Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: The Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast starts in three.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: You know what makes women cupid is.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Called Jesus was not a Bartender.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: High back two.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: You have lost your mind, long tongue. Heifers have given me a lot more trouble than heifers wearing bridges. And you know that. Say amen right?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: There one.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Let me tell you something, Bozo. They'll be selling frosties in hell for this boy puts on a pair of pink underwear. Amen. I suck my thumb till I was.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: 14 years of age.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: Hi by.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: Everybody. Thanks for tuning in to the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast. Episode number 171 70. Can you believe that? Wow.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: No, that's awesome.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: 170 episodes. Getting ready to start the fifth year come January 1. Man, what a trip. It's been a fun time. He's Nathan, I'm JC. And no Brian tonight. We don't really know where Brian is, but we had to record. So where's Brian?
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I will tell you this much. Brian has been busy. He drove down and I can't be mad at him because I'll miss him tonight, but I can't be mad because he drove down from Danville, Virginia yesterday and brought three other pastors and they helped me paint all day long. We painted my entire basement, five different rooms in the bathroom and the laundry room in one day. It would have taken me all week by myself. Plus I probably would have gone into a great depression because painting is not my favorite thing.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: I'm sad that I missed the brotherhood, but not the painting.
Well, non invite.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: The non invite. Yeah, you're welcome. I could swear I told you about this, but you said I didn't.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: No clue. I literally didn't know. So Brian's probably sitting in an Epsom salt bath or something.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: That's what old people right, man, I need to leave this recording and go over and sit in an Epsom salt bath because my wife actually has some. So I'm going to do that because, bro, I am sore from head to toe. Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. We just made it through that. It was amazing. Went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, Trenton, Georgia, played basketball, volleyball and did some top golf for 2 hours, which, man, that works some muscles. I hadn't worked in a while and I am sore and then painted. So I'm sore from head to toe. My Earlobes hurt JC.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: My earlobes hurt.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Everything hurts.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Topgolf is kind of like bowling. It's fun at the beginning, but then you're like, are we still doing this?
[00:03:01] Speaker B: So have you ever played a course?
Like set it to play like Pebble Beach? So in theory it's amazing, but it doesn't work, right? Unless there's some golf engineer out there that wants to come teach me how to do it. We try to adjust where we're aiming and it's cool because you hit it and it shows it on the screen, but the directions which target to aim at, it's really confusing and I think they need to work on that. But I love Topgolf.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Topgolf Chattanooga kind of got the short end of the stick.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: It did.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: We got the test topgolf, which is like one level. It's like fast top golf.
It's not like what you think of there's no holes for the ball to go into. That's the fun thing about a normal top golf. It's like, yes, and when you hit the ball actually goes into a golf hole. This is just painted, so but it's fun. I'm not knocking it. At least we have top.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: It was it was cool, but it was not quite as good as I think I've played at Huntsville, think I played in Birmingham. I think I've played Charleston or Charlote and yeah, maybe one other.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: And I've done Alpharetta and Utah, salt Lake. Okay, beautiful. It was freezing, though.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: And the best part is being up on the upper levels and being able to see how it goes in. Plus it's just cool. One level top golf is really more like it was bottom golf. That's what it is. It's bottom golf. Chattanooga, Tennessee.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: That's exactly what it is. Single level golf, that's what it is. Well, it was a good Thanksgiving. My family kind of dispersed this year and so we did Thanksgiving here at the church and we had about 40 people from Hope Church, katusa here at the church on Thanksgiving Day. That was a really cool thing because when we lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, obviously we didn't come home for Thanksgiving and our church family was who we gathered and ate with and it was a really cool day. I love those Thanksgivings, just being able to gather with our church family, and I was thankful for that. Hey, we've got some updates that I think we need to let everybody know. The Israel trip, obviously, Israel 2024, which is supposed to be in a few weeks, we've let everybody know. But that trip has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. There's a little war that's actually happening right now and I know that flash to anybody there, but man, we've been on the phone with our friends in Israel and they are pretty confident that within the next five to six months, things should be back to somewhat normal, at least tourism.
