Why Did Keith Green’s Plane Crash?
Keith Green was a Christian music superstar of the late 70’s and early 80’s before losing his life along with 11 others in a plane crash in 1982.
I was unaware of him until I started moving in Calvary Chapel circles where people almost genuflected at the mention of his name.
In recent years some of the shine has worn off his halo as it has been widely reported that the plane crash was the result of overloading and pilot error…both of which Green had a hand in.
Now, two former workers at Green’s “Last Days Ministries” have started a podcast…and the halo is gone for good.
“Feet of Clay – Confessions of the Cult Sisters” is a podcast hosted by Sharon Madere (Bennett) and Tracey Phalen (Reed), who both worked alongside Keith and Melody Green at Last Days Ministries (LDM).
As one-time key leaders in the organization, they go on record about the spiritually traumatic and often damaging influences of the Greens and the multitude of materials (many of which are still available today) published through LDM, including ‘The Last Days Newsletter’.
Sharon and Tracey each joined LDM as teenagers, where they met and married their respective spouses during those cult-commune years. Both couples independently left LDM in 1987 and moved hundreds of miles apart. They continued in their hard-held beliefs for over ten additional years, yet ultimately divorced in the early 2000s.
In this podcast Tracey and Sharon come together to talk about their parallel journeys out of the cult mindset, the long process of unpacking indoctrination and spiritual trauma, and their separate but often co-mingled road to healing and humor. “
They not only discuss the plane crash,but also what they describe as “the culture of authority, abuse and control so often found in evangelical/ fundamental spaces.”
Both of the hosts have “deconstructed”…the language is often coarse,but the experiences they share are real and well worth hearing.
Episodes #14 and #46 are about the plane crash and the issues around it…and they are chilling.
Gifted men without accountability often become cultic…make your own application…
My husband and I loved Keith Green – we still have all of his records. We were going to my favorite Calvary Chapel at that time, pastored by Jim Hesterly and his wife, June. I remember hearing a few years after Keith’s plane crash that the plan had been overloaded. It’s amazing that I remember that, but I clearly remember thinking that God can’t be expected to save us from our own bad judgement. Keith Green was saying some extremely negative things about the Catholic faith in his newsletter and some people actually said that perhaps God “took” him to heaven for that reason. In the eighties it was quite common for Calvary Chapel today extremely harsh things about the Catholic Church. I never understood why. Something about worshipping Mary , if I remember.
I knew Keith back in the day. He had an intensity that he was able to turn on and off like a light switch. That being said, he was a charismatic performer, especially in the early days. What I’ve learned through the years is that charisma and intensity can be used for good or ill. They are not a substantive “good” in and of themselves…
Keith Green pre-dated my intake of CCM and I never got into his music. I did know those, however, who held him in great reverence.
For the little bit I did know of him, yes, he did appear to be a very intense person like Duane attests to, and he struck me as someone who likely went harmfully over the top with some things. Sadly, reading this blog post did not really cause me any surprise, knowing the little bit I knew of Green, and much more so knowing of the many harmful traps which exist in evangelicalism.
Pilot was perhaps star struck to allow overload. Just like the super star singer few years back. Matthew Ward in an interview mention he and Keith went toe to toe as it were over theology and other issues. He didn’t slander the dead! Keith wanted him on an album and Buck Herring told Keith to come to his studio, he didn’t want Matthew going over there.
That era was both fascinating & disturbing. We commoners were enamored with the contemporary music and edgy style but quickly learned that those lyrics cut both ways. “To obey is better than sacrifice” was taken as a call to repentance and militancy against being “lukewarm” at a time when many of us were convinced of an imminent return of Jesus. The more we learned of the goings on at Last Days the more disturbed we felt. When we found out about the plane crash due to ignoring weight & cargo guidelines the sad fact is that science and physics will always prevail no matter how “anointed” a faith leader might appear.
This just makes me sad on all accounts.
I have similar memories to Gman. I remember seeing him on the front lawn of Cal Baptist College in Riverside. I ran into an old friend there who said to me “get ready to get convicted.“ He beat us up pretty good that night.
A stanza from “To obey is better than Sacrifice:”
“To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than Sundays and Wednesday nights
‘Cause if you can’t come to me everyday
Then don’t bother coming at all”.
It has taken me my entire life to unwind that horrible theology from my head. That song, more than any other one that I heard from the Jesus Movement (and the time period shortly after) had an incredibly negative effect on my life.
