Golden State Bible College President on administrative leave over allegations of 'inappropriate conduct'

Fundamentalism has a problem with cover-ups

Catholicism has a problem with cover-ups

Evangelicalism has a problem with cover-ups

Politics has a problem with cover-ups

Hollywood has a problem with cover-ups

Business world has a problem with cover-ups

News media has a problem with cover-ups

Professional Athletics has a problem with cover-ups

Higher Education has a problem with cover-ups

Medical profession has a problem with cover-ups

Wouldn’t it just be easier to say, depraved mankind has a problem with cover-ups?

I’m saddened at this situation and more than a little angry at another example of churches handling matters like this “in house”. I’d suggest you watch the movie “Spotlight” to see how ugly this practice can get.

I was reminded of the rookie pastor who, when an allegation of sexual assault came up against one of his deacons, physically escorted said deacon to the police station and asked them to deal with it. The perp went to jail.

These incidents (and others) are the compounding result of:

1. Stupid leadership
2. Incompetent leadership
3. Sinful sub-cultural climates
4. Professional clergy who are insulated from the real world in a Christian bubble (see the sub-culture bit, above), who wrongly or ignorantly fear the attention of the professional, dedicated men and women in criminal and regulatory investigations who are ready, able and willing to handle these matters if they’d only be reported.
5. A wrong understanding of forgiveness and repentance.

In the end, this is a leadership issue. Some leaders are very, very incompetent. Being a preacher is not the same thing as leadership. There’s a difference between being a preaching technician and being a leader. There are very clear leadership implications from the constellation of commands Paul gave Timothy in 2 Timothy.

Darrell, true as far as it goes and yes, far simpler, but if we want to clean up our mess, we’ve got to personalize it a bit. Along those lines, it’s worth noting that sometimes you get slightly different reasons for covering things up—for example, no Buddhist or Jew uses 1 Cor. 6 or Matthew 18 as an excuse for doing this.

In this case, I’m glad Shiflett is speaking up, but given the possibly criminal nature of what’s going on, I am cringing at people handling anything inside here. Just.cringing. Romans 13, folks. This is especially the case when I consider that people rarely abuse just one minor. Get it documented by the police. Even if it’s not criminally prosecutable now, it’s character witness for the next time he’s accused.

…but for every one of these horrible situations with guilty perpetrator, how many fundamentalist ministries are there that have a leader not guilty of such things? How many ministries when someone is caught, the police are properly called and the perpetrator handled by the authorities? Yes, some fundamentalists have had a problem with cover-ups. When it happens, and they are caught, they are exposed and the headlines make a huge splash. I don’t see any evidence that fundamentalism as a whole has a cover-up problem any more than any other group.

In my lifetime I have had knowledge of two situations…the first when I was a kid there was someone who attended the small IFB church that I attended who committed a criminal act against a minor and it was reported to police the same day and the man was arrested and charged. The second is an extended family connection to a well-known situation. Every time it comes to my mind I get angry that the perpetrator was protected by the large org, and the victim was further victimized.

If someone in the given situation wishes to personalize it and raise awareness of a problem that’s fine, but we also need to be careful that an unwarranted stereotype is not wrongly attached to fundamentalism as a whole, as though just being a fundamentalist means you are a coverer-up of a rape culture. This would be like suggesting if someone is a professional athlete then he or she must be guilty of covering up steroid abuse.

That was the point of my above post. Any and every societal classification is going to have its horribly bad apples. I wholeheartedly agree that such perpetrators should be exposed and prosecuted, and the victims should be helped. I also agree that no one should aid and help criminals by failing to report their crimes to the police. I am saddened and frustrated whenever I hear of a leader who tried to cover up someone’s criminal act whether that leader is a fundamentalist, evangelical or whatever group or classification.

One would think that by now, with the well-publicized accounts from the past that few would ever make this mistake again. But its human nature…Adam said the woman gave it to me, and Eve said the snake deceived me. King David said, Uriah died in battle? That’s the way war goes… It is an old problem. By God’s grace may we all have the wisdom, integrity and discernment to make the right decisions.