And we have rescheduled the trip for January 2025 and we want you to go if you are a pastor. This is a phenomenal trip. Everybody that was signed up for this trip is still going, signed up for 2025. But we do have a few spots available and we would love for you to go. We just had some missionary friends. That Nate. We got to eat with Dan Arcia and RC. And not RCIA. It's RC. They are church planners and missionaries in Venezuela. They were here with us last week and they're like, man, we want to go. He goes, Man, I want to see my Bible come to life. And I'm like you have no idea.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Needs to happen.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: How incredible this trip mean? I can't believe it's been almost a year. And every time I pick up my Bible, literally every time I pick up my Bible, I go back to where we were at when I was reading this little things. Like I was thinking the other day, like Luke 19 where it talks about and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and Zacchaeus was there. Jesus had set his eyes towards Jerusalem. That is not just this happened to be going through Jerusalem or Jericho. He was on purposely going through Jericho. You know how long it took? I mean, you know, because we had to stop and let you enjoy the bus on the way there. And we're like, it's still a very long trip after that. But what an incredible I love everything about Israel and just continuing to pray for our friends that are like family over there. But Pastors, we'd love for you to go. You can go to our website, Recoveringfundamentalist.org and Justin is going to be updating all of those trip details, the dates and all that stuff, and we'll have that ready for you to sign up and go. It'd be a great Christmas present. Be like, hey, I'm going to Israel next year. Give me a Christmas present a year early. And here's the good thing, you have an entire year now to raise your money. It's only something like 28, $2,900.27 50.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: I believe they lowered the price.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: They lowered the price. So go to Recoveringfundamentalist.org and while you're there signing up for Israel, get you some free Life soap and make some great stocking stuffers, some beard oil, some soap, use the promo code RFP and get 20% off of your order. Nate, last time we talked, we had an incredible for the Sake of the Gospel Conference number two in Asheville, North Carolina. I can't believe it's been since then. That was so many weeks ago, but we haven't had a live episode since then.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: What an incredible conference we had, man, it was awesome. The Fellowship, the Brotherhood, seeing people that we haven't seen in a while, some people we've never met before and just talking fellowshipping. Plus the music was incredible. The hips family did an amazing job and you just had to be here for that. We had some recording issues, which is why we haven't been releasing some of these episodes. We're trying to figure out the audio issues. But it was amazing. The sermons, just, just hanging out with RFP FAM was awesome.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: We had RFP, FAM, Colorado, Vegas, Alaska, Texas. Yes, we people. Mississippi, Florida, florida. People drove in from all over. They were sleeping in their vans out in the parking lot. It was an incredible time. And I love any chance that we can get with the RFP FAM. And I love for the Sake of the Gospel Conference and looking forward to next year for the Sake of the Gospel Conference happening in Port Oglethorpe georgia right here at Hope Church. Katusa, we'll be letting you know more about that as we get into 2024.
So, Nate, we haven't recorded in a while, but I'm excited because coming up in a few days, my favorite holiday, Christmas. We get to gather around the microphone for a RFP Christmas Eve special is.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: The most wonderful time of the year.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Go taking after Brian since he's not here. That's right. RFP christmas Eve special is going to happen at 09:00 p.m. Eastern on Christmas Eve. And we've already got some special guests lined up. Chosen road. Mark Lowry. He wrote a little Christmas song years ago. He's going to be sharing that with us. And we're excited for that as well as many other guests. And we have a huge, as the former president huge would say, a huge announcement. And I'm fired up, I think more about than anything else.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Former president? What do you mean former president? He's still my president.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: We're not getting political on here. Good grief.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: That was sarcasm for those people who are like, what?
[00:11:01] Speaker A: We live in a republic. A state of republic. I don't know.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: I watched a video where Greg Locke marched around Washington seven times and declared that he was still the president. And in two days, we're all going to find out what really happened. And he just can't wait for us to find out.
Three, four years ago. I mean, what in the world?
[00:11:25] Speaker A: You got to put a dollar in the jar. You said the GL word.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Oh, did I?
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah, you did. Casting crowns. Greg Locke.
When we first started, we were trying to get a Casting Crowns reference in every episode.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: I know it. We actually had an avenue to interview a few of them. We need to make that happen.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: I know the drummer listens to the.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Need to we need to get come on the podcast. Mark, we want you to come defend yourself because we have just shamelessly slandered your group and quoted your lyrics in vain. And you need to speak into this.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: You need to come be the voice of truth because who am I?