Innovation in church, fast forward 40+ years, looks like a cult. But it’s not just in church, it’s in almost everything. Remember flower power and the age of Aquarius? If you haven’t survived a cult you haven’t really lived. 😉
If anyone is curious, here is the NTSB report on the crash:
https://flightsafetydetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/NTSB_FTW82AA299_Keith_Green.pdf
Also, what is it with musicians and their deaths in airplane accidents and incidents? There are at least a couple of dozen. Here are some of them:
Glenn Miller
Otis Redding
Buddy Holly
Ritchie Valens
The Big Bopper
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Patsy Cline
Keith Green
John Denver
Ricky Nelson
Jim Croce
Aaliyah
Steve Gaines
Cassie Gaines
Ronnie Van Zant
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/small-plane-accident-data-verify/65-e225d18e-836a-4294-a8fb-f6ddddde79d2
R’as al Ghul,
Small planes do crash more often. The link gives issues such as less pilot training and poorer plane maintenance. Your link on Green’s accident validates both of those points.
Interesting podcast. Keith Green is was a BIG deal when I was in college, not far from The Wearhouse Church in Sacramento, CA where he often played in the late 70s. Thankfully, I never attended a church where the youth ministry was based on CCM. We sang a lot of the songs in my university church, but we also sang hymns and were discipled, and were part of the total congregation. We were to take Christ to the world, not shut ourselves away from it.
Dave,
Perhaps in some cases innovation looks cultist in hind sight. But I remember how frequent the arrogance brought on through ignorance that such innovative approaches toward ministry appeared to foster. The ideal of the “new way” or the”new wine,” recognized by God’s newly anointed, that we should walk in, live by, and demonstrate our commitment to God. The message was said in various ways and most groups embraced that idea. The problem wasn’t innovation but our ability to steward it.
We’ve known for a long time about the plane being overloaded.
I like KG’s music and story. I was particularly impressed by his wanting to let some people get his music for free rather than maximise his revenue, as opposed to some Christian music stars (or more likely the bosses) who make profit a higher priority.
Perhaps it’s lucky he was taken so young. The fame over more years may have led to more negative outcomes. His attitude, as I read it in No Compromise, was that he would rather die young than become someone who does more harm than good.
I’d heard a bit of the negative side – that he pushed hard for his idea of what courageous faithfulness looked like and people were hurt. It doesn’t surprise me that we more stories of this.
Still dig his music, although “No one Believes In Me Anymore” needs an update … “Most People Believe In Me Now – Everyone Likes A Winner “.
But Seriously , How Can They Live Without Jesus, The Prodigal Son Suite…!!
Your Love Broke Through, ah jeez, like this line
“And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again
It’s like the power of the wind”
He’ll take Care Of the Rest is so fun and Pentecostal I want to grab a tambourine and a ribbon… I haven’t, I just … want … to
I was raised with it since his music was coming out when I was born, it was adjacent to the Bill Gothard movement I was raised up with. Philandering, abusive pastoral care in evangelical Churches of Bob and The Other One On the Corner was not new, but coming to light more often. Very strange and odd times in the eighties and nineties running into people who were a part of or suffered abuse from certain parties and big names.
Strange thing is is that God still saw fit to use their gifts and a lot of people were saved. And a lot of people fell away. Some of us wandered the dessert for 30 years.
… But seriously… not a song, 😂
Goodness, and I didn’t trudge in my dessert for 30 years…!
Why did Keith Green’s Plane Crash?
$hit happens, no rhyme, no reason.
Muff,
The reasons were outlined in the NTSB report. As to how those reasons came about, then culpable party is Keith Green himself. It was his hubris and/or lack of attention to detail that enabled those factors to begin with. Keith was a risk-taker and beat the odds many times. But sometimes you roll boxcars. And to borrow a line from the great poet and sage Kenny Rogers, “You’ve got to know when to walk away.” This is why Keith Green’s ministry had to pay out all those civil damages instead of his insurance company.
Of course all the fanboys will complain that “Christians don’t sue other Christians.” To which I reply, it is also a Christian thing to admit your sins and take responsibility for own actions. Something the leadership at Keith Green’s ministry did not do.
I guess the Obey part in “Obey is better than sacrifice.” was strictly optional in the mind of Keith Green when it came to airplane weight & cargo guidelines, maintenance, and pilot training & certification. He should have remembered that Christ’s fulfillment of the Law does not cover the Law of Gravity.
