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It looks like a familiar name has been up to his usual antics.
CJ Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Kentucky, spoke along with Albert Mohler over the weekend at the Conviction to Lead conference at Cornerstone Church in Knoxville.
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Of course, those who have been following this story realize this is a problem as C.J. Mahaney is in the midst of the “biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date.” While in the secular world, it is common for key people involved in a sex abuse inquiry to step down from their position, take a leave of absence, or put on administrative leave, C.J. Mahaney has continued his speaking engagements as if there is no problem, etc.
This is troublesome. It shows a complete lack of respect for the many victims involved and ignores the big elephant in the middle of the room.
Bob Allen from Associated Baptist Press released an article, Mahaney, Mohler share speaker platform, and noticed the same troubling characteristic we’ve seen so many times from Mahaney. He goes on and on in his public roasting of his best buddy. Here is reporter Bob Allen’s take on it:
Quoting from a book that said modern preachers cannot imitate Edwards’ intellect but can emulate his disciplined use of time, Mahaney waxed in his admiration for his friend and fellow leader in the Neo-Calvinism movement popular in evangelical circles including segments of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“We just experienced a modern-day illustration,” Mahaney said, referring to Mohler’s address earlier on the program. “I could substitute Dr. Mohler’s name in this quote. I could say to you we’ve not been given Dr. Mohler’s gifts, and it would be useless for me to encourage anyone to imitate Dr. Mohler’s mental ability.”
During the conference, Mohler urged the church leaders in attendance to be readers, “If you don’t have a stack of books you’re trying to get to, you need a stack of books you want to get to.”
Mahaney took off from Mohler’s comment on books to extol his friend even more:
“I’ve seen his stack of books,” Mahaney said. “If you have a stack of books, I’m saying there’s quite a difference, pretty obvious difference, between your stack and his stack of books. So if you are comforting yourself, ‘I have a stack,’ well you might have a stack, but if we consider the nature and content of your stack as opposed to his stack, well, your stack looks pretty sorry and pathetic.”
“And it isn’t just that your stack is sorry and pathetic in relation to his stack, when he’s done reading his stack he retains all he reads from his stack,” Mahaney continued. “He remembers it, and he can access it and access it well into the future.”
“Whereas for most of us, not only is our stack of books not as impressive as his, but once we are done reading even a single copy or the entire stack, we have a hard time remembering much of anything we read in the stack. And so if we’re just thinking about gifts and mental capacity, and stacks and the ability to retain and remember, it’s hopeless. We haven’t been given these world-class gifts.”
Related to the Sovereign Grace lawsuit, the trial date for alleged sex offender Nathan Morales (story here) was postponed from November 18, 2013 to May 12, 2014. You can find the list of charges here (Nathaniel Morales Case #121884C).
I’ll keep you posted as I hear more information on the Sovereign Grace lawsuit.
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Spiritual Sounding Board 
Reblogged this on Paul's Passing Thoughts.
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What’s disturbing is that The Humble One(TM) resembles Patrick Stewart — at least in appearance and hairstyle; never having heard The Humble One(TM) speak or even chuckle, I wouldn’t know if their voices also resemble each other.
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Just two CELEBRITIES brown-nosing each other with praise, that’s all. Just these two CELEBRITIES have a Christian coat of paint.
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I guess he does resemble Patrick Stewart just a bit. I wonder if CJ would ever do this kind of video:
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It’s not the size of the stack that counts, it’s how you use it. (snark!)
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Off topic – check out this article in the link:
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For those who are new to the scandal involving Pastor C. J Mahaney, here’s a summary:
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Know the Basics of Pastor C. J. Mahaney and the Sovereign Grace Ministries Child Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Allegations in 15 Minutes or Less
Summary: There are 11 Plaintiffs (the alleged sexual abuse victims). There are 14 defendants, including C.J. Mahaney. About 1/3rd of the defendants have already been convicted: 2 in criminal court and 1 proceeded in the juvenile system. One trial is pending in Montgomery Co., Maryland.
