Posted on 03/01/2013 7:40:17 PM PST by robowombat
The New Down Low - Atheist Pastor Are You Sure Your Pastor Believes In Jesus Christ? PimpPreacher.com 09/11/2012 New Orleans Bureau
Well it has finally happened. A preacher has admitted that he doesn’t believe in God and he only preached for the money. Sure I have thought this for some time of Pastors like Bishop Eddie Long & I.V. Hilliard, but to hear one of them actually admit it caught me totally by surprise.
Many people may have never heard of the pastor in a small church in DeRidder, La that in 2011 quit his position as pastor because he no longer considered himself a believer; then again many of you have never heard of Deridder, Louisiana. Pastor Jerry DeWitt decided one day after taking an emergency call from one of his members that he no longer believed in God, and just like that he converted to the Atheist Movement.
To his amazement he discovered that the Atheist movement had a support group for former pastors who walked away from their full time jobs as preachers of the gospel, so he joined one. Just this past weekend the New York Times covered the story of Pastor Jerry DeWitt in a cover story titled From Bible-Belt Pastor To Atheist which documents how Pastor Jerry DeWitt came face to face with his disbelief.The major issue I have with Pastor DeWitt is not the fact that he left the pulpit (I gave him a High Five for that) but rather why did it take him so long to do so?
Since the outing of Pastor Jerry DeWitt another Pastor has entered the spotlight of disbelief for living a double life as an Atheist and a Christian Pastor. Teresa MacBain, once a Methodist preacher in Tallahassee, Florida has gone on the record as only preaching as long as she did because of fear of losing her salary.
Could it be possible that I once trusted my spiritual education to a leader who was an Atheist on the Down Low? With this recent story in the New York Times it really got me thinking about how many men I followed that demonstrated strange and inconsistent behavior with that of a true Man of God.
The New Down Low
If you ask any woman who has ever experienced the deceit of a man on the “DL” they all say the same thing when the truth about their former spouse came to light, “well he looked like a normal man.” The “other truth” that is quickly volunteered is she never asked the brother if he was 100% heterosexual at the start of their courtship. What an important question to ask in this day and age if you plan to establish a lifelong commitment with a man you just encountered, and the same type of qualifying question could also apply to your pastor.
Are you a 100% believer in God? Here is a question that few of us have ever presented to a pastor for the same reason the single woman failed to ask about the sexuality of her potential mate, “because he looked like he’s straight.”
We have assumed that just because the Pastor appears to be straight, that he must be straight with Jesus. There is a very strong possibility that the pastor you are following right now has lost his faith in Christ a long time ago and is now simply going through the motions. The reality is no one within the congregation ever performs a spiritual check up on the pastor to see if he still believes the stuff he’s whooping.
A Pastor on the Down Low is just as dangerous as a fiancé on the Down Low, and just as potentially damaging. In the same manner as no lie can live forever, no lie can also co-exist with commitment. This is the main reason I am advocating for the removal of compensation from the pulpit, and a statement made by Atheist Pastor Teresa MacBain has added more fuel to my fire, check it out.
“I am currently an active pastor and I’m also an atheist,” she said. “I live a double life. I feel pretty good on Monday, but by Thursday — when Sunday’s right around the corner — I start having stomachaches, headaches, just knowing that I got to stand up and say things that I no longer believe in and portray myself in a way that’s totally false.”
It is important to note that once her Methodist Elders got wind that she no longer believed in Jesus, they fired her on the spot, but the only reason she stayed as long as she did was because of the pay.
Nut Check – Turn Your Head And Cough
Man who are on the Down Low are masters of their deceit and lies, which makes it that much more difficult to detect, so too are Atheist Pastors. What makes detecting these guys so difficult is what I call “M3” which equates to Mannerism Masking Motives. To break it down even more, the way he acts (mannerism) denotes that fact the he’s gay (Masking), which hides his motives (using the woman as a cover for a homosexual lifestyle).
M3 also applies perfectly to Atheist Pastors because their Godly mannerisms (preaching the word of God) cleverly mask (the fact that they no longer believe in GOD), but they still like the money that is paid to a man of God (Motives).
The good news for the Body of Christ as compared to the single woman is there is a way to root out Atheist Pastors, Kill The Motive!
Without the third “M” Motive, none of the Atheist preachers could stomach preaching what they don’t believe in for free. The money is the only reason someone would fake the funk that long, so let’s root them all out in one epic swoop.
Here is a Down Low Test for your Pastor in order to gauge if he still has faith in Jesus. Ask him to forgo his salary, and trust that God will provide him with a good paying job to take care of his financial needs. If he completely refuses then you may have on your hands a man who has never known Christ as a provider, and may have lost all faith that Christ has the ability to produce in his life.
What your pastor is saying and what he believes is two completely different things, therefore you must ignore the first “M” Mannerism and get down to the true reason he’s standing in the pulpit every Sunday. The Biggest “M” of all remains the money, the sooner we remove it from the pulpit, the sooner we can “Get Back” to the true work of Christ.
