Tom Chantry, Molestation, Child Abuse, and Assault Charges, ARBCA
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Back in his heyday, Pastor Tom Chantry was a highly respected commenter at Pyromaniacs blog hosted by various Calvinist dude-bros such as Phil Johnson, Dan Phillips, Frank Turk, et al. We know he has been on trial for child abuse, molestation, and assault charges.
Today, I looked to see if I could find some old comments of Tom Chantry’s on the Pyromaniacs blog. On Google’s first page after searching: Tom Chantry and Pyromaniacs, I came across one of Pyro’s blog posts entitled, Pornographic Divination. Sure enough, Tom responded in the second comment.
Let me tell you a bit about the brief Pyromaniacs post. Continue reading →
Tedd Tripp, Tom Chantry, Failure to Report, Mandatory Reporter, Spanking, Shepherding a Child’s Heart
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In the late 1990s, I attended a parenting seminar by Tedd Tripp. It may or may not be significant to note that the seminar was held at a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Chesapeake, Virginia. Continue reading →
Have you seen this yet? This is Paige Patterson, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, preaching. Yes, I said preaching. Would you tell me what he is preaching here? This clip is less than 2 minutes long. You cannot make this stuff up.
Pastors have a unique role in the lives of their congregation, Patterson said. Pastors serve others during some of life’s most significant moments: birth, salvation, marriage and death. With such an important task, pastors must guard against worldly temptations.
Then reading from Romans 13:14, Patterson concluded with a warning to “make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Patterson said the problem is not always the devil’s lies or temptations, but one’s own persistence in “making provisions for the lusts of the flesh.”
“Wherever there is heat in your heart to have something that God has not chosen to give, then it becomes lust,” Patterson said. “And God says that ought not to be true.”
::::::heavy sigh:::::
Update 5/5/18: I was notified that I wrongly interpreted Patterson in the video. As a result, the title has been changed. The previous title incorrectly stated that Patterson was objectifying the teen. I apologize for the error. -Julie Anne
Frank Page, Moral Failure, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Southern Baptist Convention, Paige Patterson, #MeToo
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Yesterday’s Washington Post article, In a #Metoo moment, will Southern Baptists hold powerful men accountable?, by Jonathan Merritt, discussed how Southern Baptist leaders asking if the #MeToo moment has arrived for the Southern Baptist Convention. He was primarily discussing Paige Patterson and other Southern Baptist leaders who have used their positions of authority to harm women.
I missed it until an alert reader notified me this morning. In that article, Merritt mentioned Frank Page, former chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. If you recall, just over a month ago, Dr. Frank Page announced his retirement, and then followed up with a confession that he was really stepping down due to moral failure (see Frank Page, President of SBC’s Executive Committee, Resigns and Later Discloses Moral Failure). Continue reading →
I saw this tweet the other day. Long-time blog readers will recognize the name, Fred Butler, an employee of Grace to You, the radio ministry of Pastor John MacArthur. Butler’s tweet references another tweet from the @9Marks Twitter account which quotes from an article recently posted on their site. The article is about the church’s response to the #MeToo movement.
Both Jeff Owens and his wife Sarah recently sent out a thread of tweets regarding a recent experience they had at their former (unidentified) Sovereign Grace church. I think these tweets deserve a wider audience.
What you will read is not healthy at all, and people need to understand the dismissive and bullying behavior employed by Sovereign Grace church leaders when they are encouraged or questioned about having an independent investigation of the decades-old sexual abuse allegations involving many children, many churches, and the mishandling of these cases by church leaders.
Sovereign Grace leaders are still using the same tactics that we’ve heard from personal accounts for years: no one gets to question authority or criticize authority without repercussion. Folks, this is spiritual abuse. Let’s call it what it is.
I have copied the tweets below for easier reading, but if you would like to see the original tweet threads, click on the hyperlink in Jeff Owens’ tweet below, or Sarah’s link within his tweet.
Before we get to the tweets by Jeff and Sarah Owens, I wanted to share a section of the Sovereign Grace Local Church Polity with you. I have bolded parts pertinent to the communication by congregants to elders and leaders: Continue reading →
These links were initially posted on Twitter by brad/futuristguy. Tentatively, both that thread and this post will be updated with additional links as the situation unfolds.
Also, check out the list of links and related information from Andy Rowell’s blog post, List of articles from allegations to resignation of Bill Hybels. He notes that he originally posted this in April 2018, but has continued adding links regularly since then. Thanks, Andy!
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Thread Introduction and Twitter Handles
This thread includes statements by and about Willow Creek Church and the reported misconduct of Bill Hybels. These were posted by key individuals and organizations in the situation, and in news articles from the Chicago Tribune, which broke the story.
It also includes critical analysis from other sources — survivor bloggers primarily — also showing reactions and commentary from survivors of spiritual abuse and/or sexual abuse/harassment/violence.
Initial entries are in chronological order; more may be added as the situation unfolds.Continue reading →
Bill Gothard, IBLP, ATI, Institutes in Basic Life Principles, Spiritual Abuse, Sexual Abuse
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The following was written by David Shere, who has been reading here for some time. He wanted to share his thoughts and advice as a Bill Gothard survivor. This was written after the news that the plaintiffs had dismissed the lawsuit against Bill Gothard. ~ja
Then someone close to Bill Gothard contacted me. He runs the Discovering Grace website, which is devoted to supporting and defending Bill Gothard and his teachings. We communicated at length, during which he asked me if I wanted to post Bill Gothard’s response to Emily Jaeger’s statement (per Bill’s suggestion). After I declined, it was then published at Discovering Grace website.
I initially said no, because I do not want my blog to be used as a platform for an abuser. However, then I saw Emily Jaeger’s new reply to Bill Gothard’s response statement, and it made sense to me to post both.
I may have more to say later — in fact, I am thinking of doing an SSB “learn to discern” post to analyze these statements in depth. But for now, I’ll say I think his statement is a perfect opportunity to see a spiritual abuser in action, violating boundaries, and hers shows what it looks like when someone leaves the influence of a high-control environment, thinks independently, and makes their own decisions. See what you think … Continue reading →
Ravi Zacharias, Online Sex Scandal, NDA, Lawsuit, Suicide emails
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GUEST POST by Steve Baughman
Is Ravi Zacharias Violating his Federal Lawsuit Non-Disclosure Agreement? Does Anybody Care?
by Steve Baughman
On November 9, 2017, Ravi Zacharias settled his lawsuit against Lori Anne and Brad Thompson by entering into a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The terms of the agreement are confidential. But from what Ms. Thompson says, they are highly restrictive. She told an inquiring Christian blogger shortly after the settlement, “My husband and I are, and always will be bound by confidentiality legally. All I can say now or ever say is that he dropped the lawsuit and the matter is settled.”
Ravi apparently sees it the same way. He told Christianity Today “I am legally prevented from answering or even discussing the questions and claims being made by some, other than to say that each side paid for their own legal expenses and no ministry funds were used.” According to the magazine, “Zacharias declined to comment to CT on the image of the emails showing the apparent suicide threat, citing the nondisclosure agreement.”
This is pretty standard stuff. A case settles on confidential terms and nobody can talk about it except to say that it has settled.
Take careful note. The Thompsons can now say nothing. And they appear to be taking their promise seriously.
