It Just Happened Again—Another Pastor Fell From Grace. But Should We Really Be Shocked?
One of the immediate reactions to a public fall of a respected pastor is a sense of betrayal.
One of the immediate reactions to a public fall of a respected pastor is a sense of betrayal. Those who have benefited from the pastor’s ministry feel as though they have been personally deceived. That’s even more true when it’s your own pastor—the one who baptized you or did your premarital counseling or was there with you in the hospital when your parent died. When we hear of these things, we feel as though we were personally lied to—and sometimes we were.
Our sense of shock is, in one sense, understandable. God has called leaders within the church to be above reproach (1 Tim. 3:2), aware of the stricter judgment he will undergo (Jas. 3:1). We should not be shocked, though, that our leaders are capable of falling to temptation. We are taught this explicitly in Scripture, with a warning not to be prideful lest we fall (1 Cor. 10:12-13). Why do we think the Bible so repeatedly warns against the whole litany of sins? This is because we are vulnerable, all of us.
Sometimes I find myself fuming after a leader has fallen at the stupidity of it. Why would he risk his family for this? Why would he jeopardize the witness of Christ? The reason I am so frustrated is because of my inadequate doctrine of sin. It doesn’t matter what I confess in creedal documents or teach from pulpits; when I am surprised by the irrationality of a particular sin, I am demonstrating that I’m a latent Pelagian of the heart. All sin is irrational and self-destructive. If we don’t get that, we don’t know what sin is. My reaction is a reminder to myself of how much I need the sanctifying presence of the Spirit.
The sins of others are always more shocking to us than our own sins. We are always able to “contextualize” our sins, to find justifications for them, to weigh them against alternative sins we aren’t committing. That’s part of the power of deception. This sort of public scandal can expose how much we are unaware of what it takes to fight against sin.
The Bible doesn’t have the gauzy view of human nature that we do. Leaders—even prophets and matriarchs and apostles—are presented with glaring flaws. Moses saw the glory of Israel’s God in the flaming bush, saw the fire of Sinai, and fell anyway. Simon Peter heard the Sermon on the Mount first-hand, washed his beard out in the streams of Judea alongside Jesus Christ himself—and still denied he ever knew him by the charcoal fire. The fact that we are shocked when our leaders fall is a demonstration that we are not nearly as realistic about human nature—and about spiritual warfare—as the Bible is.
This also shows up in the way that we often want to use a leader’s fall for our inter-tribal skirmishes. I’ve seen leaders more liberal than I am fall and have heard many say, “This is what happens when you try to accommodate to the culture.” I’ve seen leaders much more “legalistic” than I am fall, and have heard some say, “See, this is what happens when you try to pile up man-made rules.” In recent years, we’ve seen high-profile falls from Calvinist complementarians to peace-church Mennonites, from high-church sacramentalists to low-church entrepreneurs. Are there sometimes ecclesiology issues that cause an evasion of accountability? Of course. But the common issue in pastoral falls is human sin. No set of policies, and no set of creedal affirmations, will eliminate that.
One of the issues most difficult after a pastoral fall is a temptation to a loss of faith. That’s especially true if the fallen leader was your minister. There’s a spectrum of these kind of falls. Some of them are temporary stumbles. Like Peter, they are restored after discipline and care. Some of them are, by the nature of the sin, disqualifying permanently for ministry. Like Moses, they enter God’s kingdom but don’t carry on their vocation. Others reveal predatory false teachers, like those Paul warns about in 2 Timothy 3. The church must be wise and brave to know the difference between these scenarios and respond accordingly.
In all of those cases, though, the faith delivered to the saints can withstand the falls delivered by sinners. The church is not dependent on you or me or any pastor or leader but on the promises of Jesus, which he will keep with or without us.
About
the writer: Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News
Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy
Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, 
“This
is a great news and honor for the Pakistani Christians and also Singha
family,” said Nasir Saeed director of CLAAS-UK. “It is the first time in
Pakistani history that any Pakistani Christian’s image has been
published on a postage stamp.”
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author,
broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary
parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma,
to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons,
Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is
the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints
in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is the author
of some 45 books. He also has a radio show and two TV shows, all based
in Southern California.
ENUGU, NIGERIA (ANS - April 27, 2016)
– Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacks on Christians have advanced beyond
Nigeria’s central zone into a southern state, with a church leader
saying the aggression could cast Nigeria into civil war as a massacre
this week took at least 27 lives.
Muslim
Fulani herdsmen launched attacks in Enugu state last year, and an
assault in February reportedly killed two people and left 19 missing.
The attacks come after years of similar killing sprees in north-central
states such as Kaduna and Plateau and, more recently, assaults in
central- eastern states such as Taraba and Benue, amid suspicions that
Islamic extremist groups are arming the herdsmen and in some cases
accompanying them.
Bishop Shanahan Hospital in Nsukka town. He said the death toll would rise as the search for missing people continued.
About
the writer: Born in 1940 in Nigeria of British missionary parents,
Alfred and Anne Wooding, Dan Wooding, now 75, is an award-winning
winning author, broadcaster and journalist. Because of his father’s
illness, the family moved to the UK in 1942, where he was raised in both
Liverpool and Birmingham. He has only been back to Nigeria on one
occasion. It was not a happy return for him, as Dan was arrested for his
journalistic activities, jailed, and then kicked out of the land of his
birth. He now lives in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom
he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons, Andrew and
Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder
of the ASSIST News Service (ANS), the author of some 45 books, besides
running ANS, he has a radio show and two TV shows, all based in Southern
California.
With
no one to turn to, Kim joined other streets urchins begging in the
marketplace: “May I have your last spoonful of soup?” he asked with a
plaintive cry.
About
the writer: Before Michael Ashcraft pastored in Guatemala, he was a
journalist for seven years, working for the likes of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
The church and school he started from scratch continue to thrive in
Guatemala City. Mike now teaches English, Spanish and journalism at the
Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica and is starting up a church
in Van Nuys. He can be contacted by phone: (310) 403-6471 or by e-mail
at 