It was no Silent Night.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Yes, we could go on and on. I love me some Casting crown song, man. Do you remember sitting in the choir? I feel like I've said this on here before, but it's been years if I did sitting in the choir at Temple Baptist talking about how awesome the new Casting crown songs were and you and I were sitting up there. We hadn't known each other too long, but it was cutting edge. Casting crowns, new songs. Bro.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: And I don't know if I ever said casting crowns was awesome.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: I remember we talked about it. Yeah, dude, we loved it. I still do.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Yeah, they do have some good stuff. There is one that they have that I'm trying for the life of me to remember right now. But it's a Christmas song.
I don't remember, but yeah. Mark hall, come on the podcast. You have a free invite. There you go.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Yes, you do.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Well, Nate, I know that we shut the text out, not to make a hard pivot from casting crowns to this, but you and I sat down over the last couple of days and we've watched the documentary that has come out on the ID Network. Max, whatever it is, let us pray. P-R-E-Y.
There's some folks that are part of the RFP FAM that are on there, rachel Peach and a few others. And we know, of course, back years ago when we first started, there was the podcast, the Preacher Boys podcast with Eric Schwarzenski that was diving into more. We wanted to expose here on the RFP the legalism. We want to help and encourage people whose lives have been negatively affected by fundamentalist legalism in the church. And we wanted to challenge those who promote tradition over scripture. That's the lane that we've stayed in. Eric was going on this route of exposing the sexual predators, the pedophiles, the COVID ups in the IFB world.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And we've said from the beginning, both are important. We're not called what Eric did. As a matter of fact, we've prayed for him nonstop, and we'll continue to do that because what he's doing is dark. And we've had some one on one moments with him in Vegas and he visited South Carolina. We got to hang out for a while. And I know we've had tons of phone conversations, text messages. He was in a very dark world. And this documentary, man just exposes all of that. But he stayed in his lane. We've stayed in our lane. And I explained it to my daughter last night like this. Elise was watching part of the documentary with me, and we just both were just so heavy hearted. But he's exposing the abuse, which is important. These voices need to be heard. We're dealing with the theology that's behind the abuse, the environment that allows this abuse to happen, and we're calling that out because that's really the root of the issue. And the fruit of the issue, the offspring of the bad theology, is abuse. And so I'm thankful for what Eric's done and for what this documentary stands for. But we still believe in what God has called us to do. And I believe full orbed healing has to deal with theology underlying everything, the root of the issue, as well as exposing the abuse.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Right. It's a dark mean. We told Eric years ago, if you're just going to live in that world, man, you got to have some outlets. I've spent three days watching four episodes and I feel disgusted.
I finished it last night. My wife and I did at 02:00 A.m.. We watched the last two episodes and we put the kids to bed. And just my initial gut reaction, I was like, there's so many emotions. I mean, I'm sitting on the table. I was walking around, my blood pressure was going up. I mean, knowing what we've known in this last five years inside of that world and just knowing these names, I feel just this level of like there was anger and sadness and heartbreak and frustration and just so many emotions in there. And I posted this, I mean, frustrations because I'm like, isn't there something more that we can do? Why does this keep happening? I mean, we've done a podcast.
We jump back into a world. Let's be straight up honest, we don't need this podcast.
We really didn't start this to become what it has become. We were out of this world and this podcast has put us right back in the center of this whatever you call it. And I'm thinking the frustration is, could we do more? Like, is there more that we could do to expose? I don't know. It gets frustrating at times where there's also voices.
There's six or seven ladies that are sharing their story. How many more voices are not being heard? How many stories, how many girls now are still stuck in that meth? How much cover up is still happening right now inside of these churches? And that frustrates me. It angers me. It breaks my heart. And I just sat there and wept last night. I don't cry. I mean, you've known me for a long time, Nathan. It takes a lot. And I just sat there after it was over and my wife's like, are you crying, babe? This tearing me up.
