Dominionist Movement: Arming for Armageddon Militant Joel’s Army Followers Seek Theocracy

Arming for Armageddon: Militant Joel’s Army Followers Seek Theocracy By Casey Sanchez

“….. Tattooed across Todd Bentley’s sternum are military dog tags that read “Joel’s Army.” They’re evidence of Bentley’s generalship in a rapidly growing apocalyptic movement that’s gone largely unnoticed by watchdogs of the theocratic right. According to Bentley and a handful of other “hyper-charismatic” preachers advancing the same agenda, Joel’s Army is prophesied to become an Armageddon-ready military force of young people with a divine mandate to physically impose Christian “dominion” on non-believers.

“An end-time army has one common purpose — to aggressively take ground for the kingdom of God under the authority of Jesus Christ, the Dread Champion,” Bentley declares on the website for his ministry school in British Columbia, Canada. “The trumpet is sounding, calling on-fire, revolutionary believers to enlist in Joel’s Army. … Many are now ready to be mobilized to establish and advance God’s kingdom on earth.”

Joel’s Army followers, many of them teenagers and young adults who believe they’re members of the final generation to come of age before the end of the world, are breaking away in droves from mainline Pentecostal churches. Numbering in the tens of thousands, they base their beliefs on an esoteric reading of the second chapter of the Old Testament Book of Joel, in which an avenging swarm of locusts attacks Israel. In their view, the locusts are a metaphor for Joel’s Army.

Despite their overt militancy, there’s no evidence Joel’s Army followers have committed any acts of violence. But critics warn that actual bloodletting may only be a matter of time for a movement that casts itself as God’s avenging army.

Those sounding the alarm about Joel’s Army are not secular foes of the Christian Right, few of whom are even aware of the movement or how widespread it’s become in the past decade. Instead, Joel’s Army critics are mostly conservative Christians, either neo-Pentecostals who left the movement in disgust or evangelical Christians who fear that Joel’s Army preachers are stealing their flocks, even sending spies to infiltrate their own congregations and sway their young people to heresy. And they say the movement is becoming frightening.

“The pitch and intensity of the military rhetoric of this branch of the global Dominionist movement has substantially increased since the beginning of 2008,” writes The Discernment Research Group, a Christian watchdog group that tracks what they call heresies or cults within Christianity. “One can only wonder how long before this transforms into real warfare with actual warriors.”

Joel’s Army believers are hard-core Christian dominionists, meaning they believe that America, along with the rest of the world, should be governed by conservative Christians and a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law. There is no room in their doctrine for democracy or pluralism.

Dominionism’s original branch is Christian Reconstructionism, a grim, Calvinist call to theocracy that, as Reconstructionist writer Gary North describes, wants to “get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.”

Notorious for endorsing the public execution by stoning of homosexuals and adulterers, the Christian Reconstructionist movement is far better known in secular America than Joel’s Army. That’s largely because Reconstructionists have made several serious forays into mainstream politics and received a fair amount of negative publicity as a result. Joel’s Army followers eschew the political system, believing the path to world domination lies in taking over churches, not election to public office.

Another key difference between the two branches of dominionism, which maintain a testy, arms-length relationship with one another, is Christian Reconstructionism’s buttoned-down image and heavy emphasis on Bible study, which contrasts sharply with Joel’s Army anti-intellectual distrust of biblical scholars and its unruly style.

“Some people snort cocaine, others snort religions,” Joel’s Army Pastor Roy said while ministering a morning program at Todd Bentley’s Lakeland, Fla., revival in late May.

… Snide jabs at traditional church services are fairly common at Bentley’s revivals…. Bentley is considered a prophet both by his followers and by other leaders of the Joel’s Army movement, whose adherents claim to be reviving a “five-fold ministry” of prophets, apostles, elders, pastors and teachers, as outlined in the Book of Ephesians. Not every five-fold ministry is connected to the Joel’s Army movement, but the movement has spurred an interest in modern-day apostles and prophets that’s troubling to the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal church, which has officially disavowed the Joel’s Army movement.

In a 2001 position paper, Assemblies of God leaders wrote that they do not recognize modern-day apostles or prophets and worried that “such leaders prefer more authoritarian structures where their own word or decrees are unchallenged.” They are right to worry. Joel’s Army followers believe that once democratic institutions are overthrown, their hierarchy of apostles and prophets will rule over the earth, with one church per city.