I listened to the podcast yesterday. I was at Last Days Ministries from July 1979 to April 1986. I know the hosts well, Sharon and I joined the ministry about the same time. I agree with everything they say regarding Keith, and if you listen to all of their podcasts there is a fondness for Keith in spite of the effort to get the real story out there.
Unlike Sharon and Tracy, I do not consider LDM a cult or Keith a cult leader. We were like a cult in all but theology, and were simply unsophisticated and swept along by the charismatic stream of the 70s. The Shepherding Movement probably impacted us the worst, as it created a hierarchical structure of spiritual abuse.
Right after the crash, Kenn Gullickson wrote an article for CCM in which he described the plane crash as a spiritual warfare defeat. The enemy won that round. He didn’t support the impression that God divinely mandated the crash. He had led Keith to the Lord and knew him extremely well, and hinted at Keith somehow bringing this about. Kenn was also very close to the Smalley family, church planters who people seem to forget all died in the crash. He’s the ones Keith wanted to “show around”.
More on Keith: He was a reformer, and not some fundy stuck in legalistic dogma. I believe had he lived longer he would have changed a lot and for the better. He was a very young Christian (28 years old at time of death and a believer for maybe 6 years of that) His love for God and commitment to love and obey Him were everything his songs suggested, including the “off” lyrics. The power of the Holy Spirit you felt at his concerts was real, not manipulation or demonic.
Keith was my bigger than life friend. I have the good experiences that went along with that and the bad.
Good points all R’as al Ghul.
The reasons given in the NTSB report illustrate Green’s idiocy cloaked with a veneer of fundagelical horse$hit.
It’s good to hear that Green’s estate (beaucoup ‘ministry’ bucks) had to pay out the wazoo to the families of the victims.
To be clear, my intention was not defending Keith. Sharon and Tracy have over time rejected Christianity itself. From there perspective, they experienced “radical Christianity” and if that’s where devotion to Christ takes you they want none of it.
I especially agree with what Tracy called “the fillers”. Within hours we found ourselves surrounded by YWAM leaders, all very supportive but leaving no room for anyone, including Melody to process the event. This was all God’s plan, “Unless a grain of wheat fall in the earth and die…” The trajectory from the crash itself to going on a concert tour with a video of Keith promoting world missions, and with YWAM leaders at every concert to sign people up, was extremely quick.
The details of the plane investigation, civil suit from the Smalley family, etc, were all distractions from the work of reaching the entire world for Jesus, especially while the crash was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The same “Jesus People” environment that would encourage a 23-year-old just-saved musician to start his own ministry (with no training at all) would now push his widow to relentless touring on behalf of world missions.
Terry,
I’m deeply grateful that you’re sharing your personal experiences at LDM here…it’s a tremendous resource to help us understand some things about that time and that tragedy.
Terry,
That is part of the tragedy and the dark underbelly in the “Jesus People” movement. Far too many immature Christians were sent out as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Zeal without knowledge is the operative phrase here. What happened to Keith (and later his wife) is a prime example of this. I attribute their flawed and incorrect eschatology (pre-trib dispensationalism) for creating the environment with a sense of extreme urgency that sent out so many babes in the woods.
Terry,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
R’as al Ghul – I now lump Darbyism/Dispensationalism with all the other flawed movements that emerged out of the Second Great Awakening: Latter Day Saints, Jehovah Witnesses, Adventism, Christadelphianism, etc. I also have my reservations about any movement born in the 20th Century Healing Revivals. They all connect to John Dowie, William Branham, British Israelism and its current form Philosemitism.
Permit me if you will to share my Keith Green story, even though it doesn’t tie directly to the main drift of the conversation here.
My last year as a student at CSU Fresno, Keith Green played a concert downtown at the convention center. We rode there with another young newlywed couple that we knew. When we arrived, they announced the concert was full and no more people would be let in.
There were still two or three hundred people outside, and most of them eventually left. However, about 50 people stayed. The couple we rode with wanted to stay , so we were stuck.
Random people started to get up and preach to the group, saying “I know we are disappointed that we couldn’t get in, but I think God wants us to be here because somebody is going to get saved tonight.” So people kept getting up and preaching or praying, admonishing the individual who was supposed to get saved to come forward. And of course, our ride didn’t want to leave.
After at least an hour or more of this, with no one coming forward, our ride finally gave up and took us home.