My heart breaks for them. I have three daughters and I don't trust Know. I think less now than when we started five years ago on this thing. But I kept seeing my girls in Rachel and Kelly and Amanda when they're talking and I'm like, that would be the ages of my daughters right now. And I don't know, man, it's been heavy. It's been hard. And then I get on Twitter and see all the everybody. It's disgusting. It's really making me frustrated. I almost don't know if we should record tonight because it's so raw.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: I've been in that space all day as well, JC. And I felt the sadness, I felt the anger.
And going into Know, we took a little bit of heat because we didn't jump on the train early and start promoting this, which I wanted to, but there was no way for us to view it early. And I was talking to Eric the night before. He didn't even get to see it until it was the final product, until it was released.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: Can't endorse you've never seen yeah, we.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Can'T endorse something that we didn't watch. So we waited. And we know Rachel and some other people to discuss it on the RFP page, but we limited some of the reactions and interactions or the post because everybody was wanting to post about it, but we weren't going to promote it until we knew. Here was some of our fear, and we discussed this in detail.
Number one, anytime Satan gets a hold of mistakes that happen in the church, the church needs to own it. But anytime Satan gets a hold of it, and anytime the secular media, mainstream media, gets a hold of abuse in the church, it is usually twisted into a way that know, this disproves Christianity. All churches are bad.
This proves that there's not a God. This proves that all churches are corrupt. And I'm not going to promote anything like that because there is the true church, there is the true remnant of people who are faithful to the word of God, that aren't abusive, that are protecting victims and that are helping survivors heal. And that's been our hearts. We're three pastors of three local churches that are a part of one movement of churches that is making a difference. And in our church, we're fighting against abuse and things that are done in the name of God that damage children and women and people. So we were really worried because almost every expose we've seen, like this documentary, there's this open generalization that all churches are bad. And yeah, we just didn't want to promote it.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: And then it be something that wasn't what we would want to put our stamp of approval on. Not our stamp of approval, but without seeing it, there's no way of knowing the angle that it was going to go. Not that we did not believe the girl's stories somebody said on there. And it hit me just hard, like, your silence is speaking very loudly. And I'm like, hold up. We don't know what is about to come out. We believe. We hear you. We trust you, we've supported you. We've had multiple conversations with these ladies over the years. But just with the angle, I mean, being what you just said, a secular twist on that, we wanted to make sure that it know, done in a way that was going to present the facts.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: And I was pleasantly surprised when it came to that. Now, I don't agree with everything that was said on there. Eric said some things I disagree with. I do think they broadbrush the you know, the IFB has earned that. The church has earned some black eyes. And you can't control the narrative when you enable abuse, when you silence victims, when you allow that environment to thrive. And I do believe that the IFB has created an environment where there's little accountability and where abusers can thrive. So the church needs to own that. And while they did, I think right at the very beginning, eric Scrazzy said, all IFB churches are a powder keg ready to explode. Yeah, you know what, he has a lot of evidence for that. And I know why he says that we disagree on that, but that's a very small point in this. It is a broad brush brush. It's a generalization. But you and I both know there are good, healthy, solid IFB churches.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: And we have said so many times over the last five years, we are not saying every independent, fundamental Baptist church is bad. We are not saying leave your independent, fundamental Baptist church. That's not a broad brush that we're saying the ones that are bad call them out. And that's exactly what this know. You have to understand, I think, not that I'm giving Eric an out for that, but in the world that he's lived in, what he is exposing, all he sees is the bad. He's only looking at the bad. He does not see the good in any IFB church. So for him to make that statement, that's what he really believes, because that's all he sees, period.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: And compared to the abuse, the evil abuse that is pointed out in this man, I'm not going to beat Eric up over making a generalization because I think, like I said, the church has earned some of the black eyes and some of the cultish. False churches and false pastors and false teachers and abusers and those who cover up abuse.
That's what we need to walk away from this from. I've seen multiple people today trying to make a small thing, and I called out some of them on Twitter, because we can promote this while we don't agree with everything in it, because these voices need to be heard and I do want to speak to the survivors.
Ruthie, thank you for sharing your story. It was very moving. Rachel, I hear you. I see you.
I'm praying for your healing. I'm thanking God for some of the justice that you've seen and experienced, and I'm praying for so much more. Someone said in it, we'll just take what we can get because it's hard to get convictions. And, man, it breaks my heart to see these people that have ruined abusers, who've ruined ladies lives, getting two and a half years or five years or suspended sentences or house arrest or man, it's shameful. So, Rachel, I see you. I hear you. Kathy, I was moved beyond even anything I can express by your story. And I don't know if we've ever met, but I feel like I know.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: You literally was thinking the same thing.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like I know you.
