Candace and Calvary Chapel
I have spent most of my life blissfully unaware of Candace Owens for the most part…until last night.
Last night Owens went on a rant about the scandals in Calvary Chapel and I then spent the rest of the night discerning why by watching lots of her shows..
I need a shower.
Her rant was an intense combination of fact and fiction and unless you lived one of the scandals or had access to my notes, you would have had a hard time figuring out where one stopped and the other took over. Someone at least partly in the know is feeding her stories…even if they get parts of the those stories wrong.
She got a lot wrong, a lot almost right, and twisted some other things, but she also saw what I have said for years…Calvary Chapel has a systemic abuse problem.
Much of corporate Christianity does…
My first concern was why she would be so interested in CC…and I’ll try to summarize that as best I can.
She posits that the death of Charlie Kirk was a conspiracy involving “Zionists”…Christians that support Israel and probably Israel itself.
According to her, Kirk was going to withdraw support for Israel and the “Zionists” took him out.
Calvary Chapel is “Zionist” to the core and has many people in high places in Turning Point, Kirk’s organization. Candace seems unfamiliar with dispensationalism…which would normally be something healthy in my eyes, but not in this case.
Rob McCoy in particular is her target.
Candace does not like Rob McCoy.
Many of you will remember McCoy from the Potters Field scandal…he went in to “clean it up”.
McCoy is now involved with TPUSA Faith, along with his son.
Owens implicates him in her conspiracy…
It remains to be seen what else Ms. Owens will come up with…if I were certain people in the CC hierarchy, I would be very nervous.
I can only hope she waits until she gets all her facts straight before she fires away again…she might do the Lord’s work if she does…
Many people stopped listening to her and supporting her when she turned on Israel, and called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide. So many Christians, would feel that her lumping Calvary Chapel with Israel in her targeted hatred, is more proof that, Satan is using her, and not God!
I’d never listened to more than snippets of her…and I’m thankful I made it this far without doing so.
In her mind Calvary Chapel is a mindless promoter of all things Israel…and she has a point. Where she goes with that is open to debate…
Ironically, I had just referenced and wrote a little bit about this situation on Facebook, and then almost immediately after posting saw that Michael just wrote here, too, about it.
Michael’s already seen my posting, but I will copy my commentary in the next comment.
I post this video with a big caveat – I do not support Candace Owens nor do I recommend regularly listening to her. While at times she may make some good points and/or provide interesting information, on the whole she is far too irresponsible, inflammatory, extremist, un-Christ-like, and consumed with conspiracy theories. Even in this episode, she is engrossed with conspiracies and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of her information is wrong or misleading.
However, I also believe that in this episode she is shining a needed spotlight on what has long been a covered up and underreported reality – that being the abundance of abuse, corruption, and scandal that has long pervaded many parts of the Calvary Chapel movement. She highlights many cases from the past several years, but in reality this only touches the surface of far many more things (that in many cases were more effectively covered up) that stretch back many, many years.
I have seen and heard many Calvary Chapel people over the years promote Candace Owens and/or reference her as an authoritative source when making political arguments. I would ask that those who have taken her seriously before do so again, at least on this issue.
Corruption and abuse have no place in the church of Jesus Christ. Certainly not all churches, or particularly Calvary Chapels in this case, are guilty of such. However, where it does exist, we cannot pretend that it doesn’t exist or that we’re okay with it. It needs to be rooted out, one way or another. Getting serious about transparency and accountability would go a long way in helping to stem these problems.
She is unhinged. She puts out the whackiest takes every single day about all sorts of bizarre conspiracies. If she happened to get this one right, it was only coincidence.
Well said, Kevin…
Josh,
There is more than a little truth in what you said.
I’d never paid her any mind, but she is a fascinating person.
She’s beautiful, and smart as a whip.
She’s an excellent communicator.
