Clergymen are Scratching their Heads

The mother of a twelve year old girl sexually abused by a seventy-nine year old clergyman in January of this year has refused to accept his apology and request for forgiveness. She said his letter to the family, in which he asked for forgiveness, was “puerile and self-serving.” The Crown prosecutor told the Court the man displayed a lack of remorse and a “concerning lack of insight into the fact that he has done wrong by an extremely young child.” The mother said the most devastating thing was that she couldn’t erase from her mind the irreparable damage he’s caused her daughter. The young girl previously normal and outgoing now struggles to sleep and has bad dreams.

More from the Crown prosecutor: He “had attempted to shift blame away from himself by suggesting that the girl was already sexually active and that she initiated the contact.” If she was sexually active, there’s no way she’d initiate anything with a seventy-nine year old! That’s a favorite trick of sexual perverts; no wonder she was at first reluctant to tell her mother what happened, believing the incident to be her fault and that she would get into trouble if she said anything.  Apparently the only remorse he did show, “was a reflection of regret for the position he was in, rather than the harm he had caused the child and her family.” He’s caused great harm to his family as well; he’s lost most of them including his wife, who caught him in the act. She’s since separated from him.

Of the multitudes of God’s tender mercies, surely one of the greatest always has to be that we can go to God any time and ask Him to blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin Psalm 51:1-2. The fact that we can freely ask God to search us and know our heart…and see if there is any wicked way in me Psalm 139:23-24 has to be one of the most liberating truths declared in the entire Bible. Why would anyone calling him/herself a Christian not do that? That’s one of the wonderful reasons why Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit; how foolish not to ask. Numbers 32:23 still applies; sin always finds out the sinner sooner or later. For me, I say let that be sooner!

“It concerns us therefore to find our sins out, that we may repent of them and forsake them, lest our sins find us out, to our confusion and destruction.” John Wesley. He probably quoted from Matthew Henry, “It concerns us now to find our sins out, that we may repent of them, and forsake them, lest they find us out to our ruin.” It doesn’t matter who quoted who – confusion, destruction and ruin is what has come to the clergyman and it will stay with him until he takes full ownership of his actions. Most of them don’t however, they live with their denials and unrealities and they take them to the grave with them. Sexual perversion has been in that man’s heart for a long time. It didn’t suddenly come upon him; that’s why God exposed him.

No clergyman is exempt from the judgments of God, but it’s surprising how many seem to think they are. They’re like crooked politicians and legal & judicial people, they think they’re above the law … not God’s law! But as I’ve said before on this blog, God is reluctant to judge us, He would rather we did that ourselves according to this glorious Scripture, For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged 1 Corinthians 11:31. In other words, go to work on yourself and avoid the pain of God having to go to work on you! When we judge self, both the good and the bad come to light. So, give God the glory for the good, confess the bad, ask Him to deliver you from it by cutting it off at the root and, eventually the desire for it goes – whatever it is – not simply perversions.

God’s desire is to turn Christians into Christ-ones. The late Derek Prince called it the divine exchange. That means, as God’s people we are called to exchange self-life for Christ-life. Exchange self-consciousness for Christ-consciousness. Exchange self-control for Christ-control. Exchange self-esteem for Christ-esteem. In fact it’s called die to self and live for Christ. We can’t live for both. Jesus spoke about that, No one can serve two masters Matthew 6:24. Even though He’s referring to money in that Scripture, it also applies to every aspect of our life. Where there’s a struggle and a battle to hand these things over to God we should not be embarrassed to tell Him so. God loves to hear such honesty; it tells Him we’re serious about getting real.

The problem with too many clergymen however, they are not born again, they’ve had no spiritual encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ whom they claim to represent. They’re simply religious men (and women) – who’ve been attracted to, enticed by, then finally snared by a religious spirit who seeks to act as though he is the Holy Spirit. Churches are full of people snared by religious spirits. That makes them children of the devil, not children of God. They have no respect for the Bible; they sit above it and judge it rather than sit under it and let it judge them. That’s one sound and solid reason why their sin catches them out sooner or later. Clergymen can hide behind their titles, robes and pulpits only for so long – eventually God exposes them.