According to Joel’s Army doctrine, the enforcers of the five-fold ministry will be members of the final generation, for whom the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade constituted a new Passover.

“Everyone born after abortion’s legalization can consider their birth a personal invitation to take part in this great army,” writes John Crowder, another prominent Joel’s Army pastor, who bills his 2006 book, The New Mystics: How to Become Part of the Supernatural Generation, as a literal how-to guide for joining Joel’s Army.

Both Bentley and Crowder are enormously popular on the Elijah List, an online watering hole for a broad spectrum of Joel’s Army enlistees, from lightweight believers who merely share an affection for military rhetoric and pastors who dress in army camouflage (several Joel’s Army pastors are addressed by their congregants as “commandant” or “commander”) to hardliners who believe the church is called to have an active military role in end-times that have already begun. The Elijah List currently has more than 125,000 subscribers on its electronic mailing list.

Rick Joyner, a pastor whose books, The Harvest and The Call, helped popularize Joel’s Army theology by selling more than a million copies each, goes the furthest on Elijah’s List in pushing the hardliner approach. In 2006, he posted a sermon called “The Warrior Nation — The New Sound of the Church,” in which he claimed that a last-day army is now gathering and called believers “freedom fighters.”

“As the church begins to take on this resolve, they [Joel's Army churches] will start to be thought of more as military bases, and they will begin to take on the characteristics of military bases for training, equipping, and deploying effective spiritual forces,” Joyner wrote. “In time, the church will actually be organized more as a military force with an army, navy, air force, etc.”

In a sort of disclaimer, Joyner writes at one point that God’s army “will bring love, peace and stability wherever they go.” But several of his books narrate with glee what he describes as “a coming civil war within the church.” In his 1997 book The Harvest he writes: “Some pastors and leaders who continue to resist this tide of unity will be removed from their place. Some will become so hardened they will become opposers and resist God to the end.”

Two years later, in his book The Final Quest, Joyner described a vision (taken as prophecy in the Joel’s Army world, where Joyner is considered an “apostle”) of the coming Christian Civil War in which demon-possessed Christian soldiers enslave other, weaker Christians who resist them. He also describes how the hero of the novel — himself — ascends a “Holy Mountain” in order to learn new truths and to acquire new, magic weapons….

The atmosphere is less charged with violence at “The Call,” a 12-hour revival of up to 20,000 youths led by Joel’s Army pastor Lou Engle and held every summer in a major American city (this year’s event was scheduled for Washington, D.C. in August).

Attendees are called upon to fast and pray for 40 days and take up culture-war pledges to lead abstinent lives, reject pornography and fight abortion. They’re further asked to perform “identificational repentance,” lugging along family trees and genealogies to see where one of their ancestors may have enslaved or oppressed another so that they can make amends. (Many in the Joel’s Army movement believe in generational curses that must be broken by the current generation).

As even his critics note, Engle is a sweet, humble and gentle man whose persona is difficult to reconcile with his belief in an end-time army of invincible young Christian warriors. Yet while Engle is careful to avoid deploying explicit Joel’s Army rhetoric at high-profile events like The Call, when he’s speaking in smaller hyper-charismatic circles to avowed Joel’s Army followers, he can venture into bloodlust.

This March, at a “Passion for Jesus” conference in Kansas City sponsored by the International House of Prayer, or IHOP, a ministry for teenagers from the heavy metal, punk and goth scenes, Engle called on his audience for vengeance.

“I believe we’re headed to an Elijah/Jezebel showdown on the Earth, not just in America but all over the globe, and the main warriors will be the prophets of Baal versus the prophets of God, and there will be no middle ground,” said Engle. He was referring to the Baal of the Old Testament, a pagan idol whose followers were slaughtered under orders from the prophet Elijah.

“There’s an Elijah generation that’s going to be the forerunners for the coming of Jesus, a generation marked not by their niceness but by the intensity of their passion,” Engle continued. “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Such force demands an equal response, and Jesus is going to make war on everything that hinders love, with his eyes blazing fire.”

Although Joel’s Army theology is mainly directed at people in their teens and early 20s via events like The Call and ministries like IHOP, sometimes the target audience is even younger. In some of the most arresting images in “Jesus Camp,” a 2006 documentary about the Kids on Fire bible camp in North Dakota, grade school-aged kids dressed in army fatigues wield swords and conduct military field maneuvers. “A lot of people die for God and they’re not afraid,” one camper told ABC News reporters in a follow-up segment.

