Concerning the Recent Rash of Sexual Abuse Allegations Coming to Light.

Well, the Mesmerizing Spirit is finally beginning to be stripped back from the American culture.
And thank G-d.  It’s about time this crap got exposed, even if it is not pretty.
The garbage that is now getting exposed, started years ago, and we need to repent of it and call it what it is.  Sin.
Yes, America, this is what it looks like when we pray for the Mesmerizing Spirit to be broken off of a nation.
Some too-close friends of mine were sexually molested by pastors and those in positions of leadership.
This one issue is why I never returned to the town where I grew up.
Churches fired members of their congregation from paid positions of leadership because it would ruin their reputations.
Congregations stood by their pastors and against the victims out of loyalty, or perhaps out of fear of the consequences of what would happen if they did expose their leaders.
And the list goes on.
And it is not just women, but men as well.
Another sad thing, is that people with celebrity status are jumping on the bandwagon of the #MeToo movement.
Now, allow me to differentiate something.
I didn’t express it well with one of my co-bloggers.  Honestly, I was stupid and brash  and too quick with my comments.  I said I had some reservations about the #MeToo movement. But I do not.  Rather, now that I have had a chance to ponder my reservations with the #MeToo hashtag, I have a better way to express it.
There appear to be two groups that connect with #MeToo.  First, the very real victims.  These are the smoldering wicks and the bruised reeds that the Father of Lights promised He would never snuff out nor break.  We need to advocate for them.
And there is the movement that is comprised of those with celebrity status that would seek to use the victims…
They would seek to use the victims for their own gain.
They would also seek to use their own abnormally large platforms that was granted them by the powers-that-be in this perverse culture, for political advancement.  To advance an agenda that does not fix the problem.
They would seek to insert discussion about how the news media is righteous and the current political structure on one side of the aisle is bad.   This behavior is hypocritical and does not fix the problem.   This behavior proceeds from a false motive.
It confuses the care of the victims with agendas that are tangents to the heart of the problem.
The trouble is, church, we are all culpable for the mess in which we find ourselves.
And as one called to pastor I have one thing to say.
In the words of my co-blogger, Amy Dudley:

Transparency is a concept that leaves us paralyzed at the thought that we will be found out and then everyone will know how fucked up and broken we really are.

Yes, I included that because this is precisely where many of us have been left…
In a place of complete disarray…
Where what was sacred was made profane, by our own sins of omission…
Of neglecting to protect those dear to us.
My brother, to start.  Precious Exhorter that he is.  Precious, world-changing man of G-d, who found his courage in prison, and found a new life in the Great Plains.
And, in the words of Amy Dudley, what kept us silent?

“Two Words:  Shame. Fear.”

My brother’s shame became my fear.  Fear that paralyzed me from moving beyond places where he failed.
And I burdern-bore for him, for Y. E. A. R. S..
And now, all these years later, we are on a massive hunt for dignity for the shame that bound so many of our brothers and sisters.
Dignity is what breaks and displaces shame, not honor.
And we are on a massive hunt for Life, which breaks the spirit of Jealousy, and the rage of the Edomites.
And Dominion, that breaks the Victim Spirit, and the Babylonian idolatry that keeps us powerless before the Spirit of Antichrist.
And Honor…
Honor that comes from the Holy Spirit…
A RABBIT TRAIL
Let me get you a tiny little lesson on the nature of the Holy Spirit here.  Below is Romans 12:6-8 in the Greek. The original. Note the segment at the beginning verse 8 that is highlighted in blue.
6 ἔχοντες δὲ χαρίσματα κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν διάφορα, εἴτε προφητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως,
7 εἴτε διακονίαν ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ, εἴτε ὁ διδάσκων ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ,
8 εἴτε ὁ παρακαλῶν ἐν τῇ παρακλήσει, ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, ὁ προϊστάμενος ἐν σπουδῇ, ὁ ἐλεῶν ἐν ἱλαρότητι.
That segment in the Greek reads, “and the Exhorter in his Exhorting” The Greek word here that is used to translate the fourth Redemptive Gift is parakleton “the one who comes alongside”.
Another form of that word occurs in John 14:16:
16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾖ,
The text reads “and I will ask/pray to/beseech the Father and another paraclete/comforter/helper/exhorter he will give to you so that with you into the age he might be.”
So, the L-rd gives us an Exhorter as our counselor.
He gives us an emotional, tender-hearted, social, affectionate, personable, not-anti-social, loving, kind, generous-with-his-time and whole Exhorter to confide in.
EXHORTERS, ARE YOU CATCHING THIS?!  IF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AN EXHORTER, AND THAT IS CENTRAL TO THE NATURE OF G-D, WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOU????  YOU ARE A CHIP OFF OF THE OLD BLOCK!
I digress.
BACK ON THE TOPIC
So Honor comes from the Holy Spirit…
That Honor and ability to see things as they really are, both the good and the bad, breaks the power of the mesmerizing spirit,
It destroys the belief that we have to return to Mizraim, the land of Egypt, to be Pharaoh’s slaves and build his cities with whips at our backs.
And Honor comes with Life and Dominion.  These are gifts that come as the members of the Trinity each minister to our spirits.
And that ministry heals, makes whole, softens hearts, breaks the power of death, gives dignity, and breaks the powerlessness.
So, as a pastor, I say, this attitude of protecting the rep of your church at the cost of hurting other people, can ultimately lead to the destruction of your rep.
If you FUBAR the life of someone and then discard them because their presence would ruin your reputation, it shows where you have gone.  You have allowed a mesmerizing spirit to steal in, unnoticed, and rob your church of not only its life, but also the one thing–your reputation and image–that you sought to protect.
And if you zoomed in on the five-letter acronym in the preceding paragraph, because you know what it stands for, and made much of it, then you missed the point of this post, and of Amy’s post.
THE GRIT OF THE SITUATION
Grit is the stubborn texture of the situation.  The part of the road that defines it.  It is made up of integrity or its lack.
Here is the bottom line, each of you local churches.
Your precious reputation is in His hands.  He does with it what he will.  It is not your job to protect your reputation.  That belongs to Him.  If He wrecks your reputation as He did with Elijah in response to the prophet’s stubbornness, who stayed with a widow for months, that is His responsiblity.
If He builds your reputation, then that is both His responsibility to care for it, and your responsibility to steward it.
Some of you have made an idol of your church’s reputation.  Some of you have made much of what your church’s brand is in the community.  You need to quit that.  It is Father’s job to make or break that reputation.
And it is your job to keep your grubby mitts offa someone who is not your wife, men, or your husband, ladies.
And with idols, Father has been known to command us to smash those.
Matthew 16:18 does not say you will build the church.  It says Jesus will Himself build His church.  Acts says, that L-rd added daily those who were being saved.  It does not say the apostles added anything.  They provided a good landing pad for the L-rd’s presence.
You are responsible to protect those who are harassed and helpless in your body among you.  You are charged by the Father of Lights in the law with three commands to love.
You shall love the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, soul, and might.
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Leviticus 19:18
And the third “you shall love” in the Tanakh, which is rarely preached on.

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”  Leviticus 19:34

This third command to love was the answer to the self-justified lawyer’s question:
“Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)
You shall love the very one you hate, dear Jewish Torah expert.  You shall love the one you think is going to destroy your reputation, church.  That “bastard” Samaritan.
So, in finishing, protect the flock, and do not abuse the flock, and leave the reaping of your reputation and brand in the community to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Do it, without excuses.
#TimesUp