May 28, 2021 – Click here to listen
Not long after I became a Christian, I still would drink alcohol most every weekend. I knew a man at work who had a serious problem with drinking and I’d been witnessing to him day in and day out. One day we were having a big party at our house and we ran out of beer and wine. I was elected to go get more, so I went to the grocery store and just as I rounded a corner with a buggy full of the stuff, I nearly ran into the guy I had been witnessing to about drinking. He looked at me and then down at the buggy and back at me and he didn’t have to say a word, “You lousy hypocrite” was written all over his face.
I have never forgotten that incident and not long after that I quit drinking for good. I just couldn’t be a party to misrepresenting my faith as a hypocrite. Drinking alcohol according to the Bible is to be done in moderation not by the buggy full.
So I got the following letter from a reader the other day. I edited it a little for brevity:
“Just had a real shocker yesterday. I was reading my local newspaper and saw a headline, “Local man charged with sexually assaulting minor girls”. And there was his picture in the orange jumpsuit. I have known and attended church and Bible study with this fellow off and on for more than 20 years. He is long divorced/single and is known to be a bit of a strange guy and always seems to seek attention. Creepy, according to my wife. He is 72.
Bottom line is he is charged with unlawful sexual intercourse and assault on two girls (sisters) who were age 9 and 12. He is in jail and facing a maximum 100 year sentence if convicted. The girls and their mother were staying at his home for a brief period in 2014 and he allegedly assaulted the girls on multiple occasions when their mother went to work. When interviewed by the police about it, he confirmed that the girls lived at his home, but he “did not recall” any of the assaults.
He’s not the first in our community. The father of a friend of one of my boys was charged with sexually assaulting a 6 year old girl who was staying overnight at his home. He is now a registered sex offender. He was also a regular attendee at our church. He actually called me and asked where he could get $50,000 for legal fees to defend himself. I told him if he was innocent, he should mortgage his home and fight the charges, but if he was guilty, he should confess and save his family the time, trouble and expense. He took an Alford plea and got a 5-year prison sentence. He was 73.
Another one was a man who was the head of the Elder Board at my church. He was convicted of molesting young boys many years ago. He was a very good long-term friend of the Pastor and the Pastor knew about the conviction but didn’t tell anyone and allowed him to serve in a leadership role until it came to the surface. He has since passed at age 69. I also served on that Elder Board (not at the time of this man) and found the Pastor to be a man of poor judgement in others whom he appointed to leadership roles.
It can only be the power of Satan and Sin that causes men to cross the line and throw away their lives, their family’s reputation and, more than either of those tragedies, have the callousness to permanently damage their young victims psychologically and often physically.
If nothing puts the fear of God into you to avoid temptation in any area of your life, these examples certainly do it for me. All three professed to be Christian men. I will leave it to the Lord to sort it out.”
I told the reader he needs to find another church. He told me he had already done so and then added that there are sinners everywhere including the church but this was especially evil. Yes, we are all sinners including those of us who follow Jesus. True believers, however, will be remorseful and then there are those whose only regret is getting caught. In my case I have carried the incident of the beer and wine incident around with me for decades and it was a primary reason for becoming a teetotaler. I realize God forgave me but I have trouble forgiving myself through today.
The damage to the children of those elders in the church is immeasurable, but there is also incredible damage to Christianity as a whole. A non-believer learning of those sins occurring within the church can negatively impact the lost to the extent that they may never accept the Lord and end up in hell.
At the end of the day, we as Christians must look for the way God has provided to flee from temptation and take it. Those who burn with lust for our precious little children and act upon it will face judgement from God. Pray for the children who endured being ravaged that somehow – someway they found Jesus. And be assured prison as bad as it is for sexual deviates is nothing compared to the wrath of God in judgement.
Matt. 18:6
“If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and behave yourselves! And go to church this Sunday!