She may also be nuts, but she could accidentally blow the lid off what I’ve spent years trying to pry open…
Josh, I don’t buy her conspiracy at all on this one. Yet as you say, it could always be a coincidence if and when one of these things is actually true – a blind squirrel still finds a nut every once in a while. But I do hope that by her highlighting corruption in Calvary Chapel that God may possibly use it to bring some correction and reform where it is genuinely needed.
Does she know that a certain early CC Papa allegedly had a couple-years inappropriate moral lapse way back in the middle of the good ol’ Jesus revolution? I’m still amazed nowhere on planet earth has anything about that, except a certain preacher from Phoenix.
Idahoan,
It is incredibly frustrating that that the very people who wanted me to know about that, refuse to back me up…
It’s entirely possible that she might stumble on that fact and I’ll have to deal with being vindicated by Candace Owens…
Hey, maybe Todd Bentley will start doing some investigation of Calvary Chapel and become your buddy, too. 🙂
Thanks, Kevin… 🙂
You’re welcome, anytime.
Candace Owens – CC Abuse/Corruption. Blind squirrel – Acorn. Stopped Clock – Right Time. Blind pig – Truffle.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1796576898/even-a-blind-squirrel-finds-an-acorn
Whatever she might get right in this one instance she’ll ruin by incorporating in an inflammatory, fantastical, paranoiac narrative of unhinged conspiracy speculation that will discredit all that she said, including any truth she may have presented.
She’s a pebble’s throw away from using the old anti-Semitic trope about a global conspiracy of Jews, and I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point she connects the name of George Soros to this conspiracy fantasy. It is not good having her as an ally against corruption in the church; her positions of thinly veiled antisemitism makes her a liability rather than an asset. With friends like her you don’t need enemies.
I’m watching her live now.
This woman is outrageous…but she’s very good at what she does.
She has no idea what she’s actually looking at, but could accidentally blow up some well known people.
I watched the video portion about CC related. Her connecting CC to the CIA via its founder’s previous working for Bob Jones came right out of left field. I’m sure said founder spent 40 years trying to distance himself from that man of interest.
I also found her comments about CC related people rushing in to grab their seats at the TPUSA table after Kirk’s death. She also complains that she only knew TPUSA to be about politics, but then all these faith people showed up out of nowhere. Her bewilderment about this is genuine.
“Her bewilderment about this is genuine.”
Then she shares something with Oedipa Maas.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Oedipa Maas https://the-book-lovers.fandom.com/wiki/Oedipa_Maas.
Her inquiry about the connections between the military and CC is neither unique, nor new.
These questions have been around since at least the 90’s.
Jerry Boykin, an officer who was involved in taking down Pablo Escobar, was a frequent guest in Costa Mesa…
Michael, I just did a search on this Boykin guy, and is he bad news. An evangelical Christian, and an assassin. And an example of the kind of guys who made it possible for the U.S. to covertly pull the strings in Central and South America for decades. Shameful.
Michael, we need to talk about the ending of the CC story in the NW with Papa Jr WT. It a story that needs to be shared publicly and the harm the CC Moses model leads to. It’s the damage and failure of “The Civil War Within – the biblical “facts of life” in the struggle for spiritual growth” It’s a book title.
Its time for as Paul says to Timothy to again say “Alexander the Coopersmith did me great harm.” Papa Jr wrote a long letter you published and its time to tell Papa Jr WT story in public about his family.
Never was CC and thankful for it.,,, buy how many more whacky conspiracy theories do we need? I don’t have the bandwidth for all of them!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candace_Owens
More information about someone who changes conspiracy theories like she changes outfits!
Gordy,
I have to ask…for what purpose?
I’ve spent most of my adult life talking about these things and absolutely nothing has changed.
The people you believe have harmed you are either aging out or have drifted into irrelevance or both.
In any case, writing them up would only satisfy a few and change nothing.
At this point in my life with limited resources and failing health, I have to be careful what I devote both to…and a story has to be very compelling in terms of alleviating harm to catch my attention.