I felt like connection to you on a level that I just cannot even explain. I feel like you're someone I grew up with and your story is horrible. When you were abused and the pastor's wife took you out and berated you and blamed it on you and your mom blamed it on you, I had tears in my eyes then and I have tears in my eyes right now because my heart breaks as a dad. My heart breaks as a pastor who protects young women in my congregation and my flock.
And Kathy, I'm so sorry for what you've gone through.
And I thank God for healing. I rejoice when I see pictures of your family and seeing that God has done things in your life to bring healing. Brianna Nanette like hearing your stories. You are survivors. You were victims. You are survivors. And hearing your story on such a large platform that people around the world are seeing this, yes, I hurt that that happened. I hurt that the cause of Christ is taking a hit for this. But the most important thing to me is that you need to be heard. You need a voice. You have a voice now. And many of you have seen justice and seen your abusers brought to justice.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: And to the lady from Howes Anderson, what was her name? I can't remember her name. The one that dave Howles nanette yeah, that was hard, man. I mean, to see her go in there and to walk away and just to feel her emotion of not seeing justice, know there's a day of reckoning coming for that man.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Yes. And not only did she not get justice then, now the pastor today.
Wilkerson you have a responsibility yes, you do. To deal with things that your church.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Nobody cares over the years sorry, we're talking over fired up. Nobody cares about a dude with long hair right now, and that's what you're apologizing for. This is real life. Like, these are the people that have been heard that you need to be shepherding right now.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: First Baptist of Hammond needs a protocol for how to deal with this string of abuse victims that are going to show the obviously, they do have a protocol right now.
Leave the property or we're calling the cops on you. Oh, by the way, we love you.
That makes me so angry. And my blood boils.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Blood pressure medicine, it was just rising. I mean, it was disgusting. There is a day of judgment coming, and it may feel like that man has gotten off multiple times.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Yeah. I preached through the Book of Micah this Sunday, and justice is one of the main themes in the Book of Micah. And one of the points that I brought out is that we won't see perfect justice until Jesus comes back, until God judges everybody and all the hidden sins are brought out. But Ruthie brought it up in the meeting for the Blind Eye group, and I'm not saying something blind Eye, the group of women that have come together that I love, that they're getting healing, and I hope that they allow the power of the gospel to bring true healing. Even though they've been hurt by people who claim to be preaching the gospel, they weren't. They were abusers. It wasn't a church. It was a cult. But I'm praying for those women. But Ruthie said something in that, that if not in this life, one day when they stand before God, they will be brought to justice. And I believe that with all my heart and seeing something as dark and as evil as the things that are portrayed in Let US Pray, the documentary, season one. I believe there's more seasons to come, but dealing with that and seeing all the dark things just makes my heart long for the day when everything is set right and all these false pastors and false shepherds, all these wolves that are preying on people, these youth pastors that are abusing these children and teenagers. My heart longs for that to be brought to justice.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: There's two groups of people I want to mention right now. One. If you're listening to this, if you've watched the documentary, if you are feeling like you are stuck in a situation like these ladies were, if you are in the middle of the abuse and it is happening to you, and you are being threatened to keep quiet. You are being threatened with exposure. Whatever. I beg you, find somebody to talk to, to share, to tell. It is not right. That man does not have the right to do that to you. And it may feel like they are in an authority position, but they are not. And I pray that you find the freedom to share that with somebody, to just expose that. I hope that's what this does, Nathan, that this gives some people the confidence to speak up, to speak out, and to really continue to expose. And to the pastor that's watching this, don't be a coward, man. Call this stuff out. If you have this junk, this evil, this sin, this vileness going on in your church, I don't care what it does to your name or to the name of the church, it would be a lot better if you fixed it, got it right, expose it, turn it over. Whatever you need to do.