Thought of Dean Paul Martin, to add to the list.
Linn: “Keith Green is was a BIG deal when I was in college, not far from The Wearhouse Church in Sacramento, CA where he often played in the late 70s.”
My mom and I attended Warehouse Ministries in the late 70s into the early 80s (into the time they had moved sites from next to the ice rink and drive in theaters on Bradshaw). The pastor baptized me in the American River when I was 11. I think he started out not affiliated with CC.
Re: what Muff said… no one expects The Tower of Siloam.
I disagree New Victor.
If you (generic you) know the Tower is there, you also know that it’s structural members (real life) are as rickety and fragile as popsicle sticks.
Expecting its fall is just realistic prudence.
And if it doesn’t?
All the better.
Muff,
Scriptures don’t specifically state how or why the tower collapsed. It could be human error or something people of that era would not have known about (a non-visible internal (and therefore unknown) defect in a beam for example). In Keith Green’s case, the potential causes of a crash were known ahead of time (overloading, improper loading, etc.)
R’as Al Gul and Muff
Except that “in him, all things consist”. So yep, even gravity. But gravity is a theory, not a law. So is buoyancy, but gravity works for our frame of reference. Small r versus Big R thing. God is Sovereign, Keith Green is probably in heaven.
Jerod,
For starters, law of gravity is like any law of science (scientific law) as explained below:
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. Laws are developed from data and can be further developed through mathematics; in all cases they are directly or indirectly based on empirical evidence. It is generally understood that they implicitly reflect, though they do not explicitly assert, causal relationships fundamental to reality, and are discovered rather than invented. Scientific laws summarize the results of experiments or observations, usually within a certain range of application. In general, the accuracy of a law does not change when a new theory of the relevant phenomenon is worked out, but rather the scope of the law’s application, since the mathematics or statement representing the law does not change.
In this case, it would be Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. Newton’s law of universal gravitation says that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
If you believe it is only a theory, then I suggest you take a step off the edge of a 10 story building and see what happens.
LOL, that was funny at the end. I see you have a NorthWestern sense of humor.
Personally, I love gravity, I love gravity so much. Gravity and I get along like best buddies.
Jerod,
So you admit you are attracted to gravity and that you are drawn towards it? 😀
Of course, it is not the fall from the roof or the sky that kills you, but rather the sudden stop at the end that does it.
R’as, yes, it keeps me grounded
Terry said: “Unlike Sharon and Tracy, I do not consider LDM a cult or Keith a cult leader. We were like a cult in all but theology, and were simply unsophisticated and swept along by the charismatic stream of the 70s. The Shepherding Movement probably impacted us the worst, as it created a hierarchical structure of spiritual abuse.”
At least you are admitting LDM was cult but with the right theology. Their control tactics were definitely cultish.
Some items that have come out on the podcast is
– Keith and then Melody when she took over forced the low paid staff to work 60 hours per week while neither worked those long hours. This was staff that were paid a very modest stipend at best.
– Due to Keith and Melody’s procrastination, there times when they forced the staff to work around the clock (over 24 hours straight with no sleep) to get their newsletter out. Sadly, neither Keith or Melody worked those long hours without sleep. Sure sounds like the Pharisees placing heavy loads on people but not lifting a finger.
– Melody despite her getting divorced to her second husband, still has her group Last Days Ministries put out a publication decrying divorce. You would think she might modify her stance or at least revise to show more empathy.
– The Last Days Ministries website telling their history whitewashes the plane crash details and could even be considered lying how they tell the story.
– The Keith Green biography that Melody wrote at best sadly glosses over these and other actions.
Some shocking details. There are more if you listen to the podcast.
There is a new episode out on the plane crash:
https://confessionsofthecultsisters.com/046-july-1982-keith-green-plane-crash-new-info-did-keith-grab-the-controls-2/
They are indicating the possibility that Keith Green grabbed the plane controls and could have possibly caused this crash. This certainly is sad possibility.
At take-off, if a plane fails to ascend, counterintuitively the experts say you are to let off of the throttle somewhat as if telling the plane not ascend as much. Not being an expert myself, but the experts say that this better allows the plane to catch ascend.
The pilot would have known this while Keith having no training wouldn’t have known this and could grabbed the controls and followed his intuition to try and force the plane to ascend.
Steve,
So unlike the mythical Icarus that flew too close to sun killing himself, Keith Green killed himself and a bunch of others with his hubris.