I’ve done a little searching online, and so far I have not been able to find any record of Candace Owens accomplishing anything but making herself popular among a certain group of followers. She has certainly not blown the lid off of corrupt activities of any organization or institution. She just takes bites of already existing stories and develops narratives around them that will hold her audience. I don’t see that she has ever done a real journalistic investigation of anything, and I don’t see that she will do one on CC corruption.
I guess I need to be clear, though I’ve already attempted to be.
I’m not advocating for Candace Owens.
She’s so far from reality on so many things I am disturbed that she is so popular.
On the other hand, this is the first time in over 25 years that a national figure has spoke about the abuse in Calvary Chapel and I have to acknowledge and speak to what she has said.
Someone and maybe many someones are feeding her info that not many people know…and her contempt for CC leadership may lead to further national revelations of things only myself and a few others are privy to.
Many of you are not understanding how much cognitive dissonance that she is creating among her own followers…most of which have been told that Israel is the center of Bible prophecy and interpretation.
Will they follow their pastors or their political heros?
People will follow anyone instead of Christ.
Most people are more deeply attached to their political positions than to religion of any kind. Political beliefs engage the same human passions as religious beliefs.
I knew someone who would brag that he was in so tight with Chuck that he would send him on secret missions to Israel to clandestinely deliver huge sums of cash to certain parties with zionist persuasions whose identities he couldn’t divulge.
I’ve been going to Calvary chapel for 30 years. I’ve never once heard a message from my pulpit about Charlie Kirk or Candace Owens. Every message I’ve heard is from the pages of the Bible. In fact it’s the first church I ever went to that asks everyone to open their Bible before the message begins. We don’t talk about a lot of current events. The message is about the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I say all this to saw there may be some corruption somewhere within Calvary chapel but that is the same in every church. Every government. Every workplace. I’m blessed to have been taught how to read the Bible and love Jesus and so I’ll continue to go to Calvary Chapel and fellowship with Bible believing Christians and leave the conspiracy theories up to those who have time to paint all if the people who attend a Calvary Chapel with the broad brush. Candace will have the same accountability as the rest of us when we get before the throne for our words so she needs to be sure to understand that in tearing down a few that she does or does not have evidence of corruption she is also attacking a whole group of good Bible believing Christians.
“Most people are more deeply attached to their political positions than to religion of any kind. Political beliefs engage the same human passions as religious beliefs.”
Historically a nations religion is part of the political environment. Even communism is a religion, exchanging “god told me/in the name of god(s)” for “each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
And yet both have individuals who rise to the top and dominate the people in the name of their “religion.”
Yes I agree, politics is a religion and the opium of the masses.
It’s who we are as humans.
As far as the thread goes, Candace gets paid very well because people listen and recognize with her.
Same goes for all the others from the left to the right, the liberal to the conservative, the religious to the atheist, Carlson, Maddow, Levin, Morning Joe, Papa Chuck, The Pope, Obama, Trump…
Why do we tune them in and why do we go to their social media sites?
“Yes I agree, politics is a religion and the opium of the masses.”
You are saying that religion is the opium of the masses, and politics is one of those religions. That’s not quite what I said, so you are not really agreeing with me. I would say that some religious beliefs are idolatrous; politics is religious in character, and so some politics and some political beliefs are idolatrous.
Soviet communism certainly was a political system that was religious in character, and, because false, idolatrous. It has corollaries on the other end of the political spectrum, wherever market forces are harnessed to drive the interests of fascistic ethnonationalism.
Both the belief in a completely regulated market, and belief in a totally free-market, are superstitions. Neither has ever, or ever will, exist. There are just different degrees and kinds of regulated markets. But that’s a different story.
Robert
Humans will make up a cause or purpose once the basics of life are met. Individuals will take advantage of others needs to fulfill their own needs.
It’s all tied together, both religion and politics. It is a lie to say otherwise and a defense to those who think they hate religion.
What religion(s) did Alexander the Great bring with his quest to dominate his world and how did that help him do it?
I am in no way an atheist and would describe myself as Christian in my understanding of God. But knowing the nature of humans and myself brings comfort in all the junk going on in the world around me.