“We’re kinda being trained to be warriors,” added another, “only in a funner way.”

Both Christian and secular critics assailed the makers of “Jesus Camp” for referring to the camp’s extremist, militant Christianity as “evangelical.” There is a name, however, that describes Kids on Fire’s agenda, if you’re familiar with their theology: Joel’s Army. Pastor Becky Fischer, who runs the camp, said that a third of the kids at her camp were under 6 years old because they are “more in touch in the supernatural” and proclaimed them to be “soldiers for God’s Army.” Her camp’s blend of end-times militancy and supernaturalism is perfectly emblematic of the Joel’s Army movement, whose adherents believe their cause is prophesied in the Old Testament chapter titled “An Army of Locusts.”The stark, evocative passages of that chapter describe a locust swarm that lays waste to Israel (to this day, the region suffers periodic locust invasions): “Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.” As remarkable as the language is, most biblical scholars agree that it is a literal description of a locust invasion and resulting famine that occurred sometime between the 9th and 5th centuries B.C.E.

In the Book of Joel, the locust invasion is described as an omen that an Assyrian army to the north may attack Israel if it fails to repent as a nation. But nowhere is the invasion described as an army of God. According to an Assemblies of God position paper: “It is a complete misinterpretation of Scripture to find in Joel’s army of locusts a militant, victorious force attacking society and a non-cooperating Church to prepare the earth for Christ’s millennial reign.”

The story of how an ancient insect invasion came to be a rallying flag for 21st-century dominonists begins just after World War II in Canada. Out of a small town in Saskatchewan, a Pentecostal preacher named William Branham spearheaded a 1948 revival in which he claimed that his followers lived in a new biblical time of “Latter Rain.”

The most sinless and ardent of his flock would be called “Manifest Sons of God.” By the next year, the movement was so strong — and seemed so subversive to some — that the Assemblies of God banned it as a heretic cult. But Branham remained a controversial figure with a loyal following; many of his followers believed him to be the end-times prophet Elijah.

Michael Barkun, a leading scholar of radical religion, notes that in 1958, Branham began teaching “Serpent Seed” doctrine, the belief that Satan had sex with Eve, resulting in Cain and his descendants. “Through Cain came all the smart, educated people down to the antediluvian flood — the intellectuals, bible colleges,” Branham wrote in the kind of anti-mainstream religion, anti-intellectual spirit that pervades the Joel’s Army movement to this day. “They know all their creeds but know nothing about God.”

Branham was killed in a car accident in 1965, but his Manifest Sons of God movement, the direct predecessor of Joel’s Army, lived on within a cluster of hyper-charismatic churches. In the 1980s, Branham’s teachings took on new life at the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF), a group of popular self-styled apostles and prophets who used the Missouri church as a launching pad for national careers promoting outright Joel’s Army theology.

The Joel’s Army movement began with the 1940s preaching of William Branham, whose group was banned as heretical by the Assemblies of God.

Ernie Gruen, a local pastor who initially promoted and gave citywide credibility to KCF pastors in the early 1980s, cut his connections in 1990. Concerned about KCF’s plans to push its teachings worldwide, Gruen published a 132-page insider’s account, based on taped sermons and conversations and interviews with parents who had enrolled their kids in KCF’s Dominion school.

According to Gruen’s report, students at the school were taught that they were a “super-race” of the “elected seed” of all the best bloodlines of all generations — foreknown, predestined, and hand-selected from billions of others to be part of the “end-time Omega generation.”

Though he’d once promoted these doctrines himself, Gruen became convinced that the movement was turning into an end-times cult, marked by what he summarized as “spiritual threats, fears, and warnings of death,” “warning followers to beware of other Christians” and exhibiting “a ’super-race’ mentality toward the training of their children.”

When contacted by the Intelligence Report, Gruen’s spokesman said that Gruen stands by everything he published in the report but no longer grants media interviews.

The Kansas City Fellowship remains in operation and has served as a farm team for many of the all-stars of the Joel’s Army movement. Those larger-than-life figures include John Wimber, the founder of a California megachurch, The Vineyard, who, before his death in 1997, proclaimed that Joel’s Army would not only conquer the earth but defeat death itself. Lou Engle founded The Call based on the Joel’s Army visions that KCF “prophet” Bob Jones (not to be confused with Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University) received while at KCF. Mike Bickle, another KCF member, stayed in Kansas City to form the International House of Prayer.

