing a class with a professor/pastor who had finally admitted to an affair with an underage girl as a youth pastor back in the 70s. His victim denounced him on the internet, and the school where he taught sued the victim for libel! It all turned out to be very true.
We don’t like to confront sin in people we trust, but when we don’t the cycle continues to repeat itself. God will forgive sexual sin in leadership, but restoration is a long process and I do believe this type of behavior should lead to permanent disqualification from the pulpit.
Ava Aaronson,
Wonderful that he had support and a chance for a break. I trust that he was also able to address the other causes.
It speaks highly of the congregation that he got some understanding. Unfortunately, sometimes, when a person is starting to burn out, a group piles on criticism and hastens the process.
Absolutely true. Because, … change.
This confrontation requires that we change OUR thinking about someone. We’d rather not.
Maybe we even have to admit we were WRONG about them. That’s an even greater challenge. Oh my stars, no way … we’d rather not do that either.
Finally, if we are in the first-adopter early-in-the-know crowd (very small “crowd” or the actual whistleblower), we would REALLY rather NOT go there either, far from the comfortable mainstream crowd. God forbid! Case closed.
So there it is, three reasons why the serialists keep serializing right under our very noses in plain sight:
1. Change from trust relationship in our Dearly Beloved to untrustworthy? No thank you.
2. Admit we’re wrong? Not gonna happen.
3. Standout from everyone else? Clearly nothing doing.
Nope. Nope. And Nope.
Agree. His wife did the right thing. She said he was pretty out-of-it so they had to do something. Going away to reset worked.
When they were out of town (for about a week), some of the seemingly uber needy that had kept running to him for various “stuff” found other avenues to get help and other ways to cope, which also turned out well.
All good. Small church. No salaries, no buildings. Lots of interaction and fellowship. Gift based. Neither money nor hierarchy nor patriarchy nor entitlement based. No titles.
Good point. Not called, but they went there anyway. In God’s name. Can’t even imagine.
Golly gee, great balls of fire – not an enviable position. A fake. And in God’s name, no less. Lord, have mercy. They’re gonna need it. Mercy. Serious stuff. Uber.
The American church desperately needs to reconsider its youth ministry model. Putting a 20-something flesh-baby fresh out of seminary in charge of teenage flesh-babies is an accident waiting to happen. Hormones kick in and “pastor” gets naughty. The New Testament model was for older saints mature in the Word to mentor and disciple young folks … there is wisdom in that. I suppose they are out there, but I have never met a spiritually mature youth pastor. A series of articles in The Houston Chronicle reported on hundreds of bad-boy youth ministers in SBC … reckon how many have not been exposed yet?
No kidding.
When a person turns away from the bad things they useta’ do, how is that marred by ‘inborn sinfulness’?
When someone continues to struggle with ‘inborn sinfulness’, it means they have never confessed or truly repented of the sin(s) that trip them up. Genuine repentance is accompanied by a changed life which turns away from the temptation to sin. None of us have arrived in this regard, but we must press toward the mark knowing Jesus forgives and helps us on our journey out of darkness.
Payday someday.
repentance?
the opposite of hubris
no finger-pointing, no stones to throw. no ‘thank God I am not like that OTHER sinner’
repentance? a peaceful encounter of a wounded soul kneeling before the One Who laid aside His crown to heal the wounded, filled with the remorse that burns away pride and leaves Christ’s peace in its place
Friend,
This is so nice.
Ava Aaronson,
Agreed.
I always remember how the “literal BIBLE” said that the Demon Locust plague in Revelation was (literally, of course) helicopter gunships piloted by long-haired bearded Hippies.
Makes a pretty good Reality Check to “the Plain Reading/Meaning of SCRIPTURE(TM)!”
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What was once the rough and tumble of life plus Holy Spirit thrown in – and our directly approaching God – got replaced by the war of fashion statements, centralised religion (including through false top-down ecumenism) and micromanaging of correctness almost weekly.
(How the protestant leaders turned into papists and the catholic leaders returned to being papists once again.)
Each different iteration of theology leaves the emotional charge worse every time (because not resolving it).
(tbc)
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Some people joined a church because they read about its morals or its snazzy ideas in a magazine or heard them in a video, and the pastors or elders assumed that was an adequate replacement for newcomers or enquirers getting to know how the Christians lived. New pastors and elders were then drawn from precisely these recruits.
On the other hand, the only thing that made me seek out fellowship was whether there was a chance for me to see what they really knew about Jesus and Holy Spirit.
All the effects of the previous theology iterations (such as body theology) – prior to newer waves of recruits to leadership or pewgoership, and prior to newer waves of correctness managing – are still there, conveniently ignored.
The masses of christians in flux from church to church lay down their memories at the door each time.
(tbc)
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Dominionism (totalist cult; spiritual parasitism unawares, by “establishing” meanings Christ didn’t give the Scriptures) impacts ALL churches till they abjure it – and not just those who consciously follow its prominent promoters.
That’s why the most dominant figureheads / managers are the most antinomian (either in person or, by proxy, through their subalterns). This also explains why preachers tell us Christ has left us permanently depraved, and why (some of) their management class aren’t as good at business principles as they fancy they are.
Are those manager-theologians teaching us to supplicate? (The question Christ will ask them.)
We shan’t be the change we want to see (if we are clear enough what we want) unless we turn the lesson of our memories into active prayer (by ourselves in our own prayer language at first), without waiting to be told.
Religion authorities bought too heavily into the Freud-Reich shallow valuation of orientations. There is more background to this stretching into medieval and ancient times which is painful.
My (non monopolist) search engine threw up Chaucer’s Pardoner which was one of my favourite A level texts (next to Wyndham’s Chrysalids).
The principle of Jezebel is not specifically female and we should take heart that those whom this spirit would render in all ways impotent (as it made Ahab), threw its embodiment (on one occasion) out of the window.
Ava Aaronson,
Another group of “body theologian” (non Protestants with huge political influence) cited Max Scheler as their source. As far as I can make out (in self homeschooler mode) Scheler (like Heidegger) devalued thoughtfulness as moral aid.
In recent religious history we had near-blatant antinomians relying on mystification and whipping up of emotion (the people that hurt H.U.G and the Savile associates); then we had those who pretended to be more strait laced but kept up the mystification and emotionalism (body theologians and Stott heirs); then lately we had those who spin a grandiose fabrication about gender roles, and subordination within the Holy Trinity, in order to create emotional misery as if to signal a (not real) departure from what has gone on before.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones to pick a name out of a not very full hat is a complete opposite of all those with his penetrating anthropology, true belief and intricately honest rationale.
It looks paradoxical that those who were picked on at dodgy camps and schools still imagine they were given a strait laced model to pass on to us. This is what spiritually charged ad hominem dishonesty, deeply compromising of the young and vulnerable of each generation, did to their minds.
An evil spirit without gender