I accept who I am, my limited part in both helping and hurting others. As a sinner I know my best intentions have consequences good and bad.
TH,
Okay. I’m not sure how this relates to the dialogue we had gotten into, so I’m at a loss regarding how to continue. I know little about Alexander the Great and his effect on the world of his time.
I’m not aware that I denied that religion and politics are connected; in fact, I think I was saying something almost the exact opposite.
Some hate some religions and not others. Many Christians hate Islam, and many Muslims hate Christianity. I’m not aware of hating any particular religious belief, but there are some I think closer to truth than others. I certainly think the Aztec priests who performed religious sacrifice of other human beings were engaged in a great evil. But that is because I believe that each and every human being bears the image of God, the image of Christ. If that is true, and I believe it is, then it shapes my imperfect ethic in a certain direction. For one thing, I oppose human sacrifice; for another, I oppose capital punishment.
Having said all that, I believe that the wisest way to conduct oneself in life is via an ethic of responsibility, weighing lesser evil against greater, not a an ethic of purity, settling for only perfection. But I can only do this because I believe that grace will prevail for all in the end. I will make mistakes and sin; but “…all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
“All is grace.”
Micheal, it is very compelling and the specifics of damage the Moses model does. With Papa WT those near him justify lots came to the Lord. Yet a trail of damaged lives left behind. Because of the unrepentant anger of Papa WT there are horrible sins just yesterday that take place. And Papa WT says I’m a punk.
And I was accused publicly of being willing to commit a crime yesterday of being will to put me in jail for life. And the lies of Papa WT are the direct cause. My wife had to stand up and call them lies to a roomful of men afraid to bring their issues to me.
I don’t really care if you do or don’t want to write the story. It would talk a zoom for you to even evaluate yet it is not a story I have heard you tell… it is the long tail of Papa WT, and to CGN, Brian, and 2 of Wayne’s son Jordan (executive pastor CCCM) and Riley (lead pastor of what was Calvary Fellowship in MLT).
Jana and I pray for you, as we know you have paid a high price for being willing to expose. You work has fruit you have not seen and may not until you see the Lord. I would say seek the Lord, and ask if he has further assignments for you to expose the end of the story or not.
The end story of CC IMO, and the Moses model will be they did not finish well. Papa WT is a prime example.
Gordy,
What people have never understood is that it isn’t as simple as writing an article.
It requires hour upon hour of research and gathering evidence.
It requires the strength to undergo public scrutiny and wrath for extended periods of time.
It almost always risks legal action against me.
The outcome of such a story may mark those you believe harmed you…it may allow you to feel vindicated and those are not small things.
It will change nothing.
I know this because in 25 years I’ve yet to see anyone forced to leave a position or even repent because of our work simply because they were provably spiritually abusive.
There are extreme situations where I might get involved in these stories again…but my reality is that I’m now old and unwell…and most of those I became this way for have long since abandoned me.
In my experience most CC guys want to be Moses and the Moses that be tend to want to stifle that.
The people in the pews love Moses…until he turns on them.
I’m not sure about the CIA connection with the conception of Calvary chapel. But in all honesty she has a point about Calvary having a pedophile problem….
I would suggest to watch her full videos. She pulls up many screen shots of articles that can be looked up individually. Bringing light to wolves in sheep’s clothing. Please do not let your feeling about her miss the point. I believe this is not just in CC but in all mega churches where accountability is impossible due to size.
in all mega churches where accountability is impossible due to size.
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Smoke-Machine-Nationalism-Megachurch-ebook/dp/B0FK5Y2HBJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3309R9XOC1NAC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.E-3LuaE7D_0sGWnEHRaI2HVqpsLUHnu0YO45r6An-8_GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.b_q5LQqmQge0b7tn8ukl2K9upOq3jzRgY-I2R7H6jf4&dib_tag=se&keywords=gods+of+the+smoke+machine&qid=1765318106&s=digital-text&sprefix=gods+of+the+smoke%2Cdigital-text%2C129&sr=1-1