IHOP members and other Joel’s Army adherents are well aware of how their movement is perceived by other conservative Christians.

“Today, you can type ‘Joel’s Army’ into a search engine and a thousand heresy hunter websites pop up, decrying the very mention of it,” writes John Crowder in The New Mystics. Crowder doesn’t exactly allay critic’s fears. “This is truly warfare,” he writes. “This battle is not a game. They [Joel's Army warriors] will not be on the defense; they will be on the offense — and the gates of hell will not be able to hold up against them.”

So far, few members of the secular media have taken notice of Joel’s Army, even as they report on Protestant dominionists like Pat Robertson or the more outrageous calls for the stoning of gays and lesbians emanating from Reconstructionist circles. There are exceptions, however. On the DailyKos, a well-read, politically liberal blog, a diarist has been blogging for two years about her experiences as a walkaway from a Joel’s Army church. She writes under a pseudonym out of fear of physical reprisals.

She may have real cause for concern. As Wimber, the late founder of The Vineyard, put it in one of his most famous and fiery sermons, one that is still frequently cited by Joel’s Army followers: “Those in this army will have His kind of power. … Anyone who wants to harm them must die.”

P.S. And if they are such “Elijahs” against the “Jezebels” how come NOT ONE OF THEM SAW TODD BENTLEY’S SIN ON HIM DURING LAKELAND?????

One of the main jobs of a prophet is point out sin to reconcile that sinner to the Lord.

AND, if they hate gays so much, why don’t they stone Paul Cain and Todd Bentley and Ted Haggard?

Reminds me of the Nazis… putting gays in concentration camps while so many of the S.S. were flaming homosexuals themselves.

Rev. 16:13 “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” 16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.”

When the antichrist appears, there will be a great falling away…not from a faith in God….but from the true gospel of Jesus Christ centered in His death that alone atones for sin and alone reconciles sinners to God.

This antichrist will appear with abundant signs and wonders. I believe this appearing could coincide with thousands of lights in the heavens seen by the whole world. This will be an overwhelming and masterful delusion. This antichrist will claim to be the mahdi, the Jewish Messiah, and the Jesus of the Christian faith. The lights will convince the athiests, agnostics and evolutionists that the man from above, will bring world peace.

Those who oppose him will be under a death decree. These youth being gathered at this time will think they are doing God a service by killing those without the mark. That is what Joel’s army is really all about….it a recruitment in the army of antichrist.

First of all, thankyou to The Washington based group which did this report and regularly briefs the FBI and other US law agencies about potential threats to internal national security. This was originally a Klan watch group but has steadily expanded its brief.

ROMANS 13 is a much neglected Chapter of The Bible. God gives the “sword” to Government and Government agencies. I include the media powers as well in this.

Can we all learn to pass on concerns to local and national newspapers, TV and radio ? They have the resources to investigate but need the public to pass on tips as to what to investigate.

Can we all learn to pass on concerns to Congressmen, Government Ministers, MPs, The FBI, British police etc

Especially in Britain to The Home Office. They want to know who is likely to be a danger to UK internal security. They have staff which are paid to log, monitor and investigate suspect groups and individuals.

Also phone or write To the Department of Preventing Extremism which is inside The Department of Communities and Local Government headed by Hazel Blears. The Government has a full staff to look into concerns about extremism and brief other government and police departments. It is their job to investigate, get proof if it exists, and take action if they deem it appropriate.

The Home Office can certainly ban Joel’s Army extremists from entering Britain.

(THIS WILL CLOSE TREVOR BAKER’s CONFERENCE CENTRE BUSINESS IN DUDLEY as he is a noted Joel’s Army centre and most of his Conference people from North America are Joel’s Army).

Also in Britain consider contacting The Commission for Human Rights and Racial Equality. They have hundreds of millions of UK Government money to investigate concerns and make reports and take action where necessary. They need to be told what needs investigating.

ROMANS 13 was written by God not me. He gives certain agencies the sword to exact His Revenge. Please consider whether you have concerns these agencies need to hear about. MPS will always pass on concerns to Government Ministers.