The Body of Christ should be alarmed that the pulpit could be so easily infiltrated. At what point do we become as outraged as the Jewish community was when they discovered that a fake Rabbi had crowned Eddie Long King of the Jews. This New York Times story is really a nut check for all the Real Men in the Body of Christ. We have to separate ourselves from the questionable believers who are on the DL (Don’t Live) what they preach and protect our sisters in Christ!
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
Baptist ping
DeRidder, LA. Yeah, I heard of that place. Just another $#!+ hole in that great hog pen East of East Texas.
Posted before reading. If I had read it first I may not have pinged it. I don’t like the comparison.
BS athiest propaganda piece to make it seem that pastors are in it only for the money. If they only knew how little most of them really recieve. Our pastor walked away from a cushyb6 figure job to preach the gospel and now earns 3 times less. I know this for a fact.
Spent a few pretty good nights there actually..a notch above Leesville..
It is not just the money.
The idea that one has power over people’s lives, that one can pronounce judgement upon them, get them to volunteer for things you don’t want to do, respectful greetings in the marketplace, special attire, pretentious long prayers that cause people to “Ooo and Ah” over one’s ‘spirituality” and authority over others are ALL VERY seductive.
And if there is a nice parsonage and money to boot, what COULD go wrong?
This is a very “ecumenical” problem. No religion is exempt.
A real Judas
And yet, there are some wonderful men of God out there too.
I have met both kinds.
Jesus had some of the very same critiques of the religious leaders of His day, so it is not a new phenomenon.
If he’s in it for the money then he must be waaay to dumb to get hired anywhere.
Pastors are not wealthy people!
She's not alone - there's are cops who steal - journalists who fudge the facts - politicians who work for their own benefit - not for the benefit of the people who elected them - union goons who skim off trucks they're suppose to protect...
What's odd here is that the New York Times is surprised there are lowlifes in the world. Maybe they should look around their newsroom and ask a few questions... Might be people there who are just working for the money - they quit believing in their profession AND the paper years ago...
Maybe they should ask.
...and gay.
How sad that he missed the truth that Jesus (is not only real), but would (have) saved him, if he would have just believed!
“Here is a Down Low Test for your Pastor in order to gauge if he still has faith in Jesus. Ask him to forgo his salary, and trust that God will provide him with a good paying job to take care of his financial needs.”
The Pastor’s response should be “You first hypocrite”.
Many Pastors fail because of the lack of real support from their flock - not monetary support but real friendships and people who are willing to get down on their knees in prayer for their Pastor. Unbelief in the congregation is just as staggering if not more so than unbelief in the pulpit. The Pastor at least has some excuse as he has a bullseye on his back that the devil has great fun shooting at. Those in the seats should hang their heads in shame if they do not at least pray constantly for their Pastors!
Mel
Truth to tell, there have been a few times this lifelong atheist could have used a fellowship of believers, and perhaps even a pastor.
“Atheists don’t believe in God. But the Devil does.’’— Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
There is such a big difference in a preacher and a pastor. A preacher prepares his sermons and preaches them on Sunday. A pastor is intimately involved in the daily lives of his congregation. He visits the sick, shut ins and the jails. He goes to the hospital when someone has surgery or a baby. His door is always open for counseling and prayer. He is ‘on call’ 24 hours a day for emergencies, deaths or illnesses. He prays, grieves and cries for and with the people in his church. He prays over his sermons and preaches them with conviction. He gets to know the people and becomes friends with them.
My dad and my husband are both amazing pastors. It is not an easy glamorous job but it is a very rewarding job. A man may be able to fake being a preacher but you can’t fake being a pastor. If your congregation knows so little about you that you can get away with no longer believing in God then you are not a pastor.
The Bible says that the worker is worth his wage. If you want a preacher only then let him find another job. If you want a pastor, then pay him a salary so he is available to his congregation.
Our congregation is amazing and very supportive. I am so thankful that God has brought us here. We have been in some churches that the people were very cruel to us. I wish I could say that I always handled it with grace. The Lord is still teaching me to forgive.
Here in Australia a Pastor preaches and pastors - we do not have many people that just preach other than in more rural areas where a Pastor may not be able to get to all of his congregations each week then they will sometimes have lay preachers.
We all need to be extremely thankful for people like you who carry our burdens to the Cross for us when we are not able. It is so sad when a congregation treat their Pastors or Preachers like underlings rather than the precious people they are.
Mel
I know a few full time preachers that refuse to have office hours, counsel or visit people. They take and take from the church and expect to be served. I assume these people are in it because they can get an easy paycheck. I don’t understand why their congregation can’t see it.
Of course when you are truly called by God to be a pastor, it isn’t an easy paycheck at all. There really isn’t enough money in the world to keep us serving as pastors and there isn’t enough money in the world to get us to quit. Why? Because it is about God’s will and not our bank account.
Thank you for your kind words.
I am sure you are a joy to your pastor and his family.
Many Blessings!
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