Clergymen are no different than those whom they pretend to serve. If they are weak in the word, they’ll be weak in the flesh. That’s why Roman Catholic priests are notorious sexual abusers; they too have no respect for the Bible. So when Satan drops a sexually perverted idea into their head they have nothing within them with which to fight it off. Instead of the word of God being living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…. Hebrews 4:12, the sexually perverted idea becomes living and powerful. So much so than when the opportunity for sexual abuse arises, as it did for this man, they will take full advantage of it. They might feel guilt and shame after the event, but if there’s no word of God to empower them they’ll do it again … and again … and again.

All over the world clergymen are scratching their heads asking themselves how come sexual abuse and perversion is so rife among their own kind? Well there’s the first answer – no respect or reverence for the word of God. In reality, that means they have no respect or reverence for God Himself. But worse than that, it also means God has no respect for them! They’re idolaters, they’re blasphemers, they’re liars, they’re cowardly, they’re hypocrites, they’re cursed – all of them shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death Revelation 21:8. The second answer – sexually abusive and perverted clergymen are demonically controlled, not Holy Spirit controlled.

They would reject that suggestion, however. That’s why they are and always will be powerless to solve the problem. They think they can solve it through prayer and ritual but all of it falls on deaf ears so far as God is concerned. But this is not the case so far as Satan is concerned. He will also use that religious spirit within them to come up with all sorts of foolish nonsense as “solutions” – especially human psychology. Satan knows the use of human methods for spiritual issues is a fruitless exercise, that’s why he pours all his energy and intelligence into it! It’s all the same to him, just so long as he can keep them blinded to the truth, that’s all he cares about. Satan is outside of God, he can never get back in and that’s his goal for perverted clergymen as well.

The judge told the “puerile” and “self-serving” clergyman, “It seems you have got some serious work to do if you are going to take responsibility for what you have done.” Before he can undertake any serious work with himself, he must allow God to undertake serious work with him. Before he can truly take responsibility for what he’s done, he must make himself responsible before God. There is forgiveness for this man but it is conditional upon repentance. He must own both his sin and his sins and lay them at the cross of Jesus Christ. In other words, “Lord Jesus, sin is what I am, sins are what I commit and I am ashamed of it all. I have offended you first and foremost. I ask for your forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Jesus. Jesus Christ is Lord – my Lord too from this day forward.”

That’s a sample prayer. It’s also a simple prayer, but it’s far from simple to act upon. It takes courage, brokenness and humility for someone to pray it. That’s why most people can’t pray it – including clergymen. For too many of them, religion is what they’ve spent their entire career specializing in, not reality. Reality is foreign to them. This explains why the sexually abusive and perverted among them can so easily pass the blame onto their victims. Remember, their father is the devil, not God. Therefore, lies, accusations and blame roll off their tongue as smoothly as they do their father! In that respect they are no different than the very youngest of children who do the same. “Kids can be cruel,” they say. True, but not half as cruel as this kind of clergyman.

I pray for the young twelve year old girl. I pray she will somehow encounter the love, compassion, mercy and protection of Jesus Christ. There are literally millions of child victims like her across the world and I am convinced the reason the suicide rate is so high among them is because many have been sexually abused and then accused! Not only has their body been violated, but so too their mind and their spirit. Every time I hear of or see a photo of a young suicide victim I ask myself what happened – what drove them to that point? If it was sexual abuse, then embarrassment, guilt, shame, and remorse played a major part in it as well … all of which belong to the perpetrator and never the victim. May God have mercy on each young soul.

Excuses are often made for sexually abusive and perverted clergymen because they too were sexually abused at an early age. Some were, not all. But what sort of an excuse is that anyhow? That’s all the more reason why they should turn to Jesus for help and deliverance before involving themselves in ministry. “I trusted you as a mother,” said the young girl’s mother to the clergyman. Parents and guardians … you cannot afford to do that today. Why? Read paragraphs 7 and 8 of this post again, the reasons are clearly stated for you. If your clergyman is not such a person he will not be offended by your stand. If he is offended, maybe he has good reason to be. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” Psalm 118:8. “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds” Psalm 147:3.