I’m glad that Pastor Shiflett called it out and made it an issue. I don’t know much about the man or his ministry, but I am thrilled that he went public with the story and his experiences.

If we want to get to the point where accusations of Fundamentalist cover-ups are dismissed on their face - if we truly become ‘blameless’ in this regard - then we need to make it super abundantly clear that these kinds of crimes will not be tolerated or covered up. They will be exposed and dealt with.

And that’s the way things ought to be in the church of God. Ephesians 5:3-16 covers this well:

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Having been involved in sexual misconduct cases in churches I have pastored and in churches where pastors refused to properly deal with the sin problems, here are some things to consider:

1. It is true in most all states that pastors are mandatory reporters of such problems. According to the law, we have to report these problems;
2. We should investigate. Paul investigated sexual misconduct in Corinth (seeking out “reports”). Church leadership has a responsibility with public sin to understand the facts of the case. We have a responsibility to hear all sides. Supporters of alleged victims can get very angry if you question the stories of the victims in any way, sometimes misunderstanding the need to gather facts. There is always the possibility of false accusations which cannot be discounted. (I appreciated the investigation of Pastor Shiflett).
3. Support the victims. This is a traumatic event in any event. We should hate the sin that was done to them that they did not ask for. Don’t minimize the sin by moving them on to forgiveness right away. It’s not that they shouldn’t forgive, but that the wounds are so fresh that justice should be the first concern. Paul sought justice for the perp in 1 Cor. 5. The church can bring spiritual justice through discipline quickly, much more so than the authorities.
4. We have to do this while also giving perpetrators the opportunity to repent. This can cause great discomfort to a church. Should we keep repentant perpetrators away from church altogether? Or when do we allow them to come back? I’ve run into churches who have not allowed repentant perpetrators the opportunity to return to church and/or be restored to church membership. We must also manage the congregation. There can be such fear where it becomes irrational (I’m not going to have them around my kid, even if they have repented and have higher standards for themselves than the law or the parents would have!)
5. Perpetrators can repent. They can even be restored to church membership (though not leadership IMO) but must be carefully monitored. If they end up in the court system, you will have help in monitoring.
6. Believe God can bring repentance, salvation, healing and glory to Himself even in situations of high recidivism such as sex crimes.

“Calling Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christians apostates and heretics. Yet in 2016 16,000 Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Christians lost their heads to ISIS for not denying our Lord.” - All that proves is that they died for what they believe in. Doesn’t mean that the belief is correct. How tragic that many die because of an association with Jesus Christ yet not really believing the gospel.

First, never heard of the place.

Second, (adding to what Darrel has said…) the story only proves what we all already knew:

• Humans sin and commit crimes and try to blame others and cover it up. (Adam and Eve!)
• Some of those humans claim to be Christians, Bible-believing, fundamental, etc.
• There are sick organizations where unethical and/or criminal people are leaders and they have enablers who help keep them in power.
• Some of these sick organizations are churches and ministries that claim to be Christian, Bible-believing, fundamental, etc.

Some other things we all know…

• Committing sins and crimes and covering them up is not anywhere in the “five fundamentals”
• Committing sins/crimes and covering them up is not advocated in The Fundamentals writings or any of the later defining documents of the fundamentalist movement
• (For that matter, endorsing corruption isn’t a tenet of any belief system I’ve ever heard of)
• Way more sins/crimes/attempted coverups by people who are not leaders of fundamentalist ministries are in the news everyday than are of that particular category. If you doubt this, keep a tally for a few weeks.

There is nothing “fundamentalist” about it.

One more set of things we all know…

• There ought to be zero Christian/bible-believing/fundamental people and ministries in this category.
• Lots of things “ought to be” that are not.

And finally a question…

Given what we all already know, how much does pointing out more of these cases accomplish?

Aaron has excellent comments about this topic.