1. ABC TV Overview + discussion of defendants who have already been convicted for other child sex crimes (4 minutes, ABC TV affiliate WJLA) – http://www.wjla.com/video/2013/05/church-sex-abuse-allegations.html
2. ABC TV Update on the lawsuit (2 minutes, ABC TV affiliate WJLA) – http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/05/sovereign-grace-ministries-class-action-civil-lawsuit-involving-child-sex-abuse-88894.html
3. Huffington Post article about the evangelical pastors who are standing up for Mahaney, the key defendant- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/c-j-mahaney-scandal-evangelical-leaders-defend-pastor-accused-of-abuse-cover-up_n_3334500.html
4. Christian Post article featuring updates from Boz Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, and Janet Mefferd, Christian radio host. Discusses the surreptitious change in the statement by C. J. Mahaney supporters Al Mohler, Mark Dever, and Ligon Duncan, as well as ongoing criminal investigations and appeals by those alleged victims who have already turned 21.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-grahams-grandson-responds-to-sovereign-grace-ministries-lawsuit-97590/
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Thanks much, Anonymous2. That’s an excellent summary.
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If the celebrity pastor stinit fails there is always Hollywood! 😛 Here is “De Humble One” in the coming X Men
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Julie Anne @ 5:15 PM, hilarious!
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http://libertyforcaptives.com/2013/11/19/the-myth-of-biblical-manhood/
Thanks Julie Anne, what a lovely, gently humorous link!
I really enjoyed this. Last time I checked, none of Jesus’ sermons in the four gospels are on “biblical manhood” or “biblical womanhood.” He does have a lot to say about godliness but he somehow forgot (sarcastic voice) the most important, overarching organizing principle for all of scripture since adam and eve:
dividing godliness into pink and blue. Either Jesus was missing the whole point… or these four guys are!
Hey, though, Jesus’ gospel didn’t sell like these four guys’ and he didn’t live nearly as well as they do. Yeah, His biographies are incorporated in a bestseller, but He sure got cheated on the royalties and the big advance and the megachurch promotion tour speaking fees. Millions of Christians and millions of dollars can’t be wrong, right? Maybe the savior of mankind should have run his business model by these guys first…
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They only used the word “stack” 19 times? Sounds like a subliminal advert for Stacksandstacks dot com. 🙂 Can it get any more obsequious?
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It would be great if Mr. Mahaney would just stop, take a pause and reconcile with those left out in the dirt. I really hope for that. It cant happen but I do hope for it.
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I have a stack of 66 books that I read on a daily basis. Only my stack of books is bound into one volume, and the author is Divine. I don’t need any others.
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Somehow, it sounds better to be able to namedrop a live author when talking about your recent reading material, than say, Paul or John or David (who apparently didn’t have a last name).
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At 6:18 Free At Last alerted us to the fact that she was speaking sarcastically. The need to issue sarcasm alerts occurs over and over on this blog. The English language just isn’t adequate to efficiently express one’s opinions about these self-promoting darlings of über-conservative evangelicalism masquerading as “Biblical” Christianity. For example, if I say:
“I guess Jesus just doesn’t stack up against Alert Mohler,”
a reader might think my sentence is third person present indicative – that it is making a statement of fact. What is needed is some efficient means of making it clear, without resort to parenthetical explanation, that any and all apparently positive statements about these people is sarcastic. Now, any English teachers reading here should feel free to correct me, but I understand that, in addition to the indicative, English enables us to speak in the interrogatory, imperative, subjunctive, and maybe even the optative, moods.
I hereby plead for an additional English language mood denoting sarcasm, something such that it would be plain that a statement like “I guess Jesus just doesn’t stack up against Albert Mohler,” would be recognized without explanation as being, say, in the third person present sarcastic.