MINISTERS AND POLICE OFTEN WAIT FOR A FEW COMPLAINTS BEFORE DECIDING A MATTER NEEDS FULL INVESTIGATION.

The Government actions will publicise this group’s existence and intentions. Hopefully it will wake up the most naive of Church Leaders.

If they all read Miriam’s Blog it would make life much easier in The UK Church.

What I’am seeing here is the stage being set for opening act of the tribulation, even on the thresh hold! Now is the time to READ OUR BIBLES PRAY, FAST, WARN, and get off our rear parts and get out and exercise the “Great Comission!” The time is drawing near! Stay in the word, follow it to the letter and DO NOT STRAY from it in any way!

Watch news reports, use the Bible as a companion as you watch it, you will see many things already done and others in the works. We will not be able to stop this, as it is prophecy from the Bible, stay steadfast and you will prevail. Covering your eyes or plugging your ears will not make it go away. Be ready to fight the good fight. again we the Lord’s own WILL PREVAIL!

He is drawing us closer to Him, helping us dress for battle, helping us put on the full armor, fear not, the attacks we face as His own, will be as firey darts hitting the armor and bouncing off. But woe to those who do not heed these words, cracks in the armor will let the enemy in and he WILL lead you astray.

This time is now, even this very minute to fortify, again we the Lord’s own will prevail. Do not fear, fear alone will leave a crack in the armor and the enemy will get in.

Draw close to me and I will draw close to you says the Lord. I will not leave you or forsake you, you are my chosen. Be steadfast, walk in Love and pull many from the eternal lake of fire, for these are the many things you already know, put them and keep them in your hearts and on your minds and be ever ready to do these which have be commanded. The time is NOW!

Miriam, this is what the Lord showed me. It’s as if he is getting us ready as a parent dresses a little child. Again…I am shaking and my heart is pounding! How does this test with you?

I also seen more, but mainly focused on the words, was this right? Or should I have wrote what I seen???

I saw us, the saints being dressed in a type of armor. The Lord was individually making us ready, like dressing us and checking out the armor to make sure it was battle ready, such as no cracks, as I said like a parent would dress a child. The armor looked like a bronze color.

There was like a welcome mat, such as ones at the front door of a house…on it said TRIBULATION, and it was like a door way to step through, but I did not see the other side of it fully, only a quick peek, it looked chaotic and loud, there were people running, and screaming, and leaders telling them what to do. When some saw it they became full of fear and did not want to go through, the Lord spoke to them, some continued to get ready, some walked away. Then he gave us the words, the ones I spoke of up top.

I guess the reason was…shaking heart pounding, as you have said….it is having to speak it out!

No problem, totally understood. Sometimes it is right to hold something back, sometimes not, hence why I asked about your reasoning - it was not to be critical.

He was wanting us to know everything WILL be alright for His own! That is why I feel we are already at the very start and we need to keep in our Bibles and keep warning about all the crazy doctrines. Hence keep suited up with the truth! DO NOT STRAY, some how this gave me MUCH comfort! And to KEEP WATCHING!

“As Wimber, the late founder of The Vineyard, put it in one of his most famous and fiery sermons, one that is still frequently cited by Joel’s Army followers: “Those in this army will have His kind of power. … Anyone who wants to harm them must die.”

At length. I like Sheets but believe he was an intercessor who has been compromised in those ‘tolerated associations” that the Lord does not approve of with these NAR people.

http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/steve-strang-re-todd-bentley-fall-and-the-emperor-with-no-clothes/

This letter is in the comments section and other places on the web.

This letter was posted at jp miller’s site. It was written by neophyte in response to Dutch Sheet’s letter in response to Lakeland. I hope Steve Strang and ALL the NAR/Elijah List leaders read it as I think it expresses eloquently and profoundly what many of us think and feel. - M. Franklin
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Love and respect you, Brother Dutch, and agree with much of what you had to say about the situation in Lakeland and the body of Christ in general.

But, you know, when all’s said and done I have to admit I feel like a young girl who’s been molested most of her life, and there comes a time when she says, “Enough!”

Yes, enough. Leave us alone. Please leave His church, His people, His bride, alone. All you “leaders”. All you pharisees, sadducees, and teachers of the law. Please take your hands off us and let us be.

