Things I Think…
1. I’ll be spending most of my time this week working on the Potters Field story and stating the case of why Mike and Pam Rozell are unworthy of the support of the church until they repent and make restitution. I will do this knowing full well that some part of the church will undue all that work and “restore” them because victims of abuse simply don’t matter to the church…
2. This is the great tragedy of the “restoration” process that James MacDonald is undergoing at Calvary Chapel South Bay. People risked their reputations and livelihoods to expose MacDonald…he sued a number of them because he had the resources to do so and there are few weapons of intimidation more useful to men like him. These people were neither consulted, nor made part of the process…because they don’t matter….
3. Macdonald’s ability to live as he does, to have the resources he does, all were financed by the church. The actions of CCSB have removed any accountability he had for how he used those resources…
4. American evangelicalism considers abused flocks to be collateral damage in the cause of promoting celebrity preachers…while pretending to be arbiters of social and moral issues in the culture. Biblically, there is little more immoral than supporting men who grew wealthy on the backs of the abused, while ignoring the cries of the victims for justice…
5. We take care of what we value…make your own application…
6. Now if the Rozell’s or Macdonald were gay…then we’d send them home. You can get away with damn near anything simply by being a popular religious heterosexual …
7. Let me be as clear as I can be. If you support ministries with a track record of abuse or allegedly abusive pastors, you’re paying for people to be abused in Jesus name…and you’ll answer for it…
8. The most amazing thing about the Potters Field mess is how many of these young people still cling to Jesus…too bad that leadership doesn’t have that kind of faith…
9. The reaction to the coronavirus shows our scorn for both the media and professional expertise…which will, sooner or later, kill a whole bunch of people…
10. Yes, I get the risk for death from the coronavirus is mainly those who are older or already sick. As I am both, I don’t consider those populations disposable and will go ahead and be cautious…with your permission of course…
#10- Yes Michael, please do be cautious. I’m in the same boat. Now if I could just convince parents not to send me their snotty-nose children. Hand washing, Lysol wipes and Airborne have become my friends.
I’ve asked before but don’t think I got an answer:
What’s the best story of redemption post scripture for a senior pastor who submitted to church discipline?
CK,
I smell of Purell…
Jtk,
The only one I can think of is George MacDonald…
it’s hilarious to me that so many of these disgraced ministers made hay on the popularity of end-times schtick, while ignoring the BIG end-times issue…judgment.
NY State issued Jim Bakker a cease and desist order over his “cure” for coronavirus that he and his minion was hawking on his show. He certainly hasn’t been well-restored either.
Bakker will end up back in prison if he’s not careful…
You’vr gotta be a Major League dirtball “ministry” if even the NY State Attorney
General issues you a “cease and desist” order!
one can only hope. 🙂
your point is well-taken regarding the codependent relationship abusive leadership has with financially supporting followers. craziness in spades.
maybe Tammy Faye was the smarter one after all…
I think you might be right, Filb.
Still — very scary!
We look up and see God, but we look around us and (should) see our adversary, the devil…. I am out of patience,too. Out of patience with Christians who discount the devil and his people skills….
GREAT post, great thoughts today, Michael… God keep. 🙏 you, too, Captain
Bakker? Cunning and smart are not synonymous terms… He may be just plain go-along-to-get-along, a not too bright sheep, but how clueless do you have to be to be a follower of him?
FWIW… The medical people around here are all saying vit. D3 will help big time with this strange virus. You can overdose, though, so be careful – read up on it
Pot Script on D3… I am not a medical authority, just passing on what i am told by those who are
Forgot to say that the D3 has to be taken with some fat (buttered toast does it) or it just passes right through you…
Em,
I have to take it anyway…thanks for reminding me to get that refilled…
So as not to be accused of peddling fake news, I will hare two complete tweets from Trump today:
“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
“Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!”
Regarding the first tweet, although there are numerous differences between the flue and Coronavirus, Trump thinks the comparison fits and writes regarding Coronavirus that nothing should be shut down, life and the economy should go on as if nothing is different. At least that’s the clear inference I draw from his Tweet. So, Trump’s advice goes against the CDC, State officials, other country leaders, and countless healthcare professionals.
But I assume that Trump loyalists will believe Trump and blame any economic fallout and the crash of their 401ks and IRAs on the fake news.
Regarding the second tweet, if all we had was an oil price war, this would be very good for inflation and the economy, and would function as a tax cut for millions of Americans who commute to work and by gas weekly or bi-weekly. If, as Trump says, the market crash is because of fake news, then I suppose Trump should fire his CDC and NIH professionals.
I think there is a difference between trying to comfort the American people and straight up publishing egregious falsehood. Trump’s supporters are so loyal that if they don’t comply with CDC and other guidance, or their local governing leaders who request various levels of precaution and action, then if his base is 30 +/- %, we as a country will never get a handle on this epidemic.
The entire country of Italy is now on lockdown.
Is that an overreaction Michael? Or is Italy concerned about the aged and those with pre-existing conditions, and/or about overwhelming their hospital resources?
Wow!
Jean,
It’s a conspiracy between the American Democratic Party and China… 🙂
Yes, I actually saw that on Facebook…
This is interesting to say the least…Italy’s economy is very fragile, yet they believe they have to take this action.
We’ll see where it leads…
No doubt President Obama and the Clintons are somehow responsible too.
Thanks Em! 😊
Jean, at this point I think Italy may be concerned about the majority of their population.
As a moderate Trump supporter, I’ll take my cues from the medical authority before I listen to him, or Jim Bakker, or (fill in the blank).
Captain Kevin,
You make a good point.Thank you for the corrective.
I can’t say for certain, but in Italy, as contrasted with the US, I understand that family homes often consist of not only the immediate family, but also the grandparents, especially the widowed grandmother, that is, they still hold onto the tradition of a family primary responsibility (and we as Christians would say blessing) of caring for the elderly in the extended family.
We in the US on the other hand have created and perfected?? the art of the nursing home under a plethora of names. In so doing, have we devalued the elderly? Have they become disposable? A burden? Do we prefer to leave them at sea?
Jean, a bedfast elderly person, not quite in their right mind is faaar better off in a good nursing facility. Incontinence, hiegene, bedsores, proper nutrition and medications…
Even a well run retirement home has its merits…
Proportionally this Corona V is far more deadly than our other “flu bugs”…. The city where it originated has a germ warfare lab and it has been reported that an employee was selling their dead test animals to the nearby “meat” market. Just a rumor? Could be….. but the bug is not just another strain of flu