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Gary W. – – I use sarcasm quite a bit. And most of the time, I don’t issue a disclaimer. Sarcasm loses it’s – – what do you call it – – – punch? – – when you have to offer a disclaimer.
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Julie Anne,
Yeah, but boy have I gotten in trouble on some occasions where it was not recognized that I was availing myself of the sarcastic, as opposed to the indicative, mood.
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Yea, I have too, Gary. Sometimes I take that risk anyway.
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This kind of thing really disgusts me.
We are all equal in the eyes of Christ. The only way these guys can set themselves up as Christian “leaders” is by getting other Christians to buy into the pretense that these “leaders” are holier than the rest of us.
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JA,
You might need to put a trigger warning before that huge picture of CJ. It’s overwhelming on the iphone format!
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Sorry, Bridget! At least his eyes were diverted away!
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‘sarcasm’ the tearing of flesh~fyi
‘Christian’ authors/pastors who travel the circuit and peddle their latest book= big business with Jesus stamped on it. The conferences where ‘free’ books are given out to pastors are then taken to the ‘flocks’ and sheep are encouraged to purchase the latest and greatest message. The conferences my husband went to were not free by the way. We did get ‘free’ books, but the conferences cost money.
I feel the 66 books (when read) and the Holy Spirit give all the guidance this repentant sinner needs to live a godly life.
I DO have several of these authors books on my bookshelves….guilty of purchasing some of them myself. So much time was wasted reading men’s opinions instead of filling my mind with the pure Word, which is able to save/refine my soul.
end of rant, just my 2 cents worth!
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This is ridiculous. Your stack will never be as good as his. Really? And apparently he thinks better than the rest of us peons too, and remembers stuff waaaay better.
I don’t know. I think I’m already remembering stuff about CJ that Mohler seems to have permanently forgotten.
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Despite what many believe the litigation against Sovereign Graceless ” ministries ” is continuing. The lawsuit filed against the Fairfax Virginia location was not dismissed due to the statute of limitations. Several of the rape victims are still under the age of 18. One was three at the time of the assault and was digitally penetrated, which is object sexual penetration in the commonwealth of Virginia ( a felony that carries up to a life sentence when a minor is involved). Eventually the Fairfax location will get wiped out financially which is justice and somewhat ironic . The Fairfax location paid off the last couple million of their mortgage with money from the taxpayers. They sued the county and won. Now they could very well lose their building in a lawsuit.
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Is his stack of books really better than mine? That depends upon a couple of things, the first of which is how much time we respectively have to read, and secondly, exactly what is being read.
If a man wants to sit on his backside and “read hard books”, then he may pursue a career in preaching, because God knows these people have no real deliverables that drive their lives. If a man wants to make a living in the Jesus business, he just might go about WRITING some books. While that does represent a schedule of deliverables and due-dates, let us be serious. It’s an endeavor for profit.
For me, as a lowly unwashed peon, I will return to my meager stack consisting of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics (& others), quite possible ending up with the ability to think for myself.
The sheer arrogance of these people is stunning. I was a member of CLC for several years, and I can tell you that I will never fall for anything like this again. The aristocracy that answered to no one will in the end answer in a court of law because this is not finished yet.
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I sure hope so – – – praying for that outcome! Welcome, Daryl. I appreciate your comment and I’m sorry to hear that you were closely connected with that group which taught about the Sovereignty of God, but often lacked in exemplifying and teaching the true grace of God. It takes a while to get over that stuff.
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What does scripture say about flatterer’s? Oh that’s right, avoid them! Hey Meaghan, I know he writes a ton of books, but he’s still my favorite pastor!!!!
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You’re cracking me up, Don. Nice to “see” you!!
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Speaking of flattery, it’s one of the traits of a sociopath…
Martha Stout’s 13 Rules for Dealing with Sociopaths
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/09/thirteen-rules-for-dealing-with.html
This was excerpted from her book called The Sociopath Next Door.
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