That is going to be, in the end, the best decision that you can make. Because if you cover this up, it's going to come back and it's going to find you, and it's going to be so much worse than if you I don't know, man. I'm frustrated.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm frustrated. And part of the reason for my frustration is seeing the reactions of independent fundamental Baptist pastors on Twitter today, today, that are defending these proven abusers. Well, I didn't see him. Do you know? I think he's always been a good man.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: We can't really know because we don't know the girl's whole story. What if she's making it?
That's the problem. That's the problem. They are part of the problem.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: And one of the pastors that's being defended today on social media, I can't believe it, but his church has literally settled with multiple victims, paid them off to keep them quiet. They've admitted their guilt by settling. One is enough. Yeah. Don't tell me they're not guilty. The evidence is overwhelming. I choose to believe the stories of these young girls. And I know we live in a world where there are women and. Men that make false accusations against pastors.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: But remember, your character and integrity will outlast any lie told about you. If it's not true, it'll come out that it's not true. The problem is, we have so many facts that it is true, and they're still trying to defend it.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Yes, there are still youth pastors that were moved around the country. There are still pastors that shuffle around the country instead of facing justice and instead of their bosses, because, yes, they're the lead pastor, but they're also a boss. They're required by law to report mandatory reporters, and they're lying about it, and they're threatening families and young girls and man, it's just a broken, fallen, sin, cursed world that we live in. And the church is made up of people, broken, fallen people. And the church also has tears among the wheat, wolves among the sheep, and I think we just need to call it out. Someone asked a question today about can Jack Scott be truly is he truly a Christian or was he a wolf among sheep? And I haven't heard him repent. I've heard him say he was falsely accused. I've heard him try to lie his way out of it. Maybe he has. I don't know. But from everything I've seen, the guy is a wolf. And I'm so fired up right now about injustice and excusing and hiding sin and abuse by pastors and churches, but we are not excusing these abusers. And so we've got the survivors that we want to affirm. We want to help promote this. We want their voices to be heard. This is dark. This is hard. But I felt like when I was sitting there watching, it as dark as it was. Every person that hears this is hearing their voice, and it doesn't take away the horrible abuse they've endured. But it's the least I can do to sit and listen before I get on Twitter and start talking about it. Do you know how many people I've exchanged with today on Twitter that's admitted they haven't even seen it yet? Well, then quit talking. Quit topping. Go watch it, because these voices need to be heard. So we have the survivors, we have the abusers, the actual pedophiles, the actual rapists, the actual groomers that are doing things that need to be. Some have been exposed.
My heart that longs for justice rejoiced when that guy pled guilty and when he was sentenced to this long sentence, yeah, I long for more of that, because that's just a microcosm of the thousands of abusers that haven't been caught, haven't been exposed. And then we have the pastors who cover up the abuse.
I don't know if it's even possible, but that feels worse to me.
That feels just as bad, at least to me, that they know something's going on and they hide it and they minimize the feelings of these girls. They blame it on the girls. It absolutely breaks my heart. It makes me angry. It makes me angry to the level of wanting to go and do something about it. And I have to just release that because justice, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay it's in God's hand. And I know Will will handle it. But pastors, that cover this up. I just really struggle with even believing they know my Jesus, because my Jesus was just he was holy. He was always standing up for the abused, for the victim. And someone who says they follow Jesus and they cover up abuse for the sake of a paycheck, for the sake of a job, for the sake of a career, man, you can have my career. I would trade it in a heartbeat for one young girl who's being abused. I would give everything to rescue one child from having to go through that again. And that's the heart of Jesus. We sacrifice whatever it cost.
If you're in ministry, you're going to be put in this situation where something happens in your church. And once you report it, anything can happen. It can get turned back around on you as a pastor, you can be attacked for reporting something that happened in your church that you had no control over, that you had all the safeguards I've gone through, all the trainings, all the protocols. We have the background checks. We do everything that we can possibly do and then some, and err on the side of caution to protect the abused and to keep this from being an abuse culture. But if you report something, man, who knows what the media can turn it into? Who cares? Yeah, we care about people. We care about children. We care about women. We care about protecting the innocent and giving a voice to those who weren't protected. And my heart just goes out, and I just want to commend again the ladies. And if we didn't mention the name of one of the ladies that was involved in this, not to mention there are tons of young men, boys that were abused. I've dealt with abuse in my life. Brian's dealt with abuse. I think we've all experienced different things growing up in the church world. And I just want to say the Recovering Fundamentalist podcast platform will be used to help and to serve and to minister and to bring healing to those that have been abused. That's the whole reason we started this.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: And that's why we're going to keep doing it. Yeah, it's good. Hey, if you have not watched the episodes yet, there's four of them. Let us pray. P-R-E-Y. Google it, find it. Watch it, hear them.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: I paid like $4.99 for a one month subscription to Discovery. ID.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: If you go to Amazon Prime, if you have Amazon Prime, you can do a seven day free trial of ID discovery. ID. And then we did that, and then we just can't need it. So you literally can find it. I'm sure it'll be on YouTube TV soon. December 6. I think it's actually on YouTube TV, so just find it, find a way to watch it.