You’ve been telling us all these years that you’re meeting our needs. That we need you. That we can’t do “it” without you. But we’ve been seeing for awhile now what’s really been going on. How we’ve been meeting YOUR needs all this time. Our time, our money, our talents, our families, our homes, our hearts and minds, our LIVES… you’ve stuck your hands where they don’t belong for far too long, and it’s time to say, “ENOUGH!”

We’re not going back to business as usual. We’re not going to waste another 10, 20, 30 years listening to your sermons and your teachings and your prophecies and your plans. The product isn’t what’s been advertised and we’re done chasing the carrot. We see it for what it is and we forgive you, but we’re done playing the game.

We’re done gazing up at you from our lowly perches. We’re done saying “How high?” to your “Jump.” We’re done placating your enormous egos and craven need for adulation at our and our families’ expense... for the little scraps we get that fall to the ground from your table.

Because, you see, we don’t really need you. At least not the “you” most of us have had all these years. The closest to God, smartest about God, most anointed of God and blessed of God, infallible prophet, priest and king “you”.
So, thank you very much, but we’re done pretending the emperor has clothes.

God must come to our hearts and our homes, brothers and sisters. That’s the simple bottom line. All the failings we see in the body of Christ are a direct result of God not taking His place in hearts and homes.

It’s not complicated at all. It’s really very simple. Much simpler than most would have us believe. If God isn’t God of our hearts and homes, what is He God of? And if God isn’t God of our leaders’ hearts and homes, what do they really have to give us? Theory?

They would have us believe “higher levels mean higher devils”.

They would have us feel guilty when they fall as if it’s somehow our fault.

(When they’re actually caught red-handed, that is. The rest of the time we do as we’re told and look the other way, pretending not to notice because what good would it do anyway?)

If only we prayed more or supported them more. If only we gave more. Yes, somehow it’s all our fault. Just like the molested little girl. (But all of this is neither here nor there. Because it’s a brand new day.)

Love God, love others as you love yourself. At least that’s what Jesus said it boiled down to. You know, CHRIST Jesus?

How complicated is that? You need a PhD for that? Even a little child can understand it. How many commandments did God give the people through Moses? This isn’t rocket science, folks. Faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection remits our sins and creates in us a clean, new heart. So that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God who IS love. So that we CAN love. Ta-daa. Pretty basic stuff, I think we’d all agree.

So, please, exalted rulers, please back down and leave us and our families alone. Please know your place. Please TAKE your place. Because you do realize, don’t you, that it’s high time, and then some.

I’m sure you realize, way deep down inside even, that there’s an awful lot of us out here whose shelves are filled to overflowing with your never-ending, not freely given, verbiage — you who have the audacity to think we might actually be able to do this thing called love… without you. (Oh my God, how could we, it’s all so horribly complicated!!)

Please, know your place, take your place. With all due respect.
Shalom,
One though many of His children

Actually, I rather like your doc.

I certainly like your pluck.

I didn’t even find a line to quibble with.

Sometimes, I shock even myself.

I do think God is moving away from leaders who are so bone-marrow convinced that they have a corner on God and God’s move in our era.

There will still be dramatic leaders whom God WILL use. And some, if not all of them, will still be birds of rare plumage more often than not.

However, the purity before God and man will be kicked up quite a number of levels, imho.

Have you ever checked out Curry Blake? Rather atypical, it seems to me—i.e. much more Biblical and about doing God’s work for God’s reasons in God’s ways and doesn’t care a flip about what others think.

I think it’s also wise to realize that we are all works in progress and all of us fail in greater or lesser ways almost on a daily basis.

However, for leaders to fail so spectacularly for so long with such arrogance and such an outrageous ‘entitlement’ mentality is so far over the line as to be outside this galactic cluster.

Yet, Pride is a seductive and devilish horror for every mortal alive. All best take heed lest we fall.

Until a month or two ago, I was out of church for 8-12 months.

Last Pastor would not communicate about some of his duplicity.

I returned to a church my parents helped found when I was in Jr High. Previous pastor of that church called me into his office to tell me that he

“didn’t have the ability to be my pastor.” Whatever I said, that was his mantra.

I’d written him a letter about the music volume being painful in the back of the auditorium even with industrial strength ear plugs.

Turns out, he was into hanky panky outside of his marriage and said he’d given it up but hadn’t.

Anyway—current pastor is quite anointed and God’s Presence is routinely present. Have missed that a long time.

Thanks for your kind words.

Blessings,

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