Your Preacher Sucks
Did you know that your preacher is not God?
Did you know that the New Testament says that Satan poses as an angel of light?
Did you know that the New Testament makes reference to wolves in sheeps’ clothing, that is, false teachers who infiltrate the pulpit and churches, for the express purpose of fleecing the flock, getting rich, or taking sexual advantage of the ladies, or for pushing their false doctrines? Yeah? You were aware of all that?
There are sure a lot of Christians on the internet who don’t act like they are aware of any of this.
Because as soon as anyone says anything critical about a preacher or that preacher’s theology, no matter how politely said criticism is stated, sooner or later, a follower of that preacher will show up on that forum, blog, or site to leave a message – varying from very nasty, downright hateful, to a more chiding tone of, “You’re being such a meanie, Pastor John Doe is such a gawdly man, how dare you criticize Pastor Doe! Who do you think you are?”
It makes me want to barf.
No man – NO MAN – is above criticism, and I don’t care if it’s a famous preacher or who it is.
By the way, this blog post also serves as as reminder about internet safety.
You better think long and hard before you post any commentary under your real name or anything that could identify you or your address, and that includes when or if you criticize a preacher.
If you choose to do so, if you choose to blog or write under your true name, I am not necessarily condemning that, but I have been down that road before myself, I don’t care to get into it again, which is why I post under a pen name and don’t give out my location.
Sometimes preachers are found guilty of financial fraud, or rape, drug abuse, covering up child sexual abuse in their churches by other members, of selling or using child porn, having affairs, or murdering their wives, and many other things.
The Bible tells Christians to hold such pigs responsible and to kick them out of the church; the Bible does not instruct Christians to circle the wagons around them and defend them.
You, as a Christian, are called to protect and defend people who are being wounded and taken advantage of, even if those people were hurt or taken advantage of by a preacher, and even if it’s the preacher at the church you have been attending for five, ten, twenty years.
Your preacher is not Jesus. He is not worthy of slavish, blind devotion.
Your preacher might be a huge asshole; he might also be a Non-Christian pretending to be a Christian. Why would you waste your time and effort defending someone like that?
Instead, some of you preacher-defenders are complete assholes too; you are totally naive, and you sit around defending slime ball preachers in the comments on blogs, and sending or making threatening e-mails, phone calls, to their critics.
Why in the holy hell would anyone want to defend a preacher, especially one who has been shown guilty of a criminal offense, having affairs with vulnerable women in the church, covering up child sexual abuse, and so on?
The majority of these dirt ball preachers don’t give a rat’s ass about you. You are assuming they do. They don’t. These preachers care about your money (your tithe).
Just because someone acts the part of a Christian, carries a Bible under one arm every day, speaks in “Christian-ese” or preaches from a pulpit every Sunday does not mean he is a good man or is even an actual Christian.
When someone made one or two critical blog postings about Noble and/or his church, several church members started attacking the guy online and in his personal life, and it got real, real ugly (so far as stalking his family and other things).
If I recall correctly, the guy involved (Duncan) said in various blog posts and interviews and coverage about all this that Noble knew, or had to know of, the harassment, yet did nothing to put a stop to it.
You can read more about all that at these locations:
- (Link): BLOGGER’S (Duncan’s) LAWSUIT FOR HARASSMENT AGAINST PERRY NOBLE AND NEWSPRING CHURCH REACHES SETTLEMENT.
And here: (Link): Perry Noble’s Staff: Silencing Critics With Intimidation
And listen to an audio report and interview with Duncan here:
(Link): Perry Noble’s Subordinates Abuse and Harass a Critic
When people were critical of mega church preacher Steven Furtick’s bazillion dollar mansion when news of that broke two or three months ago, his church members showed up like flying monkey troops to blast any blogger who blogged about it. (Info: (Link): North Carolina pastor says swanky $1.7 million mansion is a ‘gift from God’)
Oddly, one guy I saw on one blog, claimed he had never actually attended Furtick’s church himself, but still felt that Furtick was a swell guy, and he said one of his friends who did go to Elevation Church (Furtick’s church) liked Furtick – so he sat there vehemently defending Furtick all day long in this other blog’s thread.
He also logged in under a sock puppet account to defend Furtick some more.
He kept telling us, the readers, he himself did not attend Furtick’s church, which made me think, “He doth protest too much. He must be Steven Furtick himself leaving these posts to go on in such like manner.”