The NTSB report has zero, NADA, no information about where Keith was sitting or if he had access to the flight controls. This is typical blame placement being told by those who disliked Keith. Truthfully in any aspect of humanity what these people are saying is wrong.
https://flightsafetydetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/NTSB_FTW82AA299_Keith_Green.pdf
While the personality of Keith may have played a part in the pilot’s decision process to not properly load the airplane, the fault of the accident rests entirely on his shoulders.
Like those who preach and “teach” the bible the responsibility for accuracy can be life threatening .
“So unlike the mythical Icarus that flew too close to sun killing himself, Keith Green killed himself and a bunch of others with his hubris.”
Total hyperbole, and nonsense.
TMD
The pilot wasn’t certified to fly LDM’s larger plane. Keith should have known that and I am sure he pushed for Don to fly the plane anyway. Both the pilot and Keith have complicity for this crash.
Sadly, Melody wants to let the blame fall on the pilot and little on Keith and his being a spiritual bully.
Not sure how you try and conclude total “hyperbole and nonsense” but we can all have our own opinions.
Steve
He was FAA certified, but did not meet the experience time required by the insurance company.
There’s a difference, he had the FAA license. That particular airplane, C414, does not require a FAA Type Certificate because it is under the minimum gross weight required for such. It only requires a Multi-Engine rating, which the pilot had.
The nonsense and hyperbole was the cartoon character’s comment and the implication the blog made that Keith grabbed the controls.
The pilot, possibly or likely under pressure from Keith made the decision to fly an overweight and out of CG airplane, thus killing everyone on board.
In aviation the Pilot in Command is the some responsible for the safety of the flight and its occupants.
Read the NTSB report.
TMD
I did read the FAA report. Just because it doesn’t say where the passengers were means you should disregard witnesses who claim Keith was sitting in the co-pilots seat.
That the insurance company didn’t feel Don should be piloting the plane alone says he shouldn’t have been flying the plane despite his license and past experience flying. This would include not having the required flight time in this plane with a more experienced pilot.
Keith was a reported risk taker. He would do things like foolishly passing cars on the highway when there was a double solid line. It was reported Keith always thought God would protect him. It is a shame that he didn’t have some type of minor traffic accident that woke him up to the fact that he wasn’t invincible or that things can happen to him. In the biography that Melody wrote about Keith, it has section where Keith admits he doesn’t have the right temperament to be a pilot.
Thus, no big deal for Keith to put 12 people on a plane that only had 7 seats. Just like in the past when Keith took foolish risks Keith apparently thought God would protect them.
I would agree that the pilot has the ultimate responsibility unless someone put a gun to pilot’s head and forced him fly. You could argue it wasn’t a gun but with the spiritual bullying Keith was known for along with the twisting of scripture that taught almost absolute obedience to leadership, it might be closer to pointing a gun at the pilot than one thinks. Cult leaders have been able to convince members to do a lot of risky things.
If nothing else, both the pilot and Keith have complicity.
It can be hard to accept that a leader who was esteemed in private wasn’t as perfect as thought. One excuse for leaders is the claim they are “imperfect” though rarely do you see leaders admitting their “imperfections.” A shame Melody in the Keith biography didn’t share much of that side.
Steve
“It can be hard to accept that a leader who was esteemed in private wasn’t as perfect as thought. One excuse for leaders is the claim they are “imperfect” though rarely do you see leaders admitting their “imperfections.” A shame Melody in the Keith biography didn’t share much of that side.”
You are reading too much into this. It would indicate to me your dislike for Keith.
Waste of time here. Just preaching to the choir.
TMD
Not sure how you conclude that I “dislike” Keith Green. Then again I see statements like this thrown out all the time to deflect “turn the tables” on someone. Hopefully this isn’t your intent. Over the years I have enjoyed Keith’s music and passion.
I do “dislike” the hypocrisy say of Keith & Melody forcing the staff to work long hours when they weren’t willing to do the same. I also “dislike” the whitewashing the group’s history including facts about the plane crash and even how Keith really was.
The fact that Keith chose to lease two planes and all the costs associated with two planes seems quite contradictory to some of what Keith taught. I remember hearing how in once concert he said how bad it was that a girl in Mexico died of an ear infection that was a minimal cost and to be aware of how you spend your money. I agree that this girl dying is really tragic.
