Recently I experienced a replay of something (someone) which has happened to me countless times in my 41 years as a pastor. I suspect that most of you will say, "Oh yes, I have met that guy too." The setting is in the local church. Some Sunday, let's call him…
Read MoreTag: church response to abuse Page 1 of 28
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. One of the most prevalent false teachings found in local churches, "Christian" literature and "Christian" counseling is the insistence that a RASN (reviler, abuser, sociopath, narcissist) can…
Read MoreMat 15:12-14 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” (13) He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. (14) Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the…
Read MoreColossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. One of the chief impediments we face in exposing evil as it hides in local churches is…
Read MoreSaul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a…
Read MoreRom 16:17-18 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. (18) For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they…
Read MorePsa 36:2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The wicked (RASNs for our purposes here)...refuse to entertain anything that does not flatter them. As the Psalmist notes, the wicked flatter themselves so as to refuse to see any iniquity…
Read More2Sa 12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! I have seen in my 40 years as a pastor that wicked people who parade as Christians only grant "permission" for preaching in the church to go only "so far." In most cases their demands prevail, the sermon is delivered…
Read MoreDeu 16:19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Bribery is in the news today - at least in news sources that want to…
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