You can find some of these ladies. They're all over social media.
I've sent two of them a message today of support.
Let's do the right thing. That's the best way. Do the right thing. Nate, I think it'd be wise once you pray for pray for ladies. Just pray. This whole situation, it's so far beyond anything that we can sit here and talk and get flustered. God can fix this.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Yeah, let's pray.
Father, I come to you as the God of justice.
I come to you as the God of hope. I come to you as a God of peace calling on you from a broken world.
Lord, I call out to you as a sinful man. I call out to you as a human being living in a broken, fallen, sin, cursed world. But God, I believe that there is hope.
I believe that there is healing that is possible. And Lord, I believe that there is redemption. Lord, I believe that there is hope beyond abuse. And Lord, I know that you take stories of abuse and use those stories to help other people. And God, I know You've used my story to help those that have gone through the same types of things I've experienced. And God, You've used this podcast. So I pray for those who have been victims, who have been abused, that you would bring hope and healing through the power of the Gospel into their lives and through the lives of other Christians. I pray for peace.
Lord, I pray for justice.
And God, I pray that you would just use this documentary that was put together through the horrible abuse stories, horrible life experiences, horrible examples of predators and people who were supposed to be shepherds and pastors that turned on the sheep and became wolves and were exposed as wolves. God, I pray that you would use their stories and use the darkness that is being exposed in this to bring light. And God, I pray for the individual victims, these ladies that shared their stories and the millions of others that have never had an opportunity to share their stories. God, I pray that you would heal them. God, I pray that you would somehow through the power of the gospel, through the power of your son Jesus, who was a victim of sin and abuse and murder and lies and political religious systems that worked against him, God, through the power of the resurrection power of your son Jesus through the blood that was shed on the cross to forgive sins. God, I pray that you would heal the brokenhearted. Lord, I pray that you would bring sight to the blind. Lord, I pray that you would help the outcast, help the marginalized, help those that haven't had a voice. And Jesus, I pray that you would shine your hope and shine the light through this platform of the Let US Pray documentary and God through our podcast and through everybody that is coming together to try to help those that have been hurt. God, I do pray for justice for those who are lying and covering up abuse and abusing victims right now. God, I pray for children's homes where horrible things are happening, that you would bring it to light and set these captives free. God, I pray for children that are being abused, and Lord, I ask that the church would be Your hands and feet in this world to rescue those that are experiencing abuse. And Lord, I pray that this would not drive victims away from you, but that it would draw them back to you to know that those who represented you in such a horrible, horrible way weren't the church, that they were cults, that they weren't pastors, they were wolves in sheep's clothing. And God, I pray that you would open up hard hearts to hear the gospel, to receive Your hope and Your healing. And Lord, I believe that you're our only hope. You're the only Savior, you're the only prince of peace. And so Lord, I turn to you and ask that you would do something that only you can do. Bring light in the middle of darkness, bring hope and healing in the middle of abuse and pain. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: Amen.
Well, thanks for being here with us. The Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast. We'll see you next time. Have a good week.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Be sweet.
[00:44:16] Speaker A: Peace.
[00:44:17] Speaker D: Thanks for listening to the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast. Be sure to stop by our social media, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Give us a follow. Also go to our website, recoveringfundamentalist.org. That's recoveringfundamentalist.org. There you can find recovering fundamentalist swag. You can get your t shirts and hats. You can join our X Fundy community, see where we're going to be having some meetups. It's the recoveringfundamentalist.org. Be sure to join us next time for the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast.