Why the hell would anyone go to those lengths to defend Furtick, or any preacher? I don’t get it. No preacher deserves your undying loyalty.
If you criticize any of the WoF (Word of Faith) false teachers and heretics – the Benny Hinns, T D Jakes, Rod Parsleys, whomever – their fans show up to blast you, usually.
I used to see that even years ago, on Christian forums.
You’d have these threads where someone would criticize the teachings and greed of Prosperity Gospel “Preacher X,” and then the comment section would fill up with die hard proponents of Preacher X, and/or the unbiblical WoF doctrine itself.
My blog here is not famous or popular enough to draw the fruit loops all the time, but I do occasionally get some rude posts from people who actually enjoy these preachers on the rare occasions I blog about them.
In posts where I was critical of the teachings of Bayless Conley, or the hypocrisy of preacher John Hagee, their fans showed up to criticize me (one as recently as last week).
One person who left a critical review of her preacher online was sued by said preacher, and he continued to harass her on the internet afterwards. I’m not sure if he is still harassing her now, but it went on for some time.
Any time anyone says anything remotely critical of preacher Mark Driscoll, his fans show up – usually. I thus far have escaped much Driscoll blow back, aside from one minor barb from some catty lady who left me a snarky aside.
It looks as though someone associated with Preacher Mark Driscoll, and/or Driscoll’s doctor pal, have been leaving rude and/or threatening posts on some blogs that have exposed Driscoll’s latest shenanigans, and have been sending threatening e-mails to people.
You can read a little about the shenanigans here:
(Link): Naturopathic Doctor Touted By Mark Driscoll Suspended Over Experimental Cancer Vaccine
Previously, and apparently, radio host Janet Mefferd was bullied and pressured over another Mark Driscoll controversy.
You can a little read more about that here (you can google around and find tons more):
- (Link): Janet Mefferd Removes Evidence Relating To Charges Of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll; Apologizes To Audience
(Link): Mark Driscoll’s abuse of power evident in plagiarism controversy
The Bible tells Christians to judge other Christians and to kick them to the curb if they don’t measure up, but do most Christians heed these verses below? Nope.
1 Corinthians 5:11
- 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13
- 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
2 Peter 2:1
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2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many of these famous preachers, teachers, and leaders fail at…
1 Timothy 3
- Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well.
13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Titus 1
- An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.
11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
There are numerous warnings and admonishments in the Bible to Christians to test everyone who claims to be a Christian – and it seems to stress this in particular in regards to people who are in leadership positions – and not to protect the leaders or preachers who are contradicting the Scriptures.
This is a post only about abusive preachers, preachers who commit crime and treat people like trash, or who look the other way when they know and see other people (like their staff) mistreating people.
If you are a preacher who does not do any of the things I have described in this post, this post is not about you. (I do not need posts from preachers who are tempted to leave me comments saying, “But I’m a preacher, and I work hard! I would never do what these other guys do.”) I already get that not every preacher is a dirt bag.
This is about the preachers who are unethical, abusive, shady, and/or dishonest, and really, it’s about their idiotic, naive, rude sycophantic suck ups who harass and abuse other people in real life or online on their behalf.
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Related posts:
(Link): Lists of More Married Preachers Arrested for Being Rapists or Child Molesters
(Link): Pastor charged in wife’s murder was headed to Europe to marry boyfriend, prosecutor says
(Link): Pastor Creflo Dollar Arrested for Assaulting his Teen Daughter (He is married and a father)
(Link): And Will He Be Giving Sermons on Sexual Purity? Re: Church Restores Pastor Removed for Adultery
(Link): Charles Stanley Kind of Blows it on Suicide Sermon
(Link): Married IFB Preacher Arrested for Being Serial Rapist
(Link): More Singles Commentary by Mark Driscoll (“Two Mistakes Singles Make”)
(Link): Why People Have Stopped Going to Church (Testimonies)
(Link): More Anti Singleness Bias From Al Mohler – Despite the Bible Says It Is Better Not To Marry
(Link): Measles Outbreak in Word of Faith Church [Kenneth Copeland related]
(Link): Cannot Stand Rod Parsley – Greedy Pastor
(Link): Tubby Lardo Preacher John Hagee has Colbert on His Show AGAIN to Discuss Dieting
(Link): Arizona Preacher Resigns After Being Caught in Extra Marital Affairs
(Link): Pervy (Married?) “Healing Hands” Preacher Jailed For Raping Congregants
(Link): Married Christian Preacher and Mistress Try to Kill Wife
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