Then you read later how Keith decided to lease not just one but two airplanes despite being relatively close to DFW airport. I am sure this decision to have these planes was quite costly and you wonder in light of Keith’s reprimand to others about spending. I imagine the decision to have two planes was an impulsive decision without really sitting down and looking at what it would really cost to have these two planes.
I am sure the convenience and time it might have saved was nice but at quite an expense that caused other perhaps more important items to not be funded. I imagine there was some ego and the prestige of having planes that impacted this decision.
People have commented that when Keith decided it was OK to spend all this money on planes, the sewage system at LDM desperately needed an upgrade and draconian measures were put in place conserve water and limit how much waste went to the sewage system. Rules like real short showers and only flush brown were mandated. I’m sure it didn’t help with Keith and Melody living across the street and this problem not impacting them that much that caused this sewage upgrade to not be a priority.
Hindsight is 20/20. Still maybe if Keith hadn’t have chosen to lease these two planes this tragic accident wouldn’t have happened and this leasing seemed to contradict what he taught.
Steve240,
From your earlier comment, it looks the Green was a hypocrite in some ways. Maybe God decided to “take” him early before he became a real cult leader and the folks in LDM didn’t end up in the jungles of South America.
Steve
You are interesting and write this as a personal defense, “Not sure how you conclude that I “dislike” Keith Green. Then again I see statements like this thrown out all the time to deflect “turn the tables” on someone. Over the years I have enjoyed Keith’s music and passion.”
And then you write a litany of your criticisms of Keith.
I loved his music and challenges to Christians, and yes he is flawed as all of us are.
Personally I believe owning airplanes do have a purpose, but also a massive responsibility financially and safety wise (I’ve owned 2 in my life).
Was The decision by Keith to get airplanes and decide to fly that day a bad one? The obvious and plain answer is maybe or maybe not. We have no idea if the airplanes would have enhanced his travel experience, but we do know had the pilot said no, or at least properly loaded the airplane they all would have been alive for the next sunrise.
Now the rest of this speculation is plain a waste of time. All of us make dumb and worthless decisions in life, they just don’t always have such an immediate and tragic outcome.
Learn some sort of personal lesson from Keith’s mistakes and apply to the man in the mirror.
The cartoon character’s comment about God “taking” Keith is a waste of time. It was talked about ad-nauseam way back in the day. The airplane crashed because of bad decision making and ignoring proper practices in aviation.
R’as al Ghul
I would definitely disagree with your speculation that God decided to “take him before he became a real cult leader.”
If nothing else, I would hope God wouldn’t take other lives and especially of all the children that were on that plane that died. Still wouldn’t speculate it was God taking Keith’s life.
Supposedly Keith was starting to moderate including his talk on “So You Think You Are a Prophet?” So hopefully was going the other way from that.
I found the following comment on this YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfRYtT8JL38&t=1s
Comment by “historydude07”
“I was VP of the ministry and worked closely with Keith nearly every day for four years. Keith was an amazing and godly man in so many ways, a child prodigy, and an actual genius, but he was also impulsive and childish at times. Taking risks was a part of his personality that paid off well vocationally but his crossing the line of caution eventually caught up with him that was part of this horrific and avoidable tragedy. Grateful for all I learned with and from him and also grateful to still be alive.”
This statement is a sad but true analysis of Keith and why this tragedy happened.
TMD
First, I do appreciate that we can have a civil discussion vs. what can sometime occur in a situation like this.
In response to your talking about my “litany of criticism of Keith” like Terry commented on the Feet of Clay Cult Sisters as having “a fondness for Keith in spite of the effort to get the real story out there.” I see myself being the same way. Also see the comment I shared by a former Last Days Leader.
I am shocked that you seem to be equating the decision to purchase planes and fly that day as similar decisions. The decision to purchase planes is subjective though I still wonder if those funds might have been used for a true need the ministry had at the time such as upgrading their sewage disposal. Keith was reportedly counseled against purchasing planes. The decision to fly that day IMO was a foolish decision for various reasons as I and other have previously stated.
Hindsight is 20/20 and we all made some poor decisions and fortunately sometimes we don’t incur the consequences. On the other hand, Keith was a known serial risk taker throwing caution to the wind, so this mentality sadly eventually caught up to him.
Perhaps this plane crash could be seen as another sad consequence of the Shepherding movement that taught leaders like Keith were “god’s anointed” with too much deference to leadership that they really couldn’t be questioned. Questioning them was equated to questioning God.